by Haley Ladawn
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m just going to sleep…” His blue eyes blinked shut as his footsteps faltered against the floor. Elliot was quick to support him with all of his body weight, refusing to let him fall down.
Everet rested his head on Elliot’s wide shoulder, murmuring a lullaby that made no sense. His eyes fell shut slowly and somehow peacefully. He looked like a fallen angel with broken wings. He was falling, but luckily, he had someone there to catch him. He had a brother that cared about him.
So, Elliot did have feelings?
“Don’t look so upset, gattina.” Elliot shattered my thoughts, as he carried his brother out of the room. He didn’t even look back at me. Not even once. “We’ll finish our business later. Have a bubble bath while I’m gone.”
“I’ll drown myself,” I muttered underneath my breath, wondering if that was really an option.
***
The sun was starting to set when I heard heavy footsteps approaching from outside of the bathroom. The person on the other side of the door hesitated before coming in. It was almost like they were giving me a warning before opening the door to make sure that I was decent or something.
When the door finally opened, Elliot was standing in the threshold with a keen knife in his hand. It wasn’t an ordinary kitchen knife. This thing was designed to kill and it had just been sharpened.
“How was your day?” he had the audacity to ask with a half-smile.
“I was tied to towel rack.” I let out a dramatic sigh, looking up at my limp wrists. There was a tint of purple to them due to the lack of blood flow. I winced as the slightest movement sent a sharp sting of pain through my arm.
“Are you uncomfortable?” He pulled the leather jacket he was wearing off his broad shoulders, exposing a tight white t-shirt that clung to his muscles. “I could make you feel better. I could make you feel good.”
The cheekiness in his voice made me want choke him with his own rope. If only I could get my hands free…
“Untie me first and then we’ll see.” I lowered my voice, trying to sound more mature and sexy. My eyes were still on the gleaming edge of the knife as he twirled it around in his calloused hands. If he untied me, I could try to overpower him and grab the knife. It was a long shot, but I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“I’ll think about it, fiorella.” He pulled the white t-shirt over his head, revealing the toned ridges of his chest. His fingers trailed to the button of his black jeans, undoing them slowly. He wasn’t paying much attention to me now, but my gaze was stuck on him perpetually. I couldn’t look away, but did I really want to?
“Elliot, please untie me.” I tried once more, hoping he would reconsider it. My hands were beginning to fall asleep, and I wasn’t safe as long as I was restrained.
He groaned in exasperation and then his pants hit the ground in one fluid motion. My gaze intensified as he stepped out of the material, trying not to focus on the way his boxers hugged him so tight in all the right ways.
“Please doesn’t work for me,” he growled seductively, looking down at me through his thick, sooty eyelashes. “Get on your knees and beg.”
I bit the inside of my jaw, feeling a little uneasy about his request. He was standing in front of me, looking down on me. He was so close, but so far away at the same time.
“I’ll get on my knees.” I bent down cautiously as far as the rope would let me. It was a good thing that I had long arms and legs. “But I won’t beg.”
“Is that so?” He ran his finger along his jaw, tightening his grip around the knife. “I believe I can make you beg, yes?”
I thought I was about to get stabbed to death, but he just turned the water on until it was pouring over me. It would’ve been relaxing had it not been so fucking cold.
“T-t-turn it off!” I shook my head, shivering uncontrollably. My teeth chattered against each other and I couldn’t help but wish that my arms were free so that I could wrap them around myself to keep warm.
“I make the demands here.” He bit down on his bottom lip, hiding a dangerous smile. “If you want me to untie you, beg for it.”
There was no way in hell I was begging for anything! That would just embarrass me more. He already saw me as a dog, and begging would only make him think less of me. It was a messed-up game, but I knew what he was doing. I had another idea. A dirty one.
“I won’t ask you again.” I glanced at him through my thick set of my lashes, biting down on my bottom lip. He was looking down on me, completely amused by my helplessness. “I can’t give you a hand job if my hands are tied above my head.”
There was a sudden spark in his eyes as he leaned closer to me, seeming to consider my offer. He warmed the water slowly, accepting my little slither of submission. The knife moved to my throat, and stayed there for an eerie amount of time. When I finally blinked, he moved the knife to the rope that bound my hands together, cutting me free.
I went to stand up, but he pushed me back down forcefully. “Not so fast, puttana.”
I don’t know what prompted me to do so, but I grabbed him by the arms, pulling him into the shower with me. He dropped the knife outside of the shower, but he didn’t care to retrieve it. He probably thought he could overpower me if he needed to and he was right about that. If I would’ve went for the blade, he would’ve gotten to it before I did. It was closer to him than it was to me.
But I could distract him… and then maybe just maybe…
“I get to say how fast we go.” I took all of the authority in the room with those eight words. Placing my palm over his boxers, I gripped his monstrous bulge with a skintight grasp. It was almost a little too tight. I thought I was on the verge of hurting him, but he groaned in pleasure. He liked the pain. I released him when I realized how much he was enjoying this.
His hand gripped the towel rack I had just been tied to, turning his knuckles white from all the pressure he was putting on it.
“Continue.”
It wasn’t a suggestion, more like a command. Wearily, I tightened my grip around the bulge in his boxers, wondering how this wasn’t affecting him so much. There wasn’t even any skin to skin contact going on. This was the only power I seemed to have over him and I wanted more of it.
His head tilted back as I pulled his boxers down with shaky, unskilled fingers. He was growing harder as I pulled the fabric down lower. It popped out like a jack in the box and it was huge. I didn’t even think I could wrap my hands around it without struggling.
I ignored the tingle that shot up my legs as I took him into my wet palms. I jerked him back and released slowly, repeating the motions. I could feel his cock swell in my hands, still not fully erect, but my hands were doing an impressive job of persuading him to get there.
His black hair was soaked from the shower where his head rested against the wall. I focused more on him, instead of the task. I didn’t want to be enjoying this, but a part of me liked seeing him like this. At a loss for words, drowned in water and pleasure. Little rasps of moans escaped his parted lips as his jaw clenched tightly, causing me to grasp him harder. I ran my fingers over the base of him, working his head carefully.
“Fuck, fiorella,” he groaned in a masculine, throaty voice, tightening his grip around the towel rack, causing it to creak. If he kept this up, it could break at any moment. I could use it as a weapon. “Your hands are so soft…”
He let out an erotic moan as I increased my speed. I waited patiently for him to release. He needed to get lost in the moment, and that’s when I would run. The moment when his hips would arch and his eyes would roll into the back of his head. He wouldn’t be focused on me, and I would have a head start. That was my master plan.
A few moments later, he tensed and I knew it was coming.
When it happened, he gripped the towel rack so tight that it came unhinged from the wall. It hit the ground, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was lost in his own pleasure-filled world. It made me feel less guilty about the pain that was sure to f
ollow.
In the heat of the moment, I grabbed the hard towel rack from the ground and I did the unthinkable.
I busted Elliot in the head with it and took off running. I could literally hear the metal rack connect with his skull.
In the process of running for my life, I heard something loud hit the ground and I realized that he must’ve slipped and fell. It was like God was looking out for me, despite the hellish thing I’d just done to get free. I ran through a maze of long halls and down a flight of stairs, aware that I was leaving a wet path for someone to follow. I needed to get the hell out of here and fast. He would kill me if he found me… unless I killed him first.
Had I hit him hard enough to take his life?
I was rushing toward two giant oak doors, that I’m sure lead outside, when someone pulled me back by my hair. They yanked me back so fast that I almost stumbled and tripped. There was a blade at my throat and a gun at the back of my head. I couldn’t believe that there were two people behind me. I didn’t even hear one person sneak up on me.
One of them clicked the gun back and said, “Not so fast, fiorella. I told you it’s disrespectful to leave without saying goodbye.”
Chapter 10: Bang Bang
Crystal chandeliers hung high from tall ceilings, glistening in the passing sunlight that protruded through the glass windows. It was the only view I had while I was being dragged down a long hallway, silently praying that my life wasn’t going to end this way.
I thought there had only been two people behind me, but I was wrong. There were two men, and a woman with a hoarse voice, in my presence. Between the cracking and brassiness of her voice, I knew it was Elisa. She sounded like she was in more pain than I was. Hearing her cries of terror sent my head spinning around in blurry circles. My entire world had been turned upside down.
I didn’t only have to worry about saving myself. I had to worry about saving her too…
I should have known Elliot wouldn’t let my best friend go free. She was a liability to him, just like I was. Elisa would’ve gone to the police if I hadn’t returned. She was crazy, neurotic, and a little unbalanced, but she was a good friend to me.
“Pulling hair is a bitch move!” I growled viciously, biting down on my lip to distract myself from the sharp pain that was surging through my body.
Elliot pulled my hair harder, chuckling at the discomfort it seemed to cause. His laugh was so stirring and haunting, managing to send quaint chills up my spine. “Still not as bad as getting bashed in the head with a towel rack.”
“I guess I didn’t hit you hard enough.” I scoffed irritably, tightening my palms into hard fists. Despite my line of sight being narrow and my vision blurry, I decided to swing on him with all of the strength I could muster.
Ka-pow! Bam! Boom!
All I hit was air…
“Missed me, missed now you got to kiss me.” He pressed his lips into the nape of my neck, biting me hard enough to cause a simple sting of pain. “Bring out your thorns, fiorella. I want you to hurt me.”
I scowled when he tugged me into a dark, uninviting room. I couldn’t see anything when the door was shut behind me, but I could hear Elisa whimpering. The weight of heavy footsteps ground against the polished floors. Suddenly, I didn’t care about anything other than her. She was here with me. Thank God, they hadn’t separated us.
“Sit down, little girl.” He pushed me into a leather chair with force, knocking the wind right out of me. I was about to stand up, when I felt the cold barrel of a gun rest against my back. I was almost familiar with this grim sensation. It didn’t seem as frightening as it once had been and that made my heart stop.
One should never become familiar with these kinds of things. If you do, it’s probably too late for you to save yourself. Feeling my stomach turn, I had a nauseating feeling that I was already in too deep to get myself out. I needed to be excavated out of this mess.
“Hit the lights,” Elliot said to someone in the corner of the room. Slowly, the room was illuminated in a golden haze. I had to blink a few times in order to adjust to the brightness. I had grown accustomed to the darkness, so the light burned the back of my eyes.
I was surprised by the décor of the room; an open space with a dark color scheme that made it seem masculine. There was a bar and a pool table in one corner, and a large desk in the other. Seats and coffee tables surrounded the desk, making it look like a home office.
Sports memorabilia hung on the high walls right beside as an arsenal of weapons. They were mostly sub-machine guns with a few simpler handguns in the mix. On the other side of the firearms, stood a vast assortment of knives, katanas, and other blades in sleek cases.
“How often do you bring girls into the man cave? I’m honored that you let me in,” I said sarcastically, trying to buy time until I could come up with a new escape plan. “What are we going to do down here? Are going to play a game?”
“Maybe,” Elliot replied grimly, his lips tightening into a dangerous smile.
“What kind of game?” I drew my eyebrows together inwardly, biting down on my lip. “Pool? Monopoly? Go Fish? Uno? Guess Who?”
“I prefer strip poker.” He shrugged, stepping in front of me slowly. He threw the gun across the room haphazardly, and someone behind me caught it. In the haste of things, he pulled out a silver knife from his breast pocket. He twirled it around like it was a baton, placing his palm on mine. His touch was warm and inviting, as he coiled his fingers around my own. It took me only seconds to realize what he was doing. He was holding my freaking hand!
“I’m going to cut your fingers off one-by-one. That way, you can never give someone a bad hand job again.”
“That’s what you call a bad hand job?” I raised my eyebrows, feeling rather offended at his personal jab. “You were moaning like a killer whale, and there’s come all over this lingerie! It’s certainly not mine!”
“Gross! That’s disgusting!” A zealous voice pierced my ears, completely shattering my eardrums. It was a woman and she didn’t sound too happy. “He ejaculated on her and I touched her. I touched his sperm.”
“I’m sure you’ve swallowed it before.” Another voice was added into the mix, making my ears heighten with awareness. How many people were in this room?
“Screw you!” the woman replied harshly, her tone shifting toward rage.
“You already have, turchino. Plenty of times.” The man purred back as a moan followed his words. It was enough to make you think they were having sex right before our eyes. I cocked my head back to see what was going on between these two strangers. Whom I saw made my mouth hit the floor.
Everet had Elisa pinned up against the wall with her legs wrapped around his long torso. She ran her fingers through his blonde hair, properly fucking it up. Her free hand was tightened around a small gun that fit perfectly in her palm. Her head was tilted back as he planted violent kisses on her exposed neck. She was biting down on her lip, mixed with pleasure and pain, whereas I was in all pain.
It was then when I realized Elisa hadn’t been whimpering. She had been moaning. She still was.
I shot up from where I was sitting. To my surprise, Elliot didn’t even try to stop me. He had his back pressed against the wall, leaning back with a steady gaze, as if he was enjoying the view. I glared at him and he looked back at me with amusement lightening his blue eyes.
“What is going on here?” I questioned all three of them, feeling my temperature rise. To say I was confused would be an understatement. My eyes fell on Elisa, figuring she’d be the first to answer my questions. “Why the hell are you straddling my kidnapper’s accomplice?”
Her legs fell to the floor while she pushed Everet away in a frantic motion. He grabbed onto her waist, pulling her back to his muscled chest. He rested his head on her shoulder, neglecting to let her go. “You said you were going to give her a blindfold! She wasn’t supposed to see me, you asshole!”
Elliot laughed at the redness in Elisa’s cheeks. His lips even curled in
to a corrupted smile, showing his clean, white teeth.
“This isn’t pin the tail on the donkey, puttana.” He shook his head, his hair falling against his face again. He wiped his brow carefully, sighing. “I’m not going to blindfold your friend. She needs to see what a traitor you are.”
“I hate you!” She gave him the bird, tilting her head back to glance at Everet’s eyes.
She looked at him with affection and admiration. It made me sick. It wasn’t just lust… it was love. Corrupted, wicked love.
“Would you break up with me if I killed him?” Elisa asked Everet with sulky eyes.
“I wouldn’t break up with you.” He tapped her nose playfully. “I’d kill you too, turchino. Family comes first. Always.”
Her cheeks stayed aflame, while a look of animosity darkened her golden eyes. “We might as well be family! I’ve been with you for years. Does that not mean anything to you, or am I just another one of your whores?”
“Well, you did just suck my cock after you patched up my wounds.” He let out a belittling laugh, as she pushed herself away from him forcefully. “Don’t be upset, baby. I’ll return the favor when I’m not internally bleeding.”
“The hell if you will!” She aimed the gun at his lower regions, clicking the trigger back with an eerily steady hand. She had used a gun before. “Talk to me like that again, and I’ll shoot your dick off!”
“You love it too much to do that.” He smirked at her and that sent her over the edge.
She threw the gun on the ground, and took off running in the opposite direction. I thought I could hear her crying, but I was too focused on the gun that was spinning around on the marble floor to care. It was coming my way, and I knew what I had to do. Within a matter of seconds, I was running toward the gun.
I beat Elliot to the gun by a good ten steps. His tailored business suit constricted against his body, making it harder for him to move.