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Amelia
“Dinner’s ready.” Liam’s voice cut through the sobs.
Pity and sadness filled his voice. My hair covered my eyes and stuck to my tear-dampened face. Although I couldn’t see him, I was aware of Liam moving closer and crouching down beside the couch.
He gently moved the hair from my face and my whole body tensed at his touch. I looked up at him with aching eyes. He cupped my cheek in his hand, his thumb brushing lightly to wipe away my tears. The touch was so tender, if I hadn’t known better, I would have never suspected he was the murderer I’d watched in that dirty alleyway.
“I’m so sorry that things have turned out this way. It was not how I wanted you to find out about me.”
“Please Liam, please just let me go.” I could barely speak.
“I can’t. At least not yet.” The way he said that sent chills running down my spine. “There is still so much I need to tell you—so much I need you to understand.”
“Then explain them. Tell me whatever it is you need to tell me then let me go.” I pleaded.
He looked so sad as he shook his head. “Not yet. You’re not ready. It’s time for dinner.”
Liam lifted me from where I’d fallen over in my bonds. He helped me stand but kept my hands and ankles tied. I wondered how he expected me to make it to the kitchen until he lifted me in his arms. He held me the way a groom would carry his bride over the threshold instead of thrown over his shoulder like last time.
He placed me in one of the wooden chairs at the small kitchen table where Chase was already sitting.
“I would ask if I could trust you to untie you while you eat but I already know better. So, you’ll have to make do like this.”
I looked down at my plate. A sandwich and chips. This shouldn’t be too hard.
“Dig in.” Liam smiled at me, and I scowled back at him.
I twisted my wrists in the rope and managed to lift the sandwich to my mouth without much trouble. It had been so long since I’d eaten anything, and my stomach panged with the thought of finally getting food.
We sat in uncomfortable silence as we ate. The silence was still better than having to talk to those psychos.
Chase cleared his throat once he’d finished scarfing down his sandwich. “Well, I’m going to take my beer to the living room and let you two chat.” The chair screeched across the hardwood floor and Chase was gone.
I snuck a glance at Liam before going back to my food.
“I really am sorry things had to go this way.” He leaned his elbows on the table and pushed his plate to the side so he could lean closer to me.
I shot daggers at him with my eyes and shoved the last bite of sandwich into my mouth.
“Fine. You don’t want to talk? We won’t talk. Finish your dinner.”
He stood and stormed out.
The sounds of the living room T.V. were muffled from where I sat in the kitchen, but if I strained my ears, I could just hear as the news anchor gave his report.
“In local news, police remain stumped after Judge Patrick Andrews was found murdered two days ago. Sources say police suspect the killing was linked to four other homicides in the state.” Four other homicides? Liam’s a serial killer!?
I couldn’t breathe. My heart pounded and my ears roared as the room started to spin. I was being held captive by a freaking serial killer.
“Time for bed.” The sound of Liam’s voice nearly made me jump out of my chair.
“Please just let me go?” I squirmed so he couldn’t pick me up, but it didn’t work.
“You’ll be staying in my room upstairs.” He leaned down and slung me over his shoulder.
We passed through the living room. Chase sat on the couch with the T.V. on. I yelled and thrashed around but Liam ignored my protests and carried me upstairs. He sat me on the edge of the bed while he dug through the bags Chase had brought a bag of stuff from my apartment.
I felt completely gross after all I’d been through. I hadn’t had a shower since our date over twenty-four hours ago and since then I’d had sex, rode for hours in the trunk of a car, and had dinner where I’d dropped crumbs all over the sheet that I was barely wrapped in. I debated asking Liam for anything. I didn’t want to seem dependent on him, but I craved a warm shower.
“I know you’ll probably say no but, I feel disgusting. Could I maybe take a quick shower?”
“Oh, I apologize for my oversight. Why don’t I run you a bath? I’m sure you need it after the day you’ve had.” He walked toward the attached bathroom.
“That would be wonderful, but...”
“But what?” Liam stopped just inside the doorway and looked back at me.
“Can you remove the ropes, so I can better bathe myself?”
“I suppose that would be okay. I don’t see you outrunning me in there.”
“In? You mean you plan to stay in there too?”
“There’s a window in the bathroom. You’ve already shown me I can’t trust you not to try to escape.”
“We’re on the second floor,” I said with exasperation.
“All the more reason for me to make sure you don’t try anything stupid. It’s for your safety.”
I scoffed. “My safety? What about all this talk about being a gentleman?” I challenged.
“A gentleman wouldn’t allow a girl to climb out a window and fall to her death. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t seen you naked. I promise I won’t touch you unless it’s to stop you from trying something stupid.”
I sighed, knowing I wasn’t going to win this battle.
Liam ran the water while I sat, still bound in ropes. When he came out of the bathroom, he was drying his hands on a small towel and smiling. “All ready.”
He knelt at my feet and untied the ropes before doing the same with my wrists. Liam took me by the arm and gently guided me into the bathroom while I struggled to keep the sheet secured around me. I was lucky he’d been so careful to always wrap me in it when carrying me from one place to the next.
My cheeks heated as I let the sheet fall to the floor and climbed into the tub. Liam pretended not to watch, but I could feel his eyes burning into me as I lowered myself into the foamy water. The warmth penetrated my trembling, achy muscles and soothed my frazzled mind. I leaned back with a relaxing sigh. I still couldn’t fully let my guard down as I felt his gaze on me.
“Do you have to watch me the whole time?” It wasn’t like it was the first time he’d seen my body, but he still looked at me as though he was appraising a work of art. It made me uncomfortable.
“I’ve seen how fast you can be. Never can tell what you might do next, so I have to keep a close eye on you.”
I shook my head before closing my eyes, letting the water relax me further.
We sat in silence for so long I almost thought he’d left the room until he suddenly spoke up. “About ready for bed? That water has to be getting cold by now.”
“Oh, yeah. It is kind of chilly.”
“I’ll get you a towel.” He crossed the bathroom to the counter where a white fluffy towel waited. “Here you go.” He extended his arm but kept his distance as he offered me the towel.
“Thank you,” I whispered, feeling shy as I stood up and wrapped myself in the soft terry cloth.
He led me into the bedroom and nodded toward the bed. “Sit.”
A sickening feeling twisted in the pit of my stomach. He didn’t think we were going to have sex again, did he? Not now that I knew the true him. Not as his prisoner. No way. He cast me a warning glance and I did as he said, sitting on the very edge of the bed.
Liam dug through a trash bag, pulling out some of my bathroom items and a few knick-knacks from my house.
“Shit, I grabbed the wrong bag. I left your clothes bag downstairs.” Liam dug through the dresser drawer until he pulled out a large t-shirt. “Put this on.” He tossed it to me, and I barely caught it.
“I don’t have panties.”
“Chase packed them. Once I get you secure up here, I’ll get them from your bag.”
I didn’t like knowing Chase had gone through my most intimate items, but I was glad I would have some of my own things.
“Tomorrow I’ll be making adjustments to the room to make you more comfortable, but for tonight I’m afraid I’ll have to secure you to the bed to make sure you don’t try to run. I know being bound doesn’t make it easy to sleep so I’ll give you a choice. I can use rope to tie both of your hands to the bed or I can use handcuffs and just cuff one wrist. The handcuffs are harder, but it would allow you a little more freedom to get comfortable.”
“You don’t have to tie me up. It’s late, I don’t know where we are. I won’t run.”
He knew me better than that by the way he tilted his head and looked at me. “Choose or I’ll choose for you.”
“The handcuffs,” I whispered, feeling ashamed for giving in but not wanting him to take away the one choice he’d offered to me since my abduction.
“Up on the bed.” He commanded.
I crawled on the bed and laid on my side while my heart threatened to jump out of my throat.
“Covers?”
I nodded and he gently draped the soft quilt over my lower body. Liam dug through another drawer at the side table. The rattling of handcuffs made my body stiffen. I couldn’t breathe with him so close as he leaned over to secure my arm to the headboard.
He was slow to pull back, taking in a deep breath as he brushed against me. I froze, afraid to even breathe until he pulled away and moved toward the door.
“Liam? How long are you going to keep me here?”
“Sleep, Amelia.” He slipped out the door before I could protest.
Liam
“How long do you think you can keep this up?” Chase sat on my couch with a bottle of beer in his hand as I came down the stairs.
“Keep what up?” I plopped down on the opposite side, and he tossed me the extra beer on the coffee table.
“I get that you had to make a quick decision. She was making a scene and you needed to get her somewhere and calm her down. But you’re talking about making alterations to the room. You had me go out and pick up metal bars for the windows and a deadbolt for the bedroom door.”
“She already tried to escape once.” I opened my beer and took a long drag.
“Then you need to put her in custody. There are certain protocols for this kind of situation.”
“You want to lock her up?”
“It can’t be any worse than what you’re doing to her here.”
“Here she is close to me. I can keep her safe.”
“You don’t think she’d be safe in custody?”
“No. Not after hearing how deep this thing goes. We don’t know who we can trust.”
“Who we can trust–?”
“I think she's the one.”
“The one? You mean...”
“Fate put her in that apartment across from my balcony. Fate sent her to me. She's mine."
Chase sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “I didn’t even think you believed in the whole fated mates thing. But let's say you're right. Fate sent you your one true mate. You can’t keep her locked up here indefinitely.””
“If I could tell her the truth—”
“She's not even a wolf. You know you can’t trust outsiders with this kind of information.”
“It doesn’t have to be all of it. Just enough to make her understand.”
“You think she's going to accept that you're a wolf? You think anything you say is going to turn you into the good guy in her eyes? She saw you kill a man for god’s sake.”
“I think she would eventually understand.”
“Girls like her, they see things in black and white. We work in the gray. She’ll never understand that.” Chase’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out. “I have to take this then I’m heading to my place.” Chase and I had been friends for as long as I’d been in the agency. We’d decided to both set up houses nearby in case we ever needed them.
“Okay, and thanks for everything.”
“Just think about what I said.” Chase slipped out the front door and I followed to lock it behind him.
I had to find a way for her to see me as something other than a murderer. We were so close, if not for that damn tattoo.