Devil’s Den

Chapter One

“I’m really sorry. I could just spin the car around and take you home.”

Beth Hunter turned to her brother. “And then do what? Be on the run for the rest of our lives?”

“We could make it.”

“No. We couldn’t make it, me , yes, you, absolutely not.” She was trying to contain her anger, but with every passing second of Ben talking, she found that her anger was off the charts. She was so angry at him. She was positively fuming, and if he kept talking about running away from his responsibility, she was going to lose it.

“Come on, Beth, don’t be like that.”

“Don’t be like that? Don’t be like that? Are you serious right now?” She couldn’t help it and reached over, thumping him in the arm. “You’re acting exactly like Mom and Dad. You know the very reason we left them—to start a new life for ourselves—and what do you do? Oh, that’s right, you go and shit on none other than Rome Hayes.” She pressed her lips together, afraid her words might bring out the Devil himself.

She and Ben were no strangers to men like Rome. Her parents had been drug users, robbers, anything they could do that meant they didn’t have to keep a nine-to-five job, and the money came easy.

Beth had lost count of the number of times she had to call an ambulance as her parents were ODing on whatever drug they’d been able to get their hands on. It got so bad that to make the drugs go further, their parents started to think they were scientists. Ben hadn’t turned to drugs, but he had tried to steal them from Rome. She didn’t know all the finer details, but it had cost her freedom for the next month.

Rome had turned up at their apartment door with a very beat-up Ben hanging off his arm. The moment she looked at her brother, she had known this wasn’t going to end well.

She had a choice—her brother paid the price and now worked for Rome, or she offered herself as Rome’s property. Beth wasn’t stupid. This wasn’t a month where she got the pleasure of cleaning his homes, as that is what she did as a full-time occupation. She cleaned for a living and she was damn good at it as well.

It didn’t make her amazing money, but it helped pay the bills, and it had started to bring her a life she could get used to. No crazy knocks at odd hours through the night. Food that didn’t have to be stolen. There were no worries about who her parents were going to come home with. She had started this life with her brother Ben, so they could finally be free of their parents.

Yet, she’d gotten a job and started to act like the adult she was, whereas her brother, who was older than her, seemed to be going off the rails. She just didn’t get it. When they were with their parents, he seemed put together and in control. Now, he was like a guy she didn’t know.

They had left their parents five years ago. It had been a big change for them both, but one Beth had needed.

Ben had come to her after she’d graduated high school, and he’d been worried. The guys who’d been coming around were staring at her, and he’d not liked it. To protect her, they had packed up what little they owned, got into his beat-up car, and drove. They hadn’t stopped until they had gotten far enough away from their parents, that any risk of them finding Ben and Beth was gone. Once in the big city, it had taken Beth about a month to find work. During that time, they had both saved up enough to rent an apartment.

She had thought Ben had gotten a job, but one day she came home to find him having sex on their secondhand sofa. She didn’t even know who the woman was, and she didn’t have any details. Since then, their relationship had gone downhill, until yesterday, when she had the choice to save her brother or let him suffer the consequences of his actions.

Beth reached over and slapped him. It wasn’t hard. While she was twenty-three years old, he was twenty-five and should have known better. He should be the one with his shit together, not her. Instead, he’d given her no choice but to take care of him, and she was angered by it. Reaching out, she slapped him again, then again.

“Don’t you dare say shit like that. How dare you? Don’t be like that. Why don’t you stop being like Mom and Dad, huh? Why don’t you be the way you promised me all those years ago when we left?” She wanted to kick him, scream at him, lose her shit, but instead, she pulled away, grabbing the handle. “You know what, go home, find a job, and I don’t know, think about the fact that according to you, we were leaving our parents because of the guys who were giving me the odd stares you didn’t like, and think about the fact that for the next month, I’m going to be having sex to keep you alive.” She climbed out of the car. “I swear, Ben, you step out of line, you better run and hide because if not, I will find you and kick your ass, worse than anything you’ve ever felt by Rome fucking Hayes.” With that, she slammed the car door and spun around, to see the man himself at his front door.

One of his hands was pushed into the pocket of his grey pants. The white shirt looked very crisp and clean, not like it could have been worn for the past day. It was late, it was dark, and the light cast a glow on the porch.

She held onto her bag and stared at the man who’d given her an ultimatum. There had been no time in his threat against her brother to warn him that she was a virgin. Through school, she’d been so focused on studying that boys didn’t even enter the equation. It also didn’t help that her parents had such bad reputations. She tried to avoid the guys who only wanted to use her, which turned out to be a lot of them.

“Hello,” she said.

“You always speak to your brother that way?” Rome asked.

“Not usually, but I think after what he has done, he deserves it.” She stepped up toward him. “Would you rather I not?” She wasn’t going to call Ben and apologize. He was her brother, and he’d all but sold her body to keep his ass out of trouble. There was no getting away from guys like Rome Hayes.

He had eyes and ears everywhere. Cops were probably doing his bidding this very second, and they were certainly paid to look the other way. She’d seen it all before with her parents and some of the men they had worked for.

She was so angry at Ben. His claim for them to start a new life was bullshit. She knew it wasn’t exactly bullshit but she should have seen the path he’d been going down. No job, shady friends, and she hated to admit it, but rent money had also begun to go missing.

When this was over, she was going to move out.

She didn’t have a lot of possessions, but she refused to live her life in fear. This was supposed to be their fresh start away from all the crap, not about finding new stuff to be afraid of. Ben was not going to turn into her parents.

“No, it’s nice to know you’ve got a backbone. For a second last night, I didn’t think you had it in you. You seemed a little too nice.”

Beth took a deep breath.

Nice, sweet, kind, gullible—she had heard it all before, and it did in fact suck. It didn’t, to those who appreciated those qualities. For those who didn’t, she hated as they took advantage of her, like her brother.

Just because she was nice and kind, and tried not to cause conflict, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t beat the shit out of her brother for what he had done.

She was about to lose her virginity to a man she didn’t know, who also happened to be some kind of crime lord, or king, or boss, or whatever they called men in charge in the dark underbelly of the city. His home was a very clear indication of the fact he had power. The guards a second one.

Rome Hayes was not a man to mess with, and her brother attempted to steal from him. She had to pay the price, otherwise her brother would be dead.

****

Rome moved back, giving Beth just enough room to slide right inside. The scent of strawberry assailed him, and it was the same scent that had been driving him crazy all day long. From the moment he saw her last night, he’d not been able to get her out of his mind.

She stepped into his home, and he closed and locked the door. There was no need for pleasantries. He’d been clear last night about what he wanted from Beth.

He was used to getting what he wanted, but with her, he had to be a little more persuasive. He’d already hurt her brother, and he did have every intention of making him suffer, but staring at Beth, he’d known what he wanted.

She’d answered the apartment door dressed in a pair of sweatpants, and a too-large t-shirt that had been torn at the neck, and hung off her arm. Her blonde curls had been pinned on top of her head, and she looked like she had just woken up.

To him, she’d looked like she had just been fucked. She’d stared at him, and he’d sensed her panic at what her brother had done. That panic had soon changed to anger.

In a split-second, he’d been intent on Ben packing up his shit, and he was going to make him work. The moment he looked at Beth, he’d wanted her. Rather than do the chasing, he’d decided to offer her a deal. For the next month, she was going to live with him, and be at his disposal to do with as he pleased.

Since she had agreed, admittedly reluctantly, he’d called up one of his guys on the police force and asked him to dig up as much information on Beth and Ben Hunter as soon as possible.

Ben was a waster. For the last five years, he had bounced from job to job, never quite fitting in. Beth, on the other hand, had started work at a very respected cleaning agency, and the reviews of her work were exemplary. There was a small incident where she’d been accused of stealing, but Beth had fought the allegation and the thief had turned out to be one of the nannies working for this wealthy couple.

Beth had received a small compensation payout, which she immediately put into savings, as well as an apology. She’d also stopped cleaning their home, and from what he’d learned, the couple struggled to get anyone to work for them.

She was a model citizen. Her parents were not. They were drunks, drug addicts with an addiction to not working for what they got. They wanted the easy life. It appeared that away from his parents, Ben was the same. He wondered if Beth even knew the reason he had his shit together back home for them, was the fact he worked for one of the biggest crooks in town.

Ben failed to make his life work here, with his sister. He’d never been a nine-to-five kind of guy. He worked harder than his parents, but he also wanted bigger payoffs for less demanding jobs.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, he reached out for Beth’s bag. She gave it to him, but he saw how nervous she was. Her hands shook as she handed him the bag. He rested it on his shoulder and took the stairs, knowing she would follow him.

Her feet clicked on the hard wood of the stairs, as she followed him up. He’d gotten one of his staff to make up a spare bedroom for Beth to stay in. He had every intention of keeping this strictly about fucking; however, now that she was here, he didn’t want to keep her at arm’s length.

Going to his bedroom, he opened the door and stepped inside.

Tossing her bag into the closet, he spun around toward her. “You can put your shit up later.” He moved toward the bed. “Now, I want to see what I paid for.”

“Paid for?” she asked.

“Strip.”

Beth’s eyes went wide.

He wasn’t a patient man, and seeing as he’d spent most of the day with a raging arousal, he was going to see what now belonged to him.

Women were forever at his disposal. All he ever needed to do was click his fingers and one would be there, on her knees, ready to suck his cock. Beth was different. She looked so nervous, and he couldn’t deny it, that nervousness was super cute.

He wanted to take her right then and there. To bend her over something and fuck her raw. In that moment, he wondered how many men had gotten the pleasure of fucking her sweet cunt. There was no information about her love life; the cop had said there was nothing available. No ex-boyfriends or ex-fiancés lurking. He found that very hard to believe.

Beth was a beauty, with long blonde hair that clearly held a natural curl, and it wasn’t fake either. Full, lush tits she tried to hide in clothes that were too large for her. A small waist, but full hips and thighs. She was all woman.

Some men might consider her on the large side, but to him she was perfect. She was all curves and softness, and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on her. His cock was rock-hard.

“Ugh, do you want me to clean anything?” she asked.

“Take your clothes off, and I don’t like giving an instruction twice, Beth,” he said.

She took a deep breath, and he watched as she fidgeted with her shirt. Again, it was two sizes larger than what she needed.

He waited, anticipating, and then she lifted the shirt right over her head and showed off the fact her large tits were confined in a bra that was at least one size too small, which he didn’t like. She needed those beauties to flourish.

The jeans were next, and as he watched her start to wriggle out of them, he realized her clothes didn’t fit her. He had a feeling she’d shopped for the nearest size she could find in secondhand stores. The jeans joined the shirt, and then she stood in a set of lingerie that should have seen the trash rather than her beautiful body.

Beth stood, one leg seeming to curl over the other as if she was attempting to hide her pussy.

“All of it,” he said.

Her face was bright red. It was like she hadn’t been naked in front of a guy before.

Watching her, Rome couldn’t help but feel aroused. There was something quite sexy about her movements, as she worked her bra off, followed by her panties.

She also attempted to hide her beautiful body, but Rome wasn’t having any of that. Getting to his feet, he walked around her and then moved her toward one of the many mirrors he had in his bedroom. Beth’s gaze was averted, and he placed a hand beneath her chin and forced her to look at her reflection.

“Look how beautiful you are,” he said.

She gazed directly at him.

He kept one hand on her chin, and with the other he started at her neck and stroked down her body, going toward her breasts. They were full and ripe, ready to be sucked, but instead, he went straight between her thighs, stroking over her clit.

He found her just a little wet, not soaking, but he had a way of handling that. Stroking around the fine hairs of her pussy, he teased her, watching her reaction in the mirror. She closed her eyes, and her head tilted back against his shoulder.

Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip, and she gasped, arching up, until she finally released a moan as he stroked right across her clit. The moan was so subtle, and then another spilled from her lips.

“Now, you be a good little girl, and I’m going to make sure this whole month is worth your while. Deny me, Beth, make this difficult, and I will make sure you regret giving yourself to me instead of your brother.” He let her go, feeling the moisture on the tips of his fingers. He stepped toward the door.

“Dinner will be served in ten minutes. Get yourself together, and I want you in my dining room, naked,” he said.

He didn’t make any other demands but stepped toward his bedroom door, and as he did, he put out the order that all men were to leave his premises immediately.

They would do as he instructed. Beth belonged to him. He wasn’t very good at sharing, and there was no way he would let anyone else hear the sweetness of her moans.