Page 13 of Risky Behavior: Submitting to the Ruthless Guard

“Fine. I’ll go, but I don’t have anything to wear.”

“That’s my girl,” he said with a wink.

I couldn’t help but smile at his encouragement. My mind was a whirlwind of chaos since our earlier interaction. If something like that happened in the real world, then I would have had some space and Raven to help me figure out what it all meant. But here in this fishbowl I was living in, I didn’t have space. I had to sit here and watch the man who was consuming my mind work as if nothing had even happened. As if he hadn’t just rocked my entire world with one line. Leo was nothing like I thought he would be and yet everything I had dreamed of. If he meant what he said, then maybe he really could help me get out of here. Sure, the promise of pain and pleasure was appealing, but his promise to teach me to kill if I asked nicely kept swirling around in my head.

I never would have considered myself someone who thirsted for blood, but I also hadn’t been abused by a man who technically owned me. I needed to find a way out of here and if Leo could help me get away, then I would try it. Escape hadn’t been the only thing I had fantasized about since the sun went out. But what played on repeat from that night was me screaming at him how badly I wanted to kill him. Again and again I yelled and screamed as I cried. I’d never begged, not once. I wouldn’t give Miles the satisfaction of seeing me beg. Instead, I wished for the most violent death to come to him. One where there was no question I had punished him for his sins.

First Meal

Leo

Taliawasstrugglingthroughoutthe entire week. It was like watching a bad car crash from the side of the road and I had no control over any of it. I had suspected for some time that the sedatives they had been plying her with were becoming more of a crutch than a hindrance. Since I told her about Carter’s plans for her this week, she had been more withdrawn than ever. He had requested her presence at breakfast, though, and it was my job to make sure she made it. The idea of him being in the same room as her made my stomach turn, but Noah and Ares were making progress, so I was counting down the days until I could get her out of here. The amount of favors I had called in and bribes I had paid were growing by the day, but Talia Crawford was quickly becoming more than just a job, and it would soon be time that I admitted that freely.

“Come on, sleepy head, it’s time to get up,” I said as I made my way over to her petite body snuggled deep under the covers. The night before I’d had calls with both Luca Corsetti, an old friend from high school, and Ares Sabino, my former employer. They weren’t conversations I could have here, so I’d left Anderson in charge of Talia and spent the night at a local hotel. I’d hacked into the security feed to keep an eye on her. If I hadn’t, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to stay away.

“Leave me alone,” she groaned and covered her head with a pillow.

“No can do. You need to get ready. They sent up clothes for you to wear to breakfast.”

“Can’t you tell him I died?” she mumbled.

“I don’t think he’d believe me. Come on, you have to eat. Let’s get this out of the way and we will go for a run.”

Talia rolled over and threw the pillow at me. “It’s an embarrassment that you call what we do running. That’s not running, it’s barely even a jog.”

“It’s… something,” I said with a small laugh that only earned me another pillow to the head and a very unladylike grunt from my feisty bird.

“Fuck off.”

“I’d love to, but I’m pretty sure that would get me killed. Now, get your lazy ass up and in the shower.”

I stepped back as Talia righted herself and made her way into the bathroom. She had fallen asleep in one of the oversized black hoodies they had sent up for her, and I swear the woman didn’t have a damn thing underneath. I was certain she did shit like that just to torture me.

“You know what’s nice about being held captive?”

“What’s that?” I asked as we made our way down to the main dining room.

“I don’t have any of my stuff. No makeup, no hair products, nothing. It takes all of ten minutes to get ready for the day. I mean, I’d give my left tit for some decent conditioner right about now, but otherwise I’m kind of liking this whole natural look thing.”

“I think you’d regret giving up a tit.”

“Nope. Conditioner is gold to a curly-haired girl. Look at me, this mop is barely dry, and it’s already frizzy.”

Talia ran her hand just above her hair to prove her point.

“I don’t think that constitutes frizz.”

“Says the man who just shakes that luscious mane and it falls perfectly into place.”

“So you think my hair is perfect?”

“That’s what you got out of this conversation?”

“I mean, you said it, didn’t you?”

Talia stopped at the opened double doors before going in. Carter was sitting at the head of the table with two guards standing behind him and another at the door. I knew most of them by now and none of them were worth much, but he had this presence about him that made him seem larger than he was. Most of the people he had working as his security detail were there for show, even within his own home. They were used in moments like these when he wanted the surrounding people to feel intimidated, and it was working.

Talia’s breathing had increased, and her hands clenched at her sides. He watched her every move so there wasn’t much I could do other than reassure her I was here.