Enthralled: A Box Set

by Pamela Ann

  Carter hesitantly dragged his eyes away from my lips and brought his darkened gaze to mine. “If you want to, go ahead. You can use the right cabinet to unpack, mine’s on the left.”

  I froze.

  We were sharing a room? Dammit! I should’ve known Carter would pull something like this.

  “You’re sleeping on the couch. I’m not sharing a bed with you!”

  “Too bad, I’m sleeping in the bed. Don’t worry; I’m not going to touch you, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Carter just shrugged and strode towards the bathroom. Within minutes, the shower came on.

  Well, great, just great. I groaned. How was I going to handle sleeping in the same room with him for two nights? TWO NIGHTS! This was insane!

  I strolled towards the bay windows and stared at the moonlit lake before me. Immediately, my thoughts went to the movie I just signed up for. The thought was daunting, but at the same time, I felt ready for the challenge. I mean, what if I did nail the role? My life, as I knew it, would be gone. Things would drastically change for me. I wouldn’t feel so lost anymore. I would have a direction, a goal to achieve, a passion. My passion, something to give my heart and soul to, as Bass described it. If there was one thing I felt I could put my soul into, this would be it. I didn’t doubt it.

  I turned around when I heard the door crack open. “Bathroom’s all ready for you.”

  Without responding to the infuriating man, I just strolled past him, gathered my things and locked myself in the bathroom. This was going to be one hell of a long night for him because I sure as hell wasn’t going to waste a blink of sleep over Carter! Hell no.

  “Gotcha!” I exclaimed when I found my make-up bag. It was located in the very bottom of my clothes. I popped a Benadryl before I hopped into the shower. The tiny pink pill not only helped with my allergies, but put me right to sleep. After a ten minute shower, I got out and dressed in a pair of white cotton shorts and a large, soft pink, cotton shirt with a huge heart in the middle. Once I was done, I walked towards the bed. Carter was on his side, dressed in his sweatpants and nothing more, staring idly at the ceiling.

  HUH.

  I went over to my side and slid inside the sheets. Without a word, I turned off the light and sighed when my head hit the pillow. This entire week had been hectic. I’d lost a lot of sleep over Bass, Carter and the movie. Now, though, I was so ready to just knock the hell out.

  Why didn’t he go downstairs and party with the rest of his friends? This was their wild idea to begin with and now their Captain was already in bed, ready to sleep—or brood—and it wasn’t even midnight yet.

  Semi-unconscious, I heard him say, “I’ve missed you. Goodnight, baby.” With another sigh, he rolled over and scooted closer to me, but not close enough to touch me. I think I dozed off after he sighed the second time.

  E

  When my eyes finally fluttered open, I found myself face-to-face with Carter. He was sleeping soundly. With his relaxed features, he looked like a fallen angel. My eyes traced his naked torso and slowly made their way back to his face. I wanted to reach out and touch him so badly. It had been so long since I had seen him so peaceful.

  It caught me off guard when Carter opened his eyes and gave me a beautiful smile. If I hadn’t been so surprised at getting caught, I would have smiled back. “G’morning!”

  “Morning.”

  “Guess you slept well, huh? You snored—sort of—they were like these tiny little noises coming from you, it was adorable. I stared at you doing that for hours, I think.” Carter’s eyes twinkled as he smiled down at me. Moments like that… I forgot everything. He was being adorable.

  “I did not!”

  “Did, too! Don’t worry; it didn’t turn me off, if that’s what you’re worried about. I thought it was sexy—cute sexy—but still sexy, you know?”

  “Shut up, Carter!” I smacked his face with a small throw pillow. I tried to do it twice to shut him up because I was starting to redden from embarrassment. Carter caught my arm and rolled me over to my back, leaving him on top of me and almost nestled in between my legs, they were barely apart.

  Our eyes clashed—dark met blue. “Baby,” Carter grunted when he pushed his hips against my pelvis, I unabashedly moaned. His erection was palpable, hard and hot against me. “Can I make love to you?” Carter rasped out.

  Shit cakes.

  I stared back at him while my breath escaped me, fully. Did he just say make love? Love. Carter NEVER, EVER used that word when it came to women he had sex with.

  He didn’t even give me a chance to reply because his lips caught mine. And hell, I reveled in his kiss, drowned in it while wishing for things that were unreachable.

  His hands were quick as he pulled up my shirt and grabbed my breasts, kneading and squeezing them. My legs quivered as he pushed himself on me, grinding his cock on my mound. I moaned when he lowered his mouth to my breast and bit my nipple as his left hand sought entrance in the leg of my soaked shorts, pushing them aside so his hand could have full access to my wet silken flesh. The back of his fingers stroked the outer part of my wet folds and the act itself made me quake in anticipation for his assault. My torso lifted off the bed as I pushed my breasts out more for him to take. His hand toyed with one while his teeth and tongue lavished the other. When his tongue circled and bit my nipple, I buckled.

  “Carter…” You’re driving me crazy! I thought as his fingers finally separated my silken folds and rubbed against my nub. My hands found his hair and I pulled it and brought his lips onto mine. Our tongues fought as his fingers continued to ambush me. I gasped when he stuck his fingers inside.

  “Exquisite,” he murmured. I blinked a few times. Exquisite? Bass. He uses that word—Bass.

  Fuck, I needed to stop this. I didn’t know why, but I felt like if I went through with this, Carter would just think I’d be back to being his permanent bootie call. I think not. “Stop! We have to stop.”

  Carter stilled. Stilled—inches away from me, eyes searching mine, fingers still inside me.

  “You’re not serious? I’m so fucking hard, Em. I’m ready to combust here and you want to stop? What the fuck? I don’t find this funny.”

  “Well, I don’t either. Can you please take your fingers out of me?”

  Carter kept staring at me and, much to my annoyance; he still hadn’t pulled his fingers out. “Fine, I will stop… after you come apart on my fingers.”

  WTF? “No!”

  However, he was determined and within a heartbeat, two fingers stroked me as his thumb massaged my nub. I thrashed and whimpered. Loving and hating what he was doing to me; hating him for making my body his slave, but loving him because I just did.

  “Look at me!” Carter commanded as his fingers continued their onslaught. My body heightened and exalted. Climbing, reaching higher, for the ultimate quaking nirvana. My eyes searched his. I tried to catch his gaze, but it was hard to focus. His assaulting fingers were twirling and sliding in and out of me.

  “Look. At. Me. Emma!”

  “Carter,” I whimpered.

  “Don’t hold it back. Just let go. I want to feel your juices gush like a dam on my fingers,” he ordered as his fingers became serious. He took hold of my womanhood, hooking his fingers inside my walls with his thumb on my clit. His other free hand was pressed on my abdomen, pressing me down on the bed as his fingers, rubbing and flicking with purpose, obliterating any thoughts in my mind. I was locked down and didn’t have a choice but to savor the sweet torture he was giving my body.

  “Look at me!” Carter ordered again when he felt my muscles contract. His eyes consumed me as an orgasm hit my body. It rippled and pulsated through me and my mind went blank. I had to blink a few times before I looked at him.

  Carter beamed at me as he studied the satisfaction on my face. “Shall we see how you taste this morning?” His fingers slid out of me and he immediately placed them on his tongue. He licked them without tearing his eyes off me. “You still taste like heaven,
Emma.”

  I opened my mouth and shut it again. I couldn’t believe I let him do that to me after I told him not to. Okay, I got that I didn’t reject the idea much when he started to finger fuck me, but still, I was a little bothered right now and more than a tad confused.

  Sitting up, I glared at his grinning face. “You shouldn’t have done that!”

  “Why not? You loved every second of it. If I really wanted to take you, I could’ve done it with ease, but I didn’t. Look at my cock, it’s still hard. Want to give it a go? I promise to make you come a few more times.”

  Arrogant son of a bitch!

  “Fuck you, Carter!”

  Still grinning, “Well, that was the idea, baby.”

  “Ugh! You’re hopeless! I don’t even know why or how I tolerated your absurdity for the last few months!” I exclaimed and made a move to get out of bed, but he caught me and pulled me back to him and I landed on my back.

  Hovering on top of me, he spoke, “Don’t leave. Stay.”

  Stay here… for now or stay with him until he was done with me? “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I have to move on.” He could take that any way he wanted to, but I was done yo-yo-ing with my emotions over him. I think.

  I had my future to think about and that was what I should put first. Messing around with Carter would be great. I mean, he was great in the sack, but then what? Have my heart broken all over again? I thought not. It would be better to just let him go now.

  Pushing him off me, I scrambled to my feet. Heading towards the bathroom, I stopped midway. “Oh, by the way, thanks for the orgasm.” I smiled at him and headed towards the bathroom.

  Hardy har har. His expression was priceless. Take that, jerk!

  Untitled

  “Without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn from our mistakes. To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life.”

  ~Angelina Jolie

  Chapter One Hundred Seven

  When I got out of the shower, Carter was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, he went fishing with some of his friends. I was somewhat relieved, but my mind was nagging me. Did he fuck some other girl from his army of skanks while I was in the shower? Amanda seemed to be following him everywhere. She was pretty gorgeous, but a skank all the same. Harsh? Yeah, but she totally deserved it. She would call Carter incessantly while we were still together, wanting to ‘kick it.’ Seriously, ‘kick it’ was her code? Ugh!

  There were a bunch of people out on the lake and a few strolling outside, just chilling, but I didn’t really know any of them. When I found Cooper in the kitchen, I was hella relieved.

  “Hey, Cooper, do you know where the girls are at? I can’t seem to find them anywhere.”

  Cooper stopped drinking from his bottled water and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Try checking their rooms. They’re in the west wing. I think they’re talking or whatever.”

  I gave him a quick wave. “Thanks, bud.” I went back upstairs towards the west wing.

  Sure enough, I could hear women’s voices talking inside the room, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying from the hallway. With a soft knock, I pushed the door open. “Why are you all in here? The weather is bright and sunny outside!” I cheerily greeted the quiet crew.

  All three women looked at me. Lindsey was sitting cross-legged on the bed, Amber was sitting on the couch, hovering over a table with a bunch of credit cards splayed all over it and Trista was standing against the wall, looking pained.

  Okay…

  “Did I just miss something? Why are you guys looking all glum? Did someone just die?”

  Trista just shrugged and kept staring at Amber. I looked at Lindsey for answers. “Amber’s parents are getting divorced.”

  Oh, no.

  I rushed to Amber’s side and gave her a tight hug. “Hang in there. You’re a tough cookie.”

  Amber sadly nodded her head and sniffed. Aw, she was obviously crying. “I hate this shit. I don’t know why Dad had to cheat on my mom with a stewardess. A fucking STEWARDESS! How original. And now he’s buying the fucking whore a house in Malibu. What a fucking gold-digger. That home-wrecker is killing my mom right now. My mom’s hysterical.” She sniffed again and wiped her eyes. “You know what the most fucked up thing is though? The stupid bitch is our age. Can you believe that shit? My father is banging a chick our age. What a disgusting pig! I hate him!” Amber started crying severely. I rubbed her back when she started having trouble breathing.

  “I don’t think it’s wise to lay all the blame towards the mistress, Amber. It does take two to tango, you know.” Trista put her two cents in on the subject. Why weren’t these two consoling Amber?

  Amber growled, “Yeah, you would know, right? It takes one to know one!” Her accusatory tone and eyes landed on the shocked Trista.

  What did she just say? “What the fuck are you talking about, Amber?”

  Amber snorted before she busted Trista. “I followed you a couple of weeks ago because you were being so sneaky. Funny, isn’t it? You’re screwing your cousin’s husband!”

  SHIT.

  My eyes went back and forth between the best friends. Trista looked teary now. “I didn’t mean for it to happen like that, I swear. Harry and I got drunk one night at a family party and it just happened.”

  OMG! Trista really was a mistress… to her cousin’s husband? Talk about scandalous!

  “Well, don’t you think it’s high time you stop fucking each other’s brains out before it gets worse, Trista? Don’t you think what my dad is doing to me and my mom is horrible?” Trista slid down the wall and plopped on the floor, looking distraught. Lindsey rushed over to her side and tried to soothe her.

  “I can’t leave him. I don’t think I can,” Trista whispered. “It’s too late now. I’m in love with him.”

  “You’re ruining your life, Trista! You’re not that kind of woman.”

  “Well, you’re not one to talk about ruining lives. You’ve been using cocaine for like forever!” Trista retorted back with vengeance.

  Cocaine? No. I pushed Amber and checked her. Sure enough, she had a clear baggie of powdery, white stuff sitting on her lap. And lots of it! “You can’t be using this shit, Amber. This is so bad for you! Your dad’s not worth it. He’s not worth ruining your life over!”

  “I’m an adult. I can do whatever I want!” Amber yelled back as she prepped her paraphernalia on the table, right there in front of us.

  “Amber! Stop it!” Lindsey stood up and tried to take away her stuff. Amber stood up, too, and slapped Lindsey in the face. Lindsey recoiled from the impact. “What the fuck!” She screeched.

  “I want you all out of my business right now. None of you are of any help! Do you hear me? SCRAM!” Amber sat back down again, opened her tiny baggie and poured the powdery white stuff on the table. With her Platinum AMEX card, she made three perfect straight lines, tediously. She took out a tiny black straw and snorted the first line in her left nostril then she closed her amber-colored eyes, tilted her head back, sniffed and cleared her nasal passages, making sure she got all of the powdery stuff inside. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked us each in ours. “I need you all to leave. Just give me time. I need this right now before I go crazy. I’m not going to ask again.”

  Frozen and horrified, Lindsey and I both looked at Trista, who merely shrugged and left the room. What the hell! Were we just going to leave Amber in here, wired and high? Lindsey followed suit, but I stood there, staring at Amber, not knowing what to do.

  “Amber… please… listen to me.”

  Amber gave me a sad smile. “This is not the first time, my friend. I’m sorry you’re witnessing this ugly side of me, but I am what I am. I’ve done this before and quit, but I just need time to process things, okay? I really like you, Emma, but right now, I really need you to leave. I just want to be alone.”

  “Amber… you’re hurting. You can’t possibly be okay to be lef
t alone.”

  “Each person hurts differently. Each person processes hurt in their own way. This is how I cope with it.” I wanted to hug her. Her eyes were so haunted and anguished. I felt helpless. With a begrudging nod, I silently left the room and found Lindsey and Trista at the end of the hall, waiting for me.

  “How long have you guys known?” I asked the two people that have known Amber the longest.

  “Ever since it started,” they both responded in unison.

  “Well, isn’t there a way to help her?” Why were they acting like this was normal?

  “We both told her parents before, but they just didn’t care. They said their daughter’s a big girl and that she could handle herself.”

  I blinked a few times before Trista’s words sank in. “Are you serious? What kind of parents would say stuff like that about their daughter’s addiction?”

  “Give her a week or two, Emma. This is her way—fucked up way, yeah—but it’s her way to cope,” Lindsey murmured.

  I stared at her wide-eyed. So, I guess this was just a routine for them? I hadn’t known and I didn’t like this. I felt like there was something we should have done.

  It sucked to sit idly by and watch your friend be in shambles.

  E

  I still had an hour and half or so before the planned barbeque downstairs. I didn’t want to be idle anyway. I would just think too much about Carter and that was a no-go zone for now.

  Lindsey and Brody went for a walk and Trista went hiking with some other folks. Amber was still stuck in her room and when I checked on her, she was curled up in bed sleeping.

  All by my lonesome, I figured I should get my priorities straight and my number one priority was to start studying my movie script. I wanted to call Bass so bad, but I couldn’t find my phone anywhere.

  So, I decided to enjoy the view from the bedroom porch and start reading through the Blasphemous script. I knew I had months to go through it, but I wanted to make sure I nailed the part right. This film would be my debut and I wasn’t going to do it half-ass. I wanted to embody Angela and her feelings towards Logan and her Greek husband, Spiros, perfectly.