by Bella Jewel
“What is it?”
“I’m goin’ to have to cut our trip short, baby. Gotta work, emergency. They can’t get anyone else in.”
She frowns, “Oh. Oh, of course, that’s okay.”
I walk over, grabbing her and pulling her into my arms. “Sorry, darlin’. But I promise you, I’ll make it up to you.”
She squeezes me. “Slater, it’s okay. We’ve had a wonderful two days, I’m happy.”
I squeeze her even tighter, because where the fuck would I be without her?
We enjoy our coffee before packing up and heading home. I drop her off, kiss her long and fuckin’ hard, and then tell her I’ll call her later before disappearing to the house I’ve been directed to. When I arrive, I’m met out the front, clearly not trusted enough to go inside of the old, run down, red brick home. Walter, or whatever the fuck his real name is, comes out with a slip of paper. He looks left, then right, and then his eyes scan my car.
Did the fucker think I’d bring someone?
When he’s satisfied, he finally looks to me.
“I’m not here to cause a problem,” I mutter. “Here to do exactly what I said I’d do. I don’t have anyone with me.”
He stares at me, those eyes almost penetrating. “Yeah, well, had to check. Here is the address you’ll be picking up from,” he hands me the slip of paper. “They know you’re coming. They’ll give you details on where to deliver it. Needs to be there before midnight, or we’ll have some serious fuckin’ troubles. You think you can manage that?”
I nod, taking the piece of paper and shoving it in my jeans. “Anything else?”
“Bring the cash directly to me. This job will earn you back ten percent of what Lincoln owes me. Do it well, I might make that fifteen. We clear?”
“Clear.”
I turn and walk to the truck, not looking back.
I’ll give them as little as I can.
The least they know about me the better.
This is a dangerous game I’m playing, and the only way I’m going to get out of it unscathed, is to be precise about everything I’m done.
The deliveries.
The picking up.
The cash handling.
All of it. If I don’t get it right, my whole family will suffer, starting with Lincoln.
And then I’ll have to live with that devil on my shoulder.
And I’ve had enough of that little bastard.
So, I have to do it right.
~15~
NOW – ELLIE
“Please,” I say to the young man, named Riley. This is the first time he’s been left to come down here alone. Master has never trusted anyone else except himself. This man might be the only person who can get me out of here.
I think that he is Master’s son, but I can’t be sure.
Riley glances at me, but says nothing as he delivers my tray and turns towards the door.
“Please,” I say again. “I know you can hear me. You’ve seen what he does to me, Riley. He trusts you, please, I have a family too, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life here.”
“Be quiet,” Riley orders, opening the door and then stepping out, slamming it.
I try over the course of three weeks to get Riley to talk to me, but to no avail. Slowly but surely, though, he stops telling me to be quiet. So maybe, just maybe, he’s coming around. Maybe he’s thinking about my words. Maybe he’s wondering if he can help me.
The door swings open.
I’m sitting on my bed, knitting. It’s the only thing he’ll allow me to do, but I have to place everything down when he enters the room, or he’ll take it all away from me. I place my work down, and stand when he comes in. He’s angry, really really angry. I can see it in his face. It’s red, and his eyes are bloodshot. He comes storming over to me and grabs me by the throat, slamming me against the wall.
My head hits so hard I see stars.
I don’t scream anymore.
It only makes it worse.
“What are you saying to him?” he bellows.
“I don’t…I don’t know what you’re talking about, Master?” I slur my words, my head is spinning.
“You’ve been speaking to Riley, he told me so himself. Trying to get him to let you out. He’s not going to let you out, you stupid, imbecile.”
He slams me against the wall again, and tears roll down my cheeks, but I make no sound.
“You’ll be punished for trying to escape me. You know how much I hate it. You know what I said I’d do to you, if I found you trying to escape again.”
“I wasn’t…I wasn’t-”
A hard slap across my face sends my head whipping to the side. He drops me, and reaches around, pulling out a long, hard, terrifying piece of metal. He raises it up, and then swings. It hits me across the temple, sending me flying. This time I scream, I scream so loudly my throat burns. Blood fills my vision and the pain nearly takes me to my dark place, the place I need to get when he’s like this.
I keep my eyes clenched shut, my whole body shaking with agony, waiting for the next hit. It comes, a blow to my ribs, one that takes the breath right out of me. Then he’s lifting me by my hair, bringing me to his face, panting with rage, not caring that my blood is splattering all over him with every scream.
“You so much as ever even fucking think about escaping me again, I’ll cut your fingers off, one by one. Then your toes. Any anything else I can remove from your body without you dying. You’re mine, Raven. And you’ll spend the rest of your life being mine.”
He drops me to the floor, and the pain is so severe, I’m screaming.
I can’t stop.
I need it to stop.
Make it stop.
“Ellie!”
Someone is grabbing me. Shaking me.
I scream harder and fight, pushing the hands away. No, it already hurts too much. Please, he can’t be back already. I can’t take anymore. Someone, please help me. Riley.
“Ellie!”
Another shake.
My eyes fly open and it takes me a long moment to realize I’m in a dark room, and someone is shaking me. As I come out of my horrific nightmare, I remember where I am, and Slater’s voice penetrates my mind.
“Ellie, it’s me. It’s Slater. It’s okay.”
Slater.
Not Paul.
I’m here.
Not there.
I’m panting, and I’m soaked in sweat. Slater is clutching me, his big hands around my shoulders. As I come further into the realization that I’m not back there, I start to cry. Big, angry, heavy tears. They just roll down my face. Then come the sobs, the broken, pathetic sobs.
“Slater,” I croak.
He moves quickly.
He scoops me into his arms and brings me close to him, and in my haze, I don’t think about anything else except the way he’s making me feel in this moment. So safe, like not a single person in this would could get through him to me. That’s a feeling I want to cling to for the rest of my life. So, I let my body lead. For the first time, I just go with what feels right. I forget everything else. I forget what I’ve been through, and the horror that clings to my heart, and I just let my body take the lead.
I pull my cheek away from Slater’s chest, and tip my head back, stretching up. Instinctively, he moves down, and then our lips touch. And when they do, fire is ignited in my soul. Like a flame that’s just been hovering there for so many years, tiny and barely visible, just needing something to bring it back to life. I whimper and clutch Slater tighter, deepening the kiss, relishing in the way it makes me feel.
A feeling I’m not familiar with, but I need. I need more than anything.
Slater lets out a ragged moan, and pulls back. My lips feel swollen from the kiss, and I want more, I need more. That comfort, the way he just made me feel, I need so much more of it. And I need it now. I need something like that to make it all just go away.
“Ellie,” Slater says, his voice careful. “Don’t think you know what
you’re doing.”
“I do,” I say, reaching for him, sliding my hand up his bare, warm chest. “I didn’t know it until this very second, but I do, Slater. I haven’t felt anything like this since…well, I don’t remember. But it feels good. Right, even. The way you make me feel, I want to experience it over and over a thousand times. You make me feel safe. Please, please don’t turn me away. I know you might not need me, but I need you.”
He lets out a long, and ragged moan. “You gotta know I’ve been waiting ten fuckin’ years for this moment, but I don’t want to make things worse. But if you think I don’t need you, Ellie, you’re so fuckin’ incredibly wrong. I’ve needed nothing but you for every waking second since you left. I’m never goin’ to be the same unless you’re in my world, because fuck, you are my world.”
I reach up, tangling my fingers in his hair, letting my body guide me and this is exactly where it wants to take me. Right into his arms, a place where I know I’ll be okay. Our mouths meet again, and the kiss we share is explosive. It makes things inside me come alive, that I didn’t even know were dead. My lips part on a whimper, and a moan escapes Slater, before our tongues begin a soft, gentle dance.
Slater’s big body gently lays mine down, and his incredible size is no factor in how gentle he’s treating me. It’s like I’m made of china. Nobody has ever handled me so careful before. His fingers graze over my skin, his mouth is soft against mine, his hands caress me in the most careful way, as if he’s trying hard not to break me.
My whimpers become moans as our kisses become more frantic. Slater’s hand moves down, gliding over my breasts and down my stomach, until he reaches my panties. He hesitates there, but I don’t want him to stop. I’ve been dead for so long, and when his hands are on me, my body is alive, something I’m absolutely not familiar with. I arch up into his hand, needing him to relieve the ache that’s building between my legs.
He does.
With a gentle glide of his fingers, his lips on mine, his body pressed against me, he rubs and slides, until I’m gasping his name and my body is exploding with the kind of pleasure I’ve never experienced before. Slater growls, and his hand leaves my panties, sliding up under my shirt and over my scarred skin. He doesn’t hesitate, or pause, his fingers trace every line, and he moves up and over me until he’s hovering above me, eyes locked on mine.
Above me like this, Slater looks terrifying. He’s huge, in a way that would no doubt scare most people, but for some reason, his large shoulders, huge biceps, and big build hovering over my petite one, does nothing but make me want him even more. His big hand goes around and cups my face, and he murmurs, “Tell me to stop, if you want me to stop.”
His mouth is saying that, but his eyes are pleading with me not to ask him to stop.
“Please don’t stop,” I whisper. “Make love to me.”
For a moment, he just stares down at me, and then he drops his mouth to mine again, kissing me as his hands gently work my shirt up. When it’s near my arms, he parts and lifts it up and over my head, before removing my panties and leaving me naked beneath him. Suddenly I’m very aware that my body isn’t…beautiful. I have scars, and I’m only just starting to put a little weight on from being starved for a while.
Slater glances down at me, but I see nothing in his eyes except need.
It’s like he can’t see my imperfections, he can only see the beauty.
“I…I don’t like how I look,” I whisper.
His eyes move to mine, and he says, his voice low and raspy, “There isn’t a single force in this world, that could ever make you look anything but perfect to me, Ellie. Nothing you could do to your body, would ever make me see you any differently. You’re beautiful. And you’re mine.”
He shuffles around a bit more, removing his pants, and then he’s over me again, lips on mine, big body positioned right where I need him. My legs go up around his hips and he probes me, lightly at first, and then he’s sliding inside me, setting my body to a dull burn as he stretches and fills me. I whimper, and clutch his shoulders, trying to bring myself closer to him, trying to feel more of the incredible pleasure he’s offering.
My body stretches around him, and when he’s fully in, he drops his forehead to mine, and stares at me. “If you need me to stop, for whatever reason, at any point. You tell me to stop, do you understand?”
“I don’t want you to stop,” I say, reaching up and touching the scar on his face.
Did he get that because of me?
He turns his head slightly into my touch, closing his eyes for a moment, and then he begins to move. Dragging his hard length in and out of me, slowly, clutching me like I’m the very source of his existence. He moves at that slow, agonizing pace, until my body is heating up from the inside, building and building until I can’t take it anymore. I gasp his name and an orgasm tears through my body, taking every single inch of me.
I gasp his name, over and over, and my head tips back into the pillow, my back arching, my body burning with pure desire. Slater moves faster now, his jaw tight, his muscles bulging. With a ragged groan, he joins me, clutching me tightly, rasping my name, pulsing inside of me until there’s nothing left.
And then, after a few moments, he rolls to his side, slipping out of me, but taking me with him. I’m in his arms, my face buried in his armpit, big bicep curled around me. And I feel so safe, I feel safer than I’ve ever felt in my life, and I never want to leave. Frustration grips my chest, and I battle to try and remember moments like these. I know there would have been some. Many, even.
Slater, he feels like home.
And I don’t ever want to leave.
~*~*~*~
THEN – SLATER
The debt is nearly paid.
Six months I’ve been working to clear Lincoln’s name, and earn back what he took. I have three jobs left, and then Walter has agreed to let me go, clearing us both. Between working and doing this, my relationship with Ellie has become strained. I don’t see her as much as I want, and I just wait for the moment I’m cleared of this, so I can make it up to her, because I don’t want to lose her.
I can’t lose her.
Fuck, she’s everything to me.
I’ve just finished up with another deal, and am heading home. It’s past midnight, and I don’t expect anyone to be awake, but when I arrive, Lincoln is sitting on the front steps, staring at some papers in his hands. I get out of my truck, not liking how he looks right now. He looks worn, exhausted. Like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he simply can’t take it anymore.
“Whatever has that look on your face, it ain’t good,” I mutter when I reach him.
He looks up. “That’s because it ain’t good, brother.”
“What’s goin’ on?”
He exhales, and shoves a piece of paper at me. I stare at it, and the big red sign stamped on the front. Final notice. For our mortgage.
I knew we were struggling, I knew this, but I didn’t know we were struggling like this.
“What is this?” I ask, staring at him, already knowing the answer.
“It’s exactly what it looks like, Slater. They’re going to take our house, because I don’t have the fuckin’ money to pay our mortgage, and I haven’t been for months.”
What.
The.
Fuck.
I don’t understand. If there was a problem with cash flow, to this extreme, why in the hell didn’t he tell me?
“What the fuck, Lincoln?” I say, shoving the paper back at him. “Seriously? What the actual fuck? Why the hell isn’t it getting paid? You told me we were scraping by, barely, but we were. If the mortgage wasn’t getting paid, why in the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“Because, Slater,” he roars, “You are already fuckin’ dealin’ with my last issue. Wasn’t about to tell you we had another one.”
“So you let it go?” I roar back, reaching up and grabbing my hair with my hands, frustration, anger and panic bubbling in my chest. “You jus
t let it fuckin’ get this bad!”
“I thought I could find the money before everything fell apart, I had a few big jobs lined up, and they just fuckin’ fell through. I don’t have the god damned cash and I don’t need you reminding me how badly I’ve fucked up!”
“You’ve fucked up alright, I’m out here fixin’ your last fuckin’ screw up and you just gave me another one. You’re the man of this house, at least that’s what you continue to remind me, and yet I’m the one keepin’ us together.”
“You want to keep goin’, Slater?” he says, voice defeated. “Or you goin’ to help me figure out what the fuck we’re goin’ to do about this.”
“How long have we got?” I say through gritted teeth.
“Thirty days.”
“Thirty fuckin’ days to pay this amount of cash?”
I rub my face again, shaking my head. “For a smart man, Lincoln, you’re really lettin’ us all down. You using?”
I study him, trying to scan his face, to see if there is a reason he’s letting everything slip so heavily. I never considered maybe he’s using. Maybe that’s the problem here, he got addicted when he was working for Walter. Would make sense. After all, it’s pretty freely accessible when you’re dealing with it daily.
“What the fuck did you just say to me?”
Lincoln stands, and when he’s upright, we’re basically nose to nose.
“I said, are you using? Can’t figure out what other fuckin’ reason you’d have for screwing up so badly.”
His fist flies out, unexpectedly, and smashes into my face. Rage and fire and frustration explode and my hand goes flying, my fist connecting with his jaw. Then his whole body weight is on mine, and we’re toppling backwards, fists flying, blood spraying, angry grunts filling the quiet night.
Lincoln rolls me to my back and pins me with his body weight, fists pummeling into my face over and over. With a furious roar, I flip him, slamming my hand into his throat. Panting, blood dripping, I look down at him and roar, “You’re a fuckin’ failure, Lincoln. Our family will drown because of you.”
