DangerouslyForever (3 page)

He shrugged nonchalantly. And with that small gesture, all
the hopes and dreams she’d imagined faded away quickly.

“I guess I’ll have to get this taken care of somewhere
else?” he asked, raising a brow.

“Somewhere else?” She enunciated the words carefully. She
could feel her temperature rising. Her skin prickled as if she were on fire.

He rolled off the bed and onto the floor, where he picked up
his clothes and began to dress.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He laughed.
Laughed!
“Are you jealous? It’s been in
the making for quite some time now.”

She tried not to let her quivering lips give her away.
“When?”

“Tomorrow.”

I can fucking kill him.
“You’re getting married
tomorrow and you’re here with
me
?”

“I had to be with you one more time.”

She choked. “One more time? You can’t be serious?”

“My father wants an heir. He’s forbidding me from seeing you
again.”

No. He can’t.

She let out a nervous chuckle. The sound came out high and
hysterical. “Is that right? Well, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” She
rolled to her knees, letting the blanket fall. “I’ll be your little secret.”

He looked at her with sorrowful eyes. “I wasn’t going to say
anything. But he’s going to sell you.”

Her mouth dropped open.

“Tonight.”

* * * * *

Brothel Number Five

Niolik, Hylio Star System, Torus Galaxy

As the alarm sounded, Ally sat on her butt with her knees
bent up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and rocked.

She sang a song she remembered from Earth, and thought about
those times. How when this song would come on, everyone in the club would hit
the dance floor. Bodies would rock against each other. Drinks would be held
high in the air. Everyone sang along as if it was the best song ever.

She had met Jim at one of those clubs. She tilted her head
in thought. What song had been playing then? Hmm… They had claimed it as “their
song”. Why couldn’t she remember it anymore?

If only the blaring alarm would stop. It made her thoughts
discombobulated. She put her hands over her ears. She needed to remember her
and Jim’s song. For some reason it was important that she did.

It might be the last thing she ever remembered.

She hung her head. If Jim were alive, he would’ve never
forgotten something so important.

Would she have time to remember their song before they
killed her? She was sure they would do it this time. Damn the credits they
would lose over her loss. They could get another whore to replace her. They
replaced whores every day.

She briefly flicked her eyes to where Rykiz lay dead. Yes,
they would kill her this time. Why wouldn’t they?

It wouldn’t matter that she hadn’t intended to kill him.
He’d come to visit her at the new brothel, fucked her—and then laughed in her
face when she’d asked if he was going to take her away with him.

Something dark had risen from deep within and before she
knew it, she’d snapped his neck.

There was no point in apologizing. Not that she wanted to.
Rykiz deserved to die.

When the door finally opened, she stared down the barrel of
a blaster.

Adore
, by Prince.

That was what the DJ had been playing when she and Jim first
met.

She smiled.

All of her nightmares would finally be over.

Taken: 5.5 Earth Years

Brothel Number Six

Yinnis, Latreian Star System, Torus Galaxy

Alharad Nijiaira, owner

The faint clang of metal against metal jolted her awake.
Ally’s heart instantly quickened.

The bastards are back.

She fought to open eyes that were too swollen to oblige.
Instead, she balled her fists and strained her sore, weak muscles, pulling
against the chains that held her arms cuffed to the wall above her head. The
sounds of jostling chains bounced off the concrete walls of her dark and dank
solitary prison.

“Shh, it’s only me,” a whispered voice said in the darkness.

Ally’s racing heart sped up even more and she stilled her
movements. No matter how many times she got herself beaten up and thrown in
prison, he had been here to take care of her. When he got caught, she’d hear
his screams from her cell. He wasn’t supposed to be here.
She
knew it.
Why didn’t he?

It’s not as if she encouraged him to come. She ignored him,
tried not to engage in conversation. Didn’t he know it was for his own good?
Why was he here? Surely he knew he’d get beaten again?

She opened her mouth to ask him just that, only to find that
one side of her mouth couldn’t move. The bones in her jaw painfully scraped
against each other.

Broken again.

“Don’t try to talk. They messed you up real good this time.
Maybe they’ll take you to the healing tank soon. Alharad will get you fixed up
in no time.”

The little boy that sometimes brought her food and water was
always filled with optimism. This time, like all the others, his optimism fell
on deaf ears. If the fuckers had an ounce of compassion, they would let her
wallow in pain and leave her the hell alone. But no, they would heal her just
to beat her again. Torture 101, alien style.

“It’s not right to fix you up just to beat you again,” he
continued, reading her mind as he made his way deeper into her cell.

Maybe this time they actually
had
forgotten about
her. If they did, she could bleed to death. It would take forever, but she
could be patient when needed. A laugh that sounded more like a pained gurgle
reverberated in her chest. Even that slight movement caused excruciating pain.

“Here, drink this,” he said.

She felt a small tube being inserted between her swollen and
painful lips. She tried to move her head away with a grunt. She couldn’t let
him get in trouble again. The last time the guards caught him and dragged him
away kicking and screaming Ally had tried to intervene. That earned her a hard
kick in the stomach.

“No…hurt…you…”

“It’s okay. They’re all busy. There’s a Galactic Council
raid going on upstairs. They won’t miss me.” He let out a childlike giggle.
“They’ve got their hands full. Drink it before they come back.” He reinserted
the tube between her lips. “Go ahead, hurry.”

Ally pursed her sore lips around the straw. Her stomach
churned and groaned as the sweet liquid filled her mouth and coated her throat
to finally land in the empty pit. Greedily she sipped more. Too fast. The
liquid spilled from her mouth and dripped down her chin.

“Urgh,” she said as the liquid burned the open wounds on her
face.

“Slow down. Not so much at a time. Put the straw farther
back in your mouth,” he chastised, as if he were the adult.

She did as instructed and tried again. This time worked much
better than the first.

She was probably going to regret this. “What’s your name?”
she asked, slurring her words.

“My name?”

She nodded. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to block out
the pain as the slight movement caused her head to pound and throb.

“Pet,” he said. The straw pressed against her lips again.
“Here, take some more.”

Despite the pain, she shook her head. “No, your name?”

He stood in silence before he finally answered. “That’s what
Master calls me. I’m his pet.”

“Never.”

He pushed the straw into her mouth again. She drank,
finishing it all. When she was done, she used her tongue to push the straw from
her mouth. “Thank you.”

She cracked her eye open to catch the sight of him opening
the metal door. It creaked and a sliver of light burst through the darkened
room. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Uh-uh, not safe.”
Don’t come back.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

So innocent. Pure.

“You’re a million bucks.”

“Huh?”

“You’re not a pet. You’re worth a million bucks,” she tried
to say but the words came out jumbled.

He shook his head. “I can’t understand you.”

She tried again. “Mill-ion.”

He was worth a million bucks. Maximillion.

He giggled quietly. “I don’t know what that is.”

“You.”

“Okay, you can call me whatever you want.”

She slumped. She shouldn’t be calling him anything. It would
only lead to trouble. Attachments always did.

The door closed with a thud.

Darkness closed around her again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“We should probably go now,” Ally said.

She lay in the field. The grass provided a soft cushion on
her back. As she watched the clouds drift slowly across the sky, she clasped
Jim’s hand tightly in hers.

“Why?” Jim asked. Not turning to look her way.

She scrunched her face. “Isn’t it time?”

“Why would you say that?”

“I don’t know, it just feels like it’s time,” she whispered.

“No, let’s stay here a while longer.” He clasped her hand
tighter. There was no breeze. Although the sun was shining high beyond the
clouds, the air remained chilly.

“Jim Miller, if I didn’t know any better I would think
you’re trying to stall me,” she said with a light chuckle.

He leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. She
closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment.

“I’m not stalling. I like this.”

“This?” she asked, confused.

“Yeah, me and you watching the sky. Nowhere to be and
nothing to do. It’s peaceful. I miss this.”

“So do I, but we can have it all the time now.”

“No.” He said the word as a declaration.

Her heart lurched. She had been waiting for this for so
long. It was time. Finally. Why didn’t he want her to go with him? “I don’t
want to stay here. I want to go with you. You promised me.” The words left her
mouth in a shaky mess.

He got up and looked down on her. “That was before.”

“Before what?”

“You have to stay,” he said, not answering her question.

She tried to get up but couldn’t. It felt as though an
invisible weight was on her chest, pinning her to the ground. “Jim, I tried. It
didn’t work,” she pleaded, stretching out her hands to him.

“Try again.”

She balled her fists. “No! I’m alone. I’m so alone. It’s not
fair. I want to go with you.” Her voice trembled as tears poured from her eyes
to roll down the side of her face and past her ears.

“You’re not alone, sweetheart.” He faded away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Laughter.

Ally opened her eyes. Pitch black. She blinked twice to make
sure her eyes were actually open. The harsh grating sound of metal against
metal made her jump.

The door.

Panic overwhelmed her. More light streamed through as it
opened wider and wider.

She winced against the light that assaulted her vision,
blinding her.

“The slave woke up.” The voice of the guard standing at the
door made her snarl. Light filtered around him, obscuring his features. It
didn’t matter. They were all equally assholes.

Laughter and sneers wafted through the door from the
corridor beyond.

“Let’s get this human upstairs.”

Ally fought against the chains as the smell of the guard’s
body odor permeated her nose. Rancid meat and funk was not a good combination.
A hand fisted her hair and jerked her head back. The cold metal collar clasped
around her neck with a clink.

“Boss wants you this time. If you have an ounce of
self-preservation, you will keep your stupid mouth shut and your hands to
yourself.”

Ally’s psychotic giggle sounded more like a gurgle. That was
her problem. She didn’t have any self-preservation. She would do whatever it
took to get herself killed.

“Aw fuck. Close your mouth,” the guard said in disgust.
“You’ll drip blood through the halls.”

Instead, Ally used her tongue to push a loose tooth from her
gums. It tumbled out of her mouth in a pool of blood and saliva. She could only
imagine how she looked. Taking on three guards had been a death wish—literally.
Too bad she’d passed out before they could finish her off, and instead had
woken up chained.

Fucking cowards.

“You are one gross whore,” the guard known as Sagnior said.

Ally spit the blood pooling in her mouth onto the floor. “I
didn’t know your mother was here,” she taunted.

“I’m going to kill you one day,” he growled.

She tsked. “Everybody makes the same promise but they’re too
chickenshit to follow through. You want the truth? I’ll probably end up killing
you
first.”

“Are you threatening me?”

She sighed. How many guards had she killed over the years?
Seven? And how many “customers”? Hmm…now that would take her longer to count.
“No. Think of it as a promise.” She winked. “And I keep mine.”

The guards bound her hands in front of her. She didn’t try
to fight or get away. She was too tired and besides, where would she escape to?
After all this time, she had learned how to pick her battles. No sense in
getting worked over again.

Maybe after seeing Alharad Nijiaira she could finally go to
the healing tank. Of course, she would have to listen to one of his
long-drawn-out lectures first about business and customer retention, but all in
all it wouldn’t be that bad. She would nod and promise to do a better job of
not killing any more customers. He would pretend to forgive her and send her to
the healing tank and afterward she would whore for him again until someone else
pissed her off. She was his slave—but mostly not a very compliant one.

She let the guards drag her by the chain attached to the
collar. The shackles on her ankles didn’t allow her to keep up with their pace.
It didn’t matter to them if she went to Alharad on her hands and knees or on
her butt. Either way, she would go to him.

Up the stairs and through the halls they led her. Everyone
they passed avoided her as if she were a pariah. No one met her gaze. Some even
went so far as to press against the walls as she went by. She knew the
passersby were most likely scared of the Quold guards who escorted her. But she
also guessed her appearance and smell were partly to blame.

How long had she been imprisoned this time? She had no way
of telling.

The smell of flowered perfume permeated her nose as they
entered Alharad’s dining chamber. This was where he did most of his business.
The morbidly obese motherfucker seemed to always be eating. The thought of the
brothel and slave owner dousing himself in perfume every morning almost gave
her cause to laugh again.

Almost.

If it wasn’t for the little African-American boy pressed
tightly to his side.

Her stare shifted from Maximillion to Alharad.

Shit.

Alharad’s eyes twinkled knowingly. A slow smile graced his
portly face, revealing four rows of sharp, tiny teeth. She straightened her
neck and shoulders but inwardly cringed.

“Yes, yes, yes,” he hissed. The malicious smile sent chills
down her spine. “This will work out nicely.”

Ally snarled low and deep. She didn’t know what he meant by
that, but it didn’t sound good. “What the hell is on your fat little mind?”

“Come now, think about it. I know you’re smarter than that.
I think our relationship has grown.”

Does he want me to fuck him? Never!

“You’ll have to kill me first,” she promised in a
threatening tone. “I told you then and I’m telling you now. I’ll never fuck
you.”

Alharad’s laughter echoed throughout the room. She lifted
her head and stretched her neck from side to side. Chained or not, he wouldn’t
take her easily.

Watching her, he laughed even harder. The sound seemed to
bounce off the mirrors that cluttered the walls. “I don’t need you to fuck me.
I have other willing slaves. Plus, I don’t like to fight for my pussy. It takes
too much work.” He shuddered.

He was right. Not everyone, male or female, hated living in
a brothel. Some of the aliens had even come here willingly, making this their
permanent home. Others who had been sold into slavery like her seemed to be
complacent about their predicament. Alharad most likely had whores vying for
his attention every day.

“Good. Go and get one of them,” she said, even though it
probably would cost her another trip to the prison.

He chuckled, sending his girth rippling in pounds and pounds
of extra flesh. “In due time. But right now we have a little matter to discuss.
You won’t behave. It is very disconcerting for me.”

She flicked her hand. “Not my problem. I never promised I
would be your whoring bitch. Take it up with the fool who sold me to you.” Oh
yeah, she couldn’t hold back. She was definitely in for another ass kicking.

He stroked Maximillion’s head. “Oh, I think I can change
your mind.”

She snorted, but her attention focused on the way he ran his
hands across Maximillion’s short, curly afro. “Keep telling yourself that,
Jabba the Hutt.”

“I believe I’ve found a way to make you come to your
senses,” he said matter-of-factly.

No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t pull her gaze
away. The bangles around his fat wrists made a high-pitched clanging noise. The
boy—no more than eight—cringed with every stroke. She could see his little body
shivering from where she stood. Goose bumps erupted across his skin. His
pleading eyes were fixed on hers.