“Take me home.” The fight had literally drained out of me at the revelation he could do anything he wanted to me here, and no one could stop him. I was terrified. Those pictures on the internet seeped into my brain and there was no telling what type of torture he was capable of.
“After we talk.” His tone was calm, but even a fool would be able to see the anger blazing in his dark blue eyes. The way he walked me over to the couch didn’t coincide with that angry look and he sat down, finally releasing my arm. “Join me.” The words were spoken with composure.
All that anger that raged within me since I’d left my apartment melted away into stark terror. I honestly didn’t know this man I was sitting with and out of that emotion I sat. Granted I moved as far away from him on the couch as possible without sitting on the armrest.
“Explain to me why you’re acting this way.” He crossed one ankle over his knee and his entire persona relaxed. I, on the other hand, sat on the very edge of my seat ready to bolt in case he flipped out and tried to hurt me.
“I know what you are.” The words were accusing, if wary because I wasn’t sure exactly what would set him off.
“What is it that you think you know?”
How dare he look amused! Maybe that’s what psychopaths did, though. I remembered watching some movie about a serial killer whose pulse never accelerated as he murdered his victims. My opinion of Jack wasn’t very high at the moment, obviously. “You’re a sadist!”
The small upturn of his mouth told me he was amused at my deduction, and I wanted to slap him again. There was nothing funny about this situation and I couldn’t control my need to rant. “You like to beat and torture women!”
“And you came to this conclusion over how many times I’ve beaten you since we’ve met?”
Was he mocking me? I stood up and glared down at him with all the rage building in my heart. “Don’t you dare pretend you’re not a monster!” I was screaming again. This man had hurt me emotionally in ways I would never recover from.
“Sit down, Emily.” His answering stern look, reminded me just who I was in the room with. Like an obedient dog, I sat. “At what point have I ever lifted a hand to you?”
He hadn’t. Not once in the time I’d known him had he physically struck me. That didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about it, though. “Don’t try and confuse me. Tell me to my face you aren’t a sadist!” How dare he attempt to rationalize his perversion!
“I’m not a sadist.” That damn smirk again. It frustrated me how sexy he could look sitting there lying to me. What kind of person was I that it turned me on even when I wanted to kick him in the balls at the same time?
“You’re a liar!” He wouldn’t even be honest with me now that I knew the truth. It did something to my heart knowing he could be so deceptive. My eyes filled with tears and I hated him for the emotion.
“I’ve told you my patience has limits. Don’t push me, little one.” Our gazes met and the intensity written in those orbs was more than I could take, I looked at my hands. “I’m not a sadist, Emily, I’m a Dominant.”
“You’re just trying to confuse me.” I hadn’t heard that word before, but I knew what I’d seen on the internet. A few tears slid free, and I wiped at them angrily. I’d never felt more hurt then I did sitting with him knowing he could never be mine.
“Emily.” His voice filled with pity, and I wanted to climb into his lap and forget that I knew all the horrible things he’d do to me if I stayed. Sliding close to me, he pulled me right where I wanted to be.
Every muscle in my body tensed. “Don’t, Jack. I don’t want you to hurt me.” More than he already had by being the way he was. The thought of him doing all those vile things in those pictures to me, completely conflicted with the man holding me in his lap.
I couldn’t take this. The tears flowed unrestrained down my cheeks, and I was lost. I wanted him to take it all away, be something other than what he was, because knowing the truth was something I wasn’t sure my heart could ever recover from.
He pressed his hand to my head holding it against his chest and caressed my hair gently. The action was so tender that I relaxed in his hold, wishing beyond all things that this was the real Jack. “I don’t know what you’ve seen, or what you think, but I would never hurt you more than you could take.”
His words confused me even more. “I don’t like pain, Jack.” I spoke through the tears, wondering if somehow I’d given him the impression I was like him. It was just like me to turn his faults around and place them on myself.