Chapter 14 Angel #2
I nodded and then hung my head over the side of his lap as I breathed quickly through my teeth.
I could feel his gaze eating up my body.
I was pinned by something far larger and more dangerous than myself.
A lion and his prey. As if he heard my inner thoughts, too, Gaven’s hand slid over my ass, smoothing across the area he’d just abused.
My hands clenched into fists as I remained perched, precariously, on his lap with my naked ass in the air—waiting for whatever he decided to do to it.
“This is going to hurt.” That was the only indication I got—the only warning.
A split second later, his forearm pressed across the small of my back harder than ever and his hand came down.
Slap.
Slap.
Slap.
My legs shot back as I automatically kicked out, the pain a shock to my entire system. I thought he was hitting me hard before. That was nothing compared to this. My nails sank into his pants legs. Gasping, I clutched onto him to keep from shooting off of his lap.
Ten passed. Twenty. Thirty. I lost count. He never struck the same place twice in a row, but instead layered his spanks all over my ass and then even down to my upper thighs until I felt as if my flesh was burning. I squirmed on his thighs, my pussy juices leaking down my legs despite myself.
A gasp broke free and then another and another until I was panting with each slap.
Still, he continued, spanking me far past what I thought I could handle and then into a hazy fog where the pain disappeared.
It faded and something warm took its place.
He struck my ass on both sides, peppering my flesh with his hand until I swore it was already painted red.
Tears threatened the corners of my eyes, and as shame poured through me, I tucked my head against the seat on the other side of his lap.
I didn’t want to cry. Not here. Not now.
And certainly not in front of him. Regardless of what I wanted, I could feel them—the tears—as they leaked down the sides of my face, dripping onto the seat.
He began gently stroking his fingertips over my bare ass cheeks before he struck me again, and another line of wetness dripped down my inner thigh.
A shudder moved through me. My legs lowered to the ground and Gaven’s other arm settled over my upper back, keeping me stable against him.
I blinked back the wetness at the backs of my eyes.
I closed my eyes as the realization hit me. This was what he needed—someone else’s pain. My pain. It not only turned him on, but also gave him some sick sense of relief. Shame. Embarrassment. Humiliation. All of it drove through me.
Why? Because I liked it. Because despite the wrongness of it all, there was no denying that if Gaven were to reach between my legs and slip his fingers up my cunt, he’d find me open and wanting. I was fucking soaked. My nipples were hard. I craved—I wanted—something harder, darker. More.
I wanted him to hurt me.
I sobbed against Gaven and the limo seat at the suddenness of my understanding, and only then did I feel his hands pause. “Angel?”
I whimpered, and when I wanted to speak, I sealed my mouth shut and even went so far as to bite down on my lower lip. “Angel, speak,” Gaven ordered. “Where are you at? Do you need to use your safe word?”
I shook my head against his thigh. No. Safe wording was the last thing I needed—or maybe it wasn’t. I wasn’t scared of him right now, but I was scared of myself. Of what I was feeling and of what I wanted him to do to me.
Gaven flipped me over and I must have been a mess if the way his brows rose at my expression was any indication.
He lifted me up and settled me into his lap in much the same way I’d been originally, both legs closed and slung over his as he wrapped one arm around my back and cradled me against his chest.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I nodded quickly as I sniffed hard and turned, burying my face against his chest. His wide palm smoothed up my back, the warmth against my skin welcomed. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Tell me.”
“Can I?” I asked, rubbing my hand under my nose and thankful it came away clean. At least I wasn’t fucking snotting everywhere.
His hand cupped my face and directed my eyes up to meet his. “Yes,” he said. “You have permission. Tell me why you’re crying.”
I sniffed. Hard. “I thought you liked it when I cried.”
One thick dark blonde brow arched. “I do,” he agreed, “but only when I think we’re both enjoying it. These…” He drifted off as he caught one of the still lingering tears as it slid down my cheek and then stroked it away with his finger. “These don’t seem like you’re enjoying it.”
I shook my head. “I am,” I murmured, dipping my head and pulling my gaze away from his. “That’s why I’m crying.”
“You’re crying because you’re enjoying it?”
I nodded. “It’s fucked up.” I laughed, but the sound was anything but amused. His fingers found my chin once more and forced my head back up.
“Look at me.” His command sent shivers down my spine and I was compelled to lift my gaze to his for the second time. “There’s nothing wrong about enjoying sex with your husband, Angel.”
I bit down on my lower lip before releasing it with a sigh. I resisted the urge to turn my face away, but as the words came out of my lips, I found my eyes drifting to a point over his shoulder—fixating on a piece of the car’s interior.
“You know that our marriage is irrelevant now,” I said. “Besides, it wasn’t something I wanted. I never wanted to be married to you, and you trying to force me back into it isn’t going to make that any less true.”
Despite the honesty of the words, they burned like acid against my tongue as I spoke them.
It felt wrong to dig that particular knife between us, creating a crack that had been mending over the last few days, but it was necessary.
I was getting too comfortable, too close to him again, which wasn’t conducive to remembering my ultimate goal—to get away and gain my freedom.
I needed to recall that Gaven wasn’t treating me gently because he cared.
He just wanted me back because I was a way to ensure that he still had a claim to the Price Empire—even if his wife was the supposed murderer of the last head of the family.
This was the mafia … I wondered if that even mattered.
It had to, or else Jackie wouldn’t have framed me for it.
I kept my face averted to remain steadfast in my resolve.
Gaven was quiet for a long time. So long, in fact, that I wondered if the limo would arrive at whatever club we were intended for before he spoke again.
Alas, that wasn’t the case. As his hands clenched on my bare thighs and my pussy still leaked over his lap, Gaven tucked his head against my throat and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the hollow—right above where the diamond choker he’d given me again sat.
I blinked and then swayed back, looking down at him in shock. “Didn’t you hear me?” I demanded. “I said—”
His hand came up and covered my mouth as those midnight eyes of his glittered dangerously. “I heard you, wife.” He growled that last word, as if he needed to emphasize what I kept denying him. “There’s no need for you to repeat yourself.”
I pulled my head away from his hand. “Then why—”
“Because,” he said, interrupting me for a second time, “it doesn’t matter where our story started, only where it’s going.”
I wanted to ask him where he could possibly see our story going, but as I parted my lips—the question hanging on the tip of my tongue—I felt the limo decelerate, and I looked up, noticing that we’d entered a much more urban area.
I blinked as Gaven didn’t give me time to formulate a response and instead quickly and firmly deposited me on the seat next to him before he began to adjust my dress.
He pulled the hem down and urged me to shift so that I could also pull the back down .
He said nothing else as the driver pulled up to the curb.
I glanced out of the window, taking in the tall buildings that surrounded us, practically blocking out the sky.
They were all massive brick buildings. The limo came to a stop, and when I expected someone to immediately open the back door, instead, I heard a knock and it wasn’t opened until Gaven called out.
Moving first, Gaven stepped out and then reached back, bending down so that I could see his face—and the dark look in his eyes as he held his hand out for me to take. “Take my hand, Angel.” That was a command if I’d ever heard one and for some reason, it was the easiest one to follow.
My fingers slipped through his and he curled them around mine as he tugged and helped me out of the back of the limo.
I wobbled slightly on the heels, but his arm came around my waist and held me steady.
With the get-up I was wearing, I’d half expected a team of paparazzi to approach us.
Instead, when I peered back, all I saw was a long line of limos, SUVs, and town cars waiting to drop off their charges at the front of what looked like an industrial building.
“You said this was a club?” I clarified as I gazed up at the flat face of the building. “What kind of club?”
There was nothing particularly insightful about the outward appearance of the building.
For the first several floors there were few windows, and what few there were seemed to be covered in thick black coating that made it impossible to see inside.
Only when I craned my neck back and saw the upper floors did the windows look a little more normal. What was with that?
Gaven’s arm tightened around my waist, and he urged me forward towards the waiting doors as our limo pulled away and the next car took its place. “You’ll see soon enough,” he promised.
For some reason that lack of answer made me nervous, but a club was just a club, right? There shouldn’t be anything to fear.
Then again … this was Gaven Belmonte: hitman, mafia king, and a bloody obsessive husband. There was really no telling what kind of deviant things he had planned for me tonight.