“I don’t need a science lesson. I’m fully aware of what the body undergoes.”
“Do you?” He scowled. “Have you personally sampled the drug you expect others to take?”
I barked a chuckle. A chuckle that vibrated with ridicule and disbelief.
Me?
Take elixir?
Fuck, the world wasn’t ready for that.
Any girl in my radius wouldn’t be ready for that horror.
I struggled to contain myself on a good day.
If I took one droplet of that substance?
Fuck me, it would be a shit-show.
An endless, BDSM, no-holds-barred, black-listed pornography where the girl most likely ended up in pieces.
An image of Eleanor with bite marks all over her pristine skin, sprays of cum all over her face, rope burns on her ankles, cuff bruises on her wrists…dead from my lust, suddenly swamped my mind.
Immediately, my chuckle turned to a choke, and I coughed.
The reminder of what I would be capable of was better than any argument or negotiation.
Eleanor—Jinx—had to be kept as far away from me as fucking possible.
I’d retained my humanity by refusing to partake in what I sold. I didn’t cripple beneath my urges. I wouldn’t start now.
Rattling the bottle with the pills inside, I levelled an arctic look at Dr Campbell. “She gets three days.” Raising my head and my voice, so the two impatient guests could hear, I added, “The first man to pay one-hundred-and-fifty thousand wins four hours with the spirited, wicked-tongued Jinx.”
Both men agreed at the same time.
I didn’t know who spoke first, and I didn’t care.
I needed a swim.
I needed the ocean where the salt could put out any fire and the coolness could temper any rage.
I needed to sink deep, deep to the reef below and swim with my fellow finned monsters, curbing my urges as surely as they curbed theirs, doing our best not to take advantage of our place on the top of the food chain.
I’d learned from them the art of sheathing sharp teeth and gliding elegantly past our prey—hiding a predator’s privilege, fighting the need to eradicate every morsel in our path, pretending we weren’t a weapon naturally designed to kill.
Chapter Nineteen
AFTER THE MANIA OF the past thirty-six hours or so, Sully left me alone and peace reigned.
I didn’t budge from that table laden with food all afternoon, taking my time to eat what I could out of each dish. When I grew full, I paused and curled up my legs to watch the golden sun glitter on turquoise water, spangling diamonds into my eyes.
When I grew thirsty, I sipped from the ice-cold carafe of mint and mango-infused water I found in the kitchenette. And when I grew peckish again, I returned to sampling, moaning often at the explosion of flavours and appreciating the culinary masterpieces of cuisine.
Even at island temperature and exposed to humidity, nothing could ruin the subtle and spicy tastes of so many exotic dishes, and I became obsessed with clearing each meal, so the chef wouldn’t think I didn’t love their creations when it was the best food I’d ever tasted.
Better than any food truck Scott and I had sampled. Better than any of his shoestring budget cooking or my ill-fated attempts at baking. Definitely better than the slop the Mexicans had fed me in the dark.
What had happened to the other girls imprisoned with me? Where had Tess ended up? Did she have such a difficult introduction to her new ‘master’ as I did? What about Scott? Was he desperately trying to find me, or had he moved on and left me as an unanswered mystery?
My questions mellowed in my mind as I continued grazing. Occasionally, my gaze would catch on the chair Sully had vacated, and I worried all over again.
Why me?
If what he said was true—about not being interested in his other goddesses but for some inexplicable reason was intrigued by me…why?
Why did I puzzle him?
Why had he made it a personal vendetta to destroy me in every way he could?
Alone, at last, the silence gave me far too much space to analyse and deduce. It allowed quietness to be honest, and I didn’t like the confessions that honesty brought.
Sully might be intrigued by me, but…I was intrigued by him.
I hated him—of that there was no doubt or question.
But…he also confused me.
He conjured terror beyond measure but also a heat that couldn’t be denied. His attractiveness was just as deadly as those plants that lured frogs and insects to their untimely death, killing them with beauty.
He was that plant, seemingly innocuous when his temper wasn’t spiked, carefully calm when he had his own way, yet…utterly ruthless when it came to its prey.
No, he’s not a plant.
He’s a shark.
Satin and silky, hidden by deep water, camouflaged by sunlight and ocean.
He might be the most attractive male I’d ever seen. He might have made me come. I might’ve sat on his hand and suffered the most debilitating bliss I’d ever had. He might’ve been kind enough to take me to a doctor. He might’ve been brutally honest that there was something we couldn’t understand linking us in this war.