He stops dead in his tracks at my command, and when he turns back to face me, I forget for a moment what I was going to say. I didn’t actually have anything to say, but I needed to stop him from leaving. My mind races because this is the closest I’ve gotten to Gray, and holy hell was it close. I can’t lose this moment.
“I’m waiting,” he finally says as we stare at each other.
He is waiting, which I find interesting because I expected him to have his people rush me away quickly. In fact, I think he’s playing some kind of a cat and mouse game with me for reasons I can’t decipher. He also did a lot of touching.
I bet it was to see if I had a wire on me or something and he was being sneaky about it. There’s no way he was copping a feel. This is Gray Malice—he could have any woman he wants in his bed. I’ve got three roommates who would be all over him and likely at the same time if he asked.
“Let’s talk inside.” I raise my chin and walk right past him. He cocks his head to the side as he watches me but doesn’t try to stop me from doing it.
To my surprise, when I push the handle of one of the double front doors, it opens, and I waltz right in. “Wow,” I gasp as I stand in the grand entryway. “You have two staircases. I never understood why people need two, but here they are. Useless and breathtaking all at the same time.” I hear the door close hard behind me before a lock clicks into place. I spin around, realizing that no one knows where I am. I pretend to be chill and like I haven’t stepped into something I can’t get out of. “You know, I was really hoping you were Batman.” I shake my head in disappointment.
“This isn’t a comic, Jade.” I don’t know why that sounds like a threat, but I sense the tension in him. In fact, I’m sensing all kinds of things. One is my reaction to being so close to Gray because the man is intoxicating. For a moment, I almost forgot he was a bad guy. At least my vagina sure did.
“No, it’s not. It’s very much real life, and that’s the problem.” I put my hands on my hips because I will not be intimidated.
“I don’t know what ideas you’ve come up with in that pretty head of yours, but there is nothing to find here.”
Did he call my head pretty? Stay on track, Jade. Do not let him seduce you with his sexiness.
“I think there is a lot to be found, or maybe”—I tap my finger against my lips—“to be lost.” He narrows his eyes on me, and something flashes in them. I thought I saw something outside, but I was sure it was only the darkness playing with me. People's eyes don’t flash that way and become darker than they really are.
“How about you go find my bedroom and then I’ll ask the questions.”
My mouth falls open at his words, and the way he says it makes something inside me get warm and achy. He’s trying to seduce me or throw me off kilter, I just know it.
“Why would I want to be in your bed? You’re, you’re, you’re all…”
“All what?”
I scrunch my nose, irritated with myself now. “I don’t know! Big and hard!” I throw my hands up in frustration, and in a second he closes the space between us. He’s so close I can feel the heat radiating off his body. I swear it’s like he’s too warm.
“You don’t know what all I am, little mouse.”
It suddenly hits me, and my stomach drops. Could Gray Malice be the same as Keaton Lone? I don’t know why I never thought of that before, but if Gray is doing some shady shit, why wouldn’t he pump himself full of whatever it is they’ve made in their fancy labs to create a superhuman?
“I’m not a little mouse.”
“You’re trying to be. You’re sneaking around looking for something delicious. It would be so easy to lure you right into a trap.”
Maybe he already has. That would explain how he knew I was in the trunk. I think he realized it before he started tossing me around on purpose.
“Are you threatening me, Gray Malice?” I raise my chin again, and my glasses slip up my nose. I push my shoulders back, pretending I’m not the least bit scared as his eyes never leave mine. Maybe I am a mouse, but I have a feeling a smart mouse would run.
I’m standing firm, so he can suck it. Though it is kind of pointless because he’s a beast towering over me. One that might be superhuman. I think I’ve only seen the tip of what Keaton can do, so who knows what Gray has up his sleeve?
“It’s a warning.”
“Warning? Ha! Then maybe I should give a warning too.” I try to sound full of bravado, but I think it only comes off sassy.
Why do I keep pushing him? I’m all alone, and I should shut my mouth and ask for that ride back to the city, but what if I can get him to admit something? Even if it’s small, it will have been worth this ordeal, and I might never get another chance.
“There’s nothing to warn me about. I know what I’m doing,” he says, and his shoulders drop.
Does he? What if Gray is in over his head too?
“All right, then how about a chance to not do this?”
“And what is it you think I’m going to do, little mouse?”
I lick my lips, wondering if I should even say this. I shouldn’t because then he’ll know how much information I have, but there’s something deep inside of me that wants to save him. I want to pull him away from this path that he’s somehow gotten himself on. It doesn’t even make sense why he’d experiment on himself.
How rich does someone need to be? What’s the point of selling technology and god knows what else to people who will only do harm with it? They don’t want these things to protect themselves. I think it’s quite the opposite.
“Don’t do it,” I say, trying to be cryptic so I don’t reveal all my cards at once. “You and I both know what I’m talking about.”
He shakes his head, not believing me, but why would he? I’m only a little mouse to him, so what could I possibly know? I wouldn’t take Gray as someone to underestimate someone, but I’m not sure he’s fully himself right now. Even if he was searching for a wire, outside he seemed out of it for a moment.
“And how would you know anything about what I might be doing?” The muscle in his jaw flexes, and I wonder if it’s because he’s angry or because of what he wants to do to me.
“Your new business associates like to run their mouths when they drink,” I inform him. “They're not the brightest.” I say the last part in Russian, and all the emotion drains from his face as it dawns on him how much I might actually know. It also lets me see that there’s truth behind what I heard. “Now do you think I know nothing?”
“Now we have a problem.” He moves closer, and I try to retreat, taking three steps back farther into his house, but he’s pissed now. I don’t know how, but I swear I can feel his emotions. They fill up the space all around us, and it vibrates over my skin. “I don’t think I can let you go anywhere.” He prowls toward me, and with each step I take backward, he closes the distance.
“My roommates will report me missing!” It might take them a few days or possibly a week, but at some point, they’ll realize the snacks are missing.
“And? Will anyone suspect that I kidnapped you?”
“Oh.” I let out a breath. “Kidnap? I thought you were going to kill me.” I put my hand over my racing heart.
“Kill you? That’s the last thing I want to do with you, little mouse.”
Again, that somehow sounds like a threat. My brain screams to run, but my body says to hear the man out.
“Maybe I should get that ride.” I point toward the front doors.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“My head hurts. I think I have a concussion from you tossing me around in your trunk,” I lie and wonder if there’s any way he’d actually believe me. “I promise I won’t sue if you just let me be on my merry way. It will be like I was never here.”
“A concussion is the last thing you’ll need to worry about if my associates find out what you might know.” I swallow as I realize I might be fucked. Both literally and figuratively.
Why can’t I keep my trap shut?