by J. C. Cliff
“How dare you!” I spit back. “I did not sign up for this shit!”
“This...this is the thanks I get for showing you some kindness today, and every day since the very first day you arrived? I’ve warned you!” he bellows. The muscles in his jaw are working overtime. “Are you trying to get sold? ‘Cause it sure as hell seems like it. Do you have a fucking death wish? You couldn’t just play it cool, could you? You just had to go and rile him up, and now you are out of my hands. I can only stick my neck out so far for you, Julianna. Do you hear me?!”
“Gee, I’d hate to put you out, Travis. I’m a big girl; after all, I can wipe my own nose. I’d hate to deplete your box of tissues on my account.” Pure, raw hate drips from my voice, and I watch him stiffen at my declaration. “That’s right, Travis. I heard you. I heard enough to know Jared was telling the truth; you are every bit the manipulator and then some.”
Silence encased the room. Travis rolls his shoulders then begins pacing back and forth. His hands thread through the sides of his hair in frustration. I take a step forward away from the cross, getting ready to let him have an even bigger piece of my mind, but before I can take a second step, he has me shoved back against the cross, breathing roughly into my face. His hands have my arms stretched out against the cross, and as he holds me by my wrists, I feel panic begin to surface.
“What are you doing?” I choke out in worry.
“What I should have done a few days ago.” I feel him work the shackles around my wrists. I’ll be damned if I make it easy on him, so I start to struggle, trying to break free. He’s too strong for me, though, and once he has one wrist secured, he easily uses both of his hands to secure my other one. My chest heaves, clamoring for air.
“You’re skating on thin ice right now, more than you will ever know. I’ve gone to bat for you. I’ve done shit to protect you, shit you don’t even know about, and this...this is how you repay me?” Travis bellows. He’s so enraged, his nostrils flair, and I flinch at his words.
He backs away from me, and I watch him as he paces around. He stops at the edge of the sofa and leans over it. The back of the cushions compress from the death grip he has on them as he closes his eyes, breathing heavily.
When he speaks, he sounds deceivingly-calm. Keeping his eyes closed he says, “I can no longer help you, Julianna. With your stunt today, it’s pushed Nick over the edge.”
I pull on my restraints. “No, Travis, there is where you are wrong. I’m not stupid. Nick pushed himself over the edge in a fit of jealousy. I just topped it off.”
He pushes away from the sofa and strolls over to me with his jaws clenched, and I shrink back. His stone face is back in place, and I’m wondering if he’s going to hurt me. He’s shattered my heart today. I hate myself for allowing feelings to be garnered for him when clearly I’m nothing more than a sniveling little pain in his ass.
I can feel my own heart palpatating in my chest when he doesn’t stop advancing on me. His fingers thread through mine, and he leans in to whisper in my ear, causing my skin to prickle. “You have to stop your defiant and rebellious behavior, or you’re going to find yourself in the slave market.”
With his confession off his lips, my stomach rolls, and I feel tears again, but I don’t care. I feel as if I’d rather die.
“You are out of my hands if Nick sells you, Julianna. You better pull your shit together and quickly.” His soft breath lingers at my ear, and I shiver. Damn him. Damn it all. A large part of me was hoping Travis really cared for me, or even that he was going to save me, but after today, I can see just whose side he’s on. I deserve this, I think to myself. I saw this very thing happening from day one.
“Do you understand? You better be scared; I have a job to do, and now you are out of my hands,” he emphasizes.
“Well, that should make you happy then...me being out of your hands,” I croak menacingly. My eyelashes are soaked, and I narrow my eyes, focusing on anger and rage instead of pitying myself.
He backs away from me, his body shaking with pure aggravation. He leans over and violently punches the Plexiglass beside my head, hard and fast. I hear a loud shattering sound as fragments crash to the floor. I immediately flinch away, squeezing my eyes tightly against the horror. “Do you want to be out of my hands, Julianna?” he roars, causing my body to shutter and shake uncontrollably. “Answer me!”
“Yes…no, I don’t know!” I scream defensively. “I just want to go home,” I sob.
“This is your home! Your home is where Nick tells you it is, and you should be damn thankful it’s not in a cantina somewhere.” He’s scaring me; he’s so hard and cold. I don’t recognize this man in front of me. “Little girl, you don’t own yourself anymore. Your freedom is gone, so lose the fucking freedom-fighter role. Do you understand?” he bellows. His eyes no longer hold their beautiful iridescent color; they look dark and ominous.
Tears begin rolling down my cheeks; I hiccup, and somehow manage to whisper, “Yes, sir.”
“You want to know what a cantina would be like, Julianna?” I shake my head in an emphatic no. “What? You mean you’re not curious? How about I give you a firsthand experience of what you’re missing?” His voice is hateful, evil, and merciless. “Come on, baby. I know you must want this; otherwise, you wouldn’t have disobeyed. How about we try out this cat-o’-nine-tails? Hmm?” He reaches through the jagged opening his fist had created and pulls out an implement. “Oh, or maybe a cane? That will fuckin’ get your attention, because it seems nothing else will!” he yells the last of his words. My breath hitches as he dusts my chest with the leather whip, or whatever the hell it is, and I can’t catch my breath. “Or have you secretly been wanting to be a bad little girl all along, throwing a fit so one of us will give you the kink?”
“Please...” I cry out. “Please...” I plead with my eyes, but the Travis I know has left, leaving a monster in his wake.
He tilts his head, mocking me. “Please? Please, what, Julianna? Didn’t I teach you right? Tsk, tsk,” he says cruelly. The leather crop skates down across my legs. When he traces the leather back up between my legs, he pauses at the apex of my legs and I stiffen. Absolute panic courses through my veins.
“Please, sir.”
“I’m assuming you are asking me to punish you. You wish for me to pleasure you this way, no? You want a sneak peek at your future if you don’t obey? Who knows—you might like it.”
I shake my head furiously, barely thinking better of the action before remembering to speak. “No, sir.”
“Well, too bad,” he sneers hatefully, “you should have thought about that when you decided to rebel again.” He grabs my breast and pinches my nipple…hard. I scream out in pain. I clench my teeth together, steeling myself against the onslaught while giving him a hateful glare.
“Keep looking at me like that, little one, and I’ll really make you scream.” Since he didn’t strap my ankles apart, I squeeze my legs tightly shut when I feel his hand move under my dress. My stomach twists in complete dread.
In a thunderous command, his voice scares me with its ferocity. “Open them. Now!” My eyes bolt open wide. Oh, God, I feel as if I’m about to pass out from hyperventilating. I slowly spread my shaky legs apart, and I feel my few bites of lunch wanting to resurface.
He drops the leather whip to the floor, lifts my dress to my hips, and I feel his fingers slip under the crotch of my panties, beginning to stroke my folds. “If you take it like a good girl, I might make it pleasurable for you. It just depends on my mood, but right now, it’s dark…very dark, so I suggest you don’t just act like you want this punishment; you better fucking beg for more,” he says frighteningly. He dips the tips of his fingers inside me and spreads me open. I whimper, feeling helpless. “I want to hear you scream for more punishment, because you’ve been a very, very naughty girl.” He shakes his head at me. “Just the mere thought of whipping your bare ass is making me hard right now.” He pulls back enough to take stock of my reaction, and then giv
es me an evil smirk.
My body shudders before him, but I steel against my fear, glaring hard into his eyes. “You’ve gone mad!”
He throws his head back and lets out a sinister laugh. “No, doll, you’re just now getting on our page. What did you think this was, Julianna, The Bachelor Show?” Suddenly, his expression takes on confusion, and he stops laughing. Cocking his head to the side, his eyes swirl with scrutiny. “Julianna, did you think I might have feelings for you,” he asks in a mocking tone, adding, “just because I let you suck me off?” He sneers condescendingly at me. “This is what I do; I manipulate, I use, and then I sell. You’re no different than the rest of the girls here.”
I swallow hard. His words have cut me so deeply I wouldn’t be surprised if I looked down and saw I was bleeding. His cold-heartedness has broken me twenty times over. He’s played me…he’s played me really well. I was a fool to believe anything he ever said or did. It was a farce. What happened to the man who said, ‘I’ve got you’ and, ‘you have to believe me’ and, “I care more than I should”?” Yeah, well, it looks as if Jared was right after all. Jared told me straight up from day one about Travis’ skills, and I ignored all the warnings. I thought somehow I was different. I tripped and then fell hard, right into his trap of lies. Travis would say, “Jump,” and I’d ask, “How high?”
He removes his fingers from my wet core and begins rubbing his cock against my clit. He grinds into me using his strong hips, and the act makes me hate Travis even more in this very moment. My pulse speeds in anger from his dominant display of power. I can’t believe this is happening to me.
While his hips are rubbing into mine, he starts running kisses up the side of my neck and behind my ear. I squeeze my eyes shut and clench my hands tightly as the taut shackles begin to constrict the blood flow in my wrists.
“You like this, baby? I think Nick is right; I think you really want the punishment.”
What I really want to say right now is “Fuck you!”, but I’m scared as hell of this new Travis. This Travis is maniacal.
He grazes the outside of my ear, murmuring, “You like the naughty? Hmm? Do you feel me, Julianna? Do you feel my hard cock rubbing on you? You being tied up turns me the hell on.” My chest is rising and falling in panicked breaths, but I stay silent. I just want him to go away. I hate him so much. “I bet if I reached down to stroke inside your pussy again, you’ll be dripping wet for me. You want to be a whore, Julianna?”
He lifts my dress even more, bunching the material above my waist, and I feel cool air slip across the skin of my stomach. He slips underneath my panties again, and two fingers suddenly plunge into my wet core, causing me to cry out. Knowing I’m still drugged, he uses it all to his advantage. Even though I haven’t taken Blyss in a couple days, it still has lingering effects on me. The bastard is playing me well. I’m sweating like a cornered nun, wanting this, but not wanting this. I’m so angry with myself.
“Oh, yeah, my girl wants the naughty. You’re so fuckin’ wet.” He thrusts his fingers in deep, until he’s up to his knuckles and can go no further. He works them in hard, fast thrusts, stretching me. A traitorous moan escapes from my lips as he kisses the soft spot behind my ear. “You’re gonna be perfect for Nick. He gets off on this shit, baby,” he taunts.
While still working his fingers inside my heat, his thumb begins rubbing over my clit. My hips start dancing to his rhythm, matching his thrusts. I hear the wet juices and suction sounds of his relentless fingers working me. He’s stretching my inner walls, and his hot, sensual kisses dancing across my neck are shattering me.
“Look, baby. Look at you; your mind still fights you, but your body is taking what it wants anyway.” I don’t look; I can’t. I feel him grip the back of my head, and I yelp. He’s rough and mean about it, angling my head down to force me to see what he’s doing to me. I close my eyes in protest. I hate the bastard.
“Open your eyes,” he barks in a rough command, brooking no argument. “Look at your hips bucking and fighting so your body can hike up to that sweet precipice of an orgasm. You want that?” I despise the effects he’s having on my body. I smell sex and sweat, and I feel a deep contempt for him, yet my body doesn’t seem to mind.
I am forced to continue looking down on his ministrations. The sight of his large, tan hand using its strong, calloused fingers to work in and out of my heat is a sight I will never forget. His muscles are flexing in his forearm as I watch my hips hungrily chase his hand. My walls start clenching around his fingers, and I start to feel a tingly sensation creeping up my spine. Oh, God, this is Heaven and Hell, all at the same time. I hate it, and I love it.
“You see your hips moving, baby? Tell me. Tell me what you want.”
What do I want? I want him to go away; I hate him. My mouth tramples over my brain, though, speaking for my body. “Oh, God, yes! Please, let me come…please!” All too soon, his touch, his kisses, and his seductive talk are gone. I’m left bereft. I’m breathing heavily, my limbs shaking from the pre-orgasmic bliss I was feeling. I look up at Travis with wide, questioning eyes.
I watch as Travis takes the very fingers that were inside me and slowly puts them inside his mouth. He sucks and licks my juices off his fingers. “Bad girls don’t get to come, Julianna. You were a very naughty girl today.” My heart stops in its tracks.
Oh, no, he didn’t! He just made a complete fool of me, humiliating me and making me beg him for release! “Go to Hell!” I snarl.
He tilts his head to the side, arching a brow and considering my outburst. His demeanor is calm…too calm. “Now, see that? I thought I just taught you a lesson on respect, but apparently, I was mistaken. That show of blatant disrespect...” he wriggles his index finger at me, “…that right there is what’s going to get you killed one day.” He shakes his head in disapproval. “You know what? It just dawned on me, Julianna.” I stiffen, afraid of his new revelation. “If I were to use one of my worst implements of punishment located on this wall,” he waves his hand over the entire wall, “I still don’t believe it would teach you the lesson you need to learn. I just realized what would, though,” he says in a sinister voice.
My heart drops to the bottom of my feet as both of his hands reach around my neck, searching for the clasp of my medallion. My mouth is agape because of what I believe he’s fixing to do. “Whatever this necklace represents for you, it’s gone.” There’s a calm but real anger in his tone. “It’s gone, just like your hope. I give, and I take.”
My eyes are in refill mode as I whisper a teary-eyed and horrified, “No,” as I shake my head profusely. He unclasps my necklace, and my heart shatters into a million pieces. Panic ensues, my entire body beginning to shake with fury. When Travis removes the necklace, he leans in to kiss me behind my ear, and I want to spit at him. I struggle to breathe, and my vision goes blurry.
I watch him through blurry eyes as he slowly takes a step back from me. He has a smirk plastered on his face, which serves to piss me off even more. I scream out in an unrestrained rage, “I hate you!” I thrash against the binds like a wild animal, my lungs fighting for air. “I hate you!”
He takes another step away from me, and I scream again, only this time, I scream a rant of words. I scream at the bastards for taking me, taking away my future, taking away Adam, and how they’ve now stripped me bare by taking away my mother’s medallion.
I watch through a torrent of tears as Travis continues backing up, still facing me with that evil smirk I despise. I watch as he swipes the unopened birthday present off the table, then he narrows his eyes, giving me a hateful glare. When he reaches the door, he turns on his heels and leaves without another word. I bellow out loudly in pain and anguish at the top of my lungs. I just want to die. I want to slide down and form myself into a tiny ball, but I can’t. I am pinned here to this God-blessed wall with my body wracking with sobs. He knew exactly how to take the last bit of my soul, and he did so wearing an evil smirk on his face. I feel as if I’m a sputtering old car
that’s been through a demolition derby. He’s rammed into my heart, rendering me useless, and the first one out of the game.
This feels like something out of a Shakespearean comedy. There’s always a fool, and they become tricked into believing in something that’s not there. Once the misunderstandings begin, a chain of events takes place, and those situations are hilarious. And then it ends.
Watching the fool go through all the motions is like watching a set of dominoes fall as the misunderstandings spread through the cast. The same is happening here, only it’s not funny. It’s not funny at all. This is not a comedy; it’s my life, and it’s screwed up twenty ways ’til Sunday. My conscience has been defiled. It’s a scene that could’ve taken place two thousand years ago, and yet it’s a scene repeated every day, and I’m not immune.
CHAPTER TWENTY
I’m on my third day in solitary confinement, and I’m miserable. I’ve tried doing a little bit of reading, movie-watching, and exercising…
I’m not complaining. I know it can be much worse.
Aw, hell. Yes, I am complaining! Who am I kidding?
I’ve been captive here for two weeks now, and have yet to see daylight. I’m going crazy, and I’m about to start methodically and rhythmically bang my head against the wall. The only thing stopping me from looking like I belong in an insane asylum is the smallest sliver of hope. I’m still clinging to a tiny bit of faith, praying I’ll be rescued. The second I’m free, I swear I will handcuff myself to Adam and never let him out of my sight. My heart aches at the thought of seeing Adam again. I want my family back. I think about all the men in my life—my father, Adam, and Jake. I can’t imagine what they all must be going through right now, especially Jake. My poor Jake—I can only hope he’s doing okay. I don’t know if he was shot or not; it was too dark to tell. Waking up here the following morning, any traces of blood I would have had from either Jake or my catfight were nowhere to be found. I assume it was Travis who’d cleaned me up that first night.
