Because of everything you make me feel.
He didn’t move. Just held me there, his grip on my wrists loosening a little.
I looked up, speaking low as my lips brushed his mask. “I…” I didn’t know what to say.
Am I really just leverage in this cat and mouse game between you and Damon? Just a tool?
I mean, Rika was right, wasn’t she? He could’ve just taken me if that’s all it was about. He wanted me to choose him in that guest house.
He wanted me.
And I wanted him to know I had to make an impossible choice. But in my head, tucked away where I kept my secrets, it would always be him. Ten years…twenty years down the road I would watch him from a distance and see him build his life and be happy if he was happy.
I wanted him to know I loved our foreplay.
I wanted him to know I loved him.
“I wish I could keep you,” I said. “People like me don’t get what they want, though. They earn what they need to survive, and even if there weren’t so many secrets between us, I don’t fit in your world, Kai.”
“My world?” he said, looking down at me. “Wanna see my world?”
And he stepped away from me, walking into the master bedroom.
Huh? What did that mean?
I took a deep breath, feeling like I was going to fall without him there to hold me up, but I forced myself to straighten and follow him.
I suddenly heard a scraping sound matched with a dull thunder, and I snapped my head up, walking into the bedroom and seeing Kai pull out an entire panel of the wall.
What the hell?
The fireplace?
??or fake fireplace, I guessed—was attached to a section of flooring that swerved outward, opening the wall from floor to ceiling.
There was a secret passageway.
Without looking back at me, he disappeared through the hole and left the entrance open.
Where was he going?
This house was starting to make a little more sense. I knew there had to be a reason he bought it.
Carefully stepping up to the opening, I peeked in, my eyes falling on the only thing in there. A staircase. It led down, with lighting strung along the wall, and I tuned my ear, listening for noises. But I heard nothing. Not even the sound of his steps.
“Kai?” I called. “Where are you?”
But my words just fell into the void. How deep did this go?
I tucked my hair behind my ear and tightened my jacket against the chilly draft as I walked in. And descended. I left the door open, though, just in case.
The steps were sandstone, and the walls were lined with wiring connecting the lighting installed in small intervals. I continued down the spiral staircase, hugging the wall for support and feeling the air getting crisper the farther I went. Circle after circle after circle, I had to blink several times to keep from getting dizzy.
What was all this for?
After what seemed like forever, I finally reached the bottom, and I looked ahead, seeing a tunnel. Moonlight streamed in from above, and I knew I shouldn’t be scared, but I was a little. If Kai was hiding this, what else was he hiding? Just go, Banks. The less you know, the more you fear, so go learn more.
I walked along, keeping my eyes and ears alert as I stepped over the steel grate flooring and looked down to see a stream of water. Looking up, I saw another grate and the black sky with stars above. It was a sewer for rain run-off. The rock walls and tunnel had been constructed several decades ago, most likely. There were arches to my right, and I could tell the tunnel used to veer off to provide access to other areas of the city, but the passageways had been bricked off. There was only one way to go. Straight.