“You’re learning,” he turns his back to me, and I use it, breaking left and back the way we came. I kick my shoes off, I don’t care about them, and I’ll run bare foot all the way home if I have to.
I hear Kingston’s laugh even over the music and my heavy panting.
“Did I not warn you how much I enjoy the chase, love?” He’s closer than I expected.
I run harder, faster, skidding around a corner, my bare feet squeaking on the tile. I hate how my body reacts. I hate how even as fear grips my muscles and seizes my mind, I feel a rush of lust swarm right alongside it.
“Run, Eleanor,” King shouts behind me, accompanied by a deep laugh, “run.”
He’s not running though, he’s following, I can feel his presence, but he isn’t running, and I figure out why a moment later when my legs barely bring me to a stop before I collide with a wall of muscle. The security guard does nothing but stand there, arms folded looking at me with no form of emotion at all. King’s footsteps behind me are a leisurely pace, the tap of his shoes on the tile whipping through me and making me flinch and still, I’m burning for him.
I won’t let it consume me this time. I won’t be that helpless moth.
I dart left.
There has to be another way out. They can’t keep me here.
I scoff inwardly, I’m sure Kingston has every resource available to him if he wanted to keep me here against my will.
That damn chuckle follows me.
I’m so fucking stupid.
I take the stairs two at a time, holding my dress so I don’t trip over it. There are doors all the way down the halls and the sounds from each one tells me what the hell is going on in them. How did he trick me into coming to this place?
I mean, I’m all for people getting what they want and how they do it isn’t my business, but this isn’t me.
I come to the end of the hall and consequences be damned, I ram the door open and go inside. There’s only two people inside. Their heads whip around to me, eyes widening at my clear state of distress. Thankfully they look to be getting dressed. The room smells like sex and sweat, even if the bed looks to be untouched, but I don’t care enough to come up with all the creative ways they could have done their business.
“Are you okay?” The woman asks. She’s pretty, blonde and her dress is a dark emerald green, so dark it could pass as black. There’s a flush to her skin, a satisfied gleam in her eye. “Is someone bothering you?”
“No,” wait, why am I lying? “I just needed a minute, I’m sorry, I thought this room was empty.”
“No that’s –” She gets cut off as the door slams open so hard it bounces off the wall and Kingston fills the doorway.
“Out,” Everything about him commanded respect, obedience and the girl no longer looks at me like she wants to help. She appears to pity me as she slinks past, eyes down and slips from the room, the guy quickly following.
The door slamming makes me jump.
“I was very clear in my instructions, Eleanor.”
“I want to go home.” My voice shakes.
“And I said you can leave when I say you can leave.”
“You can’t do this,” I clench my fists to hide the shake. Where was the out he offered not so long ago?
“Have you not already figured it out, love? I can do anything.”
“You’re no better than them, are you?” I spin on him, “Maybe you’re even working with them, and I’m about to find out exactly what’s been happening to Tate. Is that why you brought me here? To fuck me and kidnap me?”
My heart pounds furiously. My whole body is on alert and every nerve awake. I know I’m wet, I know the fear is doing fucked up things to me.
“I can assure you, Eleanor, I am a lot of things and I have done many questionable things, but that is not one of them.”
He cocks his head, eyes roaming over me, still dark with his desire for me. I see the evidence of it straining against his trousers. He was hard chasing me, hard for the game we were playing. He’s fucked up. He’s a fucking monster. He wants my fear.
No, he didn’t want it. He already had it.
I tilt my chin up, nostrils flaring.
“You like it, don’t you,” he steps towards me, I step back, “You like the fear. It gets you off. Being scared, running, wondering how something will play out, it makes you wet, doesn’t it, Eleanor.” It isn’t a question.
“I want to go home, Kingston.”
“I’ll take you home,” He agrees, closing the gap between us. I hold very, very still as he curls a finger under my chin to keep my eyes on him, “But if you think you’re free, you’re wrong. I won’t be letting you go, love. You’re mine.”
And then his mouth slams against mine.