Sequel to Tying Trina
Saving Stella
Stella Matthews escapes her abusive husband and runs to her friend Trina for a new life. Hopefully it will be like the ones she’s read about in books where the men are honourable and kind.
Sparks fly when she meets Hunter Radcliffe and Ben Granger on a night out. These two men represent fun and happiness to Stella, things she’s lived without for a long time.
Ben and Hunter are looking for the right woman to join their life. It’s been hard to find the right person, and when they meet Stella, they suspect that they’ve finally found her.
When Stella’s ex-husband comes looking for her, he manages to kidnap her. Hunter and Ben are in a race against time to get Stella back before he hurts her. Has Stella finally met her Prince Charmings, and will they be able to save her?
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Romantic Suspense
Length: 28,223 words
SAVING STELLA
Sequel to Tying Trina
Lou Lou Winters
MENAGE AMOUR
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
If you find a SirenBookStrand e-book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at
[email protected]
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Amour
SAVING STELLA
Copyright © 2013 by Lou Lou Winters
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-123-4
First E-book Publication: July 2013
Cover design by Harris Channing
All cover art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy of Saving Stella by Lou Lou Winters from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.
This is Lou Lou Winters’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Winters’s right to earn a living from her work.
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
www.SirenPublishing.com
www.BookStrand.com
SAVING STELLA
Sequel to Tying Trina
LOU LOU WINTERS
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
“Fuck me, Stella. If I have to tell you to hitch up your skirt and bend over the table again, I’ll give you a thrashing the likes of which you’ve never seen.” Menacingly, Kevin circled the table, trying to get at her.
Stella’s eyes darted from side to side looking for an escape route she knew wasn’t there. The only way out was through the door on the other side of the kitchen, leading to the lounge. She continued to circle around the table away from Kevin, trying to get close enough to the door to run.
The kitchen wasn’t big enough to stage a revolt. She should’ve snuck away quietly while he was at work or sleeping. She shouldn’t have said “no” to him. Now he fumed. She could see the vein throbbing in his neck, his anger escalating with every second she denied him.
He was inebriated and horny, and his foul breath had clouded around her face as he’d demanded a fuck. Something finally snapped in Stella. She’d had enough and spun away from him. She couldn’t take one more pounding, stretched across the table as he grunted and clawed at her back or fisted her hair and drove into her relentlessly.
She’d not been touched intimately in years and had been denied her release every time. Her only real experiences had been with Kevin, and if she hadn’t been a reader then she wouldn’t have known any better. But she did know she was missing out and it had slowly been building up to a level where she couldn’t contain her anger and frustration any longer.
Bravely, she looked him in the eyes as he stopped with his back to the lounge, her only way out blocked. What the hell was wrong with her? He would be true to his word and thrash her so soundly she wouldn’t be able to walk for a week.
“I’m done. I’ve had enough of this marriage and I’m leaving.” Speaking evenly and calmly, she marvelled at the inner strength she didn’t know she possessed until now.
“Like fuck you are.” Kevin growled. He lunged for her across the table and she backed up.
The adrenaline pounding through her system staved off her paralysing fear. There was no way back from this. She’d effectively cut her choices down to two. She could give in to Kevin and face his wrath, or run, never to return and taking nothing with her.
The men in this small community would be of no help. They banded together and ruled their women with iron fists. She daren’t risk involving any of the women. That would be unfair, and the consequences for the woman, if found out, would be dire. Men controlled this town and no woman in her right mind would cross one of them. What was she thinking?
Distracted by her thoughts, Stella hadn’t noticed Kevin edging to the left, and when he dived for her, his hand caught her hair as she moved away a split second too late. Yanking back hard, he pulled her to her knees in front of him and she cried out in pain. She instinctively raised her hands to her hair, trying to relieve some of the pressure as panic started to seep through her veins. Oh fuck.
Kevin sneered down at her. “Got you now, bitch, gonna fuck you up bad.”
Stella’s breathing came in short, sharp little breaths as her heart hammered in her chest, begging her to run. It would be better if she didn’t struggle. Kevin liked a fight and the sex would be more brutal. Floppy and subdued annoyed him, but she’d be less damaged in the end. Lowering her eyes in submission and struggling to relax her body, she whispered, “I’m sorry, Kev. I don’t know what got into me.”
“I’ll tell you what it fucking is. I give you way too much fucking freedom. From now on, y
ou’re housebound, bitch. If you step one foot out of this place without my permission…” As he leered down at her, happy to have her compliant again, she could almost see the cogs turning in his brain and cold fear sunk low in her belly. “If you ain’t going out, then you don’t need no clothes. You won’t think about leaving me again if you ain’t got nothing to wear. As soon as you’ve finished sucking my cock, we’re gonna go burn all your clothes. Then we can get on with your thrashing.”
Swallowing and searching her brain for an idea, any idea to help, Stella suddenly had an epiphany and nearly laughed out loud. With a plan, she calmed and relaxed, ready to take whatever Kevin dealt next. He pulled her hair harder and higher as he struggled with his belt, button, and zip, but shortly managed to push his pants down enough to release his stinking cock.
She could smell his sweaty body odour and the cheesy underlying stench of the unwashed. Pulling her hair to direct her head towards his soft pecker, he rubbed it all over her face as she fought the overwhelming urge to gag. “Suck it, bitch,” he said roughly as he slapped the side of her head. The ringing in her ear passed quickly and the pain helped her focus on the task at hand.
Slowly moving her hands, she cupped his ball sac and encircled his cock with her fingers. She’d have to wait until he loosened his grip on her hair before she acted on her plan or he might knee her in the face, or worse. Holding her breath, she moistened the tip by almost kissing it but actually letting her saliva kind of dribble onto his disgusting dick. She poured as much saliva onto it as she could and hoped it would buy some time for him to relax in. She wanted to avoid putting that poisonous shaft in her mouth if she could. Working her hand up and down, lubricating the whole length, she blew softly on it and was rewarded with a pulse and some firming up.
It only took a minute for him to groan and relax his hold on her hair, more cupping her head than gripping it now. Lowering her head and opening her lips, she gave the impression of being about to suck him in. Instead, she closed her fingers around his sac and cock and squeezed with all her might. Sinking her nails into the skin, she gave a sharp yank downward and dragged them over his scrotum and cock as she let go.
With a roar he sprang back, ripping himself from her grasp, eyes bulging, and doubling over in so much distress that he couldn’t even swear. Stella didn’t wait to see what happened. She grabbed her purse off the bench and ran.
Chapter Two
Trina glanced at Stella sitting on her couch. Poor thing looked exhausted. Her dark, soft curls hung limply around her shoulders, there were dark smudges under her big brown eyes, and her clothes were very travel worn. There was also a distinctive odour that Trina was trying to identify without having to ask and embarrass Stella. Handing her a wine glass, she patted her on the shoulder and sat down. “So tell me what happened. I only spoke to you the day before and now you’re here.”
Stella smiled tiredly. “I did it. I’m free. I’ve left him.”
She did look triumphant and happy, but Trina knew there’d be more to this story. “But why? Why now? Don’t get me wrong, I’m ecstatic that you’ve left that fucker, but what triggered it? You didn’t say anything about it the other day on the phone.”
Sighing, Stella slumped a bit and sipped her wine before she said, “I just snapped. Last night. It all happened so fast. He came home stinking and drunk again, demanding sex. I just couldn’t do it, so I said no.”
Trina leaned forward in her seat. She’d met Kevin a few times, for the first time at his and Stella’s wedding at least seventeen years ago. Some of the things Stella told her about him made her blood boil. It’d always surprised her that Stella stayed as long as she did. Admittedly, he’d only become fanatically tyrannical in the last couple of years. Before that he’d just been obnoxious and overbearing.
She knew from her brief encounters with him that he wouldn’t have taken Stella’s refusal well at all. He strutted around like he was God’s gift to women and treated Stella like dirt. “What did he say? Don’t tell me he just let you leave.”
Stella gave a humourless laugh. “No chance.” She giggled then and put her hand up to her mouth, intriguing Trina to no end. “Okay, this is a bit, um…yuck, and at the time it was really scary.” Laughing, she sipped her wine. “But in hindsight I’m finding it really funny…or it could be the wine.”
Trina laughed with her friend. “Tell me. What did you do?”
Holding her hands over her mouth again, looking as though she couldn’t quite believe what she’d done, Stella said, “I could have quite possibly popped his balls and broken his cock. I squeezed and yanked so hard. I raked my fingernails down the skin as I let go.”
Trina threw her own hands up and covered her mouth before she managed to say, “Oh my god, did you break the skin and make him bleed? More importantly, are your nails all right?”
“Oh god yes, my nails are fine. I washed my hands and face really well at the first safe tap I came to. I can still feel it though. Do you know what I mean? I keep imaging his cheesy cock skin under my nails and have to keep washing my hands. But really, I just needed time to get out before he thrashed me for being defiant.” Suddenly looking cross, Stella glared into her wine glass. “Hey, do you know what he said?”
Trina raised her eyebrows, still unable to form words around her shock.
Stella frowned and continued, “He said that he was going to burn all my clothes so that I couldn’t go out and would think twice about being defiant again.”
Trina’s heart broke for her friend. She’d put up with so much for so long. “Oh, babe, you’re out now, and you can stay here as long as you want.”
“I only had time to grab my purse off the table,” she said sadly. “I have nothing, no money, no clothes.” A sob escaped Stella’s lips and a tear slid down her cheek. “I have to start again. At nearly forty, I have to start again.”
Okay, Trina thought, here’s the real problem. Leaving Kevin was the beginning. The daunting task of starting again was worrying her friend now. “How did you get here then? When did you leave exactly?”
“After I bit him, I grabbed my handbag and ran. Luckily I had the grocery money in my wallet, so I snuck through town and avoided all the lights and stuff. Kevin would’ve organised the men pretty quickly to track and find me. The aboriginal trackers can find anything, especially a heavy-footed woman running through the scrub. So I had to steal a horse.”
“You’re joking right? That would explain the smell.” Surprised at her friend’s ingenuity, Trina laughed. “You made your escape on horseback?”
Seeing the funny side, Stella laughed with her and said, “It was the best option, the only option, actually. It’s not like I know how to steal a car and there are always plenty of horses around the back of the pub. The men ride them in so they don’t have to drive. It’s like thirty miles to the next town and I couldn’t risk any of them spotting me on the main road.”
“So then what? Where did you go?” Trina asked, thoroughly astounded at Stella’s strength.
“I tied the horse up out the back of the pub in the next town and it only cost a pittance to have him settled and stabled for the night. I paid for that because I couldn’t leave him all sweaty and thirsty and needing a brush, he’d been so good on the ride. Really early this morning I caught a coach from there into Sydney. And here I am. Obviously you’re the only person I know here so you get lumped with me. I hope that’s okay.”
“Absolutely, I have the room.” Trina suddenly thought of something. “Is there any way Kevin could find you here? Will he even bother to come find you?”
“I don’t see how he’d find me. I’m sure that even if he thinks of you, he has no idea where you live. But he’ll be looking for me. To save face with the town men, he’ll have to bring me back and teach me a lesson so that I stay in line. But anyway, I can’t see how he could find out where I am.”
“Phone, address book?” Trina would look after Stella no matter what, but she wanted to be cautious and pre
pared in case anything happened with Kevin. She wanted Stella to think it through, too, for her own safety. Men like Kevin didn’t just give up and cut their losses when it came to their women.
“My phone was in my bag, luckily, and all my addresses are in that. Don’t worry Trina, he won’t find me here. How big is Sydney? It’s like a needle in a haystack.”
“I know. I just worry about you, that’s all.” Trina smiled. “Tell me what your plans are.”
“First up, I need a job and some clothes.” Stella looked bleak for a second but then perked up. “At least I can borrow something off you when I get a job interview.”
Trina looked at her friend, her mini me. They could’ve been sisters. Stella’s colouring and shape were the same as Trina’s. She had a curvy, lush body with the same porcelain skin, dark, curly hair and almond-shaped chocolate eyes, but Stella was a slightly smaller build. Trina’s clothes would fit Stella, but she could never borrow Stella’s clothes back. “There’s a job at my office that you might like. They’re looking for an assistant to one of the big bosses, but it will be a lot of schmoozing his clients as well as secretarial stuff, so you should get to meet a lot of people.”
Yawning, Stella said, “That would be right up my alley. I’d be good at that. Thanks so much, Trina. I don’t know what I’d have done or where I’d have gone if I didn’t have you. Can you give me the details? I’ll ring in the morning.”
“No worries. Good one. Come on, I’ll show you the shower and spare room. You need a shower and bed.”
Nodding, Stella stood up and went over to hug Trina. “Thanks, you’re the best.”
Stella’s phone rang and they both froze. Picking it up, she glanced at the screen and then held it up to show Trina. Stella switched it off and said, “He’s called almost hourly. The first few messages were nice and apologetic, but now they’re just threatening and abusive, so I’m not going to listen to them anymore. In fact, tomorrow I’m getting a new phone number and Kevin will never be able to ring me again.”
“You’ll be settled soon and feel like a new woman. New job, new clothes, new life. It’ll be liberating to make your own decisions and run your own life.”
Saving Stella [Sequel to Tying Trina] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 1