by Naomi West
I leaned my head back against the wall, still out of breath. Well, this was going well.
Chapter Nineteen
Lauren
I knew as soon as Uncle Anderson got the call that Asa had decided to make his move. He always had seemed kind of impulsive. It was one of the things I really loved about him. I frowned as I sat in my cage, staring at the six wired walls that had become my prison. Is that what these feelings were? Love?
I shook my head and leaned against the gate of the kennel, nearly yelping in surprise as began to swing open. “Holy shit!” I breathed, pushing the gate open all the way.
Anderson must have had so much on his mind with what he and I had discussed that he'd forgotten to lock the gate back up when he left. It seemed too good to be true, though. I hesitated. I didn't leave the cage. I stayed there, crouched down, wondering. Maybe it was a trick on my uncle's part. I couldn't rule that out, either. Maybe he'd just been humoring me when we speaking earlier, and this really was part of some sick and twisted plot by him and my father, to see how loyal I was? He might have been just waiting right outside the room, ready to spring on me when I went to leave.
I chewed at my lip, mulling my options. Even if it was a trick, I figured, maybe I could use it to my advantage. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I nodded to myself, and pushed the gate open the rest of the way, crept out into the dimly lit cage room. I rose to my feet, stretched again with my hands on my lower back. Even a short amount of time in the cage was hell on the body.
Holding my breath, I crossed over to the hallway door and pressed my ear to it, listening. Nothing on the other side. I closed my eyes, sighed, and grasped the door knob, pulled it open. I poked my head out, looked both ways, but I couldn’t see anything. I snuck out into the hall and took a left, heading down towards the showers. The lights here were distantly spaced, but at least they were on. Little pools of yellow dotted the floor every forty or so feet, lighting my way.
While Anderson and I had been talking about everything, I'd asked him about the layout of the Fortress, how deep these tunnels went. He'd told me they were huge, almost as big as the whole complex. My father had his home down here, connected by an elevator in the manager's office I'd seen earlier. An elevator connected the two, but the old man’s room was accessible from these tunnels.
That was my chance, I realized. If he was down in these tunnels, I could find him and have my shot at him for what he did to my mother. If he was up in the manager's office, then I could find the elevator that led up to it. I turned the corner and headed down towards the showers, my footfalls echoing up and down the concrete walls, their only accompaniment my breath and the steady drips of falling water. I stopped at each intersection and listened, trying to get some sense of what was ahead of me. At each juncture I didn't hear anything other than my own low breath and the sound of shifting earth and rushing water.
My thoughts turned to Asa as I wandered the subterranean halls of the Fortress. Was he safe? Had they caught him? Would I ever see him again? If they caught him, and he was the culprit, they'd kill him for sure. Hell, even if he wasn't the culprit, he'd probably be killed anyways, just on suspicion.
I came to a T intersection and stopped. “Left or right?” I wondered aloud as I looked both ways. My eyes settled right, and I followed them.
About halfway down the passage I stopped and cocked my head to the side. I thought I heard something up ahead, on my right. I pressed myself against the wall and crept slowly forward. As I drew closer, I realized it was an open door, the sound of soft breathing coming clearly over the background noise of the underground. I didn't have any weapon, and even though I’d been in scraps before I didn’t trust my luck against some of the solidly built goons I’d seen running guard duty. My heart raced, my mouth went dry, and I swallowed nervously as I continued to creep forward to the edge of the open door.
Then it happened. A man in the room sprung out at me, his arms faster than I could see, yanking me into the room and clamping a hand over my mouth. I struggled and kicked at him, screaming against his palm, but it was no use. He was bigger and stronger than me, easily outweighing me by a hundred pounds, and he dragged me deep into the room. He kept saying something over and over, but my blood was up, and I was panicking and couldn't tell at first what he was saying.
“Lauren!” he hissed. “Calm the fuck down!”
I recognized those strong arms that were around me, remembered even his smell as he took his hand from my mouth. “Asa?” I asked, my eyes blinking in the darkness. “Oh Asa!” I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him close, my lips planting on his in a long kiss.
He wrapped his arms around me again, this time more gently, as he returned my kiss, his lips as passionate and insistent as my own. Even through the wire of the cage, I hadn't realized how much I wanted him by my side for this, or how wonderful his embrace felt.
We pulled apart from each other, and he stroked my cheek, cupped my face. “How you doing? You holding in there?”
I turned my face into his hand, loving the way it felt on my skin, kissed his palm. I sighed as I closed my eyes, just enjoying this moment of peace before I went and did what I had to do. “Yeah,” I whispered. “I'm holding in there.”
“You look good,” he said. “Better than I would have thought.”
I told him about my Uncle Anderson coming down and letting me walk around a little and shower. “I think,” I said, pausing to lick my lips, “I think we can get him on our side. At least to kill Dalton. He knows that he's gone off the deep end.”
He nodded. “I heard about what happened with your mother, about why you ran. I had no idea. I would've told you about what I was planning sooner.”
I sighed. “Well, it's partially my fault. I don't exactly advertise what happened.”
I told him about the elevator, about how pops lived down here. “Anderson says it’s all a part of these tunnels. We can get to him from here. I can get to him and finish this.”
He took a step back and shook his head. “That's a fucking suicide mission, Lauren. And you know it.”
“I don't care! The man took my mother from me, and my life! He stuck me in a fucking cage, Asa!”
“But,” he countered as he stepped towards me, pulled me into his arms, “if something happens to you, I don't know what I'd do.”
I looked away, a faint smile on my lips. I shook my head, wondering how I'd ended up here in life. In the dungeons beneath a madman's modern day castle, some kind of 21st century princess returning to avenge the queen's death at the hands of the insane king, in love with the knight in shining armor.
“Don't get me wrong,” he said, squeezing me a little to make his point, “I want your daddy just as dead as you do. He took my best friend from me, same as he took your mother. But, I still want you, too.”
The smile on my lips grew as my heart swelled a little. “You do? Even after all the shit I put you through?”
He chuckled, his hands sliding down to my denim-clad butt. “Probably because of it. You're just . . . you're not like any woman I've ever met, Lauren. You're tough, and sexy, and smart. You can run a pool table or throws bullseyes every time, even pick locks.”
“Well,” I admitted, “you're not too bad yourself. You're handsome, can fight and act, and you're funny, too.”
“Don't forget great in bed,” he suggested, moving his hips against mine.
I purred a little as my eyes tracked down to his mouth and I licked my lips. “You wish. Don’t get cocky.”
He pulled me closer, his lips lowering to mine. “I guess I'm just trying to say . . .”
“You don't have to,” I replied when he didn't finish. “I understand. I . . . I need you, too,” I said as I stood on tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. I opened my mouth to his tongue, welcoming it with my own. He tasted like beer and cigarettes, but I didn't care.
Our hands moved over each other's bodies, pulling at our clothes. I knew we were in the middle of enemy territory,
and this was the worst possible time do be doing this, but I knew too that I may never feel his hands on me again, his hot breath might not ever grace my neck after we made our move on my pops.
We threw ourselves at each other in the depths of that place. We'd been playing with fire this whole time, why let a little more danger stop us now? Besides, we'd be dead no matter who found us down here. Might as well go out of the world the same way we’d lived in it. His scruffy five o'clock shadowed lips were pressed to my naked breasts, his teeth flashing as they nipped at my tender, excited nubs. I raked my nails across his naked back as he wrapped me in his strong arms, his hands on my butt and hips, squeezing, gripping at me for dear life. We clung to each other, trying desperately to be nearer to one another than we'd ever been to any human being alive.
My body was on fire with my need for him, the man I loved. I had to feel him inside me before we faced our next, and final test. And I could tell from the way his exceptional manhood pressed into my belly he felt the exact same way.
“Lauren,” he growled me in my ear just before nipping at my ear lobe.
I arched my body into, pressed my breasts flat against his chest as I writhed under his touch. “Fuck me, Asa,” I whispered, my voice raspy with lust as I slipped my hand down between us and grabbed his cock. “I need you right now. I need you more than anything I've ever needed.”
He groaned in my ear as I swirled my thumb around his head, as I smeared his excitement all over and began to stroke him. He grabbed my ass in both hands, lifting me into the air and pushing me back against the cool concrete wall, pinning me with his body. I shivered as the damp, rough stone touched my skin. My hand still on his cock, I guided him to my dripping entrance and wrapped my legs around his waist. He moved his hips forward, thrusting his hard length deep into me, as his lips found mine.
My whole body shook as I took him in one go, sliding down his member as I screamed into his mouth. He fucked me hard against the wall, his hips and pelvis slamming into mine as I groaned into him, took his tongue into my mouth, sucked him hard.
He'd manhandled me in the past, had kept me tied to the motel bed as he used my body, had pressed me hard into the mattress as he took the last thing I had to give any man. But this was so different, so raw and primal as our hands tore at one another, as he held me like a doll against the concrete wall, his body roughly grinding against mine. My clit rubbed against the base of his hard cock as he drilled into me, making the world seem like one ball of never ending infinite pleasure that would soon expand to fill the whole universe.
I cried out wordlessly as my orgasm overtook me, my body massaging his prick as he continued to bounce me on it. I rotated my hips, screaming into his mouth as I felt myself become small, like an insignificant mortal in the grasp of his giant hands and towering frame. He bit my neck and shoulder, and I screamed out again, my call echoing through the room as he continued to pound into me.
“I'm close,” he groaned, louder than he meant to, his hips moving faster and faster as he dragged me up and down his cock.
The concrete scraped my back painfully, but it just seemed to add to the fun as another orgasm ripped through me, making the world brighter than I ever imagined possible as fireworks exploded behind my eyes.
“Oh, Asa!” I called, forgetting myself in the passion. “God, you feel amazing!”
“Lauren!” he joined me as his whole body tensed and I felt him go off inside me, his cock buried as deep as it could as he began to unload his seed. “I love you, too,” he growled as he thrust faster.
I shook one last time on his length as he continued to cum inside me, my body shaking like I was on a rollercoaster as I trembled in his strong arms. I cried out again, but bit it off by planting my teeth in his shoulder. I moaned a few more times as his cock began to soften inside me before taking my mouth from him. Our breath heavy and exasperated, he pressed his lips to mine, panting between kisses.
“I do,” Asa whispered as he dropped me slowly to the floor. “You know that, right?”
“Love me?” I asked as I put a hand on his chest and brought myself close to him. I looked up into his dark, brooding eyes, touched his face, brushed my fingers over the scratchy scruff on his chin and square jaw. “Of course I know, handsome.”
We kissed again, sighing into our lovers' embrace as our bodies melted into each other's arms again.
We both froze suddenly as the door to the room opened.
“I knew it! I just fucking knew you were fucking him,” growled a man's voice as he stepped into the room, pistol in hand. “You fucking whore!”
It was Anderson.
Chapter Twenty
Asa
I stepped between Lauren and him, my arms spread as I covered her naked body with mine. Behind me she stooped and picked up her clothes, tried to cover herself as best she could with them. I didn't even bother to cover up. If some motherfucker wanted to pull a gun on me while my cock was hanging out, then it was his fault. He barely had his eyes on me, though - he was more interested in Lauren.
“Look,” I said, “this isn't what you think. We're here for Dalton, not you or anyone else.”
Anderson laughed bitterly. “You gonna stand there naked, with your dick covered in the daughter of the woman I've always wanted, then tell me it ain't what it looks like? But, instead, you just wanna kill my best friend?”
I shook my head. “Anderson, listen to me. I can keep things straight with Galen. Give us Dalton, and you can have everything you've ever wanted! We could even take this place over together!”
“Ain't buying it!” he barked as he waved the barrel of the gun for me to move. “Now, outta the way.”
“Fuck you,” I spat as I squared my shoulders and put a hand behind me, grabbed hold of Lauren and pressed her to my back. “You ain't touching a hair on her head!”
“Want me to blow out your fucking kneecap, punk? Huh? See how much baby girl here likes you limping with a gimp leg? Or how about I just shoot your fucking cock off, huh? You like that instead, baby girl? Huh, Lauren? You wanna man who's gotta piss in a bag for the rest of his life and can only fuck you with a strap on?”
Lauren stroked my back. “Asa, do what he says,” she whispered. “I'll try to fix this, okay?”
I growled and stepped aside, moved into the back corner of the room. I didn't like having to give into this asshole's demands, and I certainly didn't like leaving my woman at his mercy.
When I got into place he fished a pair of cuffs from his pocket and tossed them to me. “Cuff yourself to that pipe, pretty boy,” he sneered as he nodded to an exposed metal pipe that stuck out six inches or so from the wall. It was as big around as my wrist and ran from floor to ceiling. Grudgingly, I cuffed myself in place, the clicking of the bracelets sounding to me like nails in my coffin. Lauren kept her top to her chest with one hand, the other covering the triangle of blonde hair between her legs.
As soon as I'd secured my wrists, Anderson's attention turned to Lauren. His eyes raked up and down her body like a perverted old man. “You really have filled out, ain't you?” he whispered as he stepped close to her, his lips practically smacking. “I'd seen you in your clothes and all, but damn, baby girl, you're looking good.”
“Uncle Anderson,” she plead as she took a tentative step back. “This is crazy. You don't understand.”
“What don't I understand?” he asked as he reached up and stroked her cheek. “This? You two fucking down here in the tunnels? That man, over there, beating my workers half to death?”
She closed her eyes and turned her face away, her lower lip trembling.
“You keep the fuck away from her!” I roared, struggling against the cuffs, the metal banging against the pipe as I tried to lunge for him.
Anderson whirled on me, his gun out in front of him. “You shut your mouth, boy! This is between me and Lauren, and I don't need you sticking your nose where it don't belong!”
“Fuck you, Anderson!”
He stepped qu
ickly over, cracked me across the mouth with the barrel of his gun, the cold steel knocking me to my naked ass on the bare concrete. “Told you to shut your fucking mouth!”
Dazed and bleeding, I shook my head.
He was already back over to Lauren, though. He tore her clothes from her hands, throwing them aside as she screamed in protest. His hand shot out, grabbed her by the jaw, pushed her back against the wall. “Bet you like it rough, don't you little baby girl? Bet you like a strong man to show you what's what, tell you where to put your hands, make you beg for his cock, don't you?”
“Lauren!” I yelled, trying to get back to my feet. “Lauren!”
Lauren shut her eyes tight, thrashed her head from side to side as she struggled to get away from him. He got her by the throat and kept her pinned to the wall. Standing on just her tiptoes she choked and gagged, her face turning red. He dropped her from the wall and spun back to me. I watched as she dropped to her knees with a grimace, her hand coming up to her bruised throat.