“No, stay,” he says, grabbing me as I go to crawl away.
“Mateo…”
He ignores my meager protest, pulling me down on the bed and climbing on top of me. “Stay.”
“I need to…”
He shakes his head, leaning down and kissing his way down my neck. “Fuck me? Yes, I agree. I believe you promised to wrestle me to the ground and ride my cock until I let you come—that hasn’t happened yet.”
“I was very horny when I said that,” I point out.
His hand moves between my legs. “Well, let’s see if I can get you that horny again.”
Chapter Twelve
Rapping lightly on Elise’s bedroom door, I rock back on my heels and wait. Dread and anticipation fill me as I do precisely what he just told me not to—investigate him.
It’s his own fault. I gave him a chance to come clean, and I wouldn’t even be pushing the issue, but he has to go and be a controlling ass. If I don’t ask tonight, he’ll threaten his whole staff tomorrow, I just know he will.
Elise comes to the door, looking mildly surprised to see me. “Oh, hey Meg.”
“Hey,” I say, wrapping my arms around myself. “Do you have a minute?”
“Sure,” she says, opening the door and stepping back.
I haven’t been in Elise’s room before. I’m pretty sure she’s the same age as me—or at least close—but I’m surprised to find her room is very girlish. The walls are cotton candy pink, her bedding floral whites and pinks. She has a white tufted chair in the far left corner, but there are no other chairs in her room, so she curls her leg beneath her on the bed.
“Everything okay?”
“I kind of wanted to ask you a question,” I tell her. “I don’t want to make you feel weird or anything, and I certainly don’t want you to feel pitted against Mateo.”
Elise rolls her eyes. “I’m not afraid of Mateo.”
“See, me neither,” I say, glad to have found someone else to join my club.
“Well, you probably should be. I’m not afraid of him because if he ever hurt me, Adrian would kill him.”
“Oh,” I say, dimming. “So… you and Adrian, huh? He’s kind of a badass.”
She cracks a smile, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know. We’ll see. You didn’t come here at this time of night to ask me about Adrian, though.”
“Right. Well, when Mia and Mateo had their little whatever-the-fuck in the kitchen that first week, it seemed like you were… worried about her? You mentioned how someone should go make sure she was okay?”
An uncomfortable expression flashes across her face. “Yeah. He hasn’t always been good to her.”
I definitely didn’t want to hear that. Despite the twisting in my gut, I persist. “How do you mean? Like, when they dated or whatever?”
“They didn’t date. She was with Vince. He… I don’t know exactly what he did, but he caused a lot of problems for them.”
“So, you don’t know if he ever hurt her?”
“No, I know he did.”
A ball of dread cracks open in my stomach, acid filling my gut. “You know he hurt Mia?”
Face drawn, she nods. “I thought he was better than that, but… he’s not.”
“Was he…abusive?”
“This is really uncomfortable to talk about,” she informs me.
“I know. I’m so sorry to put you in this position, it’s just… Mia and I—we’ve been friendly lately, but when I told Mateo, he didn’t want me to talk to her. It seemed like he thought she might say something to me that…would change my feelings for him.”
“Probably,” she says. “I don’t think most women have many good things to say about their rapists.”
Sinking back into the chair, my heart actually aches with the weight of her words. “Rape?”
Elise nods, more apologetic. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sure?”
Shrugging apologetically, she said, “I saw her after. I had to change the sheets. It wasn’t pretty.”
When I leave Elise’s room a few minutes later, I feel a million pounds heavier. Now I understand why he didn’t want me to investigate; I almost wish I hadn’t.
But I did, and I can’t pretend otherwise. I want to ask him, but not only will he know someone told me and want to know who, he’ll lie. He already told me tonight he didn’t hurt Mia, and there’s no reason I can think of for Elise to lie. It’s possible she’s confused, but… I need to talk to Mia. I need to verify this once and for all, and I need to do it before he has a chance to intimidate her.
—
Mateo watches me closely the next morning when I bring him breakfast. Adrian is at the table with him, going over business while they eat. I hope Mateo is distracted with business and won’t bother me. Until I have a firm grasp on what he’s capable of, I don’t want his hands on me.
Unfortunately, he seems to notice.