“You will tone down that type of talking right this instance,” he said.
“And if I don’t?” I asked.
“Then you will be married to this man without so much as a courtesy date,” my father said.
“So if I listen to you, I’m married, and if I don’t listen to you, I’m doubly-married. Got it,” I said. “So if my circumstance doesn’t change, then I lose nothing but telling you this. I am a person who happens to have boobs. And just because you see Mom as property doesn’t mean I’m your property. I’m a grown women who wants to make decisions for her own life, and you rip those from me as if I’m your pet puppy. I want to be educated, but the only thing I get are the literature classics and a brush-up in my table manners!”
“You will calm down this instant!” my father said.
“I will do no such thing! That’s fine if I can’t help out with the family business. My brothers are smart and fully capable of doing such a thing. But I will not allow you to marry me off without my permission! That might as well be considered torture!”
“Ava, what in the world has gotten into you?” my mother asked.
“A pair of balls, Mom. Something you should’ve grown a long time ago,” I said.
I heard my brothers snicker just before something cracked against my cheek. I could feel it stinging as Hunter cried out for me, my head whipping around on my neck. Tears sprang to my eyes as my hand came to my cheek, touching the burning skin as my father panted. I slowly looked back at him, watching his hand stay raised as if he was preparing for another blow.
“I will not have you disrespecting me in my own house,” my father said. “I have raised you to be a proper woman. One who is respected and polite and beautiful. I put you through the best schooling as a child and paid exorbitant amounts of money for you to have the best clothes and makeup and guidance I could afford. You will not throw it all back in my face because you have decided to be ungrateful.”
Tears fell onto my cheeks as my body began to tremble.
“Now, get upstairs and clean yourself up. Your mother will be up in a couple of hours to help you prepare for your date tonight,” my father said.
I looked over at my brothers and they were poised to lunge at my father. Why they hadn’t already done it was beyond me, but they had done all they felt they could do, I supposed. I drew in a shaking breath as I backtracked upstairs, my mind reeling as I closed my door. I sank to the floor as tears continued to stream down my cheeks as my hand cupped my red-tainted skin.
I had to get out of here.
I couldn’t stay here another second.
I went and ripped the last suitcase I had out of my closet. I pulled out the few pieces of clothing I had snuck in over the years. Three pairs of jeans, two sweatshirts, some cotton panties, a pair of flip flops, and a two-piece bathing suit. I ripped at all the shirts my mother had made for me and grabbed a couple of the dresses I still enjoyed. I threw all of my library books in there and stuffed my favorite pillow on top, then I sat on the suitcase as I zipped it up.
I grabbed my phone charger and my phone, but I took the battery out of it. I grabbed the coffee can from underneath my bed that I had stowed money away in for a couple of years now. It wasn’t much. Maybe four hundred dollars. But it would get me to somewhere other than here, and that was the point.
I shoved it all into the pockets of my dress I had secretively sewn onto the outfit I was wearing.
Then? A knock came at my door.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“It’s Hunter.”
I pushed my suitcase off to the side and slowly opened the door.
“Are you packed?” he asked.
I furrowed my brow at him as I looked back at the suitcase I had concealed.
“How did you-?”
“Come with me,” he said.
He held out his hand for me and I took it within mine. I grabbed my suitcase and tossed it over my shoulder as we wove through the house. We went out the back entrance, avoiding Mom and Dad as we booked it for the far corner of our property. We ran until we couldn’t hardly breathe, and as we got passed the small amounts of brush, we came to a road.
And my car was sitting there with Finn and Lorenzo in it.
Hunter took my suitcase from me and stuffed it into my car. Finn and Lorenzo got out, then handed me an envelope. I opened it up and found a numerous amount of bills in it, and I gasped as tears streamed down my face.
“The first thing you need to do when you get to wherever you’re going is you need to change your phone number. Open your own account if you have to. Then? You call us. We want to know you’re okay,” Lorenzo said.
“That’s enough money to get you set up somewhere for a couple of months. But if you do a nice extended stay hotel, you can get four months out of it,” Finn said.
I turned towards Hunter as tears streamed down my cheeks.
“What they’re doing to you is wrong, Ava. And if running is the only way you can get away-- if that’s the only way we can help you-- then that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
“Because we’re your brothers. And we love you,” Finn said.
I hugged each of their necks tightly before Lorenzo ushered me into my car. I gave them one last wave before I left, watching them recede in my rearview mirror. It hurt to leave them. To watch them wave me off. This was what my life had come to. Running from the only life I had ever known-- the only family I had ever known-- just to try and make something better for myself. I sighed as I got out onto the main road, my head on a swivel as I tried to figure out where the hell I was going to go from here.
I wasn’t sure if I was ready for California anymore. But I did know where the last place was that I felt safe.
I followed my streets as best as I could remember them. But the torrential downpouring of rain concealed a lot of my memory. I wove through the mountains for three hours before I finally happened upon Travis’ cabin, and I grinned when his truck came into view. I stuffed the money I had into my purse before I grabbed it, then made my way for the porch.
I knocked furiously on the door until he opened up.
The door flew open and his eyes were wild. His sparkling amber orbs were looking around, preparing for some sort of fight. But as his eyes gazed down at me and he studied me closely, the happiness I thought I saw in his eyes quickly morphed into a slow-burning anger.
Then, his hand came up and cupped my cheek.
“What happened?” Travis asked.
My heart thundered in my ears as his thumb stroked my cheek. I could feel it swelling the more he began to manipulate it. His eyes danced around my face as I took in his strong form, my pelvis churning with a heat I’d never experienced before. My mind went blank as his eyes connected with mine, and I found myself at a loss for what to do.
Travis was beautiful and calm. He asked me questions and gave me options and never attempted to pressure me to do something he wished I would. Even though I had only been in his presence for snippets at a time, I knew he was a genuine person. A man who had been beaten down and broken, just like myself.
“Who hit you?” Travis asked.
I threw my arms around his neck and crashed my lips to his. Travis was the escape I needed. Travis was the distraction I so desperately wanted. If my father thought that he could sell off my virginity to the highest bidder, then I could take from him the one thing he thought gave him power.
I would give my virginity away to a man of my choosing, then I would let the pieces fall as they would.
As I kissed a man for the first time, allowing my tongue to dance along his lips, Travis slid his arms around my waist and picked me up. He carried me into his cabin and kicked the door closed behind him as the heat of his home blanketed me. His arms were strong. Throbbing against my back as he carried me down the hallway, our lips entangled as his tongue met mine.
For once, I was in control of my life. For once, I was excited for what was to come. For once, I was making my ow
n choices.
And in that moment, I chose Travis.
Eleven
Ava
The door to his bedroom shut and we were cloaked in darkness. I could feel a heat pooling between my thighs I’d felt multiple times before. But I had never acted on it. I had never dared to try and figure out what was going on for fear that my father would find me. Come bursting into my room at any moment and catch me exploring myself. I stuck to reading books about my body. How a woman’s body was laid out and what everything was supposed to do. I knew my body in and out in a practical sense and in a sexual sense, but it had never been put to practice.
The only thing that made me appealing to my father’s business whims was the fact that I was still a virgin.
My back descended onto a bed as Travis’ lips devoured mine. I could feel this beautiful pressure burning in my chest. His hands were rough and calloused, traveling up my shirt and dancing along the trim of my bra. Electricity was surging through my veins, taking me to heights I’d never experienced before. His beard was tickling my skin as my hands drifted over his back, tentatively feeling his muscles undulating underneath my touch.
I felt something pressing into my thigh, causing me to gasp.
“What in the world?” I asked.
Travis pulled away as I looked down, my eyes widening at the sight. Holy hell, that was his cock. That massive protrusion I felt pressing into my leg was supposed to go inside of me.
I found Travis’ eyes again, his amber orbs gleaming with debauched intent. But I felt my nerves getting the best of me and I pulled away, sitting upright on his bed.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I just… it’s just… big,” I said.
“Thank you for the compliment,” he said.
But my eyes whipped back up to his and I could see his face sink.
“Shit,” he said as he sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“I didn’t even think about that,” he said.
“Please don’t go away. Come back,” I said.
I reached out for him but he pulled away, standing to his feet with his head bowed to the floor.
“You’re a virgin,” he said.
“Why does that matter?” I asked.
“It always matters,” he said as he turned around. “That kind of thing matters.”
“Why?”
“Because your first time should be with someone special. Someone you love and care about.”
“If it was up to my father, my virginity would be sold to the highest bidder,” I said.
“No one works like that, Ava.”
“My father does,” I said.
It must’ve been the sincerity in my voice, because Travis slowly turned around to look at me. I saw the hesitancy in his eyes. The way his primal nature had curled back into his gut. I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I should’ve kept my head in the game. I felt tears of embarrassment rising to my eyes, and I curled my legs into my chest to keep them at bay.
“I’ve never gotten to make my own decisions in life,” I said. “Never. I’ve always followed the plan my father had. And if I ever bucked up to him, then I was punished. Harshly. But this is my body. It’s my virginity. And I want to choose who I give it to.”
Travis’ eyes locked onto mine as a tear dripped down my cheek.
“I don’t want my body explored by someone who’s just gonna… use it for their own pleasure. Take what’s theirs and leave. That’s what would make it special for me, Travis.”
“I don’t love you,” he said.
“Well, I don’t love you either. I’m not asking you to love me. I’m only asking you to explore me.”
His eyes raked down my body as I uncurled my legs from my chest.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked.
“More than anything I’ve ever been in awhile,” I said.
“You know we’ll have to talk about why you came back. Why you just showed up on my porch,” he said.
“And that’s fine. You deserve those answers.”
“And you deserve someone who will treat your body with the care it deserves,” he said.
His knee dipped onto the bed as I stood to my knees. He shuffled towards me, his hand rising up to cup my cheek. His thumb brushed my tear away as my eyes danced between his, then his hands dropped to the hem of my shirt.
“If you get uncomfortable, all you have to do is tell me to stop. I will in a heartbeat,” Travis said.
“I know,” I said. “I know you will.”
Slowly, he lifted my shirt from my body. I was kneeling in front of a beautiful man with only half my clothes on. My hands pressed into his chest as his arms wrapped around me, undoing my bra in one swift movement. I felt my breasts hanging against my skin as the piece of fabric fell to the bed, then I watched Travis’ face dip to my chest.
He sucked one of my nipples between his lips as a groan peeled from my throat.
My hands worked his shirt off his head, my fingertips running over his chiseled muscles. I couldn’t stop taking him in. The breadth of his shoulders and the strength of his chest. I watched his back flex with every move he made as his beard tickled its way down my body. His lips were heated against my skin, causing me to roll my hips into him without my coaching.
Without my thinking about it.
Looking into his eyes, he slowly slid my pants away from my body. Soon, I was bare for him, my skin on fire with the sparks he was igniting against my body. His hands drifted up my thighs, shivering me to my core as I laid my head back down onto the pillow.
I had an idea of what he was going to do next, and I was bracing for the sensations I had read about.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said breathlessly. “Just fine.”
I felt his lips descend to my pussy and a shot of electricity jolted my abs. His hands slid my legs on top of his shoulders as my heels dug into his back. His tongue darted out, lapping at my pussy as my hands curled into the sheets.
It was more than I could’ve ever imagined. Involuntary moans were pouring from my lips as his tongue flicked my clit. My heels dug into the sinewy strength of his back as his arms kept me positioned right where he wanted me. His tongue pressed into me as he lapped me up, swallowing down my juices. My hips were rolling into him, bucking against his beard as fire burned through my veins.
“Travis. Oh my gosh. What… I don’t… oh shit.”
I had no control over anything. I didn’t know what I was saying, I didn’t know what I was doing, and I didn’t know how I was feeling. All I knew was that stars were bursting in my vision and my toes were curling. My back was arching off the mattress and Travis was holding onto me tighter than ever. My pussy burned, spreading a tightening ache all around my body. My jaw dropped and a groan shot out from my throat, filling the caverns of his bedroom as my pussy contracted time and time again.
Travis moaned into me, his tongue lapping thick strokes of my slit as I shook against his face.
I came down from my high, crashing to the mattress as Travis pulled away from me. He kissed up my body, leaving a wet trail straggling behind with his beard. He hovered above me, my eyes glassy with pleasure as he grinned down at me.
In a fit of passion, I grabbed his hair and pulled him down to me, tasting myself on his skin as I kissed him.
His arms wrapped around me and pulled me from the bed. He sat me in his lap, his massive cock dripping against my skin. I could feel him against my stomach, pulsing with need as my hands ran through his hair. It was much longer than I remembered. It cascaded almost down to his shoulders.
“Was your hair this long before?” I asked breathlessly.
Travis chuckled into my lips before he pulled back.
“I had it up in a bun,” he said.
“My father would hate that,” I said with a giggle.
“Good, because I can’t honestly say I’m a fan of the man.”
I looked down at Tra
vis’ cock one last time and shook my head. It really was big, and I wasn’t sure if it would fit inside of me. I felt my body trembling at the idea as my hands slid down Travis’ chest, but then I felt his finger crook underneath my chin.
He pulled my gaze up to his as a tear leaked out of my eye.
“Not tonight,” he said. “You’ve experienced enough.”
“But you haven’t-”
“It’s fine,” he said. “I’ll survive.”
“No, no. I mean, there’s something I do what to try. I just… it’s not-”
“I know,” he said. “And it’s okay. What is it you want to try?”
I suddenly felt like I was put underneath a spotlight as my cheeks flushed.
“I’ve never been asked that question before,” I said breathlessly.
Travis dipped his lips down to mine and kissed me sweetly, pulling a moan from me before he cupped the back of my neck.
“Tell me what you want,” he said.
My jaw was trembling as our foreheads connected. We were breathing one another’s air, my body seated in his naked lap. I had never felt so vulnerable yet so protected in my entire life. I felt beautiful and wanted as I shook with the aftershocks of my pleasure. I smiled, burying my face into his neck as he held me close to him. He was so warm and so inviting, and I was embarrassed to ask him for what I wanted.
But I knew I had to. If I was going to make a life for myself, I had to get used to telling people what I wanted.
“I want to give you a blowjob, but I don’t know how,” I said.
I heard him chuckle as he pulled away from me to look into my eyes.
“I can walk you through it, if that’s what you want,” he said.
“I do,” I said.
“Okay, let me lay down then.”
I slid from his lap and watched as his rock hard body laid down on the bed. His cock was standing tall and proud, the head of it angry with denial. It was already dripping for me, leaking a clear fluid I wanted to taste. I sank myself between his legs like he did mine and darted my tongue out, capturing the drop within my mouth as he groaned.
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