Earl shook his head at Cody. His disapproval would only increase Cody’s desire to pay Marcella back for humiliating him.
I turned to Marcella. Her blouse had lost another button and was covered in grime just like her feet but the look in her eyes was as proud as the first time I’d seen her. I held out my hand to her and to my surprise she took it without hesitation. I pulled her to her feet. She stumbled against me and I wasn’t entirely sure if it was an accident. Instead of pushing her away at once, I enjoyed the feel of her breasts pressed against my chest for a moment as I looked down at her face. Grabbing her shoulders, I moved her back. “Does it hurt?” I asked, motioning at her red cheek.
She shrugged. “Your biker buddy has it worse. I think I knocked his last brain cells out of his head.”
“Maybe you should get down from your high horse before someone knocks you down. Everyone around here is eager to break the spoiled princess. Keep that in mind before you act out again.”
“My father will save me soon. I bet he’s already on his way with an army of loyal followers at his heels. And you’ll find I’m difficult to break,” she said simply.
Her absolute certainty that her father would save her rubbed me the wrong way. Her absolute trust in her father enraged me. I wanted her to doubt him, to hate him. I wanted her to show a crack in her cold New York princess façade. This side of her was too much like her father.
I smirked. “Maybe because nobody’s tried to break you yet, Snow White.” I stepped closer again until I towered over her and inhaled her scent. “You grew up in a castle behind protective walls built by your fucking father.”
Fuck, part of me wanted to break her, but the other, the other wanted to find out more about her, wanted to win her over to my side. Breaking women wasn’t my thing anyway. Cody and a few other guys, on the other hand might find it enjoyable.
Marcella only watched me but there was a flicker of unease in her eyes. She knew what I said was true. She’d had a very sheltered life. The only problems she’d encountered so far were if her shoes didn’t match her dress. I came from a very different world, one filled with blood and pain.
“Do you want to break me, Maddox?” Marcella asked, and the way she said my name, her tongue caressing every syllable, raised goose bumps on my skin. Fuck. Never before had a woman given me goose bumps.
Her blue eyes seemed to bury in my soul, digging and searching. “I’m pretty busy.” I backed away and picked up the shoe. “I’m afraid I’ll have to confiscate this until your release. Though, I’m sure you’ve got an impressive collection at home and won’t miss a pair.”
“When will I be released?”
I walked out of the cage and closed the door. “When your daddy is ready to hand himself over.” She didn’t need to know the truth. Maybe she’d finally learn to despise her father if she thought he hesitated to offer himself for her.
“Will you give me clothes to change or an opportunity to wash myself?”
I shook my head. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to piss me off on purpose. “I’ll send someone down with a bucket of water later. But I don’t think any of the girls want their clothes ruined in the kennels.”
“You’d probably prefer me to sit here naked,” she muttered.
“No,” I said, and I wasn’t even lying, because I had a feeling seeing Marcella naked would mess with my brain in a way that I really didn’t need.
I got off my bike. Since Marcella’s arrival three days ago, I always parked my bike farther down the hill so I had to walk past the kennels and could catch a glimpse of her. What I saw made me pause.
Her blouse was ripped. One of those fancy see-through sleeves hanging by a thread. This morning before my run that definitely hadn’t been the case yet. Fuck. Why did Earl have to insist I check our gun and drug storage?
I made a beeline toward her, my pulse already speeding up. “What happened?”
Marcella poked around in her bowl of scrambled eggs. I got why she didn’t eat them. They looked like they had already been eaten.
“Someone needs to take a cooking course,” she said, as if she didn’t know what I was referring to. She had a talent to drive me up the wall. I unlocked the door and a subtle tension entered Marcella’s body. I’d noticed it before and as usual it rubbed me the wrong way.
I motioned at her ripped sleeve. “What happened?”