Grounded (Up in the Air #3)(66)

I shifted closer, moving between his legs.

He gripped my throat. “Why?” he asked quietly.

I swallowed, wetting my lips.

He watched the action with rapt attention.

“Why did I go see Sven without security?” I asked, for clarity.

“Yes. That.”

“I was nervous about meeting him. I had a hard time even going. I knew it would be perfectly safe, since we’d be in a crowded public place in broad daylight. I saw no threat, and I wanted to have a normal meeting. My security team makes me nervous. I can’t even imagine what an outsider looking in would think of the whole mess. I just wanted some semblance of a normal first meeting with him. That’s all. I’m sorry I worried you.”

“Worried me? Is that what you call it? I have that team guarding you, Bianca, because it’s the only way that I can bear for you to leave my sight. There is a man out there, a man who has killed at least two women, and he wants to kill you. He is unhinged, and completely unpredictable. The only thing we can predict is his grudge against you. Do you know what that does to me? You are more precious to me than my own life, by far. It’s not even a question. I would do anything for you. All I ask is that you let me protect you from a known threat. How could you be so careless, Bianca? So insensitive?”

I opened my mouth to respond and he covered it with his other hand, his lip curling into a snarl.

“Your father has been missing for weeks. We can only place his whereabouts at one place almost a week ago, and that is because a body marked the spot. He could be literally anywhere. And all he would have to do to see that you were in New York would be to look online. The paparazzi have mapped your weekly route with neon lights. I understand that you wanted to meet your half-brother. I wasn’t trying to keep you from it. All I asked was that you take your bodyguards with you. Your father and brother could have been working together. Your brother could have been luring you there. They could have taken you before anyone could have stopped them.”

I tried to protest even through his hand, but his eyes stopped me.

“Don’t. Just because it didn’t happen doesn’t mean that you were safe. You weren’t safe. A man with a gun wants you dead. It would only take one f**king bullet.”

His eyes were terrible with anguish, and I knew that the fear was getting to him. He was doing everything he could, and I was still in danger. He felt like he was failing me, and it was eating him up inside.

He uncovered my mouth.

I spoke quietly. “I’m sorry. I thought I’d be there and back before you knew. I didn’t mean to do that to you. I swear I won’t ditch my security again. At least, not until my father is found.”

He shut his eyes and nodded. “When I couldn’t get ahold of you, and Blake told me she’d found your phone by our bed, I thought you’d left me.”

My brow furrowed. “Why would you think I’d left you? I don’t understand.”

The hand at my neck moved and gripped into my hair. “No. No answers until you’ve been punished.”

I licked my lips nervously. “That cell back there wasn’t a punishment?”

He shook his head. “That was a nap. And a chance for me to work off some aggression at the gym. No more questions.”

His other hand began to tug off his boxer briefs, and I tried to look down at what he was doing, but the hand in my hair held me fast.

He pushed my head down to his bared erection. He pushed himself into my mouth, and I sucked at him, thinking that this part was no punishment at all.

He guided my head up and down no more than four times before he was coming deep in my throat. I nearly gagged, I was so surprised. It was unusual for him to come so fast. His control over his own release constantly amazed me, though I supposed that it shouldn’t have, since he was so good at controlling mine.

He pulled me off him mid-cum, pulling me up to my feet while I could see his c**k still twitching with his orgasm. I murmured a protest.

He slapped my ass, hard, then hooked his finger into my collar. He began to pull me, but not to the playground. He headed in the opposite direction, back to that cell. I had to swallow a protest. I didn’t want to be left in there again, but I knew that it was all in his hands now.

“Kneel on the ground,” he told me as he let go of my collar.

I obeyed, watching him. He moved to the small bed. He had it retracting into the wall with one touch of his finger. I hadn’t known it was that kind of bed.

One touch to the wall and he had something large descending from the ceiling. I watched with wide eyes as a large X lowered in front of me. It was the same height as James, which gave me a good idea what it was for.

“This is what’s called a St. Andrew’s cross,” he told me quietly. That was all.

He pulled me up with a finger in my collar and a fist in my hair. He pressed my front hard into that ominous X. He strapped my wrists and ankles to it nice and quick, before pressing his body hard to my back. I felt his erection against my butt and tried to arch into it. He slapped my ass hard before moving away.

I laid my head against my arm, tilted forward as I waited and listened for what he would do next.

I started as something hard but smooth stroked against my other cheek. I turned my head to see a thick black oval paddle that was patterned with holes. He pulled it away before I could get a better look.