I shrugged and raised the keys. “Backyard vasectomy. My first official memory of this place.” Pressing the unlock symbol on the remote, the clunk of the doors opening was faint in the fading storm.

I’d shared a piece of me.

It was time she shared a piece of her.

I stalked toward the vehicle.

“Oh no. No way.” She planted herself in my way. “We need to talk about what you just told me. I-I can’t comprehend...you can’t just say something like that and then not elaborate.”

“No, we don’t need to talk. And yes, I can.” I shoved her to the side. “I’m far more interested in seeing what’s inside there.” Reaching the back of the vehicle, I swung the tailgate wide and shoved up the half window.

She rushed to my side, protective and possessive. “Don’t. Don’t touch anything.”

“What? Think I’m going to destroy everything?” I smiled icily. “I’ve already touched you.” I dropped my stare from her mouth to her breasts to her pussy. “And you’re still in one piece.”

“No, I’m not,” she whispered under her breath before elbowing me aside. “You’re getting everything wet. Close the door.” Reaching for the raised window, her breasts rose and I couldn’t stop myself.

Snatching her close, I bent and sucked on her nipple.

Cool and fresh like rain, earthy and gritty like dirt.

She bowed in my arms then shoved me away. “Stop We need to talk not—”

“I have nothing to say to you.” I let her go. I wasn’t lying that I was more interested in her possessions at this point than her body. I’d already had her body.

And she was right.

Neither of us was in one piece after what we’d done.

And I fucking hated it.

I needed something else to focus on before I lost my ever-loving mind.

My eyes scanned her bags and supplies, settling on water containers, blankets, cables, and rope.

Rope.

Instantly, self-preservation kicked back in. My head still swam. My skull still throbbed. My heart felt strange from being inside her and my mind was confused with the bizarre bond that’d sprung between us.

It all tried to soften me, cajole me, lie to me that whatever this was...it could be a new way of life. I could have this. Whatever this was. A companion. A confidant. Friend.

But it wasn’t real.

What was real was everything knotted inside my head. The scars full of evidence. The house full of screams.

I would never forget.

Never be free to forget—no matter how much I lied to myself.

Which meant I couldn’t let down my guard, or trust, or hope, or allow her to trick me any worse than she already had.

Tossing the keys to the side, I grabbed a length of rope.

Soft teal cord speckled with highlighter pink threads. It glittered as I jerked enough from the coil before spinning around and grabbing my trespasser.

For a second, she scowled. She didn’t see my threat, nor believe I was capable of returning to our prior dynamic before we’d broken each other. She treated me as if we were normal—as if our cursed beginning had somehow morphed into an average relationship.

That would never happen.

It can’t.

She wasn’t welcome here, yet she wasn’t permitted to leave.

She was mine to fuck, kill, or betray.

She’s still my enemy.

Her shock gave me enough time to grab her wrists, bind them together, and wrap the rope tight around her.

Her mouth fell open as she jerked back, doing her best to fight me off. “Seriously? You seriously just tied me up after what we just did?”

“Perhaps it’s because of what we just did.”

I’m hurting.

Give me time to figure this shit out.

“Argh! You don’t give up, do you?”

I kept my voice flat and cold. “Not while you’re still breathing, no.”

She sucked in a worried breath. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I rolled out my shoulders. “It means, if you keep pushing me, I’ll keep pushing back.”

“If you let me go, then there’s nothing to push against. We had sex. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Fuck, yes.

It’s screwed me up and blown me apart and I’m barely fucking functioning.

Gritting my teeth, I checked the tightness of her knots, forcing myself to hiss, “No. It meant nothing.”

Tearing her wrists away from my grasp, she snarled, “You’re unhinged.”

Tell me something I don’t know.

“I don’t particularly care what you think of me.”

“Well, you should. If you got out of your head for just two seconds and let yourself feel, then you wouldn’t be able to do this.”

I laughed blackly. “Emotions are the reason I am the way I am.”

“Emotions you’ve suppressed and not dealt with.”

Our eyes met, fight to fight, anger to anger. “I don’t need psychiatric help from a girl who climbs rocks for a living.”

“Well, you need help from someone.”

“And that someone definitely isn’t you.”

She huffed. “You’ll regret this. If you kill me after what we just did, what we just felt, then you’re not just full of demons, you are one.”

“Who said anything about trying to kill you?” I cocked my head, my breath harsh.

She narrowed her gaze, searching for a trap. Raising her bound wrists, she sneered, “Why tie me up then?”

“To stop you trying to escape.” I pointed at the Jeep and rolled my eyes, wincing against my headache. “That is what you were trying to do, was it not?”

She dug her toes into the mud, rage planting her in place. “I need to go home. I have people who will be worried about me.”

“Not my problem.” Grabbing her wrists again, I tied another knot, just to be safe. I ensured the restraints were tight enough not to wriggle out of but not too tight to cut off circulation.

“I hate you,” she spat as I relinquished her hands.

“That makes two of us.” Turning, I grabbed her keys again and opened the pen knife dangling from the chain. Using the knife, I sliced off the rest of the rope, leaving a small leash to drag her by.

Glancing up, I made the mistake of looking at her face.

Fury didn’t begin to describe her. Disbelief definitely, hate certainly, but something else swam inside that made my heart fist with daggers.

She was hurt.

She’d been stupid enough to believe something had happened between us. Something good. Something that would protect her from her fate.

Then again, I’d known she was stupid from the first moment she’d offered herself to me. This was just further vindication.

Eventually, she’ll learn not to trust me.

Even I learned that lesson.

Her nostrils flared as she tried to get her temper under control, swaying in the rain, naked apart from the colorful rope tight around her wrists. “Why?”

A tiny, three-letter word but one that asked so much.

“Because I have no choice.” Looking down at the keys in my hand, I flinched. They had the power to take her away from me. They could give her back her life and take mine away all in one go.

She can never go back.

She knew too much now.

She could never be trusted.

And...I want to keep her.

I’d lost everything.

Everything I had ever cared about had been snatched from me.

This time will be different.

Her keys had to go. They had to fly far away from here so she could never find them.

She cleared her throat, shifting on the spot as if nervousness siphoned through her. “Don’t...don’t do what I think you’re going to do.”

I looked up.

Her hazel eyes were deep brown to match the darkness around us. No green shone. No light. No sweetness. Once again, she could read me. How that was possible, I didn’t know. But something had alerted her to the fact I hated her keys. I loathed her car. I wanted to shove both off the cliff and watch them burn.