Page 17 of Fallen to Thievery
He arched a brow at me. “You’d be surprised, darling.” He forced another spoonful of oats into my mouth. Seemingly done with the conversation.
I watched him while I chewed and swallowed, chewed and swallowed. He had a perfectly crafted blank expression. Yet, the two cuts over his eye made him look menacing. Without them, he would have looked… normal. He had walked the streets, with women undoubtedly batting their lashes at him, not seeing the monster that lurked underneath. Not knowing how close they were from ending up like that woman and child in the photo, from ending up like me.
Were there others? By the way the room was cleaned out for any weapons, my guess was yes.
“Are you falling in love, Princess?”
I hadn’t realised that I was openly staring at him. My disgust for him welled in my face. “I could never love a man like you.”
A glimmer of emotion moved across his face but was replaced with a condescending grin before I could catch what it was. “That’s the first smart thought you’ve had.” He reached over and harshly wiped at the corner of my mouth with his thumb. “I would ruin you.”
I yanked my head away. “Don’t touch me.”
He grabbed me by the throat, pulling me closer to him. My arms were straining against the ropes. “I will do as I please. But you should watch your tongue.” I didn’t know how he was able to make threats in such a light tone, yet it still made my skin crawl.
“Fuck you,” I rasped, my face starting to feel as hot as my temper. I didn’t care anymore. If he wanted to hit me again, let him do it. If he wanted tokill me, let him get it over with. I was going to meet my makers anyway, why prolong my suffering? I was tied up like an animal, just waiting to be taken into the slaughterhouse.
He rolled his eyes and let go of my neck. “There you go again, trying to fuck me.”
Steam was coming out of my ears, I was sure of it. I couldn’t lunge for his throat like I wanted to, so I settled for the next best thing. I kicked at the bowl of oats that was on the bed, making it jump into the air and landing upside down in his lap. There were oats all over him. His head snapped up, shock crossing his features first, then anger as he glared at me. There were pieces of oats sliding down his neck.
“We don’t waste food in this house.” His voice wasn’t as aloof as usual. I felt a sense of satisfaction that I got under his calm façade. It was stupid, but it was worth it.
He was trying to scoop the oats back into the bowl.
“I don’t care about your stupid rules or your stupid food. Just let me fucking go!” I screamed in his face, knowing I was headed towards dangerous waters, but I had already gone too far. I couldn’t show fear now.
He stood up, oats still running down his pants. “Then you won’t mind going without mystupidfood for a while.”
Grayson didn’t come back until it started turning dark. By that time, I couldn’t hold my bladder anymore. He hadn’t taken me to the bathroomall day. My tears threatened to betray me when he finally walked into the room. Only my stubborn pride kept them in check.
“You have five minutes before I tie you up again,” he said in a clipped voice, while untying my wrists.
I almost ran to the bathroom.
“I mean it. Five minutes,” he barked at me.
The bathroom door snapped shut behind me and I quickly relieved myself, then went back to get some clean clothes. He was sitting on the windowsill, one leg propped up, looking out over the mountains. He didn’t acknowledge me.
So, he was staying. That made me nervous, even though he told me he doesn’t touch women like that, without consent. I didn’t know this man or how honourable his words were. Hadn’t he laughed at Mr. Greene for trusting him?
The map was still in my pocket, and I thanked the gods he didn’t see it. I would have to keep it on me. There was no way to sneak it past him back into the drawer. I just prayed that he doesn’t open that drawer before I get a chance to put it back.
I hurried through the shower, no idea of how much time I had left. He didn’t make idle threats, that much Ididknow about him. What about the food? Was he serious about that? He hadn’t brought me lunch or dinner. My stomach was rumbling.
I stood in front of the mirror, combing my fingers through my hair, trying my best to detangle it when the door swung open. It irked me thathe didn’t knock, and I knew it was stupid of me to expect that my captor would show some manners towards me.
I took a play out of his book and didn’t acknowledge his presence. My fingers just continued to rake through the knots until he spoke.
“Time’s up,” he grumbled. He was leaning against the doorframe, watching me, obviously in a bad mood.
I ducked past him and walked towards the bed, not looking at him and not giving him the satisfaction of dragging me back himself.
“Could I get a hairbrush?” I straightened the sheets on the bed and fluffed the pillows. I didn’t actually give a damn about the tangled blankets, but the dread of being tied up again, had me doinganythingto stall.
Grayson didn’t answer me, he only watched me until I had nothing left to do but get onto the bed. He walked over and lifted my hands above my head. His proximity made my heartbeat pick up. His smell invaded my nostrils—woodsy and a little sweet, like freshly harvested Oleander and something else I couldn’t put my finger on, something dark. He began tying them.
“Could you not make it so tight this time. It hurts.”
