Countered: A Dark Suspenseful Gothic Romance (The Rule of Lawes Series Book 2)

by Felicity Brandon

  “You’ve had one hell of a first twenty-four hours, Miss Bowman.” He rose to his full height, and she missed the reassurance of his face. “First, you flee from me in the middle of the night, and now you slip away from Mr. Lawes. It seems we’re going to have to watch you a lot more closely, Hannah.”

  Anxiety sky-rocketed in her body. She remained trapped in the wooden structure as Fuller began to wander a circle of her body.

  “It’s disappointing, Hannah. I’m not going to lie.” A finger stroked the edge of her hip, joined soon after by the rest of his hand, sweeping a soft caress over the curve of her punished ass.

  Hannah winced at the contact, mewling as she tried to avoid the touch at the same time she tried to alleviate the pressure on her back. Being back in this bloody contraption for the second time in one day had definitely not been part of her plan—not that she’d had a plan when she’d crept out of the place. All Hannah had known was one of the other women—April—had gifted her an opportunity to leave, and she had to take it. She owed them both that much. Hell, she owed every woman trapped down in that basement that much.

  “I had such high hopes for you yesterday. Both Mr. Lawes and I did.”

  Hannah caught her lower lip between her teeth. Dealing with Lawes’ bad cop approach had been one thing, she’d been expecting his outrage, and as such, she’d been ready for it—ready for the paddle despite the pain and ready for the exposure and humiliation of the pillory, even though it was the last thing she wanted. She’d accepted it. But this—Fuller’s good cop perspective—Hannah didn’t know if she was ready for that. She didn’t know how to deal with it.

  How did you manage the soft caress of a man who wanted to hurt you and contain you? How did you process the whispered words?

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Fuller.”

  The words spilled from Hannah’s lips, and as they did, she almost believed them. She wasn’t sorry for trying to escape. How could she be? Yet, something about the way he was treating her with care and respect was causing her to double back and think again. It was much harder to kick back at a smiling, kind-hearted psycho, even if he was still a psychopath at heart.

  “I didn’t mean to let you down.”

  He sighed as his hand slipped between her cheeks into the heat of her sex. Hannah’s eyes squeezed closed at the sudden intimacy. It was one thing to be naked around strange men, but being touched that way—that was still something unusual, something that provoked an unusual response from her body. Fuller’s free hand was at her hip, sliding toward her pussy from the front while his palm cupped her from behind. She gasped at the sensation as his palm began to rock backward and forward, the tips of his fingers tantalizing her sex while the other hand provided the friction her needy little clit was looking for. Hannah was caught between his hands, trapped in an unexplained prison of passion.

  Hadn’t Fuller intended to take her back down to the basement with the other women? Wasn’t that what he had told Lawes?

  “Are you sure about that?” Fuller’s voice purred past her ears.

  “Sir?” Hannah’s gaze fluttered closed.

  It was difficult to think, now that both of his hands were working in unison, their rhythm working to scatter whatever remained of Hannah’s wits.

  “Are you certain you didn’t mean to let me down?”

  “No,” she panted. “No, I-I just wasn’t thinking. I saw a chance to get away, and I took it.”

  “You took it!” Fuller’s voice thundered across the room, the change in tack sending Hannah’s heart into a fresh panic at the same time the hand at her backside rose and walloped her right cheek.

  She gasped at the impact. Yes, it had been hard, but more than that, it had been unexpected. One moment, the man had seemed like a gentle giant, goading her back into desire, and the next, he’d spanked her. Hell, Hannah’s head was spinning. And all the while, the palm at the front of her pussy stayed in place. Her hips pushed her into his flesh with the impact, the ramifications of that contact, sending tingles of excitement straight up the length of her spine.

  “You took it, Hannah, and broke just about every rule of the house. You’ve scarcely been here a day, and in that time, you’ve already disappointed both me and Mr. Lawes.”

  He paused, pressing the hand at her behind again. Hannah tried to catch her breath while his fingers slipped between her ass cheeks and resumed their exploration. God, his touch was so good—too good, far too good to be the caress of a captor. When coupled with how exhausted she felt, the way her neck and shoulder muscles were screaming for relief, and the way her lower back ached for mercy, she wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

  “Hannah?” Fuller’s voice had lowered to something like a growl. “Do you hear me?”

  One, then two of his fingers slipped into her pussy, and Hannah let out a desperate whimper.

  “Yes, sir.” Her lips parted then, her mind scattering as Fuller pumped his fingers in and out of her cunt. She was so wet for him. Despite everything, she always seemed to be so damn horny. It was as maddening as it was grueling.

  “Good.”

  Only one word that time, accompanied by the fingers, drawing her arousal north from her sex to her other helpless hole. With the cruel tail finally removed, Fuller was able to fill her ass himself, his digits easing in before they began to stretch her.

  “That’s good, Hannah. You belong to us now, and the sooner you succumb to that notion, the better things will be for you.”

  Hannah gasped at the way his hands were rhythmically fucking her, completely caught in Fuller’s web.

  “We can bring you so much pleasure, little girl. So. Much. Pleasure.” Fuller’s hands alternated between her holes, filling her with each new word. “All you need to do is stop fighting. Yield to us, Hannah—surrender.”

  “Oh God!” She bit her lip as his wonderous intrusion continued.

  “Mmmm, I know,” he breathed. “I know it’s good, and you want more, don’t you, Hannah?”

  “Yes.”

  Her response was unthinking. All there was in her world were the ministrations of Fuller’s fingers and the hedonism that threatened compared to the uncompromising pain of Lawes’ paddle. She did want it. Hannah wanted the pleasure.

  If she couldn’t be free, then she chose the pleasure.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I know you do.” His lips skimmed the skin of her shoulder. “I know you can be good for me, Hannah, but I need to hear you say it, little girl. Tell me what you need to do from now on.”

  Hannah blinked into the space before her, but she couldn’t focus on anything, not the empty chairs nor the wooden flooring below. There were only the soft, sliding digits of Fuller’s hands, filling her and goading her trapped body into paradise.

  “Tell me, Hannah.” His voice was harder now. “Tell me, or all of this stops, and you go back to your cage unsatisfied.”

  Panic bloomed in her chest. No! Whatever happened, she couldn’t be left unsatiated.

  “Mr. Fuller, please!”

  Hannah didn’t recognize her voice anymore. The woman pleading was distant, someone she’d never met before.

  “Please don’t stop!”

  “What word do I need to hear, naughty girl?” She could hear the smile in his voice. “What are you going to do from now on?”

  Surrender.

  The word was right there on the tip of Hannah’s tongue, yet somehow, she bit it down. She couldn’t tell him what he wanted to hear. She couldn’t concede entirely, yet as his flesh grazed her pulsing clit over and over, she already knew that was a lie.

  Who was she trying to kid?

  Hannah was condemned to concede. Lawes’ paddle, she might have been able to fight, but she had never stood a chance against Fuller.

  “Surrender.”

  She pushed the word out, praying it would be enough for him not to stop.

  To never stop.

  “I’ll surrender, sir.”

  He pressed his mouth against h
er skin, the heat of his breath warming her.

  “Yes, you will, Hannah. And now you’re going to come for me.”

  Three

  April

  Heat burned at her flesh, though in the shadows, April couldn’t see what it was that scorched her. She stumbled onward, yelping at the intensity of what seemed like rocks below her, but there was nothing for it. All she could do was push into the gloom, ignoring the heat and the pain. April wasn’t certain why, but she knew there was no going back.

  “April?”

  She turned at her name, the voice familiar, though she couldn’t say why. It was a woman, yet it didn’t sound like any of her friends, and April simply couldn’t place it.

  “April, where are you?”

  All at once, the answer to the riddle came to her like a bolt of thunder. It was Kelly, her sister. Kelly was here and needed her.

  “Kelly?” April spun in the darkness, leaping from one foot to the next, unable to get her bearings. “Kelly, I’m here! Where are you?”

  She hadn’t seen Kelly since the morning she’d left the apartment they shared to visit the new dental practice—the one that promised the miraculous results and was supposed to strip her of the debilitating fear she’d lived with for too many years. That morning, Kelly and her little daughter, Sam, had waved April off. As she lurched forward into the unknown, April could still picture the scene.

  “Goodbye, Auntie April.” Sam had given her one of her perfect, lop-sided smiles. “See you at dinner time.”

  “Yes, you will,” she’d assured the five-year-old. “And you’d better not start without me!”

  Sam had chuckled at her jibe, snuggling into her mother while April skipped out of the door.

  “Auntie April.” It was Sam’s voice that reverberated around her head now, but April knew that couldn’t be right. Wherever the hell this was, this place was too dark for her gorgeous little Sammy—a light as bright as Sam couldn’t be here in this darkness.

  “Sammy?” she called, regardless, the name sticking in April’s throat as the realization washed over her.

  If Sammy was here in this godawful place, then something was wrong… very wrong, indeed.

  “Sammy, it’s okay. Auntie April’s here.”

  “April.” Kelly’s voice was hard. “Where are you? Why did you leave us?”

  April’s heart pounded faster, and acting on instinct, she reached out into the black, searching for her sister and niece.

  “I didn’t leave.” She had to force the words out, pushing down the panic rising from the pit of her stomach. “I’m still here. I was just taken to this place, and I’m trapped. I can’t get out, Kelly.”

  The words darted around her head as they left her lips, escalating her frenzied anxiety, and acting without her instruction, her feet halted.

  “I can’t get out, Kelly.”

  There were those words again. April wasn’t sure where they were coming from, but in her heart, she knew they were true. Whatever this prison was, she was confined here. She couldn’t get out. She couldn’t get back to Sammy and Kelly.

  “You just didn’t come home.” Sammy’s voice echoed around the gloom, tugging at April’s heart strings. “We miss you, Auntie April. Come home.”

  “How could you do this?” Her sister’s stern tone interjected. “How could you just leave and never even phone us?”

  “Please.” April was struggling to catch her breath, and all the while, the heat was rising at her feet. She should be moving forward, avoiding its intensity, yet somehow her niece’s plaintive tone was making that impossible. “Please, you have to believe me. You have to help me, Kelly.”

  “How could you?” All at once, she was there, the image of her sister just about visible in the gloom. Kelly’s face was pale, her eyes an ethereal blue. “How could you just leave? You’ve always been a selfish bitch, but this April—abandoning Sammy—this is low, even for you.”

  “I didn’t!” April rasped, desperate for Kelly to see reason. “I didn’t do that, Kelly. I would never do that.”

  Kelly shook her head. “How could you? How could you, April?”

  Frustrated fear swirled in April’s mind until she could barely even see straight. What was wrong with her sister? Why did Kelly think she was to blame? Couldn’t she see April had been snatched? That one thought seemed to cement things for her. That’s what happened—she’d been snatched. April had been taken against her will. She would never have willingly left the home she’d created with Kelly and Sam. Her love for her family was the only thing keeping her going.

  “Kelly, listen to me.” April stepped forward, lurching in the direction of Kelly. She needed to make Kelly see reason. She needed her to understand. “It’s not like that. You know me. You know I would never do that!”

  Kelly’s expression hardened, and to April’s perturbed angst, she kept repeating the same question over and over again.

  “How could you?” Kelly’s gaze speared her. “How could you, April?”

  “Kelly, please. Please, just listen…” But Kelly wasn’t listening, April’s pleas were falling on deaf ears.

  In fact, as she reached out to grab her sister’s shoulders, Kelly wasn’t there at all, her presence evaporating like smoke. April blinked in disbelief, grasping at the place Kelly had been standing, but finding nothing but the dank air.

  “Kelly?”

  April fell to her knees into the hot dirt below. She no longer cared about the heat—let it burn her, let it devour April completely. Without Kelly and Sammy, she no longer cared. She fell forward, tears stinging her eyes as the resonance of her sister’s voice continued to echo around her head.

  “How could you? How could you, April?”

  Except, it wasn’t Kelly’s voice any longer. The tone was deeper, more of a snarl. Tension crept back into April’s limbs as she lifted her chin to try to see where the voice was coming from.

  Who the voice was coming from.

  But it was useless. There was nothing to see. No one. Still, the words came.

  “How could you? How could you, April?” The same accusing tone, over and over until April’s head wanted to burst.

  “Please, I…”

  “April!”

  This time, the cry was loud enough to break the spell and burst April from the confines of her dream. She lurched forward, pressing up against the bars of the cage, her crushing reality tumbling back down on her even as the weight of the dream lifted.

  “How could you, April?” It was Fuller’s disapproving expression that met her eyes, his scowl evident even in the shadows of the basement.

  “Mr. Fuller?”

  April lurched backward in the cage, a surge of frantic energy whipping around her now that she was awake. The terrible dream had been bad enough, but now she had awoken to the true nightmare. And this one, it had already been proving, would be much more difficult to break free from.

  “How could you be so stupid, girl? So reckless? So selfish?”

  April’s brow furrowed. What the hell? Light from the staircase spilled into the basement, illuminating Fuller’s furrowed brow.

  “Don’t play dumb with me, April. You’ve been trouble from day one, and it’s not a coincidence Hannah was able to make a break for freedom, is it?”

  April blinked into the shadows, her gaze traveling past her captor to the cage opposite. It had been empty when she’d dozed off earlier, but now, she could just make out the crumpled body of another woman.

  Shit, Hannah. Despite her bravado earlier, April hoped she was all right.

  “She’s fine,” Fuller answered, although April had never vocalized the question. “She’s stronger than she looks.”

  Thank God.

  “Just like you, April.” There was that edge in Fuller’s voice again, the one that sent April’s heart racing. “You’ve always been strong, haven’t you?”

  She eased back onto her knees and crawled closer to the place he knelt outside the bars. April had never truly been
afraid of Fuller. Sure, he had intimidated her at times, but there was always something more sensual about the older of the two men. Something more merciful—more reasonable. The glint in his eyes now was something April had rarely seen before, and it caused the knot of nervous energy in her belly to tighten painfully.

  “I try to be, Mr. Fuller.” Her voice was low and eye to eye, they stared at one another in the shadows.

  “Good.” His gaze lowered to April’s breasts momentarily. “Because you’re going to need to be strong, my pretty little pet, for whatever Mr. Lawes has in mind.”

  April’s breath hitched, yet somehow, she held her nerve. Fuller was just trying to scare her, and she wasn’t going to give the son of a bitch the satisfaction.

  “Where is Mr. Lawes, sir?” Her gaze flitted around the basement. April couldn’t see a great deal in the gloom, but she was sure the other giant wasn’t in tow. He’d have made his presence known by now.

  “Never you mind.” Fuller’s answer was clipped. “He’ll be down for you later. I just wanted to let you know, you ought to be ready.”

  April wanted to roll her eyes. He’d woken her up to tell her that. Damn, the sleep she was getting might not have been great, but quality sleep was a thing of the past now that she was a prisoner. The bastard could have just let her rest.

  “I’ll be ready.” She settled back against her backside. It was good to finally have the godawful butt plug removed. These days, night times were the only occasion the reprieve was permitted.

  Fuller exhaled, shaking his head at her. “You’ve got some nerve, April. I’ll give you that.”

  “I don’t know what else you want me to say. Sir.” April lurched forward again, her offense taking the kneeling man by surprise. “Should I be grateful to be kept here, like this?” Her eyes darted around the other cages. “Should I want to stay?”

  Fuller’s gaze narrowed. “You really are begging for this punishment, aren’t you?” he sneered. “I was going to head home and let Lawes deal with your shit, but after this performance, I think I might stick around and watch. Hell, maybe I’ll help.”

  Fury rose inside April at the smug look on the bastard’s face. She’d had just about enough of both his and Lawes’ arrogance. They had no right to keep her there, no right to keep any of the women. They knew it, yet they strutted around as though they had impunity from legal ethics. As though they had a higher fucking purpose.