Page 46 of Caging Liberty
“I won’t say anything. I promise.”
She takes a deep breath like she’s readying herself for something. “So first of all, have you slept with him? I’m not trying to get in your business, I just have to ask.”
“No,” I say, images of the lust in his eyes when ordering me to lay down in bed flashing in my mind.
“Good.” She lets out a sigh of relief. “Do yourself a favor and stay as far away from him as you can. If he sinks his teeth into you, there’s no going back. He’s dangerous with a capital D, despite what he presents to you.”
“I don’t understand,” I say, confusion bleeding into my tone. “What do you think he wants with me?”
“He wants you to be his slave.”
When I stop walking, Desiree slows her steps and turns toward me. She looks up to the hill behind us and sits in the sand, facing the ocean. I slump down beside her and watch a speedboat zoom in the distance.
“Sawyer said I was a manor whore.”
“You are. That’s exactly where Mr. A wants you.”
I turn my head toward her, and she gives me this pitiful look when she sees my confusion.
“He probably isn’t even after you, so I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” she says unconvincingly. “I just took him asking about you last night as a red flag.”
“He asked about me?”
She nods. “When we were in the playroom. He was looking for you. He said Sawyer wanted him to check up on you, but I think that was a lie.”
After my morning with Sawyer, I agree with Desiree’s judgment. Sawyer most definitely didn’t benefit from Mr. A checking up on me last night, and I have a hard time believing he sent someone to be kind to me.
“I’ve seen him do this before. He takes an interest in a new girl for a little while, makes them think he’s somehow different than the rest of the pricks on this island, then he gets bored and moves on to the next conquest. He’s been playing this game with me since shortly after I got here.”
I wish I didn’t believe her. I wish all this sounded like bullshit and didn’t make any sense, but what she’s saying is eerily similar to Sawyer’s words, and I believe it.
So that’s what I am to him. A conquest.
Of course. What else did I expect?
“Why would he do that?” I ask, trying not to sound disappointed.
Desiree tucks her hair behind her ears and folds her legs beneath her as she faces me. “I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s because he likes the close connection. He isn’t allowed to own his own slave, so he uses whatever manor whore he’s interested in that second as a surrogate. The majority of the masters here don’t keep the same slave long-term, so him getting bored isn’t shocking.” Her face falls, and she looks down at the sand. “I guess I was an idiot to think it might’ve been different with me, huh?”
“No,” I say because it seems like it’s what she wants to hear. In reality, I don’t understand why she wants that. What, is she in love with the guy? Who cares if he moves on to the next? Good riddance.
Except I’m doing the same thing, aren’t I? I need him not to move on from me. My life depends on it.
“H-how long does it usually take for him to get bored?” I ask.
A divot forms between her eyes, but she must realize it because her face softens as she clears her throat. I’m picking up on some jealousy from her, and if I wasn’t currently fighting for my life, maybe I’d be able to conjure some sympathy. But she’s quickly putting herself into the same category as Anna in my mind.
“Does it matter?” she asks. “He isn’t going to rape you, so all you have to do is just blow him off until he moves on. I think we’re getting another shipment soon, so you won’t have to wait long.”
Shipment? Did she just call human beings a shipment?
“You haven’t even asked the important question,” she adds, a hint of annoyance cutting through her warning.
“What?” I blink.
“Don’t you want to know why he isn’t allowed to have a slave?”
I nod, although I’m not so sure I do.