Prisoned Series Box Set

by Marni Mann

  I didn’t want to hear her questions. I sure as hell didn’t want to be tied down by one woman, especially not by two who were fucking each other. I wanted to get off and go back to the prison and listen to the screams. And, when I was in Miami, I wanted my cock to live inside them. Anal, oral, in their cunts—however I could get it. But nothing more.

  Still, I didn’t mind calling them a few times a week, sending texts, Layla filling my inbox with naked pictures of them.

  “What are you wearing?” I asked.

  Layla tilted the phone, so I could see her purple lace bra. She brought the camera down further, showing me her navel and a matching set of panties.

  “And you?” I asked the stripper.

  Her set was black, her pink nipples and pussy visible through the fabric. She touched herself, and I could almost taste the wetness on her fingers.

  “Jesus,” I groaned as Layla brought the screen back to their faces. “Go lick her cunt.”

  “Who are you talking to?” the stripper asked.

  It didn’t fucking matter. I just wanted to see a tongue on a clit and a finger inside a pussy.

  “You,” I answered, letting them figure out the roles.

  “Did you hear that?” the stripper asked just as her mouth landed on Layla’s stomach.

  It took a second before I realized they weren’t talking to me.

  “Are you expecting someone?” Layla asked her.

  “No,” the stripper said, her face moving away from Layla. “I’m going to go see who it is.”

  “What’s going on?” I said.

  “Someone’s at the door,” Layla told me.

  “Why the fuck didn’t the doorman call and notify you?”

  Worry crawled over Layla’s face. “I don’t know.”

  “He can’t just let anyone up. It’s against the goddamn rules of the building, I’d imagine. Layla…”

  She was looking past the camera, but after I said her name, she glanced at me.

  “Call downstairs and find out why he didn’t notify you.”

  “Wait, I just heard something.” The phone kept moving in her hand, zooming into different parts of her face, before she shifted again, giving me a better picture.

  “Layla, did she put any clothes on?”

  It took her a second to respond, “A robe.” Her eyes moved back and forth and widened, her breathing telling me how scared she was.

  “What the hell is going on? Do you see something? Hear something? Talk to me.”

  Bits of the room flashed by the screen, telling me she was walking. I saw the door to her bedroom and the hallway and the kitchen table.

  “Oh my God,” she gasped.

  I shot out of bed, my heart racing harder than it had felt in a long time. “Layla, listen to me. I need you to turn around, go back in your bedroom, and call the fucking police.”

  “Beard.”

  “Give me details, so I can help you. Tell me what—”

  “Beard”—there was so much terror in her voice—“whatever you do, don’t call the police.”

  “Layla—”

  I was cut off by the loudest, most perfect scream. I couldn’t tell if it had come from Layla or the stripper or both, but it pierced my ears, and it caused me to stop pacing my room. That single noise told me so much. I heard the pain, the desperation, the fight, the fear.

  “Layla, talk to me.”

  “Beard,” she cried.

  And then the phone went dead.

  I pressed her name in my call log, listening to the four rings before I got her voice mail. I tried again and again, and on the fourth time, it didn’t ring; it just went straight to her message. Whoever was there had turned off her phone.

  With my hands shaking like a motherfucker, I pulled up the Internet and searched for her building, calling the main line. The doorman or anyone who was in the lobby should pick up. But no one did.

  I stared at my phone, not liking the feeling in my stomach or the one in my chest. And then my eyes fell to the bag on my floor, knowing just inside was a set of keys that would get me through Layla’s door. She’d given them to me the last time I was there.

  Fuck this.

  I rushed down to the prison and into The Eyes where Shank and Diego were sitting at the desk, staring at the screens.

  “Where the hell is the plane?” I barked.

  They both turned around.

  “On its way here,” Diego said. “Why?”

  “I need it right now. Something’s happened to the girls, and I need to go check on them.”

  “What do you mean, something’s happened?” Shank asked.

  “Fuck, man, I don’t know,” I said, digging my nails into my shaved head. “One minute, we’re video-chatting, and the next, she’s screaming like someone is murdering her. She told me not to call the police, and now, she’s not answering the phone. I have a bad feeling about this, and the only thing that will take it away is if I go check on her.”

  The guys looked at each other, and then they glanced back at me.

  “I didn’t think you liked her that much,” Diego said.

  “I don’t. Not in that way. But you know…shit, I don’t want anything to happen to her. And I can’t…” I stopped, unable to say another word.

  Fortunately, I didn’t need to. The guys knew exactly where my head was at.

  Diego picked up his phone and tapped the screen. “Looks like the plane is about an hour away,” he said. “I’ll radio the pilots right now and let them know the plan.”

  In my head, I calculated how long it would take me to boat to the airport, the hours I’d be in the air, and how quickly I could get to their building. A commercial flight would definitely have a layover in Caracas, and that was if they even had one available right now. This was definitely the best choice.

  “I’m going to head to the airport in case they land a few minutes early.”

  “I’ll take you,” Shank replied, getting up and following me to the door.

  “Beard,” Diego said as we reached the entryway.

  I turned around. “Yeah?”

  “Call me when you get to their condo.”

  I nodded, feeling Shank right behind me, and then I heard the metal door slam.

  One of the guys must have called a transportation company because an SUV was waiting for me right outside the plane. I climbed in and gave the driver the address to Layla’s building. Once he started moving, I took out my cell and tried her a few more times. Her phone was still shut off. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t bothered to get the stripper’s number, and there was no way I could find it on the Internet.

  But I could locate her office line. I looked it up, knowing she wouldn’t be there and neither would her assistant. Still, I had to try. Within a second of the call connecting, a recording came on that told me the number had been disconnected.

  I didn’t believe it, so I tried again.

  “What the fuck?” I growled, tossing my phone across the back seat.

  When we got to the front of her building, I barely waited for the driver to slow down before I jumped out and ran through the lobby. The doorman wasn’t at the desk. I didn’t know where the hell he was, but I didn’t try to look for him. I just slammed my fist onto the elevator button and waited for it to arrive. As I got in, I hit the number to her floor and tried to be patient while it climbed.

  That fucking feeling was back in my chest again. It was a mix between a pounding and a tugging, and the closer I got to her place, the worse it felt.

  Once my hand was on her doorknob and I gently twisted it, it opened right up, not even needing the key. I flipped the light switch by the door, and I couldn’t believe what I saw.

  Her apartment had been cleaned out. There wasn’t a thing inside, not even a chandelier. All that was left were the walls, the floor, and the recessed lighting.

  This shit didn’t make any sense.

  Layla had been here earlier. I’d seen the headboard and the blanket when we video-chatte
d. I had seen her bedroom and the hallway and bits of the kitchen table. I could still smell her island scent in here.

  I walked past the kitchen and into each room off the hallway, and they were all the same—walls, floor, recessed lighting. Nothing else.

  Jesus, fuck. I had so many thoughts in my head.

  There was no way those two girls had done all this. This was a job for a moving company that could haul heavy furniture without banging into walls and denting molding.

  I tried piecing it together, at least the parts I knew.

  But, every time, I would come back to the same place.

  This was a job for a professional.

  Professionals like the guards and me. Depending on the situation, when we took possession of an inmate, we would move all their shit out and wipe the whole place clean, like the prisoner had never even lived there.

  I guaranteed, if I dusted this place, I wouldn’t find a single fingerprint. I still checked, looking at the sliding door and the mirrors and the shower. I couldn’t find a single one.

  Whoever had caused the scream had taken both girls, and somehow, I was going to find them. But I knew my timing was key. If I didn’t move fast, they’d be dead within a few days. People who took—like us—worked off a tight timeline. They covered their tracks, they got what they wanted, and then they killed.

  They weren’t going to kill those fucking girls, not if I could help it.

  I climbed back into the SUV and told the driver to take me to Layla’s office. I didn’t know why I bothered because I knew I’d find the same thing when I got there.

  And, damn it, I was right. The sign was off the door, and when I looked through the window, the entire place was empty.

  As I got back in the car, I called Shank.

  “Not good, huh?” he said.

  “Nah, man. How’d you know?”

  “I just had a feeling.”

  I heard noise in the background. A second voice, maybe a third, and some movement that told me he was walking around.

  “Is that Bond?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  I heard more shuffling and what sounded like Shank putting his hand over the speaker. Words were whispered that I couldn’t make out.

  Then, he said, “Listen, you need to come back here. Diego called your driver, so he knows the new plan.”

  “Now?” The SUV wasn’t driving toward the hotel. It looked like he was heading to the airport. “Shank, I need to stay in town for a little while and see if I can find some shit out.”

  “You need to get back here. Now.”

  I leaned forward, rubbing my hand over the knee of my jeans. “Shank, what the fuck aren’t you telling me?”

  “We’ll talk when you get here.”

  Shank disconnected the call, and I stared at the black screen.

  I knew every time Bond was scheduled to come to the prison, and I hadn’t been told about this visit. Something was definitely going on, and I hoped to hell my best friends weren’t involved.

  Thirty-Three

  Tyler

  Two Years One Day Ago

  Everything was finally in place. My suicide note was all written and zipped into the inside pocket of my purse. Jae’s apartment had everything I needed to kill myself.

  Gary knew the timeline and was ready to do what I needed him to. My bartender friend was much savvier than I’d ever expected. It’d only taken a few conversations and lots of tears to get him to open up and find out he had the capabilities to do what I was looking for. Since he was my only friend outside The Achurdy, I really had to count on him for this. After shedding all those tears, I’d molded him to my plan. It wasn’t hard. Manipulating was what I had been doing for a living since the deer skull was tattooed on my skin. I hadn’t even had to use the powder on Gary. He just wanted the best for me, no matter what that looked like. And, when I’d told him I needed to die, he’d promised he would help.

  But, now that it was going to happen tomorrow morning, it wasn’t easy to hide the sadness that filled me. Jae was moving through the kitchen, getting us each a beer to drink, and there were many things I wanted to say to him. It hurt me so much that this was going to be the last time I’d ever be in his presence. That, after I was dead, I’d never get to kiss him again. Never get to hold him. Never get to love him. Never feel the most sensitive part of his body inside mine.

  But I had no choice.

  In a matter of a week or so, my dresses would be too tight, and my stomach would start to show. Mina would know I was pregnant, and there was no way I could hide it. I was almost four months along, and the little peanut was already starting to pop out.

  Once I’d signed with The Achurdy, I never thought I’d be a mother or that it would be the reason I had to kill myself. I had known things with Jae would have to end at some point, but I hadn’t planned for it to happen this way.

  But it was the only way to be free of The Achurdy.

  Jae was going to find me.

  Gary would take my body away.

  Mina and Wynter would be notified.

  And it would all go down in the morning. Jae didn’t know it yet, but I was spending the night here. Then, once I woke up, I’d ask him to make me breakfast. Without any eggs in his fridge, he’d have to go to the store. I’d have the next twenty minutes to end my life.

  Oh God, I wished it didn’t have to be this way.

  I wished I’d made better decisions.

  I wished I had met him before The Achurdy.

  But he had come into my life when I needed him most, and we had made something beautiful together. A little Tyler or a little Jae. Whatever was in my belly was so real. Something made out of love. Something that would require so much care in order to survive.

  I couldn’t give the baby that—at least, not this way.

  It took everything I had not to start crying when he sat on the couch, put his arm around me, and pulled me against his chest.

  The lump in my throat grew even bigger when I tilted my face toward him and said, “I miss this when I’m not here.”

  It had been four weeks since I last saw him, and I’d missed him terribly during that time.

  I’d miss him even more after tomorrow.

  If that were possible. I didn’t know.

  “I miss it, too.”

  He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. His lips were so soft, despite how much scruff surrounded them. I’d have to remember that.

  He reached for the remote, and I stopped him. “Can we just cuddle and watch the fire? It’s such a cool night, and it feels so good to sit here so close to you.”

  He stared down at me for a minute and nodded. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” I lied. “The quietness just lets me hear your heartbeat.”

  “What’s it sound like?”

  He was smiling, and I knew he was teasing me.

  I took a deep breath. It made the tightness in my throat even worse. “It’s a sound I never want to forget,” I whispered.

  His grip hardened, and he kissed the top of my head. He was so warm, his arms so heavy and muscular as they encircled me. His breathing was so deep, his air almost filled me.

  I wanted to always remember his arms. His breathing. The way he felt against me.

  His heartbeat.

  When I closed my eyes tomorrow morning, Jae’s face would need to come through the darkness. He would need to get me past what I had to do. He would need to provide that comfort when I ran the knife across my wrist.

  “I love you,” I told him. I heard him start to speak, and I cut him off. “Don’t say it. It’ll hurt too much. I know how you feel. That’s enough.”

  And it was.

  Thirty-Four

  Beard

  I shut the boat’s engine off when I reached the dock and tied the rope around the tallest post. Once I knew it was secure, I climbed out and walked toward the building. I didn’t bother going into the house. I had a feeling the guys weren’t in there. So, I went straight
to the prison, using my codes to get through all the doors.

  I heard the scream as soon as I stepped inside. It was a woman’s voice, but it was too distant for it to be coming from one of the cells. The muffled noise told me she was in an OR—Shank’s, I assumed, since he was the only one who touched the girl inmates. And it sounded like he was having a hell of a time with her.

  But, when I got inside The Eyes, Shank was in there. So was Diego. Both guys faced me, as if they’d been waiting for me to come in. Even Demon was staring at me, his fucking teeth hanging over his bottom lip, making a sound that told me he was hungry.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  I hadn’t been given any more information on the flight. It had been just hours of silence from the guys. I hadn’t known what was going on at the prison, why they wanted me to come back, and why Bond had flown in. I’d thought Shank would have at least sent me something to satisfy my curiosity. But, no, I’d gotten nothing, and the wait had been brutal.

  “And where’s Bond?” I added.

  Shank dropped Demon in Diego’s lap and came over to me, putting his arm around my shoulders and leading me into the hallway. “He’s upstairs. He’ll be down in a little while.”

  “Why’d you ask me to come back?”

  He walked me past the cells and toward the ORs. “Some shit went down while you were gone.”

  “What kind of shit?”

  Shank was saying a whole lot of nothing. My best friend was usually straight to the point, and this felt like bullshit. I was the only guard who didn’t know what the hell was going on, and I couldn’t stand it.

  He stopped outside my OR and turned me to face him. “Shit only you can handle.” He unlocked the latch and pushed the cement door, so it swung open.

  As soon as I saw Layla, that fucking pain in my chest returned. But, this time, it was stronger than tugging. It felt as though my goddamn skin were being sliced open because Shank was cutting it with a chain saw.