by Hanna Peach
“I, um, the directions on a bit of paper. I think I must have left it on the kitchen bench while I was looking for keys.”
“I’ll get it, madam.”
Wylie just can’t help but be helpful. As I hoped he would. I can’t help but feel a small sliver of guilt as I watch him hurry across the garage and disappear inside. I slide into the driver’s seat of the Bugatti, tossing my bag onto Wylie’s passenger seat and lock the doors.
I shake the guilt off. It’s better if he doesn’t come with me. I cannot be responsible for another person’s death at the hands of Jacob Tyrell. Jacob is my monster. My jabberwocky. My personal devil. I will slay him.
I turn the key in the engine and the Bugatti comes to life. Holy shit, this thing purrs under me like a jungle cat. I rub my hands lovingly on the steering wheel of the car. “You know,” I say, “if this thing with me and Caden doesn’t work out…”
The beast purrs right back at me.
I click the automatic windows down on both sides and pull out of the parking spot. I lean out of the window and start shooting out all the tires of the other cars in the garage. Wylie is screaming at me as he runs back into the garage from the house, his face turning red, no doubt fully aware that there was no paper with directions and that I’ve tricked him.
It’s for his own good, I tell myself.
I shoot him an I’m sorry look as I accelerate out of the garage and down the driveway.
As I drive towards Freemont, the city I left behind, I feel the pull in my chest towards it. I feel the knot of unfinished business deep in my belly.
Caden will hate me for giving myself up for him. But I have to. I’m the only one who Jacob would ever let close enough to kill him. And if I fail, well… at least I died saving the man I love.
I can’t run anymore. I don’t want to. The last few days with Caden have made me realize that I want a simple life filled with lazy mornings and his smiles. And I can never have that if Jacob is still walking this earth. ‘Cause he’ll never stop looking for me. Caden was right. It’ll never be over ‘til Jacob is dead.
Even as I drive towards my fate, I feel the rush of nerves under my skin. But, strangely, I’m no longer shaking with terror. Jacob no longer has the hold over me that he once did. Caden has removed all of Jacob’s marks on me. He has pulled apart the ties that Jacob had to my body and my soul and he has replaced them with his own. I’m bound to Caden forever, in life and death.
I want to live.
But I’m prepared to die for him.
The memory of our last night together flitters across my mind. And I wonder if it will be our last.
Chapter Forty-Six
Last night…
“Open them.”
“Caden…”
“Open those eyes or I stop doing this.” He ends that sentence with a lick that sears me to my soul.
I obey. And he continues his talented assault with his tongue between my legs. I moan, and although my eyelashes flicker, I keep them open and on Caden, who is kneeling at the end of the bed, his beautiful face framed by my thighs.
He lifts his head. “God, I love watching you.”
I whimper.
“Do you know your eyes darken when you’re turned on?”
“Why did you stop?”
“And your cheeks flush this glorious pink.”
Jesus. “If you could just stop talking and−”
“But your eyes are my favorite. You’re never allowed to be blindfolded again.”
Argh. I crunch my upper torso up so I can grab either side of his face. “Stop talking. Start licking.”
He grins at me. “I really like this aggressive side of you.”
I’m going to kill him. “Don’t make me tie you down and sit on your−ohmygod.” He plunges his tongue deep into my wetness, eliciting a long moan from me. It rumbles out from deep in my belly. I fall back onto the pillows.
“Look at me, kitten. Don’t you dare look away again.”
At this point I will do anything he wants me to. Anything.
Slowly with his tongue out flat, he licks all the way up. His tongue lashes attention on my sensitized clit as he teases my entrance with a finger. I’m so wet that he slides it in without any resistance. He licks and pushes his finger in at the same time, then he swirls his tongue and pulls out to complete this voodoo magic. The noises coming from me are unrestrained and uncensored, so I’m sure he knows exactly how good this feels. My fingers rip at the sheets when he adds a second finger.
I’m not sure I can hold myself together too much longer. My hips are bucking involuntarily against him. Caden seems to sense it and he backs off, pulling his tongue off my clit and pulling his fingers out. I whimper. He’s making me wait for my release. We don’t have rules anymore except for rule number one. Patience. He blows a breath across my wetness and everything tingles like stardust.
As I calm down Caden keeps running his fingers along my wetness, rubbing it further and further back. His finger brushes against my back hole and I flinch.
He pauses. “You don’t like that?”
“It’s not that I don’t like it… I just... it always hurts.” My voice has gone quiet. My breathing, however, gets louder as I try to repress the flashback. I lose.
“Jacob, please stop. It hurts.”
But he doesn’t. He just leans forward and starts to rub my clit as he fucks my ass. Every push into me causes my muscles to tense and sends fresh tears to my eyes. It feels like it’s tearing me apart.
“You’re mine, princess. Every hole in your body is mine.”
I realize I’m shaking when Caden pulls me into his arms as he sits on the edge of the bed, snapping me back to the present. “Shit,” he mutters. Every muscle in my body is tense and I have to stop myself from fighting him off. This is Caden, not Jacob. I’m here with Caden, not Jacob, I chant to myself.
“I… I…” I try to speak but the words aren’t coming. I shake my head and shove my palms into my eyes, trying to stop the rush of memories trying to flood my senses. Jacob still owns me. Not all of me, but he still owns parts of me.
Caden seems to understand what I can’t put into words. “Jesus Christ. The bastard. I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him,” he mutters as he holds me, rocking me gently in his arms. “Just breathe, baby,” he whispers as he runs a hand up and down my back. His touch is like water, washing away the ghosts of my hurt. Like a baptism. Slowly I calm down and stop shaking.
Caden presses soft kisses all over my face as he speaks, “I’m sorry, kitten. I didn’t know. It just… it can be so good when done right. I promise, I won’t ever touch you there again.”
It can be so good when done right. I need it to be good. I want every part of my body to be mine again. Mine. Not Jacob’s. “No. I want…” what? What is it that I want? “I want you to. Please touch me there again. I need something to replace the bad memories…”
There is silence from him as he studies my face. “Are you sure?”
I bite my lip, then I nod.
He nods but he keeps me in his lap. “We’ll take it slow, okay?”
I nod again. Not really able to do much else. I trust him. I trust him with my body. Completely. I need this. I need him.
He holds my face. “Remember the safe word?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to add another word. This one is to let me know that you’re reaching your limit. If these words were a traffic light, the safe word would be red and this one would be orange, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I love you, kitten.”
“I love you too.”
He lays me on my back so that my ass is just on the edge of the bed. He resumes licking my clit and I feel my body start to heat up again. His hands move across my body, smoothing out the tension from my limbs. I start to lose myself in these waves of pleasure. Before I know it, his tongue has moved down my slit and is nearing my back hole bringing the wetness with it. I force myself to breathe deeply and
to keep relaxing. He pushes the backs of my thighs up so that my knees come up to my chest. This makes my hips and ass lift.
“Hold your legs here for me,” he commands.
I hook my shaking hands behind my knees. How long is he going to make me stay this way? This illicit and purely sexual pose sends a shiver through my body. Oh God. I feel so exposed. His tongue swipes across my back entrance and I moan a little. It feels odd but… good, sending tingles through my core.
As he licks I feel myself relaxing into it, his fingers keep playing with my pussy, alternating between pushing his fingers deep inside me and pulling out to draw more wetness down towards his tongue.
My body continues to heat up from all sides of my core. Dear God. It has never felt like this. I’m an instrument and Caden knows exactly how to play me. His finger circles my back hole, teasing it gently. Then he slides the tip of his finger in, just a centimeter. I tense.
“Just breathe, kitten.” I realize I’m holding my breath. I exhale and try to relax. His other hand runs along the inside of my thigh, sending waves of calm over me. With his fingertip still inside me, his tongue finds my clit. I moan and I feel myself open, accepting more of his finger. Bit by bit, as he licks I relax and more of him slides in. My thighs are shaking as this wave of pleasure builds, ricocheting between my ass and my clit like a pinball. I don’t realize it at first, but I start pushing my ass up to meet him.
“Tell me what you want,” he says.
“More.”
He pulls his finger out and slowly adds a second, gently stretching me open and pausing to let me get used to the feeling. His tongue doesn’t stop its assault, running all the way up and down my seam. I groan as both fingers push in to the hilt. I feel a strange sense of fullness and a rush of wetness to my pussy. He slowly fucks my ass with his fingers using shallow thrusts. With each thrust I feel fuller yet emptier. My body shakes as the pressure builds but this climax feels like the finish stretches out in front of me forever.
“More,” I cry. “Please.” I need more.
He pulls his fingers out and runs a lick all the way across my seam from back to front. He flips me to my front and he lifts my hips to the air so I’m on my knees. I feel my ass cheeks separate in this position.
I glance over my shoulder to look at him. Still standing beside the bed, he leans aside, opens the drawer and pulls out a bottle. He squeezes a generous amount of lube onto his palm and places the bottle aside. He catches me looking at him and he gives me a smile.
“You are so crazy beautiful, do you know that?” He’s still watching me as he rubs the lubricant all over his erection. He is so hard and so thick, and I can’t help but bite my lips as I watch him.
Oh God. What if he won’t fit? What if it hurts? What if−
“Breathe, kitten.”
I inhale and start to calm again.
He steps behind me and I face forward again, not wanting him to see that my lip is shaking. He rubs the head of his wet cock between my legs making my lower belly clench. He does this again and again, teasing me until my legs are shaking so much from wanting him.
He slips his cock into my wet pussy and I cry out as a wave of pleasure rumbles through me. He thrusts all the way in and withdraws halfway. I can feel his thick shaft stroking me, sending tingles radiating from my core. His thumb rubs at my other hole, making the sensations ricochet back, making my climax approach fast and hard.
He pulls out, making me whimper.
His voice rumbles to me in the dark. “Tell me what you want.”
“I want more.”
“No, tell me. Say it.”
He circles his erection around my back hole. The smooth wet skin rubbing around me feels so good.
“Please, fuck me,” I say again.
He places the tip of him against my asshole. “Where?”
“There.”
“Say it.”
Oh God.
“Please, fuck my ass,” I finally say, my face flushing hot with embarrassment. But he doesn’t seem to notice it.
Slowly he starts to push. Just slowly. He slides in just an inch. I flinch and tense my muscles, clamping down on him and I repress a cry.
He pauses. “I’m not going to move, kitten. You push back on me. You control this, okay?”
I nod.
He runs his hands across my back and across my ass, mumbling about my skin, “So soft. So beautiful.”
As he promised, his hips stay still. Slowly I push back millimeter by millimeter until I can’t take any more. I pause and let myself relax around him. His hands don’t stop touching me, caressing my back and my hips and my ass cheeks. I push back a little more. And a little more. As he fills me the pleasurable heat in my body vibrates higher and higher.
“You’re so tight.” I hear him groan as I push back fully onto him. I have never felt so full in my life. My body and my heart feel fit to burst in the best possible way. I slide forward and the pleasure that cascades through my body surprises me.
As I move back and forward onto him, my pace growing faster as I climax. Caden is true to his word; he doesn’t move, giving me compete control. Even as I feel him tremble with pleasure behind me, his hips remain still.
As both our climaxes fade away we collapse beside each other on the bed. He pulls me into his arms in a sweaty hug. And I feel safe and loved. Old memories fade as my body replaces them with new memories of Caden.
Bit by bit, Caden has reclaimed my body for me.
Chapter Forty-Seven
The present…
My mobile phone rings, startling me out of my thoughts. I’ve been driving for almost two hours now, having broken the speed limit all the way, and I’m only halfway to Freemont. My heart starts racing. This must be Mick. With news of Dixie and Jeff.
I slow down along this dusty road between cities and pull up to the side. I snatch the phone and answer it.
“Hello?”
“It’s me, kid.”
“Dixie and Jeff?”
“They’re here and they’re both unharmed. A black unmarked van pulled out of the front of the library not two minutes ago and pushed them out of the back of it.”
“Good, can you please take care of them? Take them to your place?”
“Yeah. I can do that.”
“Stop being an oaf and let me talk to her,” I can hear Dixie insisting in the background.
Mick’s voice sounds far way and I hear some shuffling like they’re fighting over the phone. “Yeah, alright, hang on, woman. Ow, Jesus. You packing claws on the ends of your fingers or what? Just gimmie a second.” And he’s back on the phone. “Kid?”
I can’t talk to Dixie. Not now. Not yet. How do I explain what she and Jeff just went through? How do I apologize? Besides, I don’t have time.
If I get through this, I’ll apologize. I promise myself I’ll make it a good one.
Avoiding it, are you? my inner voice says.
I ignore the voice; stupid know-it-all.
“Mick, I can’t talk anymore. Tell Dixie I’ll call later. I need to keep this line free.” And I hang up before he has time to respond. I ignore the tiny bit of guilt threading its way through my body.
Immediately my phone rings again and I see Caden’s name flash up. My chest tightens and I take a deep breath before I answer it.
Jacob’s deep voice comes over the phone. The timbre of his caramel voice used to turn me on, but now it just makes my blood run cold. “So I’ve released your friends. As you wished. Now it’s time for us to reunite, my princess.”
“Where?” It’s all I can get out, my mouth is so dry.
“There’s an abandoned airfield half an hour north of Freemont.” He gives me the address and I plug it into the GPS. My fingers shake so hard that I hit several wrong keys.
“I can be there in two hours.”
“I’ll be waiting. And princess? Wear something… sexy.”
I shudder in disgust at the thought of wearing anything sexy for Jacob. “Forget
it.”
“You aren’t in any position to refuse my demands. If you dress up for me, I’ll let Caden keep his fingers, how’s that?”
“You said you’d let him go.”
“That’s what I said, yes. But if you want him unharmed and with all his digits you shall come to the exchange address in something sexy.”
“Fuck you,” I hiss.
He just laughs. “Soon, my beautiful princess. Soon we shall have all the time in the world for me to show you how much I missed you and that tight little pussy of yours.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Caden
The door clangs again as the huge bolt across it is shoved aside. The door opens and I squint at the light from the corner where I crouch. A man steps in, his rifle silhouetted like a deadly limb in his hands. I peer around him but I don’t see Dixie or Jeff. My blood curdles in my stomach.
The man steps up towards me and behind him I see the outline of two more men standing guard. He jabs the point of the rifle in my stomach. “Hands up.”
My blood runs cold. “Where’s Dixie and Jeff? Where did you take them?” I swat the gun barrel aside and start towards them.
“Shut up.” The first guard hits the butt of his rifle into my jaw, making my head whiplash to the side. I spit out blood. He slams the rifle again against my forehead now. God dammit. I stagger and my world goes dizzy for a second. He kicks me and I slam against the back wall. “Cooperate or I’ll put a hole in you.”
I shake the disorientation from my head. And raise my hands up. His gun pointed at my chest makes my skin prickle with awareness of how I’m a trigger-hair away from death.
A scraping sound draws my attention to the doorway. A second man comes into the room dragging a chair. He leaves it in the center of the room and turns to me with a twisted little smile on his face. That’s when I notice the coils of rope in his hands.
“Sit,” commands the guard with the gun.
The second guard moves behinds the chair, still smiling at me. I really, really don’t want to sit in that chair. I know what that chair means. But I need to do what they say − at least for now.
