by K. B. Saint
“Yes,” she says. “I think it’s to keep us on our toes, but I’ve never asked. I just keep a bag in my closet, packed and ready for anything.”
“Wouldn’t you need to have a pretty big bag,” I ask, looking over at her and grinning.
“Nah, you’ll learn to live lightly around Preston. This house might be obnoxious and huge, but it’s only like this because he had us all here at one point and having this much space for all of us made sense. Now he just keeps it for safety purposes. He’s not one for the grandiose, Ruby.”
“Coulda fooled me.” I chuckle, zipping my bag after shoving underwear in and heading towards Salem. “This whole place is the definition of grandiose.”
She nods like she already knows, “He just wants the best for us. Try to remember where his heart is.”
I stop walking and frown at her for a few seconds, tossing my bag on my back. “What?”
“Preston …” she starts, pushing off of the door frame, “… he does care.”
“Damn, coulda fooled me. The only thing it seems like Preston cares about is making me suffer,” I tell her, shaking my head and walking back into my bathroom and grabbing my hair and toothbrush.
I hear her following behind me, but she doesn’t say anything else until we are in the hall walking towards the front of the house together. “Ruby, do your best to remember we all care at the end of the day, okay?”
“Why are you acting like he’s taking me away to sacrifice my soul,” I laugh looking up at her.
The uneasiness in her eyes isn’t lost on me, but no matter what’s about to happen on this trip with Preston, I’m not scared because until he can prove me wrong, I’ll never believe he can throw something my way and it be worse than anything else I’ve dealt with in my life.
“He’s not sacrificing my soul is he, Salem?” I laugh, trying to get her to lighten up. It doesn’t work.
“He’s not sacrificing your soul,” I hear from behind me and I smile when I turn and see it’s Hollis.
He’s walking in our direction and he looks damn good in his backwards hat, grey joggers, and big tattooed chest on display. He’s clearly coming from the gym.
“Good to know,” I laugh as he catches up. I catch a whiff of him once he’s close to me and now I know he was just in the gym and it takes everything in my not to push him against the wall and fuck him right here.
Holy shit, sex deprivation is the worst punishment ever. Who am I?
“Stop looking at me like you want to eat me, Ruby,” he says seriously even though he’s facing forward and not looking at me at all.
“But she does want to eat you,” Salem teases and I cut my eyes at her. “Sorry! You make it so easy to mess with you.”
We all three laugh but I shake my head as I walk, looking down at the way the pieces of the floor connect together. “In all honesty I’m not sure there’s a person in this house I wouldn’t fuck right here right now if given the opportunity.”
“He wants you to feel. He figures out what makes you push on and he will take you to the edge,” Hollis warns. “He’s got a method to all the fucked up shit he does, even if we hate his tactics, we can’t deny he cares more than anyone else ever has.”
I hold my next comment in because I’m a little startled by this revelation because it’s true. I’ve never had anyone in my life to stick around or care for me like this and although I’m more horny than I’ve ever been in my life, it’s oddly satisfying to have it click in my mind ... just maybe, someone does care about me and won’t leave. Even if he has a shit way of showing it.
We stay quiet until we get to the front door and I immediately notice four large suitcases lined up by the door. Preston is off to our right, standing in one of the big bay windows. He’s looking out over the driveway and all of the trees behind it protecting this place from who knows what. He’s got his phone pressed tightly to his cheek and he doesn’t turn around to greet us even when we get to the bottom of the steps and our footfalls can easily be heard. I look up at Salem and Hollis but they don’t seem phased by his lack of greeting so I shrug it off.
Whoever he’s on the phone with isn’t getting much of a word in as he quietly but harshly talks into his phone. He sounds pissed. Great.
We stand there for a few seconds together before Hollis leans down close to my ear and whispers, “we have to go handle something, but he won’t be long. Stay here and don’t forget how long you’re gone is solely up to you.”
I pull back and look up at him because it’s the same thing Preston said to me in the theater and I want to know what it means. “What do you mean?” I ask quietly, but not quiet enough because I finally catch Preston’s attention. He turns and looks at me but continues to talk on the phone and as I try to read his lips I realize he isn’t even speaking English.
I lock eyes with Preston before looking up at Hollis when he doesn’t answer me. He’s looking at Preston but when he looks back at me his eyes are serious. “The faster you break, the faster you’ll be home.”
He kisses the side of my head and drags Salem towards the back doors leading to the gardens. I watch them as they leave and Salem gives me a soft smile and holds up her hand with the hand sign she explained to me yesterday.
I love you.
I grin and hold up the sign too and it feels weird, but with Salem I do mean it. She’s been a breath of fresh air under this roof and it’s been nice to have another girl here who doesn’t want to throw me over her shoulder like all of the guys seem to want. Well, everyone except Messiah.
I’ve actually seen very little of him in the weeks since I’ve been here, but Hollis claims he’s been busy. I don’t buy it but I’m not gonna call anyone out for it. Messiah and I have a messy history and until he believes it wasn’t me who gave his sister those pills she died shooting up, I don’t think it will change much.
I also am not sure I’m even ready to tackle those feelings with Messiah. With this kind of sexual frustration I’d most likely do something I regretted later … like sleep with him again. I do not want a repeat of what happened in the Red Room and I’m pretty sure neither does he. The first time was enough of a mistake.
I stand in the middle of the foyer for a few seconds before deciding to just go sit on one of the bench seats on either side of the window Preston is currently looking out of. He’s lost in his conversation—at least, I assume he is—as I take a seat on the bench, my bag still on my back. I do my best to listen to him and figure out what language he’s speaking so fast and all I can conclude is it’s definitely not English. He’s not looking at me but I’m staring at his lips moving fast as hell as he speaks into his cellphone.
When he stops talking he notices me staring and pins me with his stare and I can hear whoever is on the other line talking and they’re not speaking English either. With his eyes on mine he grunts a response to the woman before saying, “Ne parleremo presto, ciao,” and hanging up. He stares at me for a few seconds before looking out of the window and sliding his phone into the pocket of his leather jacket. “Do you speak any other languages, Ruby?”
I shake my head and he looks down at me with a frown.
“Words.”
“No,” I say with too much attitude for his liking. “I mean, no Master, I only know English.”
“See? Now was using your words so hard?” he asks, turning to face me.
“Do you want my honest answer,” I ask him flatly with my eyebrows raised and pulled together.
He laughs and shakes his head but doesn’t respond. Coming closer to me he puts his hand on my shoulder and urges me up so I’m standing in front of him but facing all of the suitcases with him at my back. “Let’s just get out of here. We have a flight to catch.”
“A flight as in a plane?” I ask, whipping around to face him again. “I’m getting on a plane?”
“Yes,” he tells me and I know my eyes go about as wide as saucers because he laughs. “You’ve never been on a plane?”
I narrow my
eyes at him but watch my tone. “I don’t feel like I come off at someone who’s in and out of the city much …”
“I don’t judge books by their cover, Ruby.”
“Well, this cover tells the whole story,” I say with a dry laugh.
“I’m not sure it’s entirely the case with you, but I’m gonna find out soon.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
RUBY—PRESENT
When Preston said airplane I did not imagine the aircraft I’m currently riding in. I pictured one of those big, scary, jam-packed things I see in movies where babies are crying, there’s crazy turbulence, and is generally just cramped and chaotic. What we’re in could probably fit inside of one of those big commercial planes. It's a small private plane Preston owns.
We didn’t even have to go into the city to fly out either. Preston drove us both out to a small airstrip only about ten minutes from the compound and we boarded from there. I was not excited to be flying to wherever we are going, but in all honesty this has been the most perfect first plane ride, even if it is with the Devil himself. I think the shots he gave me before we took off helped.
“When we land you will need to be rested,” Preston tells me when he comes back to the area of the airplane I’m in with his shirt unbuttoned some and his sleeves rolled up. I can see more tattoos going up his arm and a name written across his forearm. “Do you want to nap?”
I look away from the name and up at his face. “I’m not tired.”
“There’s a TV back there too, if it’s the reason why you don’t want to nap,” he tells me, sitting on the plush grey couch I’ve been laying on.
“I just don’t want to nap, it’s not because of the TV.”
He reaches for the remote between us and shuts the TV off and stares at me, waiting for me to react, I’m sure, but I don’t. I don’t care about TV and never have been given the chance to. The most TV I ever watched was with Cece and even then, I wasn’t interested but I watched it because she did.
“You’ll be tired, Ruby, and when you’re tired you turn into even more of a brat. I want you to nap,” he orders. I frown.
“I don’t take naps,” I explain, “I never have.”
“You’ve also never been under the roof of someone who really gave a fuck about you. Your situation has changed, so you can surely change your sleeping habits, right?”
Very little will actually be able to change my sleeping habits, or rather my lack of sleeping habits but I can’t say those words to him. I just stare at him, processing his words while he watches me and I know right then no matter what I want to do, he’s going to make me go lay down anyway. So I do the only thing which makes sense to me and I stand abruptly and head to the back of the plane by myself.
I don’t get far before he grabs my arm and yanks me back to him. He’s standing now and has a hard hand around my neck and the smell of Bourbon and Sandlewood floods my senses as he pushes me up against the side of the plane. The heat from the setting sun warm on my back and I don’t even blink as he tightens his hold.
“If I ask you a question, you fucking answer me. Every. Time. Am I clear?”
He’s not completely cutting off my air completely but he’s holding tight enough for it to affect me a little and the longer I stare into his dark brown eyes without answering the tighter his fingers get. I do my best to nod but he tightens his fingers more and frowns at me.
“Yes,” I barely manage to get out before he releases me and I sag down rubbing my hand over my neck.
“Yes, what,” he asks harshly.
I grit my teeth, but look up and answer him anyway. “Yes, Master.”
“Now get back there to the bed before I decide to remind you just who your master is,” he says, mocking my tone when he repeats master.
I do my best to fix my face right while looking at him, but roll my eyes as soon as I turn around. I realize my mistake a second too late when I see the mirrors in front of me. I meet his eyes in the mirror, but don’t stop and he doesn’t come after me, thankfully. My brand is still sore from the last time he reminded me to not be such a brat with him.
The bed I find in the back is massive and is just as wide as the plane. I don’t even know how they made it so large, but when I sit down on it, I forget to care about how big it is. It’s so comfortable and after I kick my boots off I climb up to the top of the bed and look around the dimly lit room as I settle on my stomach. Like Preston said, there’s a TV right in front of the bed, mounted on the wall next to the door, along with what looks like a small wardrobe built into the wall on the other side of the door.
Not much else is back here but this little room is nicer than any room I ever lived in before coming to live at the compound. I do my best to relax and to my surprise the longer I listen to the humming of the plane the heavier my eyes get. I fight it hard but I’m not able to fight it for long.
I wake to Preston brushing my hair out of my face and when I open my eyes and finally focus on him I remember how he just strangled me and while I know I should move away from him, I’m nothing but turned on. There’s even less light in here now, but there are red LED lights on above us and they give Preston the same glow Messiah had when he took me to the Red Room.
“We’ve landed, you slept the whole flight,” he says and I frown.
“I didn’t get to see any of the scenery we flew over,” I pout, sitting up as I talk and look around the room.
“It got dark not long after you fell asleep, you can see everything on our way back,” he tells me standing. “Now come on, get your boots back on. They’re unloading the bags now and there’s an Escalade here waiting for us already.”
He turns to leave and I stretch before crawling to the foot of the bed and slide my feet back into my untied boots. I stand, not bothering to tie them, and follow the direction Preston went in. I don’t see him but I notice one of the big guards who boarded with us but he’s not looking at me. He’s just staring ahead and waiting, just like he was taught to do.
I notice his eyes following me as I walk by him and when I look back at him he’s following me to the plane door. I look out over the dark pavement when I get to the door and hold onto either side of the door frame as I lean out over the steps to try and see where we are. I have no luck with my guess thanks to how dark it is and Preston quickly hurries me along.
“Come on, Ruby, we have somewhere to be,” he tells me and I grab the silver step railing as I walk down the steps for stability, still feeling pretty tired from being asleep for so long.
“Where do we have to be?” I ask, fishing for our location. Of course he doesn’t fall for it and I huff as I get to the concrete below. He wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me in the direction of the big truck.
“You act like you think you’d do my job better than me,” he says as we get to the car and he opens the back door for me.
I look at him after climbing into the Escalade and sitting down. “I don’t even know what your job is, so how do I act like I could do it better?”
“You ask too many questions,” he states.
“I haven’t asked you what your job is,” I counter, unable to hold my smile back.
“And you always have something to say,” he says, shaking his head but a smile of his own creeping up one side of his face as he leans to the side to look me in my eyes.
“You know what I think?” I ask.
“No,” he tells me but I just laugh.
“I think you like it.”
He closes the door and climbs into the seat in front of me, another guard in the driver’s seat. The back of the car slams closed and the guard from the plane climbs into the back with me. I’m thankful for the little walkway between the two seats because if I’m being honest this guy gives me a weird vibe. He’s never looking at me where people can see, it’s always secretive and creepy as fuck. I don't think Hollis likes him much either but he hasn’t said as much out loud.
When the car starts moving I look out of the darkly t
inted window. It’s so dark outside I can hardly see anything other than the lights from the plane and they are only getting further and further away. I turn to look out in front of the car but all I see it black night. The lights are shining into the darkness but there’s absolutely no other light.
We drive for a while after turning onto another long road and oddly I feel my eyes getting heavy again. It’s almost like I’ve been …
“Preston,” I grind out, but he doesn’t answer so I repeat myself. “Preston.”
“I have a feeling what you’re about to say is going to be something I won’t like, but what you’re not going to do is address me by a name you haven’t quite earned yet.”
“Did you drug me?”
Silence.
I grind my teeth together and look out the window, doing my best to swallow my pride just so he’ll answer me. “Master, did you drug me?”
“Yes,” he says, offering no more.
“Why,” I ask, my head still feeling so heavy.
“I told you you’ll need your rest once we arrive. Just lay back and relax we have a little ways to go. The sleep aid will wear off soon,” he says to me but as I lay my head back it sounds like he’s talking to someone else. “Lay her seat back Kells.”
And then I feel my seat leaning back slowly and it’s the last thing I remember before sleep takes me over again. I don’t know how long I sleep but when I wake up I’m in a dark room alone. It’s not like my room back at the compound but it’s still pretty big and the bed is pretty comfortable too. I roll from my side to my back and only wince a little when the friction causes my brand to ache a little.
The ceilings are high and there’s a thin strip of light lined around the ceiling but it’s not very bright and doesn’t help me see around the room much at all. I push the heavy blanket off of me and scoot to the edge of the bed to stand. When my feet hit the floor it’s cold and a shiver racks through my body as I walk to what I hope is the door leading out of this room.