by Vi Carter
“I’m not,” I say immediately.
“I see that now.” She holds her head high.
Her words sting. They really shouldn’t. They should have no effect at all. I should be telling her that she is going in the morning. I should tell her that the case has been resolved. The other girls may have been sent to their new husbands by now. Maybe that’s where she was going tomorrow.
“Igor is sending someone to collect you in the morning,” I say the words that need to be said.
“Am I to be sold?”
I turn away from her. “I have no idea. That isn’t my area.”
“Why didn’t you say that? You said Igor was just checking in.”
Irritation crawls along my skin, and I face Evie again. I shouldn’t have to explain myself to her.
“I lied.” My words rise, and she jumps slightly.
“I wouldn’t have taken you for a liar, Lucca.”
The space between us is gone, and I bend my frame over her. “You don’t know me.”
Her chest rises and falls quickly. Her blue eyes spark up, and it reminds me of a flash of lightning. “You don’t know me.”
I’m captured in the storm that is thrashing violently in her gaze, and when she curses and presses her lips against mine, I feel the transfer of the storm and grip the back of her neck, forcing her closer.
Her kisses are as erratic as her heartbeat that pulses along her neck. My fingers trail down and brush the side of her large breast.
She groans into my open mouth before she breaks away, holding up her hands. This time when she looks at me, I see nothing but a rawness that’s all mixed up with pain and lust.
I should leave.
I need to walk away from her, but I can’t. I take the distance away and drag her back to my body, where she fits perfectly against me, and when I kiss her, she doesn’t resist. The kiss is fuelled with anger that has her teeth sinking into my lip. I pull away as I taste blood and stare down at her.
She’s alive.
She’s angry, and she isn’t close to being done. She reaches up like she wants to cup my cheek. Her fingers press painfully against the wound that opens. Liquid flows down my face. Before I can ask her what the fuck she’s doing, she’s kissing me again. My face burns but my cock throbs harder, wanting to be inside that tight ass.
She tries to pull away again, but I don’t allow it, picking her up off the floor and placing her on the bed. She’s scrambling away like she doesn’t want this, but her eyes tell me a different story. Her eyes shine with a slight madness like she isn’t sure what she is doing, either.
As I drag her back, her hand connects with my unmarked cheek. It doesn’t stop the shock of the impact. Her actions are joined with words, and I spin her around quickly while pulling up her long skirt. Her perfectly rounded ass I keep in the air as I bring my hand down on her creamy skin. She screams and tries to get away. I’m not as gentle the second time, and she cries out, making my cock stir. The skin turns red instantly, and I hit the same place. The sting along my palm runs up my arm, and I give her ass a few more slaps before I release her, and she crumbles onto the bed.
Her small hands tighten into the sheets as she tries to pull herself up.
“Don’t move.” I run my hands over her red ass, and she tries to move away.
“You want me to spank you again?”
She remains still as I rub the raw skin. I’m tempted to place kisses over the swollen flesh, but she doesn’t deserve that right now. I unbutton my trousers and push them along with my boxers down my hips.
Evie turns her head, her eyes on fire, and I grin at her.
“You want me to fuck your ass?”
Her cheeks grow redder. They are still damp from her falling tears, and I don’t stop her as she faces me.
“No.” She lies back. “Why not take me fully?” She closes her eyes, but a smile dances with madness across her bitten lips.
“I can’t.”
“Coward.” The word from her lips has me moving over her. Her gaze meets mine.
“Be careful. Printsessa.” I warn her and run my fingers down her cheek. She tries to move her face away from me. My cock rests on her pussy, and I want nothing more than to drive it into her. “Don’t push me.”
Her smile widens. “The Handler? Hmmm.”
I’m ready to move away from her. She’s lost her mind, taunting me.
Doubt clouds her eyes, and I see that’s what she is doing. She’s testing me.
I grin down at her. “You think if I fuck you, I’ll pay for you?” I laugh, and her face flames up. She tries to get off the bed, confirming my suspicion. I should feel victorious, but I don’t. I grab her waist and drag her back into my chest. She tries to wriggle free, but I hold her tighter. “Be quiet, Evie,” I whisper, and she stills in my arms.
She’s willing to give me all of her in hopes that I won’t hand her over. “I can’t keep you,” I growl into her ear. But for the first time, I’m allowing her to hear it. I’m allowing her to hear that if I could, I would. She’s a rare beauty. She’s strong, and she intrigues me.
Her breaths come out in sharp puffs of warm air. My hand rests over her pounding heart.
She turns her head, trying to see my face. Tears blur her eyes. “Whoever gets me won’t be as weak as you.” She pushes my arm away from her, and it falls to my side. I get off the bed and pull up my trousers before I do something I regret.
She scrambles off the bed, too, like the madness has taken over her mind. “He won’t hesitate to fuck me.” She’s trembling with temper and desperation.
I clench my jaw but don’t move as she advances on me.
“You call yourself The Handler? All I see is a little boy doing Igor’s errands.”
I’m upon her before I can think straight. Her body grows slack as I push her back onto the bed and push her face down into the mattress.
I keep one hand on her head and use the other to lower my trousers and boxers. My body wraps across her back as I speak into her ear. Her face is hidden behind her hair, but it rises with each puff of terrified air that leaves her mouth.
“I’m not afraid of Igor. I’m not afraid of anyone.” I bark before leaning away from her and yanking up her skirt. She doesn’t stop me, but her knuckles are white as she clings to the blankets like they will lessen this moment. I don’t hesitate but place my cock at her virgin entrance. Every single muscle in her body is tense. I don’t push in but lean in across her again. Removing the hair from her face, she looks up at me; the whites of her eyes are so large, as the fear in her continues to grow.
“I need people like Igor to keep me in line because when I do what I want, it’s not very nice, Evie.” I lean back and slam myself into her. Her cry fades away as I pull out and push my cock back in.
“I’m no one’s errand boy,” I tell her as I move faster, allowing my own need to build. Her pussy is painfully tight around my cock. The pain and pleasure have me grabbing her ass. Her cries don’t stop, but she doesn’t stop me either. Even if she wanted to, I wouldn’t allow it.
I move faster, and her pussy clenches and releases around me. A warmth seeps from her, and I look down as I draw my cock out to see blood smeared across it.
She was no longer a virgin. There was no reason to hold back. Her cries have stopped as I grip her hips and force her to arch her ass up so I can bury myself inside her. My flesh slaps against hers, and the pleasure grows. Her pussy clenches around my cock again, and I keep going until I feel myself ready to let go. I wait until the last second before I pull my cock out of her pussy. My cum spills down her leg and onto the bed. Blood mixes with my cum, and I stare at it as the room stops spinning, and the natural sounds of the space come fully back, and I can hear my heavy breathing and her cries that are soft but filled with pain.
She tries to crawl away from me, but I grip her thighs. Her head swings around, fire burns in her blue eyes, tears stain her cheeks.
“Don’t move,” I order and leave her to
go to the bathroom, where I clean myself and return with a cloth for her. She hasn’t moved, and I take my time cleaning her up. She flinches when I touch her pussy with the cloth. I’m gentle, but no doubt she’s tender. Once she’s cleaned, I pull her skirt back down.
“Now you can move.” She doesn’t instantly, but when she does, she moves like a wounded animal.
Once she manages to get off the bed, she spins around and faces me. Folding her arms across her chest, I can see she’s fighting a million emotions.
“The next time you taunt a man, be sure you are ready for the outcome.” I don’t want there to be a next time, and the idea of any other man putting his hands on Evie has me pulling the covers off the bed so she can’t see my face.
She had poked me, and I had responded.
Tomorrow the doctor would examine her and see she wasn’t a virgin.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
EVIE
The air has lodged itself in my lungs. Lucca hasn’t moved, and I want nothing more than for him to leave. He’s speaking, his mouth is moving, I can read the words, but I can’t hear him over the roar of my blood that races through my veins..
He snaps his fingers angrily as he advances on me. He stops a foot away from me, and I can’t help when my shoulders curl forward as if they can protect me.
“You didn’t stop me, so don’t keep looking at me like that.” His words are low but fuelled with anger.
I’m numb.
I think I am until I have the thought, and my body burns with pain, humiliation, and confusion.
It wasn’t what I expected. He didn’t react as I had thought he would. I thought if I taunted him that he would take away my virginity, the one thing that has held me in this prison. I just didn’t think he would take it so viciously.
He snaps his fingers again in my face, and I take a step away from him. My back connects with the wall. Cold drips down my spine, and I feel like I’m waking up from a nightmare only to step into one in real life.
I keep my gaze pinned on the floor. I don’t want to look at him. I don’t want to think of what I just allowed to happen. I focus on his shoes as he moves away from me. The door slams, and the impact rattles my bones and allows me to fall apart.
I’m heaving for air, but I don’t move.
In my head, I’m trying to calm myself. This is what I wanted. I wanted out of this prison, and when they inspected me, I would be free from the chains I had allowed them to wrap me in since I was ten.
Igor would know it was the Handler, and I didn’t think Lucca was stupid enough to deny it. So now what was the end game? What would he do? Kill me?
My legs shake, and my mind spins with the fear that I’ve made a mistake. I could have been given to a man whom I could have grown to love.
As I close my eyes, the tears start to fall. I swallow as much as I can before I move. Everything in me hurts. Moisture between my legs has me walking to the bathroom. My hands tremble as I turn on the tap, I clench them into fists to try to stop the shaking, but they continue to tremble.
This is what I wanted. I remind myself as I wash my hands.
I strip off all my clothes before turning on the shower and stepping into the spray. I hate watching the pink liquid swirl down the drain that runs from between my legs.
“It’s done,” I say out loud, hoping to stop the ache in my stomach. Instead of relief, all I feel is more pain. Pain that I don’t want to feel.
Closing my eyes, I keep my head under the spray. I move my hands through the spray like I’m parting water in an ocean. The memory comes hard and fast as my father’s bracelet catches the light of the sun; the tan on his arms always darkens in the summer months. He’s a giant; he’s my dad.
He’s my dad, and his arms circle my waist as he lifts me out of the water. His voice is in my ear. “Got you, Evie.”
I’m laughing, and I hold on to the memory, trying to remember the smell of his skin that was covered in sun lotion. Or knowing my mother was sitting on the beach watching out for us. I can’t remember what she wore that day, only the large straw hat that she let me wear when I came ashore.
The smell of crisps and the taste of happiness dissolves as I open my eyes.
I finish washing and leave the shower, clinging onto my parents’ faces. That’s why I allowed Lucca to take me. That’s why I didn’t fight him. I have no other way out, but if it gives me one tiny chance to see their faces again, one tiny chance to be in my father’s arms, or one tiny chance to smell my mother’s Charlie perfume, then it’s worth it.
I dry myself, but I’m gentle and only pat between my legs. I get redressed with a new found strength, emboldened by the step I’ve taken to change my fate, for better or worse.
I don’t think of the worse as I lie on top of the covers waiting for him to return. The day fades to night, and I’m left with my sore body and a longing for home that I’ve never felt before.
I don’t get off the bed or move at all. I stay still and allow myself to go home in my head.
When the night has fully taken over, I sit up and listen. I listen for any type of noise, but the house is quiet.
The bedroom door is unlocked as I step into the darkened hall. A light at the end has me pausing. It’s just like his penthouse, and my mind screams at me that it’s a trap and I need to return to my room.
I make it to the end of the hall, and the stairs are right in front of me. My hand rests on the banister; the varnished wood is soft under my palm as I stare down the stairs like I can see around the corner what awaits me.
“You should be asleep, Evie.”
My lids flutter closed, and a shiver ripples across my flesh. He’s behind me.
“I can’t sleep.” My voice sounds raw like I’ve been crying for hours. Inside, I’ve cried for everything I have lost. I have to force my fingers open in order to release the banister and turn.
He’s right there. All dressed in black, looking down at me with heavy eyes.
His hands are behind his back, and I wonder if he’s holding something. Has he decided to get rid of me? Fear has me reaching for the banister again to keep me upright.
I nod at him, but I can’t hold his eye. “I’ll go to sleep now.” It’s a whisper as I move away from the stairs and closer to him. My heart pounds as I’m ready to pass him. A hand burns into my flesh as he grips my arm, stopping me from leaving.
He isn’t speaking but staring at me. Anger flashed in his gaze as I try to pull away from his touch that some part of me still yearns for.
“What did you expect to gain by allowing me to take you?” He puts an emphasis on the word allowing.
My lips twist into a snarl. I can’t stop the response, and I try to walk away from him again, only to find myself pinned to the wall by a solid wall of mass muscle.
His erection prods into me, and my stomach clenches with want while the rest of me shrivels with fear.
“Answer me.” His voice is calm.
Taunting him had given me a freedom I’d never felt before. Hitting and provoking him was better than anything I’ve ever felt in my life.
But right now, I feel small against the wall under him. “I don’t know.”
“Evie.” The warning in my name has me looking up into Lucca’s dark eyes.
I didn’t want to share with him my truths. My personal thoughts. A piece of me that he had no right to. Red hot lava radiates through my veins, and my head swims with a dizziness, and I know I’m going to do something reckless. I dig my nails into the palms of my hands to calm myself.
“I’m just hoping when they find out I’m not a virgin that they kill us both.” I even manage to grin at him, but it wavers when he leans away from me. He doesn’t allow me to move, but the look on his face is frightening. It’s like he’s impressed with my answer.
Time drags out, and it allows my fear to stretch and morph into something that steals the sound away from the space. Lucca’s lip rises, and he takes another step away from me.
“T
hat’s very clever.” He half laughs, it’s short, but I heard it.
The smile leaves his lips. “Go to bed, Evie.”
I’m moving quickly, as my heartbeat is the rhythm I walk to. I’m in his room, and once again, the air has been vacuumed from the room. I stand still and don’t move until I’m steadier and take baby steps to the bed that I sit on.
Emotionally, I can’t even think anymore as I lie down and stare at the ceiling. I want to go back to my memories, but they don’t come. Lucca’s aftershave has left an imprint on my memories, and each time I see my parents, the image morphs into Lucca.
This happens until I steal small bubbles of time, but the smallest sound has me opening my eyes. Light pours in from the window, and it’s like an hourglass has released the last grain of sand.
Time’s up.
Game over.
I sit up as the door opens. Seeing Lucca in the light of day has anger and my attraction for him, tying itself together until I can’t untie them. I can’t figure out what I should feel right now.
“Come downstairs.” His gaze doesn’t waver, and as I get off the bed, I wonder if he feels anything for what happened last night.
Lucca doesn’t walk away but waits for me to leave the room first. I hate having him at my back and find myself hesitating at the top of the stairs. I grip the banister for dear life. I’m waiting for two large hands to land on my back and push me down the stairs.
The steps nearly disappear under my feet as I rush down the stairs. The moment my feet touch the floor, I glance behind me as Lucca clears the final step. His dark eyes are alight with humor, and I’m frozen to the spot as he walks past me.
“Come, Evie.” He calls from the kitchen, and I glance at the front door. A shadow moves past it. All dressed in black.
“Evie.” The warning in Lucca’s voice has me entering the kitchen.
The table is set for two. My stomach sours. I couldn’t eat with him.
“Sit down.”
