Willing Captive (16 page)

Boo hesitates for a
moment before she says quietly, “Because it was her birthday, and
that’s what she wanted, so that’s what she got.”

Her birthday?

I fucking forgot her
birthday. Great. Now I feel like an asshole.

What do I say
now?

“
Uh, happy belated birthday. Guess you can keep the
boots.”

Rolling her eyes,
she mutters, “Thanks, dickhead,” then pulls Boo along and they
disappear down the stairs.

Watching her leave,
I get an idea. It’s probably not a good one, but it’s something.
Walking back into the workout room, I ask Rock, “You know it was
Lily’s birthday?”

Rock continues to
punch the bag but replies, panting, “Yeah. Boo got her boots. Vito
got her flowers. I got her an eReader.”

The hell?

Vito got her
flowers? The little fucker. He and I need to have a talk.

I mutter, “Got her
an eReader?”

Rock shrugs, “She
likes it. Always with the books.” He turns to me smirking, “Know
what they say about women who read?”

I have no idea what
they say about women who read, but I know he’ll say something
dirty. And that’s not gonna help me and the semi I’ve been sporting
for three weeks. Turning, I shoot him the bird and he chuckles to
himself.

I have to find
something. And in order to find it, I gotta do some digging.

Time to wrap a present.

***

Lily

“
The guy is completely fucked up but he’s so dreamy at the
same time. I like the dominant characters. But you know what’s
funny? If I had a guy treat me like the guy in the book, I’d run
the other way. Fast.” I tell Boo. I’ve had her reading some erotica
and she likes it. So, naturally, we’ve been talking
smut.

Boo reclines in her lawn chair. “Oh, I get ya, honey. The dude
is rich; he’s powerful, and he wants a sub. I’m not a sub. I’d
never be a sub. But for him, I’d pretend to be a sub.” After a
moment, she adds, “The girl, however…man! What she puts up with?
And how he treats her sometimes? Oo
wee
. She is fifty shades of cray.”

I
burst into laughter. “Fifty shades of
cray
?”

Boo takes in the sun
with her eyes closed; she purses her lips and nods. “And then
some.”

Another thing that’s
changed in the house is that I get to go outside whenever I like.
Whether it’s supervised or unsupervised. And that makes me happy.
Although I’m not a big fan of the sun (Irish, remember? I get
sunburnt from fireworks), I like knowing I can see it when I
want.

Boo and I have been
coming outside for our daily vitamin D for weeks now. She said it
helps with training because vitamin D helps you absorb calcium,
which the body needs for a number of reasons. She also informed me
that ten percent of people in the US are vitamin D deficient, and
that a huge portion of those are women, which means that a lot of
those women are also calcium deficient.

So here I am,
getting my ass some vitamin D.

The hot afternoon
sun blisters down to a mellow warmth as sunset approaches and I
ask, “Have you ever been drunk before, Boo?”

Making a choked
sound through her nose, she utters, “Uh, yeah. A few times,
actually. More than enough for my adolescence. My ma had a hard
time controlling me when I was a teen.” She pauses a moment before
she asks, “Why?”

Shrugging, I explain, “I was just curious. I never got to do
any of that stuff and now I feel like I never had a complete
childhood. I’m twenty three and I have a long list of
‘
never have I
ever’
s.
” Scoffing at myself, I say, “That’s messed
up. I’m upset about never having been drunk before. Who does
that?”

Boo defends me immediately. “You do. Because you’re
Delilah
fucking
Flynn, bad mamma-jamma and woman with a soul too old for her
age. And if Delilah Flynn wants to get drunk, Delilah Flynn is
gonna get drunk.”

By God! That was the
best damn pep talk I’ve ever had!

That settles it.

Tonight, I’m getting
drunk.

***

As soon as I step
into the kitchen, the smell of frying bacon assaults my nostrils.
Normally, the smell of such deliciousness would cause me to do a
little jig where I stand, but today…it makes me want to barf.

Nox stands at the
stove wearing a black pair of cargo pants and a navy skin-tight tee
with bare feet, his hair is still wet from this morning’s shower.
When he turns to look at me, he bursts into laughter at the poor
sight of me.

He laughs so hard
that my ears ring.

I
don’t want him to tell me
I told you so,
so I walk over to the counter and sit as normally as
possible, making out that nothing ails me. He smirks and speaks in
loud tones. “I’d bet you’re hungry, princess.”

I fight the urge to
swallow hard and hold my breath from the smell of the bacon and
eggs.

I
thought bacon was meant to make everything
better
?

Nox grins, “Mmmm.
Bacon. I love bacon. Fried, greasy bacon. The fat melts to nothing.
So crisp you can crunch it. Oh, and eggs. Let’s not forget how
great eggs are. Packed full of protein. Fried in bacon grease. I
just love to scoop out the gooey, slimy yolk.” He shudders at the
word slimy. “I know some people don’t like it, but as far as I’m
concerned, the slimier the better. Hell, I eat eggs raw.” He acts
out cracking an egg on the counter. “Just crack and…” He lifts his
imaginary egg above his open mouth. “…just drop that fucker in.
Oozing, raw goodness. Feels a bit like eating a whole handful of
boogers. I mean,” A cruel smile appears on his face. He leans
forward and into my face, “imagine eating a whole handful of
phlegm.”

Oh, shit. I’m gonna
ralph.

Bolting out of the
kitchen on shaking legs, I just make it to the bathroom before I
gag and retch. I puke up next to nothing, just green, foul-smelling
bile. My stomach is empty but I still gag. A cold sweat has broken
out over my entire body and I shake.

Oh shit. This sucks
so bad. Why the hell do people drink that shit?

Clearing his throat at the door, I feel something cool on the
back of my neck. It’s like immediate relief. My stomach calms. “Oh,
thank you. I’m
never
drinking again. As in ever.” I say hoarsely. I rest my cheek
on the toilet seat, unable to give a damn that someone probably
took a shit on it this morning
. Nothing matters more right now than
giving my tired body a little breather.

Nox squeezes the
back of my neck and shakes it lightly. He says quietly, “Take some
aspirin, and when you think you can eat, I’ll make you a nice bowl
of oatmeal. It’ll settle you stomach.”

I hear him make his
way back into the kitchen and I’m surprised. He didn’t gloat. He
didn’t say I told you so. He was actually nice.

What a dick!

He did that on
purpose. Now I can’t be mean to him or I’ll look like a jerk.

After resting my
head on my toilet bowl for a few more minutes, I stand on shaky
legs and walk back up to our room. Lifting my arm, I take a whiff
of myself and almost pass out.

Body odor mixed with
deodorant must make chloroform.

Stripping off last
night’s clothes, I make my way over to the shower. For some reason,
the hot water sluicing over my belly makes me want to vomit again.
Quickly, I turn it off and let the icy cold water wash away the
embarrassment and stupidity I feel.

It doesn’t work.

Not even a
little.

I’m clean but still
mortified. I can’t avoid facing him today, so dressing in black
sweats and his loose grey tee that has ARMY written on it, I make
my way back into the kitchen.

The smell of bacon
is no longer there. Nox sits at the table eating a bowl of oatmeal
and fruit while reading the newspaper.

Oh
God. He didn’t even
eat
the
bacon.

He
is
an ass. It was all for my
benefit.

You deserved it.

Yeah, I did. I’ll
let him have that one. I slide into the seat across from him and he
lowers the paper. Smiling a devilish grin, he asks a hushed,
“Feeling better, princess?”

Not trusting myself
to speak without throwing up, I cringe and nod. For a moment, he
looks concerned. He frowns. “Not speaking to me or still feeling
ill?”

I motion with my
finger that it’s the last one and he relaxes. Walking past me over
to the microwave, he says, “Nothing a little aspirin and oatmeal
won’t fix.”

Surprised at the
nice gesture, I watch as he makes my breakfast.

I pick at it for a
while. Halfway through it, my appetite returns with a vengeance and
I wolf down the rest of it. I take the two aspirin he’s brought me
and ask, “Where is everyone?”

Nox grins, “Working.
Well, Rock is looking after Boo.”

Immediately
concerned, I demand a little too loudly, “What happened to
Boo?”

He chuckles, “Shit.
You don’t even remember.” Then he explains, “Well, you drank about
five or six shots of tequila all on your own.” I cringe at the word
tequila and cover my mouth. “Then you said it was no fun drinking
alone and begged Boo to drink with you. She decided she would
because she has the morning off. So you and Boo had yourselves a
private party. Drinking, dancing on tables, and coming onto every
single one of my men that was in the house.”

I
gasp loudly, “No. No
way
! You’re
lying.”

He raises his
eyebrows, pushes his phone towards me and dares me to take it.

I shrink into
myself. “You recorded me, didn’t you?” He nods. “I made an ass of
myself, didn’t I?” He nods again, his expression strangely soft.
“Okay, I believe you. Delete the video…please.”

Taking his phone, he
plays around with it for a while. “Sure you don’t wanna see the
part where you told me I was cooler than the Hoff?”

I gasp again,
disgusted at myself. “What? That’s ridiculous! I’m sorry, Nox, that
was just mean.” Nox’s smile spreads wide. “No one’s cooler than
David Hasselhoff! I mean, c’mon, it’s the Hoff!” Shaking my head, I
widen my eyes to show him just how crazy that thought was.

Nox blinks. Once,
twice, then leans his head back and roars with laughter. And even
though it hurts my ears and rattles my brain, I smile. That laugh…I
think it could be described as fallen angel song. As well as panty
wetting.

Rough, raw
laughter.

Sigh.

Playing with my
spoon in my empty bowl, I don’t dare look at him when I ask, “So I
came onto all your guys?”

Nox is suddenly
quiet. I look up to find him glaring holes into my skull. He nods.
“Yep. Don’t need that distraction with my men, Lily.”

Seriously
apologetic, I cringe once more. I think that makes forty-seven just
this morning. “I’m sorry, Nox. Seems I get a bit friendly when I’m
hammered.”

He
snorts, “Friendly? You stuck your tongue into Matthew’s ear like
you were licking a sucker!”

My face flushes
crimson and I squeak, “You’re shitting me!”

He shakes his head
forlornly. “Nope. ’Fraid not, little one. Friendly? No. Frisky.
Yeah. A whole lotta frisky.”

Fuck my life!

Crossing my arms
onto the table, I lower my head onto them and say a muffled, “What
else did I do?”

Nox chuckles.
Something about that chuckle I don’t like. I know I’m not going to
like what I hear. “Well, you- uh- you sort of kissed me. Twice.” He
says quietly.

Oh my fu-. This just
gets better and better.

My face flushes
brighter than red and I lift my face. Nox wiggles his brows at me
looking all too pleased with himself, and I can’t help but laugh at
my own stupidity. “Well, that sucks. My first kiss and I can’t even
remember it. Figures. Was I bad?”

Nox’s smile falls
right off his face. He looks stunned. Leaning forward over the
table, he stares at me wide-eyed. “Never been kissed? What do you
mean never been kissed?”

Oh man. Me and my
big mouth.

Trying to shake it
off, I shrug. “No big deal. I didn’t exactly have a lot of
opportunities to meet people, namely guys living under the lock and
key of my father now, did I? Just one of those things. So I guess I
sucked at it, huh?”

Nox frowns, leans
back and away from me. He looks up as if in thought. “No. Not bad.
A little sloppy. But I couldn’t really judge because I stopped you
both times after a few seconds. And I was tempted to take a photo
of you molesting me as blackmail material, but I didn’t…because I’m
a gentleman.”

At
the gentleman part of his mini rant, I burst into laughter and it
hurts my entire dehydrated and hungover body. “You are
so
not a gentleman, Nox! Whatever made
you think that? You’re like anti-gentleman. You’re rough and scary
and downright mean sometimes. You’re
jagged
man not gentleman!” I guffaw.

He scowls at me but
doesn’t say a thing. Immediately, I feel like an ass and try to
soften the blow that I didn’t expect would strike him. “Look, it’s
probably just because of the job you do. I’m sure you can be a
gentleman if you tried, Nox. Really.”

Someone stumbles
into the kitchen. We both look over at Boo who looks worse than I
did this morning. Nox opens his mouth to say something, but she
cuts him off with a swipe of her hand. “No.”

Boo glares at me.
“God, you suck. Remind me never to drink with you again. You’re
like a freakin’ bottomless pit. You just kept guzzling.”