King (Endgame Book 1)

by Riley Ashby

  Despite this, we were quiet on the ride to his house. He kept his eyes on his phone most of the time, reading and answering emails long past the end of the normal workday. It was my first real glimpse into the amount of work he put in to his business. Clearly, he had been putting some of it aside in order to take care of me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

  As we neared the home, a single ring from his phone broke the silence. He answered instantly.

  “All go well?” he asked, looking at me as he spoke. I returned his gaze, confused, as we pulled into the driveway and past the gatehouse. “He's here?” He leaned around the front seat to peer through the windshield but held me back as I did the same. “No, we're here now. Give us a second.” He ended the call and grabbed my hand, pulling me out through his side of the car instead of opening my door.

  “What's going on?” I asked, my anxiety growing. “Is something wrong?”

  “No. Nothing's wrong.” He smiled broadly, more than I'd ever seen before. “Look there.” He indicated with his chin.

  I looked and screamed.

  The dog bounded toward her with an exuberance that belied his age, so evident in the swollen joints and grey around his muzzle. He was utterly undeterred by Sophie's shrieking, nearly tackling her as she fell to her knees in front of him. He circled her repeatedly, sniffing every inch of her to assure himself of her existence.

  “Oh my God, Luke,” she sobbed, burying her face in his neck. “I'm so happy to see you.”

  Satisfied with her safety, the dog turned his attention to me. I leaned over to pat his head after letting him sniff my hand thoroughly. His tail was wagging so wildly that his entire body shook.

  “How did you do this?” she asked, looking up at me with her tear-stained cheeks.

  “I'm rich,” I said. “There's not much that's unavailable to me. Your father barely protested.” I cringed at my carelessness, worried I would remind her of how quickly he had sold her off as well.

  If she registered the comment, she didn't show it. She leaped to her feet and threw her arms around my neck. The tips of her toes barely touched the ground as she pressed herself against me.

  “Thank you so much.” Her breath was hot on my neck. I could feel every inch of her through my clothing. She radiated happiness, shaking beneath my hands. I held her close to me as she burst into tears again, the dog weaving between our legs and whining when she didn't immediately pet him. She dropped to the ground again, petting him, and then clambered to her feet and took off across the yard. He bolted after her with that dopey dog grin permanently attached to his face. She looked back at him and me, waving.

  They ran across the yard in tandem, and I couldn’t have been happier if she kissed me.

  Castel ambushed me in the hallway minutes later.

  “Just keep your eye on the real prize,” he growled.

  I nodded at him and tried to ignore the twisting in my gut.

  “You know she’s the one you’ve been playing chess with for the past two weeks, right?”

  He only scowled deeper and followed me down the hallway. “You’re losing focus. First you throw off our entire timeline by keeping her. Then you waste valuable resources and time going after a dog.”

  I spun to face him. “That’s been bothering me, actually. You’re telling me you could have handed her over—handed anyone over to him? Knowing what he does? You would subject someone else to that kind of hell?”

  He stepped closer to me. We were the same height to the inch, but he was trying to crowd me. Make me feel small. But that hadn’t worked in high school, and it wasn’t working now. “I would do whatever it takes. Anything. You clearly cannot say the same.” He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “You’re a traitor, and you make me sick.”

  It was a knee-jerk reaction, swinging at him just as he reached up to block me at the last minute. He went for my gut next, but I was ready for that too. I knew his patterns too well. I pre-empted his sweep at my ankles by taking him to the ground first, pressing my forearm against his neck. In under ten seconds, we were done. Neither of us landed a hit, not a mark on us. But we were breathing heavily, worked up with exasperation and mutual resentment.

  “Never fucking speak to me like that again.” I pressed against his neck, letting him know that even if we weren’t actively fighting anymore, I wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him if he continued to push me. “I’ve run out of patience for you. I couldn’t put her through that, not knowing what we know. You would have made the same choice if it was you who had to hand her over.”

  He shoved at my chest, and I rolled off him then offered my hand to help him to his feet. He ignored it.

  “You won’t feel the same way if this fails.” He didn’t look at me as he stood up. His tie was askew, his neck scarlet where I had held him down. “You’re not just wasting my time, you’re wasting hers.”

  He didn’t mean Sophie.

  He always knew how to hit me when I was down.

  I shoved my finger in his face for a moment before he swatted me away. “This is going to work. We’ve worked through all the other obstacles that have been thrown our way. We’ll make it through this one.” I was trying to sound reassuring, but I knew how I was coming off. Arrogant. Pompous. Desperate. Like I had it all figured out, when in reality I was as blind right now as I had ever been. We hadn’t been able to recover the information we expected to after I changed the plan the night I brought Sophie home. Plans and timelines hadn’t been adjusted; they had been completely obliterated. We were starting from scratch.

  Castel shook his head and walked in the opposite direction. “You fucked this up big time, and the worst part is, it’s not you who’s going to pay for it.”

  I pressed my hands against my brow, already feeling a headache coming on. My jaw ached. Calories and water … that was what I needed. But as I approached the kitchen, smelling the dinner being prepared for us, my stomach rolled. There was no way I would be able to eat anything after that.

  I instructed the kitchen to take Sophie’s dinner to her room and then went to my own. A drink was what I needed. A drink, and sleep, and time to re-think.

  Castel was right. Sophie was distracting me, and it was putting someone else in danger.

  I knew I had made the right choice in keeping her here. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I had given her—given anyone—over to that monster. Castel might have been able to stomach that guilt, but I couldn’t. But I still had to swallow the shame that I felt leaving someone else in Sophie’s place.

  I had to stay the course. When this was over, maybe I could still get what I wanted. But for now, I had to be single-minded in my purpose. There was too much at stake.

  I went looking for Ellery long after Luke and I had both worn ourselves out with Leo and Max in the yard. The garden caretaker assured me he would watch after Luke, so I left him outside and wandered back to the house. I didn’t want to go to dinner sweaty and covered in dog drool, so I took a quick shower. I emerged from the bathroom to find a tray of food waiting by my bed.

  I frowned. Was I not expected to come down to dinner? Had I done something wrong by not coming in earlier? I went to the dining room anyway only to find it empty.

  I ate alone and pondered what would happen next. Surely, he wasn’t angry at me. How could he be? He could have asked me to come inside with him at any point. Sure, I didn’t need to stay outside with the dogs as long as I did, but it’s not like it was midnight. It was barely even past dinner time. In fact, the more I thought about it, the angrier I was that he would drop me like this. Was I supposed to wait around for him to come find me again?

  No.

  I was going to him.

  The door in my closet leading to the back passageways was permanently open. I opened it so often to go to the library that it didn’t make sense for me to even bother closing it. And I supposed I wouldn’t have been surprised or angry if that library’s owner had found his way to this end either.

  It took several
wrong turns and some doubling back, but I knew the general direction of Ellery’s room and finally opened the door into his closet. He was across the bedroom, his back to me. He turned his head as I opened the door.

  “You found your way,” he said. He sounded impressed. “They're not meant to be easy to navigate.”

  I got about halfway across the room to him before I stopped. I had come with the intent of telling him off for abandoning me, but I felt suddenly ridiculous for ever thinking I could do such a thing. Here I was in a ratty T-shirt and gym shorts, hair still damp from the shower, thinking I was going to yell at the man who had made me swear to obey him just because he decided not to have dinner with me for one night.

  What really lessened my anger, though, was the way he clutched the back of his neck even as he turned to face me. He held a whisky glass in one hand.

  I squinted. “Do you have a headache?”

  He nodded, looking sheepish, like he was embarrassed to admit a weakness. “Long day, artificial lights. Comes with the territory. It’s not too bad.”

  Every trace of manufactured anger washed from me and was replaced with worry. “You need water, not whisky.”

  He shook the whisky in his hand, a single ice cube clinking against the glass.

  I tried not to laugh. “That doesn’t count at all.”

  He smiled then winced. I walked closer.

  “Sit on the floor. Let me see what I can do.”

  He took a step forward, so I was surprised when he suddenly stopped and shook his head. He pressed the glass into his temple.

  “You should go back to your room.”

  All that anger came rushing back. “What?” He was going to send me away? After I worked up all that nerve to come find him?

  His eyes were closed. He wouldn’t even look at me. “This isn’t a good time, Sophie. I don’t mean tonight, I mean … every day. I have another project I should be putting all my focus on. And you…” He looked more than upset; he was anguished. “You’re distracting me.”

  No. Not now. Not when I’m starting to …

  “You don’t get to do this. You’ve been begging me to open up to you for days. And I’m here, Ellery. I came to you. You can’t push me away.”

  He shook his head even though the action clearly pained him. “You said you’d obey me.”

  “I’m calling a cease-fire. You need help. I’m here. It took a lot for me to do this. Do you know how pissed I was that you sent my food to my room without any word, like you expected me to sit around without you?”

  “I do expect you to do that. I expect you to acquiesce to whatever I command of you. That’s the agreement.”

  “Well, I’m not leaving. So, accept that and sit down. You need help. I’m here. You don’t get a choice.”

  He downed the glass and poured himself another, wincing as the decanter clinked against the glass. I marveled again at the absurdity of my situation, that I should be staying in a home where the proprietor had a bar in his bedroom.

  “Sophie, there is more going on than you realize. And I want to keep it that way. But it means that for right now, I need you to leave me alone.”

  That was what stung, the way he put the emphasis on those last few words. Because he had held me in his arms twenty-four hours beforehand while I poured my heart out to him, and now he was shoving me off like it had never happened. I wrapped my arms around myself and stared at the wall over his head, willing myself to keep my cool. My eyelids fluttered furiously.

  “How can you act like this?” I managed to choke out, proud of myself for sounding more angry than wounded. “Ellery, you’re hurting me.”

  That did it. He snapped his head toward me, lips curving downward. “Sophie, it’s not you. It’s …”

  “Then let me help. Please, sit down. You’re in pain.”

  He looked skeptical, but his head must have been killing him because he finally did as I asked, sitting in front of the bench at the end of his bed. I sat behind him, my legs on either side of his shoulders. He leaned back and seemed to expand so his shoulders could touch both my knees.

  I ran my fingers through his hair, brushing his scalp with my nails. Some of the tension dispersed immediately as he relaxed and went slack. I traced my fingers all over his head, on the sides and down his neck.

  “Does it hurt on one side more than another?”

  He tapped his right temple, not speaking. Leaning around him, I saw his eyes were closed, his lips parted slightly. The whisky glass sat forgotten on the floor.

  I bent my thumb and ran it along his temple, then the side of his head, feeling the small muscles there give way. They rippled under my touch and seemed more pliable as I passed over them again.

  “Damn, that’s good,” he whispered.

  I put my thumb in the corner of his eye next to his nose, pushing gently against the cartilage and then tracing the orbital bone. My other hand ran up and down the muscles on his neck.

  “Why are you pushing me away now?”

  His skin moved under my hand as he grimaced. “You’re distracting me,” he repeated.

  “You could let me help.” My lips brushed the shell of his ear as I spoke, and he leaned into me a little bit more. One of his hands moved up and down my bare calf. I shivered.

  “This isn’t something you can help with.”

  “Try me.”

  “No. This is one of those things I told you you couldn’t know. That’s non-negotiable. Don’t push me, because I’d hate to have to call the staff to remove you right now.”

  He was tensing up again beneath my fingers, but he was letting me stay. That was something. “Thank you for what you did today,” I whispered, putting my forehead against the back of his head, turning the conversation around. He pressed in to me as his jaw slackened once again.

  “I wanted to make you happy. I’d do it a thousand times over if I could see you smile like that again.”

  He had said that before. It wore away at me every time. Even when I was protected behind my fortress, he had a way of seeping in through my cracks. And now, when I hadn’t even bothered to steel myself before coming to see him …

  My walls had turned from granite to sandstone, and sediment was slowly falling away.

  I ran my thumb down the muscles of his neck a few more times then let my arms fall to either side of his shoulders. I slipped one hand beneath his shirt, brushing against his smooth chest and pressed a kiss to the crown of his head.

  This was so dangerous, but honestly nothing had ever felt so right. My hand burned where it pushed against his pecs, less from the heat of his body and more from my desire to keep touching him and never stop touching him until I had touched him everywhere.

  He made a soft sound, turning halfway to face me and raising his chin. Our noses brushed.

  “Sophie,” he moaned, and then his arms were around my waist, dragging me onto his lap until my knees hit the floor on either side of his hips. His hands felt so good on my back. I ran my hands through his hair again, feeling the silky strands sift through my fingers.

  “Ellery,” I whispered. I took his face in my hands and brought my lips to his.

  If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. He clutched me tighter against him as his tongue moved forward to meet mine, not warring me like I expected but somehow drawing me into him deeper, gentle but insistent.

  “I want you,” he whispered against my lips. My hair tickled my cheeks, cloaking our faces even though we were alone.

  “I know,” I whimpered, feeling heat rush between my legs. “Please don’t tell me to go.”

  Everything about him was fire. I had lived so long in fear of being burned but suddenly found myself consumed by flames without a care in the world.

  He looked at me as he kissed me, and I knew he wouldn’t send me away. He was too far gone.

  “Do you want me, my pet?”

  I could pull back. He would let me. I could run barefoot through the passages that had brought me here, let the cool air
try to calm the skin that scorched every time we brushed against each other. There was so much of it now that I was pressed against him with his tongue in my mouth and fingers tracing the ridges of my spine.

  Every inch of me would be scalded, but I didn’t want to be saved.

  I reached for the buttons of his shirt.

  “Yes, Master. I do.”

  My cock threatened to take over everything the moment her fingers started fumbling at my shirt. I directed enough blood back to my brain to capture her hand and kiss her fingertips. “Slow down.” I nuzzled her neck and bit her earlobe. She shook harder around me.

  “I can't. If I do, I'll overthink.”

  “Let me do that for you.” I slid one hand up her thigh. Every inch was gooseflesh. I curled my fingers to let my nails bite into her. Her gasp was the loudest sound in the room. “I forbid you to do any more thinking.”

  She melted, and I caught her up in my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waist as I stood and carried her to the bed, falling on top of her. I wanted to touch every inch of her with every inch of me. My hands slid up her thighs while I bit her breast through the fabric of her shirt. She whimpered, that same tiny noise she made when I told her I wanted to know the sound she made while choking on my cock.

  “Dammit, Sophie.” I pulled her gym shorts down her legs slowly. It was agonizing. “Do you know what you're doing to me?” She moaned as I touched her again, parting her folds, feeling the wetness already gathered between her thighs. “You make my mind a mess.”

  She arched her hips, and one of my fingers slipped inside her. She gasped, eyes flying open. I froze.

  “Have you done this before?”

  She closed her eyes again and swallowed. “Just once.”

  I licked the hollow at the base of her neck like I had wanted to for so long.

  “I'll be soft with you,” I promised. She sat forward suddenly and pulled her shirt over her head then fell back on the mattress. Her hair spread around her head like a halo, her creamy skin punctuated by dark, firm nipples. My eyes fixated on those gorgeous tits. It was the first time I was seeing them unencumbered by useless clothing. I was overcome with the desire to put each one in my mouth and lick every surface. I suddenly rushed to pull off my shirt. I needed her skin against mine. She pulled me back against her as I shed my shirt, kissing me deeply.