“Take it in, angel,” I instructed, watching as her eyes grew as big as saucers while she slowly looked around the open room. It had a beautiful wide open floor plan where the living room connected into the kitchen and dining area. There was a small bath on the main floor and two other rooms. Up the stairs, there was an enormous master suite with an en suite bathroom, along with two extra bedrooms.

“Pax, what have you done?”

She went a little pale as she swallowed several times like she had a dry throat. It was expected. I felt the smile build on my face at her astonishment. I knew this would shake her up, and that was the reason for doing it.

“It’s an exact replica of your grandmother’s cabin on the inside with some modern upgrades because I’m not living with seventies olive green toilets and appliances.” Everything was as precise as I could make it with all the updates I wouldn’t live without. It was lucky for me that the floor plan was open because most homes back thirty years were not. This cabin was different, like her grandmother was before the times of today.

She took three steps into the space. “You take creepy to a whole different level, Paxton Williams.”

I nodded as she seemed to be torn between fear and amazement. I relished having the upper hand. I thrived on her confliction.

“Yeah, I do.”

She looked at me. “Why can’t you just let me be?”

I paused for a moment, thinking on her request. She was asking the impossible of me. If I could walk away and not look back, I would, but life didn’t roll the dice that way for us. “Once upon a time, there was a girl.”

She lifted her hands stopping me. “Don’t go there, Pax.”

“You’re mine, Laurel. Always have been.”

“People aren’t possessions, Pax.”

I shrugged, deciding not to give her a response. Taking her hand in mine, she followed reluctantly.

“Let’s go upstairs.”

She stopped, and it forced me to halt my movements. “I’m not staying here.” She was firm.

“Yeah, babe, you are,” I countered.

She shook her head back and forth at me. “No, Paxton, I’m not. I have a life, and it’s not here with you.”

My laughter was sinister. “You act like you get a choice. You want your money, you stay here with me. Easy as that.”

She studied me for a moment like she was weighing her options, which didn’t matter to me because she had none. I made sure of it. “How long?”

Now if that wasn’t the million-dollar question. On one hand, the truth was she would be here forever. I wasn’t letting her go. I saw what Onyx had with Torryn. I knew it, the feeling, the all-consuming hold a woman could have on a man. Laurel had that on me.

From the beginning she had me. Owned me. And she tossed me aside. Repeatedly.

I was done being on the sidelines.

I was done having her out of my grasp.

I was done playing her game.

Now it was time she played mine.

I would keep her here until she broke. Every bit of willpower she had to resist me, I would beat back. Every wall she built to keep me away, I would crumble. Every bit of space she tried to put between us, I would close in until we were one. Until she saw what we could be, would be.

“Until you submit,” I finally answered her.

“That’ll never happen,” she fired back. Her spirit. I loved it. The challenge of her mind, the fight she had inside, it was everything I craved.

“Then get comfortable.”

She jerked her hand from mine. “No.”

Rather than continue the argument, I scooped her up in a fireman carry once again before taking her up the stairs. I hit the gym every day to work off my life stresses and frustrations. Carrying her like this was something I could do all day, every day if necessary. Although, I was hoping for her submission in time. With her screeching and beating on me every step of the way, I pressed on. In the master bedroom, I dropped her to the bed. Moving to the door, I entered the code on the keypad and locked us in.

While I had the cabin built to duplicate her grandmother’s place, I had modern upgrades like this keypad door lock on the master suite. She wouldn’t be getting out unless I let her.

Without speaking, I moved to the bathroom where I passed the dual sinks and headed straight for the oversized bathtub. Drawing a bath, I added some relaxing salts that Ellen Sue picked up when I sent her to the store to fill the space with everything a woman could ever desire.

Lavender aroma filled the air, making my lungs burn for a cigarette.

Fighting back the craving, I continued my task. Once the tub was full I went back to the bedroom where Laurel stood right where I left her.

“Get naked.”

“No,” she fired back.

While she wouldn’t be able to remove her shirt without me uncuffing her, she didn’t make a move to take off even her shoes. If she wouldn’t even make this small concession to bend to my will, then I would make shit more uncomfortable. Soon she would learn.

“Fine.” I scooped her up again, taking the beating and my ears taking the assault of her screams.

Dropping her in the tub, water splashed everywhere including onto my jeans. I let out a frustrated sigh. It shouldn’t be this hard.

“Paxton! You put me in with my clothes on.”

“Gave you a chance to take them off. Now, relax and wash up. I’ll be back. Clean the scrape on your arm from the bullet graze and bandage it. Wash up, angel.”

She raised her hands showing me the cuffs. Her skin was pink in irritation from her bindings. I liked it.

“Figure it out. I got shit to do. I’ll be back, be done and in bed.”

“First, it’s nowhere near time for bed. We may have been on the road for a while, but it’s still not that late. Second, I haven’t eaten nor have you. Third, I can’t climb in the bed in sopping wet clothes.”

I loved the way she challenged me. My cock throbbed in my pants seeking release.

“First, I didn’t say go to sleep. I said be in bed. Second, I’ll be bringing dinner up shortly. Third, sleep naked if you don’t want to be in bed with wet clothes. Not my fuckin’ problem. I told you to undress, you didn’t. These are the consequences. Figure shit out, Laurel, you’re a smart woman.”

Without another word, I turned and walked out of the bathroom leaving her muttering to herself about what a scumbag I was.

Sure, it was the truth. Therefore, it didn’t hurt me.

Once downstairs, I pulled out my cell phone.

“You good?” Onyx answered on the second ring.

“Yup,” I clipped out as I stepped out onto the porch. Pulling out a cigarette, I used the Zippo to light it before I continued. “Need Ellen Sue for a few weeks. She knows where.”

“I’ll have her to you in an hour.”

“Tell her to bring dinner.” I knew Ellen Sue would be pissed that she couldn’t be more prepared. She was like a mother to the four of us. She rotated houses taking care of our groceries, cleaning, and laundry. She understood us when the outside world didn’t seem to care. Even in our adolescence, when society saw nothing but bastards, Ellen Sue saw potential. She encouraged us when the world seemed to be against us.

“You know what the fuck you’re doin’?” Onyx clipped into the phone as I took a long drag on my cigarette.

I laughed, “Not a damn clue. Best laid plans go to shit. So I’ll ride this one out.”

“You need anything, one call.”

And that was how it was with us. One call and we took each other’s backs no matter what we got into, no questions asked. Been that way since we were kids and would stay that way.

We disconnected, and I called Garrett.

“You hit?” he answered on the first ring.

“Nah.”

“She take a bullet then?” Garrett asked, lowering his voice and letting me know he was not alone.

“Nah, we’re at the cabin. Need you to check in on Riley. Make sure this shit doesn’t spin out of control. Let Stephanie know to cancel my appointments for the next two weeks. Tell her it’s a family emergency and the office is closed. She knows what the plan is for my clients.”

He blew out a breath, no doubt frustrated with me. “All the I’s are dotted and all the t’s are crossed. Your shit’s in order even if it’s too damn soon.”

He was an attorney. A damn good one, so there wasn’t a doubt in my mind everything was covered. Garrett’s attention to detail bordered on obsessive.

“Fuckin’ told you shit changed, I had to get her out.”

My own frustration grew. The situation was far from ideal, but I made my bed and now Laurel and I had to lie in it.

Everyone else could get the fuck over it. They had their shit, and I would always without a doubt take their backs so now was my time.

“I got you, Pax. Always. But damn, this shit ain’t going according to plan.”

“Never does,” I replied, taking a deep drag from my cigarette.

Smoking to take the edge off the racing inside me, but it did no good. My mind, my body, my spirit always felt wound up and ready to take off. Smoking gave me clarity typically.

“I’ll call Steph. Consider your shit handled and this a vacation.”

“You need me, you know how to find me. This phone will be shut down after I call Dane. I’ll be in touch.”

I clicked off the call with him and went about reaching Dane.

“You take a bullet?” he answered.

“Nope.”

“She claw your eyes out?”

I laughed, “Nope.”

“Got a body?”

That was Dane always ready to work. “Nope.”

“Then what the fuck you callin’ me for?”

I took a pull off my cigarette. “Takin’ a vacation. I’ll be out of touch.”

“Our business doesn’t give paid sick time or vacation, fucker,” he joked.

“Don’t need the money. Need some time to sort some shit.”

This time he laughed. “Or you need some time to fuck a broad outta your system.”

“Something like that,” I gave him honestly.

Laurel and I had a twisted past. She wasn’t someone I could shake even when I tried. Now I had her here, and it was time I figured out what I was going to do with her. The window of opportunity I had wasn’t large.

I was good at making the best of a bad situation. In the game of life, I always came out the winner. Nothing less would ever be accepted.