by Melody Anne
“It’s not that bad, Elena. It would have been so much worse for you long ago with the master. It’s not that bad,” Leo kept saying over and over again.
He paused as he looked into her eyes with an almost maniacal expression. He was trying to get her to agree with him. She could see that, but she couldn’t tell him she wanted this. It was nothing that she wanted.
She turned her head away and stared at the wall, crying out as pain shot through her. He still didn’t stop.
The men had degraded her, had swept their fingers inside her, had slapped her all over, but no one had committed sex with her before. That was to be saved for the master. The pain was excruciating as he thrust himself in her and moved up and down.
She could barely breathe through the nausea and despair as one more thing was stolen from her.
When he was finished, he stood above her.
“See. It wasn’t so bad,” he said. She knew he wanted her to say something, but she couldn’t speak. Her body shivered as he threw a blanket over her. “It wasn’t so bad. It will get better.”
His fingers trailed through her hair and wiped at her tears.
She wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince her or himself. Finally, she mustered the strength to turn away from him and face the wall, lying there in the fetal position as she sobbed.
Why she should even care, she wasn’t sure, but she did care. She hurt, and she was defeated, more defeated than she’d ever felt since remembering this life. She’d been told this was her entire purpose, to please a man. This was what she was trained to do. She’d been molded to please the master. But then the master had died, and she’d found a bit of freedom.
That freedom had just painfully ended.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Over the next month, Elena didn’t even try to fight off Leo when he would visit her. When she fought him, he became rougher, made the experience so much worse. He always told her it would get better.
The pain stopped, but she always went to the shower after, scrubbed her body until she nearly bled, and huddled in a ball on her bed, still feeling dirty, still feeling out of control. How did anyone survive a life like this?
If these people had found her, had brought her into their home to save her, then shouldn’t they want to take care of her, not abuse her? She was so confused.
There was nowhere for her to hide, though. Ken was gone and a new, stern woman was in his place. The woman wasn’t kind, however she didn’t use violence to get her way. She simply used slashing words. But she didn’t hate Elena. She didn’t praise her; then again she never made Elena go over something she’d already cleaned before.
That was a small blessing in her otherwise bleak life.
She saw Dalton a few more times — from a distance. He didn’t speak to her again, and she shouldn’t hope he would, but she looked for him when she was in the house or when she was in the yard.
She assured herself she was only doing this out of curiosity. She had no interest in him. It would do her no good if she did. He was everything she wasn’t — sophisticated, respected, needed. Free.
She wasn’t sure what the kiss had been about, but the more time she had to think about it, the more she realized he’d just slipped up. He’d seen her there, knew what her purpose was — to please a man — and decided to test her out.
She hadn’t passed the test.
She was grateful for that, she told herself. Because even though he’d sparked something inside her when he’d pulled her onto his lap, the tangible act of sex was rough and dissatisfying. She dreaded when Leo would climb on top of her.
He asked her each time if she’d enjoyed herself and after enduring his wrath when she hadn’t answered him right, she’d learned to tell him she had. That would calm him down. He kept telling her he did it because he loved her.
Elena didn’t understand love, had no comprehension of it. But if love, something she read about in the books she took to her small room, was what Leo was showing her then she wanted no part of it.
Maybe it was because of her time with Leo that she was so fascinated with Dalton. The more she was away from him, the more she put him on a pedestal. Somehow in all the chaos of her world, he was the anchor in her storm, what Leo used to be. Although Dalton had barely spoken more than a dozen words to her, when she did spot him from a distance, it grounded her.
Walking outside in the garden, she heard a voice, turned from her favorite secluded area, and saw him pacing in the distance, his phone held up to his ear as he snapped words to whoever he was speaking to.
Without even thinking about it, she lifted her hand and touched her lips where he’d made her feel unimaginable things.
She slunk down and peered at him from the bushes, not wanting him to know she was there. She rarely had the opportunity to gaze at him for any length of time, and without him knowing she was there, she could look as long as she wanted.
As she stared, he continued speaking, his voice irritated. He wore a fitted white shirt, and as he spoke and paced, he reached a hand up to yank on his tie, the red splash of material instantly loosening as it fell open, hanging from his neck.
“I don’t give a damn about the cost. Get it done,” he said, his voice rising before he hung up and pushed the phone into his pants pocket.
Suddenly his head whipped around, and their eyes connected from across the yard. Elena froze as she tried to slink down farther. Even though she was hidden, she had no doubt he’d spotted her. His eyes didn’t release hers as he began moving in her direction.
She thought for a moment about running. But it was already too late. It would be best to just face the music. She stepped from behind the shrubs, cursing the small opening that she’d been peeking through.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to listen. I was walking and then you were here and—”
“Silence!” he snapped. She shut up immediately.
He moved steadily and quickly approached, grabbing her arm and yanking her around to the side of the garden and farther away from the main house. Elena wasn’t sure what was going to happen next.
When they were in a secluded area of the yard, a place she hadn’t been before, he pushed her back, her body trapped against the side of a large shed.
“You just seem to keep popping up all over the place, don’t you?” he growled.
She wasn’t sure how he meant the words — if he wanted her to answer them, explain herself, or if she was still supposed to be silent. Her throat burned with unsaid explanations. Why hadn’t she just turned around?
“You might be a curse I have to deal with,” he continued, and his eyes narrowed.
She still didn’t speak. Her knees shook, and she was frightened. But she also didn’t want him to leave her there all alone, or worse yet, leave her for Leo to find.
He stepped closer to her, and his fingers began running through her hair. He let the strands slide between his fingers as he gazed at her. She was mesmerized.
“Don’t say a word,” he warned.
The same butterflies she’d felt the first time he’d looked at her this way rose in her stomach, and she tilted her head the slightest bit for easier access. At least she now knew how to respond to a man. Would he be able to tell the difference?
As Dalton’s lips connected with hers, the butterflies exploded, the feeling so much more intense than the last time. She found she wanted to wrap her arms around his neck, wanted to hold on to him, wanted to do more than just kiss him. Maybe sex wasn’t such a bad thing. Maybe Leo just wasn’t good at it.
Maybe it was all about choice.
She fisted her fingers at her sides in an effort not to grab him. He’d told her to be still. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to react to this suave man kissing her again. But as his lips coaxed hers to open, she did so willingly, and hoped it wouldn’t end too quickly.
He gripped her hair tightly as he deepened the kiss, his mouth firm and controlling, while also eliciting a response from her.
When he leaned back, his eyes were blazing with passion and anger.
He pushed his hips forward, and she had no doubt she was feeling his arousal. What made her unsure was how she was reacting to it. She wanted him to do the things Leo had done to her.
What was the matter with her?
He leaned back into her and then lifted her leg up as he pushed forward even harder, his thickness resting right against her throbbing core. She groaned into his mouth, which seemed to make him go a bit mad.
His hand descended from her hair and slid down her throat, gliding over the top of her shirt until he was squeezing her breast. She groaned again as his palm rubbed her erect nipples through the thin cotton. She squirmed against him, wanting to be closer.
When his hand lowered, she wanted to complain until it slid beneath her shirt and traveled upward once again, quickly unclasping her bra and then cupping her sensitive flesh before he squeezed the nipple between two fingers.
Heat unlike anything she could imagine flooded her insides as wetness coated her core, begging this man to finish what he’d started.
Her hands were clasped behind his neck without her having any idea how they’d gotten there. But that seemed to be the only thing anchoring her to the massive wall of his body.
When he pulled back, fire blazed in his eyes, and he squeezed her tender flesh one more time. She panted and hung on to him. When he let go of her breast, she whimpered, and his eyes narrowed before reaching behind his neck and unclasping her hands, firmly setting them back at her sides before he took a step back.
“Yes, you are a curse,” he said.
He moved back farther and then sent her a withering look before he turned and strode away. Elena leaned against the wall and fought the emotions — the feelings — that were rushing through her.
That shouldn’t have happened. She never should have stayed and watched him when she realized he was in the yard. She should have slithered back into the shed — into her hiding place.
But it had happened, and she couldn’t undo it.
Her fingers pressed against her lips, her body trembling. Finally, she redid her bra and dragged herself to her basement. Even later, lying in bed and smiling, she knew there was a problem.
That night she dreamed of Dalton; she dreamed of being his.
And when Leo came to her later and forced himself upon her, she closed her eyes and pictured it being Dalton above her; Dalton kissing her. She imagined it was just the two of them on a deserted island where no one was cruel to her, no one took anything from her, only gave her pleasure.
And, although at the end of it she still felt filthy and needed to clean herself of Leo’s smell, it wasn’t quite as painful. It was almost bearable.
With an imagination, she just might survive this place, survive Leo.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The warm air didn’t have so much as a breeze stirring it as Elena enjoyed her favorite spot in the garden among the shrubs and trees, away from prying eyes — away from Leo and his constant unwanted lust.
The shadows were where she belonged. Among them she could hide away, living almost in a new reality. She loved the shadows, loved the darkness, especially when there was light just beyond them. Light she could see into, but darkness where she dwelled, where she couldn’t be seen.
She heard the voices, alerting her she was no longer alone, before she saw a couple moving slowly to the gazebo, a dozen yards from where she was hidden away. Glancing around her, she made sure she was still shrouded in the shadows, and once she felt safe, she slunk back the slightest bit to be sure.
They would soon go away, and she could resume her thoughts in the dark. The last time she’d spied on Dalton, it had led to the kiss . . . and more. Of course, that didn’t make her want to run away, that made her want to be caught.
As much as she didn’t want to look, Elena couldn’t help but stare as Dalton leaned against the gazebo railing, his attention focused on a brunette with long hair cascading down her back, and a dress so short and tight Elena wondered if she had difficulty sitting.
She didn’t look at the woman long though. It was too difficult to pull her gaze away from the man with his piercing brown eyes she was unable to see from her position. It didn’t matter if she could see his eyes or not. Looking into them one time was all it took to remember them in her dreams forever.
He wasn’t smiling as he gazed at the woman, simply watching her as she chattered away. His arms were crossed in front of him, one foot casually placed over the other as the banister supported his weight.
Elena could hear every word the woman was saying, though it wasn’t anything worth remembering. Something about a fashion show and how excited she was to travel to Paris in a month. Elena had no clue what a fashion show was.
Dalton said something, but Elena couldn’t quite pick up the words, his voice was so low. But the woman must have delighted in whatever it was, because her neck went back and she laughed. She took a step closer to him and placed her perfectly manicured hands on his chest, her lips inching ever closer to his.
He still didn’t shift his position. He looked almost . . . bored.
But that certainly couldn’t be. Not when he was with a woman whose body was perfect, whose laughter sounded like music, and who would most likely know exactly how to please a man like him.
Not that Elena would know precisely what he’d like. She didn’t know what anyone liked except Leo. That thought sent a shudder through her. But she had felt Dalton’s hardness between her thighs, so she thought he liked sex.
The woman must have noticed she didn’t have his full attention, because she licked her lips and leaned against him, finally making him uncross his arms. He moved his hands to her hips as she pushed forward, connecting their mouths.
Elena knew she should leave. She was invading Dalton’s privacy, and if he found out, he’d be furious. But she couldn’t leave. She was trapped right where she was, gazing at the couple, as the kiss grew more heated.
The woman pulled back, a moan echoing across the yard as she reached low and rubbed Dalton between his legs.
He seemed to enjoy that more than anything else that had happened so far. He pulled her face back to his and devoured her mouth, one hand fisting in her hair and holding her in place while the other gripped her ass and tugged her closer.
When he released her lips, he pulled on her hair, making her head fall back, and he trailed his lips down her neck and into the ample cleavage of her dress before moving over the tight material where he did something that made the woman yelp.
That brought a smile to his lips.
“Let’s go inside, Dalton,” she purred.
“No. Right here,” he told her.
She seemed unsure for a moment as she looked around. She looked right to the place where Elena was hiding, but her gaze continued on. There was no way either of them could see her.
Dalton didn’t bother looking around. He obviously didn’t care if they had privacy or not. In fact he seemed excited by the prospect of having sex with an audience. Not that he could possibly know Elena was watching. She slunk back just a bit more to be sure, but her eyes were glued to the couple.
The woman reached behind her and unzipped her dress, letting the strapless top fall down, revealing her perky, naked breasts. Dalton reached for them, his hands holding their weight as his thumbs rubbed over the nipples, making the woman cry out in pleasure.
Elena couldn’t tear her gaze away as the couple went back to kissing, Dalton’s hands all over her as he lifted the bottom of her dress up, then gripped her nearly bare ass in his palms.
“On your knees,” he told the woman.
Elena was shocked to see the woman immediately drop. She didn’t even hesitate as she began undoing his pants. He gripped her hair as she pulled him from his pants and licked the tip of his hardness.
Dalton was positioned perfectly, giving Elena an unspoiled view of his entire body. As the woman held his thickness i
n her hand, it overflowed, a solid, perfect rod of steel. She didn’t know they could be that . . . big . . . or thick. Leo wasn’t even close to looking like Dalton when he was excited.
She couldn’t tear her gaze away as the woman took him in her mouth, making his head roll back as he moaned his approval while her cherry lips took him deeper and deeper down her throat.
Then Dalton’s fingers fastened even tighter into the woman’s hair, and he held her still as he began pumping his hips, moving at the speed he wanted. The woman choked a bit and he growled at her. She stopped immediately.
Faster and faster, he moved against the woman’s tongue, his thickness expanding her throat, making him groan in pleasure. Saliva dripped from her lips as she held on to his hips and tried to keep steady.
Leo had forced Elena to do this on him, but he’d never been so rough with her while doing it. Maybe she should be grateful he wasn’t hurting her — or hadn’t physically hurt her since that night he’d taken her for the first time. Sure he was rough, but he never shoved his thickness down her throat to where she couldn’t breathe.
Elena should have been horrified watching this scene play out in front of her, should have been disgusted at the sounds Dalton was making, the slight choking from the woman on her knees with her breasts swaying from the force of Dalton’s thrusts.
But she wasn’t.
She was wet with hunger, watching this go on. She wanted to be that woman.
The thought horrified her so much that a soft gasp escaped her lips.
She threw a hand over her mouth and stared at the couple. There was no way they had heard her. Not with the noise they were making. It had barely been a whisper of a breath.
But still, Dalton’s head turned, and he looked right where Elena was sitting on the ground while he continued thrusting his arousal into the woman’s mouth. Elena didn’t move so much as a finger as she sat there in the bushes, his gaze seeming to bore into her.
He couldn’t see her. She knew that. It was all in her head that he could. She was in the shadows. She was safe in the shadows. Still, she didn’t even breathe, only allowed a slight trickle of air in and out, making sure her chest wasn’t even moving.