Possess Me by Michelle Heard

 

Chapter 11

 

Alek

 

When the room becomes unbearably cold, Everleigh begins to shiver.

I push her away from my chest, and taking off my shirt, I struggle in the darkness to make sure it’s the right way around before I tug the fabric over her head.

“It’s not much, but it will help,” I say as I adjust the fabric around her torso and hips.

“Thank you.” Her voice sounds hollow and fragile.

I pull her back against my chest and soak up the heat from her body. “You okay sleeping like this? It will help us generate some heat.”

“Yeah.”

It’s the middle of fucking winter, and if we don’t use our bodies to keep each other warm, there’s a possibility one or both of us will get sick. The old radiators I saw in the hallway and the heat from the building pipes might keep away the worst of the winter, but it’s still going to be cold as fuck in this room.

Minutes pass before I ask, “How are you feeling? Physically.”

“Sore,” she admits. “It didn’t hurt as much when I lost my virginity.”

Christ.

Guilt rears in my chest, and I press a comforting kiss to her hair. “I’m sorry.”

“We had to do what was necessary to stay alive.”

Still, I orgasmed. There’s no denying that I got pleasure from fucking Everleigh.

As soon as I buried my cock inside her, I forgot all about surviving. I fucked her because there was no way I could stop once I felt her tight pussy wrapped around me.

With the deed done, I’ve figured out Prodi’s plan. He wants me to love Everleigh so he can use her to break me mentally.

Which means there’s a good chance they’ll rape her.

In front of me.

My mind is overwhelmed with thoughts of what has happened and what’s to come.

I remember the panic in Everleigh’s eyes when I felt her pussy clamp around my cock. She was scared of orgasming.

The question escapes me before I can stop it. “Why were you scared of orgasming?”

She doesn’t answer me immediately, and when she does, I can hear the embarrassment in her voice. “I didn’t want them to see me like that. It’s bad enough that we were forced to have sex.”

Knowing there’s no place for unspoken truths between these four walls, I admit, “I feel like shit for coming.”

Everleigh’s arms tighten around me. “It wouldn’t have been believable if you didn’t orgasm.”

“Still.” My tongue swipes over my lips, where I can still feel the kisses we shared. “I didn’t orgasm for show.” I suck in a deep breath, then admit, “I enjoyed it.”

Everleigh is quiet for a moment before she says, “I’m not going to get angry with you.” Even though she can’t see shit, she still lifts her head. “You’re all I have right now, Alek. I hate them for putting us in this position, but not you.” Her voice hitches. “You’re as much a victim as I am.”

“The only thing I hate is that they watched,” I grumble.

Jesus, you’d fucking swear I’m in a confession booth with the way I’m spilling my guts to this girl.

“It wasn’t torture for me, Everleigh.” I move my hand to her arm and brush my fingers up and down her slender bicep. “The attraction is there.”

She keeps still and doesn’t say a word for what feels like half an hour. I hear her take a deep breath before she whispers, “Our emotions are all over the place. The traumatic experience is making us feel things we wouldn’t normally feel. Everything is heightened.”

“True.” I nod my head but add, “It doesn’t mean the emotions aren’t real.”

She leans against me again. “At least we have each other. I’m not sure I would’ve survived if I were alone.”

I usually couldn’t give two shits what people think of me, but I’m desperate to know what Everleigh’s thinking.

Letting out a sigh, I mutter, “You have every right to hate me.”

She shakes her head.

“It’s my fault you’re in this hell,” I remind her.

“It is what it is, Alek. I also screwed up when I swapped clothes with Svetlana.” She hesitates momentarily, then asks, “What would you have done with me if we weren’t ambushed?”

Christ.

Vincent would’ve made the choice to either drop her off somewhere or take her home. If we took her home, there’s no telling what Papa would’ve done.

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “It would’ve been up to Vincent.”

“Do you think your brother is okay?” she asks. “We haven’t seen him since the first day.”

Again I answer, “I don’t know. He’s the oldest, so he’s taking the brunt of the torture.”

“I hope he’s alive,” she whispers.

“Me too.”

We grow silent again, and I stare into the darkness.

There’s a constant war inside me to demand to see my brother, but I know it will only make them torture us. Not asking for Vincent is the best thing I can do under the circumstances.

Papa used to make us all watch as he beat one of us. We weren’t allowed to show any emotion, or he’d beat us too. He said he was training us in case we got taken. It’s so we wouldn’t snitch on the bratva.

He also said it was to teach us not to show emotion because our captors would use it against us.

Still, all I want to do is demand to see my brother.

But years of conditioning keep me from banging on the door.

As tough as I am, I’m not indestructible. I know it’s only a matter of time before Prodi will either kill us or worse.

You can’t let him break you mentally.

Whatever happens, you have to fucking survive it.

“Prodi wants me to fall in love with you,” I inform Everleigh. “He’s going to use you to break me.”

She pulls back again, and a second later, I feel her hands fumbling their way up my shoulders and neck to rest on either side of my jaw.

There’s desperation in her voice as she says, “You can’t let him break you. I won’t survive without you.”

Needing to warn her, I say, “The longer we’re stuck in this room, deprived of everything but each other, the quicker we’re going to form a bond.”

Her voice is small as she replies, “I know.”

“Once Prodi is convinced I love you, they’re going to rape you.”

Everleigh wraps her arms around my neck and presses her body hard against mine. I feel the trembles wracking through her slender frame.

“Don’t love me, Alek. You’re good at controlling your emotions.”

My eyes drift shut as I tell her about the catch twenty-two we’re stuck in, “If I don’t love you, they’ll kill you. Your only purpose is to break me.”

Everleigh lets out a sob and starts to cry against my chest. “I’d rather die than be raped by all of them.”

My arms tighten around her, and silence falls between us as I face off with the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life.

If I don’t fall in love with Everleigh, she’ll be killed.

If I love her, she’ll be raped. I’ll probably also be forced to choose who gets tortured between her and Vincent.

I know my limits. Mentally I won’t survive them being tortured.