I’d patched up the cut on my leg the best I could without taking my jeans off, but if I was honest, I didn’t have the first clue how to do it. I’d never been in a situation where there wasn’t someone there I couldn’t rely on to help me figure it out. If it wasn’t the staff at school and college, then it was Maria, the cook, or Pat, the housekeeper. For the first time in my life, I was truly on my own, having to fend for myself.
There was a power to having no one to rely on, and I wanted more of it. I wanted more independence—to live my life the way I wanted and not the way I’d been commanded to. But I knew as soon as I was let go from here, I wouldn’t have it. I may have been kept here against my will, but my home was also a prison.
The creak of the door opening had me staying deathly still. I listened intently as someone locked the door then moved around the room. They were trying to be quiet, but they weren’t very good at it. It was weird all of a sudden having access to the time and knowing it had been four hours since Jax had locked me in here. It seemed longer somehow.
The person moved closer to me, and the unmistakable scent of Jax’s cologne drifted over me. I swallowed, keeping my eyes closed, and tried not to move as he lifted the blanket. “Fuck,” he murmured, and a second later, his hand grasped my shoulder gently and shook. “Haisley? You awake?”
Did I answer him? Or did I pretend to be asleep? The choice was taken away from me when his finger poked at the measly dressing I’d tied around my jeans. “Ow. That hurts.” My eyes sprung open, my gaze meeting his immediately. Why the heck would he do that?
“Thought you were awake.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “No, you didn’t.”
He smirked, the same smirk he’d given me days ago, only this time I didn’t want it to disappear. “I did. You were holding your breath.” He raised a brow. “If you were sleeping, you’d be, you know, breathing.”
He was right, but that didn’t mean I was going to tell him that. “Whatever.”
His expression turned serious, more like the Jax I’d seen more of. “You haven’t cleaned your cut properly. It’ll get infected.” I bit down on my bottom lip, not wanting to answer him. It wasn’t like I could tell him the truth. He’d judge me, just like everyone judged him and the leather he wore.
“I’ll be fine.”
“That right?” He crouched next to me, his face so close to mine I could feel each of his breaths. “What did you cut it on?”
I turned my head to look away from him as I murmured, “A nail, I think.”
“Then we definitely need to treat it properly. No one has cleaned up there in years.” He stood, but I didn’t turn to see what he was doing, not until the creak of another door opened and more light basked into the room. A moment later, the telltale sign of running water sounded out, and my stomach rolled. Was he about to let me wash? Because God knows I stunk. “Go get in the shower and I’ll clean your cut up.”
I sat up slowly, trying to work out why he was acting like this, and couldn’t help blurting, “Why?”
He paused in front of a closet, a towel in his hand. “Why what?”
“Why are you helping me?” I stood too, not wanting to be at a height disadvantage, but he still towered over me. I was small, taking after my mom, but in that moment I wished I was at least six feet and not five feet dead on. “You have no reason to help me. Just throw me back down the basement and be done with me.” I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling my blood boil. I’d only ever been angry a few times in my life, the kind of anger that encompassed every fiber of your being. And right now, I was angry with him. Angry at the situation I was in. Angry at the whole damn world.
He prowled toward me. The temperature in the room soared. Every hair on my body stood on end, warning me of the danger he was. “I’m only gonna say this once, Haisley. Get. Your. Ass. In. The. Goddamn. Shower. Now.” Part of me wanted to refuse, to fight back for once, but the bigger part of me knew I wasn’t going to disobey him. My shoulders drooped and I looked down at my feet as I shuffled forward. I didn’t need to say anything for him to know I was going to do as I was told, he could see it—feel it.
I took the towel from his outstretched hand as I walked past and shut the bathroom door behind me. Steam filled the room, and the mirror fogged up, refusing to let me look at myself. I dropped my dirty clothes on the white tiled floor, then stepped into the shower, moaning as the water washed over every inch of my skin. It was a welcome relief, one I hadn’t known I’d needed.
I just stood there for a minute, basking in the warmth surrounding me, then finally washed my hair and skin with what was on the shelf beside me. And it was as the scent of the bodywash hit my nostrils I realized it wasn’t cologne I could smell on Jax, but this. So I lathered it up, using more than was probably necessary, then rinsed it off.
A knock ricocheted through the bathroom, followed up with, “Hurry up!”
“Coming!” I shouted back then switched the shower off. I wrapped the towel around my chest, and just as I was about to exit the bathroom, spotted a toothbrush on the side of the sink. It was still in its wrapper, so I wondered if Jax had put this out for me. Why would he have done that? None of this made any sense. He’d kept me in his basement for two and a half days, but now he was letting me shower and brush my teeth?
I shrugged, figuring there was no point in me turning down the offer, then loaded toothpaste onto the bristles and sighed as the minty freshness took over my mouth. I didn’t think I’d ever felt as clean as I had when I finally opened the bathroom door to a waiting Jax.
He sat on the edge of his bed, staring down at the first aid kit in his hands, then slowly looked up at me. His light eyes had darkened a shade, and his pupils dilated. “Come and sit down so I can clean the cut,” his rough voice demanded. There was an edge to it I hadn’t heard before. An edge that told me to do as he said and not talk back.
“Okay.” I swallowed and took three steps toward him. “I…I don’t have clean clothes—”
“You can wear this,” he said, handing me a T-shirt. “I’ll make sure your clothes are washed and dried overnight.”
“I…thank you.” I gripped the T-shirt in one hand and the towel wrapped around my body with the other.
Jax placed the first aid kit on the bedside table and slowly moved his hand toward me. His fingertips whispered over my skin as he pushed the edge of my towel aside, showing my thigh and the cut. “Shouldn’t need stitches,” he murmured, but I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me, or himself. He turned and grabbed some gauze, poured something onto it, then pressed it against the cut.
“Holy shit,” I breathed out. It stung, worse than the actual nail scraping my skin had.
“Sorry,” Jax whispered, and my eyes widened at the solo word. Was he apologizing? It seemed so…unlike him.
“It’s…fine.” I looked away, preferring not to watch him.
It only took a minute or so for him to pat my leg and announce, “You’re done.”
“Thank you.” I stood and pushed my leg out a little to see the large Band-Aid he’d applied, causing my wet hair to move aside and over my shoulder.
“What the fuck is that?” His thunderous voice had me standing up straight and twirling on the spot. I backed away a step at the expression on his face and his flared nostrils. “Haisley.” He stood slowly, like a tiger preparing to lunge at its next meal. “What the fuck is that on your back?”
“Huh?” I backed away another step. “Nothing. Just some old—”
He laughed, full on laughed at me. But it wasn’t funny in the slightest, he was being condescending, and I hated it. “Nah, sugar. I don’t think it is nothing.” He planted his hands on his hips. “Turn the hell around and let me see.”
“I…” I pulled the towel tighter around me. “No,” I whispered. It came out more like a question than an answer.
“Yes,” he growled, taking a step toward me. “You either turn around and let me see or I’ll tie you to my fuckin’ bed so you
don’t have a choice.” He raised his brow. “Either way, Hais, you’re gonna show me.” It was the way he said Hais which had me lowering my guard. No one had ever given me a nickname, yet it slipped so freely from his lips, as if he’d been saying it all of his life.
“I don’t want you to,” I confessed. “I’ve…no one has ever seen them.”
He shrugged. “Guess I’ll be the first then, huh?”
I stared at him, really stared at him, and tried to figure out if I could trust him. He’d taken me from outside my home, kept me locked in a basement, only fed me the essentials, and now he wanted to see my scars? The one thing in this world that was mine, and only mine.
But did it really matter if he saw them? In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t like he could do anything about it. Wasn’t like he cared to. So instead of overthinking it, I turned around and dropped my towel to the floor.
He wanted to see them, so I’d show him the entirety. I’d let him view the pain etched into my skin, but that was as far as it would go. Once he’d had his fill, I’d get dressed and demand to go back to the basement. At least there I was alone. At least there it was peaceful. At least there, I wouldn’t get—
“Who did this to you?” he asked, his voice low but rough. His fingertip trailed over the marred skin, and I shivered from the contact. He continued all the way down to the middle of my back then back up again. If you looked really carefully, you could make out the belt buckle shape as well as the strap.
“Does it matter?” I asked. I wasn’t willing to tell him how or why I got them. He wanted to see them, but it didn’t mean I had to tell him the story behind the marks. He wasn’t owed an explanation.
“Not really,” he growled, and his hand grasped my naked waist. “Still makes me want to kill whoever did it.” His front met my back, the rough material of his clothes drifting across my skin.
“Why?” I asked. With my back to him I felt empowered, like I could say anything I wanted to. “I’m just a thing to get you want you want. I’m not a person, not to you.”
His hand flattened on my stomach, his fingers spanning so wide he almost touched my— “Never said that, sugar.” His lips met my ear, each of his breaths fanning across the sensitive skin of my neck. “I’m just tryin’ to do what is right. Don’t mean I fuckin’ enjoy it.” He paused and placed a gentle kiss under my ear. “But this…you naked in my room?” He whistled, yanked me farther back, and pressed his erection into my back. “This I damn well enjoy.”
“What are you doing?” I choked out. My skin flashed cold then hot, and I squeezed my legs together, trying to ease the ache between them.
“You want me to stop?” he asked, following it up with another kiss to my neck. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I stayed silent. “You only gotta say the word, and I will.” I believed him. Believed each and every one of his words. But the truth was, he made me feel alive. He made electricity shoot through my veins. He made me feel…sexy.
“I don’t want you to stop,” I managed to get out, and as soon as I’d spoken the words, his hand lowered on my stomach. I was fascinated watching as his long fingers dipped between my legs, but it was the way he flicked my clit with his thumb while simultaneously pushing a finger inside me that had me losing my balance. But he was there, ready to steady me. He banded his arm across my stomach and up to my chest then tweaked one of my nipples.
“Oh God.”
“Just me, sugar.” His tongue slicked across my neck then a moment later he spun me around, bringing me face to face with him. He didn’t give me the chance to react, he simply picked me up and threw me down on the bed like I weighed nothing.
I’d never been with anyone like him. Never experienced a man so…rough yet refined. He was the epitome of biker, and damn if I didn’t want everything he had to offer right then. He stood at the side of the bed, staring down at me while slowly pulling his T-shirt over his head. His abs were so defined I wondered if he spent hours in the gym like the athletes at school.
“Like what you see?” he asked, and I nodded, not scared to be honest. He was perfection with his tensed muscles and tattooed art work, but it was the marine tattoo on his bicep that caught my attention.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing at it. He glanced down, shrugged, then shucked his jeans off, revealing the rest of his body to me. It was a distraction, one I had no choice but to accept. He was huge, bigger than I’d ever seen before, not that I’d seen many…cocks. My one and only time had been with one of the staff’s sons who had come home for summer break last year. And his had not looked like that.
“You ready?”
“Huh?” I stared up at him, wondering what he was doing as he crouched down. He gripped onto my thighs, pulled me to the edge of the bed, and buried his face between my legs. “Oh….ohhh.” My eyes widened then slammed closed as he sucked on my clit, and I couldn’t stop my knee-jerk reaction to push my fingers through his hair.
He pulled his face away, looked up at me, and growled, “That’s it, Hais. Yank on it.” He ran his tongue over his lips. “Show me how much you want me to suck this pussy dry.”
His dirty words were turning me on even more, so I pushed his face back down, needing more of him right there. He pushed a finger inside me, licking me like a man who’d never get the opportunity to ever again. My back bowed off the bed, tingling started down low, and I shouted out, “I’m close, Jax. So damn close.”
He grunted in response, pulled his finger out, and grasped onto my ass cheeks, digging his fingers in so hard I was sure he’d leave bruises. But this time they were bruises I wanted. This time they spoke of something good.
Jax pulled my entire clit into his mouth, sucked on it, then let it go, scraping his teeth gently across it, and that was all I needed to explode. I went off like an elaborate firework display, huge, impactful, and loud. I thought he’d stop once my orgasm started, but he continued, eeking it out for as long as he could. Then finally, finally, he stopped and crawled on top of me. “That was the best damn thing I think I’ve ever seen.”
I opened my eyes, feeling the burn on my cheeks from the blush now covering what I was guessing was most of my body. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected to see on his face, but it definitely wasn’t the genuine smile I witnessed.
“We can stop there,” he murmured, pushing some hair out of my face. “Or I can fuck you.” He shrugged. “Totally up to you, sugar.”
Slowly, I lifted my hand and placed it on his cheek. He was already so close to being inside me. I’d let him see parts of me no one else ever had, so there was no way I was going to fall at this last hurdle. “Fuck me,” I whispered. “Fuck me so I can still feel you next week.”
His nostrils flared at my words and he stared down at me. His gaze didn’t move off mine, searching for the truth, but he wouldn’t find any deceit in my eyes. I’d be gone soon so I’d take a glimpse of him while I could, because I had no doubt once I was gone, he wouldn’t look back. I’d just be another memory to him, like he would be for me.
Jax leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to my lips, and I returned it. It was so gentle and loving, a complete contradiction to how he was treating my body. “You sure?”
“Surer than anything,” I assured him, and at my response, he thrust inside me, widening my walls. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be the same after this, but I didn’t want to be. Jax had left his mark on me, it just didn’t hurt as bad as the others did.
Chapter Six
JAX
I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at Haisley, engrossed with watching her chest move up and down with each breath she took. She looked peaceful, delicate…beautiful. There was something about her, something that drew me in and threatened to hold me captive. But I knew I had to let her go. She wasn’t for me. Girls like her didn’t stay with guys like me.
I’d kidnapped her.
I’d held her as a hostage.
And now this.
Now she was in my bed, naked, with only my sheet coverin
g her. I reached out and trailed my finger over the scars on her back. The puffed up skin told me they hadn’t been treated properly, and the dark pink color spoke of years of healing. They were her battle scars—marks which depicted part of her story. Just like this would become part of it too.
She groaned at my touch so I moved my hand away, intent not to wake her up yet. I hadn’t been asleep, not with the prospect of her being beside me. So I’d gone and worked on my bike then taken a shower before it became light outside. The sun was just starting to rise, pushing through the gap in the blind on my window, but I needed a couple more minutes. Just a little more time to pretend this wouldn’t all be over today.
Torch was due in court this afternoon, and whether the judge let him go or not, she’d be gone. I couldn’t keep her, no matter how much I wanted to.
I puffed out a breath and stood, needing to get my mind off her. I’d tried yesterday by going to see Reign at Pink Feather, but even she couldn’t do the job she was normally best at. The sway of her hips hadn’t made a difference, and neither had her hands touching me. Yet seeing Hailsey in just a towel had me as hard as a goddamn rock. What the fuck was wrong with me? I was fuckin’ losing it.
“Jax?” Haisley’s soft voice whispered, but I didn’t turn to face her. I had to collect myself and perfect my mask. I couldn’t show her anything but the man she’d first met, not if I was going to let her walk away from all of this. She was the daughter of the enemy. Forbidden, and yet so goddamn alluring.
“Get dressed,” I barked out and headed over to the sofa where I’d placed my cut last night. “I’m taking you back.”
“Back?” Her voice was shaky, causing my stomach to drop. “Back where?”
I put my cut on, straightened it out, then turned to face her. She sat in the middle of my bed, her hair a mess, the sheet wrapped around her chest, and fuck if I didn’t want to go to her. I wished I could have stayed in bed with her all day long. Touched her in places she’d never been touched. Made her scream my name over and over again.
Forbidden: A Romance Anthology Page 4
