Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
“SMOTHER ME” BY KELASKA
LARK
“Little, naughty Nightingale…” a low voice filters through my mind, infiltrating my dream.
Wisps of darkness loosen their grip, but I don’t feel the usual heart-stopping terror that accompanies most of my nightmares. Instead, it’s like a warm caress, a parting kiss.
“Wake up, beautiful,” another voice cajoles, and I find my eyelids fluttering open, bright hazel eyes laughing back at me. “Good morning, sleeping beauty.”
“Argh. I need a piss,” I grumble, my voice low and husky. My nose wrinkles as I feel the dried evidence of Aeron’s visit last night, but when I look around, I can see that he’s not down here. “And a shower.”
“Anything else, princess?” Knox asks, his plush lips pulled up in a smirk. Dammit. He’s too fucking good-looking this early in the morning.
“Yeah. Some coffee, some food, oh, and my fucking freedom would be nice,” I deadpan, smiling sweetly at him. His brows dip, and the skin around his eyes tightens. I could swear that guilt flashes across his eyes, darkening their brightness.
“The last one I can’t help with,” he tells me, reaching up to loosen the clasps on my wrists as Jude bends down to unfasten my ankles.
I take a huge inhale of Knox’s scent; a mix of motor oil, cloves, and leather, and I have to forcibly stop my eyes from rolling back into my head at how fucking delicious it is. “But the others we can fulfill.”
“What?” I question, a little dazed and yes, maybe a smidge dick-struck. His smile widens when he sees my confusion, undoing the final clasp and catching me when I tumble forward.
“Let's get you upstairs, Little Bird,” he says with a chuckle before sweeping me up into his arms.
“Hey! No fair!” Jude complains, following closely behind as Knox strides from the room, heading towards the basement stairs. “I wanted to carry her!”
Despite my better judgment, my lips tilt. He looks edible this morning; his brightly-colored Hawaiian shirt is open, showcasing his muscled torso, ink, scars and all. He’s paired it with some hot pink chinos and rainbow sparkly DM’s that I secretly yearn for.
“You get to touch her for the rest of the day, so quit your bitching,” Knox says, and I straighten in his arms.
“Why? What’s happening today?” I ask, a mixture of excitement and trepidation causing butterflies to explode in my stomach.
“Naughty, Nightingale,” Jude chides, darting in front of Knox who curses, and bopping me on the nose. “That would ruin the surprise.”
We head up the stairs, emerging in the main living area which is empty. I chew my lips as I look around, not examining the sudden heaviness in my body too closely when I can’t see Aeron or Tarl.
“Don’t worry, Little Bird,” Knox murmurs, continuing across the floor to the other set of stairs that leads to the mezzanine level. “They’ll be back later. They’re just taking care of something.”
“Like kidnapping another innocent girl?”
His steps falter, and my body moves with a great sigh as he exhales like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. Or maybe I’m just super heavy.
“In some ways, I wish things were different,” he confesses, pausing at the bottom step and looking me straight in the eye. “But, I can’t say that I’m sorry about you being here. Because I’m not.”
“Me neither,” Jude adds, coming up next to us. He strokes some of my hair away from my face, his ocean-blue eyes fixed on me and his face soft as if he’s at peace after a long, lonely battle. “You were always meant to be ours, Nightingale.”
My heart pounds, and I swallow hard, looking from one set of eyes to another, seeing the truth of their conviction in their depths.
“Do you always break the things that belong to you?” I whisper, hardly daring to breathe as I wait for their answer.
“Yes.” They speak in unison, and a shiver runs along my skin. I can see that truth clearly too.
“There’s nothing more to break,” I tell them, pushing down the memories of the past few years that threaten to surface. The leering faces. The grasping hands.
“Then we shall mend you first, my broken bird,” Jude coos, placing a soft kiss on my temple. “And maybe you can mend us too.”
He steps away, striding upstairs with his feline grace, leaving me speechless and gaping like a fish. Did he suggest that I have power here?
“Come on, beautiful,” Knox says, carrying me up the stairs after Jude. “Let’s get you cleaned up and ready for the day.”
My head spins around these guys. They talk about breaking me, and then in the next sentence, they’re taking care of me.
And the worst part?
Both make my heart race, my nipples tighten, and my core ache to be filled by each of them.
Maybe I’m more broken than I thought.
They leave me to wash alone, Jude saying that he needs to prepare for what is coming. My heart thuds with both excitement and apprehension, my mind unable to admit that I might look forward to his attentions, whatever they may entail.
I know that regardless, I won’t be divulging anything until I get an assurance of Rook’s and my safety. It’s why I held out when the other Tailor cunts had me. My brother is the most important person in the world to me, and we need to get out of this life. Out of this Hell.
I luxuriate in the huge shower, letting the hot spray wash away the evidence of Aeron’s visit last night. That boy gives me the most whiplash of them all. One minute cold, and the next burning so hot that he feels like lava against my skin.
They all make me forget myself, especially Aeron when he looks at me like I’m his destruction, and possibly his salvation too. I find myself falling into their darkness more and more by the day. Craving it like the oxygen filling my lungs.
Shaking my head, I try to remember my goal; get out of here and run as far from the Soldiers and Tailors as possible. I’ll leave the fucking country if I need to, taking my brother away from all the ruin that awaits us and the pain that this cursed city dishes up on the daily.
“Grubs up, Little Bird,” Knox drawls, and I look up with water clinging to my lashes to find him leaning in the doorway, enormous arms folded across his chest. He’s wearing his usual white T-shirt, fitted jeans, and boots, and looks fucking edible as he stares at me with heat in his hazel eyes.
“Perv much?” I sass, stepping out of the shower. His eyes track the droplets that fall down my skin, and the shiver that cascades over me has absolutely nothing to do with the temperature in the room.
“I like to admire the pretty things that I own,” he replies in a deep voice, stalking towards me like a lion who has spotted his mate. I gulp, the sound audible, and his smirk widens.
“You can’t own a person, Knox,” I tell him, but my voice is a breathy whisper, not even convincing to my own ears.
“Sure you can, princess.”
I’m frozen as he approaches, not stopping him as he stands right in front of me. He’s so close that my hardened nipples brush his shirt, and I have to crane my neck to look him in the face. Tall, sexy bastard.
His large hand comes up, his fingers grasping my chin and tilting my head back further until my neck is strained at an awkward angle.
“I own every fucking inch of you, Little Bird,” he murmurs, dipping his head and licking the side of my throat, drinking the droplets of water from my skin. His other hand lands on my breast, grabbing it hard, and I gasp at the sharp pain.
“These gorgeous tits are mine.” He squeezes again, his fingers letting go and leaving an ache behind them as they skate down my side.
“This fucking stunning body is mine.” His fingers dig into my hip hard enough to bruise, and I whimper at the roughness of his touch.
At the possession. “And this sweet cunt?” he asks, and I hold my breath, waiting for his next move.
“That’s mine too. And you’re going to show Daddy just how much it belongs to him, aren’t you?
” A small squeak leaves my lips as he strokes my folds, and I watch the moment he discovers how wet I am for him, his grin turning feral.
“Such a good little fuck toy. So wet for Daddy,” he breathes out, shoving two fingers inside my heat with no warning.
A cry leaves my parted lips, and I don’t know if it’s more pleasure than pain. All I know is that I don’t want him to stop doing what I’m praying he’s about to do.
“Who owns this pussy, fuck toy?” he growls, his fingers buried to the knuckle but not giving me any friction. His other hand reaches up, fingers tangling and tightening in my hair, and water drips down my still-healing back from where he’s squeezing it out.
“Please,” I beg, my hands gripping his shirt as tears gather in the corners of my eyes as I plead for something that I never wanted before, but was forced upon me regardless. Only this time I want it. Desperately.
“Who owns this cunt?”
I bite my lip, my eyelids fluttering closed as I admit out loud what I don’t want to acknowledge in my mind.
“You do.”
“I do, what?” he probes further, and a rush of anger has my eyes snapping open and my lips pulling back to bare my teeth at him.
“You own my cunt, Daddy,” I snarl, my nostrils flaring.
“Yes, I fucking do.”
Suddenly, his fingers leave me empty, and I howl with rage at being left so unsatisfied.
Before I can curse him out, he spins me around, using his grip on my hair, and pushes me forward.
My arms fly out in front of me, my hands grabbing hold of the sink, and I watch in the mirror as he kicks my legs further apart.
Not letting go of my hair, his free hand fumbles around his crotch, and I hear the clink of his belt being undone. The sound makes my heart thud in my chest, my limbs trembling with the anticipation of having Knox’s beautiful cock inside me again.