Page 21 of Guardian
I’m still struggling to catch my breath.But this?This is where I’ve had exactly enough.More than enough.
I force myself to stand, putting us toe-to-toe.Yes, it means I have to kill my neck to look up at him.It is what it is.
I’m about to poke the bear.But what else can he do to me?
“I know exactly what men like that are capable of,” I tell him, “because I’ve seen it.I’ve seen what you do when your ‘poker buddies’ come over and you think I’m not here.I’ve seen the special setup you have in the garage.I’ve seen the women, and the young men, you bring in to pass around your circle of friends.So, how about you spare me the hypocrisy and let me make my own decisions?Becauseyouare exactly where I got the idea from.”
He doesn’t realize it, but Liam Masters is responsible for the vast majority of my sexual awakenings.
Well, he’s aware of it now.
My chest is absolutely heaving while he stares me down.His jaw clenches.His fingers twitch.For a second I think he might throw me over his lap again.
There’s that vein bulging in his temple for the zillionth time.
Is it a vessel?A vein?Artery?Shit, I’m awful at biology.I really need to change my major.
He lets out a heavy breath, saying, “What you’re too young to realize is the world is a hell of a lot more fucked up than you’ve got any clue about.Whatever you think you’ve seen, you don’t know the half of it.”
Is he trying to suggest I don’t know what I saw?Is he going to tell me next that I didn’t come while lying across his lap?
Instead he says, “It’s my job to keep you safe, and I take that job as seriously as the one I get paid to do.Since you can’t make good decisions on your own, I’m going to have to protect you from yourself until you can.”
Then he tosses something into the air, like a ball.The cash I’d been saving.It was hidden in my desk drawer, secured with a rubber band.“What, you’re stealing from me now?I earned that money.It’s mine.”
My fear rises with every toss of the bundle he’s holding.There’s almost five thousand dollars in there.Right now, Liam is holding my only ticket out.He’s holding my freedom.
“You really think I need to steal from you, kid?I’m going to hold on to it though.I don’t think you’d use it for anything worthwhile right now.”
Like buying a gun and shooting you?Like a train ticket?Like getting you a prescription for the sedative you desperately need?
“You can’t make me stay here.I have an appointment tomorrow.”
“You mean your appointment with Brennan?That’s not happening.While we’re at it, you’re not going to that auction in two weeks, either.”
“You can’t stop me.And are we even going to talk about the fact that we just?—”
I’m cut off by the slam of my bedroom door.
I’m still struggling for breath when I hear a loud click, exactly like when he closed the padlock on my window.Emotion swirls through me, a mix of confusion and frustration.How does he give someone an orgasm and walk away?Maybe it wasn’t anything to him, but it was something to me.He has to know it was.
It’s not until I sink onto the bed with exhaustion that I realize my phone is gone.He must have taken it with him.
In a last-ditch effort, I get up to test the door, but I already know what I’m going to find.He’s locked it from the outside.He’s locked the window.I have no phone.My laptop is gone, too.
Mr.Bear is still here, his empty sideways stare aimed at me from the top of my desk.
Fear creeps up my spine.The auction is in two weeks.“He can’t keep me in here for that long, can he?”
But I heard Liam.He thinks he’s protecting me.
And that’s exactly what he’d do.
Chapter Eight
Liam
The East Endwarehouse my company owns looks like it’s past being condemned.From the road it’s all peeling paint and crumbling stone.A sign out front that’s no longer readable.
