Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
Ox
I said goodbye to my Brother Pipe and hung up the phone. Kayla hadn’t returned from the parking lot yet and a seedling of concern was starting to bloom to life in my chest. I couldn’t see the truck from the window we were sitting near, so I rose and walked to the other side of the room where it should be visible and scanned the sea of cars. When I saw no sign of my girl, my skin began to prick with fear.
Stalking over to my vehicle, I prayed she’d be inside. My heart began to beat with an ominous tattoo. As soon as I arrived at our truck, my worst fears were confirmed. No Kayla. Only her phone. It was on the ground, like she’d dropped it during a struggle.
“Fuck!” I roared, dragging out my cell to call Pipe back. As soon as the man answered, I shouted, “He took her! That cocksucker, Ghost, took Kayla!”
Kayla
Desperate and out of options, I began to plead with my captor. Make him see that I was human, though I suspected very little of him was. “Please, Ghost. Don’t do this.”
His arctic green eyes searched mine. “Do what?”
“This!” I said, my gaze sweeping the room to indicate my captivity. “I’m not a stray dog you can snatch off the street and keep as a pet. I have a family. A career. A life to get back to. People are going to notice I’m missing.”
My impassioned plea did nothing to move the cold man’s stoic demeanor. “Baby,” he began, running his thumb over my lips as he spoke, “none of those things matter to you now that you’re with me. I’m your man, Kayla. I’m your focus. Not your career or your old life. You understand what I’m telling you?”
His fingers dug cruelly into my throat as he finished his statement. Before I could respond, his phone buzzed with a text. Ghost quickly scanned the message and his eyes heated to green embers.
“Damn it!” he swore, rereading the words to make sure he’d understood them correctly. Looking back at me, his lips thinned into a flat line. “I hate to do this, Babe, but I gotta go. My Prez needs to see me ASAP.”
I’m not sure what god or gods above were looking out for me at the moment, but I was grateful for the temporary reprieve from his presence. “Okay. Can I have my hands free while you’re gone? They’re starting to really hurt,” I pleaded in earnest, showing him the puffy redness that circled my wrists from rubbing against the frayed rope.
Ghost thought it over. “I might be able to do that,” he said, a twinkle in his jewel toned eyes. “But what are you willing to give me in return?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat before responding. “What do you want?”
A shadow of a dark thought streaked across the man’s cruel face. “Proof that you won’t try to escape.”
I was truly dumbfounded by that response. “How do I do that?”
“I’ve had to watch you with that giant gorilla for over a week now. His hands all over your body, touching what belongs to me!” he shouted, gripping my shoulders so tightly they ached. “Make me forget that, Kayla,” he ordered, like I could just hit the reset button and erase my interactions with Ox the same way I’d do a poorly written email. “I want you to kiss me. Show me that you’re mine,” he explained, his gaze dipping down to my breasts before they shot back up to my face. “Anything less, and you’re staying tied down until I get back.”
I had to think my options through carefully. On one hand, if I didn’t convince Ghost I wanted him, he’d keep me tied up. On the other hand, I’d have to let him kiss me. But as much as I hated the idea of the man’s mouth on mine, I hated the thought of sex with him even more. And that was going to happen as soon as he got back from his meeting with his Club President. One look at the dangerous biker told me as much. His face and eyes were burning with the fever of the unrequited. And, until he got what he wanted from me, that fever was only going to build until it found an outlet. Me and my body.
If I wanted a chance in Hell of getting free from this mess with my sanity intact, I needed my mobility. So, like it or not, I was going to have to pretend that I liked Ghost as if my life depended on it. Because it did.
I licked my lips. “I want to try and make this work. But I’m not sure it can.” My voice quivered as I presented him my wrists. “Not without a little trust.”
Ghost scanned my face for sincerity. And, for the most part, I was. I was sincerely hoping I could make my ruse work and get the hell out of this basement-dungeon before this freak-show took his obsession with me any further.
Extracting a knife that was clipped on his belt loop, Ghost brought the blade close to my cheek for emphasis. “If you try anything stupid, I’ll make you regret it.”
When I nodded my agreement, he lowered the blade and used it to saw through my restraints. Summoning my courage from the deepest well of my being, I raised my free hand and pushed the weapon away from me. Getting the message, Ghost holstered it. His hungry eyes consumed each of my movements, constantly reassessing for any signs of deceit.
Using my finger tips, I stroked his forehead and his eyes shuttered closed from my gentle touch. I needed to push on. Do more. Give him exactly what he wanted. Stalling wasn’t going to save me right now. Only action would.
Cupping the back of his head, I closed my eyes and the distance between us. Telling myself it was Ox in front of me, and not Ghost, I relaxed my posture and let our mouths join. The contact wasn’t unpleasant. It was the man himself that was.
Slanting my lips, I let nature slowly take its course. I used gentle pressure in the beginning, but slowly increased it as he became insistent on more. My tongue tentatively slipped out and caressed the seam of his mouth and Ghost practically ignited.
Dragging me onto his lap, the gruff biker spread my legs and made me straddle his thighs. Using his superior strength, Ghost ground his crotch against my apex and groaned. His erection knocked against the soft fabric outlining my sex and I tried not to shiver with disgust. Digging his fingers into my hair, he growled with pleasure at the direct contact, as his hands explored the forbidden landscape of my body. His kiss, becoming feral, grew brutal in intensity and I knew my lips would feel bruised in the morning.
Breathing heavy, Ghost demanded, “Unbuckle my jeans and stroke my cock. I need to feel your hands on me right now.”
My breath hitched and my body went rigid at the command. “You said you only wanted a kiss,” I reminded him, desperate to slow things down before I lost all semblance of control.
Ghost tightened his grip on my hair and crushed me to his chest so our faces were only an inch apart from one another. “I said I wanted you to show me that you’re mine. And my girl attends to my needs whenever I tell her to. No questions asked. Are you my girl or not, Kayla?”
Swallowing my fear, I nodded. “Yes, Ghost. I’m your girl.”
His face flashed with temporary rage. “Don’t call me that! Not you. Call me by my name. Call me Marshall.”
That mask of rage slipped for a moment, and I glimpsed a sadness I didn’t realize he was capable of. However, it was gone just as fast as it appeared. “Yes, Marshall,” I conceded, willing to say anything to not anger him further. “I’m your girl.”
Marshall’s rough hold on me relaxed a little. “That’s right. You are. Now I want your hands on my cock right now, or I’ll show you what I do to naughty girls who don’t listen.”
My skin began to crawl at the threat. With shaking hands, I tried to buy myself time by stroking up his jeans-covered thigh. When I reached the straining bulge of his crotch, I began to knead him through the cloth.
Ghost canted his hips into my touch, his green eyes glazed over with lust. “Unzip my pants and take my cock out. I need more. You’ve teased me long enough.”
This was it. Ghost had clearly decided his business with his Club President could wait. He was going to rape me here in this filthy basement, and there was nothing I could do about it.
Dragging in an unsteady breath, my mind began to spin with potential escape plans. Could I fake going for his zipper and really go for the knife on his belt? And if I did manage to get a hold of it, could I bring myself to use it? Stab this man to death? As much as I hated him, I wasn’t sure I’d have what it took to kill another human being. Especially with a weapon as intimate as a knife.
Luckily, the choice was taken out of my hands before I ever had to make it. Ghost’s phone began to buzz with a call. Seizing the moment, I crawled off his lap.
Grousing, Ghost reached into his pocket and extracted the device. Not bothering to greet the person on the other line, he snapped, “I’m coming. Just give me ten minutes and I’ll meet you at the Clubhouse.”
Ending the call, he moodily jammed his cell back into the deep pocket of his jeans. Scrubbing a hand down his clean shaven face, he got to his feet and adjusted his erection.
Silently assessing me for several seconds, Ghost finally said, “I’ve gotta go. But when I get back, I expect you to show me that you’re my girl. Do you understand?”
My heart fluttered madly at my unexpected escape. “Yes, Marshall.” It was the equivalent of brown nosing to call him by his name again, but I didn’t care. I’d do whatever it took to earn my freedom.
Ghost smiled, pleased that I’d followed his rules without further prompting. Squeezing his crotch, he gave it a rough tug through his jeans as he watched me squirm on the bed.
“When I get back, you’re going to please me in every way I want. And I’m going to shove this,” he fisted his cock, “in every hole in your body.”
Terrified, I dropped my gaze to my feet. “Yes, Marshall.”
“And, Kayla, if you try to leave this room,” Ghost warned with a malevolent grin, “you won’t like what happens. I’ve got some friends upstairs who won’t be as gentle with you as I am. And they’d just love to get their hands all over a girl who looks like you.”
As far as threats went, it was a good one. The fear of escaping this basement and getting gang raped by his buddies was just the sort of twisted thing I’m sure Ghost would encourage to keep a woman in line.
My heart sank at this warning, but I refused to give up on my goal. “Yes, Marshall. I understand.”
Shrugging into his coat, Ghost crooked his index finger and said, “Now come and give your man a kiss before he leaves for work.”