Free Base by Cathleen Ross

and it landed on the bed.
    Ruth grabbed the key stunned that he’d done as she’d asked. With trembling fingers, she unlocked the cuff. God that had been close. Jack had been about to devour her. A shred of her, somewhere in the back of her mind, tried to register disappointment. She ignored it. Instead, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood rubbing her sore wrist.
    â€˜This afternoon, I’ll take you around the perimeter of the whole base to give you an idea of how bad it has got out there. Promise me, you won’t try and escape until you do that. I don’t want to find you torn apart. Dammit, Ruth, if you become one of them, a braindead, it would be a travesty. We need you here. I need you.’ There was real longing in his voice.
    There was something about his vulnerability that moved her. It couldn’t be easy keeping everything going, having the responsibility of so many lives. She knew what it felt like lying awake at night worrying about patients. ‘You’re forcing me to promise under duress.’
    â€˜I won’t have sex with you. Is that what you want to hear?’
    â€˜You can barely keep your hands off me.’
    â€˜Do we have a deal?’
    â€˜You won’t cuff me to the bed again?’
    â€˜You’re past the point when you can turn. You don’t try and escape, I won’t cuff you to the bed.’
    â€˜Fine.’ It was an uneasy truce but one she would have to live with. Until she found a way off the base.
    â€˜I need to shave. Have to do the braindead cull this morning. You’d be amazed how many build up against the fences overnight. It’s going to be a tough day. We’re rescuing the zoo animals today. The smell of them, the live flesh, will drive the braindeads wild.’
    â€˜I’m sensing an analogy here.’
    â€˜Funny, Ruth.’ Jack didn’t smile. ‘I’ll be back at four.’
    â€˜Jack?’
    â€˜Yes?’
    â€˜I don’t want to sleep in your bed.’
    Jack strode towards her and took her by the shoulders. Up close he smelled deliciously male. She could feel her nipples tightening under her T-shirt. It was impossible to ignore how handsome he was, but that didn’t make her like him. He wanted pussy. She was the owner of it. It was that simple.
    â€˜You want one of the other men to claim you? If you’re mine no one will dare touch you.’
    Her hands butted up against his chest to stop him getting any closer. ‘I really want to hurt you right now,’ she said, digging her fingernails into his chest.
    â€˜You want to play tough woman, I’ll play tonight.’ A gleam of excitement came into his eyes. ‘You can lash out at me as much as you like, provided I get to tame you.’
    Any attention was better than no attention. God she hated him right now. ‘That’s not what I meant and you know it.’
    â€˜Sounded good though.’ His hands moved from her shoulders to cup her bottom and he pressed her into his pelvis. ‘These men are on high alert. That makes them dangerous. I’m not saying my men are rapists, but they are living on the edge. Most I know well and can vouch for but some local men came to the base who I don’t know well.’
    â€˜I got that.’ She tried to move her hips back from his.
    His mouth curved down and the green of his eyes deepened. ‘My men have lost a lot. Their wives, their children. Damn it, Ruth, their whole families. I need you to trust me, stay close to me. Do what I say.’
    â€˜You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Me, playing the perfect biddable woman.’
    â€˜Yeah, I would.’ His gaze lingered on her lips. ‘I’d like that a lot.’
    Alarm bells rang at his intensity. ‘There’s just one problem. You chose the wrong woman. My mother was a major feminist in her time, a brilliant doctor. I wasn’t raised to be subordinate to men. Let me go. I