by Ann Denton
He goes all squinty eyed. “What the fuck? If I survive this, there’s no way in hell I want to be part of your harem. You got some goddamned Russian gangsters breathing down your neck. You’re a dead woman.”
“Whoa! Whoa, whoa!” Andrew interjects, but not before I grab his water bottle and chuck it at BJ’s fat head.
“Bitch, I’ll cut you!”
“Please, try,” I sneer.
BJ stands up and I can see his little dick is standing at attention.
I jerk my chin at it. “You like the idea of being my cuck, don’t you, fucker?”
“No! Shut up.” BJ sits back down, covering his dick. It’s so small his hand completely covers it.
“Just remember that next time you try to backstab me, asshole.” I seethe.
Andrew strokes my arm and helps me sit back down. “Heather. We have a plan. Calm down. We’re gonna get out of here. Okay? Just calm down and listen to the plan.” He gathers up my feet and puts them back onto his lap.
“Before the plan, I just … what the hell’s my nickname?” Jeremiah blurts out.
I can see the curiosity burning in his eyes. I roll my own. I point at Jeremiah. “You’re Thumper. Cause of your last name. Bible thumper.” I wink at him. “And because you’re good at thumping.”
His chest puffs up a bit as I turn to Andrew. “You’re just Doctor. Cause that’s hot all on its own.”
I bat my eyes at Andrew and say sweetly, "You were saying something about Blob and getting out of here?"
Andrew snorts at all my names before he answers. "Blob came in last night and said that the helicopter wouldn't start. He said he couldn't find Sasha. And that the chopper radio wasn’t working. They all ran out. I loosened my ropes the rest of the way and untied these two shortly after."
"So they’ve been gone for hours?" I stare at each and every one of the guys in shock and horror. "What the hell are we still doing here!? Why the hell didn't you wake me up?”
“We tried.”
BJ snorts. “An airhorn wouldn’t wake you up when you’re out, Heather.”
I flip him off and stare at Andrew, running my hands through my hair. Ugh, it’s a complete disaster. “Why haven't we run?"
"They've been searching the villas for Sasha all night and all morning. We expect they'll be back soon,” Andrew says before taking a bite of his pickle.
"But—" I stare at the three of them and they shake their heads. How can they act like this is Sunday brunch at grandma’s? Why aren’t we running for our motherfucking lives? And wait … if the gangsters been searching the villas, why haven’t they found Katie? Or any of the staff?
“Where’s everyone else?”
Jeremiah’s face darkens and he’s the one who answers. “Heard something about a boat speeding away. Looks like the staff left us behind.”
Ohhh … that makes my blood boil. Those selfish fucks. Are they even gonna report us to the authorities? Are there even any authorities who’d come? Did they take Katie? God, I hope they took Katie. First off, I hope she’s fucking safe. Secondly, that bitch knows I’ll pay for a private army to come in here and wipe these guys out.
I cross my fingers and motherfucking hope that Katie was on that boat and that she’s gonna send some hot GI Joes my way. I promise to pay them back in cash and sexual favors for life.
“What are you doing?” BJ asks.
I look down at my fingers and say, “Just hoping those assholes who forgot about us when they hopped in a boat didn’t really forget about us.”
Jeremiah says, “I don’t think we should count on that.”
“You gotta steal my only hope? That’s kind of a prick move, Thumper. That’s a strike-against-you kinda move.”
He rolls his eyes. “You think the harem bullshit is still on with all this? Get your head in the game. It’s life and death right now.”
Out. He’s totally out. And BJ was out but that cuck thing was kinda hot … he’s hanging on by a thread. Maybe. I glare at Andrew, daring him to disappoint me, too. If he’s gonna do it, he better do it now. Just rip off the band aid and get it the fuck over with. Andrew just sets down his pickle and starts massaging my feet.
I gulp. Damn he’s so sweet. He gives me a soft smile and lets me know that idiot Jeremiah’s just a fool. At least, that’s what I interpret his smile to mean.
Andrew gestures toward Jeremiah, who sets down his sandwich, wipes his mouth, and gives a nasty little smile, the kind men give after they’ve fucked your ass too hard. It’s self-satisfied and pricky. "Well now, based on what we've overheard, and the recon I did after Andrew untied me, it seems our little friends are just as stranded here we are."
"What?”
“Their helicopter isn’t working. Guess maybe the staff disabled it before they took off. Their cell phones don’t work. Neither do ours, by the way, tried that. But it looks like they’re stuck.” His eyes have this weird gleam. I’m starting to think he might be a little cray-cray.
“So?" I still have no clue why we haven't run into the forest. Why we aren’t hiding in the thick-ass trees? "They still have guns! Did y’all forget about that?"
And this is where Jeremiah's face turns scary. He gets an aggressive, maniacal look that I have never in my life seen before. "Oh, we remember. Do you remember how I told you my parents were a bit odd?”
I nod, even though my memories of chatting with Jeremiah are hazy. Too many men—they all blur together a bit.
I’m not sure if Jeremiah sees through my response or he’s just getting into being all dramatic. He starts waving his hands like a preacher and I decide he’s Mr. Drama. “My dad’s a prepper. Thinks the world’s gonna end and thinks he’s gonna want to survive the apocalypse. Made me run drills my whole life.” He leans back in his seat, seeming to forget he’s on a stool. He loses his balance a bit and has to grab the table so he doesn’t tunk right over onto the floor.
I swallow. Great. His dad sounds about as sharp as a marble—that’s one of Katie’s favorite sayings. Jeremiah’s face doesn’t make me feel too confident that the son’s not as nuts as the father. He can’t even sit on a stool.
Jeremiah keeps talking, explaining why the fuck we’re stuck with prisoner status when he knows how to build tree forts and hunt shit. I’d rather be playing fucking Tarzan and Jane right now than sitting here.
Jeremiah gets his hands going again. “You can run from tyrants. But they’ll chase you. We’re all stuck sharing this island. Without that chopper, they’ve got no way to leave. And they’ve got the weapons. How do you think that’s gonna work out?”
Tyrants? Really? He had to go there. I sigh but I shut my trap. Because for some reason, Andrew’s on board with this.
Jeremiah lifts his eyebrows like he’s clever. “We want to lure them into thinking they've got the upper hand. That’s why, when they do come back, we're gonna all act like we’re tied up and miserable.”
My stomach drops in disappointment. I cover my face with my hands. This sounds like the worst fucking plan ever. “And this is gonna help us, how?”
"It's gonna give us the time we need to build a bomb."
Chapter Eleven
Katie
I'm about to break down. Tears shine in my eyes and I chew my lip as I realize we're half a day away from getting back to Heather. Anything could happen in that half a day. Anything could've already happened. We came all the way up here … for nothing.
Alec strides over to me. I can't look up and meet his eyes. I can't bear to see his disappointment in me. I can't bear to have him critique me like my mother would. Or even just give me a pitying look—a look that means he thinks Heather’s gone. I fucked up so big.
Instead of talking, Alec gently takes the gun out of my hands. He takes the gun out of his waistband. And he hands them both to Kenneth.
Alec’s arms wrap around me. I'm picked up and cradled against his chest. I think he's about to give me a hug, a hug I don't deserve. My arms reach for him—but suddenly, my body goes sa
iling through the air.
Smack!
I hit the water in the pond and sink down hard. The floor of the pool comes at me like boards come at a hockey player—too fast. My ass gets bruised as a peach on the stones beneath the surface. Fuck! This pool is so shallow; it’s like a goddamn kiddie pool at the base of this waterfall. Only, it’s lined in stone and not plastic. Motherfucking ouch! I push myself up to the surface and sputter as I stand, coughing up water. My dress is drenched. But it's not heavy. There's not enough of it to be heavy. The water rolls off this sheer material and slides down my thighs.
There's a huge splash behind me. I turn to see Alec has jumped into the pool.
My heart is racing in my ribs from having flown through the air. My ass is throbbing, pain radiates up my lower back. My mind is stuck somewhere between furious and shocked. The two emotions pull me in opposite directions until I feel stretched as tight as a botoxed brow.
Alec strides toward me, his look dark and intent. He smiles and his teeth gleam in the light, like a fucking shark. Fury and shock fade. Instead, I feel hunted.
"What was that?” I ask, backing away as I wring out my hair. I try not to let my voice tremble. But shit, he looks mad at me. Is he pissed about everything?
"That was getting you out of your own head, Katie," he responds. "I could see you chastising yourself, blaming yourself. You can't do that."
What? His words blindside me. That is not what I was expecting to hear. Anger—sure. But a lecture? Who the hell is he to tell me to drop my guilt?
As typical of me, I lie. I hate the way he’s looking at me. I hate him pointing out my flaws even though I deserve it. I hate that he’s making everything uncomfortable. “I don’t feel guilty.”
“Lie!” Danny calls out across the water.
I flip him the bird.
“Well, who cares if I do? So what? My best friend’s down there. You think I’m supposed to feel good about this fuck up?" I cross my arms defensively, which just gets my wet dress tangled and makes it edge up my thighs. I’m not sure my ass is completely covered anymore, but my guys have all moved to the other side of the pool, guarding Peter Brown and Sports Coat, so I don’t really worry about it.
Alec shakes his head. “No. I don’t expect you to feel good about it. But stop blaming yourself for it. Because we all agreed to come out here. We can’t predict the future. We didn’t know Peter’d turn out to be a useless dead end.”
“Hey!” Peter starts to protest, but Kenneth just smacks him on the side of the head.
Alec continues, “Nobody's right all the time, Katie. You need to give yourself a break.”
"I can't. What if—"
Alec steps closer, casting a shadow over me as he glares down at me. He’s a dark, unrelenting wall of muscle and I’m intimidated as fuck. But I’m also turned on. “You can and you will. Because I'm gonna make you." With that last line Alec strides towards me like a panther. He's tall, dark, and dangerous. Instinct makes me take a step back.
"That's not nice," I whisper.
Alec cracks a half smile. "What about me ever made you think I was a nice guy? When I left you panting on the plane? When I dared you in order to force you to go on a date with me? When I cock-blocked those other two? When I fucked you in front of them?"
Shit. My pussy is molten. I swallow hard and back further away. "I get what you're trying to do. You’re trying to distract me. And you’re doing a really good job. But Heather could be dead right now and I don't have time for games."
"This isn’t a game. This is reality. You can't let your mind get stuck in a cycle of ‘what if’ or ‘if I had only.’ It's unhealthy. You think I don't have regrets? I've lost people. Lots of people. But if you sink into that thought process, it's like quicksand. That shit will pull you under. You can’t breathe down there. Trust me. I know." His voice gets gravelly with emotion.
Pity, sympathy, and empathy are car crushers … and my heart’s an old Buick. They smash me flat. I stop backing up. My fear is overcome. Because Alec has seen shit. Lived through it. I know he has. I can see it in his dark look. "I'm sorry for your loss."
He doesn't respond. He just reaches out for me and grabs me around the waist again. I let him. This time, he does give me the hug I originally anticipated. He crushes my body to his. He pulls me up high so that my toes float in the water. My skirt rides even further up my ass as his hands clench my waist.
He speaks into my hair. "I can't watch you fall down that rabbit hole. It can take years to climb out."
My throat constricts. My chest tightens. "I don't know how to avoid it." It's the truth.
"We focus on the future. Plan for the future. We plan for contingencies. We plan for every single thing you want to do when we get back down there. You want to shoot them up? Fine. We plan that. But you hold onto the future. That plan. You gotta fill your mind up with so many plans that there isn’t any room left for ‘what ifs’ or ‘if I'd only’ ..."
Plans. Plans. "I can try that."
Alec squeezes me even harder, his hands slipping from my waist down to my ass. He pulls my legs to wrap around him, getting me as close as possible. "Good." His buries his face in my neck, so his answer is muffled, but his tone is thick with emotion.
Suddenly his hands flex and his fingers dig into my ass. He pulls the cheeks apart. Then his finger slides down my crack and hits my slit. Since I have no panties, he can immediately feel just how wet his ‘asshole persona’ has made me. “Mmmm,” he moans. His finger circles my opening, then traces softly up and down my lips.
“Fucking turn around, now!” I see Danny push Peter Brown, forcing the other man to look away from where Alec’s raised my dress. Kenneth stands, after having rolled Sports Coat in the other direction. After they’ve ensured the others aren’t looking, both my guys stare solemnly at me as Alec continues to tease my opening.
My thoughts start to float like feathers. Wispy, fluttering. Until his finger plunges into me and every thought I have is blown away. “No,” I moan. But I don’t mean it.
“No? You want me to stop?” Alec asks, bending his finger so he can gently tap my g-spot.
“No.” The word just slips out.
“Okay,” he sighs and starts to withdraw his finger.
I panic when I realize what he’s doing. “No, I mean, we shouldn’t be doing this, but no … don’t stop.”
Alec’s grin is feral. “If you want me to keep going, I’m gonna finger you in front of them. Kenneth and Danny are gonna get to watch you writhe and moan and ride my finger like it’s a little cock.”
He doesn’t play fair. Because as he describes all that, his hand digs into my ass and pulls me back so that the hand inside my pussy can grind against my clit as his finger fucks me.
I can’t even respond because my mind is reduced to flashes of color and electric sensations. There’s a fucking ‘90s rave going on inside my body and the light is dancing. But then it stops. Alec slides his finger out of me and flips me around so my back is to him. “Put your hands around my neck,” he growls into my ear.
I link my hands around him and he slides my dress up, exposing my pussy to the view of Danny and Kenneth. Danny checks to make sure Peter’s still looking away. Once, he’s reassured himself, this is a private show, he starts to stroke himself over his shorts.
Alec wraps my legs backward around his waist, so that I arch forward a little and my pussy is exposed, pointed right at them. I feel a moment of embarrassment before Alec plunges two fingers inside me and scissors them. His other hand slides across my chest just enough for him to grab my nipple through my dress in a vice grip. He tweaks my nipple and sensation shoots down to my womb.
“You’re a naughty little girl. Letting them watch you like this in the open. Are you my bad girl, Katie?” Alec whispers right into my ear before biting my neck.
Shit! Embarrassment is forgotten as lust makes me buck like a bronco. All the hormones and emotions and fear and anxiety that have been pooling in my system burn
up as I turn into an inferno of lust. Nothing else can survive this heat.
He tugs again on my nipple and bends his head forward to nip at my neck. I feel his cock swelling against my ass, nudging against my crack.
“Open those eyes and look at your men while they stare at you,” Alec orders.
I do. Danny’s halfway to his own orgasm, by the look of things. And Kenneth has a dark, hungry look in his eyes. I dig my legs into Alec’s back and lift my pelvis more, trying to give them an even better view.
Alec’s palm smacks my clit as his fingers work me. That earns a moan. So he repeats it. Smack. Smack. The fifth one sends me over the edge. “Fuck!” I dig my hands into the back of his neck, scratching him as he makes me come.
He keeps working me though. He doesn’t stop. He just pulls his fingers out from inside me and uses those wet digits to circle my clit, soaking it with my juices. Once it’s slippery to the touch, he pinches it gently between his fingers and then pulls. I blow like a transformer. The orgasm is so intense, it’s literally a flash of light behind my eyes before everything goes dark. My toes curl and my muscles spasm and my body short circuits before going limp. My mind is one hundred percent wiped.
Alec finally stops when my arms drop from around his neck. He pulls me flush against him, circling my ribcage and my hips, and holding me as I come back down. "God, I want to fuck you right now," he whispers.
I blink. "What?" My eyes and ears are still not functioning at full capacity.
His fingers knead my flesh. Then he takes one hand and traces up the curve of my hip. He reaches up and tugs my skirt back down, saying, "I love this fucking dress. Hiking up here behind you, watching the bottom of your ass cheeks peek out from the skirt—best view I’ve ever had. Made hauling that useless fucker up here worth it."
I giggle. "You're crazy."