Her Beast: A Dark Romance (Beauty and the Captor Book 1)

by Nicole Casey

I opened my mouth to protest but he put his lips against mine.

  “I won’t let you go,” he whispered as we parted.

  He was saying everything I wanted to hear; yet it filled me with dread simultaneously.

  How could I make him understand that I wanted him but feared the future?

  Slade didn’t want to talk, and his mouth found its way to my shoulder as he drew me against his warm, naked frame into the spooning position.

  “Close your eyes,” he breathed. “Just let me be with you.”

  I could hardly resist his command when I was already becoming a quivering mass beneath his touch and I let out a small sigh as his hand slipped around the front of my legs to rub my clef slowly.

  The blankets were stripped away from our bodies as he rocked himself behind me but suddenly there were another set of hands on me and my eyes flew open as I gaped at Malcolm who slid upward to sandwich me between them.

  Mal’s face was dreamy, his mouth finding the curve of my neck as Slade continued to nuzzle my shoulders with his.

  Mal’s arrival inspired Slade’s fingers to work faster as Mal continued his journey across the front of my body, capturing my nipple in his mouth, his hands against my breasts.

  A shock of wetness escaped my center as I tried to understand how Slade was permitting this to happen, but the pleasure was overwhelming my senses and Slade grew harder behind me, his shaft seeking an entry point.

  I moaned as he finally placed himself inside me, jutting my hip against him to feel his huge cock at such an intense angle.

  My breath caught as Mal’s hand took over the manipulation of my throbbing clit, his mouth still firmly suckling on my breast and Slade grunted in my ear.

  I was having sensory overload, suddenly losing track of whose hands were where as Slade filled me harder and longer, his strokes amassing vigor with each cry I released.

  I orgasmed one after the other, writhing between my two lovers.

  Mal’s teeth nipped at the tender skin and I yelped, sending Slade into his release, hot juices spilling down my legs and up my core in unison.

  Slade withdrew from me and I turned to look into his face, wanting to read his expression so badly.

  He smiled at me and then nodded at Mal.

  Malcolm looked at me and our eyes locked as we communicated silently.

  “No,” Mal said, pulling himself off me. He tucked the sheet in around my body and I felt a warmth grow inside me.

  “Mal,” Slade said, looking at me desperately. “We talked about this. I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep Maya. I – I’m okay with this. If this is how she is happiest, I can accommodate her. I just want to be with her.”

  Mal grinned and shook his dark head, standing.

  “You’re a terrible liar because you’re not okay with this but even if you were, Maya isn’t, are you?”

  I shook my head and turned to Slade, tears clouding my vision.

  “You would be willing to share me just to be with me?” I choked, and he nodded.

  “I don’t even want to think about what my life would be like without you, Maya. You have already improved the quality of my existence in days. If this is what you want –”

  “It’s not what she wants,” Mal assured him. “She wants you. Right, Maya?”

  I nodded, wishing I didn’t feel so conflicted about telling Malcolm the truth but when I looked into his dark eyes, I saw nothing but understanding and love.

  “I’m sorry Mal,” I told him, shaking my head. “I have never felt this way about anyone in my life. I have to pursue it.”

  Malcolm grinned and shook his head.

  “You deserve nothing but good things, Maya,” he assured me. “And I prefer him to Troy.”

  Slade and I groaned simultaneously and Mal took that as his cue to bow out, chuckling lightly.

  I turned to Slade.

  “I don’t know if I can promise you –”

  “I don’t want you to promise me anything but that you’ll continue to be honest,” he interjected. “I can handle anything you throw at me after this, I’m sure.”

  I laughed and fell back into his arms, pressing my ear against his chest and savoring the sound of his heartbeat.

  He kissed the top of my head lovingly and in that moment, I felt safe, secure.

  “So do you think I can see you this weekend?” he asked, and I giggled.

  “Maybe,” I teased. “But you’re going to have to stand in line.”

  “Again?”

  “This time the competition is fierce,” I replied. “It will be my family.”

  “You family?”

  I nodded.

  “It’s my birthday this weekend. Did I mention I’m a triplet?”

  9

  Troy

  There was a fury mounting in me and even I was surprised at the ferocity at which it struck.

  I could not understand how my infatuation with Maya had gone so disgustingly unreciprocated.

  She’s a liar, I thought furiously. She pretends to be someone she’s not.

  It had started so beautifully.

  I skipped work to attend her yoga classes and she still paid special attention to me like I mattered but then I saw her talking to other men.

  I tried to brush it off, telling myself that she was just a tease but when I started hearing the rumors, how she would give it up to anyone, I had to know if they were true.

  I refused to believe it. After all, Maya was perfect. She was my angel.

  It took me a day to learn her routine, her jobs and her comings and goings. She really was a creature of habit more or less and easy to track down.

  I enlisted Cara who was an unsuspecting accomplice in what I was doing.

  In my heart I knew it wasn’t really wrong, but I didn’t want others to misconstrue my crush for anything more than it was.

  People are so judgmental these days.

  All I wanted was to see Maya and make her see me too.

  Cara blew everything the night we showed up at Malcolm Trainor’s house and I could feel that Maya just wasn’t happy to see me.

  She couldn’t even be bothered to stay and have a drink with us even though I begged her.

  She brushed me off without a second thought, leaving me feeling like a loser who had broken into her house or something.

  Is she sleeping with Malcolm? I wondered. Is that why Malcolm told me I didn’t have a shot?

  To make matters worse, Cara had begun hurling accusations at me, threatening to tell Maya and Malcolm that I was acting strangely if I didn’t stop it.

  I hadn’t seen Cara since that night, but she was not forgotten.

  After I dealt with Maya, I would tend to Cara too.

  They are all such betraying bitches. Maya, Cara, Regan. They don’t deserve a man like me. They don’t deserve goodness at all.

  A dozen unhealthy thoughts coursed through me after that night and I found myself consumed with vile thoughts, ideas I shouldn’t have had about the sweet-faced redhead who had stolen my heart all those months ago.

  When I spent all that money on those baby roses and she couldn’t be bothered to thank me, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  She needed to pay for her rudeness, for leading me on.

  We could have had something special if she had only given us a shot, but she was too busy spreading her legs for everyone else.

  I knew where she lived at least and the night I had sent the roses, I went back to the farmhouse.

  I waited in the shadows, wanting to ensure that I had my chance to get her alone.

  I wasn’t going to do anything; I just wanted to talk to her, to make her see she was being an unreasonable whore.

  In the shrubs I kept an eye on her bedroom light, waiting for it to turn on and indicate she was finally alone.

  I had learned the layout of the house while Sterling and Luke were wrapped up in one another and I had feigned a trip to the bathroom.

  She looked so peaceful in her
bed, half curled on her side with her dark red hair fanned over her pillow that night.

  It had taken every ounce of my willpower not to crawl in bed beside her and whisper sweet nothings in her ear, but I couldn’t risk getting caught.

  It had been clear then that Malcolm didn’t like the competition.

  But that night I would fulfill all the fantasies I had been holding onto since first laying eyes on Maya.

  Regan had called it an obsession, but Regan was boring and vanilla. That was why it hadn’t lasted between us.

  I may have liked Regan before she got the police involved but I feel completely different about Maya. Maya and I have a much stronger bond than Regan and I ever did.

  At that moment, Maya was so close I could almost taste her.

  That was what I was thinking about that night as I focused on Maya’s bedroom window, waiting for the light to flick on, for her to give me the signal to join her as I knew she wanted me to do.

  Soon, sweet angel, I thought, shifting my weight from one foot to the other in anticipation. Soon we will be together.

  Instead I received a slap in the face when the shiny BMW raced up the drive and squealed to a stop outside the house.

  I recognized the man who had come to pick up my angel from the yoga studio the night I was building up the courage to ask her out.

  Maya met him at the door and I saw that she kept looking in my direction but pretended not to see me.

  She was putting on a show for me! She knew I was there, watching and she didn’t care!

  She ushered him inside and I felt as if my head was going to explode at the disrespect she was showing.

  My hand clenched around the baseball bat I had brought.

  I can’t remember why I brought it. Probably for protection against Malcolm. Obviously, I was not going to hurt Maya.

  I loved her.

  But my vision went blurry as hurt and anger bubbled through me.

  I wasn’t in control of myself anymore as I came to terms with the fact that Maya was a whore.

  There was no denying it now, no saving our relationship.

  I stepped forward but as I did, Luke and Sterling sauntered from the front door arm-in-arm.

  Inexplicably, I wanted to attack them for being so in love and so oblivious to how cruel the world could be.

  Your love isn’t real either! I wanted to scream. You two are fooling each other!

  Yet I hung back and did not move until they got into their own car and drove away.

  I strode forward then, bat in hand and without another thought, I crashed into the blonde man’s car.

  Every hurt feeling, every iota of betrayal I felt, I administered into the vehicle until it seemed to be nothing but a pile of glass.

  But it still wasn’t enough, and I scrounged around, looking for something to set it on fire.

  All I could find was a can of red spray paint and as I held it in my hand, I wondered why he should be the only one to suffer.

  It was all Maya’s fault after all.

  She was the whore.

  So I spelt my feelings actively on the farmhouse wall and after I stood back to look at the garish crimson words, I was suddenly consumed by regret.

  And guilt.

  I knew I didn’t have much time before I was caught literally red handed with the can of spray paint and batt in my hand.

  I flew off down the country road to where I had parked my car, off the visible line of the local traffic.

  By the time I got home to Minnesott Beach, I was much calmer.

  It had been cathartic after all.

  Maya deserved it.

  Her boyfriend deserved it.

  I was just balancing the scales and there was no way they could pin it on me.

  When the police arrived, I was once again shocked that Maya could turn on me like that.

  How dare she accuse me? I thought furiously. She loves me, and this is how she treats me?

  I, of course, pleaded ignorance to the police and they went away with little evidence except the suspicions of a slut and her boyfriend.

  But I was enraged.

  It seemed that the insults would not stop with her.

  She cheated on me.

  She accused me of terrible things.

  And she wouldn’t even talk to me.

  Just like Regan.

  They were all the same.

  Someone had to stop her before she did more damage to more people.

  How many men’s lives had she ruined before mine? How many more would she continue to ruin if someone didn’t stop her?

  It became painfully clear that I had to end her vicious, nasty ways.

  Thanks to Malcolm’s information about her sister, I had learned that Maya was a triplet. It had not taken much research to learn about all three of the Viera triplets; the school teacher, the lawyer and Maya, the calculating bitch.

  It was their birthday on the upcoming weekend and it seemed fitting to me that Maya face her misdeeds that day before her family.

  She should explain to them all what a disappointment she has been. Her sisters will be so grateful I have outed such a disgrace in their bloodline, I thought gleefully, recalling how lovely were the faces of Vyolet and Yvette Viera from the pictures I had seen online.

  Neither one looks exactly like Maya but that’s probably a good thing. I wouldn’t want a constant reminder of her around.

  I sat back on my sofa and smiled to myself, picking up my hunting knife.

  This Sunday, Maya would be exposed for the liar that she was.

  And next year, the Viera twins would be celebrating their twenty-seventh birthday without having a wretched smear on their good name.

  I was excited to be doing the family such a service but sad too because I still loved Maya of course.

  Still, it had to be done.

  10

  Maya

  The constant ringing was making me antsy and I knew that Slade was worried about me.

  “Oh my God!” Yvette finally yelled, snatching the device from my hand. “Just answer the damned thing already! It won’t stop ringing!”

  I looked at mom who glowered, but she did not object.

  It was easy to see that mom did not approve but she looked irritated also. I was reluctant to turn it off because I didn’t want Slade to worry but I also did not want to start a fight with my mother.

  “No,” I insisted. “It’s not important.”

  I quickly sent him a text to let him know I was all right.

  Since the incident at the house, he had not left my side outside of work hours.

  He insisted that I stay with Mal, something which Malcolm enforced and even took the one day off work to stay with me.

  “Just let me come and meet your family,” Slade groaned. “I can say I’m like your security guard or something.”

  I chortled.

  “That will fly over really well with my mom. And my dad will never let me leave the house again if he thinks I need security. Not to mention my sister is a divorce lawyer with the most expensive PIs in the state on retainer. She’ll have your entire life history emailed to her by the time we get to cake. No way. I can’t throw you to the wolves. Not yet.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was the real reason or if I was simply getting adjusted to the way things were suddenly.

  Maybe I just wanted to keep him my secret a little while longer.

  No amount of cajoling or pleading would change my mind as I got ready to go at his place on Sunday.

  Bit by bit, items of mine had begun appearing in Slade’s house. Some were by design while others had simply landed there.

  He hadn’t complained, and I hadn’t asked if it was okay, but it was something of the pink elephant in the room.

  He didn’t sign on for an instant roommate, I thought but then again, we had been inseparable.

  At some point, we were going to have to discuss everything, but I was still clinging to the tentative, heady feeling of our honeymoon phase
.

  I didn’t want anything to ruin it.

  Not even the thought of Troy coming back.

  I hadn’t seen nor heard from him and I thanked the gods for small favors but that didn’t mean the threat of him didn’t loom heavy in my mind.

  The cops had not been very helpful in their investigation and I was more apt to bury my head in the sand.

  Anyway, it was my birthday.

  I didn’t want to think about Troy.

  “Do you have a stalker?”

  My head jerked up and I stared at Yvette who peered down at me with mocking blue eyes.

  “What?”

  “I just don’t think I’ve ever seen your phone go off as much as it has in the last two hours.”

  I laughed shakily and shook my head.

  “No,” I replied. “I have a special friend.”

  The shock on my sister’s face was picture worthy.

  “A what?” she gasped, looking around the yard. “Vyolet! Vy! Get over here!”

  “Shh!” I hissed, my face turning pink with humiliation. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  Vyolet scampered over, her blue eyes wide with curiosity.

  “What? What happened?” she demanded, and I looked around to ensure my parents weren’t in earshot.

  “Maya, our Maya the Mayan, has…a boyfriend!”

  I visibly cringed at the word, heat flooding my face as I shook my head.

  “What?” Vy choked. “Like one boyfriend?”

  “Okay, thanks peanut gallery. I have to get going now,” I told them, turning my head so they would not see the crimson shade of my cheeks.

  “No wait!” Vyolet squealed. “Who is he? What’s his name?”

  “I think she’s talking about me.”

  I glanced over my shoulder, my grin freezing on my face.

  Troy Caspian walked into my parents’ backyard, a maniacal smile on his face.

  “You were telling them about me, Maya?”

  “What are you doing here?” I breathed. Unconsciously, I stepped between him and my sisters who were staring at me with curious eyes.

  “I came to introduce myself to your family. You’ve been telling me about your beautiful sisters forever! Let me guess – you must be Vyolet.”