Page 120 of Their Ruthless Sadist

He held my gaze. “Obviously, this isn’t working because … you’re not who I thought you were.” He motioned toward the table. “You, me, dinner. We don’t do things like that.”

“We’ve had dinner plenty of times,” I argued.

“Sure. But only when you command me to cook. I thought you wanted that. For me to serve you.” He shook his head again. “This isn’t what I signed on for, Zeke.”

“Signed on for?”

“Yeah. You know. The contract I signed. That’s why I’m here, right? Because I’m obligated to serve you. That’s what I agreed to. Why you’re claiming you love me when I know you’re not capable of love… It doesn’t make sense.”

“Why would I not be capable of love?”

Matt’s face fell, and I could practically read his thoughts, so I filled in for him.

“Because I’m a monster, right? That’s why I can’t love you? Because I get off on hitting you. That makes me less than human?”

“You’re not who I thought you were, Zeke. I’m sorry, but … I can’t do this. It’s not what I agreed to.”

That night, Matt walked out of my house and completely out of my life. Eighteen months I had spent with him, and he never looked back. A couple of days later, I went to the club we were members of at the time, only to find out he had cancelled his membership.

That was four years ago.

I had learned my lesson that night. While the masochists wanted the Sadist, they didn’t want me. And no matter how hard I tried not to be, I was still human. I had feelings, and Matt had crushed them with his insanity.

I never attempted to find him after that, choosing to lock it all up. Matt was the reason the monster was born. He was the reason I chose not to allow myself to get close.

Tonight was a reminder of that and his timing was impeccable.

Just when I thought I might open myself up again, he showed up and reminded me why that would be the biggest mistake of my life. Because losing Matt was hard, but losing Brax and Case…

Damn it. And now I was thinking about them by name?

I wasn’t sure I would survive them turning their backs on me when they figured out I wasn’t some fucking show horse. I couldn’t always be on display, acting the role they’d cast me in.

Which meant I had to be the one to put an end to this.

It was the only way.

Case (the pretty boy)

After we changed back into street clothes, Brax called for an Uber. The drive back to Zeke’s was weird. Brax didn’t want to talk, and for some reason, the driver didn’t want to turn on music, so we sat in the eerie silence as each mile crept by.

Finally, we arrived back at Zeke’s, but from the driveway, it looked as though no one was home. Since Zeke’s truck was out front, I knew he was there. I’d learned over the past four weeks that Zeke was rather predictable. If he wasn’t home, he was at work or at the club. He had breakfast with Jamie every Friday, and aside from having lunch out, he ate every meal at the house. He spent his extra time working out or playing with his dog.

“Maybe we should give him some space,” I told Brax when I climbed out of the car. “It’s obvious he’s upset about something.”

“And we’re gonna find out what it is,” Brax insisted. “We’re not turnin’ our backs on him now, Case. He deserves more than that from us.”

Maybe, but that didn’t mean he would welcome our interference. He was a very private man, and he didn’t open up to many people.

I knew Brax was right, but that didn’t mean I was eager to go inside and confront Zeke. He wasn’t the sort to run from anything, so clearly Matt had meant something to him. At some point, anyway.

The thought didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t like the idea of Matt and Zeke together. No, I had no claim on Zeke, but … well, to be honest, I cared about the surly man. A lot. A lot more than I was willing to admit, even. I wanted more time with him. I wasn’t ready for this to end.

The Uber driver pulled away, and Brax and I had no choice but to confront this situation head-on. When we stepped inside the house, I found myself fingering the collar around my neck.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Brax,” I whispered, my eyes taking a moment to adjust to the darkness.

“Zeke?” Brax called out. “Where are you?”