Mine.

The word was a declaration. It rocked him to his very foundation. It was a truth he’d kept hidden for far too long. Caleb didn’t know anything about love, or loving anyone, but he knew…Livvie, was his. He owned her. He possessed her and he knew, with everything he was, he couldn’t give her away.

Mine!

Mine!

Mine!

Rafiq will understand. I’ll make him understand.

Caleb was far from rational. Deep down, he knew Rafiq wouldn’t understand. He would see it as the deepest betrayal. He would demand the impossible of Caleb. Rafiq would try to hurt them both. Caleb pushed those thoughts away.

Before common sense could return, Caleb gently raised Livvie’s hands and untied her wrists. Livvie sighed, and Caleb lied down on top of her in time to watch her eyes flutter open. He stared into her deep, chocolate-colored eyes and saw himself reflected in their depths as she focused on him. A myriad of feelings passed through him, jealousy and possessiveness at the forefront. He needed to make her his: unequivocally and irreversibly.

Livvie’s expression turned inscrutable. She lay under Caleb, her arms limp at her sides, her expressive eyes cold and distant.

Caleb wanted nothing more than to know what she was thinking, but he was too terrified to ask. The feeling of terror was foreign and unwanted. The last time he’d felt it, Livvie was in a house, bleeding, broken, and barely holding on to her life. He’d been terrified then and he’d barely known her. The way he felt for her now paled in comparison. He dared not ask what was in her heart. He knew he couldn’t bear to hear it.

“I can’t stand the smell of him on you,” Caleb sneered.

Tears sprang to Livvie’s eyes and trailed down her temples. She closed her eyes and turned her head away from Caleb.

He put his hand on her face and forced her to face him.

Don’t ask.

Don’t ask.

Fuck! I’m going to ask.

He needed to know. He needed to know if her love for him was real. He needed to know hope was not lost and he could still, against all odds, repair the damage he had done.

“Did you enjoy it?” he asked. He tried not to make it sound like an accusation, but he knew he fell short. Livvie raised her hands to her face, covering her eyes and mouth as she began weeping. Again, Caleb refused to let her hide. He reached for her hands and pressed them into the bed above her.

“Tell me!” he snapped.

“I don’t know what you want me to say!” she cried.

“Tell me the truth! Did you like sucking his dick? Did he eat your pu**y better than I do?” Caleb’s thoughts were suddenly murderous. He had meant to be kind, he had meant to be gentle, but it just wasn’t his way. He no longer knew what ‘his way’ was.

“Yes!” Livvie screamed, “Yes, you son-of-a-bitch. I liked it. Isn’t that why you made me do it? So you could parade me around like a trained f**king poodle?”

Caleb saw red. He squeezed Livvie’s wrists until she cried out in pain and he forced himself to let go. Her words hurt him.

Mine! You’re f**king mine!

Caleb pulled away from Livvie and reached for his belt. He unfastened it quickly and pulled it free in one swift jerk. Livvie gasped, scrambling backward across the bedspread. Caleb caught her ankle and dragged her back toward the edge of the bed. She folded her knees and crossed her arms over her br**sts.

The plug in Livvie’s ass was clearly visible and the sight sent the strangest series of emotions through him, not the least of which was lust. He leaned forward above her and braced his arm across her legs to keep her bent. He chanced a glance up at her face and saw the terror in her eyes as she strove to remain perfectly still.

He reached down and pressed his palm against the plug. Livvie groaned and shut her eyes, but made no move to stop him. Caleb knew it was cruel to keep her in such a position, but his anger and lust kept him from gentling.

Caleb’s fingers traced the rim of Livvie’s hole, stretched around the plug. “How about this, Kitten? Do you like this? Should I invite everyone downstairs to watch?”

Livvie closed her eyes and turned away with a whimper.

“Look at me,” he said and tugged gently on the plug until she complied. “Do you want me to take this out?”

“Yes, Master,” she whimpered. Tears ran down her temples.

“Ah! It’s Master, now, is it?” he said. “You’re so much more obedient when you’ve something rammed up your ass.” He tugged again.

“Please, don’t! I only did it because you told me to!” she sobbed.

“Quiet! You don’t want to provoke me,” he said. His body trembled with rage.

You’re scaring her, you idiot. You won’t get to her this way.

Caleb squeezed her again, too roughly. He loosened his hold when Livvie whined, but he couldn’t let her go. “I don’t know how to make you understand. I don’t know how to tell you how much I owe him. I owe him everything! But God, help me – I can’t….”

He couldn’t say it. He couldn’t tell her how much she had come to mean to him. She could destroy him with her rejection. If she had feigned her feelings for him – if he’d bought into her lies and her quest for freedom…. He wasn’t sure what he would do. He could hurt her.

Mine!

“I couldn’t stand to see you with that motherfucker downstairs. I wanted to beat him unconscious. Even now, I can smell him on you and it makes me sick!” He growled.

Livvie cried. She struggled in Caleb’s grasp until she freed her arms. She placed them over his hands and squeezed them. “I didn’t want to,” she sobbed. “But…you’re just…you’re all over the place! One minute, I think…you must feel something. You have to care! But the next…. Caleb, you’re awful. You’re cruel and you…you break my heart.”