Chapter 11
Are you allowed to eat sweets when you’ve sold your soul to Satan?
If only she knew how very real those words were. It did feel like he’d sold his soul to Satan a long time ago.
And then he’d been rescued by a dark prince, who now owned not only his soul but his body and mind too.
He wouldn’t say his heart.
He’d long since lost that organ.
But everything else belonged to Jared Bartolli.
North walked into his bedroom in Jared’s house and walked over to the bathroom. He’d have a quick shower and then go looking for Jared.
Someone grabbed hold of the back of his neck and slammed him against the wall.
He turned his face at the last second so that his cheek rather than his nose took the impact.
Although he need not have worried. At the last moment, the other person softened their trajectory so when his face smashed into the wall it didn’t shatter his cheekbone.
He would have fought back. Could easily have broken the hold.
But he’d known who it was from the first second that they’d touched him.
He deserved this. And so much more.
“Where have you been?” Jared whispered close to his ear. “And why do you smell like a woman?”
Shit.
Jared pressed him against the wall and grabbed both of his wrists, pinning them above his head.
North felt his body grow warmer. It had already been on a slow boil for some reason.
He didn’t know why.
Maybe it was in anticipation of coming back here. Of seeing Jared.
Of getting a reaction like this. One that meant he was on the edge of death.
He normally had supreme control over his body . . . but he’d been in a weird place since he’d kidnapped her.
It wasn’t Angie that was making his body react this way. No, it must be the thought of how Jared would react.
That had to be it.
“I’ve been doing a job.”
Jared shifted his wrists to one hand and wrapped his other hand around the front of North’s neck.
A clear threat.
Fuck. His cock was so hard by now that it was pressing against his pants.
“What sort of job would you be on that I didn’t authorize?”
“I do other jobs.”
Jared tightened his hand around North’s throat, cutting off his air slightly.
So. Fucking. Hot.
If he would just throw him on the bed and suck him off while continuing to deny his lungs air . . . well, North would die a happy man.
Of course nothing was ever that simple.
For one, Jared flipped him around to face him, loosening his hold on North’s throat so he could breathe once more.
That was no fun.
Second, Jared never usually went down on him. Only when he was extra good.
Which very rarely happened. North and good didn’t exactly go hand in hand.
Jared pushed on North’s shoulders until he was kneeling, staring up at him.
The other man grasped hold of his chin. “Tell me about this job.”
“I can’t tell you yet.”
“Yet?” Jared asked softly.
A shudder ran through North. Not that he let it show. Instead, he stared up at Jared passively.
“Yes, yet. I will tell you one day soon.”
“Why not now?” Jared asked in that same tone of voice. The one that sounded like he was a gentleman. As though he didn’t really care about what he was asking.
That was all a lie.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Hmm. Did you kiss someone else, North? A woman?”
“What? No!” North gaped up at him. His shock had his mask slipping slightly.
Jared raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised by North’s reaction.
Fuck. Shit.
“No? But you must have gotten close to be smelling like her.”
“Closer than I wanted,” he muttered. But there was a strange note in his voice.
Was he lying?
That feeling in his gut said he was. But normally he lied like he breathed. So why did he sound off? Feel off?
And why was that a lie? It wasn’t.
He didn’t want that brat.
She was going to be his gift to Jared.
And you’re just doing that out of the goodness of your heart?
Ha! Like you have a heart.
Yeah, he definitely wasn’t doing this because of that . . . it was because he wanted Jared to have whatever he desired.
So you’re being selfless.
“I feel like I’ve lost you,” Jared murmured, tightening his hold on North’s jaw. “That just won’t do, will it, boy?”
No. It wouldn’t.
His breath caught in his throat at the look on Jared’s face.
“I don’t like secrets between us, North.”
That was a bad thing since there were so many secrets that North didn’t know where to start with them all.
“I don’t mean about the past. We’ve all got them. But I don’t like you disappearing and not telling me where you are.”
“I’m only your sub in the bedroom, Jared,” North pointed out.
“Yes, I don’t like that either.”
North understood that. He knew that Jared would prefer that he was submissive to him all the time.
Angie could be. Hmm, how would she feel about that?
Who cared? She’d do what was necessary to keep Jared happy.
“I will tell you what’s going on soon,” North promised. “Just not yet.”
Jared ran his thumb gently over North’s jaw. That was almost worse than him grabbing him harshly.
It was like he was buttering him up for the next strike. Lulling him into a false sense of security.
“You know I’m going to make you pay for that. I’ll make you pay every day until you tell me.”
North sucked in a quiet, stealthy breath.
Part of him, it seemed, might have been hoping for that.
“If you’ve been cheating on me . . .” Jared said in a low voice.
Shit. Fuck.
He hadn’t thought that part through, had he? He never thought that Jared would believe that of him.
“I haven’t. I wouldn’t. I’m loyal to you. You know that I can’t just . . . that I don’t give myself to just anyone. Only you. There’s only ever been you, Jared.”
“That’s the most that I think I’ve ever heard you say about our relationship, boy.”
Relationship?
Shit.
“I know.”
“You must be worried about my reaction to you disappearing on me, not answering your phone, then returning with the scent of a woman on you,” Jared said.
“I’m not cheating on you. I only want you.”
Fuck.
Lie or truth? At this stage, North really wasn’t sure.
“You better tell me soon what it is that you’ve been up to, because until you do, you don’t get to come. And, boy, I will know if you break that rule. Trust me. And the punishment you’ll get for doing that will make this one seem mild. Understand me?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good. Now that we understand each other, strip and get back onto your knees. I don’t want to smell anyone else’s scent on you. Understand?”
“Yes, Sir.”
He stood and quickly stripped, his heart racing with excitement. When he got back onto his knees, his cock was already hard, the tip damp with pre-cum.
God.
This was going to suck.
Well, actually he was going to be the one sucking.
“I’m going to use your mouth. And then you’re going to shower and get me hard again so I can use your ass. Understand?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Satisfaction filled Jared’s face, and he drew down his pants and boxers, pushing the head of his cock between North’s lips.
Then he drove his dick into North’s mouth firmly and quickly, barely giving him a moment to catch his breath.
But this was partly a show of ownership.
Partly a punishment.
And fuck if he didn’t love every moment. North had never wanted to be owned by anyone until he’d met Jared.
North groaned, grasping hold of the base of his dick and squeezing it firmly to help calm himself down.
“Do not come, boy,” Jared told him, sounding breathless. “It’s been a while since I took my belt to your ass.”
Fuck yes, it had.
He might be going through withdrawals.
“You might like that, though. And this is punishment.”
Crap.
North hadn’t thought he’d be that easy to read.
Jared placed his hands on either side of North’s head, holding him still while he fucked his mouth with long, smooth strokes.
“Fuck, boy. Your mouth is heaven. It’s warm and wet and I’m close to coming.”
North knew what that felt like.
Fuck, did he know what that was like.
Jared let out a grunt as he pushed himself so deep into North’s mouth that he was choking him. But North knew the drill.
This wasn’t his first blow job.
He relaxed his throat and swallowed as best he could. Jared held him in place until his eyes were watering and the need to breathe was growing intense.
Then he drew back and North sucked in a breath, wiping his lips and eyes.
Jared cupped his chin, tilting his head back. There was a wicked grin on his face that made North’s heart leap.
“You’re such a naughty boy,” he told him. “A bad boy with a mouth of fucking fire. Not sure I’m going to be able to get it up any time soon in order to take your ass.”
Yeah.
North didn’t believe that for a moment.
Jared hated being kept in the dark.
He detested not knowing what was going on.
He hadn’t known that Beltran was coming for his home, the place where his people had lived in Colombia.
And it had cost him their lives.
And the only reason that Jared, North, and a handful of others had lived was because they weren’t there.
Otherwise they’d all be dead.
For a long time Jared had wondered if that would’ve been a better alternative.
Being dead might have been preferable to living with this fucking guilt and grief.
There had been women and children in his compound.
After seeing the destruction that bastard and his men had wreaked, the lives he’d taken, Jared had wanted revenge. But Beltran had gone to ground. He’d been impossible to find. And then Fergus had died and Jared had become the head of the family.
Cleaning house had taken longer than anticipated. Moving the family business away from some of the more unsavory aspects, like human trafficking, had taken even longer again.
He’d had to take out every family member who’d opposed him.
Jared was no stranger to killing.
But he never harmed women and children.
Not like Beltran. Not like Fergus.
Now, though, they’d gotten word that Beltran had resurfaced. There were rumors. Sightings.
Two of Jared’s guys, Gunnar and Emiliano, had stayed in Colombia, opening up a security business. But now they were devoting all of their time to following up on these rumors.