How can you be so cruel?
Ethan ignored that query, positioning the crown of his cock over her wet entrance. His earlier assessment had been spot on, Lily was soaking for him and he eased into her for a moment, relishing the way she contracted around his shaft. He lingered for a moment—longer than he should have done—but he couldn’t help himself. Slowly, he eased from her cunt, using the ample lubrication to ready her other hole.
Ethan.
Even in her mind, the plea was stark, and even though he wanted to disregard it, something about her tone made him pause. Ethan’s cock nudged at its new destination, but his hips stilled, holding it in place just at the entrance.
“I’m not changing my mind,” he told her curtly.
Lily panted. I know.
Resting on his left arm, Ethan lifted his free hand and spanked her cheek.
I know, sir, she corrected herself, her gaze telegraphing the sudden hurt.
“So, you have two choices. You can try to resist, an endeavor which will prove futile, or you can relax and enjoy it.”
Hot tears made tracks down her face at his observation.
“And we both know you will, Lily.” Ethan hesitated, before thrusting forward, pushing just an inch or so into her tight little body.
The green gaze that locked with his was neither afraid, nor hateful, though for the life of him Ethan couldn’t decide what it was he saw burning in those eyes. And then, all of a sudden, it came to him. It was lust—pure and unadulterated. Maybe Lily didn’t want him to fuck her arse, but she knew she couldn’t stop him, and that acknowledgment alone made her hornier than she’d care to admit. It was always the same. Whenever he forced her to do anything, her body loved it—however much her brain protested the point. It had been the same when she’d licked up his cum back at the house, and the same again when she’d taken his belt. Sometimes, Ethan wasn’t sure what she resented more. Was it him with his twisted love for her, or her own crazy reactions to his advances?
He pressed into her harder then, easing himself into her tight channel with an insistent pressure that made her gasp from behind the gag. Once he was lodged nearly entirely inside her arse, he paused again, trapping Lily with the intensity of his stare.
“So that there can be no doubt on the subject, tell me who this arse belongs to.”
Ethan growled the words at her, lowering his face so that their gazes were only a few inches apart.
You. Lily’s response was emphatic, her body tensing and relaxing around him like a constant rhythmic hedonism. It belongs to you, sir.
He closed his eyes at her answer, taking a moment to revel in the pulsing pleasure of her behind. “And that sweet pussy that I just filled,” he continued. “Who owns that?”
Her eyes bore into him, as though she couldn’t believe he was making her admit these things. But they both knew he was—and would demand it—whenever it suited him.
You. Her thoughts sounded close to desperation again, a place Ethan recognized far too well. You do, sir.
“And what about your beautiful mind?” he purred, resting on his elbows as his body pinioned her beneath him. “Who has claim to that?”
Lily screeched mentally, the sound a product of the sensations his cock was inflicting, combined with her obvious frustration of the way his ropes kept her firmly in place.
It’s yours, Ethan. There was resignation now, a sound which sounded glorious to him as he eased out and then shifted back inside her.
You know it is. It’s all yours.
“We’re not done yet,” he told her in a low, soothing tone. It was a curious thing. Even though he was fucking her in such a raw and primal way, he felt as though he wanted to comfort Lily at the same time. It was always that way with her. There was a need to love and denigrate her, all at the same time.
“What about your loyalty?”
His tone hardened as he reached the crux of the matter. “Where does that lie, little one?”
Watery eyes blinked at him. With you, sir. She hesitated for a moment, and her thoughts revealed the depth of her sorrow on the subject.
Always with you.
Ethan smiled, pressing his lips against the side of her tear-stained face. “I wish I could believe it,” he murmured as he filled her up again. “But I will. With time. That’s what we need now, Lily. Time together and your submission.”
Unwavering, her eyes met his. What more can I offer you? Her thoughts implored him. What more do I have to give?
Ethan gazed down at her. “You’ll give me everything.”
And in the end, she would.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Ethan
Ethan screwed her throughout the rest of the night, pausing only to rest and make idle conversation as their wedding day morphed into the next morning. Lily had been prone and bound to the bed for hours, and a part of him reasoned that he should release the binds, or at least, allow her legs to relax. Yet every time he intended to do so, his cock stirred again. There was just something about her vulnerability that made Lily impossible to resist this way. And even though he should have been a better man, Ethan didn’t resist.
He barely even tried.
At some point though, he ceded and untied her ankles from the bed post. Lily wept silently at the liberation, her thoughts telling him just how badly needed it was. She was quiet then, listless almost, his normal passionate little thing now all but dumb as he re-secured her ankles to the posts at the bottom of the bed. Ethan half expected some resistance, but there was little fight in her body and all she seemed was exhausted.
“Rest then,” he whispered as he switched off the bedside light and snuggled in beside her bound body. “Tomorrow we’ll leave this place.”
Lily turned her face toward him. He could feel the motion against the pillow.
Leave?
It was the first proactive thought Ethan had registered from her for a long time. Reaching up her body in the darkness, he tugged at the leather straps, pulling the plastic from her mouth.
She inhaled through her mouth, and then began to sob again.
“Do you want to talk?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.”
“Then talk,” he told her. “But one stupid move on your part and it goes back in.”
“Okay.”
She sounded hoarse, but he guessed that wasn’t surprising. He’d used and abused Lily for many hours, and even though she loved to be fucked, the endurance test he’d set for her would have been a challenge for anyone.
“Where are we going, sir?”
“I haven’t decided, but for some reason I have the urge to go back to the house.”
“Wh-which house?” she stammered.
“You know which one.” Ethan was almost as weary as she sounded. “I can hardly go back to the place my sister is staying with you in tow. Not without a considerable amount of explaining, which I can’t face at the moment.”
A low breath hissed through her teeth, and her body tensed. “Please, not back to that house. You said it yourself, nothing good ever happens there.”
“We need somewhere to go.”
He didn’t know why he was explaining it to Lily. There was no real need to, yet somehow, he wanted to. After everything he had put her through, and everything that was still to come, she deserved his reasons.
“We can’t live in hotels and bed and breakfasts forever.”
Lily pulled in a shaky breath. “We can get a place together?”
“That would be nice,” he agreed, stroking the side of her firm breast in the darkness. “In the future.”
“Ethan, please.”
She sounded like her heart was breaking, and fleetingly, he wondered how many times he would hurt her in their marriage. Not just this carnal, physical hurt, but real emotional pain. The pain of separation. Of betrayal.
“Don’t you love me, anymore?”
Ethan turned his head toward her in the darkness. “With everything I am,” he vowed. “Everything I hav
e, little one.”
Lily sighed. “Then why, sir? Why all this?”
“I don’t trust you.”
There, he’d said it. He wasn’t sure how clear he’d been about it in the past few hours, but now it was out in the open.
“I know that’s rich coming from me.” As he made the admission it was his turn to sigh. “I know you’ve been nothing but honest and open and loving, and I’ve concealed dark secrets—the very darkest—but there it is. It’s not fair, Lily, but there it is.”
Life wasn’t fair. His father had taught him that much.
“I’m sorry about before.” Lily was less emotional now, her tone almost monosyllabic. “I won’t question you again, sir. I won’t even think about the police.”
Ethan chuckled, pressing his lips into her delicious skin. “Yes, you will,” he insisted. “You’re a good person, Lily. It’s been ingrained into you—you want to do the right thing.”
“I’m a wife now.” She sounded resolute. “The right thing is to stand by my husband.”
“You will.”
Ethan didn’t know why he sounded so sure. He hadn’t had any prophetic visions on the subject. In fact, he’d barely had time to meditate at all since they’d come north. Perhaps that was part of the reason he felt so on edge a lot of the time?
“Yes, I will.”
“And I’ll help you,” he told her as he trailed a line of kisses up toward her shoulder. “Just like I always do—I’ll guide you, little one—show you how to make me happy. But you won’t need it.”
You know, his thoughts continued. You’ve always known how to make me smile.
“Not today.” Lily’s voice sounded tiny all of a sudden. “Today I let you down, and you punished me.”
“Yes.” Ethan leaned down over her, running his hand across her glorious curves.
“You were cruel, sir.”
“I can be much worse.” He glanced down to where he imagined her face to be. “I have done much worse.”
“Not to me.”
Ethan arched an eyebrow. Lily may be right about that much. Although he had spent the last few weeks making her life as his pet inside these four walls, there had been little coercion. Lily had consented to virtually everything he’d presented her with, relishing the degrading treatment almost as much as he loved delivering it.
“Yes, I did,” she breathed, and her reply made him start.
“Reading my thoughts again, are we, little one?”
“Yes, sir.”
There was no remorse in her voice. Just a statement of the obvious. Lily had mastered the technique some time ago, and she had few qualms about using it, despite her initial reticence when Ethan had employed the same skills on her.
“But this isn’t denigration. Sir.”
“No, it’s not,” he concurred. “It is as you have already said—a punishment—a way to contain you and remind me of your place until we leave this place.”
There was silence for a moment as that thought was absorbed.
“And when will the punishment end, sir?” she asked.
Good question, Ethan’s mind mused. “It will end when we leave here,” he resolved. “If you’re a good girl and comply with my commands.”
Lily’s body tensed. “Which commands, sir?”
“About how you travel,” he replied with a wry smile, and at that moment he couldn’t suppress the mental image of his beautiful new bride all bound and gagged in the trunk of his car.
He hadn’t meant to share it. Ethan knew all too well that Lily could read that thought if she chose to, and the gasp that left her lips told him that it was likely she had already done so.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Lily
Lily had heard the age-old tales about married life. The ones older women whispered about in huddled corners—that the union could be woeful and they sometimes bitterly regretted their wedding vows. She’d never counted on anything like this though. She and Ethan had been married somewhere in the region of twelve hours, and in that time, things had deteriorated badly. She’d been genuinely joyful when the marriage had been announced, but now she was nothing but jaded, a bound and broken shell of the woman she should have been.
But she wasn’t broken. Not really, and deep down, Lily knew it.
She was counting on it.
She heard Ethan’s schemes, his thoughts emanating from his mind as he lay beside her. Lily wasn’t sure if he intended to share the plan with her, but she’d heard the thoughts anyway, and what she sensed made panic flood her body. The last few hours had been hellish. Being bound and bared and subject to his every lustful whim might sound good on paper, but the reality was she was sore and exhausted. While she relished his possession of her body, she’d struggled to enjoy being taken over and over again, yet there seemed to be no reasoning with the man.
But whatever she’d thought about her so-called punishment was nothing compared to what Ethan now had in mind. Not only was he going to take her back to that Godforsaken place again, but he intended to make her travel in the trunk of his car. Her belly tightened in anxiety at the thought.
There was no way that could happen.
No way.
Lily wasn’t particularly claustrophobic, but the thought of being confined that way for so long made her want to scream.
She lay there for a long time after that, the conversation drying up as he dozed first against her body, and later, at her side. In all that time, all Lily could do was force the air into her lungs, imagining the terrible journey her husband now wanted to inflict upon her. She couldn’t let him do it. There was no way she was willingly going to climb into the back of any car, let alone his, and she doubted he wanted to wrestle her into the trunk in the McManuses’ parking lot.
Ethan stirred beside her for a moment, and she forced her mind to quiet. Lily couldn’t let him know she was onto him. The only thing she had left right now was the element of surprise. It had served her well once before when she’d locked him in the cellar of the rundown little brick house he wanted them to return to, and she’d need it again if there was to be any hope of escaping her fate. After a moment, he slipped back into the sound of rhythmic sleeping, and Lily could finally take a breath again. She should probably sleep, but somehow, that seemed unlikely. Everything now rested on her ability to seize the opportunity to escape when it presented itself, and this time, she meant it.
She couldn’t live like this. Marriage or no marriage.
Ethan
Ethan had slept surprisingly well all things considered, but then, he had been spent from coming so many times with his new bride. Lily was sleeping when he stirred, her head almost silent, save for the occasional flash of a vivid dream, but nothing that gave Ethan any cause for alarm. Sitting up in bed beside her, Ethan contemplated how best to maneuver her body into the car. She’d need to eat and use the bathroom again, so keeping her bound to the bed wasn’t going to be an option for very much longer, but he’d need her bound again to get her into the trunk. There was no doubt about that. Lily might seem placid, but Ethan knew her too well to be fooled. As soon as she was awake, she could turn back into a wildcat at any moment.
He lifted his head, listening to the bird song from beyond the small window. It was a new day, and it was time to put things right. Ethan had a wife now—someone to cherish and mold to his suiting—and the more he considered the next steps, the more the small house that had once belonged to his father made sense. The place had haunted him for too long. It was time to start anew. He’d take Lily back there, at least for a while, and in those small rooms, they’d capture something akin to happiness again. Ethan would make sure of that. There’d be no more about Jody, no more murders and no interruptions. The future was only about him and Lily.
Ethan cleaned himself up, organizing the bathroom so that Lily could shower before they departed, before he packed away their limited possessions. Glancing back toward the bed, he knew it was time to wake her. They had a long journey ahead.
“Lily,” he murmured, stroking her leg as he sat on the edge of the bed.
Even now, seeing her this way was incredible, and Ethan’s cock stirred as his fingers neared the inside of her thigh.
“Lily, wake up.”
She awoke with a gasp, her body straining to sit up as her eyes flew open, but of course, Ethan’s ropes kept her firmly fettered to the bed.
“I’m going to release you now.” His voice was calm as he announced his intentions. “And I hope I don’t have to remind you what will happen if you cross me.”
Lily’s gaze locked with his at once, her green eyes wild as his words seemed to resound. “You don’t, sir.”
“Good.”
He edged up the bed, and reached for the binds at her left wrist. Lily had been tied there for a long time, and the ropes needed to go, but there was still a part of him that was saddened whenever he unbound her.
She was just so much prettier in ropes.
All women were.
Still, his sense of care for his new bride won out in the end, and he rubbed the chafed skin of her small wrists as he tucked the ropes into his jacket pocket.
“Do you still have sensation in your hand?”
It was rather late to be asking the question, but her expression relaxed at the sound of it.
“Yes, sir. I do.”
Ethan nodded, placing her hand gently at her midriff before he rose and stalked around the bed to begin work on the other wrist. In a few moments, both of Lily’s hands were freed, the relief more than evident on her face.
“Better?” he asked in a sardonic tone.
“So much better, thank you,” Lily replied.
His lips curled at the admission, but he fought hard to keep his thoughts private as he moved to release the ropes at her ankles.
“When you’re free, you can use the bathroom,” he instructed, ensuring he looked Lily in the eye as he gave the commands. “I want you to shower and then dress in the outfit I have left out for you on the dresser.”
Fallen: (A Psychological Dark Romance) (The Dark Necessities Prequels Book 2) Page 25