by A. M. Wilson
I turn to look through the grimy window as an idea strikes and can just make out the painful glance Reece sends my way.
“Shove your pity in your pocket, baby. I’ve got a question,” I say as I cross the room.
“Did you get the silence you needed to solve your problem?”
“What are the odds she’s watching us right now?”
He sucks in a breath through his teeth. “Probably pretty high. Why?”
“Do you still remember the thing Mrs. Keene taught us in tenth-grade study hall?” I raise my hand in front of my chest and sign A, B, C to demonstrate. It’ll be slow going, but I need to ask him this question before she comes back.
“Shit, Dani. It’s fuzzy, but I can try.”
I move slow as not to draw too much attention if she is watching and spell out my question.
Does she have separate remotes for our collars?
His eyes flash to mine. “ I think so.”
I spell again.
Can’t shock us both.
“That’s stupid. Absolutely not.” He registers my meaning immediately.
I hold my finger to my lips to tell him to shut the fuck up. I touch my collar and use my thumb to point at my chest, hoping he reads my meaning. Then I spell, you attack.
Our eyes lock through the pane separating us as I will him to understand my plan. If she goes for the remote, she’s going to shock me full blast. That’s been her game since we arrived. She takes pleasure from our pain, and for some reason, mine makes her particularly gleeful. If I can withstand the shock for long enough, Reece can tackle her. She won’t have time to get the other remote.
For the first time, Reece raises his hand and spells one word.
Suicide.
A chance, I spell back. Then I speak. “Later.” We’ll have to wait until she brings us back together. Hopefully, she leaves us to eat like she’s done for the last few meals. We can work out our plan, and when she returns to separate us, we can attack. This is the first time since we woke up that we both have all our strength. What she has planned next might just render one or both of us incapacitated. For good. This may be our only shot.
A creak of the door sounds from the other side. My heart leaps in my throat. She’s returned to bring Reece back to me. I watch through the window as Bolt enters his room.
“You’re in for a treat, pretty boy.” She walks to the trapdoor and opens it. “You know the drill. Crawl.”
Bolt treats Reece like her own personal dog as she waits patiently for him to crawl through the open door. My heart aches and bleeds for his humiliation. We may mean nothing to each other now, but he once was my everything.
When his head emerges on my side, I take my own advice and hide any pity lingering in my smile. He wouldn’t want it. Especially not from me.
It only takes moments for Bolt to walk back around to my door and come inside. By then, Reece towers beside me at his full height. Bolt remains unfazed. I zero in at the remote in her hand. I’d bet money on it being the one that controls me and not Reece.
“You look energetic.” She grins at me. The joy she wrings from this sets fire to my blood. To chase away the fear, I begin imagining the ways I could kill her.
Bolt removes a gun from a holster at her back and aims the barrel at me as if she heard my thoughts. “Pretty boy, get on the mattress.” Her stare never leaves me.
The fingertips that trail along my lower back nearly startle me. Reece’s warm touch brings a slight comfort to our fucked-up situation as my nerves increase for what’s to come.
Bolt cocks her head. “You’re learning. Unfortunately, a little compliance won’t make it any easier, but I enjoy the effort.”
“Fuck you,” I spit on his behalf.
“Not my type, sweetie.” She jerks her head at Reece. “Get over there.”
I don’t need her to spell it out for me. Returning to the mattress gives a clear signal of what’s about to happen, and we’re powerless to stop it. I swallow thickly and prepare my headspace for her to force Reece on me again.
Reece moves toward the middle as I near. The raw pain in his eyes settles somewhere deep inside me. He fears having to touch me again, and I’m sure my expression reflects the same. I know he doesn’t want this. I know it’s not of his own free will. I don’t blame him even though I know he hates himself right now.
I slowly descend to my knees on the edge of the mattress.
“Like two virgin lovers.” Bolt giggles, still pointing the gun at me. She removes a pair of handcuffs from her back pocket and throws them at me with her other hand. I manage to catch them just before they hit me in the face.
“Secure him to the pipe.”
I hope the shake in my hand isn’t obvious when I reach out and willingly touch Reece for the first time in twenty years. I circle his wrist in one hand. It’s so thick my fingers can’t meet on the underside. With the other, I click the cold metal into place.
“I-uh…” I clear my throat. “You need to move higher. To the pipe.”
His powerful gaze remains pinned on my face while I do everything in my control not to look at him. I can’t see what emotion is there, or I just might break. With him handcuffed to a fucking pole, I can’t break. I’m nearly as vulnerable as when she keeps us separated. There’s nobody to help me here.
Reece digs his heels into the mattress and forces his large body a few inches higher. I walk on my knees nearer to his head and drop to sit on my heels.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper while I thread the handcuff behind the pole.
“Don’t,” Reece answers in a gruff voice.
The heat of his bare chest seeps into the soft cotton of his shirt I still wear as I reach for his other wrist. He gets the hint and raises it above his head.
“Whatever I have to do to you, or whatever you have to watch me do, I’m sorry.” I can’t control the vibration of my voice this time. I’m fucking terrified. The click of the second handcuff locking into place reverberates inside me like a warning.
He strains his neck off the mattress as he tries to catch my eyes, but I still can’t look at him.
“Now what?” I ask the bitch with the gun.
“Now you get to thank him for fucking you back to life.”
“Spell it the fuck out.”
She tsks. “We’re going to put that mouth of yours to good use.”
“What?” The muscles in my body lock. She can’t be implying….
“You’re going to suck his fat cock until he comes.”
“No,” I whisper as my stomach drops away. “Torture me again. Pour water on me. Please, not this.”
My pleading only makes her laugh harder. “You didn’t beg this much when he fucked you. What’s wrong? Don’t like the taste of cock?”
“I was half dead at the time!” I can’t keep the distressed cry inside.
“If you don’t do this, you’ll be fully dead, bitch.”
“Fine!” I launch myself off the mattress toward her. Reece kicks out his leg and knocks me off balance, sending me crashing to the unyielding floor. My palms connect and save my face from kissing the concrete, but my knee crashes full force. His shout mixes with my cry of pain.
The metal handcuffs clank against the pipe. “Don’t hurt her! She’ll do it, just don’t fucking hurt her.”
The barrel meets my temple. “Well? You ready to die, or are you going to give in?”
I swallow hard. A shudder races down my spine. It’s not that I find Reece repulsive—it’s the opposite. When we were teens, I loved to give him head. For a year before we decided to have sex, I would blow him any chance I could, and he’d reciprocate. She’s about to take away one of the last remaining good memories I had of him.
“I’ll choose for you then. Pretty boy, say good night to your girlfriend.”
“No!” Reece hollers in an agonized voice that steals everyone’s attention. His body twists and thrashes on the bed as he uses all this strength to yank against the pipe. The skin fr
om his forehead to his belly button flushes red with exertion while the veins in his neck fill with blood.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
My heart pounds like a jackhammer at the grief-stricken image before me. I can’t leave him. Not like this. Never like this.
“I’ll do it,” I snap before she pulls the trigger.
Everyone goes still. Reece’s out-of-breath panting is the only sound in the room.
“Goddammit, Dani,” he chokes out.
Not giving Bolt a second to change her mind or entertain herself another way, I crawl back over to the mattress. The knee that caught the ground screams at me with each ounce of pressure. I straddle his upper thighs and undo the buttons of his jeans. As I peel away the denim, I glance down at the part of him I was once intimately familiar with. Another piece of him that’s changed. He digs his heels in and lifts his hips so I can lower his jeans below his ass.
Bolt steps up beside us, and I nearly throw my body on top of him to cover him from her lecherous eyes.
“Hot,” she coos and holds out a plastic bottle of water. “Clean him off first so you don’t gag the entire time. I’m not into that shit.”
I uncap the bottle and slowly dump it on him without ceremony. He jolts as the water hits.
I stroke a few times as I rinse with the stream of water, feeling triumphant as he begins to harden. Not because I want it to be enjoyable. If he comes quickly, our punishment will be over. Using the hem of my shirt, I haphazardly wipe it away and mentally shut down as I prepare to do my task.
Reece’s quads grow taut as steel beneath me as I lower my face. I try to approach from a clinical angle, ignoring the weight of him in my hand and the musky taste. After a few short bobs, my mouth waters and my saliva diminishes the flavor to something more palatable. No matter how hard I try, I can’t fully suppress who this person is and what I’m doing to him.
And how much I used to enjoy doing it.
I set to work with long, suctioned strokes and squeeze my eyes shut, praying it ends soon.
Moans muffled through tight lips and clenched teeth reach my ears as the minutes drag on. His hips buck on one upward stroke, and I brace for the moment he’s about to come so this can be over.
I pick up the pace and add a little tongue action around the head to encourage him to finish as a burst of salty precum touches my tongue.
“Stop,” Bolt commands.
I cease moving with confusion, and Reece’s swollen cock falls from between my lips. Not looking at the bright red head is difficult when we were so close to the finish.
“Didn’t think it’d be that easy, did you?”
Of course her twisted little game has another secret set of rules. My fists curl at my sides, and I dig my nails into the fleshy part of my palm as a distraction. I catch my breath and wet my lips without looking Reece in the eye. His legs twitch beneath me, and the mattress moves with his heavy breaths.
“Go ahead. Start again.” Bolt gets comfortable leaning against the wall. I stare her down, not wanting to be her pawn anymore.
“Now!” she screeches and waves the remote at me. “You don’t want me to shock you while you have his dick in your mouth, or you might just bite the fucking thing off.”
She isn’t wrong. I can imagine Reece’s grimace without even looking at him. I avoid his gaze and take him into my hand to begin again. Within minutes of taking him into my mouth, my jaw begins to ache after not having much of a break.
“Look at me, Dani,” he grits out.
I subtly shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut.
“Dani,” he groans, the sound a mixture of pleasure and pain. He’s fighting it as much as he’s trying to speed things up. It doesn’t matter. Bolt will make us continue until she’s pleased.
A sudden wave of tears crest and flow over my cheekbones. Some drop straight down onto my hand, where I grasp him. The salty drops mingle with my saliva, and I taste them. I taste my anger and my despair and my shame. Shame, because a tingle begins in the space between my thighs unbidden. I squeeze them subtly. Rather than relief, I encounter the rock-hard masses of Reece’s thighs beneath me, and that turns me on more.
“Please, please look at me,” he grunts between pants. The handcuffs rattle against the pipe as he fights to reach me.
I give in. Fuck her and her stupid games. Fuck this situation. Fuck Reece, even, for making me hate him as much as I used to love him.
Dirty strands of my hair stick to my wet cheeks as I gaze up at him with a mouth stuffed with his cock and swollen, red eyes. I don’t stop sucking him in fear that she’ll actually be insane enough to shock me.
His anguish hits me like a semi-truck as his shame co-mingles with mine. It’s stark in his dark eyes as I’m sure he can read in mine. He’s aroused. And if he’s feeling anything like I am, he doesn’t want to enjoy it, but he is.
We’re probably as sick in the head as this bitch is.
“Stop.” Bolt’s timing is near perfect as Reece stiffens. I wrench myself off him with a choking gasp.
We’re given thirty seconds of reprieve, then the cycle starts again.
Reece loses control with each new round. He reaches the peak quicker, and his filter becomes nonexistent.
“It’s only you and me,” he starts talking around the fifth or sixth time I’ve started over. The ache between my legs grows to impossible levels. The crotch of my underwear is soaked. I lean forward to keep it from touching his jeans-covered thighs.
“You’re doing such a good job, baby.”
A shudder races from the crown of my head to my tailbone.
“Just like that. Look at me, Dani,” he commands.
I raise my head immediately. My willpower is shot from the humiliation and the arousal coursing through me. I look at him with hunger and pain in my eyes as he gazes down at me. His arms shake from where he grips the pole behind his head. His tan, bare torso invites me to crawl up his body, lay my head on his chest, sink onto him so deep, and ride him until we both find relief.
“Just you and me. You’re so good at sucking cock.”
I can’t stop the groan that rumbles from my chest. Reece reciprocates with one of his own as he nears the peak again.
“Enough.” Bolt stops us again.
He falls from my mouth as I suck in a greedy breath. I can’t do it again. I won’t.
She looks at Reece. “Buck up, stallion. Fuck her to the finish line, and you can be done.”
Neither of us hesitates. Least of all will the shame stop us. Reece crosses his arms to turn over and grip the pole, rising to his shaky knees. His cock stands huge and purple-ish red, protruding from his waist and beckoning me forward. I don’t waste any time crawling in front of him and sliding my underwear to the side. I’m grateful his massive body blocks me from Bolt’s perch against the wall as I reach between my spread legs and grip his cock.
“Put me in you,” he growls throatily in my ear as his chin comes to rest on my shoulder.
I guide him to my center. The moment the tip touches my slick heat, he thrusts and seats himself to the root. I grab onto his arm in front of me for balance as I try to hold in the gasps and moans, but it’s impossible with how good it feels to be full and stretched after what feels like hours of sexual torture.
There’s no build. Reece’s ruts are animalistic. He chases what he’s been denied, and I’m right there with him for the climb. He doesn’t stop until he’s moaning in my ear and slamming his cock so deep he’s against my cervix. The throb as he comes sets off an orgasm so intense, my vision turns white. I splinter apart and sink my teeth into his forearm to stifle my scream.
We collapse together into a sweaty heap on the dirty mattress. He slips free, and I adjust my underwear. Seems stupid after what we just allowed ourselves to do, but I’ll be damned if I let Bolt see more of me than she forces me to.
Silence stretches between us. Finally, I regain enough energy to look around the room.
It’s empty.
Bo
lt left us. We were so into chasing our pleasure that we didn’t even notice.
“She’s gone,” I mumble somewhat sleepily. My energy is zapped, but I don’t want to sleep. My mind races as I try to figure out what just happened. “She left you handcuffed.”
Reece doesn’t answer me. I turn back to him to find he’s staring at the wall. He’s shutting down from the shame.
“Don’t do that. Don’t hide from me.”
He grunts. “Just—Just give me some time.”
Rather than focus on the way that sentence makes my heart feel—rejected—I think about what’s next to come. If Bolt doesn’t take Reece out of the handcuffs soon, our last hope of getting out of here is gone. My plan won’t work if he’s chained and under control, and I won’t escape without him.
Not a damn thing could force me to leave him behind.
18
Reece
Hearing the lock on the door disengage, I tense and quickly move from one side of the door to the other. Dani and I have already concluded that Bolt must have cameras in the room, so I’m sure she saw me standing against the wall to the right of the door before she came down. Moving to the other is the only element of surprise we have.
The odds of us succeeding in our attempt to escape are slim, and we’re courting major retribution if we fail, but I agree with Dani. We can’t just sit back and do nothing. We have to at least try.
After Bolt returned with food last night and she uncuffed me, Dani and I agreed to set our plan in motion at the next available opportunity. Before Bolt has a chance to diminish our chances of survival.
The door doesn’t slam against the wall like it usually does when Bolt enters one of our rooms. I’m sure she suspects we’re up to something. With Dani’s idea of signing our plan with our hands, she has no idea what.
A quick glance over at the window shows Dani peeking over the bottom ledge before she’s out of view again. Hearing a light shuffle, I focus my eyes back on the doorway. I’m positioned behind the door, so I can’t see Bolt, but I do see her shadow as she slowly inches her way into the room.