Rules of Bennett: The Complete Collection

by Ember Michaels

  AURORA

  And just like that, all hell broke loose and chaos ensued.

  I rushed into the house with Bennett right behind me. He barked orders at his men as I ran into the bedroom and straight through to the bathroom, slamming the door closed behind me and locking it.

  My heart raced so fast in my chest I was sure it would explode. I got into the shower and closed the frosted glass door behind me, settling into a corner. The lights suddenly went out, increasing my anxiety even more. I waved my arm, but they didn’t come back on.

  Bennett must have cut the power, I thought, trying to calm myself, but it definitely didn’t make me feel any better.

  “Everything’s going to be fine. Everything’s going to be fine,” I whispered to myself before clapping a hand over my mouth when the close sound of gunshots nearly made me scream.

  I could hear Bennett shouting commands, rapid gunfire sounding from both inside the house and far away outside. It was hard to tell myself everything would be okay when I had no idea what was going on or whether or not I was actually safe in this bathroom.

  Suddenly, the gunfire in the house ceased, sounding as if it was all outside again. I listened for a few moments, still not daring to move. Defying Bennett wasn’t anything new to me, but I wasn’t dumb enough to put myself in the line of gunfire when he told me not to go anywhere.

  No sooner than I let out a breath, a loud bang against the bathroom door make me shriek. I clapped my hand over my mouth as the banging continued. I frantically wondered if someone who wasn’t supposed to be in the house was trying to get in the bathroom.

  Fear crept over me. If this person got past Bennett to get to me, did that mean Bennett was dead? The possibility of that being a reality sent a wave of dread washing over me. If the men who ambushed us were indeed the Russians and Bennett was dead, I was so fucked.

  They could either take me for themselves and smuggle me out of the country or hand me over to Wilson, who would immediately put me to work as a sex worker. Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them back.

  No, I thought to myself. Bennett was fine, and as long as I remained quiet, I should be fine, too.

  I hoped so at least.

  The pounding grew louder, the wood of the door frame splintering with each bang. “I know you’re in here, you little slut! My boss is going to have fun with you when he gets his hands on you!” a voice with a thick Russian accent bellowed on the other side of the door before he continued to kick it.

  I looked around me. There were no fucking windows anywhere. I was trapped and had no idea where Bennett was. With the power out, I couldn’t see around me to know if there was anything I could use as a weapon. All the self-defense lessons I’d taken years ago blanked from my mind, fear paralyzing me.

  With a final kick, the bathroom door burst open and everything grew silent. I held my breath, scared that my heavy breathing would out my hiding spot. I could hear him panting, still standing in the doorway. The moonlight pouring into the bedroom showed his silhouette standing there, looking around.

  I watched as he slowly moved around the bathroom, my heart pounding when he clicked on a flashlight and swept it around the room. Tears rolled down my cheeks as he looked in the linen closet on the other side of the bathroom, the light hitting the frosted shower glass. It grew brighter as he approached closer, stopping in front of it and clicking the light off. I slowly let out my breath, but I knew I wasn’t out of the clearing just yet.

  The shower door suddenly flew open, and the flashlight blinded me as he pointed it at me. “Surprise, whore,” he growled and grabbed at my hair.

  I screamed and knocked his arm away, scrambling to another corner of the shower. He fully entered the shower, slipping on the wet floor and falling to the floor with a thud. The gun went off and hit the tile only a few inches from my head. I screamed as my ears rang painfully.

  He growled something in Russian as he tried to gather his bearings, his thick soled boots having a hard time gripping the floor without slipping. I turned on the nearest shower head, making the water as hot as it could get it. He roared in pain when the water hit him in the face, his arm blindly reaching out for me. When he got too close, I kicked him in groin, bringing him to his knees.

  Adrenaline replaced the earlier fear as my mind finally cleared. I’d been through too much to let that man defeat me. If I could survive the terrors that Bennett put me through, I could survive anything.

  I scrambled to my feet, slipping on the wet tile as I tried to exit the shower. The man yelled something in Russian before he grabbed my ankle. A sharp pain ripped through my calf and caused me to scream before collapsing. It burned like hell, and I couldn’t be sure if the wetness I felt was water or blood.

  He tried to wrap his meaty hand around my other ankle, but I drew back and kicked, a sickening crunch sounding when I made contact.

  “You fucking bitch! I’m going to fucking kill you,” he roared as he pulled himself up to his feet.

  I looked around, the moonlight from the bedroom acting as a guiding light as it illuminated the doorway of the bathroom. I had to get the fuck out of this bathroom, but where could I go? Gunfire still rang through the night air outside, which proved that leaving the bathroom wasn’t any safer than where I already was. Pain shot up my leg as I brought myself to my feet.

  “Bennett!” I screamed.

  The man’s large arm wrapped around my neck, the warm muzzle of his gun pressing against my temple.

  “Your little boyfriend can’t save you now,” he taunted, his hot breath and spittle making my skin crawl.

  I struggled to get out of his grip, gagging as he lifted me off my feet. Pressure points, Aurora. Find the pressure points! But I couldn’t remember what or where they were. All I could do was frantically press around his hand until he yelped in pain and dropped me, hitting me in the head with the butt of his gun.

  My head spun for a few moments, the blow suddenly making me nauseous. Where was Bennett when I needed him? If I didn’t figure out something soon, this man would kill me. Fatigue quickly settled in, and I was running out of ideas.

  I pulled myself up to my knees, feeling up the wall. My hand hit the towel rack, and hope washed through me.

  Bingo.

  I pulled as hard as I could, removing the bar from the wall. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see the man’s shadow as he lunged for me. I swung the pole and hit him in the head. He staggered back a couple of steps, but the hit didn’t do much damage. When he lifted his arm as if to fire his gun, I panicked, swinging the pole as hard as I could, hoping to knock his weapon away. The pole bent in half, rendering it completely useless. The chuckle that came from him nearly made my heart stop.

  “You stupid whore,” he growled. “I’m done playing with you.”

  I heard the unmistakable sound of his gun hitting the floor as he dropped it somewhere. He grabbed me by the throat with both hands, lifting me off the floor as he squeezed. I gagged as I scratched at his hands, panic rising in me again. With the way he held me, I couldn’t properly reach the pressure points in his hands to perform the move the way I needed to.

  I grew weaker with each passing second, my vision becoming fuzzy. With all the energy I could muster, I punched him in the throat as hard I could, crumbling to the floor and gasping when he dropped me. He coughed and sputtered as I forced my fuzzy brain to focus.

  I blindly felt around the floor to find something I could use as a weapon, whether it was his gun or knife, but I needed to find something.

  Fatigue settled deep within my bones, my limbs feeling like lead as I forced myself to move. My fingers finally bumped against cool, heavy metal, relief flooding through me. I flipped over to see him stalking toward me, appearing as tired as I was.

  “Don’t come near me, or I’ll blow your fucking head off,” I warned, my voice trembling as I pointed the gun at him. My hands were so shaky that I wasn’t confident that I’d actually hit him if I did fire the gun. My words d
idn’t deter him; he lunged for me, his knife slashing my thigh.

  I screamed, firing the gun. The first shot missed him, and he lunged again to grab the gun. I fired once more, the bullet going through his hand. He roared in pain and backed up just enough that he was bathed in the moonlight by the door. Finally, I could see him clearly and without question.

  “You’re dead!” he bellowed and grabbed for me again.

  I fired the gun, shot after shot lighting up the bathroom until the gun clicked. The man remained standing, my heart falling when nothing seemed to happen. Had I missed him? My breath caught in my chest as I watched and waited for whatever would happen next. After a few moments, I could feel my heart beat again as he finally fell to his knees before collapsing in a heap at my feet.

  “Aurora!” Bennett shouted, his voice sounding far away. “Aurora!”

  The lights clicked on, showing the aftermath of what I’d done. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at the dead man at my feet, his eyes wide open but staring at nothing. His nose was bloody and looked unnatural, probably broken when I kicked him in the face. Blood oozed from a small gash on the side of his bald head, and nausea tightened my stomach as I forced my eyes away from him.

  His bloody palm print was on my right thigh, my left thigh bleeding with a long, thin cut. My right calf was bloody and burned like hell, probably from where he first cut me. I looked down at my shaky hands, still holding the gun. The bathroom was a mess. Blood and water was everywhere. The towel rack was broken, and pieces of splintered wood littered the floor from when he kicked the door in.

  “Aurora!” Bennett yelled, his voice a little closer. I couldn’t even bring myself to say anything, shock still paralyzing me. I’d killed him. “Aurora—thank fuck.”

  I blinked and brought my eyes up to Bennett as he rushed over to me. “I…I…I,” I tried to say, but I couldn’t get the words out.

  “Hey, look at me, baby doll,” Bennett coaxed, his voice soft. “You’re okay now. It’s over.” He looked down at the gun I still held, wrapping his hand around mine. “Give me the gun.”

  “I…he was…he was going to kill me,” I stammered, looking back at the dead body a few feet away from me.

  “I know, baby doll. You did good,” he murmured. “I need you to let go of the gun.”

  I met his eyes, tears finally filling mine as I let go. Other men appeared in the bathroom to assess the damage. Bennett reached back to pass the gun to one of them.

  “Grab the first aid kit from under the sink. I need to clean her up to figure out if this is his blood or hers,” he said, immediately back into his commanding role.

  Tears slipped down my cheeks as the adrenaline wore off. Everything hurt. My calf, my thigh, my throat, and my head. I had no energy left. I couldn’t even keep my eyes open as the room spun around me.

  “I don’t feel good,” I whispered, my eyes drooping.

  “Aurora, I need you to keep your eyes open,” Bennett coaxed, cupping my cheek in his hand.

  “I’m tired,” I muttered.

  “I know you’re tired, but I need you to stay awake for me. Can you do that for me?” he asked, but his voice seemed so far away.

  The more he spoke, the harder it was to concentrate on his voice. I just needed to sleep for a few moments. A shiver ripped through me as the air kicked on, licking at the wet dress that clung to my body. I just needed a couple minutes of sleep….

  “I’m going to end you, slut,” the man snarled, his Russian accent harsh and terrifying. He picked me up with one hand and pressed his gun into my side. “This is for my boss.”

  I awoke with a scream just as the man unloaded his gun into my torso in my dream, pain shooting from different parts of my body. My ass and the back of my legs were sore from my punishment, and my wounds throbbed in pain. My heart raced in my chest as I tried to get my eyes to focus on where I was. A lamp on the nightstand clicked on, and Bennett looked down at me, a towel in his hand.

  “You’re okay,” he murmured, wiping my forehead with a wet cloth.

  We were in another bedroom, but I wasn’t sure if we were still at the house or if we’d moved to another one.

  “Where are we?” I asked, trying to sit up. Bennett placed a gentle hand in the center of my chest and pressed me back down onto the plush bed.

  “We’re still at the safe house. It’s not safe to move you just yet, so we can't leave until tomorrow,” he said.

  Another man appeared next to him wearing a white coat and wire-framed glasses. I squinted up at him, trying to remember why he looked so familiar. The doctor.

  He looked down at me. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Everything hurts,” I groaned. “Why does everything hurt?”

  “Can she get something else? I want her to be comfortable so she can get some sleep. It’s been a long night,” Bennett murmured to the doctor.

  He nodded. “Of course.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of pills, opening it and shaking one out.

  Bennett took it from his palm and grabbed a glass of water from the nightstand, helping me sit enough to take it. I sputtered the water, the pill nearly sticking in my throat as I tried to swallow. Coughing did nothing but wrack my torso with pain. I remembered everything so vividly from the encounter with the Russian man, the thought of it making my heart race.

  A machine suddenly beeped, and Bennett looked up and then looked at the doctor with a cocked eyebrow. "What's happening?" he asked.

  I couldn't tell if his voice was filled with urgency or concern, but it definitely didn't sound like any tone he'd ever used around me or for me.

  "Her heart rate is up a little. She could be having an anxiety attack, or the pain could be too much for her right now," the doctor said.

  With how I felt, it could very well be both. After my whipping, laying on my back was just as painful as the other injured parts of me. It was so strange how more traumatic events could quickly overshadow previous ones. I thought getting some guy's blood and tissue on me and getting whipped was the worst of my problems tonight, never even imagining that I'd have to fight for my life.

  Bennett placed the glass of water back on the nightstand and sat on the side of the bed next to me, the shift of weight on the bed moving my body. I groaned, but he stroked my hair instead of moving. I didn't want to be touched. Enough people had touched me tonight. I wanted to be left alone. As bad as I wanted to shake my head away from his grasp, I just didn't have the energy. I didn't have the energy to fight anymore.

  Looking at the bedside clock on the nightstand, it was a little after four in the morning. Bennett and the doctor spoke in hushed tones, my mind to hazy to even try to understand what they were saying. Soon, my body began to feel like jelly, a comforting warmth spreading throughout me.

  The pain was gone, and for the first time all evening, I felt at peace. It's probably just the pain medicine, I reminded myself as I closed my eyes. Whatever made it to where I wouldn't hurt as much as I did earlier was fine.

  Just....just fine.

  I spent the next few hours in and out of sleep, teetering a thin line between sleep and medicine-induced hallucinations. I rolled my head to the side at the sound of harsh whispers in the room with me.

  “I know for a fact that he fucking let them ambush us,” Bennett whispered harshly. “How fucking convenient is it that they come after he leaves, and he comes back when it’s all over?”

  “I’m with Bennett on this one. No one can get through that gate without a code. I even drove out to the road to check, and it hadn’t been damaged or tampered with,” someone else murmured.

  “I’m not saying he’s wrong,” another voice added. “I’m just saying that we need to think about this for a second. If we act on it now, there’s no telling what he can do while we’re out here in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Which is exactly why we’re going back to the fucking main house. I can’t stay in a house with a bastard I can’t trust, and the longer
we stay here, the higher the risk of me killing him,” Bennett growled.

  The conversation ceased when I coughed and groaned. Bennett strolled over to my side and stopped next to the bed, glancing down at me before looking at whoever else was in the room. “We’ll continue this conversation later. She needs to rest. Either way, we’re leaving in a few hours, so pack up everything Kyler brought here and load it back up. We’ll rest for a few hours and then hit the road.”

  The men all murmured their acknowledgement before leaving the room, softly closing the door behind them. Bennett looked back down at me.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Uncomfortable,” I said. “I need to lay on my side.”

  He helped me get comfortable on my side, putting a pillow between my legs to support my thigh and take the pressure off my injured calf.

  “Better?” he asked.

  I nodded. He put his hands in his pockets and gave me a slight grin, which confused me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I don’t say this often, and I won’t repeat myself, so listen closely,” he started. “You impressed me tonight when you held your own. That’s important when you’re in this life. The moment you act like a damsel in distress in situations like that is when you set yourself up to be killed. So, I’m proud of you.” I wasn’t too sure what to say to that, not that he gave me time to respond. “Try to get some rest. We’ll be going back to the main house in a few hours.”

  I nodded, watching him as he turned the lamp on the nightstand off before settling next to me on the other side of the bed. Moonlight filtered through the sheer curtains, casting Bennett in a white glow. I watched him as he removed two guns from his hip and placed them on the nightstand on his side of the bed. He unlatched his watch and folded it, placing it on the nightstand next to his guns before kicking off his shoes.

  “Bennett?” I murmured. He paused in his task and looked over his shoulder, waiting for me to speak. “What’s going to happen when we get back to the main house?”