Forbidden Fruit: Volume 1 (42 page)

Chapter Two

My hands went numb in ten minutes. My arms went numb in fifteen. My head fell forward and I tried to connect any clues that I’d gathered. I was more than likely in one of the LARK prisons. I should have seen the mole for what he was. Getting any member of LARK to talk was impossible, my editor at the paper had said just as much, but I insisted. I wanted to be the reporter to break the notorious terrorist group’s secrecy. I wanted to push my limits as a journalist and this is where I ended up.

A set of keys raked against the iron bars, drawing my attention away from the concrete floor. Standing behind the bars was the scarred man from earlier, Erian. Except this time he was alone and the inside of the dungeon was even darker than before. His sinister smile drew my attention as he unlocked the door and stepped inside.

“What do you want?” I asked, not trusting him in the least. If he was a member of LARK, then he was most likely sent down here to torture me for information about my article. They’d want details on my research and who I was receiving intel from.

He narrowed his eyes on me. “Loran wanted you to be let down. I volunteered.”

“Loran?” I asked, straightening up.

“The boss.”

So his name was Loran.

Erian moved closer to me and my whole body shook in protest. It was encoded in my DNA to separate myself from this vile man, but if he was here to release my arms, than I would let him. But I would detest every second he was near me. My shoulders were already stinging from the awkward angle and I feared they’d pop out of their sockets if I pulled my body weight down on them for much longer. He pressed his body as close to mine as he could while he reached up to free my hands. He smelled as if he hadn’t showered in days; putrid body odor wrapped around him like a blanket and my nose tingled from the unwelcome smell.

“Please let me go. What do you want with me?” I asked with a calm tone, trying to remain in control of my emotions.

“You aren’t going anywhere. Loran wants to question you about your involvement with our group.”

So this
was
about my research.

“I don’t know anything about your group. Please, you have it all wrong.” The second my hands were free, they fell with a heavy thud to my side and I slid down to the ground so that the weight of my arms could rest on my legs for a moment.

“Do you expect me to believe that bullshit?”

His hand came out of nowhere and smacked me across the face. Stars exploded in my vision as I tried to collect my bearings. I could taste copper in my mouth. The time for rest was over. I clutched my face in my palm and looked up into his evil eyes. “You don’t have to do this. Please let me go. I don’t know anything about your organization. I was supposed to meet with a man, but it fell through. I have no information that could bring you harm.” I was arguing with a terrorist and I couldn’t see the hole I was digging myself into as I shoved my spade even deeper into the ground.

“We’ll see how willing you are to reveal information after I’m done with you,” he snarled, pointing his gun at the top of my head. The barrel stabbed into my scalp as I tried to cower away from him. Where were the other guards? Where was Loran? Had he instructed this man to torture me for information?

“If you utter a word, I’ll blow your brains out. No one will question me. No one cares about you here.” I tried to blink away the room, this moment. It couldn’t be real.

He pushed me back onto the concrete, reaching to pull my pants down. I stared up into the barrel of his gun. It was black and rusted on the end. Would he really use his gun or was he bluffing? Hadn’t Loran told him not to touch me?

His grimy fingers tugged my jeans down to my knees and I cried out.

“What did I say about making a sound?” he asked, shoving a hand over my mouth. My stomach’s contents rolled and I started to panic. If I couldn’t stop him, he was going to rape me. I had to do something, but in that moment I was paralyzed by fear.

The smell of his filth invaded my nostrils as I tried to slow my breathing. He realized he was at a stand-still: if he held my mouth closed with one hand and his gun in the other, than he had no way to rip my clothes off. I guess he didn’t trust me not to make noise because he opted to drop the gun a few feet away from us. When he moved to toss the gun, he shifted his weight away from me for only a moment and I took the opportunity. I rolled away from him and pushed to my feet, trying to reach the iron gates. Maybe he hadn’t locked it, I thought. I was moving faster than I’d ever moved in my life. But it wasn’t quick enough.

“Not so fast.” He grabbed my leg with a death grip and pulled my feet out from under me. My knees slammed against the concrete floor and my hands reached out to catch my weight. Within a heartbeat, he dragged me backwards toward the center of the cell. My fingernails dug into the dirt as I screamed for help.

He spun me around and pinned me down with his legs before smashing his fist into my cheek. I’d never felt such acute pain before. It radiated through each of my bones until I thought I’d pass out. But instead of pushing me toward compliance, it fueled my anger. If he wanted to rape and torture me, then he had to kill me first. I wasn’t going to be the helpless girl screaming for help.

His fingers found the top of my underwear and I fisted my uninjured hand, like they’d taught me in self defense, and thrust it as hard as I could against his nose. I heard bones crack the moment I made contact and he howled back in anger. I didn’t wait for him to respond. I attacked again, twisting his arm at a horribly awkward angle until I heard another pop. He groaned in pain, and then suddenly footsteps echoed down the hall.

Erian jumped to action and I pulled my jeans up as quickly as possible. He reached for his gun and I scrambled back to a dark corner of the cell. I wanted to be invisible. I knew I would be punished for hurting him. They would torture me even worse now. I crouched down into a ball, willing the floor to open beneath me and swallow me like quicksand.

“Erian, what the hell are you doing?” the guard began in English, and then switched over to spit-fire Albanian. Erian pointed toward me with his arm that wasn’t jutting out at an impossible angle. His tone held fury and I knew I was mere minutes from brutal pain. The other guard pried open the iron door and tugged Erian out, staring toward me with a wary gaze. Was he scared of me? Surprised that I fought Erian when he tried to rape me?

The two of them scurried away and I was left in the dark corner, wondering when the other shoe would drop. The room smelled of filth and fear. I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed against that corner with my knees tucked under my chin. My hands wrapped around my legs, making my existence as minimal as possible. I slept off and on, unable to relax, knowing my fate was held in the hands of men I wouldn’t trust with an insect’s life.

Chapter Three

The next morning, footsteps echoed down the hall and I stayed cowered in the corner. I thought they would have come during the night, but I suppose my death wasn’t worth losing sleep over. Normally, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my eyes open, but fear shot endorphins through my bloodstream, keeping me alert the entire night. I peered through the bars. There were the same four men from yesterday with Loran at the head of the group. He unlocked the door and his eyes swept across the cell until he found me in the corner.

A range of emotion swept across his face until a brutal scowl rested atop his beautiful features. He wasn’t dressed like he was the day before. He had on a simple white t-shirt tucked into hunter green pants. He looked lethal and fierce. Ready to get his hands dirty just as his disgusting guard had done the night before.

“What happened to you?” he asked, stepping closer to me. I pressed my back against the wall and hugged my knees closer to my chest. At first I didn’t know what he was talking about, but then the memories of last night flooded back. I’d been ignoring the throbbing pain that radiated from my swollen cheek and my hand. Pain wouldn’t help me escape, so I’d pushed the feelings deep down under a layer of false confidence. But when he looked at me with
concern
in his eyes, I almost felt like caving ad crumbling at his feet.

“Erian, this is why you’re arm is in that fucking cast, isn’t it?” he snapped, and turned toward the other guard. I hadn’t noticed the wrap until Loran pointed it out. Erian’s injured arm was casted up and harsh bruising radiated off his nose. I must have broken it. The bastard deserved even more.

“Were my instructions about touching the prisoners confusing?” Loran asked, pulling his gun out of the holster on his hip.

Erian’s body visibly flinched as he shook his head and started rambling in Albanian. He pointed to me, trying to explain. I didn’t miss the hatred behind his gaze.

His pleading was silenced a moment later when Loran pulled the trigger on his gun. One single bullet and Erian lay flat on the ground with blood seeping from his heart.

I screamed and scrambled to my feet, looking around desperately for a weapon to defend myself with. He killed him! He killed him in broad daylight, right in front of me.

My breathing was fast and loud as I tried in vain to fill my lungs with air. It felt like I couldn’t get enough oxygen no matter how much I inhaled.

Loran’s hard gaze snapped to me for a brief moment. He watched me like a scared animal rather than a torturer, and I didn’t look away. I met his gaze head on, trying to understand the intricacies of my situation.

My safety was worth more than his guard’s life? Or was he simply demonstrating the fact that he was in charge? Exerting his dominance and setting the law.

“Get him out of here and dispose of the body.” He gestured with his gun and pointed out of the cell. The three remaining men scrambled into action for fear that they would be next. I’d never witnessed a murder, but I didn’t feel pity for this man. I would have killed him last night if given the opportunity.

Once the men were out of sight, Loran replaced his gun in his holster and turned to face me. He didn’t utter a word as he moved closer. I didn’t budge. My shallow breaths echoed in the confined space. His hand reached out to touch my chin and I shivered in response to his touch. It wasn’t welcome. He wasn’t allowed to touch me and I wanted him to move away. But this was much different than Erian’s touch last night. Loran was the key to my escape and the way his eyes bored into mine didn’t tell me he wanted my blood. No, he wanted something else entirely.

He tipped my chin up to inspect my injury, and I flinched, expecting pain. There was none though. His fingers barely grazed my skin. He wasn’t grabbing me. His touch was gentle and caring. It was as if he feared me as much as I feared him. He moved an inch closer to me and, for reasons beyond my comprehension, I wilted toward him, letting him hold my weight instead of the wall. He was massive; his size clouded over me. His skin seared me through our clothing and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to clear my head of the strange feelings circulating through my thoughts.

His free hand wrapped around my shoulder to sturdy me, and I winced at the touch. My shoulders were still sore from hanging in the handcuffs yesterday.

“Did he touch you anywhere other than your face?” he asked, his voice low and calm.

That wasn’t the question I was expecting.

“Why do you care?” I spat, remembering that he was the one holding me prisoner. No one else.

His grip tightened on my shoulder and I swore I heard him snarl in response. “I won’t ask again. Did he touch you anywhere else?”

I wanted to fight him harder, but I chose to be a compliant prisoner in that moment. “He tried to.”

The corner of his mouth hitched up. “But you defended yourself, good girl.”

My gaze snapped up to his. I narrowed my eyes on him and bit down on my lip to keep my anger inside. I hated this man. Why was he being nice to me?

His gaze met mine with a challenging stare, and then before I could even process his movements, his mouth was on mine. He pressed us back against the wall and crushed his weight against mine. His mouth forced my lips open and he devoured me like he was a starving man. His tongue swept over mine and I was helpless to his attack. To be honest, there was not a single cell in my body that wanted to fight his kiss. But I knew it wasn’t right. He tasted divine and his hips ground into me, pressing his hardening cock against my stomach. I could feel him, and instead of pushing him away, I gripped his shirt and tugged him against me even harder. I could hardly breath, my lungs had no room to inflate, but I needed more. I needed him to be inside my skin, under my layers and buried where I needed him the most.

Why? Why in that moment was my body able to forget my horrible situation? None of it made sense.

I didn’t know what I was doing. If it had been any other man, in any other moment, I would have done the same self-defense moves that I’d done to Erian the night before. But it felt like I needed Loran to kiss me more than I needed the blood in my veins. It felt extreme and uncontrollable, like I was plunging into new depths of pleasure I never knew existed.

His hand pried my jeans open until he had just enough space to slide his hand inside the top of my underwear. I should have stopped him. Oh, somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I knew I should have stopped him. But I couldn’t. Once his long fingers slipped past my underwear and touched me, I was his willing prisoner. He could keep me forever as long as his fingers were involved in my torture.

He groaned into my mouth just as his middle finger slipped inside of me. I was impossibly wet for him, as if I’d been waiting and wanting him for hours rather than only a few seconds. He made my body respond to him like I’d been positively conditioned to his touch. But I couldn’t let him know that. He was the one in power and I couldn’t feed him.

“Stop.” My words begged and pleaded with him to end this while my body did the exact opposite.

“Spread your legs for me, Kate.” I didn’t think about his command. I followed it without question, just like his guards had. The moment I’d edged my feet away from each other, he rewarded me with another finger. He sunk both of them inside of me, turning my world so that it was centered around him.

“Fuck,” I moaned, loving the way his fingers curled against my g-spot. My head arched back against the concrete wall and he started to pick up his pace, finger fucking me into oblivion.

“Loran,” I moaned softly.

His body stiffened. “My name’s not Loran. It’s Adam. Say it,” he demanded, watching me with piercing eyes. What? His name isn’t Loran?

When I didn’t respond immediately, he gripped my jaw and forced my gaze to him.

“Say it, damnit.” Just as the curse word slipped from his lips, his fingers sunk into me so impossibly deep that the only thing left on the ground were the balls of my feet. Everything else was resting on Adam’s deft fingers.

“Fuck you,” I answered just as his thumb rubbed my clit. My mouth fell open and a cry of pleasure escaped my lips before I could cover it up.

“Come for me, you belong to me.” His words were vile, but his voice was smooth and his fingers were impossible to argue with. Each time his thumb swept across my clit, my fingers curled into a tight ball and I teetered on the edge of insanity.

“Come for me now, Kate,” he demanded with a hard tone as his thumb picked up the pace. I had no control. I didn’t want to come. I didn’t want him to seduce my body while I was living in hell, but that’s exactly what he did.

One final stroke of his thumb and my knees were buckling as I careened toward absolute bliss. He never stopped thrusting his fingers in and out of me even as he steadied my body with his other arm.

I’d gripped his neck with my hands and the moment I had some semblance of control back in my limbs, I shoved away from him hard. Fuck him for making me have an orgasm in a place like this. He didn’t own my body. I tore out of his grasp and buckled my pants back up, staring daggers at him.

He didn’t look the slightest bit upset by my withdrawal.

“Let’s go,” he huffed, gripping my arm with his sturdy hand. I couldn’t have broken free. Elian was a fly compared to this man; there was no way I could fight him off.

“Are you letting me go?” I asked, trying to meet his warm brown eyes.

“No. You’re coming to my suite.”

I yanked my arm back, and my shoulder screamed in protest. “What? No! You have to let me go! You can’t keep me here! I won’t be your sex slave!”

Adam’s grip on my arm tightened painfully as he bent down to meet my eyes. “Does it look like you’re my sex slave? Did I just rape you? Or did I stroke your clit until your eyes rolled back with pleasure.”

Bastard. I hated him in that moment and I told him so.

“Good. Keep using that hate or you won’t survive me.”

My chest rose and fell as I contemplated his threat.

“I don’t want to go to your suite with you,” I raged, jerking my arm back one last time. His brown eyes bore into me with a mixture of confusion and fury. He hated that I questioned his authority, but if he wanted to be a part of a rebel group, he couldn’t have it both ways. He couldn’t pretend that I was here willingly. If he wanted me to go to his suite, he’d have to force me and reveal his true colors.

“I don’t think you quite understand the situation you’ve found yourself in, Kate.” That was the third time he’d used my name. I didn’t know how he knew it. Perhaps the mole had told him? I hated the way his slight accent twisted my name into something beautifully harsh. It would be so easy to forget the evil situation and succumb to him, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t an option.

“Then why don’t you enlighten me,
Adam.
Or was it Loren? I can’t keep up,” I asked, crossing my arms over my now-filthy shirt.

I needed food and a shower. A change of clothes would be nice. But I wasn’t at home, or even at my hotel. I was in hell.

He ignored my question completely.

“You stuck your nose where it didn’t belong and you ended up here. What do you think happens to people in these cells? Do you think this is a game? That I’ll save you every time one of these guards breaks in to abuse you? I’d think long and hard before you choose to remain in here rather than follow me to my suite.” I couldn’t figure out how one man could be so beautiful and so inherently frightening all at once. His lips begged to be kissed, but his words were sharp as knives.

“Why would I go with you? I thought you said you were the worst of them all?” I asked, regurgitating his threat from yesterday.

“Yes, and yet, I don’t think you quite believe me,” he snapped, turning on his heel and exiting the cell so that I was left with my answer. The iron bars snapped to a close and he walked away without one glance back to me. He’d given me one chance to have a semblance of freedom, to leave this rank cell and go to his suite, and I had turned it down.

I paced my cell like I was a caged animal. I had no clue what would happen next. I’d pissed off the man that could have saved me, but what did he expect me to do? Roll over and let him fuck me in this disgusting place? This wasn’t right. I deserved freedom, not to be held illegally is some underground bunker.

I tried to collect every piece of information I could: I was still in Kosovo. I was being detained by LARK for attempting to interview one of their guards. Adam was one of the leaders, but he looked nothing like any of the other men, and I was fairly certain he hadn’t grown up in Kosovo. He’d killed a man for attempting to rape me. He had a temper and the hands of a God.

Nothing added up. I slammed my hands on the iron bars and the force ricocheted through my bones.

No one bothered checking on me until several hours later. One of the guards from yesterday, the one that had kicked away the gun, unlocked my door and skated a plate of food toward me.

“You have five minutes to eat and then the boss wants you back in the handcuffs.”

That fucking asshole. He was too much of a coward to tie me up himself so he sent one of his cronies to do it for him. I wasn’t a fool. I shoved that food into my mouth like it was the last time I’d ever see food. My plate was licked clean by the time the guard reentered my cell. He moved to push me back to the handcuffs, but I lifted my hands up in surrender and moved back myself. I was tired of being pushed around; I wasn’t going to fight him on this.