by Kyanna Skye
She gently unlocks the padlocks, sliding an arm around him instinctively when he takes a step and stumbles. But with his large, naked body pressed against her she can’t seem to make her legs work any longer, or her brain.
“Owen, what…what happened?” Lucy finally manages to ask. He just shakes his head refusing to tell her.
“Please, just tell what happened. Maybe I can help?” They are still standing there, Lucy supporting as much of his weight as she can.
“Help?” He growls, and as she looks up into his eyes she notices for the first time just how gold they truly eye, like molten metal shining down at her. Tired one moment, but the next flashing all heat. “Help?” He repeats, and the before she can move he’s pressed even closer against her, his lips closing in on hers and for a breathless moment all she can do is stand there and let him kiss her.
It washes over her, overwhelming her with sensation and she doesn’t even notice the moan that escapes but he does. It spurs Owen on and he deepens his kiss, deepens the hypnotizing hold he seems to have over her. Lucy can’t move, can’t speak, all she can do is hold on for dear life as his mouth moves over her own in ways that have her entire body igniting. Everywhere skin brushes skin another fire is started, spreading, adding to the heat already burning them both up from the inside out.
Owen’s arms wrap around her, pulling her even closer against his body and its impossible to miss the hard erection pressing against her thigh. The intense feeling shocks her back to reality and she pulls back, breathless and more than a little alarmed. This is her employer. She had just locked him up in chains for an entire night for Christ’s sake and now she was…was…Lucy pushes away the mental image of herself pressed full bodied against Owen and taking a step back. She tried to regain a little composure but her breath is still coming in short, sawing inhales.
“Lucy, I’m so sorry. That,” Owen shakes his head as if at a loss for words, “That won’t happen again.”
She opens her mouth to say something, anything, but can’t think of a single thing. Lucy pushes back the part of her that’s disappointed at his words.
“Please accept my apology,” He pleaded, “Sometimes, after a night like last night, it’s hard for me to stay in control. It can be…overwhelming.”
“Overwhelming. Right,” Lucy breathes out the words, “Sure, apology accepted.” She helps him out of the room with the chains, her thoughts still scattered and her pulse still racing and never once thinking that she should just turn around and leave. Because something had occurred to her. Owen Trent really did need her. But for what?
Chapter 7
The days turn into weeks and they develop a routine, one that neither is completely okay with. Every night at ten o’clock Lucy locks Owen up, chaining him to the wall and securing him with padlocks thicker than her fist. Owen remains kind and gentle almost distant and she can’t help but wonder about what’s going on. What is he hiding? Why does he have her chain him up every night leaving her all alone to restlessly wander the empty house?
But their days spent together have meant more to Lucy than she could ever put into words. Every moment in his company, every new thing she learns about him draws her ever closer to him. In the mornings she finds herself holding her breath, waiting desperately to let him out of his self-induced cage just so she can see him, talk to him. But even as her attraction to Owen grows, so does her restlessness. After a month and a half of near solitude, besides her constant attempts to rile the imperturbable Terrance, Lucy can’t help but feel a little trapped.
That morning as she sat at the small breakfast table across from Owen, that restlessness just popped out, despite her best attempts to keep it under wraps.
“I feel…I feel a little bit like a prisoner here, Owen.” The words just seem to appear, falling out of her mouth and Lucy watches in horror as Owen freezes, his fork halfway to his mouth and turns his burning golden gaze on her.
“A…prisoner?” He asked, repeating her words.
“Yes. I’m not allowed to leave, I’m cooped up here all day, every day and I’m getting a little antsy I guess.” Lucy squirmed in her seat, pushing the pile of uneaten eggs around her plate in an attempt to show how she was feeling.
“Antsy.”
“Yes, antsy.”
“That’s absurd.” He snorts, going back to his breakfast as if she hadn’t said anything at all.
“How is that absurd?” Lucy shoots back, irritation peaking at his seeming nonchalance.
“You knew it was a part of the job when you started,” he said calmly, only irritating her more, “Besides it didn’t seem to bother you before.” Owen continued eating as if their conversation was over and she supposed it was. There was obviously no way she was going to convince him to loosen up about his rule and if she had, to be honest, she would rather be here with him than outside with anyone else. But it was getting a little claustrophobic.
Just then her cell phone rang, it was a new smartphone that Owen had given her the second day she had worked for him claiming that he might need to reach her at any time. Lucy picked it up, glad for the distraction.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Lucy?” A familiar male voice said on the other line, but it took her a minute to place it.
“It is. Is this…Peter?”
“Yeah! It is. I’m glad you remembered.” It was Sarah’s friend, the one who had flirted with her whenever Lucy had dared to go out.
“Of course. How could I forget?” Actually, most of their conversations had been fairly forgettable and all centered on him, but still, it was a nice change of pace and she had to admit the thrill as Owen overheard her phone call and looked up with one dark eyebrow raised. Was that a hint of jealousy shining in his golden eyes? No, it couldn’t be. Not the imitable Owen Trent.
“Hey, I was wondering if you would want to go out sometime. Get a drink, catch a movie or something?”
It was on the tip of Lucy’s tongue to say no but just then Owen shook his head slightly.
“I need you here, at ten.” He said with a significant look and the devil in Lucy had her agreeing before she could think better of it.
Owen sighed. “There’s a theater here, at the house. You can…invite him over. You can be alone there.”
Lucy stared at him for a long moment before relaying the information along with the address to Peter. Before she’d even hung up the phone Owen had cleared his plate and left the room without another word.
Chapter 8
“…so there I was, in the checkout line and this lady behind me had the nerve to ask if she could cut in front of me. I mean, who cares if she had a baby, I was there first, and fair’s fair, right?” Peter’s voice droned on over the movie we were supposed to be watching, and Lucy had to fight not to roll her eyes. What the hell was she thinking to bring Peter here? She had known it was a bad idea from the minute the words came out of her mouth, but the high-handed way Owen had been acting had just pushed her over the edge.
It was bad enough to have to listen to him talk about how great he is at his job and how much money he’s making, and then turn around and say how great it was to watch a movie here so he wouldn’t have to shell out any of his precious cash on their “date”, but every story he told revealed just what a low-life jerk he really was.
She tried to just ignore him and focus on the movie playing on the big projector screen in front of her but the constant drone of his voice was making it impossible. Lucy tuned him out the only sure-fire way she could. Thinking of Owen. Thoughts of him seemed to drown out anything else the past few days and it was even a little frightening just how strong his effect was on her. Lucy wondered if he even knew it. She checked her watch for the hundredth time, counting down the minutes, the seconds until she would get to unlock the vault and be with him again. She knew it was just on the other side of that wall. Almost close enough to reach out and touch.
And for the thousandth time, she wondered what the hell she was doing on this so-ca
lled date with Peter. Any chemistry that might have once been there with him had been snuffed out by the inferno that raged between her and Owen.
A sudden touch on her thigh jerks her out of her thoughts of Owen, tied up and waiting for her in the vault, and back to the dimly lit theater room in the back of the house.
“Peter, what are you–.”
“Hey, relax. I’m just having a little fun.” He leans in then, his breath hot and disgusting on her face as he forces his mouth onto hers. Lucy feels a jolt of panic but pushes it away. This is Peter for Christ’s sake. She’ll just explain that she’s not interested and ask him to leave.
Lucy pushes against his shoulder, enough to let him know that his attention is not wanted but it doesn’t stop him or slow him down at all.
“Peter, get off of me. You need to leave, now!” She said when she could finally get a little breathing room.
“Come on, you little slut. I know you want this.” He’s body is back against hers despite how much she tries to push him away and that kernel of panic explodes into full-blown terror.
“No, Peter. Stop!” Lucy tries to scream. Tries to get away but for the first time, she realizes how much bigger he is than her.
“No, you stop Lucy,” He’s saying, but his voice is harsh and cruel and nothing like the person she thought he was, “Besides, a fat ass like you, this is probably the only action you’ll ever see. So you’ll take it, and thank me after.”
His hands are tugging at her blouse and the sound of ripping fabric has her heart going into overdrive. Her pulse is racing, nothing but a loud white noise in her ears. Her vision narrowed, everything going dark around the edges and she knew she was about to pass out, and she also knew that that was the worst thing that could happen.
“No. Stop. Please.” She pleaded one more time as her world darkened even further. Then suddenly the weight was gone from on top of her, as was the clawing hands and fetid breath. Lucy just had time to see the dark furred face of a gorilla snarling at Peter as the animal tossed him across the room like a piece of worthless garbage and then everything went black.
Chapter 9
Lucy came to slowly, confused and disoriented but knowing somehow, instinctively, that she was safe. She looked around the room as she slowly pushed herself up from the slump she had collapsed in when she’d lost consciousness. Okay. She was still in the theater room. And that no-good, terrible, awful, would-be rapist Peter was nowhere in sight. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. But what the hell had happened? Not that she wasn’t grateful, eternally so, but she couldn’t seem to make the images in her head make sense.
Peter, crushing her underneath his body, his hands tearing at her clothes as terror threatened to freeze her blood to ice and then…that animal. A gorilla? What the hell? She put a hand to her forehead trying to clear the haze. It must have been a dream. Or a hallucination brought on by panic. Yes. That’s it. It has to be. But then where is Peter? What happened to him after she blacked out?
You’re being ridiculous, she scolded herself. There is no way an actual gorilla swooped in and saved you, tearing your attacker apart and rescuing you. Lucy shook her head and instantly regretted it as a pounding headache made itself known. She must have hit it when she fainted.
A sound jerks her head back up and she stifles a groan, first of pain, then of fear as the animal from her dream becomes reality. The enormous beast shifts out of the shadow of the corner, slowly walking towards her as if it can sense that she’s on the verge of hysteria. Closer and closer it walks until its face is just inches from her own.
Lucy’s heart is beating so fast she’s surprised it hasn’t just exploded from her chest. She tries to move, to run, to scream, anything, but she’s frozen in place where she’s sitting on the floor.
It stops, not moving, just standing there staring at her and she suddenly wonders why it hasn’t attacked her like it did Peter, not to mention the fact that there’s a gorilla there in Owen’s house in the first place. Not that much would surprise her of the billionaire recluse. For some reason, the thought of him strikes a chord in her and she finds herself staring at the animal in front of her in a new light. It’s still waiting, patiently, for something. But what? What could it possibly want from her?
It’s then that she notices it. What’s been right in front of her face, and she missed it but as soon as the thought registers the truth of it shatters through her. It has Owen’s eyes. The animal has Owen’s glowing, golden eyes. Oh my god.
“Ow…Owen?” It took her two tries to get the words out but when she does the animal nods his head. Oh my god. This is not happening. This is crazy!
“This is insane!” She said her thoughts out loud, the only words she has to sum up the events that are transpiring. Before she can say anything else the gorilla…er, Owen takes a few steps back until it reaches the shadows again. There’s a sort of blurring in the air around him, but Lucy can just see his silhouette begin to change, shifting, until a few moments later a man steps out from where the animal just was.
“Owen!” The sight of him, standing there so robust and real is almost more than she can take and she throws herself into his arms. He resists for a bare moment before wrapping his own around her and holding her so tight she can barely breathe. But Lucy doesn’t care. It’s what she needs. There, at that moment, Owen is all that she needs.
“Owen, I don’t understand.” She starts but he hushes her.
“I know. It’s been happening all my life. A part of me. But recently it’s been harder and harder to control. I had to give up my company, and basically lock myself away here.”
“Literally,” Lucy interjects, drawing a smile from him, but then his expression darkens once more.
“I can’t let anyone know what a monster I am. What happened with Peter…” His words trail off, but I can tell from his look what happened. And that he’s afraid. Of himself. Of her reaction. Lucy reaches towards him without hesitation.
“Owen, I lo– I could never be afraid of you. I know you would never hurt me.” Before she can say another word, his lips are on hers, driving every other thought out of her head, and she revels in the feel of him. It’s what she needs more than anything. Him. Owen. Because in her heart, she knows that she loves him and had from the very beginning.
His naked body instantly sets hers on fire, and before she can draw another breath, her own clothes are gone, thrown to the floor in a heedless pile.
“Owen, I–.”
“Please,” He grinds the words out painfully, “If you want me to stop, I will.”
“No! That’s the last thing I want, Owen. I want you. I need you!” Before she even has the words out of her mouth, he has her lifted in his arms and pressed against the wall behind her. He wastes no time, and neither does she as she can already feel the slickness between her thighs growing. His fingers quickly test to make sure she’s ready for him, and she more than is.
Their moans echo into the night air in perfect harmony as he slides deep inside her, exactly where he needs to be, and Lucy wraps her legs around his hips, as desperate as he is. They’re not gentle as Owen thrusts into her over and over again, but gentle isn’t what either of them wants right now.
Every animal instinct is driving them higher and higher, closer and closer to that golden edge until finally, it’s just too much. With a cry of ecstasy, Lucy feels wave after wave of sensation explode through her body more intense than anything she’s ever experienced. A second later Owen follows her into bliss.
Moments pass before he finally lets her slide bonelessly down to the floor.
“Oh my god, that was…that was the most amazing…” Lucy tries to get the words out but can’t.
“Hey, don’t go to sleep yet,” Owen whispers roughly against her ear, “I’m not anywhere close to finished with you.”
Chapter 10
The early morning sunlight was just beginning to peak through the luxurious drapes of Owen’s bedroom, one that he had never used in the entire t
ime that Lucy had lived with him when she blinked her eyes awake. Instinctively, she turned towards his side of the bed, but all she found was cold sheets.
“Owen?” Lucy mumbled sleepily as she tried to rouse her still spent and satisfied body from slumber. “Owen!” She called louder this time as she realized that he was gone not only from the bed but from the room as well.
Lucy quickly wraps the sheet around her naked body and stumbles out of the bedroom. Some sixth sense leads her to the room she had been using for the past months she’d spent there, and she stopped when she saw him. He was hunched over a bag, throwing all of her meager possessions, most of which he had bought for her, into a suitcase.
“Owen? What are you doing?” she asked, confusion and dread swirling around in her chest in an unpleasant combination. He turns to her, and she can see how distraught he is. It’s written in the lines carved into his face, and she hates that she put them there.
“I’m sorry, Lucy. But you have to go.” He said, not stopping as he continued to pack up her entire life.
“Go? I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t, but it’s too dangerous,” Owen finally looked up at her, and the desperation in his eyes is her undoing. She rushes to his side, wanting only to ease the ache she sees in him but doesn’t know how. He pulls away from her, and it hits her like a physical blow.
“No, Lucy! This can’t continue, I should never have,” He cuts off his words abruptly but she knows what he was going to say, and that cuts just as deeply as him pulling away from her. “You just…You have to go. You have to leave before I hurt you before I–.”
“That’s not going to happen,” She tried to plead, but he wouldn’t listen, and a moment later the suitcase was packed. No scrap that she had ever even been there remained. And it broke her heart. Owen turns away, and she tries one last, desperate time.