by B. B. Hamel
He licked me from behind, teasing my clit, my pussy, every inch of me. He spanked my ass hard and when I looked back, lips parted, his eyes blazed.
“Too hard?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, not yet.”
“Good.” He grabbed my hair and spanked me again. I gasped in shock and he eased the pain by teasing my clit. The mingling of pleasure made my spine flare bright. “I’ve been thinking about taking you out of that dress all day. You look so fucking good in white, love. So goddamn perfect. All I wanted to do was ruin you. Make you fucking dirty.”
“You think you can do that?”
“I know I can.” He spanked me harder. I gasped in shock then moaned as he buried his fingers inside. “Most men pretend they want something virginal and pure and clean, but not me, love. I wanted you filthy and wet and moaning. I want you coming and begging for more. I want you on your knees, your hands behind your back, and my cock in your pretty mouth. I want you riding my shaft, again and again, until you can’t take another second. I want ecstasy and agony and everything between.”
His pants came off. His cock was rock hard, stiff and long. I looked over my shoulder as he put my right knee up onto the bed.
I was dripping and swollen as he pushed himself inside.
I gasped, back arching. He filled me to the brim from behind and began to fuck me faster. I moaned and he grabbed my hair, slapped my ass, taking my hips. I pushed back and rode him, panting, moaning, getting lost in the pleasure, wanting every inch of his cock.
“You feel like heaven,” he whispered. I leaned back, kissed him, and let him tease my breasts. “Your body was built for mine. Every inch of your tight cunt drives me wild with need. You understand that, don’t you? That’s why you want this. You can’t help yourself.”
“Darren,” I whispered.
“That’s why you consented to marrying me. You want this every night. Tell me you’re my filthy wife.”
“I’m yours,” I moaned.
“Say it. You’re my filthy fucking wife.”
“I’m your filthy wife.” Saying the words sent a sudden thrill down my spine. I’d never said anything like that before—never given in to a man like this in my life.
He pulled back and turned me around. He pressed me back onto the bed then crawled on top of me, kissed my lips like a hungry demon, and slid back inside.
He fucked me, looking into my eyes. I moaned, gripping the sheets, and he took me hard, passion dripping off him in heavy droplets, every muscle in his body crisp and beautiful. I wanted him to take me as far as he could go—take me past the point of no return.
“If you want me to make you come every single night, I’ll give that to you,” he whispered. His cock fit me so perfectly. He was so intensely focused on me, all of him laser-sharp and present in the moment. I thought he was an arrogant bastard the first time we met, and I wasn’t wrong—but he had a reason to be.
He made me feel better than I ever could’ve pictured. I came in a gasping mess of moans and begging, and he kept going, finishing deep between my legs. We climaxed together, and slowly came down, sweating and breathing hard.
He kissed my neck. “Welcome to the first night of your life.”
I laughed, too exhausted and dizzy with post-orgasm haze to respond.
After a few minutes in his arms, I kissed his chest and went to the bathroom. As I passed his dresser, I noticed a box on top.
“I had one of the staff bring that up.” Darren watched me with sharp eyes. “From Cassie?”
I nodded and stared at it. “Roman’s assistant brought it.”
“Good. I’m glad she sent something.” He collapsed back onto the pillows. “Hurry back. I’m still fucking hard.”
I smiled and grabbed the box when he wasn’t looking then slipped into the bathroom. I closed the door, locked it, sat down on the toilet, and ripped the present open.
It was saltwater taffy.
I stared at the generic beach scene on the front. No card, no message.
Just a box of freaking taffy.
“What the hell, Cassie?” I hated saltwater taffy and she knew it.
I took off the lid.
I nearly screamed.
Inside was a phone. It was padded by bubble wrap and cotton stuffing to make sure it didn’t move—but it was a phone.
I freaked out.
A phone. She sent a phone. What the hell were they thinking? If Darren caught Roza bringing it in here, they would’ve killed her.
Wedding or not, Roza would be dead.
I pulled the phone out and stared.
This was my chance. If I was ever going to get away, this was how I’d make it happen.
“Winter, hurry up, I’m getting impatient. If you don’t get out here in ten seconds, I’m going to break down that door and fuck you so rough you won’t walk for a week.”
“Just a minute.”
Panic set in.
Cassie, my best friend.
Darren, my husband.
He kidnapped me. Stole me. I never wanted this.
And yet I was here and I was committed.
Cassie was happy with Roman.
I ripped the phone from the bubble wrap and pulled open the cabinets under the sink. I shoved the phone back behind the pipes and the cleaning products. It wasn’t a good spot, but it’d have to work for now.
I stepped away from the sink, flushed and breathing hard. I put the wrap and cotton back into the saltwater taffy box and walked back out into the bedroom.
Darren looked at me curiously.
“What’d she send you?”
I held it up. “Saltwater taffy. Want some?”
He made a face. “Who the hell likes that stuff?”
“I do. I guess more for me.”
I walked over to the bed, smiling the best I could. His eyes drifted from my face to my breasts and hips as I crawled toward him.
Sure enough, he wasn’t lying about being hard.
It was easy to distract him after that.
Hell, it was easy to distract myself.
But I didn’t forget about that phone.
My betrayal, my escape.
24
Winter
I woke up for the first time as Mrs. Winter Servant.
Darren was still asleep when I got out of bed. I walked quietly into the bathroom, closed the door, and locked it.
The phone was still tucked back behind the pipes.
I left it there and did my morning routine. I took a shower and felt a pleasant ache between my legs, and closed my eyes as the water ran down my skin, picturing Darren as he was the night before, enamored with me, intense and entirely in the moment, enjoying my body as much as I enjoyed his, and it sent a strange, bittersweet sadness coursing through my system.
I didn’t want to betray him.
And yet he had kidnapped me and forced me into all this.
It wasn’t some Stockholm Syndrome thing, or at least I hoped not. I understood him so much better than I did at the start. Roman made him seem like a power-hungry bastard, but Darren didn’t seem all that interested in taking more for himself.
As far as I could tell, he was all about protecting his family.
And about revenge.
The dynamics of the Oligarchs were in play, but not his central motivation. He seemed to genuinely want to change how the Oligarchs did business, but mostly he wanted to destroy Roman for nearly killing Anthony all those years ago.
But there were holes in the story. Like: why would Roman try to murder a little kid?
Especially if that kid was his half-brother?
I couldn’t understand it. I tried to picture it from the perspective of an Oligarch but I still didn’t see the reasoning.
And yet Darren had a grudge, and everyone in the house agreed that Roman had tried to murder Anthony.
Though I’d never asked the one person that was involved that night—Anthony himself.
He’d been away for a few days helpi
ng out with the fight against Roman. Otherwise, I’d hunt him down and see what I could learn.
I got out of the shower feeling more lost than before. Darren was awake, sitting up in bed and tapping away at his phone. He looked over as I stepped out into the room with a towel wrapped around my body.
His eyes lit up. I knew what he wanted.
“Good morning, wife.”
“Please don’t start calling me that.”
“What would you prefer then, love?”
“I don’t know. I’m just not used to the whole wife thing.” I looked around and chewed on my lip. “Do you have anything I can wear?”
“Closet.”
I poked my head inside and found that half the space had been cleared out and filled in again with my own things. The rich bastards really did think ahead.
I shut the closet door before he could jump me and pulled on a pair of jeans and a zip-up sweatshirt. When I came back out, he was in the bathroom.
I cursed softly to myself and lingered near the bed.
“Busy day today?” I called out and instantly wished I hadn’t.
We didn’t really make small talk.
“Busy enough.” He frowned at me as he started to brush his teeth. “Why, what’s the matter?”
I shook my head and gave him my best smile.
He looked skeptical, but shrugged and went back to his morning routine.
I distracted myself with a book I found in a bottom drawer. It was the novel version of The Godfather. Of course he had that book—what a cliché, but it was better than nothing.
Each second he spent in there was another second of agony. I wanted to grab that phone and get the hell out of the house, but I couldn’t do anything with Darren lingering. He took forever, even grabbed a shower, but eventually he emerged, got dressed, and lingered near the door adjusting his cuffs.
“Now that we’re married, some of your restrictions are going to be raised.”
I looked up from reading and rereading the same sentence on the first page over and over again. “Seriously?”
“You won’t have to wear the bracelet anymore if you go for a walk and the guards won’t follow you around.”
I let out a sharp breath. “So I’m free to run away then, right?”
“If that’s what you want.” He watched me carefully, giving away nothing. “I don’t think you will.”
“I guess this is how you’re going to find out.”
“Don’t disappoint me, Winter. I have big plans for you.”
“I bet. Do they all involve forcing me into marriage and fucking me on our wedding night?”
“Mostly just the fucking.” He smirked at me. “Don’t forget our deal. Cassie’s safety in exchange for your hide.” He left then and I was content to let him have the last word.
I counted to fifty in my head then jumped out of bed, ran into the bathroom, and grabbed the phone.
It was still there. Blessedly, mercifully, still there.
I powered it up and unlocked it with the code I used for our electronic gate back at the house in Sea Isle. There was a single number programmed under Cassie’s name in the phonebook.
I shoved it into my pocket then hurried outside.
Nobody followed me. The staff seemed more deferential, or maybe that was my imagination. There were no guards—Hyde and Jekyll were nowhere to be seen, probably off terrorizing townsfolk or something—and I was free to head down to the woods.
Exactly like Darren had promised.
My heart raced the whole time. I found a trail into the trees and walked it for a few minutes until I couldn’t see the house anymore. I stopped at a small clearing, leaned up against a massive oak, and took out the phone.
I considered throwing it into the bushes. I’d made my choice already. I’d married Darren and went down this path, and I wasn’t going to turn my back on it just because I was offered a new option.
This was my future. So why did this feel so hard?
I dialed the number. It rang and rang, and just when I was about to give up, Cassie answered.
Relief, shame, longing, and a thousand other mixed emotions flooded through me.
“Winter. You got my present!”
“Cassie.” I tried not to cry and failed miserably.
“Oh, shit, don’t get upset. I’m sorry! Don’t get upset!”
“I’m fine, you asshole. These are tears of joy. And anyway, aren’t you the crier?”
“I’m holding myself together.” She sounded good. Happy, steady. I could only imagine what her life was like with Roman, that hunk of a man.
Probably a lot like mine at the moment, minus the chains.
“I don’t know how long I have to talk. Darren gave me some more freedom around the grounds and I’m hiding in the woods.”
“Are you okay? Is he hurting you?”
“Not at all. I’m good, honestly. His family’s a little weird, but his sister Penny’s nice and they’re treating me good. And oh, I don’t know if you heard, but I married him.”
Cassie didn’t laugh. I was trying to make a joke out of the situation, but it wasn’t funny and we both knew it.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I never wanted you to go through this.”
“It’s not that bad. I chose it, at least.”
“Did you really have a choice?”
“He didn’t force me. We made a deal, actually.”
“I made a deal with Roman too.” She laughed softly. I could picture her smile, the way she shook her head, the way she chewed her lips when nervous. I missed my friend so much. “Look how that turned out.”
“I made him promise to protect you.”
Cassie’s voice finally broke. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“What else can I do? Darren wants to kill Roman and Roman wants to kill Darren.”
“I made Roman swear never to hurt you.”
“Looks like great minds think alike.”
She groaned. “You didn’t need to give yourself up for me. I’m protected! I’m safe. But you’re not.”
“Cass, sweetie, I love you, but you’re not safe, either. Not with Darren coming after Roman. I did what I had to do and you made the exact same decision.”
She sounded frustrated. “I know. I still hate it.”
“Are you two happy at least?” I asked softly, trying to smooth things over.
“I couldn’t be happier with him, but things are rough right now. You know Darren’s been on the offensive lately?”
I clenched my jaw and began to pace around. “I heard some whispers. You know your man’s been pretty aggressive himself?”
A short silence. “I don’t know about that.”
“He tried to kill me, Cass. Tried twice.”
“That’s not true.”
“I can promise you it is.”
Another silence. I hated this so much. I didn’t want to argue with her, but we had to talk about this and figure out what the hell was going on.
“How do you know it was him?”
“Well, a bunch of guys with guns attacked me and Darren once while we were headed to Chicago. Then more guys with guns tried to kill me and Penny while I was dress shopping.”
“Darren has a lot of enemies.”
“Does he though?”
She let out a strangled, frustrated curse. “Roman wouldn’t hurt you. Maybe he attacked Darren and Darren’s sister, but not you.”
“Are you sure? How positive are you?”
“I’m positive.” Her tone went cold and flat.
I realized then and there that Cassie was impossibly loyal to her man. I couldn’t blame her for that—she loved him and that love surpassed everything else.
But she couldn’t conceive of a world in which Roman lied to her.
Maybe he wouldn’t. I didn’t know him that well.
I wanted to believe her. I was desperate for something to cling on to and maybe Cassie and Roman really were out to save me.
Bu
t I was there. I watched it happen. I was sure that his people nearly killed me, and I had to operate on what I experienced.
I loved Cassie. She was one of the only true friends I had in this messed-up world. She was my rock, my north star, the jelly to my peanut butter.
But we were in a fight for something bigger.
“I plan on seeing this marriage out, Cass. I love you, but I made a commitment.”
“You’re a hostage. How real can that commitment be?”
“As real as yours.” I felt guilty the instant that left my mouth. I wished I could reach out and shove it back inside.
She sounded hurt, but I knew she was trying not to show it. “It’s different and you know it. Besides, you’ve only been married for a night. It’s not too late to turn back.”
“Cassie—”
“We have people nearby. Not a lot of them because we have to be careful, but there are a few. I can give you names and addresses, and all you have to do is run away. Escape through the woods. You’re in the woods right now, aren’t you?”
“Please, Cassie—”
“All you have to do is run and Roman will take you in. I swear, he’s not trying to hurt you, and if he is, I’ll leave him. Hell, I’ll kill him. But he wouldn’t do that to me.”
I closed my eyes and tried not to cry.
This was what I wanted.
A way out. My best friend to swoop in to save me.
I was supposed to be the strong one. I remembered all those weeks and months ago when Cassie was in the back of the Sea Isle Club nearly in tears because of what that guy Manzi said to her and I offered to knee him in the nuts. That had been our relationship: she was quiet, meeker, and I was the tough, reckless one.
Now the roles were reversed. I felt lost and broken and confused, and she was offering me solace.
I couldn’t accept it. As much as it ripped me to shreds, it was too late.
If she said this days ago, I would’ve been all over the chance.
Now though, I was Winter Servant.
A new outside. Different name, different world.
I was still me though. Always would be me. Mom taught me that: no matter what happened, the core of a person always stayed the same.
Even if I was Darren’s wife, I was still myself.