by Lucy Wild
I’d worked all that out but I still didn’t really know why I’d offered her the deal. If I didn’t take her back, I was a dead man. There was no way round that. I couldn’t screw up a job like this and expect everything to be fine. I should grab her, break into the nearest car, drive her back. She’d be damaged but in a way she already was.
Get the job done and get away from her, one side of me thought. Fuck her first, it added. Show her how dark the world can be. The other side of me wanted to wrap her up and keep her safe and I hated being caught between those two opposing sides.
I knew I should take her home but I didn’t do it. Instead I offered to go with her to speak to her lost love. What the hell was wrong with me?
“Got them,” she said, excitedly waving two tickets at me. We went back outside to wait for the bus. “Have you ever made a deal with anyone before?” she asked, looking up at me.
“Once or twice,” I lied. I couldn’t tell her this was a first for me, it would make me look weak. You couldn’t look weak, that was a cardinal rule in my world.
“You’re not going to go back on it, are you?”
“You go see him then we go home.”
“But why are you doing this?”
I didn’t answer her. I didn’t know. All of a sudden an image of her on her knees entered my head. Looking up at me with those innocent eyes of hers as I made her beg me to take her. I couldn’t shake the image either. Her with her clothes torn half off, her hair a mess, her hands clasped behind her back. I could feel my cock twitch at the thought of it and I had to look away from her to make the image fade.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” I replied, my voice more strained than I liked to hear it. I coughed then growled, my voice back to normal as I repeated, “I’m fine.”
TWELVE
ISABEL
I was glad when the bus pulled in. He’d been silent for ten minutes, staring into the distance without saying a word. He seemed furious with me though I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t say anything though. I worried that if I did, he might go back on his deal and try and force me home.
I didn’t really know what I was doing. Was going to see Ben a good idea? What if his feelings for me had changed? He hadn’t written for years, just texted to admonish me each time I told him I loved him, told me to sober up and get on with my life.
My life was at a crossroads. I knew that. Either go home, go see Ben, or try and run. None of the options were great. I needed someone to tell me what to do but there was no one. So when he’d agreed to take me to Ben, it was like getting permission combined with being given a command. I latched onto it like a grateful toddler.
I had spent most of my life not really knowing what I was doing. It was a strange feeling. I had a father but I didn’t feel like I had a family. I had friends but I didn’t feel as if anyone really knew me. I’d been so angry at the hired goon for telling me I couldn’t cope in the real world, not because he was wrong, but because he was right.
It was like he’d seen straight through to the heart of me and I didn’t like that feeling. No one was supposed to see that deeply into me, that was the whole point of keeping my true feelings hidden.
I had felt for years like I was treading water, that if I didn’t keep focussed on the things I thought were important, I might start to sink. I’d see the real me, the vulnerable little girl who just wanted to be loved and protected. Was that why I was still so obsessed with him? Was that why I was travelling to him? To try and get that feeling back, that feeling of being safe. It had been a very long time since I’d felt safe. Knowing I was supposed to marry the son of a gangster didn’t exactly help with that.
I could sneak away, of course. I could wait for the opportune moment as Jack Sparrow once said. Or I could try to persuade him not to take me back. But there was still that voice in the back of my mind that told me I could trust this man. For all his coldness, the bitterness that radiated off him as he stood with his arms folded, staring into the distance.
That trust didn’t extend to making me want to sit with him though. It was a long way to Gladwell and I had no intention of spending the journey next to a man who so obviously hated me. I took a seat next to a guy who had a friendly smile, nodding at him as I settled in, leaving the goon to sit across the aisle from me, continuing to scowl into the distance.
The bus rumbled into life a few minutes later and we set off, heading off to make our way towards the motorway and then onwards. The last few houses faded from view, replaced by rolling fields that made me sad to think about the last time I’d seen them.
Me and the girls had taken a taxi from home to here, I recognised that campsite too. We hadn’t cared about the bill for glamping as we weren’t paying it. That was the one good thing about having a rich father, no matter how cold and distant he was, he always picked up the tab.
We’d spent a week on that campsite, slumming it without a care in the world, watching the stars at night from around the dwindling campfire, the days spent doing not very much at all, a bit of shopping, a bit of flirting with the local boys, something I was not very good at unless I’d had a few too many. At least drinking meant I didn’t have to deal with myself, how I really felt about things, better to block it out with booze.
What a difference a few years made. I’d moved out since then, I had my own place, my own life, away from the ostentatious house of my father. Even after leaving, he managed to spoil it like he’d spoiled so many other things. My hands turned into fists as I thought about the audacity of it. To think that he could have me married off like some medieval chattel, not even caring about my opinion.
“You look like you’re going to miss this place,” the man next to me said. I turned to find his hand thrusting towards me. “Michael Dooney, salesman at large.”
I shook his hand, he held onto mine for a little too long before finally letting me go.
“And you are?”
“Isabel.”
“Where you headed, Isabel?”
“Gladwell.”
“Oh, that’s a lovely part of the world. You got family in Gladwell?”
“No, just a friend.”
“A friend, oh, that’s nice. Me, I’m roaming where the money is, got to make those sales, am I right?”
“You don’t drive then?”
“Who needs to with company like you, Isabel? Maybe I can show you round the town when we get there? I know all the best places.”
“No, thank you.”
“Oh, come on, don’t be like that. It’s a long journey for you to be frosty the whole way. Why not have a drink with me? I’ve got some cheeky tins here in my bag.” He pulled out a can of lager and cracked it open. “Want one?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“Suit yourself.” He lapsed into silence while he drank but the peace didn’t last. Just as we reached the dual carriageway he turned to me again. “Sure you don’t want one?”
“I’m sure, thanks.”
“What about a chat?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Oh, don’t be so cold, Izzy.”
“Please don’t call me that.”
“All right,” he said, tapping my knee with his hand, making me squirm to move away from his hand. “I’m only being friendly.”
“Do you mind?” the goon said from across the aisle.
“You got a problem?” Michael asked.
“I’d rather you didn’t touch my daughter like that.”
“Your…your daughter?” He took a look at the goon and then at me, his face draining of colour. “Geez, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise. I was just making conversation.”
“I know exactly what you were doing. Now, Isabel, come and sit beside your father.”
“Of course, Daddy,” I said, sliding off the seat and across the aisle, squeezing in next to him. “Whatever you say.”
THIRTEEN
ISABEL
I couldn’t believe my luck. I was able to tease my ‘Dadd
y’ to my heart’s content and there was nothing he could do about it without making a massive scene. Having slid into the seat next to him, I could feel the salesman opposite still watching me. With the most innocent grin I could manage, I snuggled in closer to my Daddy.
I could feel him stiffening in place. He clearly wanted to shove me away from him but he’d started this lie, he had to keep it up. So he sat there, pretending to be my Daddy while I pretended to be his little girl. The strangest part of it all was the fact that I was enjoying it so much. Making him uncomfortable was a lot of fun. Almost as much fun as being his little girl.
I hooked my hand through his arm and pressed myself closer to him. “I love you, Daddy,” I said, resisting laughing as he turned and scowled down at me. “I love you so much. You’re the bestest Daddy in the whole wide world.”
“All right,” he grumbled. “That’s enough.”
“What?” I said loudly, enjoying the moment more as he became more uncomfortable. “Don’t you love me, Daddy?”
He sighed and I caught his lips moving. He swore under his breath before plastering a fake grin on his lips. “Of course I love you.”
I turned to the salesman and stuck my tongue out at him. “My Daddy loves me.”
I snuggled up closer next to Daddy, feeling the heat of his body through his jacket sleeve, the firmness of his bicep as his smile faded away, leaving his face as angry as it had been before. I knew I was pushing my luck so I didn’t tease him any further, just chuckling quietly to myself while he growled at me. “My Daddy loves me,” I said again, more to myself than to anyone else.
“That’s enough,” he said, shuffling along the seat until he was squashed against the window.
“What, am I not allowed to talk to you anymore, Daddy?
“Now when you’re supposed to be resting. Close your eyes and try and nap.”
“But I don’t want to nap.”
“You either rest or I’ll spank you in front of all of these people. Would you like that instead?”
I closed my eyes at once, ignoring the tiny little voice that spoke deep inside me, the voice that said, yes, I would like that very much.
I must have dozed for a while because the next thing I remember was being jolted forwards as the bus suddenly stopped dead. I almost hit the back of the seat in front of me but Daddy was faster than me, catching me across the chest and pushing me back against my seat. “You all right?” he asked, already getting to his feet.
“I’m fine,” I replied. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know. Hold on, I’ll go and look.”
The bus driver answered my question before he was able to squeeze past me. “Sorry folks,” he shouted. “Engine trouble. Just stay where you are for now and we’ll soon be on our way.”
He was wrong. The bus hadn’t moved a muscle by the time sun set. We might have been all right if we were still on the dual carriageway but down a tiny rural road like this, things were very different.
We were stranded in the middle of nowhere and not a single bar of phone signal was to be found by anyone. In the end the driver wandered off to try and find a phone, leaving the rest of us to sit and wait. And wait. And wait.
Not long after the sun had set, I went to find Daddy. He was standing by the front of the bus, leaning back against it with his arms folded. “You all right?” he asked when I stepped off to find him.
“Bored,” I replied.
“Look, you stay here, I’ll be back soon.”
“Where are you going?”
“You’ll see,” he said in a voice that suggested I’d get nothing else out of him.
“I can’t believe no one else has driven down here all day,” I said.
“They have, you were asleep.”
“I was?”
“I found you draped over the seat earlier. You were snoring.”
“I don’t snore.”
“Must have been someone else then.”
“So, hang on? People have been driving past? How come none of them offered to help?”
“A few stopped but what could they do? It’d have to be a pretty big car to fit all seventeen of us in it.”
“But a replacement should be here by now?”
“You’d think. You stay here, I won’t be long.”
“What if a bus comes while you’re gone?”
“Then you get to escape.”
I thought about that as he walked away, his shoulders hunched against the growing wind. He soon vanished into the darkness and I was alone, all the other passengers still on the bus. I looked left, then right, then made a snap decision. I should run, get away from him. Someone like that wouldn’t stick to a deal. This was a trick while he got a car and then he was going to drag me home. I just knew it.
I had the perfect opportunity to get away from him. Making sure he’d really gone, I gave him another couple of minutes before heading off the road onto the verge. I tried to break into a run but almost at once I came up against a row of trees. I slowed, weaving between them, the bus disappearing from sight behind me. Almost at once, my chest began to tighten. The only noise was the wind through the branches and I felt scared, no, I felt terrified.
I’d never been good in the dark and in woods in the middle of nowhere, I felt like such an idiot for trying to run. I made it back to the bus after an awful couple of minutes of being certain I was going to die. I thought he was back when I saw someone with the passengers but I quickly realised it wasn’t him, it was the driver in the middle of a sentence.
“-offers its apologies but there is a guesthouse just half a mile up the road. The company’ll pay for you to stay the night and then the replacement will be here first thing tomorrow.”
I looked down the road as the passengers all began to gather their things. “Your Daddy’s back,” the salesman said as he stepped off the bus, pointing into the distance. From the gloom, a figure emerged, striding over to me without a care in the world.
“What’s happening?” he asked, looking at the huddle of people waiting for the driver to lead them onwards.
“We’re being put up for the night down the road. Bus company’s treat.”
“You’ll have a job. The place is booked up.”
“What? But the driver said.”
“Not a single room left for them.”
“Then there’s no point going.”
“I said no room for them.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I took the last room for us.”
“You did?”
“There’s only one problem.”
“Which is?”
“It’s a single. Reckon you’ll be all right sharing with Daddy?”
He looked like he was smiling but in the dark it was hard to tell. “You want me to keep calling you that?”
“Doesn’t bother me.”
“Well, I haven’t got much choice. You haven’t told me your name yet.”
“Jake. Jake Murdoch.”
“I prefer Daddy.”
“I thought you might. Well let’s get moving. It’s time for Daddy to put his little girl to bed.”
FOURTEEN
JAKE
She held my hand on the way to the guesthouse. She just slotted her cold hand into mine and clung onto it, walking slightly behind me as if she really were my daughter. I assumed she was afraid of the dark but I didn’t ask her, I saw no need. If she wanted to hold my hand, it made no difference to me. What mattered to me was getting her into bed before I ripped her clothes off and fucked her so hard, she’d barely be able to breathe. She was like a drug I couldn’t wean myself off and the worst part was that I was beginning to enjoy this feeling, torture as it was to know I couldn’t touch her that way, not if I wanted to keep my hands attached to my body.
I don’t know what it was about her but ever since she’d snuggled up next to me on the bus, my cock had been hard enough to cut diamonds. I’d had to sit with my legs awkwardly crossed so she didn’t see it. C
alling me Daddy didn’t help, it made me think of things that were not at all paternal, it made me think about her on her knees calling me that, her mouth half open, me thrusting myself into her until she choked.
The bus breaking down was a blessing. The sleazebag who’d been trying to chat her up had kept glancing across at me. He knew. It was clear that he knew how I felt about her and his look made me want to smash his face into the window, throw him out onto the road, watch him vanish under the traffic.
Not that there was much traffic along the tiny little road the bus had wandered down. Between him staring at me and her rubbing herself against me, I was barely able to think straight. I knew I shouldn’t want her. I knew she was far too young for me. I also knew how Tony would feel if he found out I’d been fucking the girl who was supposed to marry his son. He would not be happy, let’s put it that way.
So I tried to ignore her, I tried to ignore how she smelt, how she looked, how she peered up at me with those teasing eyes of hers, the way she made me tell her I loved her, the little brat. She made me want to rip her clothes off, hold her down over my knee, paint her ass bright red with the flat of my hand, spank her for her behaviour.
When the bus broke down, I was off like a shot, taking deep gulps of the cold air outside, trying to get a grip of the lust that threatened to overwhelm me. Just when I thought I’d got it sorted, she appeared next to me. I looked at her and then at the woods opposite us. I knew I could grab her, drag her in there, cover her mouth with my hand. No one would notice a thing.
In seconds I could have her on her knees, my cock in her mouth. The thought made it impossible to think so I left her, heading down the road in the hope of calming myself. If I couldn’t get a hold of myself, I’d end up doing something stupid and incredible as it would be, it wasn’t worth dying for.
I was surprised to find the guesthouse a few minutes later and even more surprised to find myself booking a room for us both. “I’ll be staying with my daughter,” I said as I filled out the form the woman behind the counter gave me.
