Once a Myth (Goddess Isles Book 1)

by Pepper Winters

  My fingers latched tighter around the phone as my manic hope deflated to dejected desolation. Of course, they wouldn’t allow outside numbers. Of course, my freedom wouldn’t be that easily obtained.

  “Hello? You there, Jinx?”

  Pinching the bridge of my nose, I tried to squeeze away exhaustion and a headache caused by dehydration. Had I truly slept since twilight yesterday to lunchtime? No wonder my stomach was hollow and my body desperate for a drink.

  “If you’re still listening, I’ll send lunch to your villa—”

  “No.” I snapped out of my fugue. “I’d like to go to the dining room. How do I find it?”

  A smile sounded down the line. “Great, I’ll send a staff member to escort you. Do you have any food intolerances, Jinx?”

  Jinx.

  What the hell was with this Jinx business? Vaguely, I remembered Sinclair calling me that. A strange name with no relation whatsoever to me.

  Ignoring her question, I asked one of my own. “Why are you calling me that? My name is Eleanor.”

  A pause before she said, “Jinx is the name you’ll be known as while you’re employed here. It’s a nom de plume, if you were. For your own protection from the guests and a way of distancing yourself from your time here when you return home in four years.”

  My heart seized.

  A name for a goddess.

  A name for a whore.

  A whore who wasn’t employed but trapped, lost…stolen.

  Nausea rushed up my gullet, bringing bile and the full ramifications of my new life into brutal effect.

  I hung up.

  I barely made it to the bathroom before dry-retching into the silver-lidded toilet.

  Chapter Twelve

  I KEPT MY ATTENTION on the three guests below me.

  Sitting on the deck of the central villa that housed all the conveniences of a five-star resort, including three restaurants, a gin bar, small movie theatre, gym, spa, and a few retail shops that specialised in the most expensive, exclusive diamonds anyone could buy, I studied them closely.

  At least one of the gentlemen had purchased a diamond—it glinted on a tie pin, stabbed into his floral shirt. I couldn’t blame him wearing the flawless stone even without a suit and tie or a boardroom to notice.

  No one else in the world had the right to sell Hawk diamonds, but I personally knew Jethro Hawk who ruled over his own estate and inheritance of priceless gemstones.

  We’d met under strange circumstances. He had a condition that required behavioural drugs. I had a talent at taking natural ingredients and blending with science to create newer, better drugs. Far more potent drugs.

  We’d met when he’d reached his wit’s end and needed something new—to continue existing in his painful personal world. I’d given him something. We’d stayed in touch. He no longer used my drug, and instead, he’d found that love conquered his condition without the use of chemicals.

  However, a business deal had struck up from our acquaintance, and it’d been mutually benefiting. He had power in his own right, just like the guests below me. Drinking a noonday cocktail, they relaxed on the sprawling deck that meandered around koi carp ponds, palm trees, and were home to a few very fat white herons, who were used to being hand-fed.

  One man was a politician, hiding from the nasty world of bullshit and over-promises, spending the next three days with us while indulging in some very intriguing fantasies. Another was the heir of a supermarket chain. I’d personally gifted one night on top of the five he’d paid for because he was the first to eradicate all pesticides on the produce his chain sold and had vowed to only provide plant-based meat to his consumers. And the third was a B-grade actor who’d spent a very enlightening time with a goddess called Jupiter.

  He’d treated her with respect.

  They’d had a mutually satisfying time together.

  Today was his last afternoon on my shores.

  I oversaw everyone’s departure as well as their arrival to ensure their needs had been met, any outstanding bills were paid, and their feedback on any pillow talk a goddess might’ve divulged was delivered straight to me.

  A few had tried to escape by asking their patron to help smuggle them off the island. Another few had agreed to be bought by the guest, if I agreed to sell.

  Neither of those things would ever happen.

  “Sir?”

  I looked up through piercing sunshine to raise an eyebrow at Calvin. “What is it?”

  He stood with a smirk that he hadn’t eradicated from his face ever since Eleanor Grace had been unceremoniously dragged out of my office…naked.

  It pissed me off.

  It made me aware I’d stepped over lines I’d promised I’d never cross. She’d gotten under my skin, and that was yet another thing that should never have fucking happened.

  Cal squinted his gaze against the bright tropics. “She’s left her room. She’s being escorted to the Divinity Dining Room.”

  I instantly lost all interest in the men beneath me on the lower deck. “Bring her here.”

  He nodded. “Right away.” With another annoying little smile, he left to bring a disgraced and fallen angel to worship at my feet.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I HADN’T SAID A word when the personal minion for Sully Sinclair appeared from nowhere, blocking the sandy laneway and waving my silent guard away. His shiny brown hair showed style and attention, yet his green eyes held mirth at my expense.

  I didn’t like him.

  Just as I didn’t like his master.

  My throat still stung from retched-up acid. My stomach still roiled against the snare I’d been caught in. And my hunger and dehydration set my teeth on edge, which meant my temper was so, so close to snapping.

  I had no patience.

  No tolerance.

  If I opened my mouth and graced him with a word, it would be filled with profanity and probably get me in a hell of a lot of trouble.

  So…instead, I chose wisdom and zipped up my lips with fiery control and merely glowered at him as he said, “Your company has been requested at the main villa. Follow me please.” With a sweeping gesture, he turned and strolled up the pathway, expecting me to fall in step with him.

  And I did.

  I didn’t really have much choice. I wanted to know this island. The sooner I knew where each path led, which villas were safe, which were not, and just how big this place was, the sooner I could formulate a plan to leave.

  We didn’t meet anyone else as he led me in polished shoes over white-golden sand until the shadowy tunnels caused by palm fronds gave way to a large oasis of sunshine. No natural shade granted the large area that’d been cleared for a huge open-aired, beautifully styled cabana.

  Black umbrellas towered over private dining tables on the bottom deck, sparkling ponds with pink and white lilies broke up the large expanse of teak flooring, graceful herons picked their way daintily between two tables which held three men drinking cocktails.

  Within the shade of the large villa, a restaurant gleamed with cream napkins and fine dining. It made me feel woefully underdressed in the white tennis-style dress I’d found hanging in the wardrobe. Barefoot, hair washed and brushed but wavy with humidity, and no energy to move after the catastrophe I’d been put through yesterday, I was terribly insignificant and left hating the sensation of being small, meek, and totally at the owner of this establishment’s mercy.

  I sighed, feeling more drained and lonely than ever as I followed the architecture to the second tier. Another wraparound deck with a carved banister that kept the natural contours of branches, bound together with vines, creating a treehouse persona. Something not quite manmade but of a Mother Nature creation.

  Big black sails strapped from the centre point of the structure fanned out to attach to links on the deck, drenching the second level with much-needed shadow from the cooking midday sun.

  I froze as I locked gazes with my nemesis.

  Him.

  Sully Sinclair
sat like a royal dictator, a coffee cup in one hand and a pair of sunglasses in the other which he put slowly, regally on his nose.

  My temper cut through my aches and bruises. My fury curdled any tiredness and hunger.

  Digging my bare feet into the sand, I went to spin and leave.

  I couldn’t see him.

  I didn’t have the control not to say something that would assuredly get me into a heap of trouble.

  But fingers latched around my elbow, keeping me in place. “Running away isn’t polite.”

  “Kidnapping isn’t either,” I snapped, ripping my arm from the man’s hold and breathing hard.

  I hadn’t meant to say that.

  I vibrated with the urge to say more.

  To scream at him. Scratch him. To give him a slur-slandered message to hand deliver to his diabolical master.

  He smirked, his gaze flashing between me and the man he served. “It’ll be interesting to see how long he permits your disobedience.”

  I bit my tongue so hard, it bled.

  He waited as if he wanted me to retaliate. When I didn’t, he seemed disappointed but not entirely surprised. “You’re not the first to rebel, you know. And I’m sure you won’t be the last.” The man stepped toward me, conspiratorially, threateningly. “They all give in, in the end. They all realise how good they’ve got it here.” He smiled as he studied me. “You’ll learn too, I promise.”

  We stood dappled by sunlight, and I despised that he was handsome, just like Sully Sinclair.

  Why was it that beauty always graced the wicked?

  I didn’t like his promise.

  I refused to reply to his radical concepts that a kidnapped and stolen woman would be happy here. Just because the sun sparkled on pristine sand and jewelled birds flew unhindered through lush greenery didn’t mean this wasn’t the Garden of Eden with a dark secret to tell. And just like the Garden of Eden, it all dissolved into death and decay the moment that apple was tasted.

  I would never fall into the trap of eating a poisoned apple. I wasn’t Eve, and I wasn’t Snow White. I was Eleanor Grace—not Jinx—and I didn’t need someone to rip back the curtain on the truth of this place.

  I knew the truth of it.

  This is Hell.

  And Sully Sinclair and his minions were hobgoblins of the underworld.

  I crossed my arms, accepting the challenge of his servant. It was rash and stupid to stand up to him, but I had a good guess that captive women here might be fed a drug and used against their will, but I doubted abuse—that wasn’t paid for and within the strict terms that Sinclair agreed to—was allowed.

  What was the point in beating up the merchandise? Who would pay top dollar for a slave when she had a broken arm and a black eye?

  Bracing my spine, I clipped, “Finish your task and take me to whoever requested my company. I can guess who that is, by the way, and somehow, I don’t think your master likes to be kept waiting.” I spread my lips into a thin, brittle smile, looking past him to Sully Sinclair who’d abandoned his nonchalant sprawl in his chair and now stood with hands throttling the banister, coiled like a black panther above us, ready to slay. “He’s not happy that you’re detaining me, and I’m not happy with this conversation.”

  The man’s face drained of colour, his eyes turned hard, all while his mouth quirked into a condescending smile. “Wow…you really are destined for pain.”

  In one heartbeat, I feared I’d made a colossal mistake and braced for a punch. In another, I shivered with the simplicity of what he’d said. The utmost assuredness that I would be in pain and lots of it.

  I wanted to jump back in the ocean and never step foot on dry land again.

  I’d somehow grow a tail, covered in pretty scales and powerful fins, and vanish into the depths where nothing and no one could hurt me.

  Turning and unblocking the path, he spread his arm for me to step in front of him. “After you, Goddess Jinx.” He bowed mockingly. “I must say, I’m going to enjoy watching your employment.”

  He chuckled, sending a wash of goosebumps down my back as I marched past him and locked eyes with Sully Sinclair again, glowering from the clear blue sky above.

  Behind me, the man whispered, “You know…you’ve already fucked up worse than any girl who arrived before you.” He laughed again, low and a little too full of anticipation of what my future held.

  I once again ignored him, focusing on stepping on the shadowy sand rather than the golden grains in full sunlight, unwilling to burn the soles of my bare feet.

  The hair on my nape stood up as the man added, “It’s not the men who pay for the privilege of fucking you that you have to be afraid of, Jinx.” His arm appeared by my head, his finger pointing at Sully. “It’s that man. And you’ve gone and made him pay attention.” He clucked his tongue like an old busybody. “Probably shouldn’t have done that, but it’s too late now.”

  As my feet reached the deck and I climbed the three steps from the sand to smooth wood, his words licked down my spine. “Four years was a small price to pay for your freedom, but now that Sinclair’s interested in you? Well, you might as well make yourself at home because I doubt you’ll be going anywhere.”

  I slammed to a halt as he skirted past me and smirked. “Come along. Like you said…don’t want to keep your god and ruler waiting.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  SHE ARRIVED AS IF gracing me with her presence, not the other way around.

  I’d been right to be wary of my intense reaction to her yesterday when she’d been dirty and exhausted from her arrival. Watching her stalk toward me with her spine regal and head wearing its invisible crown of dignity and diamonds, I hexed her all over again for the way my cock swelled and sat up in full attention.

  Her hair had been washed, and the bitter chocolate glowed like molten cocoa. Fine strands of red burned like fire, glittering in the sun. The length was longer than I’d assumed, now the tangles and knots had been smoothed, allowing the thick curtain to frame her face and hang intoxicatingly down her back.

  Her bare feet revealed tiny breakable bones that undulated with every angry step. Her ankles were the perfect size for a man’s hand to snap around and wrench open perfect porcelain thighs.

  Her eyes narrowed like a lynx, partly from the sun’s brightness and partly from pure hate, retaining their rare shade of silver and fog, and her skin held a dusting of colour from spending most of her afternoon in the ocean yesterday.

  I’d had reports on what she’d indulged in.

  I could guess how many times she had to get herself off.

  I was pissed that I hadn’t been there to watch…or participate.

  I hated that I had any reaction toward her whatsoever.

  It didn’t take a guy with a hard-on to admit that this girl was beyond fucking gorgeous. Her ethereal quality alone made her glow with refinement, and the temper that she couldn’t quite hide gave her the aura of untouchable.

  Which made her all the more fucking delicious because she was touchable.

  Very, very touchable.

  She was buyable.

  A scrape of a chair leg on the deck below wrenched my attention to the three guests who’d gone silent. One stood, gawking at Eleanor as she marched toward me. Another held his cocktail to his lips but sat transfixed, drinking her in instead of the alcohol. And the third gulped then threw me a very obvious eyebrow, a silent demand that he wanted her.

  Form a queue, asshole.

  I already knew there’d be a bidding war for this girl. All it’d taken was one appearance and already the guests had decided they’d be the one sticking his cock in her tonight.

  I peered at her closely.

  The shadows under her eyes had receded—still there but not nearly as dark. The bruises on her legs and arms were less prominent. The bandage on her neck was gone, revealing the small incision where the tracker had been removed. The rope burn around her throat was less angry and the idiotic barcode tattoo on her wrist—that matched a f
ew of my previous goddesses—not as fresh. Overall, with her sun-kissed island look, glossy hair begging for a man’s fist, and impertinence dripping from her pores, she could be ready to work tonight…if the price was right.

  My cock pounded harder.

  Possession licked through my veins at the thought of anyone spreading her legs and taking what I’d had dripping on my fingers yesterday.

  She might sell for the highest profit margin I’d ever commanded.

  But it didn’t mean I could control the rage that simmered inside.

  “Finally dragged yourself out of bed then?” I smirked, keeping my voice hard and condescending. “Spent quite a few hours ‘entertaining’ yourself?”

  Her nostrils flared with indignation.

  She didn’t respond even though her body vibrated with every silent shout she swallowed back.

  I deliberately sat back down, hiding the rock-hard erection I sported.

  She might’ve had countless orgasms yesterday, but I hadn’t had a single one. I’d buried myself in work. I’d conference-called my scientists to give them the good news on the revised elixir. I’d swam around my island four times to resist the urge to masturbate.

  I wasn’t a prude. I relieved myself often. I dabbled in fantasies while my hand pumped out pleasures, but I always kept the girls I fucked faceless, nameless, unknown.

  If I’d come last night, I knew whose face I would’ve pictured and that would not have been good for me, Eleanor, or business.

  “How tired are your fingers from fucking yourself? Or did you use things around your villa to get off?”

  Her jaw ticked as she clenched her teeth. She swayed before me, standing like a statue carved from granite but quickly cracking under immense pressure. Her chin rose and her gaze shot past me to focus on the aching expanse of treetops and turquoise ocean. The only landmark on the horizon, blotting out the perfection of endless sea, was another island.

  Another island I owned.

  And past that one was another and another and so on.

  That was why I could be liberal with my boundaries. I didn’t lock the girls in their villa. I didn’t have bars and gates around my shores. They could try to swim. They might even outswim one of their guards, but if they made land, it was most likely my land they sought solace on, only to find themselves kindly escorted back.