Brain(26)
“You had no one, while you were on the run?”
“Since most everyone thinks Ice is a man, I didn’t have to worry so much when I was Destiny. I’ve had a few boyfriends, though they all eventually started asking too many questions and I had to leave.” I shrugged. “No one has known my story, known who I was, if that’s your question, but I’ve had human interaction, people I could spend time with, party with, whatever.”
“How long do you stay in a city?”
“I was in Seattle nearly a year, and I went back and forth from Fort Lauderdale to Daytona Beach for nearly two years, acting like a tourist. I don’t think I managed any other cities for more than a few months, though.”
“You ready to settle down?”
“Maybe. If I decide to do something that needs a degree, I’ll have to stay in one place at least four years.” I shrugged again. “I don’t have the answers you’re looking for, Mr. Duke. I suddenly have options I didn’t have before, but the prospect of putting down roots only to have to leave in the middle of the night makes me not want to put down the roots in the first place. Do I dare buy land, build stables, and buy horses? Teach kids to ride in the winter, hold riding camps and maybe even some adventure camps in the summer? Will that really be an option? I don’t know.”
Duke leaned forward, his elbows on his spread knees, hands relaxed between them, head bowed. When he looked up, his eyes were scary, dark, intense. “If you were a man I’d take you out back and fight you, beat the hell out of you, and then shake hands and not be pissed anymore. Still wouldn’t trust you right away, but the resentment for getting one of my men hurt could be mostly be wiped.”
“I have a disguise in my backpack. I can look like a man in about five minutes.”
He shook his head. “No, I can’t hit a woman with my fists, and I’ll never strike you in any way while you’re bound, unless you make a move against me.” He nodded towards the kitchen. “I’ll carry you in, sit you in a chair, and help Brain with breakfast.”
“I’ll carry her in,” Brain called from the kitchen. “She’s used to me. Let me get these waffles out and I’ll be there.”
Duke shook his head, and terror shot through my body as he picked me up, slung me over his shoulder, and walked to the kitchen. “I’m not hurtin’ her, Brain.” He pulled a kitchen chair away from the table, and sat me in it — not rough enough to jar me, but not exactly gentle, either. “But you may want to convince her to wear the collar and go for a walk with me in the woods so you can get some work done.”
“No one lays a hand on her but me.” The look Brain gave Duke was scary, and I sensed problems, but also knew I’d make it worse by trying to intercede.
“You asking, or telling?” Duke asked, his voice a quiet threat.
“Telling, Duke. No one lays a hand on her but me.”
“Can’t make any promises. Let’s take care of breakfast, deal with it later.”
When we finished eating, Duke told Brain to go ahead and run into town to get the laptop, and Brain wanted to argue, but nodded and climbed onto his bike and roared away.
Without another word, Duke lifted me over his shoulder, carried me back to the living room, and sat me on the sofa. He dug around in a duffel, came out with a syringe, and I started begging, “No, please don’t knock me out, Mr. Duke, Sir. God, not again, I don’t want to be…” he pushed me sideways, put a knee in my back, held my arm with an iron grip, and stuck the needle into my upper arm. I screamed in both pain and frustration as the burning liquid shot into the muscle.
“Sorry, ice princess, but Brain’s grown too attached to you and isn’t thinking clearly. I won’t put Bash on you again, but Brain’s out of the picture, as far as you’re concerned.” He made a phone call and asked, “Where’s Brain’s bike?”
He nodded, hung up without saying goodbye, and lifted me again, though thankfully he didn’t sling me over his shoulder this time. My head was starting to swim and there was a good chance I’d have lost my waffles and eggs.
He put me in the back seat, saw I was groggy, helped me lie down, and said, “Night night,” before getting into the driver’s seat, tossing his duffel in the passenger floorboard, and driving off.
Chapter Fourteen
Ice
I awoke in a cage, an iron band locked around my ankle, attached to a heavy chain that led outside the cage, locked to a wall.
The man outside the cage scared the daylights out of me. He was big — not huge, but large and solid, all muscle and testosterone and you could just tell he was pissed at the world. He had a scruffy beard, his jeans were so worn and faded they looked to be a permanent part of him, and a tight, black t-shirt molded to bulging muscles that cut into his body as if carved by a sculptor. His black leather vest proclaimed him a member of the RTMC, and his eyes looked like he’d just as soon cut me with the knife on his belt than talk to me.