Page 45 of Vicious
She rolls her eyes, going back to eating for a moment. “I’m not completely stupid, Chase. What would I do? Go back to work and hope you didn’t notice? It’s not like I have a secret trust fund so I could escape to Aruba or whatever.”
“Where would you even work? Ntimacy?” I say, half joking.
She shudders, giving a quick shake of her head.
Despite what she says, I do think she could have run, and I would have had to chase her down.
I would have chased her, too. I’ve already had her, and I can’t ever let her go.
“That’s the thing. I don’t know where I would’ve gone or what I would’ve done. It’s not like I had time to plan some great escape,” she points out. “I don’t even have shoes. Though now that I think about it, maybe some leatherworking supplies would be nice to have.” Her smirk seems forced, though.
“I think that’s at least another month living here,” I joke back half-heartedly.
“Good to know,” May replies, but her expression sours. “But it’s not like you’re going to give me another opportunity to even go upstairs, let alone run, are you?”
I don’t want to. I want to lock her up even tighter and make sure that the only person she ever interacts with is me. I want all of her waking thoughts to be consumed by me.
I remember Hunter telling me how things had gotten bad with his girl because he’d left her too isolated, and that it was better to allow at least a little bit of freedom. He hadn’t worded it quite like that, but that was the gist of it. He’s happy with his girl now; he even proposed to her, and she adores him.
I somehow doubt May will ever adore me, but I don’t want a simpering little slave like Hunter has anyway.
“What would you do, if you had more access to the rest of the house?” I ask, settling into one of my negotiation personas.
“Drown myself in the pool,” she says promptly, so deadpan that I can’t tell if she’s serious or not.
I laugh anyway. “Well, in that case, I’m definitely keeping you locked up.”
“I’m joking,” May says hurriedly. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t go near the pool because I don’t want to drown. Maybe I’d talk to Mrs. Hong, or maybe I’d watch TV, or maybe I’d just snoop around your bedroom since you know vastly more about me than I know about you.”
“I’ve told you plenty about me,” I counter. “And don’t tell me you didn’t look me up online at least once since we met.”
“Yeah, but that just tells me about your professional life,” she says, drinking some of the coffee. “Most of what I know is that you have an obsessive personality, and you don’t know how to take no for an answer.”
“No is such a nebulous concept,” I answer, finally settling myself. “My entire job revolves around turning people’s no’s into yes.”
“No is not a nebulous concept when it comes to consent,” she retorts. “God, you’re probably one of those guys who thought tormenting a woman was the best way to show them you were interested, weren’t you?”
Now I openly smirk. “It worked for you, didn’t it? Getting all hot and bothered because I had you pinned down…”
Her cheeks flush, and she fiddles with her fork. “That’s beside the point,” she says.
Her humiliation is so alluring that I want to kiss her, and… Well, there’s no reason not to. I lean in and steal a kiss. “This is what it could’ve been like, Ah-May,” I tell her. “Sweet and consensual.”
She glares at me, but she’s just as flustered now as I had been earlier. “You’re such a dick,” she mutters.
“Nice people don’t get very far in life,” I answer easily. “Not a single person I work with is nice, and they’re the ones who run most of the world. My father didn’t build a hotel empire by being nice. My grandparents are probably the furthest thing from nice you could think of.”
Sighing, May slumps back in her chair. “So you come by that honestly, at least,” she says, but the words aren’t venomous. “Anyway, what are you going to do with me? Go back to the leash? Let me wander into the rec room at least? I can’t go back to just sitting there all day. I’m going crazy in there.”
I look at her, wearing her hand-made dress and an adorable pout. “You could. You just wouldn’t like it.” She’s about to protest, but I hold up my hand. “But I’m open to negotiation. What do you suggest, Ah-May? What will you offer in exchange for more freedoms?”
At that, she swallows hard, looking down at her empty plate. “I guess that depends on what you want. I mean, I’ve been mostly receptive. And you don’t want me to just lie there, but I’m not going to stop fighting you and I don’t think you even want me to stop. You like it when I struggle,” she says before quietly adding in a more subdued tone. “There’s not much more I can give you that you haven’t already taken.”
“I do enjoy your spark,” I answer. “But I suppose we could start small. I’ll put a lock on the basement door, and you can have free roam of the area down there. The rec room probably has better lighting, if you want to move your sewing equipment there.”
She nods reluctantly. “Okay. I’ll settle for that for now.”
For now.