The Devil's Gate

by Rue Volley

  I reached toward it and he set it down, stepping back up to me and cupping my face.

  His passionate kiss that followed was laced with his deep growl. He pressed my hand up and down the front of him and then undid his pants, allowing me to reach inside and take him into my hand. I wrapped my free hand around him and gripped his shirt tightly as his hand helped me stroke him. It was slow at first, and then I felt the first twitch, his large cock moved in my palm, and I moaned. It made my nipples ache and my thighs hum as he tried to control himself. The stroking quickened and then he stopped and pushed me back as he leaned over and cried out. His breathing quick and uncontrollable.

  He looked up at me and his eyes were darker, glossy, his cheeks flush. He was as flustered as I had always been with him, but he denied himself the release this time. I stepped forward and he held his hand up to me, catching his breath and then he stood up, adjusted his pants and closed them. I was so concerned that I had done something wrong that I had to ask him.

  “Is it me?”

  He tilted his head and then came toward me in a rush. His kiss told me anything but. He pulled back and rested his forehead against mine as he cupped my face in his hands.

  “I can’t—not yet. When I come again, I want to be inside of you Abigail. I need that; I need for you to consume me as I consume you—I didn’t mean to, in the elevator. I should have waited and been able to control myself, but it’s so hard with you; it becomes harder each time I see you, each time I smell you close to me. It drives me crazy.”

  I sucked in my breath as his words pierced my soul and remained there, just waiting for the moment that I so longed for. My body shook, my lips trembled, and he stared at me, taking it all in.

  “I want you so badly, I could easily take you right here, spread your legs and invade you. But—I won’t. I want you to beg me for it and you will, Abigail. You will beg me for more.”

  I closed my eyes. “Jack, you’re going to make me come.”

  He grinned as he stepped around behind me and placed his hands on my stomach. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck as he leaned down and kissed the side of my neck. I sighed as his hands slid into the bottom of my shirt and the leather felt smooth against my skin as they rose and cupped my breasts.

  “Please.”

  He smiled and firmly squeezed them as I pulled one leg up and hissed. He eased up and lowered his one hand, pushing it down into the front of my pants. The leather met up with my clit and he started to move his finger very slowly as I moaned and pushed my head back. He grabbed the bottom of my chin and forced my face upward, as my lips parted and the orgasm rose in me.

  “Don’t stop—don’t—Jack…”

  He quickened his pace and had to hold me up as the orgasm made me feel as if I would collapse from the weight of it. I could hear the horse cry out as it matched my own moans of pleasure. Just as the first orgasm left me, a second rose up and took me by surprise.

  “Abigail, stop breathing, now.”

  I stopped and the lack of oxygen met up with the orgasm. I almost felt as if I would pass out, but it didn’t matter to me. None of it. Jack tightened his grip on my throat and I pulled one leg up as he furiously brought on the third orgasm before he released me, and I collapsed to the ground in front of him. I sucked in as much air as I could as he dropped beside me. He leaned down, touching my hair and moving it aside. I looked up at him and fell into his arms, never wanting to leave his torturous embrace.

  I looked up at the bag and grinned. He lifted his eyes and stared at it too.

  “Tie me up, Jack.”

  He smiled as he grabbed it and opened it to see the red satin and the whip. His eyebrow rose.

  “Abi, are you sure this is what you want of me?”

  I nodded to him as a voice interrupted us, and I stood as Jack joined me. Jerod stood at the entrance to the stable. “Mother wants us all at dinner, Jack. Bring the toy with you.”

  I looked down as Jack placed his hand into mine. “Abigail, Jerod. Don’t be rude.”

  He laughed as he lifted his glass to us and shook it. “Whatever.”

  He left us standing there and my anger rose in me. Jerod could be so hurtful, and if it weren't for the drinking, I would lash out at him. Not that I am excusing his ridiculous behavior, but addiction is a terrible thing and it had a grip on him that I couldn’t even relate too.

  We sat at the dinner table and said nothing. Jerod, Tasha, and his mother had joined us. I wasn’t expecting to see Tasha, but then again, why should I be shocked at her presence? She eyed me like a viper as I tried to look calm and collected. The orgasms had rocked me back and truthfully; I was still thinking about the toys that I had brought with me, which I wanted Jack to use. I cleared my throat and pushed back the feeling of his lips against me.

  Fortunately, the dinner wasn’t formal. I hadn’t shown up for anything but to, well—allow Jack to have his way with me. In fact, Jack wore jeans and a button down, so did his brother. Tasha wore a pink summer dress, but that was just her style. I had worn my jeans, tennis shoes and t-shirt. Nothing fancy and I didn’t even care if it didn’t match the décor around me. I was starting to understand that it didn’t matter at all. Nothing did, except Jack. I wasn’t trying to fit into this world, just his.

  The silence was broken when Jack’s mother spoke up and decided to talk to me. It came out of the blue, so I stopped sipping my tomato bisque soup. At least this time there was absolutely no seafood in sight. I couldn’t stomach it. I really couldn’t stomach her. I knew that she hated me, didn’t want me to be anywhere near her son or this house.

  “So—I hear that you will be starting at Ford, Abigail.”

  I nodded to her as I set my spoon down at the side of my elegantly etched white and gold bowl. I looked up at her, sitting at the head of her table and nodded. “Yes, I start on Monday.”

  Jerod took a drink and nodded to me. “Good job, Jack. I mean, you had to have set that shit up, right?”

  I leaned back as Jerod’s words pained me. He had continued drinking, of course, and now he was not the gentleman who seemed to be so endearing at Rose Valley. He was the brutal man who had intruded upon us at the restaurant and then at the auction, then the stable.

  Jack set his spoon down and looked across the table at him.

  “Abigail secured her place with Lincoln before I spoke to him.”

  Jerod took another drink of his cocktail and then set it down, he twisted the glass as Tasha eyed him. She leaned into his ear, reaching down under the table as she did so. Jerod closed his eyes, and I cleared my throat. She couldn’t possibly be pleasuring him at the table with all of us here, could she?

  “Tasha,” Jack said with a bit of force in his tone. She looked over at him and winked.

  “Oh, come on, Jack. I remember a time when you sat in this chair yourself. No complaints then.”

  I took a drink and tried to ignore it. She was going to try to test me by hinting at what may have been between them at some point. I wouldn’t doubt it, but it couldn’t matter. It was the past, and if you choose to dwell there, you would ruin any hopes of the future.

  “Stop,” he said as he slammed his fist on the table. Everything shook and Tasha jerked her hand up and away from Jerod’s thigh. Victoria rang the bell and Miss Cox appeared. She spoke to her in a quiet voice, and she left the room as Victoria lifted her glass.

  “To new beginnings,” she said as I touched my glass; Tasha grabbed hers and Jerod his. We all lifted them as Jack stared at his. Victoria took her spoon and tapped the side of her glass. Jack blinked and looked at her.

  “Jack, let's toast to Abigail’s success.”

  He swallowed as he touched the glass and Miss Cox returned. She stepped up to him and placed two small pills in the palm of his hand. She took his glass and gave him water instead. He glanced at me, but then quickly took them and gulped the water down as Victoria acted as if it didn’t even happen.

  He lowered his glass. “To Abigail,”
he said as we all took a drink. Tasha lowered her glass as she stared at him. I cleared my throat, and her eyes moved to mine.

  “So—what is it that you will be doing?” she asked, as if she cared.

  Jerod laughed at her and she shot an ice cold stare in his direction. He stopped as he lifted his glass to her and took another drink.

  “Marketing and promotion. Ford is the largest company in the world for businesses to rely on for that.”

  “I know what they do—so you will be spinning things.”

  I narrowed my eyes and kept them trained on her. “Not so much, I mean—yes, you build a brand, taglines and so on, but the product has to be good or all of that means nothing.”

  Jack reached under the table and grabbed my hand. His thumb moved on the inside of my palm. I tried to ignore it as Jerod joined in. “Oh, come on, Abi. It’s all smoke and mirrors, isn’t it? The product could be shit and yet a great marketing plan can make it so widely known that the volume of eyes on it actually sells it—and of course the people that you know.”

  I blinked. I didn’t expect anything that coherent out of his mouth, but his insinuation bothered me. He couldn’t be talking about me, could he? I wasn’t a bad product, so to speak.

  “Well—that’s true. It is a volume thing, but again, the product has to be at least good or the reviews will destroy the momentum.”

  He leaned back and grinned at me. I took a drink, and he had to ruin it. “Like you, Abigail. I mean, your marketing is superb. The innocent college girl, the virgin—correct? Who the fuck wouldn’t want to taste that?”

  I felt the heat rise in my cheeks as Jack squeezed my hand. “Jerod, don’t.”

  Victoria leaned back and just allowed it to play out before her. I’m sure that it wasn’t the first time that Jerod had cornered someone with rude assumptions.

  “I don’t think you know me at all.”

  He leaned up as Tasha grinned next to him. “Oh no—I know you. I know you very well.”

  Jack looked up at him as the pills started to calm him down. “If you are referring to Rose then you have no further to look for blame than yourself, brother.”

  Jerod’s spiteful gaze left me and landed on Jack with no less disdain. “Watch what you say to me, Jack.”

  Jack let my hand go and reached up to take a sip of his drink. He eyed it and then lowered it to the table. “Why? Does the truth bother you? I seem to recall that it was you who took Rose’s virginity only to squander it on whores. Not unlike the one sitting next to you.”

  Jerod rose up and Victoria said nothing. It bothered me that she would allow this to happen. It wasn’t a game and Jerod was intoxicated.

  “Swords—now,” Jerod said as Jack’s face changed, he had gotten what he wanted. “I thought you would never ask.”

  I watched as Jack rose up and I shook my head. “Swords? What does he mean, Jack?”

  Jack looked down at me. “Fencing, of course.”

  He walked away as Victoria finished her drink.

  “Are you going to let this happen?”

  She waved a hand. “As if I have any control over either one of them, they are just like Peter, in every way. I warned you, Abigail. Besides, I am expecting a guest, a very special one.”

  I hated her for saying that. Jerod may be lost to it, but Jack wasn’t his father at all. He would never be, I wouldn’t allow it to happen to him. And screw her guest…whoever that may be. No one should be as important as her flesh and blood.

  I stood up and ran out of the room as Victoria sat alone at the table. I am sure she felt as lonely as she ever had and I was starting to understand that she really didn’t live here anymore. She had died right along with the memory of her husband, allowing her blackened heart to go with him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  THREE LITTLE WORDS

  I stepped into the large room lined with stained glass windows. The work immediately took my breath away. Such passion and skill had gone into making them. Each panel was of a different saint. The light poured in on each side, but the colors cascaded across the floor from the artwork. So cathartic for what this room was designed for. Jack had not told me about the room at all. He mentioned no details other than how his father had taught him pain and how to accept it. Scarring him so terribly that it changed who he was in an instant.

  I can’t imagine being in here as a child. Having a man as daunting as Jack’s father standing over me, surrounded by saints and being told to accept pain as a part of life. It must have been terrifying. Then to be stabbed and have to try to stop it. To a child, it would be a moment that could define them, even though Jack so fiercely denied it.

  I watched as Jack and Jerod stood before each other, fencing swords in hand and no protective gear on. I stepped up as Tasha looked over at me.

  “Are they going to do this without a mask or anything?”

  She grinned. “As if they ever use them.”

  I sighed. This wasn’t new, of course, it wasn’t. I am sure that this dangerous game had played out many times over as they grew up together. But Jack seemed very agitated and it worried me. Two things come from anger, either the person can zero in and become so focused that everything goes their way, or they lose it and get hurt. I really didn’t want to see either play itself out here. I didn’t want Jack hurt or his brother, Jerod, regardless of what a jerk he could be.

  They both held their swords up and stared at each other with such a competitive nature. It was as if Tasha and I didn’t even matter. We didn’t exist here; this was their world and not ours. It never would be. This sibling rivalry would play itself out until the day they died. Peter had ensured it. Making it part of his legacy.

  Jack stepped back and Jerod did too. It was then that the bantering started up between them.

  “So—tell me, Jack. How many whores have you had on your cock? One-hundred, two-hundred or…”

  Jack swung his swordand it made a sharp sound in the room. He lowered his head and then thrust forward as Jerod knocked the blade aside. He laughed as they circled each other like two alpha predators claiming the same piece of land. Jerod looked at me, his coy grin so rude in nature that it was unnerving. His eyes lowered, inspecting me as if I were a prize to be had. I rubbed my arm as his eyes lifted to my own. He pointed the sword at me.

  “Are we sharing this one, Jack?” he looked back as Jack gripped the sword tightly in his hand, the muscles in his jaw flexing as each word infuriated him even more. “Like Rose, her pussy was sweet, wasn’t it?”

  Jack lunged at him and pushed Jerod back a few feet as their swords criss-crossed in front of their faces. Jerod smiled, not unlike a true villain. Jack cried out and shoved him back even further. Jerod stumbled to the ground and ended up on one knee. He stared at the floor and Jack stood in front of him with his sword under his chin. The tip of the blade just an inch from his throat.

  “Don’t talk about Rose that way, Jerod. It’s cheap and beneath you.”

  Jerod looked up at him. “You never deny it because it’s true. You fucked her just as I did, didn’t you?”

  Jack took a breath and then looked at me. “What do you want from me? The truth? The truth is that I did, Jerod. I did, and I enjoyed it.”

  I looked down as the sheer weight of the truth rattled through me. He lied to me. He had looked me in the eye and told me that it was nothing, it was simply a way for both of them to get back at his mother and his brother. Jack looked back at Jerod and shook his head.

  “Is that what you wanted? For me to tell you that I held her wrists tightly above her head as her legs wrapped me. I thrust myself as deeply as I could into her because she wanted me to fuck the memory of you away, Jerod. YOU broke her, not me.”

  Jerod screamed as he rose up and swung his sword around. It caught Jack on the cheek and sliced through his skin. He fell to the side, but reached up and felt the cut to his face. The blood remained on his fingers and he stared at it as Jerod walked around him.

  “Oh Jack—J
ack, Jack, Jack. There it is, your dirty little secret. Go ahead, taste it. Show Abi what you really are.”

  I thought back to the elevator and watching as Jack cut into his thumb and sucked the side of it. His moaning increasing, his free hand slamming against the side of the elevator.

  Jack’s hand trembled as he lowered it to the ground and pushed himself up. I could see the cut and small traces of blood on his pale skin. He stared his brother down with a new look of hatred.

  “Stop.”

  Jerod laughed, the echo of it sending chills through the room. He pointed the blade at him. “If you don’t, then I will.”

  Jack looked down and stared at the blood on his hand. Jerod looked at me. “Jack likes to taste blood. Not just like this, he wants it when he—he can’t come without it, isn’t that right, you freak. Like father, like son.”

  Jack looked up at Jerod and rushed him. The clashing of swords became a blur; they went back and forth until Jack swung and caught Jerod on the jaw. He cried out as he stumbled to the left. He spit on the floor and looked back up at him. Jack grit his teeth.

  “I will kill you.”

  Jerod laughed. “You already did, Jack, when you took Rose from me,” he whispered as Jack rushed him and Jerod stood up and held his hands out, dropping his sword.

  The tip of Jack’s blade penetrated his chest before he could stop it from happening. They both stood there frozen as Tasha cried out and I ran toward them. Jack jerked his blade back and Jerod fell to the floor on his knees. I dropped to my knees next to Jerod as he mouthed something. Jack dropped his sword and stared at the blood on his hand as the sun broke through the stained glass and sprayed brilliant colors of light all over us. Tasha fell to Jerod’s side as I rose up and looked at Jack.