Page 60 of Unhinged Cain

“Barbara,” Cain said, and like a magic trick, the screaming stopped. “You’re hurting my….” Cain glanced up at me. “Other guest’s ears. So, I’m going to need you to stop, or I’ll make you. It’s your choice.”

Was it wrong to feel the bottom of my stomach fall out as he referred to me so informally? A guest? What the hell did that mean?

Barbara tilted her head back and spotted me, our eyes meeting for a moment before she looked back up at Cain.

“I’ll be good. I-I-I will be quiet,” she stammered.

In that singular moment, as Cain’s face shifted subtly from passive watcher to predator about to strike, I realized Barbara didn’t understand. She didn’t see him for what he was. If she did, she thought there was a way out, and he might not kill her.

“What do you think we should do to her,” Cain asked.

Even though I knew no one else was in the room, I still looked around to see if the question was somehow directed at anyone else but me.

“You want me to decide what happens to her? Okay then, how about you let her go?”

Barbara nodded furiously. Her curly hair bobbed like a fishing line over the end of the table as she moved. “Yes, yes, please let me go.”

“You like that idea, Barbara?”

Cain crossed his arms and leaned against the table like he was contemplating the idea, but it was easy to see in his eyes that he was only playing a game. Again Barbara didn’t see it or didn’t want to—I wasn’t sure which, but to me, it was as clear as night and day.

“Yes, please. I’ll never tell anyone about this. Just let me go, and I’ll disappear.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Cain said and sighed.

Barbara made little whimpering noises. “Are you going to chain me up like her,” she asked.

Cain’s brow lifted in a sweeping arc that was way too seductive, considering he was teasing about killing someone.

“Like Sunshine? Oh no, I’m sorry, Barbara, but she is…” he paused as he tapped his chin, his eyes finding mine and making my heart rate spike again. “Unique,” he finally said.

“Why did you ask me what to do with her if you had no intention of doing what I say?”

Cain’s eyes flared with a sexual heat that stole the air right from my lungs. As if we were in the middle of an earthquake, my body trembled from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. It wasn’t fair. Why did I have to be attracted to this man?

“I asked you because I was curious what you’d say, Sunshine.”

He made his way over to the far wall and a small set of keys I’d never noticed hanging there. I felt like everything in here should have a chalk line around it. Nothing was safe once in his grasp. He wandered over to one of the locked drawers and pulled out a folded leather case.

“I thought you might say you’d like to see her die, maybe run your fingers through her blood or fuck me on her dying corpse.”

“What the fuck,” Barbara said and started to struggle again.

My mouth dropped open, not sure what the hell to say in response. “Why the hell would you think I’d ever say that?”

Cain unrolled the case and pulled a blade out that even I could tell was sharp from where I stood. It practically sparkled in the light as he spun it in his hand like it was an extension of his arm. A scream bubbled up in my throat but died in place as Cain suddenly had me by the front of the pajamas with the sharp blade pressed into my neck. I didn’t even dare swallow, and I had no idea how he’d moved so fast.

“Look at me.” His voice was deep and rough with strain.

Even though he didn’t say it out loud, he was holding back from slitting my throat. Doing as he asked, my eyes found his. “You see in me what others don’t, but more importantly, Sunshine, I see in you what you refuse to acknowledge.”

He was wrong. I didn’t want people to die. I didn’t want to see them in pain or suffering. His firm body felt as hard as the steel blade at my throat as he pushed himself up against me. The flare of unwanted desire that filled my body terrified me. Cain leaned close to my ear, his breath like a hot summer breeze and just as tantalizing as he spoke.

“It’s in you, Sunshine. Don’t try to deny it to me. I can see the inner demons that knock on your door.” The tip of his nose brushed my cheek, and my eyes fluttered closed. “You see the beauty in death, and you’re not afraid to die. Do you know how rare it is not to be afraid of death? What’s inside you recognizes what’s inside me and wants to come out and play. All you need to do is open the door, and I’ll teach you the rest.” His teeth nipped at my ear, and my hands clenched into fists as a soft moan escaped my lips.

“That’s it, Sunshine, let yourself go,” he said as his hand slid under the fuzzy top and up my body. The feel of his skin on my own set my blood on fire. “Moan for me again, be a good girl.”

Cain’s thumb rubbed over the tip of my nipple, and the sensation had me crying out with a whimper.