“Son of a motherfucking bitch. Soph, can you hear me?” Funny, Sarge, sounds worried, that man doesn’t show emotion.
“I’m fine Sarge, just hanging around.” I hear Sam’s strangled chuckle.
“Soph, you seriously are the best.” Awww, isn’t he sweet.
“Aww why thank you Sammy.” The guys talk to me, trying to keep my mind off of the fact I’m hanging from my feet upside down, I feel the blood rushing to my head, I feel numbness in my legs which is slowly working its way up my body. My fingers go numb and my face must be a serious shade of red by now. I don’t know how long I’ve been here for, but they come back and release me. I feel the blood draining from my face. I feel sick. They pull me to my chair tie me to it and leave me there. I feel the room spin, I pass out.
I wake up and see the guys looking over at me “How long have I been out?” Sam speaks first.
“Well lookie here, Sleeping Beauty is awake; you’ve been out about two days Soph.” Two days. Damn.
“Are you all okay?” I’ve been out of it for two days, that fucker could have started torturing one of them.
“Yeah Soph, they haven’t been back yet.” Thank god. He doesn’t return for a while, I’m not sure how long, everything is just blurring together. I want to go home but they have tied my hands so tight, there is no way I can get free.
“I tense when I hear them entering the room. I’m dragged by my hair; my hands are still tied in front of me. My feet are spread so I’m standing with my feet wide apart. Then I hear it and I close my eyes, praying that it isn’t what I’m thinking. It is. I fall to the floor, the pain is horrendous, I can’t stay standing. The whip feels as though it has sliced my skin open. I’m dragged back up.
“Every time you fall to the ground; you will get twenty more lashes.” The asshole tells me and I just glare at him.
The whip lashes out again and the sound of the crack as it hits my back is so loud, I want to flinch but I don’t. I don’t make a sound or make a movement. I won’t give them bastards the satisfaction.
My back is bleeding, I can feel the blood seeping down my back, I try my hardest to block out the pain. I look around the room and my eyes focus in on Smithy. He is just lying in the corner as if he is asleep.
They finished with the whippings and I know for sure that my back is fucking destroyed. I want to scream out but I don’t. The fuckers leave and when I hear the door shut I collapse onto the floor. I have to take deep breaths and focus on breathing rather than the pain.
“Sophia, talk to me! Dammit Sophia, open your fucking eyes.” Sammy is screaming at me. I open my eyes and I see the rage in Sam’s eyes, he is so angry. I don’t blame him. He is sitting in that chair, his hands and feet tied so he can’t escape and he is watching everything they do to me. They all are.
“I’m okay Sam, I’m alive. They won’t beat me.”
Three days I endure being whipped and every day I think the pain and the whippings couldn’t get any worse but they do.
They’re here again and I know that I won’t survive much more.
“Sophia, it’s time, today is the day, today is the day I ruin you.” The four other men come in the room, they once again drag me off the chair, and two other men come in bringing with them a cross.
“This is the thing that breaks everyone.” Mullah says, they drag me to the cross, they tie my middle to it and untie my hands, I know where this is going. They pull my arms to the sides, straighten them out and tie my wrists to the cross. Mullah gathers the nails and hammer as the men leave. Mullah walks towards me. I’m about to be crucified.
I wake up covered in sweat. I leap out of the bed into the bathroom, I land harshly on my knees, thankful I made it in time as I throw up yet again. I feel a cold wash cloth hit my forehead, Nathan’s here, I need a shower. I need to clean the memory off me. I step into the shower and let the water hit me. I stand under the flowing water for a few minutes when I break, I cry, huge body wracking sobs, it hurts.
I feel arms around me and know it’s Nathan, He pulls me to him and we stand under the water together. My sobs have quieted down to little sniffs.
“Tell me baby, I know you’re wounded, I see it in your eyes. Every time you smile it doesn’t reach your eyes, I need all of you. Baby tell me, I can heal you. You have got to let me heal you.” My heart melts. I love him so fucking much.
I tell him everything, from how Smithy died to me going to be crucified.
“You know that spot on my back you constantly rub?” I ask him and he nods.
“I had a skin graft. I was whipped as part of the torture. They destroyed my back. I’m going to get it covered with a tattoo when it’s healed enough and Leo says it’s safe enough.” As I tell him, his eyes widen and I see fury in them.
“What the fuck? Tell me babe.” He says and I sigh and relive the worst pain of my life. I tell him about the mental and physical torture those bastards put me through. I tell him about them bringing the cross in and how they were preparing to crucify me.
“I was waiting for the pain to come, I was looking at him but couldn’t see him, my mind was on a reel, I was relieving all my happy moments. The pain didn’t come. I thought it was another part of his torture, making me wait. I looked up and saw the smirk on his face, out the corner of my eye I saw the Sarge move, he ran and took him down fast. He hit him and didn’t stop, he landed blow after blow. Doc and Sam were running towards me, they untied me and helped me down, Skye was gathering up all his weapons.”
I take a breather; he’s still holding me. “Go on baby, continue, you’re almost finished.” I take a deep breath.
“Once I was standing Sarge gave him one last kick to the face, we made a run for it, it was hard, I was bleeding badly. We had no idea where we were. We made it outside of the room when I realized we had left Smithy behind. Doc and Sam went back for him; they were a while. We thought something had happened to them, turns out that the Taliban knew we were gone. They shot Sam in the leg. To this day I don’t know how he managed to carry Smithy’s body with a gunshot wound.
We ran, and we made it out into the open, away from the building. We could hear a helicopter, we had been hearing it for the last couple of hours, it was like it was circling. We ran for that direction, the Taliban were chasing after us, I looked ahead and saw Skye had somehow managed to get the attention of the pilot, and they started lowering the helicopter. I took 3 bullets and ended up in a coma, I don’t remember getting on to the helicopter. I remember running towards it and the feeling of the bullet impact into my stomach but I carried on running. It wasn’t until the bullet in my leg that I stumbled. Then I remember feeling unbelievable pain in my side and the next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital here in the States. Apparently once they got me stable they flew me home. I was transferred to Keller Army Community. They were amazing; they took great care of me.” He holds me.
“Baby, I’m so damn proud of you, I’m so grateful for your team. What you guys do, it’s fucking amazing, you protect your country. Thank you so much for your service.” We stay holding each other for a bit, then we get washed and leave the shower, we get dried. I hear movement downstairs, I know Sam is awake.
“Go back to bed Nathan, I’m going to run downstairs get a glass of water. I won’t be long.” He’s shaking his head
“You’re out of your mind if you think I can go back to sleep. Babe, I’ve just seen you gasping for air as you relived being water boarded, I also saw you struggling, I’m guessing so you wouldn’t be tied up. So no baby, I’m not going back to bed.”
We head downstairs and Sam is up and making coffee, it’s 5am “Morning Soph, and I didn’t catch your name after you stormed in here last night and ran straight upstairs.” He has a smirk on his face the bastard.
“Nathan Slade meet Samuel Mitchell. Sam, this is Nathan.” They shake hands; I go get a glass of water.
“You okay Soph?” I look at him.
“Yeah, just a nightmare.” I try to pass it off
but knowing that bastard is in the states, that he is watching me, it has me set on edge. I hope to God I don’t have any more nightmares. Sam looks like he wants to say something but doesn’t.
“Are we heading to the office today?” I ask Sam, Nathan may know about what happened in Afghanistan, but he doesn’t know Mullah Al Mohammed is my torturer and is currently in the U.S looking for me. Sam’s phone dings alerting him to a new message.
“Yeah, we are meeting at 7, apparently we weren’t the only ones not able to sleep.” He looks to me, yeah, I know why they didn’t sleep, seems Mullah showing his face is making everyone relive that three weeks in the Taliban cell.
Nathan made us breakfast, me and Sam started going through applicants for the reception job. We need someone who can keep their mouth shut. It’s a lot different than how Nathan’s business works, our business is based on Intelligence whereas Nathan’s is a P.I based business. Yeah, Nathan needs confidentiality, but we are dealing with government secrets. If these secrets were to be leaked, it would be a matter of National security.
So we need to find someone who we can trust, Oscar vetted them thoroughly, he tore apart their lives. See, we need someone who won’t be tempted to sell these secrets, so the hundreds of applicants have been whittled down to six. We are going over their lives in case Oscar missed anything.
“What about Susan? She seems good, has secretarial skills, has been in the business for about twelve years, married and has three kids.” Sam asks.
“Nope, she can only work 9 to 5.” We need someone who can work anytime we need them. We’re not slave drivers, we will make sure they rest and have days off, but we may need them at 11 at night.
“What about Mary? She is 45. Her children are fully grown, with her youngest being 20, seems her 3 boys followed father’s footsteps and joined the Marines. She could be a great addition?” Sam is nodding, we need to find another one, a backup so to speak, just in case Mary doesn’t accept or work out.
“Hailey Mayer, 23, has one sister, no other family” I stop him “I know all about Hailey and her background. She is my best friend’s little sister, again Hailey would be a great addition. The only thing is I’m not sure she could withstand Maddie telling her to get a safer job.”
After breakfast I run upstairs and get ready for the day, Nathan got dressed before breakfast. As I make my way downstairs, Sam calls out to me.
“We have our two candidates; the rest of them wouldn’t have been suitable for the job. I have told Oscar and Sarge, they will be calling Mary now, hopefully she will take it, she seems to be the perfect fit.” I’m nodding, I agree with him, you have to meet a certain criterion, and the other four didn’t meet it.
“Ok so that is sorted, I’m going to run, get changed and meet you at the office, okay?” Sam says and bless him, he’s making sure I’ll be okay.
“Perfect, I’ll meet you at the office. I’ll drop Nathan on my way as he grabbed a cab here last night. I’ll see you later on.” I tell him and just as he’s getting up his phone rings, all he says is “uh-huh.” He has a smile on his face when he comes off the phone.
“So that was the Sergeant, he rang Mary, woke her up and explained things to her, she accepted, and will be at the office at 7.” Sam tells me. Holy fuck that was quick, I’m glad we have that sorted; it’s one less thing to worry about.
“Damn, you guys work fast.” Nathan says, I turn to face him, he looks in shock. Sam laughs.
“Ok I’m out of here, Soph I’ll see you in a bit. Nathan, it was an honour to meet you, I’ll see you around.” Nathan walks over to him and they shake hands.
“The honour was all mine. And you will definitely see me around.” I shake my head at them.
Once Sam leaves, I pack my gear up to bring to the office, I need my gun, so I dig out my holster.
“Fuck that is hot.” I spin around and come face to face with Nathan, his eyes full of lust.
“Nu-uh, cork your cock Nathan, I haven’t got the time.” He smiles.
“Baby, it will be a quickie.” He starts walking over to me “Come on baby, don’t you want a quickie.” He reaches me, and goes straight for my slut spot, the bastard found that out quick enough, all he has to do is bite on my neck and I’m like a dog in heat. He starts sucking and biting my neck, I start pulling off his jeans, he helps me out, then he helps me take my pants off.
“Baby, this is going to be hard and fast.” He says as he lifts me up and impales me with his cock. Damn, it’s so good, He sets a nice steady rhythm, it’s not hard or fast, it’s fucking amazing. My head rolls back, and I start fucking him back. He starts pumping harder, he’s hitting that spot in my cervix, I’m about to cum, I fuck him back harder and faster.
“NO, baby, slow down, you’re going to make me cum, I don’t want to cum yet.” He grits out as he leans into me, I feel his breath on my neck, it spurs me on, I go harder again, I cum, it’s fucking amazing, I cum long and hard “Fuck, babe, you’re squeezing the shit out of my dick,” he pounds harder I’m still cuming, “FUCK, I’m cuming” Nathan roars as he releases into me.
We get cleaned up and redressed, Nathan comes over to me and hugs me from behind. He puts his chin on the top of my head, and places a hand on my stomach. I feel safe in his arms.
“We need to do that every morning baby.” I smile.
“Yeah, we really do.”
I’m driving Nathan to work when I realize that he no longer has a receptionist. I tell him and his face has a panicked look on it.
“Do you want me to call Hailey? She really is great.” His body sags with relief. I look at him and he has a cheesy smile on his face.
“Fuck, would you? It would save me time.” He is so cute; I would do anything for this man. He means the world to me. Calling Hailey is the least I could do. I pull over and dial her number.
“Hey Hails.” I say as she answers the phone.
“Hey Soph.” She sounds nervous.
“Look you didn’t get the job with us, but I may have gotten you a different one, you know the P.I bodyguard place Scott works at?” I hear her sharp intake of breath.
“You mean the place where all the tall hunks work? The place that will make you cum as soon as you step into the place?” I start giggling.
“Yep that is them, P.I.G.S, well they need a new receptionist.”
“Oh so I’ll be working for your boyfriend, yep Maddie told me all about this hunk of a man you got. He is your boyfriend right? Does he have a brother? Oh does that mean I get to look at Scott’s ass all day?” She’s giddy, talking a mile a minute.
“Fucking Maddie, that woman needs to learn to keep her mouth shut, damn. Yes, he is my boyfriend. Yes, he does have a brother. No you can’t look at his ass. Do you want the fucking job or not?” I’m not mad at her, you kind of have to calm her down when it comes to Scott. She has been in love with him for a long time.
Chapter Twenty-One
Nathan
Sophia is driving me to work as I ended up drinking when I went home after the restaurant last night. I ended up taking a cab to her place.
“Have you got a new receptionist?” Damn, I forgot about that, I hate fucking hiring new people; I swear the most annoying people apply just to irritate the shit out of me.
“Do you want me to call Hailey? She really is great.” I look over at her.
“Fuck, would you? It would save me time.” She shrugs, and then pulls over to the side of the road. She pulls out her phone and dials.
“Hey Hails, look you didn’t get the job with us, but I may have gotten you a different one, you know the P.I bodyguard place Scott works at?” she goes quiet for a second then giggles
“Yep that is them, P.I.G.S, well they need a new receptionist.” She goes silent again, listening, she then sighs.
“Fucking Maddie, that woman needs to learn to keep her mouth shut, damn. Yes, he is my boyfriend, yes he does have a brother, and no you can’t look at his ass. You want the fucking job or not.”
I shoot her a look, I just got rid of someone who couldn’t stop looking, I don’t want another one. She hangs up after telling her to come to my office for 9AM.
“Oh for fuck sake, we weren’t talking about her looking at your ass, we were talking about Scott’s. Scott hates that she literally eye fucks him very time she sees him.” I sigh in relief.
“Aww, my big bad P.I afraid of a little girl.” She pouts, while she says it. I start laughing.
“Hey you’re a little girl, I’m afraid for my dick every time you get mad at me.” I say with a smirk; she smirks right back at me.
“Darling, it wouldn’t be your dick I go for.” She says. Damn it, my mind starts racing with the ways she could inflict pain on me. None are great options. Note to self, don’t get Sophia mad.
She drops me off at my office, promising to meet me at lunch. I walk into the building and find I’m not the only early bird, Dwayne and Connor are here.
“Have you guys been here all night?” I ask as I walk into the conference room that they are using.
“No, I got here about 6:30 and Con came in about 7. I couldn’t sleep.” I look to Con; he has something on his mind.
“Have you anything new for me Dwayne?” he doesn’t look up from his screen.
“No boss, I’m hoping I’ll have something in a few hours.”
“Okay, thanks Dwayne, Connor follow me.”
I walk out of the conference room and go to my office. Once in I turn around and wait for Con to close the door, “Ok, what’s going on with you?” he sighs.
“I’ve fucked up, I met this woman, and she is amazing. She isn’t like the usual women I go for; she is funny, beautiful and really intelligent. Anyway we’ve been texting and stuff for a few days, we had sex a few nights ago. I fucked up, last night I went out and this girl was all over me, she leaned in and kissed me. I heard a gasp and turned around, only to see the girl I like saw it, turns out the girl that kissed me was her friend. What the fuck do I do man?” Fuck, only he could get himself into this kind of trouble.
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