The Unfortunates(27)

“What’d you call me?”

A new panic rises in me, no, forget panic, fear rises in me, growing exponentially every second his hate-filled expression bores down on me.

“I’m sorry,” I squeeze out, my lungs burning. “I didn’t mean to call you Kaden—”

He adds more pressure to his grip and I inhale sharply.

“You’re getting too comfortable here, Unfortunate.” He spits the word and I feel specks of saliva hit my face. “Know your fucking place.”

I nod as much as I can with his intense grip.

“Why are you in my room?”

“I wanted to—”

“I had to force you to get on your knees earlier, so don’t you dare tell me you’ve come here to fuck.”

My bottom lips quivers. I can feel it shaking my whole chin, making my teeth click together. “Please, don’t make me say it.”

He makes no movement, only watches me with his intense expression. It’s his expression that confirms I’m on my own out here. If I don’t tell Kade, who knows what he’ll do to me. If I do tell Kade, Vince has already told me what he’s going to do. It’s a lose-lose situation. I sniffle.

“Vince…”

Kade’s face contorts into a furious scowl and I hate that something so ugly looks so beautiful on him.

“Vince is going to hurt me if I don’t—if we don’t…” I drag in a shaky, half-assed inhale. “I’m in trouble, Kade, I need your help.”

He doesn’t bat an eyelid at my neglect to call him master. I chose not to use it on purpose. In this moment, I’m not a slave asking her master for help. I’m a human being, asking another human being for help. “Please?”

“What happened?” Kade’s voice is low and dangerous, laced with the kind of dark tone that puts my hairs on their ends.

I tell him everything. I tell him every single thing I did after leaving him at the party. I tell him every detail—from the feel of the grass to the colour of Vince’s eyes.

Which brings us to now.

Kade rolls off me and air floods my lungs. I drag in a deep inhale and try to steady my racing heart as Kade sits on the edge of the bed. I watch cautiously, not moving from my position.

“Stay here the night.” He exhales, raking his fingers through his short, jet black hair and pushing himself to his feet. “Get in bed.”

I let my stare follow Kade as he saunters across the large room to his oak desk. He flicks on a bright lamp and shrugs out of his coal black jacket before tossing it over the back of his chair.

“In… in your bed?”

He files through a stack of paper on his desk and turns on a glass screen. “Do you see another bed in here?” he asks, his voice bored and detached.

I shake my head. “No, I guess not.”

He looks at me from under his brow. It’s a look that ignites something dark along my spine.

“Get in bed, Nine.”

I don’t know what it is, but when Kade refers to me as Nine, I feel like there’s a teeny tiny chance he sees me as an equal human being, not an Unfortunate lesser to him. Complying, I push myself under his heavy blanket. On the bed, I feel smaller than I usually do. Like the mattress is going to swallow me up any second.

I watch as he lowers himself into his seat and pulls himself closer to the desk. He stares at his screen, touching it with his fingers and writing things down onto a sheet beside him. He’s focused, and when he’s focused, his intensity seems to multiply tenfold.

“Didn’t they teach you not to stare?”

As he speaks, his eyes never leave his screen. My stomach jolts into my throat and I avert my eyes.

“Yes, sorry.”

He sighs and leans back in his chair. My body begins to tremble, shaking softly against the warming mattress. I hope I didn’t pull him from whatever he was doing. What if he sends me away? What if he tells me to go back to my room and Vince is there waiting for me? Panic begins to bubble…

“You’re not tired?” Kade asks.

I shake my head, and as he reaches up to loosen his tie, I regret ever looking at him. His lips curve into a breathtaking smile. Who would’ve thought he’s capable of such a positive expression? I hate that his smile stirs something in my chest… he has the loveliest smile I’ve ever seen, with beautiful, straight white teeth to match.

“Relax,” he says. “I’m not going to touch you.”

Despite his words, I regard him curiously. All he’s done since I arrived is touch me.

“You don’t want to touch me?” I clarify, and he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“Listen carefully, Unfortunate. I said I’m not going to touch you, not I don’t want to touch you.”