Pulling back, his pale eyes locked with mine, ensnaring me, sending my heart whirling. "You and me. We need this." His accented voice was hoarse and impassioned and swept up with promises. Q was right.
We needed this.
More than we knew.
"I'm yours for however long you need, maître."
He chuckled softly. "You're mine for eternity, esclave. But the next few days belong to putting our monsters to rest."
He pulled away, holding up his hand. Wrapped in his fingers was a black length of fabric. His eyebrow rose as he dangled the blindfold. "Ready?"
No.
Yes.
I don't know.
I sucked in a breath.
I nodded.
Permission granted.
Q attacked me.
I never knew how Q got me out of the hotel without rousing suspicion. I never knew if he wrapped me in a sheet or dressed me in clothes or carried me out naked. I would never find out how he orchestrated something so terrible all in the name of love.
All I knew was horror.
Cold, aching, howling horror.
He'd told the truth about making me believe. The moment he launched, I forgot everything we'd just agreed and drowned. Drowned in fear, memories, the horrible past.
I couldn't stop from fighting.
I was incapacitated from fighting.
Q gave himself over to his monsters, embracing the role of kidnapper. We stepped into our nightmares, letting them swallow us whole.
"Stop squirming and I won't hurt you," he hissed in my ear, sounding entirely swallowed by darkness.
I tried to reply but he stuffed a gag into my mouth, obliterating my cries.
My mind jumped into insanity. My lungs grasped for useless air.
Together we spiralled into a void.
The tower I'd knocked down so many times shot into formation, giving me no choice but to step aside and let the large, circular prison segment my mind. It crumbled upright, reversing its demise to rise from the dust of its foundations, soaring high.
Q's fingers wrapped around my throat, clutching my windpipe.
The tower beckoned, waving flags of safety, serenity. No!
Q squeezed, accelerating my hyperventilation.
The need to hide was an unbearable call. The single door in the tower swung wide, hinting at solitude and silence.
I took a step toward sanctuary. Toward temptation. I wanted to shut off completely.
Q was no longer my master. He was my nightmare.
His lips descended on my ear, delivering the final blow. "Welcome to my kingdom. I'm going to make you scream."
My mind raced for the tower, but it was too late.
Q's fingers cut off my air. Black spots danced, blending with the blindfold. My vision succumbed and I surrendered to the dark.
I woke in my kidnapper's arms.
Gagged, bound, and blindfolded, the only sense I had available was hearing. Wet slaps of an ocean in the distance, chirps of waking birds, the rustle of tussock, and crunch of gravel. Q's arms stayed locked around me, keeping me floating above the ground.
My tower loomed fully erect in my mind, waiting solemnly for me to return to its unfeeling hub. The temptation was strong, but Q's sleek muscles moved against my side, rocking me with every step. I made a promise to him. A promise that I would never shut him out again-no matter what happened.
I intend to keep that promise.
My skin prickled with a chilly sea breeze, but only on my arms and ankles. I'd been bundled into something warm-fluffy. The blindfold hid any hope of seeing where we were and the gag halted my questions. Panic existed like liquid fear pumping thick in my blood.
"You're ours now, puta."
I cringed at the memory. No matter what Q did to make me whole again, I had to remember one thing. One fundamental crucial thing. This was Q. The man I loved with every fibre. He wouldn't sell me, rape me, or break my mind with drugs.
Are you sure?
My heart raced as the outside world suddenly changed to muffled and hushed. The heavy weight of a building I couldn't see wrapped around us, masking Q's footsteps with a thick carpet.
In my mind I tried to visualise a quaint home where only softness and healing existed but I couldn't avoid the more likely scenario of pain and fear. Room after room we travelled, Q's body heat both relaxing and scaring me. His arms and stomach tensed, carrying me down a flight of stairs. The air temperature was cooler as we descended. It felt heavier down here, as if the weight of the unseen building was a tomb.
More muffled footsteps. I lost touch with common-sense. I hovered as if by magic. Then Q's shoes echoed on tiles, coming to a stop in a room smelling faintly of juniper.
I gasped as Q released his hold, swinging my legs downward to connect with textured flooring. My feet were bare, toes digging into the rough tiles like an anchor. The fluffy warmth around me tickled my legs as it shifted with my body.