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Chapter 4
"What's the latest?" Troy asked, collecting some food for himself and Gabi as she remained safely tucked away in their shared room.
Having woken up with her curled into his body comfortably, he'd only allowed himself a short time relishing the feeling of cuddling her, then cut off his feelings and risen from the bed to search for food.
"They want to bargain with us. They want proof she's ok. They think we killed her already and we're just asking for money."
Troy frowned.
"They want to talk to her." He guessed and Joe nodded. Pete looked between them.
"Maybe we should hurt her- show them we mean business. They're stalling; they want to see what we'll do if we're pushed."
"No-one hurts the girl." Joe stated. "That never works. We can get the money- from her father. The police won't negotiate, but while they can't find us we have the upper hand." Joe informed.
"So what do you suggest?" Troy checked.
"That we get hold of Montez- alone. Let him say hi to the girl. Tell him he'll have her back, unharmed if he packages us the money." Joe suggested.
Pete stood up. "They won't take us seriously if she's the same as when she left! They'll think we're a soft touch!"
Troy glared at him.
"We're not going to hurt her." He re-iterated Joe's message.
"For all we know you could be fucking her down there!" Pete argued suddenly, turning on Troy.
"Does she look like I've been raping her?" He asked back, tightly.
"She won't let any of us near her." He pointed out.
"Apart from me." He said pointedly back.
"Maybe she likes it…" Pete gleaned
Troy's jaw muscle twitched as he refrained from answering.
"I'm going to feed the girl." He said, ambling off and heading for the room.
Gabi was sat on the bed, her curly hair messy and her brown eyes tired and flat. Nothing like the colourful, animated eyes he had looked into as they had danced.
"I have some food." He offered, closing the door gently, walking over to the bed.
He laid down the array of items which Gabi tried to ignore. His blue eyes trained across her pretty face with concern.
"At least drink something." He begged, handing her a bottle of water and an orange juice drink.
She took the water as he ate some rolls, seemingly filled with bacon.
"Are you not hungry?" He asked.
"I'm not eating." She answered coolly.
"We're trying to look after you, Gabi." He said her name this time, softly.
"Don't call me that." She returned, eyeing him and he wondered why she was suddenly being like this with him.
"You hate me now?" He wondered.
She smiled but no humour burned in her dark eyes.
"I don't know who you are. You're not the guy I was falling for at the party!" She objected and he looked at her, his brows closing together in shock at her words.
"Falling for?" He asked.
Gabi blushed, lifting her eyes to the ceiling, getting up from the bed and walking around the room to avoid him. It was already strange for her, to be feeling all these things she shouldn't be; she didn't think she could explain it to anyone else right now.
"I didn't mean it like that." She said gently, turning and gasping as he appeared directly behind her, trapping her as he stalked her backwards to the wall and caged her with his raised arm against the solid wall.
He licked his lips as his blue eyes burned into hers and she felt his heat, the tension radiating between their two bodies and colliding with each breath.
"You can't fall for a guy like me." He assured, tilting his face as though about to kiss her.
Gabi paused, half wanting to taste his lips so badly and half afraid for her safety if she gave into his dangerous temptation.
She tilted her face too, pressing her lips into his, the sensation instantly hitting her and she begged for more, her lips meeting his with repeated pattern.
He shuffled, wrapping his arms around her waist and she whimpered, lifting her arms to loop them over his head, wrists still bound with the cuffs.
Her hands immediately melded into his hair as he mauled her tiny body against his larger, muscled one, his tongue venturing into her mouth.
Gabi melted, letting the kiss envelope her, possess her until she felt the yacht rocking heavily from side to side, knocking her off balance where Troy caught her.
His breaths were heavy, strained just like his body as he pulled back, staring at her in shock.
"What was that?" She asked breathily and he unlooped her hands from his neck, stepping back.
"I'll go and find out." He said, still meeting her gaze, not wanting to break it.
She felt as confused as he did right now.
She nodded, then, "Troy?"
He turned.
She frowned, searching for the words.
He smiled. A small, tight, pained smile, but it still comforted her as he left her alone and she wandered into the bathroom.
--
"What's up?" Troy asked, heading onto deck, finding the choppy sea knocking the boat a little and he felt for his balance.
"Storm coming in," Joe warned. "We're just packing up and laying anchor until its over." He said.
"That's not good." Troy worried.
"Not if we get in trouble its not." Joe agreed. "You better keep a close eye on her; I think she'll try to bolt if we're caught up with managing the damage."
Pete nodded. "I'll be here to help out."
Troy nodded too, heading back down to the rooms, his buddies following as the boat became increasingly rocky.
"Gabi?" He called, knocking her door, finding her bed empty and guessing she was in the bathroom.
He knocked on the bathroom door. "Gabi?" He called again.
She didn't answer so he split the door, peeking in for her and finding the room empty- but the window open, showing her escape onto deck.
"Oh, fuck!" He swore, running back out and straight up to the deck, which was now darkened with the ominous clouds as the wind kicked up the waves.
He searched for her, seeing the flash of her grey top and heading quickly for her.
She was sat on the edge of the boat, contemplating diving in by the looks of it.
"What's going on?!" Joe called into the swashing rain which started as Troy knelt and looked into Gabi's blank face.
He held up a hand behind him to stop his partner.
"Just let me talk to her!" He called, pausing him from approaching and possibly frightening her.
"How do I know what your telling her?!" He argued back.
Troy turned, his hair flattening against his head in the downpour. Gabi clung her arms around her body awkwardly as her cuffs restricted her.
Troy stripped off his jacket, quickly thrashing it across her shoulders.
"You're gonna have to trust me!" He yelled back.
"Don't let me down, Tom!" He yelled.
Troy turned back to Gabi, pained at seeing her shivering in the cold air.
"Just come inside, we can talk." He offered.
Gabi shook her head. "I may as well throw myself in the ocean. I'm gonna die anyway."
"It's freezing out here, Gabi. You'll get pneumonia." He argued as he knelt at her side.
"I can't move my hands, I can't leave that room!" She shouted.
"I'll let you free if that's what you want, just for a while. But you have to promise to come with me. And not try this again." He added.
"How do you know you can trust me?" She argued.
"I don't." He answered honestly, blinking away the rain as it clumped his eyelashes.
Gabi turned her eyes to him.
She really couldn't understand why those blue depths mirrored the turmoil of the sea below them.
He wanted her to get to her dad's money, no other reason. The whole date, the whole romance, had all been a smokescreen for this ultimate plan. And yet when he looked at her like that, she could almost feel his inner fight, his empathy.
He was as soaked through as was she and she could see his knuckles white in the wind as he clutched the bar for support, the boat rocking to and fro now heavily.
She blinked, scooping up her legs, trying to stand as he hovered next to her, doing the same, slowly standing and she slipped on the wet deck, her bare feet going from under her as the water whooshed over board.
"I got you." He husked, taking her whole body against his quickly, into his arms again.
She felt his heat press through his wet clothes and into her damp body like a white fire burning through the rain.
She could feel the power of him, the steady beat of his heart through his pulse. They locked gazes as she forgot about fear and only felt an answering desire.
Their mouths met in a fusion that could not be denied as the storm battered around them and the loud sound of lightening frightened Gabi from the embrace.
Troy lifted her into his arms where she looped her wrists over his head to cling to him, both of them wet through and cold from the exposure to the elements.
"You persuaded her to stay then?" Joe asked dryly as they made it inside the boat.
"I did indeed." Troy answered flatly, hoping he hadn't seen the kiss.
"Cosy set up you have there." He accused with a lift of his chin.
"What do you want from me Joe? You want me to drag her kicking and screaming?" He wondered.
Joe walked up to them and Gabi burrowed her face into Troy's shoulder.
"Pass her to me." He said.
"Why?" Troy flicked back, frowning.
"I've changed my mind, maybe she does need showing who's boss after all. We could all relieve a little tension." He suggested, testing Troy's reaction.
It hurt him deep inside, ripped at him, but he had to keep Joe on side.
It would ultimately mean losing Gabi's trust temporarily but he hoped he could work hers back more easily than Joe's if he messed this up.
"I thought I made it clear the girl was mine." Troy said very slowly, very measured.
"One of us should be getting some." He smiled lewdly, eyeing her curves through her clinging clothes.
"Maybe I will." He lifted his brow.
"Can we watch?" He asked then and Troy flicked his lashes up, their softness belying the steel in his whole body.
"You gotta be kidding me right?" He laughed without humour.
"You're lying. You won't touch her; you haven't got it in you. I'm wondering if you got a soft spot for her and we ought to take you off guard duties." Joe tested further.
"I'm not in the mood to discuss this, I want to get dry and warm." Troy avoided, stalking past him to the room, carrying Gabi through to the bathroom where he started up the shower and tested the temperature, placing her in the bath as he stood with her, rubbing her shoulders.
He hopped out to lock the door, knowing Joe would be listening for activity, cursing him for putting him in this position.
How dare he blackmail him into raping Gabi? He couldn't do it, that much was certain.
"I'm just gonna shower with you, I promise, nothing more." He said before he climbed back into the bath, dropping his jeans and kicking them off awkwardly as they stuck to his legs.
Gabi held her hands aloft for him to unlock her and he nodded, taking the key at his neck and loosening the ties while they bathed.
She watched him with wide eyes as the warm water steamed off her clothed body.
"We should pretend." She said and he frowned, stripping off his t-shirt to which her eyes clung to him, ravenous for the sight of him naked, wet in his boxers before her.
The water was glistening off his hard muscles as she ached to touch him.
"Pretend what?" He wondered.
"To have sex." She answered pragmatically.
He was shocked at her deduction, her insight. Her seeming knowledge that he was protecting her and double crossing his friends.
"I'm not sure how…"He frowned again, shrugging, thinking it was crazy but maybe, just maybe, brilliant, too.
"What are you doing?" She asked loudly, starting him off for an easy way out of this mess with Joe.
"Just keep your mouth shut and enjoy the ride." He gruffed back.
"No! Don't touch me!" She called and his eyes widened as he shrugged widely.
She smiled at him, stripping off her tee top and trousers and taking the soap.
"I said shhh…" He replied, grinning at her.
"Oh…" She whimpered, pretending he was touching her.
"Oh yeah, you want me, alright, I can feel it…" He husked and Gabi was shocked at the pop of heat between her thighs, steadily throbbing away.
She laid her hands on her body, soaping over her underwear.
"Oh…" She whimpered again. "Please don't," she begged.
"I know you want it…" He repeated, taking the soap from her, soaping himself and smiling unashamedly as his erection stood proud between them, covered by his boxers.
"Oh…" she moaned again, but this time, a more wanton sound, like she was coming around to his supposed attempt at foreplay. Her imagination was running crazy with a life-size nearly-naked man before her as she acted out this sexual fantasy. It was all she could do to stop her legs quivering with her need to actually do what she was pretending they were doing.
"You like that huh?" He accused, his eyes never leaving hers as they played this dangerous game.
And then she stepped to him and curled a hand into his hair, reaching up to kiss him, stretching her belly against the length of his rigid heat, lending his hands to cup her backside to support her, bring her closer.
Her moan this time was very real, very desire-filled. Troy had trouble standing and holding her too in their wet, slippy state.
"Oh god, Gabi." He breathed against her ear, cradling her into his hard body.
"He's outside, Troy." She whispered, reminding him they had an audience to fulfill.
He grinned, brushing his hardness against her. She obliged, moaning loudly, hiding her smile.
They both heard a bang on the door, followed by 'Way to go, Tom!" and Troy sighed in relief, realizing Joe had been listening and their game was worth playing.
Gabi's eyes remained on his face as he held her to him, wanting more than anything to complete what they had started, but knowing that would only make this way more complicated than it already was.
He bent to scoop her up, carrying her from the bath in her sodden underwear, reaching for a towel as he placed her down again, wrapping her into it.
"You should get dressed. There's clothes out there." He jerked his chin across his shoulder to indicate the bedroom.
She knew from his eyes that he didn't mean those words, but she was still confused by him, still frightened at her capture.
Her heart and her body very much wanted to make love with him, be damned the consequences and she considered her mental state for wanting it so badly when he was the one who had held her at gun point.
Troy followed her out, finding his own clothes and dressing in the privacy of the bathroom after he tethered her wrists once more.
His body was still humming with unsatisfied passion and her lips were swollen with his kiss, just inviting an extension of that scene in the bathroom but his tightrope was getting looser and before long, it would be loose enough to strangle him.
Instead he lay on the bed, that familiar position, that typical pose where she would lay next to him and they would share the space, trying so hard to remain in contact without touching, without letting on to anyone else about their burgeoning feelings.
His breath blew out, across her hair as he slept and Gabi knew this couldn't last forever.
These things never ended well and it filled her with a sick feeling to imagine what would become of her.
And what would become of Troy.