Lawless Kingdom: A Dark Romance (Reign & Ruin Book 1)

Home > Other > Lawless Kingdom: A Dark Romance (Reign & Ruin Book 1) > Page 11
Lawless Kingdom: A Dark Romance (Reign & Ruin Book 1) Page 11

by Natalie Bennett

I knew for whatever reason that they wanted me to stay away from him.

  Thing is, I couldn’t.

  He was like the mole on your body you weren’t all that fond of but accepted. Eventually, you might even grow to like it. Them telling me I couldn’t have him only made me want him more. I’d yet to admit a damn thing to him, though.

  I passed by one of gymnasiums, walking towards the exit of the building. I needed to get to math on time today if I had a hope in hell of passing the test, we were expected to take every Friday. I had fifteen minutes to pre-study.

  I’m not entirely sure why I was trying so hard. My grades had always been okay without the effort, though the courses were about one hundred times easier as well.

  I guess after meeting with the guidance counselor here and them eyeing me as if I were a zoo animal sent in for examination, I was wondering what the point was. I wasn’t following any of these people to college. I knew it was because of Judas that I’d been approved to even be here. Plus, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. At all.

  The center of my mind’s obsession appeared at the end of the hall like an apparition.

  He hadn’t bothered with a uniform jacket, and I could see the contours of his body beneath his shirt. He stood in front of the doors with both his hands in his pockets, watching me approach.

  “What are you doing here? I thought you would’ve left already.” He’d been gone before the final bell rung almost every day lately, leaving Audrey to take me home.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “And your phone isn’t working?”

  “It’s not that kind of conversation.”

  Oookay. I went to amble around him, which ultimately meant I went no farther. “I don’t have time for you right now, Judas.”

  His hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist.

  “You always have time for me.” He started walking in the direction I’d just come from, attempting to pull me with him.

  “No,” I protested, breaking away.

  “Did you just tell me no?” He tilted his head to the side, regarding me with a closed-off expression.

  “Yes. I told you no. I know that’s not a word you hear very often, but you can’t just show up and make me do whatever you want. That’s not how the world works.”

  “It’s how my world works.”

  Oh, here we go. I shook my head, continuing to shake it as I turned and went back the way I’d been going.

  “No is a word that carries a negative quality where you’re concerned. I think we need to remove it from your vocabulary.”

  I laughed at his audacity, slamming into his chest a second later as he easily walked past me and then stepped right into my path, gasping when he suddenly lifted me up, bending my upper half over his shoulder to carry me. His hands went right to my ass, gripping it firmly.

  “Judas!” I slapped his back.

  He ignored my protests, carrying me all the way into the locker room and down to the last row of lockers. When he lowered me, I realized we couldn’t be seen from any other vantage point.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What do you think?”

  I stepped away from him, unable to read his expression or mood. I wasn’t afraid of Judas, but his unpredictability ensured I was always on my toes around him. My back hit the tiled wall that bridged the small connection between gym lockers. It smelled like Lysol and air freshener.

  “I didn’t bring you in here to hurt you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I brought you in here so that I could lick, suck, and fuck your pussy with my tongue.”

  “What?” The air whooshed from my lungs.

  “I’ve been thinking about it all day.” He stepped closer to me. “Lift your skirt up and spread your legs.”

  I couldn’t discern if he was being serious or fucking with me. He had a penchant for messing with my head. The vent above us served as a reminder of where we were.

  The chiming of a bell signaling I should be in class studying for a math test wasn’t a strong enough deterrent to make me walk out of the locker room. I fingered the hem of my skirt, slowly lifting it up.

  “Good girl.” He took another step closer, bringing his hands to my hips, stroking the skin there with his thumbs. “I don’t think I’ve told you how beautiful you are lately.”

  “Thank you…” I mumbled.

  “You know, I heard something the other day.” He hooked his fingers in the elastic of my navy boy-shorts and began to slide them down. “That you’d send the king away when you were done with him.”

  “That’s not exactly how it was said.”

  “The point is, some people got the idea in their heads you’ve been made a queen, but in order to be that you’d need to claim the king.”

  His fingertips ran down my thighs, making my breath hitch.

  “No, the point is, I never did. I wouldn’t,” I replied absentmindedly, watching him lower himself, taking my underwear all the way down with him and lifting my leg out of one side.

  “Don’t lie to me. You’d love to make it official that you’re mine. So, I did it for you.”

  “What?” I said, much in the same way I had moments ago.

  “Why do you think no one’s bothered you? People are practically going out of their way to pledge their futures to you.”

  “Really Jude? Their futures, isn’t that a bit dramatic?”

  “Not in the world I come from. You build your connections early.”

  “I’m not part of that world,” I reminded him.

  “You will be.”

  “Don’t you hate me?”

  “I love to hate you as much as you love to deny you wouldn’t love me down on my knees worshipping the ground you walk on.”

  A breathy laugh unfolded between us.

  “You’re ridiculous.”

  “What I am is about to devour your soul through your pussy, so spread your legs and stop delaying the inevitable.”

  There wasn’t a rebuttal for that. I did as he said, moaning the second his warm tongue licked up my slit. “Your cunt tastes like my new favorite meal,” he groaned. His tongue dipped inside me and then slid up to circle my clit. He lapped at me for a moment before his entire mouth was covering my pussy, doing exactly as he’d just promised.

  I clamped my lips together and bit my tongue to stifle the moans threatening to burst from within me, grabbing hold of his hair. He pulled back slightly to suckle on my clit—hard—pushing two fingers inside me and pumping at a frenzied rhythm.

  He ate me for so long I wasn’t sure how he hadn’t gotten lockjaw. He just kept going, his fervor never diminishing. The look he cast up the curves of my body was full of delivery when his teeth bit down on my hardened bundle of nerves.

  “Fuck…Judas!” A rush of fire went coursing through my veins and I came, convulsing around his head, squeezing it between my thighs. My own hand was the only thing containing my moans. He continued to lick and suck until I was forced into another orbit of pleasure, whimpering as my back arched off the wall.

  He rose slowly, a smug grin in place.

  I was still trembling and trying to catch my breath. He kissed me, tenderly at first, nipping my lower lip to gain access to my mouth, turning it carnal. I could feel my come and juices all over his face, taste them on his tongue.

  His hard, thick cock pressed into my apex, making my body shudder with pleasure. He wouldn’t go any further, though. I tried, but he pulled away and grabbed hold of my hands, resting his forehead against mine.

  “There’s nothing I want more than to fuck your pretty pussy sore and leave you unable to walk straight for weeks, but you’re not ready for what I’m going to give you.” He let me go and stepped away, fixing his mussed hair with a single palm.

  “I’ve already had it,” I rasped.

  “No, you had a small sample. The things I want to do to you…you’re not ready for the way it’s going to make you feel or how badly you’ll be craving my dick once it’s been inside you
again.”

  He bent down to remove my underwear entirely, stuffing them in his back pocket. He ran his eyes over my body, slowly, and then took another step back.

  “You really are beautiful, but that isn’t enough. Be what I need you to be, what I know you can be, and I’ll let you into my world someday.” He turned and walked away, leaving me feeling as if I’d just stepped off a cliff.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Rhiannon

  I didn’t speak to Judas all weekend.

  I didn’t make it to take that math test, either. I shamefully rode in Audrey’s car with my thighs sticking together because of how wet he’d made me. Audrey thought this was the best thing ever.

  “I can’t believe he hasn’t torn that ass up yet,” she sighed from the foot of my bed.

  “I know, right? I’m practically doing a mating call at this point.”

  She laughed hard. “All that talk about not being prepared for it, though. Woo, girl.” She fanned herself.

  “Shut up.” I looked down to hide my heated smile. “I should’ve never told you.”

  “That would go against best friend code 101. We tell each other everything.”

  I thumbed my teal bedspread.

  That used to be true, but I knew something was going on with her and Gavin, and she still had no idea what really happened at the Halloween party.

  “Have you asked him about Erin?”

  “Why would I?”

  She gave me a bland look. “He decided to run away after he knocked you on your ass and Judas violently murdered him with words?”

  I grinned at her. “Judas did what?”

  “He ‘spoke’ to him after we left the office with a warning. I watched from around the corner. He said a few things in that eerily calm way of his, which is a million times worse than someone yelling, by the way.”

  I nodded in agreement. His calm delivery somehow came off ten times stronger and more threatening. I’d heard of Erin’s abrupt decision to run away, of course, but my lips would remain sealed where Judas or the others were concerned.

  Although, I truthfully did know nothing. The way I saw it, that was even better.

  “Anyway, what about Dax? Have you asked him any more about him?”

  I laughed under my breath, grateful for the subject change. “That name is not to be spoken.”

  “Do you ever feel weird about being totally in love with Judas, but like, meh for Dax?”

  I looked at her from beneath my lashes. “In love, Audrey?”

  “Don’t deny it.”

  There was a light knock on my door, and them Mom’s head popped in. “Hey, I have to run to the store. You girls want some pizza while I’m out?”

  Audrey sat up and stretched. “I have to get going soon. There’s a pile of homework the size of the Grand Canyon waiting for me. Thanks, though.”

  “Rhia?”

  “Uh, sure Mom. Thanks.”

  “Okay.” She flashed me a quick smile. “I’ll be back in a few.”

  As soon as she was gone, Audrey looked at me with her brows raised. “Your mom has needed to go to the store like, four times.”

  “Since Friday,” I sighed. It was only Sunday. I wasn’t sure what was going on with her or Dad, but they were acting strange as hell. Stranger than last week, even with one another. I’d heard a few whispered arguments behind closed doors. Mom and Dad never argued. I knew whatever was going on had to be serious.

  “We should do some investigating this week. You know, double-o-seven.”

  “Do we need the all black ensemble?”

  “Think that’s Charlie’s Angels. If we talk Bri into it we could totally pull that off.” She stood up and grabbed her purse, digging out her key fob.

  “Call me when you get there, so I know you made it.”

  “Course,” she tossed over her shoulder. “See ya Tuesday.”

  With her gone, my own mountain of homework sat waiting for me across the room. I’d need some strong motivation to finish it all. My cell pinged, and that was the perfect excuse not to get started yet.

  Sunday, September 1st, 2019

  J: Now that she’s gone. Bring your ass outside. 5:45 PM

  I stared down at the screen with a frown. How did he know that she’d left? Or that she was even here? I clutched my cell in one hand and walked over to the bay window, leaning on it to see outside.

  Sure enough, a blacked-out Charger was sitting in my driveway. How many cars did he have? I debated ignoring him, but that had never once worked in the past. Plus, I maybe kinda wanted to see him.

  I slid on a pair of flats, grabbed a cardigan, and made sure I had my house keys before going outside to meet him.

  The weather was still warm right now, but that would change soon. I was looking forward to watching the trees transition.

  I crossed in front of the car, going to the passenger side, hearing the locks pop as I rounded to the door.

  “So, you’re still stalking?” I asked as soon as my ass hit the seat.

  “I’ve always had someone watching you,” he replied with zero shame, running his eyes over my legs. “I like this.” He reached over and fingered my chevron dress.

  “Don’t change the subject.”

  He shifted into reverse and pulled out of the driveway. “You don’t sound like you care all that much.”

  “I wouldn’t say I don’t care as much as I’m not surprised by it. Something’s wrong with me, obviously.”

  “Why do you say that?” He turned off to go a different direction than he usually did.

  “This.” I waved a hand between us. “I have no idea what this is, Jude. It’s not a typical relationship. It’s not a relationship at all. It’s you bullying me around and, for some reason, me allowing it. Liking it. I ignore all the warnings about you, completely unbothered by the truth behind them. I condone all the shit things you do. And…I like you more than I hate you. Most of the time.”

  He was quiet for a few beats, taking another turn on a road I didn’t know.

  “None of that’s wrong, principessa.”

  “You said you were going to wreck my world. I responded by spreading my legs for you.”

  His lips twitched as he fought a smile. “Even after I destroy your world, I promise I’ll be there to help you pick up the shattered pieces.”

  “You’re the one who’s going to shatter it. Why would you put it back together?”

  “Because I get to rebuild it however, I want.”

  I crossed my arms, rubbing away the goosebumps. “And the stalking?”

  “That’s not always me. I’ll reiterate, I’ve had eyes on you since we met. You should feel special. You are special. You’ve held my interest for almost three years now.”

  Okay. Now that was actually disturbing. I didn’t get it either. “Why? There are plenty of other girls.”

  “Not like you.”

  “Gabby?” I asked with a hint of too much bitterness.

  He laughed.

  “Gabby was a short fling and a way to distract myself from…other things. You cannot be brushed aside or compared to any other girls, because I’ve never met anyone else like you.”

  I hummed, totally melting inside as I changed the subject. “I really need to stop hopping into cars with you. Where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  My idea of a surprise and his idea of a surprise were probably on two very different spectrums. Turns out, I was right.

  I never thought I’d see this place again.

  The brownstone looked quite sad with no one living in it, but well-tended.

  “Why did you bring me here, Jude?”

  “This is where we began.” He opened his car door and got out. “Come on.”

  I looked around at all the trees surrounding us.

  This was equivalent of being in the woods. I opened my door and followed him more than a little reluctantly.

  “Do you remember it?”

  “Yes,” I replied qu
ietly, mapping out the path I’d taken that night. “Do you?”

  He nodded. “I hadn’t expected him to show up at a Halloween party.”

  “Who was he?” I asked.

  “Someone trying to pretend they had information about a person I was looking for.”

  “I remember you holding a big ass rock.”

  “That was the last time I ever forgot my gun.”

  I side-eyed him. “You carry a gun?”

  “I’ve always carried. So do Bri, Gavin, and Owen.”

  “Why? I mean, other than being rich, are you part of some top-secret society?”

  “What if I was?”

  I leaned against the car. “This isn’t all because of your school king complex, is it?”

  He tossed his head back and laughed, more genuinely and freely than I’d ever seen. My heart clenched in my chest at the sight. He was so gorgeous.

  “Anyone who thinks ruling a few hallways means they have power is really just a pussy with an inflated ego.”

  I—damn. He was right.

  “So, not a king then?”

  “To these people, sure. This town, too. To the real world? My world? Nah. That’d be someone like Gavin. I’ve got higher aspirations.”

  “Like?” I fished.

  “Why stop at being a king when you’re destined to be a fucking god?”

  I liked that comparison a lot. “That’s…so you’re actually like Italian royalty?”

  He turned away from the direction he’d been facing and walked back towards me. “I’m Sicilian. And you could say that. You know what that would make you?”

  I rolled my eyes. “A peasant, I’m sure.”

  “A goddess. A queen. Whatever the fuck you want to be, because nothing is wrong with you, principessa. You’re perfection. You let this world label you and predetermine what you should be when all you need to do is be you. The girl who helped me bury a body in the middle of the night.”

  He stepped into me, planting his hands on my hips, walking us backward.

  “That girl was insane.”

  “No,” he said, his voice heavy with grit.

  The car met my back, and he caged me in with his body, slipping his hands beneath my dress to grab hold of my ass.

  “I'm just like you. You're like me. But only one of us is pretending to have a semblance of purity and sanity.”

 

‹ Prev