“You don’t need to be any better than you are.”
HIM
…
“You know, I wish I could touch you,” she whispers.
“I’m sorry. I wish the circumstances were different, but I can’t lie. There is something really sexy about you lying here like this, you know. Do you know what I could do to you?”
She gets a wicked glint in her eyes and I try not to notice the bruising around one. This isn’t a game. There is so much at stake, and the danger is beyond anything I’ve experienced. She wouldn’t even be able to process it. I try to keep her present in the moment, not letting her think of what’s outside, of what they want to do to her, of what they will do to her unless I come up with a plan.
“I’d like you to do those things, Zane.”
I smile. “Not now, baby. But when we’re free, I’ll make sure you’re tied up like this – and I will make you come like you can’t even fantasize about.”
“I don’t want to think about tomorrow,” she whispers.
“I know. But we need to. We need a plan. I’ve convinced them to bring us both back, to meet your next client, and give us time.”
“You’d let them do that to me? Let them touch me?”
I sigh. “I don’t know. I’m trying to find a way, and I will. But as a backup plan, we go along, buying ourselves some time.”
“You said I was yours,” she says.
“And you are. Do you think if one of them touches you it will change anything? Baby, if one of them gets near you, I want you to close your eyes, and think of my voice. No matter what they do to you, what they do to your body, you are mine. I will kill any man who takes what’s mine, but we may have no choice at first. Promise me, you will close your eyes and remember me. Remember that their hands, their words, their hurt… there is nothing they can take from you. Because it’s already all mine.”
“I’ll try. I gave myself to you. The thought of anyone else between my legs, of anyone touching me…”
“It makes me sick, too, baby,” I tell her. “I promise you it will be us, only us, one day.”
“Are you sure?”
It must be her vulnerability, her fear, that makes me do it. I swore it would never happen again. I swore I wouldn’t feel, but I want her to know that she is mine, beyond the physical. I hate the idea of that man with the tattoos on top of her, inside of her, but we can move past it. I will help her move past it if it comes to that, because it’s more important that she’s alive. But I make a promise that falls from my lips before I can even think of what I’m saying.
“The first thing I’m going to do when we’re free is to make you my wife. I want the world to know you’re all mine, Nichole.”
Her
…
Marriage? Do I want marriage? I’m still a kid. I’m barely eighteen. I had this whole life planned. I was going to go to college, grad school, maybe even law school or something after that. Sure, someday I figured I would get married, although probably when I was older, and I never thought about a family or kids. My own parents hadn’t done a remarkable job.
But when Zane says it, I do want that. I would like to go to school again someday, but I also want him in my life more than I want to think about a career. I guess I always saw myself as independent, never needing a man, and while I still want to be somewhat in charge of my own life choices, I have grown to feel attached to him in such a short time. I like knowing he will take care of me, that there is someone who wants to be there. He talks about control, but I am willing to give it. I like being his.
“Touch me,” I ask. “It doesn’t have to be sex, but I want to feel your hands on me. You make me feel loved.”
He’s gentle this time, and he doesn’t move between my legs. He simply runs his hands along my body like I’m a wonder to him, and it makes everything else disappear. My fear is still present, but he’ll save me. I know he will. I trust him.
“I’ll do whatever I have to do. For you. For us. But no matter what they do to me, Zane, they can never make me not love you. If they touch me, if they hurt me, it won’t break me, as long as you’re there when they’re done.”
“I’ll be there, baby,” he promises.
“Zane, can you ask you something?”
He continues to run his hands along my body. My wrists and ankles hurt from being bound, but if I focus my attention on him, it goes away temporarily.
“Anything.”
“Why me? Why did you pick me?”
“You’re beautiful. And I saw you and knew you were special. I didn’t want to feel anything. I just thought you would be exactly what we needed to bring in profits, but when I saw you the first time, I was ruined. You’ve ruined me, Nichole. I can’t be anything but yours now.”
I smile. “I thought I was yours.”
“We belong to each other, baby.”
He rests his head on my chest and we fall asleep. I fear the days to come, but not with him by my side. This has to be enough to save us both. It just has to.
…
I wake to someone touching me, and at first, I’m happy. The hand between my legs, the fingers slipping inside of me, they feel good. I open my eyes, looking for Zane, his head now bald, and his dark eyes looking down at me. Instead, there is a man. A large man with tattoos that run along his arm and his neck, down his chest, and all the way to his stomach. They end right before his giant cock, which is erect, and pointed at me.
I try to get away, but chains hold me in place.
“No,” I say.
“Good morning, Willow. That’s your name, correct? Willow?”
I nod. I don’t want him to know my real name.
“Well, Willow, I’m Ky. I think we need to talk. About what your place is in this organization.”
He takes his hand out of my legs, which is a relief, I suppose. However, I don’t feel like this conversation is going to go well.
“I’m not your whore,” I spit. “You can’t just take people from their lives.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Obviously we can. Do you come from money, Willow?”
“No.”
“So then you have no idea what money can do, do you? You can own anything you want if you have the funding, sweetheart. And you? A tight, pretty little virgin? There are many, many men who wanted that. However, you had to go and ruin it, didn’t you? You had to go be a little slut and fuck a nobody. Do you think Zed is going to take care of you? He can’t even take care of himself, Willow. We own him, too, you know.”
“I guess it’s too bad. Because now I have nothing you can take.” I feel a bit of pride at that. They can do whatever they want to me. I gave myself to Zane and he will always have that part of me. They’re wrong about money. That was something no one bought. They tried, but I gave it to Zane for nothing. Because I chose to.
“You may not be a virgin, but there is plenty we can take. And plenty we intend to take. You will earn that money back.”
“And if I don’t?”
He smacks me hard. It’s blinding in the pain, but I refuse to cry. I bite down on the inside of my lip and try to focus through the pain.
“You will. Or we will kill you. We’ll probably kill you anyway. But I guess the question is how long you want to live. There’s also the matter of Zed.”
“What about him?” I feel a chill run through me.
“Let’s just say you have control over certain things, Willow. If you do what we want, if you serve the clients who paid a great deal of money to have you, maybe we’ll even let him live. If you continue to be so… resistant… well, then, I guess we will just have to use him to demonstrate exactly what will happen to you.”
“Don’t hurt him,” I plead.
“Don’t make us.”
He leaves the room with the warning between us. I wish I knew where Zane was.
HIM
…
They came to take me away before she woke. I hate thinking about what he’s doing to her. I tell myse
lf I have to let it go, that she may have to do something with someone else to get us out of this, but the thought kills me. I don’t want anyone else with her. The jealousy drives me. She’s supposed to be mine.
Rage that stems from the jealousy moves my body, as I approach the door. It’s steel, which is impenetrable, but I’m not bound or trapped. I just need a way out of this room. I look around me, trying to find anything – a vent, a window – but there is nothing.
When the door opens and he enters, I consider killing him and going for her, but I know he is not the only one in this place. I need to cooperate, to let them think I will comply, so that I can get back to Nichole, and so that we can be free.
The first thing he does is tell me to sit. When we do, he leans across the table, placing his fingers in my face.
“You are not the only one who can make her wet,” he says, and it’s all I can do not to snap his neck.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“I want her to earn her worth, as I have explained. And I want you to do your job. There has been enough of this foolish idea of love. You were hired to do something and you will do it. She was brought in to us for something, and she will do it. Do you understand?”
“And if we don’t?”
“I will tear her apart. I will make you watch as I fuck her so hard, her body breaks under me. I will make her suffer, and I will enjoy it. And then as you watch me hurt her, as you see me take what makes her so special to you, I will kill her. And I will enjoy every moment of it.”
“You’re sick,” I tell him.
“You didn’t have such moral outrage with all the others. Her pussy might taste wonderful. It might be tight and sweet, but she’s a fucking toy, like the rest of them. Enough with this idea of her as anything but a receptacle for men with far more power and money than you and even I can dream of. She exists for one reason, and that is to serve them. And we serve them by providing what they desire.”
“She’s more than that.”
He hits me and it stings. It’s a warning, not an attack, but it still hurts. “No. She is not. And she does not belong to you.”
…
After he’s gone, I explore the room further. There has to be something to help us, to help her.
He is wrong. She does belong to me. When I think of her body against mine, of her trust as I hit her and the sounds of pleasure as she submitted to me, I know she will only belong to me. I told her it was worth risking it, that we should go back, that she could do it and it was just physical. But smelling her on his fingers made me realize that I will die to protect her. That no man will ever be where I belong, that no man will do anything to her against her will.
When the door opens and the younger guy comes in to bring me water, I don’t hesitate. I hit him, hard, and take his keys before locking him in the room. I know it wasn’t necessarily his fault, and I also know I don’t have much time, but Nichole needs me and I need to save her.
The building is huge and all the rooms look the same. I try to recreate the steps we took when they brought me here, but it’s tough to do while also trying to escape notice. Somehow, I end up back in the hallway where she is. I don’t know which room she’s in – and I don’t know if they have anyone in the other rooms – but I’m willing to break into every room if I need to.
The problem is also the chains and I don’t know if they keys on the ring I’m carrying will open the locks. I need something else, preferably something to cut through them, but finding it without being caught is worrisome. I see one man walking back and forth by one of the rooms. If I can sneak up on him…
Sadly, my thought is cut off when he sees me. I don’t have time, and I don’t think. I run to him before he can call for help, and I choke him until he falls to the ground. I think he’s merely unconscious, but there isn’t time to wait to find out. I take his key ring, too, hoping that between the two, I will be able to get Nichole free.
I fumble until I find the keys and then I open the door. She’s awake and she looks scared, chained to the bed. I have to resist the desire to kiss her, to hold her, to make sure she knows she can trust me, because she looks so sweet and innocent.
“We need to get out of here,” I tell her.
“But you said it wasn’t safe,” she argues.
“It isn’t, but I will die before someone hurts you, before another man touches you.”
I approach the bed and go through the keys looking for something to free her legs. Fortunately I find it within a few minutes and I get her legs free. She stares at me.
“Ky put his fingers in me,” she says.
I fight back the rage, the red haze that takes over, and I smile at her. I run my hand between her legs, flicking her clit, and then kissing along her thighs. I slip my tongue inside of her pussy, quickly, just to remind her who she belongs to.
“I told you, Nichole. You’re mine.”
She sighs and nods. I unbind her hands and help her from the bed. We look for anything to dress her in and I find a light dress, which doesn’t cover much, but it will have to do. Then, I take her hand, and I lead her out of this dark place.
Her
…
I don’t know where he plans to go, or how he plans to get out, but I follow, because I trust him. Zane is my life, my love, and I know he’ll save me. He leads me through corridors and down a few flights of stairs. A few times, we have to duck into corners or behind things to avoid being noticed, but the escape isn’t really the hard part. The hard part is what comes next.
The warehouse where we are being kept is on an island in the river, and there is no visible way off the island. There has to be a tunnel somewhere, since they drove us here, but I don’t see it. Zane looks around, but neither of us can find it. He shrugs and leads me to the edge of the lot that encircles the building.
“Can you swim?” he asks.
“In the river?”
I think of the pollution, of what could be in the river, but then I think of the alternative. I look at him and nod, and then dive in. It’s an impossible swim, especially given the weakness I feel after being chained, but something drives me, something pushes me. We are not as far from the mainland as I thought, but it’s still painful. I’m starting to cramp up, just as the end is in sight, but Zane helps me. He stays by my side and, soon, we are both lying in the dirt by the edge of the river.
It’s disgusting. There is broken glass everywhere, trash, needles, some old tires… but it’s freedom and I feel happy.
End of Part One
Beautiful Captivity (The Club #1) Page 7