His Witness

by Vanessa Waltz

  My lips pull upward into a smile, silently thanking her for letting me stay with him. I’ll be here all night—it doesn’t matter.

  I’ll never leave him.

  My hand intertwines with his, and every so often I bring it to my lips and I pray to whatever god there is that Tommy will wake up. And then, like magic, I feel his hand twitch in mine.

  “Tommy?”

  Slowly his lids flutter and I collapse into relief as heavily-lidded hazel eyes seek mine out. “Mel.”

  Oh God. All of the worries building up in my chest suddenly expel from my lips, shaking. “You’re awake. Thank God, you’re awake!”

  His mouth twitches. “I promised.”

  My hand smoothes the hair from his face as joy electrifies every surface of my skin. I kiss him, eager to feel that passionate heat between us that I took for granted, and when I pull back he doesn’t look away from me, not even when Vince’s voice calls out for him.

  * * *

  It only takes a week before Tommy is cleared to leave the hospital, with strict instructions to take it easy. Vince helps him walk up the steps to his apartment, and Tommy wraps a grateful arm around his waist.

  “Thanks for everything.”

  “We’ll talk soon,” he says, turning around to descend the steps. His gaze sweeps over me. “Make sure he rests.”

  “Well, I’ll try.” I bury a smile as Tommy grins down at me.

  I don’t think anyone’s ever made Tommy do anything.

  He opens the door before I can do it for him and limps to the living room. Cursing, I shut it and run to his side, but he’s already slumped on the couch with a painful grin.

  “You’re supposed to let me help you.”

  “Are you trying to emasculate me completely?”

  I move behind the couch and take his head in my hands, gently massaging his temples. I bend over the side and kiss his cheek. In over a week, I haven’t been able to touch him—we haven’t been alone, but now I finally feel that heavy silence dropping over both of us.

  “Think of it as being pampered.” My lips brush his ear, and then my tongue darts out, teasing. I kiss the spot below his ear, and his hand shoots upward, grabbing the one around his face.

  “Come here,” he says in a gritty voice.

  Instead I pull away with a smile. He watches me disappear into the kitchen with a hungry look blazing his face. “I’ll make you some lunch. Stay there.”

  He glowers at me as I yell across the apartment, clearly not used to being ordered around. But he doesn’t complain when I walk back with a plate of a heavy roast beef sandwich on rye, kosher dills speared in half, and a tall glass of water. His eyes lighten when he sees the food made for him. Tommy takes the plate and stares at it for a moment, looking surprised.

  “What’s wrong? Don’t like roast beef?”

  A flurry of anxiety rises in my stomach. I should’ve asked him first. The frown curving his lips makes my heart thud against my chest.

  “No one’s ever made food for me like this.”

  “What do you mean? Your mom didn’t—?”

  “She didn’t let me starve or anything, but she never went out of her way like this. When I was sick, I pretty much had to fend for myself.” His face hardens. “I’m not complaining, I’m just not used to this.”

  Not used to being cared for. It pulls at my heartstrings and my hand flies out to touch his hair.

  “You made dinner for me, remember?”

  A wicked smile spreads across his face. “How could I forget?” Suddenly he places the sandwich back on the table and stands up, circling his hands around my hips.

  “Tommy, what’re you doing?”

  “You.”

  Heat fills my face as he yanks my body into his and descends his lips over mine. Every sound from outside drops away as he slips his hands around my back and behind my jeans to squeeze my ass. I gasp into his mouth, already lost in the sensation, and I completely forget that he’s injured—that he’s supposed to rest.

  With a growl, he suddenly swings me into his arms and carries me like a doll.

  “Tommy!” I shriek. “Put me down! You just got out of the hospital.”

  But some sort of mad energy makes him take the stairs with ease, only a faint bead of perspiration on his head. “I don’t need rest—I need you. It’s been a whole week.”

  “You can’t—you’re not strong enough.”

  A hard glint in his eyes makes me quail in his arms. “You need another lesson in who’s in charge, don’t you?”

  He finally lets me down in his bedroom, in front of the long mirror against the wall. My skin tingles as he brushes his fingers over my shoulders and suddenly yanks on the t-shirt, lifting it over my head. The bra soon follows, and I watch in the mirror as Tommy spreads his palms over my breasts, groping them hard as his mouth plays with my neck. A rush of heat glows between my legs, like a straight line from his hands all the way to my pussy. Then he bends down and unzips my jeans, tugging them off my legs as he kisses my skin. His hand cups my mound, teasing me through the thin cotton fabric of my panties. Tommy is still behind me, forcing me to watch him own me with his hands. A thrill rises in my stomach when I feel his cock harden against my back and then I bend over and remove my panties without waiting for him to do it.

  I turn around in his arms, my breasts flush against his chest. The steamy look he gives me sends flight to the butterflies in my stomach, and his hand suddenly slaps my ass.

  “I need to punish you but all I want to do is to throw you on my bed and fuck you.”

  He grips my jaw and forces a biting kiss on my mouth, one that makes me sway on my feet. Then his grip transfers to the back of my neck, leading me to the bed so forcefully that my heart gallops in my chest, but he forces me to sit on the edge of the bed and gathers something from that box underneath.

  A roll of duct tape.

  He smiles at the revulsion on my face and picks up something else from the floor: my panties.

  My eyes flick from his grinning face to the duct tape and panties.

  “No, please.”

  “I need to do something about your mouth, sweetie. You keep talking to me like we’re equals.”

  Usually I ignore half of the shit he says during sex—it’s all just dirty talk anyway, but this makes me laugh.

  Wrong move.

  Darkness slides over his face like clouds drifting over the moon. He grabs the back of my neck and holds my panties to my lips, giving me a look that can only be described as ominous.

  “Open your fucking mouth.”

  His voice makes me flinch, but I recoil against his hand. No fucking way am I doing that. I open my mouth to protest, and he shoves the panties between my lips, clapping his hand around my mouth before I can spit them out.

  My whole face is on fire as my tongue moves uncomfortably around the lace fabric. With a savage grin, he picks up the duct tape. I struggle against him, trying to shove his chest away from me, and I scream through his hand. My struggles only excite him more. The more I fight, the more dimples crease around his mouth. He shoves me backward, hand still over my mouth, and he climbs over my body, pinning my arms down with his knees.

  He lets go of my mouth for a second to rip a section of duct tape, and I spit my panties out, so furious that I could hit him. Tommy doesn’t bat an eyelash. The panties soaked with my saliva press against my lips.

  “We can do this the hard way, if you want. I don’t mind a good fight.” His eyes glint mischievously. “Or, you can be a good girl and accept your punishment.”

  Somehow I’m ashamed that my chest has started to flush just because his thighs are sitting on my arms, and I have a good view of the cock lengthening under his jeans. I bring my legs up against his back and my mouth trembles as it opens.

  “Good girl.”

  My cheeks burn as he pushes the underwear back inside, followed swiftly by a strip of duct tape. He flattens the edges on my cheeks and stops for a moment to tenderly trace the ou
tline of my lips. Then he relieves the pressure on my arms, moving his legs to straddle my waist.

  “You might find this hard to believe, but I’m doing this because I love you.”

  He squeezes my chest and I moan into the duct tape, immediately flushing when he grins back at me.

  Cocky son of a bitch.

  “If you want to be with me, you need to learn your place.”

  I’m yanked to a sitting position, my cheeks blowing against the tape. Desire radiates from his eyes as he gently takes me by the neck and forces me to stand in front of the mirror.

  I see a short, curvy woman, looking ridiculous with duct tape sealing her mouth shut, her cheeks slightly puffed from the panties inside her mouth. God, it’s embarrassing. I don’t even like seeing myself naked, and Tommy relishes my discomfort. He hooks an arm around my neck and his hand seizes my head as the other grabs my tits roughly.

  “Spread your legs.”

  The low hiss in my ear sends a jolt of electricity to my pussy. I obey him, spreading my legs apart as his hand curves around my thigh. His fingers pinch my skin as he roughly yanks me, and then another swell of shame engulfs my face when he curves his palm over my pussy. The glistening—I can see it all the way from here. Three warm fingers spread my lips apart and slide through the slick entrance. I can feel his smile on my neck.

  “So fucking wet for me. You really enjoy this humiliation, don’t you?” He sneers at my silence. “Answer me, damn it,” he growls, slapping my face lightly.

  I mumble a muffled reply as he wheels my face around to look in the mirror. He slides his fingers in and out of me, stretching me apart, and all I can think is that it’s not wide enough. I want the cock burning against my back inside me. My body aches for that sweet release. Occasionally he pulls out to massage my juices around my clit, pressing hard with the ridge of his finger until my chest heaves with a silent gasp.

  He fucks me with his fingers, turning my head so that I can watch how aroused I am. He slaps my inner thighs and a sheen of wetness shines over the bright-red skin. The sound of him sliding inside me, the wet sounds, gather redness on my chest and face. He’s a furnace, and every small movement of his hand is like a hot, painful sunburn.

  “Look at how much you want my cock.”

  I bite my lip hard, refusing to give in to his goading. His wet hand pulls out of me and my pussy throbs in his absence. He grabs my face with his hand, smearing my juices all over my cheeks and the duct tape. I can smell my scent everywhere, and it just adds to the pit of burning shame.

  Tommy’s warmth leaves my side for a moment. He grabs a thick black nylon rope as my lips work furiously under the tape. He ties it around my wrists and then he pushes my shoulder down so that I’m crouching on the wooden floor. Adjusting my legs, he makes me kneel on all fours, twisting the rope around my legs and tightening until my wrists are attached to my thighs. I strain against the ropes, but only succeed in getting raw marks against my flesh.

  Then his fingers curl in my hair, wrenching my head back so that I’m forced to look at the pathetic, bound woman, gagged by her own underwear, in the mirror. Tommy bends over me, fist in my hair, and I shiver at the contact of his t-shirt brushing my back.

  “I want you to watch yourself.”

  His bell-like laughter resounds in my ears as he releases my hair and drops back to unzip his pants. The sound of them dropping adds another thrill to the base of my stomach. The leather slaps through his hand and I watch as he coils it. My skin twitches as he runs the leather strap over my back, curving down my ass. On bended knees, he briefly smoothes his hand over my ass and then he brings back the arm holding his belt, and I moan in protest.

  I screw my eyes shut as the belt whistles through the air and lands with a painfully loud smack on my ass. My muffled cries only seem to put a smile on Tommy’s face as he raises the belt again.

  “No, don’t!” I try to scream.

  Thwack!

  The broad strap of the leather sings against my flesh, burning so badly that I can feel the sharp edges of the belt. Tommy smoothes the burning skin with his hands, laughing as he looks at the marks.

  “Watch yourself, Melanie.”

  I do. My hair spills over my back as I lift my head. My eyes follow the arch of my back and the swell of my ass, reddened with his belt. Tommy brings back his arm and rips the belt across my raw flesh and I scream into the panties balled in my mouth. He reaches underneath me and plays with my clit, finding me nice and wet as my skin continues to burn. Now it’s a pleasant burn with his fingers expertly stroking my clit, sending electrical jolts over my skin, my pussy clenching with need. Then he slaps the leather against my skin, still furiously working over my clit, and I moan as a shiver of desire runs up my leg.

  “More!” I scream. “More!”

  He curls his fingers into me, adding agony to the desire shaking my limbs. The blows of his belt send shockwaves through my body until I’m bucking against him, marveling at his ability to turn pain into pleasure. The belt clangs loudly on the wooden floor as he tosses it aside, and then he moves behind my bent-over body, fisting his cock in his hands.

  Yes, I need it now!

  He makes a growl somewhere in his throat as his cock pushes apart my folds and sinks into me. I sigh with relief, tears sparkling down my face as he leans forward, digging into me, and grabs a handful of my hair. He jerks my head back and I arch my body. Tommy slams his hips into me, filling me deep as he pulls my hair, forcing me onto his cock.

  His other hand moves underneath me, groping my tits as his cock shoves inside me, pummeling that sweet spot that makes guttural moans escape my mouth. He lunges forward, knocking the air from my chest as he grabs the back of my throat. My muffled shrieks and moans rebound in my ears as he fucks me so hard that I can feel his throbbing length shoving against my walls. It’s painful, but his hand that caresses me is not. His hand teases me, fondling my tits, pinching my nipple, or sliding down my stomach to play with my clit.

  “I want to hear you,” he growls, reaching forward to grab the edge of the tape.

  It rips off my lips like a Band-Aid and he reaches inside my mouth to grab the soaked panties, and tosses them out. I gulp air greedily and the air fills with my sharp gasps.

  “Oh my God, Tommy!”

  I look at myself in the mirror, Tommy thrusting his powerful hips behind me as I’m on all fours on the floor like some kind of slave, pain and ecstasy twisting my face. He pushes my shoulders forward and lowers me to the floor so that my cheek rests on the wood and my ass is in the air. Then he pounds me ruthlessly and the room is filled with the sounds of slapping flesh and my raised moans. He’s never fucked me this desperately and suddenly I clench myself, squeezing tighter around him. It’s a painful, merciless fuck, but the way in which he does it—his determination to get what he wants from me sends me high in the sky.

  “Who do you belong to?”

  “You! I belong to you—always.”

  “You’re damn right.”

  Tommy’s groans fill the room as he makes one last deep thrust and I come soon after him, my thighs shuddering as a pleasant wave washes over me like the sea. His chest rises and falls against my back, and I feel him fiddling with the knots on my wrists. Soon after, I’m freed and he lifts me in his arms, gently depositing me on the bed. We slide under the sheets and Tommy brings me into his arms, giving me the affection that I need. My body trembles beside his, still in the throes of my orgasm. He slides his face beside mine and catches my lips in a long, sweet kiss. It’s so tender, so unlike the way he treated me only moments before, that I’m taken aback.

  “What have you done with Tommy?”

  He smiles then, and it lightens his whole face. “I’m right here.”

  Looking at him, I begin to understand. He’s telling me the truth. There was always a darkness to Tommy’s light. I knew that.

  We stay there in each other’s arms for a while, just basking in the joy of being in love, but there’s something
needling me. Something we haven’t talked about yet.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean what are your plans for…you know, work?”

  He looks at me. “I might leave New York and go somewhere friendlier. Montreal, maybe.”

  I nestle myself in the crook of his neck, my heart tightening and releasing when he kisses my head. Montreal. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard there’s a great college in the city and a medical school.

  “I have a guy who could get us visas easily.”

  I feel his stare on my skin and I meet his slightly widened gaze. He’s afraid I’ll say no. That I won’t want to come with him.

  “You should know by now that I’ll follow you wherever you go.”

  Then a wide, joyful smile spreads over his face, and his eyebrows lift. He looks so damn happy that I barely recognize him.

  “I love you, sweetie.”

  The pet name I used to loathe rolls from his lips. I grab his face, kissing him hard enough to make my mouth numb, marveling at the fact that someone who kidnapped me could make me feel so free.

  # # #

  If you enjoyed this story, please remember to leave a review on Amazon! You might enjoy these other works by Vanessa Waltz:

  High Stakes (Vittorio Crime Family #1)

  There are a million reasons why I should stay away from Vincent Cesare.

  This was supposed to be temporary. I was supposed to deal for his illegal card games and get some quick cash. That was it. I wasn’t supposed to fall for him.

  Little by little, I see the monster grinning at me through the cracks in his pretty suit. He won't tell me what he does, and I'm not sure I want to know. The darkness in his eyes terrifies me. He's seduced me into his web of lies with his charm, and now I'm trapped in his life. He's taken control over me without me even realizing...or resisting.

  I'm in way over my head.

  He promised that nothing would ever happen to me. The Vittorio family wants me dead and there's only one person I can turn to. But what scares me is what I'll have to do.