by Nina Park
Aside from embarrassing me, I didn’t know what good it would do to tell Marco about it. Of course, I wanted help. What kind of woman wouldn’t want help out of this kind of situation?
Questions and theories circled around my brain until I felt dizzy. What was he doing here?
Marco moved to stand just in front of Bianca, and he waved his arms on either side of him, seeming to highlight Angie and me.
“Cade Dickinson, take your pick.”
Cade Dickinson. The man’s name was Cade Dickinson. It didn’t sound like the name of a monster.
Then, the meaning of Marco’s words washed over me. Take your pick. Cade was meant to choose one of us to sleep with. Marco was offering us up like a door prize. Immediately, I went to war with myself, trying to decide whether I wanted him to choose me or not? I wanted to speak to him, and that would only happen if he selected me. However, if he selected me and he wasn’t here to save me, I would be forced to have sex with him, which I absolutely did not want.
I pushed my chest out and then sagged my shoulders, unsure whether I wanted to reel him in or repel him. Finally, I settled on a perfectly neural stance, deciding that fate would have to take over.
“Her.”
I looked up and saw Cade Dickinson pointing directly at me. His expression gave nothing away. He could have been choosing paint colors for as concerned as he looked, but Marco’s guards jumped into action. Fox grabbed my arm and began hauling me across the room towards Cade.
“I’ll take her.”
Fox froze, and I looked up to see Cade closing the distance between us. He placed his hand on my arm just above where Fox’s fingers were digging into my skin and then offered the pockmarked man a pearly white smile.
“She’s a fighter,” Fox said, offering a grimace in return.
“I think I can handle it.”
Fox looked to Marco for approval and Marco nodded at him to get lost. Cade pulled me closer to him. He smelled like leather and cedar chips. He was the best thing I’d smelled in twelve hours.
“That room straight ahead is reserved for you,” Marco said, pointing to the middle door in the wall of doors ahead of us.
Cade nodded his thanks and dragged me there by my elbow roughly, though I offered no resistance. He practically threw me into the dark room and slammed the door shut behind him, plunging us into darkness.
I could only just make out the shape of him in the darkness, and I backed up as he moved closer to me, still unsure of his motives and alliances.
“What’s your name?” he whispered, his voice deep and rich.
I kept my thighs squeezed tightly together. I wanted to talk to him, I wanted to understand why he was here, but I had faced so many disappointments in the last day. I was afraid this would be yet another one, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle it.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my arm, and I jerked away from it, bumping into the wall.
“Whoa, I’m sorry,” he said, sounding genuine. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Why are you here?” I asked, finally able to speak. “Why did you come here?”
There was a moment of silence, and I felt myself die a thousand times waiting for his answer. Finally, he took a deep breath, stepped towards me, and placed his hand back on my arm.
“You,” he whispered.
The single word was enough to shatter me. The tears I’d been repressing began to flow freely down my face, and I heard myself hiccupping and sputtering, but I couldn’t stop. It was likely Lacey didn’t even know I was missing yet. She’d stayed the night with Avery, and hungover Avery was almost as bad as drunk Avery.
And my mom rarely ever checked in, as our relationship had been on the rocks since she kicked me out. So, the idea that someone, even a strange man I didn’t know, cared about me was almost too much to bear. I felt like I could shatter from the relief. It gave me hope that maybe I would make it out alive.
“It’s all right,” Cade said, whispering in my ear. “You’re okay.”
“No, I’m not,” I blubbered back. “I’m not okay. This isn’t okay.”
He shushed me and stroked my back, his hand swiping along the bare skin there. I was suddenly aware of how small my dress was, how little of me it covered. His touch also brought me back to my senses. I still didn’t know this man. I didn’t know him at all. I couldn’t fall apart like this. For all I knew, he was working with Marco.
Then, a thought occurred to me. What if Marco had sent Cade in here to lull me into a false sense of security, make me believe I was going to be saved, and then break my heart? It was an ingenious plan because I was weak enough that one more heartbreak would have been all it took to bring me to my knees, to make me like Bianca.
I pulled away from Cade and waved him away when he tried to come closer again.
“You’re right,” I said, wiping at my eyes. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
Cade nodded and put his hands in his pockets. “I’m Cade, by the way.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“Nice to meet you.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “Yeah, it’s just lovely.”
“Well, sorry. I’m not sure what to say.”
Despite my suspicions, I couldn’t help but find him a bit charming. I sighed. “My name is Falyn.”
He repeated it back to me, testing it out on his lips, and I liked the sound of it. “When I left the club, I hoped I’d see you again, though I guess I should have been a bit more specific about the circumstances.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked again, looking for a more specific answer. I didn’t have the energy or time to engage in witty banter.
“I promised to help you, so I’m here to help,” he said, holding his arms out.
I looked around, waiting for him to explain his plan, but he didn’t say anything. “Are we going to escape? Do you have a gun? Are we going to shoot our way out of here?”
Once again, he stepped towards me and placed a finger to his lips. “You have to be quiet. You can’t say stuff like that here. They are always listening.”
“We’re all alone. And the room is pitch-black.”
“Thin walls and cameras,” he whispered. “In fact…”
He moved back towards the door and flipped on the light. A bright bulb flickered to life in the center of the room, and I blinked back against the sudden brightness.
“Sorry, but it will look suspicious if I don’t turn on the lights. No guy wants to have sex with a hooker in the dark,” he said.
“I’m not a hooker,” I snapped.
“I know that.” He stepped back towards me, moving slowly, his eyes pinned on mine. “And you know that. But they don’t know that. And we can’t let them know that I know that.”
His words became a jumble in my mind that I couldn’t untangle. “What?”
Cade reached out for me and ran his fingers through my hair. I knew I should pull away, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was tired of fighting.
“Like I said…” His eyes darted towards the ceiling and each of the corners. “Cameras.”
“They’re recording this?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Probably. Better safe than sorry. It will look weird if we don’t do anything.”
My veins turned to ice. “We have to have sex?”
“No, but we have to do something.”
Cade ran a finger down my neck and across my collarbone, leaving a trail of goosebumps. He brought his other hand to my waist and brought me closer to him until our bodies were pressed against one another. I wondered whether he could feel my heart beating in my chest.
I looked up at him, my breathing ragged and harsh, and he brought his hand up to my neck. He tipped my head back and brought his lips to my neck, pressing kisses in a line up to my jaw. He used his thumb to turn my face towards him, and before I could do anything to stop him, he kissed me.
His lips were gentle and soft, and I sunk into the familiarity of a warm body. I arched into him an
d Cade pressed his hand into my spine, drawing a line from my neck to my hips. Then, his hand ventured lower until he was cupping my ass. It was still tender from the spanking I’d received from Marco, and I was grateful for Cade’s gentleness.
He explored my body with his hands and then parted my lips with his own. He used his tongue to explore my mouth. I gave myself over to the sensation, and we explored one another. I ran my hands down his muscly arms, drawing tattoos of my own along his biceps with my fingertips. He felt strong and solid in my hands, and I wasn’t ready for the moment to be over.
Then, Cade pulled away. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough that I could feel his absence.
He pulled back and looked down at me. “Do you still want me to help you?”
My lips were swollen from kisses, and my vision was blurry, but I nodded. “Yes. Yes, of
course.”
“Okay, then you’ll have to do something for me in return.”
“Okay?” I said. I would do anything to get out of here. Anything to escape Marco’s Playhouse.
Cade wrapped his hands around my arms, squeezing. “In return, I want a proper fuck.”
I reared back as if I’d been slapped. His words shattered the moment we’d been sharing, and suddenly I wondered whether my theory about Cade working for Marco wasn’t right. Was this the part where he crushed my spirit? He had built me up with his touch, and now he was going to dismantle me with his words?
“That’s my offer,” Cade said firmly. “Do you accept?”
Wasn’t this exactly the kind of situation I was trying to avoid? I didn’t want to sleep with me in exchange for anything other than love, so what made this any different than staying with Marco? I shook my head. I was still thinking, but my body was beginning to reject the roller coaster of emotions. I just wanted out. I wanted to go back to the dorm and lay in bed and think.
“It’s a fair deal, Falyn,” Cade said. “You won’t receive better. I will save you, but you have to surrender to me… the way you did on the dance floor.”
My face flushed with the memory of me riding his thigh at the nightclub. We were perfect strangers, yet I’d let him bring me to the edge of passion and push me off. I supposed I could do it again, especially if the reward were my freedom.
Cade looked down at me, his eyes wide and begging me to accept his offer. I took a few deep breaths and then nodded.
“Yes?” Cade asked, eyebrows wide.
“Yes,” I said. “I accept.”
Chapter Twelve
Cade
I could see the indecision and fear in her eyes, but I could also see the strength. Falyn wanted to live. She wanted to be free. And she had just proven to me that she would do whatever was necessary to make sure it happened. She would fight.
“Great,” I whispered, running my finger from her shoulder to her elbow. “Unfortunately, it will have to wait until you’re out of this hell hole.”
“What?” She pulled away from me, shoving my hands off of her. “What do you mean?”
“I needed to know I could trust you to fight for your life, to do whatever was necessary to get out of here. By agreeing to my deal, you showed me that.”
“So…” She shook her head and looked at the floor, trying to process everything. “… you pretended to want to have sex with me to make sure I was worthy of being saved?”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly pretending.”
Her cheeks flushed.
“But,” I continued, “we will not be having sex today, if that’s what you mean.”
There was definitely no pretending when it came to wanting Falyn. I wanted her. I had wanted her from the first moment I laid eyes on her in the club. Who wouldn’t? She was stunning. Which was another reason I needed to get her away from Marco Santorelli as soon as possible. Any man with eyes could see she was the most beautiful woman there. She wasn’t safe with him or any of his men.
“So how are you going to get me out of here?” she asked.
“I’m making a deal with Marco, and when we come to terms, I hope to bargain for your freedom.”
“You’re just going to ask him to free me?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.
“Well, not exactly. He will get some guns and, in exchange, I’ll get you.”
“You’ll get me? As in, own me?”
I held up my hands to stop her because I could already tell where she was going. “It’s not the same thing. It will all be for show. I’ll make Marco think I’m buying you, but really, I’ll be setting you free. He just needs to think it’s a business deal.”
“How do I know you’re not lying to me?” she asked, her lower lip quivering. “How do I know this isn’t some elaborate trick? How do I know you aren’t going to take me away from here and lock me in your own sex dungeon?”
“Well, firstly, I don’t have a sex dungeon,” I replied, giving her a small smile. “And secondly, you can’t know that. But you have to trust me. If this is going to work, you have to trust me.”
She shook her head, tears from earlier still sparkling on her cheeks. “I don’t know if I can.”
I closed the space between us and ran my hands down her thin arms. Her skin was cold against mine, and I wanted to wrap her in my arms until Marco’s clubhouse was nothing but a horrible memory. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that. I let my hand trail down to her waist and around her back, pulling her against me.
Falyn’s eyes widened, but I quieted her with a subtle shake of my head. “We are still being watched. We have to do something.”
She bit her lip, uncertainty clear in her expression, but she didn’t pull away.
I squeezed the back of her neck and pressed my lips to the smooth skin in front of her ear. “Just pretend we’re on the dance floor again,” I said.
Her body jolted at the memory, the way our bodies had melded together so seamlessly, as if they had always known one another in that intimate way.
“I can’t believe I acted like that,” she said, the ghost of a laugh in her voice. “And in public.”
I laughed with her. “Well, we’re alone now.”
Falyn arched into me and tilted her head back, exposing the smooth white skin of her neck. Unable to resist, I pressed my lips there, kissing from her jaw to her collarbone and retracing the path with my tongue. Her breath came out in heavy gasps as my hands found the soft flesh of her hips and dug in. I ground my hips into hers, savoring the solid feel of her body against mine.
“Nearly alone,” she said, almost as a reminder to me that we were being watched.
I pulled back slightly, though even that small separation made me ache for her. The zipper on the back of her dress was easy to find and even easier to undo. I pulled it down to the base of her spine, revealing the dimples on either side of her back, the smooth curve of her body as it transitioned into the fullness of her ass. She was perfect. Absolutely perfect.
“If I don’t take this dress off, anyone watching this tape will think I’m insane,” I said.
“Is that true?” she asked, pulling back to look up at me through dark lashes. Her green eyes made my breath hitch in my throat. “Or are you looking for an excuse?”
“It’s the truth,” I replied, nodding so she’d know I was serious. “But I can’t exactly say I’m disappointed about it.”
She turned her face away from me, but I noticed her cheeks rounding out in a smile. The dress was tight, so I had to peel it off of her body. I pushed it off her shoulders and down her arms. I grabbed the fabric that covered her chest and pulled down. The back of the dress was so low that she didn’t have a bra on underneath, and her breasts bounced free of the dress. She pulled her arms in close to her side, clearly fighting the urge to cover herself.
I smoothed them to her sides with my fingertips and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re stunning.”
She bit her plump lower lip and looked down at the floor. I grabbed her chin and held her face up to mine, making sure she was looking me in the eyes.
>
“You are stunning,” I repeated, hoping she believed it.
Her eyes scanned my face, looking for any sign of deception. After a few seconds, she pulled her arms free from my grip and shoved her dress all the way down until it was a pile of red around her ankles.
I inhaled sharply at the sight of her naked body. She didn’t have any underwear on. Taking a step back, I admired her from top to bottom, taking in every inch of her tan, tight body. I couldn’t remember ever being so hard in my life. My body was reaching out for her in every way it knew how, and I tried my best to suppress it. We weren’t going to sleep together. Not today. I needed her to trust me, and that would never happen if I took advantage of her now. But God, how I wanted to.
