Page 16 of Shackled

The scanner beeps occasionally, but he doesn’t pause. Apparently, the little beeps are normal, probably telling him I’m alive but not much else. As he passes my lower abdomen, though, he looks closely.

“No IUD,” he says as if surprised.

“Nope. I don’t want one of those damn things inside me.”

He nods. “Good. I don’t want one of those damn things inside you either.”

Is he some kind of healthy maniac or… does he have an issue with birth control?

“You aren’t a virgin?”

I snort. “Hell no. You really thought I was a virgin?”

He gives me a withering look before rolling his eyes. “No.”

“Well, you didn’t have to answer that fast.”

The grip on his scanner tightens, but he takes a deep breath. He seems thrown off, somehow. I wonder why.

He smacks the inside of my thigh for me to spread my legs. My pussy clenches, and my clit throbs at the nearness of his strong hand and the bite of pain from the little slap. Mmm. Goddamn, we could have some fun together. I’ve never been interested in regular men, but the criminal type? Now you’re talking. None of the men at home tickled my fancy, though. Too macho and too familiar. This one, however…

He scans the inside length of both of my legs. I swallow as my nipples become painfully hard, and wetness gathers between my thighs. It’s been way too long since I’ve been touched by a man, and the last time was hardly memorable.

When he reaches the top of my left thigh, he stares at the tattoo I have, a tight wreath of vines in an elegant, flowing script that reads Fuerza y Libertad.

I got it on my eighteenth birthday, and no one in my family was the wiser. Carlos’s sister Renata was the only one who knew about it.

“Interesting choice for a tattoo,” he says. “What does it mean?”

I swallow. “Strength and freedom.”

It feels oddly intimate to tell him that.

He scans all the way down to my toes, back up my legs, and across my ass until he’s finally satisfied.

“Maybe you were telling the truth,” he says thoughtfully. “Maybe you weren’t. Let’s see.”

I know he hasn’t found anything, but that doesn’t stop him from bringing the scanner to my breasts again. He brushes it along the top of my hardened nipples. I keep myself in place with effort, trying hard not to show how much he’s affecting me.

He could try lots of different tactics, but this might be his most effective method. I can’t let him know.

Wordlessly, he cups my ass in one of his strong, rough hands, the calloused palms scraping across my delicate skin. “And this scar,” he says when he notes the white pucker on my shoulder blade. “What is that from?”

“You’d have to ask Javier,” I say with a sad smile. Yes, that one’s my brother’s souvenir.

“Your brother gave that to you?” he asks in a low growl. Is he… angry? Upset that his “prize” is marred? Affronted that he didn’t give it to me himself?

“Mmm. What a man, isn’t he?” I can’t keep the venom from my voice.

He’s the devil incarnate, and I hate him.

“I’ll fucking kill him,” he snaps.

“Not if I get to him first,” I retort, and I fucking mean it. I won’t let anyone else exact the revenge that belongs to me.

I was the one he hurt. I was the one pressed under his thumb. I was the one thwarted by his chauvinistic tactics, and I will be the one who claims his throne.

Lev gives me a curious look but doesn’t respond.

---