by Jenna Rose
He comforted me after his father left. Took me into his arms and brought me to bed with him where we made love again before he had to sneak out the back, undetected by his father’s men.
Now we’re all back at the penthouse for another one of Michael’s “family dinners.”
I don’t know if he’s deluding himself into thinking Riggs or I want to be there, or whether he simply just doesn’t care and needs to put up this façade about having a perfect family. Either way, every minute that ticks by feels like torture, especially when Riggs is so close to me but so completely far away.
“That’s Maine lobster, sweetie,” Michael grunts from beside me. “It ain’t cheap. Finish your plate.”
Michael has a way of making me feel like a little girl, and not in a good way.
“Of course, dear.”
I finish the lobster claw and flash him a phony smile. Lobster used to be one of my favorite meals, but it’s lost its appeal as of late.
Riggs sits across from me, his expression stony and blank. But I know deep down inside him he’s a burning cauldron of rage. The way he confided in me at the lake house...it made me feel so special. He told me I was the only one he’d ever opened up to in that way before in his life.
Since then, all I have been doing is picturing what a future would be like with him. It’s a terrible idea, I know. The chances of our doomed romance succeeding are so incredibly small that I shouldn’t even be thinking about it. But what can I do? Riggs has snatched my heart, and he’s not letting go.
It doesn’t help that tonight he’s looking more like a male model than ever. His tight, white, dress shirt is stretched over his muscles, and the gray pants he’s wearing do nothing to hide his bulge. His eyes blaze at me from across the table, and I flash back to yesterday when he made a woman out of me.
I’m still sore down there, and I love it. Just another reminder of our dangerous secret that we now share. Even if his father takes me, we will always know that Riggs got there first.
“Sir?” one of Michael’s men says from the door. “You have a call. It’s important.”
Grumbling, Michael stuffs the last half of his lobster tail into his mouth and gets to his feet.
“Better be important or heads are going to fucking roll.” On his way out, he turns to us. “Don’t you two start dessert without me.”
The door slams shut behind him, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
“I hope he chokes on that lobster,” Riggs growls under his breath. “I’m so sorry, Ava. I—I need to do something about him. I’m going to—”
“Shhh,” I whisper as I go over to him. His eyes drag my body, making me aware of every one of my curves that he’s told me he loves so much. Despite being married to the current king of the city, Riggs is the one who makes me feel like a queen.
His eyes close, and he tilts his head down as he stretches a hand out as if to touch me. But he holds back. He knows the danger. So do I, but as another few drops of his cum slide out of me, I throw all caution to the wind.
I’m down on my knees with his pants unzipped before he can react.
“Ava!” he hisses. I glance at the door then pull his cock out. Despite his protests, he’s already almost all the way hard, and I’m happy to help get him the rest of the way.
Stifling my moan as I wrap my lips around his cock is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. My body lights up like a ten-thousand-watt light bulb as I feel the warmth and strength enter my mouth.
I may have no idea what I’m doing, but I want to, and that’s the most important part, right?
“Ava, Ava!” he whispers quickly. He may sound panicked, but his cock is swelling in my mouth, stretching my cheeks like he stretched me yesterday. “Are you—are you insane? He’s going to be back any second!”
My lips make a smacking sound as I pull back from his cock. “Well then hurry up and come so he doesn’t catch us.”
Just to add to the situation, I give him a sexy little wink before taking him back into my mouth.
Riggs bites the back of his hand and lets out a quiet groan as he swells to full size between my lips. I can barely get anything past the tip into my mouth without gagging, and I make a mental note to look up how to suppress that later. I want to feel him all the way in the back of my throat.
“Fuck,” he growls, placing a hand on the back of my head. I look up and make eye contact. “Fuck that’s good. Play with your pussy for me. That will get me there.”
This is so bad. What if Michael comes back and catches us?
But I can’t resist. It’s like Riggs has me under some kind of mind control as I slip my hand up my skirt and show him my little secret that no other man has seen.
“Wow, you’re already wet…”
I nod and moan in affirmation against his cock. With one finger, I spread myself open, and with the other, find my clit and begin to circle it.
“Fuck that’s hot,” he purrs. His cock pulses between my lips. Is he close? I ready myself, move my finger faster. “Get yourself off, ma. Come with me.”
I may be his stepmom, but right now he’s daddy.
I scream yes with my eyes as I move my finger faster. I gag again, causing his cock to go slick with spit. My orgasm steams towards me like an out of control train. Again, my eyes flick towards the door. Do I hear Michael coming or am I just imagining things?
“Shit, I’m gonna come,” he tells me, grasping the back of my head. “Swallow it all!”
When I feel the first shot of his load pump onto my tongue and spray against the back of my throat, I go off too.
Squatting in heels isn’t easy, especially when your body is quivering with orgasmic bliss, but I do my best to multitask as I keep my lips on his cock, my finger on my clit and my body from falling over.
His fingers twist in my hair, forcing me to remain down where he wants me. My eyes begin to water, and I want to gag and cough but I can’t. Not while he’s shooting off.
I swallow eagerly as his cock pulses, giving me his sweet cum.
I’m so wet. It shouldn’t be possible to be this turned on. It’s almost cruel. This one orgasm isn’t going to be enough. I’m going to need him again, but will I be able to have him?
There’s a sound outside the door, and as much as I want to stay on the floor beneath him where I belong, I quickly rise to my feet and wipe my lips with the back of my hand. As the latch clicks open, Riggs grabs his napkin and covers his lap with it.
“What are you doing?” Michael glares at me. “Leaving?”
“I was just coming to see how long you were going to be,” I lie with a smile. “I’m hungry for dessert. You know me and my sweet tooth.”
Michael buys my excuse and comes back over to the table. As I sit, I try not to giggle at Riggs, who is also trying not to let his expression betray him.
Is he still hard under that napkin?
I’m still buzzing from the orgasm and cross my legs under the table when a terrible thought occurs to me: is this going to be how our relationship will have to be? A series of stolen moments while I play servant to the king who could destroy us both with the snap of his fingers?
Will I ever be able to fully give myself to Riggs, or will we be forced to live in the shadows for the rest of our lives?
And what happens tomorrow night when I finally have to give in to Michael’s will?
9
Ava
When I wake up, I don’t feel refreshed. I don’t feel ready to start the day. I feel defeated.
Today is the day. The day I finally let that cruel, gross bastard have his way with me.
Thankfully, he got up before me, and I don’t have to roll over in bed and force a painful smile, but that’s certainly the only good thing that’s going to come from today.
When I go downstairs, I’m almost thankful that Riggs isn’t in the penthouse. Seeing him while we both know what’s going to happen tonight would just be too painful. But at the same time, it’s the moment I feel th
e last fragment of my fantasy slipping away from me.
I’ve been picturing Riggs coming to my rescue at the last moment, saving me from Michael and whatever terrible things he wants to do to me, breaking his nose with his fist so we can both ride off into the sunset together.
But things like that only happen in movies. In reality, my father sold me, Michael bought me, and I’m never going to see my mother again.
At least Riggs had me first. That’s something Michael will never be able to take from me. Still, I really hope I get to see him again today before…it happens.
My usual breakfast isn’t waiting for me downstairs. Michael usually has an assortment of things laid out for me by his chef, but not today, which seems strange considering how much of a creature of habit he is.
I open the fridge and grab the orange juice carton, but when I turn around, my heart skips a beat and the juice falls from my hand to splash all over my feet and floor.
Michael is standing before me with a gun aimed straight at my face.
“Women are all the same, you know?” he asks casually as though we were discussing a movie we watched last night. “No matter how hard you work to tame them, they always end up running wild.”
“Michael…what are you—”
“It’s no use denying it,” he says, pulling out his phone. Gun still on me, he comes over to the counter and sets it down in front of me. “I’ve got all the proof I need. Well, almost all the proof I need.”
The cold, matte-black barrel looks like the mouth of the reaper ready to swallow my soul. My body is pouring with cold adrenaline, breaking me out in goose bumps and causing my legs to tremble.
The anger in his face is strange…it’s almost as though he’s gone beyond rage and landed on some resolute emotion of cold, calculating determination. This isn’t a discussion. He isn’t looking to me for any answers; he’s decided what he’s going to do, and I just have to wait for him to reveal it.
When he unlocks his phone, I completely give myself away. On the screen is a picture of Riggs and me.
Actually, no. That’s not true. It’s a picture of me at the lake house, naked, and a man, also naked, with his back to the camera. I know it’s Riggs, but from the look on his dad’s face, he doesn’t.
“You’re going to say something now,” he says slowly. “And one thing only. And if what you say isn’t the name of this man, I’m going to put a bullet between your eyes. Nod if you understand me.”
It’s next to impossible to force my body to move, but somehow I manage it.
So this is what pure panic feels like. What do I do? I can’t tell him the truth, of course. Do I make something up? He knows I’m not on any dating apps. Hell, he doesn’t even let me have a phone. And whenever we go somewhere, he’s with me, so there’s no possible way I could have met a man without him knowing.
That only leaves the men who work for him, whose names I’m forbidden from knowing, and his son…
“Now tell me, Ava,” he continues, cocking the hammer on the pistol. “Who is this man?”
My fingers and toes might as well be made of ice. I’m trembling so hard my front teeth are clicking together, but at the same time, my chest is on fire. Am I going to have a heart attack?
I tear my eyes away from his and glance back down at the photo, as if somehow it might give me the answer I need on how to get out of this. It’s a miracle he hasn’t recognized his son already.
“Ava,” he growls again. “This is your last chance. I’m going to count to five. Five…four…three…”
There’s no doubt in my mind he’s going to go through with it. I can’t even imagine how many other people he’s killed in his lifetime. What’s one adulterous woman to add to the list?
“Two…”
“I—”
“It’s me, Dad!” Riggs’ voice booms from the doorway, and Michael whirls to face him. “That’s me and your wife, Michael. Right after we made love and I came inside her.”
I don’t know whether I want to leap for joy or cry out in terror. He came for me. I knew he couldn’t let me go through with tonight.
But where is his weapon? He couldn’t be stupid enough to come completely unarmed. If Michael doesn’t kill him, his men will.
“That’s a good one, boy!” Michael roars with laughter. “Now get out of here and let me handle this. You don’t need to see what comes next.”
He doesn’t believe him…
“It’s not a joke, Father,” Riggs retorts. He looks completely unafraid. “I’ve had my eye on her since she first moved in. At first I thought she didn’t like me – the way she stayed away from me – but it was just because she didn’t trust herself around me. I made love to her at the lake house, and when you were on your business call last night at dinner, she blew me at the table.”
There’s a moment in very nature documentary where they have the camera on a predator – a lion or a tiger – ready to pounce on its prey. The calm before the storm. You’re just waiting for the violence that happens next.
And that’s exactly how I feel as I watch Michael staring down his son.
“If you’re lying to me, boy—”
“I don’t lie, Michael. And you should know that,” Riggs counters. Where is his gun!? What is he doing? “We’re in love, and I’m going to be taking her away from you now. I’m going to be leaving you and your terrible business behind as well.”
“Boy, I’m going to give you one chance to end this now before something bad happens.”
“Don’t believe me?” He shrugs, sauntering forward without a care in the world. “Ask her. But keep the gun on me, Dad.”
Michael does turn to me, but he doesn’t speak. The look on my face must betray the truth, because I see a resolution appear in his eyes. He turns back to Riggs, and I watch in horror as he raises the gun.
The shot causes my ears to ring and my heart to leap from my chest. My scream can’t be heard over the dull roar assaulting my senses. Riggs’ face distorts as the shot hits him, tears through his shirt and twists his body like he’s been hit by a car.
The second shot rings out, and I scream so hard my throat sings with pain.
The bullet misses Riggs and embeds itself into the wall. I have to do something; I can’t just watch the love of my life die.
I throw myself forward, lunging at Michael, but it’s too late. I’m not fast enough. But what happens next, I never could have expected.
Riggs whirls like a boxer and brings his fist down like a hammer against his father’s nose. The look of shock on Michael’s face as he turns and topples is matched only by the shock I feel at seeing my love on his feet, not on the ground bleeding from the gunshot he took to the chest.
Michael’s body hits the ground and Riggs is on him, pummeling him with his fists, his face red with rage.
Men pour in through the door, dressed in black tactical gear with machine guns drawn and raised high.
The FBI!
It’s all too much. My body just gives in and my knees go weak.
Yeah. It’s time to pass out now…
Epilogue
Riggs
Three years later…
The cool, crisp air fills my lungs as I step out of the barn into the afternoon light. The sun is high above the treetops, glistening in the bright blue sky without a single cloud to be seen. Somewhere back beyond the house I hear a chickadee’s call.
It’s so much nicer out here, away from the city, away from all the madness of my past. I can finally catch my breath now that I’m no longer part of a criminal enterprise.
I still think about it from time to time – the day I turned my father in. The day he almost killed me.
The day I almost killed him…
I would have if the agents hadn’t pulled me off him. And I would have been dead if not for the bulletproof vest I put on before confronting him in the kitchen. And thank God I came in when I did.
I gave the feds everything they needed to build a case on him. He w
ent down, got life in prison, and the whole empire went with him. Some of the agents were suspicious; they were sure it was a coup staged by the younger son wanting to take over his father’s position, so I let them keep their eyes on me for the next year.
I left the city, opened up my shop, and never looked back.
“Riggs! Honey, are you in the barn?”
Oh, and having her at my side makes it pretty damn easy.
“I’m out back!” I call in response. As my beautiful wife comes around the corner of the barn, I’m reminded again of just how much of a lucky bastard I am. She looks like the goddess she is in a white and yellow sundress with my baby boy in her arms.
We wasted no time getting married. As soon as I got over the blunt force trauma of taking a bullet to the chest, I was down on one knee proposing. Three days later we were married, and ten months later we were a family.
“Working hard or hardly working?” I grin at Mary, Ava’s mom, as she saunters up beside me and gives me her patented “friendly” slap on the shoulder.
“If you women wouldn’t bother me, I’d be working hard,” I chuckle, taking my boy from Ava as she hands him to me. “And how’s my little man doing?”
“He’s tired,” Ava whispers, kissing him on his head.
“I was just going to put him down for a nap,” Mary says. “Unless you want to give him a hammer and chisel and put him to work, Riggs?”
It’s no mystery where Ava got all her spunk from; Mary, despite what she’s been through, has a never-ending supply of it and loves to use it.
“I’ll give him a few years before I have him slaving away on the furniture,” I reply.
Mary takes him and brings him into the house, and I take my wife’s hand and lead her into the shop.
“Is it finished?” she asks with excitement. I’ve been working on a commission, one of my biggest yet – a full bedroom set for a client up in Vermont. It’s a huge job, but it will pay the bills for the next six months.