by J. L. Beck
“You’re so innocent,” Nico breathed against my neck.
But I continued bartering. I had to for my family’s safety even if my father had to be punished. I defended my father hoping that Nico would see through his blind rage. Instead I got something entirely different than understanding.
One of Nico’s hands slipped into my hair, wrapping around the locks tightly.
Tingles of pain scattered across my scalp while his other hand pressed forcefully against my lower back. He pulled my head back, forced the rest of my body forward, proving without words he was in control.
“You’re mine, and I won’t have my property defending the honor of those that are below them. If your father didn’t take half a million dollars from me, and gamble it away, I wouldn’t be here right now… with my hand wrapped up into your silky locks, and my cock pressed against your back side, fighting everything I’ve got in me to claim your tight pussy and make it mine.”
“Please let her go Nico. I’ll do whatever you want, anything…” My father pleaded.
I panted from Nico’s words, filled with resolve and control, as waves of hot and cold rolled over my skin. My thighs rubbed against each other and a moan threatened to escape my lips. I was turned on, and afraid. I was up, and down. I was subdued in his hold, but still he threw caution to my father.
“Shut your mouth, Mark, or I’ll pop her sweet cherry right here in front of you.”
I knew right then that Nico was crude, and impulsive, and that if I wanted him to let my parents go then I would have to do what he wanted. “Please… Don’t hurt them… If you don’t hurt them… I’ll… I’ll do what you want. I won’t fight.” I tried to sound confident but I was shaking with fear on the inside.
Nico dropped his stare to mine, his pupils dilating and making his searing gaze darker while his hot breath hitched.
I could tell he liked the idea of me going without a fight.
Maybe he really didn’t want to hurt me? Maybe we’d all survive if I obeyed.
No. I had to keep fighting. I pushed him away. I was crazy to think that this man who had just shown up on my parents door step, with duct tape, and rope, and probably guns too wouldn’t try and hurt me, or even rape me.
I was naïve, but I wasn’t dumb. He must’ve made up his mind as he released the hold he had on my hair, letting me move forward. He still had me against the wall though, trapping me, confining me.
He pressed his lips against my throbbing pulse at my neck, the one place I couldn’t hide my fear, my arousal.
“I can feel your fear. I can sense your arousal. I can tell you want me just as much as I want you even though it feels wrong. Even though your daddy is tied to that chair in the other room. Even if you’re scared, you’re curious too, and that’s all that matters to me, little one. You’re all that matters.” His lips trembled against my skin.
I sighed, leaning into his touch and wondering why I was succumbing to the lure of power, of control, or reasoning, and punishment. There was something wrong with me. I couldn’t be attracted to a man who wanted to kill my family, and kidnap me.
I should’ve been running, kicking, and screaming, doing whatever I could to escape his hold, yet if anything I wanted him to pull me closer, to whisper more words in my ear, and call me his.
He pushed my hair behind my ear, his touch more gentle than I’d ever known, personal, possessive, like each strand he’d counted and named. Although he exuded danger, and death, although he had the power to kill, he took pity on me that I had no power at all.
Mercy even. If I wanted to save my parent’s lives, and secure this debt then I would have to give myself over to him. If I warmed up to thought maybe he would make my time with him bearable.
“Please.” I pleaded with him, yet making up my mind. Knowing my father had gone to this man to borrow money just to gamble it away didn’t surprise me. Mom and I had suspected an issue, but there was nothing we could do, could have done. You couldn’t help someone who didn’t want to help themselves. Now mom and I paid the price.
“Please don’t hurt her. She’s our only child.” My mother cried out, voicing her opinion for the first time since the exchange.
These were strange circumstances and just like me she probably assumed it was best to keep her mouth shut. But my mother sobbed, and I held very still as if I was being held by the throat by a lion. My father had all but lured Nico into our house, and now it was my job to survive the kill.
“Oh, I won’t hurt her Mrs. Sullivan. I’ve got other plans, ones that include very little clothing, and a whole lot of fucking…”
My knees buckled but Nico encircled my waist, spinning me around to face him. My eyes grew wide with fear at the thought of him and I in bed together. He had already stated he knew that I was a virgin, but now he was staking claim to me. I turned, my eyes moving to my father and mother. When would I see them again?
Nico’s eyes turned dark as he grabbed me, pulling me into his rock hard chest.
His heart hammered into me. How was it possible that a man like this had a heart?
“Please, don’t… please…”
“Don’t beg for him, little one. He’s abused you both. I know the kind of man he is even if you aren’t ready to see you deserve better. Deserve to be a queen. My queen,” He hissed, cupping me by the chin, his lips hovering just above mine.
“Tie em’ up, duct tape their mouths, and shoot her father. No kill shots, I don’t want to clean up a dead body today.” Nico ordered his assistant, who had already done one of the following.
Fear rattled me, and even as Nico released me, moving his weight off my front while I still stood there shocked and paralyzed, my mind spinning with the truth. My father was evil. Maybe more so that Nico.
Nico softened his threatening mask. “Your father deserves what is coming to him, and that’s that. Pleading won’t change anything. I’m here because of him, and you’re mine because of him. You should be angry at him not sad because of what’s going to happen.” He stated.
Nico’s assistant pulled out a gun and Nico nodded, giving the man permission to deal the sentence.
Fear stabbed my belly as Nico plucked me off the ground, holding me against his chest and pressing my face against his shoulder, like a blindfold. “No!” I punched and kicked, but Nico squeezed me tighter.
Within seconds, Nico spun, and speed walked out the door while cradling me and dampening the fight I tried desperately to hold on to.
The dusky sunset, the heat rising off of Nico and seeping into me couldn’t silence the ringing of the gun as the bullet shot from the chamber, forever changing my life.
“You’re mine now, and I’ll protect you from all the bad in the world… including myself…”
Nico cupped my face against his chest, even as I struggled against his hold, even as warm tears trickled down my chilled cheeks.
Before I realized what he was doing, my movements became sluggish as I tried to suck in oxygen, my lungs grasping for bits of air. My mind whirled and searched for understanding what the future held and why Nico was robbing me of my breath.
He was suffocating me, killing me.
The thought slammed into me right before everything went dark, my body exhausted and my lungs burning for air, but still he never let me fall.
44
Nico
We arrived at the house before she awoke, and my body hummed with a hunger I’d never had for a woman. I needed to get inside, strip off my clothes, and take a shower. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, making my desire for sweet Riley more overwhelming than it had ever been before. But I held on to my control. It was all I had.
I hated myself for suffocating her, for forcing the air from her lungs until she passed out in my arms, but I had no option.
As much I wanted to believe that she wouldn’t fight me on leaving, I knew otherwise. She was going to struggle, and she did, proving me correct. Proving to me she was the fighter I knew she would be, my perfect match.
I carried her gently through the foyer, past the marble pillars flanking the open space that led up to the winding staircase and to my bedroom suite. Again, I noticed that she weighed nothing more than one of the Dobermans that roamed the yard. We would change that soon.
If she was going to be up to par with my fucking skills and demands then she’d need sustenance, and she’d most definitely need a little more weight to cover her bones and round the hard angles of her thin frame. I should have had Antonio shoot her father twice for withholding proper nutrition from his only daughter.
I gazed down at her, admiring her soft features. She was so beautiful it was almost painful, my heart clenching deep in my chest. She didn’t wear makeup, didn’t need to, and she didn’t really care about spending hours curling her hair from what I had noticed from watching her. She just had this natural beauty about her, encompassing my soul, and every single thought that pushed to the surface.
Which I couldn’t allow.
Or at least I shouldn’t allow. Truth circled me. I was obsessed, and touching her, and caressing her, and holding her, it was all tempting the beast inside me to break free and take her. The beast that wanted to claim her as his own.
The swell of her breast rose and fell with her gentle breath as I moved up the steps with her. She was fucking perfect, her pink painted lips formed the perfect pout, and all I could do was envision those lips wrapped around my cock, sucking me off until I exploded, sending my seed deep down her throat.
I walked down the grand hall, knowing the house was much more than she was used to. All of this was much more than she was used too. Including me. She was the property of a criminal now, a loan shark, and I had no intention of ever letting her go.
I pushed open the door to my suite, and then gave the door a nudge with my foot so it shut behind me. I hoped like hell when she awoke, she didn’t freak out, or try to escape. Hurting her wasn’t part of my plan. No. My plan was plain and simple. Take her, protect her, and make her mine.
Settling her onto the huge king sized mattress, I wondered if the bed was soft enough for her. Fuck, I shook my head, ripping off my suit jacket, and placing my gun on the nightstand. If she wanted to shoot me I was giving her a chance to do so.
That should have bothered me, but as I shucked my slacks, and shoes, and unbuttoned my dress shirt, throwing it all to the floor, before heading toward the shower. I’d felt the way she’d held me too tightly. Seen the way she’d gazed into my eyes. Did she recognize me from before, the one other time I’d saved her?
I gazed at myself in the mirror. My brown eyes seemed duller than usual, and though my body was ripped with muscles, my energy drained before me at the deed done. I eyed the tattoos inked into my arms and chest, and focused on the one spot on my chest I had left open for Riley.
Her name was going to be scrawled into my skin soon, or as soon as I could get her to surrender to me. I hoped like hell she would take to me like I already did her. There were no guarantees, but submitting to me would be easier for both of us. She made me want to prove to her that I wasn’t only taking her for my own pleasure. I wanted her for more than just sex.
She was going to be my wife, and someday she’d carry my child inside her. The thought caused my cock to twitch, and I stepped into the hot spray of water. I let the water wash away all the sins I had committed for the day. Blood soaked my hands every day, even when I washed away the blood of my enemies, their blood remained a permanent stain on my hands.
Life of a criminal meant never forgetting the things you’d done to get where you were. That someday your blood would fall onto the hands of another crime boss’s. No one was safe in this life. We were all running on borrowed time.
Riley made a mewing sound behind me, tugging my attention toward her.
My cock lengthened and I took my shaft into my hand, gripping the hard length tightly. I stroked my engorged dick up and down, each thrust of my hips sending a zing of pleasure through me. I’d fucked my hand many times to the image of Riley since she’d turned eighteen, picturing her on her knees, begging to be taken by me.
Since this moment the thrill of imagining myself dominating her had been nothing more than a dream while I beat off myself, but now pleasuring myself by claiming her body was going to be a reality. I’d get to take her just as I imagined I always would, hard and fast, showing her how well pleasure and pain could mix, tantric pleasure I’d draw out until she screamed my name. I grunted, the head of my cock slipping through my hands, as the hot water pelted my back.
“Fuck…” A hiss escaped my lips and I squeezed tighter envisioning Riley’s tight channel swallowing me whole. All I could picture was her and her pouty lips, her eyes filled with ecstasy as I lavished upon her the pleasure I could give her.
I bit the inside of my cheek and leaned against the tile, my body nearly giving out as I stroked the last pump before releasing my load. Hot semen spurted out against the tile. But as pleasure coursed through my veins, I wondered if I had made the right choice bringing Riley here. Could she ever want me like I wanted her?
Was it right to bring her into my home, when all I wanted to do was protect her from all the bad in the world, myself included?
I washed my hair and body, and then rinsed the suds, watching as they went down the drain not quite erasing the sins of the day. The pleasure I had been feeling just moments before swirled down the drain with the suds. Instead guilt and worry took pleasure’s place.
I killed the water and stepped out of the shower, my eyes dropping to the floor, and moving up a pair of shapely, creamy white legs. A smiled pulled at my lips till I noticed the gun pointed at me.
45
Riley
The gun was heavier than I expected, but I didn’t know much about weapons I supposed. I didn’t know that a powerful man like Nico would let down his guard, jerk himself off, leaving himself so vulnerable either. I stood before him and power zipped through me at the thought of him giving up his control to me.
“I told you I’d go quietly…” My lips trembled, and I bit the lower lip to keep it from revealing my racing heart.
Fear flickered behind Nico’s eyes before he spoke. “I had to protect us both. It wasn’t like I enjoyed doing what I did to you. So give me the gun, Riley. I don’t want you doing something you’ll regret for the rest of your life.”
Honesty mated with his solid tone, and I locked my eyes with his dark stare. Could I really pull the trigger? I adjusted the gun nestled against my palm, contemplating what I would say next, my eyes feasting on his muscled body, and over his growing erection. I swallowed, gulping down my desire as I wondered what having him buried inside me would feel like. It was a strange thought, both wanting him dead and wanting him very much alive.
“Do you like what you see little one? Because this, every single throbbing inch…” He gripped his dick in his hand just as he had earlier when he jerked off. “Is yours. I’m yours, and you’re mine.”
I lifted the gun higher, my hands shaking from the weight, or my building desire for this man who’d saved me from my father.
“Stay back.” I warned.
“You’re not shooting me.” Nico took a step forward and then another, until the barrel of the gun rested directly over his heart, stealing away my will to hurt him.
He eased the gun from my hands, leaving me at his mercy again. Maybe I should have pulled the trigger. Or ran away. Curiosity prickled my scalp when he pushed a stray hair behind my ear.
“Will you hurt me?” I squeaked, lifting my eyes to meet his hungry gaze. I wasn’t surprised. Men had leered at me my entire life.
“I should punish you. I should toss you over my shoulder and carry you off to my bed, our bed. I should fuck you until you scream my name while I thoroughly possess your body in ways you’d never thought possible.”
I shuddered at the image he detailed, his name rolling past my lips like an invitation to do what he wanted with my body. “Nico…”
Nico grippe
d me by the hips, lifting my small frame, and pressing me to the wall behind me. He forced a soft gasp from my lips, the gun clattering to the floor at my feet as he examined my features.
“Say it again.” he growled.
“Say what?” I tested, cocking back my chin.
He thrust his knee between my legs, holding me in place. He leaned in, and whispered the words directly into my ear. “My name. I like hearing you say it, it makes me want to have you scream it while I’m between your thighs, feasting on your virgin pussy.”
Shock filled me as much as his dirty talked stirred forbidden thoughts. Or at least unfamiliar thoughts. What would Nico feel like, tasting me, touching me in ways I could only imagine? “You don’t mean that. You’re a killer that could take anyone, claim anyone. You couldn’t really want me.”
My lips trembled at the realization Nico could want me when I’d never been wanted by anyone, not even my father wanted a daughter.
A sinful smile pulled at his lips. “I very much do want you, taking you in ways you couldn’t ever imagine, doing it.”
He licked at the soft flesh below my ear, one long brush of warmth, making my pulse jump. I sank my fingers into his shoulders, each little finger pushing him, causing the space around us to grow hotter. I tested, “What’s it?”
He cupped my cheeks, his lips close enough to mine that if he puckered he’d kiss me. “It is eating you out until you’re raw. It is fucking you until you can’t take another inch. It is reminding you in every way why you’re mine, and only mine.”
He shook as he spoke as if my innocence had more power over him than his strength and experience did on me. But in his hold, that familiar feeling of safety blanketed me. I realized it was Nico, his touch, his tone, his weird familiarity and what I’d been wanting. Intuition told me he would not hurt me ever.