Forbidden Pleasures (NSC Industries Book 11) (18 page)

Elijah looked over at me with caution. I could feel the
bubble of his fury in the air as I once again ended the call to Jay when I
received his voicemail for the fiftieth time.

“Where the hell is he?”

“Better still, what the fuck is he playing at?” Elijah
mumbled. He was furious, his clenching and unclenching hands showing me just
how angry he was even though his face remained passive and unreadable.

Mia sighed and I glared at her when she looked at me with
pity. “He isn’t coming babe, we need to go.”

My heart hurt and I was struggling to contain the urge to
cry. My brothers were all chomping at the bit too and I hated that I was doing
this on Noah’s day.

“It’s pretty fucking obvious that he isn’t coming,” Ollie
snapped when he looked at his watch again.

“Bea, we have to go,” Jack urged gently.

There was only Elijah who knew about the video Jay had
sent. If any of my friends or family found out then Jay was a dead man. And I
had enough on my plate to deal with without worrying about starting a war. Jay
should have returned yesterday but I’d heard nothing from him. I didn’t understand
what the hell was going on and I needed answers. The pain that had sliced
through my heart when I’d opened the video had been the most unbearable pain in
my life, even after what Graham had done to me. I couldn’t figure out where the
hell Jay had got it from to start with, and why send it to everyone as well as
me? I couldn’t help but feel it was something to do with my stalker. Then with
his disappearance, I was terrified, unable to even breathe properly as dread
turned the air in my lungs to sludge.

Eventually, after trying Jay’s phone again, I nodded.
“Okay.”

“Thank fuck!” Alex grumbled. Without saying another word,
he grabbed Mia’s hand and pulled her out of the house. I frowned, wondering if
they’d finally got it together but when everyone filtered out one by one to the
waiting hearses and Elijah took my hand and gave it a squeeze I smiled up to
him.

“I’m beside you all the way,” he whispered with an
encouraging smile.

“Thank you.” It came out choked and when Elijah went to
hug me, I shook my head. “I’m okay. I’m okay. I just want to get through
today.”

Elijah was driving me to the cemetery and we climbed into
his car when the hearses pulled away, my eyes staring at Noah’s coffin covered
in a mass of flowers.

He patted my leg and smiled as he started the car and
pulled off after them. Usually I sat in the back of the car but today, I needed
the closeness of Elijah for the longest journey of my life.

The world went by as we drove in silence, my mind not
focussing on anything but the ache inside me. I needed Jay. It was that simple.
I needed his support for what was to be the hardest thing in my life. Memories
of my parent’s funeral surfaced and I couldn’t help but release a choked sob
when a specific memory of Noah slipping his hand into my tiny one as we sat at
the front of the church made me physically baulk.

“Hey,” Elijah whispered as he pulled in to the edge of
the road. Snapping off my seatbelt, he grabbed me and pulled me across the car
into his lap, where, as I let go and released all the grief inside, he shushed
and rocked me. His arms felt secure and tight, his comfort the very thing that
I needed right then. Time went by as he just sat and allowed me to rid all the
pent up emotion riding me.

Eventually, pulling away, I smiled nervously but Elijah
waved off my embarrassment. “Don’t be embarrassed. It’s good that you have got
a bit of it out. It’ll kill you if you don’t. However, we need to get going. I
know they’ll all wait for you but...”

I nodded and smirked. “Yeah Ollie isn’t the most patient
of men.”

My phone pinged as Elijah pulled back out into the
traffic and I rolled my eyes knowing it would be Ollie asking where the hell
I’d got to. What I was surprised to see was an email – from an unknown sender.

Opening it up, I frowned deeper when another video was
attached.

Life
sucks, My Sweet Girl…And so does your boyfriend.

The use of ‘Sweet girl’ made my brain crash. It was him.
My abductor. I knew it. No one knew what he had called me. I was scared to open
the attachment. I knew it was more of the same that Jay had distributed and
although I didn’t want to see, I knew I had to.

So I opened it.

Elijah stared at me in shock when my soul fractured
before him, my devastation physically sucking the air out of the car.

“Bea?” he shouted when I started to rock back and forth
in my chair, my eyes fixed on the screen of my phone as my heart splintered and
a weird sound echoed from me.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Jay. He was sucking Miles’
cock as Belinda rode him hard. She had a belt in her hand and every now and
then she brought it across Jay’s chest, blood splattering across Miles face
with every lash. The sound of their intense fucking echoed in the air around us
and Elijah gapwed as he looked over at what I was watching.

“The fucking bastard!” he roared.

My hand covered my mouth as vomit threatened to decorate
Elijah’s dashboard. “I...” I couldn’t talk, my heartache crippling me.

“I’m going to kill him, solely and painfully,” Elijah
spat with an intensity that made me shiver.

“I… I thought he loved me…I don’t understand…”

“I do,” he growled, “The cunt is…

He didn’t finish his sentence. He couldn’t. The car
suddenly lurched to the left when another car hit us from the side. Every year
of my life flashed in rapid succession through my head when the car rolled down
the edge of the cliff.

And everything went black.

Someone was pounding on the door again and the noise was
bouncing through my head. The room was dark, the curtains drawn as they had
been since I’d arrived home yesterday.

Lifting the bottle of Jack to my lips, I swallowed more.
But it wasn’t enough. Even with the coke fuelling my veins, it wasn’t enough.
It never would be.

I hated myself, hated everything about me. I hated the
black lump in my chest, the red blaze of my soul and the disgust that ran
through my blood.  The bottle of pills taunted me from the table and I stared
at them as I took another swill of alcohol, loathing that it didn’t cleanse the
bitter taste in my mouth.

My life was fucked, my head fucked up and my self-hatred
fucking me up. But the worse thing was… physically, I felt good. Better than
good. My sated soul was once again slumbering, the rage in my head a quiet purr
and the pain that coursed through me every time I moved a reminder that once
again I had paid my dues.

“JAY!”

I groaned when Mason shouted through my letterbox.

“Fuck off!”

Rolling my eyes, I moved off the sofa when I heard the
front door give way and Mason, followed by Greg, stormed into the room. Their
eyes widened on the state of the room then settled on me.

“What the fuck happened?”

I swallowed back the bile when my dad walked in behind
them. He took one look at me as I crumbled into a heap of grief on the floor
and closed his eyes in distress. The welts over my naked body were still raw
and bloody. I hadn’t even got the inclination to bathe. I wanted the blood to
remind me what I had done to Bea, the blood that would sully her heart wore upon
my skin forever.

“Come on,” my father whispered as he dragged me up.
“Let’s get you to hospital.”

“No,” I shook my head urgently, “No.”

“You need these wounds cleaning and sealing Jay.”

“I don’t care, I hope they get infected and eat me from
the inside out.”

Mason and Greg were struck dumb, their confusion evident.
“Who did this?” Mason grumbled.

“Leave it,” my father urged.

I couldn’t help but laugh at their misperception. “Oh
this is all me!” I laughed as my dad attempted to pull my heavy body off the
floor. “Didn’t you know?” I raged on, “This is me. This is exactly who I am. A
sick fucker who can’t breathe unless I’m in pain.”

Both their eyes were wide, generating an irritated growl
from my father. “Jay,” he tried but I pushed him off me.

“Don’t touch me. You shouldn’t touch me. I’m nothing but evil
and corrupt. Look at me!” I shouted, my head popping with every single piece of
self-hatred that curdled my blood. “LOOK AT ME!”

“I am!” Mason said softly as he bent down to my height.
His phone was going crazy but he ignored it and looked at me. “And all I see is
Jay, my friend. Whatever desires you have doesn’t change the person you are,
you’re still you. You are still a good person.”

I scoffed at that. “You bloody fool.” He blinked in shock
at my revolt. “I’m not good! I’m so very far from good that I just ruined my
life in one single night.”

“What are you talking about?” My dad asked as Mason
finally answered his phone and stopped the incessant screech of AC/DC’s,
Highway to hell grinding on my every nerve. I could see in his face that he
knew, he knew what I had done. As if to confirm his thoughts his eyes widened
and he shook his head. “For fucks sake Jay!” he growled. “I warned you, I
fucking warned you that if you went after her it would end in a mess!”

I nodded, there was nothing to say. He had been right. He
had known that I would hurt her but what he hadn’t foreseen was that Bea
enjoyed pain, it was just bestowing it that she couldn’t do. He had thought
that my need to dish out pain would destroy her –
us,
yet in the end it
had been my own sick needs that had broken the best thing I had ever touched.

“You need to work out what you want, Jay. You can’t keep
dragging everyone down with you. It’s not fair on you, and it’s definitely not
fair on her.”

“Are we talking about Beatrice?” The tone in Mason’s
voice made me snap my eyes to his as he shoved his phone back in his pocket. He
was staring at me, his face pale and his teeth chewing on his bottom lip angrily.

“What is it?”

He walked back over to me and dropped to his haunches.
“There’s been an accident. I’m so sorry, Jay.”

My heart lurched up my throat and my tongue swelled when
my mouth dried. My head shook from side to side, my eyes already watering. “Is
she okay?”

He sighed, swallowing back his own bile. Closing his eyes
for a moment, he blew out his breath then looked at me sadly. “Elijah and Bea
were run off the road on the way to her brother’s funeral.”

“WHAT!” My mouth opened and closed before the words came
out. “Is she…?”

“I don’t know,” he answered quietly. “The car was found
half an hour ago. But they are both missing.”

“What do you mean, they’re both missing?”

“They weren’t in the car. It was empty. Sam needs to see
us, he’s got some information. You need to sort yourself out, Jay because shits
just hit the fan and it’s time to end this. Now I’m fucked off!” I stared at
him in confusion as his anger radiated around the room. I’d seen a pissed Mason
before and it was never a pretty sight. His eyes glazed and every feature on
his face tightened as he growled, “You really should pick your friends better
cos’ you’ve been fucked over. Big time!”

“Bea.”

“Bea!”

I groaned, the throbbing in my head slicing pain through
my skull as I attempted to open my eyes.

“Bea, come on honey, open your eyes.”

Elijah’s voice was croaky but eager and as I finally
opened my eyes, his face came into focus. He blew out a breath and smiled. “Are
you okay?”

I blinked. I ached everywhere but not wanting to worry
him, I nodded. “I… I think so.”

I shuffled upright, gritting my teeth when agony griped
at my midriff. Elijah’s arms slid around me to help. My eyes widened when the
blur in my vision cleared and I gawped around the room; well, cell would be
more appropriate. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure, we were run off the road, woke up in
here.”

My eyes widened when I caught the trickle of blood
seeping down Elijah’s face. “Shit, you’re hurt.”

“I’m okay,” he appeased with a shake of his head. “Just a
graze. Have you any pain?” I swallowed and tried to force a smile to ease his
worry but he caught the hint of pain on my face. “You are! Let me look.”

I winced as I pulled my blouse from the waistband of my
trousers and a huge angry purple bruise covered my ribs.

“Fuck!” he hissed as he tore his own shirt off. I
couldn’t help but stare at his body, Elijah was cut like a God, his abs
seriously formed and his pecs monstrous mounds of muscle. It was clear he
looked after himself and quickly I diverted my gaze, shooting my eyes to his
face before he caught me looking. Too late. He smirked at me but then gently
slipped his shirt around my waist. “Sorry,” he whispered when he tightened it
and I yelped at the pain.

His fingers softly slid along the edge of the material
checking to see if it was tight enough but when an explosion of goosebumps
rained havoc in the trail of his touch I moved back slightly.

Elijah looked contrite and coughed to clear the air. “It
looks like some fucker took us off the road.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Well that much is obvious.”

He smirked again then climbed up. “I’ve already checked
the place out. No way out and one way in.”

“Has anyone come yet?”

He shook his head but his eyes were scoping out our
surroundings, hunting. His scrutiny settled on some pipes that ran into the
room but just as he was about to walk over to them, the sound of a bolt being
unhoused made us both stiffen and turn towards the door. Instantly, he moved in
front of me, shielding me as a man walked into the room.

Peering around Elijah, I frowned. He seemed familiar but
my scrambled brain couldn’t work out who he was.

He grinned at us both, his eyes moving from Elijah to me.
“Hello again, my sweet girl.”

His voice detonated painful memories into my head, my
mouth watering with the need for his syringe. The gentle tone to his words made
my body shiver in both revulsion and acceptance. I hated that my body and mind craved
what he could give me, the peace and tranquillity he afforded me when he
trained me. Because that’s exactly what he had done; he had taught my body to
be his, my blood begging him for relief and my hunger pleading to be satisfied.
Memories of me on my knees looking up into his masked face brought the need to
vomit, yet this time I was staring at his face.

He looked back at me softly, his gaze idolising and his
smile full of adoration.

“Who the fuck are you?” Elijah raged as he lunged
forward.

Like lightning, the man lifted his hand and I screamed
when a gunshot rang out and Elijah slumped to the floor.

“Nooo!” I screamed as I raced over to him. Blood poured
from the side of his stomach, his face paling at the pain. Without a second
thought I tore off my blouse and pressed it into the wound in his side.

“Leave him,” the man ordered. “We don’t need him!”

I gawped up at him. “You’re fucking crazy.”

“Crazy for you,” he whispered as he took my hand and
pulled me away from a drifting Elijah.

“No,” I pleaded as I reached back. “We need to help him,
he’s going to bleed to death.”

“That’s okay, I’m here. I’ll look after you.”

My stomach was twisting so much that I was scared I’d
lose the control of my bowels. He reached out and tenderly cupped my cheek, his
fierce eyes almost mesmerising me. I froze, not daring to move as his thumb
slid along my cheekbone. “Who are you?”

He frowned slightly as if offended I didn’t recognise
him. “You don’t remember?” I shook my head. “I bought you a drink, and your
brother.”

My mouth popped open and I squinted at him. My thoughts
suddenly cleared and I gasped. A photo on Miles’ Facebook snapped into my
brain. “You’re Jay’s friend.”

His eyes narrowed. He pursed his lips and seemed to pause
before he said, “And?”

“And?” I didn’t understand. My brain was in turmoil, my
eyes covertly flitting across to Elijah every few seconds to check on him. His
eyes were open but I wasn’t sure he was actually seeing anything although his
hand was pressing hard onto his wound. My instincts were itching to help him
but my Master’s...
Fuck!
My brain had impulsively referred to my captor
as Master. My gut rolled and I grit my teeth at how this man had managed to
manipulate me.

“And who else am I, Beatrice
Vine
?” The way he
leaned into my ear and whispered ‘Vine’ had me both trembling and bewildered.

“I don’t even know your name, how am I supposed to know
you?”

He tutted and sighed dramatically. “My name is Tom
Blake,” I frowned harder, was that supposed to help me identify him? “But when
I was eighteen I changed my name.”

I was growing angry. He was toying with me, having fun at
my growing irritation. “But I was born Tomas Vine.”

Holy shit!

My heart went frantic, forcing the blood around me at an
alarming rate as my vision blurred and dizziness overtook me. His arms whipped
out and he grabbed me before I fell to the ground. Gently he lowered me onto
the floor and came to rest beside me.

“You’re Graham’s brother?”

He nodded. “Mmm, although I don’t class him as that.”

“But why are you doing this? I don’t understand.”

He sighed. “Originally I went after you to hurt Graham.
My brother’s an arsehole. He always was, especially when we were growing up. He
liked to ‘take’ things that belonged to me, especially my girlfriends,” he
growled out. “So cocksure was Graham. I fell in love at sixteen with the most
beautiful girl. Her name was Felicity and I loved her like my life depended on
it. But he had to have her, had to take her from me. Can you imagine what that
was like, sweet girl? How much that hurt me. He was my brother, the one person
that should never have broken my trust.”

I was stunned. Why didn’t I know this? Graham had told me
he hadn’t any family. And I had believed him. We’d been married for God’s sake
and yet I knew nothing, apart from how much of a bastard he was. Looking at Tom
now, I could see the resemblance but I still didn’t understand why he was
hurting me. As if sensing my bafflement he smiled gently and ran his finger
along my bottom lip. “I fell in love with you, Beatrice. From the moment you
gave yourself over to me…”

“Gave myself over to you?” I scoffed in outrage. “You
took from me, you prick…”

I hissed when his palm struck my face, my head snapping
sideways sharply as pain spread from my throbbing cheek.

He tutted and sighed, his finger tracing the sting on my flushed
skin. “I’m sorry I had to do that. But you shouldn’t talk to me that way.”

Fear made my mouth dry and my throat start to close in.
The wild beat in my chest was making the room blur as adrenaline forced me to
keep breathing. “But you…you raped me,” I whispered, the word sending volts of
nausea through me.

He lowered his eyes, nodding solemnly. “Yes, I did. I
wanted to hurt Graham through you.”

“But I’m no longer with Graham, how could you hurt him
when I already left him?”

“He still loves you Beatrice. He always did, no matter
what a fucking wanker he is. He hurt you, so he deserves to hurt too.”

I scoffed. “So because he hurt me, you hurt me to hurt
him! That’s just… ridiculous!”

He blinked as sadness contorted his features. “Everyone
hurts you Beatrice, I can make you happy. I can look after you and give you
everything you deserve.”

“You’re crazy.”

He laughed and rolled his eyes, his manic chuckle making
me tense. “Not as crazy as Jay. You saw what he did to you, I sent you the
email. He’s a cunt who only thinks of himself, sweet girl. He fucked Belinda.
He fucked Belinda behind your back.”

Tears sprung in my eyes as his proclamation reminded me
exactly what I was doing before we’d crashed. My heart split open and I
couldn’t contain the sob of grief. Tom grabbed me and pulled me to his chest.
“Don’t cry. He doesn’t deserve you for what he did. I’m here now, I’m going to
look after you. You told me you loved me Beatrice, and I know love is all we’ll
need.”

He was off his rocker. Did he not see I had only told him
I loved him so he would give me what he had taught me to crave? I didn’t voice
that fact though, he was enthusiastic in his belief and I had a feeling if I
told him the honest truth then I was in more danger than I was against his
insanity.

“We need to get help for Elijah,” I tried as I looked up
at him with large eyes, begging him with a look.

He grumbled and looked towards Elijah. “Leave him, I’ll
get rid of him easily.” He smiled at me as he slipped his hand into his pocket
and drew out a syringe. A full syringe. “See what I brought you, sweet girl. I
have what you need.”

I swallowed as a deep want flourished in my veins, they
were virtually rattling with excitement as I struggled to move my longing gaze
from the nectar.

“You want it? Tell me you want me, Beatrice.”

“I…” Every one of my breaths was rampant and fierce as I
drooled over the medicine that could heal every part of my broken soul. All I
had to do was accept him and once again I would feel heaven slither through
every inch of me. My nose ran as excitement coiled around me and I sniffed. “I
want you,” I whispered.

His happy grin made me feel sad for him. It was obvious
he was crazy, deluded and twisted from Graham’s cruelty. Much like me, Tom had
suffered under a man that had had no regard for anyone’s feelings but his own. Graham
had been so self-absorbed that he used everyone around him to feed his sick pride.

He lifted the syringe but I shook my head and whispered,
“Hold my hand, I want to hold you when you give me your love.”

His chest puffed out, a huge sigh of satisfaction
blasting from him and making the hair around my face flutter faintly. “My Sweet
Girl,” he breathed as he placed the gun down and gently extended my arm. His
other hand gripped mine and he threaded his own long fingers through my own as
the needle sharply pricked my vein. The rush was instant and a long drawn out
sigh echoed from me as my body once again heralded paradise. My head fell back
as all the heartache inside evaporated and only bliss tickled every nerve
ending in my body.

“Tell me you love me,” Tom whispered as he nuzzled my
neck and laid us both down on the ground.

I was struggling to keep sentient as I vibrated in his
arms. But as I whispered the words he longed to hear, I slipped the gun under
his chin and forced a bullet straight through his skull. His eyes widened in
shock as his mouth opened and blood poured from him. He attempted to shake his
head but slowly his eyes closed.

“Shh,” I breathed. “Let go, Master. Let go.”

And he did. In my arms as I softly rocked him to death.

***

Mia and Leo burst into the room just as the nurse
finished bandaging my ribs. “Jesus H Christ,” Mia flustered as she rushed over
to me. “Are you okay?”

Why did they always ask if you are okay when it’s pretty
damn obvious you aren’t? “Not really, but I will be,” I answered as she pulled
me into a hug causing me to yelp at the pain that strangled my body.

Leo scowled at me as he appeared from the private
bathroom attached to my room with a damp cloth and started to clean my face.
“You’re still wearing his fucking brain. Tell me why they haven’t fucking
washed you!” He was upset, Leo always coped with distress by becoming angry and
my heart hurt for him.

Closing my fingers around his hand as he gently wiped my
face, I smiled at him. “I’m okay, Leo.”

He shook his head, his eyes brimming with tears. “No
you’re not, how can you be. You’ve just blown someone’s head off.”

“There is a thing called tact, Leo,” Mia grumbled when
she saw me flinch.

“Have you heard how Elijah is?” I asked desperately
changing the subject before my best friends started bickering.

“He’s fine!” Elijah answered as he stood in my doorway,
his fierce gaze secured on me. My heart leaped when he grinned at me and
stumbled over. “Bloody hell,” he smirked, “You sure know how to go out with a
bang, honey.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. His long blonde hair fell
across his shoulders and I couldn’t help but reach out and draw my fingers
through it. It was soft and for some reason that surprised me. “Are you okay?”

 “I’m fine, the bullet just nicked my flesh, a lot of
blood but minimal damage,” he divulged giving me a reassuring smile. “How are you
feeling?” He looked me up and down, the scrubs provided by the hospital burying
me beneath them like a sack of potatoes.

“I’m okay, sore but okay.”

“You will be,” he whispered. For a moment I couldn’t look
away, something in his gaze trapped me in his spell. He reached out, the air in
the room stifling me when his fingers touched my cheek and I shivered under his
touch.

“What the fuck!”

I stiffened with the sound of his voice, anger curling
deep in my gut. Elijah growled under his breath and moved back before he slowly
turned towards Jay who had stepped into the room and was watching us intently.
I placed my hand on Elijah’s arm when he stepped forwards. “Can you give us a
minute?”