The Carrero Contract - Finding Freedom (Book 3 of Contract Trilogy)

26

Alexi is watching me, looking extremely serious and unreadable with a straight brow, standing casually with his shoulder wedged in the frame and leaning in as though it's keeping him upright. Nothing obvious in his manner but he isn't as smoothed out, tailored and smart as normal. His clothes are a little ruffled, his hair unruly in its styling and a darkness in his eyes that send the fear of God through me.

I'm very aware of my naked, vulnerable state and pull bubbles in to cover me up while I face him. Scrambling for calm and completely unnerved under that penetrative gaze.

"Do what?" I blurt in reply to his question, to break the intense way he is pinning me with a loaded look, shocked at his sudden arrival and back to nervous and breathless as my heart rate explodes. A little frantic with the unexpectedness of his appearance and still reeling from that.

"Drowning yourself to escape reality." He smirks at his description of it and reminds me it was something else he would have read in those damn journals. My method of escape.

I hate that he knows everything like that.

He seems odd. Not quite his normal smug self and yet not seething mad like he was earlier, and it just ups my nerves because I simply cannot read this mood at all. It's weird and almost resigned in a way. All my alarm bells instantly singing out loud and it just adds to the weight of my anxiety around him.

"Another ten seconds I would have dragged you out of there. Wasn't sure if you were escaping or committing suicide. I can never tell when it's you and me." He pushes off from the door, that sarcastic comment biting me cruelly and walks in to perch his arse on the end of the bath at my feet, where he leans forward and rests his elbow on his legs without much of a look towards me as he does so.

I look down into the water, eyes smarting at his words and unable to meet his. Bruised with how he reminded me of that attempt and a little hurt he would say it in such a way. I suddenly feel feeble, and all my Camilla fire takes a run and jumps out the window. I sit stiffly and try not to over analyse his posture or his cool manner.

He is still in the same sweats and t-shirt from earlier and looks only slightly dusty compared to how filthy I was. Although, I spot the reddening marks on his knuckles and slight bruising from this angle, and shiver at knowing exactly how he got them. It's more than punching one man one time in his throat would cause and I guess they found the other one.

Alexi would not be here already if they hadn't. Knowing him, the guy is tied up in some warehouse somewhere while his most trusted interrogate the life out of him. Alexi only occasionally does it himself from what I have heard, but I can guarantee his knuckles are evidence of him taking his fury for me out on someone else. It's why he's calmer. He had his outlet, and that puts me in a better position and less likely a target for that much high energy aggression. That's a blessing in itself.

"Funny." I glance up at him warily, no real amusement in my tone and stay in my upright perched position, pulling more bubbles towards me to use as a covering so I don't need to keep my hands on my breasts. Aware that any other person invading while I was in a bath would outrage me, but it doesn't even cross my mind with him. He's had me naked, seen me so, and this doesn't feel like an invasion or crossing of a line. In a way, I'm glad he just sprung on me, so I didn't have time to plan and torture myself for his arrival. This way is like a ripping a band-aid off. Although I might need a bigger one after he is done.

He turns his head and watches me for a second. I can feel his gaze, then he looks at the floor and away from me too. Both of us suddenly unsure, awkward and unable to look at each other. It just heightens the tense atmosphere and my heart sinks to the hard base of the bath. Deflating me more.