Decadence After Dark: The Complete Collection (Dark Romance box set) : Owned, Claimed, Ruined, Lie With Me, Elicit (Decadence After Dark )

by M Never

  I’m left as nothing more than an overstimulated mass of sensation as I lay on top of her, listening to her accelerated heartbeat, secretly cherishing the sound.

  I’m the cause of the chaos in her chest, and she’s the cause of mine.

  I roll us onto our sides, while still buried snugly inside her.

  “It’s a good thing you don’t sleep.” I grope her breast and run my tongue along her spine.

  “Why is that?”

  “Because it’s going to be a very long night. I’m going to use this body. Take it anyway, anyhow, in any hole I want. And the only thing you’re allowed to say is ‘more, Jett. Please, Jett. I want to feel you . . . everywhere, Jett.’ And you will feel me. Taking control. Dominating you. Slithering my way into your subconscious until there’s only us. Until it’s me and you, and then everything fucking else.” I pinch her nipple until she’s writhing. Until it’s a straining little point sharp enough to cut glass.

  “Jett,” she sighs my name insufferably and I snap. That will always be my undoing. The supplication in her tone.

  She’s obsessively mine, and I’m obsessively hers.

  An ear piercing shriek has me sprinting through the house. I follow the sounds of the cries until they are so close it severs me in two. I barrel through Javier’s door to find Jenna, naked and flailing on the bed.

  “What the fuck?” I don’t know who to rush to first.

  “Your whore is too fragile.” Javier pulls on a pair of khaki pants, as if it’s a breezy Sunday afternoon. Like there isn’t a broken girl thrashing on his bed. My blood pressure skyrockets as I suppress the urge to kill him. Just one quick move. A snap of his neck and the world would have one less scumbag to deal with.

  “You should find some better sluts.” He zips his fly and then grabs a shirt. “Necesito una cerveza.” I need a beer.

  I reel as murderous thoughts play on repeat as he walks out of the room, leaving me shaking with rage. “Espero que el estrangulador en él,” I hiss lethally. I hope you choke on it.

  As soon as he’s gone, I assess Jenna. She’s blubbering and pleading and turning red. “My arm.”

  Yeah, I see. He pulled it right out of the goddamn socket.

  “Shhhh.” I pet her head. “We’re going to fix it.”

  “Jett,” she begs.

  “I need you to relax. Can you do that for me?” I stare into her waterlogged green eyes.

  “No,” she whimpers.

  “Yes, breathe. Just relax and breathe. I need to get Kayne.”

  She’s in so much pain she can barely speak.

  I leave her shivering on the bed as I tear through the house. “London!” I bellow until she appears.

  “What?” She storms up the stairs and collides into my chest.

  “Find the girls. Send them all to their rooms. No one leaves until I say.” Her sparkly blue eyes grow wide.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t explain now, just do it. Then go to my room and stay there. Bring a big bag of ice.”

  The fear in her gaze takes on a life of its own.

  “Jenna? He hurt her again, didn’t he?” Her instincts are spot on.

  “Just go.” I don’t have time for details right now. We split off, me going one direction, her the other. Once I reach Ellie’s door I don’t hold back. “KAYNE!” I bang on the wood. “Kayne!”

  “Jett, the fucking house better be on fire,” he growls back at me viciously.

  “There’s a situation that needs your immediate attention.” I grit my teeth, trying my best not to alarm Ellie.

  “What kind of situation?”

  Fuck the twenty questions!

  “A delicate one,” I relay direly.

  “Motherfucker,” I hear him grumble. “Give me a sec,” he barks.

  “Hurry up,” I fume on the opposite side of the door.

  “What the fuck?” Kayne demands as he exits the room.

  “Just follow me.” I haul ass down the hall. Kayne follows with the same quickness as we fly down one flight of stairs toward Javier’s room.

  “That motherfucker dislocated her shoulder,” I explode. “I need help popping it back into place.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Kayne spits as we both climb onto the bed. Kayne on Spice’s injured side, me on the other. She looks up at us in distress.

  “Okay, baby, we’re going to fix it.” Kayne talks to her serenely as tension radiates off my whole body. I’m glad one of us can keep a level head. Because I’m on the verge of a homicide. “Spice, take a deep breath.” Kayne glances at me. My stare is removed, and my face feels flushed. “Stay with me, brother.” He calls me back.

  “I’m here,” I attest, containing the wrath that’s slowly eating away at me.

  “Kayne, please,” Spice begs; her voice is so pathetic and small.

  “Okay, on the count of three I’m going to pop it back in.” He stares into her eyes. The dark green ones that look exactly like Ellie’s. “One.” He stands and pulls her arm over the edge of the bed. Spice screams and the sound sends serrating chills right down my spine. Kayne waits a few seconds for her muscles to relax before he nods. “Two.” He pulls slow and steady, catching her off guard. She shrieks again as I hold her down and he rolls her arm until we hear her shoulder pop back into place.

  As soon as he’s finished she passes out. “It’s okay now. You’re okay.” I kiss her head and caress her hair.

  “Where is he?” Kayne asks lividly.

  “Gone,” I reply, not even bothering to look at him. I can’t drag my attention away from Spice.

  “Gone where?”

  “Who cares?” My anger is boiling over.

  “I do, and you better, too,” he fumes.

  “I heard him say something about wanting a cerveza,” I toss out.

  “Great, at the local bar, just what we need. A drunk, belligerent, abusive Mexican.” Kayne runs his hands down his face.

  Right now, I couldn’t give a fuck where Javier is. If he’s drunk, dead—or if we’re all lucky—falling off a jagged-edged cliff.

  I lift Spice off the bed. He’s never getting within an arm’s length of her again.

  “I’m taking her to my room. She needs ice. And rest. I’m putting all the other girls on lockdown for the night.”

  Kayne nods in agreement. “Is there anyone here?”

  “One room is occupied. As soon as Spice is comfortable, they’re getting kicked the fuck out.”

  “That should be good for business,” Kayne comments back-handedly.

  I shoot him a dangerous look. Now is not the fucking time for sarcasm.

  “I need to get back to Ellie,” he pops off. The mere mention of her name chills me out. It reminds me all our girls need extra special attention tonight.

  “Fine, go.” I walk toward the door with Jenna limp in my arms.

  “Hey.” Kayne yanks me by my shirt. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

  I curl my lip in warning. “If you can handle it, I can handle it.”

  Jenna isn’t the only girl Javier has abused. Three weeks ago, he weaseled his way into Ellie’s room and orally raped her. If Kayne hadn’t walked in when he did, who knows what else could have happened. What a fucking backfire that was. Kayne took her to prevent that very thing from happening, and he got to her anyway. If Kayne didn’t kill him for that, I won’t kill him for this. Yet.

  Javier’s number will come up. And we’ll be ready and waiting when it does—with incredibly sharp and rusty objects.

  London is perched worriedly on my bed when I enter the room.

  “What the fuck happened?” She rushes to me to help with Jenna.

  “Javier,” I seethe. “Where’s the ice?”

  London flies around the bed as I lay Jenna on the cool satin sheets. She moans uncomfortably as she comes around.

  “Relax.” I try to keep her calm her as I apply the ice pack to her shoulder.

  Jenna winces. “That hurts.”

  “It will. For a l
ittle while.”

  “What happened?” London presses, brushing some damp hair away from Jenna’s forehead.

  Jenna withdraws, recoiling away from London’s touch. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Jenna shut her out. The devastated look on London’s angelic face shatters my heart. It seems that more than just Jenna’s arm is injured. Her pride and fortitude is damaged too.

  “Jenna?” London tries to reach her, but Jenna just cuts her off.

  “I’m really tired.” Tears roll down her cheeks. “I just want to sleep.” She closes her eyes and presses her head into the pillow.

  London frowns, the sting of rejection pinching her features. I swipe my thumb lovingly over her lips.

  “Rest with her,” I encourage London. “I don’t want either of you to be alone.”

  “Where are you going?” London questions, distraught.

  “To shut the house down. I want everyone gone.”

  “Okay.” She slides onto her side, spooning Jenna.

  The two lie together motionless. Their stress palpable.

  Mine, too.

  I kiss each of their cheeks softly before I slip out into the hallway. Once alone, I keel over, panting violently as the fury chokes me tighter than a training collar.

  Few things set me off in this world. My girls being hurt is number one on the list.

  We will fucking kill that bastard. Take down El Rey, and burn their entire empire to the ground.

  I pledge my life to seeing it happen.

  I pace Kayne’s office like a fucking madman.

  “Something’s wrong,” I vent as Kayne sits behind his huge oak desk daydreaming. “Hello.” I wave my hand in front of his face. “Earth to Kayne.”

  He snaps back to reality. “It hasn’t gone unnoticed.” His tone is perturbed. At the moment, it should be a little more than that. It should be venomous. Like mine.

  “We should have heard from El Rey by now. There should be meetings set up. A drop point. Accounts established. None of that has happened. It’s been a month.” I go back to pacing. “Javier has us by the balls, and he knows it. He’s jerking us around, and we’re letting him.”

  “We can’t do anything rash, and you know it,” Kayne argues his position.

  “I’m not saying rash, but we need to press him. If he has no intention of setting up the meet and greet, we need to know now. Endeavor is breathing down my neck. They want a delivery date, or they want us out.”

  Kayne broods behind his desk, his fingers steepled in front of his mouth. “I’ll try to get some momentum going. Even though out doesn’t sound so bad right now.”

  I sigh. “No, it doesn’t.” We’ve been at this for a long time. We’re both changing. Growing. Ready to evolve. I see how Ellie is affecting him. And I know he sees how London has affected me.

  They both make us want more, and that’s a dangerous thing for men like us. Men who can’t offer them anything beyond the present day, because we never know if we’ll live to see tomorrow.

  “How’s Spice?” he asks.

  “Better.” I clench my fists compulsively. “But she still wants to go. There was no talking her out of it.”

  “How does London feel about that?”

  I rub the back of my neck. “She doesn’t know yet. Jenna’s pulled away from everyone, including her.”

  “That sucks.”

  “Big time,” I agree. Especially for London. She’s going to be crushed when she finds out.

  “I’ll have a word with Javier. See if I can grease the wheels.” Kayne cracks his knuckles, irked.

  “I think that’s smart.” I glance at my watch. “I need to check on Ellie.”

  “Dress her. I want to take her for a walk,” he tells me pointedly.

  I pause to stare at him.

  “What?” Kayne insists.

  “You know you can’t keep her,” I promptly point out. The two have slipped into this whole Master/slave bond a little too easily. They’re both a little too comfortable.

  Kayne growls at me. Like it or not, the reality is she isn’t really his slave. Their relationship is a farce, and I’m here to remind him of that. When this is all over, and Ellie finds out the truth, they can play house all they want. Collars, leashes, sex toys, the whole nine yards. But in the meantime, he has to keep his eye on the prize and his head out of the clouds.

  “What’s going to happen when she finds out the truth?” I tread lightly.

  “It will be over.” He shrugs reflexively.

  “Are you going to be able to live with that?” I ask delicately.

  Kayne and his emotions are a lethal combination. Like hydrogen and oxygen.

  “I’ll have no other choice,” he responds passively.

  I don’t buy his indifference one bit.

  THERE’S A SOFT KNOCK ON my bedroom door.

  “Come in!” I yell as I slip on a tank top, fresh out of the shower.

  “Hey.” Jenna enters timidly and it hurts my heart. She used to burst through the door without even knocking.

  “Hey.” I smile warmly as she crosses the room. I want her to feel welcome. I want her to feel how much I miss her. She’s my best friend, and she’s hurting, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. My fear has finally come true. This life has tarnished yet another beautiful soul. Javier managed to break her in just a few short weeks, in turn destroying all the good things she had in her life. Me, Jett, school, the promise of a brighter future. I understand everything she’s feeling—the fear, the shame, the vulnerability. Emotional isolation. I have walked ten thousand miles in her shoes.

  “I came to say goodbye.”

  My face drops. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m leaving. I think it’s best.” She wraps her arms around herself.

  “Where are you going?” I swallow the knot of emotion prickling in my throat.

  “To live with Marcus.”

  “Marcus?”

  “He wants a house pet. I think I can handle that for a while.”

  “Let me guess. He offered you money and cars and jewelry?”

  “Doesn’t sound so bad right now.” She looks everywhere but at me.

  My sadness deepens. Jenna deserves so much more. She deserves someone to love her for the amazing person she is, not just what her pretty face and body have to offer. Which is all Marcus is interested in.

  “I wish you would stay.” I step closer to her, linking my fingers with hers.

  She can barely handle looking me in the eyes. “I can’t. Not while he’s here,” her voice strains.

  As much as I hate it, I understand. I was so desperate to escape the man who abused me, I killed him. Jenna hasn’t reached that point, and I pray she never does.

  “I’m going to miss you.” I hug her tightly, biting back my upset. Inhaling her strawberry scent one last time.

  “I’m going to miss you, too,” she sniffles.

  “I’ll be here if you need me. For anything.”

  “Thanks.” She squeezes the life out of me.

  Don’t let go. Don’t let go.

  “Promise me one thing,” I request.

  “What?”

  “Ne pas avoir peur d’aimer, même si ça fait mal.” Don’t be afraid to love, even if it hurts.

  “That’s a big promise.” She laughs through her tears. “But I’ll try.”

  “Please try.” I pull away and wipe away her tears. “I love you.” I kiss her sweetly. A goodbye embrace.

  “I love you, too.” Jenna tries to smile as she holds my wrists.

  “Finish school. Study your French,” I urge.

  “Je promets.” I promise.

  “Good.”

  “I have to go.” She releases me a little too easily.

  I let go reluctantly, my voice nonexistent.

  I stand on the top landing of the marble staircase and just watch as Jenna and Jett wait for her car. The separation anxiety is starting already, and she hasn’t even left the house yet. In my heart I know thi
s is right. I just hope Marcus treats her well and allows her to find her way.

  My tears drip as she walks out the door and disappears into the back of a black limo.

  Jenna was my first real friend and my first real heartbreak.

  Love does fucking hurt.

  Jett climbs the stairs after she’s gone. And just as naturally as falling snow, he wraps me in his arms and protects me from the cold.

  Love can hurt, but at the same time, it can also heal.

  I’m learning these hard lessons day by day, minute by minute.

  Jett makes the heartache bearable. He’s the one who’s there at the end of each day. He’s my illuminating salvation. I’m his darkest fantasy. Together, we dance in the twilight, shielded by the shadows and liberated by the light.

  “IT WORKED!” KAYNE NEARLY KNOCKS down the door to my room.

  “You’re lucky I’m not naked.” I fasten the button on my jeans.

  “You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” He shrugs. “Pierced or not.”

  “Good to know. What worked?” I finger comb my damp blond hair in the mirrored wall.

  “Javier wants to throw El Rey a party.”

  I spin to face Kayne. “He’s coming?”

  “Yup. The day after tomorrow. So we need to move our asses.”

  “The day after tomorrow? That soon? What did you tell him exactly?”

  “Just that we’d throw El Rey a party he’d never forget.” Kayne’s bold blue eyes sparkle sinisterly.

  My smile reflects his stare. “If there’s one thing I can do, it’s throw a party.”

  “I have no doubt.”

  “You coordinate with Juice.” I lower my voice and plan. “I’ll set up the festivities. This will be Mansion’s last hurrah. We need to go out with a bang.” The wheels start to spin as I begin to craft the perfect reception for our guest of honor. I already have the ideal theme.

  Captive Angels.

  It’s easy to get things done when you have great connections and a boat load of money. Mansion’s parties are legendary, so throwing one together last minute isn’t an impossible task. I’ve had vendors coming and going for nearly forty-eight hours, transforming the great room into a BDSM night club, complete with a VIP bondage area outfitted with furniture and complimentary men and women.