Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
LANA
“ Y ou need to go, honey. You need to run and never look back,” Dad says as we jog down the hallway toward the armory.
My steps halt as I listen to what he’s saying. He’s kidding, right? There’s no way I’m just going to run and leave him behind. If I do, I’ll never see him again. I won’t be able to come back.
“No fucking way,” I snap. “You’re joking, right? You just want me to run? You want me to go? You and I both know that the Richardsons will never give up. They’ve already gotten rid of the rest of them, there’s no way I can just run and hope they never find me.”
“I’m not suggesting you do, A. But you need to get out of here while you can. You can go to the university like we planned for in this type of situation and build a plan from there. But you need to hurry.”
I gnaw on my lower lip, listening to what he’s saying but not wanting it to be real.
The Richardson family has been after mine since before I was born, though I’m still unclear on the reason why.
They already took the rest of them out and left me as the sole heir; there’s no way in hell I’ll let them kill me, too.
Not after everything Dad did to take me in once my birth parents were killed.
I’ll get revenge for what they did, but in order to do that, I need to stay alive.
“Okay,” I whisper, tears springing to my eyes as I stare at the man who’s loved me when no one else was left to do it. “I’ll go.”
He sighs in relief, his shoulders dropping with the weight he’s been carrying. “Listen to me, A. This is not the end, okay?”
I nod, trying to fight back the tears that have no right to try and fall right now.
“Go, I’ll hold them back.”
I swallow and nod, giving him one last look of gratitude before running.
I pump my legs as fast they can go, using all the training I’ve had over the years in full force.
It’s a long corridor, and by the time I reach the end of it, the men who were sent here to infiltrate the company before killing me are at the start of it.
Dad stands in the middle, his gun poised towards the attackers, firing off shots as they run towards him.
They have the advantage, though. They had planned for this. We hadn’t.
They’re dressed in full tactical gear with bulletproof vests while my dad stands in jeans and a T-shirt.
I see it the moment it happens. The way the bullet hits him in the chest and is immediately followed by one to his forehead. Blood soaks his white shirt as he drops to the floor, his head turned in my direction, his dead eyes staring into my soul .
A scream pulls from my throat, and the noise snaps me back to reality.
My dad is dead, and he died for me.
I’m not going to let his sacrifice be for nothing.
I leave him behind, running as fast as I can through the compound and out of a side entrance. I run through the woods, where we have a truck stashed for this exact situation.
Dad always keeps it stocked up with supplies, should we ever need it.
Kept.
Past tense, because he’s gone.
And now I’m alone.
I reach the truck, hauling myself up into the driver’s seat and hauling ass out of the woods through the dirt track.
I need to call Dare and tell him what happened.
I need to prepare him for what’s to come.
And more importantly, I need to prepare myself.
I wake slowly, though I don’t open my eyes.
The last thing I remember is being in the gym and then… nothing but that damn dream.
Fuck.
Have I been taken by a mercenary that was paid to come and collect me?
No… I’m pretty sure those guys are being paid to kill me, not hold me hostage.
I take stock of my body, noting how I’m lying on something soft… a bed, maybe? And from the way I can’t move, I’m going to go ahead and assume I’m tied to it.
Great .
I blink my eyes open, the dark room doing nothing to give me any hints about where I am.
That is, until I chance a look in the corner of the room and see a hooded figure seated in a chair.
It hits me then—I know exactly where I am.
I’m in my dorm room, which means…
“I’ll kill you for this,” I mutter, and the asshole chuckles.
“I’m sure you will, little menace.”
“What’s your plan here, Cole?”
His head tilts to the side as if he’s contemplating what to tell me, and I take the moment to drink him in. This is the most dressed down I’ve ever seen him, wearing black joggers and a matching black hoodie, his hood pulled up over his head.
Gone is the put-together guy I usually see around campus, and in his stead is a deranged psycho who goes around drugging and kidnapping girls.
Maybe we’re more alike than I originally thought?
Even when I saw him lurking that night at the church, he was easy to pick out from how much he didn’t belong there.
But right now? Right now, as he’s enveloped in the darkness of the room, he has an aura of danger surrounding him that calls to me.
“It’s been fun, Lana, this little cat and mouse game we’ve been playing… but I’m sick and tired of playing the mouse. I figured it was about time I took back some control.”
Aww, is my pretty boy feeling his lack of control?
He’s tied my arms to the headboard and my ankles to be base of the bed, much like I did to him. The only difference is I tied the knots in a way that he wouldn’t be able to escape, whereas the bindings he’s made for me are amateurish. That, and I’m fully clothed, whereas he was naked.
It’s cute how he thinks I wouldn’t be able to get out of his bindings if I really wanted to, but I want to see where this goes.
I want to see how hard he’ll push me in order to take back some of that precious control of his.
“Do what you need to do, pretty boy,” I purr, and he climbs to his feet and walks over to me. He looms over me, a large presence in such a small room.
I’m honestly surprised he managed to do all of this since I’m usually on edge and alert, so props to him for getting us this far.
“Such a pretty little mystery,” he murmurs and swipes his thumb across my lower lip ever so gently. “Tell me, baby, what else is this whore mouth good at other than spitting venom and sucking the dean’s dick?”
I glare at him, the thought of Dare’s dick anywhere near me making me feel sick. I open my mouth to say something, but he slides his thumb inside before I can get any words out.
“Shhh. It’s okay,” he says soothingly. “I don’t want your words… I want your actions.”
His free hand flies to the waistband of his sweats and he pushes them down a little, just far enough to free his hard dick.
So this is the game he’s playing, huh?
He climbs on top of me, straddling my chest and pointing his cock towards my mouth.
“Show me how good you can be for me, little menace,” he coos before forcing my mouth open. As soon as my lips part, the tip of his dick is right there and pushing its way inside my mouth.
He’s hard as steel and his precum tastes salty on my tongue. His velvet skin is so damn smooth, though I can feel a small ridge and it makes me smile around him. Seems the cut hasn’t completely healed yet.
I wonder if it hurts when he jacks himself off to fantasies of me?
I hope so.
I thrash beneath him, shooting daggers with my eyes as he uses me, fucking into my mouth without a care in the world.
I really was wrong about him. He’s just as fucked up as I am.
And I love it.
Cole grunts and groans as his hips thrust, his cock hitting the back of my throat and making me gag. Tears spring to my eyes, and I can barely breathe, but he doesn’t slow down. No, if anything, it only spurs him on more.
What would he say if he knew that this was the first time I’d had a dick in my mouth? Going down on a guy was always something I was never interested in, though now I’m starting to see the appeal.
I may be tied to this bed while he fucks into my mouth, but I’m still the one who holds all of the power.
“I knew you’d look even prettier with tears running down your cheeks,” he mutters and gathers a tear up with his thumb before bringing it to his mouth. “Mmhmm, so sweet.”
This asshole.
I’m done with this shit.
I wait until he’s right on the edge, until he’s a moment away from coming down my throat to strike.
I clamp my teeth around his dick and bite down as hard as I can.
“ Fuck ,” he shouts, his eyes turning molten as he glowers down at me, but his attitude changes almost immediately as he throws his head back. “That’s it, little menace. Make me bleed.”
Oh fuck.
I can’t help it. I love how he loves the pain. I bite down again, and this time instead of shouting out in pain, he shouts out in ecstasy as his cock erupts and he fills my mouth with his cum.
He keeps pumping into my mouth, his orgasm seeming to go on for eternity before his release finally slows and he pulls out of my mouth.
The asshole stares down at me, something akin to awe written all over his face before he brings his thumb back to my lower lip and gathers the cum that has spilled from my mouth.
He pushes it back inside, and I can’t stop myself from sucking his thumb between my lips.
Once I release it and he pulls away, I murmur, “I’m gonna get you back for this, you know.”
He chuckles. “I know, baby. I can’t wait.”
He takes his time, tucking himself away and gathering whatever belongings he brought with him before heading to the door. Just as he opens it, I can’t help but call out to him. “What? You’re just gonna leave me here?”
He makes a tsking sound, still standing with his back to me. “Let’s not pretend that you couldn’t have gotten out of those binds at any moment, Lana.”
And with that, he strolls out of the door, letting it close behind him with a bang.
Goddammit, what have I gotten myself into?