She looked at me. She looked around the bar. She turned and looked back at the door, weighing the alternative. Then she answered.
“I don’t have a choice,” she said. “You can take what you want. You can use me to the last drop. Just help me.”
“All right,” I said. “But when the dust settles, remember it was you who came to me.”
“I’ll remember.”
“And I warned you.”
“I won’t forget.”
“You asked if I’m a good man. The truth is, I’m not.”
Chapter 4
Faith
What I’m about to tell you, it isn’t pretty.
Can I adequately explain it? No.
Can I put it in a way that will make me come across as anything other than a complete whore? I doubt it.
But the truth is more important than perceptions, and the truth is what happened to me, the decisions that led to that fateful night, and the consequences I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life.
So, the truth.
The truth is, I’d been standing in that motel parking lot for over an hour when Jackson pulled in. All I knew was that I was still in Nevada, and that wasn’t far enough.
It was raining and I was soaked to the skin. I was shivering. I had nowhere to go, no one to turn to. I took shelter under a big tree and I waited.
I’d know him when I saw him—that’s what I told myself. I just had to wait. God would help me. He had to.
And all I had to do was throw away everything I’d ever hoped for, sacrifice myself on the altar of fate, and pray I didn’t get into something even worse than the life I was trying to escape.
It sounds crazy, and maybe it was, but until you’re in that situation, you can’t understand the fear that led me to that parking lot.
Wolf Staten was a powerful man. A ruthless man. He made the rules, and my job was to obey. Earlier that night, he’d told me he was going to lock me up in a secret apartment of his villa. No one but him would ever look at me again. He said it was because he loved me so much, because I was so precious to him.
And a part of me wanted to believe him. As a girl I’d always dreamed of being someone’s princess, of being so desired by a man that he couldn’t bear the thought of other men looking at me.
But my life with Wolf wasn’t that. The way he treated me was not the way a prince treated a princess. The longer I stayed, the worse it got. The jealousy and possessiveness eclipsed all else. The violence finally knocked reality into me.
There was no room for love in that place. Even locked inside a prison, he’d find reasons to punish me, to brutalize me. And if I ever had his child, that baby’s life would be a living hell.
That’s what gave me the courage to take my life into my own hands. Scarcely two hours earlier, I slipped out of the party he threw in my honor. It was supposed to be my farewell to the world, the last time anyone but him would ever see me.
Fuck. That.
Fuck all of them.
Everyone at that party, all twelve members of Los Lobos, all our so-called friends, knew. And none of them even batted an eye. None of them raised a finger. In fact, they approved of it. Such was life with Los Lobos.
I’d heard rumors of the men locking away their families, treating their women like prisoners and slaves. I’d refused to believe it. Now I knew it was true. Wolf wanted me to live the rest of my life in a windowless bunker.
Like I already said. Fuck. That.
When I fled the mountaintop villa, I had no idea where I was going. I ran through the forest like a deer hunted by dogs. I fell on the rocks. I slid down the gullies. And when I reached the highway, I didn’t care who picked me up. I didn’t care what direction they were headed. I didn’t ask. I just climbed in and sat silently. I would go anywhere, with anyone. Nothing could be as bad as the life planned for me.
Los Lobos was not a nice gang to be mixed up with. They earn their livelihood off the pain and suffering of others. They were the worst kind of criminals. And the fact I was dating their leader was no one’s fault but my own. It was my own deeds, my own mistakes, that got me into that place. And it would be my own decisions that would get me out. That’s why I decided to do anything that needed to be done to escape. Anything.
Slipping into the clutches of Los Lobos had been so simple. And once I was in, there was no way back out. I’d seen the warning signs. I’d realized my mistake long before. Wolf cheated on me, beat me, routinely degraded and humiliated me in front of his gang members. He robbed me of all power, silenced my voice, and when he found out I wanted to leave, he built a concrete compound to keep me prisoner.
Until that night. The night I broke free. I couldn’t change the past, but I could change the future.
Within hours of making my decision, I was outside the motel. I didn’t have a penny to my name, no clothes, no belongings, no plan. It was only a matter of time before Wolf’s henchmen found me and forced me back to the hell of their world. I could feel my chance at freedom slipping away with every second that passed.
In desperation, I decided to do the only thing I could do. I threw myself at the mercy of fate. I opened myself, made myself vulnerable, and let God decide the outcome.
I asked for the help of a stranger.
All I needed was one good man. One man who was willing to stand up for me. He didn’t have to fight Wolf. He just had to help me escape, give me a ride to the city, or better yet, the border. I’d give him everything he asked in return. There had to be a man willing to do that. And if there wasn’t, so be it. Let me die. At least I’d die fighting.
A number of men walked in and out of the bar. Truckers, pulling in from the highway after a long haul, or workers, looking for a beer after a long shift. Others looked like drifters, gamblers, criminals, or nothing at all.
They were all men, and I didn’t know what to make of them. Which of them would help me? How would I choose?
I thought I’d know when I saw him, but I was beginning to have doubts. What if there was no one?
I had only one thing to offer. There’s only one thing men want from a woman in my position. But what if they didn’t want me? What if they rejected me?
Maybe that would be for the best. Giving up my body went against everything I believed, everything I held sacred. The only thing that made me even consider it, was the thought of a life of slavery at the hands of Wolf Staten. If the price of freedom was my body, I would pay.
And then he arrived. He rolled into the lot on a motorcycle as if chased by the devil himself. I only got a brief glimpse, but I saw enough to know he was the man I was looking for. Muscular build, tattoos on his arms and chest, a shadow of stubble. He was fiercely handsome, but that wasn’t even one of my criteria. I couldn’t afford to be picky. That was a luxury I didn’t have. What I was looking for was a real man. A man who would do what needed to be done, whatever that was.
The way this guy walked, the confidence in his stride, the determination on his face, told me I’d found my man.
And there was something else. I’d seen him before. I remembered it instantly. He’d taunted me, challenged me, and told me he didn’t give a shit about Wolf Staten.
Now, all I had to do was go through with it.
I had to ruin myself, offer up my body, throw away my beliefs, risk my life.
No problem, right?
Chapter 5
Jackson
What chance did I have?
My cock raged for her pussy. She was an image from my own secret fantasies. I wanted to pinch myself just to check I wasn’t dreaming. I couldn’t have designed a better creature for my seduction.
Her blue eyes seemed to drink me in. I ached for her. This beautiful, delicate creature was going to be mine. She was straight up offering herself.
A gift.
I was going to possess her, body and soul, and fill the emptiness of my life with something beautiful—something terrible, and tragic, and heavenly.
She needed
help—real help. The kind of help that could get a man killed. She needed me.
But there was something else.
I needed her. I needed her like my life depended on it.
Little did she know, but I was going to take more from her than she ever dreamed. She said she’d give me everything. If only she knew what I had in mind. Whatever price she thought she was paying, she was wrong. She wouldn’t just be mine for the night, she would be mine forever, in ways she couldn’t imagine.
“So you’ve run out on Wolf?” I said.
She nodded.
“It’s not going to be easy to get away from him.”
“I know.”
“The rest of Los Lobos will join the hunt.”
“What choice do I have?” she said, her emotion rising to the surface.
“Relax. You did the right thing. You can’t live your life under the thumb of a man like that.”
“I just couldn’t take it anymore,” she said, tears filling her eyes.
“It’s all right,” I said. “Do you have a plan?”
“I was going to run for the border. I’ll figure something once I’m across.”
“You don’t know where you’ll go?”
“I don’t have anywhere.”
“Do you have any money?”
She shook her head.
“That’s a terrible plan,” I said. “You won’t get far at all. He’ll find you.”
“That’s not your problem. Just drive me to the border and forget all about me. You’ll have everything you want from me by then.”
“Will I?”
“You want what every man wants, right?”
She pulled her skirt up on her thigh, giving me the tiniest glimpse of the black satin of her panty.
She was a torment. Fuck, my cock wanted that pussy. It throbbed and crushed against my jeans. I had to adjust my position.
I could tell this didn’t come naturally to her. She hated what she was doing, bartering her pussy for help. But she was paying for freedom, and I respected that. The world was full of people who accepted their fate without a fight. She wasn’t one of them.
“Maybe I want more than that,” I said.
“Whatever you want, you’ll be done with me by the time we reach the border.”
“I don’t think so.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you knew what I wanted from you, you’d run from me too.”
“It can’t be as bad as what Wolf wants.”
“You’re telling me I can have whatever I want, but that’s only because you’re desperate. When it comes time to pay the price, you might regret what you’ve bartered.”
“And you’ll make me pay every penny?”
“When the dancing’s done, the fiddler always gets his pay.”
She started to cry. “Look, I’m not here to bargain. I need your help. If Wolf finds me, he’ll destroy me. You can either help me or you can leave me here for him. I’ll give you whatever I have. I don’t care what you want. Take it and help me, or stop wasting my time. I won’t go back to Los Lobos. I’ll die first.”
I was silent for a moment. I looked at her, took in the details. What was I doing? I’ve taken a lot of things from people in my life, but never something like this. I usually take from those who can afford to give, and I take money, not something personal. Not something vital.
But I’m a thief at heart, a bandit, and I wanted this woman’s body, all of it, more than I’d ever wanted anything else in the world.
“Stop crying,” I said. “I’ll get Wolf off your back.”
“How?”
“Leave that to me.”
“And what about his gang? Los Lobos is a brutal pack of killers.”
“All men are brutal killers,” I said, “or have the potential to be.”
She looked at me. It was the first time she truly saw me for who I was. Fear crossed her eyes. I meant my words. Brutal killer. She could see it.
“What if you die?” she said.
I spread my hands in a gesture of helplessness. “If I die, I die.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’ll have already fulfilled your part of the bargain. In return for that, I’m willing to give you my life.”
She nodded. “And this arrangement, what exactly is it? What am I offering in return for your help? You keep saying I’ll regret it, but you don’t say what it is.”
I didn’t like forcing her into this position, this horrible choice. She deserved better, but I was the only one there, the only one who could protect her. We needed each other.
“It’s everything,” I said. “That’s all I can tell you.”
She looked at me again, assessing me, trying to decide what sort of devil she was making this pact with.
“All right,” she said at last. “Let’s do it.”
“You sure?”
She nodded.
And as easy as that, we’d both given ourselves up to fate. I’d taken on a fight I couldn’t win and in return, without even realizing it, she’d offered me the child I wanted. I knew just by looking at her, she’d be a good mother to it. Some things you can tell at a single glance.
“Does Wolf have any idea where you are?” I said.
“I don’t even know where I am.”
“All right,” I said. “I’m taking you to one of the rooms.”
“Okay,” she said. One look in her eyes told me she meant it.
I beckoned the bartender.
“You rent the rooms?”
He nodded.
“We need one.”
“Sure,” he said. “They’re fifty for the hour. A hundred for the night.”
I left a hundred-twenty on the bar, grabbed her hand, and led the way out to the rain. We were both soaked anyway. Our room was across the lot. We ran.
Chapter 6
Jackson
I opened the door and she hurried inside. She was nervous. She wasn’t used to this sort of thing. It only made me hotter for her—her tight little ass in that wet dress—her sweet, plump breasts, bursting against her low-cut neckline—the delicious pussy I knew was waiting for me.
I looked at her.
There was a window by the door and she pulled aside the curtain to peer out.
“You looking for him?”
She shook her head.
“He doesn’t know where to find me. I could have gone anywhere.”
I looked at her but said nothing. We were on borrowed time. Maybe it would be a matter of hours, maybe days, or weeks, or months, but sooner or later, Los Lobos would catch up with us, and when they did, it wouldn’t be pretty. When that time came, I would make sure I was there alone. I would make sure she was safe.
And even then, I knew there was more to this than just our bargain. There’d been a connection, an electric sexual tension, between us since the moment we met. The situation she was in, the months that had passed since our first encounter, did nothing to dampen that.
Her eyes were so big I could have melted in them. Her mouth was a tool for seduction. The image of her lips wrapped around my throbbing cock flashed before my eyes. I thought of my semen pouring into her mouth and it made me shiver. I was so hungry for her it hurt. Even the mess of her makeup turned me on. It made the situation more urgent, more dangerous. It excited me in a way I can’t describe.
“Promise me I’m going to be all right,” she said.
She knew that was more than I could guarantee, but I nodded.
“I’ll protect you, but you have to give yourself to me in return, completely and utterly,” I said. “That’s my price.”
She sat on the bed and pulled off her panties.
“I’m yours now,” she said.
She lay back in her wet clothes, a drenched mess. My cock was so hard it was ready to explode just looking at her. I’d never seen such an erotic sight in my life. This was it. This was the woman I was going to possess utterly. The certainty of it ove
rwhelmed me.
“You got a name?” I said.
She didn’t even look at me. She rolled onto her belly, turning her back to me.
My heart skipped a beat.
I could see the beginning of her ass, the wet dress hiked up over it.
“Open your legs,” I said. “Slowly.”
She spread them wide open, exposing her pussy like a piece of ripe fruit waiting to be picked.
I took off my bike leathers. My wet skin clung to them and I couldn’t get them off fast enough.
She spoke without facing me, her voice fragile.
“Are you going to use a condom?”
I had a condom in my wallet, I thought about it and agreed to put it on. There would be plenty of time later for what I wanted to do to her. I’d give her time to get used to me first.
She pulled her dress up higher, exposing her entire ass and pussy. Her body tilted, exposing herself so seductively that a drop of pre-cum fell from the tip of my cock. No man alive could have resisted her.
“It’s okay,” she said. “Take what you want.”
“You’re mine now.”
Her voice was almost a whisper. “I know,” she said.
It was a bad idea. God help me.
This was destiny, giving me a last chance to be the man I was supposed to be. My father had just died. By protecting this woman, I would take his place.
I opened my belt buckle and let my pants fall to the ground. I ripped off my wet shirt. I was completely naked. My cock pointed toward her like a violent weapon. She was my victim.
I climbed onto the bed and leaned down, my face close to her pussy. I wanted to smell her, taste her, savor her. I wanted to know what I’d just purchased. I opened my mouth, put my lips on her clit, and sucked.
She reacted passionately, her body squirming. The sound of her moan turned my blood to fire. Desire surged through my cock like an inferno. A hunger came over me I’d never experienced. It was insanity. All I could think about was fucking that poor girl senseless.
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