by Riley Ashby
Gunner’s voice pulled me out of my head. He bit my nipple lightly and kissed his way up my chest. “What do you say?”
“Please!”
“That’s a good girl.”
His hand finally reached beneath the fabric covering my pussy, and he pressed his fingers into my flesh as if trying to reach inside me.
“Thank God you’re smooth. I’d hoped you would be.”
He kissed me again as his fingers slipped between my folds. “So warm.” One finger inside me, and I whined. “So tight.”
“Gunner…”
“God, yes.” He nibbled at my lip while his finger twitched inside me. “I love my name on your tongue.” His thumb pressed against my clit. I shifted as he inserted another finger and spread them wide inside me. “I want to hear you scream it while you come.”
“Oh, my God.” My back arched as I pressed myself harder onto his fingers. “Please keep going.”
“Baby, I’m never gonna stop. I’ve been waiting for this for too long. You really are a virgin, aren’t you? No one’s ever touched you like this.”
Before I could ask what he meant, he pushed on my clit again, and I couldn’t help my scream. His lips locked over mine and absorbed the sound, tongue warring with mine for space inside my mouth. When my scream reduced to a whimper, he pulled back slightly.
“Come for me, Quinn. Say my name while you clench around my fingers.”
I held my breath, pushing onto his hand. “I’m so close.”
“I know, baby. We’re gonna get you there.”
He began to rub my clit, swirled his fingers, and bit my neck. The nip of pain, mingled with the unmitigated pleasure, sent me over the edge. I became frozen except for my hips, arching and thrusting and seeking more. I didn’t want him to stop, and he didn’t. He moved this thumb back and forth, and sucked on my skin and I just. Kept. Coming. Every time I thought I’d reached my limit, he changed directions or moved his mouth from my neck to my breast, and I climbed to new heights once more.
“Say my name.”
“Gun…” I couldn’t think.
“Say it,” he growled and bit me again.
“Gunner!” He was so deep inside me I swore he was touching my soul. And it wasn’t just his hands. He watched me the entire time, head moving with mine to stay in my line of vision as though he couldn’t let me out of his sight. His legs moved with mine, keeping as much of us touching as possible, all while he coaxed me into him with his fingers.
Finally, I was too overwhelmed. I grabbed his hand to still it, panting, feeling like I was falling as I caught my breath and blinked away the stars in my eyes. My body shivered as Gunner pulled his fingers from my pussy, and he caught my eye as he licked them clean.
“You’re gorgeous when you come.”
I turned deep red and put one hand over my eyes. “I never do this.”
“I know, sweetheart.” Goose bumps rose along my neck as he pressed a lingering kiss to my pulse. He pressed against me, still hard with his own desire, but when I reached to touch him, he grabbed my hand. “Wait a second. Let me have this.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I relaxed under the weight of his body as our breathing slowed. He was warm, but the cold from outside crept into the back seat of the car, and I wiggled my toes to keep the feeling in them. He gave me one more kiss and lifted off me.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
Crouching outside the car, he picked up my fallen shoe and slipped it back on my foot before helping me out. He held open the front door for me to slide into the passenger seat. The door slammed shut before I could thank him. A heartbeat later, he was on the other side of the car.
His demeanor had shifted the moment he got out of the car, and the charming man who had whisked me off my feet in the bar and then brought me to new heights was gone. The person next to me now was almost businesslike in his movements, the brusque clearing of his throat as he slammed his own door and engaged the locks.
Make conversation. Maybe he was worried he’d done something wrong. I thought back to our interactions earlier in the night, desperate to find a thread I could pick up and get our rapport back.
Something was bothering me, a piece of our conversation I’d ignored while lost in the heat of desire. “How did you know my name?” I asked as he put the car into gear and began to drive.
He looked at me briefly, then focused on driving. “Buckle your seat belt,” he commanded as we took off.
I obeyed, but I wasn’t going to let him dodge the question. “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be difficult.” Katie did this all the time. Why was I second-guessing myself? There surely wasn’t anything sinister here. But then why was my pulse racing?
He turned toward me with that half-smile, but he didn’t look amused. This time, I got the distinct feeling I was being mocked. “You don’t need to apologize to me, Quinn. Nothing that’s about to happen is your fault.”
“What do you mean?”
I thought back to the strange comments Gunner had made since we met. About being taken advantage of. Knowing my name even though I didn’t remember telling him.
“What are you looking for?”
“Witnesses.”
Something wasn’t right. That much was clear now. I swallowed down the panic in my throat and tried to focus on the road. Where were we? What direction were we headed? What time was it? I pulled my phone out of my purse to text Katie. Before I could even unlock it, Gunner snatched it out of my hands and tossed it out the window of the car.
“What the fuck?” I twisted in my seat as if I could pick out my tiny phone on the inky black road. He was already pulling onto the highway, engine revving as he floored the accelerator. “Turn around! I need that!”
“We’re not turning around,” he said, fingers tapping against the steering wheel. “Face forward. It’s a long ride.”
What have I gotten myself into? “Where are you taking me? Katie knows where you live.”
My heart sank as he shook his head and laughed. “That wasn’t my address. It was instructions. What she needs to do once she realizes I won’t be bringing you back to her.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe how easy that was. Are you really so desperate to get laid that you would just leave with the first guy to approach you in a club?”
My blood was frozen in my veins. Everything I did felt sluggish. “You can’t speak to me like this.” I yanked my door handle uselessly as if I could somehow escape onto the highway from a car going eighty miles per hour. “Turn around. Take me back.”
He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I already told you we’re not turning around. Get comfortable. It’s a long drive.”
“Who are you?” I demanded, cursing myself for my weakness and Katie for encouraging me. I was aware that everything I said had a slurred quality to it, and nothing stayed in place when I looked at it. Somehow, I had felt in control of myself on the dance floor with the moving bodies and crazy lights. I’d always thought the fight or flight response was supposed to make everything clearer, but whatever sobriety I’d achieved in the past half hour or so seemed to have evaporated. Stars danced at the corners of my eyes. My heart was going too fast, and my vision had narrowed to the head of a pin.
“We’ll explain when we arrive,” he said. I wanted to slap that self-important smirk off his face. Where was the handsome half-smile that had charmed me? Or the smooth-talking man who had made me feel so alive inside the club? Where was he, and who was this person sitting next to me now?
Something registered then—he said “we.” I had heard about sex trafficking rings that picked up girls right in public, then took them to be conditioned before being sold off to wealthy playboys with sick fantasies to enact. Was that his plan? Had I walked right into a trap? Maybe I’d already been sold, and Gunner was my new owner. The piece of me I’d willingly given up in the back seat of his car could never be taken back now, and I’d handed it over to a man who was going to use me for the rest of
my life. I wiped my palms on my knees. I needed a shower. I had to scour every part of me he had touched.
“My family has money,” I said, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. It was no use trying not to cry—I could already feel the tears falling down my face. “You don’t have to do this. They’ll pay.”
“Oh, we know they will,” he said, cranking our speed up to ninety. “That’s the whole point of this. They’re going to pay a whole lot.”
His words passed through my head like water. I barely registered that he wasn’t going to tell me anything. Could I overcome him and somehow keep the car on the road? Was it worth the risk to force a crash, hoping the car’s safety features were enough to protect me? I dug through my clutch purse with one hand, but I didn’t have my keys or pepper spray. Nothing that could be used as a weapon fit in this bag. That had seemed like an advantage earlier in the evening. Now, I was aware of exactly how badly I’d doomed myself.
“Let me out,” I demanded again, lunging for the steering wheel. But he was ready for me, the strong arm that had brought me pleasure only minutes before pushed me back into the seat.
“Sit still, honey, or you won’t like the consequences.”
I ignored him and started pulling at the door handle again, desperate to get out of the car, even if it meant crushing my head on the pavement. Injury or even death was better than the fear filling my veins. But before I could think beyond what would happen if I got the door open, a sharp jab in my arm pulled me back to the present. I gasped and clapped my hand over the spot. I turned as Gunner removed a small needle from my flesh and tossed it in the back seat.
“You brought that on yourself,” he said. His voice dripped with disdain and cruel pity. “I was going to let you stay up a lot longer, but you didn’t listen.” He took his eyes off the road to look at me, reaching out to hold my face still as I sank down into the seat. Whatever he had given me was fast-acting. His hand cradled my head and helped it fall gently against the leather of the chair. “Now be a good girl and sleep. You have a long few weeks ahead of you, Quinn Young.”
I couldn’t believe my luck. When Vin put me in charge of grabbing the girl, I had jumped at the chance to claim her for myself. More than that, I wanted to get my plan underway and put this yearslong odyssey to rest. I expected, given her family history, Quinn would be wary of strangers, but she literally fell into me. I didn’t even have to tell her my name before she was willing to walk out the door and get into my car, no questions asked.
Of course, that couldn’t keep the small bit of guilt from rising in my belly. Her internal battle as she decided whether to trust me had been evident on her face. I knew because I’d never looked away from her. She must have run through a hundred scenarios in her head. What if I was lying? What if she drank too much? What if her parents found out she was going home with a man and tried to track her down in the middle of the night, unwilling to drop the last threads of control they’d harnessed her with for years?
In the end, lust won out. And lucky for me. This was my job, and it was part of the plan. She was innocent, but no one could stay innocent forever. If it hadn’t been me, it would have been someone else. At least I could try to make her fall land a little softer.
I had to slow down with how often I turned to look at her. The drug in her system would keep her asleep for the entire ride, but right now, she looked as if she could have fallen asleep naturally. I turned up the heat a little as goose bumps rose on her skin, though my hands were warm enough.
The drive into the mountains got a bit more treacherous the higher we went. It was still fall, but ice and snow were already blowing across the winding roads as we climbed. I slowed down on the hairpin turns because I was in less of a hurry now that she was out. I also wasn’t particularly excited to get her in front of the rest of the men. I’d seen the way they looked at women, passing them around when they could barely stand straight from all the alcohol or heroin they’d taken to come to terms with their lives as sexual objects for men with disgusting appetites. Vin never brought his daughter around them for this reason. No one was off-limits when it came to the jokes and innuendos, not even the princess. Quinn—a commoner compared to her—would be fair game.
She was still unconscious as I pulled up in front of the house. My father had always insisted we refer to it as a chalet—a sprawling two-story building with a finished basement and floor-to-ceiling windows that gave us a view of the surrounding mountains. Vin had been hesitant to let me keep her here, concerned we would be too visible, but I convinced him it was far enough out of the way, and I would keep her out of sight to boot. I wanted to be in my house, my domain, not some random apartment that God knows who had the key to.
Vin and Colby were waiting outside, and Vin jerked open the passenger side door before I even pulled to a stop. He grabbed Quinn’s face and twisted her toward him, digging his thumbs into her cheeks. Her eyes fluttered the tiniest bit, but she stayed asleep.
“That’s her,” Vin said, sounding pleased.
I came around the car and put myself between them, making it look like an accident as I knocked his hand away. “Did you think I would grab the wrong girl?”
He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Why would I think that? Get her inside.”
Colby grabbed her arm and started to pull her out of the car, but I put my hand on his chest and shoved him out of the way. There was no need for subtleties with him; the man knew I wouldn’t piss on him if he were on fire. Her limbs fell awkwardly, and it was difficult to lift her dead weight from so low to the ground, but eventually, I got her into my arms. I bypassed the security on the front door and waited for Colby to hold it open for me.
Once inside, I moved to put her on the couch, but Vin shook his head. “She’s going in the basement.”
I gritted my teeth. He’d fought me on this every step of the way. “I don’t want to have to go up and down the stairs every time we need to talk to her.”
“Then you don’t have to participate.” He held out his arms. “Hand her over right now, and you can go to bed or whatever else it is you have better to do.”
I swallowed back my retort and stepped away from him. Fat chance. “Open the door.”
His smirk was enough to make me want to hit him, but I passed by without a word. I walked down the stairs past my sparring room, with its contraband decorating the walls, and finally into the small cell at the end. It had a thick metal door with a window in it that could be opened to pass something through without opening the door. It seemed like overkill to me, but I gave up the right to call some of the shots even in my own home in order to have her here. It seemed like a small price to pay. I could always get rid of the door later.
I set Quinn on the small cot in the corner of the room, and Colby chained her ankle to a hook in the wall. Vin moved in and began to shake her. She groaned, eyes fluttering once more, but other than that, she didn’t move. He started to pat her face, gently at first and then harder.
I grabbed him by the wrist. “She’s incoherent. She was drunk as hell when I got her, plus this tranquilizer.” In hindsight, maybe not the best cocktail of drugs. “I’ll let you know when she comes to.” I wanted to be the first one to talk to her, not Vin.
His upper lip lifted in an almost imperceptible snarl. “I’m not waiting. Wake her up.”
He was impatient, and an impatient Vin was not someone I ever wanted to deal with. I relented and knelt next to the cot, pulling a small packet out of my jacket containing a new needle and a second vial of liquid. “Get a glass of water,” I snapped at Colby. Crouching in front of her, I could see her eyes moving underneath her eyelids. She was working her way toward consciousness, so she didn’t need much.
I withdrew a bit of the liquid and injected it into her arm, then stared at my watch. When a minute had passed, I patted the side of her face. “Naptime’s over, honey. Time to face the music.”
Vin nudged me aside and grabbed her hair at the back of her head, wrenching her i
nto a sitting position. Quinn’s eyes dragged themselves open, rolling in her head from the sudden movement. She gasped and grabbed at his hands, trying to free herself. “Not too incoherent now,” he said, sneering.
Quinn was shaking violently, trying to speak but unable to make her tongue cooperate. She shied away from Vin as he brought his face right to hers. “Gunner let me know how easy it was to pick you up,” he murmured, reaching out to trail his finger along her collarbone. The makeup she’d had on earlier was smeared now, and one side of her face was smudged with black. “You really are as stupid as your bitch mother.”
She jerked again, and a strangled sound came from her throat. Her eyes flew around the room wildly, finding the door, Colby, and finally, me.
“What’s that?” Vin pulled her head back and put his lips right up against her ear. She closed her eyes, but not soon enough to stop a tear from slipping free. “Would you like to know why you’re here?”
She didn’t move for a second apart from the shaking. “Answer him!” I barked, and she looked up at me and froze. Her fear was palpable. I tried not to let my eyes drop to her chest, her breasts now heaving with fear and adrenaline. I imagined I could see the pulse fluttering beneath her skin. Her eyes moved to the door as Colby re-entered with a half-full glass of water.
Vin placed his hands on either side of her head and wrenched her gaze back to him. “I asked you a question. I don’t think you’re so dumb you can’t give me a yes or no answer.”
Still, she didn’t speak. Each breath she took was shallower than the previous one. She was going to pass out again in a few seconds if she didn’t get herself under control.
Something inside me bent, just a little. Picking up the glass of water, I stepped forward and held it out. “Drink this,” I said, and she looked at me again. Vin tried to brush me away, but I stood firm. “Let her drink this, and then she’ll cooperate. Right?” I stared her down, and after a few seconds, she nodded her head as much as Vin would allow her. “Good. Now drink.”