Becca

 

My eyes flickered open, straining against the darkness, and I touched a hand to the back of my head. Pain shot through my skull, and I groaned.

“I wondered when you were going to wake up.”

Fear rippled through me, paralyzing me where I sat.

No.

No.

NO!

I was dreaming. This was just a dream—a nightmare. But it didn’t feel like a dream. I could feel the cold air biting into my face. The sickening throb in my head. My heart galloping in my chest. My icy breath every time I inhaled and exhaled.

“I’ve missed you.”

“Kane.” I let out a shaky breath. His name sounded unfamiliar on my tongue because it was a name I promised would never pass my lips again. He was a mistake. An error in my judgment. He was also the guy who was never supposed to live.

“Becca, baby, it’s been a while.” I searched the darkness for him. He was close. I could feel his eyes watching, stalking me. It had always been that way with us. At first, I’d watched him. Lusted after him. Followed him eagerly as he worked on my best friend’s garden and pool.

What I hadn’t realized was he was also watching me.

“Kane, you have to let me go. People will be looking for me.”

Having no idea how long I’d been gone, I could vaguely remember what had happened. I’d left school after receiving a text from Kendall. At home, there had been flowers. A note.

Another text message from Kendall asking me to meet at Rogues.

“It was you,” I gasped as I remembered arriving at Rogues. I’d walked—it had taken me almost twenty-five minutes. Kendall wasn’t there, no one was. Until a figure emerged from the trees.

“They didn’t have lilies. I wanted to get your favorite, but the roses were pretty, right?”

“Kane.” I forced myself to soften my voice. “I’m hurt. My head, it hurts.”

“I’m sorry. You were surprised to see me; you ran and tripped.”

That would explain why I feel like I had gone ten rounds with a professional boxer. My eyes tracked a shuffling sound, and a bottle of water rolled across the hard floor, stopping at my foot. “Thank you,” I whispered. “Kane, where are we?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He paused. I didn’t know which I preferred—the sound of his voice or the deafening silence. “You weren’t there. When I woke up, you weren’t there, and then my dad told me that you’d left Montecito, and I wanted to strangle him. Do you know what that feels like, Becca? To want to drain the life from someone’s body? I do, baby, because that’s what I wanted when he told me you’d left me.”

“Kane, I—”

He didn’t hear my plea because he was too detached from reality. “I tried to escape. Twice, I unhooked my IV and all those fucking wires they had attached to me. The first time, I collapsed, and they had to put me back under. The second time, I hurt a nurse. Clocked her in the eye pretty good. Bitch deserved it for trying to keep me from you. I learned after that. Learned to play their games. Eat my pills and nod in all the right places. Because I knew that one day, we’d be together again.”

Bile rushed up my throat, and I choked on my own vomit. Unscrewing the bottle, I brought it to my lips and took a huge mouthful, washing it down.

“You hurt me bad, baby. They thought I wasn’t going to make it.” You weren’t supposed to, I thought to myself. “But nothing could keep me from you, baby. Not even the claws of death.”

“Kane, I don’t feel so good. I think I need a doctor.”

“You’ve got everything you need right here. Me, baby. I’ll keep you safe. Always.”

A fresh wave of nausea hit me, and it was so strong I doubled over. Pressing my palms flat against the cold floor, I retched into thin air. It was bare cement. The whole place felt damp, and the smell of putrid water lingered in the air. We were underground, maybe?

“They thought they could keep you from me, but your daddy brought you right home for me. It was meant to be, baby. Written in the fucking stars.”

Brought you right home? Did he mean … No. He couldn’t. It made no sense. He was confused, experiencing a break from reality. Nothing about this made sense. How had he found me? How had he gotten here?

“I’m cold,” I said, trying to appeal to his kinder side.

Kane was a complicated guy; I’d learned that quickly. All the different facets of his personality are what made him desirable. He was sweet and sensuous one minute, bossy and dominating the next. He was like the best parts of a sweet guy and bad boy all rolled into one. And I’d fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. But as the weeks went on, I saw a different side of him. His sweetness became an infatuation. His dominance, overbearing. Until he forced himself into parts of my life that were never supposed to be his.

“Here, baby.” A black boot came into the light, and my eyes moved up the jeans-clad leg. Up and up until it landed on the face that haunted my dreams. He was the same Kane I’d known. Sharp, angled cheekbones, a defined jaw, and eyes as dark as night, but he looked different somehow.

“Kane.”

He draped a thick blanket around my shoulder, crouching down to my level. I dropped my eyes away, unable to look at him, but his fingers slid under my jaw, forcing me to meet his fiery gaze. “Becca. Fuck, I’ve missed you.”

There was a time when I’d craved his words. In the beginning, I’d been intoxicated with the idea of Kane. And he’d reciprocated. I felt sexy and grown up and powerful. I felt alive. But most of all, it was fun. The flirting and stolen kisses behind the Rosen’s pool house. Then somewhere along the line, it became more than fun. It twisted into something dangerous. Something all-consuming and poisonous until I couldn’t breathe. It was too much for my seventeen years to handle. I was out of my depth, and I wanted out. But Kane was unwilling to let me walk away.

His calloused hand palmed my cheek as I took in his face, the faded scar across his left brow. The permanent reminder of the demise of our toxic relationship. A shudder worked its way through me, remembering that night.

 

“Night, Laura.” I waved at my friend as she headed up the winding driveway to her house.

I slipped inside, relieved to find the house bathed in a soft amber glow from the hallway lamp that Mom and Dad left on for me since they knew I’d arrive home to an empty house. After locking up behind me, I set the alarm and headed into the kitchen. 

Laura had insisted on dragging me to the party at Joel Farrage’s. I hadn’t wanted to go, not after everything with Kane, but he’d cooled off, even stayed away from the party, and I’d actually had fun. For the first time in weeks, I’d felt like myself again. We’d laughed and danced and had a couple of glasses of champagne to take the edge off. 

The faucet whooshed to life, and I filled a glass with water. I wasn’t drunk by any stretch of the imagination, but I didn’t want to wake up tomorrow with a headache. We had plans to spend the day on Laura’s family’s yacht. 

After drinking another glass of water, I grabbed a plate and filled it with leftovers from the refrigerator and hit the light on the way out. Shadows danced on the walls as I approached the staircase.

“Hello, baby.”

The plate clattered to the floor, smashing around my feet. ”Kane?” I gasped as he stepped into the light. “Wh-what are doing here?”

“I missed you, Becca. I missed you so much.”

“Kane.” I let out a shaky breath. “We’ve been through this. I need space. It was fun, but things got too intense. I need to focus on school right now.”

He inched forward, and I stepped back. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Forward. Backward. We danced a game of cat and mouse until my back hit the wall beside the staircase, causing me to suck in a sharp breath.

“Don’t be afraid, baby.” Kane’s hand moved to my cheek, and he speared his fingers into my hair. “We’re so good together, Becca. No one gets me like you do.” His warm breath feathered over my face, and I shivered. My body always responded to his touch this way, and at first, it was new and exciting, but when I’d finally let him have all of me, I’d regretted it. He was too intense, too needy, and it frightened me. It was a mistake. I should have waited for someone I loved. Someone my own age.

“Kane,” I said firmly. “I really like you, but now is not a good time.”

His other hand pressed against the wall beside my head, caging me in, but despite the fear coursing through me, I stuffed it down. “You don’t mean that, baby. I remember how much you liked it. Liked the feel of me inside you.”

Champagne and barbecue rushed up my throat, and I choked it back, my stomach roiling. “You’re scaring me.”

His nose nudged my cheek as he pressed kisses down my jaw and the column of my neck. “God, you taste so fucking good. Let me in, baby. Open for me.”

My legs buckled, but his body held me up. “Kane,” I cried. “Please, don’t do this.” But he was already nudging my legs apart with his knee.

“You don’t want everyone to know, do you? Know what a dirty little bitch you are?”

A pained whimper left my lips. “I- I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?”

“You look so fucking hot in the photos and the video.” He growled. “I jerk off every night to that.”

“You … you filmed us?”

A slow smirk spread across his face, winding me as I realized he wasn’t taunting me. That this wasn’t some sick joke. “I wanted to keep you. Forever.”

“Kane.” I shoved my hands into his chest, pushing him away, but he was so big. So strong.

“I’ll make it good, baby. I’ll make it so good.” His hands were on my body, clawing and grabbing. Tears rolled down my face as his mouth attacked me. My neck. My breasts. I clamped my knees together, resisting, fighting him, but he was overpowering. Feral. His fingers ripped at my panties underneath my skirt. Scratching my flesh, he left a burning pain in their wake.

Ugly sobs filled the air, swirling with his heavy pants and groans. I didn’t want this. Never this. But I was paralyzed with fear—with shame. The sound of his belt buckle unfastening propelled me into action, and I made one last attempt to fight him off. My knee connected hard with his groin, and a pained grunt whooshed from his body. But it wasn’t enough. His free hand wrapped around my throat and held me prisoner against the wall.

“Fuck, I’m so hot for you.” His movements eased, a look of horrifying euphoria washing over him. I wasn’t even sure Kane was in control of himself; it was as if he’d been completely taken over by something.

My hands flattened against the wall, bracing myself for the inevitable, when I felt it. The lamp cord. Without thinking about it, I pulled gently, sliding my hand up, working the cord through my grasp until my fingers grazed the base. It was one of those ugly Art Deco pieces with a long bronze body and stained glass shade. I reached farther; my fingers stretched to their breaking point.

It happened so fast.

I felt Kane’s bare erection against my thigh and then he was staggering back with blood oozing from his head. I hit him again, swinging the lamp high and wide. His body crumpled in a bloody heap, and I slid down the wall, my shredded clothes pooled around my body.

 

Tears streamed down my face as Kane pressed his lips gingerly against mine and whispered, “I came home for you, baby. We never have to be apart again.”