But a second later, he got out of the water.
His cock was rock hard, but he didn’t pull me toward him, didn’t push me into his mouth, didn’t take my hand and bring it to his shaft.
Instead, he held a towel out for me. “Get out.”
I stood up and stepped into the towel. He wrapped it around me.
I stared at him, questioning. “I want to make you feel good,” I said, and I reached for his dick, but he caught my wrist.
He grabbed another towel and tied it around his waist before walking out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom.
And then I understood.
He wasn’t punishing me.
He was punishing himself.
8
EMERY
Our food came a few minutes later, and I sat on the bed watching TV and waiting while Liam worked on his computer at a desk in the corner. He’d been withdrawn and seemingly distant after our bath.
When I finished picking at my turkey club, I approached him.
The bedroom was bigger than I would have expected in a jet, and if it weren’t for the round windows, it would have been easy to feel like we were in some kind of fancy hotel room instead of on a plane.
“Are you going to eat?” I asked, standing a few feet away from him.
“In a few minutes.” He sounded distracted and cold.
“Your food is going to get cold.”
He didn’t reply. He was staring intently at something on his computer screen, and I moved around to the other side of the desk and stared down at the monitor. On it played the security tape from the casino. He must have gotten someone from management to email it to him.
I watched on the screen as Robbie led me down the hall, watched as he pressed his arm to my throat, watched my eyes widen in fear as I reached for his hand and clawed at his skin.
Liam made no move to hide from me what he was watching. Instead, he began to replay it.
I reached over and slammed his laptop shut.
He swiveled the chair around toward me. He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of loose gray pajama pants. His hands gripped the arms of the chair, the veins in his biceps becoming more prominent.
“Why are you watching that?” I demanded.
“Because I’m trying to figure out who, exactly, did that to you.” He sounded cool, calculating, matter-of-fact, like whatever torture he’d planned for Robbie was non-negotiable.
“You know who he is.”
“No,” he corrected. “I know who he said he was.”
“Isn’t he one of the people who my father owes money too?”
He shook his head. “I’m not so sure. I told you that I paid those people off as soon as I left your room.”
I thought about it for a beat. “So I’m free,” I said, speaking the words that had been on my mind ever since Liam had told me he’d paid my ransom, the words I’d been afraid to say.
He nodded. “You’re free.”
My head spun as he got up and left the room. When he came back, he was holding a bottle of red wine and two long-stemmed glasses.
He uncorked the bottle, filling one glass halfway and the other all the way.
He handed me the glass that was less than halfway and I took a sip.
My mind was spinning as I tried to focus on what it was he’d just told me. One, that I was no longer a prisoner. My debt had been paid. I could leave anytime I wanted. Two, that even because of that, I was still here, he’d still come for me. Was it only because he feared for my safety, or was there something more? And three, if Robbie hadn’t been with the people my father owed money to, then who was he?
“So if you paid the ransom, who was Robbie with?” I asked, the wine burning my throat. “What did he want? He knew all about you.”
“I don’t know what he wanted,” Liam said, knocking back the rest of his wine. “But you can trust that I’m going to find out.” He looked at me, his eyes roaming my body. My hair was still up from when he’d tied it with the hair tie in the bathroom, and I was dressed in one of his silk robes. “You’ll stay with me until I do.”
I swallowed another mouthful of wine and thought about it. The joy that squeezed at my chest was short-lived. This was what I wanted. To stay with him. But not like this.
“No.” I shook my head. “Not like this.”
“Please, Emery,” he said, instantly sound exasperated. “Don’t start.”
“I’m not kidding, Liam.” I stood up crossed my arms over my chest. “I want to stay with you. I do. I love you.” He flinched at the words, but he didn’t move toward me. “I want to be with you, but not because we have to. I want this to be real. I don’t want this to be so fucked up all the time.” My throat constricted and my chest ached. “And if you don’t want that, then I will do everything in my power to get away from you. Not because I want to, but because I’ll have no choice.”