by Bella J.
“That’s my greedy little doll.” He cooed in my ear while pounding into me from behind. It was nothing but raw, primal lust, the way his cock took possession of my body. With every thrust, he forced the pleasure into me, my legs trembling, my arms shaking, my mind fucking spinning. Still holding the gun in my hand, I felt bold. Strong. I glanced over my shoulder. “Fuck me,” I murmured, out of breath. “Fuck me raw. Fuck every trace of him out of me, Antonio.”
“Motherfucker.” He let go of my wrist, only to grab a fist full of my hair, pulling my head back. My lips parted, and I moaned out loud when he started to piston in and out of me. It was hard, brutal, his ruthless thrusts almost painful as it stretched my pussy. But I loved it. I wanted him to rip every remnant Vadik left behind.
I wanted him fucked out of me.
Antonio grabbed the gun from my hand, and without pulling out of me, he pulled me away from the wall then bent me forward as he slammed my body flat on a white table to our left. His fingers clawed at my hips as he pulled me back just as he banged his cock deeper into me. Our skin slapped together, and the sound mixed with the wetness between my legs was the most erotic sound I had ever heard. It fueled my lust. It poured fucking gasoline on the fire burning inside my core.
“Is this what you want, Doe? Is this how you want to be fucked?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation. “Hurt me. Hurt me, Antonio, so I can forget the pain he left behind. I only want yours. I only want the pain you give me.”
There was a loud smack, and the burn spread down my thigh. His palm brushed against my scorched flesh then smacked me again.
The relentless thrusts of his hips pushed my thighs hard against the edges of the table, and I was sure it left grooves in my flesh. But I liked it. I fucking loved it.
I heard the sharp tear of fabric, Antonio ripping my shirt all the way down my back. I was lost. My body was lost. There was no turning back, the start of my climax already moving down my spine.
He fucked me hard, like a savage—wild and raw. His balls slapped against my ass, his hands wrapping around my shoulders pulling me back, letting my body meet his onslaught, thrust for thrust.
“Come, Doe.”
I reached out and grabbed the edge of the table.
“I need you to come because I’m on the verge of creaming your pussy right fucking now.”
He leaned down, and I cried out when he sank his teeth into the soft flesh of my shoulder. I came. I came hard. Violently. Cum gushing down, spreading between my thighs.
“Jesus, it feels so fucking good when you come, the way your pussy squeezes my cock.”
Harder. Faster. With fierce and aggressive thrusts, I felt the way his cock jerked inside me, filling me. Within seconds, we were both out of breath, spent, and lying limp on the table.
“You see?” he murmured, his warm breath coating the skin of my back. “I know what you need, Doe. Never, ever fucking doubt that.”
Chapter 9
Antonio
Doe and I didn’t leave the barn house for a week. We spent the days training, and the nights fucking. Away from the rest of the family, alone, we had the freedom to embrace the darkness we both harbored inside. No inhibitions. No reserves. Just us and the one thing that bound us together, our depravity. It was funny, really. I was born with this amount of twisted in me. Doe, on the other hand, had it beaten and raped into her. But that didn’t change the fact that we were two imperfect parts put together as one perfect force.
The more I pushed her, the more she started to embrace her own strength. The mere fact that she was learning so fast was proof enough that I had made the right decision. It was like she found the fire in her, the need to become empowered. To no longer be the innocent, vulnerable doe I found in the dark. And I was falling more and more in love with her the stronger she became. To see her go from slave to queen right before my eyes was the most amazing fucking thing I’d ever witnessed in my entire goddamn life. The tame, placid, docile look she always had in her eyes was changing. Those dark chocolate swirls were starting to beam with light, power shining through her irises.
Every time she fired a gun, her aim got better. It wasn’t part of my plan, but seeing her learn so quickly how to handle a firearm, I took it up a notch and had her training with knives and every other goddamn weapon I could think of. After every training session, we fucked like savages. The adrenaline. The sheer power that pulsed like a fucking heartbeat between us was intoxicating. It turned us into animals—into beasts who wanted to devour each other. This thing between us was hard. It was raw. It was fierce. And it was everything I ever fucking wanted with a woman.
“Can’t we stay here forever?” Her voice sounded lazy, both of us spent from indulging in each other.
My fingers slowly trailed down the curve of her back. “Reality is a cruel awakening, isn’t it?”
Silence fell around us, and I felt the tension rise—her tension.
“He’s going to come for me.” It wasn’t a question.
“When he does, we’ll be ready for him.” No use in denying it. She knew it as well as I did. Vadik was coming. Only she didn’t know the truth about Vadik’s desperation to get her back. She thought it was a mere obsession he had with her, and the fact that someone had the balls to steal her from him. But it was so much more than that.
I sat up, steadying myself on my elbow, then brushed her hair away from her face, staring at her marred ear. “I made an appointment with a doctor to get this fixed.”
She turned to face me, the soft pink of her nipples forcing my gaze away from her face. “You want to fix my scars?”
I looked at her. “I can’t promise it’ll work. But I think it’s worth a try.”
“Vadik already tried. Not even one of the best plastic surgeons on his payroll could fix it.” There was a slight hint of animosity in her voice. I didn’t like it.
“Doe, it’s worth a try.”
“Why? Do my scars bother you?”
I sat up straight. “The fuck it does. No. It’s not about the goddamn scars, it’s about righting what that fucker did to you.”
“You can’t fix this, Antonio.” She turned away from me, and I balled my fist. The need to grab her face and force her to look at me was overwhelming. Just because I wanted her to shed the skin of the slave she wore didn’t mean I was less of a motherfucker with control issues. I still had the need to demand respect. But I knew better. If I wanted her to get this surgery done, I needed to keep my shit together. It was the most important part of the plan.
“Doe, look at me.” The fact that she took a few breaths before she obeyed was proof that the obedient, fragile girl in her was disappearing. Good.
Once she turned, her eyes focused on mine, I made an effort to drop the stone look on my face. “I do have an ulterior motive for you having this surgery, but it’s not because I think of your scars as ugly, or anything but a flawed perfection.”
Her eyes softened, and she sat up in the bed with me. “Then what is it?”
“There’s no use bullshitting around the truth. He will come for you.”
She visibly shuddered.
“I want to make sure we have every security measure in place the day he does.”
Her eyebrows slanted inward. “I don’t understand. What does the surgery have to do with my security against Vadik?”
With a soft touch, I brushed her hair behind her shoulder before letting my gaze settle on hers once again. “There’s a chip.” My heart was pounding.
“A chip?”
“Yes. It’s a microchip.” I took a breath. “It’s the only way to make sure I always know where you are.”
“A tracking device?”
“Something like that, yes.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You want to implant a tracking device under my skin?”
“Yes.”
And cue awkward silence.
Doe sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, eyes narrowed, seemingly in thought. She had to do t
his. She had to agree. There was no way for her not to do this. The question was, would she do it on her own accord, willingly? Or was I going to have to force her to do it? I was praying like fuck it wouldn’t be the latter.
Dark curls fell around her shoulder as she pulled her fingers through her hair. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay. But only if you do the same.”
I cocked a brow. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“You don’t know Vadik like I do. He’s coming for me, but chances are he’s coming for you too.”
That was my pretty, clever girl. Another sign she would rule with an iron fist by my side.
I pulled her closer and kissed her. Our lips locked, and I wished there was a way for me to taste her on my tongue forever.
“Okay,” I conceded. It was working out well. Everything was going according to plan. Whether Vadik would act as predictably as we thought he would remained to be seen.
“Oh.” I leaned over and opened the bedside drawer, grabbing the black box. “This is for you.”
A smile warm enough to melt entire Antarctic spread across her beautiful face. “What is it?’
“Open it.”
Gently, she tugged on the silver bow. Her excitement was tangible.
She opened the box and stared at what was inside before looking at me with utter amazement. “A necklace. Antonio, it’s beautiful.” Her gaze dropped to the box, and she brushed her fingertips gently over the yellow gold collar, slowly moving across the silver plates, pausing when she reached the gem. She sucked in a breath. “The stone, it’s exquisite.”
“It’s a bloodstone.
Her gaze cut to mine. “A bloodstone?”
“The bloodstone is known to be one of the most powerful gems.” I removed the necklace from the box and held it in my hand. “It’s said to bestow the wearer with good health and long life.” I brushed across the dark green gem, with the presence of red, blood-like inclusions. “It’s also supposed to give strength by providing positive energy.” I met her gaze. “It’s also for protection,” I added.
Doe frowned, scrunching her nose. “Is the gem supposed to protect me?”
“No.” I touched the silver plates below the prong-set gem, releasing the hidden blade. “But this is.”
One of her dark brows rose, and without blinking, I grabbed her arm, pushed her back down on the bed, and held the blade against her throat. She swallowed, and I watched the movement, my cock hard and ready. “Another security precaution.” I pressed the tip of the blade into her neck causing her to gasp. A tiny drop of blood seeped from her skin. “Never get caught off guard. All it takes is one second, one moment of hesitation, and your blood is spilled.” I twisted the tip deeper into her skin. “With this hidden blade, all it takes is one second, one action, and you can slice a man’s last breath from his body.”
Her chest rose and fell, her breathing shallow. But her eyes, they spoke volumes. Dark circles of desire stared up at me, and I could practically see the flame of twisted lust, feel its heat…smell her arousal. She liked the pain. Craved it. But I’d kept it from her, not because I thought she couldn’t handle it. Because I knew I couldn’t.
I watched as the drop of crimson trickled down her throat, the contrast of color absolutely breathtaking against her ivory skin. The animal in me scratched against its cage. I leaned down—my heart racing, my cock aching—and I gently eased my tongue across her skin, lapping up the tiny smear of blood.
The taste of her soul on my tongue was exquisite, and I growled, wanting more as I flexed, pushing my cock against her hip. “You bring out the devil in me, Doe. And I don’t think I’m strong enough to fight him anymore.” I dragged my tongue up her throat, my core heavy with a lust strong enough to own me—and to break her.
Her hand moved up my arm, my shoulder, wanting to wrap around my neck. But I grabbed it, forcing it down above her head. Judging by the adrenaline pulsing through my veins, I knew my grip on her wrist was too tight, but while the taste of her blood lingered in my mouth, I didn’t give a fuck.
I gazed down at her and watched as she lifted her other arm above her head, wrapping her fingers around the bars of the headboard…surrendering.
“I don’t want you to fight him anymore,” she whispered. “It’s the devil in you who lured me in. But it’s the angel in you who made me want to stay.”
Her words struck a chord inside my heart, beating a staccato rhythm against my ribs. Somehow, this woman had the power to set me aflame, yet disarm me at the same damn time.
Doe writhed beneath me, her legs opening, urging me to settle between them. Her body was searching for ecstasy. Something only I had ever given her.
With the blade still against her throat, she lifted her chin, pressing her skin harder against the blade. “I don’t want you to hold back anymore.”
“Doe—”
“If I’m the reason you’re holding back, don’t.” I shook my head, but she continued, “I’ve lived in the darkness for too long, Antonio. I can’t escape it anymore. It’s a part of me now. A part of who I am.”
My fucking heart was about to explode. Did she not realize that it wasn’t because of her? Okay, maybe part of it was because of her. Because I believed with all my heart that she deserved better. She deserved to finally be able to live in the light, without fear, without pain, without uncertainty. But I was too damn selfish to let her go, so I chose to contain my darkness. To contain the twisted urges my fucking body and psyche demanded.
I let go of her wrist. “It’s not you, Doe.” I tried to push myself up, but she wrapped her damn perfect legs around my waist, keeping me locked between her thighs.
All she did was curve her lips at the corners, her hands still clutching the headboard. A part of me loved how daring she had become, how her self-confidence had started to flourish. She was playing a dangerous game, and she knew it. Yet she still wanted to play.
I frowned. “Don’t tempt the devil, Doe.”
“Then don’t deny your angel.”
I shot up on my knees, one hand reaching for her neck while I had the blade still pressed against her throat. “Do you want me to lose my shit again? Tie you up and beat you? Do you really want me to be the villain here? To be the man who gets off by watching you bleed?”
Her silence was my only answer, so I traced the tip of the blade from her throat all the way to her mutilated ear. “Do you want to feel the slice of my whip across your skin right before I fuck you so hard it feels like I’m turning you inside out? Is that what you want?”
“Is that what you want?” Her eyes searched my face as if the answer to her question could be found in the crevices of my skin. But my face was fucking stone since I had mastered concealing my emotions years ago.
“Is that what you want…Master?”
I bit my bottom lip, my spine and my core feeling as if something wanted to tear through my body. As if a beast was trying to claw its way out of me. It would take a mere second for me to let go, to break the chains and let the darkness consume me. One. Fucking. Second.
I took a deep breath, my lungs expanding, fighting to push back the dark.
I dragged the blade back down, pressing just hard enough for the tip to scratch the surface of her skin before clicking it back in place, the weapon hidden and concealed within the necklace I still held in my hand. “I’m trying to be the man you deserve, Doe. I’m trying to love you the way you deserve to be loved. And if burying a part of me, the part that wishes I could fucking use you until there was nothing left for any other man to use after me, then I’ll do it. I’ll do it gladly. Why? Because I fucking love you. I will do everything in my goddamn power to love you with all the good I have inside me, and I’ll remain on my fucking knees praying for the strength to fight the bad in me from consuming you.”
Whether my words made any fucking sense, I didn’t know. I didn’t care. I just said it the way it was. Spoke the truth. Told her in so many words that I didn’t
deserve to love her. But I was too much of a selfish ass to let her go. Besides, fate sent her my way. I’d be a fool if I didn’t keep her.
Her legs fell down beside me, and she let go of the headboard, her eyes soft and tame. “No one has ever said anything like that to me before.”
“Is that a good thing?”
She sat up, and I leaned back, placing my legs beside her. We were eye to eye, and she smiled. “It’s the best thing ever, Antonio. Right now, after you said all that, I feel like I might just be worth something…something to you.”
I brushed her dark curls over her shoulder. “You have no idea, Doe. You have no idea.”
While we sat there, the most intense and powerful moment passed between us. It was a moment strong enough to disarm a man like myself. A moment which could change everything. It was a moment of clarity. The moment I realized my life would be nothing without her.
After placing a single, gentle kiss on her lips, I put the necklace around her neck, clipping it in place. “Just another security precaution.” I moved closer. “Knowing you have at least this gives me the slightest peace of mind.”
While clutching the necklace on her chest, Doe stared at me as if I had just given her the moon and stars. “You have no idea what this means to me. No one has ever given me something so precious.”
There were no words. There was nothing I could say. For years, Doe spent her life getting scraps and worthless shit even though she deserved so much more. God, I prayed I’d have a lifetime of opportunities to give her all the things that would make her feel as special as she was to me.
I reached out, placing the blade below her right ear. “Always go for the ear.”
“What?” Her eyes showed her confusion.
“The ear. Always go for the ear. It’s the piece of the body that can easily be torn off with the least amount of strength.”
I eased the tip of the blade down across the beating vein in her neck then clicked the blade back in place on the chain. I glanced at the necklace then back up to her. “Pretty, yet deadly.” My gaze was etched on her. She heard it. She knew I wasn’t just talking about a deadly weapon disguised as a pretty piece of jewelry.
