“Nod, if you get me, darling,” he whispers in my ear.
I shake my head vigorously at his request and also to clear the pain. Killing me isn’t going to give him what he wants so I know that I just need to wait him out. I can take any pain he throws at me. I proved that last time. He licks inside my ear and then he sinks his teeth into my ear lobe with enough force to cause maximum pain without breaking the skin. I can't help myself as I scream as much as my closed up throat will allow me.
“Nod, if you understand,” he repeats after removing his teeth from my ear lobe.
As the pain recedes, I regain my will to fight. I yank against the hand around my throat and stomp on his foot with as much force as I can manage. He barely acknowledges my attack before slamming me back against the wall as I'm trying to knee him in the groin. My bare foot had little effect against his boot. He slams me against the wall twice more, not with his full strength but enough to hurt. His body is shaking with rage and I’m rethinking my bravado. I’m making him really mad now.
Maybe I should nod, just to get him to let me go?
He squeezes my throat harder, causing the black spots to dance across my eyesight again and he slams me against the wall for the fourth time. My head hits the wall. He pushes up my skirt and jams his thigh between mine. I squirm, trying to keep my legs shut, but he is incessant and manages to get his thigh not only between my legs but against my most intimate place. I hoarsely scream at him to stop, head-butting him as hard as I can when he doesn’t. All I manage to do is hurt my own head because he doesn’t stop, not even for a second.
When I head butt him again he rears back and slaps me forcefully across the face. As I fall still from the impact, he slides his hand to the apex of my thighs. Using the considerable weight of his body to pin me against the wall, he finally releases my throat. I draw welcome gasps of air, hoping this is over. Instead of letting me go as I'd hoped, he rips my panties off of my body with one harsh tug and throws them on the floor behind him.
Trying to wriggle out of his hold achieves nothing as Brendan pins me with apparent ease against the wall and strokes between my legs with surprising softness. He rubs his hand back and forth, from my clit to my ass and back again. He continues his circuit as my entire body shudders in disgust, my mind trying to shut down to block out his vile touch.
I thought I could defy him but I can’t go through this particular form of torture again. I mentally admit defeat, my head sagging against him. I mouth against his shoulder that I get him and furiously nod my head, tears streaming down my face. He leans away from me and smiles down at me, gloating. He knows he’s broken me and won this round.
“Too little, too late, my darling,” he states coldly, before he penetrates me with two of his fingers with clinical precision. I scream in pain, squirming to get away as he pumps his fingers into me again.
CHAPTER TWO
Lainey
Present Day
“Boss, we have a problem.”
Over Brendan’s shoulder, I witness a flustered Stu run into the room.
“The GPS on her mobile is active and has just been accessed so they know our location.”
“Bloody hell. How did you overlook that?” Brendan barks at him. “I paid good money for you to prevent this sort of fuckup.”
Removing his fingers from me, he lets me go and I slide to the floor. As soon as my feet touch the ground, I scramble to pull my skirt back into place and move down the wall away from him. He quirks an elegant eyebrow at me and smiles before he sucks on the fingers he forced into my unwilling body.
“You still taste like honey.”
I involuntarily flinch at his statement and he laughs, knowing exactly what memory his words evoke.
Turning his attention to Stu, he demands with nastiness, “I asked you to check for any tracking and you said it wasn’t enabled on her phone. Are you completely useless?”
“They had it hidden well,” Stu defends himself. “I could only see that it had been activated once they accessed it.”
Worry and fear billow from Stu. The abrupt change in his demeanour is interesting. I wonder whether he’s scared of the MC or Brendan?
“Obviously, this is something he can access through his little motorcycle gang.” Brendan jeers at me. I note that he still doesn’t like to say Mik’s name. His pettiness would make me laugh if the situation wasn’t so serious. Brendan stalks over to the telescope and peers through it.
“Goddamn it, he’s heading across the reserve right now. Your oversight has put a major kink in our plan.”
Brendan punches the wall near the window in anger, leaving a nice crack in the plastering. Blood wells on his injured knuckles as he shakes his hand in pain. I fervently hope that he's broken something. It would serve him right.
“Calm down, Boss,” Stu tells Brendan hurriedly. His eyes narrow and he stares intently into space. It's obvious, to me at least, that he’s thinking on his feet. “He only knows where her phone is. If you can deal with her, I can get rid of him and the phone at the same time.”
Brendan agrees to Stu’s plan with a curt nod of his head. I can see deep within his eyes that he doesn’t have much faith that his henchman will be able to get rid of Mik. I hope with every fibre in me that he is right. Mentally pushing aside what Brendan just did to me, I choose instead to focus on the fact that Mik now knows where I am. Grinning with happiness at the thought of their plans unravelling so quickly, I decide to taunt them. If I can further shake Brendan’s confidence, maybe I can give Mik an edge.
“You’re absolutely screwed, you know that?” I state boldly, sniping at them both. “Mik’s going to kill you both!”
My recently damaged spirit has risen from its temporary defeat. My lethal fiancé will tear both men limb from limb for touching me and that’s before my father and the MC gets involved. They are in for a world of pain. Stu’s head whips towards me in disbelief but Brendan ignores my barbs, instead grabbing me by the arm and dragging me out of the room. I punch him in the chest and drop to my knees to slow him down, struggling wildly. Mik is coming so I want to be somewhere that he can get to me.
“Don’t even think about it, Lainey. He’s getting nowhere near you ever again. I’m your man. Always have been and always will be. Your first man and your only man. He won’t even breathe the same air as you again so if I hear you mention him once more, you’re not going to like the consequences!” Brendan warns me as he grabs a handful of my hair to subdue my attack on him.
Gasping at the stinging radiating through my scalp, I try my best to let his crazy speech wash over me. He’s still as delusional as ever about our previous relationship. He still thinks he can tell me how to feel and control me with nasty words and never ending threats. I refuse to let him do it again.
Brendan gives up trying to drag me by my hair, instead slapping me and then swinging me like a rag doll over his shoulder. He strides into his bedroom with me kicking and screaming and pummelling his back with my fists. He throws me on the bed as he kicks the door shut behind us. I curl into a ball, keeping my eyes on him and trying to ignore the jolts of pain rocketing through my body as the bed bounces from my inelegant landing.
Locking the door, Brendan puts the key in his pocket and smirks at me. He knows I won't willingly touch him to get the key. I want to slap the smugness right off his face.
Striding over to the window, he presses a button. A shiny silver electric shutter starts lowering down the outside of the window. I’m shocked to notice that it’s not quite dark outside. It feels like the middle of the night, not dusk. I’ve only been trapped here for a little over an hour even though it feels like an eternity.
He turns to look at me once the shutter has lowered. The look on his face is one of lewd intent. I know this look well and it has me struggling to sit up on the bed so I can stop him.
“Back off,” I tell him. “I’m going to scream at the top of my lungs if you touch me again. Someone will hear me.”
“Go a
head.” He smirks, stalking towards the bed. “I had this room soundproofed just for you. We both know about your inability to keep quiet when you’re told. It was the cause of all my trouble last time.”
He’s referring to my screams bringing Mik and my twin Benji running into my room to bring an end to our horrific last night together. That night was the last time I had seen him until this afternoon. His guilty plea spared me the ordeal of testifying against him when his case finally made it to court nearly two years after his final attack on me.
My mind returns unbidden to that horrible night—a night I try to never think about—and I shiver, my heart pounding as the awful memories overwhelm me. I don’t want to be anywhere near Brendan again. I’m much stronger than I was back then but even the new me is going to find it hard to survive his twisted version of love. I need to escape as soon as possible.
Brendan sits down next me. I scurry to the other side of the king-sized bed but he reaches out and pulls me towards him by my ankle. Gently picking me up and placing me in his lap, he starts kissing me tenderly, murmuring between kisses about how he has missed me, telling me that he still loves me and forgives me for sending him to hell. I drag my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around them, keeping my lips pressed together in futile resistance of the gentle onslaught of his tongue. I’m shocked at his sudden tenderness and it reminds me of the first time he kissed me, long before everything turned crazy.
CHAPTER THREE
Lainey
Five Years Earlier
“I’m heading out now, everything's tidied away. Can you watch Lachie for me?”
I yell at my pseudo-step mother, Wendy, as I dry my hands. I say pseudo simply because she has been like a mother to me since my own mother died when I was ten but she has never been able to get my father to marry her. My mother, Alanah, was my father’s one true love and while he’s happy to have a relationship of sorts with Wendy, he isn't able to give her all of his heart because my mother took a fair chunk of it with her when she passed away.
“Of course I can, Madelaine. Go and have fun with the rest of the kids…” Wendy scoffs at my question. Whatever else she was going to say is halted when she squeals in laughter, her delicate features lighting up, as my Dad walks past and slaps her backside. I roll my eyes at his antics. He's such an alpha male.
Waving at Dad, I walk outside before he offers to escort me wherever I'm going. My small group of girlfriends are hanging around near the kitchen waiting for me to finish tidying up and watching my little brother. I don’t need Dad’s overprotectiveness embarrassing me once again.
I live in a country town in Central Queensland, and tonight the entire district is ringing in the New Year at the town hall for the annual New Year’s Eve party. My family moved here six and a half years ago, after my mother died of cancer. We all needed a fresh start after trying to function as a family for half a year in a family home that had my mother stamped all over it. Moving here from Brisbane to a new house and a smaller town had let us all heal as well as we could.
I tell my friends that I'll meet them at the front for the fireworks after I've been to the bathroom. As I'm heading for the public bathrooms, my twin brother Benji surprises me by throwing his arm over my shoulder.
“Why are you wandering around in the bloody dark by yourself?” he questions me. “You should be with one of us. It's not right for you to be out here alone.”
“For crying out loud, I'm going to the bathroom!” I exclaim. Honestly my brothers are becoming as bad as Dad. “I’m quite capable of doing that all by myself.”
Pushing his arm from my shoulders, I quicken my pace so I can get some space between us before I lose my temper. Jogging slightly to catch up with me, he digs his fingers into my ribs from behind and tickles me. Squirming and trying not to laugh because I'm ridiculously ticklish, I'm forced to come to a stop when it becomes too much. Benji turns me to face him, red-faced with laughter.
“Alright, I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone for now. You know I'm right though.” He winks at me, seeking a truce. Rolling my eyes in response to his bossiness gives me a small bit of satisfaction, diluting my irritation with him to a manageable level.
“What do you want, Benji?”
“I wanted to see if you're coming to Kyle’s tonight. It's gonna be wicked.”
“I'll think about it.”
Placated that I might make an appearance at his best friend's party, Benji jogs off backwards.
“Make sure you do, Maddi. It'll be good for you to get your nerdy nose out of a book for once.”
After he turns to jog away, I poke my tongue at his back. He's right, I should go hang out for once. Schools out and I need a break from studying. I just need to wrangle permission from our Dad first.
Our father is known as Beast and is a senior member of a well-known motorcycle club. As his only daughter, I’m a protected species and off limits to most males. Most men will only look at me anyhow, because they know my father, brothers, and any other man belonging to the MC will kick their ass if they mess with me.
I have four brothers. My twin Benjamin who was seventeen two weeks ago like me; a nearly sixteen year old brother Joel who is becoming as overprotective of me as Dad and Benji; my nerdy twelve year old brother Matthew; and little ten year-old Lachlan who I swear thinks I’m his mom. We all look out for each other, probably taking it to the extreme sometimes.
Dad’s over protectiveness towards me also stems from the fact that I am nearly a carbon copy of my gorgeous mother. I’m taller than every woman I know with long naturally blonde hair, skin that tans easily and bright blue eyes. I developed early and have curves to match my height, which I hate. One of my biggest wishes is that I was petite and dainty like Wendy.
When Benji wants to be an arsehole—which is most of the time lately—he calls me Malibu Barbie. It always results in me beating on him but he doesn't stop. It kills me to admit it, but he’s right. I’m kind of naturally sexy looking and slightly Barbie-like. I have been since reaching puberty at eleven. This used to cause me a lot of problems because men assumed I was older than I was and tried to take liberties they wouldn’t otherwise. Hence the overprotective father and brothers who feel the need to save me from everyone.
Their overzealousness is now more annoying than it is helpful since I’m quite capable of taking care of myself nowadays. I was taught long ago how to defend myself by my father’s godson and now fellow MC member. Mik is twenty-five to my seventeen, my best friend, and sometimes another overprotective brother to contend with.
As fellow Club brats we’ve grown up together, our parents being best friends and both of our Dad’s second generation bikers. Mik’s mother died just before mine and we bonded over that plus our mutual love of all things Harley. I know our relationship seems weird to outsiders but I’m mature for my age and we just get each other. I'm actually pretty pissed at him for not coming to celebrate with us tonight and I texted him earlier to let him know just that.
Lost in my thoughts about overprotective fathers, annoying brothers and missing best friends, I don’t notice someone crossing the path in front of me until I plow into them. Since I was walking quite quickly, eager to get back to my girlfriends and have some fun, I hit them with enough speed to knock them over.
As they fall, they grab my arm to steady themselves and I end up being pulled to the ground with them. My breath rushes from my lungs as I land on top of the person. Whomever I knocked over is nearly as hard as the concrete path they’d hit. I'm momentarily winded so I rest my head on their chest trying to get my breath back.
“Please excuse me, I am so sorry.” A deep, velvety smooth voice says. “I didn’t see you coming.”
I look up from the chest I’m resting on and into the dark brown eyes of Brendan Taylor, our districts most eligible bachelor and renowned manwhore. Wonderful, I think to myself with sarcasm and mentally rolling my eyes, the only man in this area you're even remotely attracted to and you knock him to the ground like
he tried to steal your purse. That’s not at all embarrassing.
Bracing my hands either side of him so I can get to my feet, I'm forced to stop when he puts his hands around my waist and holds me to him. My shirt has ridden up so when he grabs me he touches bare skin. My skin sparks and catches fire where his fingers touch. I feel him take a quick intake of breath as if touching me affects him as well.
“Are you okay?” he inquires, concern evident in his gorgeous eyes. “We hit pretty hard.”
I wriggle in his grasp so he gets the hint to let me go. Once he releases me I roll off him and onto my knees, breathing deeply in and out a few times, before I stand and answer him. “I’m fine, are you alright?”
I reach down to help pull him off the ground. He holds my hand in a soft grasp but doesn’t use my offered assistance to pull himself up. Once he’s standing, I have to take a step back as he’s at least five inches taller than me and standing so closely that I can’t look him in the face without dislocating my neck. With his close proximity I can smell his cologne and it’s one of the most delicious scents I have ever smelled.
“I’m fine as well.” He laughs ruefully, still clasping my hand. I tug my hand away twice but he doesn't let go. Instead he rubs his thumb over my knuckles as he speaks. “Or at least I will be if you’d be kind enough to get this crap off my back for me.”
He finally lets go of my hand when he turns around and presents me with his back. He does have a few leaves and small sticks stuck to the back of his blue dress shirt. Standing on my tiptoes I brush the debris off of him, starting from his wide shoulders and working my way down to his trim waist. I work as quickly as I can because touching him is doing funny things to my stomach.
“All done.”
I try to speak to him in a calm manner but the breathy and higher than usual pitch of my voice sabotages my attempt. My legs are wobbly. I don't know if I feel like this because of our fall or if it's Brendan’s proximity. My money is on the latter, even though I'm trying to deny it to myself.
Seizing Control Page 3