by Anna Edwards
Tamara’s fragile, at the moment, and we have good days and bad together. She’s frustrated that Viscount Hamilton disappeared as are Nicholas, Victoria, and I. But we all know we can’t let this set-back stop our ultimate goal, which is to destroy all that remains of the previous Oakfield Society. It will happen – along with the downfall of Viscount Hamilton. It’s just going to take a while longer than we expected.
“Anyone want a drink?” Nicholas asks as we enter the lounge.
“Please,” I reply and escort Tamara over to the sofa. Victoria takes a seat on the high-backed armchair she’s taken a preference to, and Nicholas tucks a blanket over her lap to keep her warm before going to prepare three brandies. He calls down to the kitchen to request hot chocolate for Victoria.
“To Ms. Elsie Bennett” – he raises his cup when we all have drinks in hand – “a woman whose courage and fortitude knew no bounds. I’ll be forever grateful to her for imparting some of that to my beautiful wife. Even if she uses it to bust my balls on occasion.”
Victoria snorts a wry smile and holds her hot chocolate up.
“To my nanny and surrogate mother. I’ll miss you every day, but I’ll make sure this little one”–she runs her empty hand over her stomach– “knows all about you. Thank you.”
I hold my glass up next. I don’t have much to say, just a few words. “Thank you for giving me Tamara. She really is your greatest gift. I promise I’ll protect her for you.”
Tamara stares blankly into her brandy, and we all wait for her to find the words she wants to say.
She pushes up onto her feet.
“I could rant and rave and say I’ll avenge your death. That I won’t rest until the Viscount is rotting behind bars or better yet dismembered and rotting in the ground, but I’m not going to. I’m just going to share my first memory of you.” She shuts her eyes and licks her lips to steady herself. As always, I’m close to her, ready to catch her should she fall. “My greatest time spent with you was always in the kitchens. I don’t know how you stood to be in them after what happened to you there, but I guess I gave you new memories, ones to replace the horror. I always remember the day you tried to teach me how to prepare the meal your father had taught you. His mother’s recipe for pineapple sandwiches. You took the bread and placed on to it a slice of ham and one of those round rings of pineapple from a can. We then smothered it in cheese and put it under the grill until all the cheese was melted. The chef was a stuck-up bastard, and he was horrified we were preparing such mundane food in his kitchen, but I loved it. My favorite meal in the world.” She laughs, but it catches in her throat, turning into a sob. “Always. I’ll always be your daughter, and he will die for what he did.” Bringing the brandy glass up to her mouth, she drinks the burning nectar down in one long steady gulp before placing the empty glass back down onto the table in front of her. “William, I’m tired. Will you come sleep with me for a while?”
She looks straight at me, and I know we’ll be doing anything but sleeping when we go to our bedroom. It’s what she needs, though, and who am I to deny my woman? I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the last few days. I’ve put a halt on my acceptance at the autistic home, mainly because Tamara can’t join me there and the thought of being away from her breaks me out in a cold sweat. I’ve also come to realize it’s not my autism causing the darkness within me – it’s the result of my upbringing, and my father’s influence. However, it’s also something a part of me enjoys. The difference is now I can control it, and I know I won’t murder or destroy a woman just because I can. I’ll always have oddities because my brain is wired differently, but Tamara brings the best out in me. I was locked away for so many years, and although the world outside of Oakfield Hall is terrifying as hell, I want to see it. I want to go on a plane, a boat, even a train – experience things I never have before. I’m not sure about having to queue to do it, but I want to try. I want to be as normal as I can. That’s what the children at the day care center had, and it showed me I could have it too. A warm feeling settles in my chest, but it’s swiftly replaced by a swelling in my groin when Tamara winks at me.
“Of course.” Taking her hand, I lead her to my bedroom.
“Is this wrong?” she asks as our lips meet, and I’m ripping her smart, black suit from her body.
“Do you want it?”
“Yes,” she whispers breathlessly. “I need to feel. I want to lose myself in your taste and touch, so I don’t have to think.”
I step back from her. I’ve totally destroyed her clothes, and she’s standing before me in a black bra and matching thong. Fuck, she’s sexy as hell. Part of me feels it’s wrong to be doing this so soon after burying her mother, but I know Tamara needs it. She needs to forget in order to start living and breathing again, and this is the only way. We’ve not done anything since the night in the forest – just spent our nights together in each other’s arms.
I allow my monster to take over, and as I transition, I realize, for the first time, that even as a monster I’m still the same person because it’s who I am. I like the wild side. I pick a cushion up off the chair beside me and drop it onto the floor at my feet.
“On your knees,” I order, and Tamara licks her lips.
I unbuckle my suit trousers, pull down the zipper, and lower them along with my underpants to my feet. Tamara kneels in front of my dick as it springs out, ready for her succulent little mouth to wrap itself around it. As a couple, we are a contradiction in terms. Sometimes she’s bossy and looks after me, and sometimes it’s the other way around. But here in the bedroom, I’m always in control, and I couldn’t give a fuck if anyone says I’m weak because I let her rule me elsewhere. They aren’t about to get their dick sucked by the hottest woman in the world.
“Open,” I demand, and she does so without question. “I’ve been on edge for a few days. My poor dick, spending its night lying next to that pussy of yours but not being able to get inside. I’m going to take your mouth. Claim it. I won’t be gentle. I’ll make you gag, but you’ll take every inch of me.”
Fuck, I nearly shoot my load, there and then, when she circles her tongue around her partially open lips in anticipation.
I stroke up and down my length a few times before pushing it in between her plump, pink lips. Her mouth is wet and warm with the still lingering effect of the brandy, caressing me with its heat. I push all the way in until I hit the back of her throat, and she gags. Damn, it’s beautiful. Her eyes widen when she realizes I really won’t take this easy on her. I pull my hips back and slam back in again.
“This is my hole to fuck. I’m going to do so while you swallow me deep until I come down your throat.”
I allow the speed of my hips to increase and wrap her hair around my hand, so I can keep her head still. Saliva pools in Tamara’s mouth as she remains helpless to the onslaught. I piston in and out of her mouth like a jackhammer. Her eyes water and tears fall from them, but they’re not the same as the ones she shed earlier. These are tears of a woman being taken and worshipped by her man. I know I won’t last long, because this feeling is just too good. Tamara tries to swirl her tongue around my dick as I push in and out, but I’m wide in girth, and there’s too little room for her to do anything other than take what I give. Her hands come up and rest on my taut thighs, but she applies no pressure to stop me. It’s merely to steady herself. My balls draw up, and I know the end is near for me. I want to stop time in this very moment and remember it forever. Once I’ve emptied myself, I plan on ensuring Tamara is pleasured and will be walking with a strange gait tomorrow. My orgasm races up through my shaft, and I bury myself deep inside Tamara’s mouth and throat. I hold her head so tightly the roots of her hair must be burning with pain as I come with a loud moan of her name. Spurt after spurt of my cum shoots down her throat, which is working overtime to swallow everything, including my dick that’s so far down it’s constricting her breathing. After what feels like an eternity, probably for both of us, I pull out, and she collapse
s on the ground, breathing air into her parched lungs. My dick doesn’t soften – it wants more.
“I’m not finished yet.” I grab her and throw her onto the bed, and in one swift movement, I’m inside her pussy. “Not at all. I plan on spending the next few hours in my cunt. Reminding it that it’s mine. You wanted the monster in me, Tamara, and now you’ve got him because he’s fallen in love with you.”
She gasps at my words, and I pause in my thrusts.
“Love?” she breathlessly utters.
“Love,” I reply, not needing to hear it from her if she isn’t ready to give me the actual words yet. The way her pussy is already clenching around my dick tells me all I need to know, for now.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tamara
“I won’t be long. I’m just going to drop these papers off at court, and then I’ll be back. You stay in bed…keep it warm for when I return.” I lean in to kiss a sleepy William’s lips as he lies in the bed we’ve shared every night since my mother’s funeral, almost two months ago. He was up late last night, returning another one of the art pieces the society had stolen. It’s the last one to be returned, for now. The rest have been hidden away deep in the Oakfield vault and are likely to remain there for some time, yet. It’s a shame the valuable pieces won’t be seen, but the risk to Nicholas and William from their breaking and entering is becoming too much. Security is tighter, and if they are caught, it is highly unlikely I’d be able to get a custodial sentence of anything less than twenty to thirty years for them both. It’s a life time, and one Victoria and I are not prepared to spend without them.
“Don’t go alone,” William murmurs as his eyes drift shut again.
“I won’t. I’ve got one of Nicholas’ bodyguards coming with me.”
“Good.” He turns over in the bed and before long is softly snoring again. I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to do this, last night, while I was finishing the documentation I needed, and I managed to get an appointment with a judge I admire. I haven’t actually spoken to Nicholas, but I have spoken to his driver who’ll sort it all out for me. I stop, for a few moments, and watch William – I’ve been so lucky to find him. We are both very different from each other, but that’s what makes us so strong together. Sometimes he’s the controlling one, and sometimes, maybe, I am. It allows us both to get exactly what we need from our relationship, and it’s only going from strength to strength. Between my thigh’s throbs at the thought of the heights of ecstasy he can bring me to. I think maybe later I’ll ask him to chase me through the forest again – I want it rough and dirty tonight. I can’t get enough.
I reach for my Mulberry briefcase, sitting ready on the top of the sideboard, and place it over my shoulder. I open the heavy oak door to the bedroom, quietly, hoping it doesn’t squeak on its antique hinges and wake William again. I breathe a sigh of relief when I’m out of the room, and I take the stairs down to the front door at a skip. The driver’s waiting in the hallway for me.
“Good morning, Miss Bennett.” He bows his head at me out of courtesy.
“Good morning,” I reply.
“I’ve had the car running to warm it up. It’s below zero out there at the moment. I think we could get snow later.”
“I bet the Oakfield grounds are pretty when it snows.”
“They are. I remember the current Duke and Earl running around and building snowmen as boys. It was good to see.”
“You’ve worked here a long time, then.”
I place my bag on the ground, and he hands me a thick overcoat to put on while he collects my bag and then waits for me to finish doing up the buttons on the coat.
“Almost thirty years.”
“You don’t look old enough.”
“I don’t know. Days when the wind is this cold, I certainly feel it.” The driver laughs as he opens the front door and escorts me to the waiting car where I slide into the back seat. It’s lovely and warm when I get in, and I immediately start to undo my coat.
“That’s the thing I hate about this weather. It’s on and off with coats all the time.”
“Tell me about it.” He removes his thick jacket and places it on the passenger seat. The car pulls away before I have a chance to register that we don’t have one of Nicholas’ guards in the vehicle with us.
“Aren’t we supposed to have a bodyguard with us?” I lean forward and query.
“In the vehicle behind.” The driver looks in the mirror, and I turn my head to see a black Range Rover following us.
“Good.”
I settle back into my car for the journey into London. I’m going straight to the highest authority with the papers I want signing, and then I’m meeting with a friend of mine at the criminal courts in the Old Bailey. Opening my bag, I pull out the sheets of paper to check them one final time. I become engrossed in the information, knowing the contents will help to freeze the assets of some of the key conspirators within the society who still want it to be run the old-fashioned way. It’s not going to happen. Once these are filed, Nicholas and William will be fully in control of the new Oakfield Society and can start to run it the way they want. We spent the other night discussing ideas, and they have so many great ones. The Oakfield Society will become synonymous with helping people, especially woman. Not destroying them.
When I look up from my papers, I expect to see the sights of London around me, but I don’t. It’s still countryside.
“Are we going a different way?” I ask the driver, but he doesn’t reply. He simply flicks a switch on the dashboard, and all the doors lock around me. The skin on the back of my neck pricks, and I know I’m in trouble. I reach into my bag and look for my phone but it’s not there. I’m certain I put it in there this morning – I remember doing it. “Please, stop the car,” I say to the driver, but he doesn’t reply. He puts his foot down, and we go a little faster. I lean forward, again, and see my phone in a compartment between the two front seats. He must have taken it out of my bag. I make a grab for it, but he’s quicker.
“Sit down, Miss Bennett,” he orders.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure you don’t destroy what I spent most of my life working hard to help build.”
I turn around in my seat and start to wave at the vehicle behind us, containing the bodyguard. The driver laughs, an eerie cackle, which brings bile to my throat.
“Wave all you want. They aren’t Nicholas’ bodyguards. They’re helping me bring you in to him.”
“Him?” I question but don’t get a response. “Turn this car around and take me back to Oakfield Hall. I will see the brothers pay you handsomely to disappear. You won’t get into any trouble from whoever is paying you to take me.”
“Do you think I’m stupid? The brothers will kill me and drop my body parts around the country as a warning to others. No. It’s going to be your parts delivered, not mine.”
The car turns left, and we drive up what looks like a deserted road at the end of which is a small house. Trying to stay calm, I think of what I need to do and look for ways to escape, but my stomach is tied in knots. I’m struggling with the emotions flooding through me because all I can think is…Will I see my father when the doors to the house open? Is he the one who’s come for me? I don’t think I’m ready to face him, yet. I can’t. I can’t know what he did to my mother. I shut my eyes and whisper in my head for William. I know he can’t hear me, but I want to believe he can.
The car comes to a halt, and the driver unlocks the doors. I make the split-second decision I need to run for it, and thrusting the door open, I’m out of the car and running as fast as my legs can take me. I wish it was William chasing me and this was a game, but I know it isn’t. Men shout behind me, and footsteps thunder in pursuit. I don’t know how I’m keeping in front of them. It’s sheer determination. I can see the road, and I know there were houses as we pulled in. If I can make it to one of them, I’ll be safe. I will my legs to propel me faster, and they do. I lost my smart shoes ages ago, an
d I’m now running bare foot. I can see a house – it’s there in front of me, my sanctuary, my safety. I’m going to make it, but a hand wraps around my waist, and I’m hoisted backward. I go to scream, but another hand slams over my mouth. No. No! I’m dragged back toward where the car is parked as my sanctuary disappears into the horizon. My legs kick furiously, connecting with solid matter, and I sink my teeth into the hand over my mouth.
“Fucking bitch!” a man shouts, and he drops me to the ground. I’m pushing myself up ready to run again, but he kicks me in the stomach with his heavy snow boot so hard all the air is expelled from me. A fist meets my face, and the pain shatters through me. The fist connects again, and then the boot repeats its action only this time higher and in my ribs. I hear them crack.
“Enough,” an authoritative voice orders.
“The bitch drew blood,” the man who’d been hitting me protests.
“And I’ll give you time with her to punish her, later. First, we have business to conduct, and I need her as conscious as possible for that.”
My head is spinning from the assault, but I try to focus on where the commanding voice is coming from. Is it my father? I can’t distinguish the inflections, because of the ringing in my ear.
“Get her inside. Remove her clothes and strap her up. It’s time for me to have fun and destroy the Cavendish brothers, forever.”
I’m lifted up, my head flopping uncontrollably as I try to maintain consciousness. Behind me, I see figures as I’m carried like a rag doll into the house, but everything is blurry. I can’t see who gives the orders, a flash of blue swipes in front of my face and words flood into my ears.
“Don’t worry, Tamara. I’ll make this as painful for you as possible.”