by Skyla Madi
Something scuffles in the corner and I shift dramatically on the bed, pulling my knees up to my chest. I curl my toes, noticing immediately that Jai has taken my shoes and socks off. How convenient.
“Jai?” I whisper, clasping my chest.
I hear another scuffle, then a distinct squeak. My heart stops cold. Fucking RATS!
“Jai,” I try again, this time my voice sounding panicked and distressed.
Still, he doesn’t move. And I thought I was a heavy sleeper. I lean over the space between our beds and touch him. Under my fingertips, the muscles in his chest tighten and before I know it, his arm closes around mine and I squeak as he tugs me off my bed and onto his.
“Jai—”
Somehow, he gets me in a headlock and pulls me until my body is on top of his and I’m unable to move. Pinned. His legs wrap around mine and squeeze until my knee feels like it’s going to pop out of place.
“Will you stop—”
Freeing me from his arms but not his legs, he tugs ear buds I didn’t see from his ears.
“Fucking hell, Kitten, don’t sneak up on me,” he orders, his chest vibrating against mine.
I try to shift my legs free, but he flexes his thick thigh muscles and I wince as my knee complains.
“I called your name twice, and, for the last time, stop with the Kitten. That’s not my name.”
“What are you doing?” he asks, ignoring my protest.
In the dull light, I notice the ghost of amusement on his lips and I feel the way his chest rises and falls a little quicker than it was a second ago. I wonder if it’s because I scared him or because my damp body pressed so tightly against his is affecting him.
“I think I heard rats.”
My fingers twitch against his smooth chest and the corner of his mouth does the same.
“Rats?”
I nod. “Big ones.”
I hear the muffled music he was listening to filter out through the ear buds. It sounds like rap music. I’ve rarely had the time to listen to music since taking up my nursing course. Down here, it’s nice to hear something other than cheers and the occasional drip of water. Jai notices me looking at the ear bud and picks it up.
“You want to listen?”
I nod, forgetting all about the rats and our strange position. He tucks a thick lock of my hair behind my ear before slipping the piece in.
I haven’t heard such a dramatic assemblage of lyrics before. It’s hypnotizing and real, and a million other things. Even the ‘F’ bomb that’s dropped so frequently sounds reasonable and beautiful. I don’t ask him who’s rapping or who wrote the piece, taking solace in the unknown.
Jai hunts for his music device tucked somewhere beside his body. When he finds it, the screen lights up as he scrolls for another song. I fight a pout, not wanting him to change it from the one I’m listening to.
“You can rest your head and lie here for a little while,” he says, lightly pushing my head down until my warm cheek rests against his chest. “You know, with the rats on your side of the room and all.”
I smile despite myself and snuggle against him. Soon after, the music skips from a deep rap to slow rock. The singer has a smooth baritone voice, one that both caresses and fucks my ear canal with its magic. It makes me think of my job and how I’ve probably lost it. It makes me think of my apartment and the eviction notice I’m going to see if I ever get out of here. Strangely, the song makes me not care. When it flows into the chorus, I think about my life so far...and about my parents. I haven’t been able to shake the possibility of Skull knowing their names. If I knew their names, I could track them down. I don’t want anything from them; I just want them to know that I’m alive and I’m okay—that I made it without them. Or maybe I want to spy a little, to see if they even stop for a second to spare a thought for me.
“Do you think Skull will give me the name of my parents if I ask?”
Underneath me, Jai’s entire body clenches. He doesn’t respond, at least not for a while anyway, and in the silence, I try to comprehend what that means. Yes? No?
“He’ll help you,” he admits eventually. “At a price.”
“A price?”
“With Skull, there’s always a price.”
I purse my lips together and nibble the inside of the bottom one. What’s Skull’s price? “I don’t have any money.”
Jai scoffs. “Skull has plenty of it. He won’t bat an eyelid at any price you offer him. He’ll want something else from you.”
I frown, trying to decipher his vagueness. What else could Skull possibly want from me? I have no skills, none that could benefit him anyway—oh. Oh! I lift my head to look Jai in the face.
“You think he’d want a sexual favor?” I ask, my eyebrows rising into my hairline.
He opens his eyes. “With you? Undoubtedly.”
What does that mean? Is it because I’m simply a female or because Jai thinks I’m pretty enough to draw Skull’s attention? If Skull is as big as Jai claims he is, women would flock to him, and not just normal women, beautiful women. Wealth and power always draw out the beautiful women.
Jai groans. “Please tell me you’re not contemplating fucking Skull for information?”
I flinch, taking offense. I’d never use sex to get what I want. Ever.
“Excuse me? I’d never do such a thing. Not that it’d be any of your business if I did, anyway. You may have saved my life and I might owe you a shitload of money, but that doesn’t mean you own me.”
With a mighty flick of his hips, Jai tosses me off of him. Somehow, before I fly off the cot, he manages to snag my waist and tuck me underneath the weight of his body. For a larger guy he moves swiftly, as if he weighs only a quarter of his weight. The ear bud pops from my ear and I grip his arms as his legs spread mine and his hips pin me to the mesh underneath us. His breath comes hot and fast. It clashes with mine, less than an inch from our lips. I’ve never dealt with anyone as demanding as Jai. One word is all it takes for him to switch from cool and calm to hot and annoyed. Strangely, it’s sexy. The grip he has on my wrists, the pressure he puts on my pelvis, and the sight of his half-naked body above mine whips my blood cells into a frenzy.
“I own you,” he says, his voice stoking the fire in my blood. “I owned you the second I had you pinned against the warehouse.”
I swallow hard, unable to stop my chest from rising and falling so rapidly. I shake my head. “No. We live in the twenty-first century. That’s not how it works.”
His intense gaze flicks to my lips, unleashing a torrent of butterflies into my stomach. “How does it work then? You tell me.”
His eyes flick back to mine. I don’t know how it works. I don’t think you can own somebody; not their choices anyway. You can own their heart, but everything else is off the table. I’m yet to meet anyone who I’d let own me in every sense of the word.
And boy, is it a powerful word.
Own is a word that equates to love. Owning somebody means you have the ability to tear them apart at your mercy, and the choice of putting them back together...or not. That doesn’t sound like something I’d give up easily, if at all.
“I don’t know,” I utter, finally. “But it doesn’t work that way.”
I hold my breath as he lowers his head, stopping only when his lips graze mine. I gasp as they first touch. It sends a bolt of lightning into me, awakening every nerve before frying them completely. His lips are dry, but incredibly soft. His breath smells of mint and fresh water, if that makes any sense. I’ve been to and seen the large tunnel, much like the one the cage hangs over, they use as a community toilet, but I didn’t see any basins there to brush your teeth.
“You wouldn’t jump through hoops for me?” he asks in a low, husky voice as he drops a little more pressure onto my pelvis.
I shake my head, but I so fucking would. Right now, I’d jump through anything for him if he promised to give me a long, hard treat afterwards. It feels good having him there, separated by only the fabr
ic we wear. In deeper thought, how dirty and gritty would it be to have sex right here, knowing anyone walking by could see or hear? How magnificent would the memory be? I’m burning up just thinking about it.
“I could make you,” he says, moving a hand towards my collarbone.
I still as he tucks his index finger under the neckline of my tank top and traces it down to my cleavage. He smirks as he takes in my rapidly moving chest. It’s like he’s touching my lungs, forcing them to show him just how badly they want to inhale him, to be filled with him. He’s moving quickly, sliding into second base and he hasn’t even kissed me yet.
“I could show you just how easy it is to fall under someone’s thumb.”
“I don’t think you’re giving me enough credit. I can never be controlled by a man—”
He swallows the tiny distance between our mouths and the instant he takes my lips, rockets shoot off in my body. His kiss spins my organs into a tempestuous whirl. He doesn’t wait for permission to enter my mouth. Instead, he bites down on my lower lip and swallows my gasp as he forces his tongue inside. When our tongues touch, a rumble vibrates deep in his chest and quivers onto mine as he gathers me closer, forcing me to feel his erection between my legs. At the apex of my thighs, I clench in painful pulses. Even the zipper of my shorts becomes an arousing tool to get me off.
That’s what I want.
To get off.
I want to come, and I want Jai to be the one to do it. A rough hand is what I need. It’s what I crave and he reads my mind. The hand at my cleavage travels down the outline of my body and onto the button of my shorts. With a quick yank, they pop open. He continues to fuck my mouth with his, relentlessly, while he slips his fingers under the fabric of my underwear. He’s all I taste, all I think about. His being consumes me inch by inch, threatening to leave me broken if he doesn’t finish what he started.
“You want me here?” he asks into my mouth as he slides a finger down my outer lips, making me shudder and flex my hips into his hand.
I can feel my wetness coating his index finger with desperation. Fevered, I nod my head and whimper weakly as he spreads my lips with the tip of his index finger.
“I don’t think you want it that badly.”
This time, I nod a little more desperately. “I do. God. Fuck. I do.”
His eyes flare and I feel it throughout my entire body. Whatever I’m doing, it’s what he wants. I can see it. “Get your tits out, Kitten, and I’ll have you seeing stars.”
In record time, and with shaky hands, I yank up my tank top and tug down my cotton bra. It sits tightly underneath my tits, pushing them right up. I look at Jai. He’s fixated on them, his eyes thinned into lusty slits. He rakes his teeth over his bottom lip before thrusting his finger deep into me with a husky groan. My breath hitches and I grip the edges of the cot. Holy. Fuck me.
“You listen well like this,” he says and I hear the smile in his tone. “Maybe I should’ve done this from the beginning. Maybe then you wouldn’t have caused me so much trouble.”
Jai curls his finger and my entire body trembles as he strokes that one spot. The one that makes a girl lose her smarts.
“I like trouble.” I sigh. “It turns me on.”
And it does. People say stick with what you know, but I say stick with the unknown. Trouble lurks in the unknown and excitements breeds in the unknown. The unknown is what keeps me going.
My entire body clenches from the exhilarating sensation of his touch inside me. He pushes another finger in and I close my eyes to gain control as my body threatens to crumble under him. I slide my hands up his rock-hard torso and down his arms, storing every inch of him in my brain. I don’t want to forget a single detail. Not ever.
I push into his palm, forcing him deeper. My nipples ache, and I stretch to rub my breasts against his chest, but he has other ideas. As I arch my back, he dips his neck and catches a nipple between his teeth. I hiss, then moan as his tongue soothes the burn he created. I’m point five of a second away from breaking apart. He knows it too. Freeing my nipple from his sweet torture, he drags his mouth to my ear and I all but sigh as his cheek brushes mine.
“Do I own you, Emily?” he breathes in my ear.
In this moment, I’d agree to wear a collar with the name ‘KITTEN’ spelled out in fake diamond studs. It’s safe to say I’m putty in his hands.
“Yes.” I sigh, rocking my hips and forcing his fingers deeper inside me. “God, yes.”
“Told you,” he mumbles, but I pay no attention to it.
Convulsions rock me, and I catch the sound of his breath seizing in his throat as he pulls his head back enough to watch my face as I climax. I’m a mix of moans and shudders, each more violent than the last. He fingers me harder and faster, and with each speed I go off like a rocket for him, exploding into a thousand and one pieces.
Eventually, but not quietly, I come back down to earth. When I’ve caught my breath, Jai meets me, his face directly in front of mine and dead serious.
“If you go to Skull for help, you’re not going to get out. He’ll own you.”
I blink, confused. All of this...was to prove how easy it is to lose your head when you’re aroused? And I fucking failed.
He pulls my bra back up and tugs my shirt down. Then, Jai rolls us again until I’m on top of him. Brushing my hair away from my damp face, he locates my ear and slips an ear bud back inside. Slow rock plays once more.
Against my hip I feel him hard and wanting, but I’m too embarrassed to offer anything to help. I’ve just proven how easy it is to control someone...I’ve just proven how easy it would be for Skull to own me...I’ve just been finger banged underground by a stranger…
Shit.
Maybe sticking to the unknown isn’t my most stable piece of advice.
Chapter Eight
Drinks
I never fell asleep, but I faked it when morning rolled around and Jai woke up. Last night, he crashed out not long after he touched me, but I couldn’t. As my stomach twisted, both delightfully and painfully, I listened to one hundred songs that dragged me through one hundred different emotions. With an aggressive rap in one ear and his steady heartbeat in the other, I tried to rationalize my actions, but I kept coming back to one truth.
I am an idiot.
Once Jai left, an hour ago now, I moved back to my own cot. I have to talk to him about last night, that much I know. Though it didn’t mean anything on an emotional level, I have to clear the air. Most days, I’m not that kind of girl, and what happened was...was...not something I could’ve predicted. Ever. I don’t know how long I’m going to be down here, but I can’t sleep in a bed next to Jai and pretend what happened didn’t happen. If I bring it up, we can put it behind us and move on. That’s what responsible adults do, right?
Another ten minutes pass before I decide it’s less embarrassing to go out and find him than wallow in my own self-pity until he gets here. I swing my legs off the edge of my bed, cringing when my feet touch the concrete. I stand up and glance down at my clothes. My shirt is uneven and my bra is tucked uncomfortably at one corner. When I adjust them, I notice my shorts are wide open, exposing my black underwear. Sighing, I close the button and pull up the zipper. I feel dirty as I give myself another quick once-over. I wonder if anyone else can see what went on in here last night just by looking at me...I feel as though it’s written on my face. No one’s cheeks feel this warm unless they’ve done something dirty. As the thought passes, a tall woman with long, blonde hair walks by, and she raises her perfectly tweezed eyebrows at me. I frown, but there’s no mistaking it. She knows. These tunnels echo so clearly and if she sleeps in the same tunnel as us, there’s no avoiding it.
I slip into my black shoes, forgoing the socks, and step out into the main tunnel. As I walk past various nooks, crannies and service walkways, I see most people are still sleeping. I don’t blame them. There isn’t much else you can do down here. Somewhere in the distance, I hear a woman crying and a man yelling, cal
ling her selfish. Poor girl. I’d hate to have my business aired so freely.
I don’t know exactly how long I walk around for. I mostly stick to the areas I know, too scared to venture off into a tunnel I haven’t walked through yet. I get lost easily. I always have. When my feet begin to ache against the thin, rubber soles of my shoes, I decide to head back to our space and wait for Jai there. I almost make it unbothered too, but I’m stopped just as I pass the cage. I drag my eyes from the floor and onto an old pair of sandals. Thick, hairy toes poke out the ends and wiggle as I watch. Grimacing, I force my stare up bare calves and onto tattered shorts before quickly pushing the rest of my attention up a slightly hairy chest and onto an angry face with the most disturbing spider tattoo right on the corner of his mouth. I groan. Not this fucking guy again. He’s not an attractive man, by any means, and the scowl on his face doesn’t help his appeal at all.
“Can I help you?” I ask, attitude thick in my voice.
I don’t have Jai with me so I need to play this smart, but I can tell by the man’s demeanor he has an issue with me and he needs to know I won’t tolerate it.
He slides closer, his scowl morphing into a twisted grin. “It was you, wasn’t it? The girl I heard last night.”
Just like that, fire ignites in my face and I know, in the glow of the spotlights, he can see it. Shaking my head, I stammer, unable to formulate a proper sentence. Giving up, I seek to push past him, but he blocks my path.
“I like your voice,” he purrs, reaching out to touch my lips.
I swat him away, the red in my cheeks becoming a result of anger, not embarrassment. “You’ve got the wrong girl.”
He shoots forward and grabs a fistful of my hair. The pain of it sears across my scalp and I wince. Gasping, I close my hand around his in an attempt to pry his fingers away, but he only tightens his grip. He smirks at the sounds I make.
“Oh, I have the right girl.”
I cringe and squeeze my eyes shut as he licks the side of my face with his gross, slimy tongue. My gag reflex starts twitching, my throat cramping as the wetness soaks into my pores. I’m going to throw up.