by JR King
“You can’t have it both ways!” Her yell—which had the highest octave of utter disgust in it—was the final straw that broke my back.
She was baiting me. She had to know that she’d succeeded. She had to know that I’d consume her with mindless ferocity, just like a mantis ate her mate.
In the heat of the moment, I decided to strap her. I watched her, and saw fear roll across her face as my hands found my belt and unbuckled it. I could smell her desire to defy me increasing by the second, and a surge of adrenaline hit my veins. The belt made a swishing sound as I pulled it from the loops with one quick jerk, its tail dangling carelessly above the marble. “Come here, Elena. Be my good little girl.”
Her head made jerky movements from side to side as she skirted around me. “Don’t, no…no.” The numbness of her voice made me reconsider. Backing into a corner, she sagged against the graphite fleur-de-lis decal next to a credenza and sank down. Drawing up her knees, she clutched them to her chest, folding herself as small as she could.
“Why’d you try to leave, pet?”
She unfolded to look up at me, then huddled into a ball again and held her palms out, as if to hold me off. “I saw you putting moves on that girl…you brought another girl home…kissed her.”
“Put moves on her?” I was howling my frustration at no one. The room was swimming around me…the objects looked spotty. “You think I want Katherine? Is that what you think?” Unvarnished anger made me see red, and by picking up Elena off the floor and tossing her to the other side, sloppiness got the better of me. The extenuating guilt carried me down into a crouch, and softly, I cried. “Mea culpa, Elena. Forgive me. Please forgive me.” I spoke to her in a deep, soothing undertone, saying how guilty I felt. I gathered her hair off her sweat-damp neck, pulling it together into a makeshift ponytail.
She trailed her fingertips along my jaw, down to my neck, pressing the tendons to feel the beat of my pulse. Back upward she trekked, tracing my cheekbones, my eyes, and the curled slant of my eyebrows. “Do you like her?”
“I care deeply about her.” She rose stiffly, laying a hand on my shoulder to steady herself. I held her against my chest with an audible sigh when she struggled to regain her footing.
“You love her.” A fleeting look of grief skipped across her face. She ran, flew blindly from the bedroom down the corridor connected to the staircase, skirt fluttering around her bare legs. She’d never outrun me, why run?
Dashing forward in long strides, I caught up to her in seconds. Within an instant of reaching her, I grabbed her by the waist, encircling it with one arm. She fought me, tugging away at first, becoming increasingly breathless. When she thrashed about, I tightened my grip. “Fighting me is hopeless.” I was much taller and much stronger than she was; I was a man and she was a girl. While she struggled, my free hand rested firmly around her neck. Without warning, I pushed her backward a few steps, until her body was pressed up against the wall. Now that my body pinned her, I let go of her waist and grabbed both her wrists, raising her arms high above her head. The position forced her petite frame to be stretched out, and her back slightly arched as she tried to raise herself up on tiptoes. My grip around her neck caused her breathing to falter, and desperate for my retention, she bit down on her lip.
“You haven’t recognized her?” I asked. She shook her head rapidly and I arched an eyebrow. “The girl is my cousin, Elena. That’s why I told you to stay in your room during lunchtime.”
“Shit.” She glanced up at my face, just inches away from hers, quaking like a mouse who heard the mention of a cat. “Do you still believe in me?”
“Elena.” She cringed when I tickled her earlobe in an effort to console her. “As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t an iota of doubt in my mind about you. You’re progressing at a stellar rate, keep weaving your magic.”
She burst into a bubbly giggle. “Cousinly love.”
I stared down at her for a long moment before I reached behind the fall of midnight hair and moved the noodle straps that held her dress in place. I dropped the silk fabric very slowly. My palms slid over her thighs, and up the curves of her waist and breasts.
“Alex?” Elena’s hands found my covered shaft. “I’m sorry, Alex.” Her parted lips slid across my cheek to my mouth, dusting feathery kisses against it.
My mouth covered hers violently at the same time my hands dug into the soft skin of her arms. I buried my hands in her hair and tilted her head back until the muscles of her neck strained so I could kiss her harshly. Before releasing her, I brushed my lips gently across hers. “I’m going to fuck you. Fast and hard.”
I was punishing Elena for Katherine’s expulsion.
I teased her with the burnished head, sliding it against her oversensitized flesh. “Look at it, pet,” I ordered and she watched as I slid into her, inch after thick inch. Not waiting a moment for her to adjust, I started moving at a quick pace. After all, it was punishment. The bed squeaked with the progress and eventually, her one leg slid from my shoulder so that both legs could wrap around my waist for comfort. I brought her leg back to my shoulder. “Not gonna happen, Elena.” I knew I was hard on her, and I didn’t care. I fucking missed Katherine.
She didn’t cry, though. In a long while we lay there silently. I stared at the ceiling, my arms folded behind my head, Elena curled against me. Her fingers trailed through the light dusting of hair that covered my chest. “I’m sorry, Alex,” she tried again.
I snapped, “Is this a motherfucking game to you? Would I bring you into my home if I desired someone else?”
“I got…I think.” I surveyed her splendor, her long dark hair sliding down the white pillowcase, tendril by tendril as she shook her head. Her eyes were shiny, almost childlike in their bigness. A crooked smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “I got…jealous.”
I wasn’t sure if the hint of naughtiness that tinted her voice was intentional. With her face in my hand, I admired her gloriously exposed neck. I ran the tip of my tongue along her jawline before sinking my teeth into the soft flesh of her earlobe. She didn’t coil at the sting of the bite. I growled my displeasure when her jaw tensed around my fingers, so she relaxed. Only then did I embrace her, unleashing a torrent of solicitous kisses to banish some of the pain I’d caused her.
Elena Anderson
The Great Escape
Shifting into drive, I gingerly applied the throttle. Tight steering wheel, but it didn’t take muscle to turn. The garage exited to an inlaid brick and stone courtyard, on I went down the thousand foot heated driveway. Thank God there was no drop arm beam barricade. I put my foot down the accelerator, and the sporty Maserati Quattroporte barreled over the tiger-teeth tire-shredders that enforced one-way traffic into the wide circular court paved in antique stone that formed a geometric pattern. Probably carved by Italian stonemasons, and shipped from a secret facility in Sicily, I thought, as I gunned it. Braking, I checked my mirrors, signaled right then moved into the traffic lane. With a V8 engine, the glorious car zoomed forward with surprising ease. I tore down the lane, crossed over to the road with less patchy snow, and put strength in my press.
In next to no time I hit fifty-five, sixty, sixty-five, and drove past an intersection. I was positively lost. I merged into a quiet road that headed north, looking for a highway on-ramp of the Boston Post Road or the Turnpike. I’d decided not to enter a destination into the GPS. This was my second attempt at escape within 72 hours. The first one was amateurish; my long walk turned into a long run toward another estate.
Oh well, just an incestuous kiss.
So listen, I was going to come back, I just needed to see grandma. On the flight back from Barbados, she fell ill. Explaining to grandpa that I’d been seeing Alexander instead of partying in California would be easy.
When the car purred over seventy miles per hour, the engine began making a funny noise. I slammed the brake, cursing as I lurched forward. Of course my iPhone was synced to the Bluetooth in the car, I accepted the in
coming call.
“Are you done yet, my little daredevil?” Alexander’s voice rasped through the car’s sound system. “Artful wile, but these cars are loaded with the latest bells and whistles. You’ve been stupid, courageously stupid that is, and you’ve failed me miserably.” A bolt of fear shot through me when I heard his loud, cathartic laugh.
“You win anyway you can, don’t you?” I wasn’t reluctant to admit I was laden with panic that coiled inside me, sending chills dancing along my spine. My feet twitched uncontrollably, extremities turning into ice.
“Elena, Elena, Elena,” he tisked, his deep voice booming through the car. “Time and again, stubborn as a mule,” he persisted matter-of-factly. I could imagine him twiddling his thumbs. “A paltry sum I paid for full-on GPS technology. You do know that satellites are now capable of stopping a moving vehicle, right? Something about decreasing fuel to the engine. I can’t offer unstinted specifics, engineering isn’t my cup of tea. This service, which is installed on all my vehicles, has been known to contact rescue personnel and allow rudderless drivers back into their vehicles when they’re locked out. Mind you, if the car’s stolen, they can actually stop it from running, and locate the exact coordinates of the vehicle. Baby, the Stolen Vehicle Slowdown program has been perfected after numerous batteries of tests, and it allowed Robert—our close-knit friend—to slow down the Maserati and avoid a deadly high-speed chase.”
“I’ll cudgel Robert to death,” I swore piously under my breath.
“The longest way round is the shortest way home. Think on it, sleep on it, pray on it. I wish you a lovely day, baby. See you tonight.”
“You can’t leave me locked up in a car the whole day! Should I watch mold grow? Alex, I’m freezing. Don’t be an architect of cruelty, just this once.”
“No can do. Venturing out into the blizzard underscores you’re brave and adamant, I’ll give you that. Despite any profuse apologies, I don’t bend rules. I’m also inundated with meetings, your flagrant cry for attention is petty business. And sometimes I have to be cruel in order to be kind, consider this a slap on the wrist. Oh, I can assure you that there’s no mold in any of my cars, either. Hasta la vista, baby.”
“Alex? Alex? Alex! This is about grandma!” I fulminated, screaming my lungs out like a raging teen. “Alexander? Alexander!”
“Why didn’t you come to me first? Actions speak louder than words. That said, I’ve been waxed gullible enough.”
The call went dead. I slinked further down in the seat and sulked, bemoaning my lack of better judgment. Another call came in, its ID blocked, but I answered.
“It’s me. Unfathomable, meddling will only cost me my head, so I can’t do much. Listen carefully. Do you have chewing-gum?”
“You’re asking me about candy, Robert?”
“Whatever else could I have meant?” The tartness in his tone was obvious.
“I have Mentos.”
“Good, keep chewing to generate warmth, and try to move around as much as possible. Back seat is ideal, keep stretching your limbs, and try to stay awake a little. Don’t try to outsmart him, Elena, you can’t, he’s not a bottom dweller. One month of indoctrination is nothing! Enjoy his teachings. Got to go, hon.”
I clambered to the rear seat and pulled out the armrest to burrow my head in it, curling up on the leather. I kept chewing and dozing on and off once more, dreaming that day would eclipse into evening.
*
Several things happened to me. I was starting to feel dizzy. The tempestuous cold blew my sanity circuits, cloistered my vision, tongue shriveling up in my mouth. My conscience wavered as my head spun from the turn of events. Would someone come get me?
I sputtered in sleepy surprise when I felt the rear seat dip, and flopped toward the musky warmth. I couldn’t recall how I got back home, but I recalled warm arms encircling my waist. I could feel the body heat that branched out of a massive, heat-radiating chest seeping into me.
I cracked an eye open. Alexander was hunched over me, carrying the scent of the rain and the chill of the wind. Being exposed to a low temperature for an extended period of time had locked most of my muscles, so I remained fairly rigid even as I sunk into his lap. When he wrapped the edges of his jacket around my frame, my muscle activity picked up again. He was what I assumed a human furnace would feel like. Cocooned against him, my ability to think clearly was returning.
“You okay, love?”
Burrowing into his warmth, I raised my head to press my cheek against his face. “Thank you.” My teeth still chattered from the cold.
Hot, very hot air whooshed through my lungs when he pressed his lips to mine. “If you weren’t suffering right now, my little sprite, I’d spank the living shit out of you.” His smile, bright like a plain old ray of sunlight, hoodwinked me, and I found myself smiling too.
The shock died down a bit, and my eyes flicked to his face. Frightened out of my wits, “I’ll never leave without your permission again. Alex, don’t be mad?” I tried.
A slow laugh rumbled up from his chest. “This jumbled attempt to escape was just a small cog in the large wheel of stupidity. I never figured you were an accident waiting to happen.”
“Good for you. Glad I’ve amused you.” I sighed in relief.
“I’m not sure whether I find this escape attempt stupid or endearing.” He wrinkled his brow. “Unless you want to stay consigned to your suite, from now on, give a good account of yourself, clear? Don’t renege on your promises.”
“Crystal clear.”
His phone went off and he excused himself, nattering with someone about a construction permit.
“…I will eat, Meredith. Guess what, I’m sitting in front of a fireplace ATM. Please cancel all my meetings for today.”
“You don’t have to do that!” I burst out, horrified.
He met my eyes coolly. “I don’t have to do anything, sweetheart.”
“But—,”
“Silence,” he cut across me.
I closed my mouth with a snap. As quietly as a mouse creeping out from under a cat, I tiptoed to the far side of the room. Before I could reach the door, I was being pulled off my feet. Next thing I knew I was wedged between Alexander and a sofa. His earthy, herbaceous scent was so pure, the musk scent of a real man mixed in with traces of his cologne.
“Do I smell good?” He pulled me up in his lap and I sat astride him. His eyes burned into mine when I peered up at them, his thumb running small circles on the back of my hand. “Are you all right?”
I pretended to be in pain, for I felt scared. “I-I…it hurts…everywhere,” I stuttered my half-lie.
He took my left hand in his and started cradling my fingers. His fingers gave off a heat that rushed my heartbeat. “Robert was monitoring your vital signs.” He got up and started pacing now, both hands in his hair, and his initial concern seemed to have given way to something even worse: anger. “Why’d you try to leave?”
“Grandpa told me she wasn’t feeling well on the flight back. I wanted to see her. I want to see her.”
“She’s fine, Elena. I would have driven you myself is she weren’t!” He glared at me and I caught a glimpse of something terrifyingly raw in his look, which made me snap my mouth closed. I cringed back in the sofa. Once again, I was very aware of being in a lesser position, and his anger only worsened the situation.
“If we can’t be equals, if I can’t choose for myself…I don’t want to be with you.” Phew, there, I’d said it. My eyes met his vicious gaze, the mask of indifference on his face making my heart sink deeper.
I lunged for the door, but before long I felt his strong arms grab me by the waist and throw me backward. “Don’t test me. You’ll be disappointed.” A glow of determination shone in his eyes. “The month is almost over. I was going to call your grandparents myself.”
“Was it a test? I screwed up, didn’t I?” Shocked, my hand flew to my mouth.
He checked the clock above the fireplace. “Royally. Disobey me ag
ain and I’ll disregard my promise about taking things slow. I’ll put a crop to your ass.”
I stared at my hands, feeling my eyes prickle with tears. I felt small and foolish, reverted back to ten years old as he stalked to and fro. The living room was huge, but he seemed to fill it, his aura of sheer confidence ever expanding. “Alex, I’m sorry.” My voice was barely audible, even to me. I swallowed and tried again, not daring to look up at him. “I’m sorry. Don’t give up on me.”
At that, the wind seemed to go out of him. Standing in the middle of the room, his forehead was creased into such a deep frown that he looked like an old man, tired and worn-down. “I’d never do that,” he replied—the rage had gone out of his voice, leaving it completely gentle. His hands went up into his hair again, raking it back from his face. “I’m the bad one.”
For one reason or another, I didn’t like hearing that. “You’re not.” I sighed because only I could respond this poorly. “You may consider yourself a bad man, but I’m the one who falls apart and feels safe in your arms.”
He interchanged, a toothy grin now slimed at me. Whatever the disapproval was, it’d passed. “You, my little escapee, are going to atone for your sins by getting punished in the most primitive manner. A severe spanking. I’m going to bend you over my knee and slap the whininess out of you.”
Why did the idea of punishment excite me? Hello, world, I’m a first-class slut…
He flicked on the lights in the playroom and closed the door behind us. He pulled up the playlist he’d made for sex, and the completely inappropriate song by Ginuwine—Pony—blared out of the SoundDock.
“Take off your clothes, Elena.”
In the last ten days, it was hardly the first time he’d ordered me to strip, but it was the first time I felt like defying him. Reaching for the door, I quickly turned the doorknob. I felt his breath on the back of my neck as he slammed the door shut again and spun me. “Take off your clothes, Elena,” he demanded through gritted teeth, his voice quavering with suppressed anger. “I’m done saying things twice.” He planted his hands on either side of me, caging me in against the door.
