Thumper by Marie James

Chapter 16

Thumper

I got that look again from Angel when he swung back by to escort Cara back downstairs, and it doesn’t take long for him to get in my face once he’s done.

“What the actual fuck are you doing? If you think you can fool me, I’ll put a fucking bullet in your head right now.”

I take a deep breath and release it slowly. “Why don’t you tell me what you think you know.”

“You motherfuck—”

“Let me guess, since you’re so hell-bent on keeping everything close to the chest. The kitchen is buzzing with information that I was up here, half-naked with a terrified Cara in my arms. I wasn’t but I imagine the gossip is that I was holding her breast in my hand or maybe they’ve altered the real situation so much that I had her bent over my desk and didn’t bother to stop thrusting into her long enough for Lupe to grab the dishes from lunch?”

He takes a step back. “Something like that.”

“Want to know the truth?”

He nods. “Want to put the gun away so I can explain?”

He keeps the gun aimed at my chest.

“You’re hearing chatter because they think you’re one of them. I have the kitchen bugged, but they don’t often talk in there. Last night, I managed to put another bug out on the back patio where—”

“Miguel goes to smoke,” he finishes, the gun dropping a few inches lower, but still not completely put away.

“The staff is suspicious that I’m treating the women too well. Every person in this house has worked for other traffickers. They’re questioning everything. Why we let them shower daily. Why they get to eat expensive food from the kitchen. Miguel is pissed he hasn’t gotten his cock sucked by anyone other than Lupe’s niece.”

“And he was saying this shit to Lupe?”

“He was on the phone. I only caught the second half because he was already talking when he came around the house. I had to do something to get that chatter to stop. I did some push-ups and sit-ups, and then when I heard Lupe on the stairs, I wrapped myself around her. My shirt was off from working out, but it was intentional. I didn’t let her in on my plan because she thinks I’m a monster and probably wouldn’t believe the truth if she heard it from God’s own lips. I’m sure she looked terrified. My hand was on her ribcage under her breasts. She wasn’t bent over my desk.”

What I don’t tell him is that being near her stirred something inside of me and I had to turn away from her to keep her from seeing just how much she affected me.

She’s getting under my skin, and short of just leaving her in the basement, I don’t know how to control it most days. That’s why I made her hate me more by letting her know I know all about her. All her truths and the lies she wrote on her paperwork came to light today, and in her eyes that makes me a monster.

That’s exactly what I need to be to her, and I know I did a good job. She was in tears when she left the office, and that helped with the story as Angel escorted her through the house with red puffy eyes and wetness on her skin.

“Listen, this entire fucking situation is one slipup, one whisper of gossip a little too close to the truth away from crushing all of us.”

“Are you telling me you’re cracking?” Angel spits. “You need to get your shit together.”

“My shit?” I hiss, trying to keep my voice down in case anyone is trying to listen outside. “You came in here ready to blow my fucking brains out because you heard chatter. I’m just trying to play this fucked-up game until we can get them out of here.”

“Lola leaves tomorrow?” he asks, backing away a few steps.

We’re both used to being the one to make the hard decisions, and it’s fucking with both of us.

“Yes, and he contacted me again this morning asking about other stock. We have to figure out a way to get the other women out of the house. I wouldn’t put it past that bastard to want to explore every inch of the house. I told him we have nothing else, but he didn’t seem satisfied with that response. He may even back out now that I’ve told him we have only one girl available. Why don’t you go grab Lola so we can game plan?”

He gives me a quick nod before walking out of the office.

It takes forever for Angel to return with Lauren. So long that I have to leave my office and go find them. As I open the office door, I’m once again overcome with the same fear I had when I got the text and discovered that Juan was hurting one of the girls.

But as I step out in the hall, it’s not violence I encounter. Well, not on the same level I was fearing.

Lauren has Angel pinned to the wall with her forearm against his throat. Their lips are locked in a kiss so passionate that there’s no way it’s their first. Her hand is inside his jeans, working his cock as he groans into her mouth. For a woman that likes to be manhandled and commanded, she doesn’t seem to have any trouble taking the reins right now.

I clear my throat, snapping Angel to attention, but Lauren is slow to look my way. Her lips, wet and as red as ripe cherries, her hooded eyes tell me she isn’t happy with being interrupted.

“Stop, stop, stop,” Angel gasps, his hands going to the front of his jeans where Lauren is still working his cock.

I cock an eyebrow at Lauren, but she doesn’t stop.

As a goal-oriented person, I know she won’t unless she’s forced, and despite Angel’s insistence, he really isn’t putting up much of a fight. I should stop them. Anyone else in the house could walk around the corner and see what’s going on, but I also can’t deny just how erotic it is to see her practically bringing this man to his knees and making him beg.

Her eyes stay on mine for the longest time before she reverts that attention back to him.

With her mouth partially open, she has every ounce of his attention. His hands have fallen away, both arms hanging loosely at his sides. His lower half is bowed away from the wall, hips jutting forward in a silent plea.

“That’s it,” she praises, her whispered words a mix of gravel and seduction. “Come.”

Angel’s mouth falls open, low grunts filling the air around us as a slow smile spreads across Lauren’s face. She licks into his mouth as he shudders, his eyelids heavy as he orgasms.

It isn’t until she slowly pulls her hands from his jeans, licking at her fingers that he begins to regain his senses. This whole time he’s been completely enraptured by her, a puppet at the end of her strings, and from the looks of it, he’s still a little spellbound.

Slowly, his head rolls on the wall, as if noticing me standing there for the first time with my arms crossed over my chest.

“Fuck,” he hisses, trying to move away from her like he can lie about everything I just saw and make me believe it. “I’ll be back.”

Angel leaves us standing in the hallway, Lauren still licking her fingers and me both annoyed they’d do something like that out in the open and a little jealous of the moment they just shared.

I’m not jealous of him at all. I have no proprietorship over her, and if he were the one pushing her against the wall, it wouldn’t be an issue, but the people in the house are supposed to believe that we’re sex traffickers for fuck’s sake. They’d never believe he was in control if they saw what I did. Bad guys don’t tend to come on command when they have a woman’s forearm against their throat.

“Hey,” she says after a long minute. “You wanted to—”

“Get in the office,” I snap.

“Green doesn’t look good on you,” she says as she passes by me.

I follow her inside, closing us into the office together.

“You’re supposed to be a sex slave, Lauren.”

“Give me a command,” she taunts.

“I’m not going to tell you what to do on any level, but your actions out there have the potential to compromise my mission. You can fuck Angel into next week, but the middle of the hallway isn’t the place for it.”

She rolls her eyes like a sullen teen rather than the grown federal agent that she is.

I head back to my desk, busying myself while we wait for Angel to come back into the room. Thankfully, he doesn’t make us wait long, returning in a different pair of jeans than the ones he just dirtied.

Lauren is smirking as he studiously avoids her gaze.

“Lola, you have a buyer coming tomorrow night.”

She perks up with my words. “Costa Rica?”

“As close as I think we’re going to get,” I answer. “We need to get the other women out of the house or hidden somehow. He wants more than one girl, and I don’t want to risk him finding the others.”

“What about that shed at the back of the property?” Angel asks, all business now that his balls are empty.

“They’ll have to be locked in. Cara has been asking a ton of questions. She’s suspicious, and I wouldn’t put it past her to try and bolt.”

“It has a hinged lock on the outside, so I think it will work,” Angel supplies.

“Okay, let’s iron out the details,” I tell them.