by Amber Lacie
“Piper. Sit. The. Fuck. Down.” Ben was pissed. The last time I had seen him this angry he had me pressed up against a wall. “Now,” he added.
Fuck him if he thinks he can control me. “No!”
Everything happened so quickly. I watched Ben’s jaw clench and then suddenly I was in the air being thrown over his shoulder. I yelped as he spun me around and took two large steps towards the sofa. As if Jim knew exactly what was going to happen, he jumped up and Ben dropped me in the exact spot Jim had just vacated. “Never tell me no.”
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want, thank you very much.” Sitting where Ben had put me, I watched as he arched his brow. It was as though he had just proven his point. “Fuck you, Benny,” I shouted, using the name Jim had given him. I knew it would irritate him. “And I’m only sitting down because this couch is comfortable, and I want to.” I crossed my arms over my chest as if to prove myself. All it did was make me look like a petulant child.
Leaning down in front of me, Ben pressed his lips to mine. I was still being a brat, so instead of letting him in, I bit his bottom lip, slowly dragging it through my teeth. Wrapping his hand around the back of my neck, he brought his mouth to my ear. “Piper, I’m going to fuck every bit of this sass out of you. I’m going to take you to places you’ve never even dreamed of. You’ll beg me to let you come. By the time I’m done with you, you won’t be able to walk for days.”
Oh fuck! I was expecting a reaction out of him, but I was not prepared for what I got in return. Anything I was trying to prove disappeared into a cloud of smoke. What he offered wasn’t what I wanted, but I knew I needed it. Swallowing any sarcastic response I had, I released a shuttered exhale of a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.
“There’s my girl. Looks like your head is on straight again. Now, what is it that you came out here throwing a hissy fit for?”
“I don’t like the whispers,” I muttered. “I can hear you guys arguing, and I know it’s about me. If you just tell me what’s going on, maybe I could help.”
Ben sighed and sat down next to me on the sofa. Motioning for me to sit in his lap, I ignored him. Not one to be told no, he picked me up and placed me in his lap anyway. “They’re looking for you.”
I didn’t need to ask who was looking for me––I already knew. I figured the men who had me locked away would come for me eventually. The entire time I was held captive in the house I only saw one person escape, and he never came back. “Why won’t they just let me go?”
“That’s not how it works, baby. The only thing I can come up with is that you know something they don’t want you to know. They put a dollar sign on your head to prevent you from talking.”
None of this makes any sense, I thought to myself. The only time I ever left that room was when Saint called for me, or I was allowed the privilege of a shower. “But I don’t know anything. I swear.”
“I’m sorry, Pipes, but they seem to think you do,” Jim said softly. Handing me a cup of coffee, he took a seat in the chair across from us. “Did you ever hear them talking about anything? Maybe a job or something?”
I shook my head. The words they used around me were always aimed to break me. “They didn’t talk to me, or around me. Most of the time I just tried to block it all out. I made myself numb to it all.”
Jim nodded his head solemnly. I could tell what I was saying made him uncomfortable, but it was the truth. I wasn’t going to doll it up for them. Ben was tracing circles on my thigh, staring out the window. I didn’t know if he was ignoring what I was saying, or if he was trying not to picture it. Either way, it didn’t matter. He needed to know, and I needed to say it.
“I used to have a friend there.” Ben looked down at me, but he didn’t speak. “He came in after I did. I don’t remember why he was there, but he was kind to me. He was nice, not like the others.”
“How close were you? Did he touch you?” I looked up at Ben, trying to figure out what he was asking. Is he jealous?
“No, it wasn’t like that. He was just a friend––someone to talk to. When Alton was there, I didn’t feel so alone. But then he left. He said he’d come back for me, but he never did. I don’t blame him though, I wouldn’t have gone back there either.”
“Besides this Alton guy, ya’ never heard anything else? Nothin’?” Jim looked as confused as I felt.
“How’d he get out?” Ben asked, rubbing the edge of his jaw with his thumb. “Maybe he knew something, and they think you’re connected?”
I thought back to the last night I saw Alton…his long, skinny frame slipping out the window into the darkness. “He starved himself. When he was thin enough, he crawled out the basement window. I couldn’t reach it. I couldn’t fit through it either; I wasn’t as skinny as I am now.”
“Is that why you were so skinny? You were starving yourself so that you could escape?” Jim’s question caught me off guard.
“I had never thought about that.” How stupid was I––I watched someone escape and I never once thought about trying to fit out the window after he left?
“But you were just skin and bones,” Ben whispered, his voice filled with emotion.
I felt shame in the truth. “I just wanted to die,” I admitted. “The horror of it all was that I couldn’t. Each time I’d get to the edge, my body would be betray me and fight to live. Do you know what it feels like to want to die, but not being strong enough to go through with it?” Hot tears began to sting my cheeks as I sat in Ben’s lap, the feelings I had pushed down for so long bubbling to the surface.
“No, Pipes, I don’t.” Jim calmly stood and walked from the room. I worried I had said too much and that he would only see me as broken. I didn’t want his pity…I didn’t want anyone’s pity. I only wanted his friendship.
Pressing my head against Ben’s chest, I tucked my head under his chin. “Is he mad at me?”
“No, baby. No one is mad at you. Jim just deals with things differently than most people.”
I nodded my head letting his words sink in.
“I’m sorry your friend abandoned you,” he said, taking a deep breath.
“Ben, I might not understand everything, but can’t you just tell me a little. I don’t want to be in the dark anymore.”
A long sigh danced across the top of my head. “The real reason I was in Momence?”
“That would be a good place to start.”
“I wanted revenge. Someone had taken something from me, and I wanted to make them pay. Then, I was given a job that brought me closer to them.”
“Something or someone?”
He pressed his lips to my forehead. “It doesn’t matter. I hold two people accountable, and they destroyed my life. I almost had one checked off my list, but then I heard you scream. At first, I didn’t realize what it was, and I found it to be an annoyance. It was so loud, I couldn’t concentrate on the job at hand, so I went downstairs to shut up whatever was making the sound. I didn’t know it was you.”
“So, it wasn’t Saint you were after?” I asked as realization struck. “But––you killed him.”
“I did. I’d do it again too. I killed him for you. No one gets to touch you like that. No one.”
I shrugged my shoulders in response. “You do.”
“Piper, look at me.” I sat up and traced the wrinkles around his eyes with my fingers. “What I do, what we do, is nothing like them. Do you hear me?”
I nodded my head once more and tucked myself back under his chin. I liked the way it felt there. It was like my own personal safe haven.
“My father sent me there, knowing I’d find what I was looking for. Unfortunately, I don’t think he planned for you to be there too.”
Everything around me froze. “Your f–father?” I choked.
“Yeah. I hate that I’m related to him. Ox is a piece of shit human and an even worse father. He fucked my mom and nine months later I showed up. I didn’t ask to be born into that family, it just happened.”
“Holy
. Shit.” I knew Ben was untouchable, in a sense. What I didn’t know was that it was because his father fucking ran everything.
“Who were you looking for?” I asked, curious.
“You knew him as Bull, but I knew him as a little piss-ant named Brendan that kept getting involved in my life. He was constantly fucking shit up for me. You need to know that I’m going to end him. I don’t have a choice now. If I don’t, Ox will come for me, and then he’ll come for you.”
My head began to throb trying to piece together everything he was telling me. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “You said there’s a dollar sign on my head––”
“Correct. There’s also one for me. Although, I expected mine. I just need to figure out why they want you.”
“What were you and Jim arguing about?”
He snorted. “We were arguing about you. He wanted me to tell you everything, and I was afraid you’d run.”
“Well, I didn’t,” I stated matter of fact.
“I can see that.”
“Maybe Jim is smarter than you think.”
“Probably, but don’t tell him that. It’ll go straight to his head and it’s already big enough.”
“He’s so big, right? Was his father a grizzly bear?”
Ben chuckled at my attempt at humor. Jim was rather large. I was just pointing out the obvious. “Are we done telling secrets?” he asked.
“Is there more to tell?” I asked, my tone serious.
“Piper, you’re avoiding the question.”
Funny, I thought his response was avoiding mine. Just then, his lips fell to the spot just behind my ear. From that moment on, nothing else mattered. “You said something about taking me places. Although, it sounded more like a promise. I think you should make good on that.”
His hand smacked my ass, causing me to jump and yell at the same time. “That fucking hurt.”
“Good.” Ben stood, staring at me. His eyes darkened and excitement coursed through my body. “Now, run.”
Not wasting another moment, I took off like a bat out of hell. I could hear him behind me as I turned down the hallway and raced into the bedroom. Halting in the doorway, he watched me seductively crawl onto the bed.
“Shirt. Off.” Closing the door behind him, Ben made himself comfortable in the wooden chair in the corner of the room.
Slowly lifting my shirt over my head, I teasingly let it fall to the floor. Shimming out of my panties, I leisurely slid them down my legs, stepping out of them one foot at a time. I slid myself back on the bed until I felt the pillows against my back. I watched with hooded eyes as his hands moved to the front of his jeans, undoing his belt. Bending my knees up, I allowed my legs to fall apart. I was rewarded with a hiss as he slowly pulled down his zipper.
“Touch yourself,” he growled.
It felt like such an odd request for me. Allowing my hands to travel the length of my body, I softly ran my fingers along my breasts.
“Lower. Between your legs. Don’t tease me.” His voice was deep and commanding.
Slowly, I trailed my fingers downward, feathering over my clit before dipping them inside myself. A soft moan filled the air at the pressure. Knowing it wasn’t for me only aided my confidence. Sliding my fingers back up to my clit, I circled it, pressing hard enough to bring me to the edge, but not allowing myself to go over. I closed my eyes and let out a moan of approval. Just then, the sound of a chair slamming against the wall grasped my attention. My startled eyes immediately shot to the man standing at the end of the bed. His eyes were dark and menacing as he stood there with his pants undone, stroking his rock-hard cock.
“Ben.” I moaned his name for added measure. Wrapping his hand around my ankle he jerked me toward the foot of the bed. I cried out in shock.
“Don’t fucking stop now. I’m going to fuck you until you break but first, I want to see you come.”
Pressing harder against my clit, I quickened my pace. It wasn’t long before a warm energy began radiating at my toes and quickly washed over me, completely consuming me. Having him watch me was so fucking hot. He must’ve liked what he saw because before I could register what was happening, he had dropped his jeans to the floor, grabbed both of my ankles, and spun me around so that my belly was lying flat against the mattress.
The sting of his hand across my ass drew another moan from me. “Oh God.”
“Bend your legs and tuck them underneath you. After you’ve done that, I want you to give me your hands.”
Doing as instructed, I bent my legs, turned my head to the side, and extended my arms behind me. He could do whatever he wanted with me. I wouldn’t have stopped him. Pushing them below my ass, he brought my hands together. Although I couldn’t see, I could feel him tightening some kind of leather strap around my hands. His belt. The thought alone excited me.
“Look at you––so fucking wet.” Dragging his finger across my slit, he gently pressed it into me.” I gasped at the feeling. Withdrawing his finger, he whispered, “Take a deep a breath.”
Doing as I was told, I felt him thrust into me as I exhaled, pushing out what little air I had left in my lungs. Feeling one of his hands palm my ass, he gripped it tightly. Distracted, I was blissfully unaware of the other hand until it wound itself in my hair, pulling it. Arching my back, he firmly pressed my shoulders farther into the mattress. The pain from my body being stretched to its limits, mixed with the intensity of his thrusts, was insanity. Never in my life had I ever experienced anything close to it. Willing or unwillingly, this was all new territory for me.
“This fucking pussy is mine.”
“Yes,” I cried out.
“You are mine.”
“Yours,” I cried out again. The buildup of my senses shattered, and I came undone around him. If he hadn’t been holding me so tightly, I would’ve collapsed and fallen to the side. I no longer had any control over any of my muscles. Feeling him leaning into me, he pushed deeper inside of me. A moment later, a loud, guttural moan ripped from his chest as he gripped my ass, digging his fingers into my flesh. Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Don’t get me wrong, I had watched porn before, but what had just happened was far beyond watching––I’d just fucking lived it. I reveled in the high as he loosened the strap around my wrists, allowing my body to fall slowly to the side.
Lying on the bed, I could feel his hot, sweaty body press up against mine as he pulled the sheets over top of us. I was never a morning person, but if I could start every day like this, a bitch just might become one.
My fucking high––that’s what Piper was to me. The longer I was close to her, the more I needed her. She was my fix, the only thing that made living feel worth it. Being the fucked up person that I was, I never told her how I felt. Instead, I poured everything into the way I touched her. Watching her fall apart at the touch of my fingers, knowing I owned not just her body, but also her soul––that was a meal my demon feasted on. She was the perfect alignment to my monster. She accepted what I was as fact, no need to sugarcoat it. After I told her what I was capable of, I expected her to recoil in fear. What I found was a darkness in her eyes that equaled my insanity. It was almost as though she expected it of me.
In a few hours I would be in the back of Clocks, waiting on Arlo’s husband, so that I could end that part of my life. Arlo had come and ended it with me on her terms years ago, and I told myself that I had let her go, but I didn’t. Not really. I took shit, I destroyed lives, and I reveled in the power it gave me. It was time I owned up to at least a few of my mistakes.
My past was over, and my future was sprawled out next me to me on the couch. She might have been tiny compared to Jim and I, but she had no problem stretching herself out, claiming the apartment as her territory.
For once, she was actually wearing pants. It looks like I finally got my point across, I thought to myself, a smile teasing at my lips. Seeing her naked wasn’t the issue, the problem came in knowing other eyes in the room were
on her. That’s what pissed me off. Jim would never cross me, I knew that, but it didn’t stop the black tar under my skin from boiling when she was near him. He knew how my mind worked, so he kept his distance. Though, that didn’t stop Piper. She had a way of talking and touching at the same time. I guess it was her personality. I always watched, waiting for her hand to linger a second too long on his arm, giving me a reason to snap. The bullshit surrounding us had me on edge and everything pissed me off.
Running my hand through her long brown locks, I wrapped a few strands around my fingers and gave them a slight tug. “Baby––”
“You’re going to leave again soon, aren’t you?” she asked, never looking away from the puzzle she was working on that Jim had brought her.
“Just for a little bit.”
“That’s what Jim says, and he usually ends up gone for days. When do I get to go?” Sitting up, she dropped the book to her side, and tucked her legs underneath her so that she could face me, eye-to-eye. “Are you going after him? Brendan, I mean.”
“Not tonight.”
She nodded her head. My heart sank as I watched the sadness gray the chocolate in her eyes. “I want to go with you.”
She couldn’t have possibly understood what she was asking. “That’s not happening anytime soon. Besides, this isn’t something I want you to see.”
“He hurt me…I want to hurt him back.”
“No,” I said firmly.
She recoiled from me as if I had cut her face with a sharp knife. “You can’t just tell me no. You don’t know what he did…you don’t know what he’s capable of. I prayed for death because of him, Ben.”
“I know, baby. I know.”
“Then you know that when the time comes, I’m going with you. It’s not up for discussion, Ben. You can end his life, I won’t take that from you––I just want to watch.”
How can I deny her something I’m so desperate to have myself? “If I let you go, there’s no coming back from it.”
“What part of ‘I’m going with’ don’t you understand? You’re not letting me do anything. I’m doing it, whether you like it or not. I don’t need your fucking permission.” Piper stared at me, a dark hate swirling in her eyes. I could see then that she wasn’t going to back down.