Voyeur by Candace Wondrak

Chapter Thirteen – Zoey

 

 

Well, so much for keeping myself away from Lake, huh? A tiny part of it, if I was honest, was because of what happened with Roman. His strange, unexplained disappearance. But, you know what? Another part, a bigger part, was simply because I was searching for something—something real, something genuine. Something I apparently never had before.

I wanted to be someone’s whole world, the light in their eyes and the fire in their heart and body. I wanted to be someone’s everything, the way I never was for Bryan, to have someone who cared about me more than anything else in the world, the way my family never really cared.

A foolish want, I knew. This wasn’t a fairytale. This wasn’t a book or a movie; this was real life, and right now my real life sucked something fierce. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but I wasn’t, not really. The downside of being human meant knowing reality sucked while simultaneously wishing it was better, hoping for something more in the future. I’d probably only be disappointed, but that was something I’d deal with when the time came.

Lake and I got into a groove. We went out a few more times, got to know each other more. He was almost too normal. Too down-to-earth, the complete opposite of any guy from Hillcrest. The guys I was used to being around were often too caught up in themselves, in their own problems or appearances, to really pay much attention to anyone else, Bryan included.

It was a Tuesday night, and I was set to leave for work, wearing what I normally did to cover up the skimpy under suit I’d be wearing while at the Dollhouse. I left my apartment, checking the lock, prepared for Lake to walk me out, as he usually did when I worked nowadays.

He literally wanted to spend as much time with me as he could, like he could never get enough, and I loved it.

If I wasn’t careful, I’d fall for him as fast and as hard as I fell for Roman’s dominance and Carter’s abrasiveness. Hah, judging from the men I liked, I liked a bit of everything. Hot and cold, soft and rough, kind and wild. Give it all to me. Variety was the spice of life, you know? And I was trying to live the life my parents would’ve never let me, had I stayed with them.

But, for whatever reason, Lake wasn’t in the hall, ready to walk me out. I debated on going to his door and knocking; maybe he was in the bathroom or something? Or maybe he just forgot. He knew I worked Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Still didn’t know I worked at the Dollhouse, though. When he’d asked me what I did, I told him I worked overnight at some local store for cleaning. Eventually I’d have to tell him. Or, perhaps I’d grow the balls to quit the Dollhouse and sever the last connection I had with Roman, and it could stay a secret.

It wasn’t like I cared much, whether or not Lake knew. I just… I didn’t know if he’d think of me differently. I didn’t know how he’d react, so I’d rather just not let it get to that point.

I decided knocking on his door would seem a little needy, a little too much, so I simply went to the elevator and hit the down button, waiting by myself for the doors to slide open. It’s okay. Everything was fine. I’d probably see Lake tomorrow, and he’d apologize half a dozen times for not being here to walk me out.

Eh, I was a big girl. I could handle the walk by myself. It was just nice to have him there, to talk with him more and see those dimples as much as I could.

We hadn’t had sex again; Lake was right when he said we should take things slow. That night on our first date, I’d needed it, though. I’d needed the release, needed to know that he wanted me like that. Call me selfish, call me petty, whatever. After being with Roman and Carter, I needed a not-so-vanilla sex life.

The elevator arrived, and I got on, lost in my own thoughts as it took me to the ground floor. My mind was too busy thinking about why Lake wasn’t there to walk me out as I left the building, heading across the parking lot. His car was still here, so he had to be up in that apartment.

I would talk with him tomorrow and see what was up. For now, I had to go to work and make that money.

The sun had already set; the air growing a bit chillier at night. Summer was over. Soon enough I’d have to wear pants on the walks to work, provided I still worked at the Dollhouse then. Granted, I didn’t want to. I didn’t see myself working there for longer than I absolutely had to—but if that was the case, why hadn’t I looked up any other jobs in the nearby area? Why hadn’t I applied to any other places and tried to get myself out of that club as soon as possible?

I wasn’t stupid. I knew why I was waiting.

Fucking Roman. Fucking Carter. A part of me still hoped they’d come back, make their triumphant return, apologize to me for going MIA.

Yeah, okay, maybe I was a little stupid, hoping for something like that.

My chin was tucked against my collarbone as I walked along, my gaze firmly on the concrete sidewalk. I passed a car parked on the side of the road, thinking nothing of it since cars could parallel park on certain parts of this street. A big, black vehicle, its windows tinted. Again, not shocking, since a lot of cars around here were the same.

This city was not the sparkling white, crime-free place Hillcrest pretended it was.

Oh, Hillcrest had crime. Murder, serial killers, all that good stuff. No place in America didn’t have crime. No matter where you stepped, odds were the ground beneath your feet was stained with red at one point or another.

I neglected to hear something behind me: the car door opening, footsteps on the pavement. My bad, and I was about to pay for being so oblivious, too.

Before I knew what was happening, a thick black sack was shoved over my head, strong, leather-clad hands gripping my arms and forcing them behind my back as a zip tie was hurriedly clasped around my wrists, keeping my hands together behind my back. I was quite literally pulled off the sidewalk and shoved into what I assume was the backseat of that same damned car.

I tried my wrists to no avail; they were stuck, bound tightly by that zip tie. Whoever had nabbed me got in the car beside me, slamming the door shut as someone else began to drive. I could not see anything out of the sack on my head, my world completely black, even as I whipped my head back and forth. Inside my chest, my heart raced.

Was I being kidnapped? Did someone realize I was from Hillcrest and decided maybe they should try for a ransom or something? And, of course, I wondered: did this have something to do with Roman?

“Who are you?” I asked through my sack, getting nothing as a response. Not even a one-word answer to satisfy my curiosity. The car was silent, save for my hard breathing, nothing but the bumps in the road as the car drove on. No radio, nothing. “I said—”

I couldn’t get out the question again, for a strong hand grabbed the back of my neck so hard the rest of the words died in the back of my throat when he squeezed me, his fingers digging in through the sack roughly—and it wasn’t a soft sack, either. It was rough, the very opposite of satiny or smooth, like burlap. My skin would not be happy once it was free.

Although, I thought bleakly, maybe none of me would be happy. Maybe I’d die here. Maybe these guys would kill me, harvest my organs for the black market or something. That was real, right? Maybe I’d seen too much TV lately…

When I said nothing, the man sluggishly let me go. The back of my neck felt bruised already. Talk about a hard grip.

I shifted in my seat, trying not to lean back because of the awkward placement of my hands. I tried to tell which way the car was turning—that’s what they said to do, right? Try to track your own movements even if you couldn’t see where you were going, but that had to be more if you were on foot, since I had no clue how fast the driver was going.

Well, whatever came of tonight, whatever happened after this, it wasn’t like I could stop it now. I was already taken and in an unfamiliar vehicle; going to a secondary location was pretty much a death sentence. All girls knew that. That’s where they’d rape you and then kill you, maybe not even in that order.

Hey, there were some freaky, gross, despicable people out there. This was America. Land of the not-so-great most of the time.

Oh, excuse me. That’s just my cynicism seeping through. I mean, I’d felt dead inside for a while after seeing my boyfriend and my sister going at it like rabid animals, so why not just end it all? It would be easier and save me a lifetime of disappointment.

I had no idea how long it was until the car rolled to a stop, had no fucking idea where the hell I was as the man beside me pushed open the car door and dragged me out. I stumbled when I got to my feet, nearly tripped as the man lugged me up what felt like stairs. We must’ve gone into a building, for the air around me suddenly felt different. Less humid, less natural, more cool and dry.

It was hard to walk sideways, but that’s how I had to do it, considering the man held onto my right arm as he dragged me along, paying no heed to the fact that my arms were tied with a zip tie behind my back. Eventually, my phone and my keys were dug out of my pocket, taken away from me.

What sounded like a door opened before us, and I was shoved inside the room, hearing nothing but the slamming of the same door behind me. The sack still rested on my head, and I felt so discombobulated I could hardly do anything for a few moments.

My ears heard nothing, no sounds around. “Hello?” I asked. When I got no answer back, I walked. Didn’t take too long to ram the side of my hip against a sharp corner of something, and I winced.

Ow.

Okay, clearly walking around with a sack over my head was not something I was good at.

I backed away from the sharp thing, stepping back to where I was before. I was so turned around, it was ridiculous, not knowing where the hell I was or why I was here. Since I got no answer, I figured I was alone, so I lowered myself to the ground, feeling it was carpet. I kicked off my sneakers.

It was a damned good thing I was so skinny, not to mention the flexibility I’d gained after working at the Dollhouse and practicing my dancing. My hips moved more than they ever had, which was the only reason I was able to bring my knees to my chest, roll backward onto my upper back, and inch my restrained hands around the curve of my ass.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but I managed. I did it, and once my hands were no longer behind me, once I brought them around my legs and my feet, I was able to tear off the sack on my head. I looked around the room.

I… I was in a bedroom?

A bedroom that was a hell of a lot nicer than the one I had back in Hillcrest, and that was saying something. A large bed with a sheer canopy on top, complete with two matching dressers made of dark mahogany. The thing I’d rammed my hip on was a small table, tucked against the wall, near a bookcase.

I got to my feet, not bothering to put my shoes back on since this room looked to be untouched by anyone. Not a single window in the room, though I did notice there was an adjoined bathroom with a whole lot of marble. Marble countertop, marble floor, marble shower tile… all very fancy. Very clean, too.

Where the hell was I?

Emerging from the bathroom, my eyebrows came together. This was just too weird, wasn’t it? My feet drew me to one of the dressers, and I tugged on one of the drawers, finding new clothes were folded up, tucked neatly inside. Women’s clothes.

For me?

I repeat: where the hell was I?

Just for kicks, I wandered to the door and tried the handle. Locked from the outside, of course. Didn’t know why I half-expected anything different.

I’d literally been kidnapped off the street, right before my shift, and taken to a room that looked like a princess should live in it? A princess who was often locked away in her room, but still a princess.

Autumn was not going to be happy when she realized I was a no-call, no-show. That alone would be reason to fire me. Would she? Hmm. That was debatable, since Roman still technically owned the Dollhouse and she knew I was his chosen girl.

Roman. My mind zeroed in on him. Was this because of him? Was I in his house, in another part of it I hadn’t seen before? Was he trying to come back in my life and doing it by having one of his men kidnap me?

I shouldn’t let my anger take over, but at the mere thought of the possibility, I grew pissed. How dare that man do this, if it was true. How dare he do any of this.

A cushioned chair sat beside the small table, and I meandered to it, sitting myself down as I waited. There was hardly anything else to do around here, with my wrists tied so tightly together. They’d probably hurt tomorrow, but that was assuming I’d even see tomorrow. Who knew? Maybe this wasn’t Roman. Maybe this was something worse, but with my luck, I figured Roman’s involvement. And, by extension, Carter’s, too.

God. Those stupid men. They’d left my life for weeks, and yet they thought they could just come back and everything would be as they left it? No. Fuck that. I was a living person, and I wouldn’t just wait while I heard nothing from the man who was supposed to, in his words, own me.

My fury blinded me, and I couldn’t tell how much time passed before I heard the lock in the door click open. The minute a man walked in, my suspicions were confirmed.

Carter stood before me, wearing all black and looking just as sexy as ever, his green eyes the color of jade. His brown hair was a bit longer than I remembered, an inch or so too long. When I frowned at him, he muttered, “Should’ve figured you’d get out of it.”

“What the fuck is going on?” I hissed, getting to my feet when he stepped inside the room, shutting the door behind him. The lock mustn’t be automatic then; you must have to manually lock it every time you leave the room.

He stopped when he stood before me, towering over me like he always had. I fought to push away my body’s reaction to him, to ignore the heat that crept up in my cheeks when I angled my head back to stare up at him. Easily over six feet tall, mean and glowering. You either fell under Carter’s spell, or you tried your best to steer clear of him. There was no hating him, no in between.

Plus, that man could work wonders with his dick. Not that his dick skill was enough to overcome the last few weeks of silence and abandonment, but… well, you know what I meant.

Carter reached into his pocket, pulling out something small and black. With a flick of his wrist, I realized it was a knife, and I gulped in spite of myself. “I was going to cut you loose, but if you’d rather stay tied up, I can leave you as you are,” he whispered, glaring down at me as if he hated me.

And, hell, maybe he did. Maybe he was bitter about how much had changed since I came into his and Roman’s life. Maybe he hated me because he didn’t have much variety lately.

Or maybe that wasn’t hate in his eyes, and I was too blinded by my own rage to realize it.

Saying nothing, I offered him my wrists, and he cut through the zip tie with a single yank of his arm. I’d forgotten just how strong he was, how thick those biceps were, how wide his chest was and how you could easily lose yourself in his muscles for days without taking a breather.

“Thanks,” I spoke with a frown.

Carter shoved the cut zip tie and the switchblade back into his pocket after closing it. He said nothing else, taking a step away from me, going to leave the room without so much as an explanation.

“Wait,” I called out.

He had the door open, his large body half in, half out. He hesitated, like a part of him wanted to leave, but he somehow managed to stay anyway, to hear what I had to say.

“What happened?” I asked. “Where were you guys?” I could feel my heart beating in my neck, my pulse racing as Carter stared back at me, silent for the longest time. I didn’t think I could live like this, kidnapping aside. A life where Roman and Carter went MIA for weeks on end without even warning me of it… that was no life. I didn’t want to spend my entire life waiting—and that’s precisely why I didn’t wait these last few weeks. And then, because he still made me weak, I added in a hushed whisper, “I was worried.”

Carter rolled his shoulders, though it looked like one of his arms was stiffer than the other. “There was an out of town job, one that required finesse. Roman will tell you more, if he wants to.” His jaw tensed, clamping shut, and I knew that was all I would get from him.

I watched him as he left, listened to the lock bolting and knew I was stuck here for God knew how long. It was late already. What if Roman didn’t want to see me tonight and made me wait until tomorrow? Or, shit, what if he made me wait days? What if I was a literal prisoner here while I waited for Roman to make time for me?

Ugh. Fuck. I knew agreeing to be Roman’s would come with conditions I wouldn’t like. At first, it’d been nothing but a fun time, a way to feel alive, but then feelings had gotten involved, and things became different. At least for me. A man like Roman, I doubted he ever let himself feel something for the girls he ordered around; same with Carter.

Meaning nothing to them… it hurt, and that’s precisely why I hadn’t waited around like a lonely maiden when they were gone. I tried to move on, faced my feelings for Lake. I’d tried to do what I could to go forward with my life.

Waiting around for Roman and Carter to make their appearance? That was no life, even if I craved being with them more than anything else in the world.

I didn’t move to the mattress. I didn’t try to sleep. Why bother when I knew the moment I got comfortable in this room, Roman would have me dragged out and thrown before him? Roman obviously had command of more than just Carter; he had to be involved in some kind of organized criminal empire. The man killed people for a living, so I didn’t know why I expected any different.

I sat at the table, rubbing my wrists absentmindedly, waiting to hear something at the door again, waiting to hear Carter. At this point, I didn’t know what I should prepare myself for, what hell awaited me.

Did Roman know I went out with Lake? Did he know I slept with him? I would fight like hell to make sure Roman didn’t lay a finger on Lake. Lake was a good guy; he didn’t deserve to be thrown into this world, all because he’d decided he liked me.

And I liked him, but that was beside the point. Clearly, my feelings were not singled out on one guy. I had the most confusing feelings for Lake, Roman, and even grumpy Carter. It was like my body was trying to make up for spending those few years being loyal to Bryan, for never even looking at another guy and thinking he was cute. I’d literally kept myself in a bubble while I was dating that jerk-off, so I’d dug myself into this hole on accident.

It was official, though it’d been official for a while now: I was an idiot. A great, big idiot, and I doubted I’d ever learn my lesson. All three of them would be better off if I wasn’t in their lives, probably.

I slumped at the table, resting my head on top of the smooth, wooden surface. My mind was too frantic to shut off, and time seemed to crawl by. I had no idea how much time had passed until I heard the door opening again, since there wasn’t a frigging clock in the room. They’d taken my cell phone too, though I supposed that was to avoid me calling 9-1-1 or something.

Ugh, as if. Now that I knew this was because of Roman, calling the cops was the last thing I’d do.

I was on my feet the moment Carter entered the room, my breath catching in the back of my throat in spite of myself. Try as I might to not let Carter affect me, he always did. He didn’t radiate the same level of danger Roman did, but I knew he was. I knew he could be just as deadly, if not more so, since he literally did anything Roman ever told him.

Carter said nothing, moving to my side. He gripped my upper left arm tightly, so hard it would be impossible to escape him, dragging me out of the room. The door was left open as he walked us through the impressive house.

In the end, we entered what was a small but mostly empty room, save for the single velvet chair stationed against one of the walls in the far back. And, of course, the man sitting in it was Roman himself.

The way those black eyes looked at me, he was not happy. He was not happy in the least. The expression he wore could kill, and as I watched him breathe evenly, frowning slightly at me, I knew he was holding back. I knew that man wanted to get up and lunge at me, wrap that hand around my neck and yell at me for whatever disobedient thing I’d done.

Fuck him. Fuck all of this. The game was fun at first, but now I was done. I wanted to do what I wanted to do, not what Roman wanted. Not what Carter wanted.

Carter remained in the room, though he stood near the door, holding his hands behind his back, standing like a good little soldier. His green eyes refused to look at me now, and I was slow in turning my attention back to Roman. The man even sat aggressively, which I didn’t know was possible until now.

I literally could not tell if Roman wanted to kill me or fuck me. How messed up was that?

The silence that overtook the room was heavy, weighing down my shoulders. Still, I stood as tall as I could while beneath that dark, soulless gaze. He wore a suit, as he always did, its undershirt tucked in neatly to his pants, not a hair out of place. Roman was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, with an extra side of danger.

Since he did not seem very talkative, I took it upon myself to ask, “Where have you been?” I had no right to sound so upset; it wasn’t like I was his official girlfriend or his fiancé or wife. We were… we were nothing, and yet at the same time, that felt like a lie.

Roman said nothing. He didn’t even blink to acknowledge my question, and that only furthered the rage I felt inside, the indignation over being expected to sit there and twiddle my thumbs while I waited.

“I asked you a question,” I spoke, taking a single step towards him and his chair. My voice echoed in the room; the walls were bare, free of any paintings. I had no idea what this room was normally used for, but whatever it was, I had the feeling it wasn’t something good.

“I heard you,” Roman said, his voice just as low, rough, and scratchy as I remembered it being, the kind of voice you could close your eyes and listen to all day and night and still never get enough of. It was a voice you remembered, even when he wasn’t in front of you, even when you couldn’t hear it.

Behind me, Carter shifted his weight.

Roman leaned forward, adjusting the cufflinks on his wrists. “I expected a certain level of obedience from you, Zoey Marbella, and you have not held up your end.” He raised his hand, and Carter left, slipping out of the room without a sound. He leaned back in his chair, giving me a look of pure vehemence. “You were a busy bee while we were gone.”

I said nothing because at this point, there was nothing to say. He was right.

“I don’t take kindly to disloyalty,” Roman muttered, shooting me a frown I felt in my core. It was at that moment when Carter reappeared, barging in the room with someone else at his side, someone who struggled beneath a black sack, his hands tied behind his back just as mine were.

Carter dropped the man beside me, yanking off his hood harshly, but I didn’t need to see who it was to know.

Lake. This was all because I’d gone out with Lake and slept with him. Of course.

“What—” Lake’s voice stopped when he saw me, and he struggled to get to his feet. I helped him, because it was Lake. Because he didn’t deserve this… because I’d brought this onto him, all while knowing this could happen. “Zoey,” he spoke my name, the word laced with worry, his anxiety going through the roof.

I watched as Lake glanced to Roman, struggling to get his hands free of the zip tie and failing. Carter made no moves to cut him loose.

“What the hell is this? What’s going on?” Lake asked me.

“Tell me, Lake, do you know who I am?” Roman spoke, causing Lake’s blue gaze to travel back to him.

“No,” he said.

“Zoey here knows me,” Roman went on, gesturing to Carter. “Just like she knows him. There’s a lot about Zoey you don’t know, boy.”

I did not particularly like hearing Roman call Lake a boy. My jaw clenched, and though it was stupid, I stepped between them, earning myself Roman’s scowl. “You could’ve been dead, Roman. You and Carter. What the hell was I supposed to do? Pine and wait until I die?”

Behind me, Lake whispered, “Uh, is this a family thing or…”

Roman shocked me by standing. Within a second, he was at my side, and he pulled me away from Lake by grabbing my throat. Within the next moment, my back was against a wall, and Carter was stopping Lake from stupidly trying to save me. Lake’s hands were tied behind his back, so I had no idea what he thought he was going to do.

With his fingers curling around my throat, Roman whispered, “I should put a bullet in his head and make you watch.” Such venom in his words; I really wished it was directed at me and not Lake. If anyone should be on the receiving end of his threats, it should be me.

I knew he was serious too, so I didn’t say anything, keeping my jaw firmly clamped shut, my eyes focused on the thinning of Roman’s lips. To stare into his eyes right now would be equal to asking for a beating, daring him to prove it, to back up his threat with actions, and I did not want to be the cause of Lake’s death.

Still holding onto my neck, Roman gestured with his other hand to Carter, who got the hint. He grabbed Lake and hauled him out, and even though Lake tried to fight to remain, tried to call out for me—basically only tried to make sure I would be okay—it didn’t matter. Carter and Lake exited the room, a new kind of silence falling upon us.

“Well?” Roman egged me on, the tips of his fingers tightening their hold on my throat, stifling any deep breaths I might’ve inhaled otherwise. “You always have so much to say, Zoey. Why so silent now, hmm?” Mocking me, almost.

God, I hated him.

I hated that I didn’t hate him, even after all of this. What the hell was wrong with me?

“If you hurt him,” I whispered, slowly lifting my gaze to meet his dark stare, fighting the urge I had to let myself be swallowed up by everything that was Roman Russo. “If you lay a finger on his head or tell Carter to do it, I will hate you until the day I die.”

Roman practically growled now, but I didn’t care. I didn’t dare stop.

“You might have my body, but you won’t have all of me. You won’t have my heart,” I spoke, gaining the courage that had vanished the moment Carter practically threw Lake onto his knees earlier. “You won’t have my soul. Wasn’t that what you wanted from the beginning, Roman? Didn’t you want everything I had to give?”

He pressed his hips against me, pushing me harder upon the wall. “I wanted you to be mine—”

Though I was well aware the man could snap my neck with a flick of his wrist, I cut in, “Yeah? Well, you and Carter disappeared. You up and left me without even telling me where you were going or how long you’d be gone. What the hell was I supposed to do? Lake was there when you weren’t—when you couldn’t be. He is kind and sweet and everything you’re not.”

To my surprise, my harsh words did not earn me a choking, or even a neck snap. Roman simply stood there, glaring at me, moving to hold his other hand against the wall beside my head, his entire body leaning against mine, reminding me just how small I was when compared to the devil in a suit.

“I know what I agreed to with you,” I whispered, blinking once, a desperate need to make everything better nestled deep within me. “I know, but I can’t lie anymore.”

The hand holding my throat moved upward until he cupped my jaw, angling my head up so he could rest his forehead against mine. “Do you think your precious Lake will still want to be with you once he knows the truth? Do you think that I’ll let you run around with whoever you please when you’re not in my company? That is not how this works—”

“If you want me to choose you,” I decided to play his game, “I won’t do it. I would rather walk away from all of you than choose—and if you think you can keep me, if you think you can force me to be yours… you have no idea what a Marbella is capable of.” It wasn’t like I enjoyed using my last name. Roman wasn’t from Hillcrest, so he didn’t know what families did there, but he would learn.

Force me to do anything I didn’t want to do, and he’d learn. They always did. I would not let myself become some slave, some puppet to his desires, unless I wanted to.

Roman inhaled, breathing me in as he gripped my jaw tighter, forcing my lips to part as I winced under his grasp. “You,” he murmured. “You are…” He trailed off for a while, letting me imagine what word he was going to use.

Not for long, though, for the next thing I knew, his mouth crashed down upon mine, drawing what little breath I had in my lungs out, all but forcing me to give into him. How could anyone kiss Roman Russo and not want to bend to his will?

He broke the kiss enough to mutter, “An insolent—” His lips brushed against mine with the words before swallowing me again, the passion behind his mouth nothing short of furious and angry.

It was impossible to fight it, to fight him, not when I could feel the fire from his body seeping into mine, the way his lean figure pressed against me, the hand still cupping my jaw refusing to let go as he devoured everything I was and everything I would be.

“Brat,” Roman finished, digging his hips into mine, making me feel the hardness there, pressing against my stomach. He kissed me so hard and so fast it felt like my lips would be bruised, but I didn’t care, and obviously neither did he. “I should make you regret everything you said… but all I want to do is fuck you against this wall and hear you scream my name.”

Oh, it was effortless, hopping back on the Roman train, letting him do whatever the fuck he wanted to me. Still, he and I would need to have a longer discussion about Lake—and kidnapping in general, I think—however, that would be a discussion for another time.

Right now, all I wanted was for him to take me, too.

“What are you waiting for?” I whispered, smirking up at him.

The hand holding onto my jaw left it, the one on the wall beside me dropping as he tore at the clothes keeping us apart. All he did was undo his belt and his pants, causing his shirt to become untucked. His hands were rough as he went at my shorts, his forehead leaning against mine as he yanked them down, my strappy panties with it. His fingers traced my slit, curving up my body until that same hand returned to my neck, holding onto me in a way that meant he was claiming me.

This wasn’t a dream. I was really about to have sex with Roman for real, right after he had his men kidnap both me and Lake.

Needless to say, this was a little wrong—but also needless to say, I didn’t much care. I wanted to feel that hard cock inside of me, know how it felt to be filled to the brim with his length. I’d tasted him, given him head, but not this. Not unless you counted my dream.

Roman’s dark gaze commanded mine as I felt his cock pressing between my legs. With a jerk of his hips, he pushed himself in, never once breaking eye contact, forcing intimacy between us as he took me hard and fast, making me groan as I wondered if I’d truly lost it. Had I gone insane when I wasn’t looking?

It didn’t matter. If this was insanity, I never wanted to be in my right mind.

I let out a low groan when he began to thrust, when I felt my spine hit the wall behind me over and over, my body taking the brunt of the assault, the cock between my legs. The hand on my throat made things a little more uncomfortable, but it was just a reminder that this was Roman. Roman was fucking me. Roman was taking me.

Roman still wanted me. He hadn’t left for good, hadn’t found someone else.

“I said,” he grunted as he rammed into me, breathing raggedly as he filled me up to the core, “I want to hear you scream my name.”

I felt myself grinning, knowing my smirk would only further enrage him. “Then make me.” A challenge from a brat.

Roman decided to go at me as hard as he possibly could, knocking the breath from my lungs as he pounded away. I cried out, stopping just short of screaming his name. I wouldn’t let him have me that easily, not yet, not after everything he’d put me through lately. The bastard. His dick might be something else, but I was still feeling feisty.

My eyes closed, and I focused on the sensations filling my body, along with the dick. It was something else, being this connected to Roman, feeling him inside me. It was like, finally, he was where he always should be. As much as I didn’t want to admit it to myself, I craved every single thing this man could give me, the feelings he rose inside me. To belong to him would be to feel alive every single day of my life.

Giving myself to Roman Russo was almost an out of body experience, something incomparable to being given to Carter, to letting Carter take me however Roman wanted. It was utterly different from being with Lake, from, for once, taking charge and doing what I wanted. It was like everything in my life, every single horrible thing I’d seen and been through, had led up to this, brought me here, to him, into his arms, laid me before his cock.

It was glorious. It was everything I imagined and more, so much better than that dream would’ve been.

Though I tried to hold back, though I sought to keep myself under control and not give Roman what he wanted, I found my inner thighs starting to quiver, my lower half beginning to tense. The man was going to give me an orgasm just by taking me against the wall, for God’s sake, with little to no clit stimulation. It was unreal. Totally unreal, and yet when the pleasure surged out of me, I couldn’t stop it.

The orgasm made me a quaking, trembling mess, my inner walls clamping down on his rod as he kept up the pace. My fingers grasped at his suit, getting hold of whatever they could as I cried out his name, just as he wanted.

His chest exhaled a large, lumbering breath, as if me calling out his name while coming brought him more pleasure than actually being inside of me. Roman’s cheek leaned against mine, his neck bent at an almost unnatural angle to make up for the height difference.

He whispered two faint words in my ear, “Good girl.” And then he focused on finding his own release, at dragging that dick in and out of my pussy as hard and as fast as he possibly could.

When he came, it was violent. His shoulders shook, pinning me harder against the wall, his cock filling me up to the brink as it let loose its seed inside me. The hand holding onto my neck squeezed, and though the grip hurt, though I could hardly breathe while he held me like that, I wasn’t about to complain.

Roman was measured in releasing my neck, both hands flat on the wall on either side of me. Both of us breathed hard, fighting to catch enough air in our lungs to make up for what just happened, and yet I knew it would never be enough.

When he pulled himself out of me, we both fixed our clothes. I would be leaking some cum in my panties, but I didn’t care. It was Roman’s cum, so it felt different. Not that I was one to worship anything that came out of a man’s dick, but everything was thrown for a loop because it was Roman.

Roman was back, and with the way he could play me like a fucking fiddle, he wasn’t going anywhere.

 

 

Carter dumped me and Lake off at the apartment building. By the time we were out of Roman’s place, the sun was nearly up. Lake had refused to talk during the whole ride, hardly looking at me. I knew I needed to come clean to him, but just looking at him hurt me.

I never wanted to see him hurt, and I hated I’d caused this.

I said nothing to Carter before he pulled away, and Lake was nothing more than mute as he shuffled to the elevator. Sticking by his side, I wanted to talk to him, but the air just felt awkward. And not the cute kind of awkward that normally radiated around Lake; more of an oh, shit, what do we do now? kind of awkward.

Within a minute, we were on our floor. Lake said nothing as he went straight for his apartment. His keys and phone had been given back to him, as had mine. Looking at us now, you’d never know we’d been kidnapped.

I couldn’t let it go down like this. “Lake,” I called after him, trailing him to his door.

His mouth remained clamped shut as he unlocked his door and went in. I went to follow him, to go inside his apartment, needing to talk to him, but he stopped me, turning to face me with an unreadable expression.

Confused, hurt.

“Zoey, I… I just need space,” he said. “This was… this was crazy, and I—”

Though his words were like a knife in my heart, I took a step back, nodding. “It’s okay,” I said, even though it wasn’t. “I get it. I’ll see you later.” Hopefully, whenever later came, he would let me sit down and talk to him, explain everything. Hopefully he wouldn’t just shut me out and play it off like he didn’t know me.

He shut his door, saying nothing in response, and I stared at the wooden door for far too long, closing my eyes and sighing, leaning my forehead against it for a few moments.

Shit. Why did I feel like tonight just fucked everything up?