CHAPTER NINE
TESSA
This is fucking karma for you.
I can see the headlines now.
Death by Giving Head
Woman Bled Out, Trying to Extract Her Tongue From a Giant Penis
Girl Dies Too Attached to the Noire Family Jewels
My jaw feels rusty, like the Tin Man’s, there’s a dull ache throbbing in my tongue, and I can’t help but think about how much my mother has always hated my tongue piercing.
Not that she’d exactly see this as a told-you-so opportunity.
She’d be too mortified for that. If I ever decide to concede and tell her she was right, I’ll include my reasoning so she’s too speechless to gloat.
Silver lining.
But when Maddox’s eyes lock on to me, all those issues sail away.
I haven’t quite decided if that’s the foolish, giddy schoolgirl who gets sidetracked by the larger-than-life, menacing Noire or if it’s the woman who has needs that haven’t been properly met for a while.
Either way, keeping my wits about me and remembering how this will all end is imperative so my heart doesn’t skip with irrational hopes.
Because this ludicrous attempt to play Maddox has me feeling connected to him in ways I didn’t expect, far beyond the ball of my piercing jammed into the ring of his.
“That’s done,” he says after ending his call. “You’ve gotten us in quite a pickle, Lockhart.”
Apparently, the shooting pains have him talking like he’s from Leave it to Beaver. If he adds, Aw shucks, I’m out.
Mentally. Since he’s essentially holding me captive.
“This must really be frustrating.” He chuckles, like a hot, deranged serial killer—that’s a tad dramatic, but my tongue is cemented to an erect, pulsing penis ladder, so I get a damn free pass.
“Not being able to talk back,” he continues his taunt.
“Maybe I’m not in such a hurry to remove my dick from your heavenly mouth. ”
Narrowing my eyes in challenge, I swallow harder than I did a few minutes ago, and a breathless shudder leaves him.
His eyelids flutter closed, and his jaw twitches. “Message received.”
I roll my shoulders back in a badass-bitch move that really doesn’t apply to this situation, but I’m owning it anyway.
“Maybe if you slant your head a little.” He holds my chin, shifts in his chair, and digs his finger into my mouth until I’m gagging, which only accentuates the sting.
Is he freaking serious right now?
He wasn’t exaggerating when he said he was only halfway inside my mouth, but that still has him brushing the back, a hair’s breadth from my tonsils. Girth and length and velvet.
“That’s not working.” Panic laces his tone as he strokes his forehead. “Maybe I should call Dr. Landry.”
Oh God, no.
I’m going to have to move to another country and change my identity after this.
Woman Flees After Being Surgically Removed From Billionaire’s Crotch
Who have I become?
I can hear my sister Eden whispering, A floozy, in my mind.
“Mm-mm,” I burble. “Nond cawl anyain, lee.”
“Don’t call anyone, please?” he reiterates with a smirk, which is so impressive.
I nod. “Mmhmm.”
“You gotta stop making noises, beautiful.” He pets my head with so much gentle adoration that my stomach flips. “It’s doing something to me, and I’m really trying here.”
A surge of victory rushes through me and straight to my panties, but that is completely misplaced. I am a floozy. How could I be turned on right now? No, I refuse to think like my prudish sister. I just like sucking a man off, which is totally normal, and this situation is confusing.
Cramming my finger and thumb into my mouth, I try to find an angle that will allow me to unhook my barbell while my eyes dart around for a distraction because that wolfish expression on his face will be my undoing.
He still has his earbud in. I wonder if it’s playing music again. It makes so much sense that he always has a tune in his ear because he carries himself like he’s subtly dancing or about to break into one, on top of a mountain, conquering life. Fascinating.
Suddenly, I’m hit with the urge to know his favorite playlists or what he’d pick for a theme song. Something cocky with a strong beat, no doubt.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I’m getting soft. We can’t have that. But that’s an idea. He needs to be soft so we have room to unfasten one of the piercings.
Removing my fingers, I try to explain. “Yoo heen hoo cowm.”
Hopefully, he doesn’t need me to be sexy to accomplish that.
I sounded like less of a moron when I had my wisdom teeth taken out, accidentally took an extra Vicodin, and thought my neighbor was making a nuclear weapon in her basement.
She was just an old lady who wanted to nuke me a bowl of soup.
Thankfully, she couldn’t understand my rant. My sister Violet nearly peed herself.
I loathe being out of control. It’s not a good look on me. The drool streaming out of my mouth probably isn’t either.
Maddox’s lips quirk up in a lopsided grin that could set the whole resort ablaze with scorching seduction. “I’m going to need you to repeat that, Dollface. I don’t want to misinterpret or put words in your mouth.”
I pin him with my best death glare and suck … aggressively.
“Right. What’s a few more things in there?” He grits that out with a laugh, full and boisterous, as he hunches over in what appears to be glorious agony. “You want me to come?”
Deciding it’s best to show him, I reach for his balls and begin massaging. He hums in response—throaty and fervid—and another dose of victory skitters across my skin.
“I get your reasoning because I don’t know how to stop being hard with your mouth on me, but …” He tenderly grazes his knuckles down my face, his wintry eyes trailing that same path before they waltz over the rest of me. “It’s gonna hurt, Tess. I don’t want to hurt you.”
There’s something so genuine in the way he says that. A lump forms in my throat. He has hurt me though. Maybe he doesn’t realize it. Maybe being a controlling asshole wasn’t his intention. I hate the way that thought bathes me in warmth.
Sliding my finger beneath him, I brush his taint and squeeze his balls with my palm while my other hand pumps his lower shaft. Then I ignore the discomfort and suck.
Our gazes crash together like a tsunami intent on flattening me, and a little voice inside my head screams that this is decimation at its finest. Foamy whitecaps of desire seem harmless until they’re roaring into the clouds and there’s no way out.
And yet something tells me that a sick part of me would choose to swim even if I wasn’t chained to this wave.
I wish he could fuck my throat, hard and fast, the way he would if we weren’t bound by this predicament.
Leaning down, he cradles the sides of my face. He’s trembling. “Okay. If you need to stop or for me not to finish, pinch me hard, and I’ll try. You already feel so good.”
I expect him to straighten, to put some distance between us and hover over me with that charming sex-god bravado of his, but he doesn’t. It morphs this awkward debacle into an intimate union. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Stuffing that down inside me with my depraved craving to be decimated, I keep to my mission. Kneading, sucking, swallowing, moaning.
He kisses my hair, his lips lingering there, and he swells inside my mouth as he attempts to smother his euphoric groans, so I know my efforts are paying off. That alone eases the ache in my tongue.
His sin-and-spirits fragrance washes over me, rendering me dizzy with lust. My legs shake, and I squeeze my thighs together, longing for this to be a different scenario, where I’d get my turn. Not the time.
“That magic mouth, baby. I kind of like the pain.” His husky tenor rips through me as his breath staggers out. “I’m so close, Tess. You’re a goddamn dream. I’m gonna come.”
His grip on my face, his sweet declarations, his trembling arms, and his gentle kisses of praise sweep me up in another wave of emotions.
I murmur encouragement, which is all he needs to push him over the edge. And as he spills into my throat with guttural groans, a sense of pride fills me too. One I’ll need to reconcile later.
Salt and musk burst on my taste buds, my throat rebels, a small cough croaks out of me, and an agonizing twinge darts through my tongue as he jerks from the release. Not my most graceful blow job. But under the circumstances …
“Fuck,” he rasps, brushing my hair back between pants. “That was … mind-numbing. Give me just a minute, and I’ll try to free us.”
His hold on me never sways from being delicate and reassuring, like he’s safeguarding a treasure. And it pisses me off. This wasn’t supposed to be that. Although what I intended it to be makes me a raving bitch. It’s disturbing how messed up I am.
Slowly, he starts to soften, so I shimmy my fingers inside to unscrew the ball on the underside of my tongue. It takes about a minute because the angle is still awkward, but it finally works.
“You got it. Good—”
His praise is cut off by a thumping bang on the door.
“Shit,” Maddox hisses before returning his attention to me. “Ignore that and slide your tongue off the bar carefully.”
Again, it isn’t quick or smooth due to the position. And the incessant pounding, Cash’s voice filtering inside, and Maddox’s phone blowing up render this one of the most anxiety-provoking moments I’ve ever experienced, but I manage.
Once I’m free, Maddox sets to work, using the bar as leverage to dislodge the other end of my barbell from his ring before tucking himself away and catapulting out of his chair.
“C’mon,” he whispers, reaching behind a wall monitor to press a button, pulling a door camouflaged by screens forward, and ushering me inside.
I didn’t get much of a chance to survey his office, but the numerous monitors have me wondering what he watches. Maybe I know.
We end up in one of their covert tunnels.
I’ve been in a couple of the passageways over the years, but only brief jaunts with Jax and Rena.
Employees aren’t permitted to use them unless it’s an emergency or they’re escorted by a Noire or executive staff member.
Most of us only know where a few of the concealed entrances are.
Even after all these years, I’m in awe of what they’ve created.
They might be kings in New Orleans, but that’s only a glimpse of their power.
They’re creating a city that’s completely their own, furnished with safe rooms and getaway routes and airtight alibis, a one-of-a-kind service that people come from all over the world for.
It’s daunting, maddening, and oddly comforting.
Noticing that I’m frozen, gaping at the old brick corridor, Maddox threads his fingers with mine and tugs me along while sending a text and then dialing someone.
“I need an immediate escort for a staff member.” He pauses as a deep voice echoes through his earbud, and he tows me through the turns and ramps of this route, which all look the same to me. “I want three on her, plus a driver. Yeah.”
He peers over his shoulder at me. “You’re off tomorrow and this weekend, right?”
“Yes,” I confirm, wondering again what his motivation is for knowing my schedule.
There was the mention of Mardi Gras on his call.
That’s not an odd topic because a lot of our members visit during that time.
But it twisted something inside me when he immediately switched to his Bluetooth.
Then again, I’m not generally permitted to be in one of the owner’s offices, certainly not while they’re on a call, so maybe that was just him being diligent.
And the family the other guy mentioned, the Makarovs, are so volatile that the staff is required to check in more often when they visit.
There’s only a handful of members that put the resort on high alert like that.
Maybe Maddox just didn’t want me to hear anything that could compromise my safety.
But what’s the reason for the guards escorting me home?
“They’re to stay until she’s scheduled to return to work and follow during any outings. We’ll discuss pickup and drop-off at that time.” He’s silent for a few seconds before adding, “Meeting you at the safe-harbor tunnel, near emergency, in two. Jax will intercept you with her purse.”
He ends the call, but stares at his phone, replying to what seems to be a string of texts. That intimacy that cloaked us back in his office has completely disintegrated. It’s for the best. I know that, but my stomach is up in my throat.
“What’s going on?” I ask, silently applauding myself for how strong and unaffected I sound. “You’re pawning me off on your men? That doesn’t seem like it has anything to do with getting to know me.”
His frosty embers burn into me as we take the final turn and stand by the door, his hand releasing mine to splay across the small of my back. “It doesn’t, but … I drove you here, so you don’t have your car. Plus, I’ll be busy tonight. I want to make sure you stay put.”
“You’ll be busy tonight?” I arch a brow, hating the venom lacing that question, but the thought of my mouth on him hours before he’s with someone else has me ready to poke his eyes out.
Not that he owes me anything, which is good because I don’t want anything from him. And still, my blood is on fire.
“Calm down, Lockhart.” He huffs a light chuckle, but in the next beat, stress and despondency line his features.
“I’ll be busy because I fucked up a very important call, and my older brothers, who I happen to secretly idolize, are raging mad and looking for me.
I can’t take you home because I don’t want to involve you in whatever wrath is headed my way, and honestly”—he blows out a jagged breath, showing more vulnerability than I’ve ever seen in him—“that’s just the tip of the utter fuckery I’m involved in. ”
“Thanks to me,” I whisper as the car pulls up.
I’m instantly mortified. The discomfort in my tongue and jaw burrows into my bones. Security won’t share this with anyone, but it’s still unnerving to have my fellow employees speculating on what’s going on here.
Kane strides toward us, garnering Maddox’s attention. “It’s all set, sir. The names of the guards accompanying have been emailed to you, along with all the necessary information.”
“Good work,” Maddox says before kissing my temple. “It’s all right, Tess.”
Even in his commanding role with Kane, he seems so boyish in the aftermath of the mess I created.
Guilt strangles me. I don’t like seeing him this way.
It fills me with an uncanny compulsion to wrap my arms around him.
But that would be weird. I’m not really a hugger or even warm for that matter.
The amber lighting and his uninhibited confession are muddling everything.
It’s too late anyway. He lets Kane guide me to the car, and he disappears into his hidden city.