Cruel Temptation

by Callahan, Kelli

  “A-1,” she mumbled and scrubbed her nose before yanking the blanket up to her chin.

  Her and that damn sauce. The fall didn’t kill her, but the crap food she ate would. I’d have to start incorporating fruits and veggies into her diet. Somehow. Someway. And I bet if she had her way, she’d pour sauce on them too.

  Disgusting, but I loved her anyway.

  I swung my legs over the bed and gave Quinn one last look before I stood and stretched. It was dark out, the night sky showed, and the ocean twinkled against the moon’s glow. It had to be sometime in the middle of the night if I had to guess with how dark it was outside. And if it was up to me, I’d lay in bed with Quinn all night, maybe slide back inside her slicked cunt that was still wet with my come, but I had to listen to my gut.

  It wasn’t good when my instincts woke me up.

  Okay, one more look at Quinn, and this time it would be the last. I couldn’t help it; I really didn’t want to leave her. Having sex with her when she didn’t have a memory of me, I thought it would be devastating, but the passion between had been so intense that it made me feel like it was the first time too.

  Regardless, I wanted my Quinn back. All of her. Not just bits and pieces. The doctor said to give it time, but I was an impatient man, and I wanted my damn peace with Quinn. Right here, right now. I bent over and grabbed my pants off the floor and jumped a few times to get the material around my thighs. I fasted the button and made sure I was tucked in before zipping up. I didn’t bother with a shirt.

  I slipped out the door and locked it behind me. If Quinn woke up, I’d be in so much trouble for locking her inside, but it was for her safety. Something was wrong, and I’d be damned if she wasn’t secured.

  “Something wake you up too?” Sebastian whispered as he rubbed his eyes, stepping out of his bedroom in sweatpants.

  “Yeah, I don’t know what it is,” I said.

  “What the fuck? Why are we awake?” Owen grouched as he yawned, then lifted his arm like a monkey and scratched his armpit. “Stupid gut feelings.”

  “Hey,” Heaven greeted us with a smile, freshly showered, and eating a damn bagel.

  “Oh, fuck off.” Owen snatched Heaven’s breakfast out of his hand and tore off a piece of the bread, chomping on it savagely.

  “That was mine,” Heaven pouted like a child.

  “No one should be that happy in the morning,” Owen pointed toward the youngest of the group, and it reminded me of Quinn, and how she hated to wake up without coffee and food.

  “Where’s Grayson?” I asked and followed the hall, my gut leading the way.

  “Sleeping, probably. The man could sleep through a tornado,” Sebastian said.

  “I’m here.”

  We all turned to see him dragging his feet down the hall toward us. He almost looked like he was sleepwalking. “It’s too early for a pack meeting. Can’t we just ignore whatever is happening and go back to sleep?”

  “No. I don’t know what’s going on. Did anyone check on Brian?” I had been lacking in the ‘kill Brian’ department ever since Quinn came into my life again.

  “He was chained and starving last time I check on him but I did give him water. We don’t want him to die just yet,” Owen said, taking another bite of Heaven’s bagel. “I say let’s go check on him, and maybe I’ll give him the rest of this bagel.”

  “It’s my fucking breakfast. If anyone should get it, it should be me.” Heaven tried to grab his food back, but Owen was taller and kept it out of his reach. He laughed, spitting crumbs everywhere. “Ha, sucks to suck, fucker,” Owen taunted.

  Heaven shoved Owen in the chest, and I didn’t have time for this, so I made my way down the hall, leaving the men behind me. Sebastian and Grayson flanked my sides, and the closer we got to the elevator, the foreboding feeling I felt only got stronger. Something was wrong. I pressed the button of the elevator, and I shared a look with the men next to me to prepare themselves.

  We were driven by instinct. It was how we were able to maintain and keep this gig we created. We were good at listening to our surroundings, going with our feelings, and often, it ended up in a damn good payday.

  I stepped inside the elevator, and I stared out the doors to see Owen and Heaven finally hurrying toward us. The elevator ride was quiet minus Owen’s huffs. When we came to the basement, and I saw the hallway when the doors parted, the air thickened with evil. It was so dark I could almost taste it.

  It was bitter, sour, and left a bad aftertaste.

  “This isn’t good,” Heaven stated the obvious as we all stepped off the elevator. Motion sensors usually lit up the hall, but it remained dark. “Not good at all.”

  I bolted into a sprint and ran to the door that led to Brian’s room and found the door open. It wasn’t just anything that woke me up; it was caution; it was the need to protect Quinn. I stepped inside and turned the flashlight on my phone on, since the lights weren’t working, and pointed it at the two-way mirror glass.

  And my urge to kill hit me again, wakening up inside when I saw a message painted on the wall. I ran toward the door that entered the room where we held Brian and pushed it open, the room smelling of iron.

  My fingers swiped through the liquid, and I rubbed it between my fingers. It was cold, slick, and when I brought it to my nose, I knew it could only be one thing.

  Blood.

  “Jaxon.”

  I turned my head over my shoulder to see the guys pointing at the wall, their faces grim. Pointing the light in the direction of the message, my stomach tightened, and my heart stopped beating, and I felt like I was about to pass out.

  “Good luck finding me before I slit her throat.”

  “Quinn,” I whispered. I ran toward the door, but it slammed shut, bolting into place. “No!” I screamed, stepping back and then kicked it with every ounce of strength I had.

  The lights came on, and Brian’s voice slithered through the intercom. He could see us, but we couldn’t see him. I regretted that mirror right about now.

  “Look who is trapped now,” Brian chuckled. “You guys look a bit rough and sleepy. Did I wake you?”

  “You mother fucker—”

  “Sister fucker if you remember correctly. If you’re going to insult me, do it right. You’ve always been all brawn and no brains,” he said, and my fists clenched at my sides, wishing I could turn back time and snap his neck.

  “I should have killed you.” My chest heaved as I spoke through clenched teeth.

  “Yes, but you let your selfish desires control you. You always do,” Brian said.

  I knew he was right beyond that door, tempting me to launch myself at him and wrap my hands around his neck. I didn’t care about the confession anymore, the torture, the need to see him suffer; I just wanted him to die.

  The air kicked on, but as soon as the cold hit my skin, it felt like frost.

  “I lowered the air. I hope you don’t mind. You’re trapped, and you’re going to freeze to death in your own home.”

  I punched the door with my fist. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

  “Not if I kill you first,” he deepened his voice until it sounded like a grinder against a rock. “Maybe I’ll bring Quinn down here when I grab her, have a little fun with that tight body I never took advantage of before. I should have.”

  “You fucking touch her and I will rip you limb from limb.” Spit flew from my mouth and landed on the door.

  “You won’t be able to,” he said, a true psychopathic edge to his voice. He breathed against the intercom, and static sounded in the room. “I think I’ll press this button that allows you to see me, and then I’ll hold her down and fuck her. And oh, I bet it will feel so damn good,” he moaned. “Filling that tight pussy, and I bet it’s tight. It is, isn’t it? I know you’ve fucked her. Ah!” he hissed. “My cock is getting hard just thinking about her.”

  My eyes burned with hopelessness as he spoke that filth. I couldn’t protect her in here. I needed to get out. I had to save her.


  “I’ll make sure you see my come dripping down her thighs. Maybe I’ll keep her around, get her all swollen and pregnant, and then I’ll slit her throat. I’ll be the poor widower, mourning over his wife’s death, a newly single parent. The story writes itself.”

  “You son-of-a-bitch!” I rammed my shoulder against the mirror, but all it did was shake. “I’ll get out of here, and I’ll kill you. Do you understand me? I won’t let you touch her. Ever.” I screamed, smashing my fist against the glass repeatedly. “I will fucking kill you.”

  “No, you won’t,” he said. “You won’t kill me. You didn’t before. You wanted your precious confession. Aww,” I heard his mocking pout, and it only pissed me off further. The room was so cold now that my breath showed with every exhale I forced out of me. “You won’t get it. Ever.” His finger lifted off the button since I heard a click.

  “Hey! We aren’t done talking. Get back here,” I shouted, pounding on the mirror again with my body weight. “Brian!” I roared, but he didn’t answer. “No. No. No.” I stepped back and ran toward the mirror, throwing myself into the glass, wishing it would break. Quinn was sleeping, unprotected, and once again, I failed her by not being there. Tears broke from my eyes when I thought about her fear. She’d wake up with him hovering over her, and her memory would play tricks on her.

  I was sweating from the exertion, repeatedly trying to break the glass. “Quinn,” I said on a tired whimper. My body slowed, my strength leaving me, but I still pushed myself against the glass.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  The rhythmic sound of my body pounded on the mirror in weaker and weaker attempts.

  “Jaxon,” Sebastian tried to get my attention by saying my name, but it was useless. My mind was on Quinn. I didn’t give a damn about anything or anyone else. My focus was only on her. It was too late.

  It seemed like she was going to die anyway. No matter what my intentions were to save her from Brian, everything always came back to him. He was going to kill her after they got married, and he would kill her now.

  “Quinn.” I sounded so pathetic, calling her name out like that.

  Sebastian gripped my shoulder and spun me around, away from the glass, and then punched me right across the face. I snapped out of my trance and shook the ringing sensation in my eyes away. I held my cheek and got myself to my feet, wiggling my jaw left and right.

  “Thanks,” I grumbled through a sore mouth and swallowed the blood.

  “You were losing it,” he said, shaking his hand free. “Holy shit, you have to be made of stone. Fuck, that hurts.”

  I ignored him and inspected the room. There was the hospital bed, some medical equipment, and the chains on the one. “How did he get out?”

  “He had to have broken his thumbs and slipped his hands through the cuffs. It would be the only way,” Grayson said, picking up one of the chains, which had Brian’s blood on it. “I’d assume that is exactly what he did. The metal could have cut his wrist, which would have given him enough blood for his message.”

  “We have to get to Quinn. She’s in a delicate state right now, guys. I could lose her forever. After everything she and I have been through, I will not lose her like this, not to him. There has to be a way out of here.”

  “You designed it, Jaxon. What do you remember?” Owen asked, watching me as I paced.

  I thought long and hard, bringing up the blueprints in my mind. “I made sure that I didn’t want anyone to be able to escape. How the fuck did he?” I surveyed the room, but since it was too dark, I couldn’t see everything I needed to. I pointed the flashlight around the walls, and my teeth started to shiver when the room dropped to a dangerous temperature.

  My head tilted, and my eyes squinted when I saw something above the bed. Taking a step forward, I realized the error of my design.

  There was a vent.

  And Brian had taken advantage of it.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Quinn

  An arm wrapped around my waist, and I grinned when I felt Jaxon pulling me against him. I was between being asleep and a dream, so right now, while it felt real, I couldn’t tell. His mouth landed on the back of my neck, and he pressed a kiss there.

  Those weren’t his lips.

  Cold dread weighed my stomach to the bed like an anchor. I couldn’t move. I did my best not to tense. I didn’t feel the same scratch of Jaxon’s beard, just stubble, and the man against me was smaller than Jaxon.

  Everywhere.

  The man laughed behind me, and I closed my eyes because I knew who it belonged to. There was one man I could remember, and it was Brian.

  “I know you’re awake, Quinn,” he said, burying his nose in my hair and inhaling so deep that he moaned, digging his arousal into my ass. “You always smelled so good.”

  “Brian,” I said, and if he was here, then where the hell was Jaxon?

  “Oh, you remembered. I thought you’d forgotten all about me since you’re being a whore!” he yelled and flipped me over onto my back. He backhanded me, and my head jerked to the left. My lip bled, and it trickled down my throat, a warning that this was far from over.

  Brian didn’t know I didn’t have my memory, so that could work for me or against me if I played it right. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have only been faithful to you, Brian. I had no idea you were here.” That wasn’t a lie. I’m sure the old me new, but not this me.

  “Is that so?” His hand drifted so my waist and gathered Jaxon’s t-shirt I wore in his hands and reached under my shirt to grab my tit. “Last time I checked, faithful bitches didn’t lay half-naked in another man’s bed.”

  I wiggled beneath him and bucked him off me. He fell to the side, and I lifted my casted wrist and slammed it against his face.

  “Ah! I’m going to kill you,” he shouted.

  I reared my arm up again and slammed my wrist down on his head until he laid there, unmoving. I cried when my wrist throbbed, but I couldn’t let the pain stop me. I rolled off the bed, and since my one of my legs was so heavy because of my cast, I fell straight to the ground. I used the edge of the mattress to help me get up.

  I just had to go and fall off a cliff.

  I paused. How did I know that? I didn’t remember anything else, but I knew that! I couldn’t celebrate right now. I held onto my leg and dragged it along the floor as I walked toward the door. Lifting the inconvenient leg over the step was challenging, but I made do and stepped out into the hall. I reached for the handle to shut the door, but there wasn’t a handle to be found. “Shit,” I whispered.

  As I hurried down the hall, as quick as my leg would allow me. My hands held myself up against the wall, and it allowed me to take some pressure off my leg. I wished like hell I had those pain pills now. My wrist and leg were throbbing. If Brian woke up, he’d be able to hear me walking. I was better off trying to hide.

  I slipped into the game room, where the party supplies still decorated the place. There were pinball machines, a basketball machine, a pool table, air hockey, and I needed a weapon. There was a knife near the half-eaten cake. With sweat pouring off my body and my stomach about to lurch what contents I had in it, I swallowed it down and snagged the knife. There was nowhere to hide. Not really. There was another door in the back, and my hip hit the edge of the pool stable, and it took all I had not to groan.

  “Where are you, Quinn?” Brian sang from down the hall. “I can smell you.” He banged against the wall with his fist, and on a whimper, I dragged myself to the door and opened it, easing it shut behind me until the lock clicked.

  I studied the room. There were semi-empty shelves filled with extra pool balls, basketballs, cleaning supplies, and nets. Above the tallest shelf, there was a vent, but I didn’t think I’d be able to climb up and get inside.

  I had to try. I wouldn’t wait for Brian to find me, and he would find me. It was only a matter of time before he opened this door.

  “My head really hur
ts, Quinn. I thought you loved me?” he pretended to cry. “I can’t believe you’d pick Jaxon! The guy ruined our wedding day, you know. Don’t you remember, or don’t you care?”

  I didn’t have it in me to give a shit about the ruined wedding. I was glad Jaxon saved me from marrying this monster.

  His voice got closer. “You know, I wrapped my hands around Tracy’s throat myself. I killed her and my unborn baby. I didn’t want anything to do with that. Interfering with my plans!” he roared. “I am going to be king, and I don’t care who I have to kill to get what I want.”

  Jaxon and Brian had that in common.

  I started to climb the shelves, leaving my bad leg hanging limp in the air. My head started to get dizzy from the pain, but I couldn’t stop now. I had to keep fighting. I had to push through it. My arms trembled from pulling myself up. My muscles screamed for me to stop, and bile rose in my throat, but if I was going to die, it wasn’t going to be because I didn’t stop fighting.

  I got to the top of the shelf, thankful that they were sturdy and bolted to the floor and reached my fingers between the lips of the vent and tugged, ripping the bolts out.

  “I hear you.”

  I couldn’t tell where he was, but I wasn’t going to sit around and find out. I wiggled my way into the vent and sighed when my leg had something to lean against, then shoved the faceplate of the vent back on, and army crawled backward. Since I was sliding, I barely made a sound. I came to an intersection of the vent and took a right and paused to take a break.

  I was going to throw up. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to puke. The pain was too much. I was exhausted. My muscles hurt. My body hurt. I wanted to lay down and sleep, give in to the pain, and the reality that I was going to die.

  Brian would find me.

  I clutched the knife to my chest and laid down, closing my eyes, I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth.

  “Got you, you crippled—” Brian’s voice cut off and echoed through the space of the vents when he opened the door to the closet.