“No worries, she won’t go anywhere. As you saw for yourself she’s well trained.”
He gave my leash a tug and I rose to my feet and silently followed him out of the room. Neither of us spoke until we were back to his room, and I was safely inside, the door locked. Stepping up to me, Lance undid my collar. It occurred to me then that I hadn’t even attempted to remove the collar even though I knew he wouldn’t have had a problem with my removing it myself. Was I actually becoming his pet after all?
“I’m sorry that you had to go through that, but you wanted me to have the twins and you got your wish.” He brushed my golden locks from my eyes. “And you’re settled here officially, you’ll be safe now.”
“Can I have some water?” The word “Master” was on the tip of my tongue, but I stopped it. What in the fuck was wrong with me?
“Of course.” He turned and motioned for me to follow him into the kitchen. “I’ve already told you, you can have anything you want. Help yourself, this is your home now.”
Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge he twisted off the top and passed me the bottle. I drank the entire contents down without stopping, hoping to get the wretched taste out of my mouth. But the water couldn’t wash away the memory of Tanner violating my body with his fingers.
At least that’s all you had to endure, lucky compared to the other slaves, a voice in the back of my mind stated.
I laughed outright.
Frowning, Lance took the empty bottle from me and tossed it into the stainless steel garbage can. “What’s so funny?”
I shook my head, the laughter continuing; it was hardly a funny thought, I had no idea why I was laughing. Maybe I was losing my mind? “I was thinking about how lucky I am that I’ve only had to suck your father’s cock and been fingered and groped against my will. How fucked up does a person have to be to be grateful they only had to swallow cum?”
“Someone that realizes the severity of their situation. That’s who.”
“Can I have a bath?” I shivered. “I can feel his hands all over me…”
Lance stepped up to me and took my upper arms in his hands. “You won’t have to go through that again Gwen. You have no idea how hard it was to keep myself in that chair and watch them do that to you. Certainly not near as hard as having to endure it, but it was killing me.” His jaw clenched and I saw the rage flare up in his eyes. “That’s the very last time anyone aside from myself will ever touch you and I’ll do whatever necessary to make sure that’s not an empty promise.”
He pulled me into his arms and I welcomed his embrace. But even as he held me I couldn’t help but think about the girls downstairs. Those girls didn’t have anyone to fight for them. I had to do something, I just had no idea what it was.
Chapter 20
“So? How did it go?” I asked as Lance entered the apartment and plunked himself down beside me on the sofa, looking emotionally and physically exhausted. Tossing the Stephen King novel I’d been reading on the end table, I waited for a report.
He thrust a hand into his hair in agitation. “About as good as expected.”
“Could you be any more vague?”
He snorted, a partial smile touching his lips. “I decided to start with Chloe. It pretty much went down like it did with you on the first day.”
I looked down at the hem on the t-shirt I’d borrowed from him and fingered it. “Did you –”
He looked at me and sighed. “Did I what?”
I shrugged. “You know. Fuck her?”
“No, I didn’t touch her in a sexual manner.”
A huge sigh of relief passed my lips. His hands, his lips and his cock were supposed to be for me only.
“Although if you want me to be the one to train them, then I’m going to need to eventually. You realize that, right?” Lance’s eyes locked onto mine.
“I wish there was another way,” I muttered.
“This was your idea, Gwen. I never did want to get involved in the process. I think I could have even gotten out of it despite The Boss saying it was a requirement of keeping you, but you’re the one who insisted I needed to be the one. Did you think I liked seeing you suck off my father, or see Tanner getting off touching what’s mine?”
“No. But it’s not like I wanted to suck The Boss’s cock.”
“And it’s not like I want this either. But it’s what has to be done, unless you want me to pass them off to Tanner or whoever.”
The selfish part of me wanted to tell him to let Tanner have them, but how could I do that? How could I ignore the fact they’d be brutalized and it would be partially my fault because I could have prevented it? This was the ultimate rock and a hard place scenario. This situation was such a mind-fuck – my emotions were running amok, battling with my sense of reason and what was right. What made it even worse was that even the “right” choice wasn’t right at all.
“Well, Gwen. Let me know now because I have enough going on than to come back here and have to reassure you every time I’m with one of them. I’m not going to proceed into this process to pass them off in a few days. Either I’m in or I’m not. Just like when we first met when I told you modesty was just an emotion that would get in the way, the same goes with jealousy.”
“It’s just so… hard.”
“I appreciate your feelings Gwen, and in any other circumstance or with anyone else I wouldn’t have cared this bothers you, but it happens that I do. Regardless, it doesn’t change a thing.”
“Emotions get in the way…” I’d heard it so many times from his lips, too many times. I doubted I’d ever forget what seemed to be his motto.
“Exactly.” Grabbing my wrist, Lance pulled me over to him, straddling his lap. “Now, if this conversation is over, I need to fuck you so bad I’m nearly bursting.”
For a split second I wondered if the reason why he was so horny was because he’d been wanting to fuck Chloe, but I shook the thought loose. He was right, I couldn’t overthink and I couldn’t let emotions get in the way. This wasn’t a normal situation and we weren’t in a normal relationship; the sooner I accepted that the easier my life would be.
~*~*~*~*~
I’d been staying in his apartment for a week now and I was finally beginning to accept life there. It was far from perfect and I longed for my freedom, but one thing I’d come to realize was it could be a hell of a lot worse. Worse being a couple of floors below my feet. I hadn’t forgotten my sisters in despair, they plagued my thoughts and when I figured out a way to get us all out of there, I’d free us all. Sadly, that was still a plan in the process.
The television and laptop were off limits to me; that was the only rule there was to living with Lance. The only time I got to watch TV was when he was with me and he monitored everything. He had serious Big Brother issues when it came to the television and computer. Lance was scared I would seek out more news stories about myself and have a panic attack or breakdown while he wasn’t there. He actually took the remote with him when he left the room and the television was one of those types that was useless without it. As for the laptop, I wasn’t permitted the passcode, rendering it useless as well.
But he had lots of books, ranging from psychology books, which I assumed were his from his university years, to modern thrillers, horror and mystery novels. And as the days passed I found myself becoming a compulsive clean freak. His already orderly area was now so spotless, there wasn’t a single speck of dust to be found anywhere.
I also enjoyed staring out the window. I had the guards’ patrol routines down pat. Every fifteen minutes one guard would come from the left and every half-hour one would come from the right, both armed with what appeared to be semi-automatic weapons. So far I’d seen six men on patrol duty, which went on 24-7.
Snatching up the John Grisham novel that I was halfway through reading, I plunked myself down onto the sofa. I only had four pages read when the lock to the door clicked and like an eager puppy I leapt from the sofa, tossing the paperback onto the end tab
le and rushing to the door to meet him.
The door opened and Lance stepped in. His eyes immediately caught mine and a wide smile spread across his face. “Missed me so much you were waiting by the door, huh?”
“Yes.” Slipping my arms around his neck, I pressed my body against his. Today I was wearing a white tank top and panties. He seemed to really like that look on me and I wanted to please him – I felt it was the least I could do. My nipples began to harden, pressing at the thin cotton as my chest rubbed against his.
Lance lowered his lips to the side of my neck and gently nipped the sensitive flesh as he walked me backward, kicking the door closed with his heel. “I was only gone for a couple hours, what’s going to happen when we’re out in the real world and I’m gone all day at work?”
My body froze against his. This was the first time he’d ever mentioned us outside of the compound, or a future for us for that matter; it was like a taboo subject. Was it a slip of what he truly had planned, or simply wishful thinking? Maybe I was just reading into it, overthinking it all.
Pulling back in his arms I searched his blue eyes for an answer. Did he think about us as a couple with kids and a house and working 9-5 jobs that we’d complain about, but go every day to anyhow? I knew I did; thinking about us in a normal setting was becoming one of my favourite pastimes.
Apparently noticing his slip, he cleared his throat, placed a chaste kiss on my lips and pulled away from me. He made his way into the kitchen, with me trailing behind.
“What do you want for supper?”
“Do you think about our future?” I never asked that question anymore. What was the point, he never answered. He just told me to live in the present and the future would work itself out.
“What do you mean?” He opened the fridge and peered in. “I have some hamburger here and cheese slices. What do you think, cheeseburgers?”
I think I hate when you change the subject, I fumed inwardly.
“Cheeseburgers are fine.” I watched him as he pulled out the ingredients for the burgers. “So do you?”
His body froze and he turned to face me. Bracing his hands behind him on the countertop, he leaned back against the counter. “I do.”
“And?” I prompted.
“You’re in it.”
“But in what capacity?” My mind screamed at me to back off, I didn’t want him shutting down on me, not after I waited all afternoon for him to come home.
Home – I laughed inwardly, I couldn’t believe I was actually considering this place home now.
He cocked his head to the side, eyeing me, as if trying to decide how to deal with the question. “Are you asking if I one day see us married with the ankle biters and whatnot?”
My cheeks grew warm and I suddenly felt incredibly stupid for even bringing it up. But a part of me needed to know I had a future outside of these walls, and I really dreamed it would be with him. Despite his secrets, which he stated he kept for my own good and the situation we were in, he was the man I’d always dreamed of having.
Scared he was going to shoot down my dream, I turned from him and attempted to scurry out of the kitchen. I’d only made it a few feet when his hand clasped around my wrist, stopping me in my tracks and spinning me around to face him.
“If we had met under different circumstances and had the freedom of a normal couple, then yes. Yes, I would want that future with you. Do I think about it? Of course. Do I think that’s in the future for us? I have no idea. I’m not going to feed you false hope, truth is, I simply don’t know, but it’ll become much clearer very soon.”
It wasn’t exactly what I’d hoped to hear, but it was more than I’d gotten from him thus far.
His hand released my wrist and slid up my arm to end up grasping the back of my neck and pulling me toward him. “If you’re asking if I’m in love with you, then also, yes.”
My mouth dropped open. He’d said a fair amount over the past week I’d been staying with him, words of endearment and declarations of devotion. But when I’d told him I loved him, he hadn’t said those three little words back.
It’s amazing how much power three simple words held. But now that they were tumbling from his lips it felt surreal, it left me breathless. It seemed like I’d been waiting to hear them for what felt like an eternity. I wasn’t just a favourite pet. I wasn’t just entertainment or his bought and paid for property. I was the woman he was in love with.
“So, as long as we’re done, I’m starving.” Planting a quick kiss on my lips, Lance turned from me and began to mould the patties. “There’s also something important we need to discuss.”
After grabbing the butter from the fridge I prepared the frying pan and waited for the patties. “What’s that?”
He turned to me with an expression so serious my heart, which was soaring with happiness, sank to the pit of my stomach. “Lance?”
Plopping the patties in the pan he began to season them. “We’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Excuse me?” I couldn’t have heard correctly. He’d said it so casually, like it was something we did every day. “Are you making me go back to the dungeon?”
“No, I mean, we’re leaving the compound – for good.”
“I don’t understand.” I pinched the skin on my forearm, thinking I must be dreaming. A jolt of pain shimmied up my arm. I was awake. “What do you mean?”
He turned to face me, leaning his hip against the counter. “I mean, tomorrow The Boss is having guests here; it’s the biggest collection of business associates ever to gather anywhere. They have something in the works, so big I wasn’t even privy to the information. Virtually every important person in the organization will be here. It’s a collection of the worst of the worst. Heads of state for a couple different nations, warlords, traffickers, U.S. government officials, all the main people in the worldwide network who make it run so efficiently.”
I cocked my head to the side, eyeing him. “What does that have to do with us leaving? They’re not going to allow us to just walk on out the front. Wouldn’t that be the worst time for us to try and leave?”
“Not at all.” A smile crept onto his lips, his blue eyes gleaming with anticipation. It was the look of a man who was finally getting something he’d been waiting his entire life to receive. “Because by the end of tomorrow we’ll be the only people at the compound alive.”
Chapter 21
“I’m confused.” What in the hell was he talking about? Over the run of my stay at the compound I was always scared I was the one losing my mind, but perhaps he was also well on his way.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time Gwen. I knew I had to wait until I had most of them together so I could do the most damage to the organization. Killing just The Boss and the men here wouldn’t be enough. It would be like chopping off a limb of a tree, another would grow back in a different place. In order to stop it, I needed to chop it down at the trunk. And it’s finally time. Years of planning , Gwen , and now it’s time.” His smile was wide, anticipation in his eyes, like a kid at Christmastime.
I frowned. What he was saying was insane. “But, he’s your father?”
“He’s the man who murdered my mother. He’s a monster.”
“The Boss killed your mother?”
“I wasn’t supposed to find out the truth, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to connect the dots. She was blinded by love for the majority of their marriage, but eventually began to put the pieces together. Once she realized the monster she’d married, she was going to go public with what she knew. She called me and told me what she knew and as soon as she hung up the phone she contacted the FBI and the agent assigned to her happened to be on the organization’s payroll. He buried the case – after he brutally killed her, made it look like a break and enter gone bad. I didn’t have enough time to come home from college to discuss it rationally with her and formulate a plan. She went on her own and just did it.”
My hands flew to my mouth, my eyes widening in h
orror. “Ohmygod! How can you even be around him knowing what he did?”
Grabbing a spatula from the drawer in front of him, he flipped the patties and they began to sizzle on the other side as if we were discussing something trivial like the weather or who got voted off the island in Survivor. “Because I knew this day would be coming. I knew as long as I was patient he and all the others would get what they deserved. Once I learned how not to feel and had my emotions in check it was easy enough.”
“Jesus…” How could a person possibly keep anger like that in check? For years! It made no sense, but then again, in a way, that was what I was doing when I first arrived. “But that means you’ll be killing –”
“A lot of people,” he supplied. “That’s the point.”
“How are you even going to pull it off?” I saw in my mind’s eye Lance’s body being pummelled by bullets by the guards securing the grounds, or being captured in the middle of completing whatever he had cooked up and being beaten until there was nothing left of him to pound on. If losing Lance was the price of freedom, then I didn’t want it.
“I don’t have any veggies, are you good with mustard and ketchup?” he asked, peeping his head into the fridge again and pulling out the condiments, ignoring my question.
“I don’t care about the veggies. How do you know you can pull it off? What if they catch you?”
He straightened and placed the condiments on the counter and then turned off the burner. “They won’t.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“Because I’ve spent years making sure they wouldn’t. I’ve got every angle planned – it’s foolproof. I wouldn’t be taking the chance if I thought for a second I couldn’t pull it off. I’ve sacrificed a lot for this moment, did things, things I have nightmares about. In essence I sold my soul. But it’ll be all worth it.”
I chewed at my lower lip, not even sure what to say. “What about the girls?”
He looked at me, his expression dark and unreadable.
Bad & Bold - A 7 Book Bad Boy Romance Collection! Page 91