Blackthorn Elite: The Entire Series

by Beck, J. L.

  “Sit up, Stella,” I order, a little harsher than necessary. She doesn’t move and instead starts to sob harder. Trying a different tact, I lean down, slide my arms under her body, and lift her up. I take note of the fact that she weighs barely anything at all, and a possessive urge to shove food down her throat blooms inside of my chest.

  With her chin tucked into her chest, I can’t see her face, but I don’t have to see it to know that she’s broken. Like a bird with clipped wings, she can never escape us, or what happened to her.

  Taking her by the chin, I gesture for Cam to hold her up. His arms replace mine, and I force her to look at me. Big eyes misted with tears meet my own, and it feels like someone has kicked me right in the fucking balls. Pure defeat reflects back at me, and I clench my jaw to hide the emotions I’m feeling.

  “What’s wrong? Why are you crying? You came, did you not? I didn’t hurt you.” I force myself to keep my voice even and soft like I’m speaking to a child.

  “I did, and you didn’t hurt me.” Her bottom lip wobbles and she tries to pull out of my grasp, but I pinch her chin hard, my gaze hardening. She should know better than to try and pull away by now.

  “Okay, so what’s the problem?”

  “Aside from the obvious fact of your house burning down,” Cam adds, and I shoot him a look which he dismisses with a smirk.

  “I…I… It’s all my fault. I should have been home. I should have been with her.”

  “Your grandma is sick, that’s not your fault, and you can’t always be with her, so stop blaming yourself,” I tell her the truth, but she keeps crying, probably not even hearing much of what I say.

  “The doctor at the hospital said Grams needs to be put in a home. One of those fancy expensive ones where she has doctors and nurses around the clock.” Stella blinks away some of the tears and lets out a shuddering breath. “I started working here because it’s the only job I can get where I’ll be able to afford something like that for her.”

  I nod, understanding her need to protect her grandmother. She’s all she has, but I refuse to let her work here, to let her show her body off to any Joe Blow that walks in this place. No fucking way. She’s ours.

  “You know we won’t let you work here, right?” I reply, and the sadness in her eyes returns ten-fold. She nods her head as best she can, her lips start trembling again.

  “Not because we don’t want you to have a chance at making money and taking care of your grams, but because you belong to us,” Cam tells her, his voice dropping to a panty-melting degree, “and no way in hell are we letting someone look, let alone touch you.”

  Like a dam breaking, Stella falls apart, big fat tears start to roll down her cheeks again. Never before was it so apparent to me how complicated women are. I just fucked ’em and left. What the hell do I do now?

  “I have nowhere to go… I’m staying in a motel right now that I can barely afford.”

  Her confession sets the alpha off inside of me.

  “A Motel? Where?”

  “Not far from here,” she answers through sobs.

  Before I can put too much thought into what I’m saying, the words just pour out of me, “You’re not going back there. You’re staying with us.” This causes her gaze to widen and her swollen lips to part. I know that Stella isn’t just anyone to us and that until we’ve had our fill of her, she will be ours to do whatever we want with.

  “Stt-staying with you? I don’t even know where you’re staying? Plus, I can’t. I have no money. I can’t afford it.” Panic visibly claws at her throat, and I hate seeing her like this. Breaking eye contact with Stella, I meet Cam’s concerned gaze. I know what he wants to do to her, wrap his arms around her and tell her everything is going to be okay. But it’s not. The cruel truth of the world is that not everything is always going to be okay. Sometimes it’s going to be shit, and it might be that way for a while. That’s just the way the world works.

  I understand how Cam is, in many ways, he is the opposite of me, soft, charismatic, and tender when he needs to be, together we’re the epitome of what a man should be. But all of those things, they’re not what Stella needs. She needs our strength, passion, some tender love. But most of all, she needs us to control her.

  “What if we offered to pay you the same pay you get here. All you would have to do is dance for us. Exclusively.”

  “Dance for you?” She looks confused.

  “That’s what you were doing here, right? You can still do it, but for us instead.”

  “I don’t know… I don’t think I can do it. I don’t want to come with you…” Her words slice through me, igniting an anger that burns hotter than the fucking sun. Before I know what I’m doing, my hand is releasing her chin and moving around to the back of her neck. In a second, my fingers splay through her soft hair wrapping around the golden strands as I grab a fist full of it. She yelps out when I force her head back by her hair, exposing her delicate throat to me.

  “I don’t understand why you still think you have a say in anything. I try and be gentle with you, but it does me no good. It seems like you want to be controlled, want us to tell you what to do. Fortunately for you, I can make that happen.” I lean into her face, making note of her wince. “I don’t care what you want. You are coming with us, and you should be glad we are paying you at all because if we wanted to, we could just take from you, take until there isn’t a single thing left.”

  “You’re hurting me,” she whimpers, but I don’t let her go. In fact, I want to tighten my grip but reel myself in, afraid that if I lose control, I may actually harm her. She’s so precious like glass, the slightest crack may shatter her.

  “Stella doesn’t like pain,” Cameron explains, a frown on his lips. “She told me the other day that she doesn’t want us to hurt her.”

  “Is that so?” I look away from Cameron and back down at her, “I didn’t hear you complaining when I was slapping your pussy. If I recall, you creamed all over my fucking fingers. I’ve never seen a woman so wet in my life.”

  “Please, stop,” she begs, and I feel her words in my cock, which is currently rising to attention. “I’ll… I’ll come with you. Just please don’t hurt me anymore.”

  “Hurt you?” I growl, and release her hair, “You’ve yet to know what it feels like to be hurt, but I suppose it’s time we showed you. Maybe we need to give you a little more pain, show you what it would feel like.”

  Stella starts to shake her head, big fat tears cascading down her cheeks, and I feel compelled to lick them off her face. I want to taste her fear, taste her pain.

  Cameron pulls her to her feet, but as soon as he lets go of her, she looks like she is about to collapse. Both of us are on her in a flash, making sure she doesn’t fall.

  “Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Let us take care of you. All you have to do in return is keep your pretty mouth shut, spread your legs a little, and shake your ass for us. Can you do that, sweetheart? Can you be a good girl?” Cam’s voice turns seductive, and I almost grin at the effort he is using. We don’t have to seduce her; she’ll do whatever we want either way.

  “Yes,” she finally answers, defeat dripping from that one single word. Reaching into my back pocket, I take out five one-hundred-dollar bills and shove them into her hand. She lifts her gaze from the floor and to her hand before flicking her pretty eyes up to my face.

  “There is way more where that came from,” I grin. She doesn’t say anything, but she does close her hand around the money. She might be stubborn, but she isn’t stupid. She needs the money bad enough to not worry about her pride.

  Together Cam and I help Stella become a little more presentable, covering her as best as we can. Cam puts his arms around her and tucks her to his side. I grin, seeing how she instinctively leans into him, seeking comfort. She might be scared of us, but part of her knows that we’ll protect her.

  As soon as we exit the room, I find Martie. I still want to put my fist into his face for pushing Stella in the
room earlier, but I know he has like three bouncers in here who would pounce on me like the attack dogs they are.

  “She is leaving with us, and she is not coming back. If you see her in here again give either Cam or me a call,” I speak the words to Martie, but my eyes aren’t on him, they’re on Stella. In a room full of half-naked women, she is the only one I can see right now. If I was ever going to fall for a girl, it would be her.

  “Got it,” Martie mumbles under his breath and walks away.

  Spotting Valorie eyeing us like we’ve lost our minds, I wave her over. When she is in earshot, I tell her, “Go fetch Stella’s shit from the dressing room.”

  She frowns but does as I command. A few moments later, she returns, holding a plastic bag with what I assume is clothes. I grab it from her without a word, and the three of us walk out.

  I can feel everyone staring at us, probably trying to figure out what makes Stella so different from the rest of the girls in this place. I’ve lost count of how many girls here have begged us to take them home. The first night Stella is here, we take her. Truthfully, I don’t know what it is about her, but what I do know is she is ours, and nothing is going to take her away from us.

  Nothing.

  * * *

  When we arrive back at the house that we share with Warren, Stella is asleep in the backseat. Slowly I pull into the driveway and kill the engine. We’ve never brought a chick here other than for fucking. We are bringing Stella to stay. The thought seems ridiculous, but also completely right. It’s different because we are not just making her share our bed, we are making her share our lives, and that makes this all seem ten times more personal.

  Cam moves, lifting Stella into his arms, his gaze colliding with my own in the rearview mirror. I know he’s getting attached, the tether tightening around his heart that connects to her. Does he not realize how slippery and fucked up love can get? Plus, we need to keep a clear head, there’s still a chance she could tell someone about what we did, and if we have to hurt her, that will only complicate things.

  As if he understands what I’m saying with only my eyes, he nods and opens the back door with one hand. He slips out of the car and onto the driveway, and I get out and run around to his side. Stella stirs in his arms; her big eyes flicker open and move over the landscape.

  “Where are we?” She croaks.

  “Our place, we share it with a friend, but he won’t care if you’re here or not.”

  Stella doesn’t look like she believes us, but I don’t really care what she believes or not. All she needs to worry about is us. Her sole attention and concern should be us. Cam lets her go and sets her down on her feet. She sways as if she’s going to fall over but rights herself, holding her chin up high.

  There is the Stella I know is hiding right beneath the surface. We walk up the front steps and into the house. Silence greets us as we step inside and close the door behind us. My hand circles her forearm as I tug her toward the bedroom. Part of me wishes I could be kinder, gentler with her, but I don’t have it in me.

  “Where are you taking me?” She sounds exhausted, and for once, I don’t want to fight with her.

  “You’re going to take a shower, tell us what happened with Grams, and then we’re all going to go to bed,” I explain as we walk down the hall. When we reach my bedroom, I open the door and lead us inside. I release her and walk over to the dresser, pulling out a T-shirt and a pair of boxers. They’ll both be big on her, but they’ll have to do until we get her some clothes.

  “Bathroom is right through there.” I point to the second door on the right side of the room. When she doesn’t say anything, I close the distance between us and give her the clothing. Cam went to his bedroom, most likely to shower and change too, so it’s just her and me.

  “Nothing is going to happen to you. We won’t hurt you,” I tell her.

  “Maybe not tonight, but eventually you will. That’s what you keep saying, at least.”

  “We told you that we would only hurt you if you don’t do as we say.”

  “And how long is that supposed to go on? I can’t just stay here with you forever. I have my own life,” she whispers the last bit, her hands holding onto the clothes with a death grip. I digest what she’s said, and the only answer I can come up with is one that will make this all the more confusing for her.

  “You belong to us. That’s all you need to know right now.” I don’t understand the infatuation, and I may never, but I’m tethered to her. Cam and I both are. I lean into her face, wanting to kiss her lips that are shaped in a sad frown. It doesn’t matter if she’s happy or sad, she still makes my cock rock hard. “Go shower, and when you get out, we will finish talking,” I order.

  She looks up at me hesitantly as if she doesn’t believe I’d let her shower alone, but then she whips around and all but runs into the bathroom. The door closes behind her a second later, and then I hear the shower turning on.

  Sighing against the king-size bed, I try and figure out what the hell we’re doing. I lie there for a few minutes before I hear Cam walk into the bedroom.

  “Did you kill her?” he asks jokingly. I stare at him openly like he’s stupid.

  “No, she’s showering. Then she’s going to tell us what happened with Grams and who died in the fire.”

  “Okay…” there is a long pause of silence, and I let my eyes drop down to the floor. “When does this end? Neither one of us does relationships. We can’t possibly keep her.”

  His questions irritate me. Mainly because I don’t know the solution, I don’t know how this is going to end.

  Swallowing down my anger, I tell myself he’s just thinking rationally, “I don’t have an answer, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m just taking it all one day at a time.” We share a secret and letting her go now would be like cutting off my own hand. It would hurt, and I would know there was a missing piece. I wouldn’t die, and I could easily live, but why cut off a perfectly good hand?

  “I get it, but this isn’t fair to her. I mean, what’s…” Anger boils over inside of me, and I twist on the bed to face him, cutting him off.

  “Life isn’t fair, Cam. Don’t let your feelings for her cloud your judgment. Think with your big head, and not your little one.”

  Cam gives me a dirty look, his mouth popping opening before he closes it, holding in his response when the bathroom door opens, and Stella’s towel-covered head pops out. She tiptoes out of the bathroom and I take in her slender body. Something catches my eye on her neck; it’s then that I see the bruises on her throat. She must have covered them up with makeup before, they were definitely not visible earlier.

  Pure rage pumps through my veins, and I’m half tempted to get back in my car and go find Paul to make sure he doesn’t try and hurt her again.

  “Come sit,” I pat the spot on the bed beside me, pushing my anger for Paul aside. Stella looks between both of us before she starts moving. I let my gaze linger over her legs, and her middle, which is currently swallowed by my T-shirt.

  Fuck, she looks good in my clothes. A possessive need to toss her on the bed and ravage her alive roars to the surface, but I tamp it down, knowing her day has been rough enough.

  “What’s going to happen next?” She mumbles softly.

  “For now, just tell us what happened, and if you’re hungry, we can get some food. After that, we’ll go to bed.”

  “I don’t have to sleep with you?”

  “Well, you will sleep with me in my bed, but that’s all we’ll do today. No fucking tonight. That’s coming soon though,” Cam grins at her, and I swear all the blood in her face drains. I place my hand on her knee and squeeze it gently, bringing her attention back to me.

  “Tonight, nothing happens. Just tell me what went down at the house. Grams is in the hospital, and you’re alive, so who was the person that died?”

  Stella sniffles and I wonder if she’s going to start crying again. God, I’m not sure I can handle any more tears tonight. “Our nei
ghbor went in and saved Grams, and we are guessing she thought I was inside too. That’s why she went back in. They couldn’t get her out in time.”

  “How did the fire start?” I ask.

  “Grams was cooking again and forgot to turn the stove off after.” Tears well in her gray eyes. “The police called me while I was job searching, they came and got me, took me to the hospital. When I got there, they told me…” Emotions clog her throat, and she takes a calming breath forcing air into her lungs. “They said Grams is a danger to herself, me, and others. She needs to be put in a home where she can be watched and cared for around the clock.”

  “All that matters is that she’s okay. Like we said, we’ll pay you enough to help take care of her. We’re assholes, but not heartless,” Cam chuckles, but neither Stella nor I laugh.

  “I don’t even have clothes. The only things I have are in that bag, it’s what I was wearing the day of the fire.” Avoiding my eyes, she looks down at her bare legs.

  “Don’t worry about that. We’ll get you some clothes and whatever else you need as well. We take care of what’s ours,” I tell her, but she doesn’t seem to find much comfort in my words.

  “Come on, let’s get you to bed,” Cameron says, motioning for her to get up. She stands up and starts following him out of my room, but before she gets to the door, she pauses and turns to me one more time. She doesn’t say anything, just looks at me. I can’t for the life of me figure out what the hell she is thinking right now. Then she turns back to Cam and disappears from my room like she wasn’t here at all.

  54

  Stella

  I wake up slowly, from a sleep that has been the deepest and the best sleep I’ve had in a very long time. The mattress feels like a cloud, and the sheets are so incredibly soft on my skin; they feel like silk. But the most comfortable and soothing part of this bed is the warmth like a protective cocoon it wraps around me, protecting me and keeping me safe.