by Mae Doyle
Fuck.
“There was a vote last night after the hunt,” I tell her, finally grabbing her chin out of frustration to tilt her head so that she has to look at me. “They want you bumped up. Nathan poisoned them against you.”
“And I’m sure that you did your best to defend my honor,” she spits back, pulling away from me so that I have to drop her chin. “I’m sure you really went to bat for me, didn’t you, Marco?”
I close my eyes. I had gone to bat for her, but they were all drunk. All ready for more bloodshed.
“It took everything I could do not to let them come to your room last night and pull you from it for a hunt right then,” I finally tell her. “They’re out of control.”
This makes her eyes go wide and I’m grateful that maybe I’m finally getting through to her. She’s so fucking stubborn but she needs to see that I’m trying to save her.
“You can control them,” she says confidently. “This is your island, your idea. You told me that yourself. Besides, they don’t live here all the time like you do. I’m not worried.” She fingers the edge of her shirt while talking but drops it when she notices me looking at her hand.
She’s worried.
We’re silent for a moment then sighs. “Okay, so I have a month until the next full moon, right? That’s how you guys have this scheduled?”
Her eyes are bright and I can tell that she’s close to crying, but I have a feeling that she’ll never do that in front of me.
“That was the schedule for a while,” I tell her. “Nathan likes to hunt as much as possible so he moves through rabbits pretty quickly.” I don’t know how to tell her that she doesn’t really have a month to train. To live.
“So I have a month?”
I swallow hard. I’ve never felt this way about any woman ever, in my entire life. When I saw Natalia I knew that I had to have her, but I didn’t know that the feelings I have for her would be so strong. I don’t know what to do with them and I certainly can’t tell Dale, Zach, or Nathan about what I’m feeling.
I want to protect her. I want to make sure that nobody ever harms her, but I fucked all of that up when I took her and brought her here. I just never thought that I’d feel anything for someone before.
I didn’t know that I was capable of feeling this way for someone.
“Marco.” She reaches out and lightly touches my arm, drawing me back from my thoughts. “How long do I have?”
“Let’s walk,” I tell her, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her with me. The other guys are all sleeping off their hangovers from the hunt last night. Their celebration went into the wee hours of the morning, when the sun was just starting to come up, and I know that they’ll sleep for a long time.
I can actually talk to Natalia, which is all I want.
We get outside and she sucks in a deep breath of fresh air. When I look at her, she shrugs.
“I don’t get outside much,” she tells me. “Work keeps me busy.”
That makes me smile and I drop her arm, walking next to her away from the building. I know that she needs to know when her hunt is coming, but right now I just want to enjoy her company. “Yeah, and what do you do?”
“Wait tables,” she tells me, wrinkling her nose. I catch a glimpse of who Natalia probably was before I came into her life and my heart hurts. “But I really want to be a singer. Thought about moving to Nashville, getting a guitar and a little dog, and making a go of it.”
“You wanted to be a country singer?” I ask her, taking a moment to drink her in. Her yoga clothes fit to her body like a second skin but I can easily imagine her in jeans and a button-up shirt, a cowboy hat perched on her head.
“Don’t judge,” she tells me, smacking my arm. “What about you? What do you do?”
“I manage a company and a ton of employees I’ve never met. I hate it,” I tell her, “but it pays enough that I have income to do whatever I want.”
“Sounds nice.” She’s silent as we walk away from the building. We’re not headed towards the cove, but rather towards the rocky side of the beach.
Nathan hunted last night in the woods and I don’t want Natalia to see any blood left behind.
“It’s lonely,” I tell her, admitting to her and to myself what I’ve been feeling for a long time. “It could be nice, but it’s lonely.”
That makes her stop in her tracks to look at me. She reaches out and takes my hand, linking our fingers together. “I hate being lonely,” she says, then pauses, like she’s working up the courage to say something else to me. “Who hurt you, Marco? Who made you like this?”
She looks up at me hopefully, obviously wanting me to answer her honestly. She wants me to come clean with her, tell her all of the terrible things that happened to me when I was younger and made me who I am.
I don’t know that I can.
As I wait, she stands silent, just hoping that I’ll answer her. I want to, I really do, but I don’t know to do it, not even for her.
“You have two weeks,” I finally tell her, latching onto something that will be easier to say, even though it will be more difficult to admit. In response, she frowns, obviously not following. “They want the hunt at new moon,” I tell her. “Two weeks.”
“No.” She drops my hand at the same time that the word slips from between her lips. “You can’t be serious. Two weeks?” Tears spring to her eyes and she wipes them away angrily. “No.”
I bought and planned this island so that I wouldn’t ever feel helpless again and, so far, it’s worked. Then I met Natalia and everything changed. I suddenly realized that I only was able to keep from feeling helpless because I did everything in my power to keep people at bay.
“I’m not going to let it happen to you,” I tell her, not even knowing what I’m going to say before the words are out of my mouth.
“Yeah?” She shoots back, the word full of venom. “And how the hell do you think that you’re going to be able to do that when you won’t even tell me what happened to fuck you up so badly, Marco?”
“My stepdad,” I tell her, anger coursing through my body. It’s the first time that I’ve ever admitted what happened to me before and I’m not sure that I’m going to be able to go through with it, but I’m going to try. “He would hunt me down, pin me down. He…” My voice trails off and she grabs my arm.
“Marco,” she whispers, but I shake my head.
“No, Natalia. You wanted to know so badly? You get to know. He would pin me down, make me touch him. He raped, me Natalia. Hunted me like prey, took everything from me.”
“So you decided to take back that power and do it to other people,” she says, the horror clear in her voice. “You thought that you could make it better by taking it out on someone else.”
I set my jaw. “I’m not proud of who I am,” I tell her, and it’s true. I don’t think that I have anything to be proud of. Sure, I worked my ass off to get where I am in my company, but then all I’ve ever done is hurt other people.
It hits me that it doesn’t have to be like this, though. I can do something about it.
Natalia doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t have to. I have two weeks to come up with a plan to save her, and I’m going to.
Without thinking about what I’m doing, I kiss her. She loops her arms around my neck and pulls me to her, her tongue dancing against mine.
Natalia’s just as fucked up as I am. But I’m going to save her.
Chapter 25
Natalia
A week goes by before I see Marco again. He’s making himself scarce, probably trying to throw Nathan off the trail of what we’re doing. I train hard, working my muscles to the point of exhaustion so that I can sleep at night.
Owen told me that they won’t give me anything for sleeping, so all I can do is try to wear myself out. That’s my life — pure exhaustion during the day broken up by the best food I’ve ever eaten, then collapsing at night, trying to push from my mind any thoughts about what’s going to happen to me.
“Is this where you bring people to interrogate them?” I ask him, trying to keep my voice light. In reality, I want to throw up, but I can’t do that right now. I have to hear what he wants to say to me to figure out how I’m going to survive.
He doesn’t answer, instead, he kisses me, slamming me back against the door. It knocks the air out of me but I grab him, pulling him closer to me. Even though I don’t know him very well I feel a strange connection with him that I’ve never felt with anyone before. I don’t know if it’s just because of the situation I’m in and the fact that he’s the only person who even treats me like a human, but I don’t care.
I want him.
And if my time on this earth is as limited as I think, I want to have him as much as possible.
“Natalia, I need to talk to you,” he gasps out, but I ignore him, undoing his pants and then pulling down the zipper as quickly as possible.
“Less talking,” I tell him, kissing him hard before pushing him back so that I can fall to my knees. “Let me suck your cock.”
My hands fumble as I yank his pants down. His cock is already hard, throbbing at my touch, and I don’t wait a second to do what I want to do. I’ve wanted to have his cock in my mouth from the moment I sucked him off at the helicopter, and now there’s nothing to stop me.
He moans as I lightly kiss his bulb then I suck him in, my cheeks hollowing as I my tongue around his thick bulb and up and down his shaft. He moans, forking his fingers through my hair and bucking up into my mouth. I relax my jaw, letting his cock slip down my throat.
Even though I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be going to hell for this, I don’t want to stop. I want to feel Marco take me for his own and I grab his balls, raking my nails across them and down his thighs as I moan, his cock slipping in and out between my lips.
“Natalia,” he says, and I make my lips into a tight O around his cock. He’s so thick that I can feel my jaw hurting already but I don’t want to stop. I want to make him come, want him to see that I care for him, even though he’s fucked up my life.
Even though he’s going to kill me.
That thought enters my head unbidden and I pause, relaxing my mouth just enough for him to thrust deeper than before, the tip of his cock slamming hard into the back of my throat.
In response, I dig my fingers into his thighs, wanting to push him off of me and out of my mouth but he’s holding my head too hard. I can’t move, can’t make him step back. All I can do is just take what he wants to give me.
“Holy fuck!” He cries, thrusting again, and then I feel him release. His come shoots hot and thick into my throat, almost gagging me, then he pulls out and I lick his tip, sucking every last drop from his cock.
I’m shaking and I can’t get to my feet so Marco bends down and scoops me up, pulling me close to him for a moment. He wraps his arms around me and holds me tight, supporting me as he murmurs into my hair.
I can’t quite tell what he’s saying but I don’t want to ask him to repeat himself. I know what’s going to happen now. He’s going to send me back out into the building for more training. I have one more week to live.
One more week to plot how I’m going to kill him.
Yes, I care for Marco, but more than that, I want to live. There has to be a way for me to get the fuck off this island.
That night at dinner we have roast chicken. There’s a new woman here and she won’t look at any of us. All she does is cry and refuse to eat and I have no doubt that she’s not going to make it very long.
While she’s busy crying and the other two women are eating I finish a chicken leg and slip the bone into my bra. It’s warm and greasy tucked there against my skin, but it’s also the only thing that I think is going to help me make it off this island in one piece.
When Becky comes in to make sure that I’m ready for bed, I’m waiting by the door. She smiles at me, obviously unaware of what I have planned, and I kick a small chicken bone into the door so that when she shuts it it will hold open.
Just a little. Just enough for me to do what I have to do.
I know that Friday night all of the men stay in the building and the other three don’t fly back to the mainland. I know that they love to get drunk and that they stay up way too late telling stories and sometimes shoot guns off in the dark for fun.
Owen told me all of this.
Becky leaves without noticing that the door doesn’t shut all the way behind her. Or maybe she does. Maybe she has regret for cutting out her tongue and moving here to the island to be part of the most fucked-up thing I’ve ever heard of. I don’t know and I’m not about to ask her.
As soon as she’s gone, I hop out of bed, creeping carefully over to my door. The chicken bone had shifted a little when she closed it, but it held enough that I can pull the handle back and open the door before carefully closing it, adjusting the bone to hold it open while I change.
I pull on black jeans and a black tank top — the uniform that they’ve had me in since I got here. It feels strange to be getting dressed at night, but I have to do something.
I want to make the bastards pay for what they’ve done and what they’re continuing to do. I know that it’s insane — to think that I can take three men down, but I have to try. I have to hope that Marco is on my side.
Dressed, I walk back to my door. I feel more confident now even though there’s still a thrum of fear shooting through my veins. Once I step outside my door, everything changes. I won’t be just a victim any longer. I’ll finally be taking some control of my life.
It feels momentous, what I’m doing, but there isn’t anyone there to cheer me on or tell me that they’re proud of me as I grab the handle and pull the door open.
As I do I’m struck with a momentary paralyzing fear. It’s just like when I used to sneak out of foster homes when I was little after my parents had died. I never knew what I was going to find out in the house and was always terrified of being caught.
My foster families had felt like they were from hell when I was younger, but now I know that they were nothing compared to the real devils that walk this earth.
Each footstep I take down the hall terrifies me. I’m barefoot, unwilling to risk one of the men hearing my shoes thunking down the hall. I pass the other rooms that the women are in, almost debating trying to free them, but pushing the thought from my mind.
This is between me and the three devils downstairs. I don’t want to bring the other women into if I can help it. Leaving them in their room should keep them safe. When I reach the door at the end of the hall I stop short, my heart pounding hard.
I forgot about the fucking key fob. There’s no way that I can get through it without a fob.
“Fuck,” I whisper, my voice freaking me out a little in the silence of the hall. From down beneath me, wherever the men are, I hear them laughing and carrying on. Their voices haven’t ever carried this far before and I pause, my hand still on the handle.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that they were coming up the stairs.
They’ve never done that before, so it doesn’t any sense.
Breathing as slowly and quietly as possible, I lean my head against the door, its cool metal a shock to my skin.
Goosebumps pop up all over my body and I suck in a breath.
They’re louder. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but it’s obvious that they’re getting closer.
There’s no reason that they’d be coming upstairs, is there? In a panic, I look down at what I’m wearing.
Fuck.
I know that I’m going to make noise running, but I can’t stop the panic that courses through me, driving me to run away from the door. My room is towards the end of the hall and I tear towards it, pumping my arms as
I go.
Their voices are louder.
They’re not just laughing.
They’re shouting.
Egging each other on.
I reach my room and slam the door shut, stepping away from it in panic, my chest rising and falling as I suck for air.
They’re coming for me. I know it.
And I don’t have anywhere to hide.
Chapter 26
Marco
Natalia has no idea what’s coming for her.
We sweep up the stairs, Nathan in the lead, Dale and Zach pushing me from behind to make sure that I keep going. I want to stop, scream at them that we have to end this, do anything to protect Natalia, but I can’t.
I built this.
From my own fucked-up mind, I built this and now I have to reap what I’ve sown.
She’s the one person that I’ve ever cared about in my life and instead of leaving her alone, I took her. I brought her here, making her the center of my fucked-up games.
I should have known better than to think that Nathan would leave me alone. As soon as he had a feeling that I was fucking her, he was all over it, needling me, watching us.
He knows for real and he’s not going to let her live. It was the agreement that we made when we created the island — if anyone fucked a rabbit then everyone else got to hunt her.
Either Dale or Zach pushes me in the middle of my back and I stumble forward, my legs heavy like lead. Thye’ve all been drinking but I’ve been careful — not wanting to drink as much as the three of them.
I’ve wanted to keep my wits about me, but right now it doesn’t look like that’s going to matter any.
“I love an impromptu hunt!” Nathan crows, swiping his fob on the third floor and swinging the door open. “Wake up, rabbits!” He screams, his voice echoing down the hall.