Page 10 of Brutal

I pull it over myself immediately, squeezing my eyes shut as he shuts the door behind me with a pointed clang. I hear a lock clicking into place.

Now I’m trapped here, completely at his mercy.

Maybe this isn’t so bad, I tell myself. The blanket is warmer than the one I’d had in the hellhole. There won’t be ten or twenty men demanding my attention tomorrow.

“Fuck, you look hot in there,” Brutal says. “Can’t wait to play with you tomorrow.”

My heart tightens. Maybe five minutes of attention from twenty men each is still preferable to a full day of Brutal, though.

“Night, Mimi!” Brutal says before he turns off the lights.

And so begins night one as Drake Brutal’s property.

I wish I could say it’ll only get better from here, but I know better.

Great.

CHAPTER 3

Drake

“Don’t go anywhere,” I say to Mimosa.

She glares at me, but she doesn’t respond. I wonder if I should put her in the cage for the day and keep her completely in the dark, like a parrot or something, but I’m not that cruel.

Mostly.

I did leave her water and a few snacks, and I’d let her stay in the bathroom so I didn’t come home to any kind of mess I wouldn’t want to clean up.

She tugs experimentally at her chain, but there’s no give in it. I grin at her, then head out of the bathroom.

I shut the bedroom door behind me and make my way down to the lobby. My chauffeur is already waiting with the car, and I get in so I can get started with my day.

I already have a ton of emails from all sorts of people. My assistant handles most of them, and she flags the ones that I actually need to look at. Without that, I’d be handling hundreds of emails per day. The few that are already flagged as important can wait until I’m in the office, after my morning meeting.

After that one, and before the next, something that never fails to sour my mood.

Today’s schedule is mostly meetings, in fact. It’s been years since I did any of the day-to-day operations of the business. Now I’m there to listen to ideas, shoot the stupid ones down, and do all the networking that keeps us relevant.

I’m about two minutes into reading an article on my favorite business website when I get a text from Chase. I open it up and, after one readthrough, tilt my head.

Heard you’re settling down? Lmk if you need tips on coupled life.

He included a picture of his “girlfriend” May, who’s asleep, wearing a nightie that’s not nearly sexy enough for my tastes. There are two cats curled up with her, one on either side.

I’m not sure whether what I’m feeling is jealousy or disdain — probably a mixture of both, honestly, but I think I prefer the thought of Mimosa in her cage. Even if she starts to behave, I’ll still have to keep her locked away.

My friends have a habit of losing their women, and I’m not going to fall into the same trap.

Coupled life is for pussies.

I send the text, momentarily amused, then navigate back to my email inbox. Ten more emails have come in since Chase texted me, and I huff in annoyance. I don’t feel like going to work. I want to stay at home to play with Mimosa. What’s the point of being CEO if I can’t just make everyone else do what I don’t feel like doing, anyway?

It’s just meetings, meetings, rereading the minutes of those meetings, and more meetings.

The familiar itch to go out and do something creeps under my skin, and I fidget.

My driver is silent, as though sensing my mood, and it takes all I have not to tell him to turn right the fuck around so I can take a sick day. I’m already behind, though, and these meetings really can’t be canceled.