Chapter 5
Natasha
I struggle to break free. The sound of Joshua groaning as they hit him echoes through the dark wet tunnel. Three men are holding him while three others are taking turns hitting him.
“Stop it! You’re going to fucking kill him.
Please let him go,” I sob out loud.…“Please, what do you want?” They start to kick him repeatedly in the stomach and I scream.
“NO! You are going to kill him! Please, stop it!” I sob while I desperately fight to escape the two men holding me.
They throw me onto the ground and one of them kicks me in the stomach.
I scream in pain and I hear Joshua go crazy again as he tries to break free.
“Let her go,” he screams. “Kill me.… just let her go. It’s me you want.”
They pick up a metal bar and hit him across the face and a cold metallic thud echoes through the space.
“Nooooooooo!” I scream.
“We are not letting her go. Who will we take turns in fucking with her gone? There are nine of us to please you know.”
Joshua goes crazy. “I’ll fucking kill you when I get free,” he screams. “I swear to God if you touch her, you gutless pricks, you’re fucking dead.”
I look to the corner where Ben’s dead body is slumped in the corner. I close my eyes, the sound, the sight.… the pain too much to bear.
They continually hit him until he slips into unconsciousness and my heart breaks.
Dear God, no!
One of them hits me hard across the face and I fall to the ground. They gather around and one of them unzips his pants.
“Tash. Baby, wake up.” He shakes me.
I scream as I sit up in a rush. Heart racing, my body is covered in perspiration.
“Jesus, Tash. What were you dreaming about?” Joshua grabs me in an embrace and pulls me into his chest as I sob.
The door opens and a bodyguard bursts in. “Is everything alright in here? I heard screaming.”
“Natasha just had a nightmare. Can you give us some privacy, please?” Joshua says flatly, obviously annoyed at the intrusion.
“Yes, sorry.” He leaves immediately. I cry into his chest as I shake in fear.
“It’s ok, baby. I’m here. Don’t be frightened,” he whispers into the top of my head.
I continue sobbing.
“Were you dreaming about your father?” he asks in a defeated voice.
I shake my head. I don’t want to say it out loud in case it makes it come true.
“Tell me sweetheart. What were you dreaming about?”
“I have been having the same dream over and over,” I sob. “What dream?”
“They kill you.” My chest heaves. “Who kills me?” he gasps.
I sob out loud again as I bring my face up to his. “They hold me and make me watch the men taking turns bashing you to death and then they gang rape me.”
His expression drops. “Christ…it’s not real, Tash. It’s just a bad dream.”
I pull back to look at him “I am scared it’s a premonition, Josh. What if my dad is trying to warn me? It’s so real, always exactly the same dream. They started two days after Dad’s death.”
He smiles sympathetically. “It’s a nightmare, baby. Let’s have a shower. You always feel better after a shower.”
I nod nervously and let him help me to the shower. We stand in an embrace as I cry into his chest, and the fear eventually subsides as the water washes away my nightmare from hell.
“I’m scared, Josh,” I whisper.
He gently kisses my face. “It’s ok, baby, nothing is going to happen to me. You’re safe now, I’m here.”
I wake with a start, my heart is racing through an orgasm. Joshua is on top of me and inside me. He kisses me as he pulls out and rolls me onto my side to face him.
He smiles as he leans in and kisses me gently again.
“Good morning, Mr. Stanton,” I sigh happily. “Helping your- self?” I smirk.
“You love it when I take you in your sleep.”
I smile broadly at the beautiful specimen in front of me. It’s true. I do love it when he takes me in my sleep. “Yes, but why do you love it so much?” I’ve never asked him before why it gets him so amped up.
He bites his lip as he contemplates his answer.
“I don’t know. I think that it’s the way your body responds to mine, even when you’re not conscious.
You have no idea what a turn-on it is to know that your body wants mine.
I don’t know actually.” He shrugs. “I think it’s that I realize we connect on many different levels and the fact that you know about it and give me permission.
I don’t know what it is, but it’s fucking hot. ”
“Have you ever done that to anybody else?” I ask.
He frowns at me. “Natasha, I don’t fuck you while you sleep, I make love to you while you sleep.
I’ve never made love to anyone, but you and I have definitely never stayed next to someone as they slept.
What we have is a deeper connection. There is no way in hell I would want to do that with anybody.
It’s actually creepy thinking of doing that with someone else. ” He fakes a shiver.
I smirk. “And it’s not creepy when you do it to me?”
He frowns. “No, I adore you. I love you. Nothing could ever be creepy between us.” His eyes widen. “Do you think it’s creepy?”
I smile. “No, Josh, I think it’s beyond hot and it tells me how deeply I trust you.”
His face drops.
I frown. “Why did your face just drop?” I question.
He takes my face tenderly in his hands. “Kiss me.” I smile into him.
Knock, knock.
“Shit.” Joshua spits. “Just a minute,” he yells. I jump from the bed and sprint to the bathroom with him hot on my heels.
“Just get dressed,” I snap. “I don’t want them to know you are in the shower with me.”
“No, I need a shower too. I smell like sex.” He pushes me to the side and turns the shower on and dives in before the water heats up. I stand naked with my arms crossed looking at the beautiful sex god in front of me.
“What?” He smiles as he quickly soaps up.
“The nurses are going to think you’re a nympho.”
He smirks. “Then they would be right, wouldn’t they?”
I smirk and in two minutes flat Joshua is dressed and heading out of the bathroom to answer the door.
I take my time and twenty minutes later I emerge from the bathroom to find the doctor and Cameron in the room talking to Joshua.
Cameron’s eyes shoot up to me and he bites his lip to stifle his smile.
Boy, this is uncomfortable. They know exactly what we have been doing.
“I’m going to get a coffee, Josh,” I whisper uncomfortably.
His eyes lock on mine and he smiles a knowing smile. His eyes gently drop from my head to my toes and he runs his tongue over his bottom lip. I feel a familiar throb of arousal as his gaze burns holes through my clothes.
“Take Max, Presh. Can you get me and Cam one as well?” he says gently.
I nod and he holds out his hand for me. As I take it, he pulls me in for a quick peck on the lips.
Cameron rolls his eyes. As I am grabbing my purse there’s a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Cameron yells.
Ben sticks his head through the door. “Josh, there are two policemen here to see you.”
Josh’s eyes flick straight to me. I frown.
“Give me a minute,” he replies. He turns to me, “Go and get the coffee, Presh. I will be about twenty minutes. Call your mum or the girls.”
I smile and nod as I leave the room. He is trying to get rid of me.
What in the hell is this about? Two policemen are waiting outside.
Ben, along with Joshua’s other two bodyguards, all enter the room after the police.
I frown. That’s weird, why do the bodyguards have to hear what is said. Actually, what is being said?
I turn to Max, “What’s going on?”
“Let’s go for a walk, honey,” he sighs.
One thing that I am becoming increasingly aware of is that Max only calls me honey when he feels pity for me.
Joshua
“This is Constable Mathews and Detective Stevens,” Ben introduces the two policemen.
I shake both of their hands and stay silent as I wait for them to speak.
“Mr. Stanton, we have found your car.”
Relief fills me. “Oh good. Is it a write off?” I reply.
The detective frowns at me. “It seems we have bigger problems than your car being stolen.”
I frown, “What does that mean? Where was my car?”
Ben and the officer trade glances. “Your car was found parked in the parking garage of your offices.”
I frown. “But why?”
“We think that Friday night was not just a random car robbery. We think it was supposed to be a premeditated hit.”
“Hit?” Cameron interjects. “Why do you think that?”
“Because your Aston Martin is worth $220,000 and it was returned without a scratch.”
I drop to sit on the bed as the information sinks in. “That’s ridiculous,” spits Cameron. “Who in the hell would order a hit on Joshua?”
My eyes flick over to Ben. “Ben, can you go and make sure Natasha is ok. She’s at the cafeteria.”
He nods and leaves the room, understanding my fear. I don’t really care if they order a hit on me. My fear is for Natasha. The only way to hurt me is to hurt her. Bile rises in my stomach.
“Let’s go through Friday night’s events again,” the detective says.
I blow out a breath and nod. “I was at Willowvale and I decided to leave.”
“What time was that?” he asks as he scribbles down some notes.
I shrug, “About ten.”
“Where was your security?”
“They had gone to bed and I just needed to get home.” My eyes flick to Cam and he gives me a small smile.
“Okay, what happened then?” he asks as he scribbles notes on a pad.
“I pulled in for gas and then when I went to pay, I was jumped by three men. We scuffled and then they got a hold of me and we fought a bit. I don’t know for how long.
The service station attendant must have called the police because a police siren came and then they all ran off and jumped in my car and took off. ”
The policeman smiles. “We watched the security footage. You gave two of them a hiding. Where did you learn to fight like that?”
I shake my head, “I cage fight for sport.”
The detective raises his eyebrows, “I think that sport may have saved your life. They had a gun, the guy at the back in the footage pulled it out just before the police came.”
I run my hand over my face.