Billionaire Games (Standalone)

by Kenya Wright

  Letting out a long breath, I returned to the arena and searched for Caden.

  A scream echoed through the space. The crowd tensed as they focused on the right side of the arena.

  The archer had somehow returned. He barely stood as he began shooting arrows at everyone. For the first time, Caden moved, charging across the sand. The archer couldn’t hit him. A trail of arrows pinned his shadow to the sand.

  Caden leaped into the air and landed on the archer, slicing him in the neck. The archer fell back from the impact and screamed in pain and veered left and ran from Caden’s further attacks.

  Get him.

  Caden yanked the man’s own arrows out of the sand and drove it into his forehead. And that was the end of the archer.

  The crowd rumbled in happiness, stomping their feet, and chanting out, “Blood! Blood! Blood”

  Caden stood silent. His chest rose up and down. The armor had left him. Sweat and dirt decorated ripped layers of muscle. He continued that way. Unmoving and solid. The fear in his eyes shifted to hunger, making him appear more like a starving predator than young prey. Even when kimono stalked his way and another fighter rushed him from the other side, he remained in that military stance.

  Caden’s enemies got close.

  Watch out!

  At the last second, Caden dropped to a crouch, slammed kimono into the dirt, rolled the other way, yanked an arrow out the ground, and swung it at the other fighter. The arrow hit the man in his chest. He crumbled to the ground.

  The crowd went wild.

  Caden sprang to his feet with another arrow in his hand. Kimono barely recovered from his hit. Caden cocked his head to the side. Kimono lunged. Rapidly, Caden crouched low and spun, lodging the arrow in kimono’s gut.

  Blood spurted from him and sprayed onto Caden’s face.

  Horns blared all around us, announcing the winner.

  There was a sickening crack.

  The crowd roared.

  Tears streaked down Caden’s face. Turning his back to everyone, he walked away without looking at the dead bodies or the crowd.

  That had been fifteen years ago. Now I was twenty and he was damn near in his mid-thirties, he no longer looked young, scared, and innocent. He was power carved into muscle. Even if I hadn’t seen him fight so long ago, one could tell that he could in the fluid motion of his walk or the way that hazel gaze held the heart of anyone that was stupid enough to look in his eyes.

  Now I stood in the room with him handcuffed, drugged, and passed out on the floor. I’d confirmed he was Hundun, one of the head conspirators in this world that authored more terror than any action movie director could imagine.

  After Freddy fired me, I became sick of the filthy rich and wickedly powerful. I continued to work for many of these top families but for a new reason. I was going to wipe out these types of people. Make the world better again. What was the point of having power, if one couldn’t save the weak from the evilly strong?

  During the day, I guarded filthy rich leaders that ruled the world. In the evenings, I cut off the bad ones silently within the darkness. So far, no one had noticed thinking many of these billionaires died of hard living or natural causes.

  And now I have Hundun.

  So many men had reached for their phones and yelled that name for help. They’d called him to come and save them and I’d killed them fast and got the hell out of there unsure of, who the hell, Hundun was.

  My soldier from the arena is Hundun. And Freddy led him to me. I hope this is a good sign.

  The boat rocked.

  I checked my watch. Caden liked games and I planned on giving him one.

  Chapter 41

  Caden

  In my dream, the door creaked loudly as I stepped inside the cell. Small lights hung above and were spaced far apart here. It was barely enough of a glow to see anything in the prison. The cells had solid steel doors and iron bars where prisoners could look out from the average eye level.

  Where am I? Who locked me up?

  I raced past the cells. Dark, steel hallways snaked back and forth. There were no guards around or security cameras. All the prisoners slept, curled into corners or flat on their backs.

  There’s an exit.

  A white door stood in front of me. Odd among the black steel of the prison. It could’ve been a trap, but I didn’t care. I just didn’t want to go back in any of those cells. I didn’t remember being in them, but I’d been in enough jails around the world to not enjoy them.

  Get the hell out of here.

  In a few heartbeats, I unlocked the door and it creaked open. Sunlight shined into the prison’s darkness. A beach appeared before me. Brilliant colors layered the sky as the sun began to set faster than I’d ever seen one move.

  I stepped out into the sand leaving the prison and darkness behind, the jailed men, and corrupt memories.

  Barefoot, Dawn walked along the edge where the ocean met sand, slipping foamy beads back and forth. She leaped from seashell to seashell, her thin, white dress clinging to her curvy body.

  “Dawn!” I raced toward her.

  “Hundun!” She smiled and beckoned me closer.

  Hundun? How does she know that name?

  The moon pushed the sun out of the sky and stars glittered around us. And then Dawn’s face morphed into melting clay, blending, and twisting into bulging flesh.

  I stopped running. “Dawn?”

  The flesh rippled and reshaped. And Dawn’s face shifted into Lotus—dark creamy flesh and icy blues.

  “Hundun,” she whispered.

  She pulled off her white gown and revealed a tiny chemise over that sculpted, feminine body. Ocean waves lapped at her feet. My prison pants tightened as my length hardened.

  “Come swim with me, Hundun.” She dove into the water, her white dress following her.

  Forgetting about Dawn or the oddness of this world, I raced to the water. I had the sudden urge to be in the water with her. She made it far with her head rising every few seconds and her arms going up and then back into the water with each stroke.

  “Lotus, wait for me!”

  I got to her.

  She turned to me. “You came.”

  “I did.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you called.”

  “Does Dawn not call?”

  “No.”

  Speckled with moonlight, the ocean calmed around us. The semi-darkness made it difficult to see her face clearly.

  “We could be amazing together,” she whispered.

  “First we would have to not kill each other.” I swam under the water, came up to her, and gripped those lush legs.

  In the moonlight, we teased each other. I wrestled with Lotus, embracing her under the water when I could. She dragged me down to the bottom. I held my breath, touched the sand, and propelled us back up.

  We came up for air, laughing, swimming nonchalantly away and back to each other. Lotus’s chemise floated up around her shoulders and hampered her movements.

  “You should take that off.” I swam under and touched her playfully, wrestling and diving under and between her legs. Laughing, she took it off and parted her legs so that I could dive between them and reappear on the other side.

  “You’re amazing.” I embraced her from behind, covering my whole body with hers.

  “What is that between my legs?” she whispered as I kissed the curve of her neck.

  “My cock, sweet Lotus.”

  She turned and slipped her hand up and down the length of my cock, making me erect and hungry for her. The ocean water lulled around us, warming and caressing our skin.

  “I’m not ready for that.” She tried to swim away.

  “Trust me.” I swam under her body, caressed her, gripped her legs, and then mounted her from behind. “You can take it.”

  “But will it hurt?”

  “Never.” I gripped her hips and tried to pierce her with me.

  She slipped away and laughed. “You would have to cat
ch me first.”

  We wrestled in the ocean. Each movement affected me more physically, made me more aware of Lotus’s body against mine. The water swung us back and forth like two heavy water lilies floating over a rippling pond.

  I kissed those full lips.

  She whispered against my mouth. “You’re going to make me drown.”

  With the constant motion, I couldn’t fuck her like I needed to. My cock touched her over and over again at the most vulnerable tip of her sex but that was it.

  And then the sky crackled with thunder.

  Lotus slipped away from me and swam toward shore.

  “Come back.” I followed.

  We fell on the sand.

  The waves still lapped at our feet.

  Lotus turned to me and slapped my face. “Wake up!”

  I blinked back my shock. “What?”

  “Wake! Up!” She slapped me again.

  And that was when I opened my eyes and the real world rushed back to me. No wonder I’d been dreaming about swimming. I was currently floating out in the ocean. I spit up salt water as I gasped for air. Someone had ahold of me and towed me through the water.

  Where am I?

  A huge yacht sank on the right side of me. Something had happened to it. Maybe it was shot down. Perhaps it had a leak. Nothing could come to mind besides the fact that I was now in the middle of an ocean, floating by a sinking vessel and could see no land around me, just yet.

  “Wake up!” Lotus gripped the top of my life jacket and dragged me forward and swam with the other hand. She wore a life jacket too. Terror covered her face. “Wake up!”

  “I’m up.” I pushed away from her, realized my hands and legs were free and rushed to her side. “What happened?”

  “The boat went down.” She took hold of the top of my life jacket.

  “Whose boat?” I pushed it away.

  She brought it back. “You’re weak. I can’t lose you. And it doesn’t matter whose boat. There’s a storm coming. We need to get to shelter.”

  My heart boomed in my chest. There was nothing like waking up to the possibility of drowning. Adrenaline kicked in as I quickly snapped my head into focus.

  I glanced back and shouldn’t have. That large vessel continued to sink. Flames danced up the sides. Creaking blared as metal bent and cracked.

  We’re fucked.

  “Hurry!” Lotus swam ahead of me still dragging me forward. “There has to be land somewhere! It has to be in this direction.”

  I couldn’t see it, but I trusted her. Who else could one trust, when faced with death, but the other person that could be dying right next to them?

  A storm had come and hurled the boat around. I saw no tattered sails or screaming men.

  The sky grayed above us, streaking with more lightning than I’d ever seen. There was a terrifying darkness to the water. Anything could’ve lurked under us—sea monsters, other men, sharks. We had to get to land before the oncoming storm and anything else developed.

  Struggling, she swam for both of us dragging me along. I tried to loosen from her, but she kept her hold as if my dying could kill her too.

  “Let go of me.” I shoved hard, breaking her hold. “I’ll swim for the both of us.”

  I hooked my hand on her life jacket and kicked my legs forward. We rushed through the water had a faster pace. She breathed hard around me. I bet her heart was drumming in her chest. Mine sure had been pumping out a battle tune, trying to keep me alive. The only sounds were our breathing within the threatening soundtrack of thunder. Water sloshed and waved over. It was a fight to keep us going forward with no end in sight.

  Come on. Show me land. Show me some land.

  The world darkened around us. Raindrops fell from the sky. Swimming in an ocean while it rained was never a preferred activity for me. Swimming in a thunderstorm ranked even lower.

  A coastline appeared off in the distance.

  “You were right.” I picked up my pace, dragging her through the water like a rag doll. “There’s land!”

  “Yes!”

  I almost hugged her, had she not been my enemy.

  But was she still my enemy? She could’ve left me on that yacht to die. Had it been me, I might’ve let her sink there.

  Land moved closer with each stroke. Barely fifty feet lay between us. We were lucky bastards for sure.

  And then something dawned on me. “Why didn’t you let me die?”

  “What?” she yelled behind me.

  “Why didn’t you let me die on the sinking boat?”

  “Because you’re worth more alive.”

  I slung her in front of me and let her go, staring as she floated on my side. “I thought we decided that you weren’t after money?”

  “How about we have this conversation when our feet are on the ground?”

  “You might not make it there. Why did you save me? It must’ve taken a lot of effort.”

  Her eyes widened as the waves got more violent and she almost slipped away.

  I caught and pulled her back to me. “Why did you save me?”

  “Because you could be useful and there was no reason for you to die.” She trembled next to me. “You could do more for me alive than dead at the bottom of the ocean.”

  That made more sense.

  “Thank you.” I returned to dragging her to the merciful land before us. It didn’t matter if people, shelter, or even food was there. I was just happy to be out of the dark waters—away from all the sea and storm.

  Once we hit land, we crawled onto the sand exhausted. Our clothes clung to our bodies. I tore off the heavy life jacket and she did the same.

  Both of us collapsed into the sand, panting, and lying on our backs.

  The darkening sky rumbled above us. A forest stood far ahead of us. There was a gate and sign that said No Trespassing. Someone had to be around. And even with the storm coming, the beach looked breathtaking. People came here. There were probably tons of them all around. This island could be a resort or a diving stop. Something that could provide us with help.

  “We can’t rest,” she whispered in between the roar of the sky. Seaweed tangled in her hair. “We have to find shelter.”

  I dragged myself to my feet and pulled her up next to me. It was hard to walk after hours of kicking in the water. It was so hard to even get used to solid ground under my feet after being drugged and on the boat.

  “How long did you have me on that boat?”

  She stumbled forward. “For a week.”

  I stopped in the sand. “A week!?”

  Alarm hit her face. “Maybe we should discuss this away from the rain.”

  “Seven days have gone by. You’ve been drugging me for seven days.”

  “I’ve been waking you up and putting you to sleep for seven days. In between that, we had fun little conversations and I taught you lessons about what happens when boys hit girls.”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “You will.”

  I fisted my hands.

  She didn’t smile or appear pleasant. “You want to fight right now or save your life?”

  “Don’t drug me again and after we find shelter, I’ll probably kill you.”

  She limped away. “How about we promise to keep each other alive for tonight.”

  “I won’t make that promise.” I pushed forward and considered finding help without her.

  I grumbled with each step, not appreciating the memories of her whipping my ass. No one had ever gotten as many punches in as she did. If the Eight knew, they would probably give her a medal and hire her.

  Now she wasn’t so stiff like the times before. She stumbled behind me, tripping over rocks. Her hands swung back and forth with each step like she was a zombie.

  “I need to rest for a minute.” She fell to the ground.

  “I should fucking leave you right here for all the trouble you’ve caused.” I stalked back.

  She lay on the ground, panting. The whites of her eyes had tinted to re
d. She coughed into her hand and then collapsed her head back into the sand. “Just a minute.”

  “We don’t have a minute.” I picked Lotus up and carried her in my arms—this wet tangled mess of a woman that had caused a tangled mess of my life. “A fucking week. Everybody probably thinks I’m missing.”

  With a weak voice, she whispered, “That’s probably a good thing.”

  “For who?” I growled.

  “For them. Your enemies have probably got the best sleep of their life this week.”

  I stomped forward and entered the forest. “Keep talking and I’m going to drop you.”

  With no map, phone, GPS, sun, stars, or even a fucking compass, I headed the way that felt right. Sometimes that was always the best direction. I wasn’t certain of God, but I knew that something existed around us that pulled us into different directions.

  Where was life dragging me now?

  An hour later, night came. Rain hammered down on us. Lotus clung to me as she remained in my arms. Thank God, she didn’t weigh anything, we wouldn’t have made it if she had.

  “I think I can walk now.” Lotus stirred in my hold.

  “Save your energy for when we get there.”

  “Maybe, we should just find a tree and. . .”

  “What, build a quick hut and campfire? I’m good but not that good. And being that you haven’t whipped out any knowledge about trees and where to go, I think we should just keep moving forward. It’ll all work out if we just keep moving forward.”

  “I’m scared.”

  “I’m terrified.”

  Panic seized my heart. It was the only thing that kept the organ beating. Still, I moved us forward, carrying my enemy along with me. I hadn’t even known she existed and within our time of meeting, I really wanted to kill her. And now I was saving her life after she’d just saved mine.

  Life was a twisting, turning, flexible being that showed no sign of becoming predictable.

  We didn’t have our usual devices to tell us where we were or get help. We could’ve washed up anywhere in the world. We must’ve spent hours trudging through rain and mud. Cold picked up the chill in the wind. Soggy branches smacked us in the face as they fell.