Saved by a Sinner

by A G Henderson

  My eyes narrowed, scanning them both up and down. “You two don't look nearly old enough to get in there.”

  Cameron had the good grace to fidget uncomfortably but Joy only smiled wider. “We manage. The bouncers are a joke, usually only takes a hair flip and a push up bra.”

  “Is that so,” Carlos murmured, mostly to himself. “Excuse me for a moment.” He slid his phone from his pocket, walking off.

  Somebody's in trouble, I thought. While I was grateful he was seeing the same problem I was, micromanaging only went so far. There would always be another bar. Another club. Another lazy bouncer.

  “She looks like she’s gonna scold us,” Cameron whispered loudly.

  Joy nodded, responding in the same stage whisper. “I think you’re right. She’s got that crease between her eyes mom always gets right before she goes off. The piercings make it scarier though.”

  “Don’t tell mom that, blabbermouth. Next thing ya know, she’ll be walking in the house with a tattoo and talking all weird.”

  I rolled my eyes and decided to cut in before they went on any longer. “I’m not going to scold either of you.” Even though they both deserved it. Sure, they were impressed with me now, but I was under no illusion it would last if I demanded something of them. Besides, I had a better idea anyway. It tied in nicely to my side trips with Erin.

  “You’re not?” They said in unison, surprise etched on their faces.

  “Nope. I’m not doing any autographs either. I’m on a strict verbal only diet at the moment.” Cameron’s expression fell. Joy pouted prettily, folding her arms over her chest. “What I can do is offer you something much better.”

  Cameron perked up immediately but her sister wasn’t quite so convinced.

  Joy’s head tilted. “What could be better than an autograph? Do you have any idea how many likes that’ll net me? The signature of the absolute fucking Queen who took our resident bad boy biker down some much needed pegs? The hashtags practically write themselves.”

  “Yeah...” I raised a brow. “You lost me at ‘likes,’ but I think I got the general idea. So how about I put it on the table and y’all decide. You two stay out of places you have no business being in, and in return…”

  I felt more than saw Carlos making his way back towards me, and I leaned in to whisper the last bit instead. When I was done, both sisters were hopping up and down excitedly. Impressive, given that their heels were taller than mine and I could hardly walk.

  Carlos pressed a kiss to my cheek like it was the most natural thing in the world. “What did I miss that caused such excitement?”

  Joy grinned. “Sorry, it's a surprise. Girl code dictates that we can't tell you.”

  He glanced at me from the corner of his eye and I gave him my most innocent smile. “A surprise, huh?” I nodded. “This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with what you and Erin have been up to, would it?”

  No wonder he liked holding all the cards. It was fun. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed the edge of his jaw. “You'll just have to wait and find out.”

  A wicked gleam flashed in his eyes. “I'm sure the wait will be worth it.”

  “Okay, yep. We’re gone,” said Cameron, dragging her sister away. They tossed waves over their shoulders and my lips curved.

  “Come on.” Carlos linked our hands together and my heart sighed dreamily. Or maybe that was me. He moved us quickly across the floor.

  “What's the rush?” I was actually starting to have a good time.

  He stopped suddenly and faced me, expression fierce and wanting. Hungry. A pilot light of desire warmed me between my legs and my thighs tensed.

  “The rush,” he rumbled, voice stroking inside of me. “Is that I need to feel my fucking cock deep inside your sweet pussy and I need it now.”

  Did I say pilot light? Try wildfire.

  My jaw dropped in a breathless gasp, nipples beading against the fabric of my dress. I didn't resist when he pulled us through a winding hallway before ducking into a small office the size of a storage room. The click of him locking the door behind us was loud. Final. Sealing us in the shadows of dim lights. It only stoked my anticipation to greater heights.

  Carlos lunged for me without preamble, turning us around until my back was pressed up against the solid door. He lifted me easily, strong fingers digging into my hips. My legs instinctively found their way around his waist, and my arms around his neck as our mouths crashed together.

  Our kiss was wet. Messy. Full of teeth clicking together and tongues being sucked on. He ravaged my mouth like he wanted to consume me and my core burned with pulsing need; the steady beat keeping track of time in a way my pleasure addled brain couldn't keep up with.

  His huge hands blazed a trail up my outer thighs, hiking my dress to my waist and exposing the part of my body that ached for him. Only a scrap of black lace covered me. His palms closed over the bare globes of my ass, kneading and spreading me open, and he groaned into my mouth.

  “Fucking hell, woman.” Carlos was panting as he broke the kiss, eyes wild. When he looked down, I felt his gaze on the place I needed him like he could see straight through the fabric, even in the dark. “This is all you've been wearing? Are you honestly trying to kill me now?”

  “Not before I feel you inside me again,” I breathed, tugging his lips between my teeth.

  He reached between our bodies, roughly jerking my thong to the side. The backs of his fingers brushed across my piercing, sending a tingling charge from my clit down to my toes. Carlos shoved two fingers inside me, my drenched opening providing a slick, carnal glide.

  He spread them apart, stretching me open, before bringing them back together and curling them against the sensitive spot that made my vision fuzzy.

  My back arched, breasts pressing against him. “That feels so good.”

  “Is that right?” Carlos slipped a third finger inside me, shoving them deep. My moan was loud and long, trailing off into a frustrated whimper when he withdrew completely. Leaving my pussy clenching around nothing.

  “Bastard.” I nipped at his jaw and he only grinned.

  “Your bastard,” he growled, the heel of his palm briefly circling my clit before his hand fell to the front of his pants.

  Carlos pulled down his zipper, the sound of it incredibly loud in the small room. His thick cock sprang out from the confines, a beast freed from its cage, and fell heavily atop my mound. The length of him burned against me and my hips rolled, sliding the base of his shaft through my folds.

  He reached down, taking himself in hand. My breathing quickened as he positioned himself at my soaking entrance. Our eyes met and I could see the chains that bound his control. Hear them groaning as his need became too great.

  The tip of his cock sank into me the barest inch, but it was enough to leave him seated perfectly. He squeezed my ass once more before shifting his weight, both hands going to the door behind me. I locked my heels more tightly around him, deliciously aware of what was coming next.

  His hips rocked forward and I cried out loudly, eyes fluttering closed, as he buried himself to the hilt, balls slapping against my ass.

  He paused for a long moment, head buried in the curve of my neck while I panted in his ear, adjusting to his girth. I wasn't sure if it was right for me to enjoy the sharp bite of pain that accompanied my body stretching to accommodate him but I did.

  Fuck, I more than enjoyed it. I craved it. Yearned for it.

  Each time, it was like he was claiming me all over again. Making me his and his alone. Burying himself so deep he was imprinted on my cells until the feel of him was the only thing I knew. Past, present, or future.

  Carlos kissed and sucked at my neck, driving me wild. My body burned so hot I thought for sure I would spontaneously combust, burning the whole place down with us inside it and him inside me.

  I didn’t have to tell him when I was ready for him. He simply knew. No words were needed as he started plunging in and out of me, pace easy but steadily building.<
br />
  “Wanted this all night,” he hissed from between clenched teeth. Each thrust grew in intensity, until he was fucking me so hard that the door rattled in its frame. Anyone who came down the hall would know what was going on and I didn’t give a single fuck. “Ever since you put on this fucking dress.”

  “It’s j-just a d-dress,” I managed, breath hitching each time he hit the deepest part of me. Sending white hot pleasure traveling up my spine. Making white sparks dance across my eyelids.

  “One you wore for me.” His teeth scraped my neck and I shivered, goosebumps dotting my skin. “Don’t think for a moment that’s been overlooked.”

  He pressed himself impossibly closer, sealing me in completely, hands falling to dig into my hips. Carlos took me fast and hard, pulling my body down onto him with each thrust. Our bodies slapped together lewdly and the smell of sex permeated the air, saturating my lungs.

  His hips rolled on his next deep thrust, ripping a ragged scream from me as my core detonated with pleasure. “Yes, yes, yes,” I gasped. The sky fell down around my head, filling my world with a kaleidoscope of color and sensations so powerful I could only hold on while they swept over me.

  “That's it sweetheart,” he rasped, squeezing my hips hard enough I knew his fingerprints would be there tomorrow. I looked forward to seeing them. His rhythm faltered, becoming jerky and wild. “Fuck, the sight of you cumming on my cock is-”

  I stabbed my fingers into the back of his neck and pulled his head closer, fusing our mouths together. His filthy words left my core trembling with aftershocks he rode with abandon, but this moment didn't require commentary.

  Not when his cock was twitching and swelling. Not when I was swallowing his rough groan while his whole body tensed, moments before he trembled with his own release.

  The only thing I needed was to be held and kissed by the man I loved as he emptied himself inside me.

  Carlos rolled our tongues together, hips lazily thrusting. I whimpered at the loss of him when he finally pulled out. He set me on the ground, hands running across my hips and I was grateful because I definitely couldn’t stand under my own power yet. His kiss moved to the corner of my mouth, my eyes, my nose. “Eres mi todo,” he whispered in my ear.

  You are my everything.

  My eyes opened, locking with his. “Tú me perteneces y no nadie más.”

  You belong to me and no one else

  Carlos pressed our foreheads together until intense, honey colored orbs were the only thing I could see. “You mean that.” His smile was bright despite the dark office. Charming. Almost boyish. It didn’t even falter when he leaned in to kiss me again and I halted him with a hand on his chest.

  I grinned up at him, fighting the sudden rubber band around my chest. “Wouldn’t have said it otherwise.” I took a deep breath. “Which is why I need to tell you-”

  A single, warm finger covered my lips and he shook his head. “Not here, diosa. Whatever it may be, not in the dark.”

  I wasn’t sure how he knew what was coming but I nodded anyway, swallowing the lump in my throat.

  Carlos hustled us back into the hallway, towards a rear exit, and out onto the street. I let him lead me, holding onto his hand with both of mine to keep myself grounded. The ride to his penthouse was a blur of motion and I only realized we were back in his bedroom when he stripped my dress and heels from me before carrying me to his bed.

  I curled my legs beneath me and quietly watched him meticulously remove everything but his pants before he crawled in beside me and hugged me close, eyes never leaving mine for so much as a second. His hand rested over my breast and I startled at the realization of how fast my heart was racing, and how it noticeably slowed at his intimate touch.

  This man.

  My eyes immediately started to sting, tears filling my vision. I blinked rapidly, but it was no use. Once the first one fell in a hot rush down my cheek, the floodgates opened. My eyes poured out what must have been a lifetime’s worth of torment, but my voice was left unhindered despite the taste of salt filling my mouth.

  “This is going to be bad,” I said. When he nodded, I swallowed thickly. My blurry vision dropped to the flowing script on his chest and stayed there.

  I started at the very beginning.

  The ice cream shop and the ragged screams of an entire family begging to be spared. After that, the rest spilled from me one tragedy at a time, coming back to back to back. An endless deluge straight from my soul that couldn’t be halted and I knew better than to try. This had been a long time coming.

  Time had no meaning as I told him every moment of my sorrow. Every foul thing that had been said and done. How fear had laced my every waking moment and how that fear had turned into rage that crawled inside every part of me whenever the doorknob to my cage turned.

  “I didn’t stop talking immediately,” I told Carlos at a whisper. “Those first few months...I gave them hell in every way I could. I bit, scratched, taunted, insulted. Whatever I could think of, honestly. There were other girls up there with me, and although trying to communicate with them was a quick way to get a boot in the ribs, I could hear them anyway. Crying. Screaming. Begging. I covered my ears sometimes to block it out because I didn’t want to wind up like them. Broken and begging for it to end. So I stuck to my guns.”

  “The insults usually made it worse, but I didn’t care. Whenever they were forced to hit me until my mouth was so swollen I could do nothing but spit blood, it was a small victory. I needed those little wins. They were like pockets of clean air I could sometimes reach while the rest of me remained underwater. They reminded me that I was alive when the reality of my situation started to really sink in.”

  “My parents had been killed and no one knew where I was. I didn’t even know. But I knew, roughly, how much time had gone by. I knew how unlikely it was for missing people to be found after that much time. Hope was a sliver so narrow it cut me just trying to hold onto it. I was only able to do so despite that because I knew I wasn’t alone, and I wasn’t counting the other girls because they had already given up when I hadn’t.”

  “People were always coming and going throughout the day. When I pressed my ear to the floor, I could hear them beneath me. Talking. Laughing. Shouting. I couldn’t understand them, but to me, it didn’t matter. They represented possibility. I knew that if I could get out of my cage once, just fucking once, I could get down there and find someone, anyone, who wasn’t a monster wearing a person’s skin.”

  I paused, taking a deep, shaky breath. I felt oddly detached from myself, like my soul was sitting atop a cloud looking down at my body while it recited its trauma. The only thing I could still feel was Carlos. He hadn’t moved since I started, maybe not even to blink, although I hadn’t raised my eyes to be sure.

  But I could feel him burning against me, a dark star ready to implode in a blinding flash of violence and destruction.

  For a moment, I considered stopping there. He had already heard more than anyone else ever had or would. Was it right for me to burden him with this knowledge?

  I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know how to ask either. What I knew was that I needed to exorcise these memories once and for all. To bring them out into the light so they could no longer lurk in the dark corners of my mind, waiting to pounce and drag me back under. Who better to fight them with me than the man I had surrendered my heart to?

  The man who would likely crawl into my head and kill them himself if he had the means to do so.

  Wetting my lips, I continued. “One day, my wish became reality. There was more activity going on upstairs and down than ever before. No one came through my door, but what felt like two dozen people opened it and looked in. When things finally died down, I couldn’t help myself from hoping someone had made a mistake. I got up to check, and found it unlocked.”

  I shook my head at how naive I had been. How foolish and hopeful.

  “As carefully as I could, heart in my throat, I crept down the stairs in the dark, heading
towards the light and the voices I could hear. Each creak of the floor was a bear trap snapping shut beside my ear, and I would freeze, waiting to feel arms band around my middle and scoop me up. When they never came, I kept going.”

  “The sliver of hope I was holding? It tripled in size when my bare feet hit the bottom landing and shuffled me towards the large living room. In the span of time it took to get there, my hope became a rope I was using to pull myself along. I had no idea it was about to be used to hang me.”

  My breathing sped up, words coming faster.

  “There were a score of people in the room, men and women alike. I instantly sought out the latter until I found one with a pinch of concern to her face. I rushed to her, tripping and falling and crying over myself as I begged. My false bravado was in pieces as I fell to her feet, pleading for help. She made a shrill sound in the back of her throat and my heart soared, right up until she spat on me and backed away. The way they laughed as they came for me…”

  Carlos grabbed the first thing he could as he surged off the bed. The alarm clock never stood a chance as he tossed it at the wall with a roar. It hit with a crack and splintered into pieces that fell to the floor, but my attention had already shifted to the raging beast stalking back and forth in front of me.

  His chest was heaving and each defined muscle I could see was taught and ready. For what, I wasn’t sure, but it was clear he had murder on the mind.

  “What. Else?” he asked, forcing each word through gritted teeth.

  I rubbed clammy palms on my thighs. “The rest you’ve probably put together already. My voice was gone, along with any hope I would ever make it out of there alive. So my goals changed. I never stopped fighting. Instead, I fought twice as hard as I had before. I figured at some point, they would kill me. Whether it wound up being an accident or intentional, I was okay with either option. Then they met a monster bigger than they were and everything changed.”

  Carlos finally paused in his pacing. He popped his neck and looked at me from the corner of his eye. I watched him slowly shackle the rage until only the embers of it burned beneath the curiosity at the forefront. “There’s more,” he said knowingly. “You’re telling me this now for a reason. What is it?”