Page 59 of Gilded Kisses

Fuck that!

“Nyet! No one tells me no. I take what I want.” He’s talking and I’m planning, but I’m not coming up with anything that screamsgo for it.

Given that my bare feet have no traction on the grass, it’s not a big surprise his fist connects with my cheekbone before I can move.

Come morning, it will swell purple and black. But I know this asshole won’t live to see it.

Damn it! “What the hell do I have to do to get you to understand no is…NO!” I pour all my frustration into my roar and hope it chokes him. Chills seep into my bones. It’s the middle of a Louisiana summer, but the icy fingers of lingering death pucker my nipples and cause my fingers to shake.

The birds distracted me or I would have sensed I wasn’t alone.Damn it!

I’m on my feet and moving in the only direction I don’t see anyone blocking.

I slip, but manage to right myself and try again.

I push forward. Water sloshes, and my muscles ache from the force of keeping upright. This far from the club, there are only a few lamps dotting the rolling grass with small sitting areas for members. It’s not long before the manicured garden fades into untamed wooded areas. Wet leaves lick against my bare legs. They don’t slow me down. More sitting spots are out here too. Probably for some primal kinky play.

But that is not this.

A small shed comes into view and for a second, I wonder if I should use it to hide. But why? I need to get back to my men, not get pinned down. The only way I can do that is by finding a main road and following it back to the club.

Seems like a good plan until I step through a curtain of hanging willow branches and run into my father.

High beams hit my eyeballs and I fall to my knees, momentarily blind.

“So predictable,” he clucks. Biles rises and burns the back of my throat.

The man who raised me digs his fingers into my hair and yanks the damp strand so hard my neck pops.

Cold metal presses against my temple.

“Father?” I croak, not at all surprised my dad is holding a gun to my head. I guess this could be worse. How, I don’t know, but I don’t want to die with my heart filled with hate. Not after what I shared with my men.

Okay. Details. Think Aster.

If he’s here, that means someone is fighting with Luther and Viper. Mirsha. I know they can hold their own, but this is supposed to be a place of safety like Club Genesis. A safe zone with no weapons or harm allowed. Heads are going to roll for this.

And then it sinks in. I’m not inside the Society’s property line anymore. Out here, in the Louisiana woods, anything goes. Will my father dump me in the Mississippi or will he drag me deep into the bayou for the alligators?

A question I never thought I wanted the answer to. And yet, here we are. My stomach rolls like one of those watery beasts.

I raise my hands, and he swats them away. “As stupid as the day you were born. I curse the day your mother gave me a girl.”

My soul can take the pounding he wants to give. “And the truth is finally out.” But it doesn’t sting. Warmth and love feed the threads leading me back to my men.

“Why couldn’t you be more like your mother and fall in line and obey me?”

He snaps his teeth an inch from my nose, but I don’t flinch.

With a gun to my head is the perfect time to learn restraint, but you know me. I let my words do the powerlifting.

“Her life mission was to please you. Everything she did was in the hopes it made you happy. But you don’t see that, do you?”

Gentle rain spatters on my cheeks. Fine misting turns into fat blobs of water until sheets of water drench us. But as mighty as Mother Nature is, the evil in my father’s eyes still burns brightly.

“She obeyed because she didn’t want you to sell her off. And I refuse to obey you any longer. I am not a fucking machine born to please you.”

His grip on my hair grows painful. “No, you think you were born to fuck my best friends like a whore. You don’t think I know about three years ago. How do you think I knew where to find you? I knew you would crawl back to them. I should have killed them then and let you watch”

---