by J. L. Beck
“Yours,” I croak out.
“I can feel you squeezing my fingers. So tight, like a goddamn vice. I bet you would feel so good around my dick. I can almost imagine it now, pressing deep inside you and stealing that precious virginity of yours.” His words add to the pleasure threatening to consume, and he continues, “Last question. Answer it correctly, and I’ll let you come. Easy as that.”
A mewling noise escapes my throat, and I slap my hands over my mouth in shock.
He chuckles into my neck then sobers, his tone steel and unrelenting. “Are you going to run from me again?”
His hand stills, and he holds me like a damn grocery bag, two fingers inside me, his thumb pointing up over my clit.
“No. I won’t run again.”
The nuzzle he gives me is almost worth what he’d just stolen. What little hope and fight I had left fizzles with his grasp. He makes good on his promise and puts his hand to work, pumping into me faster while working my clit at the same time. My orgasm sparks inside me before igniting in a full blaze of pleasure. Light swims in and out of my vision, and I drop my head back into his grip. My shout echoes off the surrounding buildings.
He gently pulls his hand from my body and delivers a sharp smack right over my clit. I arch off the ground with a whimper, this time in pain, as my nerves sizzle from the blow to my sensitive bud.
I glare at him, but he’s not looking at me. He shoves off the ground, rips open his belt, digs out the hard length of his cock, and strokes it in one long pull. The groan ripping through him makes me slick all over again.
I’m about to move out of the way and give him some room when he grabs me and shoves me back down on the dirt, thrusting the two fingers he’d put inside me into my mouth.
“Suck them, clean them off while I take care of this,” he demands.
I blink, both aroused and appalled, but do as he instructs. Tasting the salty sweetness of my arousal while I watch him.
He strokes himself hard and fast, unrelenting and with no reserve. It takes seconds for the first splatter of cum to land on my thighs, and then thick ropes follow, hitting my panties and dress. It’s erotic as hell, and I’m suddenly wet again. When he finishes, his breathing uneven, the spicy, musky scent of him in the air, he leans down and rubs the head of his cock against my clit, cleaning the cum from his body and depositing it on mine.
Then he uses my dress to clean his hands and carefully closes himself back into his pants. Now clean, he shakes himself out and pulls me to my feet by the hand.
“We have to get back; Soo will come hunting soon if we don’t.”
I blink and stare down at my dress; no doubt my hair is mussed, and my makeup has smeared all over my face. “I can’t go in there looking like this.”
He brushes his thumb over my bottom lip, fire flickering in his eyes with a lingering promise of something more. “Why not? I want everyone to see what we’ve done, what you’ve done.”
I meant what I said earlier. I really do hate this man, even if a part of me is mystified by him.
As if he knows I will follow, he starts back to the casino, leaving me to pick over the rough ground, barefoot and seething. I may have gotten caught, but soon enough, I’ll be free of this man and his menacing ways.
20
Nic
I want my marks on her skin. To feel the give of her body around mine in every way. Not just her tight as fuck pussy, but her soft hips relenting to my grasp, her mouth taking every inch of me. Her little virgin asshole spread wide around my length.
It’s all I can see in my mind as I sit at my desk the next day. Of course, knowing she is naked, tied to the bed in her room, doesn’t help. I felt like that was a fitting punishment for her running away, for almost escaping me completely. I can’t even think about it, or else I get the urge to take her, mark her, claim her all over again.
The need overcame me last night. I did nothing I regret, except for stopping before I buried myself in her warmth. Even now, something primal in my body demands to take her in ways I’ve never taken a woman. To the edges, I reserve for my own dark fantasies. The way she’d writhed on the ground, rocks and dirt grinding into her skin, she’d delighted in my cruelty. And she’d savored the reward afterward.
It’s not until Soo marches into my office and throws himself into the armchair in front of my desk with a meaningful glare that I push the thought of her soft skin under my hands away completely.
He’s wearing black jeans and a gray T-shirt today. Obviously, not meeting with clients or vendors then. His hair is gelled back, neatly away from his face. Like this, he appears younger, more like a college student than the second most powerful man in the city.
Soo raises one eyebrow, a soft frown on his otherwise expressionless face. “What the fuck happened last night? I had to call another car to pick me up. You just disappeared.”
“Celia ran and lost part of her dress in the process. I caught her easily enough, don’t worry. I was gonna walk her through the building but decided against it. I didn’t want to risk drawing the wrong person’s attention.”
Despite having my back at every turn, Soo has been wary of this plan since its inception. Explaining her race to freedom in more detail would set him on edge when I very much need him to be at his best. Especially as we deal with my rogue brother, the upcoming auction, and the meeting between the five families. Neither of us can allow any distractions. Soo surveys me, his brown eyes sweeping the length of my body, missing nothing. Will this be the time he calls me on my bullshit? Or will he let it ride?
After a heartbeat of silence, he asks, “What happened?”
I shrug. It’s pointless to pretend I don’t care, so I don’t bother. I let him see the anger and fear I felt last night when I found her missing. “When she went to get the wine, she snuck out the back door. But she didn’t get very far between the fences and the mess of the construction behind the casino. When I caught her, I taught her a lesson and made sure she understands running isn’t an option.”
“Are you sure she will listen? We are days away from the auction, and I don’t want to stumble across the finish line.”
We’ll be here all day, going around in circles if I let him continue on with this conversation. “How did things go with your spy last night? Did she hear anything else about the meeting?”
“Don’t think I didn’t notice the change in subject. Where is she now?”
I wave at the door. “In her room, tied to the bed. Why? Want to go make sure she’s okay?” I joke.
“If she is contained, then everything is fine. I don’t want this to go south so close to the auction.”
“As long as we don’t take anymore field trips, I think she’ll behave.”
“You think?”
I slam my hand on the desk and meet his eyes head on. “She’ll fall in line.”
The grinding of his jaw is the only outward sign of agitation he gives me. I let the silence stretch for a heartbeat too long and sigh. “Your spy? Any news on the meeting? It will be absolutely perfect if it happens the day after the auction. Then I can rub her sale in their faces before I take them all out at once.”
The idea of taking out the entire fucking infestation in one blow energizes me. Almost as good as it felt to have Celia under me. To be the one who takes away every scrap of innocence she possesses.
Soo says something I miss, and he levels me with a look, which tells me he knows why my mind is wandering. Then he repeats himself. “She is going to keep monitoring the situation. One of the Gardello boys is fond of her and likes his pillow talk. She doesn’t have the exact date yet, but she’s going to be seeing him soon and might weasel it out of him with her wiles.”
I snort. “Her wiles were definitely lovely.”
Of course, Soo betrays nothing. But that wasn’t the case last night. He’d watched every twitch his spy made, and then some. When Celia fled, he hadn’t noticed that either. Out of character for him. Soo prides himself on knowing every singl
e detail.
“And Lucas, have you heard from him?” My brother hasn’t come home the last couple of nights. I’m not worried for him. He often rushes out for weeks at a time on his smuggling runs.
Soo’s eyes shutter. “He says he’ll be here for the auction, but he’s busy until the night of, acquiring the product we need to set the atmosphere.”
“But…”
There’s always a ‘but’ when Lucas doesn’t provide the entire story, and Soo tries to protect me from the truth about my brother. Like I don’t already fucking know.
“He hasn’t gone anywhere. He spent some time at the local hospital this morning, and then he went downtown immediately afterward.”
Why would Lucas be at the hospital? Unless he had a doctor contact providing some of his product.
“Do you have someone trailing him?”
It kills me I need to even ask. That my own brother has turned into someone I don’t recognize most days. Between the anger and the lies, he’s falling apart one night at a time, and I’m never able to reach him.
Soo sighs, and I realize he was talking while my mind wandered—again.
“I guess the only thing left to finalize is the guest list. Do you have a list of interested parties? We can’t reveal her identity until the event, but I’m sure you’ve been putting out feelers.”
There were several inquiries in my email about the special auction for Celia. All of which I forwarded to Soo since he’d do a background check on every attendee. We don’t need law enforcement screwing things up for us when we are so close to our goals.
Soo leans forward, bracing his elbows on the knees of his black jeans. “I do have a list. Several people have already been confirmed and checked out. I also ensured there are at least two extensions of the five families at the event. I know you want to use them to sow discord. It won’t take much effort if they are already closing ranks.”
I wonder how Celia will feel seeing men she’d lived life alongside, bidding to own her. The image of her in the dirt, my cum on her dress, her makeup mussed, rushes back into my brain. I can still feel her whimpers and every pulse of her cunt around my fingers.
God, I can smell her on my fingers, her sweat and arousal as I tipped her over the edge. She hates every orgasm I give her, and yet she begs by the time I put my hands on her.
A thought strikes me. “Do we have any record of the last meeting between the families? Records, video, anything that can tell us who attended and what they discussed? Also, the when, where, and lead up to the event? Most of these bastards, especially Ricci, are stuck in their old ways. If he initiated the meeting, he might have alerted the others in a similar way as last time. A letter, maybe? Verbal delivery?” I consider what I know about the man. “He wouldn’t trust anyone but family to contact the others. And since he has no sons, he’d have gone a different route.”
Soo nods, the first glimmer of interest at our conversation in his eyes. “It won’t be an email. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t even own a laptop. His wife does, so I’ve hacked his network, but it doesn’t help if he doesn’t use it. He’s also living twenty years in the past with a flip phone, so I doubt he called anyone or sent a text. My bet would be on a letter, likely a fancy invitation meant to show the others he’s still just as powerful without his daughters. He needs to re-cement his alliances, show the others he’s powerful, despite the two women in his family not falling in line.”
I nod. “Some of the children of his original allies are taking over their family seats. He’s worried he won’t be able to maintain power much longer. It makes him more dangerous, harder to pin down as he’ll be suspicious at every turn.”
I can see the calculation in Soo’s eyes. There’s nothing he loves more than a puzzle with a prize at the end. And once we dismantle the five families, we’ll own every inch of this city.
As if waking from a dream, Soo shakes himself and meets my eyes over the desk again. “Did you make a plan for whoever buys the girl?”
I smile. I’ve spent a lot of time on a plan to ensure her cooperation. Every touch, every nudge of her body and mind pushes her further under my control. I’m not worried about her cooperation. The hard part will be ensuring her and the buyer’s safety while I flaunt my spectacle in front of her father and all the families. The moment they see not a single one of them is safe, will be the moment I can sweep in and take everything.
“I’ve given it a lot of thought, actually. The girl is easy enough to control. Last night was a fluke and was remedied. Once she’s purchased, and we have the confirmation of sale, I’ll have the helicopter on standby to take them out of the city to the buyer’s chosen destination. After that, their safety will be the buyer’s responsibility. Even if the buyer fails to keep her safe, it will only help our narrative. No matter what, I took something from the five families. Celia will be sold, and it doesn’t matter if she dies right after.”
As I say the words out loud, my chest tightens uncomfortably. To my plan, it doesn’t matter what happens to her afterward. It shouldn’t to me either, but thinking of her death has my stomach souring.
“If you say so.” Soo shakes his head at me and leaves the room.
I exit shortly after, my legs carrying me to her room without thinking. She was furious when I tied her to the bed. I wonder if she has calmed herself. Probably not. Maybe I can smooth things over for now. And if I can’t, well, she won’t be my problem in a few days, anyway.
I shove the door open and stalk into her room. She is sprawled out on the bed just as I left her. Completely naked and on top of the covers, her wrists are tied to the headboard and her ankles to the foot of the bed.
“Enjoying your stay, princess?”
“Sarah came in here earlier. Do you know how embarrassing that was? She saw me… like this.” She tips her head down, looking at her body.
I drag my gaze up and down her naked form, lingering at the junction of her spread out legs. “That’s the whole point of this punishment. Be thankful I didn’t send any of my men in here. Thinking of… I could still make that happen.” I wouldn’t, but the sharp intake of air lets me know she believes I would.
When her eyes meet mine, they are red-rimmed and glacial. “You already control me and use me. Do you have to degrade me as well?”
I study her for a moment. Let her glare all she likes. “Yes, all the above and more. That hasn’t changed since the very first night you arrived. What makes you think it did?”
She only gives me a sniffle this time, nothing else, even dragging her eyes to stare off out the window. Her dismissal grates on my nerves.
Leaning over the bed, I capture her chin in my fingers and drag her gaze to mine. “You thought because I kissed you and fucked you with my fingers that you somehow became something else… something more than a rich man’s toy to me?”
A new fire ignites in her brown eyes, and then she does something I never expected, spits in my face. It only takes a heartbeat for her to realize her mistake. She tries to scramble away from my grasp, but the rope is holding her in place, making that impossible.
I take out a handkerchief from my pocket to wipe my face. It’s not the first time someone, even someone like her, has thought so little of me they did the same.
“Let’s get one thing straight, princess. I may like how your body fits around mine. I may enjoy the sweet little noises you make as you come, but it will never be enough to make me keep you. You, and your family, stand for everything I’m against. I’d rather take a fucking goat to my bed than keep you to warm it.”
She gapes at me, her mouth hanging open now. “You really hate me that much?”
Like a wild animal attacking its prey, I’m on her in a flash, letting most of my weight rest against her until she is completely locked in my hold, her face inches from mine. I lean down and bite her bottom lip hard, relishing in the small whimper that escapes her throat. I want her fire, her hatred.
“And while we’re on the subject. You belong to m
e. Every inch of your body, from your mouth to your asshole, is mine to do with as I please. If you fight, I’ll only make sure it hurts worse and that you’re not satisfied at the end of it. Are we clear?”
She whimpers, and I squeeze her tighter. “Are we clear, princess? A nod will do for me to ensure you understand.”
Instead of answering, she squeezes her eyes tight, and after a heartbeat, she nods once.
I peel myself off her and stand up to straighten my cuffs. “I’m glad we had this little chat. I’m disappointed in how quickly you forgot, stellina. How my lesson from last night didn’t make things clear. If I have to teach you another lesson, I won’t be as gentle.”
“Are you not going to untie me?” she asks when I start toward the door.
“I’ll be back later.” I grin like the bastard I am.
I’m not surprised when I find Soo waiting on the other side of the door, monitoring our interaction, missing nothing. “You good?”
I nod and step into the hallway, leaving the door ajar behind me. Let her hear what I say next, since I know she’ll enjoy listening in. “Set the auction for tomorrow night. Get everything in motion and follow up about that meeting we discussed. Once I get her off my plate, I can work on more important matters.”
Soo nods and glances back at the door one last time. Then he stalks away, no doubt already calculating and plotting any weakness.
I, too, stare at the door, waiting for her to call after me, either begging or demanding to be untied. When she doesn’t, I turn back to my office and take up my place behind the desk. Things are better this way. If she believes me the monster she’s built up in her head, she’ll better protect herself mentally for the next monster who is about to enter her life.
If she sees all of us that way, then she’ll continue to fortify herself. And then, and only then, will she be able to function in this world where the only winner is the biggest monster.
