She bites down. “You want to take my ass?” she asks. “You want to choke me while you fuck me? You want to turn me over and hit me? All men have a thing.”
“I want you to leave. Now.”
Something in my face or voice must convince her, because Helena clambers to her feet. She moves to the door and glances back over her shoulder.
“It’s not about me, is it?” she asks softly.
And because I’m not a fucking asshole, I tell her the truth. Part of it, at least. “No, it’s not.”
I don’t add the other part. It’s about Renata.
She gives me a nod and wraps her knuckles against the door. It opens immediately and she heads out. I lie back on my bed, but before I can gather my thoughts, three guards step into my cell.
I get on my feet immediately as they approach me. The man at the head of the pack brandishes a pair of steel cuffs.
“Three lads, huh?” I ask mockingly. “I already told the girl no. Afraid I’m not interested in you boys, either. I’m flattered, though, seriously.”
The lead guard doesn’t say a word as he steps forward and shoves me against the wall with a nightstick. The other two descend behind them. I don’t put up much of a fight as I’m cuffed and forced out of the cell.
I’m curious to see what’s happening.
It takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the sudden assault of brightness. I’m forced into the main body of the warehouse.
The wooden structure I’d been tied to the first week is back in place. I roll my eyes. “Back to this again?” I drawl. “You’ve had so long to come up with new ideas.”
The lead guard responds with a thwack of the nightstick against my abdomen.
As I double over, wheezing, the cuffs are removed and I’m quickly chained on either end, forcing my hands up and out. But at least my feet are left free.
For the moment.
When I’m well-secured, Rokiades appears from the side. He’s wearing an off-white suit this time.
“Nice suit,” I tell him when I’ve got my breath back. “Going to the circus?”
“You refused the girl I sent you,” he says, ignoring me.
I shrug. “She wasn’t my type.”
“That’s what she told me you said.”
“So why am I here?” I ask. “Missed me?”
The smile on his face gives me a strange sense of foreboding. I wonder about Renata. What if she’d gotten in trouble for visiting me? What if she’d lied about having Rokiades’s permission? It was just the kind of risky, idiotic move she’d make.
“What is your real interest in my fiancé?” he asks. His word choice is deliberate, as if I give a shit what he calls her. It’s fucking pathetic.
“I’ve already told you.”
“I’m not sure I believe you, Kian.”
“Then I don’t know what to tell you.”
“No red-blooded man turns down that woman,” Rokiades says. “I’ve had her myself. Numerous times. She’s very talented.”
“She’s also Greek,” I snap. “I’d rather fuck a pig.”
He bristles at the insult, but calms himself down a moment later. “You’re lying,” Rokiades surmises. “You want my woman.”