Notorious King

by Hilary Storm

  “Marie.”

  “Down on your knees, Marie. Don’t make me fucking fight you.” He grips my arms and tugs me downward and even though I want nothing more than to imagine my escape from this place by taking him out and then running past everyone… I’m not naïve. I won’t be leaving here tonight until he’s ready for me to go.

  My odds are better to wait and see how many I’ll be up against at the next location, if I’m lucky enough to live that long.

  I do what he says and slowly lower myself until my already tender knees are on the ground directly in front of him. The roar of the room gets louder just as he grips my hair and until the sound of a zipper takes over I actually think I’ll be able to lose myself in the noise of the crowd.

  I barely hold back the urge to vomit just at the thought of someone I’ve never seen making me do this. I don’t even look forward to taking a dick in the mouth when I have sex consensually, how am I going to make it through this?

  His slight movement back and forth has me convinced he’s stroking himself, just so he can make a big show. I’m not usually one to admit defeat, but tonight it seems to be my only option time and time again. I lower my head, feeling the pull on my hair while I try to will myself the courage to do this. To do something.

  “Open your mouth.” He’s not the smartest one in the room if he’s willing to put his dick in my mouth when I’ve been kidnapped and auctioned off as if I’m no longer human, even though I’m not exactly sure how to react with a room full of people watching.

  My head begins to tingle when he releases the grip on my hair. His hand is the only warmth against my naked body as he moves his fingers under my chin, shifting my face so he can get a better look. He slides the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip, drawing it out slowly and testing my restraint. I want to have the urge to bite him… to claw his damn eyes out or do whatever harm I can do. But the truth is, he’s the only calm in this room of absolute chaos. So, I let him look at me and take in the feeling of his touch as he skims over my lips a few times.

  “Fuck. Get up.” He snaps and lifts my chin until I’m standing in front of him once again.

  He walks away, leaving me alone with every ounce of my will power being tested as I stand there frozen. Not moving a muscle even though I have an impulse to remove my blindfold and allow myself the view of who has displayed me out here on sale like a piece of meat. Of the man who has now purchased me for millions of dollars… and a man who just let me out of a blow job even after he spent that much money.

  If I can only convince him to talk to my father, I’ll get him his money back. Hell, I’ll double it if he can just get me out of here untouched.

  The room grows louder as I stand by myself. I’m not sure what he’s doing, but it seems to be pissing everyone off. Before I have the chance to think any more about what’s happening, I’m tossed over a shoulder and hauled out of the room. Yelling surrounds us and even though my bare ass is on full display, I can’t manage to tear my hands away from the man’s ass and waist from fear of falling.

  He’s wearing a suit. His body is hard and he moves with a purpose so powerful I can feel it in every step he takes. “Move the fuck out of my way. I bought her and I can do what I want.” We’re almost through the crowd when I hear him once again. “Keep the fucking blindfold on until I say to take it off.”

  Doors slam behind us before silence and cool air brush over my nearly naked body. He’s taking me away from the auction and for that I have to be thankful. I’m not sure what kind of monster he is or what he has planned for me, but I have to give him respect for not humiliating me in public.

  That’s the way I have to look at this. For all I know he could be a sadistic rapist or killer, but for now I’m going to hold on to the good in this man. The alternative is just too terrifying.

  A car door opens before he sets me on a seat. He moves me over without any effort and before I know it we’re being driven in a rush away from the very place I thought I’d die in… or at the very least be tortured in.

  I can’t help but want to see where I am… where I’m going, so I reach for the blindfold once again. “Don’t move.”

  “I want to see.” I continue until my hands are behind my head, but stop quickly when he’s pressing my arms above me, against the window at my back.

  “I told you to leave the fucking blindfold alone.” His breath blows across my face with every exhale. “Why in the hell were you in there?”

  “Someone kidnapped me.” The weight of his body against mine restricts each breath I try to take.

  “Why hasn’t anyone reported you missing?” How does he know that? How does he know anything?

  “Maybe they have.”

  “No, they haven’t. It’d be all over the fucking news.” I’d like to think it would be if I disappeared, but to be honest I haven’t been missing that long. I had only told my best friend about my date and I wasn’t supposed to call her until after I got home. She probably thinks my date went better than it actually did and hasn’t started to worry yet.

  “Who are you?”

  “Don’t worry about who I am.” He pushes off my arms and shifts to the seat beside me. I can feel the heat from his thigh next to my bare leg and I use that small ounce of warmth to stay grounded even though my teeth begin to chatter.

  “Here put this on.” He drapes his suit jacket over my chest making me almost think everything will be okay after this night. Like maybe he won’t torture me for the millions of dollars he just spent to own me.

  “Thank you.”

  I slide the stiff material over my shoulders and around my back to put it on. The scent of cologne invades me and for the first time since this all started I’m not disgusted by the smell of man that surrounds me.

  “Why won’t you let me see you?”

  “Because. It’s best this way. Now stop asking questions.” He’s firm with his response, but it’s driving me crazy that I still can’t even see where I am or who has me. I choose to keep the peace for the moment and set my hands in my lap.

  The skimpy robe is splayed open over my hips and I try to imagine that he’s not looking, not that he didn’t just see my entire naked body at the auction. The truth is, I can feel him watching me. I wrap his jacket around my body and welcome the coverage I can muster, but don’t miss the frustrated exhale he lets out.

  We drive for a few hours before the car stops and he gets out. I take this opportunity to sneak a peek from under my blindfold because curiosity is getting to me.

  My view is limited. I’m in a limousine with dark windows. The night sky doesn’t allow me to really make out anything outside the car, so I drop the blindfold back in place.

  The door behind my shoulder opens and a man’s grip holds my hand while I step out of the car. My bare feet are tender against the gravel, but I’m still guided a few feet before the ground changes and then I’m sent to my knees. “Stay like this until I tell you to move.” This isn’t the voice of my owner. It must be the driver.

  The soft grass tickles my bare legs, but I’m thankful for his choice of where to place me. The crunch of gravel behind me as I listen to his footsteps retreat almost sends me into a panic. The thought of being left alone after everything I’ve been through horrifies me. It’s not until the sound of the door closing and the car driving away that I reach for my blindfold once again.

  I instantly recognize where I’ve been dropped off. My heart sinks as I try to decide if this is a mind game of some sort before I take off running toward the gate. Adrenaline has me moving as fast as my legs will run until I get to the keypad and frantically enter my passcode.

  Once the iron gates close behind me I stop running and stand in the center of the lawn and fall to my knees. Tears stream down my face as I let the reality of the danger I’ve been in wash over me. I could’ve died tonight. I could’ve been raped and mutilated for the rest of my life. But instead I’ve been bought and my owner delivered me here.

  I’ve never b
een more confused in all of my life. I have no idea who saved me tonight, but I’ll forever be thankful for him.

  I remain frozen in place, looking at all the lights in awe. Absorbing everything I’ve taken for granted so many times. I’m at my family’s estate… the very place I’ve worked so hard to get away from the past few months just to prove I can make it on my own.

  Chapter Five

  Gabriel

  “Five million dollars. Are you out of your damn mind?” I knew they’d give me hell about this, but I also know if it were any of them in that room, they’d have done the same thing. They can say what they want, but I know them.

  “We can’t go in and save one fucking woman when our job is to get to the leader of it all. I need the Top Dog and you’ve brought home a goddamn kitten. You’ve ruined the entire operation and now I’m going to have to send one of your brothers in to handle business.” My father is infuriated, but I was prepared for this. He isn’t exactly the most logical man when it comes to doing something humane or compromising a job for the well-being of anyone.

  Welcome to the family business. My father was an assassin. He trained his four sons and single daughter to be the same. We were barely eight when he put a gun in our hands and pushed his passion on us. And now he’s at the head of all operations, calling the shots while we do the leg work.

  “If that had been Victoria in there, I know Alex would’ve done the same. Don’t patronize me for saving someone we all know. We went to school with both Alex and Aubrie. Their family attends the same damn bullshit functions that ours does.”

  “Don’t bring your sister into this. Of course, we want to think Alex would’ve saved Victoria… but what you forget is your sister doesn’t need a man to save her. She has her shit handled. Now tell me how you’re going to pay me the five million you just tossed around.”

  His two words tossed around set a fire to my core and piss me off. I guess he’s lost any sense of human decency over the years. “I’ll sell my house and turn over the investments I have. Or you can keep my damn take on the next ten jobs I do to cover it. Whatever you want. I don’t fucking care about the money. And stop acting like five million is putting you in a tough spot. We kill for a living. Money is something our family will never lack.”

  “That’s not the point. You went rogue and made a decision that you should’ve come to us about first.”

  “We all know she’d be dead or worse if I had hesitated. Think what you want, but I’ll never regret getting her out of there.” I start to pace even though my path is short in our control room. This is where all of our equipment is stored and where my father sits on his high horse yelling through our head pieces while his children take the risk of taking the kill shot in every assassin job we take on.

  “I trained you to be smarter. To be solid in your mind and not let a single outside factor deter you from the job. You failed tonight.” I sit in front of the man who taught me everything I know… who taught my three brothers and my sister the same exact same thing and I silently dare him to say another fucking word. The anger coursing through my veins gets stronger the longer I stare into his cold eyes.

  “I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. Now you can either sit here and continue picking apart what I did and what a failure I am, or you can come help me end a sex slave auction that’s going to ruin the lives of hundreds of women tonight.” I stand and begin to walk toward the door. The roar of my father’s voice stops me mid-step.

  “Sit down.” He slams his fist on the table, shaking everything that was sitting on it. “Sit your ass down. You’re not going in to blow it up when I didn’t get the lead I need. We have to wait until the time is right.”

  “You expect me to stand by and allow that shit to go on?”

  “That’s exactly what you’re going to do.” Victoria speaks up. She’s the last person I thought would think the same way as he is. Aubrie is a year younger than she is.

  “Yes. We have to wait until we can get at the top. If you go there again tonight, your cover is for sure blown and we’ll have to start again. This time they’ll be even harder to influence.” My oldest brother Titus stands beside me, his calm voice reaching out to reason with the chaos in my mind.

  “Women chained to the wall. Fucked without permission. Sold to the bottom feeding filth of the world, taken away from there to have god knows what happen to them… and you want to sit by and allow it all to happen?”

  “It’s the opposite brother. We want to end it forever, not for just tonight.” Max steps forward taking his place on the left, opposite side of me as Titus. Both of them making it clear that they will stop me if that’s what it comes to.

  “Fine then, I’ll go in and take the bitch who was running that shit show and I’ll make her talk.” Frustration has taken over and the screams of the women I heard tonight begin to echo louder against any sound thoughts.

  “You know I can’t let you do that. Give it time. We will get them and make them all pay.” I know he’s right, but the thought that Aubrie, or even Victoria for that matter, could’ve been a part of that if I hadn’t been there tonight twists my gut beyond any comprehension.

  “Fine then. We make this the top priority of the entire family. I want all of us on it until we get those fuckers.” I can’t believe I’m considering not acting on this immediately. The wait will destroy me.

  I’ve done hundreds of jobs. Killed every single target without a hitch. All of them distant from the life as I knew it prior to taking on my first mission. This one was different. The second I saw Aubrie, I knew I had to get her the hell out of there.

  They weren’t there tonight. They didn’t see the potential of something like this where we all live. They didn’t see the way Aubrie trembled at every unexpected sound that was made.

  “That’s why we’re all here. It’s why I sent for each of you all at once. It’s too close to home and we need to figure out who’s behind it all.”

  “Call me when it’s time then.” I can’t sit around here and analyze shit when I can still hear their cries. The door slams louder than I mean for it to, but quickly opens behind me.

  “Since when did you turn into a soft asshole.”

  “Tori… this is fucked up shit. You should’ve seen how they were treating them. This isn’t their first rodeo. It was organized with lots of buyers.”

  “And that’s why we have to do this right. This isn’t an amateur show that just rolled into town. They know what they’re doing and that makes it even more crucial for us to do our job.”

  “Goddammit, I know what you’re saying is right, but I don’t have to like it.”

  “How often do we like what we do?” She makes a good point, although I guess I’m dysfunctional because I tend to love the thrill of the job.

  “Call me fucked up, but I smile when I take the shot every damn time I make the kill.” I toss my hand into my hair and try not to yell at her while I try to explain myself.

  “And you will get that chance in this too. Just have the patience you know it takes to do the job right.”

  “When did you learn how to be so calm?” I take my sister in my arms and hold her tight, the thought of how easy she could’ve been there tonight crossing through my mind just before she responds.

  “You forget I’ve been dealing with the four of you my entire life.”

  “Yeah, I guess you have.” She steps back from me, a half smile on her face before she slugs me in the shoulder.

  “And since when did you have a thing for Aubrie Winters?”

  “I don’t.”

  “Like hell. I’ve never seen you frazzled like this in my life Gabriel King. You may be notorious for never allowing one to get through… but I have to say this one has got to you.” I watch my sister walk back through the door and for the first time in hours I can finally feel the calm swarming around my insides.

  “Notorious, huh? And I don’t have a thing for Aubrie.” I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince. My words fa
ll void in the darkness while I walk alone to my truck.

  I wasn’t prepared for tonight. I wasn’t prepared to come across someone I knew in that situation. Victoria may think I’m a cold-hearted asshole when it comes to women, but the truth is… I’ll do anything for the people I care about. Alex has always been my best-friend, of course I’m going to save his sister Aubrie from being bought by some disgusting pervert.

  Aubrie Winters. She’s always been off limits for the King Brothers since she’s Alex’s younger sister; we all made that agreement when we were in high school. We didn’t want him near Victoria either so that made it easy enough to stay clear of Aubrie. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t always had my eyes on her.

  There’s no way I could ever allow her to be hurt and I sure as fuck couldn’t bring myself to be the one to actually do it. Watching her react to me, knowing she was dying inside and trying to decide what to do as I ordered her to open her mouth.

  I couldn’t make myself rip her apart just to save her when I had the chance to get her out of there completely unharmed. Even if it meant busting the mission all together. So fucking be it.

  I wasn’t expecting to see her there. Hell, I didn’t think I’d be around her at all while I was home. Not that any of that matters, but fuck if the last three years weren’t damn good to her.

  Chapter Six

  Aubrie

  I haven’t slept at all, still thinking about everything that happened last night. I didn’t wake my parents and I couldn’t call the police. A scandal like this is just what the media would love to get ahold of to prevent my father from winning the election this year. Governor of Texas… just a pit stop on his way to the White House in his eyes.

  I’m still crouched in a corner of my old bedroom, my hands clenching the fireplace poker I managed to grab in my haste to feel safe.