The Beast
Page 18
“Tomorrow night I will order a real meal, I promise,” he said. “I want you in perfect health, I take care of my-” He stopped himself. He wanted to say pet, but that wasn’t it, courtesan? That didn’t seem right either. Family? He supposed she was, but that didn’t indicate to him the level of his devotion to her.
“Pet?” she continued for him and laughed. She must have seen his stricken look and said, “Don’t look so freaked out, I don’t mind being your pet. I know it sounds odd, but I like the idea that I belong to you. It makes me feel very safe.”
“Well, I don’t like the word pet. I will come up with something, but until then I will care for you, have no worries. For dinner, what would you like? I will have them prepare anything your heart desires.”
He loved the look on her face as she thought about it. She was really giving this some thought; of course such a sensuous woman would enjoy feasts of the body, mind, and palate. Her face lit up suddenly and she said, “Steak and lobster! I have never had a really good steak, and I have never ever had lobster. Just the fake stuff.”
“Perfect, your wish is my command, I will put the order in now.” He pulled out his phone and brought up the app to place their dinner order. When that was done, he saw he had a text from the concierge.
He opened it and read, “Is this your visitor?” The message had a photo attached, a grainy security camera image of Columbia walking with the young man he recognized from the phone she had with her. His stomach dropped and he felt shaky. Had Sergei’s men already discovered her?
“Yes,” he typed his reply and looked up at Columbia. She was nibbling on a delicate pastry, a French affair stuffed with foie gras. She was so perfect, and so vulnerable. She would never be able to defend herself against Sergei’s men if they came looking for her. Dimitri would have to double his guard and increase his paranoia if he wanted to keep her alive. What had he done, bringing her into this? She saw him looking and smiled, her face radiant and her eyes glimmering with her realized love, the love he had for her reflected back at him. “I have to attend to some business,” he told her and walked to the office down the hall.
He sat down and waited for the concierge to reply. He finally wrote back, “She is beautiful, but in danger if Sergei’s men gain access to our security system. You should do her a favour and send her home, let them think she is simply a staff member.”
Dimitri knew he was speaking the truth, his oldest friend was speaking from a place of concern for Dimitri, but he also recognized the danger Columbia would be in. The friend of an enemy becomes an enemy, and in this case Sergei would think nothing of killing Columbia to hurt Dimitri.
Or worse. The thought of his beautiful girl being held captive, raped and destroyed by the pigs that Sergei had in his Bratva, it made his stomach clench and his fists tighten.
He didn’t care, the safest place for her was right by his side. Even if Sergei didn’t know who she was, when he found out, Dimitri was determined that he could keep her safe.
“I will not. Continue as planned,” he wrote back to the concierge and returned to the dining room.
Columbia was sipping her wine and looking lovely in her red robe. It was a good colour for her, in spite of it not being actual clothing.
“I will have to buy you more red,” he said as he sat down. “You look ravishing in it.”
She blushed and took his hand, “I would like that. I used to just wear dark things, hoodies and jeans, because of the...you know, the scars.”
“Don’t cover yourself around me,” he told her, “they only serve to enhance your beauty, remind me of how perfect you really are.”
“Ha!” she barked, “I’m far from perfect...but if you’re saying it, I’ll take it.” He reached over and took her hand in his, stroked her arm and looked in her eyes.
“You are perfect for me, everything I never knew I was missing in my life,” he said and stood. She was seated and looked up at him, her eyes wide and full of anticipation. He pulled her up to stand in front of him, unhooked the tie around her waist and slid the robe off her shoulders. She was breathing faster, he could see her chest rise and fall in her excitement.
“I have never been happier,” she said and slipped her hands under his tee shirt. She lifted it and helped him out of it. She opened the tie on his pants and kept her hands on his hips as he let them drop. He reached down and found her ready, hot and wet and wanting him.
“I need to fuck you,” he said, his voice harsh with his desire. “I need it like I need air to breathe, I need to get inside of you, to feel your cunt tighten around me, to feel your neck in my hand and your teeth in my flesh.” He reached behind and swept everything off the table in a crash, lifted her onto it and shoved her knees apart.
“I need you too,” she replied and pulled him against her, guided his cock inside of her and wrapped her legs around him. “I need this, I need you inside of me, fuck….” she trailed off, distracted as his cock was buried deep, hitting the end of her. He held her there, impaled on him, frozen for half a breath while they both fell into the fever of their fucking.
He pulled back and she held onto his arms, steadying herself for the next impact. He hit her with such force that she bounced up off the table and exhaled with a “ooomph.”
He pulled out slowly and she whispered, “Oh my god, this feels so fucking good...insanely good...what are you doing to me?”
“The same thing you’re doing to me,” he replied and thrust ahead again, knocking her upwards with the force. He wrapped one arm around her back to steady her and reached up with his other hand, found her delicate throat, and tightened as he plunged into her. He increased his rhythm, her cunt opening to him and clenching around him as he tried to pull back. She gasped when he squeezed her throat, but he continued to fuck hard.
She reached behind her and braced herself with one hand, the other hand still holding on to his bicep. She took the impact of his thrusting and the tightened grip around her throat with increased force of her own. She reached up and held onto his shoulders as their bodies moved against each other.
“I want to come,” she said, “I’m going to come.” Her voice was husky and drove him wild. He went at her with a new energy and held her steady by the throat.
“Wait,” he commanded her and she groaned her response, needing to release her orgasm but obeying him. “I will tell you when you can.”
“Yes,” she replied, giving him the old answer he loved, a simple yes or no.”
“That’s my girl, you know who owns this pussy,” he told her and looked into her eyes. He could see her desperate need building, she wanted to let go and flood his cock with her juices, but he wanted her to wait until they were there together.
“Please,” she told him, “let me come.”
“No,” he replied and tightened his grip on her throat. Her cunt clenched in response and he knew she was loving every second of this. Their normal. Him taking her to the edge of the abyss and bringing her back, safe in his arms.
She pulled herself towards him, he bent his arm and allowed it, knowing what to expect. Their normal. Her bringing pain into his world of pleasure, mixing the two in an exotic cocktail of nerve endings and endorphins.
When she sank her teeth into his chest, he almost called out, almost screamed “fuck” or “I love you” or “never let me go”...but he didn’t. He grunted in response and rode the wave of sharp pain until he felt his own building tension crest.
“Come now,” he told her and held her against his cock, forced her to be still as they crested together. He could feel her moan vibrate in her throat against his hand and the hot exhalation of breath hit his skin where her teeth were sank in. She looked up at him and they shared their moment, he felt her orgasm on his cock as he released, filling her with his cum. She rolled her eyes in the back of her head momentarily as she finished, then made contact again immediately. “That’s right, that’s my girl. Come with me,” he rasped and thrust upwards one final time.
&n
bsp; He felt the tension leave her body as her orgasm receded. His own was slowly leaving his tense muscles and he relaxed the grip on her throat. Earlier bruises stood out, so dark they appeared black on her flesh. He regretted marking her with his need, but felt helpless in the face of it. He knew only one way to love her, to show his love for her, and he accepted that it was his normal. He felt joy that it was her normal now as well.
She released his chest muscle, licked the bite mark and looked up at him, her eyes shining with triumph. “Sorry,” she said. “I get a little carried away.”
“Never apologize for what you need to do,” he said and pulled back, his cock softening as it left her body. “I will never hold it against you,” he continued and offered her his hand, helping her off the table. She stood in front of him, her face at the level of his bite mark, she reached up and touched it, explored it with her fingers.
“You can see the perfect indentation of my teeth,” she said and looked up at him. “It’s almost pretty.”
“I’ll make it my next tattoo,” he declared impulsively. “I’ll wear a token of your affection at all times, bite somewhere above my heart when we find somebody to do the work.”
“I could handle that,” she said and laughed. “Yeah, you make it really hard to stick around, I get to buy pretty things, eat whatever I want, and bite the hell out of you when I come.”
He picked up her robe from the floor and helped her into it. “And on top of everything else, I wait on you hand and foot,” he smiled as he put his own clothes back on. “I am the most attentive pet owner you’ll ever meet.” He winked at her, surprising her with the gesture, and she laughed. “Let’s go have a swim before bed,” he told her and took her hand. “I have a feeling it’s going to be another long night.”
*****
Sergei was coming for him; he could feel it from the tips of his toes to the hair on his head. He was crouched in the apartment, in the dining room, and he couldn’t find Columbia anywhere. He called her name softly, and thought he heard a small whimper from the food cart near the door. He knew he had to get to her before Sergei did, or she would be killed.
The door opened and two men entered, guns drawn. Big guys in matching black suits; they must be Sergei’s security detail. He was going to spring on the nearest one when he heard her call his name from the cart. “Dimi? Are you there? Help me Dimi, I’m so scared.”
The man nearest the cart held his finger to his lips and indicated the source of the noise. The two men stepped carefully towards Columbia’s hiding place and Dimitri’s blood went cold. They were going to find her and they were going to kill her.
“Hey assholes,” he yelled and stepped out from behind the dining table. Both men turned to him and he realized he wasn’t armed; he was wearing his sleeping attire and was barefoot. He reached instinctively for the knife on his midsection but remembered taking it off to be with Columbia. He would have to take them down by hand.
He tried to move fast, but it was as though his feet were stuck in cement. He punched towards the men, but couldn’t move. One of them turned back towards the food cart, where Columbia curled up in the dark, vulnerable and precious. The other kept coming towards Dimitri.
He got his hands around the man’s throat and squeezed as hard as he could, screaming for Columbia to get away the entire time. The man’s eyes bulged under the pressure and he was grasping at Dimitri’s determined hands, his fingers like claws. He scraped the skin on his hand and was trying to say something.
Dimitri listened carefully as the man’s mouth formed wordless noises. Finally he heard, “Dimi, please stop, you’re hurting me.”
Dimitri woke up and found his hands tightly wrapped around Columbia’s throat. She was tearing at them, clawing them and he could see stripes of blood covering the backs of his hands and his forearms. He released them immediately but she fell back, unconscious as he let her go. She had really put up a fight.
“Columbia! Wake up!” he cried and gently shook her. Her face was pale, seemingly drained of blood, and the bruises on her neck now appeared dark red and black. Fresh fingerprints showed on top of the ones from before. He felt like he was going to vomit, a sense of helplessness and uncertainty washed over him and he felt like he might go on a rampage destroying everything in sight to release the feeling.
She gasped, a small sound but one that crashed against his ears with the volume of a jet engine taking off. He leaned down, pushed the hair off her forehead and kissed her softly. “Please, come back to me. I can’t live like this, knowing I did this,” he whispered and kissed her lips. She responded, moved her tongue weakly against his, then stopped.
“Please, little dove, come back,” he whispered again and cradled her against his chest. She was so beautiful; he felt tears spring to his eyes. He realized at that moment that he was a much bigger threat to her than anything else on the outside. He was a monster, dark to the core and unable to be trusted with delicate things. He remembered the lamp he had destroyed on purpose, the walls he had punched over the years, the hours spent attacking the punching bag, releasing his rage and darkness.
If he were around Columbia, there would surely come a time he would turn on her. He was like a rabid dog, ready to turn on the ones he loved in the blink of an eye. She had to leave in order for her to be safe.
He was going to make the hardest sacrifice imaginable. He was going to give her the freedom she still craved. He would have to force her to leave in order to save her from himself.
She shuddered and inhaled, the sweetest sound he’d ever heard. He smiled and kissed her lips, felt her respond with passion this time, and watched as she opened her eyes. She looked up at him, confused and alarmed, obviously unaware of what had just happened. He was grateful for that, at least, that she didn’t know he had almost killed her in her sleep. Now he would face the greatest challenge of his life, convincing her that she had to leave.
Chapter Twenty Two – Columbia
She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Dimitri’s face, full of concern. She thought she saw tears in the corners, but he wiped them away with the back of his hand.
“Hey,” she said and was surprised at the sound of her voice. Her throat hurt, more than when Dimitri had almost killed her on the platform. She hadn’t realized how rough their sex had been.
“I am sorry Columbia,” he said, his voice low and filled with sorrow. She could hear it in his tone, see it on his face.
“Sorry for what?” she asked and pushed herself up, out of his arms. She had a creeping sensation that this was going to lead to a horrible thing. She knew he was going to tell her something she didn’t want to hear.
“I need you to leave.”
She shook her head, tried to process what he had just said. “No,” she said and stared him down, defying him to say it again.
He did. His voice broke as he repeated, “I need you to leave.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” she yelled, “I’m not going anywhere. I’m your fucking pet, remember? You can’t just kick me out!”
“I am so sorry, little dove, I just need you to leave,” he said in the same infuriating calm voice.
“You can’t say that! Stop saying that!” she said and hit his chest.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he replied and didn’t move, “if you stay I will hurt you.”
“You are hurting me, how can you say that?” she yelled again and hit his chest harder with her little fists.
He grabbed her wrists and said, “I just woke up with my hands around your throat, I was one step away from killing you. I would never survive if that happened. I need you to leave.”
She froze in stunned silence. She noticed the gouges up and down his hands and forearms and realized her throat was really painful, it felt damaged.
He watched her as the truth sank in. His face was now a mask of pain and he said, "Listen to me, Columbia. You have taught me what it means to be human. You reminded me what it feels like to feel
anything besides my all-consuming need for revenge. You have shown me how to find my passion and my purpose in life. You gave me back my heart, but because the monster still resides inside of me, I must send you away. I don't want to hurt you Columbia, I would rather tear out this heart than be the cause of your pain."
"But I don't want to go, you can't send me away Dimi, don't send me away," she sobbed as his words hit her and she realized what he meant to do. She wept and hung on to his arm, he didn’t pull away, he didn’t seem angered by her tears. He held her close and let her cry, stroked her hair with his fingers and rubbed her back
"You must go back there and face your demons, my pet," he sighed, "as I must face mine. You must go while you can, while you are still safe from me."
"It's too late for that," she cried. "I'll never be safe from you again. I’m nothing without you now that you’ve become a part of me. I can’t just go back like nothing happened. Everything happened! You happened!” She paused and let the tears flow. “We happened.”
“I know, I know. This hurts me as much as it does you. But I can live my life in peace knowing you are ok, knowing that you are living in the sunshine somewhere, married to some gentle lover, making beautiful babies with him, and thinking of me every once in a while. I will live every minute of every day thinking about you, little dove, but I need you to live. If you stay, I might kill you. Sergei might kill you. If you stay, I will wonder every moment if this is going to be your last.”
She stood up and walked off the bed, dropped onto the floor in a determined stance. “I won’t go,” she said and picked up the bathrobe, slipped it on her shoulders and said, “I just won’t go.”
“You have to Columbia,” he said firmly. “I am sorry, but you have to trust me on this. Your life is in danger if you stay.”
“I can’t live without you!” she shrieked at him, “how am I supposed to survive?”
“I will take care of you, I will give you more money than you could spend in a lifetime,” he told her, getting out of bed and walking to her side.