Save Me(WITSEC #2)(34)

He took it and tossed it on his dresser. I leaned back on the bed and unbuttoned my jean shorts and shimmied them down my thighs. His gaze followed my shorts as I pushed them down my legs. I kicked them off at the ankles and they flew in his direction. He caught them with a tight expression. I sat up to undo my bun and shake my hair out.

Knox set my shorts next to my bra. I froze when he undid his belt and toed off his shoes. I stopped breathing when he reached over his head and pulled off his shirt. I refused to blink as he unbuttoned his pants and stripped down to his tight, gray boxer briefs. He had a few tattoos. One on his hip that looked like script and another over his ribs on his side that was of a car engine wrapped in feathered angel wings. Beneath it was more script that I couldn’t read. I tried not to let my eyes drop lower. I tried and failed. As if drawn by a beacon, my gaze dropped and saw that his boxer briefs left very little to the imagination.

He put his hands on his hips and I knew I was caught. I blushed, my eyes traveling to his. He was frowning.

I rolled my eyes. “Like you didn’t get a long look at my vagina,” I muttered as I scooted back toward the pillows.

He opened his dresser and pulled out a pair of basketball shorts and a T-shirt. “I thought you wanted to pretend that didn’t happen.”

I climbed under the blankets. “You were giving me the shame on you look and needed to be called out.”

I saw the corner of his mouth twitch before he put his shirt on. “You could have averted your eyes.”

I scoffed. “You could have averted your eyes in the kitchen.”

He put on his basketball shorts before climbing into bed next to me. “I guess we’re even, then.”

“We’re far from even. You saw everything. All your bits were covered.”

He smiled, shaking his head, and got settled under the covers. Silence stretched between us as we both lay there. I stared at the ceiling, fighting back my fear.

“Close your eyes, Shiloh.”

My hands fisted his white comforter. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

My forehead scrunched and I had to bite my lip to keep it from wobbling. I will not cry. I will not cry.

“Hey,” he said, grabbing my chin. He made me turn my head to face him. “Why don’t you want to sleep?”

I shoved his hand away and returned to staring at the ceiling. I couldn’t stand to meet his concerned eyes.

“Shi—”

“I don’t want to have a nightmare, okay?” I finally admitted. “I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to be trapped in that house. Every time I go to sleep, I’m forced to go back there.” I covered my face. “I can’t do it anymore.” My voice broke but I kept the tears back.

The bed moved before he shoved his arm under me and dragged me to him. “Roll on your side,” he ordered.

I did as he said and shifted so I was lying on my side, facing away from him.

He scooted even closer until his body molded against mine. He stretched his arm under my head and draped his other across my stomach. “Do you feel me holding you?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Do you feel safe?”

“Yes.”

“I want you to close your eyes, but when you do, just focus on me,” he said.

I hesitated.

“Close your eyes, Shiloh.”

I slid my hand into his, squeezing it tightly before letting my eyes close.

His hand that was resting near my stomach moved up to my head and his fingers began running through my hair. “You’re going to relax because I have you.”

“What if I have a nightmare?”

“I’ll wake you if you do, but try not to think about that. I just want you to focus on me,” he said as he continued to run his fingers through my hair. “Nothing can get to you while I’m holding you. No one can hurt you.”

I took a deep breath and relaxed a little as I exhaled.

“There you go,” he said. His fingers never stopped stroking and combing through my hair. I focused solely on the feel of them and how good it felt.

I quickly found myself on the edge of drifting off. “My mother used to run her fingers through my hair,” I said sleepily. She’d done it to calm me and it had always worked, just like it was working now.

I thought I heard him say, “I know,” just before I tumbled off the edge and fell into a dark pit of sleep.





12





Mr. X began humming as he made his way down the hall toward my room. I worked quickly to untie my other wrist as I listened to him getting closer. Once my other hand was free, I glanced down at my tied ankles. I wouldn’t be able to untie them in time. Panicked, I searched around. There was a pen on my nightstand. I reached for it. My fingers were barely able to roll it close enough to scoop it into my hand.

Moving as fast as I could, I wrapped the rope back around each wrist, praying that he wouldn’t notice that they weren’t tied. I hid the pen in my clenched fist behind the taut rope. My gaze went back to the doorway just in time to see Shayla’s feet slide away.

My hand that wasn’t holding the pen squeezed around the rope so tightly it was painful. I needed that pain. I needed it to be worse than the fear that was threatening to paralyze me.

Mr. X stepped into view. Only he wasn’t alone. He was holding Shayla’s limp body against him with an arm around her waist and his hand held one of hers. Then he waltzed into my room, quite literally. Still humming, he spun around—dancing with her lifeless body. As he dipped her, he said, “Your sister always was the attention whore.” He stood straight and stared down at Shayla, whose head flopped around like a newborn baby’s. “Even though you two are identical, you couldn’t be more different.” He spun around again, swinging Shayla with him. “She flaunted herself about, gobbling up every ounce of attention she got like a greedy, spoiled princess. She may have been beautiful on the outside, but her soul was ugly.” He tossed Shayla’s body to the ground and his eyes flicked to me. “You, however, are perfection. Inside and out. You don’t have to flaunt anything. Your soul radiates a genuine and pure light. It calls to me.” He walked over to my bed. Eyes never leaving mine, he brought his knee up onto the mattress. “Your innocence draws me in like a moth to a flame,” he said as he crawled over me until he was straddling my hips. His hands cupped my face. “I covet that innocence.” His hands moved down and around my neck. “I want it so bad…” He squeezed. “I almost want to destroy it.”