His eyes slid open and pinned me to the spot. “To let me come in here and then you start stripping?”
“D—did you want to take my clothes off?” I guessed.
He barked a laugh that sounded unused and filled with anything but humor. “No. Jesus Christ.” His fists unclenched and one went up to rub at his jaw. “Did you think at all? Did you use any common sense at all when you began this?”
My anger rose, pushing out the pain his words had caused and filling in the fissures he’d created. My armor solidified in place. “I didn’t come here to be insulted. As you know I’ve never done this before.”
“No, you came here to get fucked. However I want, right?”
A sneer stretched his lips as he took two long strides to reach me. I backed up, but I didn’t have far to go until I hit the wall. Two more steps and he crowded my space, blocking out the dim light coming from the only lamp across the room.
“The things I could do to you.”
The words whispered across my skin, making goose bumps prickle down my spine. I pressed against the wall and swallowed hard. No amount of makeup or anger was hiding the fear taking over my body. My eyes flicked to the door, but I wouldn’t make it. Maybe if I kneed him in the balls. Maybe I’d buy enough time to grab the money and run. Maybe I’d make it out of this alive.
“There it is. There’s the fear that should have stopped you from this dumb mistake.”
“It wasn’t dumb,” I tried to defend. It was weak and we both knew it was a lie. I knew it was dumb, but I was desperate. But defending my choice gave me something else to focus on besides fear.
His hands snapped out and gripped my bare arms. They almost encircled my bicep completely as he yanked me from the wall, closer to his face, and shook me. Not hard, but enough to pull a yelp from me. He bared his teeth like an animal, and growled, “Of course it was dumb. If I was anyone else from that site, I would ruin you. Was that what you wanted?”
“N—no.”
I was on my toes, a swirl of fear and anger mixing like a pot of boiling water getting ready to bubble over. I had stuttered my answer, but it came out hard, tired of his judgment and intimidation.
“What would you have done? What if I wanted to fuck your ass? Your throat? What if I wanted to stick every finger inside you until you screamed?”
“Stop. Stop.”
“Do you want to be kidnapped?” he shouted, shaking me again. “Sold? Drugged and raped every way possible against your will until you die, chained to a bed alone?”
Fire burned behind my eyes and I squeezed them shut, hating the few tears that leaked out. Each option lashed at me. Each option I’d refused to think of because I’d been desperate. Each option crushing me under fear and rage because I didn’t know if that was still my fate or not.
“You’re so fucking stupid,” he shouted in my face.
I dug my fingers in his chest and pushed against an immovable wall, but it helped. It helped me feel some control. I wasn’t just being shaken like a rag doll and questioned by someone who probably didn’t know what hunger was.
“Stop calling me that.” He wanted to growl at me, then I could growl back.
“Then don’t make stupid choices.”
“I’m tired of starving,” I yelled in his face, feeling the most minor spark of satisfaction at him pulling back, even if it was only an inch. “I’m hungry and tired and desperate. So fuck you and get out.”
For the first time since I opened the door, his jaw relaxed. His brows were still furrowed over his eyes that still seared my skin when he looked at me. But his grip on my arms loosened and my feet fully touched the floor. It was as if each muscle slowly released until he’d let go of me completely and backed away a foot. Oxygen flooded the space and I inhaled as deep as I could. He never stopped looking at me, like he was worried I’d bolt or attack if he gave me his back.
“Do you have family I can take you to?”
My eyebrows rose to my hairline, unprepared for the change in topic—unprepared for his soft tone. I tried to keep up and form a coherent response. “What?”
“A family. Someone I can take you to, to get you away from here.”
“Why?”
“I’m trying to help you.”
I scoffed. “Help me? Really?”
“Have I pinned you to the bed yet and taken what you so willingly offered?” he snapped, his irritation back, and I shook my head. “And I won’t. I came across your post and didn’t want anyone else to find it. Someone who would take and take until there was nothing left.”