Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“Stay,” I say firmly, watching her cheeks heat as she both enjoys my intervention and rails against it. “I’m not letting you up, and I’m not letting them out until I know that you are not going to make another one of your escape attempts.”
She scowls at me. “Obviously not,” she says. “You don’t think I’ve learned my lesson? I had to kill someone, Rex. You think I want to go back into the wild knowing what it costs and what it takes? There’s no way. I’m never going anywhere that’s not an air-conditioned building ever again. I’m sticking to the city and to this place, and the forest can go fuck itself and I don’t even really like the roads anymore.”
She’s being a little hyperbolic, but I can see how much her experiences shook her. That is not a bad thing as far as I am concerned. I am not pleased she had to defend herself, or that she had to experience killing, or that she was kidnapped, or any of the unpleasant experiences she endured, including an unplanned family reunion.
“You’re going to recover from the experience sooner or later, and when you do, you’ll start to think you know everything again. I’m going to deal with you enough to teach you that you don’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I am going to spank your ass long and hard and more than once for this,” I promise her. “You’re going to be disciplined. It’s what you need, and it’s what you’re going to get.”
She pouts at me. “Wasn’t it bad enough to go through all of that? You think you need to punish me again? And again?”
“Yes,” I say firmly.
“You’re mean.”
“Maybe,” I admit. “But you need a firm hand.”
She scowls at me, but once again, she snuggles back into the blankets and her eyes start to close. My stern promises might seem unfair, but they’re also part of what makes her feel safe. She needs to know that she is going to be properly kept.
CHAPTER 14
Nicky
When I wake up again, I am still in trouble. It feels strange. I feel nervous and a little scared, and oddly safe. I am not allowed out of this room, even though I haven’t tried. I know that because he hasn’t really even let me out of the bed.
“I need to pee,” I say, throwing back the covers. “And I need to go and free my people.”
I put my feet on the floor for all of ten seconds before he picks me up and carries me to the bathroom.
“What are you doing?”
“Keeping an eye on you.”
“I can pee on my own,” I say.
“Can you? Because you just said you want to go and free your people, and I have already told you that’s not an option. But you’re not ready to listen when I give you instructions, so I don’t think you’re going to listen to me. And that means you cannot pee on your own.”
“I won’t go and let them out,” I promise. “But I need to go to the toilet. Now.”
He lets me go, but I am sure that he is waiting just outside the door. When I come out, yeah, he’s outside. He’s leaning against the door frame. He gives me a look as I emerge, a dark kind of appraising stare. He’s wearing black pants and a black shirt. It’s the sort of attire that suits anyone from a CEO to a waiter, and it suits him especially well.
I am starting to feel a little more normal now. A good day of rest along with food has returned a lot of my energy. I still feel traumatized as hell by what I’ve been through, but it’s starting to fade away just a little bit.
“I think it’s time I deal with you,” he says.
“Deal with me?”
“You can start atoning so your people can be freed from confinement,” he says.
“I don’t want to atone,” I say.
“I’m sure you don’t.” He picks me up again and carries me off to the bed. Now would be a good time to tell him that I have to go and pee again, but I don’t think that’s going to work. I think I am in trouble, and I think that trouble is about to really hit home.
Rex sits on the bed and stands me between his legs. The last time I was in a position like this, it went very badly for me. Some part of me wants to crawl over his lap already and just get this lecturing part over. I’m not in the mood to be confronted with my sins.
“Now, listen to me,” he says. “You know you messed up. I don’t need to tell you that, but I am going to tell you that because I think you need to hear it from me. You’re never, ever going to do anything like that again.”