His Prize (The Cleaners Book 1)

by Doris O'Connor

  The locks clicked on the car, and in the next instant, Ren had disappeared inside her grandmother’s house like a hulking shadow of doom. When he reappeared moments later, he looked even more furious, if that was possible. She cried out in pain when he wrenched her out of his car by her arm and propelled her into the wrecked interior of her house. Tears filled her eyes at the devastation she saw. Everything had been turned upside down, anything valuable stolen, and on the inside of the living room wall was another message.

  Pay up or die.

  “What sort of shit are you involved in, girl?”

  Ren’s voice had dropped to a deep growl, and the fingers still clamped around her forearm tightened painfully. She would have bruises there tomorrow, for sure, yet she felt oddly safe with him.

  “Answer me, dammit.”

  Ren gave her a shake, and when she looked up it was the concern she saw in his amber gaze that made her answer. Besides, what else could she do? He would find out sooner or later, anyway, and she was as good as dead anyway.

  “I’m not, it’s Brian Monk. He’s my ex, works for…” She flinched when Ren ran a hand through his hair, and shook his head.

  “The Priestly brothers, right?”

  Ren swore softly when she simply nodded. Susie stumbled as he gave her a shove away, as though he couldn’t bear to touch her right now.

  He kicked what had been her grandma’s favorite armchair with so much force the stuffing flew in the air, and clasping her arms around her midriff, Susie screwed her eyes shut. The only consolation was that her beloved grandma was not here to see how far she’d fallen into the criminal underbelly that ruled these streets. There was some comfort in the fact that her grandmother’s mental decline had meant she had been blissfully unaware of the estate’s fall from grace, as so aptly witnessed by the state of the place. No doubt the neighbors had been through the place, too. Certainly none of them would have come to Susie’s aid, had she been here when the loan sharks had turned up. The fact that she was truly alone hit her hard, as did Ren’s next words.

  “So much for your protestations of not being a whore.” There was an odd undertone to Ren’s voice, almost as though he was disappointed, and it made her feel even more wretched inside.

  “I’m not a whore.” She risked a peek up at him, only to find him not paying attention to her. In a fit of madness she picked up one of the cushions and threw it at his back. Ren swung ‘round so fast that she took several steps back until the wall stopped her. Like an avenging angel he stalked her every move, and her stomach hollowed out when he grasped her arms and pinned them high above her head, while he got right in her face.

  “Wouldn’t matter to me if you were, but I cannot abide liars, let alone someone working for the competition. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t march you right back to Huntly now and hand you over. You can work off your debt for him, if he lets you live that is.”

  The smirk which accompanied those words was utterly terrifying, and Susie shook her head in an attempt to make him see sense.

  “No?” Ren laughed, and transferring both her wrists into one of his large hands, grasped her chin. His fingers dug into her cheeks, and she lost herself in the intensity of his gaze. “I suppose, I could keep you and pass you ‘round my boys instead.”

  “No, please, Sir. I’m not—”

  “A whore, yeah, so you keep saying, girl. Trouble is, I don’t believe a fucking word coming out of your mouth right now.”

  He stepped away, leaving her curiously bereft, and Susie did the only thing she knew that might get through to him. Sinking to her knees in front of him, she grasped hold of his ankles, and kissed his boots.

  “Please, Sir, let me explain.”

  ****

  Seeing her submit like this should have been a huge turn-on, but this all felt wrong. He was missing something here, and Ren didn’t like that feeling one little bit. Neither did he like the gnawing ache of disappointment in his guts.

  Schooling his features into a mask of indifference, he crossed his arms over his chest, and shook the girl’s trembling fingers off his legs. Her face dropped at his actions, and parking his butt on the edge of the chair, he put distance between them.

  “Go, on, explain, and you better tell me the truth, girl, or so help me, I’ll leave you here for them to find you and finish off the job.”

  Her expressive eyes widened in horror, and she swallowed convulsively as though to hold back tears. A grudging respect rose in his chest for her. She was clearly terrified and in a shitload of trouble, yet she held it together, just like she had when she’d stumbled into the mess with Myrtle. Ren realized with a start that he wanted her to be innocent in all this, and that made his mood darken further. She was just a series of warm holes for him to fill, after all. He would have his fun, and then pass her on, so her past shouldn’t matter to him one iota.

  “Please, Sir, I am telling the truth. I’m not a whore.”

  At his disgusted snort, her mouth firmed into a thin line. She threw her shoulders back, which gave him an even better view down her blouse. Several buttons had come undone in his manhandling of her, and the heavy orbs quivered and strained with the force of her breathing. His fingers itched to test their weight, and to have this woman squirming underneath him, but he wanted … needed answers first.

  “If you’re not one of Brian’s girls, then what are you? His girlfriend?” He smirked as he said that, but her reaction left him speechless. Red spots appeared on her cheeks, and she dropped her gaze to the floor, her voice so quiet that he had to strain to hear her.

  “I was, or at least I thought I was. I met him just after my Gran died, and he was…” She looked up at him, and the moisture lurking in her gaze hit him in the gut with the force of a runaway train. He could read nothing but absolute honesty in her blue eyes right now, filled with painful memories that made him feel like an ass for having doubted her in the first place.

  “Let me guess. This was your grandmother’s house.” He made a sweeping gesture around the wrecked room. The torn doilies on the back of the settee and the smashed knickknacks in the dresser took on a new meaning when she nodded.

  “Yes, I grew up here, and she’d turn in her grave if she saw what those bastards had done to it. I could kill him, I really could.”

  She flinched at Ren’s short laugh in response, and when he held his hand out to her, struggled to her feet.

  “You are many things, pumpkin, but a killer you’re not.”

  She gave him a half smile, and he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand in a silent bid for her to carry on talking, while he steered her onto the tattered couch. She swiped a tear off her face, while she attempted to push some of the stuffing back into the seat, and eventually gave up.

  “I wouldn’t be too sure on that. If he was here now…”

  “I’d be forced to take him out, but that’s neither here nor there, pumpkin.” He nudged her chin up to see her expression and grinned at the silent determination on her face.

  “Not if I get to him first,” she said. “The bastard did nothing but lie to me, from the moment I met him, and like a stupid fool I believed him. I was so lonely after Gran died, and he…” She bit her lip, and Ren took pity on her.

  “Wined and dined you, promised you the earth, told you he loved you?”

  Susie swiped away the silent tear that had escaped her eyes, and nodded.

  “Like I said, I was a fool. By the time I realized who he was and what he was involved in, it was too late. Had he not gone down for that bank job, lord only knows where I’d have ended up. Anyway, I thought I was rid of him, only to find out that he owed folks a shit ton of money, debts he’d run up in my name, and with him behind bars they came looking for me. I ran away to the only person I thought might be able to help me.” She glanced up at him nervously, and at his nod continued. “I didn’t really want to work for Huntly either. Kind of like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, but he has a better reputation than the P
riestlys, and Kim put in a good word for me, when she heard of my troubles.”

  Ren smirked at that, and Susie frowned.

  “You know Kim?” she asked. “She’s a college friend of mine, see, and—”

  “Intimately, pumpkin, though it amuses me to hear that she ever went to college. Her talents definitely lie elsewhere and not in academia.” His amusement deepened when the meaning of his words seemed to sink in, and she tried her best not to react, yet failed miserably. Her blue eyes sparked fire at him, and his cock twitched against his zipper. It would be fun leashing all that passion, for sure.

  “She was very good, in fact. I don’t know why she chose to … well, you know.”

  “Do spit it out, pumpkin, and I know Kim is a clever little cunt.” Susie’s sharp intake of breath lightened his dark mood, and he flicked her nose with his index finger. “She wouldn’t have gotten as far as she has if she wasn’t. Besides, I happen to be very fond of the girls at the club, as you’ll find out soon enough.”

  The girl gasped when he sprang to his feet and pulled her up, too.

  “You’ve got five minutes to grab what you need. You won’t be coming back here.”

  “But—”

  He silenced her protest by clamping his large hands over her mouth. Her eyes widened and her nostrils flared with the effort to draw air into her lungs. Her fear was an almost palpable presence that Ren drank in.

  “You heard me. Five minutes. What you can’t get in that time, you’ll leave. I have some phone calls to make to clear up this mess once and for all. You, girl.” He took his hand off of her mouth and winked at her. “I own you after this, and you will do as you’re told, or else…”

  It was almost comical to witness the speed with which she complied, especially after he swiped his phone and started talking to Huntly.

  “Owen, we have a new problem. Seems the Priestly brothers think they can throw their weight around in our territory…Yeah, thought you’d say that… I’m on it, boss.”

  He raised his eyebrows at Susie when she stopped at the bottom of the stairs, seemingly trying to listen in on the conversation. She thundered up the staircase as he filled Huntly in on what he’d gathered here. It took exactly four minutes and forty-five seconds before a breathless Susie reappeared at the top of the stairs, carrying two old fashioned suitcases, just as he finished his call.

  “Yeah, she’s involved, but don’tcha worry. She won’t be a problem, Owen. I’ll make sure of that.”

  Chapter Four

  Those ominous words she heard him end the phone call with bounced around in her brain over and over, yet she couldn’t bring herself to ask him about their meaning. Ren looked utterly unapproachable on the drive to his place, and the silence in the car was only relieved by the frequent phone calls he took. The fact that he didn’t hide his plans to take out as many of the Priestly gang as he could terrified Susie even more.

  Everyone knew that Huntly and the Priestly brothers barely tolerated each other, but this was all escalating far too fast, not least because it seemed that Myrtle had been selling off Huntly’s drugs to Priestly goons.

  By the time they pulled up outside a multi-story town house in a rather affluent part of London, Susie’s nerves were shot to pieces. Three large people carriers were parked on the drive, and she jumped when the door flung open and a small army of dark clothed bad boys spilled onto the drive. Ty appeared to be the leader of this motley crew, and he nodded at Ren once, smirked at Susie, and then barked a series of orders at the assembled men.

  Ren’s earlier words of sharing her around his men came back to haunt her as Ty opened her car door and pulled her out and on her feet.

  “What do you want me to do with this one, Ren?”

  The men laughed, and Susie dropped her gaze. There was no point in antagonizing these guys, after all. That would just get her killed faster. She didn’t even want to contemplate what they might do to her, before they killed her.

  “Put her in the cellar for now. I’ll deal with her personally once we’re done. After that, we’ll see.”

  “Wouldn’t mind having a piece of that ass, boss.”

  “Me neither. Been a while since we had fresh cunt in here, after all.”

  Suzie swallowed her gasp at the rude comments and suggestions thrown her way, as Ty steered her through the men. Their lecherous laughter made bile rise in her throat, and she stumbled along, not daring to look up. The steep stairs leading down to the cellar almost made her hyperventilate, especially when they reached the bottom and the harsh fluorescent lighting illuminated a fully equipped BDSM dungeon that wouldn’t have looked out of place in one of the clubs Brian had taken her to in an effort to get her trained. Back then, it had seemed a fun thing to do. In fact, Susie had quickly learned that with the right Dom she could fly. That hadn’t been Brian, however, which was another reason why she’d run the first chance she could. Unbidden her thoughts strayed to the enigmatic Ren, and the way he could hold her in place with just a look. She could see herself submitting to him, but the rest of his men… A shudder went through her, and she spun ‘round to face Ty, who was watching her reaction to what she saw. No doubt he would report right back to Ren.

  Ty threw her suitcases on the huge bed dominating one corner of the room and flashed her a quick smile, when she risked a peek up at him.

  “Make yourself at home. Bathroom is through there, if you need it.”

  With that, he stomped up the stairs, and the heavy door at the top slammed shut. The click of the lock sounded too loud in the stillness of the room, and Susie realized that it must be soundproof. She couldn’t hear a thing through the thick walls, and renewed horror coursed through her veins. She could die down here, and no one would be any the wiser.

  Don’t be such a ninny. If he wanted you dead, he’d have killed you already.

  The mental pep talk did little to calm her nerves, and before panic could completely take hold of her, Suzie explored her luxurious prison. She had to give it to Ren. All the equipment was clean, and the smell of polished leather and wax was somehow soothing. It reminded her of long gone days of her childhood when Gran had been alive, and she’d helped her polish every surface in her house until it gleamed.

  With thoughts of her beloved Grammy came tears, and once she started she couldn’t stop. Really, what on earth was she going to do? Seeing her bedraggled reflection stare back at herself from the full length mirror opposite the St. Andrew’s Cross proved the last straw. With jerky, uncoordinated moves, Susie stripped off her club uniform and sought refuge in the shower. The power shower drowned out her sobs, and she only came out of it when she’d scrubbed her skin almost raw. She still felt dirty, probably always would, and her stomach churned anew at the thought of what she had gotten into. Exhaustion claimed her, and having managed to brush her teeth with the brand new toothbrush left on the sink, Susie wrapped herself up in one of the fluffy towels, and threw herself face down onto the surprisingly comfortable bed.

  If she was going to be held prisoner to do God only knew what things in this room, she might as well enjoy the creature comforts.

  Susie woke up hours later, not sure what had awoken her, but the fine hair on her arms rose. The previously bright room was bathed in the soft lighting coming from a series of uplighters attached to the corners of this vast room, and she could sense Ren’s stare on her. How she knew it was him she couldn’t say, but his presence made breathing difficult. She screeched and kicked out when his large hand grasped her ankle, but she should have known that would prove useless. Her shoulders protested as she fought to bring her arms up in a defensive move, and realized she was restrained. Thick, padded leather cuffs secured her wrists to a length of chain attached to the bed frame. The metal clanked as she yanked on her restraints, and in the next instant another heavy cuff wrapped itself around her free ankle. More clanking later and her legs were pulled apart at an obscene angle. Cool air skittered over her exposed pussy, and to her instant shame Susie realized sh
e was getting wet. Ren laughed.

  “Isn’t that a pretty sight to come home to, Ty? You can go now. I’ll take it from here.”

  Ty’s grunt in answer from somewhere up by her head made Susie screw her eyes shut as more heat washed into her cheeks. The bed dipped, and Ren’s spicy scent enveloped her as a blindfold was slipped over her eyes. Plunged into darkness and unable to move, her heartbeat went into overdrive as she strained to listen to his movements around the room.

  There was the thunk of something heavy hitting the floor—his boots perhaps—then the rustle of clothing, and Suzie whimpered as the bed dipped anew.

  “Easy there, pumpkin. Nice deep breaths for me now. I don’t want you to pass out yet. I’m going to claim my reward first for solving one of your problems.” Pressure on her bottom lip made her open her mouth. Her nostrils flared when he pushed several fingers past her lips and pushed down on her tongue.

  “That’s my girl, breathe nice and slow now, because I’m going to fuck your mouth.” Another whimper escaped her as he withdrew his digits, and she felt his thick cock head slip past her lips. His spicy musk enveloped her, and she swallowed convulsively as he pushed in deep, flattening her tongue until his tip hit the back of her throat. Susie gagged around the invasion, before he withdrew slightly with a grunt. She clenched her jaw, and his fingers dug painfully into her cheeks, forcing her mouth wide open.

  “None of that, girl. You best not think about biting down, or I’ll keep this luscious mouth open with a spider gag, leaving you with no choice but to take what I’ll give you. Are we clear?”

  He withdrew, and she drew a hasty breath into her lungs.

  “Yes, Sir?”

  The bruising hold on her face gentled, and in the next instant his warm lips covered hers. It was a mere brush of a touch, as light as a butterfly’s wings, yet it made this whole encounter less impersonal.

  “Good girl.”

  The warmth of his approval in those two words alone meant she opened wide, when she sensed him draw closer again. Susie had always enjoyed giving head, and robbed of her senses and with her choices taken away, this experience proved a sensory overload, which left her growing embarrassingly wet. She ought to be fighting him off, yet that thought didn’t even enter her head as he took possession of her mouth as though it was his God-given right, as though he owned her.