Page 52 of Seductive Sadist
“I don’t.” With a quick look around us, I decide it’s safe to enter. I stick the key in the lock and push the gate open the slightest bit. Skyla shimmies through and I follow, locking the gate behind me.
The plants open to a clearing with a pool. White lights shine below the surface, casting a cobalt glow on the still water. Two fire pits sit on each end of the rectangular pool. A set of stairs sits in the middle.
“What kind of hotel is this?” Skyla looks at me, her eyebrows knitted together.
“It’s not a hotel. Not officially, anyway.”
“So what is it… unofficially?”
“A family friend owns it. Just bought it recently. It’s kind of like a refuge… a place for people in our organization to go if things get hot. It’s not open to the public, and it’s easy to lay low. I’ve never stayed here before, but I thought it might be the best choice for tonight. Nobody knows we’re here. It’ll be safe.”
She walks over to one of the bamboo lounge chairs next to the pool and sinks into it. “Safety is relative.”
Maybe she didn’t want me to hear that since she mumbled her words.
But damn if my curiosity isn’t piqued by them.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
With a cold glare, she pulls her lips tight and tilts her face up at me. “You’re not stupid, Zak. It means that the perception of safety is one thing, but the reality is a whole other story.”
“Still not getting it.”
She rolls her eyes. “Jesus, do I need to spell it out for you? Keeping me tucked away from whoever is looking to use me to get revenge on my father seems logical and smart and makes sense because I’m out of harm’s way. Your insane marriage plans stay intact since you have your precious leverage in a gilded cage.”
“But…?”
Her pained eyes glimmer in the moonlight, as deep in color as the pool water. I could drown in them… again… if I let myself. Her hair gleams, a tangled mess of sexed-up hair that shines like a halo. Appropriate because she’s an angel… an angel tainted by me.
The Devil.
“But being with you is more dangerous to me than an army of my father’s most vengeful enemies, and if given the choice, I’d rather battle them with buckets full of rusty nails and paintballs than have my heart impaled with your lies again.”
Chapter22
Skyla
Zak cups my chin tight, his fierce eyes almost black in the darkness. “Is that supposed to make me feel bad for you, Skyla? That you got hurt because you trusted someone you shouldn’t have?”
I smack his hand away from my face. “I didn’t say it to make you feel bad, not like you ever would because you’re a callous, blackhearted bastard. I did it to myself. I blamemyself. I just wanted you to know I’d rather face death than do it again.”
“You don’t have that choice.”
I spring out of the chair, my pulse leaping into my throat. It thrums and throbs, blood rushing between my ears like roaring rapids. “This isn’t the Dark Ages. You can’t take away my freedom.”
“I only took it with the intent to buy.”
I crush my fist against his hard bicep and damn, it hurt. He captures my wrist in his tight grip. “You did it again. What did I tell you about showing respect?”
“Oh, fuck you and your demands. I only wish I had a gun so I could shoot you with it,” I seethe, struggling against him.
He reaches behind his back with his free hand and pulls out the gun he’d stuck back there while we were still at his condo. Holding it up in front of my face, his lips lift into a slow, menacing smile. “A gun like this?”
His hand moves from my wrist to my hair. His fingers tangle in the back, massaging my scalp in a way that makes my entire body tingle. My eyes droop closed for a second, and my mind trips back to that night. I remember his fingers in my hair, teasing me the exact same way, driving me mad with lust.
Power and control.
He wants it.