by Ella Miles
“What are you doing?” I scream.
“Saving you.”
It hits me all at once. “Of course, you are, Hero. Of course you are.” I run my hands through my hair with a frustrated grin. “I don’t know why you decided to save me this time, but you got one little thing wrong.”
He frowns, his brows pinching together. “What’s that?”
“For once, I didn’t need a hero.”
“What did you need?”
“I needed you to let me save my damn self.”
He cocks his head. “I don’t understand. Those guys were raping you. I was doing you a favor. I saved you! I stopped them. I wasn’t one of the men raping you.”
I shake my head. How dumb is he? “I know, but you’re mistaken. I wasn’t being raped.”
“You weren’t?”
“No.” I pull at the ends of my hair. I’d punch him if I knew how to throw a punch without injuring myself.
His mind thinks back to the scene he just walked in on.
“Think. Study the men in your mind. Look closer at what you saw.”
His eyes shoot wide.
I nod as he finally realizes. “I asked the Retribution Kings to fuck me in order to help save me.”
“What? How would fucking you save you?”
“My father wants to marry me off as a virgin. I may not be able to control who he marries me off too, but I can control whether I’m a virgin or not. You just ruined one of the best orgasms of my life.”
He doesn’t look the least bit sorry about that. He gives me a smug shrug as his apology.
It’s then that I realize I’m still naked, but I don’t hide my body. I’m too pissed off to do that.
“Wait...why do you think your father is going to marry you off when you’re with us?”
I frown. Now I’m the one confused. “For one, I’m not with you. You guys don’t care about me, especially you.”
He winces.
“But I care about Odette. I’ve lost my memories, so the only way to help you is if you trade me for Odette or at least information about Odette. Whether my father has her or not is moot, he can get any information you want and even help get her back. He’ll do it to get me back, I’m sure of it.”
He stands there completely frozen, and I have no idea what is going through his head.
“What are you thinking?”
“You lost your memories?”
I nod.
“All of them?”
“Everything before I bumped into you on that elevator.”
“And you’re willing to sacrifice yourself to get my wife back?”
I nod.
His scowl deepens. It’s almost like he doesn’t believe me. Maybe he just hates me that much.
“Why do you think I hate you?” he asks.
“Because you do. You left me to Paxton and his crew to be married off and raped!”
“What if I didn’t?”
“You did.”
“Except that, I didn’t.”
My mouth gapes.
“I was the one who gave the order. I was the one who lead the charge. I was the one who was in most danger. I fought off guard after guard to keep them distracted instead of going after you when you escaped.”
“Oh.”
“Yea.”
“But why?”
“Because I hate you.”
“But you just said—”
“I never said I didn’t hate you, just that I didn’t leave you to be raped and tortured.”
Except his eyes don’t say he hates me at all, not even a little. Neither does his hard cock bulging through his pants.
Oh.
That’s why he hates me.
He keeps saving the wrong girl. He keeps saving me instead of his wife.
And he hates himself for saving me.
He hates himself for wanting me, even though he would never cheat on his wife.
He hates that I’m not her.
I can’t fault him for that.
But the way he’s staring at me reminds me that I was on the brink of an orgasm and didn’t get to finish. My body tingles all over, aching for a release that never came.
I part my lips as the feelings flood through me the longer he stares at me.
He pulls off his shirt and tosses it at me. “Put that on. I’ll get you some more clothes as soon as I can.”
“And you could go apologize to those guys.”
“I’m not apologizing to those assholes. They shouldn’t have been fucking you and filming you. That’s more liable to piss your old man off.”
I shrug and am about to slip on his shirt, but his scent overwhelms my nostrils. It’s a fresh, sweet scent with just a touch of musk. I drag my eyes to look at Beckett. His hard chest makes my mouth water. I want nothing more than to run my tongue all over it, but I know he’d immediately send me to my father for a transgression like that.
I can’t touch, but I can look.
I can finish the job that he denied me.
I let his shirt drop to the floor.
“What are you doing?”
I cup my breast in my hand. It feels heavy as I let my thumb perk my nipple.
Beckett freezes, his mouth falling ajar.
I ignore him and let my other hand trail down my stomach finding my clit just like the guys did earlier, rubbing in slow concentric circles.
“Stop.” He finally regains his consciousness.
“I can’t. I need this.”
“Rialta, stop. Now.” He never calls me Rialta. He rarely even calls me Ri. But I don’t stop. I couldn’t if I wanted to.
I spread my legs further apart as I slip a finger in. “God, I’m still wet.”
Beckett turns to the door, jiggling the handle like he’s trapped in here with a hungry lion.
“Shit, the lock’s stuck.” For some reason, he turns back around. It doesn’t really matter. The view of his back is just as incredible as his front, and I’m two seconds away from coming.
But then he turns again, and his hooded gaze locks on my body. I realize I’d much rather have his eyes on me than not—such gorgeous, soulful eyes. His eyes beg me to stop while simultaneously needing this as much as I do.
I’m going to hell for this.
I’m torturing a man who loves another, devoted his life to another, married another.
But the need in me is too much. I need this release in order to function, to keep breathing.
Beckett doesn’t fight me anymore. He just stares, even as I walk closer, my fingers pumping in and out while my thumb massages my clit.
I’m so close, so fucking close. I’m sure this will feel nothing like it might have with four hot guys all fucking my body simultaneously, but it will be enough to ensure I don’t have blue balls the rest of the night. Yes, I know women can’t get blue balls, but whatever is the equivalent can’t be good for me.
I pump faster, my soft moans coming more frequently—almost there.
Beckett closes his eyes as if he’s in physical pain. He shoves his hand in the pocket of his jeans, most likely to keep from reaching out and touching me. It’s a crucial mistake, one I take full advantage of.
The guys are great. Fucking any one of them would be incredible. Fucking them all at once was damn near magical. And yet, I still can’t have the guy I really want.
The guy I hate.
The guy I don’t deserve.
But maybe I can steal something that might rival what I could have felt with the guys. It could have made me realize that I just have a stupid crush on Beckett because he’s smoking hot and has saved me multiple times. I would have fully moved on to Caius, or Hayes, or Gage, or even Lennox.
I lean forward and steal what Beckett stole from me. I press my lips to his and let go.
His eyes fly open in shock as I kiss him, but he doesn’t jerk back. He doesn’t kiss me full out either, but his hooded eyes tell me all the wicked ways he’d kiss me if I were his.
“Fuck,” I yell into his mouth as I c
ome. It’s so much more than I expected it to be.
And I was so fucking wrong.
I thought the orgasm I would have had with the guys would have been the best one of my life; the one all others would chase.
Beckett stares at me with such intensity. Our lips are still pressed, and my cum is still on my fingers.
I just ruined everything, every guy for me ever. Beckett is that guy, and he’s off-limits in so many ways. I just committed a grave sin, but it’s one I’ll never regret.
Because I just had the most intense, amazeballs orgasm. The only way I can ever imagine it being topped is if Beckett fucked me himself. He’ll never do that.
The flame of rage returns in full force in his eyes. Whatever retribution he has planned for me will be worth it. His glare intensifies, and I gulp.
I hope it’ll be worth it.
20
Beckett
She fucking kissed me. How dare she!
Out of everything I’ve experienced—losing an arm, getting shot at, tortured, losing friends, running for my life—how does her kissing me feel like the worst thing that’s ever happened?
Because I liked it.
I don’t hate her; I hate me.
I’m married. I love Odette, even though I’m not sure she loves me back. I’m not a cheater, and yet, I’ve kissed this woman twice now.
No, I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me! I didn’t kiss her back. I just fucking enjoyed it like the sick fuck I am.
I don’t know why I felt something when Ri kissed me, probably just typical male hormones reacting to a naked woman kissing him. Of course, I enjoyed her kiss.
But why did I react so strongly when I thought she was being raped by four guys? I was about to level the city; that’s how much rage I felt. Then being alone with her in this bathroom is when everything shifted. We have a connection. I don’t even know if it’s romantic—actually, I know it’s not. It’s something deeper, more sinister, like we share half of the devil’s soul inside us both.
It doesn’t mean I don’t want Odette. It doesn’t mean that once I get her back, I won’t spend the rest of my life groveling trying to get her forgiveness. But it does mean I have to reconcile with the fact that I share something with Ri, even if I don’t understand what that connection means.
“Get dressed,” I order.
Finally, Ri complies. She grabs my shirt lying on the floor and slips it on. It at least covers her breasts and ass, but not much else. Her nipples still press against the thin fabric, and I can make out every curve on her body. It’s an improvement, but not much.
“Come on, we should check that the guys aren’t too upset that I kicked their asses,” I say.
That comment earns me a smile. “How exactly did you take all four of them out while only having one good arm anyway? I didn’t think you were that good.”
“Oh, I’m that good, baby.” I wink. Plus, the guys were too concerned with sticking their dicks in her to see me coming. And I was full of rage. I’ll just be happy if I didn’t do any permanent damage.
We walk back into the club VIP room, unsure of what we’ll find.
Four sets of eyes meet us as we step into the room. They are all sitting on various pieces of furniture, nursing their wounds.
Caius is sitting on the edge of the pool table with a bag of ice pressed against his jaw. Lennox is lying on one of the couches with a glare that tells me he’s going to pay me back for the kick to his ribs. Hayes found a glass of scotch and is drinking it with a bad gash under his eye, his glasses broken lying on his lap while he sits on the other couch. And Gage is sitting on an armrest with a bag of ice pressed against his forehead.
All of the masks and disguises are gone. None of them are wearing shirts, but at least they all have their dicks in their pants. They all look at me like they want to kill me, though. I probably just fucked up any remaining chance at becoming their permanent leader, not that I give a damn.
“You okay?” they all simultaneously ask Ri.
She gives me a dirty look. “Yea, I’m okay.” She walks over to Caius, slowly. I assume their interactions are going to be awkward and forced, considering how I found them before.
Instead, Ri wraps her arms around Caius’s neck. “Thank you.”
Caius removes the bag of ice and wraps his arms around her, his cheeks pinking.
“All of you,” Ri adds as she smiles at each of them.
I stiffen, hating how she’s thanking all of them for fucking her. Something they all gladly got enjoyment out of. It wasn’t like it was a hardship for any of them.
Hayes gets up and picks her clothes up off the floor before handing them to Ri.
She nods with a smile and then starts slipping back into her jeans and jacket over my shirt.
The rest of the guys start putting their shirts back on until I’m the only one shirtless.
“What do you want us to do about the video?” Gage asks.
Lennox is the only one who hasn’t approached her or spoken. He hangs back, quiet, letting his anger fester.
“I say burn it.” All eyes fly to me, and they might as well be daggers.
“I didn’t ask you,” Gage snarls.
We all look to Ri, whose head is now resting against Caius’s chest with his arm tucked around her shoulders. Her face pales as she thinks about it.
“Send it to my father.”
“No,” I bark.
“Yes,” she hisses.
“It’s too dangerous. You don’t know how your father is going to react. He’ll punish you and do everything he can to find every person in that video. You are putting them all at risk.”
“Like you care about our safety,” Lennox snarks.
I snap my head to him. “Maybe you shouldn’t have been so rough with her, and I wouldn’t have mistaken your actions as rape.”
Lennox stands up and marches toward me, puffing his chest. “Maybe you should have been here instead of crying because you aren’t enough to save your wife.”
I punch him.
“Enough!” Ri yells before I get another swing in.
I step back. I was done with this asshole anyway.
Ri looks at me with a threat in her eyes. “It’s not your decision to make, Hero; it’s mine.” She looks back to Gage. “Send it to my father.”
He nods.
No one else speaks up. I guess they all thought it was a good idea, or they wouldn’t have gone through with it in the first place.
“Let’s get out of here. Get a hotel for tonight, and we can figure out what the hell we are going to do in the morning,” Caius says, taking charge. Apparently, after I beat their asses, he’s decided he’s the better leader. It doesn’t make sense to me, but whatever. I’m clearly the best fighter.
Caius leads Ri out of the room with his arm still around her. I follow after, and the rest walk behind me. We almost make it to the outside door when a voice stops us dead in our tracks.
“Time’s up,” Ares says.
My heart thumps slowly and time stills. In all the chaos, I forgot that it’s been a week. A week since I got married. A week without Odette. A week since I made a deal with the Phantom Brotherhood that I was never going to honor.
But our only shot of getting out of here is to pretend the deal is still on.
“Why else do you think we came to your club?” I ask, taking a shot that this is a Phantom club as I turn to face Ares.
The rest of my guys fall behind me, ready for a fight. I guess they still honor me as their leader after all.
“You came here to tell me that the deal is done?”
“Princess and I got married last night.”
“Doesn’t look that way to me,” Ares gestures to where Ri is still snuggled under Caius’s arm.
I shrug casually. “I like to share.”
Ares narrows his eyes, not believing me. I whistle and snap my fingers at Ri like she’s a dog, not a woman.
To my surprise, she obediently walks out from under Cai
us’s arm and under mine. She must realize the danger we are all in. I grab her chin and kiss her sloppily, licking over every inch of her lips like I own them.
She growls back and fights back with her own rough assault against my mouth.
I grope her then, spinning her back against my front.
Ares looks amused.
“How’d you break her so quickly? I thought she’d take years to break.”
I feel her pulse racing under my fingertips at Ares’s words.
“Easy, Princess, his time will come,” I breathe against her ear so only she can hear.
“Maybe I’ll show you after our deal is done,” I say to Ares.
“Speaking of, did you arrange for my agreement with Corsi, or do I have to kill someone you love?”
“Did you already?” I ask, suspiciously.
“I haven’t touched anyone who is yours. If I did, I knew you’d never cut me into the deal.”
He’s right about that.
“What did happen to that fiancée of yours?”
“I took care of her,” I say with a wicked laugh, hating myself even more. It’s why I need Odette back. I’m a better person when she’s here.
Ares grins. “So our deal with Corsi?”
This isn’t how I wanted this to go. This isn’t what I had planned. But this is how they are all going to find out what I’ve done.
We all feel the shift of darkness descend into the room. There are dozens of dangerous, soulless men here, but the temperature doesn’t drop until he enters. He’s on a different level, more dangerous because he has no limits to what he will do for power—including selling his own daughter for more of it.
“You know no one can make a deal with me on your behalf, Ares,” Vincent Corsi says.
Then he shoots Ares in the head.
21
Ri
“Dad?”
My father lowers his gun after firing into Ares’s skull. He doesn’t glance my way.
Beckett’s arm is still wrapped around me. “Don’t look,” he whispers.
But of course, I look.
Ares is lying on the ground with his brains blown out and blood oozing in a large puddle around his head. The rest of his men stand behind his body in postures of submission. They aren’t going to fire back at my father. They aren’t going to attack. They are going to let my father kill their leader without retaliation. They know if they fight back, they’ll be next.
