Carter's mood swings were giving Sloane whiplash as she struggled to figure him out. He was a psychopath for sure, but why all the doting on her? Where did that come from after all the physical abuse he'd inflicted?

He could have left her in that hole for the wild animals to get to. He could have left her foot alone to become infected. He could have let her loose to hunt.

Instead, he had removed her from the hole, tended her foot, and fed her. And if she understood him, even just a little, he had no desire to give her the same fate as all of the other women and men that had ventured onto his land. At least he'd made it seem that way.

She was tired of hearing him claim her, but that was the only hint she had as to why she was still his prisoner. Maybe he just kept her so he could have his way with her before setting her loose to hunt. But he really seems to think we're a thing.

All those thoughts and more swirled around like the objects in a kaleidoscope.

But a new idea had come to mind. Maybe using what she knew could help her get out of there. It wasn't much to go on and she hoped it would be enough.

What she came up with wasn't anything she wanted in the least, but if it gave her a chance at freedom, she had to try. Self loathing was something that could be dealt with later.

It wasn't going to be easy and she wasn't sure she'd be able to pull it off. Hell, she could just end up making things worse; he might not fall for her trick, he might see through it.

But she had to give it a shot. Just sitting around wasn't going to help. If he was going to end up killing her, it wasn't going to be without some kind of fight.

A wave of nausea rolled over her as she tried to figure out how she'd initiate things. Just thinking about putting her plan into motion was sickening. How could she even go through with it?

It would seem a bit suspicious for her to ask him to pleasure her after she'd called him a rapist. Then again, he'd turned around and thanked her for allowing him to take her innocence. It was obvious that he was crazy, so maybe she could use that to her advantage.

The thought that this wouldn't happen in a day added to the cause of her stomach rolling. If it worked at all, it could take a lot more time than she wanted, time she wasn’t sure that she even had.

She began to wonder how much longer she had before he came back. And then she remembered that she hadn't decided what approach to take. Forcing herself to focus wasn't that easy though. She just kept thinking that there was a limited amount of time to hash out a plan.

A part of her considered just telling him that she wanted him, needed him, as soon as he came into the room. Another part told her that was stupid and she'd just have to ease into things, take her time. But if she carried out the second idea, how would she even do that? How would she initiate things?

At some point, the radical idea of just going with the flow popped into her head. She dismissed that, sure things would get out of control or backfire.

Frustrated because she couldn't figure out how to go through with tricking Carter into believing she wanted him, she stared at the beam above her.

She gave herself a mental rest as she forced herself to think about something miniscule and ridiculous - how many times had she stared at that beam. That led to her thinking about the other women that had laid on that bed and done the same thing for however long he'd deemed them "coming around" or "being good". This pushed her to go back to the drawing board.

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She was the first one he'd ever wanted to keep, regardless of how hard she fought back. Sure, he'd had hopes for the others when they'd been trapped. But it'd always been obvious they were just mistakes from the beginning.

He had no desire to hunt Sloane. And the fact that she was pure, or had been before giving herself to him, made her even more special. It was as if she were meant to be his.

He tried to look past her accusations. He told himself that she was just scared because she didn't know him well enough yet. His sexual acts weren't even supposed to happen yet. But he hadn't been able to help himself. Now he needed to rectify the situation, make her understand that she fell and got hurt on his land for a reason.

He made her what he thought was a romantic meal of cacio e pepe and garlic bread with a glass of sauvignon blanc. It smelled amazing even though it wasn't the easiest to make. He wasn't sure about the wine, but he figured it was worth a shot.

She was staring at the ceiling, worrying her bottom lip when he entered the room. He saw the slight flinch she made, but pretended she hadn't moved.

"I thought we'd eat together this time, if you're okay with that."

She licked her lips and then nodded, a weird smile that resembled a grimace gracing her face.

He placed the tray on the nightstand and settled down next to her. He was careful to keep his eyes away from her nude body. It was no easy task and absorbing her beauty was all he wanted to do. But he managed to keep his focus on her face.

"It...it smells good." Her voice was tiny as she tried to look at the food.

"Thanks. Hope it tastes just as good." He twirled the fork, noodles wrapping around to form a tiny cocoon. When he felt it was enough, he reached out to feed her.

She took the food, closing her eyes and giving him a soft moan. "It is."

His smile was broad and a little proud. He copied the movement and took a bite of it. "Mmm. This is good."

He alternated between giving her a bite and then taking one for himself, giving noodles and then bread. After so many forkfuls, he asked if she wanted a sip of wine.

"Please." And then he caught a look of uncertainty.

"You okay?"

She thought about it for a second before nodding. "Just...I just…"

"You don't usually drink?"

She jumped on the excuse he provided and nodded her head again. What worried her was that he was trying to alter her perception and take advantage. But then she realized, if he thought it was okay to force sex on her, it wouldn't matter about getting her drunk.

"Okay. I wasn't sure anyway." Carter shrugged and offered her a sip of water instead.

Sloane lifted her head to take the straw into her mouth, wishing he would have released the restraints. It was awkward to eat spread eagled and naked. She had noticed that he didn't look anywhere but at her face and she wondered if he would stay the caring and helpful version of himself.

They finished eating in silence but her mind raced, still not decided on how she'd begin trying to get away from him.

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