Chapter 23
If there was one thing I missed about Donovan, and I mean, really missed, it would be the way he used his dick. From the way he would push it deep inside me, to the way he yanked it out, leaving a hole in me—an emptiness I craved to have filled back up.
He was slow with some strokes and fast with others.
It was heaven, or at least a form of. He was just playing around inside me as I laid out on the bed, taking every pleasure he knew how to provide my body with.
It was the reward for all the work, for the submission, and the peace I’d given him not to be a brat.
In submissive states like this, where I laid on the bed as a pillow princess, and accepted it all, I found there was real power to surrendering, to experiencing everything I’d waned since he left. To realize that I was actually right where I’d always wanted to be. His.
Covered in sweat, mostly his on my skin, I’d came already, and my cock was still hard, as if ready for a second round. Donovan was biting at the spots around my neck and shoulder that he knew would give him what he wanted—my moans.
The hollow feeling in my stomach when he pulled out and jerked his cock across me until I was covered in his cum, I didn’t know what to do but wrap my arms around him and pull him in close to get his body just as covered in cum and sweat as I was.
Our freshly washed bodies were once more requiring a soapy rub down.
Sex was the cherry on top of the stress and mental gymnastics I’d been doing with the upcoming job. Sex helped my brain connect the dots. It was the great bringer together. And after an orgasm that left my skin tingling, I knew what needed to be done. I knew how to kill two birds with one stone.
* * *
In my room, looking over the file with Donovan over a shoulder, wrapping arms around my waist and giving me a gentle—scruff tickling kiss against my neck. “I’m probably going to need you on standby,” I told him. “I need to be the one who goes in first.”
“You know I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said, still swaying with me in his arms. “I’m not trying to tell you how to do things, I’m just trying to think about the person who has the most experience and I think if I went in first—” I elbowed him slightly knowing I was getting his gut.
“Ok, fine, I’ll stay out of this. You’re taking charge. ”
“Good,” I said, “because I know what to do, in my own way, and style.”
“You don’t like my style?”
I loved his style, going into a place all guns blazing was fun to watch from afar, but my way wasn’t the same—even if he was my mentor—Master—and dominator. With all those good things came limits, and I was going to show him I could do things he thought I was too submissive and weak to do.
“Finley is going to be on the comms,” I told him. I loved Jinksy, but he was Donovan’s go-to guy. Finley had been in my ear before, and told me how to escape what might’ve been certain death.”
“Ok, that’s fine. What else?”
“No shooting, unless I shoot first,” I told him. “I’m being serious about that.”
He pulled out a paper from the file, there was a man’s face attached to the top of it with a paperclip. “Ok, and he’s the target?”
“Yup, he’s the head of the imports operation,” I said, the words sour in my mouth.
This wasn’t importing in the traditional sense, this was pulling people away from their families, forcing them into slave servitude, and putting them on the market for sale.
Bile rose in my throat which I gulped back to the burning sensation aching in my chest. “He’s the target.
We kill him, we free the shipment, and we destroy their base. I’ve got plans for an electrical fire.”
Donovan smiled at me. “You’ve thought a lot about this,” he said.
“Yeah, I’m trying to make a good impression,” I told him. “I’m trying to show them I don’t need any more of their stupid tests. You know, like asking me if I would rather be in the computer lab. Or becoming one of the fairies—assistants.”
He laughed, then bulled me in again around the waist. “I’m proud of you, actually. And for what it’s worth, they pull that shit to everyone who comes in needing training.”
“And you didn’t?”
“With my background, no. I’d worked for other agencies before that, a hired gun, or mercenary.
I came to them after working a job with someone else.
It wasn’t something I’d ever planned on doing, but they didn’t test me.
” He shrugged a little. “They did, actually, but only before realizing I wasn’t someone who was worth being tested. ”
I snorted. “Don’t inflate your ego.”
“Hey,” he growled in my ear, his hand slipping up my waist and chest to grip my neck. “You gotta give me respect. Remember who you belong to, baby.”
“Sorry, Daddy,” I said, rolling my chin around to his hand on my neck.
I liked the way it was placed, so soft, he wasn’t trying to do anything with it, other than touch me.
“But you’ve got to listen to me on this one.
I’m the Daddy.” I giggled, saying the words aloud were just funny.
I’d let him stick to being in control in our personal lives, but in this work, I might’ve liked the occasional switch—it was definitely in line with me trying to take charge with my bratty behavior.
After thirty minutes of giving Donovan the rundown, he seemed more confident in me—and then took the credit himself, since I’d learned directly from him.
“When does this take place?” he asked.
“Shipment of people come in two days, the plan is to get them then,” I said.
“Ok, and I didn’t see anything about getting their data,” he said.
I scoffed, going through all the papers on the bed, spread out. “Obviously, there’s something in there,” I said with a huff. “You were probably kissing my neck when I was telling you.”
“You can’t blame me,” he said. “Your neck smells so good. Is it my cologne?”
“No, it’s mine,” I said, collecting the paper. “Finley is going to provide a thumb drive, we insert it into their computer, it scrapes the data, and then we can begin the fire.”
He was kissing my neck once again, almost like he wasn’t listening—again. Another elbow was swiftly avoided. “You keep doing that and I’ll have to restrain you,” he said. “So, why don’t we hit these guys right now?”
“Because we want to make sure whoever they’ve got are safe and not diverted somewhere else,” I told him.
It was a part truth. The other part of the truth laid in who else was going to be there when we hit it.
I didn’t know how much everyone else knew, but I assumed I was working under the guise that the information wasn’t known.
“Makes sense,” he said. “And it’s just the two of us.”
“Well, me, but you’re tagging along and I can’t say no,” I giggled.
“Obviously, you can say no,” he said. During all our time together, he’d been so clear and sure to let me know about boundaries, mostly for the dynamic. “If you really think going into this place without backup is ok, then I support you, but I think it’s best if you had someone.”
I knew that was true, and I knew he would be coming with me, but being playful about it was something I couldn’t’ help. “Until then, I guess we get to plan on what we’re going to spend all your money on,” I said turning around in his arms. “I’m thinking, we could buy an island.”
“Ok, and what would do on this island?”
“Populate it,” I giggle-snorted in his face as he kissed me. “Make like a really big house, with a huge island garden, and nobody would ever get to us, because we’d have this huge area of water around us like one of those—thing—you know.”
“A moat,” he said, kissing me on the tip of my nose. “I love all these ideas, but island cost hundreds of millions, or the kind you want at least.”
“Ok, another idea.” I had a lot of them.
Ever since I was a kid, growing up in a broke household that scraped by with paycheck to paycheck, food banks and whatever family handouts my family could get.
That was all before I was given away—between family members and group homes.
The last I heard from my mom, she was panhandling on social media, using whatever advances in AI to fabricate doctor’s offices and broken down cars.
“Hey,” he whispered, “where did you just go?”
My mind was wicked sometimes, telling me I could go back to that family, show them I was someone now, someone with money, someone they’d want to pay attention to.
But nothing was worth their attention, to be used by them, sucked dry of every single cent and then thrown back to the world broke just like them.
“You were telling me about another idea,” he said.
I think he knew what my mind was doing—this wasn’t the first time it had infiltrated me in front of him, and basically controlled my actions.
“I think I actually remember you telling me about one idea. Vermont, I think, somewhere with trees, land, a whole lot of animals.”
Breaking out of it with a memory of visiting a farm-ranch in Vermont.
“Right, yeah. When I was at Whitespire, I went to this place, Wilde Ranch, I think it was called. I always thought it was such a fun name, so many puns they could’ve used on their website, but it was pretty much a standard place with chickens, goats, and I think an alpaca—or was it a llama. ”
“Ok, ok, so you want a farm now,” he laughed, rubbing his hands up and down my back, caressing me just like he knew I needed, especially when it came to being held. “We can do that. A farm. But maybe less of a farm that Conrad had.”
“Yeah, I can’t believe the police raided that place,” I grumbled.
When we first met, Donovan had been working with a guy named Conrad Deluce who was part of some maple syrup empire in Vermont.
It was also where I’d met Lachlan. He’d almost been kidnapped and trafficked like me.
Although Conrad was there saving us, I liked to attribute it to Donovan because he was smokin’ hot—he still is.
“We could buy it, I bet it’s going cheap,” he laughed.
“It’s a graveyard, right?” I shuddered. “I don’t want that place.”
“But super cheap,” he continued. “Although I bet it’s still seized. They’re probably not going to get rid of it for years. Until they’ve identified every body buried there.”
I didn’t want to think about that. I knew Conrad and Lachlan were somewhere warm, sipping cocktails and living the good life.
It’s what we could’ve been doing, except, I wanted revenge.
All the anger I’d contained from growing up, attending Whitespire College, and then being kidnapped—well, it was the tip of the iceberg that pushed me into this.
From this position, facing the TV screen, I saw the news. There was a larger investigation happening into the Ashford family. It was all subtitled on the muted TV. “Do you think they’re going to actually put him prison?”
He turned to see the screen. “No, they’re worth billions. I always thought Maya was strong for what she’d done, and she definitely needed us there as he reprotection. Could you imagine if we weren’t? Jinksy was running surveillance for drones and spotted several potential shooting.”
“I hope she’s ok,” I grumbled. I had so many questions for her, and I knew she wouldn’t—or couldn’t answer any of them. “Maybe we could find a house near her.”
“I doubt she’s living anywhere open enough for her to walk the street,” he said. “That family is going to get payback. The injunction they filed to stop the publication of the article didn’t go through. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re back on her protection detail.”
As much as I liked Maya, the last thing I wanted was to be back as a prisoner beside her. Although since she’d demanded all that food, I’d be ok with a weekend visit—and a lot more ring donuts. I’d never been hungry and horny at the same time.
“We’re not going back to that,” I said to him. “We can do so much more work here, and now.”
The screen replayed the arrest of Julian Ashford, and the banner subtitled talked about several boxes of information collected by the FBI.
It was wild to know we’d seen those boxes, but we hadn’t gone through a single one—which now felt like a shame.
But I didn’t know if I’d be able to handle it.
I certainly couldn’t handle what I’d heard from those two women we met.
“You think he’ll flip on his family?” I asked.
Donovan let out a single loud laugh. “They’d kill him. Family’s like that plug leaks. No ethical billionaires and all that.”
“A billion dollars,” I said, almost in disbelief. “What would you do with a billion dollars?”
He grabbed me in a hug and wrestled me to the ground at the foot of th bed. “No more of those games,” he said, tickling me. “You don’t want a billion dollar. I’d never want it. A couple million—or tens of millions, you know, a nice amount to never worry.”
Laid there, I hugged his waist with my legs like a koala around a branch. “And you said there was no retirement.”
He pressed his lips to my lips. “There isn’t,” he said with another kiss. “We’re playing pretend, Art. But what isn’t pretend, is this.” And another kiss. “You and me. I don’t care about money. If I did, I’d have been out of this game and a very rich man many years ago.”
“But money buys happiness,” I said, moving my head so that he kissed my cheek. “I know that’s true.”
“Money buys a lot of things,” he said. “But—it doesn’t buy love,” his voice turned quiet, raspy, a whisper.
I kissed him this time, squeezing his face against mine. It didn’t buy my love, but it was a nice bonus. “Love you,” I said with my lips pressed to his lips.