Chapter Seventeen
Romy
I s this a dream?
Another one of the mind tricks that forever plague my thoughts?
His lips, though soft and familiar, kiss me with a fierce desperation that feels new to me. It’s as if I’m more precious than air and he desperately must inhale every part of me.
He finally pulls away from our kiss and stares intensely at me. Caius Crowne isn’t the same man I knew. He’s different. Somehow more of a man. Deeper, more fragile, stronger, more beautiful. I could get lost in his dark, frantic eyes that can’t seem to get enough of inspecting every inch of me.
Caught in this moment with him makes it easy to forget the pain throbbing through every nerve ending in my body. Caius is the eye of a hurricane, calm and serene, but also somehow ferociously powerful and cataclysmic to those around us.
I whimper when he pulls away from me, already missing his touch. His features pinch as if he can physically feel the sharp pain in my chest at the loss of him. He pauses like he might come back to me, but then the cool, apathetic expression I’ve missed slides into place. With purpose, he starts opening drawers, searching for my clothes.
“Put this shirt on, love. I’m going to get something to clean you up with.”
I know he’s referring to the sticky cum smeared on my thighs. Shame coats me like a thick layer of paint, seeping into every pore and crevice. I don’t want the remnants of Seth on me. Only Caius.
The room around me blurs and I realize I’ve gone back to crying. I’m unsure how the tears can keep coming. Haven’t I cried them all out already?
He returns and gently guides me to lie flat on my back. While biting my lip so hard I can taste the metallic flavor of blood, I remain still as he cleans me between my thighs. It’s humiliating but necessary. I want Seth scoured from my flesh.
Once I’m no longer sitting in the leftovers of my abuse, Caius helps me with a comfortable pair of underwear. Then he pulls me to my feet. My knees wobble wildly and I’m forced to hold on to his firm shoulders as he dresses me. To be cared for with such love after the hell I’ve been through is almost too much.
I cling to his chest, unable to stay upright any longer. Luckily, my man is strong and knows what I need. He hooks an arm under my thighs and scoops me up, bridal style.
One day will he carry me like this to our wedding bed?
Another sob escapes me. “I don’t have the ring you got me. They took it.”
He nuzzles my sweaty hair. “I’ll get you another one. One for each finger. Some for your toes.”
For some reason, this makes a highly inappropriate laugh bubble out of me. I sound insane. He chuckles, the sound soft and deep. Since he rarely laughs, it makes him sound insane too.
We can be crazy together.
Caius carries me out of the bedroom I’ve been living in for six months and it’s such a freeing feeling. I don’t want anything from this house other than Kaitlyn.
The only real moments I’ve had were with Kaitlyn. My love for her isn’t something created, manipulated, and forced into my head.
Once outside, the summer heat settles on me like a sticky blanket. Honestly, I don’t care. Anything to be out of that house.
A dog barks from the trees. I crane my neck toward the sound. “Sunshine?”
“Your dog sounds the exact opposite of Sunshine,” Caius grumbles. “More like Thunder. Let’s just hope Nees still has his balls.”
“Nees has Kaitlyn?”
“Yes. She’s safe with him.”
Since I trust Caius, I relax. Sunshine won’t hurt Kaitlyn, or probably not even Nees for that matter, but I’m kind of glad she’s giving him hell. Especially since I don’t know this Nees guy.
I have so many questions floating around in my head right now. For one, I didn’t even know Caius had friends aside from his family. There’s so much we need to talk about. It’s exhausting just thinking about it.
“I called Cove,” a man calls out to us, stopping to curse at Sunshine. “He’s going to have the Suburban ready. I’ll drop you guys off with him and then grab the truck.”
“Mommy!” Kaitlyn screams.
“I’m here, baby,” I cry out. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
We finally reach them and Kaitlyn claws at the man holding her to reach for me. I stretch my hand to take hers. She immediately settles at my touch.
“He k-killed my daddy,” she says, sobbing. “Daddy is dead.”
My heart breaks for her. They jumbled her poor mind so badly. Will we ever get it sorted back out?
“Shhh,” I coo, “it’s okay. There are some things I have to tell you about Daddy. Bad things. Trust me that we are safe with these men, okay?”
She nods tearfully. “Okay, Mommy.”
Caius is stiff. I’m not sure if it’s because he realizes he’s the villain in her story or that she thinks I’m her mother. Either way, he doesn’t say a word. I kiss the side of his neck, silently promising him, too, that everything is going to be okay.
I don’t even consider lying to Kaitlyn. It’s not fair. I was lied to at her age and forced to believe I made up stories about the woman who abused me—my own mother. She deserves the truth. That we were taken captive. They not only took us, but they took our brains, thoughts, and emotions too. Her anger is directed in the wrong direction, but I’ll fix that once things settle.
“Am I too heavy?” I ask as we traipse through the woods.
Caius snorts. “Even if you were, no one would be able to pry you from my arms. I’m not letting you go, love.”
When he calls me love, it hits differently.
It feels right.
After what feels like an endless walk, we emerge from some trees and a small town is visible. I recognize the grocery store Seth would take me to. Near there is a dinky motel.
“Are we staying there?” I ask, yawning so hard my eyes water.
“No. We’re going back to Oklahoma.”
Oklahoma?
I’m guessing he knows Nees and Cove from there. I have so many questions, but I’m too tired to ask any of them.
“Okay, Cai.”
The SUV Nees mentioned waits by a curb, idling. A young man with wispy blond hair jumps out to open the door to the back for us. Caius sets me to my feet so I can climb into the vehicle. Kaitlyn clings to me as soon as I sit beside her. Both of us start to cry. Sunshine has wedged herself between our legs and the driver’s side seat, panting heavily, but far less anxious than earlier.
“I’m going to sit up front with Cove,” Caius tells me. “You two okay back here?”
I give him a brave nod. He steals a quick kiss and then closes the door. Seconds later, with Cove driving and Caius beside him, he takes off out of the parking lot.
“Won’t Dragon shit his pants if you disappear?” Caius asks Cove in a whispered voice.
“He’ll catch up to me. He always does.”
“The bad man has a dragon?” Kaitlyn whispers. “Is he scary?”
Since Caius doesn’t seem worried, I shake my head. “I think the dragon is Caius’s friend. He’s not a bad man, sweetheart.”
I know it’s going to take a lot to convince her otherwise. She rests her small hand on my belly and I can’t help but smile. Until I realize I haven’t felt the baby move in a day or two.
Please, God, don’t take her from me.
Hot tears streak down my cheeks. Is this nightmare over yet?
“Rest,” Caius says from up front. “We have a long drive ahead of us.”
With those words, I allow the exhaustion to take over, and I crash.
It’s nearly two in the morning, a whole day after our rescue, when we pull down a long, tree-lined driveway just outside of Tulsa. When Caius said we had a long drive, he was serious. Kaitlyn and I both slept most of it, only waking to grab food or go to the bathroom. And Cove wasn’t exaggerating when he said this Dragon guy would catch up to us. We were cruising down the highway a couple of hours after the rescue when someone flashed their lights behind us. Then a motorcycle drove right beside Cove’s window, yelling for him to pull over. It was dark and I was tired, so I didn’t see the guy, but Cove was literally snatched out of the SUV. Some guy named Halo took his place. Later, we saw Cove waving from the back of Dragon’s bike while Dragon flipped us off. For some reason, this made Halo cackle with glee.
“Home sweet home,” Halo says with a long yawn. “Prez said PG and Stormy got things set up at the clubhouse for you guys.”
Though no one has told me, I’m learning this group Caius has mixed himself up with are a biker gang. Tattooed, smoking, bearded, motorcycle riding muscled men. Like something straight out of a movie.
Since my life has been a wild ride thus far, it doesn’t even faze me.
Kaitlyn is conked out when we drive past a massive home and over to a building that must be the clubhouse. After we stop, Caius helps me out and then scoops her up. She curls against his chest, making my heart squeeze. I hope she can forgive him.
I’m too tired to pay much attention to the place, but I do notice a pool table and some arcade games as we pass. At least Kaitlyn will be entertained tomorrow when she gets up. I hope it’ll be enough to distract from the trauma.
Caius strides down a long hallway and steps into a room lit by a lamp. I’m amused when I enter. It’s obscenely decorated with football memorabilia. Knowing Caius and his sense of chic, modern style, he probably hates this room. Beside the king-sized bed is a single air mattress on the floor. Someone carefully made it up with soft pink blankets and tons of stuffed animals and Barbies.
I choke back tears.
Who are these people and why are they helping us?
Caius gently sets Kaitlyn down on the air mattress. She whimpers in her sleep, but Sunshine joins her, nestling herself up against her. I know she’ll sleep well with her best friend beside her.
“Let’s get you showered,” Caius says, voice soft. “We both need one.”
I follow him into an adjoining bathroom. While he starts the shower, I pull off the same clothes I’ve been wearing for twenty-four hours straight. I get a glimpse of my reflection and I immediately look away.
I’m horrifying to look at.
The bruise and burn on my face from the hot pan Seth struck me with haven’t gotten any prettier. In addition to that, I have bruises from head to toe, the worst of them on my ass, thighs, and hips. My wrist is scabbed over from the too-tight handcuff cutting into my flesh. The only thing I like seeing is my baby bump.
Please be okay, sweet pea.
Caius strips out of his clothes. He’d changed at a rest stop not long after we left Seth’s house since his clothes had blood splatters all over them. Seeing him naked, after all this time, makes me smile.
He’s gorgeous.
Lean muscles, smooth, tattooed chest and abdomen, thick, long cock, even while flaccid.
“Careful, love,” Caius growls. “Keep staring at my dick like it’s the most magical thing you’ve ever seen and you might inflate his ego and wake him up.”
He pulls me into the shower with him. The hot spray feels glorious on my aching muscles. We stand beneath it as I rest my cheek on his chest. He splays his hands on my sore ass. I could live in this moment.
We remain that way for a few more minutes and then Caius carefully washes me from head to toe. While on his knees, soaping me between my thighs, he kisses my stomach. My heart flutters with joy.
It’s right then I feel it.
A small nudge. A sign of life. A much-needed reassurance.
Everything is going to be okay.