8. Mackenzie
Bang.Bang. Bang.
Someone pounds on the door three times. I scream and clamp my hand over my mouth. I’m terrified, my entire body shaking. I’m scared I’m going to bite my tongue, my teeth are chattering so hard.
Some distant part of my brain tells me to remember my yoga breathing to try to keep myself calm, but I’m way past that.
“Kenzie, open the hell up.”
I jerk my head up and turn to look at the bathroom door. I recognize that voice.
Tino?
Oh, my God, he came for me.
An hour ago, I may have had a very different response to this, but right now I’m relieved enough to cry. I climb out of the bath, and I’m so shivery from the shock of Lola’s news that I fall to the floor in a heap. It takes me a moment to gather myself, stand, and open the bathroom door.
The hammering continues from outside.
“I’m coming,” I manage to croak. “I’m coming.”
I race to the front door, unlock it, and fling it open. Tino marches into the room, pushing past me rudely, and turns to glare at me. He swipes the hoodie from his face and runs his fingers through his nearly black hair. I ease the door closed, lock it, and lift my gaze to meet his. His dark eyes flash with accusation and anger.
“You shouldn’t have run, Mackenzie.” His voice is low, and it sends a thrill right down my spine.
I wipe away my tears. Do the others know he’s here?
“Why not? No one there gives a damn about me.” It seems even when I’m terrified of the professor finding me and ending my life, I still have time to be a brat. “Why are you here?”
“For you, of course.” He stares at me as if I’m the stupidest creature on this Earth. Which, perhaps, I am, because my body is already leaning toward him as if he has a magnetic pull.
“You came for me?” I hate how small and needy my voice sounds. Right now, though, I need a friend. I need someone. Tino is someone. A handsome, muscular, and I imagine handy with a gun, someone.
“I’ll always come for you, Duchess.”
“How did you find me?” My thoughts catch up with everything that’s happened.
“Your phone has a tracker in it,” he says.
“Of course it does. Courtesy of you, I imagine.”
“Not me, this time. Blame Dom.”
“I do blame Dom,” I tell him. “For pretty much everything.”
“Where’s your phone?”
I glance around. “In my purse.”
I’d used the burner to call Lola.
He puts out his hand. “Give it to me.”
“Why?”
His tone lowers to a growl. “Just do as you’re told.”
I hand it over to him. He places it on the floor, lifts his booted foot, and brings the heel down on the screen.
“Hey!” I exclaim.
He doesn’t stop. He stomps and stomps until the phone is in pieces, and then he bends down and picks the SIM card out of all the twisted pieces of metal and snaps it in two.
“What the fuck did you do that for?”
“You don’t want someone tracking you, do you?”
I mean, it brought Tino to me, but I guess not.
“I’m here now, Kenzie. I’m the one who’ll take care of you. No one is going to hurt you when I’m around.”
I pray he’s right. What if the professor does find me, and he hurts Tino as well? I’d never forgive myself.
He looks around the room, and his nose wrinkles in disgust. “Jesus, couldn’t you have afforded any better?”
“Not really. I’ve only got a few hundred on me.”
“And what were you going to do when the money ran out?” he asks.
I shrug. “Work. Get a job. Do what everyone else has to do.”
“Doing what? Are you trained to do anything? What about identification? Did you bring it with you? Unless you go looking for something that’s cash in hand, and I can tell you that most cash in hand gigs aren’t the kind you’d like.”
I shrink under the barrage of questions. “I can pick crops with the best of them if I have to,” I say.
“Mackenzie, it’s entirely unsafe for you to be out here alone with no money. And what about your health? Have you been taking your meds? Slept? Eaten?” He stares at me, his jaw working. “I’m extremely pissed at you.”
The way he says that sends tiny prickles of fear and something else, something deeper and hotter, tingling the back of my neck. The way he said it was possessive and commanding. He’s angry at me because I put myself in danger.
He’s angry at me because, it seems, he cares.
The air between us changes, and my skin heats with awareness. He pulls the hoodie off over his head, leaving him only in a t-shirt that clings lovingly to his biceps. I lick my lips before I can stop myself. His ravenous gaze tracks the movement.
“Come here.” He crooks his finger at me.
I follow as if I’m a puppet on a string.
“Yes?” I ask breathlessly as I reach him.
He wraps his hand around the nape of my neck, his palm large and warm, and pulls me in. At first, he simply rests his forehead against mine. But then he pulls me closer and angles his head slightly so his mouth finds mine. Tino kisses me with something I’ve not had from him before. It still has the passion and the power I felt in him the first time we ever did anything like this, but it has a gentleness too. Tino is teaching me that he can be soft, when it is demanded, and there is no shame in that.
“You’ve been so fucking bad,” he growls as he nips at my jawline. “I think you should get on your knees for me and show me how sorry you are. Making me drive all this way to come get you.”
I sink to my knees at the gentle but firm pressure of his hands on my shoulders.
Tino is depraved. He came for me, and he’s demanding immediate payment. He’s like my knight, but he treats me like his whore, not his princess.
Dark and light. Goodness and depravity. That’s this man. I think out of the three of them, Tino has the biggest heart.
Dom, well, he’s got the most lost and complicated soul, and I don’t know if that man can ever be saved.
And Kirill, he’s a goofball, but a dangerous and extremely fucked up one.
I look up at Tino, and he smiles, but it holds a dangerous edge. “Good girl. You know you’ve fucked up, don’t you?”
I nod and, for some crazy reason, feel tears prick at my eyes. Should I tell him about the professor?
I decide not. While I trust Tino to protect me from him, I can’t extend that privilege to Dom. He’d probably give me to the professor on a whim if he felt that was a way out. It would also mean admitting I’d once hurt a man so badly I’d believed I’d left him for dead.
Tino undoes his belt and, instead of simply leaving it open, takes it off, sliding it through the loops on his pants, and then he cracks it against his palm, before throwing it on the bed.
“Bad girls get punished,” he says.
“I don’t want to be punished,” I reply.
“Well, then, baby girl, make me forget your sins.”
He pulls his zipper down and takes out his huge cock.
The piercings shine in the dim light of the room, and I swallow. I reach for him and wrap my hands around his thick length. God, he’s impressive.
“Like what you see?” he asks.
“Always with you,” I admit.
“Make me come, and do it fast. Then I might be chill enough to return the favor instead of tanning your ass for running.”
God, I want him to return the favor so badly. I lean in and run my tongue around the edge of his crown. He groans, and his salty taste bursts on my tongue.
“That’s it. Lick it, like a fucking lollipop.”
I do, but he grips my chin after a minute or so. “You’re not making enough of a show of it. I want my Duchess to lick me good, like I’m a melting ice cream on a hot day and you’re slurping it up. Let. Me. See.”
Christ, angry Tino is hot.
I poke my tongue out farther and make a show of licking all along the length of his cock, around the head, letting myself make noise, and then down over the piercings. I moan as I do it.
“Tastes so good,” I mumble.
“I bet it does. Lick it harder. Like the top.”
I do, and he rewards me with a pulse of pre-cum. “Stick your tongue in the slit.”
I stare at him.
“Go on,” he orders.
I pay attention to his slit and then dip my tongue in, shocked at the strength of the salty taste of him. I’m so wet, and I reach between my legs, but he grabs my wrist.
“No,” he pants. “Bad girls don’t get to give themselves relief. You’ll get it when and if I say so.”
I whimper but carry on licking all around the head of his cock. I pull back for a moment to look at it, and it’s swollen and red, and I feel as if I’m going to explode.
Returning to him, I swirl my tongue around and get all fancy as if tying a knot in a cherry. I wrap my hand around his length, and pump him up and down, working him increasingly faster. I love how incredibly hard he feels. Above me, Tino groans and starts to come.
I hold my tongue against his spurting crown as he pulses against it, the cum dripping over my tongue and down my chin.
When he’s done, he uses his thumb to wipe some of it up and push it into my mouth.
“Good, girl.” He is all soothing and calm now. “Clean me up properly, and then we’ll see what we’re going to do with you next.”
I do as he says, licking him entirely clean of cum as I wonder what he has in store for me.
“Am I forgiven?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Not yet.”
This is all wrong. He should be the one begging for my forgiveness, not the other way around. Why do I let him do this to me? Is it because I’m desperate to have someone protect me? I ran, but that was before I knew Paxton was still alive. Everything is different now. The terror I’d felt when I’d been in the bathtub, believing that Paxton was about to break down the door, was like nothing I’d ever experienced before.
It was as though my nightmare had come to life.
How far am I willing to go to ensure I’m safe from Paxton? Will I go back to Verona Falls? What about Kirill? Will I go back to him, too? And Dom?
I swallow hard at the thought.
What if I have no choice? What if I have to let Dom and the others do whatever they want to me, and in return they’ll keep me safe from Paxton? It’s not as if—purely physically, at least—I won’t enjoy it. I might hate them, but I still want them. I detest myself a little for that weakness.
If I run and risk Paxton, at least I won’t keep giving myself to men who make me doubt my sanity.
Two options balance on scales for me.
Dom or Paxton? Which is the lesser of the two evils?
“Duchess?”
Tino’s tone contains a warning, and I lift my gaze to his.
“Tonight,” he says, “it’s you and me. I don’t know where you went just then, but you need to focus on me. Got it?”
He picks his belt up and snaps it against his thigh. The crack vibrates through the air.
I glance back at the door. “Did I lock the door?”
He frowns. “Yes, you did.”
“Are you sure?”
Would Paxton break in with Tino here? I try to picture the two men, face to face. Tino has a little height, plus youth, on his side, but Paxton has experience. The professor has something else as well—the taste for revenge. If I thought he was angry that night he tried to rape me, I don’t even want to imagine the kind of things he’d do to me now.
My mind takes me back to that moment when he’d been pushing himself between my thighs and I’d reached out blindly, grabbing whatever I could to make him stop.
“Hey,” Tino’s voice breaks through to me again, “Duchess. What’s going on?”
I shake my head and reach for him. “It’s nothing. I’m okay.”
A picture of Paxton rolling off me, the pen sticking out of his neck, crowds my mind. I shake my head, wanting to be free of it. I’d rather let Tino take control of my thoughts than relive the horror of that moment.
“I’m not done punishing you yet,” Valentino growls.
Inside my head is one hell of a messy place right now, and I need him to push my tormentors out. Part of me welcomes whatever Tino gives me because, in doing so, he’s saving me from myself. Whether he knows it or not.
I try to remind myself that Tino is no hero. He’s the man who filmed us together and then shared it with his friends without my consent. He filmed my mom’s confession and then showed it in public to humiliate me. But maybe I should thank him for that. At least now I know. I’d prefer to have my eyes opened to everything than be wandering around in the dark. I know what kind of people I’m dealing with now.
I need to be tougher. Harder. Stronger. If I bend, these people will break me.
Locking eyes with Tino, I straighten my shoulders. “Give it to me, then.”
His dark eyes flash, and his hands go to my pants, yanking them straight down and taking my panties with them. I kick them away, and he spins me around so I’m facing the bed.
“Palms flat on the mattress, Duchess. You’re going to count these for me.”
I remember my promise to myself to be tougher. I’ve stabbed a man before. I can take whatever Tino wants to dish out.
I place my hands where he wants them.
“Stick that ass out for me,” he commands. “Spread those legs.”
I’m bare and exposed, my pussy and ass spread for him to see.
“You gonna arrest me, Tino?” I can’t help but tease, twisting slightly to look over my shoulder at him.
His cock is already at half-mast again. He’s folded the belt in two, and he gently cracks the leather against his palm. “No, but I’d love to put you in cuffs. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any of those with me, so we’ll have to make do with this.”
He means the belt, and I draw a breath.
He takes his wallet from his pants and pulls out a small sachet of lube.
“Seriously?” I say. “You carry lube with you?”
“Doesn’t everyone?” He gives a slow smile and bites his lower lip. “Now, I’m going to fuck you in the ass with those peachy cheeks striped red from my belt.”
I gulp. Oh, God. What am I getting myself into?
He tears open the sachet and dribbles the lube onto my ass. It’s ice cold, and I gasp, but my body heat quickly warms it. He uses his fingers on me, dipping into my hole, and massaging it around. It feels good, but also dirty. The stretch and sting are both incredible and painful.
“Ah, fuck.”
“Breathe. Nice and slow.”
He fists his huge cock and positions himself at my ass. There’s pressure as he pushes against me and slowly forces the tip inside. It hurts, the burn all encompassing, but I don’t tell him to stop. I grit my teeth and promise myself I can take him. The pain increases as he pushes deeper. I groan and drop my head. I’m sure I can feel the hard ridges of his piercings.
“The head is inside your ass now, Duchess. I’m edging in. You’re taking me, inch by inch. Keep breathing.”
He moves so slowly. I drop to my forearms, my face planted against the mattress. I’m breathing hard. The sting has gone beyond something I can ignore. It really fucking hurts now. Oh, fuck, am I really going to be able to do this? The pain, though, chases away the terror, and I prefer it to panic. There’s also a dull weird arousal building along with it. The two together are messing my mind up so much, the overwhelm is intense. My pussy brushes against the bed every now and again and gives me the friction I need. I feel as if I might faint from pain, humiliation, need, and pleasure.
I break down. “I can’t, I can’t. It’s too much. You’re too big.” Tears leak from the corners of my eyes.
“Hush, Duchess. We’re not stopping now. Your ass is mine. You’re doing so well, and we’re only just getting started. You’re going to come like a fucking freight train and then you’ll be thanking me. The moment I’m balls deep, I’m using the belt.”
I whimper.
“That’s it, good girl. I’m filling you all up. You look incredible all stretched around me like this.”
He finally stops moving, his cock seated deep inside me. I can’t believe I’ve managed to take him. The pain eases up a little, but I’m in for more.
“Now for the belt,” he tells me. “Take your punishment like a good little whore.”
The position he’s in means the force of his strokes are limited. He has to keep the belt short. In an underhand whipping motion, the belt snaps through the air and hits my right ass cheek. I let out a cry, and then bite the sheets. I don’t want the woman at the reception desk to think I’m being attacked and call the cops. I’d hate to explain this situation away.
His voice comes from over my shoulder, low and dangerous. “How many is that, Duchess?”
“One.”
“Good girl.”
He fucks me slowly, incredibly slowly, so I can feel every single movement. Then he pauses, and the belt whips through the air again and makes contact with my skin. The sting of pain flares through me, my skin burning.
“Count,” he demands.
“Two,” I whimper.
How many of these is he planning to give me?
He rests the belt on my hip as he returns to fucking me. Every inch, sliding in and out, feels like heaven. He was right.
He said it would feel good, and I hate that it does. I hate that he was right, that they always are when it comes to this. The weird, insane chemistry between us has me at their mercy. They own my body, and they better never find out because that would make me so under their sway, I’d lose myself completely.
My eyes roll and my toes curl. He’s so controlled, and even when I try to push back on him, frustration making me want it faster, he holds my hips steady and keeps his own pace.
“Please,” I beg. “Give me more, please.”
I don’t mean the belt, but he reacts by smacking it across my ass again.
“Three,” I cry.
“Good girl.”
He smooths his thumb over the spot where the leather has struck me, rubbing the sting out of the strike. The tenderness of that touch speaks to something deep inside me.
My pussy pulses, flooding with wetness. Can I come just from him being inside my ass? I don’t know, but I want to. I reach between my thighs to touch my clit, and internally, I clench.
“Fuck,” he groans. “Do that again.”
I touch myself again, the sensation almost overwhelming. The heat from the strike mark makes everything even more sensitive.
I twist to look back over my shoulder at him.
He clamps the edge of the folded belt between his straight white teeth and bites down hard. The muscles in his jaw flex. He’s freed up his hands now. One is on my hip, and the other pushes between my legs. He plunges two fingers deep into my pussy, and my body clamps down around him.
It’s what I needed to push me over the edge, and sparks burst in my vision. My climax rolls over me, shuddering through every muscle and sinew, setting every nerve ending alight.
Tino keeps his fingers curled inside me, his cock sliding in and out of me. My orgasm won’t let go, and I think I’m going to lose my mind.
“Oh, God, I can’t. Oh, fuck.” I’ve given up trying to be quiet now. I don’t care who hears us.
Tino rams himself hard and fast. He leans over me, his hand around the back of my neck, pressing the side of my head down onto the bed. He releases himself inside me, letting out a roar of pleasure. He jerks a couple of times, his orgasm like electric shocks firing through him, and my climax finally releases its hold and ebbs away.
He releases my neck and we slump together, both breathing hard. He holds me until our heartrates slow, and then carefully pulls out of me. The gush of hot fluid rushes down the inside of my thighs. Tino vanishes into the bathroom for a minute, and I hear the faucet being turned on and water hitting the tub.
He returns with a towel and a smile.
“Time for your bath, Duchess,” he says. “And then I’ll hold you until you go to sleep.”
I return the smile. He’s managed to fuck my reservations out of me, for now. He wants to take care of me, and right now, in this moment, that’s exactly what I need.