“Tell me what happened?”
It took all my strength to get to a sitting position. My body rocked forward and I reached for the seat to steady myself.
“I told him I was willing to match your ten million plus offer another five hundred thousand. Which I’m not supposed to do,” the man bit out. “But it was the only thing I could think of. He said he was going to call you and talk over the terms.”
“Shit, he’s already calling. I’m taking it he hasn’t made it upstairs yet.” Gaige turned back to me and grabbed the cloth, stuffing it back in my mouth. “I have to throw him off. Not a word from you, Elle. Bite on that if you get the urge to say anything.”
The phone came to his ear and he stared at me the whole time. “Fallston.” He paused. “Oh, he did? Hmm.” Silence drowned out the car. “So he offered you twelve? Well, shit. I’m going to have to think about that. I’m actually tied up in a call with my advisor right now. That’s what’s taking so long. Let me call you back after we sort things out. Apparently, I dropped a pretty penny in Vegas last month that I forgot about. Yeah. Tomorrow. Okay, you too.” He hung up the phone and took a deep breath. “I think he bought it.”
“Good,” the stranger beside him said.
Still, Gaige stared back at me. I immediately lowered my eyes as his penetrating glare pulled at something deep within, stirring the beast that had been unleashed inside of me.
“Lay down, Elle. Get some rest. You’re going to need it. We’re going home.”
Chapter 7
Gaige
The sounds Elle made as she’d pleasured herself were forever going to be burned into my brain. My cock had been in a constant state of demand and it was killing me not to be able to put my hands on her like I wanted. Me biting her had come from nowhere. And fuck if I didn’t want to do it again.
Even as she slept next to me on that plane, those little whimpers escaped. No doubt her dreams were just as torturous as reality would have been had she woken up. It was a relief that we’d made it this far without someone suspecting her drugged state. Surprisingly, she had done well and kept her head down. That was the most important part. Her eyes were so big with her pupils nearly covering all the teal, I knew it would be a dead giveaway to any person with knowledge of the effects of narcotics.
Every few minutes, I found myself checking on her breathing and pulse. Although I’d never done drugs before Marco had tricked me, I’d been trained on how to deal with someone who was under the influence. Every bit of my knowledge was being tested with her and I was lucky knowing that so far she was okay.
“Sir?”
I looked up at the stewardess and waved her away. The sound had Elle stirring. Although we were almost landing, I wanted her out as much as possible. I wasn’t that lucky.
“Gaige?” My name left her lips, but her eyes were still closed.
“Yes, Elle?”
She took a deep breath and her hand reached down to settle on my thigh. I pushed back in my chair, trying to avoid the light touch that crept its way to my cock. With my middle finger and thumb, I plucked her arm up at the wrist and put it back on her lap. My mouth tightened and I looked toward the aisle. The touch of her hand landed in my lap again and I looked over, trying my best not to growl.
“Elle. Get ahold of yourself.” This had to stop. She’d already made me lose control of myself once. If it happened again, there was no telling what would happen.
The hand on my leg rose and swung, hitting my stomach. Her head lifted and her startling eyes nearly took my breath away. They were so bright, reminding me of Marco’s description. It only made me angrier.
“Water,” she said, hoarsely.
“Right here.” I handed her the bottle and she chugged it down, barely even breathing in the process.
“How much longer. I…” Her fingers came back to my thigh and she squeezed as her head dropped. “Gaige,” she cried out, quietly. “I can’t take much more of this.”
I took her hand in mine and lifted her face, reining in my cravings. My sick twisted thoughts that begged me to take her every way possible. “We’re almost there. The announcement was already made.”
“Fuck me, please. Just once. I’m in my right mind. The hallucinations have already stopped. I think if you just…” A moan came out. “If you just do it, this will pass.”
A laugh came out before I could stop it. The drug may have not been in the hallucinating stage, but she was far from sober. “No, it won’t. I guarantee you, it’ll only go away when it’s run its course. Me fucking you isn’t going to do shit but make it more pleasurable. Why would I want you to enjoy yourself?”
Her eyes narrowed and her body grew stiff. “You’re right. I doubt it would make it go away. But, more pleasurable? Yeah, right. That would come from the drug alone.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked toward the window. “You probably don’t even know what you’re doing in that regard.”
The cage I kept my darkness in rattled at the jibe. My eyebrows rose in shock, but more in determination to prove her wrong. I brought her face back to mine, holding it where she couldn’t turn. “Baby, if I fucked you, no drug would overpower what I wanted you to feel. I’d make you come so good you’d fall in love, and let’s face it, neither of us wants that.”
With a roll of her eyes, she sighed and gave me a bored look. “If you say so.”
Damn woman. She was still the Elle I remembered. Stubborn and as aggravating as ever. “I do say so. But you’ll never know, now will you?” Why the fuck had I bit her? Shit. My words held little merit over my actions.
I let go and she turned back toward the window. “I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone. I’ll go home and everything will be fine. It’ll be…great. I’ll just…” A sob sounded and I could have cursed. “My dad probably has my old bedroom just like it was when I was taken. Maybe I’ll go back to school. Or...” Another sob.
“Elle.” How was I going to tell her that she had no one left? That her father was dead? That she had nowhere to go but with me? “Elle.”
At the softened tone of my voice, she turned, looking at me. I knew she detected there was something wrong.
“What is it?”
My eyes searched hers, hoping for the right thing to say, I just didn’t think I knew what that was. I also couldn’t stop the part that wanted her to hurt. To get the tiniest taste of what I felt inside.
“You’re going to come stay with me for a while at my house.”
“Maggie.” She smiled. “Of course. I’d love to see your mom. I’ve missed her.”
Slowly, I shook my head. “No, I don’t live at my parents’ anymore.”
Confusion took precedence, then dawning awareness. With it, sadness. “Of course you don’t. You’re older now. But why do I have to stay with you? Why can’t I go home? I think I’d rather go back with my dad than put up with you.”
The truth part of the drug reared its head and it sparked the anger that wanted her under my control. All those fantasies. All those years I dreamed of making her endure my wrath. “Your dad.” My mouth closed, trying to think of the right words without revealing what I wanted to hide.
“He’s dead. Just say it. He was a bad alcoholic when I was taken. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least.”
Although she portrayed bitterness, I saw the fear and heartache that shone in her big eyes.
“It was two years ago. Liver failure. My mom cared for him toward the end. He took your disappearance harder than anyone. It literally killed him.”
I wanted to take the words back as soon as I’d said them. My tone was accusatory, as if I were referring to her being the actual cause of her father’s death. The pain couldn’t had been more profound had I lifted my hand and struck her. I’d jumped the gun, and with it, got a taste of the elixir for my bottled hate. It fed me in all the wrong ways. Coaxing me. Urging me to pick a different topic that wasn’t so cruel, but just as satisfying. I didn’t. The timing was off. The last thing I needed he
r to do was break down right here on the plane. Especially, with how unstable she was.
Fifteen minutes went by while Elle hugged herself and rocked against the seat. I knew she was still hot in all the right places, but her dampened state of mind seemed to be overpowering it in the moment. As we waited to be let off the plane, I looked around the nearly empty first class. My mind swam and questions rocketed off on what I should do. If I should do anything at all. How had things turned out this way? I didn’t understand any of it. Life…such a cruel, fucked up, journey for me and almost everyone I was close with.
I was consumed. Even as we walked through the airport, I was lost in my conflicting needs. Without bags, we were clear to head straight through and I clung to that, my excitement to have her to myself only enticing me to go with what I’d spent years dreaming about. Revenge. The cab ride all the way to Napa wasn’t too bad with the exception of Elle constantly moving around in the seat. Tears would stream down her face, but not the sad kind. She was frustrated to the core. The heavy breathing. Her hand occasionally reaching for me, only to stop and pull away. My cock stayed hard even as I told myself that I’d get my answers first. All I could feel was her body beneath mine. I’d wanted to fuck her right there on the floorboards of the car and probably would have, had she not been high as a kite. What I wanted her to experience, she’d damn well remember.
“Are we almost there?” Her lip trembled and she bit it between her teeth as if to try to stop it. I wanted to bite it, too. Sink my teeth into every damn inch of her. Just like I had her neck.
“A few more minutes.” Probably less than that, but I didn’t want to get her too overly excited. Last thing I needed was her touching herself again. Not yet.
The road curved and as we made our way through the hilly countryside full of vineyards, I saw my road come up. The cab only had to drive a mile down to come to a stop in front of the one story brick home. Elle was out of the door before I could even pay. As stiff as a board, she walked at a fast pace toward the front door.
“Shit.” I quickly paid and jumped out, racing toward her. “Don’t touch that!” Her head spun around right as she reach for the door knob. I pulled her back, scanning my finger over the black touchpad just above the handle. “Alarm is on. If you would have turned that, you’d have been shocked to hell and back.”
Her eyes grew wide and she looked between me and the touchpad. “Are you really a secret agent?”
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to. I heard the term thrown around enough times to put it together.”
Instead of answering, I pushed the door open and practically shoved her inside. The living room looked just as I’d left it. A black leather sofa sat behind a glass coffee table. A large TV against the back wall. Beige carpet filled the space and gave out to tile from the kitchen. Pictures of my family hung on the walls and my stomach clenched as she walked to the one of me and Carson, taken only months before he died. My mom had pushed to get us together for a picture and as much as Carson hadn’t minded, I hadn’t been so compliant. I regretted that now.
“Christmas morning. Maggie was so excited for her new camera and she wanted a picture of the two of you. She already had a lot of me and Carson. But you…you acted like a big baby. Said you had school to work on, even though we both know you’d finished it the week before.” Elle turned around, a smile tugging at her lips. “I overheard you talking to your girlfriend on the phone, telling her how you were finished and were looking forward to meeting her parents over the break. But you didn’t go.”
Hearing my past brought out into the open, so exposed out loud, was like a knife in my chest.
“You shouldn’t eavesdrop.”
“Whatever happen with Fiona?” A sincerity crept into her tone and I didn’t like it. Didn’t want it to overshadow the way I viewed the situation. I clutched to the anger with everything I had as I turned my back on her and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a beer. It didn’t matter that it was five in the morning. I needed something to calm me down.
“I broke it off when my brother passed. I had more important things to focus on. Like my mom and dad who crumbled before my very eyes. Of course, there was nothing I could do. Still didn’t mean I gave up. I put everything I had into bringing them around.” I turned, pegging her with my stare. “I failed.”
Her mouth parted and a small slice of victory surged. But not for long. “I can’t deal with this conversation right now. Not the part of you blaming me.” Elle leaned her hand against the wall, lowering her head. “Just point me to a room so I can go lie down.”
Now that I had her here, there was no way I was letting us separate. “No. We’re getting this out in the open. I’ve waited too long to keep this bottled up any longer.”
A frustrated sound filled the space between us and she tried to march in my direction, failing miserably. The wobbling of her legs was followed by her eyes rolling. She blinked hard and turned, sinking into the couch. Her hands immediately grabbed her breasts. “I need to lie down! God, I can’t do this right now. Do you have no compassion?” Her hands gripped into the fullness harder, only to come down, slamming against the leather. “Look at me. Is this the memory you want to have for your closure? Me, desperate to—” She stopped and I walked forward, sitting in the recliner that was angled to the sofa.
“Right now, you can only tell me the truth. I need that.”
“I’d tell you anyway. Who do you think I am, Gaige? Some kind of monster?”
I laughed at the irony. “No, that would be me.”
She searched my face, but continued. “Then, what? What do you need to know? What is going to end this…hate you have toward me?”
Would anything? My mind raced for answers. For questions. Now that I had the chance to discover anything I wanted, it refused to come up with anything specific. What did I need to end this? I suddenly realized anything verbal wasn’t going to do the job. I wanted her to feel what I had. What my parents had gone through. But hadn’t she already, in her own way? No, I quickly shut off that train of thought. I wouldn’t soften up now. I couldn’t.
“Start from the beginning. Tell me every single thing from the moment you first saw Marco to the time I took you back.”
“That would take hours,” she said, breathlessly. “I can’t wait that long. I can’t wait another single minute!”
“Jesus,” I growled. I couldn’t let her go back there knowing what she was doing. I was at the end of my rope. My nerves and restraint were dangling off a fucking cliff. The need to go along with my plan, and my desires, were fucking impaling my brain and trying to stab the fantasies into actions. I just couldn’t while she was so gone from the effects of the drug.
Elle slid down the couch, turning and kicking her feet up so she could lie down.
“Oh, no you don’t. Not right here.” I sprang from the chair, placing my beer on the table. If she hiked up that dress one more time, drugged or not, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to restrain myself.
“Sit up.” I slid her to the position, getting hit in the process. Her fists swung, barely having any effect. It was almost laughable, but I was too aware of her cleavage to be amused. My hand grabbed her wrists and she pulled down, moving them closer to her lap. To her pussy.
“I have to,” she sobbed. “It hurts. Just tell me where to go.”
I knew her pain. Felt it firsthand. But maybe not even as intense as she was experiencing. Our weight difference was vast and with how much she’d consumed, I’d probably never know what she was going through.
“Please,” she whispered. “It’s been hours. I can’t wait anymore.”
The pleading in her eyes had my hold loosening up. I felt my hand lowering along with hers, but I was trapped in her stare, too fixated by the desperation I saw in the bright color to fight. I ached to see her come in the light where her features would be clear. To memorize every expression that played across her beautiful face. My hand itched to push hers away a
nd lift up her dress so I could be the one bringing her release. To feel her wetness on my fingers and her tightening around my thrusts—“God dammit!” I jerked back, flinging her hand in the process. “First door on the left. You have five minutes. If you’re not done by then, tough shit. You’ll have this conversation if I have to tie you up.”
Elle pushed from the sofa, following my pointed finger toward the hallway that branched off between the living room and kitchen. I grabbed the beer, chugging it down as the door closed behind her.
The sound of the clock ticked away. Five minutes. Ten. Moans filled the space and I grabbed another beer, sucking it down just as fast as the first. If I went in there, it would be over with. My brain knew nothing but the difference in each sound she made. When it felt good. When she was building. When she was fucking edging just to prolong her orgasm. That she’d had two of already.
I closed my eyes, listening. Praying she’d just come again so I could go in there and tell her she’d sated it for the time being. But she held off. Whimpering. Groaning because she couldn’t top her need.
“Elle!” My hand rubbed down the growth on my cheeks. After five more minutes went by, I called out to her again. All I got was an aggravated yell back.
“Don’t make me come in there. Wrap it up.” Hell, with as long as she’d spent in that room, I could have probably eased my own pent up frustration.
“I’m not coming out.”
I was off of the chair and placing my beer on the coffee table before I could stop myself. Not coming out. Bullshit! My hand reached out to the door handle and I tried to turn it but the knob didn’t move.
“Unlock this door right now or I’m coming in. And when I do, you’re going to be sorry for not listening.”
“Go away. We’ll talk after we wake up.”
My hand swept above the top of the frame, connecting with the skeleton key that unlocked all of the doors inside the house. There was one above every door. A gesture they’d done when they built it that I never corrected.
Within seconds, I had the barrier flying open. What I saw, I wasn’t prepared for. The air locked in my lungs and I stood frozen in place.
Gaige Page 8
