Page 12 of Killian (The Doherty Mafia)
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
Armed with some liquid courage, I decided I needed to get back down to the basement and lay down some ground rules.
Reese Deville needed to understand she had to cut the bullshit. I was her only hope for survival, and I hadn’t decided what I was going to do with her yet.
* * *
She remained sitting on the floor with her back against the cold wall of the basement.
My mind ran full speed. I tried to decide if I needed to give her a few blankets. A pillow?
I’d brought down a plate of scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee that had gone cold. Wasn’t I being kind enough to her already?
She didn’t touch the food I put in front of her, but I figured she was just waiting for me to leave before she ate any of it. It wasn’t going to work this time, because I had different plans for her.
“You need to understand one thing very clearly. You can’t pull that shit on me again,” I said.
She had large hazel eyes and through them, she peered into me like she was trying to peel my layers away.
It made me uncomfortable. Not only her gaze and the way she looked at me, but the fact that I kept letting her get under my skin.
This never happened to me. When I wanted a chick, I just took her. Then I made sure I never had to see her again.
Who wants to fuck the same chick twice?
I definitely didn’t think about someone this much. I didn’t wake up from a wet dream, hard and horny, trying to get her off my mind for the rest of the day. It was never this complicated.
Reese complicated everything and it pissed me off.
I hated feeling like I was losing control. Somehow, this girl sitting on the floor with her life in my hands—had suddenly taken control of me. It had to stop.
“I wasn’t trying to do anything. I thought you wanted the same thing as I did,” she spoke up .
“You’re not getting away that easily. There is no trick you can try that I haven’t already seen before. That I’m not prepared for,” I continued. I didn’t care about any of her excuses. She wasn’t going to bullshit me.
Reese licked her lips and I couldn’t take my eyes off her mouth.
“I just want to know what you want from me.” Her voice cracked a little, and even her eyes filled with tears.
Fuck.
That felt like a punch in the gut. Why do I care about what she thinks? Why do I care if she spends the rest of the day crying? Since when do I fall for this kind of shit?
Since I met Reese.
“I want you to keep your mouth shut and behave yourself until I’ve decided what I’m going to do with you.”
She gulped and shook her head.
“You should have just let me go with him. At least he wouldn’t have locked me up in a basement.” Her nostrils flared as she spoke. Her cheeks were red like the tip of her nose.
Maybe she had a point.
“No, he probably wouldn’t have,” I said. “But he would have made sure you had no interest in staying alive.”
* * *
The fact was that I had two real options here.
I could let her go and give her what she wanted, or I killed her.
The first one came with too many risks to count. The second one was less risky and easier.
But right then, as I stood in front of her, pulling out the rope from the pocket of my pants—I knew I couldn’t do either of them.
The part of me that won that internal conflict was the part that wanted to keep her around. To keep seeing her.
I could take her right then if I wanted to, but fucking her was probably just as dangerous. I hadn’t fucked her yet and already, she was constantly on my mind. I wasn’t excited to find out if my brain would turn to mush if I had her.
“What are you going to do with that?” she asked, inching back against the wall. There was nowhere else for her to go. She was already pasted to the corner.
I came closer to her, holding the rope up for her to see.
“You’re not an idiot, Reese. I’m sure you’ve figured out what I intend to do with this.”
“Keeping me locked in here isn’t good enough for you?” she spat.
I kneeled in front of her and grabbed her ankles. She struggled, trying to kick me away but I had a good grip on her. Within a few seconds, I’d tied the rope around her ankles tightly. She wouldn’t have been able to run.
“Why are you doing this?” she cried.
I reached for her arms and then pushed her back on the ground, almost too gently for my own comfort.
