BLAKE: Captive to the Dark (4 page)

My hand pushed back the hair from her face and I couldn’t help but run my finger over the scar on her cheek. “Who are you, Kaitlyn Summers? I want to know everything,” I whispered.

A small moan left her lips as she turned into my touch. The scorching heat had me standing from the bed and walking into the bathroom. I wet a washcloth and came back to rest it on her
forehead. She didn’t so much as flinch while I took off the rain boots. The blood on the back her heels had me shaking my head. I continued to talk to her as I wet another small towel and washed her feet. “You’re a tough one. I think that’s why I like you. So brave. You don’t give up.” My hand lifted her foot, inspecting it. Not too big, not to small. Perfect toes. Go figure. She was flawless everywhere.

“Suppose I keep you in
Texas for a while. Watch over you as you get better. What do you think about that?” I shook my head. “Probably wouldn’t be a good idea. You’d be bored half to death. You’re a city girl and my house is out in the country. California, then? I could use a vacation. I bet you know all sorts of things to do in L.A.”

“Fuck
L.A.” Kaitlyn groaned. “Cold. I need a blanket.”

“Ah, you’re awake.” I pulled her higher on the pillows and took a seat next to her. “Not yet. You still have your jacket on. You’re holding in enough heat. I mean, I’m no doctor, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. If it were up to me, I’d strip you down and let some of that fever escape.” The truth was, I was on the verge of doing that, but I couldn’t have her wake up thinking I was trying to take advantage of her. Not when she’d already lived that nightmare over and over for the last month.

The sound of her teeth chattering filled the small room. “No. God, just the thought of not having any clothes on makes me colder.” She tossed and turned, the pain evident in the sounds she made.

“Kaitlyn, I need to look at your back. I know it’s going to make you colder, but it’s important we clean you up.”

“Do you have to?” Her head turned, her bloodshot eyes barely opening.

The fact that she was even awake gave me hope. I was sure the medicine hadn’t kicked in yet. Not for another half hour,
at least. And that’d only be the Tylenol. “Yes. It has to be done. Truthfully, I’d really like to get you in the shower. Think about it, Kaitlyn. Hot water. You might like that. And I have clothes onboard you can wear. They’re clean. Never been worn before. What do you say?”

Her mouth twisted as she lay there with her eyes closed. “I don’t think I can stand, let alone take a shower.” The last of her words trailed off.

“You’ll let me help you.”

A rueful smile came to her lips and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “Don’t worry about me looking at you. I’ve already seen you naked, or have you forgotten? You need to be clean. End of story.”

“The story never ends.” She cracked open her eyes and the blue almost appeared violet. “The road just forks into a different plot.”

Smart. I nodded at her assessment. “I can see that. Now roll back over so I don’t hurt you even more. We’re getting you to the shower.”

“So sweet.” She brushed her fingertips over my forearm and I looked down at the contact. The reaction my body had was instant. Fuck, what was she doing? White teeth bit at her lip. “And very dangerous. I know what you hide, Blake Morgan. I see it in you.” The touch disappeared as her eyes closed and she appeared to go back to sleep. For the longest time, I couldn’t move. Only stare.

Shit
, this wasn’t good. I stood, walking out to check on Marie and Nadine. They were both curled on the couch, asleep. Streaks from where the tears dried on Marie’s face stood out against the layer of grime covering her skin. Did these men never allow the girls to bathe? It was sickening the condition they were kept in. Her hand twitched and gripped to the dark haired little girl tighter. Bad dream? I had no doubt. The nightmares would likely be there for a long while.

My hand ran through my hair as I paced. A few more hours and we’d make it back to
Texas. That was, if things went smoothly with getting out of Russian airspace. I’d paid a hell of a lot of money bribing my way through. I just prayed it paid off. If all went well, we’d be stopping in California to fuel up. If I was smart, I’d delay the flight long enough to get Kaitlyn checked into a hospital there and be on my merry motherfucking way. I just couldn’t. It wasn’t like she was going to die. I knew that now. But the need to make sure she was going to be okay in the long run had my decision becoming final before I could give it much thought. She’d go with me to Texas, long enough to get help. Once I heard from the doctor’s mouth that everything was going to be fine, then I’d fly us back to California. After she was all set up in her place, I’d break away… if I didn’t, she’d never escape. I knew what I was capable of. There was no way she deserved that after already being a slave.

A good hour passed by while I burned a hole
in the carpet thinking about Kaitlyn’s last words. She saw
it
in me. Saw what? My need to hurt her in the best fucking way imaginable? Perhaps not. It was probably the evil in me she sensed. No way could she have been picking up my twisted thoughts. Those were mine alone to harbor. And so deliciously twisted they were.

I groaned, spinning around. The way I was acting was absolutely insane. Even though I knew I should stay away, I found myself walking back to the room. If I put off seeing her another second, I was going to lose it. As I entered the room
, I froze at the empty bed. The door to the bathroom was opened and I hesitated before I came to the side of the entrance.

“Kaitlyn, you okay in there?” Fuck, I wanted to look. The reasons were endless, but the main one made me a bastard.

“Blake?”

Her voice was weak. The weight of my body braced against the wall. I leaned my head back, closing my eyes.
Say it again. Say my name.
“Do you need me to help you?”

Silence. My patience was running thin. If she needed help, she just needed to say it. Assuming she might was only making the line I walked even narrower. “Kaitlyn, I’m coming in. If you’re uneasy about me seeing you without clothes
, I suggest you throw some on.”

Before I could even finish
, I was breaching the threshold. Kaitlyn was sitting on the floor, leaning against the glass shower door. Her legs were straight out in front of her, her head leaning to the side. I could see her eyes were open, but her breathing worried me. It has heavy, almost as if she were crying, or had been.

“Talk to me.” I crouched before her, wanting to sweep her in my arms. Feeling helpless was not something I was good at.

Shakily, her hand reached out to mine. “I thought I was going to be sick, but it went away. Maybe I should take that shower now that I’m not so cold.” The stare that was locked on mine glanced toward the mirror, but came back. “I just…saw…” Tears spilled over and she looked away. The pause of her hand rising told me she learned fast. I would have swatted it away again if she tried to hide herself from me.

“I’m ruined,” she said, letting out a sob. “Only once
did I see it before, but I didn’t get a good look. Only felt.” She reached to wipe away the tears when I stopped her. My lips were kissing them away before I could even think about what the fuck I was doing.

Pressure gripping my hand ripped me out of the spell I was under. The darkness in me
flirted along the edges and I wanted to destroy everything in my sight. Control was something I prized myself on. With her, I had none. And that was a scary thing. Not for me, but for her. My monster would devour her tiny body. Relish in all it could take. And he wouldn’t stop until he stripped her of everything she was able to give.

“Shower.” I stood, turning the
water lukewarm in deference to her fever. As I helped her stand, she clung to me. It was obvious her balance was off. “You need to drink more water. Let’s try to get you in and out as fast as possible.” My hands eased the jacket off and stopped at the bottom of her sweater. “Do you want me to close my eyes? I can still hold on. You don’t have to worry about falling.”

“No?” Her eyes held mine, less bloodshot from the dropping fever. My hand itched to grip her throat and pull her mouth to mine. Was she intentionally goading me? Insinuating something about falling that had nothing to do with me dropping her? Yeah, she was. The last thing she wanted to do was show interest. If I knew she
really wanted me, there was no getting away unless I granted the permission. With her, I doubted I’d ever let her escape. Then who’d be there to rescue her?

Chapter 4

Kaitlyn

Confused? Not my mind. My body on the other hand was torn between not feeling well and ready to devour the hot rescuer who kept trying to be a gentlemen. All I wanted to do was poke the animal in him with a stick to get a reaction. Damn, I was screwed up. It was there
, though. I’d seen it up close and personal. What Blake held inside, I wanted a piece of. Not right now, but at some point. Yes. Even after everything I’d been through, my brain was still as one track minded as ever.

The air that drifted over my stomach as Blake
slowly pulled the sweater up gave me the chills. My jaw clenched against the need to let it chatter. The brush of his fingertips against my ribs battled with the bi-polar symptoms plaguing me. One minute I was hot, the next cold, and Mr. Hot Stuff wasn’t helping. Whether it was the fever or my arousal was beyond me.

Static clung to my hair as he finished removing
the garment. The tightness of my skin made my back ache as I brought my arms back down. A moan nearly escaped my mouth as my nipples tightened. Blake may have been staring at my face, but knowing he wanted to look was turning me on. Which was fucked up in itself. He just saved me from horrible slavery, for crying out loud, and here I was, wanting him to reach out and touch me? Well, at least I knew I was still normal. Somewhat.

I turned and untied the sweatpants, letting them drop to the floor. Maybe I should have been self-conscious, but I’d been modeling for so long, nudity didn’t even phase me anymore. Especially when I felt comfortable around someone. With Blake, I did. His fingers tossed my hair over my shoulder and I tensed for the briefest moment. Not from the fact that it was him, but more from the unconscious reaction of pain I associated with that part of my body.

“I just want to look at the cuts.” Lightly, his touch brushed along my skin. “Yeah, they’re definitely the reason you’re sick. How long have you had these?”

Fogginess took over, taking away from the fact that I was standing here nude in front of a man who already muddled my thoughts. “Two days, maybe three. I can’t remember. I might have slept the first one, so…four
?” My head shook. “I don’t know.”

“Calm. You’re getting all worked up.” Blake led me into the shower and the water wasn’t nearly as warm as I needed. I turned it up and basked in the sensation. Although slightly on the verge of feeling like needles, to be clean was worth it.
My captor had allowed only a few opportunities to wash, nowhere near as many as I would have liked.

My eyes traveled to him standing in the doorway, waiting for me to fall so he could catch me. And for some reason
, I knew he would. I trusted this stranger. If my track record was worth anything, he might just let me fall right into the marble covering the floor. “Where are we going?” I braced my hand against the wall. Lightheadedness still plagued me and the nausea was coming back. Damn pills. I never took any medicine, and on an empty stomach, they were kicking my ass.

“
Houston.”

“
Texas?”

A smile came to his face. “I take it you don’t remember me talking to you.”

I searched my memories and came up empty.

“You don’t remember saying, fuck
L.A.?”

Somewhere deep within
, I did recall that. Why I’d said it was a mystery. “Maybe.” I shook my head. “No, not really.” I grabbed the soap and turned back to Blake. “What were you saying?” The way he was looking everywhere but at me suddenly reminded me of my scars. For so long I had never worried about the way I looked. Even without make-up, men stared, but now…I wasn’t that person anymore. Reality hit me like a bag of bricks. Maybe I was reading the situation wrong. Here I thought he was possibly attracted to me, but how could I have been so stupid? The train wreck that was now my appearance was not to be admired. Hell, he felt sorry for me. No wonder he kissed my tears when I was telling him about looking at myself. Blake saved slaves for a reason. Probably because he had a tenderness for their situation. I had been one. All the girls more than likely ended up getting treated this way by him.

“Here. Do you want me to help you? You’re not looking so well all of a sudden.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” I poured the soap on my palm and lathered the front of my body, cringing when liquid fire seared my side where one of the lashes from the whip had torn into my rib.

Blake had returned to looking at the floor. “It’s not important. Just mindless talk about how there were probably a lot more things to do in
L.A. versus Texas. That’s all.”

“Oh.” I rinsed off my body and braced myself for the agony I knew would follow.

Hot water poured over my back as I turned and I couldn’t stop the sound that fell out. Fuck, it hurt wonderfully. The nearly crippling sensation felt like coming home. Especially after what I’d gone through for the last month.

“Okay, you’re good. I think
your wounds are clean.”

I smiled and reached
for the wall in front of me, continuing to let the release work its magic. My body was feeling lighter from the constant sporadic charges zapping my back. “Not yet, Mr. Morgan.” I closed my eyes. Fuck, I was getting heavy. The steam was making me tired, as was the torture my body was going through. I had to admit, when I was bringing this on myself, it felt good. Somewhat relaxing given what I had gone through.

The water was suddenly cut off causing my eyes to jerk open. “I said I wanted more time.”

One of Blake’s eyebrows rose. “And I said you’ve had enough.”

“But I haven’t even got
ten to wash my hair. It’s a mess.”

He laughed. “You’re going to need more than a wash to get out those knots. You can worry about it later. The way you’re swaying is making me nervous. I want you in bed before you fall and I open the cuts on your back even more by trying to catch you.”

“I’m fine. The medicine is working. I’m already feeling better.” Not a complete lie. The fact that I wasn’t shaking anymore was an improvement. If the weakness would subside, I might be all right.

“Bed. Now.”

Blake’s light blue eyes stared down at me through dark lashes. Such a contrast to the blond tips of his hair. The power behind his gaze penetrated into my very soul. Something within me literally retreated. I felt it crash against my insides with enough force to lock up my limbs. Moving was impossible. Oh….fuck. That look. My eyes lowered to the ground before I could stop them. Swallowing was almost impossible. Hesitantly, I lifted my gaze back to his. The dominance he excluded was so great, I couldn’t continue to meet his stare if I wanted to. He was a fucking Dom. The status was cloaked around him so thick that it was almost undeniable. Suffocating. And oh, so fucking hot.

There w
ere only two people I’d gotten a taste of this sort of authority from. My part-time Dom and a friend of mine, Preston Martin, fellow model, and the suitor who fought the hardest to try to claim me. I’d never allowed myself to get close to Preston. I knew better than to mix business with pleasure. Plus, he was more like a brother to me. But with Blake, I could get used to the demands. Too bad he was only using them so I’d obey his order to get into bed.

I snatched the towel from his hand. “Yes, Sir.” The sarcastic tone that came out was beyond my control. It annoyed me that there was finally a man who teased the woman in me
, and I was so ugly and scarred up that he pitied me.

“I’ll find you some clothes.”

As if I didn’t need a clearer sign of rejection, Blake swept past, all anger and control. It was probably killing him not to snap at me. After all, he was only trying to help and here I was being difficult. Whatever. I was getting tired again anyway. That had to be why I was in such a bad mood. Bitchiness wasn’t going to accomplish anything. I’d just wash my hair when I got to wherever I was going.

The towel was soft and helped take more of the chill away.  I stopped at the doorway,
watching thick muscles flex in Blake’s back as he pulled a black t-shirt over his head. My fingers twitched, wanting to embed right into his tanned skin. To tear down the hardness until he was sucking in air above me. Each step to the bed took everything I had. The need to go to him battled with the weakness taking over. By the time I collapsed, Blake was already walking over.

“I think this is going to swallow you, but it’ll do the job.” He looked up and came to a stop a few feet away. For the longest time
, he raked his eyes over me. Tightening twisted my core and my hips arched in need. Had I been wrong? From far away, maybe I looked good. With the lights out, I bet I’d look even better. I’d have to remember that.

Blake blinked hard and slightly shook his head. “Let me help you.” He took the long sleeve, dark shirt off the hanger. “You can just wear this for now. I’m afraid all I have are jeans. We’ll put the sweatpants back on before we arrive.”

“No pajamas?” I couldn’t help the small smile that came to my face. Imagining him in silk pajama bottoms, hanging low on his hips made all sorts of wicked thoughts flicker through my mind.

“I don’t…” The words died out as he crawled onto the large bed, sliding his hand under my neck. God, how I wanted to turn toward him and rub my face against the smoothness of his skin. A subtle scent of something altogether Blake had my eyes closing so I could take more into my senses. The fragrance intoxicated me. Pulled at my insides until my legs moved in his direction in an effort to curl around his frame. Salvation.
Make everything disappear. Even if only for this moment. Take it all away. Save me from my own mind. From the hell of the last month.

“Sit, Kaitlyn.” So soft spoken, yet direct.

My eyes fluttered open, the need gone. I obeyed and let him slide the shirt over my head. He hadn’t been lying. As I put my arms through the sleeves, I knew the material would have hugged every muscle he possessed. With me, it engulfed my skinny body. Hell, if I had been a few inches taller, I could have rocked the runaway. Cover modeling had worked because of my face. The curves and my height had kept me from getting on the catwalk. Not that I minded. The last thing I had wanted was to be any more exposed than I already was. Seeing my face on billboards and magazines had been more than enough. To have a room full of people surrounding me and taking pictures while I was displayed in some see-through or ridiculous outfit was not my cup of tea. The handful of strangers I was exposed to on shoots was more than enough.

“There.” He pulled the shirt down and eased me back. Blake’s palm didn’t move from the back of my neck. “Can I ask you something, Kaitlyn?” The length of his thumb made a path over the front of my throat and he stopped abruptly, removing his hand. “What will you do when you go home?”

“Hmm.” I thought over his question while I sat up and pulled the covers back, climbing under them. The silk was cool against my skin, but quickly became a comfortable temperature.

“I mean, do you have somewhere to go? Friends? A boyfriend?” He looked down. “I just need to know you’re going to be alright after I take you back.”

Did he really care? By the way his brow furrowed, it told me he did. The good part of him was shining through. I could see it was bothering him that one of the slaves might not fare so well after his rescuing. Well, I had to give him props for caring enough to ask.

“No need to worry, Mr. Morgan. I’ll be perfectly fine. I have a place. Friends. No need to stress over it.” All lies. If everyone knew I was missing, my apartment might not even be available anymore. Not at the rate they charged. My shit was probably sitting out by the road or in storage somewhere. Who knew? I’d never met a person who’d gone missing before. As for friends, no, I wasn’t going to any of them looking like I did. They were all shallow. Fake. Just thinking about running into any of them made me feel sick. What would they think about what happened? My looks? I didn’t want to know.

He shifted on the bed and laid down next to me. “What about a deeper connection. A boyfriend? Someone who can actually take care of you?”

“I take care of myself just fine. Never needed a man for that.” Pain flickered in my back as I rolled onto my side, facing him. The movement had taken so much strength
, my eyes instantly closed from exhaustion. At his deep exhale, I almost smiled.  What did he think about that response? I couldn’t tell. Maybe he assumed, or it was quite possible he didn’t like my answer.

Blake’s scent got stronger as I felt him move closer.

The hair was brushed back from my face and sleep beckoned. Keeping my eyes open a moment longer was impossible. I let the gentle caress relax me until I was somewhere between deep sleep and unconsciousness. Tingles covered every inch of my body while I lingered. In the far off distance, I could hear Blake’s light breathing. Still his fingers worked through the hair next to my face. Just as I felt myself begin to fall, his whisper broke through.

“Rule three—broken.”