Page 16 of Taken By the Convicts
A laugh bubbled up from her throat. “Growing up, I used to be my parents’ daughter. My brothers’ sister. A volunteer at the local med-center.” She fisted the end of her hair that still showed some blonde. She hated that color and couldn’t wait for her natural brown to overtake the blonde and wipe out yet one more reminder of Namir. “I even had to go blonde for a man I never wanted to be with. I’m not sure how I lost my status as a person, with everyone thinking they are entitled to use me. One of these days, someone will set me on a shelf in a store, put a price tag on me, and sell me outright.”
“Rent.”
“Excuse m-me?” Why had she opened her mouth? Because she didn’t know when to shut up. It’s what always got her in trouble with Namir, and ultimately what got her sent to Veenith.
“I deal in services, assets, whatever a client needs. You’re an asset.” He ran a hand along her cheek, down her neck, and along her collarbone. “I could rent you out.”
“I’m a person,” she bit out, trying to contain her anger. She couldn’t survive that. Even she had her limits. What Namir had done was bad enough, but here, the animals wouldn’t stop at fucking her. Namir had been very specific about no marks being left on her. He wanted no other man’s marks except his own.
Jayce’s hand moved from her collarbone to her breast. Such warm hands and a gentle touch. She shouldn’t enjoy a gentle touch, but she did. That’s how damaged she was, that she enjoyed a gentle touch from a rapist because she’d had nothing but pain and humiliation from Namir and his cadre.
“You’re nothing but a user. A lowlife who deserves to be here.”
He gripped her chin roughly. “Insult me all you want. Once I have my fill of you, I’ll sell you to the highest bidder.”
Every ratchet of his zipper lowering felt like a nail driving through her flesh. Her entire life, she’d fought so hard to do the right thing, and yet she constantly landed in the hands of abusive men. How did some women manage to take power over their men, influence them, even control them? She was as powerless here as she’d been with Namir, Tristen, and Patel, not that Tristen and Patel held any real power in their union. Namir controlled everything, especially her. But not here. She’d gained her freedom the day Human Resources arrived at her lab, slapped the cuffs on her, and downgraded her from Level 1 to Level 5. That alone had been a shock. Her crime at worst should have warranted Level 4 and a sentence to a prison planet for ten years, not Level 5. She’d never leave this prison planet.
The only upside was that she was free of Namir here. Except she’d landed right in the lap of another controlling man.Men.
No, she wouldn’t show weakness, no matter how they’d use her.
“I don’t need to insult,” she said as his hard cock nestled up against her inner thigh. “We both know what you are. Go ahead, dealer. Fuck me. Pass me around. It’s only sex. When you’re done, you’ll still be the pathetic little man that has to rape a woman to have sex. The man who’s not worthy of anyone’s affection, least of all a woman’s.”
Green eyes flared. Jayce would hit her next. She’d seen that level of anger before in Namir, even Tristen, though never Patel. Patel simply followed orders.
Melina squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the blow. Instead, a large hand wrapped around her neck and began to squeeze.
Chapter Five
IVAN
Jayce unzipped his pants and pushed them down. It wasn’t the first time Ivan had seen his friend take a woman against a wall, or even in public for that matter. Life in Turul was far from pristine and pretty compared to the capital or larger cities of Argus.
Level 3s as well as Level 4s who returned from prison planets settled in Turul because they could afford it there. But the better jobs remained in the larger cities. People in Turul took what they could when they could. Or, they learned to bargain and negotiate, like Jayce. He’d always been excellent at finding resources and people who wanted them. And he could talk the pants off a man, or in many cases, the panties off a woman.
But take a woman by force? Ivan never thought he’d see the day. It wasn’t in Jayce’s nature.
At least it never had been.
Veenith changed men, and not for the better. And Jayce had been here for seven years compared to Ivan’s two. Ivan had last seen him on Turul ten years ago when he was twenty-three and Jayce twenty. Ivan had been on leave, and Jayce had found him soon after he’d returned home. He’d been his usual carefree self, wheeling and dealing for anything he needed. They’d found some women, had a good time. Jayce had seemed content. Not happy, but content.
The man that had found Ivan upon his arrival to Veenith was not the Jayce he’d known. He still had the same skills, but a darkness lurked inside him.
“Please don’t hurt me,” the woman begged with what little air Jayce allowed her.
Every muscle in Ivan’s body tensed, though he wasn’t sure what was getting to him. Jayce going down this dark path, or the woman standing there naked, pleading for him not to hurt her as he lowered his pants.
“Enough,” Ivan roared. He didn’t have to know why his stomach knotted, only that it did. This was wrong. The woman deserved to be punished, but not like this.
“You said I could fuck her,” Jayce protested.
He had. Which made him no better than Jayce.
“You said to hurt her,” Jayce continued, that darkness in his eyes not letting up.
Pain lanced through Ivan, and he wanted to shred someone right now. The cause of that rage stood there naked, shaking. He stifled the urge to grab her, to throw her down, and deliver his own brand of pain. But letting the pain control him, lashing out without considering the consequences, got soldiers killed.
And yet it wasn’t his fault they’d fallen.
