Beyond The Lies

by Abbi Cook

  But then he lets out a hearty laugh that tells me I’m okay, if only for the time being. “Did your parents read you too many fairy tales as a little girl? Magic wand? I’ve never had it called that before. And as for a woman having sunny days, rainbows, and unicorns after I fuck her, I can’t say if any of those happen. I’m not usually around after we’re done.”

  Although he’s making fun of me, at least he’s laughing. I can handle someone having a laugh at my expense if it means I get to stay safe for another night. That saying about laughter soothing the savage beast runs through my mind. No, it isn’t laughter that does that. It’s music. Or maybe not. I’m not sure. All I know is a smiling King is better than the other variety of the man.

  “So no reports of post-sex unicorn sightings by the women you’ve been with? Maybe those piercings aren’t that impressive, after all.”

  I know as soon as I finish speaking that I’ve shown him exactly how much I can’t stop thinking about that cock of his. He arches a dark eyebrow and shakes his head.

  “My, my, Sophie. And here I was thinking that you didn’t care at all about me. I had no idea those two silver studs enchanted you so much. Or is it my cock, in general, that you can’t stop thinking about?”

  Now I know I’m blushing, but there’s no point in turning away or trying to hide it. He’s figured me out, at least the part of me that’s fascinated by those piercings.

  That doesn’t mean I have to let him think that cock of his is the be-all and end-all. “You have a one-track mind. You’re literally the physical personification of the idea of thinking with the wrong head.”

  “Don’t worry, Sophie. I use my other head when it comes to you, too.”

  And just like that, I’ve said something to make his smile disappear.

  I think if I can get us to be more than captor and captive, maybe I can stay alive. Even though I’ve asked him if he’s going to kill me and he said no, I don’t want to rely on his mercurial moods. Perhaps if he sees me as a person instead of a thing he’s keeping for himself, it won’t be easy for him to kill me.

  Trying to repair any damage I’ve done with my comment, I smile and ask, “Are you feeling any better?”

  King thinks about the question for a moment and nods. “I guess I am. For a while there, I forgot about how much my leg fucking hurts.”

  “Well, if you want to go back to poking fun at me, feel free if it makes your leg hurt less. I can handle it.”

  With a smile, he rolls his eyes and sighs, making me think we can get back on track. “It’s like everything out of your mouth is a double entendre, little one. What I can’t decide is if you’re doing it on purpose to tease me or by accident because you’re just that innocent.”

  I grimace at his use of that damn nickname again, so he quickly says, “Sophie.”

  “Thank you. And if I’m being truthful, I didn’t mean for anything to sound sexual there. I think you just have that on your mind.”

  “Poking?” he asks with a chuckle.

  “Sex, in general. I don’t know how someone in so much pain could think of that. I know I couldn’t.”

  Closing his eyes, he sighs. “It’s a hell of a lot better than thinking about how my leg feels like it’s being torn apart from the inside.”

  “You should take some painkillers. They’d let you sleep, and you’d be out of pain, at least for a while,” I suggest, hoping I don’t sound too eager.

  He turns his head and looks up at me, and for a split second, his eyes seem to be filled with hurt. “Can’t wait to be finished playing nursemaid, Sophie?”

  Quickly, I try to convince him that this isn’t a bad way to spend my time. “No. That’s not it at all.”

  Whatever I saw in him hardens before my eyes. “Oh, I get it. You figure if you can get enough of those drugs into me that you’ll find a way to escape. Trust me. The safest place on this estate is right here with me.”

  “No, that’s not it either. I just figured if you’re in pain you should do something to fix that. As for escaping, I’ve given up on that. The thought of guard dogs ripping my flesh from my bones does that to a girl.”

  For a moment, he studies me, like something I said makes him even more suspicious. His eyes narrowing to slits, he doesn’t say a word, which makes me more nervous than I’ve felt around him since the last time he barked at me yesterday. I know he can’t read my mind and know that I haven’t given up on finding a way off this goddamned estate and away from him and all these wretched men, but is it possible my facial expression is telling him something I don’t want him to know?

  “You’re smarter than that, Sophie. I don’t believe for a second you’ve given up on figuring out how to escape from here. Not that I blame you one bit. I would never accept being held prisoner, and I don’t think you should either.”

  “Yet you’d kill me as quickly as look at me if I tried.”

  “True, but I wouldn’t disrespect you for trying.”

  “Respect doesn’t do much for a person when their bones are broken. Or worse.”

  King stretches his arm to rest his hand on my thigh. As excitement races over my skin, he says, “I told you I wouldn’t kill you, Sophie. I’m a man of my word. If you die here, it won’t be at my hands.”

  “Those were comforting words until you mentioned if I die here.”

  “Then let me change what I said. I won’t kill you, and if there’s anything I can do about it, I won’t let anyone else kill you either. Better?”

  I can’t decide if it’s the pain in his leg making him want to deal with me like this or the latent effects of those painkillers he took hours ago, but his promise makes me breathe a little easier. “I want to believe you. I don’t want to die, no matter whose hands are involved.”

  “We all die sometime, little one. It’s just a fact of life,” he says in a faraway voice that makes me think he’s no longer talking about my death at this terrible place.

  “Well, I always thought I’d live long enough to have some life to look back on. As it is, I’m twenty-one years old and dying now would mean I lived very little.”

  His eyes flutter closed, and right before he drifts off to sleep, he says, “Then I guess we better make sure you get some living in.”

  I don’t know what he means by that. All I know is something inside me says I’m safer with him than I am with anyone else at this moment.

  The problem is I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next moment.

  Chapter Eight

  King

  From somewhere far away, I hear a noise that sounds like a chime. Am I dreaming, or is that a doorbell? Whatever it is, someone needs to shut it the fuck up.

  Rolling over, I stuff my face into the pillow, but the sound continues. Half-asleep, I open my eyes and look around. I’m in my bed, and Sophie is nowhere to be found.

  As I become fully conscious, I realize the chiming noise is my phone. Snatching it off the nightstand, I clear my throat and groan, “Hello?”

  “King, I need you in my office. You’re feeling better, right? Dane and Marsh said they saw you outside your apartment late last night, so I’m assuming you’re good to go.”

  I push myself up and sit back against the headboard, silently cursing those two for having big mouths. Would one more day of not having me around have killed them?

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Those antibiotics the doctor gave me did the trick, and I feel like a million bucks,” I lie. In truth, I feel about seventy-five percent good, but that’s a hell of a lot better than two days ago.

  “Great. Get yourself down here, and bring the girl. See you in a few minutes!”

  “Okay. See you then.”

  As I swing my legs off the bed, I wait for the rush of pain to explode through my thigh. A second goes by and then two…and then nothing. I breathe a sigh of relief and smile. Thank God for the magic of antibiotics.

  Free of the fear of the pain that’s ravaged me for the past few days, I can’t help but think that Duke ha
s finally decided to let Sophie go. All the better. Tap should have never taken her in the first place. Grabbing girls off the street isn’t the way to fucking do business.

  At least not a smart way.

  I slowly walk out to the living room and see Sophie still asleep on the couch. For a moment, I watch her and can’t believe how peaceful she looks lying there in a place she doesn’t belong. She’ll be gone soon, though. As that thought settles into my brain, I have to admit I’ll miss her.

  But she shouldn’t be here. I’ve known that since the minute I saw Tap standing there on that neighborhood street holding her to him.

  And she doesn’t belong with me. Not here or anywhere else.

  “Sophie, you need to wake up,” I say, shaking her shoulder gently.

  Her eyes fly open, and she sits bolt upright a second later. “Why? What’s going on?”

  The terror in her voice confuses me. Does she always wake up like this?

  “We need to go. I’m going to grab a shower, so get ready.”

  I don’t give her a chance to ask any questions and head into the bathroom. The less we talk, the better. She’ll go home, and I’ll go back to living my life the way I always have. Everyone will be where they belong again.

  The hot water rolling over my skin feels better than anything I can imagine. The steam rises around me, fogging up the glass enclosure, and I wish I could stay here forever. Why the hell do I have to go back to work today? Would one more day without me truly have made anyone’s life worse?

  Fucking Dane and Marsh. Tattletales like little girls.

  “King, why do I have to come with you this morning?” I hear Sophie ask practically in tears.

  Through the steam, I’m surprised to see her standing there in front of the sink staring in at me. “Duke told me to bring you down to his office.”

  “But why? What’s going to happen?”

  Wiping the glass, I see the fear in her eyes telegraphing what she’s worried about loud and clear.

  “I don’t plan to kill you or let anyone else hurt you, and unless you’re going home, you’ll be staying right where you are. With me.”

  “Going home? Is there a chance of that?”

  “Yeah, so get ready.”

  But even hearing that doesn’t change that look in her eyes. I wait for her to ask me something else I probably can’t give her an answer for, but after a few seconds, she simply turns and walks out of the bathroom without another word. I don’t know why, but her unhappiness bothers me. Why wouldn’t that news put a smile on her face?

  Even more, why do I care? Hanging my head, I look down at my cock already hard and wonder why this woman has such an effect on me. It’s only been a few days, so why should I give a damn one way or the other whether she’s happy or not? I have a job to do here, and I’m doing it. Period.

  Pushing down whatever the fuck I’m going through, I finish my shower and dress to get down to Duke’s office. When we reach the bottom of the stairs and start walking across the estate, she stops and grabs my arm.

  Confused, I look down at where her fingers are clamped down onto me and shake my head. “What are you doing?”

  Looking up at me, her dark eyes wide in fear, she says, “Please don’t let them kill me.”

  My fucking emotions swirl around inside me, like everything she’s feeling has wound its way into my soul. “I told you. If you’re not going home, you’re staying with me, and I’m not going to kill you.”

  “Promise?” she asks in a tiny voice that hits me squarely in the chest.

  It hangs in the air between us, joining me to her in a way I hope doesn’t end up betraying both of us.

  “I give you my word.”

  I start walking again, tugging her along as I struggle to force down my emotions to someplace inside me where no one can see. The last thing I need is to walk into an office full of men looking like she and I share some kind of secret.

  “Whatever your word means in this world, I’m trusting you.”

  To myself, I think how dangerous that might be for her. I won’t kill her, and I don’t plan to let anyone else hurt her, but that leaves a lot that could possibly happen.

  By the time we reach Duke’s office, I’m ready for this thing with Sophie to be over. She’s gotten too close to me already. Letting her in any more would be too dangerous.

  The first person I see as we walk through the door is Tap, and he looks like he’s fully healed, except for the black and blue colors along his jaw and under his right eye. All it makes me think is I should have fucked him up more.

  He twists his ugly face into a smirk that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Something’s wrong. Along the wall, Marsh and Dane give me quick smiles that fade even faster. And Stills’ expression looks like he is barely keeping down his dinner from last night.

  Something is very wrong.

  Before I can say anything, Tap steps forward and says, “So you’ve been laid up. Is that right?”

  “I could ask the same question of you. Guess I went easier on you than I thought.”

  But he doesn’t take the bait and instead points at Sophie. “The point is if he’s been laid up, he couldn’t claim her yet. So she’s up for grabs. That means I claim her right now.”

  Terror races through me. He can’t be fucking serious. We’re going to do this again? I silently promise to fucking kill him this time. With his own goddamned knife, the asshole.

  I look over at Duke, and for a split second, I’m stunned. He agrees with Tap.

  “He did take her, so by rights, he should be able to claim her, King.”

  Sophie steps behind me to hide as I fight to keep my expression as blank as possible. Maybe I can talk myself out of another go round with that asshole.

  It’s no use, though. Tap’s got Duke on his side, so we’re going to do this again. I only hope my thigh can take it.

  “That fuck owes me, and even if he didn’t, I beat him already. That gives me the right to her.”

  “Not if you haven’t had her yet.”

  Duke’s words slam into me, and I struggle to keep myself calm. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tap move toward Sophie and feel her grasp at the back of my pants. The fear comes off her in waves that threaten to overwhelm me.

  Shaking my head, I don’t say a word to him, but this isn’t going to happen.

  There’s no way I’m letting him have her. I know he’ll beat the hell out of her. The guy is a fuck.

  Even more, I gave her my word. I didn’t sign up to be her hero, but she won’t be going with Tap.

  As every man in front of me waits to see what will happen next, my mind races to figure out a way to stop Tap. I can beat him again, but I know that’s not what he or Duke mean this time.

  There’s only one answer.

  Reaching around, I grab Sophie’s hand and pull her around to stand in front of me. Utter fear fills her eyes, but then I see something like trust replace that fear, and she gives me a tiny, hopeful smile.

  I stare at her and if she could read my mind, she’d hear, “Don’t. This isn’t going to be good.”

  For a moment, everything around us freezes in place, until I place my hands on her shoulders and push her down to the floor. “On your knees, little one.”

  I hear her inhale a sharp breath, and when I look down at her, I see that trust she had in me is gone. Now there’s nothing but fear in her eyes as they well up with tears.

  Turning my head to look at Duke, I get a momentary reprieve from her hurt and smile like none of this bothers me. “Time to solve our problem.”

  Of all the things I’ve had to do since I came to this place, this one takes the most strength. I can beat the hell out of people. Fuck, I can kill with little effort. Always could. But this is different. This is cruel.

  I don’t have a choice, though.

  Moving my hand to my zipper, I slowly lower it and pull out my cock. It’s been semi-hard since seeing her standing outside my shower, so hopefully
I won’t take long to come since I’m not a fan of putting on a fucking sex show for these assholes.

  Sophie stares up at me in horror while Duke laughs from my left side and Tap whines, “This isn’t fair. I took her. She should be mine. If anyone’s going to get their cock sucked, it should be me.”

  After I throw him a smug glance, I look down into Sophie’s eyes. They’re all glassy from tears, and for a few seconds, I don’t know if I can make her do this. I have to, though. There’s no other choice. She has to be seen as fully mine or Tap will continue to question my claim to her.

  I steel myself and replay the words I said to her over and over to force this.

  I won’t kill you, little one.

  Well, this is how I make sure no one hurts her. Unless she does this now, she’s going to end up with Tap and then she’ll be forced to do much worse.

  I push all of that out of my mind and feed her my cock without saying a word. What is there to say? We both have our parts in this terrible play. Now we have to act them out convincingly so the rest of these men believe us.

  Her mouth rests on the head of my cock for a few seconds, and I look down in fear that she doesn’t understand her role. If she doesn’t do this now, she’ll end up with Tap. I won’t be able to protect her, and she’ll likely end up dead.

  As if she hears these thoughts racing through my mind, Sophie begins to move up and down my cock, her mouth taking me inside her before she closes her eyes. A tiny sob escapes her lips when she reaches the base, and she quickly pushes me out of her with a groan.

  It doesn’t take long for me to get rock hard. Pushing out the noise of Tap, who’s complaining loudly about this being unfair, I focus on the top of Sophie’s dark head and her perfectly straight part down the middle of her scalp that’s pale white compared to her deep brown hair. Everything goes silent, and all I can hear is the sound of my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

  Sophie’s mouth feels like heaven on me, and just a minute in, I’m thrusting my hips and fucking her mouth. She whimpers from the fierceness of my movements, and I bury my hands in her hair, holding her head still while I ram my cock down her throat.