Spider
Page 25
He stood still as she cut the string. When the hood came off, he said, ‘I love you, too.’
Beth kissed him, openly crying, and then cut through the rest of his bonds. He had a puffy eye and a cut lip.
‘Did Yash hit you?’ she asked.
‘No, one of his goons, I think.’ He clutched her face and pulled her towards him, where he kissed her. ‘I wasn’t sure what to do after I left you. I was going to find James and went to phone him to see where he was, but then realised I’d left my phone at home.’
‘I need to clean those wounds. Sit on the bed,’ said Beth.
Harry sat on the edge of the bed and Beth dashed to fill the sink in the bathroom with warm water.
‘I didn’t want to come home for you to talk me out of it,’ he continued, ‘so I went to my mum and dad’s and used their phone. I didn’t tell them I was calling James—’
‘I phoned your dad! He wouldn’t tell me a thing.’ Beth looked at him from the bathroom. She dipped the cotton balls into the water, then took them back out and used them to dab Harry’s puffy eye and the welts where the string from the hood had cut into his neck. ‘You need antiseptic or something,’ she muttered.
‘Dad didn’t say? Sorry, darling, he and Mum wouldn’t be happy unless I married into royalty.’ He winced as she cleaned a deep cut on the back of his neck.
‘Sorry,’ she said.
‘I begged James to give me Yash’s number, then I called Yash and arranged to meet him, only he didn’t turn up. He sent other Jelvias to rough me up and bring me here. I’ve spent the night down a cellar—I hate fucking cellars! —and this morning Yash summoned me like I was one of his subjects and he was a king.’
‘What happened?’
‘Nothing. He asked me loads of questions, mainly about you and your state of mind. I think he’s worried about you.’
Beth snorted.
‘Seriously, all this doesn’t feel right. It’s a game—a laugh for Yash.’
‘If he’s so worried why did he make me beg him to beat me again? Why did he make me think he was going to kill you if I didn’t do what he wanted?’
‘I don’t know, honey.’ Harry shrugged. ‘To keep you angry? To keep you fighting? Lara was found safe, so maybe he felt you needed something else to keep you going.’
‘It’s his own state of mind he needs to worry about!’
‘Agreed, but I’m telling you, I felt he was playing a game. His cronies were finding it hard to suppress their laughter as they threatened to kill me.’
‘Oh, Harry.’ She cupped one side of his cheek and brushed her thumb over his bruised eye. ‘I’m so sorry you’re involved. This is my mess and—’
He cut her off by grabbing her hand and kissing it. Letting her go, he stood up. ‘We’re wasting time. We need to get out of here.’ He jumped down the two steps separating the rooms and ran over to the door. He tugged on it and then thumped it. ‘It’s locked.’ He looked over at the windows.
‘They have locks on them,’ she supplied. ‘I tried them the last time I was here. We’re prisoners until Yash says otherwise.’
Harry rubbed at the stubble on his chin. ‘James might figure out I’m here and send help,’ he said. ‘Hello, what’s this?’ He reached forward and picked up an envelope on the table. He looked at Beth. ‘It has your name on it.’
Beth stood up and slowly walked towards him. She took the letter from his fingers and read her name. She thrust it back. ‘I daren’t.’
Harry ripped it open. He read it silently and then gave a shout of laughter. ‘It’s over,’ he said. ‘Your debt is paid.’
‘What?’
Harry grinned at her and then proceeded to read out the letter:
Beth,
Consider your debt paid. I wish you and Harry a happy life. A car will be sent to take you back to your vehicles tomorrow after breakfast. Enjoy your evening.
Yash.
‘Jesus…’ she said.
Harry dropped the letter and went to her, lifting her and spinning her around. ‘It’s over,’ he said, putting her back on her feet.
Beth ran her fingers through her hair, feeling the knots where she messed it up. She said, ‘Yash wouldn’t give up that easily. Something’s not right.’
‘It’s all so right! This fits perfectly.’ He picked the letter up and waved it at her. ‘Yash was playing a game with us. I don’t know why, he just was.’
She grabbed the letter and reread it. ‘Yash wants us to enjoy our evening by keeping us locked in? Is he mad?’
‘Probably.’
She tore the letter in half and let the pieces fall to the floor. ‘He’s not mad. He’s a bully… a tyrant!’ She began to pace the floor, chewing on her bottom lip. She stopped pacing and faced Harry. ‘He’s a narcissistic, arrogant, evil, murdering bastard!’
‘Who seems to care whether or not you’re happy.’
She glared at him.
Harry raised his eyebrows. ‘You know, you look so hot right now.’
Beth looked at Harry in surprise. ‘You’re kidding.’
He spun her around to face a mirror on the wall. He looped his arms around her waist and peered over her head at her reflection. Beth stared at herself. Her lipstick was smeared across her face making her look like she’d been thoroughly kissed. Her eye makeup made her eyes look huge—she knew she’d never achieve the effect again because it had been attained by her rebellion—and her hair was tousled in all the right places. She met Harry’s eyes in the mirror.
‘This dress is incredible, too. Yash’s choice, I take it?’
She nodded. ‘I was tempted to rip it like I ruined my makeup, but I chickened out.’
‘We’ll have you out of it soon.’
They smiled at one another in the mirror.
‘Do you really think it’s over?’ she asked him, turning around in his arms.
‘I do. I never really felt Yash wanted to hurt me, either. It was as if he was trying to see where I stood with you. He was almost like an overbearing father demanding answers from me on you!’
Beth frowned, but Harry scooped her up in his arms and ran up the steps with her. He placed her in the middle of the bed, then lay next to her, on his side. He played with her hair. ‘Darling, stop worrying. I read Yash perfectly well on Wandle Bridge. He thought you were going to jump and felt he was rescuing you when he said he’d go after Lara or anyone else if you killed yourself. Honey, he said that because he believed it would keep you safe.’
Beth snorted, then frowned remembering clearly the night she met Yash and how he seemed to think it was amusing when the man she’d helped used her as a human shield instead. Yash had called her a ‘suicidal hostage’ and laughed at the man’s bad luck.
She turned on her side to face Harry, finally understanding what Harry was trying to tell her. ‘I think you’re right.’
‘I’m always right.’
‘When Yash came into the pub looking for that man—’
‘Who, you told me, you just directed to the cellar!’
‘I did… well, sort of. Yash saw the cellar and demanded I pull up the trap door. I refused, anyway, Yash forced me down to look for the man, but the man grabbed me and tried to bargain with Yash on my life.’
‘Beth!’
‘Sorry. Telling everyone I’d hidden in Colin’s loo was much easier.’
‘Are you saying that Yash ended up saving you from the man?’
She nodded. ‘He—the man—held a knife to my throat. Yash saved me.’ She looked at Harry. ‘He saved me! Yash shot his venom between my legs and into the guy’s thigh. I didn’t know he’d done it until the man dropped to the ground. And then—well, I’ve always been doom and gloom, because I felt I was at the end of my tether with Lara vanishing like that and my dad unable to cope.’
Harry was nodding as she spoke.
‘But why has Yash been so horrible? Why did he… do that to me?’ Beth asked, not wanting to expand on what had really happened that night in th
e cellar.
‘I wish I could give you all the answers,’ he said. ‘I just think he’s been playing us both. He’s bored—or needs a distraction from something. And you were the distraction.’ His smile wavered, and he fingered the silk of her dress. ‘I don’t know why he went to such extreme lengths. I think I’d like to kill him for what he put you through.’
Beth lay her hand against his cheek. ‘It was humiliating, it hurt, and it was scary, but it won’t play on my mind or have any lasting effects on me, if that’s what you’re worried about. It wasn’t abuse or anything. I… I can’t explain it.’ Or instead, she didn’t want to. She’d tried before and it had hurt the man she loved.
‘He beat you, honey. That’s abuse.’
She touched his face. ‘Let’s not talk about it. Please, Harry, you’ll torture yourself.’
‘I’m also jealous that another man has…’ He swallowed. ‘Seen you.’
Beth thought back to how she’d caught Yash looking at her in the mirror when she was laying over the table. He was admiring his handiwork on her skin, not lusting after her body.
‘Believe me, it was very impersonal.’
‘But you said you enjoyed—’
‘Harry! Stop.’ She rolled back and stared up at the ceiling. Her experience with Yash would be between them forever. ‘I didn’t explain it very well. The experience he put me through was, er, choreographed. It was his kink, and I found it—’
‘No, don’t. I don’t want to hear.’ He leaned over her and pressed a finger to her lips. ‘Whether you enjoyed it or not has nothing to do with me. You didn’t have an affair—we weren’t even together then—and you didn’t exactly have much choice. I’m sorry I was—am—jealous.’ He took his finger away and replaced it with his lips. ‘He won’t come between us. I won’t let him. And of course, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Rather that than thinking you were terrified and in extreme pain.’
‘Let’s not talk about him,’ she said. ‘Kiss me again, Harry.’
He pressed a finger against her lips. ‘Wait,’ he said. Then he knelt up on the bed and pulled the curtain, tied to the four posts around the bed, close around the bed. ‘I don’t want any eyes on us.’
Beth looked startled. ‘You think he’s watching us?’
‘He’s probably after pointers,’ he said.
Beth giggled and Harry smiled as he leaned over her and lowered his face to her mouth. His lips were cool against hers, his mouth soft. Beth reached up to hold his head against hers. Between them was a weightless, seamless love and desire—and compared to what she felt for Yash, that was everything.
She leaned in and kissed Harry. Tasting him and savouring him. She felt his hand move down her body, and felt the skirt of her dress being slowly pulled up. His kiss deepened, and his gentle hands began to stroke her inner thigh. His tongue, inside her mouth, was tender. Not protruding or hard; just tender. Intimate. Loving. Leaving her lips, he moved down and with his mouth, he very delicately kissed the curve of her cleavage while his other hand slowly, deliciously, wandered up the inside of her thigh.
By the time he’d finished outlining her entire cleavage with his mouth, Beth was panting. Harry knelt up over her, and keeping eye contact, he lowered the straps of her dress. He murmured his appreciation of the bustier she was wearing beneath, then cupped both her breasts in his hands. He pushed them together and lowered his face to draw a wet line over them.
Beth moaned and arched her back, pushing more of herself at him.
Harry knelt up again and pulled her up into a sitting position.
‘Let’s have a proper look at you,’ he said, reaching for the zip at the back of the dress. He eased it down and then pulled the dress up over her head. He tossed it over the bed, his eyes eating up her body.
He knelt between her legs, her knees up and parted for him, and seemingly drank her in. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time.
‘Beautiful,’ he murmured and took the straps of the bustier beneath his fingers. He didn’t slide them down as she expected. He traced the fabric down until his knuckles grazed the top of her breasts. Then his thumbs dragged over her puckered nipples, and she thought she’d explode. He lowered the edge of the bustier, pushing down the lace and freeing her breasts. He bent and took one nipple in his mouth and cradled the other breast in his palm.
He broke from her to run a shaking hand through his hair and Beth realised he was straining to go slowly with her. She appreciated his gentleness. It was as if he was trying to banish the memory of Yash from her mind. He was succeeding.
He pushed her gently down on the bed and, still kneeling between her legs, he stroked her outer thighs. His hands moved up to stop at the top of her lace knickers. Slowly he eased them all the way down. Beth lifted each of her feet compliantly, watching him watching her. It was as if they ceased to be Beth and Harry. Instead, they were two sexual beings whose only intent was to bring carnal pleasure to the other.
Harry lowered his head between her thighs, and Beth couldn’t control a hiss as his wet tongue pushed inside her. He licked, sucked, and kissed her intimately until she was a writhing mess of sensation. She gripped his hair, her short nails digging into his scalp.
‘Oh, Harry!’ She couldn’t control a little squeal as she bucked against him. She was on the verge of climax, and Harry must have felt it because he moved up her body and entered her with a grunt. His hardness filled her, but she was more than ready for him.
He pushed into her, thrusting, as Beth crossed her legs over his back to hold him in place. Her hands clutched at his back, feeling his muscles working as he drove deep inside her.
They were slick with sweat and Beth felt gentleness was no longer at the forefront of Harry’s mind as he pounded into her. Harry peaked first, but his thrusts continued, becoming faster and faster as Beth panted more and more frantically. Then she felt the pulsing sensation deep inside her pelvis and, at last, the burst of her climax as it engulfed her.
She cried out, clutching hard at Harry’s shoulders, but he didn’t relent as she rode out her climax. Finally, they lay together, their breathing laboured, still wrapped in each other’s arms.
As their breathing stabilised, exhaustion claimed them, and they slept.
FORTY-FIVE
Beth didn’t know what had woken her. She glanced across at Harry. He was asleep. His face looked peaceful and he had a little smile playing on his lips. Beth smiled and moved to press her mouth against those lips, but a loud knock on the large double door caused her to stop.
Harry was instantly awake. He swung his feet off the bed and pulled on his jeans. After looking worriedly at Beth, he began to walk cautiously towards the door. Beth hurriedly pulled on her trousers from last night. Her upper clothes were ruined, so she grabbed Harry’s sweater. She ran to him, still pulling it over her head.
‘No, Beth,’ he said and pushed her back up the steps. He shoved her inside the bathroom as she protested, then pulled the key out of the lock and gave it to her. ‘Lock it,’ he said as the knock came again.
‘No! We’re in this together,’ Beth said, but Harry pulled the door closed on her.
Heart pounding, Beth locked the bathroom door then turned to see if there was a weapon she could use. The nail scissors she’d used to cut Harry free were in the other room. She grabbed a can of aerosol deodorant and pushed her feet into her boots. She could spray Yash’s eyes and kick him, giving Harry time to hit him and her time to find the scissors. With the can in her hand, she unlocked the bathroom door and cautiously opened it a crack.
She started in surprise.
Two women were pushing in a trolley laden with dishes. They were human women, and the younger one had earbuds in and was nodding her head to music. Harry turned to look at Beth, and she caught the shock on his face. The older woman began to move the dishes from the trolley to the table, while the other reached beneath the cart for clean towels and two robes. The woman walked up the steps and placed the items on the bed as Bet
h came out of the bathroom. She smiled at Beth. Beth glanced at Harry who jerked his head frantically towards the opened door.
Beth needed no more instruction. She jumped down the two steps, bypassing the women, and ran towards Harry. He grabbed her hand and together they ran out into the corridor. They dashed up the passage and ran down the stairs but the glass door leading to the outside was locked.
Hands entwined, Harry turned to look for another exit. Beth pointed to a door, and they approached it cautiously, but that too was locked.
‘Shit,’ said Harry. He ran to the glass door again and thumped it with his fist. The glass remained intact. He looked at Beth’s feet. ‘Give me one of your boots.’
Before Beth could react, the locked door behind them opened, and Yash and another Jelvia stepped out.
‘Not staying for breakfast?’ Yash asked. As usual, his face was impassive. His all-black eyes looked dry as he looked from Beth to Harry. He wore his hair loose, and it hung down past his shoulders.
‘We want to leave,’ Harry said. He pulled Beth behind him.
‘Leave?’ Yash wasn’t going to make it easy for them.
‘Your note said my debt was paid,’ Beth said, peeking out from behind Harry.
‘Sweet little Beth,’ Yash said, reaching out and stroking her face.
Harry snarled and shoved Yash’s hand away. He faced Yash, his fists curled and poised to strike. With his bare chest rising and falling in anger, his face contorted with the readiness to fight, he looked impressive, but against Yash—and the other Jelvia behind—he was already over-powered, and he knew it.
‘Really, human?’ Yash said and held up his hands, his fingers crooked. Claws protruded from his fingertips, long and lethal-looking. The clawed fingers beckoned Harry to throw the first punch.
Beth knew she had to act.
She shoved at Harry and, as he stumbled backwards, she turned to face Yash. Almost without thinking, she drew back her hand, but before she could strike, he’d captured her hand and jerked her against him. He grabbed her beneath the throat.