Torment (B.A.D. Inc Book 1)

by Angel Devlin

  “Nah, it’s warm. Let’s go.” I wrap my fingers around her wrist and begin pulling her towards the exit.

  “Oh but—” she complains. I cut her off.

  “No buts. Those guys want you and they need to know who you belong to.”

  “And who’s that then?” she asks with a hiccup.

  “Me.” My arm snakes around her waist and I pull her tighter into my side to prove a point.

  An amused laugh falls from her lips. “I think I should point out, Mr. Alpha Arsehole, that I actually don’t belong to anyone, and certainly not you.” Hiccup.

  “We’ll see.”

  “Where are we going now?” she asks as I march us past the next pub.

  “Thought we’d check out the beach. The tide should have gone out now.”

  “I’m not going swimming; it’ll be bloody freezing.”

  “Did I suggest it?” Although I must admit now she said it the idea does sound appealing. “I thought we could go see the donkeys.”

  She splutters. “I’m sorry. Did you just say donkeys?”

  Laughing at her lack of English seaside experience, I continue forward through the mass of people, none of which I’d ever willingly want to spend time with, I’m sure.

  “Aw they’re cute, I guess. From a distance that is.”

  “The fun isn’t just looking from afar, come on.”

  She lifts up a foot. “I’ve not got the kind of shoes for trekking across wet sand.”

  “So take them off.”

  She looks at me as if I’ve just suggested cutting off her damn feet. She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth and bites down on it as her alcohol filled brain tries to function.

  Reaching out, I grab her chin and pull her lip from its trap, revealing her perfect white teeth hiding beneath. I focus on her full red lips and my cock stirs. The sight of her last night with them wrapped around my hard length is something I know I won’t forget for a long time.

  “I’ve got a better use for these lips. Bite them again and I’ll show you exactly what it is.”

  Her eyes widen but I don’t miss them darkening as she realises what I mean.

  “You wouldn’t.”

  A low laugh rumbles up my throat. “Oh, Mia. I’m really not the kind of man you should doubt. If I wanted to, I’d have you on your knees right here and now.”

  “But—” She looks around at all the families on the beach.

  I lean in, my lips brushing the shell of her ear as I speak. “Rest assured, Mia. If I want you, I will have you. Whenever. Wherever.”

  She pulls back, putting some space between us. “Hmmm…” She brings her fingers up to her lips as if she’s remembering a kiss, but I know full well my lips haven’t touched hers. “It’s funny because you say that, yet you’ve not done it yet. I’m starting to wonder if you’re as good as your reputation makes out.”

  A smile curls at my lips. Reaching out, I thread my fingers through hers and pull her towards me. Our chests collide and I brush a stray bit of hair from her face.

  “You’re wrong about my reputation, Mia.” I lean in closer. “I’m better.”

  Without giving her a chance to respond, I tug her and head for the donkeys.

  “Fancy a ride?” I ask, not missing the hitch in her breathing.

  “On a donkey? No.”

  “I thought you might say that. I can think of a much better way to ride an ass anyway.” Her chin drops as the young lady who’s holding onto the donkeys turns a bright shade of red.

  “Deacon,” Mia admonishes, slapping her hand to my shoulder.

  “Pucker up, this is a perfect picture for your Insta feed.”

  “Do you have any idea what I do?” Her brows pull together. She’s really offended by the suggestion.

  “Yeah, you post pretty pictures online for millions to see. They’d love to see you with a donkey.”

  “Fuck off.” As she says this, one of the donkeys nudges her arms and she’s forced to rip her gaze from mine in favour of the huge pair of dark eyes who want her attention.

  She turns to him, her hand lifting to stroke his head. I take the opportunity to pull my phone back out and snap a few more pictures. I don’t upload them to Instagram, not yet anyway.

  “Okay, can we go now? These kind of smell.” She turns her nose up and starts to walk off down the beach a little. It only takes me three strides to catch up with her as she sways from side to side slightly with her shoes in her hand. “I need food.”

  “Any requests?”

  “It’s safe to say that I’ve not seen any restaurants that I’d happily eat in.”

  “Are you always such a snob?”

  “Not wanting to get food poisoning doesn’t make me a snob. All we’ve seen is greasy old cafes. I bet they don’t even have cloth napkins.”

  “I could probably guarantee that, Mia. I’ll find us somewhere.” The temptation to take her to a greasy spoon is high but I’ve also not been thrilled by some of the places we’ve walked past.

  “I want to say I trust you, but that would be far from the truth,” she admits.

  “Ouch. And here I was starting to think I was growing on you.”

  “If you count growing on my last nerve as growing on me, then yeah.”

  “It’s better than nothing.”

  We walk along past the tourist shops and she looks into each one with a grimace on her face. She really is a Park Lane Princess.

  “Chinese?” I ask, seeing a sign for an all-you-can-eat buffet.

  She looks up and her face relaxes slightly at the quality of the front of the restaurant. It does stand out a little from the paper tablecloths and fake flowers we’ve seen so far today.

  Walking in, I get us a table for two, delighting at the confusion that covers her face when she looks over to the long food station.

  “What is this place?”

  “All-you-can-eat buffet.”

  She looks up at me and back to the warmers full of food as she takes her seat. “We have to get our own food?”

  The waiter who’s seating us just about manages to contain his laughter as he asks us what we’d like to drink.

  “Whiskey and a bottle of white wine, the best you’ve got for my princess here.”

  She baulks but doesn’t say anything until he’s walked off. “I’m intrigued to discover what they class as ‘the best they’ve got’. Something tells me it’ll be different to what I’m expecting.”

  “Expect the worst, it can only get better then.”

  “Like I did with you?”

  “Things are getting better then?”

  “It all hangs on this restaurant choice.”

  The food is surprisingly good seeing as it’s all been sitting under warmers for fuck knows how long. Mia doesn’t even turn her nose up at the bottle of Chablis the waiter brings back. He took forever, making me wonder if he had to run to the closest shop to get something suitable.

  Mia refills her plate three times, leading me to believe she’s either happy with the food or was just starving. Her earlier consumption of beer doesn’t stop her almost polishing off the entire bottle of wine as she eats and her movements get clumsier as the meal goes on.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever eaten this much Chinese before in my life.” She sits back and places her hand over her belly.

  “I’m glad I could be your first all-you-can-eat experience.” I wink, a smirk appearing on my face.

  “Oh, I can safely say that you’ve ticked off a few firsts for me today.”

  Leaning forward on my elbows, I close the distance between us a little and drop my voice. “There’s still plenty of time yet. I’m going to hear you scream before this day is out.” She blushes at my words. “You ready for some fun, Ms. Hamilton?”

  “No, absolutely not.”

  “I guess it’s a good job you don’t have a choice.” I drop some notes to the table that will easily cover our bill and pull her chair out for her. With my hand in the small of her back, I guide her out o
f the restaurant and in the direction of our next destination.

  The closer we get, the more she begins to slow down. “Deacon, please tell me you’re not taking me there.” She nods her head toward the Pleasure Beach, pure fear oozing from her.

  “You’re not scared, are you?”

  “No, I’m not scared. I’m fucking terrified.”

  My smirk is large. “I told you I was going to make you scream.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mia

  I’ve no idea what I’m doing here with this man. I started drinking beer to prove a point and then it made me feel like I could deal with being in his company for longer, so I drank even more. Now we’ve had some relatively edible food and I’ve had wine and I want to go home. I don’t care that driving takes longer. I want my driver to come for me and then I can sleep in the back.

  Now Deacon is pointing me in the direction of a fairground with the biggest fucking ride I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m not going on that.

  I. Will. Die.

  I have never been to a fairground before and I can’t say it’s ever featured on my bucket list.

  “Deacon. I need to be getting back home. So thanks for the offer of shortening my life expectancy but to be honest, I’d just like to sleep.” Thinking about sleeping makes me yawn. Deacon’s mouth drops open.

  “I can’t believe you’re fucking yawning. It’s only half-past six.”

  “I barely drink and I’ve overdone it. Actually, I need a wee. Can you find me a bathroom?”

  “Yeah, there’ll be one in there.” He points to the fairground.

  I sigh. “Show me the way.”

  We go through the entrance, it’s all loud music, crowds, and people being whizzed around in the air on various apparatus. I finally find a bathroom that is apparently award winning. I’m just so damn thankful it’s clean and doesn’t smell. I decide I’ve had enough of bossy Deacon and that I’m definitely going home, so after washing my hands I exit and walk right past him, storming off. He falls into step beside me.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m going home. It’s been… interesting. No, actually that’s a lie. It’s been a crock of shit, basically what the donkeys did. I don’t know why you brought me here. What point you were trying to make, unless it was the let’s make the posh girl look stupid, but I’m done. I’ve no idea why women find you entertaining, I think you’re boring as f—”

  I have to shut up because his lips are on mine. Crushing me. Those warm soft lips that are my weakness. I find myself wrapping my arms around him, hungry for more. His tongue teases until I open for him. He delves inside, immediately finding my tongue that eagerly meets his. A low groan comes from the back of his throat and fuck if it doesn’t send a wave of heat to my core.

  When he eventually pulls back, he grabs hold of my hand and begins tugging me out of the park. “Come on. I’m going to find somewhere to sober you up and then we’re coming back and you will enjoy yourself. I’m determined.”

  The place to sober me up turns out to be a ‘guest house’ situated just behind the Pleasure Beach. We walk inside where we’re greeted by a middle-aged woman who’s clearly dying her own hair, given it’s bleached to death and like straw.

  “Is she okay?” the woman nods towards me and I realise I’m staring.

  “Sorry. I’m just tired. It’s been a long day,” I lie.

  “If we can book a room for a night please. We can have a rest and then hopefully get back out later this evening,” Deacon explains.

  “Do you want bed and breakfast or just the bed?” The woman’s eyebrow rises. She must think we just want a quick fuck.

  “And breakfast please. That would be lovely.” He switches the charm on and the woman begins to relax.

  “I’m not stopping with you.” I look Deacon straight in the eyes. “Dream on. I’ll get my own separate room.”

  “I’m sorry, love. We only have one room vacant,” the woman says.

  Deacon sighs. “Do you want to go and have a lie down or not?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then please shut up and let me get us booked in.”

  I do as I’m told and then we follow the woman right up God knows how many stairs. The place has gaudy purple carpets, floral furnishings, and the most hideous displays of horror film worthy dolls. She eventually pushes open a door revealing a small room with a double bed, wardrobe, bedside table, and not much else, and after saying if we need anything else to let her know, she’s gone.

  I drop onto the mattress and it squeaks. I scramble back to my feet.

  I push my hair out of my face. “What the fuck is this nightmare, Deacon? I don’t know what I ever did to you, but I am so, so sorry. Please take me home and I’ll do anything you ask.”

  “While that’s very tempting, we’re not going anywhere, because right now I have you alone in a bedroom.” He walks over to me and my breath hitches, and then he carries on past me and picks up the kettle.

  My nose turns up as he walks into the bathroom, fills the kettle and then places coffee in a chipped mug. I push open the ‘bathroom door’, which is part of the attic sectioned off and I look at the shower fixed above the bath, the small basin and toilet. I’ve never seen anything like it. “Do people really come on holiday to places like this?” I ask.

  I see it’s the wrong thing to have said as soon as his jaw sets taut. He doesn’t speak until the kettle has boiled. It’s a long and awkward silence.

  “We’re not all spoiled brats.” He thrusts the coffee at me. “Drink it. Sober the fuck up, you’re embarrassing yourself.”

  “You brought me here,” I complain. My fingers drag through my hair. “I don’t know what the fuck you want. If it’s to embarrass me, you’ve done it. To humiliate me? Congratulations. Let me know how spoiled I am? Bravo. I can’t help it that I’ve never been anywhere like this. It’s fucking awful.” I splutter the coffee out. “That’s shit. I drink filter. The bed creaks, Deacon. I’m rich, I can send for another fucking bed to be delivered here right now, and I can tell them it’s a gift. That’s how fucking rich I am. Why did you bring me to this place? I don’t belong here. I can’t help it.”

  He drops onto a chair by the window. “I don’t know. I guess I thought it would be fun showing the princess the seaside. I didn’t realise she’d have a tantrum. Maybe you’re not who I thought you were.” His gaze is cold and sobers me more than the disgusting coffee I’m trying to get used to. “You said you wanted independence. I wanted to show you something different.”

  My eyelids are closing, and I want to block Deacon out. I carefully lie myself on the top of the squeaking mattress, curl up in a ball and let the blackness take over.

  I’m woken by someone nudging me and calling my name. As my eyes open and I see the shadowed face of Deacon, everything that happened today comes flooding back.

  “Here, get this water and these painkillers.” He holds them towards me.

  “Jesus, I’ve turned into Karla,” I groan. I shuffle up to rest against the headboard. There’s just light from the small lamp in the room and my head snaps towards the blind on the dormer window.

  “It’s a blackout blind. It’s still light outside, but I thought you might not appreciate it when you woke.”

  “I’m sorry, Deacon. I’ve made a fool of myself.” Taking the water, I swallow the tablets. “I don’t know what you wanted from me today. I was out of my comfort zone and didn’t know what to do...” My words trail off.

  Deacon sits on the bed beside me, it lets out yet another creak. “I thought you might appreciate a complete change of scenery. You’re wanting your independence and I don’t mean to be harsh, but Mia, I’m not sure you know what independence truly is. You still want to be incredibly rich. Is that actual independence?”

  I don’t say anything.

  “My mother had money for a time and put me through university. From there I earned my own fortune, but I know how other people live. I’m aware of
it and I don’t look down my nose at it all like you do. How you stared at the woman running this guesthouse, moaned about the furniture. This is someone’s business. That they’ve started from the ground up. It’s more than you’ve achieved for yourself and yet you’re looking down on them. Get over yourself.”

  I’m already feeling delicate from the alcohol and his words hit me hard. I feel a tear slip from my eye. Damn him. I don’t want him to see me like this. He moves closer to me and leans over. His tongue licks the tear from my face.

  “So damn sweet.”

  Everything seems to cave in on me at once. In that moment I realise just how alone I am. Yes, I have friends, but even my best friend Karla will put an attractive man like Deacon before our friendship truth be told. My parents want a quiet life and I see them less and less. More tears slip from my eyes.

  The man in front of me, watching me as I cry, is the only person right now who can offer me the comfort I crave, the reassurance of arms around me. As I focus on his face, he watches me closely as my tears spill and I swear his eyes flash with desire.

  “I should ring my driver now,” I say quietly.

  “You are so beautiful, Mia.” His hand wipes away the wet from my cheeks and he tastes his fingers. “You, like this, could only be better if you were naked in body like you are naked before me in your vulnerability. Strip for me, Mia. Give me what I desire, and I’ll return the favour.”

  “How do I know you’re not just going to walk out on me again?” I hate sounding so pathetic but right now, I couldn’t bear it if he walked away.

  He stands from the bed and strips out of his clothing. “Is that indication enough?”

  My eyes feast on the flesh revealed before me. The tanned chiselled torso. The defined abdomen. The thick cock, hard between his legs.

  His tongue licks across his top lip. “Come to the end of the bed, Mia.”