Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) (12 page)

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
guide
s 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
in
side
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, direct
ing
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.

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 just 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.

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.

“Nothing to say this time?  No
smart-ass remarks?  No name calling?”  Mark waits for any kind of response out
of me, but I’m not giving in.  “I’m surprised.  Leo must have talked more sense
into you than I realized.”

My heart breaks to hear Leo’s name.  As
my eyes try to adjust to see past the spotlight, I quickly scan the tables at
the back of the room, unreasonably expecting to find Leo sitting there casually
among the other men.  He’s nowhere to be found.

“Someone looking for their new best
friend?  Or fuck buddy, I should say?  God, I’ll have to fuck you myself just
to get the image of the two of you going at it out of my head.”

I’m trying to maintain control, to stay
calm and keep the tears that desperately want to pour out of me from falling
down my face, but I can feel myself slipping.  Leo
is
my rock, the one I look to for strength in these trying moments when Mark likes
to fuck with my brain.  I don’t have him anymore.  Leo is likely in a similar
or worse position as I am now.

He was so worried about ruining me, and
in the end I ruined him.  I destroyed what he worked so hard to build for
himself.

Something jangles off to my side, and
my eyes are immediately drawn to its source.  Leo’s unconscious and attached to
the wall with this room’s latest addition, or maybe I just didn’t notice them
before.  Heavy chains cuffed around Leo’s wrists and ankles connect him with
the wall.  A bruising abrasion covers the side of his forehead near his temple,
but he otherwise looks unharmed.  His mouth is covered with a large piece of
duct tape.  He’s unconscious but stirring slightly.

“Leo.”  I can’t help say
ing
his name.  I call out to him again, my voice cracking this time. 
“Leo?”

He awakens slowly, and I can see the recognition
making its way through the synapses in his brain as he acquaints himself with
his situation.  When his eyes look up to mine, he’s instantly out of his haze,
pulling violently at the chains as he sees me.  The look in his eyes tells me
everything I need to know.

This is our mutual end.  Mark won’t let
us survive this.  He will destroy us together.

“You two are so smitten with each
other, aren’t you?  So much more than fuck buddies.”  Mark circl
es
me
slowly
.  “Do you want to see the
beauty of this situation?  It’s gorgeous, really.  Perfect.”

Mark turns abruptly from me to Leo.  In
one swift movement he swings his leg and kicks him hard across the face,
launching his body as far as it will go against the chains attached to the
wall.

“No!  Stop!” I yell at Mark while
thrashing my limbs against the restraints.  It’s an openly desperate and
pathetic move, but I can’t help my natural reaction to what Mark’s doing.  Leo
shakes his head, reorienting himself as Mark sets up for another blow.

Mark looks directly at me when he’s
about to do it, taunting me.  “You don’t like me beating the shit out of your
boyfriend?”

“No.  Please stop.”  I’m begging now. 
I can’t sit here and watch him do this.

Mark ponders my words for a moment
before turning his attention back to Leo.  “I’ve given him a rather fine
selection of scars already.  What’s a few more?”

This hit is even harder than the first,
the heel of Mark’s boot coming down
sharply
on the
back of Leo’s head before he even has a chance to see it coming.

Tears trickle down my face.  I’m
witnessing just a glimpse of the horrors Leo had to endure growing up with this
wretched human being
who stands
between us.  Mark may
have saved Leo’s life the day his family was killed, but he has been slowly
taking
that life
away from him every day since.

“Do you see the beauty of it now?” 
Mark turns his attention back to me with excitement beaming in his eyes.  “What
would you do to save him?  How far would you go to make me stop from beating
him unconscious at this very moment?”

I look to Leo for guidance, needing
anything to help me get through this latest mind-fuck that Mark’s
come
up with
, but he’s not looking at me.  He’s too busy struggling
to recover from the last hit.

The part of me that strives for
survival is telling me to say nothing.

The part of me that cares for Leo is
telling me to say whatever the hell this evil man wants.

I speak with my heart, leaving my mind
to figure out a way to pick up the broken pieces of me after what I’m about to
say.

“Anything.”  The word is heavy between
us, sealing my fate.  “I’ll do anything to stop this.”

Mark grins wildly.  “I love it.”  He
moves in front of me excitedly and grabs my face between his rough hands.  “I
love it!  Pure selflessness and dedication to a man you hardly know.  Now to
see if lover boy is as dedicated to you.”

Mark moves over to kneel next to Leo,
putting his hands on Leo’s face much in the same way that he just held mine. 
He smacks Leo across the face to bring his dazed eyes to focus on him so that he
has his full attention.

In Leo’s recognition of his proximity
to Mark, he lunges his head toward him, but Mark backs away in time to avoid
the blow.

Mark smiles wickedly.  “You’re a bit feistier
now than you were as young boy and a teen.  My time in prison really gave you
an opportunity to thrive, didn’t it?”

Leo groans against the tape over his
mouth and pulls again at the chains, clearly frustrated.

“Watch this, my boy.  Watch very
carefully.”

Mark stands up and pulls a gun from
a
nearby table
.  I recognize
the weapon
instantly, my dad having taught me all about guns at a young age. 
It’s a
Beretta M9 pistol
, the worst possible thing
that could have entered into this situation.

Mark approaches me with the gun,
pointing the tip of it at my temple before pressing the cold metal against my
skin.  My eyes close tighter the harder he presses.  My heart races within my
chest.

Within the course of
a
second, the gun is removed from my temple and smacked hard against
the same spot, my head flying to the side and a cry escaping me at the sharp
blow.  My eyes shoot open, but I’m only seeing stars.  The next blow from the
gun hits me hard and fast across the other side of my head and I cry out again.

When my vision returns to me this time,
I make out Leo fighting wildly against the chains beside me.  It almost looks
like he’ll rip the chains from the wall in his attempt to stop Mark from
beating the shit out of me with his gun.  I try to take some comfort in Leo’s
presence next to me even though there’s nothing he can do to stop this.

I hear a growl of anger in front of me
and turn to find Mark’s hand bringing the gun toward my face but not to hit
me.  He stuffs the dirty
barrel of it
into my mouth
and grasps the back of my hair roughly, preventing me from turning even the
slightest bit.

He pushes the tip of the gun to the
back of my throat until I’m gagging on it before pulling it back slowly and
reinserting it again.  I quickly realize what he’s doing
, and it
absolutely sickens me.

I can’t see him, but I can hear Leo
yelling into the duct tape over his mouth above the loud clanking sounds of the
chains.
 
Mark glances to the side
with a maniacal grin.  “Do you like this,
Leo?  Does it turn you on?  I can think of another place we can insert this.”

In Mark’s momentary distraction to look
at Leo, I take advantage of the opportunity to rip my head away from his grasp
and turn enough to get the gun out of my mouth.

My relief is short-lived as the chair
I’m in is thrown sideways to the
floor
toward Leo, the
side of my head smacking the cement with a
painful
thud.  I catch a glimpse of Leo’s
horrified
face just before
I close my eyes and retreat behind my eyelids, unable to watch what’s going to
happen next.

Mark moves on to kicking me repeatedly
in the stomach, chest, and legs.  At first the adrenaline coursing through me
helps to dull the pain, but before long I can feel each blow tearing at my
sensitive skin, and suddenly my body feels like it’s on fire again.  I’m
hyperaware now, my entire body alert and desperate for a reprieve that I begin
to wonder if I’ll ever see.

And then it stops.  Mark’s angry show
of power is over and I dare to open my eyes.  Leo stares at me helplessly, and
I fear he’s given up hope.  I can’t have him give up
,
because he’s my rock and I need him here.  I need him to be with me even if
we’re both broken into a million tiny pieces.

My body has reached its limit.  It’s
shutting down, willing me to enter unconsciousness for a chance to recoup. 
It’s time for my reprieve. 

I give Leo a tiny reassuring nod before
the darkness consumes me.