Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) Read online

  Despite my fear, internally I’m fuming at this statement. I have a decent idea of just how much he cared for Leo when he was younger.

  Mark’s pacing halts. He’s made his decision. “I think Leo deserves a little treat. I’ve apparently deprived him of women for too long if he’s resorting to falling for your tricks. At the same time he needs to learn to maintain his power and show that he’s in control.”

  Leo’s shoulders slowly drop with each of Mark’s words, and I feel the sudden need to cry. Something extremely bad is about to happen between us. Leo and I both know it.

  “What do you want me to do, sir?” Leo asks hesitantly.

  “You, my dear boy, get to go off protocol. Have your way with her.” Mark’s voice turns lethal as he growls out his words with the fury exuding from him. “Deflower the bitch. Enjoy that sweet pussy and make daddy’s little girl a woman.”

  I think I might be sick. The reality of Mark’s demand hits me.

  He wants Leo to take my virginity. He wants Leo to rape me.

  Leo looks at me even though we both know he shouldn’t. I don’t try to hide the fear in my eyes. I’ve fantasized about sex and what it would feel like and who my first time would be with, but I never imagined it happening like this. I’m absolutely terrified.

  Despite the panic coursing through me, one tiny part of me does feel strange relief. I’m grateful it will be Leo and not Mark. That same small part of me is almost happy it’s him, urging me to want to go through with this. It isn’t rape if it’s something I secretly want, right?

  Leo looks back to Mark. “Now? You want me to do this now?”

  A glare of annoyance crosses Mark’s face. “Yes, now. Unless you’re not interested, in which case I’m happy to step in.”

  “No fucking way.” Leo is instantly to standing. His reaction is a little too defensive, and he has to play it off. “I’m not missing a chance at this. Been dreaming of this since the day she arrived.”

  “Good.” A satisfied smile smoothes over Mark’s face as he steps back to lean against the wall. “Get to it, boy.”

  My insides churn. He has no intention of leaving the room so we can have this moment in private. The sick fuck wants to watch this all happen. I suddenly feel very small and insignificant in the presence of these two men who have such power over me and my fate.

  Regret laces every feature in Leo’s face when he turns to look down at me sitting vulnerable and helpless on the cot. He slowly removes his shirt and unbuttons his jeans to slip out of his remaining clothes.

  He’s completely naked and aroused as he kneels onto the cot, straddling my waist. “You will not resist me,” he says forcefully, staring into my eyes. “You will not scream or cry. You will not try anything stupid.” I realize he’s really speaking to me now, warning me. “You will enjoy this, and you will come for me.” I see a hint of my Leo in his eyes as he says this. He’s offering me some amount of comfort. He’s telling me to enjoy this for what it is and ignore it for what it’s not. “Do you understand everything I’ve just told you?”

  I glance at Mark, who seems pleased by Leo’s show of power over me. I look back at the naked man on top of me, my heart racing within my ribcage. “I understand.”

  Leo slowly lifts my back up and pulls my shirt over my head, careful not to aggravate my healing burns. My breasts are immediately exposed as I’ve forgone my bra while my skin heals. I naturally want to cover myself, but I know it would be pointless. I’m not to resist him. I need to let this happen and try to find some pleasure in it.

  Leo’s hand helps guide me back down to the cot so that I’m horizontal beneath his solid body. He takes my nipple into his mouth and sucks me slowly as his hands work on removing the rest of my clothes. Within seconds they’re gone from me and I’m skin-to-skin with him on the cot.

  He kneads my breasts while he kisses all aspects of me, up and down my neck and chest all the way to between my legs. I wonder if Leo has forgotten that Mark is still in the room as he finds my clit with his tongue, teasing it slightly before sucking it into his mouth with force. A small gasp escapes me at this move, and I’m instantly embarrassed by it knowing there is a creepy man watching us from the other side of the room.

  I turn my gaze straight above me and try to get lost in Leo’s actions. His fingers work their way into me, feeling around inside me and soaking my entrance while he continues to lick me externally. When he’s satisfied that I’m ready for him, he breaks away from me to grab his jeans, looking in his back pocket.

  When he pulls a condom out of his wallet and slips it on, the reality of what’s about to happen hits me and my breathing quickens to a rapid pace, fear overpowering the pleasure coursing through me.

  “Relax,” Leo says, his fingers finding wisps of my wild hair dangling in my face. He brushes them away with the slightest movement before caressing my cheek.

  I hear him take a deep breath, and I try to mimic it as he readjusts further down on the cot so that he is directly between my legs. He waits there a moment, staring into my eyes with his even breathing the only sound between us. He’s communicating with me, helping me relax even though he can’t do it in the way that he would ideally want to.

  I shudder the moment Leo enters me, whether from pain or fear or pleasure, I’m not sure. He presses further into me in a slow and steady movement until he has completely filled the space inside me, and that’s when the pain I know is coming hits me fully. I wince at it involuntarily. Leo flinches in his position over me when he recognizes the pain he’s causing, but he doesn’t otherwise react.

  When Leo withdraws himself, the pain seems to subside, only to be brought right back again as he pushes back in. He’s trying to be delicate with me, but I know there is no way to avoid this pain. It’s inevitably part of losing one’s virginity.

  I know I shouldn’t, but I glance to the side at Mark watching Leo slowly pump himself inside me. He’s smiling widely at this, watching intently with the most satisfied look on his face. The moment I see how turned on he is by the bulge in his pants, I have to look away.

  I need to get the image out of my head, so I look back up to Leo then down the length of his tattooed chest to his cock sliding in and out of me. He’s still being careful, but his movements become faster as he sees me watching him move within me.

  The increased speed and pressure are causing havoc where my healing skin touches the cot beneath me, but the pain is negated almost completely by the pleasure I start to feel in what Leo’s doing to me.

  I give in to it a little, letting my eyes close and a moan escape my lips. His cock is so wet from me that he slides in and out effortlessly. I can feel every bit of his control as he presses in as far as he can go before withdrawing completely and plunging back into me to do it again.

  When his fingers sneak in to massage my clit, I almost lose it. While part of me is screaming to let it happen to bring this to an end as soon as possible, I find that a larger part of me isn’t ready for it to stop. I want Leo to continue. I want to prolong this and feel more of him inside me. I decide that I’m not just going to enjoy this and come for Leo as he demanded, I’m going to help control my role in it.

  I push up to my elbows and shift my hips slightly so that Leo’s thrusts enter me at a different angle. By the groan that emanates from his throat, I can tell he likes how I’ve adjusted us. His movements slow as he guides himself into me at just the right speed and direction to test which places are the most pleasurable for us, and he finds them easily.

  The sensations of Leo inside me and feeling me become too much. I’m ready to bring us to conclusion. I lie back and grasp on to Leo’s arms and look directly in his eyes as I squeeze my internal muscles around his cock. It takes only one more strong thrust through my tight space to trigger his release. When I feel him pulsing inside me and shuddering above me, I can’t hold back. My fingers dig into Leo’s skin as I cry out with the explosion of my orgasm.

  It’s a moment I wish would never end
, blissful and complete. I know when I come down from it a harsh reality awaits, but Leo helps me push it off as long as possible as he continues his thrusts into me until we have nowhere else to go but down.

  My grip on his arms finally releases as he stops moving completely. Our eyes connect again as he hovers above me. We’re both breathing wildly, and I can feel a slight tremble in his body.

  Leo closes his eyes and touches his forehead to mine, comforting me with his body’s wordless message. My eyes close and absorb every bit of the relief he’s trying to give me.

  “Bravo.” I cringe as Mark claps sarcastically from the other side of the room. “You must have kept more busy with the ladies while I was in prison than I realized, Leo. I didn’t know you were capable of pleasing a woman like that.”

  I open my eyes to look above me at Leo, his face impassive as he slips out of me and stands up to grab his clothes.

  “If I didn’t know better,” Mark says, directing his attention toward me, “I’d say you enjoyed that, little whore.” He moves quickly across the room to me and grabs my exposed nipple with a painful twist. “Wait until daddy finds out we defiled his baby girl, and even better, that she enjoyed every second of it.”

  I’m fuming as he releases my nipple from his grasp and turns to walk away. I want to talk back to him, to yell to him that there’s not a chance in hell that my parents will believe a word he says, but with one glance at Leo I know to keep my mouth shut. He gives me a warning look as he’s buttoning up his jeans and throwing his shirt over his head.

  Mark stops at the door to turn around and face me with a devious grin. “We’ll have to do this again sometime.”

  I’m overwhelmed with nausea at Mark’s suggestion, knowing full well that next time I won’t be as lucky. Mark wants a taste, and he has the power to sample me any time he wants.

  Leo follows Mark to the door, stealing a guilty glance at me before turning off the light and leaving the room. The lock clicks in place before their footsteps disappear down the hallway.

  I’m left naked and alone, the remnants of my first sexual experience wet between my legs. That strange mix of exhilaration and shame washes over me again. I should have fought harder against something I knew was wrong, but I didn’t. I let it happen. I embraced it and enhanced it. I actually enjoyed it.

  My time in this place has transformed me into someone unfamiliar. It scares me to think that I don’t know who I am anymore.

  16

  Running

  A hand clamps down over my mouth, and I scream into it. My eyes shoot open to darkness around me, but Leo’s familiar scent is nearby. When my eyes adjust enough to see him, I’m frightened by the worried look on his face.

  I pull his hand forcefully from my mouth. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Shh! We need to be quiet.” He lifts me quickly by the back to sitting then helps me up to standing.

  In my groggy state of just waking up, I can barely find vertical, but Leo steadies me. “Where are we going?”

  “I’m getting you out of here. Now.”

  The blood seems to pulse even more rapidly through my veins. A million thoughts explode in my mind at the implications of this.

  I’m leaving this hell.

  I’m escaping Mark’s grasp.

  I get to go home and see my parents.

  And Leo’s coming with me.

  “We’re really doing this?” I ask in shock as he guides me to the door. “You’ll get me home?”

  Leo ignores my questions, his focus solely on getting us out into the hallway. “We need to be absolutely silent.”

  I follow behind him as he drags me by the hand down the hall, his footsteps naturally light and my bare feet even quieter. His dark hair is disheveled, and his face has a constant look of concern. The way he moves makes me nervous, like we’re being chased or watched or something horrible is around the corner waiting to get us. It scares the shit out of me to see him this way.

  We pass through a couple of doors that Leo hurriedly unlocks before hitting a set of double doors. I feel the cool fresh air seeping in when he opens one of them just a crack to peek outside.

  We’re within feet of the outside world, and Leo’s taking me there. This is really happening.

  He opens the door completely and leads me by the hand out into the darkness before quietly closing the door behind us. A shiver runs through me in the cold desert air that surrounds us. If we weren’t running for our lives, I’d have him hold me and share some of his warmth with my freezing skin.

  In a quick scan around us, Leo finds our next destination. My eyes are still adjusting to the darkness after being blinded by the lit hallways of the prison, but Leo seems to be able to see where we’re going just fine. He pulls me by the hand toward the tall barbed-wire fence that surrounds the facility. As we get closer, I can see there’s a break in it where the fence has been cut and pulled back. Leo’s hand helps guide my head down so I can crouch through the small space, and he quickly follows behind me.

  When we’re out in the open space of desert with the wide expanse of stars and the crescent moon above our only companions in the darkness, we both break into a run and don’t look back. When we’ve put some distance between us and the fence, Leo takes a small flashlight from his pocket and lights the way in front of us.

  He holds my hand and keeps me from stumbling a few times, but I manage to keep up with him. I don’t know how far we have to run or if we’ll ever stop running, but I don’t really care. I’ll keep running for the rest of my life if it means we’ll both escape Mark and his literal and emotional prisons.

  I want to talk to Leo, to thank him and kiss him and do everything I can to show him just how much I appreciate him saving me, but we have to keep running. I’ve lost track of time and distance as I keep my focus on the man pulling me along to safety.

  My eyes have adjusted to the darkness enough to see a large rocky structure in front of us barely lit up by the light from the sliver of the moon. Leo stops for a moment before taking us in a sharp right at the natural structure.

  I’m sweating and breathing hard at this point but find instant relief when I see what we’re heading toward. A pickup truck is parked in the distance. It’s our salvation, our passage to safety, our vehicle to freedom.

  Leo yanks at the passenger side door, helps me in, and closes the door behind me before running around to enter the driver’s side. My hands shake and my body trembles slightly as I watch him fumble with the visor to grab a key and get it in the ignition. Our combined heavy breathing is the only sound between us as the key successfully enters the ignition and he turns it.

  Nothing happens.

  Leo tries again and again but the engine makes no attempt to start. The vehicle doesn’t make a sound.

  “I don’t understand. The guy just drove it out here this morning. It was working fine.” Leo feels around the space under the steering wheel until the hood clicks. He opens the door and steps outside with the flashlight, looking back at me with a reassuring grin. “Don’t worry. I can figure this out.”

  I take comfort in Leo’s words, knowing that fixing cars is probably one of the many things he’s learned to do in Mark’s employ. He struggles with the hood latch for a moment before lifting it up and blocking my view of him.

  Leo’s voice is muffled, but I can still hear him through his open door. “Strange. The battery’s disconnected.” A moment of absolute silence fills the cab of the pickup. “Oh my God. Morgan!”

  My breath catches in my throat. I hear a short period of scuffling outside before silence once again surrounds me, and at that moment I know that I am both alone without Leo and not alone in the presence of someone else. The blood is pumping so rapidly through my veins that I feel lightheaded. I want nothing more than to curl up in a ball and close my ears and eyes to whatever is out there, because I know it’s my doom. The person who will end me is about to find me, and I don’t want to see him. I just want to escape with Leo. I jus
t want us to truly live.

  I close my eyes, unable to stand the suspense of facing whatever is lurking out there for me a moment longer. My hands cover my ears. I pull my knees to my chest, rocking back and forth slightly, humming to myself to keep my fear at bay.

  A slight breeze kisses my skin before a soft finger touches the side of my face the way Leo likes to touch me. My eyes respond automatically, opening up to see him, my body ready to grasp him in my arms.

  What I see instead is Mark, his maleficent grin staring at me just inches from my face.

  “Miss me?” he growls.

  I scream and thrash wildly against his grabby touch before a cloth is forced over my face, the chemical smell on it familiar from the morning I was taken. My mind and body instantly become woozy, and the fight in my limbs subsides.

  I close my eyes not sure if I’ll ever want to reopen them again.

  17

  Anything

  A strange sense of déjà vu washes over me. I feel like I’ve been here before. I know I have been. Something covers my face, and I’m tied tightly to a chair. I can feel the heat from the spotlight directed toward me. In the echoes of hushed male chatter throughout the room, I know exactly where I am.

  “Welcome back, dear.” It’s Mark, and though I knew it was only a matter of time before he made an appearance in this latest nightmare, my heart still drops at the sound of his voice. The room quiets around us. “So nice to have you back in the conscious world and back in your prison.”

  My instinct is to mouth off to him, to piss him off and do whatever I can to get under his skin, but then I remember where I was and what happened before I got here. Something happened to Leo, and I can’t risk jeopardizing him by acting carelessly.

  I say nothing.

  The blindfold is ripped from my face, and I’m momentarily blinded by the light focused upon me.