A few minutes later, he and Sabrina were snuggled up in the back of the sedan for the ten-minute drive to the opera house. She lay her head on his chest and relaxed, making his heart speed up.
“Are you okay?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Your heart’s pounding.”
Chase was glad the car was dark. He was certain his cheeks had turned red. He cleared his throat. “You make my heart pound,” he said, taking her hand and kissing her palm.
Her lips parted and eyes widened as she sucked in a breath.
Stupid move, Chase. He heard her breath quicken and his own pulse ran rampant. He’d never wanted a woman like he wanted her. Not just sex, although he imagined it would be quite spectacular to press his naked body against hers . . . Stop it! Sex is not what you need to be thinking about right now. That wasn’t what he really wanted from her. He wanted her to trust him, to open her heart to him, to love him. For more than a night. For the rest of their lives.
His mom had sat him down when he hit puberty and had a long, heart-to-heart talk with him about sex. Not the mechanics, but the heart and emotion behind it. She’d told him that boys and girls viewed sex differently and that if he had sex with a girl, it would bond her to him and break her heart when they broke up, even if he didn’t mean to. As a result, he’d always been careful when engaging in sex with women. Hell, he’d been a virgin when he’d graduated high school. His first time had been after Richard had told him about the Brotherhood and he’d been introduced to the Manor girls. He and Jayson had spent a lot of time at the Manor—with Richard’s permission, of course. Richard hadn’t believed he was a virgin until Jayson confirmed it. Jayson had slept with his junior prom date, then made his way through several girls during their senior year of high school. He was so charming, the girls didn’t seem to mind.
Now when Chase wanted sex, he usually went to the Manor. Less complicated. Yes, he’d slept with more than a few women and had several one-night stands, but only after he made it very clear that it was only sex and nothing more. When he was at West Point, it was a little more complex. But the few women who were there weren’t about to jeopardize their standing in school by getting into relationships with the other cadets. Sex happened. A lot. But they did a good job of keeping emotions out of it. Most of the time.
Those were unusual women, though. Not the kind he wanted to marry.
Not like his date tonight. God, no one was like Sabrina.
She still stared at him.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” Chase brought their hands down to his knee.
“Sh-shouldn’t have done what?” she asked.
“Kissed your hand like that.”
“Why not?”
He gave an embarrassed smile. “Palms can be very erotic. It’s not right to do that on a first date.” Or any date with you.
“I don’t mind,” she whispered, leaning toward him.
He cupped her cheek and sighed. “Sabrina, I’m going to be honest with you, okay?”
She nodded, leaning back and chewing her lip nervously.
“I didn’t ask you out tonight just to ask you out. I want to get to know you, and you me, to see if, well, if we still feel the same way about each other as we did years ago.”
“Okay . . .” She looked confused.
“When I met you, I told you that you were the first woman I’d ever met who I could imagine spending the rest of my life with. I still feel that way.” He took her hand and placed it on his chest. “My heart still pounds for you like it did that night on the yacht. I don’t want to scare you, but I don’t want to mislead you, either. I want to find out if what I’m feeling is real or just remnants of a past hope. If it is real, Sabrina . . .” He swallowed. “I want to marry you.”
*****
Sabrina shook her head and tried to pull her hand away from him. “No. No, you can’t.” How could he say such things? That was five years ago. When she was still innocent. Before she became a murdering whore. She’d been having such a good time with him tonight . . . forgetting what she was . . . forgetting her past and enjoying the present.
Now it came crashing back onto her head. How could she have let it go so far? He wanted to marry her? How was that possible?
She knew how.
He thought she was still that innocent girl from the yacht. He had no idea what she was now. That was the only possible reason he would still feel that way.
“What do you mean I can’t?” he asked, taking her hand again. “I know it’s been a long time. I know a lot has changed, but—”
“No!” she squeaked. “You don’t know!” She turned away and started pulling at the door handle. She couldn’t breathe. She needed to get out of the car. She needed air. “Please. Let me out.”
“Sabrina, we’re in the middle of the street.”
“Let me out!” she pleaded, his face blurring through the tears in her eyes. “Please. Let me out.”
Chase stared at her for a moment. “Rafael!” he called to the driver. “Pull over, please.”
Sabrina stared at her hands, trembling until she felt the car stop. Chase pushed open the door and got out, holding his hand out to help her, but she didn’t take it. She didn’t want to taint his honorable presence with her disgusting self. She turned and started walking back the way they had come. Chase hurried behind her.
“Where are you going?” he asked, walking next to her.
“Home,” she choked out. Why was he following her?
“Why?”
She didn’t answer as she started walking faster. He didn’t let her get away, his long legs allowing him to keep up with her easily. But he stayed quiet. Finally, she stopped and turned to glare at him.
“Why are you following me?” she growled.
“I’m not letting you walk alone at night. It’s dangerous.” He was annoyingly calm.
“I’m fine.”
Chase arched a brow.
She turned and started walking away. When he began following her again, she stopped and clenched her teeth. “Leave me alone.”
“Sabrina, I don’t understand what happened.” He turned her to face him. “We were having a good time, right? I thought you were enjoying yourself. Weren’t you?”
She looked down at the ground. “You don’t want to marry me.”
“What? How can you say what I want or don’t want?”
She looked up at him. “You don’t know what I am. Just forget about me. It’s better that way.”
“Better for who?”
“For you.”
“How can you decide what’s better for me? What do you think you’ve done that’s so bad?”
She shook her head and turned away, trying not to cry. “If I take a taxi home, will you leave me alone?”
He didn’t answer right away. “Okay.” She heard Chase sigh, then he stepped to the curb, waving his hand in the air. A taxi pulled up a minute later. He opened the back door, but grabbed her elbow before she could get in. “Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”
The anguish on his face made her heart break, but the disgust that would be there if she told him the truth would be much worse. “It’s better this way,” she whispered and tried to pull her arm away.
He released her and leaned in to talk to the driver. She heard him give her address, then saw him hand over a wad of cash. “Make sure she gets home safely.” Chase straightened and stood tall, like a soldier, as the taxi pulled away from the curb.
Then she burst into tears.
*****
Chase clenched his jaw as he watched the yellow cab drive away. His mind tried to grasp what had happened to upset Sabrina. He always believed honesty was the best policy and didn’t want her to think he was just playing with her. He wanted her to know that he was playing for keep
s. He thought it would give her some semblance of security, but somehow, it had backfired. And he couldn’t figure out why.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“Date over already?” Jayson laughed when he answered.
“Yeah,” Chase said soberly as he walked back toward the car.
“Woah.” Jayson’s laugh died instantly. “What happened?”
Chase ran his hands through his hair. “Honestly? I have absolutely no idea.” He leaned against the cold car and recounted the date up to the point where she got into the taxi and drove away. “Any ideas?”
“I think you scared her.”
“How?”
Jayson sighed. “She’s got some hang-up about being good enough for, well, anyone. When she’s feeling bad, she always calls herself a whore. Thinking about good stuff seems to trigger it. When she found out about you, she said you wouldn’t want her, but she never told me what she’d done that was so bad.”
“I don’t understand her.”
“Neither do I. Give her some time. I’ll talk to her when she gets home and see if I can get anything out of her.”
“I thought we were having a really good time,” Chase said, opening the car door and getting in.
“Home, sir?” Rafael asked as he looked in the rearview mirror. Chase nodded.
“Let me know when she gets home, Jay,” Chase said wearily. He glanced at his watch. “Should be any time.”
“Of course. Sometimes I wish she were a guy so I could just knock some sense into her.”
Chase laughed sadly. “Talk to you soon.” He touched the button on his phone and shoved it back into his pocket as he stared out the window with a heavy heart.
By the time he got home, though, his heart had gone from heavy to nervous. She should have been home by now. Maybe there had been traffic. He decided to take a shower while he waited.
Ethan looked up from the TV when he walked in. “You’re home early. I thought the show started at eight.”
Chase shook his head. “We had a fight,” he said as he walked through the living room and into the master bedroom. He undressed quickly, then stepped into the scalding water.
The phone didn’t beep the entire time he was in there, and by the time he’d dried and dressed, his stomach was clenched in knots. He grabbed his phone and went back out to the living room. Ethan looked up from the couch.
“Call the cab company and find out if the driver of cab seven-four-three dropped off the girl yet.” Chase had a good memory, which he was extra thankful for at this moment.
Ethan frowned and nodded, making the call as Chase called Jayson. “Did she get home?” he demanded the second Jayson answered.
“No. Not yet.”
“Where the hell is she?” He watched Ethan talking on his phone.
When he put the phone down, Ethan looked at him. “Said he dropped her off fifteen minutes ago.”
Chase repeated the information to Jayson.
“Let me go see if she’s outside” Jayson said. “Maybe she just needed some air.”
Chase paced as he listened to Jayson breathing as he walked. He heard several doors open and close, more breathing, then he cursed.
“What?” Chase demanded.
“Hang on.” Shuffling noises and more cursing. “Chase, I found her purse a few feet down the sidewalk, but she’s not here.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Sabrina woke to a sharp blow across her face. She tried to cover it, but her hands were tied above her head. Her eyes snapped open and she looked around, trying to figure out where she was.
The last thing she remembered was being dropped off in front of her building, still crying. She’d walked inside, then realized she didn’t want to see anybody. So she’d gone back out and sat down on the stairs. A man had walked by her, stopped to ask if she was okay, then grabbed her, shoving a rag over her face until everything went black.
That same man now leered down at her. “Hello, sweetheart. Glad you’re finally awake.”
Sabrina’s cheek throbbed as she looked around. The large room had cream-painted walls and big windows covered by dark curtains. The floor was dark wood, and a small kitchen sat along the wall to her right. She was tied, spread-eagle and naked, to a large bed. She shivered, more with apprehension than cold.
“Where am I?” Sabrina asked in a shaky voice, looking at the man. He was tall and broad with red hair and freckles, but she’d never seen him before
A second man, a giant, appeared in the doorway and walked toward her. She whimpered and pushed herself back into the mattress as he came nearer. His dark hair was pulled back into a long braid, and his lustful, golden gaze washed over her. He reminded her of Khyan. He was an Immortal.
They both towered over her, looking at her body with anticipation. She shivered and tried to pull away when the red-haired man reached out and caressed her breast. He tweaked her nipple and she gasped in pain, twisting away from him.
“That’s rude,” he said. “You should be grateful I didn’t greet you with my whip.”
“Who are you? Where am I?” She looked around, hoping, praying that this was a dream, but she had a sickening feeling she was wide awake.
“We’re here to prepare you for Master,” he answered with a wicked grin.
“M-Master? What are you talking about?” But something about the word stirred up long-buried memories. Memories she really didn’t want to relive.
The giant nodded. “You were difficult to find at first, but fortunately, you could not stay purely human for long.” He pinched her nipple and pulled upward until she arched her back to try and ease the pain. When he released it, her nipple throbbed with each heartbeat.
“That, and you weren’t smart enough to use a fake name to hide,” the human man said with a smirk. “Master has known your whereabouts since you arrived here.”
“He has?” she asked, dread filling her soul.
“He has,” the man affirmed. “There is little Master doesn’t know.”
She swallowed hard. “W-why didn’t he get me sooner?”
The giant smiled. “He had no use for you until now.”
She felt sick, but it was from more than being captured again. Was her freedom an illusion? Had everything in Boston been orchestrated by him?
“I am Terric. This is Neil.” The giant interrupted her runaway thoughts. “We will complete your transformation back to your natural Immortal state, then he will punish you for running away.”
She looked up at the giant. “Where’s Khyan?”
Terric’s eyes showed a hint of amusement. “He failed your Master and was removed from this world. I will not make the same mistake.” She shuddered as he flicked his fingers toward her wrists and the bindings loosened. Without hesitation, he did the same to her ankles, then flipped her onto her hands and knees. “To fully enjoy your punishment, though, you need to be fully Immortal again. Do not worry. That will be painful, as well.”
“Enjoy punishment?” she asked, wondering if she could escape. One heavy hand rested on her hip. She started to move away from him, but he dug his fingers into her skin and she gasped in pain.
The men laughed. “I did not say you would enjoy it. The enjoyment is for us. But if you keep passing out, it is not as fulfilling.” She felt movement behind her and two large hands grasped her hips. “If you squirm, it will hurt more. So, feel free to squirm.”
Something slid between her legs. His cock, she assumed. She strained forward, but his hands locked on her hips would not allow any movement.
Her fingernails dug into the sheets beneath her as his enormous cock found her entrance and slowly, painfully, made its way into her body. Sabrina screeched in agony. He was going slowly, but that only made it worse. She remembered Khyan could make himself huge. Too big to fit, but he would just force his way into he
r body anyway and tear her up. It seemed Terric had the same ability. He tore his way into her, groaning in pleasure. She buried her face into the mattress and screamed as the intrusion seemed to continue forever. She knew her body was made for creatures such as him. Made to accept him, however big he wanted to be. It didn’t stop the pain, though. If anything, it made it worse. He could do whatever he wanted to her body and she would accept it.
When he finally stopped moving forward, she felt sick to her stomach. Her pussy was stretched to the limit of her endurance and she cried in agony. He grabbed hold of her hair and pulled her up against his chest.
Neil grinned and stared at the junction of their two bodies. “Fuck. She’s still in one piece?”
“Koriathanati are meant for us. Meant for our size, however big we wish to be. You pitiful humans are stuck with whatever you were born with.” Terric pinched her nipples and Sabrina squirmed in pain. It was almost a relief from the pain between her legs. Almost.
“Will she tear like the others?”
Others?
Terric chuckled. “Yes, little one. Your Master has given me girls to play with, but I usually rip them to shreds and they bleed and die before I cum. Not as much fun as you will be. I prefer live partners.” He moved his hips up sharply and she yelped as he pushed farther inside her. Her stomach cramped and she groaned in pain. “She may tear, she may not. I have not decided if I desire that or not. It is more enjoyable to destroy her from the inside out right now.”
Neil undressed as Sabrina sat impaled on Terric’s enormous cock, tears running down her cheeks. He reached down and flicked her clit, then circled gently.
“No . . .” Sabrina whimpered before a sharp orgasm ripped through her body. Terric growled behind her, enjoying her struggle.
Neil knelt on the bed and grabbed hold of her hair, bringing her back down to her hands and knees. He guided her toward his cock and unceremoniously forced himself into her mouth.
“I have a gift from Master,” he growled, stabbing her throat with his cock. “My balls are full of his essence and you are going to suck me dry. And Terric is going to fuck you until his balls are empty. You’re going to be so full of cum . . .”
Master of My Heart Page 28