He grumbled under his breath and turned to depart. Her anxiety made her dash forward, hurtling herself at the bars.
‘Wait,’ she inhaled and he paused. ‘I’m sorry, ok, baby? Take me upstairs with you.’
Slowly he turned back, his frown remained static. ‘What?’
‘It might be fun,’ she said, trying to calm her breathing so her panic would be disguised by the smile she hoped was saucy. ‘You could have both of us.’ Reaching through the bars, she beckoned for him.
‘You would do that?’ He came back to her and she got hold of the edges of his shirt, hoping to keep him close.
‘You could have both of us,’ she said again, pulling her body to the bars. ‘A fit, strong, healthy guy like you could handle that, and if we tire you out… she and I could always entertain each other.’
‘You want to have a threesome with a woman you have never been introduced to?’ Covering her hands with his, he watched their fingers mingle.
‘I trust you.’ These murmured words made his eyes shoot to hers and the frown was gone.
‘Good. I need you to remember that, babygirl,’ he muttered and ducked to kiss her through the bars.
Still with hope that he would consider her request, and let her out of this hole, she accepted his kiss with gusto. All too soon he withdrew his mouth, took her hands from his shirt, and retreated.
‘Please don’t leave me down here,’ she mumbled, but read conviction in him. He wasn’t taking her away from her hell, he was delivering her to it.
Dax left the space and distress built to rage. The adrenaline sent a stream of curses flying from her lips, but she doubted that he heard more than the first couple. Music, activity, and the building structure would obscure her words from his ears, she just wished that they would obscure his actions from her awareness.
Chapter Eleven
Not too much later, although she didn’t know the time, the volume of the music was reduced. A few vehicles left, but the sun was nowhere near rising and the party was still going on. She would guess it was maybe three or four AM, but lying on this foam pad, staring up at the ceiling, the time was the last thing that she cared about.
In Vegas, she’d felt a sexual connection to Dax, even when he was threatening her. After she was brought here she quickly reached the conclusion that she needed an ally; after a few nights starving and dehydrating here in this cell she did anyway. Dax had seemed like the safest, and certainly the most appealing, bet to take on that role.
Having sex with him was part curiosity, part manipulation, only it hadn’t worked. Ivy might have satisfied her curiosity because she had experienced what it was like to sleep with him, but she hadn’t managed to manipulate him into caring about her, at least not enough to want to ensure her safety, or her happiness.
The latter was a pipe dream. A last minute desperate dream for a woman who realised too late that she’d only gone and fallen for the kind of man she’d hoped her whole life to avoid: a bad boy.
‘I fucked up.’
The words startled her into a seated position. She hadn’t heard his approach, but there he was, birthed from the shadow beyond her cell. When she identified it was Dax, and not a chancing letch from the party, she relaxed to lie down again. This time she closed her eyes as though to imply she had been sleeping and unaffected this whole time.
‘I don’t need a blow-by-blow.’
‘Not that,’ he said. His voice was closer, but she wouldn’t let herself be intrigued enough to isolate its point of origin. ‘With you.’
‘Don’t worry, I won’t let you make any more mistakes with me where being fucked is concerned.’
‘Every guy in the place tonight wanted you. I told you to make them… only I didn’t bargain on being one of them.’
‘Please,’ she scoffed. ‘Spare me the act. Do you think I’m the type of woman who lets her man run around on her? You get one chance with me and tonight you blew it.’
‘Watching you up there and watching those guys drool over you… not one of them would have turned you down, but you couldn’t care less about that or that they were objectifying you. You always rise above the bullshit and I don’t even know how you do it. After everything you’ve been through and… you’re unbreakable, Minx.’
‘Is that what tonight was about? Was it your attempt to break me?’
‘No,’ he said. She was surprised to hear the loosening of the lock and the opening of the door. ‘Bruno wanted to get you high and let the guys take whatever they wanted. You were supposed to be the only female here and everyone was supposed to take a shot.’
‘That’s not what happened,’ she said, maintaining her sleeping pose because she didn’t want him on guard.
‘I couldn’t let that happen. I told him that you were compliant, that we’d broken you and you were ready.’
‘For what?’
‘To put up with anything.’
‘So you got your chance to screw around and make sure I didn’t get too close to you or get any ideas above my station? Bravo. Well done.’
‘You don’t get it at all.’
He must have come to her and sunk down at her side because his fingers drifted through her hair then his lips met hers. Ivy sputtered away while shoving at him to get him out of her path so that she could once again sit up.
‘Stay the hell away from me,’ she protested, rubbing off his kiss with the back of her hand.
‘That would be the smart thing to do,’ he said. ‘It turns out that I’m not capable.’
Grabbing her upper arms, he forced her onto her back on the bed and lay on top of her. Locking their mouths together, he wasn’t deterred when she didn’t kiss back, he kept on going. Fondling her chest was a brief interlude on route to her crotch. Through it all she fought him, but he was unaffected. He kissed and touched her as though he was making love to an ardent mistress, not an objecting, kicking opponent.
‘Stop it,’ she said, but his strength was too much for her. He pulled her legs apart and explored the reluctant moisture seeping from her intimate passage. Then his hand was gone and the buzz of his fly crackled in the air. ‘No, Dax, no!’
‘I need to fuck you,’ he mumbled through his kisses on her neck. ‘I’m sorry, Ivy, babygirl, I need it. I need to be inside you, it’s the place I belong, you need me there.’
The bulge of his engorged head probed at her entrance. From the gloss of mania in his eyes, Ivy knew that he wasn’t in his right mind. Invading her body with this Goliath was a forgone conclusion for him.
Using all of her might she pounded both of her fists on his shoulder, hoping to break through to him. ‘Hey! I said no, Dax. No!’ Halting his advance, he blinked and his attention met hers; some of his haze cleared. ‘You can’t have me, Dax. Your dick has a new place to call home. You moved him in there tonight. That blonde from the kitchen, that’s who you belong with.’
‘No,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I didn’t fuck her. I just needed them to think that I did.’
‘What? Why would—‘
‘They needed me to prove that you would put up with anything, with everything a partner could throw at you,’ he said. ‘But walking away from you, bringing you down here to leave you alone, it… it hit me… Tonight it hit me how bad I’d fucked this up.’
‘How did you fuck up?’ she asked. Releasing the tension in her arms, she looped them around his neck.
‘I was meant to train you so that you’d follow my every command… Instead, it’s me who fell under your spell.’
‘If that were true then you wouldn’t have taken another woman up to our bed.’
‘Fifi and I go way back,’ he explained, bracing himself on his elbows so that he could peel down the straps of her dress. ‘I paid her to lie. She’ll tell them all that I fucked her, that I was the best ride of her life. But I never touched her, not tonight.’
‘Why should I believe that?’
‘Because telling you this, the truth, could get me into a lot of trouble
. Tonight we were supposed to prove that you’d let me do whatever I wanted and still pander to me tomorrow. They wanted to see that you were so browbeaten that I could fuck another woman and you wouldn’t bat an eye.’ He kissed her. ‘I was going to let you believe that I did it, to put some distance between us, you know? But lying up there in that room while Fifi slept, knowing you were down here by yourself… I couldn’t leave you alone.’
‘You couldn’t?’
‘I wanted to come down here and fight with you. Ream you out for believing I could be interested in that tramp, but I’ve never given you a reason to believe that I give a fuck about you. But I do… it just doesn’t mean anything.’
‘It does,’ she said, combing her fingers through his hair. ‘It means something to me.’
Guiding his mouth down to hers, she was ready now to let him fulfil his desire. Never one to shy from doing the work, she took hold of him in a certain fist and elevated her hips to pierce herself with his rigid offering.
That was all the invitation that he needed. Without quitting her mouth, they fell into a slow rhythm which was far gentler than anything they’d practiced with each other before this. Climax was achieved together and it took her to epic heights that only climbed deeper into the clouds when he positioned her on her side and took his place in front of her, pulling her hand over his abs to hold them in their usual spoon position, with him facing out into the cell and her protected behind him.
‘You’re staying?’ she asked, having expected him to abandon her when he was done.
‘For as long as I can,’ he said, kissing her palm then flattening it over his heart. ‘I’ll have to go up in the morning. I want to kick all of those bastards out before I bring you upstairs. But we’ll spend the day in our bedroom, all day, no Bruno, I promise.’
‘That’s ok. I’m getting used to him now.’
‘I hope you’re not attached to him molesting you because it’s over. It will never happen again.’
Whatever had caused this transformative breakthrough, she was glad of it. It could have come sooner, but she’d rather have it now than never.
‘Does this mean that I can come and watch you fight now?’
‘You’re that determined to watch someone kick the shit out of me?’
A laugh met his spine, but she followed it with her lips. ‘No one stands a chance against my tough guy.’
‘Thanks for the vote of confidence.’
Her eyes were growing tired; the hard work and lack of sleep were catching up with her. ‘Just imagine that you saw your opponent with his hand up my skirt before the fight.’
‘That wouldn’t work.’
His contradiction stung a little, she thought they were making headway with their intimacy. ‘Why not?’
‘Too many witnesses when I murder the guy. You’ve got to be smart about stuff like that, babygirl, and think ahead.’
‘Silly me, but what do I know about those kind of things?’
‘All you’ll ever have to,’ he said. ‘I’ll be taking care of business from here on in.’
‘My business or yours?’
‘Both,’ he said, but followed it up with a mumble. ‘I’ll just have to figure out how I’m gonna do it.’
‘Dax,’ she yawned, and curled in closer when she shut her eyes.
‘Yeah?’
‘Does this mean that we’re done with the bullshit? That we’re being honest with each other now?’
‘Yeah, honest, but you’ve got to trust me. It’s not gonna be easy to manoeuvre our way out of this mess.’
Other than being held captive by the man she now held, Ivy was unaware of what other mess they were in. But Dax seemed to have made a choice tonight and for now that choice was her. Whatever was to come he was smart enough and tough enough to figure it out. So relaxed, reassured, and sated, she let herself sleep in the safety of his shielding form.
‘Dax,’ she said later, interrupting his subdued snore. They’d fallen asleep in their usual position after he’d awoken her for a second bout of sex. He kind of snorted, but didn’t react further, so she gave him a nudge, he mumbled and loosened his grip on her hand.
He probably thought that she wanted her freedom to use the restroom, forgetting in his slumber that they were nowhere near their room, or internal plumbing. His sleep was deep and usually undisturbed, probably because a man of his skill didn’t need to worry about anyone getting the drop on him. Even if someone did get the first punch in, or the first few, Dax would still triumph in a fist fight – of that she was sure.
But it wasn’t the bathroom she wanted now, it was his safety. Picking up his arm, she read the hands on the heavy back metallic watch on his wrist and was shocked to read that it was after nine AM. The music was no longer playing upstairs, in fact she couldn’t hear anything except the breathing of her snoozing lover.
‘Baby,’ she said, returning his arm to his torso. Even with another nudge and some kissing of his shoulder blades he still didn’t waken.
So slipping her fingers over the corrugation of his abs to the line of dark hair that descended to the invader that so frequently plundered her, she decided to take things to a more intimate level in hope of rousing him. In almost the same second that she made contact with his flaccid appendage it sprang to attention with impressive speed.
The cadence of his snore became more of a purr. Tightening her grip, she pumped her hold, adjusting the angle of her thumb to swipe the breadth of his head when she reached his summit.
If he came fully awake before he ejaculated then he’d want to fuck her; but there wasn’t time for that. So in a burst of abrupt energy she climbed over and down him, and closing her lips around his cock she inhaled with all of her strength, quickening her fist.
‘Fucking hell!’
Dax came awake, but his salty load was already draining into her. Her siphoning force emptied his sap into her throat in a series of delighted, sporadic injections. Tasting him out of his sleep and into consciousness was satisfying and the power it proved that she had over him was flattering. Drinking every drop that he spoiled her with, she cleaned up the drips budding from him before she slithered up his body. In passing, she gave the length of him a cleansing wipe in her cleavage to rid him of the remnants of her oral lubrication.
‘That was a helluva good morning,’ he said, still not fully recovered or awake.
‘You have to leave,’ she said, rubbing her jaw on his stimulating stubble.
‘Not just yet,’ he said, taking hold of her to insinuate her between him and the mattress.
Though the sensations of his exploring mouth stimulated her into considering what his roaming hands were suggesting, she knew that it was too dangerous to take the risk of further intimacy. The last thing that she wanted was for Dax to get into any difficulty, or rather trouble, for spending this time with her.
‘Yes, yet,’ she said. Extricating his hands from her body by linking their fingers, she brought them up to the sides of her face. ‘You have to go upstairs. Bruno will be looking for you.’
‘If he was then he would’ve found me,’ he said, straining the muscles in his arms to push up in a push up.
Drawing her lower lip between her teeth, she loved how his taut body could expend energy in such a casual way. Maybe he recognised her burgeoning arousal because he did another push up, and another, his fingers still linked in hers against the mattress.
The man wasn’t even breaking a sweat, he could probably do this all day. The knowing slant of his lips displayed his amusement at her response to what he considered a mundane action. He was stretching stiff, tired muscles, in his own way, and because she’d had a hold of his hands he couldn’t do it in a conventional manner; so he did the next best thing as far as she was concerned.
The guile of his expression grew and he took one pair of their twined fingers around to his back, and began to push up again, this time with one hand.
‘You’re showing off,’ she said, bobbing up to kiss him on h
is next descent.
‘If you just open your legs a bit wider and arch your hips.’ He winked and clicked his cheek.
She laughed because she had to give him points for trying; the man certainly did have talents. ‘You can plank on me later,’ she said. Bringing their arms around from his back to hold his wrist between their faces, she showed him the time on his watch. ‘Look at the time.’
‘Right,’ he said, clearing his throat then springing off the bed and onto his feet in a crouched stance. It was a practised manoeuvre so expert that she had to blink.
‘You have mad skills, tough guy,’ she said. Getting onto her knees to take his face in both of her hands, she kissed him, being careful not to send mixed signals about her intention to take things further. The thrust of his tongue begged for more, so she separated their lips by an inch. ‘What would you do if I punched you in the face right now?’
‘Try it,’ he said, and tried to kiss her again, but she resisted.
‘Are you saying that I couldn’t hit you? Or that you’d let me hit you?’
‘I’m telling you to try it and see what happens.’
This was where he crossed into cocky and her competitive heckles bristled. ‘I’ve punched guys before,’ she said. ‘I do have some abilities of my own, you know.’
‘Show me,’ he said. Leaping to his feet, he widened his stance and lifted his fists. With his four fingers he beckoned her toward him, moving nothing except those digits. ‘Come on then, Minx, get up. On your feet, pledge.’
‘You’re naked,’ she said, remaining on the bed. Moving to sit on her butt, she stretched her legs along the floor toward him.
‘Not my usual get-up, sure,’ he said. ‘But you’re naked too, we’re equal.’ Stretching across the floor, she snagged his jeans and tossed them up to him. ‘You’re that worried about protecting my junk?’ He pulled them on, but didn’t buckle the belt. ‘I guess you’re a girl who fights dirty.’
‘I’m a girl who retreats when their opponent is dazed and confused,’ she said, crawling across the concrete floor to retrieve her dress, which had somehow ended up near the bars. When she passed him he swooped down to spank her naked behind, causing her to glare over her shoulder at him. ‘I was perfectly behaved last night. You were the naughty one. Should I turn you over my knee?’
Fighting Fate Page 13
