“It’s been days. Please, just let me go,” I plead. I can’t stand it any more. It’s not the way I’ve been treated, other than being stuck to the bed most of the time Ryker and Marcus have treated me well, with respect even.

It’s the stress. Every minute I expect to hear gunfire, or an explosion, or something signaling Jacob coming to get me. I can barely sleep, I haven’t been able to move enough to really wear myself out, and with nothing but books and boredom to fill my hours, my inner demons have come out to play. I want to do anything to get away from them, especially the fear. It doesn’t matter that Ryker is nice to me, or that he’s so handsome, and that when he looks at me there’s respect in the desire in his eyes. It doesn’t matter that my body wants him too. I’m terrified of the ghost around the corner.

“You can’t just keep me here forever. He’s going to find you, and then . . . please, he’ll kill us both after this long. He’s a fucking psycho.”

“I know that,” Ryker says. “But I’m not letting you go, Sarah. I did a quick little remodeling job, though. I have a secure room for you.”

He comes over and unlocks the handcuff, not at the bedpost like he’s always done before but at my wrist. Rubbing at my wrist, looking at the light pink mark there, I follow him to the elevator, where he takes me downstairs. It feels longer than when I was over his shoulder, and when the door opens, I see why. “We’re underground.”

“Exactly,” Ryker says. “I own a lot more than just the penthouse of this building. And the other day, after our talk, I did a lift down here. While I was in the middle of it, I realized I had a better, more secure place than locking you up in a spare bedroom all day.”

Ryker takes out a key and unlocks a door, and I’m surprised by what I see. “Uh… it’s a cell.”

He looks around, humming. “I suppose you can see it that way.”

See it that way? The walls are cinderblock, the vaulted heights of the penthouse have been replaced by a ceiling just a few inches above my head, and the rich carpet’s been replaced by what looks like industrial carpeting that was puzzle mats earlier. While there’s a cabinet, there isn’t a lot more unless the corner section that’s covered by a moveable curtain is hiding something special. “How could I see it any other way? Ryker, there are no windows.”

He nods, leading me inside and closing the door behind us. “Of course there aren’t. That wouldn’t be very secure now, would it? But there’s also no chains in this room. Back in the day, this used to be the office for the maintenance guy back when he lived on site. You’ve got running water and a toilet.”

Ryker shows me the curtained off area, and he’s right, and while the toilet’s old-looking, it’s in decent shape and the water flows clear at least. “Better yet, check this out.”

He opens the cabinet, and I’m surprised to find a TV with a PlayStation attached. “It’s an older one, there’s no Internet on this thing, but one of my boys brought it over along with a dozen games. Between that and any books you might like, you’ll find what you need to keep your mind occupied, and there’s enough space that you can get some exercise in, let your body get the kinks out all you want. Best of all, like I said, no chains.”

I look around, nodding. “It’s better than being chained up, I guess. I’d rather have my freedom, but I’ll take it.”

Ryker shakes his head, a little frustrated. “Sarah, do you know what’s going on out on the streets right now? It’s an underground war that’s starting. Nobody’s taking prisoners right now. If I let you go, at worst, he may very well find you and kill you. At best, you go back to him. He knows where you are, in this kind of war it’s not about hiding but about keeping your enemy afraid to hit you. Right now he’s afraid of not getting you back. If I let you go… make no mistake, he will find you. I’m not going to let you get yourself killed.”

The way he says it makes me shiver, fear rippling down my spine. Ryker is right. Running away is a fool’s errand, but still, why should I feel so grateful for being given a goddamn cell instead of being locked up?

“Well, can I at least take a shower now?” I ask, sniffing. A washcloth helps, but I still feel pretty ripe and grungy. That, more than anything else, is adding to my feeling of ungratefulness. One luxury Jacob did allow me was long, warm showers. It helped me deal with the stress. “You know, with soap? You should have gotten the drains cleared by now.”

Ryker stops, then nods brusquely. “Fine. There’s a shower down here you can use.”

He opens the door, leading me down the hallway to another room, which I find is a decently equipped home gym. “Yours?”

“Mine,” Ryker agrees, leading me to a door on the far wall. “Here.”

It’s a small locker room with a shower stall, enough for two or three people. Simple but effective. “I’ll make sure that you’re given another change of clothes and some toiletries,” he says as he sits down in the folding chair. “Go ahead.”

I look around, surprised. “There’s no changing stall. There isn’t even a shower curtain.”

“Never needed one,” Ryker says simply. “As for you, I’ve seen it all already.”

I nod, for some reason nervous as I take off my clothes and get in the shower. The water’s nice and warm, a luxury after being dirty for so long. I let the water run over my neck and over my face, trying to remember that Ryker’s right. He’s seen me naked from the waist up before. But as the warm water runs over my body, I can feel his eyes on me, and I look back, shaken by the intense look on his face.

“Don’t worry about me. Just wash yourself,” Ryker says, and I turn back, trying my best to do just that, to put the fact that he’s right behind me out of my mind. But then he stands up, and I’m startled, dropping the soap. I bend down to pick it up, dropping it again when I hear something hit the floor. I turn around and see he’s in the shower with me.

He’s gorgeous, even more than I thought he could be. His body isn’t bulky but lean, his muscles long and flowing from joint to joint. If he weren’t a gangster, he could be a male model with a body like his. His hips are slim, but there’s still corded muscle below his washboard stomach, and when I look down, I gasp.

His cock is long and thick, and I can’t stop my mind from thinking what he could do to me with it. For all the brutality that Jacob’s put me through, he’s never been able to measure up, and looking at Ryker, I gulp. My mind fills with heat, the thoughts of what an encounter with him could be. It would change me forever, regardless of what happens after this, but I want it. I want the change. I look up into his eyes, and he’s looking at me with such intensity that I know he’s thinking the same thing.

“I’ve watched you for days,” Ryker says softly, taking me by the shoulders and turning me around. His fingers start to stroke my skin, and I feel laid bare, unable to resist the fact that he’s touching me more intimately than when he teased my breasts the other day. “You’re beautiful, Sarah.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whisper.

“You’re a survivor,” Ryker says. “And the only scars you ever need to worry about are the ones on your soul.”

I turn to him, more vulnerable than I’ve felt in years. “I’m scared, Ryker.”

“I’ll keep you safe,” he says, and suddenly, we’re kissing, his hands roaming over my body as the warm water pelts my back. I’m kissing him back, our tongues and lips dueling as I feel myself wake up more. Five years, and this is what I’ve been missing. Heat, pure and wonderful. Desire, not fear, and it feels like warm honey dribbling down my throat and sweetening every taste in my mouth. Ryker’s lips trail down my neck as he bends his knees slightly, his hand coming to squeeze my ass, and he kisses over my shoulder before going back to my lips, drawing my breath into him and sharing everything with me.

He pushes me back against the side wall of the stall. The tile’s a little cold, but that just makes it all seem real. This isn’t some just fantasy I’ve imagined after Jacob’s abusiveness. This is real, this man who’s holding me and kissing me is completely real. “Ryker . . . oh, my God, you’re really doing this.”

“Aren’t I the one who’s supposed to wonder if I’m in a fantasy?” he asks with a confident chuckle as he steps back, bringing his hand up to cup my left breast, kneading it and making my knees weak. “You’re the one who was my teenage fantasy. I even fantasized about you when I was your security guy.”

“I wondered if that was you. With the creepy fan?” I ask, my head spinning as the steamy shower combines with the words he’s murmuring in my ear and the feeling of his hand on my breast.

“That was me. I’ll admit, I spent a few weeks after that with daydreams of you running around in my mind. The way you looked at me,” Ryker says before his tongue finds my earlobe and I’m swept away in the feeling of his hands on my breasts and his tongue on my skin. Each sweep is electric, his fingers lightly pinching my nipples until they’re hard and aching even under the warm water, the warmth and wetness between my legs having nothing to do with the shower at all. “The way you looked at me made me fantasize about what could have been. Now, I have it. Sarah, I’m going to fill you up, slide my cock so deep inside you that you’re going to feel split open. But you’re going to want it, aren’t you? You’re going to beg for me to give it to you, to show you what being with a man is supposed to be again. I’m going to take you, make you come on me, and shake you to the very depths of your soul. Because I’m going to remove the damage that he’s done to you, and when I’m done you’re never going to be the same again. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

I can’t even reply his words take the breath right out of my mouth. Instead I reach down blindly, tracing my fingernails over his hard stomach to find his cock, which is now fully hard and throbbing in my hand. Even just touching him feels like I’m being swept away, the veiny texture and the thick flare of his cockhead sending my body into tremors of anticipation. I’ve never, in my whole life, felt a cock like this before, and to be honest, it scares me a little. He’s right, this is going to change me once this is over. Ryker notices, and his lips pause before he pulls back. “Sarah?”

“You realize how fucking hung you are?” I ask, stroking him lightly. “It’s a little intimidating, Ryker.”

He ignores me, pinning me against the wall and lifting my leg, his eyes boring into mine. “Are you saying no?”

“No way in my life am I saying no to—” I start, but then all the words are ripped from my mind as his cock fills me. I feel him go slowly at first, and my pussy accepts him without protest, white hot pleasure rolling up my spine as he fills me in one long, slow stroke. I grip him, my fingers digging into his shoulders as he goes deeper, deeper than anyone’s ever gone before, and it starts to hurt a little as I’m stretched, but I don’t care. It’s the good kind of hurt. I grab his head, kissing him when he buries himself all the way to the hilt inside my body.

We go slow at first, Ryker’s cock sliding in and out of me at a sensual pace, our lips and hands stroking our bodies as he gives me time to adjust, or maybe he’s just taking in the luxury of being inside me. After a moment, he cups my cheek, looking me in the eyes. “So . . . fucking . . . perfect.”

His tone is even better than the feeling of his cock rubbing against all the right places inside me, the head of his cock touching places I didn’t even know existed inside me and my clit grinding against him slowly. “You . . . thank you. Faster?”

Ryker grunts lightly, pulling out and turning me around, pulling my arms behind my back and throwing my hair out of the way so that his lips can find my neck while he buries himself inside me again. His cock drives into me at a harder, more demanding angle that lights up my pussy in a whole different way. I didn’t know it could be this way as he pumps in and out of me, letting go of one arm to knead my breasts, his breath hot on my ear. “Is this what you want? Harder?”

“Oh, fuck yes,” I moan, my eyes closing as Ryker lets go of my breast to hold onto my arms, pulling me back into him and letting me bend over. His cock hammers me, my pussy squeezing him, and my body is inundated with explosions of pleasure. I’m lost, the two of us moving together as his cock and his . . . just his everything pours into me, every slapping thrust of his hips against my ass tearing away the hurt inside me and opening me up raw.

I’m sobbing, half in joy and half in fear as Ryker slams into me again and again, both of us groaning and making nonsensical sounds as I’m overloaded, leaping into a level of pleasure that I’ve never felt before. It keeps building bigger and deeper until it feels like with every stroke of his cock, Ryker is connecting directly with my brain. My body is just a conduit for the overwhelming sensation that suddenly breaks, and I’m coming, my pussy clamping on his cock as I raise my face to the shower spray and scream, the water the only thing keeping me from passing out as he swells and shoots deep inside me, blast after blast of his come that somehow makes it feel all the better, like for the first time in my life, I’m an actual woman and not something else.

My knees give out but Ryker grabs me quickly, holding me in his arms as he cradles me, carrying me out of the shower and into the changing area, where he lowers us to the floor carefully, holding me like a child in his arms as I sob, overwhelmed by everything.

“Shh . . . it’s okay,” he whispers, stroking my arm and holding me still. “I’ve got you, Sarah. You’re safe here. I promise you, I’ll keep you safe.”

“Why?” I whisper in between sobs. “You barely know me. You . . . I hurt you, I hurt your brother, but—”

“Because you are a good person, better than scum like me, and you never asked for any of this,” Ryker says gently. “Because you deserve better than what you’ve had, and you deserve better than this.”

“And when Jacob pays?” I ask. “What then?”

“I’m not sending you back to him,” Ryker promises me. “After Jacob Waters is dead, I’m giving you your freedom. I swear it.”

His promise brings fresh sobs to the surface for some reason, although I don’t know why. Maybe it’s that I’m grateful for someone promising me my freedom, but there’s another part of me that doesn’t want to be free. It wants to stay right here in these powerful arms, regardless of what else happens.

As the water dries and the warmth from the steam chills to just the warmth of his body, I realize something that’s scaring me. I’m starting to feel for Ryker Johns. It’s fucked up, I know it is, but there’s something about him. If only I’d had a chance to actually talk with him again on the set. If only I hadn’t met Jacob. How much different would my life have been?