12. Chapter 12
Chapter twelve
Brad
T he air’s thick with the smell of fresh-cut grass and exhaust as I stand outside the house, staring down at my hands. I flex my fingers, but the blood that coats them doesn’t come off. It’s sticky, dry now, and the reality of it hits me harder than I thought it would. I lost control. I let the darkest parts of myself come to the surface again.
I can still hear Dan’s groaning voice in my head, the whimper of a man who thought he could take what wasn’t his.
He never saw it coming.
I glance at the door, knowing Katie’s inside. My feet move almost on their own, like they know exactly where I’m going before my mind catches up. She’s magnetic that way, impossible to resist.
By the time I step inside, she’s standing there, her back to me, not yet aware that I’m home.
I pause for a moment, breathing deep, letting the weight of everything settle into my chest. The bruises on my face sting. But it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters but her.
She’s mine.
I slide the belt from around my waist and hold it loosely in my hand as I step forward. She turns at the sound of my footsteps, her eyes locking with mine. Her breath hitches, and I don’t miss the flicker of fear that crosses her face, even if she tries to hide it.
Her lips part, but she doesn’t speak.
“You know what I want,” I say, my voice low. It’s a command, something we both know too well.
She doesn’t say anything, but her eyes drop to my hands, and she tenses when she sees the blood there. Her hand covers her mouth in surprise. “Brad…”
I don’t answer. I don’t need to. She already knows.
I edge closer, and her back hits the side of the counter. I can almost taste her fear now. It bites at me in the air between us. The tension is sharp, but familiar. Safe.
“You know why I’m here,” I mutter again. She doesn’t answer, but I don’t expect her to.
I reach out, one hand curling around her neck. Not to hurt, not yet, but just enough to feel the soft pulse beneath my fingers. She gasps as she takes in the bruises and marks on my face. She should see it for what it is—my determination to keep her safe and my willingness to fight for what we have. It won’t take her long to figure out every mark is from the fight with Dan. Just like she’ll soon realize the fury still burns inside me.
She trembles beneath my hand, and part of me wants to hold her there, to feel her shake, to remind her who she belongs to.
But then I see it in her eyes. She’s scared. She’s scared of what’s coming. Or perhaps of what I’ve done.
“Tell me you’re mine,” I whisper, my voice catching in my throat. “Tell me you need me.”
She blinks rapidly. “I need you,” she answers. The words fall from her lips, fragile and unsure, but they’re enough. They have to be enough.
All I can cling to is the need to claim her, to remind her that she’s mine in every way that matters.
All I can think about is how I’m going to make this right. How I’m going to make her see that no one else can have her. Not Dan. Not anyone.
“I won’t let you go,” I growl, tightening my grip on the belt, “not now, not ever.”
Her eyes widen and her lips tremble. There’s a moment—just a second—where she seems to remember who I really am. Every rough, intense thing I’ve done to her builds in her eyes, overwhelms her. But she doesn’t move away. She doesn’t fight me.
Not yet.
My fingers loosen on the leather belt as I tie it around her neck. He blush burns my skin, but I don’t give her the chance to speak.
“You know you belong to me, don’t you?” I whisper, my voice dark and low, close to her ear.
Katie swallows thickly. Her eyes flicker briefly toward the blood on my hands. I tug the belt just a little harder, tugging it tighter against her skin, not enough to hurt, not yet.
“Say it, Katie,” I demand, my voice more forceful now. “Say that you’re mine.”
She’s scared. I can see that. But she’s also still here, still letting me hold her like this. That tells me everything I need to know.
“I’m yours,” she whispers, the words soft but real.
I let out a breath, feeling a slight sense of relief. I was right—she’s not going anywhere. She could have said no. She could have ended our fun and opened an incendiary fury in me, but she didn’t.
She’s not leaving me. Not running from me. Not unless I let her.
Her eyes glance at the blood again, and I see something else. A strange kind of understanding, like she’s finally accepting the truth of what this is.
“You want me to stop?” I ask quietly, my grip relaxing just enough for her to breathe easily. I make it sound like a question, but I already know the answer.
“No, Brad,” she says, her voice small but determined.
I smile coldly. “Good.”
I edge back, only to grab her wrist, dragging her toward the front door. There’s no struggle, not really. Katie so rarely fights me anymore unless I surprise her like I did when she was sleeping.
She doesn’t fight because she needs me like I need her. She understands the things I can’t put into words.
I don’t look at her as I open the passenger door of my truck, just gesture for her to get in.
The engine roars to life as I slam the door behind me, speeding down the road. The town slips away behind us, swallowed by the dark, and I head toward the woods. Katie’s eyes flick to me every so often, her lips parted like she wants to speak, but she knows better than to break the quiet.
Not yet.
When I finally pull the truck to a stop, the only sound is the faint hum of the engine, the rustling of leaves in the wind. We’re deep enough in the woods now that no one will hear her if she screams—when she screams. But I know this dirt road like the back of my hand, just like I know that no one will come out here at this time of night, this time of year. Every sound that will leave Katie’s throat will be mine, just like her body, just like her heart.
“Get out,” I command, my voice sharp.
She doesn’t protest. Slowly, she opens the door and steps out, her boots crunching against the gravel.
I stop by the truck and watch her for a moment. She knows what will happen out here. She knows the rules of this game.
“You should’ve stayed away from him,” I mutter, the words slipping out before I can stop them.
“I didn’t ask for this,” she whispers. “You’re the one who—”
I cut her off by snatching her closer, her breath catching again, but I don’t kiss her.
Not yet.
“You’re still here,” I say softly, almost as if to myself. “And you’ll stay.”
Her breath comes faster now, and for a split second, I wonder what she’s thinking. I know what I’m thinking, what I’m feeling. This tension. The raw, unsaid things that hang between us like a storm ready to break. She’s trembling, but I don’t think it’s fear anymore. She’s been through worse with me.
I let go of her wrist for a moment, stepping back to watch her as she steadies herself, like I’m waiting for her to make the next move.
“I never wanted him. I never wanted to leave!” she says, her voice small, almost lost in the space between us. “But you left me first.”
Her words hang there in the dark air, a sharp bite. And it stings more than I want to admit.
I reach for her again, grabbing her chin with two fingers and tilting her face back up toward me. I can see the rawness in her eyes now, the vulnerability that she hides so well. The fact that she lets me see it, that’s my power.
“Do you hear that?” I smile as the wind carries Dan’s voice.
Katie’s eyes search mine as she listens to the voices in the wind. “What is that, Brad?”
I tug the leather belt, watching it tighten around her skin until she gasps. “If you find him first, I won’t kill him.”
She gulps and finally realizes this isn’t a game anymore. This is real—this is me.
“He means nothing, Brad,” she says, but my need for pain doesn’t ebb. It’s too late for that.
“Run, Katie,” I sneer down at her.
“I don’t want to run away from you,” she whispers, her voice breaking, but she can’t try to lure me back from the dark. Not when its claws have already sliced into my soul.
I push her back against the truck, my knee between her legs. My fingers trail over her jaw, down her neck, curving over her breasts.
“Show me you’re mine… only mine.” My hand lingers on her pants, my cock already hard for her.
Not yet.
The temptation to break her down, to ruin her the same way she’s ruined me, it’s almost too much. I want to hurt her in a way that leaves a scar deeper than any I could leave on her skin. I want her to feel this, to understand that she made a choice, just like I did.
She looks up at me, her eyes wide, lips parted. I can see the conflict in her, the way her emotions shift from fear to something else, something darker. “I’ve shown you every day,” she whispers, and the words draw a snort from me. “It’s never enough. Now I’m saying I don’t want to run and—”
“Do you want to find him?” I ask as the wind carries Dan’s recording again.
“What did you do?” She steps away from me, toward the sound of Dan’s voice, and the action hurts me, cuts deep inside me as she turns from me.
I shove her forward. “Run.”
With a staggering step, she does. Slowly, her pace quickens, and she runs from me into the dark forest until the shadows swallow up her body.
My body shakes, my hands curl into fists as I try to give her a head start. I want her to find Dan. I want her to see what I did to him. I want her to hear what kind of monster he is.
She already has me in her life. She doesn’t need another monster. Hell, she has me, my brother, and my dad. She’s full. If she wants to be used and fucked in every way imaginable, we’ll happily take care of it, and when it comes to punishing her, pushing every limit she has and reminding her why she lets us do exactly that…
I take a sharp breath and sprint after her. Nothing has been enough to satisfy the need to hurt and tame, to humiliate and control. I should have known the key is and always will be Katie.
The darkness feels like home as the night sky doesn’t bring much light to show me my path. But the crunching of her shoes, her whimpers, and Dan’s pitiful sounds are enough to lead me in the right direction. She’s never learned how to be quiet in the woods and I hope she never does.
Dan’s voice is taut and weak as I round another big tree. Twigs and branches slap at my face, but nothing slows my stride. Katie is mine, even if I have to hunt her down and remind her of it. Nothing in this world could stop me when she belongs in my arms, under me, filled by me and moaning my name.
Light in the distance lures me in and I pick up my pace. Katie’s frame comes into view as she stares up at my piece of art.
“You should’ve left me alone,” she whispers to Dan who only groans in pain.
My jaw tenses as she speaks to him and my hand wraps around the tail of the belt. I jerk her back against me as the leather tightens around her throat, threatening every panting breath she drags in.
“You should let him go,” she murmurs as her eyes take in what I’ve done. Dan is tied up in a tree, blindfolded as blood drips from his face and body. He put up a fight, though. He’s stronger than he looks, but not strong enough.
I toss Katie to the cold ground and fall to my knees, keeping her in place. She finally lashes out. She shoves me, yells at me, senseless commands as she pushes me, lightly punches me, and yells my name until I catch her hands in mine and put her on her back, my hands holding hers against the fallen leaves on the ground.
“Is this what you needed from me?” I sneer as the recording of Dan’s foul words echoes around us.
My grip is harsh, and she whimpers while she struggles beneath me. “You’re hurting me,” she whispers. “Brad, you’re—”
“Good,” I snap and push her wrists together, holding them with one hand as I open her coat.
Her body curves toward me and my cock twitches in response. No matter how much she pushes back, she wants me. She can’t hide it, has never been able to hide it.
“Keep your hands right there,” I order as my stare catches on the belt around her neck. The buckle glints in the moonlight.
My patience thins as I tear her clothes from her body, desperate to feel her soft, warm skin beneath my palms and ruin her. I want—no need—to mark her with my touch, to paint her with my cum until every part of her body and soul is mine.
“Brad, it’s freezing and he’s right—”
“I don’t care,” I snarl.
Katie shivers, the cold night air brushing over her. I press the cool metal of the belt buckle against her heated skin, tracing a line from her collarbone down between her breasts, around her navel and then further south.
“You’re mine,” I growl low, my voice rough with lust and possession. “Say it.”
“I’m yours,” she whispers, but this time there’s a different inflection in her voice, a hint of submission and need.
My cock throbs almost painfully and I tug her up by the leather belt around her neck, turn her so she stares directly at Dan, and push her on her knees.
The leather belt twists around her neck, keeping her head up as I wrap my hand around the leather band. I lower my zipper and free my cock. My body curls in front of her as I tighten my hold on the belt.
“Open wide, slut,” I sneer.
“You should let him go,” she whispers, and my jaw snaps shut.
My fingers dig into her cheeks, prying her mouth open, and then I thrust inside her, listening to her gagging around my cock, clawing at my pants.
“You belong to me,” I grit and grind against her face, sensing how the tip of my cock moves down her throat.
My body buzzes, my hold on her rough, and I start to move my hips.
She tries to gasp for air, but I won’t stop. I won’t release her. She’s mine.
Every thrust is harder than the one before. My fingers let go of the belt and both hands curl around her face, holding it as I fuck her mouth.
I take what is mine, and mine alone.
My hands dampen, and I notice the tears that stream down her face.
My thrusts slow, but every time my cock slides down her throat, the tension in my body simmers.
“Look how good you take me,” I whisper, and her stare snaps up to mine.
“Suck harder,” I order. “Be good for me.”
Her hands grip my hip and she starts to move with me, her lips tightening around my cock, her tongue swirling around my shaft, and then a moan vibrating around it all.
Fuck, that felt good.
With a few more thrusts, I still deep inside her, her throat working around my cock, and my head falls back.
But I can’t come.
Not yet.
I pull out and toss her back to the ground. She wines and gasps. But I’m not here to take care of her. I’m here to remind her what she is to me.
I’m sloppy and rushed as I push my pants down and crawl behind her, hauling her up by the belt wrapped around her pretty throat.
“Brad,” she cries out, but I line up behind her. The head of my cock slips between her wet pussy lips.
I chuckle darkly and tug on the belt, then slam inside her. I thrust into her tight pussy, ignoring her whimpers and moans as I take what I need from her.
“No one comes to save you tonight,” I sneer out as my pace hardens.
Her pussy pulses around my cock and I smile. “Look at that, you’re even more fucked up than I am. You love this, don’t you? Love to feel pain and pleasure, love that I almost killed the one who thought he could have you.”
My little wicked slut.