QUIVER, BOOK FIVE (A DARK ROMANCE)

by Laura Avery

  “I… uh…thank you.” The words flew out of my mouth at the same time as my final release and I sighed in relief as my juices drenched his huge cock and then dripped down my inner thigh. Oh, God, what a relief it was to cum so hard. All the stress that had consumed my body and mind just hours before seemed to have evaporated into thin air, leaving relief and ease in its place.

  Jackson liked my thank you and kissed my back in approval. “That’s a polite girl, Emery, just the way I like you, nice and thankful for the gift of my cock.” His grip tightened and he groaned in pleasure. “Now beg me to cum inside of you, little lamb, because I don’t think I can hold back for another fucking second. Your cunt is like fucking crack, one ounce of it and I’m starving for the whole damn thing.”

  His words shouldn’t have thrilled me so much but they did. The thought that my body had just as much of an effect on Jackson as his did on me was exciting and intense. I wanted him to be just as turned on and fascinated by our exchanged as I was. I wanted the thought of anyone else ever measuring up to what the two of us had to register as impossible in his mind, just like it did in mine.

  I belonged to Jackson Lucas with every part of my being and at that moment, with every inch of him inside of me, and his grip wrapped around me possessively, I realized just how obsessed with him I really was. So much so that the thought of anyone ever trying to take him from me made me want to fucking kill them.

  The thought was dark and startling, popping into my head out of nowhere like a shooting star in the dead of night, but it was there. What was more astonishing, though, was how true it rang inside of me. If anyone tried to split me and Jackson up it would be the last thing they ever did. I may not be a confrontational person naturally, but I knew I could be if I was backed into a corner, and a life without Jackson would be the murkiest corner of all.

  “Beg me,” he snapped, growing impatient.

  “Please,” I whimpered. “Please cum inside of me.”

  “Oh, fuck, you’re going to make me cum so hard, baby.” His chest was rising and falling in anticipation of what was only seconds away. “My cum is going to fill that sweet cunt up so fucking deep, Emery.” He thrust a few more time, his cock pulsating back and forth before a light of pleasure went off in his eyes and he was finally able to release inside of my tight walls.

  He stayed inside of me for a minute, both of us gasping for breath as his head fell on my shoulder, his lips tracing rough kisses up and down the side of my collarbone. “Mine,” he whispered over and over again. “You’re all mine.” He pulled out of me slowly, giving a few final gestures.

  I let my head fall forehead, collapsing onto the cold service. I might have felt more relaxed than I had in a long time but I was also exhausted. He had beat the shit out of my pussy, left it feeling used and battered.

  He grabbed the scissors off the desk and freed the rope around my legs quickly before pressing his back into my body. “You’re going to be sore, little lamb, really sore. You should put a cold washcloth over that smooth pussy or some ice and try to rest for a few hours, understand?”

  “Is that concern?” I joked.

  “Hardly,” he grumbled. “I just want you to be ready for the next time I decide I want to have my way with you.” He trailed the metal up and down my spine. “And that could be anywhere, at any time.”

  “Did you mean it?” I whispered

  “Mean what?”

  “What you said about loving me,” I asked the question before I could lose my nerve. I felt pathetic bringing it up so soon, especially when I was sure he was still pissed off at me, but I couldn’t help it. I had to know, it was one of the only things eating away at me that I might be able to get some answers to.

  Jackson grew silent and a second later I heard him readjusting himself, cleaning himself up. I tried not to let the disappointment overwhelm my entire body. What had I expected? That one deep moment over sex or an admission of something he hated to feel when he was backed into a corner with his brother would change the situation between us? Maybe it would have with someone normal but Jackson wasn’t normal and he never would be. Even if what he had told Liam had been true, it didn’t matter, because Jackson wasn’t proud of it. He didn’t want to love me; he didn’t see it as a good thing. He saw it as a weakness.

  The realization was devastating.

  And ignorant on my part.

  Would I ever stop being surprised at his lack of empathy? It was like a constant tug of war. Just when I got something real out of him, he would invert back into himself again, putting up even higher walls than he had before. I wanted to fight to knock them down. I really did, because I believed he was worth it, but it was growing more and more exhausting with each let down he delivered my way.

  He moved his hands up to mine without answering the question. “Emery,” he paused with the scissors over my head. “The rules I put forth for you are there for a reason and in the future I expect you to abide by them. Have I made myself clear?”

  “Yes, Jackson.”

  “Good.” He freed my wrists and spun my body around, crushing his lips against mine fiercely before pulling away. “I have to go and take care of some business at the house, I want you to lock the door behind me and stay in your room resting until I come back for you, do you understand me?”

  I ran my hand over my free wrist. “Yes.”

  “Tell me,” he ordered.

  “I’m not going to leave my room, I’m going to rest.”

  He nodded and turned around, heading for the door. He paused with his hand on the doorknob, his body growing stiff from the back as if he was deep in thought. Just when I thought he wasn’t going to say anything he sighed deeply. “ I don’t say things I don’t mean, Emery, you should know that about me by now.”

  He was out the door before I could respond. I closed my eyes and moaned, crossing the room and standing in the spot he had been seconds earlier. It wasn’t exactly the overwhelming declaration of love I had been craving but it was better than nothing. I turned the lock tightly, I just wasn’t sure if I was trying to keep someone out or myself in.

  Sometimes I felt like my own worst enemy.

  Chapter Four

  “Those eyes.”

  EMERY

  My eyes snapped open rapidly in the darkness, startled by a heavy breathing next to me. I wasn’t sure how long I had been sleeping, how much time had passed since Jackson left my room after he had has his way with me, but the unfamiliar presence had awoken me out of a dead sleep.

  The sense of dread that came over me let me know that the large shadow sitting in the chair next to my bed wasn’t Jackson. I immediately wondered how long my mystery guest had been there, hiding in the shadows, watching me sleep without my permission.

  “Who’s there?” I whispered.

  Silence answered me as the figure leaned forward, a small sneer releasing from the corners of his lips that bounced off the small amount of light shimmering through the window on the other side of the room. He was angry. One sharp look of his eyes told me it was me who had disgusted him. His body language was daunting; as if I had offended him in some life-altering way.

  Those eyes.

  Where had I seen those eyes?

  The light on the side of my desk sprang to life and the same mysterious face that had been haunting me ever since it first appeared in my doorway all those days ago came into focus. His eyes were dark and dead, not filled with curiosity or sympathy the way they had been before. In place of those emotions was fury.

  “Here’s my problem, Emery.” He titled back in the chair, threatening to snap the skinny legs under his huge frame. “I went out of my way to try and help you. Hell, I kind of put my whole plan on the line in order to take pity on you. I actually felt bad for you,” he laughed loudly, sarcastically. “And after all that, after all my effort, you go and fuck everything up by throwing my kindness in my face.”

  “How did you get in here?” I asked cautiously, sitting up and sliding my body ac
ross the bed away from him. “You shouldn’t be here.” I backed up until my spine hit the wall behind me, forcing me into place.

  He snapped the chair down and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You see,” he said slowly, intently searching my eyes as he ignored my questions. “I know what it’s like to be manipulated by them, to be used by them and tossed out in the trash like you never mattered. So, hell, I thought I could take pity on you, thought I could save you, and what do you go and do?” He stood up, towering over my body as his voice raised with his stature. “You go and betray me. You go and fuck him.”

  My breathing picked up in my throat as fear started to overtake my bones. He looked like he was about to lunge for me and use my face as a punching bag. I had been around a lot of dangerous men in my time but none of them had looked more intimidating than Liam until that very moment. Even though I barely knew him, I had done something to offend him. No, more than that I had done something to hurt him. I let my eyes travel toward the door, trying to estimate the chances of me making it past him in time.

  “And if it was just the sex I might be able to look past it.” He cracked his knuckles in his hands loudly as he took a few more anxious steps toward me. “I mean, I get it, I know how manipulative Jackson can be. He’s always been like that, even when we were kids, he always knew just what to say or do to make you think something awful was the best idea in the world.”

  When they were kids?

  “Believe me, I get it,” he continued. “But then you had to go and fucking fall in love with him.” He reached forward and grabbed the blanket off of me, throwing it onto the floor. “And that makes you useless to me.”

  Realization dawned on me as I processed his words and all the various clues that had come into play over the last few weeks. “You grew up with them, didn’t you?” I whispered. “You were their foster brother?”

  “I didn’t grow up with them,” he laughed bitterly. “I grew up in the fucking basement while the Lucas brothers and their demon father took out their problems on me over and over again.”

  I closed my eyes, trying to tread lightly. I had no idea what this kid had been through but it was clearly something I couldn’t even begin to imagine. “I’m sorry that happened to you,” I told him shakily. “I am, but Jackson was just a kid. They all were. They didn’t realize…”

  “Shut your fucking mouth,” he snapped, closing the distance between the two of us and grabbing me by the elbow as he pulled my body up off the bed and thrust it across the room. “You don’t get to talk about things you know nothing about. Your boyfriend and his whole family are the sickest individuals I’ve ever come across in my life and, believe me, I’ve been in some pretty sick situations before.”

  I landed with a thud against my desk and tried not to cry out in pain.

  “You’re right, okay? I don’t know anything.” I took a step further away from him, slowly but firmly.

  “You don’t get it.” He grabbed me again right away, pulling me toward him. “You had a real opportunity, a chance at redemption, but you choose them. Now I’m going to have to kill you, just like I have to kill them.”

  Panic washed over me and I opened my mouth, screaming bloody murder off impulse. Clearly, trying to reason with him wasn’t going to work. Hopefully, someone nearby would hear me screaming and either call the cops or come to investigate themselves.

  The mystery intruder shoved his hand over my mouth and shook my body back and forth roughly. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and pressed the blade to my throat. “You stupid bitch, shut the fuck up or I swear to God I’ll slit your pathetic little throat right here in the middle of your college dorm room.”

  I snapped my mouth shut when I saw the look on his face and a tear slipped down my eye without my permission, falling onto my cheek and dripping onto his hand.

  “Really?” he mumbled. “The girl who crawls into Jackson Lucas’s bed willingly is crying?” He shook his head. “It’s a little ironic, don’t you think?”

  I closed my eyes, praying for a miracle. One move and that blade would be in my neck, my blood spilled all over the perfectly vacuumed carpet. No amount of tears was going to change that.

  Stop fucking crying, Emery.

  “Relax,” he said, pressing his fingers into my mouth more firmly. “I’m not going to kill you, not yet, but I want you to give your boyfriend a little message for me. Their days are numbered, and somehow, someway, when they least expect it, I’m going to make them pay for everything they’ve done. Slowly, painfully, and on my own terms.” He got a hopeful, almost happy, look on his face. “You’re all going to be dead by this time next year.”

  Then he dropped the knife and moved forward with an evil smile, wrapping his hands around my neck and squeezing so tight that all the breath slipped out of my throat before my eyelids rolled into the back of my head and I faded off into a sea of blackness.

  Chapter Five

  “Sweetheart.”

  EMERY

  When I came to again my vision was blurred and a headache was forming at the center of my forehead. I moaned in pain and tried to regulate my breathing. My new enemy had choked me out before he left, just for fun.

  How long had I been out for?

  My thoughts immediately traveled to Jackson and the echoed threats of the man who had been in my room just before I slipped into a cloud of slumber.

  Jackson.

  I had to warn him.

  He was in danger, serious danger.

  I stumbled across the room in a daze, lunging for my phone and dialing Jackson’s number with shaky hands. Each ring sent another stabbing pain through the center of my chest. Where the hell was he?

  “Now isn’t a good time,” he said into the receiver finally without even saying hello. “I’m in the middle of something.” I could hear raised voices in the background.

  “Jackson,” I croaked out.

  “What’s wrong?” An edge drifted into his tone right away.

  “Whoever sent the tape, he was your foster brother at one point.” I glanced at the busted lock on the back of my door. “He was here.”

  “He was what?” he snapped. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. But Jackson, you’re in danger.”

  He cursed heavily. “Emery, don’t move a muscle, I’ll be there soon, do you hear me? Don’t fucking move.” The line went dead before I could respond.

  Not like I was planning on it.

  The door swung open eight minutes later and Jackson came lunging in, his brothers trailing after him. He was across the room in seconds looking me over. “What the fuck happened? Are you alright?”

  I forced myself not to cry in front of him and pulled the sweatshirt I had thrown on closer to myself. The last thing I wanted was for him to see the bruises on my neck and completely lose his shit, judging from the look on his face he was already halfway there.

  “I’m fine, I’m fine.” I stood up from my bed and let him yank my body into his side. “I was sleeping and he just burst in. He was acting crazy, mumbling about betrayal and how you guys ruined his childhood.”

  Pierce glanced at Liam and they exchanged a look I couldn’t read. “What else did he say?” Pierce wanted to know, trying to further gage the situation.

  “He said I had let him down,” I whispered. “He said he was trying to save me from you guys and I had fucked it up. He was really pissed off, said we would all pay.”

  “That fucking asshole.” Jackson tightened his grip on me. “Are you sure you’re okay? Did he touch you?” He looked my body up and down again, his eyes pausing on the spot between my legs he had long ago claimed as his own.

  I shook my head. “Nothing happened.” It wasn’t exactly the truth but what he was assuming sure as hell hadn’t happened. I would explain the rest later after they got to safety. “But he’s coming after you guys. You have to get out of town and fast.”

  They all stared at me.

  “I’m serious!”


  Liam and Pierce glanced at each other and then promptly burst into laughter. Jackson glanced at his brothers briefly but refused to keep his gaze off of me for long. “We don’t run, Emery, we hunt.”

  “You what?”

  “We aren’t letting some pussy chase us out of town,” Liam snapped. “Pierce.” He turned to his brother. “Call our PI, have him fax over pictures of every foster child that was ever in our care. We’ll have Emery go through them until she finds our guy.”

  Pierce pulled his phone out. “On it.”

  Jackson kept his eyes on me, taking in every inch of my body. He was searching for some trace of evidence that I wasn’t okay. “I want you to tell me exactly what happened.”

  I couldn’t take my eyes off of Liam’s face. He had an expression I couldn’t read plastered there. Something between distain and pleasure. “What are you going to do to him?” I asked out loud without thinking.

  Liam didn’t seem startled that I was speaking to him. Instead, he grinned, as if he had been expecting it. “We’re going to kill him, of course.”

  “What?” I gasped. “You can’t!”

  Jackson’s eyes landed on my neck and I froze. I had slipped up, not covering myself properly thanks to Liam’s announcement. His eyes grew dark as his gaze drifted to the redness around my skin and I saw him inhale sharply, he looked like he had when he had started ripping apart that room in the science building the other day.

  “It’s nothing,” I whispered. “Nothing happened.”

  “You call that nothing?” He kept his eyes on me, studying my eyes intently. “Liam,” he said sharply, never turning around. “When we catch this guy, I’m the one who gets to put the bullet in his head.”

  “Jackson,” I warned.

  He leaned into me. “I’m going to inspect every inch of you when we’re alone, Emery, and I swear to God for every mark I find, I’m going to leave ten on him before I throw his dead body into a shallow grave.”