by T. L Smith
He tenses. Stops his thrusts, and then continues smiling at me. His hands go back to my throat and he applies pressure. This time he doesn’t stop, though. Gunner grips me while he fucks me. Spots blur my vision as I come, and when I do, I pass out.
The last thing I see is the most beautiful man looking down at me.
The smell of smoke is what I wake up to. I’m naked lying in the same bed he’s choked me in until I passed out. I sit up, covering my breasts. He’s sitting on a chair, the back of it to his front, with his legs on each side. A cigarette is dangling from his lips. His hair is down and his curls are all around his face in the darkly lit room.
“I want to shower.”
A cloud of smoke blows around his face as he watches me. I go to move, and he shakes his head. “I need to shower, Gunner. I need you out of me.” I stand, and within a second, he’s up and has me pinned against the wall with his hands back at my throat.
“You do everything with my permission. Do you understand me?”
“Everything?” I ask.
He leans down and kisses the side of my neck. “Everything, my wife. Every. Damn. Thing.”
“Gunner, I need to shower.”
His hand removes from my throat. “You can shower, Everly, while I watch.” He steps back and nods his head to a door. I still don’t know where we are or how we got here. The last thing I remember is taking a sleeping pill on the jet and that’s it.
Walking around him, I take the door I presume leads to the shower and step in. Going to close the door makes Gunner place his foot in it and he effectively stops me.
“You can shower with the door open, Everly.”
“Really?” I argue with him.
He leans against the sink and lights up another cigarette.
“Since when did you smoke this much?” I ask him, reaching for the body wash.
“I always have.”
“You didn’t around me.”
“You saw only the version of me you wanted to see. So that’s what I gave you.”
“So, you sold me a lie?” I ask while rinsing off and putting my head under the water. When I open my eyes, I see him watching me.
“No. I warned you, Everly. Many, many times. You chose not to listen. That isn’t on me, it’s totally on you.” His fists are clenched, and his jaw is locked tight.
“You didn’t tell me you were a fucking psychopath.”
His head drops back and maniacal laughter leaves him. “No baby, I am the fucking devil.”
And I believe him, I really do.
23
He watches me, when I lie back down and when I eat. He just watches me. Constantly. I don’t know what else to ask him, because to be honest, I’m afraid of what he might say. I have to think carefully, so I don’t give him any reason to get angry with me.
Pancakes and bacon sit in front of me. He doesn’t eat anything but I’m starving. I wonder what’s going through his head right now. How can he treat his wife this way? What kind of human does that? And why did I like it? That’s a question I don’t think I will ever find an answer to.
“You are trying to piece it together, right?”
I’ve given up trying to work out how his mind works. “Nope.”
He smirks. “Let’s agree not to lie to one another. We are husband and wife, after all.”
I cough, the bacon getting caught in my throat.
“You won’t lie to any question I ask?”
“I haven’t lied to you, ever. I just never told you the full truth.”
“Were you happy that it was me? Or am I just a notch you want to tick off on your bedpost?”
His lips turn up at that comment. “You want to know if I would have picked you to be my wife?” I nod. “Yes, I would have. You’re perfect to me, and your body craves what I can give. Even if your mind hasn’t caught up to that fact yet. You like it rough, and I am rough.”
“Where are we?” I question looking around.
“You’re in a secluded house I own in the woods.”
“How many women have you brought here?”
“None,” he answers.
Do I believe him? Fuck knows.
“Did you fuck all your women before me as rough as you fuck me?”
His smile is smug. “Yes. Rough is my kink. It’s not for everyone, but it is for me and it is for you.”
“No. It is not,” I say disagreeing.
“But it is. You were made for me. I’m a controlling man by nature. I crave to control. You will be my ultimate conquest. And I can’t wait to play with you for as long as I can.”
“What if I don’t want to play?”
“Too late, Everly. I own you now. Not even your family can save you.”
“I can save myself,” I tell him sitting taller.
Gunner gets up from his seat and walks over to me, leaning down so we are face to face, his hands on either side of my body. “You may think you can, but your body wants me. It wants what I can give. Don’t fuck me over, Everly. We have days to play. Then we go back to the real world, and you will be the perfect little wife. Do you understand me?”
“I didn’t like taking orders from my father. What makes you think I will from you?”
He looks down at my bare breasts then back to me. “Oh, you will. Practice makes perfect.” He removes the food and pulls me to a stand.
“I’m not your damn plaything.”
He looks back at me as we walk through a kitchen and through another door. The cabin is small, the living area to my right only has a two-seater sofa and a fireplace, with no television. The kitchen has one counter with a fridge and stove. He keeps on pulling me until he opens a door which leads to the garage. I pull back when I see what’s in there.
“Now is not a time to play shy, Everly.” He tugs me again, pulling me through.
The place is empty, not a single thing in here apart from a stool and an anchor bolt attached to the ceiling. He reaches for something, and when he turns back to me, I notice it’s a length of rope. He ties both of my hands together then lifts them and attaches the rope to the anchor in the ceiling. I try to pull away, to not let him do it, but it’s useless. He’s way stronger than me.
“Gunner. Please. No,” I say shaking my head as he pulls the rope through, making my arms raise above my head.
“No, Everly. You will learn. And this is the way I will teach you.” He steps away and flicks the lights off, and everything goes black. I’m naked tied to the ceiling, standing on my feet with nothing around to help me. I want to cry. I hear his footsteps as he walks away. The door opens and I see his figure outlined in the light from the hallway before the door shuts with a resounding click, leaving me alone to cry.
What’s going on? No one knows where I am. No one knows how long I will be gone for.
I need to leave him. Even if it goes against everything I was raised to believe in. Even if my family will disown me. I need to leave him. No. I have to leave him.
I start to drift off when a small light shines through the door then it’s gone. The tears have dried on my face and my whole body is simply aching.
Why is he doing this?
I can hear him breathing somewhere close to me and it puts me on edge. I can’t see him. At all.
His hand touches my ass and it makes me jump. I can’t go far, though, as I’m still tied. He slaps my ass. Hard. Then runs his fingers over the sore part, before I feel him in front of me. His hands touch my naked body, running over it as he comes to my nipples. He squeezes them with two fingers. Hard. The scream that leaves my mouth, I can’t help. Then the pain is gone followed by the warmth of his tongue. He sucks, plays his tongue around the nipple softly, before his mouth is gone and his hands are back. He pinches them again making me scream out in pain, then he does the same thing, replaces them with the softness of his tongue.
It’s torture, but pleasure too.
Which emotion is winning, I’m not sure.
“I can smell you from here,” he say
s.
One nipple he puts in his mouth, while his hand roams to my pussy. He inserts a finger roughly. “Soaking wet,” he says more for his own benefit, I think. Then pulls it back out and puts it at my lips. I can taste myself when he forces his finger into my mouth.
“Suck!”
I don’t, instead I bite down on his finger as hard as I can. He pulls back and when he does, he walks around me and slaps my ass again, only it’s much harder this time. I know if I had to sit down right now it would hurt. It’s stinging and I know it will be bruised.
“Gunner, please. It hurts.”
“Oh, bunny, if you think that hurts, just wait,” he says. He kicks my legs apart then walks back to my front. His hand trails on my stomach, and I stay tense, waiting for what he will do. I can’t see him, only hear his breathing, and just when I think he’s going to stop because everything goes silent, I feel him at my entrance. He licks, his tongue laves from my opening up to my clit then rubs circles around it.
If there was any time to show him that I don’t like what he’s doing to me, right now would be the ideal opportunity, but I can’t because I like it. Some part of me likes the way he treats me, while the more dominant side of me hates him for this.
Hate.
He’s sobering me up, and I don’t know if he will like the outcome.
“See, Everly, your body responds to what I can give. Tell me. Has any other man made you this wet before?” He licks again.
If I could wrap my legs around his throat and strangle him, I most probably would. But where would that leave me? Hanging from a ceiling with no one knowing where I am.
His mouth leaves my clit when I moan. His footsteps are silent, but I know he’s behind me now, his breathing is hard and fast, and his cock touches my ass. I tense, not knowing what he’s going to do. His hand slides down my back and with two hands he grips my ass cheeks. Pulls me back like a doll and slides into me. I’m wet—not just wet from his tongue, no, I’m soaking wet as my body betrays me. He knows it as well and is taking great pride in the fact that I want him to do everything he’s doing, even as he slides into me roughly while his fingers hurt my hips as he does.
My hands grip onto the rope above my head to try to keep me still, and to distract me from his cock fucking me as if he owns me.
I guess to him, he does own me.
My body aches for release. I shake my head telling it no. Keep my lips pinned shut to stop the moans and groans that want to leave while he continues to fuck me.
He’s a Dominant, and I’m his plaything.
I never signed up for this, but my body is betraying me, and before I can stop myself, I’m coming. His hands grip me harder as he fucks me from behind, and I feel his release inside of me.
When he pulls out, he doesn’t say a word, just walks past me and straight out the door, shutting it with a bang.
The tears come again, not because of what he did, but because I liked it. I came. Hard. Even though I told myself I didn’t want to. My body betrays me and right now I detest it.
I hate my body.
Hate.
I can feel him dripping out of me as it leaks down my legs and leaves a sticky residue in its wake. I’m tired and hungry. I didn’t get to eat all my food before he took it away from me.
It feels like forever that I hang here, and in that time I tell myself, the first chance I get I’m gone.
I’m leaving him.
He can’t stop me.
But he can.
And that scares me.
Was it love I felt for him or just pure and simple lust?
I shake my head knowing full well that I love him, that I’m completely in love with him. And even if I try to convince myself it’s lust, it will always be a lie. Even if I didn’t know all of him, I knew most of him.
“Not a sound,” he says finally emerging again.
He’s left me hanging while he went and ate. I can smell the bacon when he opens the door. He’s cleaned himself up, and he now has on his black pants. He shuts the door, so I can’t see him again as the room falls to darkness, but I hear his footsteps as he gets closer.
His hand touches between my thighs and he presses hard at my sex, wiping something, then I feel it at my lips.
“Open, Everly.”
I shake my head, so he pinches my nipple until I can’t stand the pain and I open my mouth.
His finger goes in. “If you bite, you will be punished.”
I don’t bite. I want to get down, my arms are aching, and I really need to go to the bathroom. I taste him on my tongue. He’s got his cum on his fingers from between my legs and is pushing it into my mouth.
When he pulls away, he claps his hands loudly. A light illuminates the room, and he’s standing in front of me watching me.
“Good girl, now you can be rewarded.”
It takes a second for my eyes to become acclimatized to the light in the room, and I watch as he begins to untie me. When I’m free, he catches me before I fall. Then he lifts me bride-style and walks me to the bathroom before placing me down.
“Shower before I come back. Don’t try anything stupid, Everly.”
I want to flip him off and tell him to get fucked. Instead, I turn the shower on, and let the water wash over me. Instantly, I relieve myself and it feels great. Then I scrub all evidence of him from my body.
Getting out, I look in the small mirror. My breasts are bruised with black and blue welts, my ass is as well. He’s marked me, even my neck.
I cry into the towel, and when I hear his footsteps I quickly sit up and shake it off, wiping my face so when he opens the door, he can’t tell that he’s breaking me.
I’m stronger than he gives me credit for.
I will survive this.
And when I do… I might just kill him.
24
There’s food on the two-seater table where he directs me. I haven’t been allowed in here, only when I walked past to go to the garage where he strung me up. The bastard pulls out my seat, and I sit opposite him as he pushes a plate toward me.
“Eat. I cooked it for you.”
“So I have the energy for you to fuck me again?” I ask in a harsh tone.
His fists slam on the table. “Yes, so I can fuck you again. And so you can enjoy it. Because you do, Everly, despite your reservations of me owning you. You absolutely enjoy it.”
“No one can own someone.”
He sits back, his fingers touching his chin. “I suppose you think you can leave me when we get back?”
I don’t answer.
He takes my not speaking as his answer. “Let me tell you something you probably don’t know, but I want to inform you so you get it straight...” He pauses, takes a sip of his coffee, while my stomach grumbles loudly. He nods to the food then says, “I wouldn’t go breaking your contract. Not this one, my love.”
“Why?”
“Because your family’s lives will be in danger. Now, you wouldn’t want that, would you?”
My heart sinks.
“What do you mean?”
“It means, as long as you stay my wife, your father gets to keep his life. It’s the reason he pushed the marriage on you so hard. He likes his life and everything he has in it.”
“He wouldn’t.”
He leans in close. “Think, Everly, think hard. Back to when this contract was made. A Thorne killed a Reid, and in return for not destroying your bloodline, a contract was made. The firstborn girl will marry a Reid, and if she doesn’t, bloodshed will reign supreme.”
“That can’t be right.”
“It is. You should have worked that part out by now. Did you never question, or wonder what it was your father did?”
“My father’s in real estate,” I say.
“Correct, he is. But he’s also in a lot more than that. You know he isn’t innocent. He runs the town, and he does it with authority. He isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, and neither am I.”
“Obviously,” I spit at him
. Picking up a piece of toast, I bite into it.
“I like it when you’re feisty. But that shit will only go a certain distance for me, Everly. You will learn to listen and obey.”
“Doubt that anything in that contract says how I should act.”
“Correct. But no wife of mine will act out in any manner. She will not work, and she will not disobey me.”
I lean forward, pinning my eyes to him. “You can’t change the way I think or act, Gunner. No matter what you do.”
“Do you still love me, Everly?”
Sitting back, I don’t answer.
The truth is worse than the lie.
I do.
And I hate myself for it.
More than I care to admit.
“I’ll just have to train you harder.”
“Fuck you.”
“Let’s rest first, then maybe later if I’m feeling up to it, I might let you suck my cock.” He stands, walks to the fridge, and I contemplate not eating.
That’s stupid, though, because it doesn’t affect him, it only affects me, and I’m starving.
We climbed into bed after dinner and soon after, fell asleep. I didn’t ask him any more questions and he never pressed to hear what I was thinking.
I feel him stir next to me. His arm grabs me in his sleep, and I stay still, waiting to hear his soft snore.
My breathing stops as I listen, then slowly, ever so slowly, I slide out from the circle of his arm. Removing myself from him, I stand looking down at him. He’s naked. And beautiful. It makes me mad, so fucking mad. How can he, this man who has everything, act this way. Treat someone he claims to love like this.
The kicker of this whole situation is, I hate myself for liking it.
I hate that when he touches me, even in anger, I like it.
Tears leave my face and I angrily swipe them away, reaching for the closest shirt I can find, and tiptoe out of the room. When I see the front door, my feet can’t move fast enough as I pull the door open, not even caring that I don’t have any underwear or even shoes on and just run. My feet smack the dirt in front of the house, and all I can see is bushes. I run through, hearing my breathing become heavier and heavier with each step I take. When I finally stop, that’s when I hear him. Turning around fast, he’s standing directly behind me and he tackles me to the ground, covering me in dirt, and then he lies on top of me.
