Freed (Bad Boy Hitman Romance)

by Terry Towers

  Mine and only mine.

  Her heel came into contact with my lower back, right over my kidney – hard. I groaned, but it didn’t stop me. It only pulled my focus from my throbbing dick to the task at hand – training her. Pulling a pair of handcuffs from my back pocket, I grabbed her left ankle and slapped them on, repeating the process with the second.

  Sitting up, I took a deep breath in and released it. Looking down at her, I could see the ten-minute battle had exhausted her. She lay limp and chained, beautiful tears flowing down her cheeks. If only I had sympathy for tears, but I didn’t. Tears didn’t add any value for me; all they did was feed the beast within me.

  With a sigh, I pulled a length of thin rope from my other pocket. I looped the rope around the chain connecting her ankles. It took a lot more effort since she decided to start fighting me again, but I managed to pull her legs up to her chest, loop the rope around the post of the headboard and then knot it so she was doubled over on her back, her pink core fully exposed to me.

  “Happy now?” I asked with an angry huff. “Let this be a lesson – I always get what I want in the end. Doing things the way I asked the first time would have been a lot less degrading for you.” Standing, I walked over to my chair across the room and flopped down into it.

  She didn’t answer, but the tears came faster and the sobs louder until I began to fear she’d pass out. She didn’t. Eventually the sobs lessened and the tears stopped. Her body was doubled up uncomfortably in a position that made her look like a human pretzel. Despite wanting to approach her, I decided to give her some time to think and fully grasp the direness of her situation.

  Chapter 4

  Tanner

  I could hear the buzzing of my mobile phone as I walked down the hallway toward my office. Before Lance burned the compound to the ground, which had in turn made me a freelancer without anyone to answer to, I would have been rushing to answer the phone. But not now. Now the only person I had to answer to was myself – and I liked it that way.

  Entering my office, I snatched up the phone and swiped the screen, answering the call.

  Tanner: Yeah?

  Flynn: ’Bout time you answered. I was about to hang up.

  I groaned inwardly. Flynn McCarty was the man who was working hard at putting back together the pieces of The Organization. Over six months ago when Lance Winters – son of the man called “The Boss,” who was head of the USA branch – had decided to assassinate ninety percent of the heads of The Organization during a roundtable meeting, he’d thrown the group into disarray. But Flynn was attempting to recruit new talent to rebuild – and succeeding. The arms-dealing sector of the business was already up and running.

  But Flynn needed a new head of the United States arm, which dealt mainly in acquiring new girls and training them for shipment abroad. While human trafficking amounted to only a fraction of The Organization’s income – arms dealing and drug running accounting for the majority – human trafficking was still a viable and important arm. With all three sectors covered, The Organization amounted to a sort of one-stop shop for debauchery.

  Tanner: What can I do for you, Flynn?

  Flynn: Take over the U.S. arm. Work for us again.

  Tanner: There isn’t an “us” anymore, Flynn. Have you forgotten Lance took care of that?

  Flynn: Hardly. There’s still plenty of us and we are rebuilding quickly. Granted, it’ll take a few years to get back to the point where we were, but we’ll get there. And we need you as much as you need us.

  I had to choke down laughter. They may need me, but I sure as hell didn’t need them. Not in the least.

  Tanner: With all due respect, I’m fine just as I am. I’m done with the red tape that comes with The Organization. I’m a freelancer now, and I must say I like it. I’d done taking orders.

  Flynn: We have power, Tanner. We have connections. For instance, we know that you are currently residing in a five-bedroom house on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. I imagine you keep your girls in basement rooms. You have no real security, and what happens if the law begins to sniff around? We can protect you. We can send you the money to rebuild a complex like the one The Boss ran, and it would be all yours. You at the reins, son. No one to answer to. All you need to do is prepare the girls and have them ready when we need them. You get money and security, and we get well-trained American women – everyone wins. You’re the best and we can trust you. We know that, and I won’t lie, we need that.

  I’d heard it all before. Numerous times. I still had no interest.

  Tanner: I’ve decided to fly straight.

  Flynn: Tanner. Please. Don’t lie to me. We know you have two women currently. The newest one picked up last night from a little town an hour away from you. Rather close to home with that one, if you ask me, but who am I to judge?

  Motherfuckers are watching me.

  My blood began to boil and my free hand clenched into a tight fist. I wasn’t surprised, but pissed nonetheless. We’re a family here, my boy, The Boss had said to me many, many years ago, and family watches over each other. Now that you’re one of us, you’ll never be alone. He hadn’t been kidding. Problem was, I wanted to be alone.

  Tanner: So you’re having me watched?

  Silence.

  Tanner: Flynn?

  Flynn: Lance Winters is still out there. It’s for your own protection.

  That was another instance where I could have laughed out loud but forced myself to refrain.

  Tanner: If Lance Winters wanted me dead, I’d be dead. The man murdered his own father, along with men he’s known and worked with for years. He’s a master marksman and knows just about everything there is to know about guns and explosives. So like I said, if he wanted me dead, I’d be dead. My guess is that he’s holed up somewhere, playing the happy couple with his little slave, using a fake identity. I suspect we’ll never see him again.

  Flynn: We’re hardly scared of a traitor like Lance Winters.

  I shrugged.

  Track him down. Get your men killed. Suit yourself. Not like I care either way. Good luck with that.

  As long as they kept that shit off my doorstep, I didn’t get a flying rat’s ass what they did. Personally I had no beef with Lance Winters – my connection with him had been severed when the compound was destroyed.

  Tanner: Well, all I can say is good luck. And thanks for the offer, but I have to respectfully decline.

  Flynn: Listen, I’m flying to New York for business in a couple of weeks. I plan on attending your auction for the girl you currently have trained. We can have a face to face chat then.

  Fuck! The problem with trafficking women is that many of the people I need to use to get them out of the country are connected to the very organization I’m trying to rid myself of. Sadly, to continue what I’m doing and not land behind bars, I have to at least keep a civil relationship with them.

  Tanner: Can’t wait.

  ***

  Emily

  How I managed to fall to sleep with my body contorted in the way Tanner had me was beyond me, but somehow I managed. However, it was Tanner’s voice that pulled me from my nap. “Wakey wakey, beautiful.”

  “I – What?” I peered up between my legs to see him staring down at me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  “Next time I have to do this to you in order to get what I want, I will take a picture and then mail that picture to your father and everyone else in your father’s church. Is that what you want?”

  My red and swollen eyes widened in horror at the thought of my parents seeing such a picture. That would be bad enough, but for everyone in the church to see it… I fought not to burst into tears again, though I wasn’t sure if I had any tears left to cry, to be honest. “No, Master.”

  “Any questions?”

  I attempted to shift my position and a sharp pain raced up my leg and I winced. “No, but my legs hurt, Master.”

  “And if I release you, will you do as I ask?”

 
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in, slowly releasing it. I nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good. Now we’re getting somewhere.” Leaning over me, Tanner untied my cuffed legs. As I began to lower my legs flat to the mattress, another sharp pain raced up and down them and I cried out.

  “What’s the problem?” His eyes scanned the length of my naked body and caused another flush to colour my cheeks.

  “My legs, Master. They’re cramped. It hurts.”

  “No doubt. You’ve been like that for eight hours.”

  “Holy Eight hours!”

  To my surprise his head fell back and a roar of laughter erupted from him while I stared up at him in shock. When he stopped laughing a smile remained, and for a split second he reminded me of the man I’d met at the bar. Correction, the man I’d thought I met at the bar.

  My embarrassment over being naked was momentarily forgotten as I looked up him, bemused. “What’s so funny?” He eyed me and I quickly added, “Sir.”

  “The way you said ‘holy’ – it caught me off guard. It was amusing. It’s been an aggravating afternoon; your comment was a nice relief.” Pulling a set of keys from his jeans pocket, he leaned over me and undid the cuffs holding my hands to the bedposts and then unlocked my ankles, freeing me completely.

  “I’m glad to be of help, Master.”

  He chuckled again, his eyes locking with mine. “Turn onto your stomach.”

  Panic knotted within me. “Why, Master?”

  His smile faded and I didn’t hesitate, but immediately flipped onto my stomach. Closing my eyes, I waited for whatever torture he had planned. When his hands grasped my calf I yelped and attempted to squirm away, but his grip was ironclad, and placing his free hand on my lower back secured me onto the mattress.

  “I’m going to help if you’ll stop fighting me.” His voice took on an edge that made me immediately stop squirming against him. I had to remind myself that I had to pick my fights, and this one wasn’t worth fighting.

  “I’m sorry, Master.” The words were becoming easier to say, but still took a swing at my pride each time I said them.

  He removed his hand from my lower back and began massaging my left calf. I won’t lie, it felt good to have the tightness of the muscles loosened by his seemingly expert hands.

  “Why are you doing this for me?”

  His hands switched to my right calf and began the process there. “Would you rather I didn’t?”

  “You said you were busy all afternoon… Does that mean I’ve been gone for a day, Master?” I should have checked in with my parents well before now if I had. They must be sick with worry. They’d expected me to go to Bonnie’s the previous night, but I would have checked in with them well before now.

  “Just about. Yup.” His hands moved up on my leg to the knee. I’ll admit I felt somewhat ashamed to be enjoying the feel of his hands on me, relieving the pain; I almost forgot the fact that he was the reason I was in pain to begin with.

  “What about my parents, Sir?”

  “What about them?”

  “They’ll be worried.”

  “Not my problem.” He switched to the other knee. “If you’d like a little advice, I would suggest you spend less time worrying about others and worry about yourself instead.”

  “Can I call them, just once? Please, Sir?”

  “This isn’t a ransom deal, baby. So no, you can’t. Besides, the quicker they get used to the idea you’re never coming back, the better.”

  “But if they know—”

  “Know what, exactly? That you’ve been kidnapped and that in a couple of months you’ll be sold to be someone’s sex slave and shipped abroad? Do you think that’ll make them feel better?”

  And there they were… The tears again. God, it seemed like all I could do was cry. I forced them back, refusing to cry again. There had to be a way out of this. Had to. His hands moved up past my knee to my inner thigh and I yelped again, squirming, attempting to get out of his reach, but it was a futile effort as I was yanked back to him.

  “You’re testing my patience,” he growled, his fingers digging into the already tight and sore muscle. I screamed as the pain surged through my legs, then bit down on my lower lip to keep from screaming a second time.

  “I’m not going to fuck you tonight, so calm down and recognize when someone is doing you a favour. It won’t happen often, so I suggest you relish it.”

  I nodded, burying my face in the pillow and forcing myself to remain calm and still for him. His fingers continued their work, and I’ll admit it felt good, better than it should have. As his hands grew closer to the apex between my legs, a new sensation began to make my body tremble as a heat ignited down there. No one had ever touched me like that, and it was unsettling that I liked it, especially since the person who was touching me considered me to be nothing more than a piece of property.

  “Tanner, I—”

  His hand drew back and landed on my bare ass so quickly and with such force, the smacking sound echoing in the room, that I couldn’t do anything but lie there in shock. Even my cry remained caught in my throat as my bottom began to sting.

  “Now maybe you should try that again.”

  “Master!” I screamed as his hand landed on my burning bottom a second time. I’d been given the belt more times than I could count, but nothing had been like the feel of Tanner’s hand connecting with the soft flesh of my bottom – it was more intimate, almost sexual.

  “Much better.” His fingers began to caress my buttocks and a sob mixed with a moan escaped me. The sting in my bottom, in combination with his kneading fingers and my already yearning core, was sending a slew of mixed emotions through me.

  His hands paused on my bottom and he was deathly silent. Curious, I cautiously looked over my shoulder at him. His eyes were fixated on my bottom. Feeling my eyes on him, he lifted his gaze to meet mine.

  “What are these marks on your ass?” He straightened and crossed his arms over his T-shirt-clad chest.

  I frowned. “Marks, Master?”

  “Yes. Marks. Scars.”

  I chewed at my lower lip and averted my gaze, ashamed.

  Flipping me over onto my back, he grabbed my chin and forced me to look into his dark eyes. “Why are you marked?”

  “It’s how we were punished, Master. Father used the belt. I would take the beatings for me and my sister.”

  His jaw clenched, anger simmering in his eyes. “What did you do to warrant being beaten with a belt?”

  “I didn’t call him Master!” As soon as I said the words, my eyes widened in horror and I wished I could pull them back. I’d never been a sarcastic person, and this was hardly a time to start, but it seemed to spill from my lips before I could stop it.

  He released me and straightened his head, cocking to the side as he regarded me. Suddenly a roar of laughter erupted from him. I remained frozen, my face impassive, staring up at him until he finished laughing. That certainly wasn’t the reaction I was expecting and I had no idea how to react to it.

  “I hadn’t noticed the marks last night.” He flipped me back onto my stomach and his hand brushed my bottom and began tracing the lines of the several scars with his fingertips.

  I started to turn around, then reconsidered; I’d rather be viewed from behind than him seeing me from the front. “What does it matter?”

  Tanner’s jaw clenched and his eyes turned black – void of any emotion. “It doesn’t. Although it’s disappointing that I won’t be the only one you’ll have scars from.”

  His words sent a shiver of apprehension through me. “But if you’re planning on selling me, what does it matter, Master?”

  “You’re right. It doesn’t.”

  I don’t know why that disappointed me, but it did. It might have been because I was already fucked up enough that I’d rather he kept me there and didn’t sell me off to some stranger, but mostly because, despite how scared I was of Tanner, at least I was getting a feel for the treatment I’d recei
ve from him. I had no idea how someone who purchased me would be. And at least with Tanner I assumed I was somewhat close to my parents. There’d always be hope I’d see them again. If I was shipped overseas… I couldn’t allow myself to continue the train of thought.

  “How long will it be before you sell me, Master?”

  Rubbing his chin, he shook his head. “I don’t know.” A smile reformed on his lips. “You’re not enjoying your stay at Chez Tanner? Hoping for better arrangements?”

  “A bathroom with a door would be nice,” I responded, testing my luck.

  He clucked his tongue off the roof of his mouth. “Not going to happen. Anything else I can do for you?”

  “Let me go.”

  “Nope. Can’t do that either.”

  “Something to drink?”

  He nodded. “Because I’m a nice guy, I can do that for you. But if I have to remind you how to refer to me one more time…”

  He didn’t have to finish his statement. I got his warning loud and clear.

  Tanner turned his back and began to walk across the room toward the exit. A snort of derision escaped me. He spun back around and eyed me.

  “Got something to say?”

  I swallowed down the lump of fear forming in the pit of my stomach and shook my head. “Are you going to leave me without tying me up first, Master?”

  Turning around fully, he crossed his arms over his chest and cocked a brow up at me. “Do I need to? You’re not going to try something stupid and try to off yourself by hanging yourself with the linen or something equally stupid, are you?”

  Frowning, I sat up and curled my legs up tight to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs, turning myself into a tight little ball. “Suicide is a sin, Sir.”

  “Ahhhh. Yes. I must have forgotten that one. There’s so many – how do you people keep track?” When I opened my mouth up to respond he put his hand out, stopping me. “The question was rhetorical. I’m not in the mood for the religious bullshit speech right now. I’ll be back.”