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  Jessica

  I couldn’t stand the thought of him leaving me again, unsatisfied and longing for release.

  That wasn’t the reason I told him not to stop, though. It was the reason I told myself. But a darker part of me knew the truth: I loved the way he touched me.

  I loved the way he pressed my hips back into the wall with his strong hands. I loved that he tore kisses from my mouth, ripping my breath away. And a terrible part of me loved that I was tied, that I couldn’t do anything. He was completely in control of me, no matter how I controlled his desire.

  He’s the bad guy.

  My mind reminded me over and over again, but it didn’t matter. My body responded to his touch with absolutely no concern for dignity or morality. There was no right or wrong, my body told me. There was only the thick burning feeling that made me ache for him to touch me, to kiss me.

  Would he fuck me now?

  I’d told him not to stop, but I realized as I did that I had no idea what he was going to do with me. And just as quickly, my body told me that I wanted whatever he had to offer. His cock in my mouth had turned on the fire inside my core. When he’d shoved his hand down my panties, I knew what he wanted. I wanted it too, at least part of me did.

  Vale went back to the door, tightened the chains on the wall, all the while looking at me. My arms went tight, the chains pulling them out on both sides of my body. He came back over, still staring at me with a strange look on his face. A gentle look.

  He’s the bad guy.

  He bent his head and kissed me. I lifted my chin, parting my lips, but the kiss was just a brush of his lips. Then his hand wrapped around my throat just under the collar, and he tilted my chin to the side. His mouth fluttered soft kisses along my neck around the line of leather, down to my collarbone. Such delicate kisses, completely unlike the ones he’d given me before. The coil inside me wound tighter, and I clenched as he let his tongue slip out, darting small licks as he sank down. His hand slid under my bra, cupping my breast. Instead of kneading it, he brushed his thumb over the nipple. A shiver rippled through me.

  “Ohh—” I started to cry, but he was already pulling my legs apart. No. He wasn’t. He couldn’t be.

  “I want to taste you,” he murmured. His voice was hoarse. It made me weak inside.

  “Vale…”

  He was kneeling now, and the coil inside me was tightening, tightening. All of my desire had been pent up, and now there was nothing to keep it back. When his tongue slid around my swollen clit, I cried out. A white starburst went off behind my eyes.

  “Ohhhh!”

  It was an orgasm unlike I’d ever given myself. The coil sprung with fiery speed. Explosive pleasure shuddered my body, and I felt my legs give way.

  If his hands hadn’t been pinning my hips back against the wall, I would have slid to the floor. Every part of my body was liquid, it seemed. Nothing was real anymore, everything shook and trembled.

  His tongue swirled around me, sending ripple after ripple of energy shivering through me. The waves of orgasm ripped through me again and again, burning through my body like wildfire.

  I realized that I was whimpering, squirming slowly above him.

  “That was fast,” he said. I could tell without looking that he was smiling.

  Then his hands lifted from my hips. I braced myself against the wall. The stone was cool under my fingers. It was the only cool thing in the room. The air had turned sweltering.

  Instead of standing, though, he slipped both of his hands between my legs. Before I could realize what he was doing, he had hooked my knees over his arms and was holding me up. His face was planted firmly between my thighs.

  “Vale!”

  “Yes?”

  He glanced up. I had a sudden urge to brush my fingers through the short tousled hair. What was happening to me? But my hands couldn’t reach his hair, not with the chains on. I was helpless as he bent his head again, his breath coming hot against my throbbing clit.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making you come again. What does it look like I’m doing?”

  “Wh—why?” There was no reason for this. It was all manipulation, wasn’t it? The smile on his face looked so damn real.

  “You deserve it, darling. You’re such a good girl.”

  Vale dipped his tongue down, pushing against the spot where the throbs of my orgasm were already waning.

  “Vale—oh! Vale!”

  I couldn’t stop it, not even if I had wanted to. And I didn’t want to. For all of my life, I’d tried to be a good girl. I’d done whatever was asked of me, no matter how difficult. I’d sacrificed my own feelings for everyone around me. I’d worked hard, and for what? For my future. Always, always, looking ahead to the future.

  Now, with no future ahead of me, I could do what I wanted to do in the present.

  And this—this terrible, dark passion—this was what I wanted.

  “Jessica, darling.”

  He was bad, and I was bad for wanting him, but we were already in Hell and there was no place worse for sinners to be sent to. So I sinned. I opened myself up to the pleasures he was offering. And I enjoyed every dark moment of it.

  “Vale,” I moaned.

  Now his hand reached down, meeting the place where his mouth was already on me. His fingers slid over my slit, where I was already dripping wet. They curled, and I felt his knuckles probe me.

  I could see my shadow on the floor, both of our shadows together, dark on the stone. The sun coming in from behind me was hot on my back, but not nearly as hot as the burning inside of me. I ached for more, more, and I let my shame spiral away as I fell into my own desire.

  He stretched me, his fingers slowly thrusting deeper and deeper. His thick strong hands worked my clit even as he sucked me there, his lips sealing around my swollen nub.

  I jerked my head from side to side, my nerves firing more and more as his tongue flicked me.

  “Oh! Ohhh!”

  Then his thumb was in my opening and he was stroking all around my entrance, the delicious friction between the pads of his fingers and my slickness.

  “OHHHH!”

  It hadn’t been more than a few minutes, but already I was at the edge. Our shadows had merged and there was only one shadow, and I fell forward, my arms taut against the chains. My hips rocked into his mouth and he thrust his knuckles up into me.

  I couldn’t help it. I needed him. Needed his mouth, his lips, his tongue. I needed his fingers, curled and thick inside me. I needed him to stretch me even more. He met my rocking rhythm and matched it, and whatever rational thoughts I might have had went flying out the window with the unbearable sensation.

  “OHHHH!”

  He sent me soaring over the edge into yet another orgasm. This one unraveled me completely, and I jerked against the chains, bucking wildly into the seal of his lips. He sucked hard, flicking me with his tongue, and I wrenched from side to side as the dark climax spread through me and covered me completely.

  “Yes,” I whispered. I was undone. I would do anything he wanted. I would obey him. “Yes.”

  The door lock behind us rattled.

  “Vale!”

  There was a knock on the door, three sharp raps. Vale stood up quickly, catching me in his arms as my legs went limp. I scrambled to regain my balance, pushing away from his strong chest and leaning against the wall instead. Dizziness flooded my brain.

  “What is it?”

  Vale was already clambering into his clothes, swiping a hand through his short hair. The voice boomed through the door.

  “El Alfa wishes to see you.”

  “I’ll be there in a—”

  “Right now.”

  Vale swore. He buttoned the last part of his shirt and turned back to me.

  “Thank you,” he said. Bending down, he kissed me fiercely, once, then turned away. He quickly did up the chains, then opened the iron door. El Alfa’s head henchman was standing there, an ugly grimace on his face.


  “I’m coming,” Vale snapped. The door slammed behind him as they moved off down the hallway. Soon their voices disappeared.

  I slumped down against the wall. Every part of me felt delicate, like crystal. I wrapped my arms around myself to keep from shattering.

  He had unwound me completely. He had shown me a part of myself I never knew existed. I hadn’t known what passion was before today, not truly. I’d let myself go, and I’d fallen hard and fast for him.

  He’s the bad guy.

  The chain on my left hand rattled, and I tugged on it. But rather than feel the taut restraint, as I had already gotten used to, there was no resistance. I tugged again. The chain slid through the hook, clinking quickly in a metallic slithering motion, until the end came to rest on top of the heap of chain.

  I blinked hard. For a second, my mind was too fuzzy to even realize what had happened. And then I blinked again, and it was clear.

  He had forgotten to lock the chain.

  I could escape.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Vale

  I stepped into El Alfa’s room not knowing what to expect. What I saw, however, struck ice cold terror into my heart.

  In front of me, past a low table, there was a woman attached to a large chain that hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room. Rope ran around her arms, her waist, her legs. The knots forced apart her thighs. Her back was bloody. There was desperation in her eyes.

  El Alfa stood in front of the woman, facing away from me, a whip in his hand. Had he seen me yet? I doubted it.

  In an instant, I took in the rest of my surroundings. The walls were covered in huge paintings and tapestries. As I turned my eyes away from the woman, unable to bear to look at her, I saw that they, too, showed acts of terror. Paintings of war, scenes of torture, hung on every wall. There was no getting away from it.

  I stepped forward to the table that separated us. It was covered in what looked like torture instruments. Ropes, whips, straps. Handcuffs. Gags.

  I fingered the handle of a red whip. It was a cat o’nine tails. The red leather was carved ornately at the top, and then the whip split apart. Each smooth tapered leather strap dripped with blood.

  My heart pounded. I grabbed the leather whip in my hand. It was almost time to kill him; too early, but I might not get a better option. I could choke him to death, the bastard. I was around the table, two steps away from him, when he turned around.

  “Vale?”

  I stopped, looking down. He had a gun in his waistband, and his hand brandished the whip menacingly. I could probably take him—probably, but I wasn’t sure whether to risk it.

  “You called for me?” I asked.

  El Alfa squinted at me as he came forward. The waft of his breath hit my nose with a palpable wave of smell—he was stinking drunk.

  “What is this?” he asked, gesturing at the red leather I held with a faint smile. “Why do you have a whip, Americano?”

  I could have jumped him. I didn’t know how fast he could pull the gun from its holster. But no. It was still a few days before the raid. I couldn’t kill him yet.

  The decision made, I had to deflect his suspicion. I smiled as though amused by the scene of torture in front of me.

  “I thought you called me here to join in,” I said, waggling the leather strap in my hand. “No?”

  The woman whimpered. El Alfa roared with laughter.

  A small burst of relief made my grip relax. Good. Then he didn’t suspect me.

  “Go,” he said, gesturing to a small bar on the side of the room. “Pour yourself a drink. Pour me one, too.”

  Walking over, I eyed the girl and tried to assess her wounds. It didn’t look like she was in any sort of imminent danger. There were a lot of wounds, the blood trickling down from dozens of places, but none of the cuts were deep. She wasn’t going to die.

  I picked up the tequila and raised an eyebrow, waving it in the air.

  “This okay?”

  “Yes,” El Alfa said, nodding with approval. His fat fingers stroked the whip. When I brought over his glass, he switched the whip to his other hand. Dare I make a move now? No. I had to wait. The raid would be here soon, and I was doing my job making sure that he trusted me. I was following orders. I sipped the tequila and kept my cool. The taste of it was bitter in my mouth.

  El Alfa slammed back the tequila I’d poured—more than two shots worth. He smacked his lips and grinned at me. I could see drops of the tequila shining on the ends of his black, black mustache.

  “You have done a good job,” he slurred. “Your girl is obeying, yes?”

  “Yes,” I said cautiously.

  “This one, not so much.”

  He raised the whip and brought it down sharply against the woman’s side. She screamed. Although the sound went scraping across my nerves, I tried not to seem bothered by it.

  “What happened with this one?” I asked. El Alfa clearly wanted to tell me. Maybe this was another lesson for me, his new protégé.

  “This one, she tried to escape,” he said, whipping her again. “A bad example for the others.”

  “How did she escape?”

  “How? There is only one way to escape. Through my room here.”

  He laughed at nothing. I started laughing along with him. I wanted him drunk, in a good mood. I wanted him to show me everything. I wanted him to trust me.

  “This room?” I said, letting a tone of disbelief enter my words.

  “It is true!” He laughed and laughed, and I laughed along. His cheeks were turning red.

  “No!” I said. My astonishment wasn’t hard to feign. “You have a secret escape here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Impossible. I don’t believe it. How did she really escape?”

  “Ho! Americano! Come look.”

  He was drunk enough to show me. He came over to the bar. Instead of pouring a drink, though, he reached under the bar and pressed something that made a slight “click” sound.

  I stared agape at him as he handed me the secret I’d been waiting for.

  One of his hanging rugs rolled up to reveal a metal door. There was a keypad inset in the door itself.

  A secret door. It made sense, but I didn’t understand how Ten had gone through two raids without figuring out where the exit was.

  El Alfa pressed his thumb against the keypad, and the metal door slid open. Behind the door was a dimly lit set of stone stairs that led down steeply into darkness.

  “This is how she got out?” I let my genuine amazement show. This was a smart set up. A personalized thumbpad lock to make sure nobody could use the door without El Alfa being there himself. The door itself hidden by an automated cover. The switch to the cover hidden inside the bar.

  I would have thought El Alfa was a brilliant man, except that he had the same character flaw I did: pride. He wanted to show off his pretty things. His women, his secrets. It was nothing if he couldn’t brag about them to someone else.

  And now that someone else was me.

  El Alfa was still talking excitedly and gesturing with the hand that held the whip.

  “The last time the police try to get me, whew! It was quick. A close call. I couldn’t leave her in my room. We both went down.”

  “Wow! Does it go right out to the street?” I asked, making my question casual. I didn’t want him to figure out that I was prying for information. But he was so drunk that I didn’t think he would have noticed if I flashed an FBI badge in his face. This was his personal mansion, and he was showing it off to his new best friend. If I hadn’t been so disgusted with him, I might have pitied him.

  “To the beach. Then to a boat. Only she managed there to get away from me.”

  “How?”

  “She jumped—bam!— into the ocean! I thought she was dead. It was a very big storm, and I could not find her anywhere in the water.”

  “Bad luck. About the weather, I mean,” I said sympathetically.

  “Yes, yes. But after the raid was o
ver, my men managed to track her down,” El Alfa said. There was a sick gleam in his eye.

  “And now?”

  “Now?”

  “You said you didn’t want to… uh, damage the girls,” I said.

  “Well, she is no use to me anymore. A runaway? Bah. No good to sell. But as an example to the others…”

  “I see.”

  “Yes, you see. You are doing very well with the training,” El Alfa said.

  “Thank you,” I said. “I’m looking forward to doing more.”

  “More?”

  “With the girl you have me training, I mean.” I hated to mention Jessica, but he had brought up the training. The next thing he said, though, made me freeze.

  “Oh. Oh, that is too bad. They will be leaving this weekend.”

  I swallowed hard, taking in his meaning before I spoke again.

  “This—this weekend?”

  “Si. Antigua wants them earlier than usual. We’ll ship them out on Saturday.”

  I nodded absently, as though I didn’t care overmuch. But inside, my heart was pounding. I wanted to grab him by the shirt and press him for more details, but I had to take what I could get.

  Saturday. That was the day before the raid. It would be harder to get El Alfa alone just before then, if he was preparing to move the girls.

  And he was shipping them out. To Antigua? I couldn’t let him do that. If Jessica was shipped out—

  What was I thinking? The mission wasn’t about Jessica. It wasn’t about the girls. The mission was clear: kill El Alfa right before the raid. I had my orders. I had to follow them.

  I refocused my attention on El Alfa, who was still talking.

  “You will help with the transport. I think if you do well with the training, you can have your own house and handle all the training. You like that, yes?”

  I smiled. It was the coldest smile I had ever managed to put on. My whole body felt numb, unfeeling.

  “Will I be able to keep the girl?” I didn’t know how I was going to manage to keep El Alfa from sending all the girls away to another country. But I knew one thing—I had to figure out a way to get this done soon, or else the raid would turn up empty… again. And Jessica would be lost to me.

  “Keep her? For good?”