by Vi Carter
“It’s not safe to talk here, come on.” We are leaving the study. Lucas looks around corners like someone might be waiting there. I think it is overkill, but I don’t want to enrage him anymore than I already have. He opens his bedroom door and while touching my back directs me in quickly before closing the door behind us. I’m back in his room, so many emotions chime together. My eyes dart from the bed to the wardrobe. I was here. This is my chance to get the box.
“You need to tell me everything,” Lucas says as he draws the curtains on his windows.
I don’t speak until he spins around to face me. “I needed to know what happened to you.”
“Don’t try to put this on me. You endangered Hannah and Jessie. Not to mention yourself.”
“I can’t say it enough that I’m sorry.”
He’s shaking his head like he’s trying to believe me but just doesn’t. “You’re sorry you got caught.”
“Fine. You’re right. I am sorry I got caught. I went in there to find out what happened to you. Because I care about you and your father found me and brought me down.”
All the color leaks from Lucas’s face. His chest is still and I’m wondering if he’s even breathing.
“He showed me where you kept the food. But as I was leaving I saw blood droplets leading to a closed door. I put ten and three together and came up with Vicky being held captive there.”
I’m out of breath. I sound so dumb. But the color is slowly returning to Lucas’s face.
“So I devised a plan to go and investigate.”
Lucas exhales loudly before sitting on his bed.
I stay where I am and finish my story. “I took a walk.” I skip the whole Henry thing. “When I got back, they had left without me.”
Lucas rubs his face with both his hands, his eyes heavy like I’ve just taken five years off his life. Guilt churns quickly in my stomach.
“Let’s clean your hands.” Is his answer as he stands and walks into the bathroom. I follow but slow down as I glance at the wardrobe doors. The box is in there. I need to get that box.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
LUCAS
Ella’s skin is sweaty and she looks like she can’t stand much longer. I take out two washcloths and run them under some hot water. “Sit on the toilet seat.” I tell her while I rinse out the washcloths. She exhales heavily. She has no idea the danger she had put them all in.
I squat down in front of her. “Give me your hands.” I can’t look at her, my anger is still burning through my system.
Her hands are cut. But as I wipe them, I see the cuts aren’t deep. “Are you injured anywhere else?” I don’t look at her. Being this close has my mind going in a completely different direction.
“My knees.”
That is under her long skirt. I stand and wash out the cloths before running them under warm water. I can hear the shuffle of material. I glance over. She’s pulled her skirt up. It sits above her knee in a bundle of dark material.
I squeeze the cloth out un-necessarily tight before returning to her. Squatting down, I come eye to eye with Ella. Her pulse beats rapidly in her neck. “I want to make you promise not to do anything foolish again, but I think I’m wasting my breath.”
Her eyes widen slightly, but she doesn’t answer me. I can read her so easily but now she seems conflicted.
I focus on her knees and try not to trail up higher. Resting a hand on her thigh, she stiffens at my touch. Her skin is warm and I want to separate her legs and taste her.
“How did you do this?” I ask to distract myself. She’s only grazed the skin, but I still dab her knees gently.
“How did you hurt your hands?” She retorts.
Her words grab my attention and I tighten my hold on the washcloth. Water drips out onto her knee and runs down her leg. I follow it until it hits the floor.
My heart won’t slow. “I beat someone.” With my hand I start from her ankle and run my finger under the line of water, bringing it back up. I can hear her breathing quickening.
“It’s how all this works,” I say as I run my hand past her knee. Her skin is so soft and I don’t want to stop touching her.
“People who break the rules, get punished.” I separate her legs and she opens them for me easily. I still haven’t looked at her, I don’t want to see what she thinks of me.
“They know the rules. They know the consequences,” I answer as I push up her skirt. Placing a kiss on her thigh, her hands immediately sink into my hair and her legs spread a little more for me. Running my tongue all the way to her panties has her wriggling. My shaft grows painfully hard.
I stop what I’m doing and look up at Ella. She’s staring at me. Her eyes clouded with lust and fear. But lust is winning. Her lips are soft and warm as I take them in mine. I break the kiss while I rise and take her hand, leading her into the bedroom.
I pause, giving her a moment to stop this. Giving her a moment to really let what I just told her sink in. I need her right now. I need to tell myself that she is here and fine. Flesh and Bones.
She moves and grips my face, her lips touching mine giving me permission. Lowering us onto the bed, I try to silence the want in me to pull off her panties and take her hard and fast. She is a virgin, I need to remember that. I still can’t stop the wildness in me as my hands greedily grip her breasts. Her skirt has fallen down, the material blocking me from entering her. I release her and push down her skirt and panties. Her hands pull at my waistband and I remove my own clothes. The eagerness in me wants to take her but I allow her to take me in. Her eyes widen as she focuses on my cock. She pulls her bottom lip into her mouth and I can’t hold back. I move myself in between her legs. I want to pound it in; I want to cum inside her, but once again I hold back as she stares up at me, I allow her to stop this but she pulls me down into a kiss that I greedily take, while reaching down and dipping my fingers inside. She’s wet and ready. Placing my cock at her entrance, I push it gently. She groans into my mouth and it’s agony going this slow. I push a bit deeper and she grabs my shoulders allowing me to sink further and further into her. She gasps and I groan when I’m fully inside her, as I pull out slowly she tenses and I pause before moving back in.
Holding myself up with one arm, I use the other to play with one of her nipples. She gasps and I pull out of her before moving back in. She widens her legs and tenses when I’m fully in. I keep the rhythm slow and can feel her relax under me. I move faster but nothing like I want to do, but I keep reminding myself she’s a virgin. I break the kiss so I can watch her face, it’s ecstasy as her arousal takes over her features. She’s grabbing me, pulling me closer and I move a bit faster and harder, my own release not far away. I roll her nipple between my fingers and she gasps again. Moving quicker, my release is there and I can’t slow down as flesh slaps against flesh. Ella tenses around my cock, her wetness soaking me, causing my own release inside her. It pulses through both of us and it feels like we are both coming forever until the waves subside and I slowly move in and out before taking myself out of her completely. Sweat trickles down my back and she’s panting as I look down at her. She opens her eyes and smiles.
The air catches in my chest. She is mine. I would make sure of it. I kiss her lips tenderly.
She is mine. I remind myself as I take her face in my hands and kiss her one more time. Her actions were reckless and I am starting to think I won’t be able to tame the wildness that is Ella. I don’t think she sees it herself, that she needs to step out in front of a car, thinking it will swerve and she will be fine.
“I need you to stay in your room from now on,” I say, knowing my words will fall on deaf ears.
“I will if you tell me about your arrangement with Sandra.”
I sit up. “Why would you ask me that?” Was my father trying to turn us against each other. Who had fed her that information?
She sits up too and I try not to focus on her nakedness. “Sandra was bragging about having this already signed. Is it true?”
The torture on her face has my stomach hollowing out. I think this is one situation I need to lie to her about. Especially since what we just did. This shouldn’t be a conversation we were having right after she lost her virginity.
A knock at the door has me quickly clamping a hand over her mouth. Silencing her.
A second knock has my heart pounding. I grab my trousers and pull them on. Turning to Ella, she’s already moving into the bathroom. She emerges with her clothes and I put on my top.
“One moment,” I say harshly after the third knock. I’m pointing at the bathroom for Ella to hide in, but she pauses with all her clothes in her hands, opens the wardrobe and steps in closing the door behind her. I take one final look at the room once I am fully clothed.
“Yes, Mark?”
“Your father requests your company, Master Lucas.”
“I will be with him shortly.” I try to close the door, but Mark puts his hand on the door. “Right now, Master Lucas.”
Mark is my father’s man, one day he will be mine. He has kept an eye on Ella, but he is my father’s man all the same. I glance at the wardrobe before leaving the room and following Mark.
“This better be important.”
Mark doesn’t answer me.
My father is in his own office. The moment I set eyes on him, my anger ignites. “Can’t you come yourself?”
He sits back in his chair at my outburst. My eyes skip him and to the two figures who stand still to his left. I hadn’t noticed Jessie and Hannah. My sole focus was on my father when I entered.
“Where is Ella?” I take a step deeper into the room and don’t look at Hannah and Jessie, both Ella’s friends. Both in my father’s grasp.
“I don’t know. What’s this about?” I reel in all emotions.
My father studies me for a moment before speaking. “I saw these two ladies sneaking around in the shed, and shortly after, who followed them? Ella.”
This is news to me that we have cameras. If that is true he knew I arrived and took them all out.
“I’m aware. I have reprimanded all the ladies already. This is unnecessary.”
“How exactly have you reprimanded them?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“I shall decide for you.”
My heart picks up pace and I’m struggling not to leave the room and find Ella to make sure she’s safe. She would hate me for leaving her friends, but her safety was all that mattered to me.
“Fine.” I turn on my heel.
“I’m not finished.” His words are like a hook that reels me back in. I take two steps back before spinning around.
My father stands and in his hand is a small red leather book. A fist tightens in my stomach. It’s a book I’ve read before. Our book of punishments.
He opens it and his smile is quick as he reads. “The punishment for not taking directions from an Elite is thirty seconds on the electric chair.”
I swear I hear Hannah whimpering. Over my dead body is he placing Ella on the chair. He closes the book with a bang and smiles at Jessie and Hannah.
“I’m not a monster.” Relief has Jessie’s shoulders sagging. She has no idea of the type of monster he really is.
“So I have come up with something different. You may even call it a reward.”
He doesn’t look at me and that frightens me more.
“You will be put forward as an option for Henry to marry because Lucas has already agreed to take Sandra’s hand in marriage.”
Guilt echoes in my chest as Hannah looks at me with wide eyes. The betrayal on her face has me wanting to explain and she blinks rapidly with a look of disgust before dropping my gaze.
“So Hannah-“My father stands in front of her. “Do you accept your punishment?”
“Yes, Master Andrew.” She had no idea what she was agreeing to.
“Jessie?” Jessie isn’t as forthcoming as Hannah. “Can I meet him first, Master Andrew?” She bows quickly.
“There is no need. He is a gentleman. My word is enough.”
“Yes, Master Andrew.” Jessie gives in and my father returns to his desk.
“Very good, another problem solved.” He smiles up at me. “You may return to your rooms.” They scurry past me, but not before Hannah looks up at me, her lips narrow with anger. I want to stop her and explain.
I hold still until the door closes. “Ella is off limits, we have already discussed this.” I reinforce.
My father moves paperwork around his desk. “That is true, but these are new circumstances. So therefore new rules.”
He looks up at me. “If I were you, I’d go find her before she gets herself into a situation she can’t get herself out of.”
I curse my father with each step I take back to my room.
When I enter, I hate the small gap I see between the curtains that hang over the back doors. I know she’s gone even before I pull open the wardrobe doors. I’m ready to close them when my eyes travel across my clothes. Some of them ruffled and moved. Dread fills each step as I push my t-shirts aside and feel around only to come up empty.
The box with Declan’s finger in it is gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
ELLA
The blood pounds in my ears as I hunker down behind the hot tub. I’ve wrapped the box in a t-shirt. It feels heavy in my hands and I slowly unravel it. My stomach twists, it’s like opening someone else’s present. I want to know why Henry had offered to get rid of Sandra for this box. Why would it mean so much to him?
I’m examining the outside. There is nothing special about it. I’m prolonging this, I know. The guilty part of me wants to put it back. I feel wrong taking from Lucas, but I also need to protect Hannah and Jessie. If this stupid box will keep them safe, then I hope Lucas will understand. That is, if he ever even realizes it’s gone. It could have been something the boys fought over as children, maybe some sentimental value to it. The lid slides to the left and I push it open. The wood falls from my hands and tumbles to the ground as I swallow down a scream. I’m scurrying away from the finger. A finger. I can’t breathe. The air won’t fill my lungs.
Calm down. It could be fake.
I know it’s not. The smell was the same as Jack Bradley. I’ll never forget the smell as I stood at our neighbors coffin. It was like dry earth and raw meat. It was a hot summer and the wake had lasted a week as they waited for the family to fly home. By the time they got there, Jack Bradley had been decaying slowly. I was only fourteen at the time, but the smell stayed with me.
I glance at the finger that sits on the blades of grass. Leaning against the hot tub, I know I need to pick it up. Every shiver wracks my body.
Don’t be weak. It’s fake. It’s fake.
I crawl over on all fours. Tearing out two large doc leaves, I pick up the finger and try not to think, as I drop it into the wooden box and close the lid. My throat constrains with a need to cry. I can’t take this back to the room. I’m trying to focus on why Lucas had a finger in his wardrobe? Whose hand it belonged to? Did Lucas cut it off? My stomach squeezes. He had admitted to beating people who broke the rules. It terrified me that I hadn’t run away disgusted. It terrified me that I wanted to help him. What if he was a murderer? Would I still stay?
My mind buzzes with too many questions. I just know I shouldn’t take this box back to my room. Bending, I scout the area before standing fully. Lifting the tarp off the hot tub, I place the box wrapped in Lucas’s t-shirt on the seat and pull back down the tarp.
Opening my bedroom door, I want to bleach my hands. Bleaching my eyes might help get rid of the image of the finger.
“Jesus.” I clutch my chest and then drop my hands. “You need to make some noise,” I tell Jessie and Hannah as I close the bedroom door.
“Where were you?” Hannah is standing and she reaches for my hands.
“Don’t touch me,” I warn quickly and march to the bathroom so I can scrub a layer of skin off.
“Did Lucas or Master Andrew find you?”
Jessie asks from the bathroom door where she and Hannah linger. Both of them look worried and it makes me slow down.
“What happened?” apprehension tightens my stomach.
“She doesn’t know,” Hannah says to Jessie. “You need to sit down.”
Hannah is seriously worrying me. “Just spit it out.” My heart can’t take much more.
“Master Andrew called us to his office. He knows we were all in the shed.”
I close my eyes briefly trying to stop the snowball effect that came from my stupid assumption that Vicky was dead.
“What did he say?”
Hannah is chewing on her lip, her eyes clouded. I can’t look at her any longer as fear grips me by the throat. “What did he say?” I repeat to Jessie. What did I bring upon them?
“We are all being presented as options for Henry to marry, instead of punishment.”
Saliva fills my mouth.
“We are okay with that.” Hannah smiles but there is no happiness in it, she looks terrified.
“Have you met Henry?” I ask, but I know she hasn’t.
“They have selected you, too,” Jessie says and I’m trying to wrap my head around what she is saying. I might have to marry Henry?
I turn off the taps.
“Lucas is marrying Sandra,” Hannah blurts out.
I look to Jessie who rolls her eyes. “Very tactful. But yes, it’s already been agreed.”
The towel on the rail is crooked. I straighten it.
“Ella?” Hannah’s soft word has me looking at her. “Master Andrew is looking for you, so is Lucas.”
I notice the dark circles under Hannah’s eyes. “You need to rest. You look tired,” I tell her. She glances at Jessie before her eyes revert back to me.
“You did hear me?” She chews her lip.
“Yes.” I had heard her, but I refuse to let those words sink in.
“Excuse me, Lady Ella.” A foreboding feeling settles in my bones as Mark calls me from the bedroom.
“They’ve found me,” I say to Hannah and force a smile as I try not to splinter the wall I’m building in my mind.