Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
Of course, there had been times in Steel’s life when he’d been scared.
Not just childish fears when he was small, but as an adult too.
When he was going through his rigorous special forces training, there had been times he’d been afraid he wasn't going to make it.
His first op had been full of fears and uncertainties, if he had what it took to survive in that world.
Then, in those hours and days after the experimental drugs were in his system, and he started feeling uncontrollable rage, followed by suicidal thoughts.
But none of that compared to the fear of sending Rose back to the man who had already spent most of her life torturing her.
“No,” he said simply.
“No, what?” Rose asked, her nose doing that adorable little confused scrunching thing.
“I don’t like that plan.”
“I don’t get you. You're being ridiculous.”
“You said that already,” he drawled, consumed with the need to drag her into his arms and reaffirm the fact that she was there, safe and sound, not in any danger.
Since his team already knew that he was obsessed with the little ladybug, and that they’d spent the beginning of the New Year with him buried deep inside her, Steel saw no reason not to do exactly that.
Squeaking as he hauled her out of her chair and onto his lap, Rose’s hands clutched at his shoulders.
Before she could ask anything, he crushed his mouth to hers, taking her lips in a bruising kiss.
She might be right, they might have brought her here to do exactly what Rose was suggesting, but things had changed.
Grabbing one of her breasts, he kneaded it firmly, making her moan, but it wasn't enough, he needed more, wanted to hear her scream his name. Claiming her backside, he began to rock her against his hard length, straining against his jeans, desperate to come out to play.
“Steel, we can't,” she said, panting when he tore his mouth from hers.
“Look around you, little ladybug.”
When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw that the guys had taken their breakfasts and left the room.
There was no point in reminding her that wherever they were in the house, Blade would hear her come, that Dragon would smell her arousal, she wasn't used to living in a home with people like them, but she’d get used to it.
She had to. Because he wasn't letting her go.
Needing to remind her of that, he rocked his hips up into her as she ground her center against him, making another moan tumble from her lips.
As much as he hated the very thought of Rose anywhere near her brother, he knew she was right. This was the best way to draw Ridge out, and once they knew where the cowardly scientist was hiding, they could finally kill him.
“Strip,” he said as he lifted Rose and set her on her feet beside him.
“We can't, the others—”
“Know better than to come in here right now,” he assured her.
Although her cheeks heated, Rose quickly began removing her clothes.
Watching her every move, desperate for glimpses of petal soft skin, Steel stood and crossed the room, pulling out a burner phone from the stash they kept in case they had need of them.
Then he returned to his chair, set the burner phone on the table, unzipped himself, and let his rock-hard length spring free.
“You want to do this, then we do it like this.”
Her pretty pink blush turned bright red, but she eyed his length with a hunger he knew she wouldn't be able to deny. “I can't call my brother with you inside me,” she said with an embarrassed giggle.
“Then you won't be calling him at all.” As far as he was concerned, it was as simple as that.
“But he’ll know I'm having sex.”
“Only way he’ll know is if you let him.”
“But—”
“No buts, little ladybug. That man tried to destroy you, tried to turn you into a monster in his own image, but you didn't let him. He tortured you, bruised your skin, damaged your mind, yet you stand before him now strong and beautiful, brave and determined. I want you to remember when you talk to him that you don’t belong to him anymore, he has no power over you. You're mine.”
“Actually, I'm my own, I belong to myself.” She huffed, but she drifted closer nonetheless.
“Mine,” he growled. Reaching for her, he picked her up and held her just above him, so his tip nestled against her entrance. “You told me you were mine, and I told you that you couldn’t take it back.”
“And what exactly do I get out of this?”
“Me,” Steel replied. It wasn't enough. If he could, he’d give her the entire world, but all he had to offer her was the broken pieces of his body, mind, and soul.
“You.” She said the word softly, almost reverently, and he sat there waiting for her to tell him that it wasn't enough, that she deserved more. But then she gifted him one of those precious smiles of hers and framed his face, her fingers curling into his short hair. “Mine.”
That was all he needed to hear. Steel guided her down to take him inside her, and she moaned, her head falling back as he stretched her.
If there was a way for him to physically mark her as his, he’d do it in a heartbeat.
He’d tattoo her name on his forehead if she wanted him to, so everybody would know who owned him.
“What do I say?” she asked as he pressed the phone into her hands.
“Whatever you think he’ll believe. You can do this, little ladybug, I have faith in you.”
Something soft filled her eyes, but they quickly rolled back in her head when he took one of her pebbled little nipples into his mouth, and she moaned, her chest thrusting forward seeking more.
More he was happy to give her. He wanted his woman drowning in pleasure, erasing the pain of the past a little each time she remembered how her body was supposed to be touched.
Maybe he wouldn't be so good at the touchy-feely kind of stuff, but he would burn the world to the ground for her, tear down hell itself, and give her more pleasure than she could handle.
Her gaze was locked on him as she dialed a number she must have known from childhood, because they didn't have a number for her brother.
Feasting on one of her breasts, he kept a bruising grip on her hip as he continued to rock his hips, thrusting into her, while the fingers of his other hand found her bud and played with it.
“R-Ridge,” she gasped a second later.
Since he could only hear her side of the conversation, he focused on what he was doing, reminding his girl that her brother had no power over her anymore.
That the years of pain were going to be replaced with endless years of pleasure.
Steel might not be able to give her the world, but he could give her unyielding devotion.
“I-I found a phone, and I took it and ran,” Rose said.
There was a ragged edge to her voice that he hadn't heard before, and he had to force the growl that wanted to break free and destroy anything that hurt her. Instead, he moved to her other breast, lavishing attention on it as he worked her bundle of nerves with tight circles.
“I wasn't sure if you still had this number,” Rose continued. “They took me because of you. They thought I knew where you were, thought that you would be willing to do a trade to get me back safely.”
The sound of laughter echoed through the phone, and since he couldn’t wrap his hands around Ridge Gardner’s neck and snap it, Steel scraped his teeth over her hard little nipple, drawing a moan from Rose’s lips as her internal muscles began to flutter around him.
“Th-they beat me, burned me, whipped me,” she mumbled into the phone. “I only escaped because they thought I was too weak to do anything. I know we don’t … don’t have much of a relationship … I know you don’t love me … but I'm scared and … I didn't have anyone else to call.”
A single tear slipped free, and he knew that was the truth. The damage her brother had inflicted on her psyche had Rose feeling unworthy of love and isolating herself. Same way he and his team did.
But she was worthy of everything, and he never wanted her to doubt that again.
Catching the tear on the tip of his tongue, Steel touched a kiss to the corner of her mouth, before moving back to suckle on one of her breasts.
“Will you … will you come for me?”
There was pain in her tone, and he knew it was because if this situation was real that she really would doubt if her brother would bother coming for her.
“I’m in the forest somewhere. I need to put more distance between me and them.
” She paused, listened for a moment. “No. I'm not turning the location features on yet. If I do it while I'm too close to them, I don’t trust you to come for me. You’ll leave me and try to find them. I heard bits and pieces of them talking when they thought I was unconscious. I know what you did to them, why you want them back, and why they want to kill you. Once you come for me, I’ll show you the way back to where they’re hiding. ”
That was his smart girl.
“Please, Ridge, come for me.”
Her brother must have told her he would because she tossed the phone onto the table like she couldn’t bear touching it a second longer.
“Make me come, now,” she ordered, clutching at his shoulders and meeting him thrust for thrust. There was a desperation to her, and he knew she was already close, teetering on the edge.
Sinking his teeth into her breast, he shoved her into the orgasm her body craved, and quickly followed her over the edge, when she screamed and her internal muscles clamped around him.
The marks on her breast felt like a claim, but they would fade.
Steel wondered if Rose would be willing to get his teeth marks tattooed on her breast as a permanent reminder of who she belonged to.
He was already going to get a rose with a ladybug sitting on one of its petals tattooed over his heart, because for better or worse, he belonged to Rose Gardner now.
January 1st
9:50 A.M.
That had to be the craziest thing she’d ever done.