Condemned (10 page)

Why isn’t he grabbing me?

That was my only thought as I ran up the stairs. Each step seemed agonizingly slow, as if I were in a dream, someone on my heels chasing me, and I couldn’t get my legs to move fast enough. I pulled the door open and ran smack into a broad chest.

Jax grabbed my shoulders, and his fingers gouged my bones.

“Let me go!” I lifted a knee and aimed for his balls, and when he doubled over with a groan, I took off running. Time seemed to slow, and every footstep felt as if I were forging through mud. I reached the door, flung it open, and lurched into the cold. I didn’t dare look back. They could have been a foot behind me and I wouldn’t have known, and I was too scared to find out.

Breaths coming in shallow gasps, I raced over rough ground. Rocks bit into my feet and wind whipped hair into my eyes as rain drenched my body. At this point, I didn’t care that I was running naked in the middle of nowhere, exposed to the weather.

A streak of lightening lit up the sky, and I saw a break in the trees.

“Alex!”

My heart pounded in my chest, as loud as the thunder overhead as I recognized the fury in Rafe's voice. He sounded much too close. I buckled down and made for the trees, hoping to find a road on the other side, the source of the highway noise I’d noticed before from inside the kitchen.

“Stop! Alex!”

I broke through the line of Douglas firs in a full out sprint, but it wasn’t a road beyond the trees. Lightening lit up the sky again, and for that mere second, I saw the water. Rain pounded the surface, causing a choppy and violent scene. I skidded, my bare feet scraping over pebbles and dirt, and tried to halt forward motion.

I was too late.

With a terrified shriek, I tipped over the edge, my body twisting around as I fell in with a splash. More lightening streaked the heavens, and I saw Rafe’s horrified expression. I screamed for him, arms reaching and thrashing as I sank into the freezing depths. Water closed over my face, and the murky void pulled me under.

Pulled me away from him. Away from my only hope of being saved. I sure as hell couldn’t save myself. I couldn’t even swim.

I fought, kicked, prayed to reach the surface, and blindly grasped for something to cling to. My lungs burned with the need to breathe. Oh God, it was unbearable. Body going limp, I finally gave up the battle, accepting imminent death. Maybe I deserved it. Maybe it was better this way. At least I’d get the chance to see Mom again, get a chance to explain, to beg her forgiveness.

I thought of Rafe as I opened my mouth and allowed the water to fill my lungs. A sense of peace cocooned me, and I said goodbye to him, told him I loved him. As everything faded to black, I felt hands grabbing me. My body moved swiftly upward, then…nothing.

“Fucking breathe, Alex!”

Someone pounded on my chest.

“Shit, man. I’m so sorry. I shouldn't have let her get away.”

“Breathe!”

The voices were strained, as if coming from constricted throats. Cold, wet drops fell on my face, and at first I thought they were tears, but tears were hot and salty, and these drops were like icy pinpricks on my cheeks. Something loud rumbled overhead, blocking out the voices, and the ground vibrated. I felt soft, surprisingly warm lips on mine, opening my mouth and breathing life into me. I came to with a violent cough that seized my body.

“That's it, cough it up.” Cold fingers turned my head to the side, and a flood of water erupted from my mouth. I opened my eyes and found Rafe perched over me, his arms supporting his weight and his face inches from mine. “You scared the fucking shit out of me!” he screamed. Water dripped from his hair, down his nose and off his chin.

And his eyes...they narrowed to furious slits. He jumped to his feet and reached out a hand. “Get up,” he said between tight lips.

I let him pull me up, and my body quaked uncontrollably. I was still trying to calm down from almost drowning, but as soon as another streak of lightening shot across the sky, the situation hit me head-on.

Too much water.

All around me.

My heart pounded in my ears, galloping at an unbearable speed as panic took over. A keening cry tore from my lips, and I doubled over, hugging my midsection as the world around me tilted. “Why?” That single word squeezed from my throat. “Why would you bring me here?”

“Why do you think?” Shaking his head, Rafe glanced at Jax, who stood off to the side observing the drama unfolding between Rafe and me. “I knew you couldn’t escape, but I never thought you’d run and almost get yourself killed!”

I decided not to point out the fact that any sane person would try to run. “Where are we? What is this place?”

“Mason Island.” He swept the area with a hand. “But since you’re so set on leaving, there’s a boat at the dock. Feel free.”

“You know I can’t!”

“Don’t I know it,” he said with a sinister laugh. “Why do you think I brought you here?” He pushed me back enough so his eyes bored into mine. “You’ll fucking do as I say because there’s nowhere for you to go. We both know you won’t come anywhere near this water again.”

“I hate you!” I screamed, pounding on his chest.

He easily deflected the blows. “Not nearly as much as I hate you. Now move your ass.” He pulled me away from the river, toward the cabin, I assumed. I stumbled along numbly, eyes on the ground, one foot in front of the other, and never quite registered anything around me. I could only think of one thing.

Water. Too much water.

He hadn’t needed to lock me up. My fear held me prisoner more effectively than any conventional method he could have used. The chains, the shackles, the cage—they’d all been props to mess with my head. As I followed him back toward the cabin, something inside me finally broke. My fear of water stemmed from a near-drowning experience when I was four, and I’d never learned to swim.

Rafe had known. He’d been the one to fish me out of my family’s pool when I was fourteen, after Zach “accidentally” knocked me in. My brother had been particularly mean that day, probably because Rafe had stopped by, and I hadn’t been able to keep my eyes off him.

How ironic that my phobia was his most powerful weapon.

The three of us entered the cabin through the door off the kitchen, and Rafe switched on a light. Unable to stop shivering, I wrapped my arms around myself and clenched my jaw to stop my teeth from clanking together.

Rafe shrugged out of his soaked black shirt, flung it over a chair, and moved it away from the table. “Jax, take a seat over there, would ya?”

Jax gave him a funny look but followed the request.

“No, I need you to turn the chair around, so the back faces the table.”

“Sure thing.” Jax turned the chair and plopped onto it before removing his own wet T-shirt.

My gaze traveled between them, back and forth, and I felt as if I were missing something. I'd just tried to escape. I'd almost drowned, and they were acting nonchalant. Too nonchalant. What the hell was going on here?

Rafe's gaze fell on me, and for a few heavy moments, I didn't breathe. That look, his lips thin, eyes narrowed, made my pulse rocket. A clap of thunder sounded, and I jumped.

Rafe pulled the belt from his pants.

I backed up. “What are you doing?”

He didn't give me a chance to retreat. With a yank on my arm, he brought me closer and wound the belt around my wrists.

“Rafe...please—”

He pulled the leather tight, and I gasped as he bent me over the table with a hard shove. Drops of water landed on the wood, and my breasts flattened against the surface.

He pushed my arms across the table and tossed the other end of the belt at Jax. “Knot it around the chair.”

“Rafe?” My voice came out unusually high-pitched, and I swiveled my head in time to see him take down the paddle he’d pointed out earlier that morning. “You wouldn't.”

Jax snickered as he attached the belt around a slot in the chair. I pulled on it, but it wouldn’t give.

“I definitely would.” Rafe brought my attention back to him. His voice chilled me, sending dread and remorse through my blood. Dread for what was coming, and remorse for my actions. I should have been smarter about trying to escape. I should have taken a few days to gain his trust first. This attempt had turned into a disaster.

“My old man only used this on my brother and me a handful of times. It hurt like hell, and you can bet your ass we learned quick. You’re about to learn quick too.”

I stiffened as he halted behind me. Waiting for that first strike was the worst part, and when he finally did crack that paddle across my ass, I lost my breath for what seemed like forever, though it must have only been a mere instant before he did it again. I jumped from foot to foot and bit into my lip to keep from yowling. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of voicing my pain.

And I never, ever wanted him to know how this was turning me on. My face burned from humiliation—not from what he was doing, but rather from my own sick reaction to it.

“C’mon, sweetheart, scream for me. Beg me to stop.”

“No,” I ground out through gritted teeth.

He struck again, and this time I let out an involuntary yelp.

“That’s better.”

Crack!

“Stop!” I clenched my thighs, and my hands fisted within the restraint of the belt. Jax caught my gaze, and I noticed his fingers curling around the chair back, knuckles turning ash-white. He licked his lips, eyes glazed over with arousal.

Rafe continued to paddle my ass, and the three of us fell into an odd sort of silence. There was no talking, and I held back any sounds of pain, or God forbid, pleasure. Only the smack of thick wood to skin echoed through the room.

I drifted into a space outside myself as Rafe increased the pressure of the strikes. After about thirty, he set the paddle down on the table, his breathing coming fast and hard. I sensed him moving closer, heard a zipper lower, and I tightened my already clenched muscles.

“Spread your legs.”

Hands forming fists, I let my head drop to the table as I parted my thighs. Mortification burned my cheeks again, hotter than before because he was about to fuck me in front of his friend. Even worse, they were about to learn the truth about me.

His hands fell to my hips, and he entered me with a single, forceful plunge. “Fuck, you’re wet.” He laughed, thrusting so hard, he pushed me higher onto the table until my feet left the floor. “I would’ve never guessed. You get off on this shit, don’t you?”

A tear leaked out, and I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m sorry,” I said with a moan.

“Are you apologizing because you get off on pain and humiliation, or are you apologizing for something else?”

“I’m just…sorry.” Sorry for being the way I was because my fucked up nature was at the root of why he’d gone to prison. I was sorry for so much.

He slowed the pace, his cock sliding in and out with gentle rhythm. I scratched my nails on the surface of the table and moaned.

Jax let out a moan too. I lifted my head as he reached for his zipper. His head fell back, hooded eyes watching me as his hand pumped in his lap.

Rafe’s shallow thrusts tormented me, rubbing in just the right spot. My need dripped down my thighs, seeping from my body in a gentle pull that made me grind my teeth. I abused the air with deep, throaty cries.

“I need to come,” I begged.

“No, you’re not getting off. If you do, I’ll choke you again.”

I gasped. “I can’t hold back!”

“I said no.” He smacked my ass and rammed me. Hard. Painfully hard. I concentrated on anything but him moving inside me. The thunder reverberating overhead, the hard edge of the table biting into my belly, the eerie howl of a train. Even Jax’s grunts as he neared orgasm. Anything but Rafe.

It wasn’t enough. I was going to come again, and he was going to choke me, a thought that terrified me. I could handle a lot of things, but having my air cut off wasn’t one of them. Unbidden, the image of Zach entered my mind, and I held onto it, remembered all the times he’d dragged my panties down and pinned me to the bed. My bed. The one place I was supposed to feel safest. I recalled how he’d muffled my sobs in the pillow, how he’d beaten me in places where the bruises wouldn’t show. Still, my body had turned on me.

This was his fault. He’d made me the way I was, and I hated him for it.

Rafe pushed into me one last time and stilled, fisting my hair as he came. Jax came too, as if they’d timed it. His breathing gradually slowed as he traced a lazy path down my back. Gooseflesh erupted from his touch—a sensation that contrasted with the searing ache in my core. He released my hands, picked me up, and threw my soaked body over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Water dripped from my hair and left a trail on the floor as he carried me toward the cellar. He stopped on the way and grabbed a towel from the bathroom.

I was shivering violently when he approached the cage. “Don’t leave me in there. Please.” I clutched his wet jeans, but he dislodged me way too easily and set me on my feet.

“Two nights, Alex. That’s what your little escape attempt earned you.” He kept me at his side, one hand fisting my hair as he unlocked the cage. He shoved me inside, and the towel landed on the concrete at my feet.