Freed (Bad Boy Hitman Romance)

by Terry Towers

  “Well, come in.” Keeping her arm linked with Emily’s, she guided us into the house, me trailing behind the women. “The funeral is tomorrow.” She looked up at me. “You two will be staying, won’t you?”

  I’ll admit I was taken aback by the way she asked me if we were staying and not her daughter. The good pastor really did have the women of the house brainwashed to believe the woman’s place was to be submissive to the man. We weren’t even married, she didn’t even know the status of our relationship, but she was asking me. I huffed and then pasted a smile on my face. “Of course, if you’ll have us.”

  Her mother smiled. “Good.”

  So strange, but it sure was explaining a lot about Emily, and I suspected a couple of days in the presence of Mary and Rebecca and I’d have uncovered the slivers that remained unknown to me about her.

  ****~

  Emily

  Aside from the one small outburst about why I’d been gone, my mother seemed to have completely overlooked the fact that I’d supposedly run off with the “young man” and been gone with absolutely no contact for close to three months. I supposed she had more important things to concern herself with right then. It pained me to see her grieving, and I felt the weight of the blanket of guilt over me, suffocating me. Thank God I had Tanner with me to lean on. Like always, he was a rock.

  True, it was my father who’d brought his death upon himself. My father who had murdered over two dozen people and would have continued to murder until he was stopped, but it didn’t help the guilt and the sense that I was responsible, no matter how irrational that was.

  “What’s wrong?” Tanner asked, rubbing the back of my neck and looking at me as we sat on the back swing. Rebecca and my mother had gone to bed already since the funeral was at 9 a.m. It was past midnight and while I knew Tanner would have no problem sleeping, I did.

  I met his gaze and forced a smile to my lips. “I wish I was like you. I wish I could turn it off and not feel. And I know I shouldn’t be sad about my father, all things considered, but…”

  He took a deep breath in and slowly released it. “It has its advantages, I’ll admit. But the more I get to know you, the more I realize not feeling empathy keeps me living a shallow life. It has been since my mother died that I felt love from someone. I’d surrounded myself with fear, hatred and so many other harsh emotions that I’d forgotten how it felt. I’d blocked myself off, not even trying to grow an attachment with someone, but you’re making me see how having someone care for you and attempting to return those feeling adds an entirely new dimension to my life.”

  I inched closer to him and placed my head under his chin, closing my eyes. His arms immediately wrapped around me, holding me tight, reassuring me. Had someone told me when I’d first been taken this was how things would end up, I’d never have believed it. The man beside me was a monster, he’d done so many horrible things to me and others, but I couldn’t help the feelings I had for him, as much as I tried to fight them. Maybe it was in the genes, the women of my family falling for men who were bad in the worst possible ways. I didn’t know and I was tired of trying to analyze it.

  “I love you, Tanner,” I murmured, holding tight to him. I didn’t want to look up and see the blank look in his eyes. I wanted to allow myself to live in the fantasy, because I needed it now more than ever.

  His body stiffened against mine and he was silent for what felt like an eternity. But then he began stroking my hair and placed a light kiss on the top of my head. All right. I guessed that would have to do. But I was disappointed. Even if he was lying to me it would have been nice to hear the words back. But we’d promised never to lie to each other…

  “Emily.”

  I couldn’t look up and see the lack of emotion on his face. I wouldn’t.

  “Emily.” He pulled back, gripped my chin in his hand and forced me to look up at him. But his face wasn’t emotionless. I saw something, a spark, emotion. “You know how hard it is for me to return a feeling like that.” My heart sank. “I really doubted I’d be able to return any type of emotion, but when I thought I was going to lose you, I realized I was capable of one thing at least. I do love you, Emily.”

  Had I heard correctly? Frowning, I searched his eyes for a hint he was just saying it, a hint of the cold darkness that usually surrounded him, but it wasn’t there. All I saw was the affection and the truth in his statement. “Really?”

  Tanner chuckled and nodded. “I told you I’d never lie to you, why would I start now?”

  “I think maybe I’ve gone crazy for feeling this way for you.”

  “You probably are.” He grinned that sexy smile that tended to make my pulse race. “Maybe even crazier than I am, and I’ve got some severe mental issues, according to many, many people. The majority of the population, I’m sure.”

  “Guess that makes us a good pair then.” I leaned in to him, my lips brushing across his.

  “Isn’t this special?”

  I froze, a flush colouring my cheeks as I turned my attention to Rebecca as she stepped out of the house in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and plunked herself into a wooden patio chair across from us. There was something in her eyes – a coldness – that I’d never seen before. But perhaps it was simply my imagination. She’d been especially close to Father. Sometimes I’d say she was even closer than my mother was, not in a sexual way but just that they seemed to have a special connection, so it would only stand to reason that she’d be taking it hard.

  “I thought you’d gone to bed.”

  “I had. I got up.”

  “Oh.” I’d been close to my sister at one point. I would take her beatings for her. I’d do anything to protect her, but now… She’d changed. Or maybe I’d changed. I’d been sensing it the entire night; something just wasn’t right between us any longer.

  “You’re the guy who showed up at the church?” She cast an accusing stare at Tanner.

  “I was.” Tanner merely smiled at her, as calm and collected as I’ve ever seen him, reminding me of the day of the auction, the cool detachment. Gone was all the emotion I’d seen moments before.

  “Pretty interesting timing,” she continued, “Father is murdered, and not too long after you showed up without my sister.”

  “Coincidences happen. I wanted to get a feel for Emily’s family without the pretenses.”

  “Yes. I see. And you led us to believe you didn’t even know her. You saw how upset mother was and you just let her keep believing Emily could have been kidnapped, or dead. You stood there lying through your teeth to us. You disgust me.” She turned her angry stare to me. “And you, you could have come home.”

  “I’m sorry, Rebecca. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone.”

  She snorted as she leaned forward in the chair and looked from me to Tanner and back again. “Right.” I could see the hate in her eyes. I’d known it would be hard coming back, but it had been my mother I’d expected to be on the defensive from, not Rebecca. Certainly not the girl who’d been the prime example of a wild child, who I’d spent most of my life covering for. I’d taken so many lashes on her behalf I’d long since lost count. Surely if anyone could understand, it would have been her.

  I glanced over at Tanner, but his eyes were fixated on my sister, so I turned back to Rebecca. “You know how Father could be. He’d never have allowed me to be with Tanner had he known.”

  Her eyes narrowed at me. “Just so we’re clear, big sister. I blame you for his death.” She glanced over at Tanner. “Both of you, and I’ll never forgive either of you.” Without another word she stood.

  Feeling Tanner’s body tense, I placed a hand on his forearm. “Let her go,” I whispered to him. Despite my words, it was taking everything in me not to run after her. I felt like I was choking on her words. She’d taken my own guilt and thrown it at me. Nothing she said could have hurt me any worse.

  “Hey, Emily. Don’t go there.”

  I was fighting back the tears. “How could I not? We’d been clos
e, and now…”

  “She’s a kid, she’s grieving.”

  Glancing up into his eyes, I saw that he was uncomfortable. “What don’t I know, Tanner?”

  “Nothing.” He fingered a lock of my hair, twirling it around his index finger. “She’s talking out of anger. It’ll smooth out.”

  I continued to hold his gaze and relented. He was right. Rebecca had always been one to react. It would smooth out. She didn’t know what I knew. “Promise me something.”

  Releasing my hair, he pulled me in to him again. “If I can.”

  Pulling my legs up and onto the swing, I settled in to him, closing my eyes, taking comfort in the gentle, rhythmic thumping of his heart. “Promise it’s all going to be okay.”

  “Your life is yours again, Emily. And I promise that for the rest of your life, I’ll do everything in my power to ensure nothing and no one ever hurts you again. So, it’ll be okay. Give it time and it’ll all be okay again.”

  And I believed him.

  ****~

  Tanner

  “How are you doing?” I asked, looking over at Emily sitting in the passenger’s seat watching her parents’ house as it disappeared from view.

  “It’s weird, you know?”

  I frowned, glancing at her then quickly returning my focus on the road. No, I didn’t really know. “What do you mean?”

  “All those people at the funeral. Saying all those wonderful things. Praising him. As if he were a saint. But…” She sighed, placing her elbow against the door and placing her chin in her hand. “I know the truth. Is it bad that I wish I didn’t?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “I wish I didn’t know.”

  I nodded.

  “I just don’t understand. I mean, I can almost grasp that he was a killer, almost, but he was going to kill me. His daughter.”

  God, this was awkward. And for the hundredth time since her father died I felt powerless. I wished I had the magic words to make it all better, but I didn’t.

  Her hand rubbed at her chest, over the bandage, and then began to claw at it.

  “Whoa, stop.” Grabbing her hand, I laced my fingers with hers and placed our hands on my thigh. “You’ll pull out the stitches.”

  “Every day. Every time I look down, I’ll see that scar. Mother is lucky, she gets the good memories. I get—” she snorted. “—scarred. A lifetime reminder.”

  “We can find a tattoo artist once it’s healed, maybe have a nice chest piece done. You’ll never know it’s there.”

  Her full attention reverted back to me. “You don’t cover your scars.”

  I shrugged. “But the past doesn’t haunt me, sweetie.”

  “Lucky bastard.”

  Laughing outright, I gave her hand a squeeze. “You can only move on, love. You’ve reconnected with your mother and she doesn’t seem angry you were gone, only glad you’re back. If you want me to take you to see her every day, I will. But I’ll be honest, I’d rather buy you a car and have you drive yourself. But if you want me to play chauffeur, I will.”

  She smiled, the first smile I’d seen from her all day. “You really are trying to play Prince Charming, aren’t you?”

  “Considering I’m now out of a job, I don’t have anything better to do to occupy my time.”

  Her smile faded. “What are you going to do?”

  Flynn came to mind. I had yet to get hold of Flynn and find out the price for taking care of Pastor William for me. I was sure whatever it was, it wouldn’t be cheap and it wouldn’t be money he’d want. I owed him twice over now. We’d work something out. I didn’t give Emily any indication of what I was thinking; instead I smiled and shrugged. “Well, I’ve got enough money to last us our lifetime over if we’re careful. Retire. We could travel. I could take up playing World of Warcraft. Dunno.”

  She giggled. “I don’t see you as a gamer type.”

  Giving her a wink, I replied, “Oh honey, you should know by now I love games.” I was given an eye roll in response for that. Truth was, I honestly didn’t know. I hadn’t been thinking long term for the past few weeks now – things were happening so fast all I could think of was the here and now.

  “Come on, be serious.”

  “Let’s just play it by ear. From here on in, it’s going to get better, I promise.”

  Six months later

  Emily

  “Emily! When I get loose, you’ll be sorry,” Tanner bellowed from the other room.

  I bit down on my lower lip to keep from laughing. His threats at one time would have sent a bolt of fear through me, but not anymore. His words were meaningless, but his predicament wasn’t. I’d drugged him – nothing major, just a little sleeping pill in his evening brandy – then tied his hands to the bedposts while he slept and inserted the vibrating anal plug into his ass. It would take some time for him to get free. He would – eventually – and be severely horny and pissed. Then the games would begin.

  Forcing myself to remain calm – if I laughed it would break the scenario I’d set up – I strolled into the bedroom and over to his bedside. He was naked, his cock rock solid, and he was yanking with such force at the bindings that his wrists were becoming raw.

  “Problem, Master?” I cocked an eyebrow at him and waited for his gaze to meet mine.

  “Emily. Let me go.”

  I shook my head. “Nope.” First would come the bargaining, then the threats. It had become a routine.

  “Let me go and we’ll forget this ever happened.”

  I reached down and grasped his cock, stroking him until a drop of pre-cum pearled at the tip. “Nope.”

  He groaned, fisting his hands above his head and struggling with more force, his gaze becoming fierce.

  Releasing him, I straightened back up. “Sorry, Sir.” He hated when I used Sir and Master with condescension in my tone. But I needed him frustrated and angered – it made the games all the more exciting and satisfying in the end.

  The first couple of times we’d done this, I’ll be honest, a part of me had been scared I’d pushed him too far and he’d end up taking his rage out on me. Playing this game was like unleashing an angered tiger and expecting it to go back into its cage. But he never did. No matter how much I screamed, clawed, bit, when he eventually caught me, he never hurt me. Though the scars on his otherwise beautifully muscular body, put there by my hand, were increasing.

  When he caught me he did punish me, but it wasn’t with whips or canes or anything of the sort. No, none of that, but he would make me scream, over and over again until we were both exhausted to the point of falling asleep in each other’s arms wherever it was that he’d caught me.

  These games seemed to feed the beast within him and kept him docile. I’m sure that there are dozens of shrinks who would love to have us in their office, questioning the mental health of both of us. To most our mock capture and rape scenarios would be sick and perverted, but to us it was all a game, an essential addition to our already varied sex life.

  “Emily. I swear to whatever God you foolishly believe in…”

  I almost lost it right then and bit down on my lip once more to keep from laughing.

  “Master, I hardly think we need to bring our lord and saviour into this.”

  His dark eyes narrowed at me. “Slave, I’ll have you on your knees praying to my cock when I get free.”

  I cocked a brow up at him, crossing my arms over my chest. “That so? Considering you’re the one tied to a bed, I’d hardly call me the slave, Master.”

  My eyes scanned the length of his body and landed on his dick again. Heat flared up between my legs and it was taking all my strength to keep from saying to hell with the games, stripping and riding his cock until I’d had my fill.

  You know what? I think I will. I looked at his bonds again. Still secure. It would take some time for him to free himself. Yes, I definitely had time to ride him, get off and make a run for it.

  “What are you doing?” He eyed me with suspicion as I undi
d the delicate pearl buttons of the sheer white blouse I was wearing and then shimmied out of the black pencil skirt. Reaching behind me, I undid the clasp on my bra and last but not least the matching pale yellow lace panties slid down my legs to puddle at my feet with the skirt.

  “Taking what I want. Try and stop me.” Giving him a cocky grin that received a scowl in return, I climbed onto the bed. Swinging my leg over his hips, I settled onto him, his rock-solid cock peeping out between my legs. Sitting up, I ran the head of his dick between my moist folds and savoured the sound of his anguished groan.

  “Fuck, Emily, when I get loose…” He struggled at the bonds again, with greater force, shaking the entire bed.

  “If you get loose.” I stroked him for another minute, as my juices pooled between my legs, and positioned his shaft at my entrance. Keeping my gaze locked to his heated stare, I slowly sank down onto him, moaning softly and relishing every sweet inch as his cock stretched me. I loved the power and control I had over him when he was like this.

  I slid my hands up his abdominals, tracing the lines of muscle as I began to slowly move on him. I ground my hips against his, moving so the head of his dick stroked my inner wall, stroking me in just the right spot to send wave upon wave of pleasure through me.

  “Mmm, I love how well you fit in me. So good.”

  “Emily. Dammit, Emily, let me go.”

  Arching my back and closing my eyes, allowing my head to fall back, dark hair cascading down my back, I gripped his thighs in my hands and began to move faster. My moans mixed with his groans of pleasure as I focused on the feel of him inside me. I needed to come before him, bringing him to the brink but not allowing him to climax.

  My fingernails dug into his thighs as I came closer and closer, my movements increasing, my breasts bouncing. My mind began to cloud as the pleasure became more intense. He began bucking up and into me, meeting every rotation of my hips.