Moth to a Flame

32. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Regan

When they threw Lester in prison, I knew it was only a matter of time before we met again.

After all, I was the one who helped put him there. Who took the stand and pointed at him.

His last victim. The one he got careless with.

When he’d left me in Central Park that night, I bet he thought one of two things. That I’d either die from my injuries or that I’d be too scared and traumatized to give his description to the detectives and sketch artist.

I was bruised and beaten and shattered. I was bleeding heavily when the paramedics showed up to get me.

But I wasn’t afraid or disoriented.

Dad had introduced me to monsters a long time ago. Lester was just one of many.

The pain, the humiliation, the immense sense of loss, I put it all aside for a little while.

I did it so I could help them find him.

Then I helped them put him behind bars.

That meant one thing for me.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

Lester was going to get out of prison one day, and I’d be his first stop. Hell, I wasn’t even mildly surprised at his lame assassination attempt from years ago.

What I couldn’t predict is this .

Lester, naked, gagged, and hogtied with ropes Landon brought in his duffel bag. Lying on his side on the floor. Of a cabin.

In Alaska.

Alaska!

And if that doesn’t sound surreal enough, I’m his captor. My future husband and I tower over him, arms crossed over our chests. We have a duffel full of goodies at our feet, and we’re going to put it to good use soon.

Sur. Real.

Can you blame me for feeling a little high over this victory? A little crazy with my plucked fingernails and my malnourished body?

No, you cannot.

Landon appreciates it, I think.

His large palm finds the small of my back when I start to laugh hysterically, pointing at the loser who’s been terrorizing me with tears brimming in the corners of my eyes.

“Regan.” He kisses the top of my head. The nerve endings in my entire body detonate at his touch. I feel everything. I feel him on my skin. Beneath it. Everywhere. “You see it now, don’t you?”

He isn’t talking about Lester’s severed penis or how we tied him up naked. I twist my head up and stare into the blackest eyes in the world.

The most beautiful ones.

“See what?”

He curls his fingers around my jaw. Both of his large hands hold me while Lester screams through his mouth gag.

“The things I’d do not just to you, but for you.” Landon’s grip tightens. “I’ll maim. I’ll torture. I’ll kill for you. I’ll lie, steal, and motherfucking cheat. I’ll burn the world down until there’s nothing left. For you. My queen. Anything for.” His kiss steals my breath away. His heated stare has wetness pooling between my legs. “You.”

Would you look at that. My leggings are ruined.

I would’ve said panties, but Landon didn’t have time to get me a pair.

Once we tied Lester up, Landon helped me through a quick shower. He wouldn’t let me do anything by myself, and honestly, with the state of my fingers, I couldn’t.

He soaped my body. Shampooed my hair. Kissed me where it hurt. Gave me his T-shirt and pulled on a pair of leggings he took from this person in Chicago while he’d tracked me down.

He said he’d tell me about it me later. I didn’t argue.

I was his good girl. I was his best girl. His only one. He kept praising me like that as he kissed the raw skin where my fingernails used to be. Then he bandaged me up with the sterile pads from the first aid kit he got on the way, knowing I’d need it.

“Mmmm!” Lester goes and ruins the moment for us.

Or…he doesn’t. Landon’s lips tug up at my rapist’s tortured scream. He’s gorgeous. Watching him smile is the equivalent of staring up at a full moon on a starless night. There’s only him, and he’s chosen to shine his light on me.

I’ll never take that for granted. He lowers his lips to my neck, and I desperately cling to his naked chest, despite how much it hurts my fingers.

When he steps back, my chest deflates.

“Little lamb.” He gestures with his hand toward Lester, his smirk remaining firm on his lips that are framed by days’ old stubble. An almost beard. “Ladies first.”

“Oh.” I giggle. Silly me. Landon would never leave me. Ever.

“Do you have anything in mind?” His black eyes darken. How’s that even possible? “Anything I can help you with?”

A million options run through my head.

So many tortures I could opt for.

“You said you’ve held on to my fingernails.” My heart warms even as revenge swarms through my veins.

“I have.” His gaze darts to the coat he’s left on the kitchen counter.

My mouth waters at how the muscles of his bare chest and abs flex as he twists toward it.

“But.” He grabs my chin between his fingers. “I’m extremely possessive of them, love.”

“I’ll let you pull out the new ones when they grow back.” Ignoring Lester’s wailing sounds, I step toward Landon, running my bandaged fingers over his taut body. “I’m going to feed these to him.”

Landon’s nostrils flare. I can tell he gets turned on by what I said despite himself. “I’ll never hurt you like that.”

“Nothing you can do will ever hurt me.” I cup his thick erection over his jeans. “Please…”

With one final groan, he breaches over the short distance to the counter. His large hand slips inside one of the pockets and here they are.

Ten black nails with my dried blood on them.

I’m so proud of myself. I tricked my abuser. My nightmare. And now, I’m going to fuck him up.

“You did so well,” Landon tells me words he’s repeated over and over since he got here. He takes one of my palms facing up and presses my nails into my hand. “So well.”

“Thank you.” I shoot him a smile and lower to my knees.

Now that I’m right there, in Lester’s face, he looks even more pathetic.

So weak with his slobber soaking the gag and running down his chin. He keeps screaming as his eyes plead with me to let him go.

“Really, truly pathetic.” I voice my thoughts. Landon pets my head affectionately. I’m owned and cherished while being set free to do whatever I want. It’s intoxicating. “You were such a big man when you tortured me. When you hurt those other girls. Where has that big man gone, huh, Lester? Where is he?”

“Definitely not down here.” There’s a shift in the air around me. I turn fast enough to catch the sight of Landon’s boot connecting to where Lester’s penis used to be. “Nothing big here.” Kick . “Nothing.” Kick, kick, kick . “At all.”

They took off Lester’s stitches, but as he said at the beginning of our trip , he’s not healed yet. The area where Landon kicked him was bruised before. His skin has turned the shade of crimson red, swelling up quickly.

Lester howls, doing what looks like an attempt to wriggle away.

“How about no.” I slap him as hard as he slapped me over and over again. “Landon, that help you offered?”

“Always at your service.”

A laugh escapes me. I bet our twisted humor is humiliating Lester so badly. Worse than having his dick chopped off or being outsmarted by his ex-victim.

The fact that Landon and I find it funny…

That has to hurt.

“Step on his head.” I make a spoiled princess voice. Lester murmurs something that sounds a lot like no, no, no . “Yes, yes, yes,” I tell him. “You’re moving too much. I won’t have you ruin this for me.”

By the time I’m done talking, Landon’s boot is on Lester’s head, the tip pointing at me.

Kissing it is depraved as fuck. I do it anyway because I want to.

“I’m going to rail you so hard, Regan,” Landon growls, staring down at me. “Bend you over. Shove my fingers into that pretty mouth. Later. Right now…I hate this. Your hair is on his face. I don’t like”—I lick the tip, and he groans for me again—“that you’re not busy hurting him.”

I wink at him.

Lester is far less amused, with his cheek pressed to the floor and his head twisted in a weird angle.

“We haven’t had much to eat on our road trip.” Furrowing my brow, I fake a concerned expression. My sanity is slowly slipping away. I’m not worried about it. Landon will be there to put me back together again. “A bag of chips here. Some sandwiches there. You must be starving.”

“Mmmm!” He can tell how serious I am. His eyes damn near bulge out. “Mmmm! Mmmm! Mmmm!”

“Poor man. You had so little to eat that you hardly even shared it with me.”

“Motherfucker.” Hearing about me being starved pisses Landon off. He puts more pressure on Lester’s head, eliciting more screams out of him.

“You’re lucky I’m not as selfish as you are.”

Gag shoved down.

Lester’s screaming pierces my ears. “Heeeeelp! Heeeeelp!”

“Why are you complaining?” I frown, feeding him my nails. There’s so much saliva that some of it soaks through my bandages. Gross. “I’m being generous.”

Gag pushed up. I slap my hand on top of it. I’m done being Miss Nice Gal.

I bare my teeth at him. Shove my face into his. “Chew.”

He can hardly shake his head. His second round of no, no, no is far less coherent and audible.

“Do it.” Pinching his nose between two fingers, I spit at him. “You had no problem removing them, you sick fuck. So stop making a big deal about chewing them. I mean, really, how are you going to swallow if you don’t chew them first?”

A few seconds pass. That’s all he can take with both my hands cutting off his air supply.

Lester howls, and it’s even more pathetic than before.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

“That’s it.” I release his nose.

He’s no use to me dead, not so soon. I have to remember it’s not just me who I’m avenging.

It’s those nameless girls he abused. The ones who’ll never get closure. Who’ll never know who raped them or that he’s dead.

I’m doing it for them as much as I’m doing it for myself.

“Eat my fingernails, you fucking loser.”

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Tears spring free from his eyes when I laugh.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

“You piece of shit. You’re nothing. Less than nothing. You’re a little bitch who eats fingernails. Ha!”

“I’ll never get enough of you.” Landon’s voice is distant and yet speaks directly in my ear. Into my heart. “Ever.”

I’m smiling from the inside out. “Swallow, Lester. Swallow .”

Landon’s foot lifts only so he can slam his knee into Lester’s head. His hand curls around his throat. “Making sure he obeys.”

“You’re too good for me.”

“You’re the one who’s too good for me.” His expression hardens. His lips are inches from mine. “I’ll never deserve you. I’ll never let you go, either.”

Lester swallows. His gulp is audible. I laugh harder when he sobs.

“Good dog—Fuck, no, not a dog.” Landon scrunches his nose. “Calling you that is an insult to dogs everywhere. I’ll settle for what Regan said. Nothing. You’re nothing.”

“You’re up next.” I lean over to kiss his cheek, then rub mine against his stubble. “Are you getting something from the duffel?”

Landon chuckles, low and terrifying.

Lester screams, his entire body shaking.

“Remember when you raped me?” Saying that kind of sucks the humor out of me. I get up, moving to Landon’s side. To where I’m loved and cherished. “It hurt a lot worse, and I never complained like you do.”

We’re both standing over Lester now.

A foreign object is being placed in my hand. I lower my gaze to the large, gleaming serrated knife. Look up at Landon, who’s wielding a syringe in his hand.

“What’s this?”

“Eye for an eye.” He cups my cheek with his free hand. He’s never gone into that much detail about his revenge plan. “I won’t put my cock anywhere inside this man, but—”

“Mmmm!”

“Shut the fuck up.” I kick him in the shin. His muscles strain, and I bet his back is killing him. Wonderful.

Landon pulls my face back to him. His eyes shine at me. “As I was saying. I won’t rape him with my cock. I belong to you and no one else. The baton…That’s another story.”

“What’s that?” I point at the syringe.

“This.” A clear drop leaks out of the needle. “One of Moth to a Flame’s investors from when we just started, he’s a physician from Chicago. That’s where I stopped. He’s the person who gave me a pair of leggings for you and this baby.” He gives the syringe a little shake. “Epinephrine.”

“Wow.” I don’t need him to explain what it does and why he brought it. Dad researched it for one of his books.

If a person, say…Lester…goes into shock for whatever reason, a shot of epinephrine will bring him back from the dead.

“So the knife is to sodomize him?” There’s no use being quiet about it since Lester is about to get fucked anyway.

I don’t want to be quiet about it, either. He should be as afraid as I was that night and many, many nights after.

Me and the nameless others.

“Not quite.” Landon places the syringe on the counter, leaning into my ear. His lips brush my skin, and his breath is hot as he details the plan to me. “How do you like it?”

“Love it.” I peck him on the mouth and drop my knees to the floor.

Landon takes out a spiked baseball bat out of his duffel bag. He spins it in his hand, right there for Lester to see. He’s already heard about our plans to violate him. This gruesome sight, however, makes it all the more real.

Naturally, the screaming starts. He wrenches against his restraints. His muscles spasm.

That night in the park, I had no chance of running away. I knew I didn’t. I prayed to survive this, survive him.

Escaping the hell he was putting me through? It was obvious I didn’t stand a chance.

That’s why I’m so fucking pleased that Lester knows it too.

Hope is cruel, true. It’s made crueler when it’s being ripped away from a person. Thing is, I don’t care about Lester’s hope. He doesn’t deserve a sliver of it. Not a moment where he’ll think, oh, I might not die such a horrible death .

Hell.

No.

“Here you go, pig.” Landon kicks Lester from beneath his stomach for the heck of it. His black eyes zoom in on mine. “Fuck, I can’t seem to stop insulting animals today.”

“They know you don’t mean it, baby.”

His lips hike to the side as he slams his boot on Lester’s back.

Once I’m sure the fucker won’t move, I go over to the spot behind him. I cut off the knot we made to bind his feet together, and his legs flop to the floor.

Since he’s aware of what’s coming to him, he snaps them closed as soon as they hit the ground. Too bad I’m there between them. My skin crawls from feeling any part of him on me. From watching his anus and being so close to him.

Now this?

“Lester, you’re disgusting.” The smell of pee reaches my nostrils a couple of seconds before I see it spreading from beneath his stomach.

“Repulsive.” The yellow liquid spreads outward, and Landon has to shift so it won’t reach his boot. “Where’s your self-control?”

Lester’s cries are muffled by both the gag and the floor.

“He has none,” I agree with Landon, my tone solemn. Dead serious.

“I see that.” Landon leans over to grab Lester’s hair, yanking on it, twisting his head so he’s facing us. “Moving on.”

Landon’s gaze darts at me. His brows lower, a storm brewing inside of him. If I listened hard enough, I could probably hear thunders crack inside his dark soul.

“Yes?” My grip on the handle of the knife is firm. I hold still, waiting for his instructions.

Although I have a very good idea of what they’ll be.

“This…” The spiked baseball bat. He flips his free palm and taps it three times. Lester’s legs squeeze me, and he weeps. Once upon a time, I wept too. “Will have to go into his ass. There’s just one small obstacle standing in the way between me and my plan.”

The threads that tie me to my sanity are growing looser. A few of them have snapped for sure. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be cracking up.

Landon doesn’t laugh. “Take care of that problem for me, love?”

“My pleasure.” Touching another man’s ass isn’t something I’ll do. Ever. But Landon asked so nicely. And it’s a necessity.

So…

“Mmmm! Mmmm!” Lester howls into the gag once I spread one butt cheek to the side.

Landon kicks his teeth in, and it lands him the response we’ve been looking for.

More.

Screams.

That, and blood coating the gag.

“Mmmm!”

“I’d tell you don’t scream or else I’d kill you,” Landon repeats one of the things this fucker told me the night he raped me. “No. I won’t say that. I quite enjoy watching you suffer. Talk about a 4D experience.”

“My love, you’re so funny.” I tilt my head up and pucker my lips, waiting for a kiss.

Leaning in without me having to say a word, he gives it to me. “Back to work. Get your hands dirty for me, princess. I want you filthy when I fuck you later.”

He doesn’t have to tell me twice. The second the serrated knife makes contact with the top of Lester’s asshole, his screams change. They become gurgled, strangled.

“He’s puking,” Landon broadcasts what I can’t see from back here. His attention is back on me a second later, his hand stroking my hair. “Good job. You’re doing so well. Yeah, now the bottom and sides.”

With his guidance and my sick sense of revenge, I cut open Lester’s rim. Blood gushes out and coats my fingers.

“Gaped and lubed.” I stand up, wiping my hands on my leggings. We’ll burn our clothes later. No evidence, no crime. “He’s ready for you.”

Landon groans, his need for me pours out of him. When he cuts his gaze to Lester’s face, he tsks.

“Knocked out.” He reaches behind me, swiping the syringe from the counter. “Let’s hope that pitstop was worth it.”

One kick and Lester’s on his side. Landon pushes the needle into his heart and presses the plunger until there’s no liquid left inside the syringe.

The second Lester comes back alive, he gasps for air.

By the scream that follows, it’s obvious he wishes he didn’t.

So?

Nothing.

With his boot, Landon flips Lester back on his stomach. He disposes of the syringe, grips my jaw possessively, and bends to give me a mind-numbing, soul-crushing kiss.

“My turn,” he whispers into my mouth, his forehead pressing against mine. “This isn’t the revenge you’re owed. For those hours you were with him by yourself. For screaming in your sleep. The haunting nightmares. The waking moments you’ve spent fearing someone might attack you. You deserve so much better than this.”

“This is more than I could’ve asked for.” Tears cascade down my cheeks. Happy tears. Relieved tears. “More than I could’ve ever hoped for. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

A stern nod, and he pushes away from me. I get out of his way, and Landon moves to stand between Lester’s legs.

Who’s still screaming, by the way.

“I, Landon Sterling, hereby sentence you, Lester Burkes, to this.” A nauseating sound of tearing and squelching rips through the air when Landon shoves the spiked bat inside Lester’s ass. “You’ve been found guilty of…”

He twists his head to the side as he forces his weapon of choice in and out of Lester. Looks at me. I revel at how red shines on every spike. How the blood coats the wood of the bat. There are brown chunks there, too, and pieces of his insides.

Sweet.

Butterflies accost my belly as I listen to his pain and misery.

The feeling of righteousness is a heady one.

I’m not as excited about hearing a recount of what I’d been through.

Giving him a small shake of my head, Landon continues. “A lot of unforgivable shit. The judge, jury, and executioner, AKA, me, are here to deliver your sentence.”

Lester’s cries for help have been silenced. Too much blood and way too much trauma have been the last straw, it seems.

“I love you.” Landon’s hand curls around my neck while he mutilates Lester’s corpse some more. “You’re so beautiful. So perfect. I need you, Regan. Need inside you.”

Turned on by his words and how glorious delivering justice feels for me, I spring to my feet.

“You want me?” I tease him.

He says nothing, just stars at me. While the bat stays in Lester’s ass.

“Come get me, then.” I sprint to the door. It’s not far, but my feet are bruised and I’m slower than I would’ve liked.

Landon makes it to me before my hand grips the door handle.

“Got you.” His hands are on me, stripping me of his T-shirt that I’m wearing.

I’m naked beneath it. I’m helpless against him as he keeps divesting me of my leggings with one hand while the other is on my hip, forcing me to stay put. He goes down to his knees, flips me, and spreads me open for him.

“Not fair,” I whimper as he shoves his face into my sex and licks. “You were supposed to chase me.”

His hum reverberates on my skin. My breath catches, and I slam my hands on the wall for balance. The sudden movement wrenches my bandages and one of them flies to the floor.

Pain doesn’t register when I’m so hot and desperate for Landon to defile me.

“I decide when I’m chasing you.” He sucks on my arousal before getting up to thrust me to the wall.

His bare chest is hot and rippling as he rushes to unbutton and lower the zipper on his jeans.

“I decide when I’m having you.” He’s deep inside me with just one shove. He tucks away my hair, his mouth open on my neck, teeth bare to bite me. “Or have you forgotten I’m free to use your body, however and when-fucking-ever I want?”

I’m going to come. It’s so good to have him inside me. “I remember.”

“So.” He wraps the back of my neck, holding me in place.

My cheek presses to the cool wall, and I watch him raptly. There’s not an ounce of dread in me as he takes me over and over again. I need him. I worship him.

Most of all, I let him.

“If I wish to fuck you, right here.” His thick cock stretches me. It hurts. It’s so deep that I scream. The pain doesn’t last as it morphs into sheer pleasure. “Right next to a dead body. With blood on our hands. With death everywhere. What are you going to do about it, little lamb?”

I’m only partly aware of Lester’s corpse until Landon mentioned it.

I’m fully aware of it now. Of all the blood and gore that lie behind us.

I’m a sick, twisted person to get off on it. But if Landon shares my sickness with me, then I don’t care. He’s my man, and he’s all that matters.

“Let you.” I have no other answer. This is the only one. “Let you.”

“Good girl.” The bite on my shoulder that follows his praise is the worst. The best.

He draws blood as he drives his cock harder and faster into me, and I can’t stand it. I can’t stop it. I come so violently that my vision blurs around the edges.

“You’re not going anywhere.” He squeezes my hips. It’s a warning. “You’re staying present for this. Going to give me another orgasm. That’s it. Yes. Eyes on me. Do I need to tell you what would happen if you don’t do as I say?”

His fingers dig deeper. His grip stings, burns. Demands. “No,” I answer. “No, but—”

Landon shuts me up by shocking me. He removes his hand from my hip, sliding it between my body and the wall. He rubs me, forcing me to come again, and I know—I just know —that when I do, it won’t feel like a relief. It’ll be torture.

I’m not wrong. I clench around his cock as another orgasm nearly destroys me.

“Landon.”

“Regan,” he answers, thickening inside me. Fucking me as deep as he would go. “Fuck, I’m coming. Take my cum. Take all of it. Every fucking drop.”

I whisper yes and please and more .

I cry and scream and moan.

I’m nothing and yet I’m everything all at once.

I’m mine. I’m Landon’s.

My man. My sanctuary. My home.