Chapter 14- The Devil

Beautiful.

That's what she is. Like this. Even with her eyes burning daggers into mine, her teeth chattering, shudders running through her like a fever as cold air whips at her skin. Especially with those. I'm supposed to be punishing her for trying to sneak out, yet I'm loving the way she looks tied up before me.

I should have known that once she opened those eyes, I would forget that she broke an important rule, reduced to staring like a man who has been starved for years, wanting her more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. In fact, something did tell me it would be like this. But I ignored it. And while I am quite stubborn, the problem is, Thirteen doesn't seem to know this. That is why she continues to aggravate me. She doesn't seem to understand that I am as crazy as they come and if I don't get my way, no one else gets to have theirs.  

That is why she is here now; because she dared defy me. But as she bores her angry gaze into mine, all I can think of is how seeing her like this is nothing short of pure torment. She is gorgeous as fuck with that ash-blonde hair sticking to the sides of her face, a little darker from being damp, beads of cool water rolling along her goosebump-covered skin.

Her eyes? They've been wide with annoyance and shock ever since the spray dropped on her from the compartment in the roof right above her head. And as her breaths continue to come out in shallow huffs, she bites her bottom lip, fighting the need to say anything else. Clearly, she has a lot to tell me, but she knows that if she runs her tongue tactlessly, I'll just punish her harder. It's obvious that I'm dying to. 

"Tell me, when you first signed the contract, did I not warn you that attempts to breach it before its expiry would come with very serious consequences?" I ask her in the silence. 

But she doesn't respond at once. A few more seconds of scowling passes before she snaps at me, hands rounded into fists by both sides of her thighs. "No, you tell me who the hell took my clothes off." 

"Me." I lean back against my chair, hands folded across my chest. "Did you expect someone else?"

She sends me a glare. "And this is supposed to be my punishment for trying to escape," she clarifies. "To be stripped and ogled like a fucking whore."

While her fury is obvious, that had been the whole point of this exercise in the first place. So when I give her an indifferent, full-body shrug, the intended effect is twice as potent. "That is why it is punishment, Thirteen. You're not supposed to like it."

"You're a fucking asshole."

I depress my index finger on the small button to the far side of the table before me and at once, water cascades from the roof, drenching her with a vengeance. Her mouth is wide with shock as she blinks long, wet lashes at me, shivering horribly, looking like she is hardly able to believe it.

But she should have known this was coming; should have known that the water looks beautiful on her, sliding down every inch of that hauntingly pale skin… and I am a sucker for that kind of thrill.     

"I didn't hear that, Thirteen," I say in the silence that follows. "Louder."

"You're a fucking asshole!" 

More ice-cold water drops over her skin, making her shut her eyes, breaths coming out in long whistles as she trembles so badly. By now I know that the only parts of her that aren't cold are her murderous eyes and the length of flesh between her thighs. And while I'd have to be unconcious to not know that she wants to kill me right now, her arousal easily shines in the dilated pupils that stare back at me- despite how much she tries to mask it with her fury, which, I'll admit is adorable. But that's all it is.

"Your first lesson," I start, "is to always respect the Boss. This is non-negotiable. I won't warn you again." 

She glowers but doesn't say anything.

"As for the second, try not to flout the terms of the contract," I continue. "I have a lot of strengths, but forgiveness is not one of them. I won't overlook any breach, Thirteen, and you will suffer each time."

"And the third lesson?" She asks. "To simply not exist except as an extension of you, because of a stupid contract I signed?"

I press the button on my table and the shower is so sudden she gasps and whimpers, throwing her head back, bottom lip between her teeth. Beautiful.

"No, your third lesson is to embrace me. There is no escape. You will only wear yourself out looking for one."

Her teeth are literally chattering as shudders wrack across her body like tremors. "Then fucking kill me already, dammit!"

God, those pretty grey irises with the embers burning just behind them will be the end of me. No wonder I like to upset her. Because even when her eyes are blazing, ready to turn every

thing to ash, she is still a goddamn fantasy.