Page 18 of Love Corrupted
You aren’t alone now.
In spite of the situation, I felt my mouth turn up at the corners. I hadn’t felt alone in months—funny how that worked out. I never would have pictured a future like this before Mason. Now, it all seemed…normal. What I was about to do didn’t feel like some horrible, unjust act.
It took me three strikes to get a match lit; I held the burning stick and gave Macy my best apologetic look.
“I hope you burn fast,” I stated awkwardly.
Her hair seemed the best place to start, and as soon as the small flame got near one of the kerosene-drenched strands, it spread.
I took a few fast steps back, my heart lurching my chest as her head was engulfed in fire. I’d never heard a human-being make the sounds she was.
The smell was terrible; it reminded me of the time I got a rug caught in the vacuum cleaner. Her skin began to peel backward and gradually spread apart. Something fatty oozed from her pores. If I had to be frank, the sight was almost fascinating.
My pulse raced and I curled my fingers into my hands.
I’m not sure how long I’d stood staring at her, when suddenly someone was pulling me towards the hall and Declan was spraying the chair down with a fire extinguisher.
Chapter Thirteen
Was he mad?
Mason led me back down the hall and all the way back to his room without sparing me a second glance. As soon as we got inside, he shut the door and pinned me in place with his eyes.
“Why did you do that?” he asked, his tone giving nothing away.
“You said I had to handle it.”
“And that translated into setting someone on fire?”
I stared at him in confusion. Wasn’t that what he wanted?
“Did I mess up?”
His phone began to ring before he could answer me. He withdrew it from his pocket and gently nudged me out of his way so he could leave the room, clearly wanting to speak in private.
The solid door clicked shut behind him, and I was still left without an answer. He didn’t seem inclined to give me those.
I sank down in the large tub of water without taking my clothes off. Leaning my head back on the porcelain, I stared up at the vaulted ceiling, trying to sort myself out.
I waited with baited breath for my moral compass to kick into overdrive, but it never did. I knew my actions were abhorrent, but I felt no remorse or regret for the things I’d done.
Shutting my eyes, I titled my head back to partially submerge it. After a few minutes, I felt a hand on my face and opened my eyes to Mason sitting on the edge of the tub, staring down at me.
He wasn’t side-eyeing me or commenting on the fact that I was sitting in a tub of water in a dress. He never poked fun at my antics.
“You didn’t mess up; you did exactly what I thought you would,” he said, trailing the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip. Hearing those words from his mouth had a weight lifting off my shoulders. Disappointing him cut like a knife. It made an earlier revelation have a bit more clarity.
I didn’t have a true home, but when I was with him, it didn’t matter.Hewas home. I hadn’t felt alone or soul-crushingly depressed since the moment I woke up in his house. Had this been the past, I would have been trying to drown my demons under the water. Mason had saved me in more ways than one. Whatever the visceral pull was between us, it was getting stronger. This part of our odd relationship was almost romantic.
On the flip side, I was in deep lust and love with a kidnapper and member of a family that seemed to be full of hobbyist killers.
It was like one of those ridiculous romance stories: the captive fell dangerously in love with the captor, craving him like the air that filtered in and out of my corrupted lungs.
“What are you thinking?” he asked as he stood up and walked to where the bath towels were kept.
“I don’t know anything about you.”
“And what exactly do what to know?” He turned back around with a guarded look on his face.
