Chapter Sixteen
Sunny backed away, unable to stop the trembling that had started up through her whole body.He is here.After so many years, after all her work, all the running and hiding and fear, Tanner was inside her house.
It all came together, pieced together as if his presence made it so she couldn’t ignore reality anymore. He’d been the one to call her, to break in, to hurt Spike, to tear apart the life she’d worked so hard to create.
“My little Sunshine,” he said, the hated nickname making her stomach churn, something she’d hoped to never hear again.
She wanted to scream, to tell him to get out, to dosomething, but nothing came. She was that same woman again, facing off against him, knowing she’d lose.
When she’d run, she’d never actually faced him. She’d just snuck out, terrified to stand against him, to risk everything.
His lips curled into a familiar vicious smirk. “I was worried that so much time on your own would make you unruly but look at this. You’re as timid and weak as ever.” He darted forward, but even when she yanked back, he was quicker. He wrapped his hand in her hair, a grasp that was nothing like when Connor did it. It hurt, and Tanner used it to drag her into the living room.
She cried out when he used the grip to force her face to his, to make her look at him, into those dark eyes she’d known so well.
“Get on your knees,” he ordered. “Back where you belong.”
She did as he said. It wasn’t with the same happiness she felt when she did it for Garrison, and she felt no better when she took the position. Instead, she felt degraded, trapped and terrified.
On the floor sat an open bag, and beside it, on the table, the items placed there gave her no doubt to what he had planned. Cuffs, a gag, duct tape and a knife were spread out, digging that terror deeper into her.
“Stay,” he said with the sharp tone of one talking to a dog before he peered around. “I didn’t have any time to check out the place the last time I was here. I knew you had a dog, but I hadn’t realized it was quite so vicious. I hope you know we’ll have to put it down. I refuse to have dangerous beasts in our home.”
She curled her hands into fists on her thighs, her gaze down, trying to hide anything in her head.No.She couldn’t even consider that. She’d never let him anywhere near Spike, not again. Even if he dragged her back to hell with him, Spike would stay safe where he was.
Tanner kept talking, not waiting for an answer, probably because he didn’t expect one. He’d never cared what Sunny had to say, what she thought. “It’s been a long time, Sunshine, but I always thought you’d come around. I gave you time because I figured you’d realize on your own where you belonged. You never dated anyone that I saw, never brought anyone back here, so I thought you understood that you were mine—temper tantrum aside. Then, when I came out a few weeks ago, I followed you to that club.” He clicked his tongue in disappointment. “A sex club, Sunshine? That isn’t your sort of place, and if you were so desperate for that, you should have come back to me.”
She kept her mouth shut, even when the words bubbled inside her, a desire to tell him that what he’d done was abuse, that it wasn’t what she’d wanted, that she finally understood the difference.
“So I planned to come back the next week, show you the error of your ways, bring you back home where you belong. Unfortunately, your mutt made that impossible. I would have liked to finish the job, but—” He lifted his shirt to show an ugly patch of bruised skin around a bandage, proof that Spike had gotten a chunk of him. Tanner lowered the fabric. “Good thing I’d brought a crowbar for the door, or I might not have been able to get him off me.”
She swallowed down the bile at the thought of Tanner hitting Spike with that, at the anger that he had dared to hurt an animal who had done nothing but protect her. It wasn’t surprise—Tanner was a monster—but his words forced her to envision it. Instead of focusing there, she whispered another topic. “Your work said you’ve never missed a day.”
“Did you have someone checking in on me?” He asked it as though the thought amused him. “Of course I haven’t—I’m always back by Monday. I paid Harron extra, this week, to bring you back with me. I’ve built a lovely room in the basement, one where no one will find you, should anyone come looking. You’ll stay there until you learn how to behave properly, until you figure out what it means to be agoodsubmissive.” His words came out low, dark and absolutely confident.
He planned to take her back, to the horror of her old life, to the darkness and the pain and the fear.
Away from all the things she’d found, the life she’d built out of sheer determination.
She thought about her life, about the home she loved, about Spike, who had nearly died trying to protect her, about the men who had taught her that she didn’t need this, that she was so much more than Tanner had told her.
All the fear remained, but she refused to let it hold her back. She refused to let it make her quiet and meek anymore, especially when it was Tanner who had put it there. Instead, her gaze went to the knife on the table, the one Tanner had there to use against her.
He came back and crouched between her and the table. He grabbed her chin, his fingers pressing in so hard it hurt. “You are mine. I don’t care how many you’ve fucked around with, I don’t care that you think you could get away, or that you played with some other Dom—you aremine, always, and I’ll remind you of that as long and as often as you need me to.”
“I’m not yours,” she whispered, the first real time she’d stood up to him, the first time she’d told him no, that she’d said anything against him. It felt like a break, like a tree that had grown against a wall for years, digging roots in, making it unsteady, until it finally crumbled beneath that persistence.
He tilted his head. “No? Whose are you, then? Are you trying to tell me you want those other fuckers from the club to own you?”
She shook her head, each violation he’d made her suffer coming back to her. What he’d done to both her dogs, the way he’d stolen her sense of safety, stolen years of her life. “I belong tome,” she bit out, then flung herself forward.
It was likely only the surprise that knocked Tanner off balance, since he was larger and stronger than she was. Still, it was hopefully enough. Ithadto be enough. He hit the table, making it skid a few feet back, and the items on it toppled to the floor.
He twisted, trying to get a hold of Sunny, but she fought. She writhed, catching him in the chin with her elbow, clawing and kicking and giving iteverythingshe had. She wasn’t walking away from her life again. She wasn’t going to just give up the happiness she’d found—that she knew she deserved.
He cursed, spitting out names that rolled off her, names that didn’t matter to her.
His hand struck her cheek, and spots danced in her vision. Even still, she didn’t give in. If he was going to win, if he was going to get anything from her, she’d fight him every god dammed inch of the way, because shedeservedto have what she wanted, and she’d fight for it.