Descended (The Red Blindfold Book 4) (2 page)

And there was one
bright side. I wasn’t a criminal, or at least I hadn’t been for
long. In fact, I prosecuted them for a living. I was a regular person
with a career and a husband. That was something to be happy about.
But happiness was the very last emotion I felt.

Though I might be
upstanding, I wasn’t free.

I turned my head toward
the passenger window so Drex wouldn’t see my tears falling.

Everything that
mattered to me was gone. Drex, my future, and the life we’d barely
begun to live. In three weeks, I’d become Jane.

Whoever Karina was –
that wasn’t me anymore. Even if I recovered my memory and picked up
my career and my role as a wife, I was Jane. And Jane belonged to
Drex.

She always would.

We got to Houston in
the middle of the afternoon.

Leaving the camping
supplies in the truck, we went straight up to Drex’s apartment. No
one at the security desk appeared to recognize me, or maybe they
hadn’t seen the news reports yet. Either way, it was only a matter
of time.

Drex had called his
house manager and given everyone the afternoon off. I followed him
into the cool, silent apartment and let out a long breath. It was
beautiful, pristine, and exactly where I wanted to be. Not just
today, but always.

“Are you hungry?”
Drex asked, setting our bags on the floor.

“Not even close.”

“Me neither.”

I stood with my
shoulders slumped. I felt paralyzed, unable to take another step.
This way was Jane, that way, Karina.

He slipped his arm
around my waist. “Come on,” he said in a low, soothing voice. “I
want to hold you for a while.”

The curtains were
already drawn in the bedroom. A huge vase of fresh lilacs sat on the
coffee table in the sitting area, so bright and cheery I could hardly
look at it. I took off my jeans and shirt, leaving them in a pile on
the floor.

After stripping to the
skin, Drex pulled back the sheets. I climbed into bed beside him in
my panties and bra, and tried to empty my mind of everything but us.
He’d always told me that we only had now. After the last few hours,
I was frantic to believe it.

I shut my eyes and
breathed. I wouldn’t ruin the moment by imagining the future. Or
thinking. Or feeling anything but Drex’s warm, smooth skin against
mine.

“I want you more than
ever,” he said, burying his face against my neck.

I willed my body not to
respond but it wouldn’t obey. It had only one master now, and that
master was Drex. “I feel the same way,” I whispered, “but it
doesn’t matter.”

He drew his head back
and stared at me with his intense gaze. For as long as I lived, I
would never forget the way he looked at me.

“It does matter,”
he said. “Someday you’ll know how much.”

He stroked his fingers
back and forth just below my navel. I shivered. My back arched and my
toes pointed. Tiny tentacles of pleasure spread down between my legs,
making me instantly wet for him.

He knew just how to
touch me, and where. He had from the start. I couldn’t imagine that
anyone – even my husband – knew me so well.

My
husband.
I tried to force the thought from my mind, but it
stuck like a thorn.

“Is this wrong?” I
asked, sliding my arms around Drex’s neck and clinging to him.

He breathed warmly
against my lips, making them tremble. “Does it feel wrong?” he
asked.

I didn’t need to
answer. I just opened my mouth to receive his hot, eager tongue. My
ring felt cold against my skin, like a tiny chain keeping me
prisoner.

Slipping it off, I set
it on the nightstand and turned back to Drex.

“Please fuck me,” I
whispered, unhooking my bra. “I need you so much.”

“I’m right here.”

He tore my panties off
at the hip with one quick jerk. In an instant he was inside me, his
cock so huge and hard I could only gasp his name.

Holding my face in his
hands, he locked his eyes to mine as if searing my image in his
brain. “Don’t look away,” he said. “Stay with me.”

He drove into me,
claiming me with every deep, hard stroke. I felt his heart racing
against mine as he clutched me tightly. My nipples tightened against
his chest, sending heat spiraling across my skin to my clit. The
pleasure was instinctual, automatic. All I had to do was surrender to
it.

Don’t
worry, don’t anticipate. Just feel.

Every time a thought
threatened to pull me away, I brought myself back. I was still here.
And though I was about to lose Drex, I’d never been more excited.

He pinned my wrists to
the mattress as if to keep me captive forever. I imagined staying
here, serving him every morning and night, existing to please him.
Just the thought sent sharp waves of need pulsing through my belly.

I shouldn’t do this,
but I couldn’t help it. I was a slave to Drex and the craving he
created in me.

“You’re going to
come for me,” he whispered, “and then I’m going to come for
you.”

Rolling to the side, he
held me against him with his powerfully muscular arms as I wrapped my
legs around his waist. I rocked back and forth, rubbing my clit
against the base of his cock until I was too far gone to speak.
Threading his fingers through my hair, he brought my face so close to
his that nothing separated us.

“Give it to me,” he
commanded. “Give it all to me.”

Tension twisted through
me, coiling and unwinding until it filled my whole body. I rocked
faster, biting my lip as Drex brought me closer to the brink of
exploding.

I knew it was wrong,
but I couldn’t – I
wouldn’t
– stop now.

“Please, please,” I
panted, and then every muscle shuddered and released.

I let out a short
scream of pleasure and squeezed my thighs around him as tightly as I
could. Tears filled my eyes, tears of ecstasy and the worst,
gut-ripping sadness I could imagine.

Drex let go seconds
after I did, his breath rough and guttural in my ear.

“Baby,” he groaned.
“You’re fucking amazing. You’re all I want.”

He kissed me like he’d
never kiss me again. My whole world was his tongue entwining with
mine. How could I feel so much bliss and misery at the same time? How
could I leave Drex for a man I didn’t know?

This
was what I wanted and where I wanted to stay. In his arms, in this
life, forever.

Drex made it all okay. He made just
being together feel like home.

By eight that night, I
was on the news again. In fact, I was all over it.

National, local, no
matter what station Drex turned to, reporters were talking about my
mysterious disappearance.
Breaking
News. Developing. Update.

There were pictures of
me on vacation, in front of my brownstone in Boston, and sitting
beside a white-haired woman with blue eyes exactly like mine. My
mother. Another person I didn’t recognize, and didn’t even want
to meet. What a horrible thing to admit.

“She looks just like
you,” Drex said quietly.

“I know.” Riveted
to the screen, I stood two feet from the flat-screen in the living
room. Drex sat on the edge of the couch in a t-shirt and jeans,
gripping a glass of Scotch.

On CNN, a reporter was
interviewing a truck driver, a hard-working family man from Austin.
He’d had a dangerous run-in with the missing woman, and felt a duty
to warn the public. He stood in his driveway describing how he’d
been tricked into paying for dinner and a hotel room before she hit
him, knocked him out, and tied him to a bed.

“What a fucking
joke,” Drex muttered.

I squeezed my hands
into fists. “That’s not the way it happened,” I said. “You
know that, right?”

“Of course,” Drex
said, hitting the mute button. “Any moron could tell the guy’s
lying. He wants his three seconds of fame because he’s got nothing
else.”

I forced down a surge
of fury and tears. “The reporter believes every word he says.”

Drex got up and wrapped
me in a tight hug. “I don’t. I never will. I’ll always be on
your side.”

“What do I do now?”
I asked against his shoulder. “Call somebody? How do I handle it?”

He stroked the back of
my head. “There’s no playbook for something like this. We don’t
have to do anything tonight.”

“Yes, we do,” I
said, hating myself for defying him.

He pulled back and
looked at me, a frown knitting his brows. “Why?”

“Because everyone at
Scott’s party saw me, Drex. Your doormen know me. We can’t
contain this.”

As if to prove me
right, his phone began to ring. And ring, and ring, and ring.

It sat on the end
table, vibrating and flashing like a signal from a distressed ship.
“It’s starting,” I said, wanting to cover my ears and scream.

“I’m not answering
it.” Drex stepped over and shut off his ringer, silencing the tinny
ringtone that was like a knife in my head. The phone lit up again,
then went dark.

“Who was it?”
Though I didn’t want to know, it was torment to wonder.

His jaw ticked with
tension. “The last four times? Brooke. She sent texts, too.”

I felt the blood drain
from my face. Everything Brooke had wanted – my shame, and Drex all
to herself – she was getting right now. “So she knows.”

“Yes. She and her
father want to meet with me tonight, which isn’t happening.”

“Why not?”

He looked at me as if
the answer should be obvious. “Because I have more important things
to do.”

“What, stand here and
watch the news all night?” I crossed my arms. “You should go.
Take care of your business, as soon as you can.” It was the surest
I’d felt or sounded in hours.

Drex didn’t hesitate.
“No. This isn’t work, it’s my personal life. We’ve done
nothing wrong.”

My heart was a lead
weight in my chest.
Wrong
.
No single word fit this day better. “You haven’t, but I have.
None of this had to happen. Why didn’t I go to the press the day
you found me?”

“You had your
reasons,” he said, refilling his glass from the bottle on the
coffee table.

Whatever those reasons
were, I could hardly remember them tonight. All I knew was that every
one of them was selfish. “I still have to face this, but now three
weeks have gone by,” I said.

He put down his glass
and took me by the shoulders. “Listen. I wouldn’t trade those
three weeks for anything in the world.”

I shook my head. If he
kept talking this way, I’d never be able to do what was right. “You
can’t put it off anymore. You need to talk to Brooke and Scott.”

“It can wait until
morning.”

“No, Drex,” I said,
in a low, weary voice. “It can’t.”

His eyes burned into
mine. “What’s this really about?” he asked. “Do you need time
alone?”

The word
alone
gave me a deep chill. Diesel was still with her trainer, which meant
that once Drex left, I wouldn’t have even the dog to distract me.
But I didn’t care. I’d made this about me for far too long.

“No,” I said. “Just
please contain the damage as best you can. Don’t let it hurt your
business more than it has to.”

He dropped his head
forward. A thick, silky lock of dark hair fell over his eyes. It was
all I could do not to reach out and touch it. “I don’t want to
leave you,” he said, “even for a minute.”

“I’ll be okay. I’ll
take a nap. By the time I wake up, you’ll be back.”

I could almost see both
sides of him, the protector and the tycoon, battling against each
other. “I don’t like this,” he said. “You shouldn’t be by
yourself.”

“I’m telling you to
go. I’ll feel better if you do.”

After a long pause, he
sighed. “That’s the
only
reason I’m agreeing.” His eyes searched mine. “You’ll
be all right? You’re sure?”

I nodded. “I’m just
tired. A nap will be good for me.”

“Okay. Don’t watch
the news. I think we’ve both had enough of it.”

He reached for his
phone, sent a quick text, and put it down again. “You know, you
don’t have to do anything,” he said. “You can call the police,
let them know you’re safe, and stay here with me. We can figure
this out together.”

“How?”

“You’re married,
Jane, not in prison. You can still make your own decisions.”

Hard as he was trying,
he just wasn’t getting it. “But my mother, Drex. You saw her.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I
did.”

It was the first time
I’d ever seen even a trace of resignation in his eyes.

The driver called from
downstairs ten minutes later. Willing myself to feel nothing, I gave
Drex a quick kiss in the entryway. But I felt everything – sadness,
desire, anger, love – so many emotions I could hardly breathe.

“Good luck,” I
said.

“It’ll be fine,”
he said, and forced a smile. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

Swallowing back tears, I smiled back
and shut the door.

“Jane?”

When I walked into my
apartment two hours later, it was dark. The sun had gone down while I
sat in my office with Scott and Brooke, my mind two thousand miles
away in Boston where Jane lived with her husband. Where Jane was
Karina, and Karina was a lawyer with a full life that didn’t
include me.

How could I compete
with a husband, a career, and a long history with people I’d never
known? I absolutely fucking couldn’t. Three weeks with me were
nothing compared to six years with the man who’d publicly claimed
her as his wife.

Brooke had done a lousy
job of hiding her satisfaction. Her pleased smirk had said it all.
She’d been right from the start, and now she got to bask in it. I’d
stumbled into a PR nightmare with a full-on amnesiac who was both
married and a huge national story, and Brooke was going to milk it
for as long as she could.