Page 41 of Ruined
CHAPTER 11
Haley
The power Lucas had over me was humiliating. The stunt he pulled with Mel was laughable at best, and yet I still wanted to believe him.
Damn it. I was being stupid. Like Mama warned me.
After I readied the stage for the next performer, we walked in silence to the Terrariums. He picked the aerial dance room, except this time, hemp ropes, natural in color, lay on the couch. He must have called ahead to have it arranged.
“Against the pole,” he said. Like a wind-up toy, I did as he commanded. I leaned against the metal, my bottom lip pouting in annoyance. But when he came towards me with the smell of rosewood and ash with a hint of his masculine sweat, I was undone. I didn’t want to fight anymore. I wanted to be taken. He arranged my hands behind the pole so that I was standing against it. My ankles inched apart, spreading for him, and my gaze was drawn to his lips.
But something stopped me from surrendering completely. I couldn’t let go of that act he had pulled with Mel.
Tension in my stomach made me ache. He was tying me up. I wouldn’t be able to get to the panic buttons. I’d have to say those trigger words to the smart device, and what if my mouth was preoccupied? A gag? Stuffed with him?
Why did this turn me on so much? To be under his complete control.
He faced me, his eyes gleaming as he took me in. A prize on display. And I was helpless. The prize that he had won, after making me lose because of my own stupidity.
“This is your last chance to stop this,” he said. “I’ll follow your rules. But it will beyouthat asks me to break them. And you will, Haley. I have no doubt in my mind that you want this as badly as I do.”
My thighs clenched. He wanted me. Badly.
But I had to say something. I couldn’t let the act he had pulled with Mel slide that easily.
“Lucas,” I said, willing my voice to be stronger than I felt inside. “Don’t ever pull something like that again. It’s dumb.”
He raised a brow. “I won’t.”
I relaxed then, because that was all the reassurance I needed. His word. It calmed me. Why was I so easy when it came to him?
It was then that I realized that I trusted him. Worse than that, Ilikedhim. Like Mama had told me, never to do with someone. It made you do stupid things, clouded your vision of the future.
It was how I ended up being tied to a pole in the middle of my shift.
“On your knees,” he said. I looked around frantically. It wasn’t easy to kneel when your wrists were tied behind a pole. I stumbled, falling on my knees one by one.
“Ow,” I said. And when I looked up to show him that I was ready, Lucas clenched his hands at his sides, then released. Steadying himself. Holding back.
“Stick out your tongue.”
I did as I was told. He pinched my tongue and dug his fingernail in hard. I winced at the pain. Then he released his grip and rubbed his thumb all over my face, wetting my skin in trails. His cock thickened in his pants, right in front of my eyes. My mouth watered and he rubbed his hand all over my tongue, wetting it. Smeared my saliva all over my face. Showing me how easy it was to manipulate me into doing his command.
“One day, I’m going to fuck you,” he said in a husky voice. “You’re going to plead for it, Haley. Every part of you will scream my name, begging me to take your holes.”
I was breathless at those words. He tapped the sides of my face with his hands, gently slapping me, and I felt used, like a toy he was breaking down, bit by bit. Degraded and malleable. He pulled my bikini top up so that it was crumpled near my collarbone, and he grasped my breasts, pinching my hard nipples. Twisted one of them until I bit my lip.
His hands roamed my body. I was powerless. I couldn’t do anything but let him feel me. My arms. My breasts. My waist. My ass. I arched my back, pressing myself forward to feel him, his dominant masculinity, and the curve of his lips told me that he wanted this too. He wanted me.
His fingers dipped into my bottoms, grazing the soft hair, skimming my clit, feeling my wet folds. I turned my head away, ashamed that I would be turned on by this. So damn quickly too.
What would Mama say?
How would Dahlia penalize me?
The truth was that I wanted it. I had ached for his touch since that first time we came here, when his magnetism coursed through me. And now that I had it, now that we were here, I knew that I should have stayed away.
But I was here now. And that wasn’t going to change.
