Now we were watching TV. Or I was. Cain was busy texting people on his phone. He was also feeding me lots.
He shifted in his seat, taking the bowl of veggie puffs off his lap and setting it on the coffee table. I sighed. This was nice. I was still freaked out, of course, but he was helping me forget it. I felt so safe with him. Especially because he was spoiling me rotten.
Cain was being nice.
Too nice.
He hadn’t even yelled at me. I knew he wanted to. He was angry with me. Scared too. But he hadn’t said more than few words about it. Not since we came in and that whole bit about ‘obeying him.’ I would have laughed in his face if I wasn’t so damn scared.
I was still scared, but I was determined not to think about it.
“Hot cocoa?”
I shook my head, my hand wandering to his lap. I had something else soothing and distracting in mind. He inhaled sharply and cast me a stern glance.
“None of that tonight, Miss.”
I groaned and pouted.
“Why not?”
“Because. You need to go to bed.”
“Only if you come with me,” I said suggestively.
“I have too much to do.”
“Like what?”
“You know what, baby girl.”
He shook his head and leaned back. I thought he would push me away but instead, he tugged me against his side. I snuggled against him again.
I watched the TV, ignoring the fact that Cain was ignoring me for his phone. He inhaled sharply.
“We got some footage.”
I peeked at his phone.
“What?”
“Footage from a security camera. Real blurry. But we can see him.”
My eyes got wide. I was grateful he actually told me anything. This sounded like good news.
Maybe they would actually catch the bastard.
“I need to step out for a second.”
I nodded sleepily.
“Okay.”
“I will be right back.”
“Okay.”
“I just need to do one thing first . . .”
He got really close to me. I sighed and closed my eyes, certain he was about to kiss me.
SNAP
I stared in confusion at my ankle. He’d put something on there. It was . . . a shackle? With a long chain attached to it?
“What the fuck, Cain?”
He smirked at me and ruffled my hair.
“It should be long enough for you to reach the bathroom. I’ll be right outside.”
Then he was gone.
Chapter Thirty-One
Cain
Kelly was snoozing on the couch when I got back inside. I stood there and watched her for a few minutes. She looked so sweet, so innocent. Like a child.
A child who had given me the worst scare of my life that afternoon.
A child who had to be taught a lesson.
A child who was going to be thoroughly punished over the next few days.
I unlocked her ankle and carried her to the bedroom, where another set of shackles waited for her. I clipped her ankle into the new set and then opened the drawer to see the other shackles I had.
These particular shackles were not from Connor. These I had bought for a different purpose. I had been planning on tying Kelly up for a long time. Once she’d responded so well to the spanking, I had decided to stock up on supplies. I had lots of interesting things I wanted to try with her. But not now. I closed the drawer.
Tomorrow.
The one I had just put on her dainty little ankle allowed enough lead for her to get to the master bathroom and that was about it. I stripped down to my shorts and pulled Kelly’s clothes off. Thankfully, she’d been wearing her dress so I hadn’t had to unshackle her again.
Her brother had dropped off her luggage and the shackles with barely a word to me. I knew he didn’t like what I was about to do to his precious sister. But he also knew I didn’t have a choice. Otherwise, he never would have supplied me with so much chain.
I smoothed my hand down over Kelly’s skin, and she mumbled, turning to lie on her side. I almost laughed. She must really trust me. We’d learned fast in the Corps that you could only sleep that deeply around guys you trusted. Especially out in the field.
Well, this was pretty much comparable to war for her. She was a sweet little thing who’d never been under siege before. A sweet little impetuous thing who was going to have to be punished, even though I just wanted to take her to bed and lose myself in her.
Stay hard, Cain. She nearly got her cute little self killed, remember?
Not just killed.
Tortured. Maimed. Cut up.
I closed my eyes, close to tears at the thought. I never fucking cried. But just the thought of losing her was enough to make my eyes suspiciously moist.
So, yeah, I didn’t have a choice. I had to punish her. To make sure she’d never do something stupid like that again. Because I didn’t think I would survive it if anything actually happened to her.