Chapter 10

Thump, thump, creak, thump, thump, creak.

The sound reaches my ears, pounding in time with the heartbeat in my head. Cool roughness presses against my cheek. I try to pry my eyes open. I groan at what I see because I’m back in the fucking basement. That’s when I see the boots clomping down the set of stairs.

“You motherfucker!” The scream that comes out of me is feral. I’m ready to fucking fight and amped up to go.

He stands in front of me with a wicked smile and blood running down one side of his face. I can’t deny the way my pussy clenches at the sight of him. He looks like every wicked villain I ever got off to for my own personal pleasure.

I stand up fully and lunge at him. In that moment, it feels like the world is pulled from beneath my feet. Falling back on my ass and almost choking up a lung from the forcefulness of it, I reach up and feel the rough rope wrapped around my neck and see the rope pulled taut in Alex’s hand.

“It’s time for your punishment, princess.” His cruel smile never falters.

Oh, fuck me. I’m in trouble.

“Stand up, princess. Come on, stand up. You don’t want me to yank on your rope again.” He pulls up on my arm, forcing me to stand while he laughs. He fucking laughs.

I’m fuming. I can feel myself grinding my teeth. I want to bite him and make him bleed for this.

“You look so cute when you’re mad. Now stand on the chair.”

A cool wash of fear ices my veins. He’s going to kill me. This is it.

“Oh, come on. We were just starting to have fun,” he says as he runs his fingers through my hair and pulls tight, bending my head back so that my neck with the rope around it’s exposed to him. “Mmmm ... I see a pretty little mark already showing on your dainty little neck.” He leans down to my ear and roughly bites the lobe. “Now, let’s have some fun.”

I’m standing on the chair, and he pulls the rope so that I’m standing up on my tiptoes. My fingers are looped through the rope trying to hang on and give myself some room to breathe.

“Now, princess. Are you ever going to run from me again?”

“Fuck you.”

“I’ll give you one more chance to answer me correctly before your punishment begins. Now, will you ever run from me again?”

I can’t give in to him, even if I die trying. I work up all the saliva in my mouth and spit at his face. His face morphs into the most enraged person I’ve ever seen, and he runs at me. My adrenaline is soaring in anticipation and then I’m falling.

I’m struggling to breathe. Gasping. Every small inhale is like nails on a chalkboard. My legs are flailing around trying to find purchase. Anything to help me right now.

I can barely hear him when he spits out, “Wrong answer.”

My limbs slow their search, and the black surrounding my vision grows. No sound is coming from my mouth. This is the end for me. I’m dying, and it feels peaceful. I’m lying on my back floating in the water. The sky is so blue. Mom is calling my name. Mom! Mom!

And then I’m back, hacking and coughing. My lungs are on fire. Alex is lifting me up around my waist.

“We aren’t done yet.”

We aren’t done? What the fucking fuck? He sets my feet back on the chair, and I’m back in the position I was before struggling with my limbs to come back to lift and hold on to the rope around my neck.

“Now, let me ask you again.” He draws out slowly, “Will you try to leave me again?”

Tears are streaming down my face and my cries are hoarse. My will is nearly broken, and I break down. “No,” comes out in a whisper.

“Good,” he says gruffly as he strides toward me, and I brace myself for the fall.

Instead of kicking the chair out from under me again, he pulls my joggers down and lifts me up on his shoulders. I pull on the rope above me for support.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to do this.” He runs his nose up my sleek slit, inhaling as he goes. “You smell good enough to eat.” This time he replaces the movement with his tongue, making me inhale sharply, leaving a burn in my throat.

He pushes his fingers inside of me as he sucks on my clit. I can’t help the way my body reacts to him. With my legs wrapped around his head, I pull him deeper, grinding myself against his face wanting more.

My moans come out hoarse and ragged. It hurts but I can’t stop. I feel hot all over. He pulls back and looks at me with my arousal dripping from his chin. “Why did you stop?” I’m pouting, wanting more. What the fuck is wrong with me?

“Beg me, princess. Tell me your dirty pussy wants me to eat it.” He kisses my thigh before biting into me hard.

“Oh God, please. I’m your dirty little slut.”

“Better.”

Groaning in frustration as he rubs a finger down my middle. “I want you to eat me like I’m your last meal. I’m your filthy little cum slut, and I’m never leaving you again.”

“Mmmm,” he hums on my pussy. “That’s much better.” He puts two fingers in his mouth, wetting them, before his mouth is back on me.

One hand on the rope and one in his hair, I’m arching my back to get closer to him. I feel him massaging around my puckered hole before he plunges a finger inside. He moves around the rim with his finger, making my legs quake around him. He nibbles on my clit and sucks me in his mouth. I feel my orgasm as I clench around the air until he shoves his tongue into me. I’m coming underdone by his masterful mouth. He proceeds to set my feet back down on the chair, and I loop the rope from around my neck. Then he lifts me up in his arms and carries me upstairs to his room.

***

“No, but seriously though, how did you get this scar?” Lightly touching it with my fingertips, I don’t know if it’s my touch or the sincerity in my eyes, but I’m genuinely curious as to how this happened to him. I want to know what makes my monster tick. How did he become so fearful of people running away?

He grabs my hand and leans his cheek into it. “It happened when my last love left me. She wasn’t the right one for me. She didn’t want the same things I wanted. She wasn’t happy with how I acted and took matters into her own hands.” He tells me this, and I’m not sure if I should be scared at this admission of the last girl, the one before me or sympathy for what she did to him.

My mind’s racing with what could have happened. Maybe he was just really sad and tore up over her. Is that where he gets his insecurities from? I can understand that, and I feel for him in that regard. I think he can see it, too, because he leans in and brushes his lips gently over mine and pulls back when my stomach makes a loud growling sound.

I can’t help but giggle. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be. You’re hungry. Let me go make you something.” He’s cruel and then he’s so sweet. His mood changes faster than the weather in the south during winter and I have no idea how to take him.

He comes back with a plate piled high with food and a bouquet of blue flowers.

“You got me flowers. Where did you get these?”

“They were planted around the house by my mother, and they just keep coming back every year. I thought you’d love them.”

“I do. They’re beautiful. I’ll have to put them in a vase on the table later.”

We lay in bed eating, laughing, and just talking. Once the food settles, we just lay there cuddling.

My hand itches. I look down and there’s a red rash forming.

“What’s the matter, baby?”

“Ah. It’s nothing. I think I’m allergic to the flowers.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. They were so sweet though.”

He kisses my forehead. We lay on the bed, limbs tangled all together. This is the first time I’ve felt like I could fall for him, but I need to know more first. My curiosity won’t let me stop.

“Will you ever tell me what goes on in that head of yours?” I turn over to look him in the eyes. I’m searching them to find the answers I’m looking for. Just open up to me.

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Why? I’d never judge you. I mean after everything you could give me something.” I’m searching his eyes, pleading for him to give me something. He looks like he’s waging a war behind those eyes. I need to know what it is he’s hiding.

“I just can’t, Sky. Please don’t ask me again.”

He untangles himself from my limbs and gets out of bed. He looks defeated. I’m torn between giving into him and running away. Alex is beautifully broken with that scar on his face. I wish he would open up more. Tell me more of his story or about who he talks to in the middle of the night. He tugs at my heartstrings when he’s sweet, but him keeping secrets may be too much for me to bear.

I hear his footsteps leading down the stairs, and I take this opportunity to see what he’s hiding in his office under the stairs. I ease out of the room and into the hallway and look to see if he’s made it fully downstairs. He’s probably off to talk to his inner demons again at the bottom of a whiskey bottle. That being said, he’ll be busy for a little bit. Enough time for me to see what’s in his office.

I ease my way toward the stairs. My skin’s prickling and my senses are heightened to every noise he’s making downstairs. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I have to know what he’s hiding before I can decide whether I can live with this man, locked in this prison forever. I just need to settle this need I have in my brain.

I inch past the stairs one at a time very slowly. I’m holding my breath in anticipation of what I’ll find and hoping I won’t get caught in the process. I don’t know what he’ll do to me if he catches me snooping because my punishment may be even worse than it was when I tried to run away.

When I get past the set of stairs, it’s only a couple more feet to his office door, and I’m home free. Then I hear a loud crash which makes me freeze. Alex is cursing, and I’m guessing he dropped a whiskey glass or something. It’s good news for me because that means he’ll be down there a bit longer than originally planned.

I easily open the door to his office and step inside. Seems pretty generic: a couple of old filing boxes off to the side, a desk, and a computer. My eyes are set on the computer, and I go for it.

Jiggling the mouse a little, the computer screen wakes up to a password protected screen. Well, that blows. I try a few passwords knowing they won’t work, but I have to at least try. Trying and failing, I move over to the boxes. Maybe they can give me something.

I dig through them. Some old newspaper clips such as something a grandma would keep, not anything of interest, so I move to the next box.

Bingo, a box full of Alex memorabilia. Some old school pictures, a trophy from baseball, and important documents. I sift through those for a bit, and I’m about to give up when I find his birth certificate.

Alexander Viceroy.I read it over and over. That’s my last name. I look at his parents listed. Son of Mae and Steven Viceroy. My heart sinks.

“Did you really have to keep looking, little butterfly?”

I jump out of my skin at the sound of his voice. I have no words and just keep holding the piece of paper in my hand. I turn to look at him and his eyes are vacant. I can’t read them.