Ivy wanted to yell, but she didn’t need Silk catching her.
She fought against Jeremy, but he pinned her to the cross with all his weight and effortlessly locked her wrists.
“Jeremy, William will come after you if you hurt me!” she warned as he bent, fastening her ankle before she could kick him.
“Ivy, I’m going to put my cock in your pussy. I wonder if you’re still just as tight as you were then?” He crushed his mouth to hers and squeezed her breasts painfully hard while she kept her lips sealed.
“Fuck off! I’ll scream.” There were no options left but to let Silk, another guard, or William find her. “Help—”
He stifled her cry with his sweaty palm. “You do know I love it when a woman struggles. It gets me so fucking hard.” He pushed his erection against her belly.
She shook her head wildly from left to right, but he’d lodged his palm against her mouth.
Ivy’s short dress, sans underwear, made it easy for Jeremy to insert his finger between her legs.
Her stomach turned in a nauseating flop, and a lone tear slid down her cheek from his vile touch. How she hated Jeremy Dechamps and his privileged ass with a vengeance. He could have any woman he wanted, but he got off on violating women who put up a fight. He’d humiliated her once before after she’d stolen his wallet at a party and he’d caught her. Then he’d followed Ivy to her own seedy part of town, threatening to report her crime unless she had sex with him. Jeremy took her virginity callously. It had hurt, and he’d been anything but gentle. After he fucked her in an alleyway, he’d slapped her and left her with torn clothes in the street. Ivy had crawled to her apartment where Sean had taken care of her for days. She’d told Sean she didn’t see her attacker, because she was sure Sean would kill Jeremy, and she didn’t want to lose her brother to the justice system.
She’d hoped never to run into Jeremy again. Why was luck always against her? She’d wanted to escape William’s wrath and had ended up in the clutches of someone she feared more.
He uttered, “You’d better get wet, or else it’ll hurt.”
As Ivy lost the last ember of hope, she shut her eyes while he sadistically pushed another finger inside her.
CHAPTER 29
William
William used a minimum of hits, but even so, there was a suggestion of professionalism in his movements. He punched Jeremy hard in his stomach so he could get a better look at Ivy, who was standing with her arms wrapped around another man’s neck. A man he believed was the same man she’d talked to the last time in the fight club.
Are you fucking kidding me?! She lied to me!
Apart from the fact that he despised that she’d lied to him, he felt pure jealousy bleeding through his veins. Why the fuck was she allowing another man to touch her? William, never one to be jealous at all, couldn’t even stand men looking at her anymore. And who the hell was that man?
William received an uppercut from Jeremy while he was fully engrossed with Ivy.
The audience heckled Jeremy.
Why can’t Ivy just follow orders?
All William wanted now was to end this fight, and since Jeremy had been taunting him for years, William provoked him, knowing full well that a privileged boy such as he couldn’t handle it like a man; it would make him irate.
Skirting backward into the ropes, William endeavored to rile Jeremy while repeatedly stealing glances at Ivy, who had shaken off her guard and was conversing too intimately with that brown-haired guy.
“Jeremy, surely you must know”—he ducked beneath the swift arc of a fist—“that you’ll”—he blocked a left hook—“never, ever beat me.” William stepped aside when he charged at him, causing Jeremy to end up in the ropes.
Jeremy turned and lunged at William, who sidestepped, twisted, and buried his fist beneath the man’s ribs. As he doubled over, William jammed his fist into his temple, over and over, until Jeremy dropped onto his stomach.
“Four, five, six…” the referee counted.
Simultaneously, William zeroed in on Ivy, who was now alone and watching him.
Rage blistered to the surface. Charles was right – she had a hold over him. William had gone soft with a woman who was his fucking captive. She’d played with his emotions from the day he took her. At that thought, his vehemence knew no bounds. William felt torn, desperate to retaliate. She weakened him too much, and he couldn’t cope. Inhaling a deep breath to steady his all-encompassing feelings, he calmed himself. He’d let her have a taste of her own medicine. Ivy was difficult to manage, but he knew from the start that she was very jealous as well.
Two can play that game.
William was named the winner, and he started his honorary round around the ring while Jeremy stood up, clearly wanting to discuss the fight with William. Even though they disliked each other, as fighters, they were both professionals, so if Jeremy wanted feedback, William would provide it. But first, he sought to deal with Ivy. He also kept checking the area for the man that had been with Ivy and saw him on the other side of the room now.
“William! William! Kiss me!”
Women fawned over him, and William allowed one to kiss him while he kept his scowl directed at Ivy. She was seething. He could even see it with her face mostly hidden by the hood.
Jealousy is a motherfucker of an emotion, isn’t it, Ivy?
William pulled himself free of the woman and beckoned a guard to him – clearly the first guard assigned to Ivy was a moron since he’d lost sight of her for several minutes. “Order another guard to seize the man with brown hair that’s exiting right now.” William pointed toward the exit that the man Ivy had conversed with was taking. “And take the woman with the black cloak to my private room and lock her in there. Go!”
“Yes, Mr. Kade.” He went on to obey orders instantly.
Jeremy had regained his posture in the meantime. “William, one day I’ll beat you.”
William grinned. “Good luck with that. Jeremy, I must leave now. We’ll talk later.” William wanted Jeremy to spend his money with a whore in Sins or gambling upstairs rather than talking to him.
After William got rid of Jeremy, he scrutinized the guard, making sure he escorted Ivy out of there while he hurriedly made another triumph round. Then William tunneled his way through the crowd toward the hallway.
Once in the hall, he stomped toward his private room, finding it empty, to his utmost annoyance.
Marching back to the fight club, he saw the guard in the ring, obviously scanning the room. William waved his hand so he’d notice him, and they met halfway.
“Mr. Kade, Ivy ran,” the guard said with a tremble.
William grabbed the lapels of his jacket. “What?! Where did she run off to?”
“I don’t know, sir. She’s pretty gutsy, and I lost her when she ran to the first underground floor.”
“Take more guards with you to check the gaming club and lock all the exits. Right now! I’m checking Sins.” Without waiting for a reply, William tore back into the corridor and up one floor.
The line to get into Sins obstructed his path, and he barked, “Get out of my way!” while rudely forcing people aside.
“Mr. Kade, your—”
He took no notice of the host and barged through the door, looking left and right. No Ivy to be seen. Just people fucking, spanking, and participating in some knife-play as he paced toward the bar, looking for Silk.
Before he could find Silk, he spotted Ivy. A red haze overtook William when he witnessed the scene.
Ivy was secured against a St. Andrew’s Cross, and Jeremy Dechamps had one hand between her legs and the other covering her mouth to suppress her cries.
“William.” Silk came up to him.
“You better have a fucking good explanation for why Jeremy is touching my Ivy!” he snarled while closing the distance.
William ripped Jeremy off Ivy as Jeremy was kissing her tear-stricken face.
“You motherfucker! What the hell do you think you’re
doing with her?” He swung his fist into Jeremy’s nose with all his power.
“William…” He could’ve sworn Ivy had a look of apprehension at first, but her despondent tone still wounded him. “William...”
“What the fuck?” Jeremy mumbled, confused, clutching his bloodied nose.
While William wanted to annihilate Jeremy, his desire to check on Ivy won out. “Silk, detain him!”
“Fuck!” William shouted when he noted blood trailing down Ivy’s inner thighs.
“Ivy?!” He cradled her cheek with one palm while frenziedly pulling her wrists free from the restraints. “Baby?”
“Why did you hit me over that—”
Ivy’s scream drowned out Jeremy, who also raised his voice, while William released her ankles, and she fell into his arms, weakened and yelling incoherent words into his ear.
He picked her up and she clung to him, crying. William’s earlier outrage toward her shifted to Jeremy, and he forgot everything else except keeping her safe.
All the screaming irritated William, and other attendees were gathering toward the commotion, so he told Silk, “To my private room. Shut him up. He’s making too much noise.”
Silk took a piece of satin rope, normally used to tie up the women, and gathered the material around Jeremy’s jaw, knotting it at the back of his head tightly to prevent him from speaking.
Instantly, Ivy’s cries also decreased in volume as they strode through the back entrance of Sins.
Once they were in William’s room, he lay Ivy on the bed, but she bolted up, anxiously watching Jeremy.
William moved toward Jeremy in one long step, and Jeremy retreated just as quickly, mumbling with enlarged eyes, nodding in Ivy’s direction.
“Look at her again and I’ll rip your head off,” William growled. It was truly a growl, like that of a caged animal. He clutched his hair, tension coiled his muscles, and he contemplated what to do. “Tie him to the chair and loosen the rope from his mouth,” he instructed Silk and dropped his arms.
Ivy touched William’s shoulder, and he hurled around.
“William, look what he did to me.” She touched her thighs and showed William her bloodied fingers. His riled up body ached for retribution for her when he saw her blood again. Now he was out for blood.
The wrecked and fearful look on her face made him want to slaughter Jeremy.
“Don’t give him the chance to talk himself out of this. He just grabbed me and tied me to the cross. I told him I was yours, and he said that made him want to fuck me all the more.”
Jeremy squealed and shook his head frenziedly.
All of this felt like an atrocious déjà-vu. Months earlier, he was in here with an abused Ivy as well. Only, back then, he’d arranged everything, with Markson. Now, there was true, pure rage filling his blood. No one touched what was his, and he owned her.
He scrubbed a hand down his face, and his fury expanded to global proportions. So many thoughts roared inside William, but the last couple of months with Ivy had made him realize that he would do anything to protect her.
Still, he needed more answers. “Who was the man you were talking to, and why did you run away from my guard?” It did secretly please him that she didn’t actually try to escape; she ran to Sins.
She hesitated before responding. Maybe she’d hoped he wouldn’t bring this up right now. “I knew him from my previous life, from before you took me. And I ran because I was angry with your behavior after the fight. I was jealous.”
This, he could very well understand. “He was the same man you talked to the first time I took you to Sins. You lied to me back then.” More a statement than a question. “What do you mean by you knew him from before?”
Meanwhile, Silk had bound a quiet Jeremy to the chair next to the nightstand. “Get me a cleaver from the kitchen,” William calmly said to Silk, who left the room, and then pinned his gaze back on Ivy.
“Lie to me again...” he trailed off, not even finishing the threat.
She stepped closer to him, resting her palms on his chest. “He’s an old suitor. I didn’t even think he recognized me the first time. But he did this time. I had to act normal so that he wouldn’t be suspicious, right? That’s what you saw.”
“I have him in custody,” he lied, wanting to see how she’d react.
Her eyes widened a touch before she proposed, “Let me talk to him; he won’t suspect a thing.”
He gripped her upper arms in a swift motion. “Try and you’ll both regret it.” Then he released her arm, causing her to stumble back against the bed.
The jealousy started to overrule his mind, and he realized that he’d become much too involved with Ivy. He was staring at the floor while she spoke.
“I won’t talk to him then. I just want to be with you, William, without all this distrust.” Ivy’s soft cry made him look up at her, and she mouthed, with tears spilling over, “I’m sorry.”
Of course, he couldn’t negate her pull, her apology. Witnessing the dried-up blood on her legs and fingers, his heart softened, and he cradled Ivy’s cheeks, inclined to believe her. “What else happened with Jeremy? Please don’t tell me he fucked you?”
She covered his hands with hers, always creating this intimacy that seemed to soothe him nowadays. She was his calmness as well as his trigger. It was torture to be attached to a woman that brought out those kinds of emotions. It was heaven and hell. The one woman he wasn’t supposed to fall for, brought him to his knees.
“No, he didn’t. You got there in time. But he kissed me and fingered me so roughly. It burns inside, William. You saw the blood. He was ruthless to me. I want…to strike back.”
William could understand her need for reprisal.
He rested his forehead against hers, eyes falling closed while he nuzzled her nose. “If you want to strike back, I’ll give you that.”
William now realized why he used to avoid affection. Affection complicated matters. It deepened every emotion. Joyful emotions were more blissful than usual. On the other hand, emotions of antagonism intensified as well. He’d never experienced this kind of extreme outrage. His entire body trembled in resentment. She made him lose all control, all reason.
When Silk returned, William stepped back, standing next to Jeremy to tug his hair back. Jeremy kept on spluttering and mumbling, but he had harmed Ivy, so all William was focused on was getting her the revenge she requested.
Silk handed over the cleaver.
In an even tone, William told Jeremy, “Do you know what I can’t stand? I can’t stand it when someone touches what’s mine. It really grates on my nerves. And I also can’t stand it when people break the rules in my club.” He glided the sharp edge of the blade over Jeremy’s stretched throat, not breaking the skin.
He let go of his hair after Silk had untied his wrists from behind the back of the chair. Then William took one wrist and slammed it onto the nightstand.
“Since your filthy fingers have been inside my woman, I’m going to cut them off.” And he did just that.
A piercing howl came from Jeremy, and blood sprayed out when his fingers were severed at the knuckles. Bones broke loudly. Red pooled on the table.
Ivy didn’t recoil. Pure contempt dripped from her while she witnessed William chopping off his fingers.
“Is this what you wanted, Ivy?” William asked, wiping sweat off his upper lip, while Jeremy cried, gazing in disbelief at his deformed hand on the table, shuddering from the aftermath of the pain.
“Yes. That’s enough.” She was staying strong but was a bit shaken.
William dropped the cleaver, and it clinked on the floor as Jeremy was about to pass out, his head swaying.
Exhaustion pulled at William, and he decided to leave. “Come with me, Ivy.” He held out his hand to her, and she accepted it as they walked out the door.
“William, what am I supposed to do with Jeremy?!” Silk called to him.
“He can bleed to death for all I care,” William said from down the h
all, entwining his fingers with Ivy’s.
CHAPTER 30
Ivy
Since the day Jeremy Dechamps blackmailed Ivy into giving her virginity to him, she’d been dying to get back at him. And she couldn’t have wished for a better way than what had just happened. William’s temper should’ve frightened her, but it didn’t. Even in his fury, he was dashedly handsome.
Nevertheless, as they ascended in the elevator, she realized they weren’t done by a long shot. William was too smart to believe her lie regarding Sean. Despite his disbelief, she thought that his own displeasure and savagery mastered him in that dark moment downstairs.
She wanted to know that William positively didn’t have Sean in custody. If he did, wouldn’t he have brought them together? Or called her out on the lie? She believed that if he actually had Sean, he would’ve interrogated him first and was already aware of her dishonesty.
As the net was closing in on Ivy, they reached William’s apartment and he went to the window, staring at the scattered cloud that veiled and unveiled the moon.
Ivy couldn’t hold in the one question she needed answered. “Where’s the man I was talking to?”
“Somewhere. Not in my custody though. I lied to test you.”
Ivy sagged in relief and sank down onto the sofa as he joined her, angling his body toward hers. He ground his jaw, looking at the blood on her thighs.
“I should have a servant fetch the doctor for you.”
“No, I’m fine…” she cried, but not even because of what Jeremy had done. She felt miserable because they were at an impasse.
William sifted his fingers into her curls, cupping the back of her head as their eyes met. So many unspoken words hung in the air. Just confess! Ivy’s mind screamed, but she didn’t have the guts. Her heart refused to give him up until she had absolutely no choice anymore, until she was backed into a corner with nowhere to go. Her instinct shouted that moment would arrive soon.
“We should get cleaned up. You can go first,” he offered softly.
Sins of a Bad Boy (The Original Bad Boys Book 1) Page 23