He moves behind me now, draping the chain around my neck and clasping it. Once he’s finished that task, he drags my zipper down until the back of my dress gapes open. My pulse quickens and I feel a little unsteady.
“I didn’t think you’d be threatened by Mark,” I say.
An abruptly exhaled breath hits my skin as he laughs. I shiver, closing my eyes as he tenderly presses his lips against my shoulder. He lingers, then moves a fraction of an inch and does it again. He does it a third time before he leans in, his warm chest pressing against my nearly bare back. Then he drops a few kisses along my neck. Once he gets to my ear, he murmurs, “He isn’t a threat, sweetheart. He’s a pain in my ass. And you’ve seen what happens to boys who become pains in my ass.”
Anger moves through me at his crass reminder of what he did to Vince, but he’s doing his scary-sexy thing, and I’m too goddamn intimidated to talk back now. I know when to push and when to back down, and this isn’t a moment for pushing.
Trailing the back of his finger down the curve of my back, he continues, “I understand you’re a young, attractive girl. I understood that before I acquired you. I’m sure you like the attention. I will give you all the attention you want. But please, for your own sake, do not create another Vince. I promise you it will not end any better a second time, and I shouldn’t have to start a war over what’s already mine.”
“Does Meg get warnings like this?” I ask, a little shakily, as he uses both hands now to push my dress down.
“No. Meg has much more sense than you; she doesn’t require these kinds of warnings.”
I stiffen at the insult, but I don’t respond.
He’s pushed my dress to the ground now and I’m standing here in my heels, bra, and panties. Then he hooks his fingers around the panties and tugs them down.
“Shouldn’t we go to my room?” I ask.
“This is my bedroom,” he states. “I’ll fuck whoever I want in it.”
Jesus, he is in a bad mood.
He prowls around me now in a circle, looking me over like a prized piece in his collection. I don’t especially like the feeling; it’s not the first time since being “acquired” that I’ve felt more like a possession than a person, but he’s in such a weird mood tonight that I keep my mouth shut.
He stops in front of me, his hands moving to unbutton his pants, and looks at me like he’d just love for me to object. “Now, get your pretty little ass on my bed and stick it in the air.”
I jut my chin out like I’m going to be difficult, but I haul my ass over to the bed and do just as he says. He laughs a little at this. It vaguely embarrasses me, but since I clearly have some kind of sickness, that turns me on.
“This won’t be gentle,” he warns, unnecessarily, as he climbs up on the bed behind me.
“I sorta figured,” I mutter, bracing my weight on my forearms.
And it isn’t. He shoves his cock inside me like he’s wielding a sword and he wants me dead. This round is the most reminiscent of the first time I was in this bed with him. He fucks me harder and harder, making it impossible to stay upright on the bed, impossible to stay silent. He finishes inside me before I can come, and when he drops to the bed beside me, knowing that and not caring, that’s when I accept that he’s definitely mad at me.
And I hate it.
Swallowing my pride, I curl up beside him. Tentatively, I rest my hand on his chest. I watch his face, but he doesn’t look at me, not even when I brush my thumb across his skin, offering up a meager serving of the tenderness I’ve been withholding like it’s my job for two weeks.
It shouldn’t make me nervous, given I hate him and all, but now that I’ve seen how annoyed he is with me, his absence from my bed last night does worry me. Maybe he’s getting tired of me. Maybe he doesn’t like having to put in this much work. God knows he doesn’t have to. Maybe he’s getting bored with me. That shouldn’t make my stomach sink. That shouldn’t make me feel shaky inside.
Besides, how sick of me can he really be if he gave me the death necklace?
“Are you really that mad over Mark?” I ask quietly.
Mateo rolls his eyes. “I’m not mad about Mark. I was merely warning you. I know girls like you enjoy having some asshole always waiting in the wings. That’s not going to happen with me. It invites trouble and I want peace.”