53. Anna
CHAPTER 53
Anna
I lay in a wet spot in the scratchy fabric of the motel bed. Ohio was a flat and boring land, but it had a ton of cheap places to stay, surrounded by truck stops and fast food. After getting dinner at a shockingly busy Burger King, Reign spread me with his cock until I couldn’t take it anymore.
His hands stroked lazy circles into my back as he cuddled me in bed. The news played on the staticky television, illuminating his features, making him even more gorgeous.
“Law enforcement continues their search for the missing Seattle woman. The twenty seven year old was last seen outside of a bar in the city. Authorities urge those to be on the lookout for the missing persons.”
A picture of her flashed across the screen. Whoever she was, her disappearance made national news. We’d been hearing it on every station, flyers at every rest stop.
The world was terrifying.
“I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to you,” he murmured, reaching for the remote.
“Nothing ever will,” I reassured him. “I have you. ”
“Yeah.” He snorted. “I wonder if that’s what she said before she was snatched up.” He nodded his head towards the set. Dark eyes and blonde curls were still plastered in the corner of the screen, her smile didn’t quite meet her eyes. She looked haunted.
Reign grunted, knuckles white gripping the remote as he changed the channel to Nick at Night, Friends played quietly, banishing the depressing news. We watched two episodes in silence; the sound of the rickety heating unit all we heard.
“You deserve more than this cheap ass motel,” Reign’s voice rumbled against my ear that rested on his chest.
“I’m happy anywhere with you.” I squeezed his lean body closer to mine. Where I was soft, he was hard and toned. A physique I once longed for before Reign made me feel beautiful in my own skin.
His lips caressed my forehead right where it met my hairline. “We should get some sleep. Tomorrow we will be there.” He didn’t hold the same coldness as he did before. Every part of me hoped he wasn’t angry with me anymore.
“Thank you for taking me.”
He pulled the top sheet and comforter over us. The heat from the noisy unit in the corner kicked on, blowing out hot air that made my skin stick to his despite the chill of late February outside.
“Anything for you.” He turned us on our sides, allowing me to play the little spoon as darkness encased us.
I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but I was ready for the finality of sealing that part of my life behind me for good. The cataclysmic chapter that I was ready to move on from. Incinerate the foul manuscript, reducing it to ash. I don’t know what gave me the impression that I was mentally ready to face my abusive father, but with Reign by my side, I felt safe enough to do so. I was tired of looking over my shoulder. Tired of being the girl with the sob story .
Tired of living in fear.
Watching Reign kill for me, even senselessly, should’ve crippled me where I stood. It should’ve sent me reeling with guilt. But it didn’t. He gave me the power of choice, something I never had. Leaving me wondering what choice I’d make if he told me he wanted to place my abhorrent father in his grave.
I t was still dark out when we checked out of the grimy motel. Reign and I showered together to conserve hot water, a plan that backfired as it instantly turned tepid before he even stepped under the spray. He made sure my body stayed warm by kissing and sucking every inch of me. I could still feel his mouth on my chest, taking my nipple into his mouth.
I could still feel his cum that slicked my pussy.
The uneventful drive lulled me into a faint sleep as the radio turned staticky and our cell phone signals faded.
Home sweet home.
The terrain changed to the familiar one that reminded me of seclusion and loneliness. Cattle and horses lined the fields that seemed to go on for miles as we passed the tiny sign for Lawrenceville. My hometown was just past it. Whispering Pines was nestled in the backwoods hills of Pennsylvania, homing the Disciples of Rapture. The cult that made me. The cult that forever changed me.
“We’re getting close,” Reign stated as he pulled onto a road that wasn’t really a road. More like a flattened out strip where grass refused to grow anymore. “We stand out like a sore thumb here.”
He was right. His car was beautiful and no one around here would ever drive something like this. I wracked my brain about how to proceed. “Maybe we could park it somewhere and head off on foot?” My father’s farmhouse was just down another couple miles.
“Where would I leave it?” His perplexity was warranted. I had no idea where we could stow the vehicle away. There was nothing but open land; the houses and dilapidated farms showed no sign of life.
Total abandonment.
“It looks deserted,” I told him as his blue eyes searched the lay of the land. He nodded in agreement. “I guess you could park here?” I questioned as we came to a bend in the road shrouded in foliage and shrubs. His car wouldn’t be completely hidden, but it would be good enough for a night.
“As you wish, my vixen.”
He maneuvered the vehicle so it sat parked in the thicket of brush. Cutting the engine, we got out and made our way down to the farmhouse my father claimed he still stayed in.
Flashbacks of the shed I’d spent many nights in flooded through my mind. The terrifying realization of being back here was sinking into my bones down to the marrow. A wave of fear shook my core as we walked. I didn’t realize I was trembling like a leaf in the wind until Reign shrugged off his jacket, draping it over my shoulders, and swaddled me like an infant.
He kissed the top of my head. “Are you okay, my sweet vixen?”
I simply nodded. Unsure of how to articulate the emotions swirling inside of me.
“We can turn and go back if you want,” he offered. I knew that’s what he’d prefer.
But I had to do this. I had to end this .
The miles stretched by; each step burned my quads as they begged for rest. Willing my body to move, we persisted until the roof of the neglected farmhouse came into view. The shabby shed poked its ugly head just past that.
Nausea gripped my stomach in a firm grasp refusing to relent. I sucked in several breaths pleading for the cool air to soothe my stomach. My heart kicked up in my chest, making the task of calming down impossible. Reign’s powerful presence was the only thing, save for delusion, that convinced me this was still a good idea.
“Is that it?”
Tension hung thick in the air. “Yeah.” I nodded. “The shed is where he’d send me when I wasn't clean.”
He just grunted. His fist balled at his sides, and the pulse point in his throat potently pounded against the skin that caged it. Barely traceable, but I could’ve sworn I'd seen movement behind the cracked windows of the aged farmhouse.
“I should go alone from here.”
Reign’s head whipped to me leaving his blonde hair sticking to his face as it caught up to the motion. “No fucking way,” he snarled. His sharp blue eyes narrowed at me and he gripped my shoulders with undeniable force. “I’ve gone along with this charade to the very best of my ability, but you’ve lost your precious little mind if you think I’m letting you go alone.”
I shook in his grasp. Fear partially stunned me, but the part that truly planted me in his gaze was the compunction that flowed through my bloodstream, being this close to the place that subjected me to so much abuse.
“There’s a bulkhead basement around the back of the house. Back when I lived here, he never kept it locked. I’d crawl in there and hide when it stormed and leaked through the shed. Father never knew.” The words rushed out of my mouth in a last ditch attempt to calm the raging storm I saw brewing behind Reign’s captivating eyes.
It receded only slightly. “How would that help me keep you safe?” His voice was a growl from the pit of his sternum.
I squeezed my eyes shut, begging my mind to picture the layout. To remember anything. “There’s a tiny crawl space that was cut out.” The picture in my mind became clearer. “I’m not sure if you could fit through it but it leads through the dining space walls. Whoever built it, botched sealing it up completely, so you can enter the house through it.”
His hold on me loosened further. “And I could get to you?” His voice went from steel anger to brittle concern that cracked my heart with every beat.
Reign was doing this because he loved me. Because I begged him to take me. Because I manipulated him, teased him with sexual favors, asking him to do this for me while his cock warmed inside my body, knowing he wasn’t in any position to tell me no.
Knowing he hated to tell me no.
Guilt licked my veins as I gazed into his terror filled eyes.
“Yes,” I assured him. “You could get to me immediately. You’ll be able to hear everything.”
His hand skated up to my cheeks, touching me softly. Wiping away tears I didn’t know were falling. “If he touches you,” he gripped the underside of my jaw, his focus turning malicious. “I’ll fucking butcher him.”
I nodded.
He kissed me with the fierce intensity of a scorned lover. His lips instilled all the unspoken words upon me as his tongue swept through my mouth. Reign’s forehead rested on mine.
“I love you, Anna.”
My heart leaped in my chest. “I—” I started the words, but Reign silenced me with a featherlight kiss.
“Please.” His eyes were closed and the cold ricocheted through his body as the wind picked up. “Don’t say it yet.”
“But I—” He shushed me again with his affectionate kiss.
“Now go.” He ushered me forward with a gentle nudge. “Before I change my fucking mind.”
My feet carried me forward, already knowing the path to get to the farmhouse. I turned over my shoulder to steal a glance at Reign. My heart throbbed in my chest. My hands shook at my sides. I wanted to meet his gaze one last time, but he was gone. Nothing but the sway of the trees that kept Reign’s location hidden from me.
I took a deep breath and pushed forward. Each step flounced with dismay as the sinking porch came into view. The sideways storm door rested still, barely hanging on the hinges as the creaking of the stairs shrieked in the silence of the rural plains.
Wind chimes that hung on the shed sang their melancholic song of despair as I lifted a finger to the rusted door. A dainty knock barely audible to my own ears sounded.
The whistling breeze kicked up, pushing tendrils of my hair over my shoulder. I felt the loss of Reign by my side, panic all of a sudden coursed through my bloodstream, soaking my still beating heart in dread.
The snick of the lock echoed in my ears as my mind replayed every horrible thing this man had done to me. Every horrid beating, whipping, starving me until my stomach threatened to close in on itself. All the things he bestowed upon me in the name of the Lord shattered the bravery I so gallantly felt previously.
Oh God, Anna. What have you done?