His words got through my fear of going down into the dark basement. Damage to the lock? And then I remembered that the door wouldn't close when I'd tried to shut it. Had someone else broken into his office before I’d gotten there? Come to think of it, the drawers had looked like they'd been ransacked…I began to get a bad feeling. Was the SD card missing? Oh, God, if it was, and Martin wasn't the one who’d taken it, Holly was good as dead, and maybe me as well.
Moody forced me to take that first step that would lead me to my nightmares. "Wait! Wait!" I pushed back with all of my strength. "Check my car and purse if you don't believe me!"
He paused. "Did that before I left for the bar."
Shit! He started to push me forward again. Too much was happening too fast. I was overwhelmed with the responsibility of holding Holly's life in my hands, with Martin's threat and what he was forcing me to do, and with Moody's determination to get something from me that I didn't have. I stared with growing fear at the black pit he was taking me to, and lost it. It resembled the well that I'd fallen into as a child too much. I still had nightmares. A cold chill enveloped my body.
"I'll tell you everything!"
He stopped, but didn't pull me back up the few steps we'd already taken. I knew that he wouldn't encourage me to talk. Moody didn't waste words. I took a deep breath, fighting tears.
Praying that everything would be okay.
Chapter 8
Bailey
The truth was the only way to go.
"My friend Holly was kidnapped yesterday. I was told she wouldn't be released until I found some SD card that you apparently have." The hand gripping my arm tightened and I wasn't sure if it was the news of Holly's abduction or the mention of the SD card that caused the reaction. "I was given a week to find it, and, ah, suggestions about where to look for it." I looked back at Moody, trying to make him understand. "I'm not normally a sneak; I wouldn't do something like this without a good reason. He told me that Holly will be killed if I don't get that card." Couldn't he see the truth in my eyes?
A muscle twitched in Moody’s hard jaw as he stared down at me from his position two steps up. "Let me guess--Martin."
I was sure that my expression revealed surprise. "Yes." I wasn't sure how Moody had guessed that it was Martin who had forced me to do all of this, but it gave me hope that he might realize that I was being truthful with him.
"The same man you fucked in the restroom that night?"
Oh, shit! Back to that. I released a resigned sigh and shook my head. "That's not what we were doing in the bathroom. I had to pee really badly, and there was a long line in front of the ladies room, so I decided to use the men's room. Martin just happened to be in there. That was all. Martin and I have never, ah, you know." I didn't finish.
His mouth tightened. "Good story. All I know is you broke into my office, ransacked it, and now the SD card is gone."
"So what, you're going to chain me up in the basement?" I asked in disbelief.
"That's the plan," he said indifferently.
"But it wasn't me, Moody! Don't you see, if I took the card from your office why would I have come here looking for it?"
"I don't know, you tell me," he grated, forcing me down another step. It was clear that he didn't believe anything I said.
Panic was setting in the closer I got to the cool darkness below. "Then frisk me if you don't believe me!" I was desperate now. I'd dance naked for him if it would keep me from having to go down into that black hole.
I would soon regret my impulsive words.
He hesitated. "That sounds like a fucking good idea." He pulled me back up the steps, shut the basement door, and marched me roughly to another section of the house.
He pushed me inside a bedroom and slammed the door behind us. I flinched at the sound, moving with dread to the center of the room, before turning around and facing him. God, what had I invited? This whole situation had gotten out of hand. The look on Moody's rugged face appeared menacing, sending a shiver of fear down my spine. I’d really screwed up. I knew that he didn't trust me, and that he hated me. He had every right to. I'd admitted that I was going to steal from him, betray him, and now it looked like someone had. And he was going to make me pay, because he was convinced that that someone was me.
I trembled with a strange mixture of fear and arousal. I hated him just as much for that, for what he was making my body feel. I would have backed up, but there was nowhere for me to go. Besides, I'd invited him to frisk me in order to prove my innocence, but the primal look on his face held me frozen. I sensed this was going to be much more than a simple exploration to discover if I was hiding anything, and I knew that whatever it was he was going to do would be brutal, because he was a brutal man.
He came to me without words, his eyes holding mine captive. I felt like a deer frozen in the headlights. The only thing keeping me from bolting away was the anticipation of having his hands on me. It was sick, I know, but deep down I knew that it had been building to this. The instant that I'd looked into Beckett James' black, fathomless eyes, I'd wanted him. I just hadn’t realized how much until now.
A cry of shock escaped me when he reached forward and ripped my sheer blouse from me as if it were tissue paper. I thanked God for my bra, but that was soon being cut from my body with a precise slice of his knife between my breasts. I automatically brought my hands up to cover myself, but Moody snatched my wrists and jerked them away.
“You don’t fucking move,” he snarled roughly, his narrowed eyes falling down the front of my body to my quivering breasts.
I swallowed hard, too frightened to fight him, guilt and desire holding me enslaved to his whims.
In the next instant he slid the knife between the waistband of my pants and the flesh of my belly, and ran the blade downward until the garment was loose enough to fall to my feet. In the next heartbeat, he tore the thong from my body and tossed it aside. Goose bumps covered me as I stood completely naked before him. His gaze raked over me with ruthless thoroughness, lingering on places that reacted strongly to his voracious scrutiny.
I could feel myself growing wet, resisting the urge to clench my thighs together.
“Moody.” I could barely get out his name in a whisper.
“You don’t fucking speak,” he growled in an ominous tone. Without warning, he spun me around. “Bend over and grab your fucking ankles.”
What? His rough command shocked me, but I bent over and did what he demanded. Humiliation nearly crippled me. I'd never been so exposed. I felt Moody’s body heat behind me as he closed the distance between us.
I sensed what he was about to do. “Please don’t do this,” I whispered tearfully, ignoring his earlier warning about talking. "If I had the card I'd give it to you."
“Shut up,” he snapped angrily. “You brought this on yourself.”
Yes, but everything I'd done had been with Holly in mind. Hopefully, once Moody was satisfied that I didn't have the SD card on me he'd turn me loose, or maybe even help me. “Moody…”
I sucked in my breath when his calloused fingers penetrated my body in a rough, painful plunge that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with a cavern search. I'd never been arrested, but I'd heard stories of strip searches. I couldn't imagine anyone having to go through something like this. Tears dropped onto the floor at my feet as he wiggled the digits around until he was satisfied. My humiliation was complete when my body responded to his invasion, growing even wetter around his fingers. Instead of pulling out and ending my embarrassment, Moody ran his thumb over my clit until my body was quivering with the beginning of an orgasm.
I gasped, hating him.
As if sensing that I was about to come undone, he jerked his fingers out of my pussy and then shocked me by thrusting his index finger inside my rectum. Instinctively I jerked forward and started to stand straight, but he grabbed my hip and held me in place. I was forced to let him explore my most private area, growing angry at his arrogant, impersonal inspection
of my body. It was totally unnecessary. He was doing it to punish me.
“You’re an asshole,” I murmured when he began to thrust his finger in and out of my anus. His light grunts and heavy breathing indicated that this was turning him on.
Suddenly he bent over my backside and placed his mouth near my ear. “Just be glad I’m not checking out the inside of your ass with my dick,” he said crudely.
Oh, God, he had a huge cock, too. At least what I'd seen of it that day in his office
I thrust backwards, hoping to bump him off of me. Big mistake. All it did was further embed his finger inside me. I whimpered with pleasure.
“Just remember, Bailey, this whole fucking thing could have been avoided if you’d come to me first.”
My eyes opened wide. "I don't know you, Moody."
"That's right, you don't."
Had this all been for nothing then? Had I humiliated myself for nothing? I was sure that what he'd just done to me went far beyond what could be considered a normal frisking. I'd been turned on, shamefully so, while he'd remained mostly unaffected from what I could tell.
"You didn't find anything."
"No, I didn't."
“What would you have done if you had?” I had to know the kind of man I was dealing with.
There was a brief pause. He stood, withdrawing his finger from me. “I would have killed you.” I sucked in my breath. “I still might. Just be glad I want to fuck you more.”
On that note he walked away, leaving me naked and shaking.
****
Moody
Fuck! I had to get out of there before I gave in to the damned lust that was coursing through my blood and fucked Bailey. I should have never taken her up on her suggestion of searching her. Once I'd started ripping off her clothes, I’d been unable to stop myself from doing more. That one kiss that we'd share had started something deep inside my gut, and having her there at my mercy scared the ever loving fuck out of me.
She was a fucking goddess, and that red strip of hair running down her plump pussy almost had me dropping to my knees. I'd screwed up by touching her and finding out how satiny soft her flesh was, how fucking wet she'd been between the folds of her cunt. Her arousal had surprised me. I had been able to pick up the scent of it long before I’d slid my finger inside her, the only thing better would have been to taste her, but I'd managed to resist that temptation.
I hadn't, however, been able to resist slipping into her ass and testing how receptive she was. I'd found her tight, hot, and my dick had leaked a copious amount of pre-cum just thinking about taking her there. When she'd bent over and grabbed her ankles, flashing that tight little star at me, I'd gone into a full body shudder. Jesus, how could I keep my head straight now, when all I wanted was to fuck every hole until she knew who owned her?
I hadn't wanted a woman this badly since Maggie.
Shit. I needed to get her out of my house. But not until I found out how deeply she was involved with Martin, and why he wanted that card. Someone had broken into my office, and he was the most likely fucker, if what Bailey had said was true. Had he tricked her into helping him? I needed more information before I decided if she was being honest with me. They'd seemed very friendly at the bar, but I couldn't deny the fear and anguish that I’d heard in her voice when she'd talked about Holly. That had been genuine enough.
I decided that the best thing to do was keep her as my guest for the time being. She hadn't realized it yet, but she wasn't locked in the room that I'd left her. She couldn't wander off, her clothes were ruined. I'd taken her keys out of the ignition of her car, and she couldn't call anyone because I'd hidden her phone. The only trouble she could possibly get into was if she got in my way, and if she tested me, she wouldn't like the consequences. I wouldn't mind tanning that fine ass.
I texted Tommy to call me when he went on break. He needed to keep an eye on Martin if he returned to the bar; although I didn't expect him to if he already had the SD card. I wanted to find out if he was working for Graves. Hell, maybe Bailey worked for Graves, too.
Benjamin Graves had a very good reason for wanting that SD card. It contained his confession to a murder that he'd committed two years earlier. He was a congressman, looking to move into the Governor's seat one day. If it got out that he was a murderer, it would be the end of his political career, not to mention it would land him in prison.
I went to the kitchen to find something for dinner. I imagined my little guest was hungry after being shut up all day. I went to the freezer and pulled out a frozen lasagna casserole. I didn't eat that shit very often, it was too full of fucking preservatives, but it was enough for two, and it was microwavable. I removed it from the box, popped it in, and turned it on for fifteen minutes, then went to the fridge for a beer. I twisted off the top and was taking a drink when I saw Bailey come into the kitchen out of the corner of my eye.
I hadn't expected her to remain in the bedroom once she realized the door was unlocked. I slowly turned my head her way, taking in that she was wearing one of my old t-shirts. She was a sight. My shirt only went to the top of her fleshy thighs. One wrong move and she'd be exposing her pussy to me, and her heavy tits were stretching the material. She was barefoot, and surrounded by that wild, curly hair she appeared every bit the image of what a woman looked like in the morning after a night of wild fucking.
Of what she would look like.
"Snooping again?"
"He's going to kill her," she said softly. "Martin is going to kill Holly."
The appeal in her bright eyes would have broken a weaker man. "Not my problem." I took another drink.
"Don't you care that an innocent woman is going to die because of something that you had that someone else wanted?"
I snorted. "You said that Martin would release her for the card."
"What if he doesn't have it?" I remained unmoved. "What kind of man are you?"
"Not a good one." That was the fucking truth. I could see her eyes glossing up. "Save your fucking tears, Bailey, they won't move me either."
She wiped her eyes with a gesture that revealed that she was getting angry. Good. I could deal with anger better than tears, and the truth was, it looked good on her. I wondered what was going on in that head of hers as she stood there in quiet frustration, staring at me with green fire in her shimmering eyes. I could almost see the wheels turning behind those fiery eyes of hers.
"You're a bastard." She hadn't said it in anger, but more in a tone of disappointment. Her eyes landed on the beer in my hands. "Do you mind if I have some water?" I opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, tossing it to her. "When are you going to let me leave?" she asked, twisting off the top.
"When I'm sure of what your involvement is in all of this shit, then I'll decide what to do with you."
Her mouth dropped. "But I told you. Martin didn't give me any choice, and it's not as if I found the damn thing."
"Yet it's gone."
She glared at me with frustration. "He gave me a week, Moody. I can't help Holly if you keep me a prisoner here."
The trembling of her bottom lip caught my attention. She brought the bottle of water up to her mouth, and when she opened to drink my dick jerked at the thought of her opening like that to take it inside her mouth.
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out of my back pocket, glancing down to see Tommy's name come up.
"Hey, boss, you wanted me to call?"
"Yeah. If Martin comes in, you call me right away, and keep your eyes on him. Got it?"
"Well, you probably don't want to hear that he's already been here, then."
"Fuck! When?"
"A couple hours ago. Said he was looking for Bailey." I pinned my eyes on her. "He was worried about her because she wasn't answering her phone. Told me he'd be back later in case she came in."
What the fuck was he playing at? If he had the SD card then he'd have no reason to show up at the bar again. And if he had just been using Bailey to help him get it, then
he'd be done with her. Unless…I glared at the sexy little redhead standing there in my kitchen. Unless he wanted her for himself. They'd been pretty chummy.
Maybe I was the one being played.
"He shows back up, keep him occupied. We'll be there in a couple hours." I disconnected and took the few steps separating me and Bailey until I was on her. I took a handful of that wild hair and yanked her head back, ignoring her startled gasp. "What kind of fucking game are you playing?"
She tried to shake her head, but I had a firm grip on her hair. Her eyes were wild, revealing her fear, and maybe a little pain. "I'm not playing a game," she insisted, putting a hand back to where I had hold of her hair. "I swear! Why can't you believe me?"
Anger burned through me. I didn't trust her. I heard the water bottle hit the floor, and then she was clutching the material covering my chest, as if to stop herself from falling backwards. If Martin was looking for her, I was going to deliver her to him. She'd get her chance to prove that she was as innocent in all of this as she wanted me to believe.
The sound of the microwave dinging alerted me that our dinner was done. I was glad for the interruption. Bailey was too tempting, and I realized that I was struggling with myself to keep from taking her soft mouth that was so fucking close to mine. "You're going to get a chance to prove it." With a disgusted snort at my growing arousal for her, I released her. "Sit down at the table."
She remained quiet as I fixed two plates of lasagna and set one down in front of her. I took up the chair opposite her with the intention of digging in.
"What do you mean by ‘a chance to prove it?’?"
I looked up from my plate. "Martin's been at the bar looking for you, says he's worried you haven't been answering his calls. I'm going to make sure we're there if he comes back tonight.” She actually paled at that. Interesting. Was she afraid of Martin, or afraid I'd find out something that she didn't want me to know?
Furious (Nomad Outlaws Trilogy Book 3) Page 6
