Page 7 of Fervent

When someone was lying to me.

Giving in wouldn’t save Rafe.

His cock sprang free, and he thrust his hips forward until the tip brushed my cheek. “That’s right,” he said, hissing in a breath. “You know what to do with that mouth, don’t you, honey. Give me a reason not to let my guys break you.”

Saliva collected on my tongue. I opened my mouth, as if I were about to slide my lips over his shaft. Instead, I spit on the tip. “Go fuck yourself.”

I expected anger, even a blow to the face. What I didn’t expect was a resigned grin. “You’re not ready yet, but you will be.” He jerked me up by the hair and marched me to the door where his men undoubtedly waited on the other side. Flinging it open, he pushed me into their strong hands. “You know what to do, guys.”

Cigarette smoke burned my nostrils, but it didn’t compare to the fire in my muscles. My hands were locked above my head, wrists shackled together, and my feet were anchored to the concrete with chains.

“Hey, Cleft,” someone’s voice thundered through my pounding skull. “I think he’s comin’ to.”

Bodies moved and the putrid air around me stirred. I could hardly lift my head, which felt like a bowling ball on my shoulders. “Where’s Alex?” I mumbled.

Someone slapped my cheeks. “Time to wake up.”

“Whaddya want,” I slurred, forcing my chin up.

The guy in the hoodie stood in front of me, and the dim bulb hanging between the rafters cast his face in light. If not for the hard lines in his skin, I’d guess he was in his mid-twenties. He took a drag from a cigarette, and something flashed in my memory. I couldn’t hold onto it, though the notable cleft in his chin seemed familiar.

“Alex,” I said again, refusing to back down until I got an answer.

“Relax. She’s fine, but whether or not she stays that way is up to you. You hold all the power here.”

“Find that hard to believe,” I said, breath rasping out as I glanced up at my restrained hands, “seeing as how you assholes have me strung up.” I pulled on the chains, and the clank of metal grated. Fucking futile. I glanced beyond the guy they called Cleft. The room spanned deep in a rectangle shape, and a bed sat tucked against a crumbling brick wall on the far end. A display of paddles, whips, crops and other implements of pain hung on hooks. Lighting equipment and camcorders were scattered throughout the space.

A second set of chains and cuffs dangled a few feet in front of me, empty now, but I feared they wouldn’t be for long. Those things made me nervous. It was too easy to imagine them restraining Alex there, where they’d force me to watch them do their worst, so close but unable to stop them.

Fuck. I couldn’t let this happen.

Clenching my hands, I glared at Cleft, wishing I could rip into his smug grin. “What the fuck do you want?”

He took another drag, and a door creaked open. His gaze darted behind me.

“Rafe!”

I jerked my head and watched two men bring Alex in. “Let her go!” I struggled against the restraints, my eyes never leaving her ashen face. They hauled her to where the other set of shackles swayed.

Waiting.

Taunting.

“Strip her,” Cleft ordered.

I lurched forward and the chains strained from the ceiling, metal cuffs gouging my wrists, but my feet wouldn’t budge another inch. They’d fully anchored me to the ceiling and floor. “Don’t you fucking touch her!”

Cleft grinned, and the guy I’d punched earlier snickered.

“This is Brock,” Cleft said, slapping his buddy on the back. “He’s got a real hunger for pain, dontcha, Brock?”

His nefarious gaze, no longer hidden behind dark glasses, roved over Alex’s shaking body. He removed his hat and tossed it to the floor, revealing his closely-shaved head. She seemed so small next to his massive frame, so breakable under the strength of his muscles. They were going to rape her. The certainty of it gnawed in my gut like a parasite. I almost vomited at the mental picture.

“If you hurt her—”

“You’ll do what?” Cleft interrupted as Brock and the other goon he’d come in with slid the tank top over her head. The other men in the room hung back, arms crossed in casual observation while Brock and his asshole accomplice tore her panties free. She squeezed her green eyes shut and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. She didn’t even try fighting them as they strung her up and locked her into the same position as me.

“Damn, girl,” Brock said, swiping a palm over Zach’s carving on her belly. “Someone marked you up good.” Brock circled her then slapped her ass hard.

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