“Come on, get in.” He left me there, naked and trembling on the wall. He went to the bath, turned the handles on the tub, and shut off the water.
I’d never felt more vulnerable or humiliated. My feet refused to work, so he put a hand under my elbow and forced me to step over the edge and put my feet in the water. He guided me down until I was sitting with my knees bent, and I hugged them to my chest. The water was pleasantly warm, but not hot, and I was grateful as I huddled in the bath. The sting against my abused skin would have been worse if it had been hot.
Luka sat on the edge of the tub, a hand resting casually on his jeans, and watched me with a face that was an emotionless mask. Less than a minute ago he’d kissed me as if he were hungry and wild, and now he looked bored. There was no point trying to figure him out. I hated him. That was all I needed to remember.
“I need to know your class schedule, and if there are group meetings you’re participating in.”
I stared blankly at the old scar on my knee from a fall at summer camp when I was ten.
When he became aware I wasn’t going to answer him, Luka issues an exasperated sigh. “You’re upset, I understand.”
Holy understatement of the century. But still, outwardly I stayed cold and robotic.
“But I don’t think you get how this works.” He put his palm on my cheek and forced my gaze onto him. “I can’t let you leave. As long as you’re in my house, it’s my rules. If you don’t do as told, there will be consequences.”
Is that what had just gone down in the bedroom? Consequences? I shivered, and then steeled my body not to betray me again. I wanted him to believe his words had no effect. To pretend Luka Markovic had no control over me.
“How hard these next few days are, depends completely on you.” His palm slid away, but I was snagged in his web, unable to drop his gaze. “The more you fight, the worse it will get. Just accept I am in control now. I own everything.” He made a production of sweeping his gaze downward. “Your body. Your time. Even your choices. Those are all mine now, Addison.”
My eyes burned “No” a thousand times over, and I clenched my teeth so hard I was about to crack my jaw.
“Your class schedule,” he said again, this time with a demanding edge.
Instead of answering, I sank down in the tub, dipping my head beneath the surface of the water. It was nice to get away from him. He was saying something, but it was too muffled and distant underwater for me to understand. I stayed under as long as my lungs would allow me, and finally reluctantly resurfaced.
“—of this, stop being so dramatic.” Annoyance flared in his eyes, and the eyebrow shot up into his dissatisfied arch.
I pushed the wet hair back from my face and listened to the water sloshing, rather than the rapist looming over me.
“You’ll tell me your schedule, goddamnit, or I’m going to—”
I took a deep breath and ducked down under the water once more. I floated in the warm, weightless space and pretended none of what was happening was real.
A hand latched onto my throat, holding me down, and instantly I panicked. I shouted a stream of bubbles and kicked, flailing in the water, and I clawed at the forearm holding me down. My hands were slippery, and as soon as I got a hold, Luka’s other hand peeled it off. Oh my God! My lungs begged for air and I thrashed wildly.
I’d just gotten my feet beneath me when Luka splashed into the tub, clothes and all, dropping his full weight on my hips, and locked me down. Oh, fuck! I was dangerously close to drowning. I choked in a mouthful of water the last second before he yanked me up. I gasped and sputtered, coughing out the water.
“Cut the shit, Addison. I’m not even asking you something hard!”
I blinked through the water running down my face. Luka looked furious, and his t-shirt was soaked in spots, no doubt from my wild thrashing. His grip stayed tight around my throat and I wrapped both of my hands on his forearm. His free hand grasped the edge of the tub, where his knuckles had gone white, and I had the terrible feeling he’d put me back under again if I didn’t answer him.
We balanced dangerously on the edge.
Water rippled back and forth and settled while our gazes were fixated on each other, wordlessly daring the other to keep pushing back. Would he do it? Did that kind of darkness exist in Luka? It wasn’t that I had a death wish, but the adrenaline pumping in my system and what he’d put me through made me reckless.