Page 15 of Claiming Charlotte

I locked eyes with Lacey.

“I don’t know about you,” I said with a sultry, smooth tone. “But that should be you. I should be punishing you for your actions in Hawaii. Clearly, you have lost your manners in my absence.”

Her mouth hung open and her eyes widened, shining with excitement. I could tell by her expression alone that I had her right where I wanted her. She’d always been keen on getting my pants off, always wanting more. She straddled me, hovering just over my cock as she stared into my eyes.

I detected a hint of deception in her eyes, and I held still as she ran the tip of her dagger over my cheek and down to my neck.

“We could do that,” she said. “Open your mouth.”

I did as she said, trying to show her she could trust me. Just a little longer... I licked the blade of her knife, wincing slightly as it cut into my tongue, filling it with a metallic taste.

“Mmm,” I moaned, “I remember just how you like it, Lacey.”

I had to hide the nausea threatening to spew my stomach acid all over her.

I leaned forward, capturing her mouth with my own and she met me halfway with a heated kiss. I groaned, pulling against the leather cuff around my wrist, pain from my hand taking over as my hand slid free. Stupid motherfucker should have cleaned everything up. I growled, squeezing my free hand around her throat tightly, deepening the kiss.

It was harder than I thought to fake my attraction to her, but it worked, just the way I needed it to. She hurriedly released my other wrist from its cuff and I stood up. Stupid whore. Her legs wrapped around me as she ground herself into me.

“Rowan. Please fuck me,” she breathed into my mouth. “I missed this.”

I smirked, tilting my head to the side and allowing my anger to return to the surface. Lacey took notice, and I dropped her feet to the floor.

“Did you hurt her?” I asked. My hand remained coiled around her neck, and I increased the pressure as I backed her into the wall.

The look of shock on her face was worth it.

“Rowan, please.” She sputtered out.

Lacey fully intended on getting fucked, but that wouldn’t be happening today, or ever again.

“I warned you what would happen, you should have listened.” I chuckled darkly.

A sense of satisfaction overcame me as her face turned from red to purple, struggling to claw my hand away from her airway. The last thing Lacey saw was my smirking face.

I dropped her limp body to the floor and switched gears. I had to find the room where Charlotte was being held and hope I wasn’t walking into something that couldn’t be handled alone. I looked around for anything that would help me and saw some rope on one of the tables. Grabbing it, I left the room, carefully checking the hallway to make sure nobody was around before?jogging down the long corridor.

Most of the doors were open, and the rooms were empty. I could hear Charlotte’s sobs as I went banging on the concrete walls in frustration, or maybe excitement at the thought of what I was going to do to them. This reminded me of the halls I used to walk within Walker’s compound, and only had me wondering what secrets William had buried beneath his own.

The infuriating sound could only have been coming from an open door, so I skipped any door that was closed.

Nearing the end, her cries became louder. I’m coming, Charlotte, I thought silently rounding a corner, it was a darkened dead end with two doors on either side of the hall, but only one was open. I looked over to see a table, disgusted at the toys and instruments laid upon it, some had blood on them or looked used and it only added to my rising anger.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before grabbing a mask that was lying on the small table. I heard her cry, she was in pain. It's time to move. Taking large strides, I curled my fingers around the steel door, looking around silently, taking a mental note of how many there were and how I was going to do this before Walker came back. Until I saw the reason for her cry, one of them held a bloodied knife and was digging his dirty fingers in her wound.

Game over.

8

CHARLOTTE

Isobbed as the men took turns with me. They wouldn’t allow me to look away. I just wanted this to be over. If I looked away they would hurt me, and it felt like every group was worse than the before. I’d been beaten and whipped, items were inserted into me, and now they were resorting to the use of sharp objects and that scared me.

At this point, if Walker wanted me to, I would dig my own grave and lie in it. A breath of relief left me when they stopped. Being pushed to the brink, I was about ready to give up, especially with the way I heard Rowan's screams a short while ago. It made me think that maybe he was already dead.

I thought back to everything Roe and I had been through in the amount of time we had known each other, and one memory came to mind. The first time we kissed. Whether we liked it or not, that night opened a whole new door for us.

It was a beautiful night outside, and I opted to lay out in the yard and watch the moon constantly change positions in the sky. As the night poured on, eventually bright headlights flooded the house and a car pulled in the driveway. A few moments later two doors slammed shut, signaling Jason and Rowan were home.

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