“Nope. I’m done with the talk.” Grabbing my arm, he pulled me to my feet, his hands gripping my already bruised arm, sending a jolt of pain through me that made me yelp.
“Okay. I’m going. Stop manhandling me!” My attempt to shake off his hand was futile. “I bet you’re a gem with the ladies.” I couldn’t stop myself from grumbling as he led me to my blackened dungeon, loosening his grip as we drew closer to the open doorway.
As we reached the door he released my arm and – with a hand at the small of my back – urged me in. “There’s nothing to be timid about I assure you. We’re going to be down the hall if the boogeyman comes to get you.”
With great reluctance, I entered the room and spun to look at him. “That doesn’t help the fact that I still can’t see.”
For a moment I thought I saw a hint of compassion in his blue eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared and a sneer spread across his lips. “Just consider yourself lucky I’m not the one calling the shots. I’ve been itching to make you and the rest of the club pay for what you’ve done over the years, you people disgust me, but the boss’s daughter is the most important thing. Don’t think for a minute I’ll ever consider you an innocent in all this, Gabriella.” Without another word he slammed the door shut in my face, locking it and pitching me into near darkness.
What I’d done? Well, Gabriella rather? What in the fuck did she do?
“Fuck,” I groaned, turning and using the little beam of light that was coming through the window to lead me to the bed. Lowering myself down to the bed, I stretched out on my back. It was so damned hard it took a minute to find a halfway comfortable position. Dammit, I hated hard beds. I’d be lucky to get an hour’s sleep tonight.
Tears filled my eyes as I lay there in near darkness, and I didn’t attempt to stop them from rolling down the sides of my face. No one was around to see my weakness so I would give myself this moment. What was I going to do?
~*~ TT ~*~
Phoenix
I knew the minute that Ash returned to the living room that I’d have to endure some ribbing from him over nearly allowing our captive to escape. He didn’t disappoint me.
“So, you starting to lose your touch? Can’t even control a little hundred-and-ten-pound girl now? Is it time to retire?”
“Go fuck yourself,” I grumbled, flopping down into the armchair.
“So how did she manage to evade the great Phoenix Rivers?”
He was like a dog with a bone. With a sigh, I met his gaze. “If you must know, she must have heard me coming. When I opened the door she bolted like a fucking greyhound, kicked me in the junk and kept going. My balls are still fucking throbbing.”
A howl of laughter exploded from him. “Guess you won’t underestimate her again.”
“Yeah. Good thing I haven’t had any plans to have children anytime soon.”
“Like any woman would want to have a kid that may look like your nasty ass anyhow.”
I scoffed. “Look who’s talking. Ugly son of a bitch.” Despite my words, I found myself grinning from ear to ear as I began to clear off the coffee table, stuffing all the wrapping in the bag the food came in.
Ash
“Gotta give her credit. Pretending she’s someone else was a nice touch.”
“Yeah. Not sure I’d give her too much credit for that; it’s the normal go-to. I’m heading to bed. You want to take the first shift?” It was said as more of a statement than question – I was fucking spent tonight and moodier than usual.
Grabbing the remote, Phoenix nodded, flicking on the television. “Yeah. I can babysit tonight; you get the overnight shift tomorrow.”
“Whole night? You sure?”
“Yeah. I’m not a bit tired. I might as well stay up and watch television as go to my room and stare at the ceiling.”
“Deal.” I sure as hell wasn’t going to look that gift horse in the mouth. Leaving the living room, I deposited the bag into the garbage in the kitchen and then made my way back through the living room and down the hall to my room. We had Gabriella in the room at the very end of the hall. My room was the one to the right of hers. I was a light sleeper so if she kicked up too much of a fuss, I’d be close enough to deal with it.
Entering the room, I closed the door and locked it behind me. The bed was a queen-size, it was the only queen bed in this place. It wasn’t nearly as soft as mine back at my apartment, or even at the club house for that matter. At home I had a nice large king, but this cabin hadn’t been built for luxury. It was here for instances like now when we needed a safe, secure, unknown location and for those assigned to tending the crops. Since we were on babysitting duty that also put us on crop patrol, not that anyone ever came near this neck of the woods.
As I sat on the bed it made a soft creaking sound from my weight. Bending, I undid the laces on my black leather boots before kicking them off. With a sigh, I stood back up and removed the remainder of my clothing. I may be stuck sleeping in a hard-assed shit bed, but I refused to do it with clothing on. I collapsed onto the bed, and it creaked a little louder this time as I shifted onto the center.
But sleep didn’t come to me. Instead my mind kept drifting to the woman in the next room. She was fucking hot, so hot in fact that I could temporarily suspend the fact that I couldn’t stand who she was or what she represented. I always had a fondness for Latina women, with their long dark hair and dark inquisitive eyes. And that ass of hers, fuck me over was it sexy. She certainly could model if she wanted to; she had that captivating, sex-appeal look that would drop normal men to their knees, pledging their undying devotion for just a taste of her sweet pussy.
Aww. Fuck fuck’s sakes. Thoughts of her caused a growing problem – literally – in the form of my dick spiking up into the air.