Forgiving Lies (Forgiving Lies #1)(77)
A sob ripped from me and my arms fell limply to my sides. Blake moved his lips to my neck and made a trail to my ear. “While I appreciated that, like I said, we’ll work on it. Now, go get ready for bed, I’ll be back in a minute.” My body went rigid and he laughed soft and low. “I won’t touch you tonight. Now that I have you where I want you, I need you to realize you’re in love with me. Scaring you wouldn’t help with that right now.”
“You are scaring me!” My hand shot out toward the screens. “This—this is terrifying! Everyone I care about is in danger. You blew up George’s car, for shit’s sake! Does it not bother you at all that you’re related to them?”
“For the last damn time, sweetheart,” he sneered, “nothing will happen to them if you do what I say. And the faster you realize you’re mine and you acknowledge and embrace your true feelings for me, the faster my men leave them alone.”
“You can’t just force someone to fall in love with you, Blake.”
He huffed. “I’m not. You are in love with me. You’re just being difficult. Get ready for bed.” With that he turned and left the room.
Tears continued to fall down my cheeks as I went through the motions of getting ready for bed. The entire time I wondered what Kash was doing and if he was okay. My eyes flicked over to my phone thousands of times, but I knew he wouldn’t call. And with what had already happened today and how closely everyone was being watched, I knew I couldn’t call him. Not that calling him would do either of us any good anyway. If anything I would just make things worse. I prayed for the hundredth time that he would someday forgive me.
When I walked back out of the bathroom, Blake was lying in the bed, propped up against the headboard, his upper body bare. I wondered how many women wanted this. How many fantasized about his body against theirs and downtime before or after. I wanted to laugh at how seriously mistaken they all were about this Adonis. No. Not Adonis . . . not anymore. He was the damn devil. Lucifer had been a beautiful angel. And that’s exactly what Blake was. He was beautiful, but something had happened to him and he was now nothing but pure evil.
Forcing myself to climb into bed beside him, I kept myself as close to the edge of the bed as possible and tried not to cry out in protest when he stretched out beside me and pulled me close. My body was shaking so hard, the entire bed was shaking with me. I prayed he’d get tired of it, but he held me closer and began whispering soothing words in my ear. But I knew it was all a lie, and I knew what he was capable of. I stayed awake for hours shaking and silently crying until sleep finally claimed me.
MY EYES FLUTTERED open and I looked around the dark room. The first thing I noticed was the empty bed beside me before I heard my phone vibrating again. Trying to remain quiet, in case Blake was somewhere nearby, I crept back into the bathroom and my heart squeezed when I saw the name on the screen.
“Hello?” I whispered, and peeked behind me into the empty room.
“Rach, oh my God, you need to get out of there! I’m not just—”
“Kash, slow down and talk a little softer. What’s wrong?”
He was breathing heavily and I could hear the rumble of his truck’s engine in the background. “Are you okay? Has he hurt you?”
I wanted to tell him that I was sorry for everything and that I’d lied to him yesterday . . . but I needed to keep up with this pretense to keep him safe. I cleared my throat and tried to sound strong. “Of course he hasn’t. B-Blake wouldn’t do anything to me.”
“Babe, you don’t need to keep lying to me. I’m coming for you. I will keep you safe. Just try to stay safe until we can get there, okay? Rachel, I love you. I love you so much, I need you to know that.”
My heart broke at his frantic declaration, but I didn’t understand. “Who is ‘we,’ Kash? And don’t come here, please don’t. I’m fine, I promise.”
“Is he right there next to you?”
“No.”
He breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “Rach, he’s bad. He’s so much worse than you originally thought. Stay as far from him as you can. If you can escape, I need you to. If not, just stay where you are, I’m coming to get you.”
“Kash, no!” I harshly whispered, and turned again to make sure I was still alone. “Don’t come here, I’m fine. I’m sorry you’re upset that we broke up.” My voice hitched and my eyes began watering. “But you need—you need to move on. I’m so sorry. Wait. How do you even know where I am?”
“How is his house set up, babe? I need your help on this.”
“What?”
“C’mon, Rach. How is it set up, where’s the room that you’re in?”
“Listen to me, you can’t do this! You need to go back home, you’re going to ruin ever—” I cut off and ran into the room to watch the screens. If Kash was coming for me, that meant one of Blake’s guys was following and Blake would know soon. “You need to turn around! Turn around, Kash, please.”
“What room are you in?” he yelled suddenly, startling me and causing me to drop the phone.
I knelt down onto the ground and swiped my hand under the bed until I felt it and pulled it back toward me. “Kash, are you there?”
“This is very important. I need you to tell me exactly how the house is laid out, what room you’re in, and what room Blake is in. Can you do that for me?” His voice was strained and I didn’t understand why he needed to know all this so badly.