Hammer spun around, and his gaze trailed down Dex’s body, stopping on the phone. A heartbeat later, the gray eyes moved, following the same trail back to Dex’s features, and when that handsome, square-jawed face stiffened, fear engulfed Dex as if he were a pile of dry leaves reacting to a lit match.
He had to act before Hammer came to the right conclusion about this situation. “If you’re gonna be the guardian of my phone, maybe make sure you don’t drop it? I’m still paying it off.” It came out too aggressively and Cora sneered at him, but Dex found it hard to control his mouth when his heart was going at twice the regular speed.
Hammer’s fingers darted to Dex’s throat like a cobra ready to bite. And once they squeezed, cutting off Dex’s air, the venom of terror spread through him like wildfire.
He couldn’t fool the killing machine with bullshit excuses.
“I’ll make us coffee. Have fun,” Cora said, as if nothing happened, and languidly stepped out of the room with a soft whistle on her lips.
Hammer’s face was red, and the gray eyes watching Dex from behind messy strands of hair—ready to dissect every lie. “You little fucker. I see I’ve been way too lenient with you.”
“Oh, come on,” Dex choked out when the grip loosened enough to let him speak. He was a rabbit caught in a snare, and he would not get away even if he chewed his leg off. “Would it really be so bad if Frank found out I was safe? I could even tell him to—”
The firm hand stopped him from speaking with a frightening squeeze, and this time the vulnerability brought on by the cuffs holding Dex’s hands together couldn’t be ignored. Hammer had brought him far away from home, to a secret location, and if he fed Dex’s body to Baby, the truth about his demise would remain a secret forever.
It only then hit Dex that he could die here, and no one would ever hear of him again.
With his ability to speak taken away, it wasn’t like making puppy eyes at someone like Hammer would do Dex any good, so he stared at the big steel-capped boots instead while his mind roared with the need to get to safety.
Cora hadn’t locked the door behind her. Could he…
In a bout of panic, he jerked back, but the grip on his neck was steel, rendering even the best jokes about collars painfully unfunny.
“You stupid, stupid kid,” Hammer rasped and leaned toward him, steady as if he were made of iron, not flesh and bone. “What do you think this is? We aren’tpals, definitely not lovers, and this isn’t a fun trip. You are my hostage, and you don’t get to call your uncle or do anything else without my permission. Is that clear?”
Dex’s nerves were on edge when the situation dawned on him. What if he remained in captivity for a long time? What if Hammer started sending out his severed fingers and toes?
His breath turned into a wheeze, but he refused to cry.
“Do you understand this?” Hammer demanded, and when Dex gave the weakest nod, Hammer pulled him toward a bench-like device padded with wine red leather. Whether it was shock or the sheer superiority of Hammer’s strength, Dex didn’t fight and found himself landing face down on the narrow bench. As reality dawned on him, he attempted scrambling for freedom, but before he could have slid off the thing, his legs were trapped on the kneeler with a thick strap of leather.
“The fuck are you doing?” Dex uttered, attempting to rise, but Hammer grabbed the short chain between his wrists and yanked it forward, forcing Dex down to his stomach again. With a metallic snap of finality, Hammer locked the cuffs to a carabiner hook at the front of the bench.
Dex tried to jerk his hands free, but had barely an inch of give, and there was no doubt that being put in this position, bent over and strapped down like an animal for slaughter, was meant to teach him a lesson through humiliation. Heat flushed his face, and he pressed his forehead to the leather, too embarrassed to even look at Hammer. He’d overestimated their friendly banter and was now paying for it.
“I might have tolerated this bullshit on the road, but I won’t in my friend’s home. You need to learn your place. If you act like a brat, that’s how I’ll treat you,” Hammer said, walking off to the cupboard full of scary tools. Dex tried to twist his head back to watch at him, but it only lead to a painful cramp in the shoulder by the time Hammer moved toward him, taking deliberately loud steps.
He swallowed, overwhelmed by this sudden change in his circumstances. “I was just responding to what you—And we had some fun along the way, didn’t we? I found the photos, I helped you handle Stefani. This isn’t fair!”
“I decide what’s fair and what isn’t. And whatever I allowed you out there,” Hammer said, stopping right behind Dex, where he couldn’t be seen, “it was because I didn’t want you to make noise. Here? Nobody will hear you scream,” he said, sending Dex’s heart into overdrive.
Dex’s stomach stuck to his spine, and he now wished he’d left the jacket in the car, because his body was overheating so fast it was about to cook in its own juices. His gaze trailed over the padded walls.
Bastard, he thought, yet was smart enough to not say it out loud as Hammer loomed behind him like a monster that might remain still until its presence was acknowledged.
“Is this about the gay thing? I’m sorry I was hitting on you so much. I thought it was, like, a thing between us.” Dex laughed, hoping it would lighten the mood, but it came out way too nervously.
“No, this is about the fucking phone.”
Air got stuck in Dex’s gullet when Hammer pulled at the waistband of his pants and dragged them down, exposing his buttocks to cold air.
No. No nonono.Why did he have to wear the jockstrap? When Frank told him they’d be keeping Hammer of the Demon Brethren MC in one of the cells, he’d dipped back home for a quick shower and change of clothes, and yes, on a whim, he’d decided a jockstrap was a good option, just in case.
It had not been a good option.
He could only hope Hammer didn’t laugh, or this purgatory would turn into sizzling hell real fast.
Embarrassment made his skin crawl when Hammer quieted down, standing behind him in utter silence. Whatever he’d expected to find under Dex’s jeans, it had not been bare skin framed by blue straps under the buttocks and at the hips.