“What a-about after,” Lai stutters through my firm grip. “You gonna let us take her for a test ride after you’ve popped it?”
He still doesn’t know I’ve already fucked Pandora, not that I’m going to tell him anytime soon. He would take it as an open invitation to fuck her, touch her and attempt to own her. And there’s no goddamn way I’m letting that happen.
A shrill scream interrupts the scene, and I let Lai’s throat slip between my fingers, sputtering as he attempts to catch his breath.
“What the fuck was that?” Lai questions, his gaze going up.
“Nothing,” I mutter.
Goddamn, she must have gotten out of the room somehow. There’s no other way we would’ve been able to hear her otherwise – those walls are sound-fucking-proof.
“You need to get the hell out of here,” I bark at Lai, grabbing the collar of his school blazer. “Right the fuck now, I need you to get the hell out of here. I can’t deal with any of this right now.”
“What?” He furrows his brows. “Now you’re kicking me out?”
I walk him to the front door and toss his ass on the driveway.
“Tell the others to keep an eye on my toy,” I hiss at him. “Do not forget your fucking place. Pandora is mine, and mine alone. I don’t want anyone else getting their grubby hands on her – especially fucking Easton.”
“Got it,” Lai rolls his eyes. “Hey, thanks for the warm welcome, you-”
I don’t wait for him to finish, instead slamming the front door in his face. I don’t have a moment to catch my breath – the next second, a body slams into me from behind, full-force.
I don’t go down easy, and she falls on top of me in a heap of flying hair, skinny limbs and muffled shrieks. I overpower Lily Anna easily, grabbing her with both arms and holding her down until I hear Lai’s car pulling out of my driveway.
Next thing I know, she’s digging her sharp little teeth into my fist and I curse out loud when she draws blood.
“How the fuck did you get out of there?” I hiss at her, throwing her flailing body over my shoulder.
“You’re getting reckless, Dex,” she spits out. “Was that Lai? Let me speak to him. I want to speak to him right the fuck now!”
“Dream on,” I grit out, carrying her up the stairs and back into her prison.
She never stops fighting me, not for one minute, but her little body is helpless against my strong, powerful one. Despite knowing this, she does her best to overpower me and get free but fails every time.
I put her on the mattress in her room and stand in front of the door with my arms crossed.
“You need that butler
, don’t you Dex?” she laughs cruelly from her makeshift bed. “You left the door unlocked when Lai rang the bell, you fool. It will only take one mistake like that for me to run away. You know that, don’t you?”
“You already got that mistake, and you didn’t fucking use it,” I spit back. “Now be a good girl and shut the fuck up.”
Her pretty face flashes with a hint of pain, and I hate myself for putting the girl I love in this position. She doesn’t deserve this – nobody does. And it hurts that she’s lucid for once, her eyes clear as they lock with mine, her gaze full of hatred for me that I put there – all my goddamn fault.
I slam the door behind me. I take extra care to do all the locks up. Not a sound comes through the door. My captive is finally safe. I remind myself I’m doing all of this for her, then leave her in there. I don’t have to go back for another few hours. I spent all morning with her, and it seems to have done no good to her at all. She’s only angrier than she was before, filled with rage and contempt for me when I’m only trying to help her. A part of me wants to fill her with the pills Emilian Oakes made her take, but I don’t want to put her through that again.
On an impulse, I decide to check on my toy to distract myself from the shitshow that is my life. I walk into my study, clicking the computer to life. I bring up the camera feed from Pandora’s room, and the screen crackles to life. The camera is yet to be discovered, and I have an unobstructed view of Pandora lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Without stopping to think about what I’m doing, I reach for my phone, sending off a quick text to the girl in question. I look back at the screen, hungrily watching her make a grab for the phone the second it pings with an incoming text.
Had a fun time at Prep today, little toy?
Her brows furrow, then she bites her full bottom lip. Little fingers with that ridiculous manicure tap at the screen. She keeps deleting, then adding more text. Finally, my phone sounds off as her reply comes through.
Fuck you, Dexter! Where the hell were you?
Busy. Believe it or not, my life doesn’t revolve around you. I have other things to attend to.