by Leah Holt
“What?” Setting her down, she kept her hands on my shoulders.
Her eyes shot to her feet, and snapped back up. “You took the last thing I had to offer.”
Tilting my head, I scrunched my lips. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, let's just say I'm not worth the money now.”
What the fuck is she talking about?
I took the last thing she had to offer?
She wasn't worth the money?
What the hell did any of that mean?
Ivy was speaking in fucking tongues, talking in puzzled words that I had to put together.
But it didn't make sense.
And as I watched her rinse her body, gently massaging her most sensitive area, I put her coded words together.
Ivy was a virgin.
Eleven
Ivy
“Yeah?” Dante's voice was muffled and quiet as he leaned over the edge of the bed to distance himself from me. “When?”
I tried to stay still and pretend like I was asleep so he didn't think I was listening to his conversation. I was laying on my side, facing away from him. But my eyes were wide open.
“Alright, I'll be there.” I heard the phone beep as he hung it up, his hand coming down to settle on my hip. “Ivy, are you asleep?”
I didn't answer. In all honesty, I didn't want to know what the phone call was about. Staying silent, I kept my breathing steady and closed my eyes again.
The bed creaked as Dante shifted his weight around, twisting to his back. His arm stayed draped over my side, hand rubbing my lower belly. The gentle stroke sent tingles over my body, my stomach dipping in as it tickled with how light his fingers were grazing my skin.
Rolling to his side, he wrapped his arm over my shoulder, and tugged me against his chest. That was a feeling I liked, one I wanted. Being in his arms cast a sense of comfort over my nerves.
In his embrace, there was safety and a sense that not everything was wrong, that some of this felt right.
Wrapped up in him felt right, his muscles felt right. I fit perfectly into that nook between his arms like it was made just for me.
But I shouldn't feel this! It's wrong in so many ways.
What's that condition called . . .
Stockholm syndrome?
Was I being manipulated by him? Could I really be falling for my captor?
No. I might be in a fucked up situation, but my head wasn't charred and mangled. I knew what I was feeling. If it was some condition I suffered from then I should have been feeling it for Remo, not Dante.
There was no denying what I felt. It was there, settling nicely over my body.
Tugging the covers over my thighs, I felt his lips hit the base of my neck as he dotted it with kisses. The stubble of his jaw brushed against my skin, causing my head to tilt.
“Are you awake now?” he asked, using the tip of his tongue to lick my neck.
“Maybe.” The word came out soft, riding a quick gasp as he bit down on my shoulder.
“Good.” His hand massaged my back, squeezing deep into the muscles. “Can I tell you something?”
“Is it something I need to know?”
“It's something I want you to know.”
“Alright.” Turning my head over my shoulder, I looked up into his eyes.
“When I saw you with Remo awhile back, it made my skin crawl, and I hated you for it.”
Searching his eyes, my brows furrowed. “I think that's a thought you should keep to yourself.”
“No, that's not what I mean. I don't hate you . . .” Running his thumb down the curve of my jaw, he pinched my chin and lifted my face higher. “What I'm trying to say is that seeing you with that piece of shit made me angry. He doesn't deserve you.”
“You don't know me or why I'm there to begin with.” Flipping to my back, I rested my head against his chest. “Just like I'm not here by choice, I wasn't with him by choice either.”
“Tell me what you are to him, tell me so I can end it.”
I wanted to give him answers, I wanted to give him my secrets, I needed him to know. But I felt ashamed of what I was. There's no humanity in being just a body. My mind had been discarded the moment I woke up in his room.
Remo erased who I was, and turned me into his puppet.
“There's nothing you can do, Dante. I'm not his because I want to be, I'm his because he made me that, I'm his because money can buy the world and everything in it.” My eyes dulled, glossing in lost tears and shameful memories.
“He's hurt you, I know he's hurt you. I won't have it, Ivy, I won't let him hurt you anymore.”
Scanning his face, my lids slit tight. “Why do you care?”
Biting his lip, he shifted his gaze to the ceiling. “Are you okay with what he did to you? Do you want him to keep treating you like a piece of property?”
“No, it's disgusting and degrading, but—”
Cutting me off, Dante pressed his finger against my lips. “That's why, right there.” Slipping his finger over the soft skin, he let his hand fall back down to my waist. “Because you don't deserve that.”
Was he trying to somehow right the wrongs from his past?
Dante was a self-proclaimed bad boy, he'd done things—horrible things.
I couldn't shake the idea that this was his way to clear his heavy heart and make him feel like he was walking in lighter shoes.
Was this his confessional?
Was I the one who would help him to gain a clean slate to keep going on?
That's not what I wanted if it was. I wanted him to do this for the right reasons—because my life was wrong, because Remo was wrong, because I deserved something better.
“But it's not up to you, it's your father's decision, right?”
“I'll figure out what to do, Ivy, I can't let him get away with this. I can't put you back in his hands.”
“Dante, neither of us have a choice in this. You have your orders from your father, I have an obligation to fill. I've come to terms with who am I now, I'm not Ivy . . . I'm no one.”
His strong arms held me tighter, pulling me in hard. “He can't have you.”
“It doesn't matter, he won't get what he wanted . . .” Glancing down, I flicked my eyes back to his. “Not now anyway.”
“So I was really your first? That's the honest truth, no bullshit?” Narrowing his eyes, Dante's stare burned into my heart. I could feel the way he was looking at me, and it was warm and exciting.
Butterflies began to spin around my stomach, my sex melting and growing wet to the intensity of his deep brown eyes. And at the same time, I felt embarrassed.
I had given myself to this man. To the man who stole me, to the man who was holding me hostage. And in the same thought, there was no place I'd rather be.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I must be fucked up in the head. I had to be.
None of this shit was normal, none of it was acceptable. But I was drawn to Dante's commanding presence and ability to make me feel that rush only true emotions can cause.
“That's the truth. That's what Remo paid for and you took it.” Stroking his chin, I ran my hand up his cheek and into his hair. “I never wanted that man, but like you, I never had a choice.”
Dragging his thumb over my bottom lip, his other hand curled into the small of my back. We were pressed so tightly together that I could feel his heart beating against my chest. Thump after thump ricocheted between us, his face frozen on mine.
“We're not living the same life, Ivy. What I do is completely different from what you're supposed to do. I do this for my family, for my life. Your arm is being twisted by an evil bastard who thinks he can just go out and buy perfection.”
I didn't have any words for him. His voice was sincere and full of truth.
“You're so beautiful, Ivy, you don't deserve what he's done to you, and the position he put you in.” Cupping my cheek, his face softened. “I wish things could be different.”
Dan
te looked genuinely saddened by what was going on. He didn't want this anymore than I did.
But choices had been stripped from us both.
He had an obligation to his family, to his father. I was contracted to be with Remo, and if I ran away from him or didn't give him what he had paid for . . .
My family would bear the burden.
He had warned me that first night. If I did anything to try and escape, to try and run, he'd kill them all. I couldn't risk that.
Dante thought that we weren't on the same playing field. He had no idea how wrong he was.
The safety of my family was more important to me than my own self-preservation. Dante had to understand that. He did understand that.
At least when the hands changed and I was given back to my owner, Remo wouldn't get the virgin Ivy. He could never take that from me.
Dante had claimed that part of me. He had me, and I chose to give myself to him.
I had taken back my choice and I would never forget Dante had given me that.
But Dante and me . . . We could never be.
“What are you doing, Dante? Is this what you want?” Pushing myself up, I rested my hands in my lap. “Don't feed me lines of how you wished this—or that—I don't fucking need it. Shit is fucked up enough without you filling my head with all these false dreams of what things could be.” Throwing my arm up, I dug my nails into my hair. “Things won't be, and that's it. You'll hand me over just like you're told to, and I'll go back to being a fucking slave, a sex slave. So just stop already with all this bullshit. I don't want to hear it.”
I could feel my heart starting to hurt. It was breaking and cracking, and filling with pain. I didn't want the pain.
During the first few weeks with Remo I let my mind race and wander to all the things that could have been in my life. And that hurt too fucking much to let it all in again.
All the dreams I had about finishing college, all the plans to move into the city and open my own veterinary clinic were stomped on and shattered into dust sized chunks.
My father had taken his money, he had allowed that man to steal me away, and for what?
That was an answer I didn't have. And I refused to speculate why.
“Ivy, I don't want to give you back to him. I want to fucking kill him for what he's done to you. I can see it all over your body and it makes me sick.” His hand captured my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. “I'll try and find a way out of this, I will.”
Licking my lips, they felt dry and cracked. My nerves were running wild with all the regret I had for not being smarter, for not being wiser when Remo first stepped foot through my door.
“Trust me, if there was a way out, I would've found it. But he'll kill my family if I don't do what he wants. Everything I've put up with was done to save them. I'm his, he owns me. He paid for me, and now I'm not even me anymore. I'm just . . .” Letting out a weighted breath, my eyes began to well with tears. “His.”
Dante sat quiet, his face scrunched in thought. Shaking his head with a stern, 'no,' his expression turned sour. “You're not his. You never were. From the first moment I saw you, you were mine.”
Crushing his lips onto mine, Dante slid his teeth over my bottom lip, plucking it with harsh demand. Finding my neck, he laid hard bites, nipping and breathing hot air over my throat. My body shook, nipples turning hard and stiff as his cock pushed into my thigh.
There was so much desire between us that I felt the room jump ten degrees. It went from cool to hot, the air turning stuffy and thick with lust.
His mouth found my lips again, tongue licking and riding the ridges as it danced around my tongue. We kissed with passion, the feeling purged my veins, hitting my chest with electric sparks.
His strong arms flipped me in his direction, our lips never parting to even take in air.
I didn't need to breathe, I didn't need air or water or food to survive.
I needed Dante.
Rolling to his back, Dante lifted me onto his waist. His cock slid between my ass cheeks as he raised his head to my chest and suckled my tender buds. Prickles broke over my skin as his tongue twirled around my nipples, teeth biting down with gentle force. Dropping my head back, a throaty moan fell from my lips as I closed my eyes tight.
He had no idea how much I wanted this, how much I needed him.
But I wanted him to know. Even if we were together by a twisted fate, I was bound to him now. And no matter what happened in the end, a piece of me would always belong to him.
Gripping my hips, Dante gyrated up, his thick dick slipping up and down my ass. The thick fuzzy patch of hair at the base of his cock tickled my clit, making me pulse and clench at just the idea of having him inside me again.
His hand climbed up my side, scooping into my hair and tugging my head back hard. “I said you're mine. That's all it takes, that's all that matters. You're no one else's.” My back arched, pushing my pussy into his waist. “Tell me you're mine, say it so I can hear you.”
“I'm yours, Dante, I'm yours.” Rolling my head in his hand, I felt his cock throbbing. His thumb circled my clit, the pad pushing down and dipping into my heat. “Fuck, Dante, I'm yours!”
I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe that he could save me from my life and that I would only wake to his face from here on out.
Right then . . . That was the truth. But when this was done, when I was passed back . . . This would be nothing but a fuzzy dream that I could escape to.
“That's right, Princess, you're mine. And I'm going to make you mine again and again till you can't feel your legs. Do you like the way that sounds? Do you want me to take you and keep you for myself?”
Rocking my hips against his lower stomach, his thumb flicked my swelling button, making me shiver. “Please . . . Please make me yours. Keep me, keep me here and never let me go.” Reaching my hand back, I gripped his shaft and stroked it from base to tip.
He was solid, thick, and growing harder by the second. Pushing him between my ass, I let him grind against my tight, puckered hole.
I was so fucking turned on, I wanted him to fuck me anyway and anyplace he desired. If he wanted my pussy he could have it, if he wanted my ass, that was his too.
He could take me however he desired and I knew in the end I'd only be begging him for more.
“Princess, I already claimed you as mine before all this.” Dante's hand squeezed my ass, his finger teasing the entrance, slipping in up to the first knuckle then pulling away swiftly.
My sex was on fire. I was drenched, seeping arousal all over his lower belly, and into his thick mane. Rolling my hips, my pussy rocked and pumped over his skin.
Lifting his back off the bed, Dante grabbed me by my shoulders, pressing my tits into his chest. His lips found every ounce of skin, dancing up my neck and to my mouth. With his hands firmly planted against my back, he used his legs to lift me up.
In one quick thrust, he was deep inside me. I could feel him hitting me in the stomach, his big cock driving harder and deeper as I rode his length.
There was a sharp pain that pierced my pussy, quickly melting away as my walls formed around his member. Being a virgin had been worth it. Experiencing Dante was a dirty pleasure come true.
Bucking his hips, he met my pace as I lifted and lowered. Digging my knees into the mattress, I held his shoulders tight. My pussy clenched hard around his dick, squeezing his shaft to keep him buried inside me. My orgasm was building, turning my skin hot.
Sweat had started to run down my back and sides, pooling at the crease of my hips. Our bodies were slipping over each other as he fingered my ass while we fucked.
And it felt incredible. There was extra pressure against my clit as his finger dipped in and out. Moaning loud, my muscles tensed as the rush came in and swept me away.
The bed squeaked as he pounded over and over into my pussy. The creaks were a mix of metal springs and loud heated breaths. My arms wrapped tightly around his neck, holding on so I wouldn't collapse.<
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I wanted to feel him, all of him. From his pulse, to his heart beat, to the air that filled his chest. My fingers raked and clawed at his damp skin and sweat drenched hair. I couldn't stop touching him.
Dante's lips hovered over my ear, his words built off air and greed. “You are mine, and no one will touch you ever again.” Shortening his thrusts, I felt his cock pulse inside me. A deep growl hit my ears as his head fell onto my chest.
His dick thickened and jerked inside my body. A warm surge filled my sex, his come spilling and heating me from within.
He came in me. And I didn't stop him. I wanted it. I wanted to feel him and his pleasure.
And right then that's what I needed.
Because tomorrow could bring sorrow and death.
But today I gave myself to him completely.
Twelve
Ivy
Standing at the window, I stared out into the vast expanse of trees and complete isolation. I had counted my time here, trapped in this house by sunsets. I arrived in the dark, so every night as the sun crept down over the horizon, it solidified another day.
Today . . . Today was day nine.
Dante hadn't really left me alone, not for more than an hour or two since the first two days. And I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Hidden deep inside me was that dangerous feeling of enjoyment when he was here. I didn't want to be alone because there was safety in his company.
But I never asked where he went or when he'd be back. And for some reason he felt the need to tell me. As if my quietness and looks were a calling for information. It wasn't much information, usually just a sliver of insight. He'd tell me about how long he'd be gone or what he was leaving for.
In all honesty, I didn't really care. So long as it wasn't to make the trade for me, I was content right where I was.
His father hadn't come back yet, but I knew when he called. Dante would get all stiff and he'd tuck his head into his chest, then he'd leave the room without so much as a glance.
Bane's hand was squeezing Dante, manipulating him, moving him like his own living marionette. He pulled the strings and Dante did as he was told. I hated that. I could see that Dante wanted to do this all differently, he didn't want me involved at all.