Chapter Twenty
Evelina Bianchi
We proceeded carefully down catacombs that neither Zeke nor I had ever explored. I had heard rumors of these underground tunnels, sealed off to the outside world in almost every possible place. But rumor suggested there were some openings, and the entrance to Zeke’s apartment complex only confirmed that.
There were a handful of times when Zeke and I pressed ourselves into small nooks within the wall to hide from passersby, presumedly Clide Newton’s men looking for us. As the minutes turned into hours, my head grew lighter, and I knew I could attribute it to blood loss.
Still, there was seemingly no way out of these tunnels. We found dead ends more often than we found new passages to go through. But the further we walked, the fewer other people we heard. In fact, it had been a half hour since we had heard anybody.
“Do you think we’ll ever find a way out?”
Zeke hesitated. “We will. How are you doing?”
I knew we needed to press forward, but I also felt my strength draining as each moment passed. “I need a break. I don’t think this cut on my arm has clotted, and it’s making me a little woozy.”
He stopped immediately. “Why the fuck didn’t you say anything?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Probably because we’re running for our lives down here. Lay off.”
His brows rose up his forehead as he whistled. “Temperamental, little Princess.”
If he called me a princess one more time…
“Let’s just staunch the bleeding and keep going a little bit longer. I want to get as far away from this situation as possible.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but he seemed to consider the merits of stopping here, too. It was a risk. One that we couldn’t take when I was weak and he was out of bullets.
He took off his shirt before a loud rip filled the space. He tore the entire sleeve from it before grabbing my arm and tying it tightly around the wound. “I will find a way out of here. If you need to wait here while I keep looking—”
“It’s too dangerous. I’ll let you know if I need to stop.”
I could push through this, at least for another few minutes. I didn’t feel on the verge of passing out, and if it got to that point… Well, I really hoped it didn’t.
The further we went, the more helpless it felt. Until a loud, almost unbearable screech filled the tunnels, and Zeke pulled us to a stop. The groaning of what sounded like breaks and then a loud mechanical grinding came from the distance.
“Of course,” Zeke scoffed. “There would be underground access points to the subway station.”
If I weren’t growing more lightheaded by the moment, I may have considered that.
We walked a little further before finding a door with broken locks, stating: “Employees Only.” Hope budded to life in my chest, and as we pushed through the door and found functioning emergency lights and a room full of thick wires, I exhaled a loud sigh of relief.
Zeke closed the door behind us, and I immediately dropped and lay on the floor. I didn’t care about the dirt and grime as my heart finally began stabilizing. The clouds in my vision vanished, and I felt clearer than I had in the past few hours.
I felt Zeke standing over me, and when I opened my eyes, I saw him smirking.
“I don’t know what’s funny about this situation. We’re being chased through underground tunnels by madmen who are likely to kill you, and I’m bleeding to death. Oh, and no matter where we go, we’re not going to be safe. So, we have that going for us.”
His smirk vanished as he squatted beside me. “Can I see your arm?”
I lifted it from the floor dramatically, and he snorted as he looked over the wound. “It looks like staunching the bleeding helped it clot. It’s going to be fine as long as we get some antibiotic ointment on it.”
His fingers remained on my arm, though. He tickled them gently enough to send goosebumps down my spine, and immediately my body reacted. I felt hopeless and sad and a little bit frustrated that we were being forced into this situation together. I wouldn’t have wished it on my worst enemy.
“Have you really just sat and considered how messed up this whole thing is?” I asked, shaking my head and looking at one of the blinking security lights. “How could a man expend this many resources into buying a human? We’re not in the nineteenth century anymore. It’s not legal. It’s not common practice. It’s so messed up. But to go to these lengths… he has to want the leverage over my father. It’s the only reason he would do this. I don’t think he realizes that there is no leverage. Hell, Dad was happy to sell me into slavery.”
“Fuck Alonzo. He’s next on my list.”
“If we get out of this,” I reminded him.
He reached down and wrapped an arm around the small of my back, pulling me up into a sitting position. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel any of the lightheadedness that had previously consumed me. “Can you not talk about that?”
“I think I need a distraction,” I admitted.
All of this was too much to think about, especially without a foreseeable way out of it.
“Just a distraction?” he asked.
I pursed my lips as he pulled my face a little closer. The smell of him filled my nostrils, and the sweat and metal mixed and made him appear even sexier than I could put into words. The way his arms pulled me upright just enough to show his power over me. The strength that had kept me safe time and time again.
“With you, it’s never just a distraction.”
I loved the way the corners of his mouth pulled up at the ends, offering a genuine smile. I had only ever seen that smile directed at me, and something about that realization melted me.
I arched into him and wrapped an arm around the back of his neck. “I don’t think this is the most sanitary place,” I teased.
“I don’t care where I am or how filthy it is. If I’m with you, that’s the only thing that matters.”
His mouth pressed down on mine gently. The lip ring grazed my bottom lip, and I flicked my tongue over it. He was letting me set the pace, and I breathed in the longing and lust. I savored the feel of his strong, warm arm over my back, noting the way his other hand wound around the back of my head and held it tightly to him.
“I want more than this,” I whispered, reaching my free hand between us and pressing it down right between the denim of his dark jeans. I slid my hand slowly over the hard length of him. “And it feels like you do too.”
“I always want you, Evelina. In whatever way you’ll offer me.”
I pressed him back hard enough that he teetered and landed on his butt, bringing me over him. I straddled his hips and rocked into him as my hand encircled his cock and squeezed. He released a heavy breath on my lips.
I wanted to do this for him. I wanted a distraction, but I also wanted to show him how I felt. I undid the button fly frantically, pulling down his pants. He lifted my hips to help me with the fabric, and when it stopped at his ankles, he effortlessly kicked the denim away.
I pumped my hand once, and he tipped his head back, pressing his fingers through the back of my hair. “You don’t usually like letting go of control, do you?” I teased, easing myself between his legs. “Stand up, Zeke.”
His eyes darkened, and every inch of me stilled at the predatory gleam in his eyes. But he did as I asked slowly.
I stayed on my knees before him and licked my lips, grinning up at him.
“Princess, I always have control,” he said as he fisted his hand tightly enough in my hair that it sent jolts of pain and pleasure straight to my core, mingling and becoming an almost unbearable sensation. “But I’ll let you play your game.”
I ran a finger up his calf and then grabbed his balls in one hand. I wrapped the other around his waist and pulled him forward swiftly, taking him all the way into my throat.
He mumbled a curse as I sucked and ran my tongue up and down his shaft. I pulled him into my mouth, gagging at the impressive length and girth of him. But I kept going. I drew out colorful curses and long groans from him as his hand tightened repeatedly in my hair. It hurt, but in a way that sent throbs of yearning between my thighs.
“I think you’ve played enough,” he groaned before pulling my head back and dropping to my level. In an instant, he had my pants at my knees but no lower. He lifted me, but not in any way I had expected.
He turned me upside down, and I squealed as he hooked the pants around the back of his neck and—
Oh my God, I exploded the second his tongue dipped into me. He didn’t just lick and suck, but he consumed me whole, taking every part of me that had been aching for him and twisting it into an endless cycle of pleasure and need. The blood rushed to my head as an orgasm ripped from me faster than any I had ever had.
It tore through my body and mouth as I cried and moaned for him.
It could have been minutes or hours before he settled me back to the floor on wobbling feet. And it didn’t last long. Not long at all as he lifted me into his arms and seated me right onto his long erection.
The pressure tore through me harder than the orgasm had, and as soon as he pushed into me, light shattered across my vision. His mouth found its way to my left nipple, and his teeth grazed lightly over it, sending me bucking and clinging to him. He settled me back on a room-length table, giving himself enough leverage to thrust harder into me.
“God, Zeke,” I cried out.
My vision blurred for an entirely different reason as another climax grew and readied within me. It electrified every inch of my body, and I bit down on his shoulder to contain the wild shout that pushed to my lips.
With Zeke inside of me, I shattered.
And with each thrust more, those pieces came back together little by little. With each sensitive reminder of the orgasm that rolled through me, I felt whole once again. I dug my fingers into his back as he cursed, thrusting frantically three more times.
Then, he stopped and rested his forehead against mine again.
“I love you,” I whispered to him.
I had needed time. I had wanted to make sure that my feelings for him were as sincere as I suspected, and after all this, I didn’t have a doubt in my mind. His eyes softened, and he pressed his lips into mine once again.
“I’ve always loved you, Evelina. Even before I admitted it to myself.”
He pulled me down from the table where I had been sitting, and my legs wobbled slightly. He held me upright, examining the cut on my arm once more. “It’s completely clotted,” he said with a nod of approval.
I had completely forgotten about the injury. I was too consumed with him to care.
“Good. Then let’s get out of here,” I said, pointing toward a secondary entrance—one that undoubtedly led to the populated subway system.
“Let’s take out Clide-fucking-Newton.”