Chapter 2
two
“Y-You want to watch my girlfriend blow me?”
The man straightens his shoulders, a challenge flaring through his stance as Hunter spreads his palms out at his sides.
My blood crystallizes to ice until my body freezes in place.
Everything around me stutters to slow motion, an inescapable nightmare unfolding before my eyes.
Limbs won’t respond. Voice won’t even squeak.
Our silence is pierced by a sharp flick as Vanq opens the knife with deliberate dramatics. “No. You’re not listening. I want him”—he aims the sharp end at Bryce, who looks like he’s about to buzz out of his skin—“to film your girlfriend sucking you off.”
Words hang in the air unnaturally. Suffocating the oxygen from the room. Several seconds of unabashed flabbergasts pass.
My mind feels like it’s been disconnected.
It floats away, somewhere high above the bodies standing below.
If I stay, the terror will be so heavy, I won’t be able to withstand the weight of it and come crashing down to Earth again.
Hair clings to my temples with sweat, even though my body feels cold.
When no one moves, Vanq continues. “She’s done it before, I presume. Been a good little appointed and performed her duty?”
Hunter’s posture shifts as he crosses his arms in a show of dominance.
As if he’s suddenly got the power to show me off like a prized racehorse.
“Yeah, sure, man.” He eyes me for a moment, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips, before he dismisses me with a wave of his hand in my direction.
“She’s good, but, uh, we’re not appointed. ”
Vanq’s mask scans me with an intensity that feels like it’s peeling my skin away.
I step back, instinctively trying to widen the gap between myself and the men who block the exit, but it’s useless.
Even though I can’t see anything about his expression, it feels like the hooded man has penetrated me with my own blade.
And the shelves surrounding the walls are caving in.
Some words manage to crawl out of my throat, thick with fear. “Hunter, you’re not agreeing—”
Hunter ignores me. “And if we do that, then what? Paid in full?”
Vanq’s voice is smooth and full of assurance. “Yes.”
Hunter nods at Bryce, who’s already grinning like this is some twisted game. With a shrug, my boyfriend says, “Yeah, we can do that. Olivia, get over here.”
“I-I can’t do that. What if—”
Hunter rushes at me and snags my upper arms as I stumble. The dig of his fingers into my skin is the only thing holding me up. My knees beg to sink back to the chair behind them.
He lowers his voice as venom seeps through his gritted teeth.
“I need this, Olivia. Stop being such a fucking prude and suck my dick.” Lips brushing against my ear, he whispers, “This nerd has probably never seen a real girl do this, so just perform and get it over with. Give him some spankbank material for later.”
Vanq watches us carefully, his full black mask unwavering, as if he’s clocking this moment like a computer, logging it for later. Shivers run down my spine, and I feel every movement of my bones.
Bryce leans against the door to the hall, crossing his arms and legs like he’s not going anywhere. With an answer to any momentary thought of escape I may have, Vanq flicks the knife closed, then pops it open again. The click echoes in the room while his mask remains fixed on me, waiting.
Sometimes, survival means compliance. Play the game until I can get away. I know who holds the power here. The most threatening figure is holding my only weapon. Hunter and the other dolt don’t seem to care or notice what type of danger we’re in. But I see it. I know it.
All too well.
And, as if he read my mind, Hunter catches my chin and lifts it, saying, “A true servant of Caliphylla knows their place and obeys without question.”
Those words. They sting.
My eyes squeeze shut as the memory attempts to force its way to the forefront. Images. Frames in my head. Nausea. Burning in my temples. Fingers sliding over my dress, trying to find the smooth surface of my embalmed wing. A pocket! Where’s a pocket!
“Dress. No pockets…” I whisper, out of breath.
“What?”
Air seeps through my lungs in tiny spurts. Panic. Impending doom.
Saying no doesn’t matter. Not in this world.
But a well-placed smile can be sharper than a blade.
Pressing a shoulder into his sternum, I shove him away and say, “Fine. But I want to use my phone to record it.”
If I have access, I can control a piece of this. If I can record it, maybe no one will ever see it. Maybe no one will ever know about tonight.
I’m fantastic at hiding things. I don’t just keep secrets.
I preserve them like corpses.
Vanq only gives me a slight nod while Hunter drops his arms to his sides, a confident grin smearing across his features. “That’s my girl.”
Despite my pulse blurring my eyesight, I could swear Vanq jolted at that endearment.
With shaky hands, I grab my phone from my bag, then hand it over to Bryce.
His lecherous eyes scan my breasts as if he knows what color my nipples are.
Hunter acts like this is any other Saturday night, waltzing to the middle of the small room while his belt clanks as he unbuckles it.
My throat goes dry, which is inconvenient, given the job I’ll need to do to get us out of here in one piece.
I hope.
No matter what they make me do, I will survive this. What they don’t understand is…
I’ve already endured worse.
“Throw your jacket on the ground, Beta.” Vanq’s voice startles us all. Bryce blinks a few times, then agrees while shrugging off his sports coat, tossing it to the concrete in front of him. Vanq takes his black boot and shoves it toward me. “For you to kneel on.”
With a snap of his gloved fingers, Vanq arranges us like we’re center stage in his personal porno—his expression hidden, but every movement choreographed with precision. “Beta boy here. President Remington here. The not-appointed girl there.”
We move into positions so that Bryce and Hunter’s backs form a shield, almost blocking Vanq from being able to see much. I cast a worried glance at his masked face, but he only nods, and I slowly descend to my knees in front of my boyfriend. Bryce lifts the phone until the flash blinds my eyes.
Blinking, I reach for Hunter’s zipper, then undo it as he strokes my cheek gently.
“Hey, babe.” He pauses until I meet his earnest eyes. “You’re amazing, you know that? I love you.”
The rumblings in my stomach threaten to violently expel. Love…I’ve been desperate for it in the wrong place.
Love is for the safe.
Now, I’m just trying to survive.
While I await his further instructions, Hunter helps by digging himself out of his boxer briefs, his flaccid dick flopping out. Ugh! More work for me. The good news is that Bryce seems to point the camera more toward Hunter’s abs than my face, capturing the loose muscle as I grip its base.
Hunter’s voice elevates an octave. “I said, ‘I love you.’”
As I glance at him, I try not to glare. Placing his dick close to my lips, I say, “I love—” Then, I lick him until he jumps in my hold, cutting me off.
Using my tongue to toy with the crown has him firming up nicely.
His familiar musk used to be something I never much thought about.
Until now. The scent almost makes me gag, as if I’m just smelling his overbearing, sugary, beachy cologne for the first time.
I settle in, scooting across the hard concrete on my knees and plunging onto his length. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Bryce palming his crotch as he holds the camera on my work.
The glass-smooth voice from the back of the room startles me. “Pull your pants down,” Vanq instructs.
Hunter glances over his shoulder briefly, then drops his trousers to his ankles. I press my face to the underside of his cock, licking the length to dive back in, but stop.
“Yours, too.”
My eyes widen as I glance around Hunter’s waist, where Vanq is flaring the knife toward Bryce.
Bryce nods once, then undoes his belt while holding the phone at an awkward angle.
Eventually, he gets his suit pants around his knees, but Vanq chuckles until the atmosphere electrifies. “Everything down…”
Saliva drips from the sides of my lips. It’s too difficult to swallow. Dread nearly consumes me. Where is this heading?
Bryce waits for a moment, then obeys. I can’t help but stare… He’s already rock hard, standing erect, pointing right at me.
“Get closer.”
Every muscle in my body tenses.
Bryce shuffles a step forward while watching Vanq.
Hunter won’t look anywhere but at me. My dress and slip slide higher up my thighs until my thong is exposed for everyone.
Hunter takes a finger and strokes under my chin so I’ll resume my work, but I’m too concerned about what the masked man will say.
Especially when the next word comes out, fierce and lethal.
“Closer.”
As Bryce stands directly next to him, Hunter sighs.
“Hip to hip. And raise that damn camera. Film it. I want to see her suck you both.”
“What?” I balk, the immediate pushback surprising even me. I don’t want Bryce’s nasty dick in my mouth!
Hunter grips the back of my head to scold me while Bryce glances at Vanq, then at me with red, terrified eyes. “Okay, man. Chill, chill.”
He urges me with a squeeze. “Just suck us both. It’s not a big deal.”
“Hunter…” But even as I object, he shoves himself between my lips, pressing the head of his dick to the back of my throat until I choke. The threat that something worse than sucking off Bryce Holloway and my boyfriend makes me acquiesce. Maybe I can get them both off quickly.
A plan forms in my mind…