by Gemma James
If need be, I’d walk out of that house buck-naked.
I headed toward the kitchen, hoping to find a coat in the closet by the door. Turning the corner, I shook with a mixture of anticipation and dread. It was deja vu, and I was back in my house on the night of my engagement, preparing to take hold of freedom with both hands, to hell with the consequences.
I smashed into a body, and at first I thought it was Rafe until the deep voice registered—a voice I didn’t recognize.
“What are you doing wandering around by yourself?”
“Rafe!” I screamed, turning and running toward the loft, as if my life depended on it. I screamed for him again as my feet threatened to slide across the hardwood. I was in such a frantic hurry to get up the ladder that my foot slipped on the first rung, and my chin hit the wood hard. I fell on my ass, my jaw throbbing, and palmed my breasts as a figure loomed over me.
Her scream jerked me from sleep, and I sprang to my feet. Adrenaline flooded my system, and I couldn't recall how I got to the opening of the ladder, but I was peering into the darkness when a light switched on. Alex cowered at the bottom, her petite hands covering her tits.
Jax stood next to her. He looked up and took in my questioning glance with a shrug. “She freaked the fuck out, man.”
“Just a sec. I’ll be right down.” I threw on a black shirt, leaving it unbuttoned, and pulled on my jeans. The belt hung over my dick, unbuckled as I descended the steps.
Alex sent me a nervous glance, eyes wide and chest heaving behind those hands that did little to conceal her tits. Part of me wanted to drag her back to bed and fuck her again. The other part wanted to see how this played out. I already tasted her humiliation, craved it even.
“Get up,” I said, my face hardening into a stern expression. I turned toward Jax. “Want a look?”
He arched a brow. “She's a naked woman. What do you think?”
Alex scooted away, bare ass sliding across the hardwood. I grabbed a fist full of her hair and brought her to her feet.
“Leave me alone!” She attempted to pull away, though she still didn’t move her hands, and I almost laughed at the way she was standing, like a comical version of a woman needing to pee but trying to hold it.
“Arms at your sides,” I ordered. She needed to know I was willing to go to any length to control her, and that included sharing her. Of course, I’d cut off my arm before I’d share her, but she didn’t know that. The threat of handing her off to Jax should go a long way toward breaking her stubborn will.
I yanked on her hair. “Hands at your sides!”
Her sob should have cut me to pieces. That would be the normal reaction, but her cries made me want to do dirty, nasty things that would turn those cries into screams. I bunched my hands as she dropped hers. Her nipples puckered, no doubt from the chill in the cabin.
“Touch her tits,” I said to Jax.
He narrowed his eyes. “You sure?”
No, not at all. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
Alex needed to know she had no sway with me. What better way to show her how little she meant than to let another man fondle her? He reached a hand out, paying no heed to her struggle, and brushed a fingertip across her nipple. Watching him touch her was harder than expected. She sucked in a breath and her body went lax against me, as if she knew she was outnumbered and couldn’t stop this.
She was right. She had no control on this island, and it was time she figured it out.
I gritted my teeth as Jax stepped closer and settled both palms over her tits. “You’re a lucky man, you sonofbitch.”
I might have taken offense, but the name fit my mother perfectly.
“They’re a little on the small side, but she’s a looker,” he said, continuing to mold her tits to his hands.
Agitation twisted her face, and she spit at him. “Get your hands off of me!”
He stepped back, out of the line of spit, and I jerked her back by the hair. “You need to learn a little respect, especially toward my roommate. Jax lives here, so you’d better get used to being naked around him.” I grabbed her face, forcing her watery eyes on mine. “If I tell you to let him touch you, you fucking let him touch you. If I tell you to suck his cock, you wrap that sweet mouth around his cock. You’re going to do as you’re told, got it?”
“No, I don't ‘got it,’” she said with a sneer. “I’m not a plaything you can pass around to your buddies. What the hell is wrong with you?”
I raised a brow. “What the hell is wrong with me?” I shoved her to her knees and held her head between hands that shook with rage. “What’s wrong with me is your attitude.” Fuck, she was getting under my skin. “Jax, unzip.” I took in his stunned expression. Obviously, he hadn't expected this development, and neither had I, but it was too late to back down, even if the thought of her mouth touching his cock before it touched mine set my blood boiling.
He only displayed a moment of hesitancy before unbuttoning his jeans. Alex was a tempting package, and I doubted there was a straight man alive that would pass up the chance to have that mouth fastened around his dick. Even Jax, who had issues when it came to being touched, wouldn’t say no.
He lowered his zipper and whipped out his junk. She tensed, edging her head sideways as he came near her. I tightened my hold, indecision warring within me. I wanted her mouth around my cock, no one else’s, but I needed to see this through.
Jax took another step and stopped just short of brushing his tip against her lips.
“Open your fucking mouth,” I told her.
She jerked her head back and forth, so I pressed my fingers into her jaw until she had no choice but to open. I glanced at Jax. “Give her a taste.”
Visibly swallowing, he slowly inched his tip past her lips.
“You like him on your tongue? How about if he really goes for it? Have you ever had a man deep-throat you?”
Her protest came out as a mangled reply around his dick, and her tears slid onto my hands while I forced her head still.
Jax’s eyelids fell, and I caught the slight shudder in his body. The tightness of his face wasn’t one of pleasure, and I realized this was going too far for him. Fuck, who was I kidding? This was going too far for me.
“You either suck his cock, or you go back into the cellar. Your choice.”
She jerked her head back. “Cellar,” she said, no hesitation whatsoever, and I smiled. The only cock she wanted was mine. I pulled her to her feet, and Jax stumbled back and zipped his pants.
I pushed her to the door of the cellar, and he followed, though he didn't trail us down the stairs. The door shut with a loud bang. She flung my hands off her and backed up, toward the racks of wine bottles. The tears that trickled down her face, dripping onto her tits, should have softened me, but they didn’t. I wanted to lick each one from her skin, savoring the salt on my tongue. Savoring her pain.
The law saw me as nothing more than a rapist. A degenerate. I wouldn’t want to disappoint them now.
“Get in the cage.”
“No!” She snatched a wine bottle, stared at it for a couple of seconds in her shaking grasp, and busted it on the wall. Deep red wine splashed at her feet. Lifting an unsteady arm, she gripped the jagged neck with whitened knuckles and widened her stance, as if ready to fight me.
Shit, she probably was. Maybe I’d finally found the secret button of hers—the one that sent her into a corner cowering with the realization that a cruel sonofabitch held her life in his hands. No more notions of romance and love-making. But she wasn’t exactly cowering now. She was ready to take me on, like a cornered tiger.
Fuck, it was a turn-on, especially since my claws were bigger than hers. “Put it down,” I said, the words tearing from my lips in a snarl.
“You’re crazy, Rafe! How could you offer me up to him?” she screamed the words, her face distorted into something I’d never seen on her delicate features. “How could you choke me?” Her entire body trembled, and I recognized the adrenaline rushing throu
gh her, the need to take control, but I didn’t believe she had it in her.
Until she jumped at me with the makeshift weapon and swiped the air.
Shit. She wasn’t kidding.
I put my hands up. “Calm down. At least I wouldn’t try to slice you up, sweetheart.”
“Stop calling me that!” Her face twisted in despair. “Please, let me go. Please…Rafe. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Sweetheart,” I said, just to goad her, “you’re not even close to hurting me.”
She only hesitated an instant before her arm shot out again and jagged glass came way too close for comfort.
Ducking, I caught her wrist and squeezed until the bottle dropped and splintered at our feet. “Come at me like that again and you’ll wish the devil was down here with you.” I wrenched her hands behind her back, trapped her against me, and wrapped an arm around her throat. Her breaths puffed out, each slow exhale indicating she was giving in. At least, that’s what I thought. I loosened my arm, a mistake, because she sank her teeth into my inked bicep, stomped on my foot, and tore up the stairs.
Why isn’t he grabbing me?
That was my only thought as I ran up the stairs. Each step seemed agonizingly slow, as if I were in a dream, someone on my heels chasing me, and I couldn’t get my legs to move fast enough. I pulled the door open and ran smack into a broad chest.
Jax grabbed my shoulders, and his fingers gouged my bones.
“Let me go!” I lifted a knee and aimed for his balls, and when he doubled over with a groan, I took off running. Time seemed to slow, and every footstep felt as if I were forging through mud. I reached the door, flung it open, and lurched into the cold. I didn’t dare look back. They could have been a foot behind me and I wouldn’t have known, and I was too scared to find out.
Breaths coming in shallow gasps, I raced over rough ground. Rocks bit into my feet and wind whipped hair into my eyes as rain drenched my body. At this point, I didn’t care that I was running naked in the middle of nowhere, exposed to the weather.
A streak of lightening lit up the sky, and I saw a break in the trees.
“Alex!”
My heart pounded in my chest, as loud as the thunder overhead as I recognized the fury in Rafe's voice. He sounded much too close. I buckled down and made for the trees, hoping to find a road on the other side, the source of the highway noise I’d noticed before from inside the kitchen.
“Stop! Alex!”
I broke through the line of Douglas firs in a full out sprint, but it wasn’t a road beyond the trees. Lightening lit up the sky again, and for that mere second, I saw the water. Rain pounded the surface, causing a choppy and violent scene. I skidded, my bare feet scraping over pebbles and dirt, and tried to halt forward motion.
I was too late.
With a terrified shriek, I tipped over the edge, my body twisting around as I fell in with a splash. More lightening streaked the heavens, and I saw Rafe’s horrified expression. I screamed for him, arms reaching and thrashing as I sank into the freezing depths. Water closed over my face, and the murky void pulled me under.
Pulled me away from him. Away from my only hope of being saved. I sure as hell couldn’t save myself. I couldn’t even swim.
I fought, kicked, prayed to reach the surface, and blindly grasped for something to cling to. My lungs burned with the need to breathe. Oh God, it was unbearable. Body going limp, I finally gave up the battle, accepting imminent death. Maybe I deserved it. Maybe it was better this way. At least I’d get the chance to see Mom again, get a chance to explain, to beg her forgiveness.
I thought of Rafe as I opened my mouth and allowed the water to fill my lungs. A sense of peace cocooned me, and I said goodbye to him, told him I loved him. As everything faded to black, I felt hands grabbing me. My body moved swiftly upward, then…nothing.
“Fucking breathe, Alex!”
Someone pounded on my chest.
“Shit, man. I’m so sorry. I shouldn't have let her get away.”
“Breathe!”
The voices were strained, as if coming from constricted throats. Cold, wet drops fell on my face, and at first I thought they were tears, but tears were hot and salty, and these drops were like icy pinpricks on my cheeks. Something loud rumbled overhead, blocking out the voices, and the ground vibrated. I felt soft, surprisingly warm lips on mine, opening my mouth and breathing life into me. I came to with a violent cough that seized my body.
“That's it, cough it up.” Cold fingers turned my head to the side, and a flood of water erupted from my mouth. I opened my eyes and found Rafe perched over me, his arms supporting his weight and his face inches from mine. “You scared the fucking shit out of me!” he screamed. Water dripped from his hair, down his nose and off his chin.
And his eyes...they narrowed to furious slits. He jumped to his feet and reached out a hand. “Get up,” he said between tight lips.
I let him pull me up, and my body quaked uncontrollably. I was still trying to calm down from almost drowning, but as soon as another streak of lightening shot across the sky, the situation hit me head-on.
Too much water.
All around me.
My heart pounded in my ears, galloping at an unbearable speed as panic took over. A keening cry tore from my lips, and I doubled over, hugging my midsection as the world around me tilted. “Why?” That single word squeezed from my throat. “Why would you bring me here?”
“Why do you think?” Shaking his head, Rafe glanced at Jax, who stood off to the side observing the drama unfolding between Rafe and me. “I knew you couldn’t escape, but I never thought you’d run and almost get yourself killed!”
I decided not to point out the fact that any sane person would try to run. “Where are we? What is this place?”
“Mason Island.” He swept the area with a hand. “But since you’re so set on leaving, there’s a boat at the dock. Feel free.”
“You know I can’t!”
“Don’t I know it,” he said with a sinister laugh. “Why do you think I brought you here?” He pushed me back enough so his eyes bored into mine. “You’ll fucking do as I say because there’s nowhere for you to go. We both know you won’t come anywhere near this water again.”
“I hate you!” I screamed, pounding on his chest.
He easily deflected the blows. “Not nearly as much as I hate you. Now move your ass.” He pulled me away from the river, toward the cabin, I assumed. I stumbled along numbly, eyes on the ground, one foot in front of the other, and never quite registered anything around me. I could only think of one thing.
Water. Too much water.
He hadn’t needed to lock me up. My fear held me prisoner more effectively than any conventional method he could have used. The chains, the shackles, the cage—they’d all been props to mess with my head. As I followed him back toward the cabin, something inside me finally broke. My fear of water stemmed from a near-drowning experience when I was four, and I’d never learned to swim.
Rafe had known. He’d been the one to fish me out of my family’s pool when I was fourteen, after Zach “accidentally” knocked me in. My brother had been particularly mean that day, probably because Rafe had stopped by, and I hadn’t been able to keep my eyes off him.
How ironic that my phobia was his most powerful weapon.
The three of us entered the cabin through the door off the kitchen, and Rafe switched on a light. Unable to stop shivering, I wrapped my arms around myself and clenched my jaw to stop my teeth from clanking together.
Rafe shrugged out of his soaked black shirt, flung it over a chair, and moved it away from the table. “Jax, take a seat over there, would ya?”
Jax gave him a funny look but followed the request.
“No, I need you to turn the chair around, so the back faces the table.”
“Sure thing.” Jax turned the chair and plopped onto it before removing his own wet T-shirt.
My gaze traveled between them, back and forth, and I felt as if
I were missing something. I'd just tried to escape. I'd almost drowned, and they were acting nonchalant. Too nonchalant. What the hell was going on here?
Rafe's gaze fell on me, and for a few heavy moments, I didn't breathe. That look, his lips thin, eyes narrowed, made my pulse rocket. A clap of thunder sounded, and I jumped.
Rafe pulled the belt from his pants.
I backed up. “What are you doing?”
He didn't give me a chance to retreat. With a yank on my arm, he brought me closer and wound the belt around my wrists.
“Rafe...please—”
He pulled the leather tight, and I gasped as he bent me over the table with a hard shove. Drops of water landed on the wood, and my breasts flattened against the surface.
He pushed my arms across the table and tossed the other end of the belt at Jax. “Knot it around the chair.”
“Rafe?” My voice came out unusually high-pitched, and I swiveled my head in time to see him take down the paddle he’d pointed out earlier that morning. “You wouldn't.”
Jax snickered as he attached the belt around a slot in the chair. I pulled on it, but it wouldn’t give.
“I definitely would.” Rafe brought my attention back to him. His voice chilled me, sending dread and remorse through my blood. Dread for what was coming, and remorse for my actions. I should have been smarter about trying to escape. I should have taken a few days to gain his trust first. This attempt had turned into a disaster.
“My old man only used this on my brother and me a handful of times. It hurt like hell, and you can bet your ass we learned quick. You’re about to learn quick too.”
I stiffened as he halted behind me. Waiting for that first strike was the worst part, and when he finally did crack that paddle across my ass, I lost my breath for what seemed like forever, though it must have only been a mere instant before he did it again. I jumped from foot to foot and bit into my lip to keep from yowling. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of voicing my pain.
And I never, ever wanted him to know how this was turning me on. My face burned from humiliation—not from what he was doing, but rather from my own sick reaction to it.
