“There is nothing V, I promise.”
“That’s bullshit Thorn, and you know it.” Val glared at me crossing his arms over his chest seeing right through my lie.
“Remember how you lost your mind over Miranda? It didn’t seem fun. A different girl in my bed every night works just fine for me. No offense V but I don’t want to end up like you and even if I did want to become a lap dog, I couldn’t, and you know why.” I was pushing Val, hoping he might take a swing. I needed some serious sense knocked into me over and over again until I wasn’t some fucking lovesick puppy.
“It won’t work princess. I’m not kicking your ass, so I’m going to pretend I didn’t just hear you call me a lap dog and give you some advice. You can keep throwing yourself at death hoping the grim ripper will finally take your dumb ass or you can try to find a reason to live. Then when death comes, he will have to fucking fight tooth and nail to take you away.”
Case could be my reason. The reason I took my next breath. The reason I didn’t dread finding myself still alive every fucking day.
“Thanks for the advice V, but my fate was decided a long time ago. Hell, I even tried to kick you out of my life, but you wouldn’t fucking leave. You are a like an STD. Every time I try to rid myself of you, you show back up and shout surprise!”
“Fuck you, Thorn.” Val countered rolling his eyes.
“Maybe If I had I could justify this itch.” Reaching down I grabbed my balls all the while grinning at Val like a dumb ass. My hands were occupied when Val threw a punch. The hit connecting with my jaw, the force rattling my teeth. The hit was a love tap compared to what he could do and landed on my ass, the floor catching me with open arms.
“VAL!” The yell coming from across the club and I instantly recognized the voice as Miranda’s. She came running towards us with a look of concern on her face. I knew she cared about me. The thought caused me to smile.
“What the fuck are you smiling for? Val questioned.
I shrugged cradling my jaw.
“What the hell did you do?” Miranda chastised narrowing her eyes at Val. Reaching out a hand she offered to help me up, but I knew the rule. No touching Miranda.
“He started it,” Val said, pushing past Miranda and pulling me to my feet.
“We’re good Miranda. Just playing.”
I tossed a playful jab into Val’s shoulder.
“I swear you two are going to drive me insane.”
Val and I looked at each other before breaking out in laughter.
“It’s not funny.” Miranda scolded as she shook her head.
“It’s a little funny.” I chimed in response.
“She’s cute when she’s angry don’t you think?” Val added.
Blowing out a breath Miranda turned around flipping us off, both her middle fingers waving in the air.
“You might want to deal with that V.”
“I’ll make it up to her.” Val replied grinning, “You good?”
“I’m better now. Thanks for the love tap. It was a highlight of my day.” I answered.
“You are the craziest motherfucker I have ever met Thorn, but I wouldn’t want you any other way. Think about what I said.”
Val walked away leaving me lost in thought, his words replaying inside my head. A gentle tap pulled me from my thoughts as Case slid into the seat next to me. Her blue eyes fixed on my cheek as her fingers brushed over my skin causing me to wince slightly.
“You’re going to have a bruise.” Her voice sounding concerned. No one had worried about me since my mom died. The feeling like I mattered had been forgotten, but Case brought it to the surface with ease.
“Come on.” Holding out her hand I stared at it like it was my death sentence. I couldn’t take it despite wanting to so bad it killed me, but I knew what happens when I touched her. My number rule was keeping my hands to myself.
“It’s okay. I’m having a good day.” Her fingers met mine lacing their way through them without hesitation. Holding my breath, I waited for the fear, but it didn’t strike. Letting her pull me to the back she grabbed some ice from the ice machine wrapping it inside a towel.
“Sit.” She commanded, and I did without hesitation, my ass hitting the stool with a resounding thud.
Placing it against my cheek, her hand holding it tight to my skin. The cold rushing in to relieve the slight sting Val’s punch had caused. Staring at her I couldn’t help but think she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. My lips parting ever so slightly, the urge to kiss her so badly, I was desperate for it. Just once I wanted to know what her lips felt like beneath mine.
“It might feel better if you kissed it,” I whispered.
Her eyes widening with surprise, but she didn’t pull back. Instead she lowered the ice from my cheek, pressing her lips against the cool spot of skin. The kiss sweet and innocent and I felt it all the way to my soul. Without thought, I turned my head capturing her mouth with mine. Case didn’t fight it, letting me kiss her without resistance, tasting heaven before it was gone.
Case’s eyes shimmered with fresh tears. One kiss from me had made her cry. Well done jackass.
“I am the idiot who asked. My mouth tends to run away from me sometimes. No all of the time. I’ve done enough damage for one day I should go. Thanks for the ice pack.” Leaping off the stool like it was on fire I fled telling myself that I wouldn’t come back again. A lie I desperately wanted to believe.
PRESENT DAY
“Case do you hear me? You aren’t leaving this way. You are not dying on some bathroom floor in a nightclub.”
Hands gripped my shoulders shaking the fog from my skin like snowflakes as my limp and lifeless body slumped against the tile. Fingers were pressing into my flesh, calling me back, my heartbeat speeding up once again beneath my chest. Suddenly my lips were pried open as something thick filled my mouth.
“SWALLOW IT CASE!” a voice commanded. It was him. Thorn had found me, and my weak and weary heart couldn’t deny him.
Swallowing the inky substance as Thorn’s voice kept whispering things in my ear. Beautiful words of encouragement, coaxing me back to life as my body emptied every pill I had worked so hard to swallow. The contents of my stomach and what Thorn had forced me to swallow was now tossed out like black and white confetti upon the bathroom floor.
Thorn’s hands went to work brushing sweaty strands of hair off my cheeks before lifting me on his lap. His arms circling me like chains, holding my body tight against him giving me no room to slip away. I remembered the last time he had held me. My thin and worn body gently tucked against his as I believed my time in hell had ended. I had been wrong. One hell had ended only for a new one to take its place. Fear. Pain. Tossed head first into a panic attack every time someone touched me. A life spent out in the light but still condemned to be nothing more than a hostage trapped by the dark.
Chapter One
“I wasn’t beautiful.” My words came out slowly, fighting their way past the taste of charcoal and the sour taste of vomit.
“What?” Thorn’s voice shook slightly, tiny tremors moving within it betraying his calm demeanor.
“The day you found me, Thorn, you called me beautiful. I wasn’t. I was just a dirty, thin girl covered in horrors.”
Shifting me on his lap Thorn’s hands found my face, turning it, so all I could see was the deep dark chocolate of his eyes staring back at me.
“You’re the wrong Case. You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my whole life.” Brushing his lips against my forehead, Thorn offered sweetness instead of the bitter taste that lingered in my soul. He was stealing me away piece by piece trying to take every broken bit of me and put it back together.
A sob welled up, spilling out from my sore throat. “You can’t fix me. It’s not your job. You aren’t responsible for what happens to me. I’m broken Thorn; you should have just let me go.”
Thorn stood, taking me with him, his arms coiled with tension as he carried me down the hall
passing room after room until I saw the exit sign. Cool air hit my body as he opened the door and suddenly I realized what he intended. Curling my hands into fists, I struck pounding his chest with every bit of strength I could muster. Fight or flight. I wasn’t in any shape to do either still that didn’t stop me.
“You have no right to take me. Put me down Thorn. Now.” Trying hard to sound like I meant business but my throat still wasn’t quite following directions. The words sounding less like business and more like a little girl whining.
“You tried to kill yourself Case.” Thorn had said it, tossing the words like daggers aiming them without mercy.
“Do you know that I can’t sleep through the night without waking from nightmares that leave me screaming? That comfort in the form of touch is torture? Something I crave so desperately, but the fear makes impossible?” My voice bordered on frantic, trying to get him to understand.
“I’m holding you Case. I’m touching you, and you’re still with me.”
Ignoring his words, I continued, “You don’t need to do this.”
“I don’t need to, but I want to. Please, Case let me try to help you. The world without you isn’t one I want to be part of. I’m not asking for anything except the chance to show you that even broken can be beautiful.”
I found myself nodding, giving into Thorn and his crazy idea of saving me. He had been the one thing I couldn’t let go of. Probably just some fucked version of hero worship but he kept making it so easy to keep believing in it that I wanted to keep trying. What was ahead I had no clue but first time in a long time I felt a tiny flicker of hope.
*
Case was in my car. Her small body tucked against the seat and for the moment she was safe. My hands trembled against the leather. The steering wheel something solid to hold on to. The last traces of adrenaline fled my body as blew out a breath and tried focusing on the drive. Still, every bit of my insides remained a jumbled mess. The sight of Case lying lifeless on the bathroom floor shaking me to my core. What if I had been too late? The question kept banging around my heart like a pinball. The thought of losing her shaking something inside me.
Up until that moment, my life had been nothing but a joke. My life was no place for a woman. Don’t get me wrong one or two in my bed was always enjoyable, but they didn’t stay. I liked my life the way it is. Making every minute of my borrowed time count and that involved a lot of killing and a healthy dose of fucking.
Then Val placed Case in my arms, and my word shifted. Not able to stay away I found myself every night at Bound and Bared obsessed with a girl I couldn’t have. Watching Case each night had become a ritual, a slow, tortuous process I craved like fucking air. It didn’t help that she was pure perfection wrapped up in sex. Case was the type of girl that could stop traffic, but she didn’t see it. She most definitely didn’t need a dick in her life, but still, I keep coming hoping one day she might want one. Only my dick, of course, any other dick I would have to kill and dispose of the body it belonged to. If all I wanted was a quick fuck to get her out of my system then I might have understood my obsession but she left me wanting so much more. Wanting to know the things that made her laugh or the ones that made her cry. I wanted to possess her every smile, her every breath. Catching Case staring at me a time or two had only fueled the fire wondering if she thought about me the same way.
Putting on some weight since being freed, her body had begun to fill out in all the right places. Her blue eyes no longer dull and lifeless, brilliant shade of blue like the ocean. Not the pale blue shallow water near the shore but the dark blue existing only in deep water. The type that would drown you without mercy. I was insane for bringing her home with me, but she was something beautiful in my ugly world and even though I shouldn’t I planned on keeping her.
Chapter Two
Opening up the door of the small cabin I watched Case take in every piece of the place I called home. Far from anything special it kept me off the streets and safe. The only place I felt some small bit of comfort. I knew every creak of the worn floors, every log making up the walls. My bank account allowing me to get something bigger but I couldn’t part with it.
“It’s not what I expected.” Case’s soft voice echoed within the space, and I tried to hide my disappointment.
*
Thorn’s face had fallen for a second before he caught himself. Moving past him, our bodies nearly connecting within the small space. My steps making the floor creak like some well-sung lullaby. This was a place that knew Thorn better than anyone else. A set of soft chocolate colored couches sat in the middle of the room, warm mismatched pillows tossed carelessly onto them like confetti. A wooden chair sat under a window, the curtain allowing a trail of light to spill across it. The seat of the chair well-worn and I suspected that is where Thorn spent a lot of his time. A small round table with a set of books stacked on top was to the right of the chair. The titles unclear, their spines facing the other direction. The room was warm, the woodsy, masculine scent of the wood logs making up the frame of the cabin drifted through the living room, inhaling I started to relax.
The polished logs of the cabin held Thorn’s past, his every secret tucked between the logs and I wished to learn what each crack revealed about the man standing beside me. Standing in his home alone with him I should have been afraid, but my brief brush death had altered something within me. Newly born, it was a fragile thing that could break easily. The unknown stretching before me, the past resting somewhere behind me. Caught in the middle with a man I knew nothing about except he had refused to let me go, carrying me from the dark and bringing me to the place he loved.
“I love it.” His face lit up like a little boy at Christmas at my words.
“It’s not much, but I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it even when I finally had the money to buy something else.” Thorn grinned, his eyes glowing brightly.
Taking a step, the adrenaline coursing through my system gave out. My body calculating all the damage as my legs started to give out. The last thing I wanted was to pass out in Thorn’s living room, but I wasn’t going to have a choice in the matter. I swayed, and the room began to spin.
*
The brief smile on Case’s face faltered as her body gave out, my arms shooting out to catch her before she hit the floor. The weight of her in my arms both familiar and frightening.
“You need to rest,” I said softly, and she didn’t protest as I carried her to my bedroom. Her body dwarfed by the size of my bed as I pulled the dark blue quilt over her, tucking her in.
“Get some sleep.” My fingers hesitating on the light switch as I took one last look. Looking so good in my bed I could almost imagine slipping in beside her, my arms wrapping around her waist as I pulled her against me. My cock seemed to like that idea a little too much as it rose to attention inside my pants. I needed to get out of there, hitting the button I plunged the room into darkness. Stepping out into the hallway I was struggling to get my fucking dick under control when suddenly my phone went off. The shrill ring singing through my hallway. Ripping it free from my pocket I answered on the second ring.
“Where is Case Thorn?” Val’s voice echoed in my ear.
“Hello to you too V.” Gritting my teeth, I waited for the next verbal punch.
“Don’t fuck with me. I know you have her, I watched the fucking tape myself. Have you lost your mind? Selena’s calling for your dick on a platter for taking one of her girls. Don’t think I wasn’t tempted, but I decided if you bring her back her unharmed I will let you keep your cock.”
“You believe I would hurt her?” The hand not holding the phone clenched into a fist as my pulse jumped beneath my neck. Val knew my past. He knew the monsters haunting my every step.
A new voice sounded in my ear.
“He doesn’t think that Thorn, Selena doesn’t either. They are just worried about Case. You know how they tend to overreact.”
“I don’t overreact.” I heard Val mutter in the background.
“Be quiet; you had your chance. And if threatening his dick is not overreacting I don’t know what is. Thorn, could you please tell me what happened? Why did you take Case?” Miranda’s voice was soft and sweet, trusting me to give her answer. Searching for an explanation that wouldn’t reveal what Case had done since it didn’t seem right spilling her secrets.
“I didn’t take her Miranda. I asked, and she agreed. That’s all there is to it.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Thorn? There is more I know it.” Miranda’s tone was the one she used when she had no intention of backing down or giving up. It didn’t matter; I wouldn’t give in. I also didn’t want to hurt her.
“You’re right Miranda there’s more to it, but I can’t tell you anything else. Secrets are scared at Bound and Bared so don’t ask me to reveal Case’s.” Leaning back against the wall I sighed, praying Miranda would have some faith in me.
“If you can’t tell me, can I at least talk to her?” Miranda asked.
“She’s sleeping but the moment she wakes up I can have her call you. It’s the best I can do Miranda.”
“I’m not sure that’s good enough Thorn. That might not keep them from coming to get her.”
If Val and Selena showed up things would get ugly. I didn’t want to have to choose between my friends and the girl I couldn’t walk away from. All I needed was some time.
“Convince them to wait until after they talk to her. Give me at least that Miranda. Please.” I wasn’t above pleading.
“I’ll see what I can do Thorn. As soon as she wakes she needs to call okay? I can work some magic but it’s two against one here, and you know how they are.”
“Threatening to put my dick on a platter pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve heard how valuable it is. Remember that red head you brought over for dinner? She couldn’t keep from screaming how wonderful it was over and over again.” Miranda laughed.
Unraveled (Bound and Bared Book 2) Page 2
