by Sam Crescent
You’ll give her the time she needs, and you’ll accept it like the gentleman you are.
He found several pictures he’d taken of Prudence. Storing them away in his pocket James finished tidying the room. He replaced the art back on the walls and then found the vacuum to clear away the splinters left from the destruction of his father’s desk. After throwing out the bits of wood from the desk he returned the pieces of jewellery and paperwork to his father’s safe.
By the time the room was put back together the sun had come up.
The knock on his door distracted him.
James opened the door to see Josiah and Hubert holding a bag of baked goods and coffee.
“We need to talk,” Josiah said.
“How did you get on my property?” he asked.
“You didn’t lock the gate. You only closed it, James.”
Seeing no point in arguing with the men he let them in. He took them to the sitting room. Exhaustion swamped him. He hadn’t anticipated a mass clean, and now that he’d been awake for the past twenty-four hours, James needed to sleep.
He took a seat accepting the coffee they gaze him along with the buttery croissant.
“Where’s your lady?” Hubert asked.
“She’s staying with her sister.”
The two agents looked between each other. “We know this is a hard time, and we’re sorry about the circumstances that led us to this, but if Prudence Star needs to speak to someone, please, let her call us.” Josiah handed him a card with a female doctor’s name on. “She’s a professional psychologist and has experience with kidnapped victims along with abuse.”
James pocketed the card and filed the information away. “I don’t know if Prudence will fall under that category, but I’ll let her know that there are people to talk to.”
“Please do.”
He sipped the bitter coffee and winced. The stuff reminded him of the coffee his woman served him. He chuckled then placed the cup on the table as the pain of the memory was too much to bear.
“What can I do for you gentlemen?”
“Lucas returned the file to us, and we’re using everything we can to put Henry Warren away for life. We’re convinced he won’t be a problem to you guys anymore.”
“But?” James asked. He sensed there was more to it.
“We want to assure your safety, and the only way to do that is to keep checking in with you. Josiah and I would like to stay around for awhile.”
James started laughing. “Is this to get access to the clubs?”
Both agents looked at each other before returning their gazes back to him.
“We would like that,” Hubert said.
“Whatever. Ravage isn’t even open, but you’ll have to talk to Stephen.” He took a bite out of the croissant and sighed. The food tasted good. He hungered for something else, only the woman he wanted with such desperation was off limits to him. There was a time when no one was off limits. He needed to respect her wishes. Giving her time could only help improve matters.
“We’re dealing with Ravage. We’re hoping to have the club available to you to open in the next two weeks. Until then, you’re free to go inside and make arrangements to replace the staff you lost,” Josiah said, handing him a set of keys.
He took them and thought about Jermaine. Replacing him would be difficult.
“Is there anything else you have to tell me?” he asked.
“No. We’re not at liberty to discuss anything else with you, and this was more of a courtesy call than anything else,” Hubert said.
“Right. Does this mean Stephen and I are free from any suspicion?”
“Yes.” Both of the agents spoke at the same time. They left the baked goods and rancid coffee for him. James saw them out then made sure his gate was locked. He wanted privacy for the next few hours.
He made his way up to the bathroom and removed his clothes as he did so. Turning on the shower, he climbed under the steaming hot jet. Closing his eyes, he allowed the hot water to cascade around without interfering or reaching for anything.
“Think of a list of things to do,” he said, muttering to himself.
“Get to Ravage and check everything out. Organise a new barman and security guard at the door.”
As he listed the things he needed to do he started to ease the ache from his muscles.
Once he washed the grime and dirt away from his body, he turned the shower off and padded into his room. Staring at the spot where Prudence had lain, he dried himself with the towel then lay on her pillow.
James inhaled her sweet scent and wondered how she was getting on.
Stop thinking about her and give her time.
Giving her time was proving to be difficult.
Closing his eyes, he allowed his mind to wander to sweet images of her. He thought about the way she looked at him when he sank into her tight wet heat. Her temper when he tried to control part of her life.
Could he get her to work at the bar with him?
His phone rang in the distance, which he ignored.
The phone beeped to let him know he’d missed a call.
He opened his eyes and stared across the bed to where the sun was shining in the bedroom window. Christmas would be with them soon, but James doubted he’d be celebrating the festive season. He looked forward to the spring to take away the dull dampness of winter.
It was Saturday, and he didn’t have anything else to do but wallow in his loneliness. He rolled over facing away from the window. At that moment in his life there was nothing happy about his time. The one woman he loved is gone from him, and he didn’t know how to get her back.
Within moments of turning away from the window and closing his eyes, sleep consumed him. James welcomed the oblivion of sleep even though his dreams were filled with the tantalising images of Prudence. She plagued him in sleep and when he was awake.
Chapter Fourteen
Prue jolted awake. She lay alone in a single bed. The door to the bedroom was wide open with the light from the bulb in the hall way illuminating her way. Sunshine came through the window on her left side. Slowly, her heart slowed, and the panic that had gripped her several minutes ago disappeared.
Veronica walked down the hallway and leaned against the frame.
“You’re awake,” she said.
“How did you know?” Prudence asked, sitting up. Her face hurt but not as much as it had in the last few days.
“You gasped and cried out for James in your sleep. I’ve been keeping an eye on you for the past few hours.” Her sister walked into the room with her arms folded over her chest. She looked in control without a care in the world.
“What time is it?” Prudence looked out of the window and around the bedroom for a clock.
“It’s a little after ten. You’ve slept for a long time. I thought about waking you with pancakes and then figured you’d love to help me make them,” Veronica said, taking a seat on the end of the bed.
Folding her legs in front of her, Prue ran fingers through her hair in an effort to get some order to her hair.
“Your colour is gone. Did they take the colour out?”
“Yes. They washed the dye out of my hair. The bastards.”
She gave her sister credit as Veronica didn’t wince at her curse words.
“So, what do you say to pancakes for breakfast with some strawberries?”
Prue laughed before nodding in agreement. She watched her sister leave the room. Veronica grabbed the door ready to shut it, and panic gripped Prue tighter than ever. Her sister stopped and left the door open.
When she saw her sister leave Prue ran for the bathroom and threw up. She couldn’t deal with this. It was just a fucking door. No one would harm her anymore.
She threw up until nothing else came up and she was only dry heaving.
Flushing the toilet, she grabbed a toothbrush to start cleaning away the taste of sick.
This is why you can’t be with James.
Staring at her refl
ection she saw the perspiration dotting her forehead. The bruises didn’t bother her. They were there and would soon fade, but this fear hurt her more than she liked to realise.
Once she cleaned her teeth, Prue made her way down to the kitchen. Her sister sat at the table hulling strawberries then placing them into a separate bowl.
“Shall I make the batter?” Prue asked.
“You make a much better pancake batter than I do.”
Prue moved toward the pantry to grab everything she’d need to make the best pancakes ever. After grabbing flour, sugar, and eggs, she moved toward the kitchen. The television was on. She saw the news playing the report on a leading gang leader in England who had been seized during a raid.
Without waiting for her sister to say a word, she turned the channel over to play cartoons.
Veronica jumped then turned to her.
“What’s the matter?” her sister asked.
“I can’t watch that.”
“Is that the guy?”
Nodding, Prue moved to the side and started weighing out ingredients, but her appetite was long gone.
“You know what? I need to take a walk.” She dropped the measuring cups then walked out of the kitchen. Flour spilt over the side.
Grabbing her coat she left the house within minutes even as her sister called to her. She didn’t look left or right but kept moving as if something was chasing her. The feel of the biting cold air helped to relieve the pressure in her chest.
Several people nodded in her direction, and she blanked them as she continued moving forward. She didn’t have any cell phone or any money on her.
Prue didn’t know where she was going or why. She kept moving needing the space around her.
When she stopped at the local park, she opened the gate and ran. No one was there to stop her or to pull her away. She basked in the freedom of being able to move without fear of being pulled back against her will.
Images of Daren and Henry grabbing her tugged at her mind. She ran until those images faded into nothing. When running hurt her side she slowed down to a walk and then stopped as she suddenly realized where she was. James’s house stared back at her. She wrapped her fingers around the gate closing her off from him.
She used the button to try to gain his attention.
Why are you doing this? You said you needed time.
This is not giving him time.
I need to see him.
You’re being cruel.
Still, Prue continued to press the button with a desperation she didn’t understand. All she knew was that she needed to see him.
“What the fuck do you want?” James asked. His voice came over the intercom sounding distorted.
“I-it’s me, Prue. I need to see you.”
There was no sound, but she saw him running down the driveway to her. He opened the gate within moments and pulled her into his arms.
She sobbed as his arms wrapped around her. Prue held onto him as tight as she dared. After the way she’d treated him she was worried that he wouldn’t want her again. He escorted her into the house.
Prue felt moisture on her cheeks and realised she’d been crying. James closed the front door and simply held her in his arms.
“I’ve got you, Prudence. I’ve got you, and I’m not letting go until you let me.”
Closing her eyes, Prue inhaled his scent. She loved the fact his scent was comforting to her and that she needed him in order to feel safe. There was so much she loved about him, and it all scared her because even as she loved him, she felt the fear of what happened to her.
“You’re wearing a robe,” she said, stroking the soft fabric.
“You woke me up. I went to sleep a short time ago.” He laughed kissing her head.
She leaned away to stare up at him. “He was on the news, and I needed to get away.”
James touched her skin, and she was thankful his touch didn’t repulse her.
In fact nothing about James repulsed her at all.
“You’re freezing.”
Prue frowned and then opened the belt keeping his robe together. She pushed the fabric down his arms watching as the length fell in a heap on the floor.
“Prudence, what are you doing?” he asked.
Before she gave herself time to think or to analyse what she was doing, she pressed her lips against his, wishing for the sweet oblivion of his touch.
For the first few seconds James succumbed to the kiss and then grabbed her cheeks to pull her away. “You said you needed time. Why are you doing this if you need time?”
“I need this, James. Please, I need to feel you against me, taking me and loving me like you did before…” She couldn’t finish the words.
“Before you were taken?”
She nodded. The action was jerky, but it was better than putting her fears into words.
“I can’t do this,” James said, taking a step back.
“What?” She moved closer to him.
“This isn’t right.”
Prudence removed her coat until she stood before him in a plain white shirt and a pair of jeans.
All he wore was a pair of boxer shorts. She saw his arousal straining against the confines of the material. An answering pool of heat gathered inside her. She wanted him desperately.
Time.
No more time.
She pulled the shirt over her head then unbuttoned her jeans. Within moments she stood in his hallway completely naked.
For those moments she felt free as he stared at her with such lust in his gaze.
“I’m going to hell for this.” He pulled her close, pressing his lips against hers.
Wrapping her arms around his neck she pressed her body against him. The feel of the hard ridge of his cock next to her stomach made her melt. She remembered the feel of him inside her, the pleasure she could gain from giving herself to him. He plunged his tongue into her mouth, and she answered the call with the same passion.
“I love you, Prudence, I love you so much.”
“I love you, too.”
She closed her eyes feeling the pleasure he gave her. Closing her mind off to the pain she had felt seconds ago, Prue used her new-found freedom to explore the contours of his body. He lifted her in his arms and moved her upstairs to the bedroom. She didn’t stop him. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she released one hand to run down his body to grasp his thick cock.
James cursed as she pumped the shaft, and she wanted to see his reaction to her touch.
“You’re killing me,” he said.
“Then we’ll both go to heaven.” She nibbled on his mouth relishing the groans escaping his lips. Prue felt powerful in his arms as she created such a response from him.
He tumbled her to the bed. She went to her knees and stared at him. James pushed the boxers down his thighs revealing his large arousal.
Her mouth watered, and for a split second she felt like her old self again.
She could forget about everything else as he stared at her like she was the sweetest morsel he’d ever tasted. He followed her to the bed. His mouth was on hers as his body opened her up. Fingers touched her slit, pressing a thumb to her clit. She was wet, but with James she was always aroused.
He slid a finger inside her, and Prue broke the kiss to gasp at the intense longing that filled her.
“Not enough,” she said.
“What do you want, baby?” he asked.
“You. I want you inside me. I need it.”
James fingered her clit refusing to do anything more than touch her. “Look at me,” James said.
She did as he asked. His gaze held hers captive as he worked her body with his fingers.
This is who I am. You can do this, Prue.
You’re not a terrified girl afraid of being closed off.
Close everything off and feel what he does to you.
“You’re so beautiful, Prudence. I love watching you lose control. Feel what I can do to you.”
His fingers pumped in
side her warmth as his thumb pressed against her nub. Biting her lip, she gave herself to him.
Please, let me be free.
She silently begged him to release her. James was the only one she’d ever felt whole with. He gave as much as he took, and he loved her. There was no other man out there for her as far as she was concerned.
“Please, I need you inside me.”
James cupped her cheek with his free hand. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He moved on the bed until he lay on his back. “Then take what you want,” he said.
“What are you doing?” she asked, confused.
“Submitting to you, Prudence. Take what you want, and I’ll give you what you need.”
Prue knew what he was doing. He thought she’d lost her mind and would blame him as soon as they were finished.
She crawled over his lap, grabbed his cock, and aligned the heat of him with her opening. Eyes closed, Prue sank down on his length. She gasped as he filled her pussy. Taking him as deep as she could, Prue let go of his shaft to hold onto his chest. His hands moved to her legs. He stroked her thighs as she took his cock as deep as she could get him inside.
Next, she felt him touch her clit. The small stroke across her nub made her cry out and slam down on his cock.
They both cried out, and for Prue the pleasure consumed every part of her. She needed to feel him deep inside her.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.”
She moved her hips feeling him pull out of her and then slide back inside.
“Look at me.”
Opening her eyes, she stared into his dark depths. James had always been a part of her ever since they’d met. There was a connection that flowed far deeper than either of them could have imagined, or at least Prue felt there was.
He sat up taking her in his arms. James pushed the hair off the side of her face, kissing her neck with tender lips.
She whimpered at the delicate touch he gave her.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
