by Riley Ashby
Chase was on top of me, all that blood dripping from him.
There was a thud, a moan, and he rolled off me. A hand grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, and this time I didn't fight. I looked up into the eyes of my savior.
Ellery pulled me into his arms, crushing my bruised lungs even further, but I didn’t care. He was here.
“I thought Tori was doing rescue,” I choked out, my words still breathy, my throat raw.
“There was no fucking way I was leaving your fate to anyone else,” he growled. I knew he was staring at Chase. I could still hear him writhing and moaning. “Did he touch you?” Ellery breathed against my lips, not daring to separate us.
“I got some shots in,” I murmured.
“That's not an answer,” he whispered, and I cringed. He'd want to know how far things went. I hoped I never had to tell him.
“What the fuck are you doing standing there? HELP M—”
Ellery released me enough to step forward and land a kick on Chase’s side, right in the spot where I still felt the pain of dislocated ribs if I lay on my side the wrong way.
“Let me hurt him,” I gasped, reaching for the gun. I needed to pay him back for so much. Ellery stowed it at his back and batted my hand away.
“Letting him get beaten in prison is much more what he deserves, I think.” He took my hand and pulled me toward a door at the back of the room. I used my free hand to hold the front of my dress together. “We need to get out of here.” As we ran down a dark stairwell, slower than I would have liked due to my shoes, I heard sirens in the distance.
“Is that—”
“Keep moving,” Ellery said grimly. “Castel called in the cavalry. We’re making sure all these deviants go away. This ends tonight.”
We blew out of a door into the street, car headlights lighting up the whole block and roaring toward us.
I stumbled, only to fall into his strong arms again. We were out. We were leaving. We were safe. Before I could breathe, my lover's lips pressed against mine with such ferocity, such possession, such emotion that I nearly let myself pass out from relief. I felt myself lift off the ground, and I finally collapsed. Every muscle in my body stopped working to hold myself up, save for my arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
A sob broke forth from my chest.
“I'm sorry, Ellery.”
We slid into the backseat of the car, and I heard a strange female voice cry out in relief. It was the first time I had heard Vail's voice.
“Don't ever fucking apologize to me. You did nothing wr—”
“I'm sorry I didn't say it back.”
His arms tightened. “Don't. Sophie. I'm not mad.”
The car was moving, but still he cradled me. I lifted my head, looking at him for the first time on the outside of that portal to hell that I had somehow escaped thanks to him.
“I love you too, okay? I love you.”
“It's alright,” he murmured, kissing my forehead and pulling me tight against his chest. “I know.”
An hour later, we were on a plane.
The gist of events was, as soon as Ellery and Vail walked out of the building, Castel notified the authorities about the auction. Ellery had thought if they showed up while Chase had me, he would have killed me. Tori was the one who was supposed to recover me, but Ellery ran back into the building before she could make her move. He got me out just before the authorities showed up.
Vail, Tori, and I all changed into less conspicuous clothing in the car—Tori getting rid of her black body armor, Vail and me slipping into sweatpants and sweaters. The only stop we made on the way to the airport was so Tori could get rid of the gun Ellery used.
Ellery left our three companions on one end of the plane and carried me to the far side. He placed me in a seat and secured me for takeoff. The moment we reached cruising altitude, he pulled me back onto his lap where I belonged. He held me so tightly I couldn't breathe. And there, in his arms and safe from all danger, knowing I would never see Chase again, I cried.
He didn't ask me for details of what when on with Chase. I had hoped only an hour beforehand to never speak of it, but now I was with him, I couldn't stop the words.
I told him everything.
His dimple was never more pronounced, and I could hear his teeth grinding as I detailed every touch and bite I had suffered under his enemy's hand.
“The moment we're alone, you will forget this,” he swore, twirling a blond lock between his fingers then tugging gently. “I will kiss you everywhere his hands touched, and you will never know another man's hands. His name will never cross your mind. You will forget his face.”
I cried softly, makeup smearing against his shirt. He didn't notice.
“I will never push you again. There will be no more rough—”
“Don't you dare,” I gasped, bolting upright to look him in the face. “You will do no such thing.”
Heedless of our companions only a few yards away, I straightened up and straddled him in the chair. My knees slid against leather as I pressed my core against his crotch. His hands flew to my back, holding me steady, and a low moan emitted from his throat.
“This does not change us.” I kissed his forehead, the sweet spot between his eyebrows that had been so pinched with worry since he helped me out of the car after telling me he loved me. “Your needs and mine remain the same. If I want you gently, I will tell you.” I kissed the base of his throat then flicked out my tongue to lick him as he had done to me so often. “I forbid you to let this change us. It hasn't changed me. I still have you.”
I kissed him on the lips, further grinding my hips into his, wanting to erase every memory of Chase's fingers but knowing I had hours to wait still until I could take Ellery to bed and hold his essence inside me. His fingers tightened, fingernails digging into my back through the T-shirt I had hurriedly donned in the car. I broke his kiss only when the pain of the last few hours returned, a sob forcing its way through my lips.
“You need gentle now,” he murmured, and I couldn't argue. He shifted so I reclined in his arms once more, and he held me.
When I finally moved after an hour or more, he brushed the tears from my cheeks and slowly helped me stand. Wordlessly, I walked away from him to the back of the plane then helped Vail extricate herself from Castel's side so she could stand and hobble toward her brother. She squeezed my fingers once before letting go.
Sitting in the chair next to Tori, I moved the armrest between us so she could pull my head down onto her lap. Her fingers danced through my hair mindlessly, working knots free and massaging my scalp, which was still so sore from Chase's fingers. Castel slid to his knees in front of me and placed his hand on my cheek.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice raspy. I nodded once and closed my eyes. Sleep took me.
It took everything in my power not to crush her against me the moment she was with me again. It had been so long since we’d seen each other. In the time since we’d last spoken, she had been kidnapped, I had broken my hand, I had tried to traffic off another woman in order to get her back, and I had nearly lost my best friend. But it was all worth it as she came to me once more.
There were no tears from her. She looked unsteady, eyes glassy, but she still knew me, and that was everything.
She put her ear against my chest and hand over my heart. Her eyes fluttered closed.
“I missed this,” she whispered, and I finally took her in my arms.
“I missed you,” I replied. “What do you want? Do you need anything?”
She was going slack, a little sleepy from what I could only imagine was a cocktail of drugs. But she still managed to force out a few more words.
“I wanna go swimming.”
I couldn’t say anything for a long moment. Then I couldn’t do anything but laugh.
Watching my sister walk toward me as Sophie shuffled away tore my heart in two. I would never get used to watching the love of my life walk away from me, even if it was just for a momen
t. I couldn't believe Vail was finally coming to me after weeks of not even knowing if she was alive. Vail took Sophie's place beside me, placing her head on my shoulder.
She didn't speak, hadn't made a sound apart from her sigh when I pulled Sophie into the car with us. I didn't ask her anything. I didn't think I could bear her responses. She wrapped her arms around my chest and fell asleep against me.
My heart started to heal.
A niggling thought in my brain woke me after a few hours. I raised myself from Tori's lap, blinking, panicking for one moment at memories of that lust-soaked room and relaxing when I saw Castel across from me, reclining with eyes closed, leaning against leather seats with Ellery's initials stitched into the headrests. Turning slowly, I looked back at Ellery to see Vail looking at me, her head on Ellery's shoulder. Wordlessly, we both rose and walked toward each other. When she reached out and touched my face, we hugged.
We sat across from each other. I was suddenly nervous, realizing this was my love’s sister. The first family I had met. She seemed to be appraising me, and I wondered if I could live up to what she hoped for her brother.
“You stole him from me,” she whispered so suddenly I thought at first I had imagined it.
Tears sprung to my eyes, but she hushed me before I could apologize.
“I didn’t think he’d find anyone. I didn’t think he’d open up enough.” A single tear fell from her eye. I reached across to brush it away. She smiled.
“We surprised each other,” I said. My voice was gruff from exhaustion and crying and dehydration. I needed water, real food, a soft bed. But right now, all I could do was reach across to Vail and clasp her hands in mine.
A minute later, we stood together and embraced once more. She passed me, tucking in once more against Castel, who shifted without waking to let her lie against him. When I looked back to Ellery, I closed the final distance between us and wiped the tears from his face.
“Not now,” I commanded, harsher than I expected. He wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me against him, crushing his mouth against mine. Moisture passed between our faces until I no longer knew which tears belonged to whom.
I wanted to go to the hospital as soon as we landed, but Sophie and Vail were both insistent on going to the house.
“I haven't been home in weeks, Ellery.” Vail's voice was scratchy from disuse, but she clung to Castel with a strength that belied her too-thin frame. “I want to see my room, and I want to sleep in a bed. I want to eat in our kitchen, and then I will see a doctor. But not a second before.”
Sophie only spoke softly into my ear. “I need you, not medical attention. If I can't have you soon, I will crack.”
That decided it for me.
Karen and the other staff were waiting when we got home, hustling Vail off to her room for the first time in weeks. I left Castel and Tori to their own devices. I had no time for them.
Standing in my bedroom, I found myself afraid to touch her. I didn't want to trigger any memories that could cause her pain. I didn't want to reignite her terror with an unwanted touch. My fears were baseless, however. She came to me with a hunger I couldn't resist.
Her fingers fumbled with the buttons on my shirt, and I placed my hands over hers to expedite the process. The moment she pushed the shirt from my shoulders, she put her lips against my chest with a moan. I was so hard it hurt, feeling her body against mine when so recently I had feared I'd never see her again. I tugged at her shirt, reluctantly relinquishing her touch to pull it over her head. My breath caught seeing the bruises and scabs that marred her gorgeous skin.
I wanted her bruised, but only by my hands. I craved the vision of angry red bite marks on her flesh, but only from my mouth. I moaned, no trace of desire in my voice. I wanted only to heal her.
I fell on her mouth, and her hands moved to my belt buckle.
“Wait,” I breathed, hooking my hands underneath her butt and hoisting her into my arms as she wrapped her legs around my waist. I pushed her against the wall, supporting her with one hand and using the other to hold her hands above her head. My fingers traced over the raw skin of her neck where she had been choked.
I kissed her with as much restraint as I could manage. I wanted to beat her, not to cause her any more pain but to cover up every mark that Chase had made with one of my own … until she forgot he had ever made one at all. I had to reassert my ownership of her; I had to make her mine again so irrevocably that she would never remember anything about the past two days.
When she dropped her legs, I released her body and fell to my knees. I had to worship her to bring her back to me. Show her she was the beginning and end of everything I held close to my heart. That I was nothing without her, and I would be as broken as she was until she was whole again.
Pulling her pants and underwear down to the floor in one swift motion, I pried her thighs apart with my hands and buried my face in her pussy. Fuck, she was so wet for me, and the taste of her drove me wild. I wanted to drink from her body until she had nothing left to give me.
Licking her clit, I fell in love with her for the hundredth time as she buried her fingers in my hair and cried out, not in pain but exquisite pleasure.
“More,” I demanded, forgetting the promise to be gentle, and plunging two fingers inside. She cried again, louder, but it wasn't enough. I worked my fingers in and out, stroking her walls and G-spot as she began to writhe and continued to make those beautiful noises. I sucked her clit until her pussy clenched around my fingers, then switched to licking as I pumped my hand. Her nails dug into my scalp as I bit her. My tongue moved in lazy circles despite my fervor, feeling her quake around and above me.
“Faster,” she cried as I began to flick my tongue across her clit and dared to insert a third finger. She screamed, surprised, and her knees shook around my head.
“Come for me,” I commanded, and she obeyed. She screamed at the top of her lungs, her pussy clamping down on my fingers as I felt her squirt hot cum into my mouth and across my lips.
It was a start. But it still wasn’t enough.
When she finally ceased to scream, I leaped to my feet. Grabbing her face, I kissed her hard as my fingers smeared her arousal across her face. She licked her own cum off my lips and bit my tongue, demanding more.
“Take me,” she begged, sounding desperate. “I need you. All the way inside me.” I stepped back, holding her at arm's length, torturing her and myself with the distance.
“Wait,” I said again, finally allowing myself to take stock of her body. I knew her so intimately, I could tell which marks I had left and which were new. Pulling her into the center of the room, I latched onto a hickey on her neck. It wasn't purple but an angry red, as if it objected to being made by the man who had tried to rape her. I hungrily sucked her skin into my mouth, and she fell against me.
Her hands found my belt buckle.
I moved to her collarbone, clamping down my teeth on top of preexisting bite marks.
She freed the leather strap and forced open my button.
I flipped her around, biting her shoulder again, holding her tight as she jumped at the pain.
Her hands flew behind her, pulling down my zipper.
Turning her to face me again, I lowered my face to her breasts and sucked one nipple then the other, covering the bruises with love bites.
She reached her hand into my boxers and closed her fist around my cock.
Lowering my hands, I pressed my fingers into the handprint left on her thigh. The pressure on the bruises made her jump again, but she maintained her hold.
With her free hand, she pushed down my pants and boxers.
I stepped out of the puddle of clothes on the floor, and we were finally naked together.
Still holding my throbbing cock in her hand, she walked me back until my knees hit the bed. Spinning us around, I laid her down on her back then stood straight. Grabbing her legs, I threw them over my shoulders, and leaned over her.
“Are you sure?”
She grabbed my hair and yanked my face to hers. She didn't kiss me, just bit my lower lip. “If you don't fuck me right now, I'll never forgive you.”
Our faces only inches away, I slid into her.
No, I slammed into her. My pelvis cracked against her bones, and she screamed again.
“Please!” Her voice was a high-pitched wail.
“Forget it,” I commanded, thrusting with energy that seemed to spring from nowhere. “Never think of it again.”
“Yes!” She was crying, but her pussy clenched around me in unmistakable pleasure. The muscles of her inner walls rippled, so close to coming again. This time, I would come with her. Imagining my essence coating her, I began to pump harder, barely holding on to my sanity. She finally kissed me, plunging her tongue into my mouth before I could take control, and I physically felt the pain and fear flow out of her body. I was replacing every hurt, every fear, every bruise with one that was inflicted willingly and in knowledge of a love that fed every touch.
“Come with me,” she begged and suddenly arched her back underneath me. I bit one nipple and rolled the other between two fingers as she screamed and came, tugging me deeper inside her until I couldn't hold back any longer, and I roared as I unloaded inside her. She held my cock deeper within her than I had ever felt, ever dared venture before, and my cum ricocheted off her womb and filled her entire pussy with hot seed. I wanted to let my animalistic nature seep into her bloodstream as deep as her DNA. I wanted to be written into her soul.
I collapsed on top and we breathed heavily until she cried. She put her cheek against mine and sobbed until the last drop of water in her body had been properly shed, first between her legs and then from her eyes. She sobbed until there was nothing left.
When I withdrew, she stood up with me and pulled me to the shower. She directed my hands to wash her hair, then her body, then to dry her. Now that I had properly claimed her again, I allowed her to show me what she needed to heal. She fell onto the bed from the safety of my arms, kissing me the whole way down. I parted only to fetch a tall glass of water, which I commanded her to drink then refilled it and made her drink that as well. Only when she was adequately hydrated once more did I finally slip beneath the covers with her, pulling her tight against my chest, and let her sleep.
