He looked behind him at the door. “I’m a sick fuck.”
“Noah, don’t say stuff like that.”
“They should have locked me away,” he said. “When they knew what I’d done. I told that cop. Daniels, the one after we killed Mitch and his brother.” He rubbed at his eyes, feeling the sting.
“I don’t know what’s happening right now.” She looked past his shoulder at the spare bedroom. He’d never showed her this room, nor had he given her the key. Anyone who had worked on this special room had to sign nondisclosure forms. No one else knew about this room, apart from Scarlett, her lawyer, his, and the men who worked on the room. “Is that my present?” She pointed toward the door.
“No. This is not your present.” He held out a rectangular box. “This is your present. The moment I saw it, I thought of you.”
“Noah, you don’t have to get me anything.”
“I know, but I want to. I want to spoil you and give you presents.” He opened the box and showed her the small, heart-shaped pendant he’d found. He watched her nibbling her lip. She looked so incredibly fuckable right now, especially when she looked nervous. “May I?” She nodded her head, and he slid the necklace around her neck, fastening the clip.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Good. Now I have something I want to show you.”
Taking the key out of his pocket, he slid it into the lock and twisted. The lock clicked open, and he took the key out and slid it into his pocket.
He reached behind him, waiting for her to take his hand. She didn’t even hesitate as she slid hers within his.
Holding her tightly in his grip, he opened the door, stepping inside. He moved Skye in front of him, closing the door before flicking the light switch on.
Skye’s gasp echoed around the tiny room.
He felt her tense up, and he wrapped his arms around her, keeping her secure to his body, not wanting to let her go.
“It’s okay.”
“What the hell, Noah?” She whispered the words.
“I told you, I’m fucked up.”
The room they stood in was an exact replica of their cell.
No windows. No flooring. Cold, cement floors. He didn’t even allow for heating to come into the room, and it was in fact cold. Skye crossed her arms over her chest, rubbing at her arms.
On the wall to his left, chains hung down the walls just like where he was once bound. It was not in this exact room, but it was like stepping back in time.
A single toilet sat in the nearest right corner, and in the far right was a bed with a mattress that had seen better days, but he knew for a fact it was brand-new. He’d purchased it and gotten the men to dirty it up in dust and stuff.
“I don’t know why you’d do this?” she asked. She turned in his arms, tears in her eyes. “Do you miss it? Are you wanting to go back?”
“I don’t miss it.” He stroked her cheek.
She didn’t flinch away from his touch, so he considered that a plus.
“Then, why? I don’t … how could you have recreated that place?”
“Does it scare you?” he asked.
She turned back to look at the small room. “No, it doesn’t scare me.” She took a step inside the room, away from him.
It didn’t take her many steps until she sat on the bed, her hands gripping the edge. He saw the tears in her eyes.
“I think about this place so much,” she said.
She closed her eyes, and he saw her grip tighten on the mattress before getting to her feet and moving to the chains like the ones he’d once been bound by.