Atone

by Beth Yarnall

  He licks my finger.

  “Beau,” I warn.

  His gaze turns wicked. He takes my finger in his mouth and sucks. Shit. That fucking goes straight to my pussy. I try to pull my hand away, but he grips my wrist and holds it. Sliding my finger in and out of his mouth, he licks and sucks. There’s no doubt where he wants to put his mouth next. A knock at the door breaks the moment. Saved by the pizza delivery guy. He releases me and I go to the bathroom for a little cool-down while he answers the door.

  When I come out he’s got our dinner spread out on the little table. I sit across from him and pick up a slice of pepperoni.

  “You didn’t promise,” I say.

  “I know I didn’t.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Fine.” He tosses down his slice of pizza. “I promise. Happy?”

  “Yes. Actually. I am.”

  “It’s not like I have plans to commit murder. I just don’t know how I’ll react if I ever see them. I really fucking hate what they did to you. I don’t think you fully get how much.”

  “I wouldn’t make you promise if I didn’t.”

  He picks up his pizza and takes an angry bite, glaring at me over the top.

  “If it’s any consolation, after dinner I’ll let you put that tongue to use anywhere you want.”

  His brows rise. “Anywhere?”

  “Anywhere.”

  Chapter 23

  Beau

  I wake up before Vera does and watch her sleep. She accuses me of snoring, but she makes this little wheezing sound that’s actually kind of cute. I won’t tell her about it. She’d only deny it. The sheet slipped down, revealing both her breasts. Her nipples are hard and puckered. I should pull the sheet up. She’s clearly cold. Except the view is so nice with her arms over her head, making her tits rise. If I had a camera or was an artist I’d capture her just like this with her face soft and relaxed, the morning sun bathing her in a warm glow.

  One of her legs is bent out to the side, spreading her open. I have the urge to accept that offer and climb between her legs. She’s the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen. Being with her, making her scream in ecstasy, is the greatest fucking experience of my life. She talked about experiencing firsts with me. I’ve had a few firsts with her too. She probably wouldn’t believe me if I told her. She seems to think she couldn’t match, let alone exceed, anything that’s ever happened to me. There’s really no comparison.

  She stirs, rolling on her side, away from me. The new view is pretty fucking great too. This time I don’t resist and put my arms around her, tucking her against me. She’s warm and smells like sex. My already hard dick gets harder. She wiggles her backside against it, making me groan. She’s awake and fucking torturing me. I cup a breast in one hand and slide the other between her legs. Rolling her nipple, I slip a finger through her slickness. She’s wet and about to get a lot wetter. I thrust two, then three fingers into her. Her hips flex in time with my strokes. She’s faking sleep, letting me do all the work. I don’t mind. I sink my teeth into her neck in gentle bites I know drive her crazy. The gasp that escapes her lips makes my dick weep.

  Her legs part, and it’s all the invitation I need. Gripping my dick, I maneuver until I’m right at her entrance. She reaches back and rakes her fingers into my hair. It fucking drives me wild when she does that. I thrust deep into her and her fingers tighten in my hair. I’m a fucking wild man, gripping her hip and hitting hard. Goddamn, she feels so fucking good. I’m gonna come too soon, so I strum her clit to get her there before me. The whimpers she makes drive me insane. I sink my teeth into her neck and she cries out. I lunge one last time, digging my fingers into her thigh to get as far into her as I can.

  Jesus. God. Fuck. Fuck. Fuuuuuck.

  My heart is going to jump out of my chest. I rotate my hips into her, wanting to stay buried as deep as possible. She feels so damn good. Soft. Hot. Her fingers massage where she practically ripped my hair out. I don’t care. That was fucking amazing. I kiss her behind her ear and feel her smile.

  “Good morning,” I say.

  “It certainly is. Do I have a mark on my neck?”

  I lean up to see. “A little bit, but it looks like it’ll go away.”

  She holds her hand up with strands of my hair between her fingers. I laugh. It was so worth it.

  “I’m going to slowly make you bald.”

  I catch her hand and slip my fingers between hers. “As long as you like bald men, I don’t care.”

  She pulls my arm around her. “I like you any way I can get you.”

  “I like you too.”

  She looks at the clock beside the bed and groans. “You’re going to be late to work if we don’t get up.”

  “No round two?”

  “Not today.”

  The world creeps in, a slithering reality that totally shits all over my post-sex high. I wish I could keep her in this room forever, happy and safe. I want more mornings like this with her. I want all my mornings to be with her.

  I pull out of her slowly. She makes an uhn noise. I know exactly how she feels. I hate being separated from her too. She rolls and gives me a kiss, then gets up to head to the bathroom. Her hips sway seductively. Just before she turns to go in the bathroom she gives me a naughty look over her shoulder like she knew I’d be watching and closes the door. I flip onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. I’m fucking gone over her. That look did it. I’m done.

  My phone vibrates next to the empty pizza box. I grab it and look at the display. Cora.

  “Hello?”

  “Do you need me to swing by and pick you up?”

  “No, but could you grab me a clean shirt and some socks and bring them to the office?”

  “What about underwear?”

  “Don’t own any.”

  “Eww. More than I wanted to know. Maybe you should take some of your things to keep over there.” She doesn’t sound happy about trying to be happy for me.

  I glance at the bathroom door at the sound of the shower being turned on. “I don’t think we’re there yet.” But I sure as hell want to be.

  “I have some news. We got a hit last night. Nolan spied our girl with an older man at that shopping center, coming out of the Starbucks. I’ll text you the photos. He followed them for a while in his car, but they spotted him and then lost him when they ran a red. That asshole now has a face.”

  All of the air locks in my lungs. I want to see and yet I don’t. This is it. The beginning of the end with Vera.

  “Beau?”

  “Don’t send them. We’ll look at them when we get to the office. Don’t mention that you already told me about them.”

  She doesn’t say anything for a minute. Then, “Tell me the sex hasn’t fucked you in the head.”

  “It’s fucked me in the head and pretty much everywhere else.”

  “Goddamn it.”

  “If it’s any consolation, I’m about to get my teeth kicked in.”

  “It’s not. That’s actually worse. Why are you telling me this shit?”

  “You fucking asked.”

  “Forget I asked. Just get to the office as soon as you can.”

  “Fine. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  I jab at the end button and barely resist chucking my phone at the wall. Instead, I set it down and head for the bathroom to try to talk Vera into round two.

  Chapter 24

  Vera

  Something’s up. Beau’s been acting weird since he climbed in the shower with me, got down on his knees, and went to town on me as if it was the last time he was ever going to get to eat me out. Then he bent me over and relentlessly pounded into me, making me come so hard that if he hadn’t been holding me I would’ve fallen on my face in the tub. He keeps touching me and glancing at me. I haven’t been out of his sight once since the shower. I want to ask what happened, but I have a feeling I’m about to find out, whether I want to or not.

  We get out of the car at the agency and he’s
immediately at my side with his arm around me, holding me tight against him like he’s my bodyguard and we’re under a sniper attack. I come to a stop a couple feet from the door. I have to know what I’m walking into here.

  “What?” Beau asks.

  “Before we go in, I need to know what I’m up against.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “What happened between the time I left you in bed and when you joined me in the shower?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “The fuck you don’t. What happened?”

  He glances at the office door, then back at me, and sighs. “Cora called.”

  “And?”

  “Javier showed up at that shopping center with Marie. Or at least we assume that’s who she was with. We need you to confirm. Nolan took photos.”

  All of the air leaves my body on a soft Oh.

  I haven’t seen his face since the day I escaped. Since the day he beat me so badly I could hardly walk. I can still hear the crack of leather across my flesh and the way it bit and tore at me. And his laugh—

  “Vera?” Beau jostles me out of my memories. “Hey. You’re okay.”

  I shake my head, looking around. Suddenly he’s everywhere. I can feel him. He’ll come at me out of nowhere with his sadistic smile and horrible laugh.

  “I have to go.”

  I start for my car. I’ve got to run, get out of here before he finds me. He’ll make me pay for outsmarting him and escaping. He’ll want to make me suffer, make me suck him off like that last time before he beat me. Maybe he’ll let his guys have a go at me first. He did that when Cinnamon tried to escape. They rotated her between them for three days before she was put back into service. I don’t know what all they did to her, but she was never right after that.

  Beau grips me by the arm and pulls me back against him. “What about Marie? You came here to find her. He’s got her. You can’t just leave and let him have her.”

  His words freeze me and I stop trying to struggle to get out of his hold. I can’t bear for Javier to turn her into what he turned me into. I don’t ever want to see her eyes go blank. She deserves a normal life. It’s my fault he knew about her in the first place. If I hadn’t told him about her, she wouldn’t be about to be sold to the highest bidder. She has no idea her innocence is about to be stolen. She has no idea her life is no longer hers. She has no idea that the man she thinks she loves is a monster.

  “Let’s go inside,” Beau pleads. “See what Cora has to say. We’re close. Closer than we’ve ever been to getting her back. Come on.”

  I let him tow me into the office. Savannah does a double take at the sight of us together, her brows disappearing into her bangs. Cora’s at her desk when we walk in, talking to a man I’ve never seen before. I pause in the doorway.

  “It’s okay. That’s Nolan. He’s one of the investigators. He’s the one who staked out the shopping center and got photos of Marie last night. Come on.” Beau nudges me forward.

  “Nolan Perry.” Nolan offers his hand to me. He’s about Beau’s age, with brown hair and brown eyes. He looks nice, but then I’ve met a lot of men who looked harmless and turned out to be anything but. I don’t take his hand and he drops it, looking a little nervous.

  Cora gives Beau a look I don’t understand.

  He shrugs at her. “She asked.”

  “So I’m guessing you’re all filled in,” Cora says to me. “We uploaded the photos to my computer. Come have a look.” She clicks the mouse, then she and Nolan back away from the computer.

  I edge toward the desk, the bagel I had earlier threatening to come up. All eyes are on me. I can feel them staring, judging. They don’t know. They don’t understand. Beau is at my back. He puts a hand on my shoulder in silent support. Wrapping my arms around me, I force myself to look. The shot is blurry. Taken at night, it has a grainy quality to it, but I can clearly make them out. Javier has his arm across Marie’s shoulders. She’s smiling up at him, so honest in her devotion. I can see myself in her and in the way she sees only him.

  He’s a little older, grayer. I don’t know what I saw in him. The man I’m looking at now feels like a stranger, yet I know everything about him. How he likes his steak. His favorite color. The way he takes his coffee. His love for crossword puzzles. The kind of cologne he wears.

  The look on his face when he kills.

  Beau squeezes my shoulder. “Is that him?”

  I nod. I can’t get any words to cross the back of my throat.

  “Fucker,” Beau spits out.

  “It was pretty slick the way he gave me the slip,” Nolan says. “I thought I might catch up to him, so I cut over a block, then back, but he was gone. Just vanished. I did manage to get his license plate, though. We can run it.”

  “We need to be careful,” Cora tells him. “This guy hasn’t operated the way he has for as long as he has without some help high up. We can’t risk running the usual checks on him. He’s sure to have his records flagged to let anyone know they’re being accessed. Thank you for your help, Nolan. I’ll let you know if we need anything else.”

  “Sure,” Nolan nods toward me. “It was nice meeting you.”

  “Thanks, Nolan,” Beau says.

  No one speaks until the door closes behind Nolan.

  “Mr. Nash is meeting with Emmaline Markham at ten,” Cora says. “Chad Perez is out of the office today, so I made an appointment with him for tomorrow. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced talking to him might be a waste of time. He’s probably just a worker bee and doesn’t have a clue what went on in that house. And if he does, he’s not likely to tell us the truth about it. But I’ll give it my best shot.”

  “What angle are you taking with him?”

  Their conversation goes on without me. I can’t stop staring at the slideshow of photos. It’s like a movie playing my worst nightmare over and over. Marie and Javier coming out of Starbucks. Javier putting his arm around her. Her looking up at him. Him leaning into the car to kiss her.

  Wait.

  Why is he out with her? Why isn’t he isolating her?

  I drag the chair under me, open up the Internet browser, and pull up Marie’s Tumblr account. She posted again after getting the tattoo. Something about a fun night out with Daddy. Last night.

  “What is it?” Beau asks.

  I get my phone out of my pocket and bring up her Instagram account. She posted a pic of the tattoo. Same with her Twitter. All of a sudden her social media is flooded with the image. He wants me to know. He’s got her and he wants me to know it. He wants me to come get her. He knew I’d look for Marie. He’s taunting me, trying to draw me out.

  “How close did Nolan get to them?” I ask Cora.

  “Close enough to get his license plate.”

  “And close enough for him to get Nolan’s plate. He’s going to know Nolan works here. It won’t be hard for him to find out.” I stand so abruptly the chair flies back and hits Beau. “I can’t be here.” My hand automatically goes to the gun strapped to my thigh in reassurance.

  “Oh, shit,” Beau says under his breath.

  “You think he’s going to come after you?” Cora asks.

  “I know he is.”

  “Why?” She looks at Beau. “What am I missing here?”

  He shakes his head.

  “No. Not this time,” she tells him, propping her hands on her hips. “Somebody needs to tell me what the hell is going on.” She turns to me. “Why would he come after you? It’s not just because you escaped, is it?”

  “No. And that’s all I can tell you. I have to go.” I pull what’s left of my ready cash from the pocket in my bra. It’s close to two grand. I peel off two hundreds and stuff them back in my pocket, dropping the rest of the bills on the desk. “Please keep searching for Marie. He’s not going to sell her the way he did me, but that doesn’t mean she’s not still in danger. If this isn’t enough money, I’ll send you more when I get to a place that’s safe.”
I sling my bag over my shoulder and head for the door.

  “Wait,” Cora yells.

  But I don’t wait. I open the door and look down the hall. There’s a back door at the other end. I head for it. I can’t get my car from the front of the building. I’m going to have to find another mode of transportation. I’m already thinking ahead about changing my look, my name, my motel room, my everything. I reach for the handle, but a big hand slaps flat on the door above my head.

  Beau’s arm slips around my waist and drags me hard against him. He puts his mouth to my ear. “Oh, no, you don’t. You’re not leaving without me.”

  Chapter 25

  Beau

  Is she motherfucking kidding me? If she thinks I’m just going to let her walk out and into who-the-fuck-knows-what, then she doesn’t know me at all.

  “Don’t do this,” she says.

  “You’re not alone anymore. Don’t you get it?”

  “I can’t drag you into this. You have no idea what I’m up against.”

  “I have a damn good idea what that fucking asshole is capable of.”

  “Please don’t make me hurt you.”

  “The only way you could do that is if you walk out that door without me.”

  She sags in my embrace, her head bent.

  “We can help you,” I say. “We can protect you.”

  “I don’t see how you can when the police couldn’t.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She doesn’t answer.

  “Vera. Talk to me.”

  “I can’t stay here. It’s not safe. He’ll be watching the office. He probably already has photos of us coming in here. He knows what I look like now. He knows what you look like and—thanks to your overprotective streak—what you are to me. You’re going to be a target now too.”

  “That’s an argument for us to stick together, not separate.”

  “Why do you have to be so damn stubborn and smart?” She tips her head back on my chest. “Fine. Come with me. But that means leaving your cellphone, Cora, your job, everything behind. Are you sure you want to do that? Do you even understand what that means?”