Defining Darkness - K E Osborn Page 0,19

who this Trixie is.

Is she his sister?

His girlfriend?

Hell, I know nothing about Nycto or the other people here. Wherever here is.

Nycto senses my apprehension as he slides a little closer. Damn, he’s too good-looking!

“Trixie’s a club girl. Our head club girl. She’s been here since she was sixteen. We’re paying for her to go to culinary school. She wants to open her own restaurant one day. With us helping her, she’ll be able to achieve that goal.”

Taking a sip of my milkshake, I let it sink in.

The club girl is here.

He’s a biker.

I must be at his clubhouse.

“Is this clubhouse big?” I ask, attempting to ask the right questions to try and figure out where I am.

He cracks his neck to the side. “Yes, Eva, you’re at my clubhouse, but I’m not going to give you specifics. Not yet.”

I take the last bite of my sandwich, thinking my questions through thoroughly. “Will I be confined to your room for the rest of my life?”

His eyes widen, almost like he hasn’t thought too far ahead. He slides the tray to the other side of the bed, shifting right in front of me. His eyes hold mine, and my stomach flitters in giddy butterflies betraying me. “I have to figure some shit out. I told people you drowned. They believe you’re dead. It’s better if they keep thinking that for now.”

My chest squeezes at the thought of being kept in here for the rest of my life. “Nycto, honestly, I’ve been in here for hours. I’m already going stir-crazy. I’m a dance instructor. I move around, it’s what I do. How am I supposed to stay cooped up in here for the next seventy years, give or take?”

“I know. Trust me, I know. And you won’t. We’ll find a workaround. I also have to trust you won’t go running off. If anyone sees you, it not only puts your life in danger but everyone here at my club… I simply can’t have that.”

“Can’t have your club in danger because of me,” I mock.

“No, Chiquita, the club is in danger because of me because I kept you. Now it’s my job to make sure all the moving parts don’t turn into a wheel of torture. If word gets out that I have you, Eva, it’s not going to be pretty. For this club, but especially for you because the man who was selling you is going to come back. I don’t want that life for you. You’re better than that. It’s the whole reason we’re in this mess.”

My pulse increases as I stare at him. “Because you didn’t want me to go into that life?”

“Exactly.”

The atmosphere in the air is buzzing, surging with adrenaline, popping with electricity while our eyes remain on each other. My breathing is rushed and sharp. “I still don’t understand why you chose me out of everyone.”

Nycto leans forward, the smell of leather and sandalwood hitting me full force. My skin prickles as his hand caresses the side of my face.

Dammit! I should back away.

I should be terrified.

But there’s something about him that seems so genuine.

I can’t pull away, even if I want to.

His thumb darts out brushing along my bottom lip. The move is so tender as I pant trying to catch my breath. My entire body shudders as our eyes stay connected. His hand slowly slides from my cheek down my neck, his hand tightening a safe grip around my throat. It’s a chokehold, but the move doesn’t scare me. It’s not threatening. Not even a fraction. As I pant, my clit starts to throb as I sit here, my eyes transfixed on him. I can’t move them away.

His hand meets the apex of my neck and collarbone, his firm grip slides out as he presses his flat palm over the top of my heart. It’s racing so freaking furiously as I sit here watching him.

“The reason I chose you, Eva, is because of the way your heart is reacting to me right now. It’s the same response I had when I first saw you. Rapid, relentless… excruciating.”

My clit throbs at his poetic words. How can this man, my captor, have me so attuned to him? “This is crazy, Nycto. We don’t even know each other.”

His hand slides back up to the side of my face. My fingers automatically reach up, taking his wrist and holding it to keep him in place. I bite down on my bottom lip as he flares his nostrils.

“I don’t understand it,