Voyeur

by Candace Wondrak

  In the end, we entered what was a small but mostly empty room, save for the single velvet chair stationed against one of the walls in the far back. And, of course, the man sitting in it was Roman himself.

  The way those black eyes looked at me, he was not happy. He was not happy in the least. The expression he wore could kill, and as I watched him breathe evenly, frowning slightly at me, I knew he was holding back. I knew that man wanted to get up and lunge at me, wrap that hand around my neck and yell at me for whatever disobedient thing I’d done.

  Fuck him. Fuck all of this. The game was fun at first, but now I was done. I wanted to do what I wanted to do, not what Roman wanted. Not what Carter wanted.

  Carter remained in the room, though he stood near the door, holding his hands behind his back, standing like a good little soldier. His green eyes refused to look at me now, and I was slow in turning my attention back to Roman. The man even sat aggressively, which I didn’t know was possible until now.

  I literally could not tell if Roman wanted to kill me or fuck me. How messed up was that?

  The silence that overtook the room was heavy, weighing down my shoulders. Still, I stood as tall as I could while beneath that dark, soulless gaze. He wore a suit, as he always did, its undershirt tucked in neatly to his pants, not a hair out of place. Roman was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, with an extra side of danger.

  Since he did not seem very talkative, I took it upon myself to ask, “Where have you been?” I had no right to sound so upset; it wasn’t like I was his official girlfriend or his fiancé or wife. We were… we were nothing, and yet at the same time, that felt like a lie.

  Roman said nothing. He didn’t even blink to acknowledge my question, and that only furthered the rage I felt inside, the indignation over being expected to sit there and twiddle my thumbs while I waited.

  “I asked you a question,” I spoke, taking a single step towards him and his chair. My voice echoed in the room; the walls were bare, free of any paintings. I had no idea what this room was normally used for, but whatever it was, I had the feeling it wasn’t something good.

  “I heard you,” Roman said, his voice just as low, rough, and scratchy as I remembered it being, the kind of voice you could close your eyes and listen to all day and night and still never get enough of. It was a voice you remembered, even when he wasn’t in front of you, even when you couldn’t hear it.

  Behind me, Carter shifted his weight.

  Roman leaned forward, adjusting the cufflinks on his wrists. “I expected a certain level of obedience from you, Zoey Marbella, and you have not held up your end.” He raised his hand, and Carter left, slipping out of the room without a sound. He leaned back in his chair, giving me a look of pure vehemence. “You were a busy bee while we were gone.”

  I said nothing because at this point, there was nothing to say. He was right.

  “I don’t take kindly to disloyalty,” Roman muttered, shooting me a frown I felt in my core. It was at that moment when Carter reappeared, barging in the room with someone else at his side, someone who struggled beneath a black sack, his hands tied behind his back just as mine were.

  Carter dropped the man beside me, yanking off his hood harshly, but I didn’t need to see who it was to know.

  Lake. This was all because I’d gone out with Lake and slept with him. Of course.

  “What—” Lake’s voice stopped when he saw me, and he struggled to get to his feet. I helped him, because it was Lake. Because he didn’t deserve this… because I’d brought this onto him, all while knowing this could happen. “Zoey,” he spoke my name, the word laced with worry, his anxiety going through the roof.

  I watched as Lake glanced to Roman, struggling to get his hands free of the zip tie and failing. Carter made no moves to cut him loose.

  “What the hell is this? What’s going on?” Lake asked me.

  “Tell me, Lake, do you know who I am?” Roman spoke, causing Lake’s blue gaze to travel back to him.

  “No,” he said.

  “Zoey here knows me,” Roman went on, gesturing to Carter. “Just like she knows him. There’s a lot about Zoey you don’t know, boy.”

  I did not particularly like hearing Roman call Lake a boy. My jaw clenched, and though it was stupid, I stepped between them, earning myself Roman’s scowl. “You could’ve been dead, Roman. You and Carter. What the hell was I supposed to do? Pine and wait until I die?”

  Behind me, Lake whispered, “Uh, is this a family thing or…”

  Roman shocked me by standing. Within a second, he was at my side, and he pulled me away from Lake by grabbing my throat. Within the next moment, my back was against a wall, and Carter was stopping Lake from stupidly trying to save me. Lake’s hands were tied behind his back, so I had no idea what he thought he was going to do.

  With his fingers curling around my throat, Roman whispered, “I should put a bullet in his head and make you watch.” Such venom in his words; I really wished it was directed at me and not Lake. If anyone should be on the receiving end of his threats, it should be me.

  I knew he was serious too, so I didn’t say anything, keeping my jaw firmly clamped shut, my eyes focused on the thinning of Roman’s lips. To stare into his eyes right now would be equal to asking for a beating, daring him to prove it, to back up his threat with actions, and I did not want to be the cause of Lake’s death.

  Still holding onto my neck, Roman gestured with his other hand to Carter, who got the hint. He grabbed Lake and hauled him out, and even though Lake tried to fight to remain, tried to call out for me—basically only tried to make sure I would be okay—it didn’t matter. Carter and Lake exited the room, a new kind of silence falling upon us.

  “Well?” Roman egged me on, the tips of his fingers tightening their hold on my throat, stifling any deep breaths I might’ve inhaled otherwise. “You always have so much to say, Zoey. Why so silent now, hmm?” Mocking me, almost.

  God, I hated him.

  I hated that I didn’t hate him, even after all of this. What the hell was wrong with me?

  “If you hurt him,” I whispered, slowly lifting my gaze to meet his dark stare, fighting the urge I had to let myself be swallowed up by everything that was Roman Russo. “If you lay a finger on his head or tell Carter to do it, I will hate you until the day I die.”

  Roman practically growled now, but I didn’t care. I didn’t dare stop.

  “You might have my body, but you won’t have all of me. You won’t have my heart,” I spoke, gaining the courage that had vanished the moment Carter practically threw Lake onto his knees earlier. “You won’t have my soul. Wasn’t that what you wanted from the beginning, Roman? Didn’t you want everything I had to give?”

  He pressed his hips against me, pushing me harder upon the wall. “I wanted you to be mine—”

  Though I was well aware the man could snap my neck with a flick of his wrist, I cut in, “Yeah? Well, you and Carter disappeared. You up and left me without even telling me where you were going or how long you’d be gone. What the hell was I supposed to do? Lake was there when you weren’t—when you couldn’t be. He is kind and sweet and everything you’re not.”

  To my surprise, my harsh words did not earn me a choking, or even a neck snap. Roman simply stood there, glaring at me, moving to hold his other hand against the wall beside my head, his entire body leaning against mine, reminding me just how small I was when compared to the devil in a suit.

  “I know what I agreed to with you,” I whispered, blinking once, a desperate need to make everything better nestled deep within me. “I know, but I can’t lie anymore.”

  The hand holding my throat moved upward until he cupped my jaw, angling my head up so he could rest his forehead against mine. “Do you think your precious Lake will still want to be with you once he knows the truth? Do you think that I’ll let you run around with whoever you please when you’re not in my company? That is not how this works—”

  “If you want me to choose you,”
I decided to play his game, “I won’t do it. I would rather walk away from all of you than choose—and if you think you can keep me, if you think you can force me to be yours… you have no idea what a Marbella is capable of.” It wasn’t like I enjoyed using my last name. Roman wasn’t from Hillcrest, so he didn’t know what families did there, but he would learn.

  Force me to do anything I didn’t want to do, and he’d learn. They always did. I would not let myself become some slave, some puppet to his desires, unless I wanted to.

  Roman inhaled, breathing me in as he gripped my jaw tighter, forcing my lips to part as I winced under his grasp. “You,” he murmured. “You are…” He trailed off for a while, letting me imagine what word he was going to use.

  Not for long, though, for the next thing I knew, his mouth crashed down upon mine, drawing what little breath I had in my lungs out, all but forcing me to give into him. How could anyone kiss Roman Russo and not want to bend to his will?

  He broke the kiss enough to mutter, “An insolent—” His lips brushed against mine with the words before swallowing me again, the passion behind his mouth nothing short of furious and angry.

  It was impossible to fight it, to fight him, not when I could feel the fire from his body seeping into mine, the way his lean figure pressed against me, the hand still cupping my jaw refusing to let go as he devoured everything I was and everything I would be.

  “Brat,” Roman finished, digging his hips into mine, making me feel the hardness there, pressing against my stomach. He kissed me so hard and so fast it felt like my lips would be bruised, but I didn’t care, and obviously neither did he. “I should make you regret everything you said… but all I want to do is fuck you against this wall and hear you scream my name.”

  Oh, it was effortless, hopping back on the Roman train, letting him do whatever the fuck he wanted to me. Still, he and I would need to have a longer discussion about Lake—and kidnapping in general, I think—however, that would be a discussion for another time.

  Right now, all I wanted was for him to take me, too.

  “What are you waiting for?” I whispered, smirking up at him.

  The hand holding onto my jaw left it, the one on the wall beside me dropping as he tore at the clothes keeping us apart. All he did was undo his belt and his pants, causing his shirt to become untucked. His hands were rough as he went at my shorts, his forehead leaning against mine as he yanked them down, my strappy panties with it. His fingers traced my slit, curving up my body until that same hand returned to my neck, holding onto me in a way that meant he was claiming me.

  This wasn’t a dream. I was really about to have sex with Roman for real, right after he had his men kidnap both me and Lake.

  Needless to say, this was a little wrong—but also needless to say, I didn’t much care. I wanted to feel that hard cock inside of me, know how it felt to be filled to the brim with his length. I’d tasted him, given him head, but not this. Not unless you counted my dream.

  Roman’s dark gaze commanded mine as I felt his cock pressing between my legs. With a jerk of his hips, he pushed himself in, never once breaking eye contact, forcing intimacy between us as he took me hard and fast, making me groan as I wondered if I’d truly lost it. Had I gone insane when I wasn’t looking?

  It didn’t matter. If this was insanity, I never wanted to be in my right mind.

  I let out a low groan when he began to thrust, when I felt my spine hit the wall behind me over and over, my body taking the brunt of the assault, the cock between my legs. The hand on my throat made things a little more uncomfortable, but it was just a reminder that this was Roman. Roman was fucking me. Roman was taking me.

  Roman still wanted me. He hadn’t left for good, hadn’t found someone else.

  “I said,” he grunted as he rammed into me, breathing raggedly as he filled me up to the core, “I want to hear you scream my name.”

  I felt myself grinning, knowing my smirk would only further enrage him. “Then make me.” A challenge from a brat.

  Roman decided to go at me as hard as he possibly could, knocking the breath from my lungs as he pounded away. I cried out, stopping just short of screaming his name. I wouldn’t let him have me that easily, not yet, not after everything he’d put me through lately. The bastard. His dick might be something else, but I was still feeling feisty.

  My eyes closed, and I focused on the sensations filling my body, along with the dick. It was something else, being this connected to Roman, feeling him inside me. It was like, finally, he was where he always should be. As much as I didn’t want to admit it to myself, I craved every single thing this man could give me, the feelings he rose inside me. To belong to him would be to feel alive every single day of my life.

  Giving myself to Roman Russo was almost an out of body experience, something incomparable to being given to Carter, to letting Carter take me however Roman wanted. It was utterly different from being with Lake, from, for once, taking charge and doing what I wanted. It was like everything in my life, every single horrible thing I’d seen and been through, had led up to this, brought me here, to him, into his arms, laid me before his cock.

  It was glorious. It was everything I imagined and more, so much better than that dream would’ve been.

  Though I tried to hold back, though I sought to keep myself under control and not give Roman what he wanted, I found my inner thighs starting to quiver, my lower half beginning to tense. The man was going to give me an orgasm just by taking me against the wall, for God’s sake, with little to no clit stimulation. It was unreal. Totally unreal, and yet when the pleasure surged out of me, I couldn’t stop it.

  The orgasm made me a quaking, trembling mess, my inner walls clamping down on his rod as he kept up the pace. My fingers grasped at his suit, getting hold of whatever they could as I cried out his name, just as he wanted.

  His chest exhaled a large, lumbering breath, as if me calling out his name while coming brought him more pleasure than actually being inside of me. Roman’s cheek leaned against mine, his neck bent at an almost unnatural angle to make up for the height difference.

  He whispered two faint words in my ear, “Good girl.” And then he focused on finding his own release, at dragging that dick in and out of my pussy as hard and as fast as he possibly could.

  When he came, it was violent. His shoulders shook, pinning me harder against the wall, his cock filling me up to the brink as it let loose its seed inside me. The hand holding onto my neck squeezed, and though the grip hurt, though I could hardly breathe while he held me like that, I wasn’t about to complain.

  Roman was measured in releasing my neck, both hands flat on the wall on either side of me. Both of us breathed hard, fighting to catch enough air in our lungs to make up for what just happened, and yet I knew it would never be enough.

  When he pulled himself out of me, we both fixed our clothes. I would be leaking some cum in my panties, but I didn’t care. It was Roman’s cum, so it felt different. Not that I was one to worship anything that came out of a man’s dick, but everything was thrown for a loop because it was Roman.

  Roman was back, and with the way he could play me like a fucking fiddle, he wasn’t going anywhere.

  Carter dumped me and Lake off at the apartment building. By the time we were out of Roman’s place, the sun was nearly up. Lake had refused to talk during the whole ride, hardly looking at me. I knew I needed to come clean to him, but just looking at him hurt me.

  I never wanted to see him hurt, and I hated I’d caused this.

  I said nothing to Carter before he pulled away, and Lake was nothing more than mute as he shuffled to the elevator. Sticking by his side, I wanted to talk to him, but the air just felt awkward. And not the cute kind of awkward that normally radiated around Lake; more of an oh, shit, what do we do now? kind of awkward.

  Within a minute, we were on our floor. Lake said nothing as he went straight for his apartment. His keys and phone had been given back to him, as had mine. Looking at us no
w, you’d never know we’d been kidnapped.

  I couldn’t let it go down like this. “Lake,” I called after him, trailing him to his door.

  His mouth remained clamped shut as he unlocked his door and went in. I went to follow him, to go inside his apartment, needing to talk to him, but he stopped me, turning to face me with an unreadable expression.

  Confused, hurt.

  “Zoey, I… I just need space,” he said. “This was… this was crazy, and I—”

  Though his words were like a knife in my heart, I took a step back, nodding. “It’s okay,” I said, even though it wasn’t. “I get it. I’ll see you later.” Hopefully, whenever later came, he would let me sit down and talk to him, explain everything. Hopefully he wouldn’t just shut me out and play it off like he didn’t know me.

  He shut his door, saying nothing in response, and I stared at the wooden door for far too long, closing my eyes and sighing, leaning my forehead against it for a few moments.

  Shit. Why did I feel like tonight just fucked everything up?

  Chapter Fourteen – Roman

  I sat in the backroom at the Dollhouse, alone, thinking. The music that permeated the club was not as loud back here. I had smoothed things over with Autumn, telling her that Zoey didn’t show up for her shift because of me, and that was that. It was like Zoey had never missed a shift at all.

  Things with… that Lake were not as easy, though.

  Zoey and I had a little chat after I took her, and it was enlightening, to say the least. I thought back.

  My cock was still hard, still itching for another round at her, but I kept it tucked away in my pants as I returned to my seat on the other side of the room, watching with keen interest as Zoey fixed herself, made it look like she and I had not just fucked against the wall like animals.

  She’d felt… she’d felt just as amazing as I knew she would, tight on my dick, her body made for me.