Fighting Conviction by Greer Rivers

Chapter Twenty-Six

Devil’s smile lessened and he tried not to read too much into the look of panic that crossed over her face. He grabbed the tape and tossed it in his hand, attempting nonchalance and trying his best not to look disappointed. If she wasn’t ready, she wasn’t ready, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to pressure her. How fucked up would that be?

“Alright, let’s do this. We’re going to simulate a kidnapping situation.”

Ellie pursed her lips and shook her head. “But I wasn’t tied up when I was kidnapped. Just high.”

What she said didn’t surprise him, but how she said it was a kick in the gut. He’d figured they didn’t tie her up. Most trafficking situations don’t require ropes and duct tape. Drugged, pliable victims were easier to move in plain sight.

No, it was her casual delivery, like they weren’t talking about the most traumatic event in her life, that made him want to burn the McIntosh Hotel down to hunt and kill the assholes who’d done this to her.

Good thing he wouldn’t have to wait long. Tomorrow was the big day. If everything went smoothly, they’d save victims and rid the world of a few more demons.

His fingers itched at the prospect but he had to tone down his anticipation. Ellie couldn’t know about the plan, not yet anyway, so he cleared his throat and moved on.

“I know, baby. But not every situation is the same. Go ahead and lay down.”

Ellie hesitated and looked around. “O-on the floor? Or…” She pointed and did a one-eighty until her finger indicated the bed.

Devil hid a smile. Fuck, he couldn’t wait to try anything with her on the bed, let alone bondage. “The floor will do… for now.” He watched her carefully and his cock twitched at the crestfallen look on her face. Did she want him as badly as he wanted her?

It’d been thirty-one days since he’d tasted her and twenty-eight days of pure torture keeping his hands off her since she fainted. For twenty-eight fucking days he’d backed off, letting her focus on herself so he wouldn’t interfere in her recovery.

And fuck, she seemed fully recovered now. Her skin had its healthy golden glow back, and the sunken bags under her eyes were gone. She seemed happier, too. No, she was happier, he could tell. Earlier, when he’d said it was nice to see her smile, he hadn’t been blowing smoke up her ass.

Her ass.

Visions of when he’d massaged the untouched rosette in the gym thirty-one days ago flitted across his mind and shot straight down to his cock.

Fuck, she looks good.

Ellie gained weight over the past month and she’d filled out here and there. Devil thought she was gorgeous as sin before, but goddamn, he couldn’t get the thought out of his mind of tugging those leggings over those plump cheeks and getting between. He’d be in heaven.

A moan so faint he thought he’d imagined it made him realize the look he was giving her wasn’t too far off from what he was thinking. She sat on the floor, biting her lip, and from the molten caramel in her eyes, he knew the flush of her skin was from need.

Unfortunately, they’d both have to wait. This lesson was important. He’d waited long enough to show her escape techniques, afraid teaching her too early would set off her claustrophobia. Now that she was healthier, it was time to show her the ropes, so to speak. Or at least how to get out of them.

Her breaths were coming in pants and Devil decided to at least give her a taste of her own medicine with her cheeky ‘sir’ comment earlier. He’d tried to hide how that word was his kryptonite, but apparently she’d been studying him as much as he’d been studying her.

“Don’t worry, baby, when I take you, you’ll be more than willing. I won’t need to tie you up to get you into my bed, but I’ll keep you that way so we can have some fun before I make you come.”

He enjoyed the thick gulp that traveled down the column of her neck and his fingers twitched at the thought of pinning her to the bed by her throat, making her swallow around his hand. Or his cock. The thought made him thicken and he adjusted his sweatpants so they didn’t get off track… yet.

Ellie nodded slowly, as if she didn’t know how to respond to his threat, and patted her hands on the ground. “‘Kay, now what?”

“This.” He bent down and began to wrap the tape around her ankles over her tight leggings. “What’s the first rule of kidnapping?”

“Um… don’t get kidnapped?”

He snorted as he rounded the tape over her lower calves and did the same to her wrists. “Touché. Well, the second rule of kidnapping is: never go to a second location.” He tapped her shins and stood up.

“Never go to a second location. Got it.” Ellie looked down and raised her arms and legs like a floppy mermaid learning to swim. “Is this why I was supposed to wear long sleeves and leggings.”

“Yes. Alright, your task is to get free in three minutes. Whatever you do, don’t quit. This will also be a good exercise for adrenaline, and thinking calmly on how to use available resources.” He raised his watch.

“What? Three minutes? How?” Her scrunched-up face was adorable, but if he kept looking at her like that he wasn’t going to be able to let her finish the exercise.

“And…”

“Wait! Hold on—”

“Go!”

Ellie huffed but attempted to get up. She had a time of it, rocking on her ass and pulling at the tape around her legs with the tips of her unbound fingers.

“Two minutes left.”

Ellie groaned and collapsed onto the ground with a dramatic flair, irritating the fuck out of him.

What the fuck? She’s giving up already?

“Dev, this is impossible. You tied me up to make sure I couldn’t get out of it.” She waved her arms. “How am I—”

“Come on, Ellie.” Devil couldn’t help his growl. He was riding the line of encouragement and hard-ass and if she didn’t kick her ass into gear, he was going to have to go full hard-ass. “Don’t quit. Try to be resourceful. You’ve got one minute now.”

She grunted before shoving her fists into her mouth and trying to tear her hands loose. As she did, she kept trying to talk through gritted teeth.

“You were… freakin’… Navy… if you… wanted it on… How could I—oof… take this off?”

The way she attempted to rip the industrial-strength tape with her canine teeth would’ve been painful to watch, if Devil wasn’t already grinding his into dust.

“Fifteen seconds.” Anger built inside him as she started to whine in frustration.

“Ugh, Dev!”

Ignoring her tantrum, he kept counting. “Ten seconds—”

“Stop, it’s impossible!” She swiveled and got on all fours as he counted down. He thought that was at least better than being flat on her ass, until she collapsed back on her calves and threw her hands in the air.

Un-fucking-believable.

“Five… four… three—”

“You win, dangit!”

“Two—”

“I quit, okay! Just tell me how to do it, already.”

“One.” Devil shook his head slowly, his jaw tight with the disappointment tensing every muscle. “What the hell was that, Ellie?”

When Ellie rolled her eyes and lifted her arms in question, Devil wanted to tangle her pretty golden hair in his fist and force her to see how serious he was. “What do you want from me? I did my best.”

“Your best?” Devil scoffed and propped his hands on his hips. “You quit a minute in!”

Ellie huffed and brushed away a phantom loose hair, a habit Devil noticed when she started pinning her hair back.

“Why would I try hard if you’re gonna tell me how to do it when the time’s up? So… you know, go ahead and tell me how so I can do it during the real thing.”

“The real thing?” Devil slammed his hand on the concrete counter, making her jump. “Goddamnit, Ellie, do you think all of this is a joke?”

Ellie straightened up and her eyes widened before she furrowed her brow and frowned. “No, of course not.”

“Then what the fuck was that?”

“I told you! Why do I need to bust my tail if you’re gonna tell me how I should’ve done it all along?”

Devil grunted and scrubbed his beard so roughly his skin hurt. “Fuck, Ellie. Fight. Have these past two months been completely pointless?”

“No!” It was only when Ellie yelled back at him that he realized how loud he’d gotten. “I’ve busted my butt for these training sessions and this always happens. You have me do something. I do it the dumb way, and then…” She pointed in one direction with her duct tape hands, before pointing in the other as she spoke. It seemed like she was trying to bring levity into the argument, but Devil wanted to turn her over his knee. “You swoop in and save me and teach me the right way. I just wanted to skip to that part.”

Devil shook his head with his eyes to the ground. “You didn’t want the right way. You wanted the easy way.” He emptied a harsh breath from his lungs. “That’s not what you should’ve been learning at all.”

“No, I was saying I’ve learned a lot and—”

“Then save yourself, Ellie! Fucking fight. Don’t give up when it gets hard and expect someone else to come ‘swoop in and save you.’” He said the last with finger quotes and he knew he’d hit the mark when her face turned a pretty shade of crimson.

“I didn’t mean it like that—”

“You know what? I think you did. I watched you give up a minute in. In a real situation, you might not even get that long. Every second counts. Three minutes was generous and you didn’t even try for half that.”

“I didn’t know that was part of the test,” Ellie objected while she hit her thighs with her duct-taped hands.

“It doesn’t matter. You’ve heard the saying, ‘practice like you’re playing the game,’ right?” At the downward jerk of her head, he mimicked the motion. “Well, the stuff I’ve been teaching you? What you’ve been training for? Isn’t a game. It can be real life or death situations and goddamnit, what if something happens to you and you’re not prepared because I went easy on you? And you just… give up? What if someone else’s life is on the line? If this had been the real thing, you would’ve squandered the last few seconds you had to get yourself free. In these situations, you have to always be thinking. Always be on. You can’t expect someone to come save you every time. It only takes once for that not to pan out and you’re running out of lives, baby.”

Ellie closed her eyes and rolled her shoulders back before opening them again. “Fine. I’ll do it again.”

Devil’s eyebrows ticked up but he nodded at the resolve she carried. “I’ll tell you how to get out of it, but you have to do it full force. Not the easy way. And once you’re free, act out how you would escape from this room. Go through all the motions.”

Ellie lowered her chin once in a nod and Devil sat down beside her to show her the steps.

“Stand up this time. You were on a good path getting on all fours, but keep going.” He moved his body to do the same. “When you’re up here, cross your feet the best you can. Even when you’re duct-taped you should be able to do that within the tape. Once you’ve done that… fall straight down—” He dropped into a cross-legged sitting pose. “Like this.”

“Crisscross applesauce?” The words were ridiculous and Devil couldn’t keep from snorting even though Ellie’s face was serious.

“I don’t know what the fuck that is, but if it looks like this, then sure.”

Ellie did a thumbs up with her hand and blew out a breath. “Okay… okay. I can do that. What about my arms?” She held up her taped arms.

“Those…” He leaned forward to grab her by the forearms. “You do like this—” He kept hold and shoved her hands into her stomach, stopping before he slammed her wrists into her belly. “… as hard as you can. Don’t break speed and make sure your elbows are out. That’s how you make sure you’re getting the right angle to tear the tape.”

Ellie’s gaze was unfocused, like she was envisioning it in her mind. “Got it.” Her shoulders raised and fell with her exhale of determination.

“Alright, try it again.”

At Ellie’s nod, Devil stood and backed away to give her room to sit her ass back on the floor. He held his watch up to monitor the time. “Three minutes. And… go.”

This time, it seemed Ellie didn’t focus on the tape as much as on her exit strategy. Single-minded conviction to fight through the moment creased her forehead as she maneuvered to get on all fours and struggled to stand up. Devil glanced at his watch.

“Two minutes, thirty seconds.”

Instead of whining or signaling her frustration, she stuck her tongue out slightly between her lips in concentration. Her perseverance was hot as fuck and Devil’s mouth watered as he watched her pink tongue gloss over her bottom lip. When her teeth dug into the plump flesh, he desperately wanted to tug it free.

Fuck, I’m being an asshole. I literally just yelled at her for not having her head in the game. Focus.

He folded his arms and leaned against the wall, creating some distance to keep from pouncing on her.

Ellie moved her feet around like Devil had taught her and all of a sudden she fell to the ground in “crisscross applesauce,” whatever the fuck that was. The tape made a satisfying rip as it split down the middle.

Ellie squealed and looked up at Devil from the ground. “I did it!”

Her enthusiasm was contagious and Devil barely kept his composure. He dipped his chin in a gesture of approval but that was it. He couldn’t distract her or slow her down. But all he wanted to do was lift her up from the ground and show her how sexy it was to see her overcome adversity. Instead, he did the responsible thing and glanced at his watch.

“Two minutes, Ellie. The bad guy’s in the next room taking a piss. Gotta hurry.”

“Ew.” Ellie grimaced and he rolled his eyes.

“Come on, what’re you gonna do? Stay in the moment. He’s coming back any second.” He glanced at his watch. “One hundred and five… to be exact.”

“You got this,” she whispered to herself and Devil tilted his head to analyze her. He’d noticed her do it before, talk to herself almost as if she was expecting someone to talk back, but fuck, whatever she needed to do to beat any assholes trying to steal her away again, he was all for it.

She stood back up on her unbound feet and pointed her elbows out to the side.

“One shot, El, it might be all you got,” he encouraged her in a low voice. “The tape could roll up and make it harder to tear. Give it everything, baby.”

Ellie watched her hands and nodded, breathing out.

“Forty-five seconds left.”

Ellie suddenly slammed her wrists so hard against her stomach, Devil involuntarily reached out for her with concern, but she only gave a soft grunt. The tape ripped on the first try and Devil whooped. He leaped toward her to celebrate her escape, but Ellie whipped around and his open arms missed her. Before he could follow the direction she fled, he heard the rack slide on his Glock.

Ellie held the gun with precision and, but for her hand gripping the handle far from the trigger, she had perfect form as she raised the pistol at him. With a fucking smirk on her face.

Devil slowly lifted his hands out to the side, playing along. He’d been cleaning the gun before she arrived, so he knew it was empty. He also knew she’d racked the slide to double-check before she pointed it at him. When his gaze met those pleased, delicious caramel eyes, a smile of pride formed on his face, despite the fact he was essentially caught with his pants down.

It was interesting because, when he fucked, Devil thrived off control. Truth be told, Devil thrived off of control at all times, but seeing this woman play with the illusion of their power dynamic? Fuck, his cock was threatening to stand at full attention.

“What’re you gonna do now, Ellie? You’ve got the bad guy in your sights.” He licked his lips, letting his thoughts linger in his gaze as he ate her up in his mind. “What would you do next?”

Ellie kept the gun steady and breathed deeply through her nose, blinking slowly before glancing around the room. “I would… I would’ve already checked all available exits. If there were other people with him, I’d have tried to keep tabs on them. But he’s by himself, so… I would—”

“Act it out, Ellie. Follow through with it.” Devil spoke low and she nodded before gulping. His hand twitched to feel the motion under his palm as it traveled down the column of her neck.

Without skipping a beat, Ellie kept the gun pointed at him and sidestepped one foot next to the other slowly, her back facing the wall as she traveled to the door. She curved her trajectory, keeping well within the safe zone as she passed him. Her breaths were calm, slow, like they’d practiced during her training. His chest filled with so much fucking pride, he nearly broke the moment again.

Finally, Ellie reached the door and tapped the knob. She paused before lowering the gun. Her lips curved up as she whispered, “I did it?”

Devil felt his cheeks widen in a smile of his own. “Yeah, baby, you did it. You fucking did it. You’d be free right now as long as—”

“—I ran like hell.”

Devil burst out laughing. “Exactly, as long as you ran like hell.”

Gun in hand, Ellie fist-pumped the air and waved them around. “YES! Heck yes! I did it! I did it! I really did it!”

Devil lowered his arms from their position of faux surrender, knowing this moment was bigger than just getting out of the tape. She laid the gun down on the counter and as she made her way toward him, he could see her courage and confidence building right before his eyes. He had no doubt she would bring that same energy in a crisis.

“You did angel, you—oof.”

Ellie ran at him and leaped into his arms, encircling her long legs around his waist. Her lips crashed onto his and her taste was the cool water he’d been thirsting for during their thirty-one-day drought.