NEARLY Trilogy

by Ashley, Devon

  My head snapped back. Or at least I think it did. Everything felt slow motion right now.

  He had leaned back in the chair while I was turned, feet kicked up and crossed over the ottoman, hands hanging out behind his head. “Excuse me? You want me to blow your goddamn cock?”

  He shrugged like my reaction meant nothing to him, but I was certain he was laughing his ass off inside that fucked up head of his. “That’s the deal. Someone’s got to entertain me this evening. So either you get me off, or Natalie will have the honors again. Even trade if you ask me.”

  I let out an exasperated huff and shook my head, focusing on the dark blue bedding beside me. He was fucking serious.

  “Tell you what. I’ll even go one further. You do this, and I’ll let her stay in this room with you for the full twenty-four hours. Just so you know I’m true to my word.”

  I closed my eyes and banged my head several times. Seriously, what was there to debate? He’d already raped her several times, even had the proof to show me repeatedly on that damn TV he wouldn’t turn off. Except now he had several videos added to the loop. One in particular that was recent and killed me to listen to.

  What he proposed was so disgusting I couldn’t keep my face from mirroring that thought. But if I did it, I could spare her one day. I wasn’t naïve. If I agreed, he’d be more inclined to keep asking and I’d have to keep doing it just to keep seeing her. But what he asked of Megan was so much worse. What he asked of me wasn’t even invasive. I wasn’t going to get off on it. Though the idea disgusted me, I thought I could stomach it.

  “You have to turn that fucking TV off for the next twenty-four hours too.” No way in hell was he going to put her in here with that shit going on.

  “Of course. Our little secret.”

  That smile was just wrong – downright disturbing – when I lifted my head back up. “You want a guy to suck you off that badly?” I snipped hotly.

  Again he shrugged nonchalantly, like it was the most common question ever. “Men are better at it. Just as I’m sure women are better at going down on women than men are. We share the same anatomy so we know what arouses us as a sex.” He stood up then, and I tried to prepare myself mentally. But he wasn’t coming for me yet, he was going for the door. Smirking, he said, “We’ll do this after that drug I gave you has worn off.”

  I’d been awake for less than forty-eight hours and already Zander had raped me three times. Worse, I’d let him do it. Didn’t even try to fight or make it difficult for him. I knew I was trying to convince myself that giving my body to him this way would increase the chances of him taking me out of here sooner rather than later, getting one step closer to possible freedom, but I was still having a hard time processing it. I was letting this man use me. He wasn’t being the ugly monster I needed him to be. Actually, what he was doing was crueler, and I couldn’t get my body to see it that way. It enjoyed the way he caressed my skin. Thought his kisses were heavenly. Ached to let him finish what he started. Every fucking time.

  Two days in and I’d already been mind-fucked. What the hell was my mental capacity going to be like after fifty times? Two hundred? Would I even see what he was doing was wrong anymore by then? Or just not give a shit and accept the life I was forced to live now. Adapt.

  No. I didn’t want to adapt. I wanted to be home again with Nick. I wanted to marry Nick. Have babies. Grow old. Sleep within his embrace every night.

  So I was going to do this. I was going to let him have me. And I was going to remind myself everyday why I chose to do it this way. I wasn’t going to feel ash–

  No, I’d probably always feel ashamed. Feel judged. But he was going to rape me anyways. Let him think I liked it. Let him think I was falling for him. Becoming emotionally bonded. If that was what he wanted, I’d give it to him. I’d ride it as far as I could. I wasn’t sure where the end actually was, but I could force myself to play along for a little longer.

  When the door swished opened again, he turned toward me in the chaise and headed over. He always knew exactly where I was before coming in. Was he seriously that worried I might jump him? The guy was twice my size and would kick my ass with one punch.

  “I have a surprise for you tonight.” He held his hand out for me. Inside I was hesitant, but on the outside, my hand accepted his. I didn’t like the semi-curl forming on the right side of his mouth. My heart stuttered – something bad is about to go down, I can feel it. Something worse than the last two days. He pulled me to my feet and led me into the hallway, pausing outside the door halfway down and across the hall. “We have another guest I’ve yet to tell you about.”

  My body suddenly felt heavy, my lungs trying to breathe but finding it difficult. Please. Please tell me he didn’t go pick up Thea. I thought it was just an empty threat. I hadn’t done anything wrong! On the verge of tears, I yanked my hand free and formed a steeple over my nose, choking out, “Thea?”

  His expression nonchalant, his hand moved to tuck my hair behind my ear. Stop doing that! Stop pretending to be caring!

  “Nope. I’ve been debating whether or not to even tell you, because you’ve been so well behaved, but… What can I say? He intrigued me earlier and we cut a deal.”

  “He?” What little relief I had knowing it wasn’t Thea was lost with that one little word. I was already shaking my head. “No,” I cried, “not Nick.” The tears were really flowing now, because something I never even thought of before just became my worst fear ever. Nick and me both at the mercy of Zander’s manipulation schemes. He was going to use us against each other.

  “Of course Nick. I was going to leave him behind like last time, but then something clicked when I threatened to fuck you right on top of him.” He leaned into the door with an enthusiastic expression, his eyes lighting up even in this dim hallway. “Kind of got me excited.”

  He reached out and wiped my tears away. “Don’t cry, love. You don’t want him to think you’re miserable here, do you? That would only lead him to misbehave and you know I don’t react well when that happens.”

  All I could do was stare at him. It was like I was lifeless inside. My body was trying to shut down, cut me off emotionally. Like it knew better than I did that I couldn’t keep my game face on if it hadn’t done that for me. My tears began to cease. And for some reason, Zander gave me the extra minute I needed to calm down and clean myself up. It was like he was analyzing me and everything I did, and I had no idea why.

  “Ready?”

  I sniffed and nodded, reluctantly. Zander opened and set the door to shut right behind us, then grabbed me above the elbow and pushed me through. There he was, sitting against the wall. I could feel the tears trying to flood their way to the surface again, threatening to spill over. I shouldn’t have, but knowing he was in here didn’t keep me from inhaling so sharply that I stung my lungs. “Nick?”

  When he looked up, his face was sharp and irate. “You never said you were going to bring her in here for this!”

  “Never said I wouldn’t either,” Zander retorted. “And technically, your twenty-four hours will begin once we get started, so she should be here. Wouldn’t want to break my part of the bargain.”

  “Once what gets started?” I cried out frantically. What the hell was about to happen? My head whipped between the two. Nick turned away from me and Zander just pushed me to the head of the bed. “Nick?” I asked, watching as Zander began strapping my wrists. Unlike the master bed, I wouldn’t have enough slack to reach the bindings to loosen them once they were on. In fact, there was no slack, as the straps were connected with like an inch of chain.

  “It’s fine, Megan,” he muttered. He still wouldn’t look my way.

  “Nick,” Zander finally said, “has agreed to take one for the team tonight and give you a little break.”

  “What?!” I snapped without regard. “You’re going to screw him?!”

  He paused to eye me with disgust. “I’m not doing jack shit,” he answered. “And for the record, my door only s
wings one way. So he’s free and clear in that department.”

  He finished the last strap, leaving me sitting against the uncomfortable iron headboard with my hands secured off to each side. I could slide the binds up and down along the cylindrical bar, but that was it. “Be right back,” he said, disappearing outside the door.

  “Nick,” I called softly, though urgently. He finally looked my way but didn’t reply. “What have you done?”

  Listlessly, he told me, “I’ve taken the focus off of you for a day. I know he’s been raping you, Megan.”

  My eyes instinctively shut in shame. God, please tell me he wasn’t able to hear us from across the hall. My mouth opened to take over my inhalations, my nasal passages unable to bring in enough as a bout of hyperventilation reared its nasty head. I squeezed harder, because the corner of my eyes were beginning to sting, readying the tears. How much more humiliating could this get?

  “Megan, stop. If I do this, he won’t touch you for the next twenty-four hours. I’m choosing to do this.”

  “Choosing to do what?” I dared to ask, a few tears pushing their way through. I feared I already knew the answer.

  “Doesn’t matter. He’s hurting you. What’s about to happen won’t hurt me. Ten minutes and I’m done.”

  I buried my head against my bent up legs to calm my breaths. My voice muffled, I said, “If you’re about to do what I think you are, you have to know he’ll make it last a hell of a lot longer than ten minutes.”

  “I don’t care how long it takes. I have a way of protecting you and I’m taking it.”

  I lifted my head and twisted it sideways to see him. His head was still facing my way on top of his knees. “You don’t have to do this. Whatever he told you you’re saving me from, you’re not. He’ll just make up for it tomorrow.”

  “But not tonight.”

  I groaned and buried my head again, rocking it dismally side to side. I kicked my feet in a fit of rage and screamed. Why did he always feel he had to protect me?! I was the one who’d already been damaged by this, not him! I was the one who should’ve been taking the hits, protecting him! It was my fault he got caught up in this.

  Footsteps made their way through the door but I didn’t look up until I felt him lift my hair off my neck. Before I realized what he was doing, he had something snapped around my neck. I couldn’t see it, but once I figured it out, I gasped.

  “What is that?” Nick asked with a firm voice.

  “Just something Natalie and I have played with before.” He sat on the far edge of the bed, swiping his finger across his phone as he navigated the program I knew was associated with the horrible contraption wrapped around my neck. “Of course, not this exact model since my last home was raided.” His eyes took that split second to look up and meet mine, a half smile hitching upward.

  Every hair on my arms and legs reached for the sky in surrender, anticipating the pain I knew was coming. It didn’t help that I already knew, forced to watch Veronica accept the shocks last time. “Don’t,” I pleaded.

  “But he asked what it is. What better way than to show him?”

  Before Nick could even shout don’t!, I felt a firm buzz shock the skin of my neck. It was over before I even got my yelp out. My hands instinctively tried to go for my neck, only to go nowhere. Everything within the vicinity of the collar was still vibrating with aftershocks. I opened my mouth and shifted my jaw, which suddenly ached, but at least there wasn’t any real pain – yet.

  Zander turned to Nick and raised his phone, gently waving it in the air. “That was just a three. As you can see, it’s now set to eight. Ten is the strongest setting, but that would just knock her out. Eight, however, will keep her conscious to experience every bit of the pain it delivers.” He walked closer to Nick and crouched down, letting him get a close-up view of the screen. “You see this? All I have to do is hit this button once and that collar shocks her for a minute straight. And there’s no off or cancel button once it’s hit. I’m going to keep this screen active the entire time with my trigger finger ready. So don’t be stupid.”

  Nick didn’t answer, but begrudgingly nodded his head once. I had serious doubts he would’ve tried anything anyway with both of us tied down the way we were. He knew how difficult I found it to escape either house before so he had to know it wouldn’t be simple this time either. Not to mention the thumb print scanner he already knew about.

  Zander’s attention went back to his phone and soon after, I heard the metal clinking as Nick’s chains were being loosened, but they stopped about five feet out, well shy of Zander. “Remove your straps, strip, then put your straps back on,” Zander commanded.

  Nick’s mouth fell open. He hadn’t seen this coming. Sadly, I had. Zander was the master at humiliating you as much as possible, especially when he was being gracious enough to offer something in return. There were always hidden loopholes buried within his deals.

  “Are you fucking serious?”

  “He’s very serious,” I muttered for him. Zander cocked his eyebrows at me, a wicked smile creeping across his face. “Doesn’t matter. He had cameras in our house so it’s not like he hasn’t seen you naked a hundred times already.” Zander’s smile disappeared. He didn’t say anything, but he clearly didn’t like that I shared that bit of information. Knowledge was power, and what Nick just learned was going to reduce his shame ten-fold.

  Like I thought, the shock fell off Nick’s face. With an annoyed expression, he stood up and started by removing his shirt.

  “Seems someone’s been neglecting their workout routine,” Zander mocked hotly, his eyes scanning Nick’s abdomen. It wasn’t like Nick had put on any weight, just lost some muscle mass as of late. The definition in his abdomen was close to disappearing altogether.

  “Yeah, well, some of us have been ruthlessly gunned down the past four months,” he snipped back, whipping his pants down in anger. “Let me shoot you in the chest and we’ll see how well you keep up with your workouts.”

  Zander’s dimples were making an appearance. But instead of provoking him further, he just noted, “Nice tats,” as he focused on the colorful sunburst near Nick’s groin.

  That was when I silently groaned and buried my eyes in my knees, effectively cutting me off from this horrible scene. After about ten seconds, I heard Zander let out a humph as he crossed the front of the bed. “Seems we’ve already lost Natalie. She’s not one for keeping her eyes open without incentive. Convince her to watch every bit of this and I’ll extend our agreement to thirty-six hours.”

  Fucking bastard. No way Nick wasn’t going to take advantage of that offer. Especially since Zander upped the ante by making him strip.

  “Megan.” When I groaned, he said my name more harshly. Reluctantly, I angled my head toward him. He was naked and leaning against the wall again, in the process of re-securing the straps around his wrists. Zander wasn’t in the picture though. When I pulled all the way up and scanned the room, he wasn’t here at all. “You have to watch.”

  My whole body cringed with disgust.

  “No,” he said forcefully. “If I’m going to do this, then you can do that. It’s ten minutes for twelve hours. I doubt you’ll be able to see much anyways.”

  I huffed quietly. There was that ten again. No way would it be that short, but I wasn’t going to remind him. I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to see this, but he was the one doing it. If he wanted me to watch, then I’d do what he asked.

  I sighed and forced my head to nod.

  “Better my head between his legs than his between yours.” I thought he meant for it to be comforting, but this just wasn’t a moment where that was going to happen.

  “That’s not fair. He’s already screwing with me. We don’t have to let him mess with you too.”

  “None of this is fair. We just have to–”

  I never found out what we had to do. Zander came back in at that moment and Nick wasn’t willing to finish his thought. The door swished closed behind him, locking us a
ll in. As he passed through the room, he sarcastically said, “Well, look who came out of her hidey-hole. Decided to join us after all?”

  I glared and rolled my eyes at him, but all it did was amuse him. The fucker got off on making others uncomfortable. As he carried the armchair to sit just out of reach of Nick, he told me, “I’ve got a camera set directly on you. Obviously, I’ll be in no condition to watch you, but I’ll check the playback. If I see you’ve looked away or closed your eyes at any given point, deal’s off. And I mean the entire deal.”

  Nick’s head whipped towards me, eyes hard. They weren’t mad or stone cold, just pleading with me to cooperate so that what he was doing didn’t go to waste. Funny how he didn’t verbally object to losing all thirty-six hours, but I guess he was finally figuring out first-hand the twisted way this guy worked. Objecting would only screw us further.

  “I understand,” I forced my mouth to say without the menace I felt heating my insides.

  Zander turned to Nick then, and yanked the shirt over his head. As he kicked his pants off, he said, “Remember. I’ve got that collar ready to do some serious damage the moment you try anything.”

  Nick didn’t need the reminder, I was sure. Zander sat his naked form on the edge of the armchair and beckoned Nick forward. Nick crossed the few feet and fell to his knees between Zander’s legs, his cock already pretty stiff. This was the moment when I would’ve definitely checked out if I were still able to. Despite the nonchalant front he put on, I knew this was disgusting Nick on an epic level, and the last thing he really wanted was for me to watch him do it.

  Because I never wanted him to see what I had to do when it was my turn.

  Without a word or sound, Nick reached out and – I didn’t want to say caress, but that was exactly what he did – caressed his balls with one hand and slipped his other around the shaft. My face automatically soured, my lips burying themselves inside my mouth to hide the frown as best I could. He pumped him a few times before his head dipped down.

  God I wanted to kill myself. Better yet, kill Zander. For not only making me watch this, but for tricking Nick into thinking he could save me for even one day. Once you’re already in hell, it’s too late to beg for mercy.