Текст книги "Fear You"

Автор книги: B. B. Reid

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

“Keiran, I’m warning you…”

“At least, I know early on. I guess you can say marriage is out. I sure as fuck ain’t giving some unlucky bitch my seed so she can sprout more evil spawns just like me. I’m cruel, but I’m not that cruel. I guess that’s more than I can say for you and my pussy ass father.”

John was out of his seat with my shirt in his hands before I could fully release ‘father’ from my lips. His eyes were nearly black with rage as he stared down at me, almost lifting my feet off the ground.

“Watch your fucking mouth.”

“Truth hurts like a dick in the ass, doesn’t it?” I grinned at him, and I guess that might have been a mistake because the next thing you know, I was flying across the room, crashing into the door behind me. I watched John’s face redden, and the muscles and veins in his neck pop but instead of charging as I expected, he stood in place.

I let out a laugh that was misplaced.

What can I say? His anger amused me.

My hoarse laugh started to die from the beginning sound of a groan as Keenan woke from his drug-induced slumber. I was completely silent as soon as his eyes popped open and immediately landed on me. Even though he was doped up with drugs and painkillers, his eyes became clearer as they took me in.

We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity as I began to understand what he was telling me with his eyes. I nodded once before turning to leave and shutting the door. I didn’t feel the massive slump of shoulders or the rhythmic beat of my heart as it slowed or the fucking emotion foreign to me but quickly becoming familiar—Regret.

My cousin. My brother. Hated me.

* * *

I drove around aimlessly until Mario called saying he wanted to meet. I wasn’t in the mood for his shit. He had been after me to work for him for a long time, and the answer was always the same.

I wouldn’t work for anyone.

It wasn’t until I found myself in deeper shit that I started to consider his proposition. It had been years since I had been on that side of the law, and even then, I was just a kid.

I pulled into the hotel where he pretended to be holed up and parked. I didn’t immediately get out. Instead, I checked my surroundings, looking for any unfriendly or unwanted faces. My slime of a father managed to evade my eyes and ears, and there were even a few out there watching and listening for me. Eventually, I would have to stop playing hide and seek with my past. It wouldn’t wait forever.

Once inside the hotel, I surveyed the lobby and surrounding areas again before moving toward the elevator. I made my way down the hallway when the elevator stopped on his floor. The door opened before I could knock, and he ushered me in.

The room was barren and empty of luggage or anything indicating the space was inhabited. Mario was extremely cautious and distrusting, so he wouldn’t let anyone, including me, know where he laid his head.

“What was so important?”

“There is something you need to see.”

When he pulled out his phone, I quickly became annoyed.

“And it wasn’t something you could have sent to me by email? Text? Fucking Facebook?”

I knew my anger was unnecessary, but I was in a shitty spot. Everyone was a target.

I needed Lake.

I had to remind myself I wasn’t using her that way anymore. She became something more precious than my personal punching bag over the last few months and fuck me if I knew how.

“Trust me. This isn’t something you want to be caught with.”

He tossed the phone to me and I caught it in mid-air. I looked down at the phone and saw what looked like a video before raising my eyes to meet his and hold them.

After moments of silent communication, I tapped the triangle symbol and the video began to play. The quality of it was good so I could see everything clearly. A bed with red satin sheets came on the screen, and a young girl, who looked around nine or ten, appeared, blindfolded with her hands restrained.

A lump began to form in my throat as I gripped the phone in my hand. I wanted to break it.

I knew what this was, what he was trying to show me. It was déjà vu all over again, except this time, it wasn’t Lily and me. It was some unknown victim and a grown ass man on the screen.

Before Mario could react, his phone flew through the room at the nearest wall and shattered to pieces before falling, much like the girl in the video might have done after being—

Fuck.

I could form only one complete thought.

Somebody needed to die.

Mario remained silent against his perch on the wall as if the phone hadn’t just crashed just two inches from his head.

“Why did you show me that?” I barked, finally finding my voice.

“So you could wake the fuck up, man.”

“You don’t think I’m awake?”

The base of my voice rose to a deafening roar. So many emotions and none of them wanted. The same emotions many thought were nonexistence. I was to blame for it. The last thing the world needed was someone like me being led by feelings.

“Not if you can continue to sit by and let this happen to hundreds, no, thousands more kids. How many do you think it’s been since you, huh? You think it stopped when you left? It sure as hell didn’t stop after you had to kill the little girl.”

“You motherfucker…”

His throat was in my hands as I pinned him to the wall before I could think twice about it.

I needed to hurt someone. To lash out.

I needed Lake.

I needed to make her feel my sick obsession with her. Mario had at least forty pounds on my hundred-ninety, but at the moment, I was far beyond reason. It took some elaborate moves on his part to dislodge from my grip.

“You can stop this, Keiran,” he urged through labored breaths.

“I intend to.” I spoke calmly as if I hadn’t just tried to murder a former undercover FBI agent who’d gone rogue when the bureau determined he was corrupt and unfit for duty.

“What do you mean you intend to?”

“I am going to bring that motherfucker down. But on my terms.”

* * *

I spent the next few hours hashing out a strategy with Mario until it was well after dark. John never bothered to call after I had left the hospital, so I knew he was still at hospital letting his guilt turn him into a wannabe decent father. Imagine that.

After reaching Six Forks, I drove down endless streets to avoid going home or the one place that would land me back in jail. I wrestled with all the different hands I was playing—Mario, Lake, Keenan, John, Mitch, and Arthur.

I took a risk when I called my former owner because he now knew where I lived and where my family lived. He could have me killed at any time, and it was likely I would never see it coming. I did have a small advantage. It was why my heart was still beating. He wasn’t as untouchable and well hidden as he thought he was—not to someone who had been there. I may have been young, but I wasn’t blind, and the conditions I grew up in made me comprehend faster than any kid my age should have.

Over the years, his illegal slave ring had become too big and ultimately, so had his visibility. There were many moles on his payroll who were willing to talk for extra cash. But while his operation was a little less of a secret, it didn’t make him any easier to catch. Like me, kids had managed to escape here and there, but Arthur kept his own hands clean. Legally, his wife runs a home for runaway or homeless children. To keep up pretenses, they often toss some of them back into the streets or turn them into authorities, but the kids they keep are never seen again.

They never took kids over twelve. The younger they are, the easier they are to lure and control. The infants they acquire are always sold by their parents, just as I was, but are in less demand.

The thought of being sold made me relive almost every hell I had gone through in order to survive.

“Is that what you want to hear? That I am afraid of you? That I am still afraid of you? Yes, I am afraid, but it’s all I will ever feel for you. It is the need to survive. You can’t control me beyond that…”

Monroe’s word rang loud in my ears and I felt as my hand gripped the steering wheel tighter and anger rolled over me in hard, unyielding waves. For ten years, she let her fear override her better judgment and called it surviving. She was weak… and maybe just a little bit of a masochist. So what did that make me?

She could have stopped me a long time ago, but instead, she chose to give in. She wanted to preserve her precious innocence. I know she thought I was talking about sex. That was just the bonus.

What I wanted to steal from her ran far below the surface. I wanted to see her selfish side. I wanted to see her save herself. I wanted to corrupt her. Why? Because I fucking hate heroes.

The rest of the world would have fought back and damned their family, friends, and whoever else I could use against them. They would have done it out of pride because their ego wouldn’t allow them to admit defeat.

The truth was, not many people had the strength to do what she did. Chances were, I would have killed her aunt and broke her little friend. She was smart enough to see that. Over the years, I would push and take just to see how far I could go before she would bend. I wanted to knock her off her pedestal and dirty her up, but she fought me. All this time she thought she was losing because she didn’t see what the real fight was. In the end, she didn’t break, and I became less concerned with her morals and more interested in owning her.

When I was finally prepared to let her go, she fucked herself and me by turning me in. Her defiance was unprecedented. While I wanted to corrupt her, I still demanded the control. She needed to realize she would always be mine.

By the time I stopped the car, I was in dark place, and in an even blacker mood. I realized I wasn’t home but it was too late. I needed to satisfy an urge and I wasn’t about to deny myself.

Chapter Seven

Lake

When Aunt Carissa called to tell me she would be driving up to visit Grandma Lane for the entire weekend, I was relieved. It would be hard to answer her questions when he showed up because I knew he would come. It was just a matter of when. His pending arrival kept me on edge for the rest of the afternoon.

Willow begged me to come stay with her, but what good would that do? I couldn’t hide forever, and he knew as much. I couldn’t hide, but I could do the next best thing.

After an impromptu stop, I finally made my way home just before dark. Stashing my purchase somewhere safe, I made my rounds through the house to make sure every door and the window were locked. I threw myself into homework and college applications for the rest of the night, ignoring my racing mind and tense body.

I wasn’t waiting for him.

Satisfied I might still have a future, even after the less than ideal school year, I decided a long soak was in order to relieve my anxiety and strained muscles.

Seeing Keiran today set me back a few milestones. He certainly didn’t look and act like a guy prepared to leave someone alone. He’s been out for three days, and I wondered if he even went to see Keenan in the hospital.

How was he able to get out on bail?

I thought about what Sheldon had told me earlier this afternoon. Was he really going back to get them because I called his soul ugly?

The doorbell rang as I was searching for bath salts. A quick look at my phone perched on the vanity told me I hadn’t had any missed calls and it was well after midnight.

It didn’t take an elaborate or scientific guess to figure out who it was. I raced downstairs but paused near the entryway with my hand near the knob.

One day, I would question why I opened the door. One day, I would question if it was the smarter choice, but today, I had something to prove. He needed to know the girl who would cower before him was gone.

I finally gripped the doorknob, but a combination of nervousness and sweat made my hand slip, so I slid my palms roughly down my jeans and tried again.

Racing heart? Check.

Fast breathing? Check.

I willed my emotions under control before snatching open the door. A snarky remark was on the tip of my tongue, but when I realized it was Willow standing on my doorstep, and not my tormentor, I bit back the remark and ignored the disappointment.

“Willow? What are you doing here?”

I forced my eyes to remain on her to keep from searching the night for him. Out of fear? Hope? Why did I want him on my doorstep so much?

“I’m sorry,” she apologized as she brushed past me. “I just had to check on you. I know you’re going through this new phase where you’re not afraid of Keiran anymore, but I couldn’t stop worrying. He fucking burnt two people alive.”

The door closed a little harder than I had intended. “You don’t know that.”

“Now you’re defending him?”

“No. I just—” I stopped to consider my words. Keiran nearly broke our friendship before. I wasn’t about to let him have a second go at it. “I don’t want an innocent man to go to prison. What if Sheldon is right?”

“You were there the night of the fair. How wouldn’t he be guilty?”

“Yes, but so were Dash and Keenan. They actually kidnapped them. Do you think they killed them, too?”

I was harsher than I had to be. Her face tightened with anger and then uncertainty. I realized that I sounded like Keiran when he played mind games. I didn’t want to be him. Least of all to Willow. I needed to save my aggression for the person who deserved it.

“Willow, I’m sorry…” She stared down at the floor and took a deep breath.

“No, you’re right. If Keiran is guilty, then so are they.” Her eyes shined with the sheen of tears as she backed toward the door.

“Willow, wait, please,” I pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears as the front door opened and closed with her departure. “Shit!” My fingers gripped my hair in frustration.

I thought to go after her and apologize but knew she needed time. Willow wasn’t someone you pushed when she was hurt and angry. I knew how much she loved Dash despite her claims and wrongfully convincing her that he was guilty of a brutal murder wasn’t something a best friend would do.

The sound of running water could be heard from upstairs. I remembered the running bath water. I was no longer in the mood for it but now needed more than ever.

I ran up the stairs, silently hoping the tub hadn’t overflowed. When I made it to the bathroom, I dashed for the knob to shut off the running water only a few inches from spilling over and then let some of the water drain from the tub before plugging it again.

I stood up and began lifting the hem of my shirt when the sound of the doorbell ringing for the second time tonight stopped me. My feet swiftly carried me out of the bathroom and into the hall.

I was living one bad cliché after the other. Just when would this hellish nightmare end? For the second time tonight, I was standing in front of my front door with sweaty palms.

This was it.

I could do this.

He was just one guy.

But he wasn’t just a guy. He was someone who was unafraid to draw out a person’s weaknesses and to use them against them. He was a guy who could make me feel things I never knew anyone could feel. He wasn’t just a guy… but I wasn’t just a girl, either.

I turned the knob and opened the door to the past ten years. It was waiting for me on the other side with hooded eyes and an imperceptible expression, just as I knew he would be. We stood there gazing at each other, completely lost.

“I would say I’m surprised to see you, but you’re a lot more predictable than you think,” I said, breaking the ice that started to form from his cold gaze alone.

“So you were waiting for me?” His eyes trailed me leisurely as a small smile teased the corner of his lips. “I got to say, you’re a little overdressed for the occasion.”

“Actually, I wasn’t thinking about it. I was just about to bathe. What are you doing here, Masters,” I asked, taking a page out of his book and calling him by his last name. “You aren’t supposed to come near me.”

“Did you really expect me to stay away after you turned me in and accused me of murder?”

I took a deep breath and gripped the door tighter for support. “In case you missed it—that was your only warning.”

His eyes darkened as an indescribable expression clouded his features. I didn’t see his hand move. My grip on the door loosened as he pried my fingers from the hardwood one by one. “It requires a little bite with your bark to get your point across. You don’t confront the monster hiding in the shadows or under your bed without first getting rid of the fear in your eyes. Wasn’t it you who said you preferred a person’s eyes over their words because they told the real truth?” His mocking grin, as he quoted something from my journal, spiked my temperature, creating a heated flush over my skin.

“Give me back my journal. You had no right to read it and no right to take it.” I hadn’t realized until after I turned Keiran in and had gone home to cry my heart into the pages, it was missing. I knew there could only be one culprit. It was then I realized a photo of me was also missing from the desk, but why would he take them?

He walked into my home as if he owned the place and closed the door, locking us both in. Without invitation, he moved further into the house and disappeared into the living room. I stomped after him like a two-year-old and saw he had made himself comfortable on  the couch.

“So what could you have possibly said to send your best friend away crying? Your track record is amazing. Some might say you’re a terrible friend.”

“Go to hell.”

“Is this the part when I say, ‘I’ve been there’?”

“This is the part when you get the hell out of my house.”

“And miss the chance to watch you bathe? Matter of fact, I think I’ll join you.”

Say what?

The chance at a witty comeback or scathing remark passed me by when he crossed his arms and lifted his shirt over his head. I was stuck in a state of drooling and muscle clenching as my pussy salivated over the exposed muscles of his abdomen and chest and those arms…

Keiran’s body was fit for a man, not a teenage boy. It was seriously unfair. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“The idea of bathing in a bowl full of bubbles never appealed to me before now.”

I turned on my heel and headed for the stairs. “I’m calling the police,” I warned without looking back. Detective Wilson’s warning was still fresh in my mind. What if my life really did depend on it? Keiran could really hurt me this time.

Before my feet could touch the first step, I was lifted in the air and staring down at the floor from an upended angle as I was being carted up the stairs. “You can call Detective Daniels and Detective Wilson later. I’ll help you dial.”

“You son of a bitch, put me down!” I screamed and beat on his back during the short trek to the bathroom where he set me on my feet and began to undress me. My hands slapped at his as he unbuttoned my jeans with an amused expression. That was until I sunk my teeth into his shoulder. He grunted in pain and then gripped me tighter, pulling me in close to him.

“Is that how you want to play it, baby?” he growled against my lips. The next thing I knew, I was submerged in water, still dressed in my panties and shirt. He actually dumped me in the tub while I was still partially dressed.

“Why are you here?” I sputtered around the water.

“I needed to see you, but you aren’t exactly making this visit pleasant for me.” When I growled at him, he grinned back.

“You saw me, now get out,” I ordered while feeling and looking like a wet dog. “It doesn’t require you taking your clothes off.”

“Oh, but it might. That depends solely on you.”

“You’re out of your mind.” He didn’t bother to answer and instead, shed the rest of his clothing. I gritted my teeth in anger even as I ogled him. The way he shed his jeans as he stared into my eyes, called to my baser instincts, and I clutched my thighs together to will the arousal away.

“It’s not polite to stare,” he cracked. I sent him a glare before turning my face away. I knew the exact moment that he was naked. My nipples hardened and my pussy began the aching pulse I hated but loved so much when he was inside me. “Scoot forward.”

I did so without hesitation and ground my jaw harder after I had done so. You’re not supposed to obey him, I told myself, but my body had different plans.

He stepped into the tub and sat behind me. Before I could scramble to the other side, he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me between his legs. His cock was already hard and pressed against my lower spine. I shivered involuntarily. I wanted to shed my wet clothes from my body and feel his skin against mine, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Relax,” he ordered.

“No.”

“Should I make you?”

I knew what he meant. There was only one thing that made me weak and it was his touch. I couldn’t take his touch and not want to give in, so I leaned back against his chest. My head was cradled on his shoulder, and I tried not to think about how good it felt. As we watched each other silently, his thumb brushed my lip briefly before sliding down to grip my neck. I knew it was a warning when his other hand rose out of the water and began to tease the edge of my panties and the skin of my lower stomach. “Take them off.”

“Why?” The single word trembled on my lips as my hands itched to obey.

“Don’t worry,” he sneered and gripped my neck tighter, threatening my air supply. “The water will hide how wet you really are for me.”

I elbowed him in the stomach, and other than a grunt of pain, he stayed perfectly still, watching me and waiting for me to obey.

“Fine.”

I hooked my fingers in my panties and pulled them down slowly to aggravate him. The deep chuckle near my ear told me he had noticed, but it didn’t hit its mark. I expected him to issue out some scathing remark or to punish me with his high-handedness, but instead, he lifted my sponge from its hook and squirted body wash on it.

“What are you doing?” I snapped. It came out a little harsher than necessary, but I was a little on edge. It was becoming a natural state for me. His hand had paused above my breast for a small space of time before he began bathing me.

“Are you trying to piss me off?”

“Is it working?”

“You can say that, however, the end result might not be what you had hoped.”

“You know nothing about my hopes.”

“Maybe not,” he whispered low in my ear as he skimmed a finger across my puckered nipple, “but I know you.”

“It would be kind of hard not to since you made me who I used to be.”

“Used to be?”

“I’m not afraid of you anymore, Keiran.” I didn’t miss the brief way his hand froze from rubbing small, soapy circles over my stomach.

“Oh?”

“Are you surprised?” I stretched my neck to see his face, not wanting to miss his reaction, but his expression was as closed off as normal. I knew he cared or else he wouldn’t be here. He once told me he needed the control he had over me and would do anything in his power to keep it. So what was I doing?

“I can’t say I am too surprised considering the reason I’ve been locked up the past two and a half weeks.”

“I hope you didn’t come for an apology.”

“I came for much more than that.”

“I’m not going to sleep with you.”

“You will if I want you to, and I do want you to, Monroe. So how do I get you to say yes?”

“I’ve never said yes.”

“But you have. When I seduced you, when I was inside of you, when I asked you if you needed more…”

“Semantics.”

He laughed again, and I couldn’t help but smile at the rare sound. “You’re really adorable when you get like this.”

“Adorable isn’t—” A shocked gasp escaped my lips when he dipped the sponge beneath the water and skimmed it between my thighs.

“This reckless behavior of yours is only going to be a major disappointment on your part. You see, I have no intention of letting you go again. I tried, Monroe, and do you know what you did?” He continued to use the rough material of the sponge to stimulate my clit as he growled his words in my ear. I began writhing against him, seeking more and at the same time, wishing I could end the feelings he was stirring within me. “You sucked me back in. Was it on purpose? Did you turn me in because I let you go? Were you getting your revenge?”

“I turned you in because—” My screech of pain when he wrapped his hand around my throat and squeezed cut off my remark. He never ceased caressing me with my sponge.

“You know how I feel about your lies, so fucking tell me it was for those two scumbags. I dare you.” He let go of my neck but continued to torture me. “You did it because I hurt you. I hurt you worse than I ever have when I let you go. If I wasn’t so angry, I would say I was impressed.”

“Keiran, you killed—”

“Let’s play a game of don’t talk until I tell you to.”

“Bite me,” I spat. I didn’t intend for him to take me so literally.

His teeth sunk down on my cheek and wouldn’t let go no matter how much I begged and cried. The pulsing between my legs increased as he continued to use the sponge against me.

“Keiran, please. You’re hurting me.”

“I want to fucking hurt you,” he said when he released my cheek. “I want to hurt you and make you scream.”

“Oh, God.”

“Just let go.”

“I can’t,” I whimpered.

“You will. Come for me.”

“Keiran, please don’t do this to me.” I pressed against his hand, creating waves in the water around us.

“Should I give you my dick instead?”

Yes, please.

When he started to lift his hand, I panicked and grabbed onto him, keeping him there. Together, we stroked me to a volcanic release that had to be the most intense orgasm I’d ever experienced though, with him, it was always intense.

As I caught my breath, he kissed the spot where his teeth had undoubtedly left marks, and I wondered how I could possibly explain it to my aunt when she returned.

“Now that you’ve stroked your ego, you can go,” I stated in a dismissive tone. “If that’s all you had to say, you wasted your time.”

I was up and out of the tub before he could respond and made a dash for the door. I needed to get to my bedroom. Locking him out would do no good, but I had something better.

Two can play this game.

I completely forgot about my naked state and ignored the chill bumps that covered my skin by the time I entered my bedroom. Wasting no time, I whipped open the top drawer of my desk, pulled out my purchase from earlier, and waited for him to come after me.

I didn’t have to wait long.