I scowled. “How long what?”

“How long must I remain your plaything?”

“Until I tire of feeding you, talking to you, fucking you.”

“I want...” Cough. “To go home.”

I shrugged. “Not my problem you ventured somewhere you weren’t wanted.”

“If I’m not wanted, then let me go.”

“And risk you bringing more people to my door?” I pushed off from the wall. “No fucking chance.” Moving toward her, another bullet of desire exploded between my legs. Her fight was back. Her tenacity filled the basement. Her hatred heated my veins.

I might not like this girl but Christ she turned me on.

“What else are you hiding from me?” I dragged my gaze down her body. “Any other knives? Phones? Implements in which to kill me?”

Spreading her arms, she hissed, “My pockets are empty, you bastard. See for yourself.”

“I think I will.” I closed the distance between us.

She didn’t flinch at my closeness. Didn’t cower.

She stood taller and met me with strength, even as my hands landed on her shoulders, cupped her breasts, then curved their way along her hips to her thighs.

Desire made me tremble but practicality kept me sane. No other weapons or telecommunications hid in her pockets. Just pure, feminine flesh.

Her nostrils flared with pure hate. “Happy?”

“I was happy before you arrived and fucked everything up.”

Her breath hitched, and once again, that damn awareness prickled us. That heat. That current. That unexplainable connection.

She made me want to press her to the ground and sink inside her. Made it impossible to ignore the urge to switch her bravery to fear.

Her tone was as cold as mine as she pushed my hands off her body and snapped, “If I’m to stay here, the least you can do is let me use a proper bathroom.”

New mottling ringed her throat, bruises upon bruises. The shadows of muscles contracted as she swallowed again, doing her best to erase the pain I’d caused. “I need a bathroom.”

I cocked my head at the bucket in the corner. “There’s your bathroom.”

“I refuse to be treated like an animal.” No shame entered her eyes. No shyness existed as she barked, “I need the bathroom. Do you understand? I don’t know how long you’ve kept me here, but my body isn’t coping. I need sunlight. I need air. I need a toilet that flushes and a shower to wash away my filth and a blanket that doesn’t make me itch until I bleed.”

Her voice slipped to a black hiss. “If you want to fuck me, you need me clean. If you want to keep playing these sick little power games, you need me strong. You need my body working. If you keep me down here, I will die. And you won’t be a part of that ending. I’ll perish slowly, messily. You’ll be stuck cleaning up the stench and the decay. Is that what you want?”

“What I want is to be left the hell alone.”

“All you have to do is open the door, and I’ll be gone. You can be alone again.”

“Alone but not safe.”

“I won’t come back. You have my word.”

“Forgive me if your word is useless.”

She sighed heavily, her fight taking its toll. Closing her eyes for a second, she inhaled hard, fighting her bruises and a cough, struggling for composure. She battled with decisions—hurt me, decapitate me, try to escape, versus accepting she could never do those things. The only way to earn an inch of compassion was to do exactly what I said.

Her chin tipped down as her shoulders forced themselves to submit instead of stiffening with rage. “I don’t even know your name.”

I crossed my arms. “My name isn’t important.”

“If you’re going to keep me, then I need something to call you by.”

“Why? I have no intention of calling you Gemma.”

“Ah-ha!” Her eyebrows shot up. “So...you were listening.” She softened, her hair dancing over her dirty shoulder. “Gem. Call me Gem and—”

“I told you. I don’t care what your name is.”

She gritted her jaw and balled her hands, another dose of fire appearing on her gorgeous face. “You will care. I’ll make you care.”

I bared my teeth. “Bold claim.”

“Truth.” She rubbed her bruised throat. “You force me to stay here? You force me to sleep with you? You force us to spend time together? Well, be prepared for the consequences.”

I smiled blackly. “Consequences? Is that supposed to scare me?”

“Depends what scares you.”

I balled my hands, a threatening growl escaping. “Tread carefully, girl. I’m not afraid of anything.”

Her gaze locked on mine, defying me and ripping my lie to shreds. She knew. She could tell that I’d once been so fucking afraid I’d screamed for nine hours straight. I’d cried until I’d passed out. I’d begged until blood ran down my throat.

Shut up!

Shoving those nasty memories back behind the door where they belonged, I dug my toes into the concrete and glowered at her. I waited for her to push me just a little more.

To shove me into places where she’d undoubtedly end up broken by my feet. However, she seemed to sense I balanced on a blade that would slice deep if I fell off it, and murmured, “Humans weren’t meant to live alone.”

I blinked, unsettled by her odd sentence. “What?”

“You guessed correctly about me. I am here alone. And, until you smashed my PLB, I potentially had people coming to find me.” She shrugged. “But now, I’m truly alone. I probably shouldn’t confess that to you. I definitely shouldn’t have shown you how much my phone and PLB meant to me. That was an idiotic move on my part. Unbelievably moronic. But I’m slowly learning how to navigate this. You see, I’m not like you. I’m not used to ultimatums and such black and white. I’m used to decency and kindness. I’m used to being safe and come from a world where ‘NO’ is a shield that protects you.”

“That word doesn’t exist in my world.” Shadows gathered on my thoughts, swirling with memories of how many times I’d yelled no and been hurt anyway.

She continued as if I hadn’t spoken, blurting out more sentences in a few seconds than I’d heard in eleven years. “I know I should tell you that I have friends who, at this very moment, are searching for me. I should tell you that I have a brother who will turn the globe upside down to find me—which I do, by the way. He won’t stop. I know he won’t.”

She sighed sadly, her gaze ripping out my pieces one by one. “And who knows, maybe that’s exactly what they’re doing right now. Your private paradise might be invaded by more than just me. But...here’s the thing. I know things about you too, you bastard. I know you’re sheltered and very secluded. I’m beginning to guess you’ve lived here on your own for a while. Long enough for you to forget some very important things.”

I froze. “What things?”

Pushing off from the wall, she dared step closer to me. Her breasts rose and fell beneath her grubby jacket. Her legs flexed beneath tight leggings. My belly coiled to rip off her clothing and command her to her knees.