Frustration glued my teeth together and my body shook from fear and impotent rage. “Good girl,” Lev said. “Now tell me why you left your home? Why did you come to the Arctic?”
I didn’t know how much to tell him, so I stuck to the basics. “I was looking for a man who I thought may have been involved with my uncle’s disappearance. I believe my uncle was murdered.”
Lev motioned for me to continue.
“A year ago, a man named Tin came into my uncle’s house. My uncle vanished. I believe Tin killed him and took my dog, Toto. I tracked him down to a SEAL base.”
Crow gasped and squeezed my hand. “So that’s why you . . . ? With him?”
I nodded and forced myself not to cry.
“You’ve been a busy girl,” Lev murmured.
I wanted to smack the smug look off his face. He seemed to read my mind and smiled.
“Tell me about your uncle.”
“What does he have to do with anything?”
Lev merely gave me a look.
“What do you want to know? He was a farmer. A dust cropper. Some of the only family I had left. He was taken on my twenty-first birthday while I hid in the wine cellar.”
“A farmer?” Crow asked.
“That’s right.” I felt Crow stiffen behind me, but I ignored it. I only had enough attention for the man in front of me.
“What about your aunt? His wife?”
“They were separated, in the middle of a divorce. I didn’t know that at the time that he vanished, though. She lives in the city now.”
“Did your uncle give you anything?”
The shoes. But they couldn’t have anything to do with this. “Nope.”
Lev pulled a tablet from his coat pocket and tapped the screen. He held it up to me, displaying an image of my shoes. “You’ve never seen these shoes before?”
Why the hell did he care about some shoes? Thank god I had left them with Alice. I’d loved them so much that I had purchased a knock-off on eBay, which I had brought to the Arctic with me. Every time I looked at them, they reminded me of Uncle Henry. “What does this have to do with why he died?”
“Are you sure you don’t recognize these?”
“Fuck you. Just let us go.”
He sucked his teeth. “Play nice, Dorothy. I’m looking for answers here, just like you.”
“You’re a sick fuck is what you are. I don’t have any shoes and Crow shouldn’t even be here. Let us go.”
Lev pushed up from the chair and crouched in front of me. His hair flowed around his shoulders like a dark mane. “I’m not letting you go. You’re going to tell me the truth even if I have to keep you here until you’re old and broken. I don’t mind. I’m sure we’ll have fun in the meantime.”
I swallowed back the taste of bile that flooded my tongue. A few short hours ago, I felt like I’d been in control. I didn’t get Tin to confess, but I had him in my sights. I had formulated a plan to get him to took, but I never expected to be kidnapped. Meeting Tin was the closest I’d been in the last year to finding out the truth about what happened to Uncle Henry, but now I couldn’t be further away.
Lev got back to his feet, tying his hair out of the way. He crossed to the door and closed it behind him. Crow slumped behind me in relief, but not for long.
Before we could even talk about what just happened ear-rending music began to pulse through hidden speakers, rattling me down to my bones.
Lev wanted answers, and he was going to torture them out of me.
5
Tin
The frigid air suffocated me. Cross, Lucky, Sleazy, and I had been assigned a mission—to get help for the base. The explosion had knocked out the compound’s communication system. With no access to the outer world, we were in the dark.
Even worse, Nod was in a coma. Stone, Shy, and Tor had stayed behind to take care of Nod and Snow. At least Tor was a medic.
But it didn’t matter.
This was all my fault.
Because I was the one who had made the call. I was the one who alerted the Wizard that Dorothy had been found. But that was a lie. She hadn’t been found. She found me.
But how? How had she discovered me? Some SEAL I was.
I remember the night so well. A simple job. Ten-thousand-dollar bounty for the Uncle Henry. Use intimidation not force. And no matter what—leave no witnesses behind.
When Dorothy had stumbled upon me that night, I knocked her out. Though she had seen me, I had been certain with the dark night she wouldn’t be able to identify or find me. After all, it was hard to find a Navy SEAL. I didn’t have any social media. Either way, I had completely fucked up.
But everything I touched was a mess. A Navy SEAL, what a fucking joke. I couldn’t protect my own family.
And my Team hated me. They never forgave me for falling apart after Miranda died. For blaming them.
Fuck this. I was out.
We had taken a tank to get to the next outpost to establish communication. Inside the tank was a snowmobile. My perfect escape.
I couldn’t leave now. I had to wait until they were asleep.
“I’ll take watch.”
Cross glared at me. “You’ve never offered to take watch.”
I had to throw them off guard. “Yeah, well, it’s my fucking fault we are out here.”
Sleazy’s eyebrow arched suspiciously. “Really? How do you figure?”
“Because I fucked Dorothy. There’s something off with her. I had a suspicion and did nothing,” I lied.
Lucky shook his head. “So, they were after Dorothy and not Snow?”
These knuckleheads were all knocking themselves out for Snow. But Dorothy—she was all mine. Well, she had been. But I would never commit to a woman. I had—once. And it had been the biggest mistake of my life.
“Why would they be after Snow? She’s just some clumsy scientist.”
Cross opened a small bottle of jack and took a swig. Bastard didn’t even offer me any. “Well, why would they be after Dorothy? She just runs the office.”
Or so she said. There was more to Dorothy than met the eye.
“And none of you find that suspicious? Some gorgeous girl drops out of college to come to the end of the world to run an Arctic compound? At least Snow has something to do here. Study them fucking birds she won’t shut up about.”
Lucky put his hand on my shoulder and for once, I didn’t remove it. “Yeah. Seems odd. But let’s not think about that now. Dorothy is in a better place now.”
Better place? Fuck that. I wasn’t religious. How could I believe in God after he took the only two people who meant anything to me in my life? How could he allow them to suffer, while I was fighting a war a thousand miles away?
But unlike my Teammates, I knew that Dorothy wasn’t dead. She was alive.
And I knew exactly where she was.
“Whatever, man. You believe what you want. Anyway, you all get some sleep. Like I said, I got watch.”
Sleazy, Cross, and Lucky made their way to the front of the tank, while I stayed in the back. Once I was certain they were out, I detached the snowmobile from the wall, opened the door, and rode off into the night.
6
Lev
Dorothy Gale.
How had she found Tin?
But some brat from Kansas found Tin, a fucking Navy SEAL, in the Arctic? And I had to come in and extract her.
Not because she found Tin. He could take care of himself.
But because she was hiding those shoes. She had to have them. Tin had searched that house and had come up empty-handed. There had been no trace of them at all. There were no other suspects—Dorothy was hiding those shoes.
I studied her as she cowered in the corner, that sap Crow stroking her hair. Dorothy looked like the girl next door fantasy. Innocent, yet sexy. That schoolgirl with a naughty side. Tin had already fucked her, and pathetic ass Crow has just secured the position as her best friend. The Wizard would probably murder me himself for taking Crow too. I
should’ve slit his throat—left no witnesses behind. But for some reason, I couldn’t.
Well, the reason wasn’t a mystery. It was as clear as daylight. I was a fucking coward.
Tin should be doing this type of job, not me. He feared no one. I acted tough, I followed orders, but when it came down to it, I couldn’t pull the trigger.
Hey, at least I kidnapped Dorothy.
I lit a cigarette and took a slow drag. The nicotine immediately calmed me and made me focus. I had a job to do. To torture Dorothy, humiliate her, until she had no fight left in her and would tell me where she hid the shoes.
But I was no good at torturing anyone. The dried blood on Dorothy alone made me squeamish.
Humiliation, however, was a full other scenario that opened a world of possibilities. Possibilities which would get me off.
I wouldn’t rape her.
I’d do the next best thing.
I’d watch.
I pulled a chair in front of the room. Dorothy knelt in front of me, and for a moment I imagined her sucking my cock.
“Are you going to let us out? You are mistaken. I don’t have the shoes.”
“I love the way you lie.”
Her lip twisted. Was she lying to me? Was there any way she could be telling the truth?
No. Definitely not.
“So, you are going to leave us in here? Until when? I don’t have anything to offer you.”
I smirked. And pointed my gun at Crow.
“Oh yes, you do. Crow, take off her dress.”
Crow’s eyes bulged. “What? No.”
“I didn’t ask you, Crow. It’s an order. Take off her dress, or I’ll rape her and make you watch,” I lied. I would never rape a woman.
Crow got in my face and looked down the gun. Got to hand it to the guy—he had more courage than I did. “Never. I refuse.”
I pointed the gun at Dorothy’s head.
“I’m not going to ask again. Do it.”
Dorothy turned to Crow and caressed his face with her hand. “It’s okay, Crow. I know you wouldn’t disrespect me. Let’s just give him what he wants. Besides, I like you.”
Fuck yeah, I relaxed into my chair, keeping my gun aimed at them. They didn’t know I was too much of a coward to pull the trigger. At least I wasn’t an amateur in what I was about to do.
This wasn’t the first time I had directed a skin flick. At least back in Russia I had a better set.
But I had never seen a woman as beautiful as Dorothy.
Crow unzipped her dress, and it fell to the ground, leaving Dorothy standing there in nothing but her matching blue and white lingerie. Her legs were taut and tanned and she had the most incredibly perky ass I had ever seen.
Crow’s face reddened. “Isn’t this enough for you, you monster? You’ve seen her practically naked. No one is here besides us. You are not being commanded to abuse her. She’s telling you the truth.”
I laughed. “Crow, you are more pathetic than I thought you were the first time I saw you. There you have a beautiful woman, lips plump, full breasts, curvy ass. She’s wants you to fuck her, and you are denying her.” I pointed my gun at her, not that I was ever going to shoot. “Tell him Dorothy. I want to hear you say it.”
Dorothy’s lip quivered. “I want you to fuck me, Crow.”
She blinked back tears, but I didn’t give a fuck.
He tilted his head toward her. “Are you sure? I don’t want to make you.”
She nodded. “He’ll kill us otherwise. I would’ve slept with you anyway, just under different circumstances.”
And with that, showtime had begun.
Crow transformed before my eyes from a stupid boy into a dominant man. He grabbed Dorothy by the neck and covered her mouth with his. She kissed him back and my own cock hardened against my pants. After years in porn, one thing I knew was that it was the quiet, shy ones who had all the moves. Years of being looked over by women made their mind game strong. And when these saps had the opportunity to fuck a woman, they didn’t hold back.
I undid my pants and reached for my cock and began to stroke it, never one to miss a live sex show. Dorothy was rubbing Crow’s cock as he kissed her neck, making his way down to her breasts. He removed her bra and began sucking on her nipples. Dorothy moaned, and I almost came myself.
Dorothy knelt in front of him to suck his cock, but that wasn’t something I wanted to see. I wanted to see Dorothy. All of her.
“Throw her on the bed and spread her legs. Make sure to give me a good view.”
Crow carried her over to the bed, pulled off her panties, and climbed on the bed in front of her. I moved in closer to get a perfect view of her pussy. Her small black curls covered her beautiful lips. Crow licked her, and she moaned.
Lucky son-of-a-witch. I was jealous of Crow eating her pussy.
But I would get my chance soon.
For now, I’d just watch.
Dorothy began to writhe on the bed. I didn’t want to see her come like this.
“Turn her over and fuck her from behind. Against that wall.”
Crow took a final lick and then pulled Dorothy to him. He slammed her against the wall, driving his cock deep into her. I was seconds away from my own peak of pleasure. Crow rubbed her pussy.
Dorothy got into it, her moans becoming louder as took him thrust for thrust.
“Crow, yes! Don’t fucking stop.”
A few more pumps and Dorothy exploded into moans as I let myself go.
But the letdown was harsh. Harsher than ever. I should’ve fucked her. Why had I let Crow do it? What was I afraid of?
How much of a coward was I?
7
Dorothy
I clung to the jacket and furrowed deeper, hoping last night was a dream. A nightmare. Some figment of the darkest, deepest depths of my imagination.
It had to be; it was too unfathomable to be otherwise.
When I opened my eyes, I’d be back home in my apartment in Kansas City waiting for Alice to stir and pepper me with her latest crazy antics. Maybe I’d go see Uncle Henry and spend a weekend on his farm, get away for a while. I dreamt about it until tears trailed down my cheeks because the memories were so sweet, so treasured, they made my heart ache with the torment of knowing they won’t ever come true.
Heat pressed against my back and my eyes flew open.
Crow.
I squeezed them shut again.
My body still thrummed from the way he’d felt inside of me, the way he’d made me feel, for the first time since my life had fallen apart. He’d been so kind. So gentle. I’d never known a man could be so gentle. With Tin—even though it had been a ruse, a mask I’d worn to get close to him—it had been intense, almost violently pleasurable. Crow, if at all possible, had been the complete opposite. Despite Lev’s stares, his commands, Crow had managed to use his big body and mesmerizing eyes to make it seem as though we were the only two in the room.
He’d accomplished the impossible.
Had made it tolerable, made me relax, under the worst circumstances.
That was why I shifted away from his warmth, why I cringed away from his touch.
I felt debased, used, discarded by what Lev had made us do.
I didn’t deserve Crow’s kindness, his pureness of spirit.
Everything I touched turned to shit.
If he was smart, he’d stay far, far away.
But I guess it was too late for that.
I could feel the low rumble of his voice in his chest because he was still so close to me, but I couldn’t make out the words over the incessant rock music Lev turned on after he left us the night before. Or was it morning by the time he was done amusing himself with our discomfort? Time had started to dull at some point during the torture.
I thought losing Henry and Toto was the lowest I could go.
These men, these monsters, seem determined to prove me wrong.
Crow shifted closer, and I bit my tongue to keep from snapping at him. I wanted to
run. Run far and fast none of them would ever find me again.
But I couldn’t.
I had tracked Tin down to the literal end of the Earth.
“Are you all right?” he asked, which only made me want to cry.
He had no part in this; he was a victim too, and yet, he was worried about me. I should have done something to convince him not to risk everything to try to save me. I wasn’t worth it, worth this. How could he possibly ever forgive me?
“I’m fine,” I managed.
Except that was a bald-faced lie.
I won’t ever be fine again.
“When he comes back, I’m going to hide behind the door. I’ll smash it into him and when he’s disabled, you try to get out of here. Take the keys to the truck and run.”
I turned to face him, and it almost hurt to look at him. Guileless expression. So sincere it made my heart ache. He deserved a good woman, one who wasn’t so broken. One who would love him for the sweet, kind man he was. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’ve never been more serious. I won’t let him hurt you.” Crow meant it, too.
He might say he was not the smartest guy around, but what he lacked in book smarts he made up for in other ways.
Like he had last night.
I brushed the thought away and focused on his words. Later. I’d deal with...all of that later. When I had some time to process the mess I’d gotten myself into. “What about you? I’m not leaving unless you are.”
“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”
The urge to touch him, comfort him, overwhelmed me, but I curled my fingers into my palms. Never again. I’d never touch another person again. Not Crow. Not Tin. I could barely stand to feel my own clothes on my skin. I needed a shower so hot it could scorch the flesh and sinew from my bones.
“I got you into this; I’m not leaving you here.” My tone brooked no argument.
“I’m glad you aren’t going through this alone.” I wanted to tell him to stop talking, but the words wouldn’t form over the lump in my throat. He lifted a hand like he wanted to brush it over my cheek and then dropped it. “I’ll understand if you hate me for what happened. I do. Let me do this for you to make up for it.”
Desiring Dorothy Page 4