The Salvation of Daniel (The Blue Butterfly Book 2)

by Sidebottom, D H

  The position clamped her legs together, restricting my cock inside her but this only gave me a deeper sensation of her cunt biting down on me. The elegance in the way she fucked made my name for her even more appropriate.

  I brought my mouth to her ear as I pushed further inside her, my thrusts quickening as my orgasm demanded its release. She groaned long and intensely when I swelled inside her, my climax painful and rapturous at the same time as I spewed inside her.

  My teeth clenched and I growled loudly as my body clenched and jerked, bliss making my eyes roll and my heart beat stutter. She followed me, another orgasm ripping another scream from her, enhancing my own with the erotic sound.

  I rested my forehead on her shoulder, sweat from both of us dripping down her hot skin, and slid out of her. She pushed up on her hands, encouraging me to roll off her and onto the bed.

  Her face turned to me, her skin flushed and glowing. “Well fuck.” My eyes widened at her language, especially after my earlier instruction but she winked. “I think you’ll find your dick isn’t currently inside me. So… yeah, fuck!”

  She tapped my nose then lifted herself off the bed and walked into the bathroom.

  My teeth were still grinding in fury as I heard the shower start up.

  THE EXHAUSTION DEBILITATED my weary body. I could take no more. I dropped to my knees again, wet mud adding a layer to the dry mud that caked my legs.

  I no longer registered the pain, only numbness and an overwhelming need to die.

  “Get up,” Frederik hissed. I cried out, surprising even myself at the strength my body found to voice my anguish when he brought the whip across my back in punishment. I didn’t howl at the agony, only the despair.

  “I can’t, Master,” I managed to croak out, even though my body defied my words and I palmed the ground to push myself upright. My hand slid in the sludge and I fell forwards, my cheek gliding over the dirt, some of the earth slithering up one of my nostrils. The rain that beat down on me made my skin even heavier, making standing even more excruciating. Even the Gods hated me apparently.

  The slurry of dirt picked up by the leather of the whip fed my flesh when my skin split with yet another thrash from my Master. “Get up, Shadow!”

  Swallowing slowly, I urged myself to stand, the tearing rain laughing at me when its strength mocked me and made the task almost impossible. I didn’t care that my bare arse stuck up in the air, I didn’t care that blood and mud were now my clothes, I didn’t care that my beautiful long black hair had been hacked off, nor did I care that my skin hung off my protruding ribs. The only thing I cared about was my sister, and how my pain and agony gave her peace and happiness. And that in itself gave me the determination to stand once more.

  Once upright, Frederik walked around me, coming to a halt in front of me. Rain poured from the umbrella Panther stood holding above his head and cascaded down my face but I knew better than to move from its torrent. I stood still, my eyes blinking furiously as the river lashed over my eyelashes and instinct attempted to close them. I didn’t even have the energy to close my mouth as it hung open, the only available input and outpour for air now the mud blocked my nose.

  He stepped forward, his foot skidding in the wet earth and his body surging forwards. Panther snatched his hand out and grabbed hold of him. I secretly wished he hadn’t done that.

  He curled his fingers around my throat and I sagged in his hold, thankful at the support for a brief moment. “What the fuck Isaac sees in you is beyond me. You are weak. A disabled irritant in an existence only for warriors and fighters.” His hold on me tightened. I couldn’t fight him anymore, I didn’t have the energy. I wanted to die, I craved for it.

  Frederik had taken an instant dislike to me as soon as Isaac had made me take my first step into the life of the Phantoms almost three years ago. As soon as I had entered the house, I felt his hatred seep into me. No Phantom ever went back on a binding contract, and the fact Isaac had brought me back instead of killing both Mae and me was not only outrageous but disrespectful to Frederik. So I was to be punished, not just for my father’s debts, but for Isaac’s insult.

  I dropped to the ground when he opened his hand, screaming at the pain that erupted through my kneecaps when they smashed on the concrete. I knew I had shattered one, my malnutrition made them brittle and fragile. The agony made my body jerk and vomit spew from my belly. I was surprised there was anything to throw up. I hadn’t eaten for days and I was concerned it was my stomach lining that had torn away when a spray of blood coated Frederik’s legs.

  He tutted, his cold stare locking on what painted him. My body instinctively curled in on itself when the heel of his boot slammed into my stomach. I had thought the pain before that had been unbearable but this was something altogether worse. Yet it wasn’t the pain from his kick that ripped my soul from me, it was the fact that I knew his cruelness had just killed the tiny living person that was growing inside me.

  A wail shattered the air around us when I immediately felt the warm rush between my legs, the torturous sound only a mother losing her child could make.

  “What the hell?” Frederik barked when his eyes dropped to the rush of blood flowing over my thighs.

  “No!” His scream was both agonising and welcoming. My eyes lifted in time to see Isaac race from the house and plunge the knife straight through Frederik’s gut, his rage twisting it cruelly, his wrath dragging it back out so he could stab the bastard in the heart.

  Frederik’s body dropped beside me, his dead open eyes fixed on me. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and merged with my own.

  “No!” Isaac wailed as he lifted me gently in his arms. Panther stood, his mouth agape, his eyes wide and flicking between Frederik and Isaac. “Contact the medic, have him meet me in the infirmary!” Isaac barked out as he rushed through the courtyard with me. “Panther!”

  The world was leaving me, Heaven closing in, the angels tempting me with serenity as they welcomed my baby into their arms.

  “Stay with me, my love. Don’t you dare close those beautiful eyes,” Isaac whispered as he ran. “Look at me, Connie.” The fact that he used my name and not my tag made me slowly open my eyes. Minions only had tags. We lost our names the moment we walked through those large wooden doors.

  His feet slipped in the wet mud but he kept going, his vigour and strength the only thing keeping me from death. “I’m going to fix you, that I will promise. I’m going to fix this.” He lifted his hand to my face, his power and my frailty allowing him to carry me with one arm whilst he continued to move fluidly through the house. “I love you,” he stated matter-of-factly. “I love you, Connie. We’ll get through this. I promise.”

  I stared at him. Using what little energy I had left, I lifted my own hand slowly to his handsome face. I didn’t have the ability to voice my own declaration but as I pressed my hand into his wet cheek, I managed a faint smile.

  He sucked on his lips, his despair showing a side to him I had never seen. The death of our child not only gutted him, but gave him the strength to voice his emotions. Isaac didn’t ever allow his feelings to control him, yet in that moment, he understood as did I that any hope I had ever had of having children had been snatched from me. And I would never be the same girl again.

  Hardness overtook my heart. Detachment overruled my spirit. And grief tortured my soul.

  I gasped for breath as I bolted upright. My heart was banging in my chest, sweat poured down my face, tears stung my eyes and my soul wept. Closing my eyes, I attempted to steady myself and claim back a regular rhythm in my pulse as I tried to stem the flow of tears. What the fuck?

  Daniel murmured from his bed by the far wall. My head spun, my eyes narrowing to study him in the darkness. He was still sleeping. I wasn’t sure if I was grateful or sad.

  Loneliness slithered through me until I shivered. “What the hell?” I whispered into the emptiness, hoping the sound of my own voice would block the grief pouring through me.

  A s
trangled sob wrenched its way up my throat but I swallowed it back. I wouldn’t allow it. Couldn’t allow it. Its torrent would finish me.

  Manoeuvring myself out of bed, I grabbed my phone from the table and shut myself in the bathroom.

  “PIC Financial services,” her tart voice greeted me.

  “Four-three-two-nine. I require a call back from the management.”

  It was over five minutes before my phone buzzed in my hand and I swiped the connect icon immediately.

  “Connie? Are you okay?” I swallowed at the overwhelming sense of homesickness that attacked me. “Connie?”

  “I…”

  A silent moment passed. “Talk to me. What’s happened? Are you hurt?”

  “No,” I answered immediately to calm him. “No, I… I had the dream again.” I squeezed my eyes closed, fighting the need to cry.

  I sensed his frown, his confusion. “Again? Why, it’s been years?”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered. “I don’t know why, Isaac.”

  He sighed. “My love, listen to me. I won’t tolerate this again. I have never once regretted killing my father for you, for our child. He was a sick and evil dictator who deserved to die a thousand times over for what he did to you…. To us.” His voice was stern knowing it was what I needed right then. “What’s brought it on?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just feeling… a little lost,” I admitted, cringing at the need in my voice. I hated that I was putting this on him.

  “Do you need me to come to you? Or would you rather come home and I’ll arrange for a replacement to finish this contract?”

  My eyes widened at his offer. It was never an option to decline or back out of a job, and for Isaac to be giving me that choice made me realise I was being weak and stupid.

  “No,” I replied with more sincerity than I felt. “I’m okay. I just needed to hear your voice.”

  He paused then tutted. “Are you missing my amazing cock? Is that what this is about?”

  I couldn’t hold in the chuckle as a smile lifted my lips and my spirit. “You have me all worked out.”

  “My love, I know you only married me for my sexual abilities, so it comes as no great shock to me.”

  “Well.” I chuckled. “It isn’t your finger I enjoy putting a ring on.”

  He laughed loudly and I grinned into the darkness. “Talking of toys, I have something special awaiting your return, so you need to get this job over with and then I can fill my face with your delicious pussy. My hunger is refusing to be sated with these flimsy things that insist on sharing my bed, I need a fight. Plus they’re nowhere near as cuddly as you.”

  My jaw dropped. “Are you calling me fat?”

  “My love, I would be the happiest man on the planet if you would gain a few pounds, you know that. You’re too thin. My meat appreciates meat.”

  I giggled. “I’d rephrase that before Hunter thinks you’re finally accepting what he’s wanted to give you for so long.”

  “Pfft, the only thing that is granted access to my arse is your little finger, and that’s pushing my limits.”

  Smiling, I closed my eyes. “I love you. Thank you.”

  I could feel his soft smile, the one that only I had access to. “And I love you. You shadow my heart,” he whispered referring to the reason he’d given me the tag ‘Shadow’. “Be safe and use your head.”

  “I will.”

  I slid back into bed and curled up. I couldn’t help placing my hand over my stomach, my barren womb, and sighing. I’d lost so much in life but nothing hurt more than knowing I would never grow a life inside me again. Isaac had accepted me even with my inability to provide him with an heir to the family. But I never could. Although I loved Isaac and he grounded me, I could never let the hatred towards my father go.

  His selfishness and greed had been the very reason both mine and Mae’s lives had taken the route they had. His selfish need to take another man’s wife, his greed for money, had been the very things that not only ended his life, but also his children’s.

  “WE WENT TO the zoo, Daddy.”

  Connie narrowed her eyes at her laptop screen as Annie jabbered in my ear.

  “Oh, wow. What did you see? Did the lions eat Auntie Helen?”

  Her giggle lifted my aching heart. I missed my baby so much the physical pain was becoming unbearable. She was my spirit and my soul. She was also the reason I had put my old self in the cupboard and locked the door on it, yet now she was so far away, I could feel the Master creeping back in, his sadistic and cruel ways delighted in the freedom the gap between my daughter and me brought.

  “No, silly. But a camel spat at her.”

  I squeezed my eyes closed like that would hold back the laugh that raged up my throat. “Oh dear, that’s terrible.”

  She was quiet for a moment before she gushed, “I miss you, Daddy. Can’t you come and get me yet?”

  I closed my eyes for a different reason this time and swallowed the lump that formed in my throat with the sound of her desperation. “Oh baby, I miss you too but I can’t, not yet. Soon though, I promise.” I hated lying to her but what the hell was I supposed to say, ‘Daddy’s not going to be alive long enough to do that, baby’? The pain that tore through me was immense and I had to sit down, blowing out a long breath to calm the frantic beat of my heart. She didn’t deserve this, but then again, I didn’t deserve her. I never had and I’d thanked God daily for her, yet that had never been enough. It was time to pay for my past, my sins. I understood that, but it didn’t stop the debilitating pain that locked down my soul every time I thought about leaving her alone. Connie said she had arranged for her to be well cared for – a new family. That was good for Annie, but she should have been with me. She was going to lose both parents and no child should ever go through that. One was bad enough – I should know.

  “But…” Annie choked out.

  “Hey, aren’t you enjoying it with Auntie Helen?” Her silence caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end. “Baby?”

  “She’s… okay.”

  Connie glanced at me, her brow furrowed when she caught my anguish. “Annie?”

  “Yep,” she said suddenly. A voice mumbled in the background. I pressed the phone to my ear to catch Helen’s words but they were too quiet. “I have to go Daddy, Auntie Helen says I need my bath.” Her little voice tightened the restriction in my chest.

  “I love you to the moon, baby.” Pressing two fingers to my lips, I kissed them and placed them on the phone, squeezing my eyes closed as though the force of my need would carry them over to her.

  “I love you to the sun,” she whispered. “And the stars and the world, and Mars, Daddy… and Mars… and…..”

  “Oh baby…” I blinked as my phone beeped, notifying me to the terminated call.

  Something wasn’t right. I could feel it, in my bones, in my God damn heart.

  Connie was watching me, her eyes inquisitive when I turned to her. “What is it?” Her own voice was almost as tight as mine. She knew as well as I did.

  I shook my head, “I don’t know but…”

  A bang at the door caused me to jolt.

  “Bathroom!” Connie barked as she pulled a gun from her bag and clicked off the safety. “Bathroom, Daniel!”

  “For Christ’s sake, Connie. I’m going to die anyway, what difference does it make who does it?” I was so fucking angry. With her for thinking I would hide out in the bathroom and let a woman deal with whoever was at the door. At me for putting my daughter in a place she hated. For Helen for taking her anger at me out on Annie. For the fucking Gods for taking her mother from her… from me.

  Her body brushed past me as her words hissed out. “Because I am to be the one who will watch the blood drain from you, Daniel. No one else is entitled to that. That’s why.”

  If a repeat knock hadn’t reminded me someone was at the door, I would have ripped the fucking smirk off her damn face.

  “Be careful, Connie,” I hissed back as sh
e approached the door. “I’m only abiding to whatever you’re doing here because of Annie, but there is only so much I will tolerate before I break your fucking neck and hang you out of the window by your own hair!”

  She chuckled. Fucking bitch. “Well that was creative.”

  I took an enraged step towards her but she ignored me. “Who is it?” she shouted through the door.

  “It’s the laundry man.”

  I frowned when a choked gasp erupted from her. She flung open the locks and stared at the man on the other side. He was tall, a little taller than me. His dirty blonde hair was mussed. His chin was covered in light blonde hair and his eyes were the most vibrant green I had ever seen.

  His thin lips curled until each corner was nearly touching his ears. “Hello, my love.”

  A sob formed from Connie before she launched herself at him, her legs wrapping around his toned body as she buried her face in his.

  My brow quirked when he slammed her against the wall and kissed her back just as roughly. Okay. His hand came up to her breast, squeezing her forcefully as his hips thrust against hers. Okay. His mouth moved slowly down her neck, his teeth nipping and marking her immediately. “Fuck, I missed you, Shadow. My cock is crying out for his perfect partner.” Okay. Her fingers curled into his hair, pulling his face back to hers. They devoured each other. And I stood there and watched.

  “What are you doing here?” she finally asked when they prised their lips off each other.

  His brow creased before he sighed and lowered her back to the floor. “Unfortunately, I haven’t just come to screw my beautiful wife into next week.” Ahh, okay. “We need to talk.”

  She frowned at him, her head tilting slightly to the side. I sensed her apprehension, the hairs on my own body matched the ones stood to attention on her arms. “Isaac?”