"Mo?" Tony rushed out.
"Hey, what's up?"
"I was calling to check on you."
"I'm all right." I kept my gaze trained on the starry skyline. Julian wasn't in my line of vision, but I felt his eyes on me from inside the room.
"Good," Tony's breath of relief whooshed through the phone. “Did you do it?”
I let my silence answer that question for me.
"Damn. What happened? You didn’t change your mind did—."
Julian was back at my side, cutting the call off before Tony could finish. I dropped my eyes to the half-eaten rigatoni in front of me. If anger was a force, his would have punched me in the gut. It rolled off him in waves.
He placed his hands on my shoulders and began to lightly massage them. “Can I ask you a question?” His tone was deceptively soft.
I nodded, hesitantly.
“Did you fuck this boy? Is that why he’s so inclined to help you end our relationship?”
Swallowing, I tilted my head back so that I could see his face. “Did you fuck the blonde I saw you with?”
“As a matter of fact,” he trailed off and lifted my phone from the table, casually letting it slip from his hand and into my glass of ice water. “I fucked her in my backseat, and when I was done, I dumped her body a few miles outside of town on the side of the road.”
"What do you mean you dumped her body?" I stood from the chair so fast my hip knocked against the rim of the table, rocking it hard enough that the glass of water tipped over.
“Exactly that. Do you want details? I can tell you exactly how long she took to bleed out.”
Why was he telling me this? I didn’t want to hear his confessions. My mind couldn’t grasp that the man I was sleeping with was a killer.
“Don’t tell me anything else. I won’t be your accomplice or accessory,” I stated calmly. My heart was hammering so hard I was surprised he couldn’t hear it, but I knew freaking out right now would make this a lot worse.
When he threw his head back and laughed, I thought this whole thing may have been some sort of sick joke. I attempted to sidestep around him, his laughter stopped abruptly. He took hold of my forearm, his grip so tight I knew there would be an imprint on my flesh.
“Dollface you really are naive. Did you think you'd get to decide when we were done? You don't. I own you. And I'm not ashamed to admit how selfish I am about the things I own." His words had an unwelcome heat pervading my body and settling between my thighs.
Part of me wanted him to show me I was his, to prove he meant every word. The other was ready to risk it all and jump off the balcony. I grit my teeth and tried to pull free. “Let me go.”
Ignoring my request, he dragged me back into the hotel room.
Once fully inside, he shoved me in the direction of the king-sized bed and shut the balcony door.
Before my body fully landed, I was back on my feet and moving towards the other only exit. Julian blocked my path with a disturbing swiftness. When he reached back and turned the lock, metal clicking to metal sent a hot flush rippling across my chest.
He stepped forward.
I moved backward.
He smiled.
"Julian, please let me go."
From the coldness festering in his green eyes, I knew that wasn't going to happen. "I won't ever let you go. Can't say you weren't warned. I want you right now, Morgana. I want you very fucking badly. And when I take you, it's going to hurt, but I can make it hurt in all the right ways."
"No." My tone was breathless, needy. It made it seem like his words mattered to me.
I told myself they didn't, fighting through the hazy lust clouding my brain, ignoring the arousal between my legs.
"Keep begging," he smirked at me, keeping his eyes locked with mine the entire time it took him to remove his suit jacket, tie, and black button-down shirt. The deteriorated skull tattoo that covered his right pec stared at me. The familiar rough ridges and clear lines outlining his eight-pack were prominently on display.
"I'm not begging."
"You will be. I'm going to set a standard no other man will ever compare to. You aren't leaving this room until I've made you come with my cock, mouth, and fingers."
"What if I don't want that?" I wasn't teasing, this really couldn't happen. If I slept with him after what he just told me, it would be accepting his behavior and the things he did. A sign that I wasn't going to leave him when I had every reason to do so.
"It's adorable that you think you have a choice."
"Let me go, or I'll scream."
"That's all I want to hear. The question is, how loud?"
We faced off; my heart pounding against the cavity of my chest with an urgency that had alarms blaring in my head. I couldn't fight him and win, screaming wouldn't send anyone my way, and he had successfully destroyed the only phone I had a hope of using.
All I could think to do was lock myself in the bathroom and hope he let me be. I lurched towards it, barely making it halfway before his hand was in my hair and the carpet was rushing towards my face.
His body crushed mine as soon as I rolled from my stomach to my back. He looked down at me, his eyes full of an animalistic hunger. My hands pushed against his solid chest to no avail.
"Get off me," I seethed. His weight was impeding on my ability to breathe. He took hold of my wrists and pinned them above my head with one hand. I struggled beneath him, thrashing and using my body to fight him off.
With one knee, he shoved my legs apart.
My dress rose above my hips, exposing my lower half completely. He leaned down and bit my bottom lip hard enough to break the skin. I yelped, tasting blood when he finally let go.
"Do you feel that, Dollface? How bad I want you?" He ground his cock into my apex, making sure I felt how hard he was.
"Don't do this to me."
His mouth hit mine, hard. He pushed against my lips until he got his tongue between them, skimming his free hand down my body, over my ribcage to between my parted thighs. Fear rifled through me, settling in my gut as my underwear was pulled to the side. Two fingers replaced the material, shoving inside me with no preamble.
I squeezed my eyes shut, willing this to stop. My heavy breathing filled the air. The sound of his fingers pumping in and out of my wet pussy made me ill. I was as turned on as he was, and it threw my head into a tailspin.
"Open your eyes and look at me." The command in his voice forced my compliance. I blinked a few times, staring straight up at him.
When his fingers vanished, my eyes traveled down his body over hardened muscle to where he was undoing his slacks. My stomach dipped and flipped. Another broken plea spilled from my mouth.
"Don't fight me, Morgana. Better yet, do fight me. It’ll make this a little more fun." A cocky smirk met my whimpered frown. He pulled his hard cock out and held it in his hand.
"Jules." I begged more with that one word than I ever had in my entire life, but what I was asking for could no longer be deciphered.
With no easing, gentle caresses, or sweet promises of pleasure, he lined himself up at my slit and shoved inside me. It hurt, but it hurt more when he began to brutally thrust in and out without giving me time to adjust.
He filled me, stretched me to the limit. His mouth found the side of my neck, and he bit down, making me cry out in pain as he dropped his fingers to my clit, rolling the bundle of nerves with a calculated expertise.
"Fuck, you're perfect Morgana."
It was too much. He rocked into me relentlessly, pushing as far as he could. I tried to move back, to give myself a small reprieve from the pressure inside me.
"I know what you need, Dollface." A smoldering look was in his eyes. He pulled out, grabbed my hips, and flipped me onto my stomach.
"Jules, stop." Wetness ran down my legs, showing my body's betrayal. I frantically tried to crawl away, but he held me firmly in place. A hand tangled back in my hair and shoved my face down into the carpet, keeping me there by the back of my
head. My ass remained in the air. I struggled wildly, aimlessly.
"You're going to like it, Morgana. I promise." His dick was pushing back inside me on my next mangled breath. I screamed and cried simultaneously, afraid of the sensation creeping up my spine.
He slowed for a brief second and reached for something. A second later his belt looped around my neck. Icy fear gripped my insides when he began to move again.
His thrusts became vicious, rendering a friction between us that made my entire body tremble. My eyes watered as the belt started to tighten, restricting my ability to breathe.
"Let go and I'll give you everything you beg for," he breathed, increasing the pressure of the belt, fucking me so hard my body jarred, the carpet rubbing the skin off my face.
My body was thrown into unknown territory; I didn't know what was happening to me. Holding the belt with one hand, he let go of my head to grab my hip, rendering me completely immobile. I was unable to do anything but take everything he gave me. He let go of my hip and brought a hand down to my right ass cheek, tightening the belt in the process.
My vision began to blur. I gasped for air that wouldn’t come, lungs on fire and aching to be filled. Julian rode me fast and hard, hitting a point inside me I didn't even know existed.
When fuzzy whiteness swarmed my vision, he slammed into me and bit down on my shoulder, breaking the skin.
I choked and gagged on a scream.
The pleasure was excruciating. My pussy throbbed and contracted around him. I shut my eyes and succumbed to the powerful euphoria that crashed into me, making my entire body go taut as darkness took away my vision.
When I came to, the dress was gone. I was on my back, and Julian's tongue was inside me while his fingers massaged my clit. He kept one hand flat against my stomach, grinned at me, and alternated between flicking my nub back and forth with the tip of his tongue, and shoving his fingers deeply into my pussy.
I didn't think I could take any more. Plucking the thought from my mind, he curved his digits inside my tightness and proved that didn't matter. He closed his mouth around my clit with a wicked gleam in his eye, and bit down. My entire body quaked; I sub-consciously grabbed hold of his hair and tugged, sobbing something incoherent.
As the orgasm slowly subsided, his teeth sunk into my inner thigh. I shuddered but couldn't bring myself to move.
He tortured me with a heady mixture of pain and please, stopping only when his phone began to ring.
Feeling vulnerable and exposed, I sat up. Wincing, I crossed my arms and searched for my clothes. Julian watched me and spoke in some form of code to whomever was on the other line.
I spotted my dress, torn and in a heap a little way across the room. Fresh tears welled in my eyes and I swiped angrily at my cheeks. Just as I stood up, Julian ended his phone conversation.
“Oh, did you think I was finished?”
I shook my head, unable to speak, silently asking for a reprieve that was ultimately ignored He stalked back to me, and easily forced my wobbly legs to bend so that I was on my knees.
Chapter Ten
Everything hurt.
My lips were swollen, my throat sore. Ugly purple and yellow bruises covered my skin. Julian's fingers were imprinted on my thighs and hips, and a few bite marks were on my ass.
I lay in bed, staring at my television but not seeing it. There had been no sleeping the previous night. Julian took me again and again. When we had to stop for him, he played with me, pushing me to a level of hysteria.
The moment I got home, I took a scolding shower, and then burrowed myself beneath layers of blankets. I dozed off and on, wishing I never had to come out. My parents would be back soon; that was the only thing that compelled me to get up.
They were the last people I wanted to see. I had no story or excuse that could cover up what had been done to me. I’m sure they’d tried to call a dozen times, but thanks to Julian I had no phone.
Rushing through another shower, I tossed my hair into a bun before pulling on black terry cotton sweatpants and a tank top. I didn't have much regarding makeup, but I did my best to cover the marks on my body.
My fingers curled around the sink more than once, and I had to talk myself out of getting my knife. I needed to be gone before my parents got back. After grabbing a cardigan and my purse, I headed for the door. I didn’t drive much, but my tiny Beetle ran just fine and got me anywhere I needed to go.
My mind took the radio’s place. The noise inside louder than the speakers in my car. What happened the previous night seemed surreal. Not something that could ever happen to me, not by Julian. His words from when he dropped me off replayed in my mind.
"I can make things exquisite for you, or terrible. Don't toy with me again over what's mine. You won't like the kind of man I can become when I'm provoked. That's a promise and a threat. Do you understand me?"
I couldn't figure out what to do with the emotions raging in my chest. He hurt me more mentally than he did physically. The situation had my mind a muddled mess. I wished I could just forget any of it ever happened and go back to how things were.
It took me a good twenty minutes to reach my destination, and that was with barely any traffic. I was relieved to see that there were only three other cars in the lot. After parking, I put my sunglasses and cardigan on and headed inside. It was dark and humid out, so I'm sure I looked every bit as foolish as I felt.
The cashier greeted me with a friendly smile. I gave her a strained one in return, darting towards the back of the store. I paid fifty-two dollars for the morning after pill, and I took it in the drugstore's dirty bathroom, breathing through the anxiety that was threatening to overwhelm me.
Julian had a stash of condoms in his car and hadn't bothered using one. He'd finished inside me every single time. It was almost as if he didn't care if I got pregnant. That was terrifying for a plethora of reasons.
The same cashier gave me a less than friendly smile on my way back out the door, more than likely judging me for what I just did. Fuck her. For once I didn’t care.
I paused just outside the automated doors, peering around the dark parking lot. All the cars were gone except mine and an SUV parked within the shadows. It hadn't been there before. I wouldn’t have missed something like that.
"Hello?" I took a few steps, and then cast a wary glance at the dark truck.
I wanted to just shrug it off, but my paranoia was at an all-time high. Reaching my car in record breaking timing, I slid into the driver's seat and tossed my purse to the passenger, hitting the lock button before I bothered putting the key in the ignition.
I slightly relaxed when the engine turned over, expelling a noisy stream of air. I buckled my seat belt, freezing when a shape rose up in the backseat. My brain started firing orders at that my body lagged to obey.
I dove for the door handle. A shrill scream bursting from my lungs as the person in the back grabbed hold of my hair. A gloved hand came over my mouth, muffling my protest.
The last thing I remembered was a sharp sting in the side of my neck.
Chapter Eleven
One might ask how a place like Riverview had an establishment like Chateau Dahlia.
How did it exist? Easy. This was my town, and my family’s word was law. No one ever spoke about the Chateau, and it wasn't somewhere you could just walk into.
There was a fee, a tedious application process, and an even harsher interview. That was only the start of how one went about stepping foot inside my empire.
And it was indeed my empire. The torch was being passed down. It was up to me to take care of what generations before me had worked so hard to build.
I had so many ideas, new ways to bring in a bigger profit. Morgana was part of this equation. She just didn't know it yet. I had her gagged and tied, and fuck, she had never looked more beautiful. I’d developed a bit of an infatuation with her, one that was growing worse by the day.
She had no idea how dangerous it was to be fully and wholly desired by so
meone like me.
All I ever wanted from women once I was done with them was silence and decay. One look in her eyes changed everything. Oh, I still wanted the decay, but I craved something different now. Being inside her, the way she craved the pain I longed to give, it made us a lethal combination of ecstasy.
It was a snowball effect I had no intention of stopping. I wanted to hear her screams of pleasure, and of suffering. I would brand her as mine, so everyone knew who she belonged to.
The mere thought made my heart race in anticipation. I'd make sure I was everything she ever wanted and needed. The excitement from my family when I broke the news was contagious.
I would never stop hurting, killing, or violating. There was a compulsion in my brain that wouldn't allow it. The bigger picture of what I wanted was still clear in my mind's eye, but to bring a woman into my world and awaken the unfeeling monster I knew she had inside her? The possibilities were endless for what that would mean. For what we could be together.
I was going to break her apart. I was going to tear her to pieces, and then rip them all up. It would be a new era at the Dahlia, and I was very much looking forward to it. I had been patient, charming, and every bit of a gentleman for so long. I couldn't take pretending to be someone else any longer. The good guy bullshit made me want to put a bullet in my brain.
It was time to give Morgana her first taste of the world she was about to be a part of.
Then, I would introduce her to the man she would forever be tied to.
Chapter Twelve
My wrists were tied behind my back, and there was a gag shoved in my mouth.
I was in a dining room; the long glass table gave that away a few seconds after I opened my eyes. Drapes of dark golden silk hung from the ridiculously tall windows to the shiny marble floor, prohibiting any from seeing out or in.
It wasn't rocket science to put two and two together. Julian was responsible for this. No one got randomly kidnapped in Riverview.
I groaned around my gag as all the pain in my body came rushing back, lids slamming shut when the light in the room suddenly went from dim to bright.
Malice (Dahlia Saga Book 1) Page 5
