Chapter 14
Ainsley
B y the time we arrive at Ethan’s house half an hour later, I’m wound so tight that one touch from the monster could drive me over the edge. He’s been turning on the stupid vibrator repeatedly, not quite long enough for me to get close to coming, but long enough for me to want it. I refuse to be the one to give in.
“Say my name, little one,” the monster coaxes me as we walk up the short path to the front door. One dinner. I just have to make it through the next few hours without caving, and it’ll all be over. I’ll be able to respect myself for how strong I was, and he’ll realize he won’t win this fight.
“Monster,” I sneer at him so he gets the message. He only chuckles beside me and hits the dreaded button, making me stop in my tracks right before we reach the door. Just as I grip onto his arm to keep myself upright, the vibration stops and I’m left panting. “I hate you.”
“I know, baby,” he says as he presses a kiss against my temple. I can feel his smile against my skin, and I want to smack it off his face. He takes the last step and raps his knuckles against the door.
It only takes a few seconds for the door to open, but with the tension between us, it feels like we’re standing outside for an eternity. Finally, Mrs. Nash comes to the door with a big smile on her face as she takes me in.
“Ainsley,” she greets me. She pulls me in for a quick hug, her hands thankfully landing below the bandage on my back so she doesn’t feel it. I don’t expect to get through this whole night without it being noticed, though.
When she pulls away, I watch her eyes drift to the man standing next to me. The last time she saw her son, he was dropping me off after rescuing me with the promise of coming back one day. Here we are, together again, even though it’s not by choice for me.
“Cain,” she breathes as she rings her hands together. “It’s good to see you.”
“Veronica,” he acknowledges, calling her by her first name. I can see the pain cross her face as she realizes how difficult of a reunion this is going to be.
“Come in, come in,” she tells us as she steps back from the door, trying to hide how the monster’s dismissal just made her feel. As we follow her into the house, Ethan comes out from the kitchen to greet us.
“Ainsley,” he practically squeals.
“Ethan!” I squeal back. Days without seeing my best friend feels like months. I’ve had no one to talk to except for that quick conversation we had, and no comfort either than what I’ve tried not to accept from the monster.
Ethan runs at me and wraps me in a hug, lifting my feet from the ground. “I missed you, twerp.”
Automatically, my arms circle around his neck as he twirls me around, sending my dress flying around me. “I missed you, too,” I tell him.
“Are you wearing a new perfume? I like it.” Nope. That would be the arousal soaking my panties to the point that I’m surprised there’s not a wet spot on my dress, but I’m not about to tell him that. My cheeks flush with embarrassment.
He sets me back down on my feet, but as he unwraps his arms from around me, he slings one over my shoulders. Resting right over the bandage on my back. I wince from the pain that shoots through me and try to play off my reaction by shifting away from him, but he notices. He’ll always notice, because he’s my best friend and I can’t hide anything from him.
“What? Did I hurt you?” He lifts his arms from my shoulders and looks over me for an injury, and I can pinpoint the exact second his eyes land on the bandage. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s nothing,” I tell him quickly. He finds the monster, glaring at him behind me. When I look behind me, I wish I hadn’t. The monster is standing there, watching our interaction with a smug grin on his face, Now I really want to smack it off.
“What did you do to her?” Straight to assumptions. Not that he’s wrong, but the hostility is the opposite of what I was going for tonight.
“Nothing she didn’t ask me to do,” the monster answers, telling the truth without answering the question. All eyes look to me, waiting for an explanation.
“It’s nothing, really. Just… a scratch.” A huge scratch that’s going to permanently scar the monster’s name across my back.
“Let me see,” Ethan pleads, still angry even though I’m clearly defending the monster. I try to step away from him, but he grabs my arm and keeps me from moving too far. “Turn around, Ainsley.”
“Help me,” I mouth at the monster as Ethan whirls me around when I try to keep my feet planted. To no one’s surprise, he shakes his head and continues watching the scene play out.
As Ethan’s fingers graze along my skin, I watch in horror as the monster reaches into his pocket, fumbling with the remote inside of it. When the bandage slowly tears from my skin, the monster presses the button, sending waves of pleasure through me as the silent vibrations wrack my body.
I whimper, whether from the pleasure or the horror of Ethan ripping the bandages off, but neither of them stop. Neither stop until my back is completely bare, showing the entire household the mark I’ll bare for the rest of my life.
Everyone falls silent, and the vibration inside of me stops. He’s trying to make me associate having the carving revealed to pleasure, but all I feel right now is shock. I let it show on my face as the monster tears his eyes away from me and rests them on the man behind me.
“What have you done to her?” Ethan asks the monster, anguish laced through each word.
“I marked what’s mine,” the monster answers with a shrug of his shoulders, like none of this bothers him. Of course it wouldn’t. This was exactly what he was hoping for when he chose this dress.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Ethan growls out. The pure hatred he directs at the monster is something I’ve never heard come from him before.
“Stop,” I cry, trying to get between both of them with a hand on each of their chests. I look to Ethan first, hoping I can reason with him. “You don’t know what happened, and you’re not ready to hear it right now. But, he’s right. I told him to do it.”
I drop my hand from the monster’s chest, but as I twist my body to face Ethan, strong arms wrap around me and pull me back into his body. The muscular body that fits perfectly around mine, always making me feel safe and comforted, even in a moment like this.
“How does it feel?” the monster asks, addressing Ethan as he pulls my hair away from my neck and plants a soft kiss on the exposed skin. Luckily when he bit me last night, he didn’t leave a mark like he did the night he drugged me in the maze. That would be a whole other story I would have to explain. “Knowing that, if you ever get your chance with my girl, all you’ll be able to see is my name carved into her back.”
Ethan’s eyes skip between the monster and me, wide with shock, but I’m only confused. “What are you talking about?”
I tilt my head up, looking into the monster’s soft blue eyes full of satisfaction. “Sorry, little one. It’s hard to remember you’re so innocent when you’ve been riding my cock like you’re trying to win a prize for the last few days.”
The gasp that echoes through the room mirrors the horror washing across my face. It would be one thing to say something like that when we’re alone, but here, in front of Ethan and his mother is just too much. Even for someone like the monster.
“Cain,” Mrs. Nash says, trying to chastise a man she didn’t raise. He doesn’t pay her any attention.
“He’s in love with you, Ainsley, and he just realized how foolish it was to fall for my girl. Though, I can’t really blame him. You really are incredible.”
My eyes, filled with the disbelief I feel, shoot to Ethan as I wait for him to deny the monster’s words. He won’t even look at me, too busy staring daggers at the monster instead.
“Ethan?”
His eyes flicker to mine, but they don’t stay long before he goes back to glaring at the monster. I refuse to believe it. Ethan and I have been best friends for as long as I can remember. We know each other better than we know ourselves. I would have noticed if this was more than a friendship for him.
Right?
If he had feelings for me, why did he push me to give into the monster all those months ago? He could have just as easily worked to make sure I hated him, to make sure I only ever saw him as the monster.
“That’s enough,” Mrs. Nash finally breaks in, pushing through her own shock. “All of you. We’re here for a nice family dinner, no matter how strange that family may be.”
Her eyes shoot between the monster and Ethan, but when neither of the boys listen to her, she gestures for me to come to her. The monster loosens his arms, allowing me to go to her as he follows close behind me. She takes one look at my back and lets out a long sigh and then leads us into the kitchen.
“Ainsley,” Mr. Nash greets me with a friendly smile, oblivious to the hostility following us like a cloud. He walks away from the countertop where he’s preparing dinner to wrap me in a hug, but as his arms wrap around my shoulders in a tight embrace, I can’t keep myself from crying out.
Mrs. Nash interferes, getting him to unwrap his arms from around me. He looks at me with troubled eyes, not knowing what just happened, but Mrs. Nash tells him they’ll talk about it later.
So far, this dinner is off to a great start.
“Dinner will be ready shortly,” Mr. Nash says as he looks into his wife's eyes, trying to have a silent conversation with her.
“Come here, little one,” I hear the monster say from behind me. As much as I want to ignore him for how he’s already ruined this night, I can’t deny that being near him brings me the comfort I so desperately need right now.
I turn around to find him looking at me with soft, apologetic eyes, and as I walk toward him, I hear Mr. Nash suck in a sharp breath. He’s seen my back, I take it.
“We’ll be right back,” the monster tells everyone as he takes my hand and guides me away from the room and all the people in it. When their gazes are off of me, it’s like a weight lifts from my chest and I can finally breathe.
I don’t even pay attention to where the monster is leading me until we’re walking down the steps and the musty smell of a basement that’s never used invades my sense of smell.
“Would you like me to turn the light on?” the monster asks in a gentle voice as we reach the last step. The light is all the way at the top of the steps, but he must have just remembered that this basement is where I became terrified of him.
“No,” I answer. There’s still some daylight streaming through the window, but otherwise, the basement is dark. Just like the times I met him down here before. “Why did you do that?”
It’s a loaded question, one meant to encompass everything that happened from the time he knocked on the door until now. Instead of answering, he guides me through the basement until we reach the old, torn up couch that still hasn’t been thrown out.
When he sits down, he pulls me down onto his lap so I’m straddling him with a leg on either side of him. “I’m sorry, little one,” he breathes as he brushes a strand of hair away from my face, even though he can’t see it dangling there. “I didn’t intend for any of that to happen.”
“Then why did you let it?” I ask, choking back a sob as I ask my question. They’re tears of anger and sorrow, both aimed at him. His body stiffens under mine at the sound of my cries, and I can feel his desperation to comfort me in the way he keeps brushing his thumb along my cheek to dry the tears that haven’t fallen.
“I’ve suspected that he had feelings for you for a while, and when I saw the opportunity to show him you’re off limits, I took it. I didn’t think about how it would affect you, but I should have. You shouldn’t have found out that way, but dammit, Ainsley, you’re mine .”
I don’t answer him; the anger in his voice is too much for me to process right now.
“When I saw him wrap you in his arms like that, it was like a darker part of me took over, and I just wanted to see him hurt. Seeing his face when he saw my name on your back gave me the same feeling I have when I make you come. It was intoxicating.”
“You planned this when you had me wear this dress,” I accuse him, remembering how it all clicked together in that moment.
“I had hoped he would see it, but I swear, I didn’t plan for all of that to happen,” he assures me.
“I hate you,” I tell him, repeating the words I said to him right before that door opened and everything changed.
“I know, baby, but you’re still mine,” he declares, and he pulls my face down to meet his, crashing our lips together in a kiss that says more than words ever will.
As his tongue enters my mouth, he’s claiming me in yet another way, reminding me I belong to him. Not as a possession, but as the woman he’s madly in love with and completely obsessed with. As I bite down on his tongue, making him growl into my mouth from the pain, I’m telling him just how much I hate him for everything he’s done to me.
And he doesn’t stop me.
Instead, as my teeth dig deeper into his tongue, he reaches into his pocket and hits the button, making me whimper and release my bite.
“Please,” I beg into his mouth, not knowing how much more of this torture I can take. I was a fool to think I would make it through this entire dinner with him in control of my pleasure.
“Say my name, little one. Just say Cain. Let me be your safe word,” he begs me right back.
“I can’t,” I cry as the pleasure becomes too much. Just when I think he’s going to be the one to give in and finally let me come, the vibration stops, leaving me panting against him.
“You’re going to say it, little one, and you’re going to say it tonight. And when you do, I’m going to take you home and fuck you until my name is the only word you can say,” he promises me. I don’t doubt him for a second, and that’s what terrifies me the most. “Last chance, unless you really want to give in with other people watching.”
As an answer, I climb off his lap and stand on shaky legs, starting my walk back to the awkward dinner we’re sure to face. The monster follows closely behind me with his hand resting on my lower back, not willing to leave me for even a second.