24. Reed
Chapter twenty-four
Reed
My consciousness wavers in and out for what feels like hours.
Mumbling that sounds like people talking underwater, a rocking motion beneath me that jostles me occasionally, and the distant hum of tires rolling over asphalt are the only indications that we’re moving.
I feel like I’m attempting to drag myself through molasses anytime I try to regain consciousness.
I stay in that state for so long that when I finally do become conscious; I think the arguing in my ears is a very vivid dream. I blink, but everything is blurry and out of focus.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Thalia?” Rowan hisses. At least, I think it’s him. It’s hard to tell with the lead in my body and the sudden nausea clouding my judgement.
“What?!” she asks incredulously.
And I must be delusional on the drugs, because I manage to utter what I’m thinking. “So beautiful…and strong.”
“Aw, thank you, baby,” Thalia coos.
A deep, guttural laugh reverberates through the air before Atlas speaks. “Oh, he’s fucking loopy. Reed, how many fingers am I holding up?”
I squint, the overhead lights blinding me as everything moves like I’m on a psychedelic. I try to focus on the burly man across from me, only to realize his fingers look like worms and the sudden urge to vomit strikes. My eyes screw shut as I swallow past the bile. “Pass.”
Atlas sniffs. “I was flipping you off, anyway.”
Prick.
“This isn’t some game!” Rowan bites loudly. “You drugged and kidnapped a doctor, Thalia!”
I lift a wobbly arm, but it doesn’t make it far as I slur. “I’m right…where I…want to be.”
“See!” Thalia says with a hint of a smile in her voice. “He doesn’t want to be saved.”
“BECAUSE YOU FUCKING DRUGGED HIM!”
“Whoa, whoa,” Atlas protests, jumping in the middle of his siblings, “ring any bells, Row? If my memory serves me correctly, didn’t you drug and kidnap a certain brunette?”
“Yes,” Rowan forces between his teeth. “But she became my wife.”
“And who’s saying Reed won’t become my husband?” Thalia asks, her voice taking on a defensive edge that’s turning me on far more than it should. “You and Atlas get to do fucked-up shit and still get your happily ever after. But what about me? What about what I want, Row?”
There’s a long pause that hangs heavy in the air. I almost slip back into my dream realm before the eldest brother sighs in resignation.
“I’m sorry. I just…worry about you. You hardly know this man, Thalia.” He says.
“And you knew Addison before you married her?” She retorts.
He lets out a fond chuckle. “I suppose not. I’m still learning new things about her every day.”
“And I want that,” Thalia breathes. “Mom did a lot of horrible stuff to us. She made me doubt who I was or what I wanted from life, but Reed is one of the few things I’m one hundred percent certain about.”
My chest warms.
She’s certain of me…
Fuck, I wish I wasn’t drugged right now. I would scoop her into my arms and kiss her until she forgot the pain of the past. Anything to erase the sadness that clings to her when she mentions her parents.
“And you’re sure you want to do this?” Rowan asks.
“Absolutely.”
“Then I can’t stop you,” he sighs. “Just don’t…hurt him too much, okay?”
The lightest, most adorable giggle I’ve ever heard bubbles from her. “Don’t you worry about him. He’s in good hands.”
I want to add to the conversation, but sleep is already ripping me away. My eyes blink so languidly that I forget they’re closed until I can’t find the strength to open them again.
My next bout of concussions is like someone dumped ice-cold water down my back and slapped me hard. My eyelids rip open as I gasp and my head shoots up. Pain throbs across my temples, making me tense up as I sway in my seated position.
Only to realize I can’t fucking move my arms.
My head whips down, and I stare in stunned silence at the rope that’s bound me tightly to the wooden chair beneath me. My suit jacket is gone, but I’m still dressed in my button-down and slacks.
I frown at the dirty concrete beneath me before peering to my left.
The walls that surround me are made of aged wooden planks, their surfaces warped and rotting.
Thin shafts of light peek through the gaps in the boards, cutting pale lines across the dusty interior.
The air smells of dirt and something citrusy—like a strong chemical cleaner.
But the most terrifying part is the workbenches.
They’re lined with sharp tools that look new and shiny against the withered interior. The closest one to me makes my pulse hammer at the array of metal. The blade of a saw in the corner reflects a small beam of light across the shed.
“You’re awake.”
My chin tilts up at the sound of Thalia’s voice as she emerges from the dark shadows across from me with something sharp in her hands. I squint at it, my blood running hot when I realize it’s a box cutter with a single angular blade.
She’s no longer dressed in her tattered gown from the gala.
My eyes rake greedily over her figure, soaking in every dip and luscious curve.
The black latex mini dress clings to her and connects by a garter.
Her breasts are pushed up, almost spilling out of the low neckline.
Heeled, knee-high boots click across the cement, and I catch the blood-red underside of her shoe.
My cock responds instantly, pulsing against the inside of my thigh as I soak in her pale skin and siren eyes.
“Do you know what Stockholm Syndrome is, Reed?” She teases with a small smile as she slides the side of the blade across her palm.
I blink at her question as danger and desire mix like gasoline and fire. “What?”
Fuck, it’s hard to focus with her dressed like that…
She saunters over to me before squeezing my cheeks between her fingers and leaning so close that our noses brush. “Pay attention, pet. Do you know what Stockholm Syndrome is?”
I swallow, nodding. “Yes.”
She hums approval deep in her throat. “Good. So I don’t have to explain what’s about to happen to you.”
My mouth is fucking watering as the scent of cherries washes over me. “W-what does that mean?”
“It means I’m going to take such good care of you. You won’t even have to think for yourself.”
That sounds utterly toxic. And intoxicating. I think I’m fucked in the head…
She holds up the box cutter, turning it over as a stray ray of light glints on the blade. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to do to you.”
My eyes flutter as she places the cutter at the base of my throat.
The sharp point bites into my flesh, and an involuntary sound, a moan mixed with a hiss, escapes me at the first incision.
Warmth trickles down my chest as she carves two swelling bumps that meet—a perfect heart.
My cock is so hard that it’s painful and I can feel the fresh bead of precum leaking from the tip.
My pulse screams in my ears as my hips shift to relieve some of the tension.
Thalia draws back with a smile as she observes her work. She lifts two fingers to my wound before collecting some of the blood on her digits and holding it up for me to see. “Are you going to be my good boy and watch me?”
“Yes,” I breathe raggedly.
She steps a little further back to the closest workbench. The whole time she hoists herself up, she never breaks eye contact with me. The intimacy we create is something unmatched, as everything else around us fades.
Once she’s settled on the table’s top, she uses her heel to position a short rolling stool beneath her to support her right foot. Her thighs fall apart and any other thought in my head completely evaporates. She props her other heel up on the edge of the table, opening herself wide to me.
Her pretty pussy is flushed and swollen, her juices coating her petals in glistening honey that makes me pull at my restraints.
I would give anything to bury my face in her right now…
“Remember,” she tuts as she moves her blood-soaked fingers closer to her entrance, “you’re watching, pet.”
She shoves my essence inside her, using it to lube her fingers as she slowly pumps them in and out.
Blood mixes with her arousal as her lips fall apart and a beautiful sound crests past them.
She fucks herself slow, deliberate, her hips rolling in time with the wet sounds of her pussy taking her fingers deeper.
The blood smears across her inner thighs, dark and glistening, and I can’t look away.
“That’s it,” she purrs, her voice rough with want. “Watch how pretty you make me.” Her free hand trails down her stomach, fingers circling her clit before pinching just hard enough to make her back arch. A whimper spills from her lips, and I groan, my cock aching against the restraints.
I want to touch her. I want to lick every drop of blood and cum from her skin.
She pulls her fingers free with a wet pop, holding them up between us. The mix of red and clear glistens under the dulled lighting of the workshop.
“Open,” she commands, and I obey without hesitation, my tongue darting out to lap at the mess. The taste of iron and salt floods my mouth, and I moan around her fingers, sucking them clean. Her pupils blow wide, her breath hitching.
“Fuck, Reed,” she gasps, pulling her hand away. “You’re too good at that.”
I smirk even as my body throbs with need. “Then let me do it properly.”
She laughs, low and throaty, before shaking her head.
“Not yet.” Her gaze flicks to the tools scattered across the workbench beside her.
My pulse spikes when she reaches for a small, curved blade.
The metal glints as she turns it over in her hand, her thumb brushing the edge just enough to draw a thin line of blood.
“You trust me?” she asks, tilting her head.
I swallow hard. “Always.”
She hums before setting the blade down and crawling toward me on the table. Her knees press against the edge, her pussy hovering just inches from my face. The heat radiating from her is maddening. “Then be a good boy and don’t move.”
Before I can respond, she grips the back of my head and grinds her cunt against my mouth.
I groan, my tongue immediately seeking out her clit, lapping at the slick mess between her thighs.
She tastes like sin and salt, and I devour her like a man starved.
Her fingers tangle in my hair, pulling just hard enough to make my scalp burn, and I fucking love it.
“Yes—just like that,” she moans, her hips rolling against my face. “Fuck, your tongue feels so good.”
I growl against her, the vibration making her shudder. My cock is painfully hard, trapped against the confines of my slacks, but I don’t care. All that matters is her—her taste, her scent, the way her thighs tremble around my head as she rides my face.
It’s all too much and I think I’m going to fucking cum just from eating her.
Until she pulls away suddenly, leaving me gasping, my chin slick with her arousal. “Not yet,” she pants, her chest heaving. “I want you to watch me come first.”
I whimper, my body straining against the restraints. “Thalia—”
“Shh.” She picks up the blade again, her eyes locked on mine as she drags the flat side down her chest, between her breasts, over her stomach.
The metal leaves a faint pink line in its wake over her chest, not enough to break skin, but enough to make my breath hitch.
She circles her nipple with the tip, teasing, before pressing just hard enough to pierce the latex of her dress.
I groan, my hips jerking uselessly. “Fuck, what are you doing to me?”
She smirks, bringing the blade to her mouth and licking the blood from the edge. “You like that, pet?” Her voice is a purr, her free hand sliding between her thighs again. “You like watching me play?”
“Yes,” I hiss, my cock throbbing. “Fuck, yes.”
She moans, her fingers working faster, her hips bucking against her hand.
The blade clatters to the table as she loses herself, her head falling back as she chases her pleasure.
I watch, mesmerized, as her body tenses, her back arching off the table as she comes with a broken cry.
Her juices spill over her fingers, dripping onto the wood beneath her, and I want nothing more than to lap it all up.
She collapses back, her chest heaving, her skin glistening with sweat. Her eyes meet mine, dark and hungry.
I’m trembling, my cock so hard it’s painful. “Please,” I beg, my voice raw. “Please let me—”
She cuts me off with a smirk. “Not yet, pet.” She swings her legs off the table, standing up to stretch like a cat. “But don’t worry. I’ll let you fuck me soon.” She winks. “Just not now.”
And with that, she turns on her heel, sauntering toward the door as if she didn’t just wreck me. Leaving me tied to the chair, my cock aching, my restraints burning, and my goddamn heart in her hands.