Waverly (Socierty Girls #4)

by Crystal Perkins

“You’re welcome,” Ken says. “How about you all go back to the hotel with Knox and Cohen, so Wave and I can talk?”

  “No,” I tell him.

  “Waverly.”

  “Kenyi.”

  “We need to talk.”

  “Not more than Knox and I need to talk.”

  “Unless you’re planning on getting me my own room in your hotel, I suggest you walk away from this now, Doc,” Matisse tells him, and I send her a silent look of thanks.

  “You’re threatening to withhold sex from me?”

  “I believe I just did exactly that, so yes. Wave needs to be with her man tonight, and not her bestie. You can talk over breakfast.”

  “I’ll have my cook make up a nice buffet type thing, and you can all talk. Then you and Coh can go jump off some cliffs while we figure out where the girls are going. Cool?” Knox asks.

  “It doesn’t appear that I have a choice.”

  “You don’t. I love you, but tonight’s agenda is already set.”

  “I love you, too,” he tells me, pulling me into a hug, “but we will talk.”

  I roll my eyes. “We will.”

  I let Cohen sit in the front seat, but he turns around to talk to me while Knox drives. “Kendrick’s family owns a huge hotel chain?”

  “They did. Now Ken and I own it. We give most of the money to help victims of human trafficking, but he insists I take some for myself.”

  “His parents are dead? That’s rough.”

  “Actually, it’s not.”

  “Wait, did they have something to do with what happened to you? Is that how you and Ken met?”

  “Yes, and yes. That’s all I’m going to tell you, Coh. Knox can tell you anything I tell him tonight, but I want him to hear it from me first.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be.”

  “Can I just say I think you’re fucking brave, and that’s without knowing everything?”

  “Yes, you can. Thank you.”

  15

  Waverly

  I’m shaking a little when we get to the house. I need to tell Knox everything, and while I know I only did what I had to do in order to survive, it doesn’t erase those things from my conscience. Cohen said I was brave because I escaped, but I wouldn’t have done that without Ken. He gave me hope, and I held onto that—and him—until the ties were broken recently. Without him, I’d be having sex with whoever paid the most, instead of a man who makes me feel like I matter.

  “Do you want something to drink?” Knox asks me.

  We had African wine at the restaurant, and I know my limit so I just ask for some water. “Wait,” I say as we walk out the door. “We need to tell Martha about the extra breakfast guests.”

  “I’ll handle it,” Cohen tells us, stopping on the steps.

  “Thanks.”

  Knox holds my hand as we walk around the side of the house to the daybed. Once we’re sitting across from each other with our legs crossed like that first time, I tell him my story.

  “You already know my mother sold me. I won’t tell you the name of the man, because he’s dead and I hate his name, so I try not to even think it. This man dealt in both child soldiers and sex slaves to be sold to the highest bidders. He saw something in me, and decided I could join his ‘elite’ group, and do both.

  “By the time I was five, I knew how to kill all the small animals who roamed around the outside of his compound, and some of the big ones, too. I killed the rabbit he had me raise, because it was either that or being kicked out, which could mean death or strictly the sex trade. By the time I was ten, I had killed more than one man, and I knew all about etiquette and how to be a proper little girl. I also knew how to put on a full face of makeup, hack into any computer, speak six languages, use any weapon including my own body, and blend into any crowd. I was trained much as the Society girls are trained, but I did it when I was a child and not someone who could choose to know all those things.”

  “Fuck, Wave. I want to dig up the asshole’s grave and kill him again.”

  “You heard me say I killed, right?”

  “You were a child whose life depended on it. It changes nothing.”

  “There’s more.”

  “Tell me, please.”

  “When I was eleven, the man told me I was being rented to a family. They wanted someone to protect their son, and they wanted his best. He wanted to use their hotels for meetups with the women he owned and the men who were buying them, so he needed to do this. He told me I would pretend to be friends with the boy, but that if anyone tried to touch me in a sexual way, I was to tell him and he would kill them. He also told me I would continue my training while I was with the family, leaving while the boy was at school to continue my lessons.”

  “Kendrick’s parents.”

  “His birth name is actually Kenyi, but yes. I went to live with them, but it wasn’t the hell I was expecting. Ken immediately did everything he could to protect me, and show me he thought of me as his friend. I was always by his side when I wasn’t training or he wasn’t at school. If he was invited to a party, he insisted I accompany him. The same with vacations, and anything else. I sat with him, and not with the other household workers. To him, I was always his friend and equal.

  “And then my lessons changed. My virginity was worth a lot, so the man wouldn’t let anyone touch me, but he wanted me trained. While Ken learned the things anyone our age should’ve been learning, I learned all about how to be a submissive, and then a dominatrix. I watched men and women do things to each other that shocked and scared me. Things I never, ever wanted to do.”

  “Jesus Christ.”

  “I don’t know if he was in those rooms with me, but maybe he was, helping me stay alive. Anyway, Ken found me crying one afternoon, and got me to tell him everything. He wanted to kill the man, but he couldn’t. I might’ve been able to if I got him alone, but where would I go then? I had no family, and no education. Ken gave me both, but we couldn’t just run. He started working on an escape plan and teaching me what he was learning at school, but we had to pretend like nothing was different.”

  “I thought you were educated by him.”

  “Only in the areas he needed me to learn. I knew languages, science, and computers. I also had to study current events. But I was only taught the basics of math, history, writing, and literature. Etiquette, weapons, martial arts, and seduction were more important. Oh, and running a con.”

  I didn’t tell the other recruits that last part when I asked to join them, because Reina said I should only tell them what I felt comfortable with. I didn’t tell them I’d killed, either. Some things are just too horrifying to say out loud. I’m telling Knox because I don’t want my secrets between us.

  “I helped blackmail and swindle some powerful men. Everything from pretending I was going to go up to their rooms with them, and then while they were pawing and kissing me for the cameras in hotel, letting them know I was a minor and they were on camera, to letting some rich boys ‘date’ me only to have me steal all their financial info and clean out their trust funds. I also killed more people when I was told to. Moral of the story is, I’m a bad person who’s done really bad things.”

  “Who? Who put their hands and mouths on you when you were just a girl?”

  “I wasn’t dressed like a young girl, and I pretended I wanted it, Knox. Don’t sugarcoat what I did.”

  “Would you have done that, done any of it, if you thought you really had a choice?”

  “I would like to say no, but since I never had a choice, I don’t honestly know.”

  That’s it right there. The one thing that’s haunted me. Ken never asked me, and neither did Reina. Knox is asking, though, and I can see he doesn’t like my answer. I don’t like it, either.

  “Look into your soul, and answer me again,” he begs me, softly.

  I’ve done it many nights over the years, but for him, I’ll do it again. I close my eyes and think about everything. Only this time, I don’t ju
st imagine myself hungry and desperate on the street. I also imagine myself with a loving family in a home with enough food and water. And this time, while I think of both scenarios, I know. I know I wouldn’t kill or cheat. I might beg, and I’d probably steal some food, but I wouldn’t destroy people to save myself.

  “No. I wouldn’t do it,” I tell him as tears run down my cheeks. “I survived, and I’m sorry I had to do those things in order to help secure my freedom, but that girl isn’t me any longer.”

  “No, she isn’t. Tell me how you escaped.”

  “Ken was forced to start dating when he turned sixteen, but he found something wrong with all of the girls. His parents gave him money in exchange for dating certain ones, and he took it. When he turned 18 a few months before I did, he was given an obscene amount of money. He didn’t want to take it, but he knew he needed to. He also said he needed me until I turned 18.

  “On my 18th birthday, he threw me a huge party, and made sure all the powerful and rich people in this city attended it. On stage, he declared his love for me. Off stage, he paid that man every cent he had to buy me. With everyone thinking I was already his, the man agreed—with conditions. He said we could leave the country for college, but Ken couldn’t touch me. That wasn’t an issue with us, so we readily agreed. He also said we had to come back here, and get married. Again, we didn’t plan on coming back, so we agreed.”

  “I think I love Ken. I didn’t want to like him, but I owe him so much.”

  “As do I. He says I saved him, too. Seeing him so happy with Matisse makes me believe him just a little bit. Anyway, I got my GED and started community college while he went to Johns Hopkins. We were watched all the time, but we did a pretty good job of acting like we were in love. Soon, he heard about a group called the Society, had me change my major to physical therapy, and did everything he could to get noticed. We had just about given up, and planned to run on our own, when Jane Corrigan came for him, and took me in as well.”

  “How did his parents die?”

  “The short version, which is all I have the energy for is that they found us, took Matisse to sell her, Ken went crazy and started torturing the man, and when we heard she escaped, someone else in the Society killed the three of them. Ken came back here, and with Society help, rescued thousands of women and children and turned his hotels into places of safety instead of terror.”

  “Wow. Just wow. I know I should have so much more to say, but right now all I can think of is how in awe I am of both you, and Kendrick.”

  “Even after you know what I did.”

  “The only thing that’s changed since I heard it all is that I love you more, and think I definitely don’t deserve you.”

  “I love you so much, too, Knox. I never thought I’d find love, even after Ken and Teesy got together. I also never thought I’d crave a man’s touch, or his mouth. Definitely not his cock. You’ve made me want it all with you.”

  “I knew you were giving me a precious gift when you gave me your body, but I’m completely humbled now. Let’s go to bed, so I can hold you.”

  “No. I need more than that. I need you to touch me and kiss me the way you always do. You make me feel special and beautiful and I need that right now.”

  “We’ll do whatever you need. Just tell me.”

  “I want to go to your pool, and I want you to make love me in it. I want to be in the water you love while you enter my body and make me have to bite you to muffle my screams.”

  “You are seriously all my dreams come true. You know that, right?”

  “The feeling’s mutual.”

  16

  Knox

  I wasn’t lying when I told Waverly I love and admire her more after hearing what she went through and overcame. I also want to kill a great number of people, some of whom are already dead. I’m actually a little jealous of the person who put them in the ground. I want to see them alive for just a minute, long enough to ask them how they could do those things to this beautiful woman who’s walking me to my bedroom, and out to my little pool.

  She kicks off her heels as I start unbuttoning my shirt. I told her I wanted to peel her dress off of her, but watching her do it herself in the moonlight is one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen. As she takes her arms out of the sleeves, and rolls it past the bra valiantly holding her tits up, I lose patience with my shirt, and rip it open. She smiles at the buttons flying everywhere.

  “Nice.” She seems to love that word, and this time, I’m just going to go with it.

  “You’re nicer.”

  I kick off my own shoes, while I unbuckle my belt and then work on my button and zipper. Her dress is over her hips now, and she shimmies a little, letting it pool at her feet. I push my briefs down with my pants and watch her unsnap her bra. My socks are coming off as she takes off her panties, and then we’re both naked.

  “I’ll grab a condom and be right back.”

  “No. I’m on the best birth control science can come up with, and you’re clean—I’ve seen your medical records. I want to feel you, and only you, tonight.”

  Hell yeah. “Whatever you want.”

  I reach her in a few steps, and lead her into the pool. It’s not deep, so we can stand with no problem, but she surprises me by going under for a moment. When she stands again, her hair is plastered to her tits, and there’s water sliding over her skin. “Get wet for me, Knox.”

  I dive under the water, and come up right in front of her, running my hands and mouth up her body as I stand. “What now? Tell me how you want me.”

  “Can you hold me up for a little bit?” she asks, biting her lip.

  “I can hold you for as long as you want me to.”

  “I’m being serious.”

  “So am I. I throw tires back home, and bench press way more than you weigh, Wave. You feel like nothing—and everything—when you’re in my arms.”

  It’s true. I’ve carried her to bed or the bathtub and shower, and I loved the way she felt in my arms. Soft and luscious with a hint of her muscles as she wrapped her arms and sometimes legs, around me.

  “Then I’d like it standing up. Like I’m floating, but you’re inside of me, making me come.”

  I pick her up and hold her above me, licking and sucking her nipples as her legs move, splashing around in the pool. She’s taking most of her own weight on her hands while I hold her hips, but I still feel a sweet burn in my shoulders where she’s digging in. Once I think she’s ready for me, I lower her onto my cock. Inch by glorious inch, she takes me in while we both moan.

  I know she wants to lie back, but I hold her to me for a minute, kissing her as I begin pumping. When I let her float back, she looks like a mermaid, or a siren. All of her gorgeous hair is floating behind her, and her hard nipples are breaking the surface of the water as I thrust into her. Her legs are wrapped around my waist, and my hands are on her hips, holding her as I take her like she asked me to.

  Being bare inside of her is mind numbing, and I’m getting close, fast. She’s feeling good, but it’s not enough. “Touch yourself, Wave. Help me make you come.”

  She does as I ask, sliding her fingers into her curls to find her clit. I watch her hand rubbing and pinching until she lifts up out of the water, and wraps herself around me, tighter. Her teeth dig into my shoulder to muffle her scream as she comes. I don’t bother holding in my yell as I follow right after her.

  “Knox. That was…”

  “Yeah, it was.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t you dare ever thank me for making love to you. It’s my favorite thing to do.”

  “Even more than winning a medal?”

  I answer her with a kiss, because the truth scares me, and I can’t say it out loud. Yes, I love it more than swimming. No one and nothing has ever meant more to me than being in the water, but Waverly does, and I don’t know how to deal with that.

  Waverly

  Martha looks even happier to see me come out of Knox’s room today than
she has every other morning. Probably because there are three extra people here eating. Knox and I overslept a little, so I give a quick hello, and then run up to change out his t-shirt and boxer briefs and into my own clothes. People call it a “walk of shame” but I don’t feel ashamed of what we did last night. Happy, but definitely not ashamed.

  Ken is outside my door when I open it go back down, and I move aside to let him in. “Go ahead with whatever you’re going to say.”

  “You look happy,” he says, surprising me.

  “I am.”

  “You told him everything?”

  “Yes. Everything.” I hang my head, because I feel a little guilty about telling Knox something I never told Ken.

  “Did he react badly? You came from his room, so I thought everything was okay.”

  “No. He reacted perfectly. Better than I could’ve dreamed. It’s just, when I said I told him everything, that included something I never told you. My biggest fear.”

  “You don’t have to tell me everything, Wave. Now that I’m with Tees, I won’t be able to tell you everything, either.”

  “I know, but this isn’t something new. It’s what haunted me for years.”

  “Did he make you feel better about it?”

  “Yeah. With him next to me, I realized I had nothing to be afraid of.”

  “That’s all that matters then. Dammit, though, I didn’t want to like him.”

  “He said the same thing about you.”

  “You deserve this, Wave. The way he looked at you last night is the way I think I look at Tees.”

  “It is.”

  “If he hurts you, I’ll be playing a real-life version of that Operation game on him, but I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  “Me too. Let’s go eat.”

  “That Martha woman is very intense.”

  “Only with me and my friends. Knox is her life, and she doesn’t like me being with him.”

  “She’s going to have to deal with it.”

  “Easier said than done.”

  Which is only emphasized when Martha loses it as we walk into the kitchen, arm in arm. “Have you no shame?”