I didn’t care about myself. The only thing that mattered to me was getting back to Josh in one piece.
Hunter leaned in so we were nose to nose, his cold eyes fixed on mine as he wrapped those long, thick fingers around my throat. He didn’t squeeze hard, but the threat was there, and the heat of his rough skin lifted goose bumps on my arms. “Do not fucking touch me,” he growled.
Swallowing painfully, I shook my head, since answering was out of the question. There was an entire forest just beyond the front door, plenty of places to dump my body. If I didn’t make it, at least Josh had my aunt. Right now, only Sara knew about my beautiful son, and I knew she’d take care of him. As long as she didn’t call the cops, everything would be okay.
I was under no illusion that Hunter would spare me because of our past.
I didn’t believe in magic, or fate, and if you actually thought about it, fairy-tales were some of the darkest, most fucked-up stories there were.
My prince certainly didn’t want to kiss me awake, rescuing me from three years of nightmares—no, he wanted to smother me in my sleep.
CHAPTER THREE
Lulu
I jumped, startled awake. My face was smooshed against the wall, butt cold and numb, head aching. Sitting on a toilet seat lid for however many hours I’d been locked in this bathroom was not the most comfortable of places to nod off. I stared at the door, tilting my head to the side, listening.
Then I heard it, the sound of Hunter’s heavy footfalls. His boots thudded against the hardwood floors as he moved around the cabin. A shiver traveled through me from head to toe. After he’d pinned me against the wall, those fingers wrapped around my throat, I’d thought, this is it, the end. But instead of choking me to death, he’d snarled, shoved away from me, and walked out. A door had slammed somewhere in the cabin and it had been silent—until now.
My mind raced. What was he doing out there? What did he have planned for me? Was he just going to leave me chained to the toilet to starve to death, or did he have something else in store, something far worse?
Josh would be awake now, wondering where I was. Missing me. Sara would have worked out something went wrong and would be sick with worry.
I tugged on the cuff around my wrist, the clank of steel against steel echoing loudly in the small room. Pain radiated up my arm. I’d been forced to hold it in a weird angle all night and now it ached like a bitch.
Jesus. I had to get out of here.
The sound of Hunter’s boots got louder, moving closer. The lock in the door clicked and then it was pushed open.
I sat up straighter, blinking against the light streaming in from behind him, into the dim bathroom. I didn’t say a word. He’d made it clear I wasn’t to speak. I watched him move closer, the nerves constantly going to town in my belly, increasing as he pulled something from his back pocket.
I shrank back unconsciously when he moved toward me. Even as I did it, it felt wrong. I’d never once been afraid of him. Even though I knew he’d come after me one day, I’d never believed he’d hurt me physically, not really. I mean, he’d once loved me beyond reason, had looked at me in a way no one else ever had in my entire life. When he’d made love to me, that big body covering mine, hands in my hair, eyes locked on mine, he’d made me feel treasured, precious.
How could that kind of love, that kind of connection, vanish completely?
The realization that it had was another blow. I’d done what I had to in order to protect him, but even if I told him the truth, he’d never believe it, not now.
He made a strange sound, kind of like a growl, making me jump, then released the cuff attached to the sink. Gripping my biceps, he hauled me off the toilet and dragged me out into the living room. There was a chair in the middle of the room and he shoved me onto it. Pulling my hands behind my back, he cuffed me again.
I waited for him to say something, anything, but he was silent. He just stood there, staring at me for so long that I wanted to squirm under that icy glare. It penetrated me like a laser. Like it had the ability to flay me wide open, reveal all the ugliness beneath. I tried, but I couldn’t hold that stare, not when what I saw there made me feel so raw, so damn exposed. The way he saw me was reflected in those hostile blue eyes, and what he saw was just another vicious emotional hit to add to the rest.
I was the woman who screwed up his life. The woman who betrayed him.
There was nothing else. Not anymore.
He moved suddenly, walking toward me. I braced.
He went down to his knees and, gripping my chin, made me look at him. “Ready for a chat, Lulu?”
I was chained to a chair, the man in front of me making no attempt to hide how much he despised me. But my traitorous heart did a happy little flutter. My body suddenly felt electric, a mix of emotions confusing my senses, making me tremble harder. Nerves, fear, lust, and excitement tore through me at the speed of light. My heart raced so fast I could feel the vein in my neck throbbing hard and heavy.