CHAPTER 41 ALFIE
ALFIE
I’m one fucking thrust away from busting a nut when I hear El start screaming. Absolutely howling. Like she’s being tortured. It sends me crashing back down to Earth, and I can’t focus on anything but her pained screams. What the fuck is he doing to her?
I try to build my momentum back up, God knows how much I need to come right now, attempting to shove away Elodie’s cries for help.
But they don’t stop. I keep punching my dick into Amanda, but I can no longer hear her cries of pleasure, can no longer feel the tightness wrapped around my cock.
Everything goes soft. God, give me strength.
I pull out of her and get off the bed and yank the condom off my cock, chucking it in the bin by the dresser.
“What are you doing?” she says in a breathless, whiny voice.
I feel like whining too, as I grab my jogging bottoms and sling them back on. “I gotta go.”
I don’t wait for her to get out, get dressed, or even get off my bed before I’m storming out. I go straight to Caden’s room.
It’s not the worst scene I pictured walking into, at least there’s no blood.
She’s fucking erratic though. Taking in the visual quickly, I see she’s naked from the waist down, and she’s shackled to the headboard. Resting on her haunches by the pillows, she’s doing her best to pull the metal chain from the bar. Ah, there’s the blood. Running wild streaks down her arms.
A strangled sob has me flying over there.
“Hey, hey, I’m here, El, it’s me.”
She whips her head to the side at my voice. “Alfie, please help me!”
I’ve seen girls cry, I’ve seen them scream, struggle, panic. But this is some next level pure terror here. Unfiltered hysteria. I’ve never seen or heard anything like it.
I only idly wonder why she’s panicking so much from this, considering everything else she’s been through, while I grab the key out of Caden’s drawer.
I go over to her and set about finding the keyhole. She’s got herself twisted up, the skin around the metal shredded and seeping blood.
“Fuck, El, what happened?”
“Fucking Caden! He’s an animal!”
I get the cuffs undone and her arms fly away from the headboard as she brings them into her body. There’s nothing I can do but gather her up in my arms and bring her into my lap. She comes willingly, instantly snuggling into my chest as she sobs.
Cradling her little body like this awakens something in the deepest recesses of my mind. Something protective; possessive. Something downright concerning. “It’s okay, you’re safe, El, take a deep breath.”
She tries several times, but they get caught in her throat each time.
I rock her gently, the realisation only now hitting me that I’ve obstructed Caden’s intent. He’s left her here chained, and I shouldn’t have intervened. My need to protect this girl is beginning to cloud my morals, my loyalty.
I shove the thought away. I can’t help it if I’ve got empathy and compassion. This girl’s done nothing wrong recently, she’s obeyed everything, she’s behaved. This wasn’t justified.
Her body’s shaking uncontrollably, her skin damp and cold. I need to check her wrists, but there’s too much blood coating her arms to assess the damage.
“Stay here,” I say, gently lifting her off my lap. She clings to my shoulders. “It’s fine, I’m going to run you a bath, El.”
“Don’t leave me.” She sounds so small, so weak. It’s all I can do to take her with me. She squeezes my neck as if she’s afraid I’ll disappear.
I set her down on the armchair in the corner while I get the bath running.
Once it’s full and the room’s filled with a thick steam, I pull her to her feet. She doesn’t resist when I take her shirt and pull it over her head.
Along with her mangled wrists, she’s pretty beat up. I don’t know the ins and outs of what happened in the woods, but I can tell she fought like hell to get away from my cousin. She’s got minor cuts and grazes everywhere, like they grappled on the dirt and twigs.
My cock’s hardening at the sight of all this naked skin.
She lets me stare at her, running my eyes all over her body as I temporarily get lost in the sight of her.
Marred or not, she’s fucking beautiful. The scars she bears tell a hundred stories of the perilous wars she’s faced and survived.
One battle after another, just to see another day. It’s a testament to this girl’s grit.
My hands come up, my palms trailing her outline.
Two weeks is nothing, barely long enough to make a difference, but I’m the only one who saw the full extent of this body’s state fifteen days ago when she arrived.
How battered and sullen and skinny. She’s filled out a little, there’s a curve from her hip bone into a cinched waist, deeper than it was before.
Her body is incredible to touch. Despite the texture of the grazes and scars, her skin’s precious.
The rest of it smooth and velvety. My hands glide up her waist and come in to meet on her sternum, just holding below her tits.
Her nipples are pebbled and her chest is slightly bouncing from her steadying breath.
I glance up at her. She’s watching me intently. Whatever Cade’s done to her, she doesn’t need another man abusing her tonight.
I drop my hands and back away. “Don’t want the water to get cold.”
She sniffles, wipes her face with a forearm, smearing blood across her cheek, and walks to the tub.
She hisses as she steps in, her skin freezing compared to the water.
She sinks down, facing the same way she always does, towards me.
There’s exhaustion on her face, along with a sad resignation.
Defeat. But there’s something else under those heavy eyelids that has me stepping towards the tub and dropping to my knees.
El doesn’t flinch, she doesn’t back away. She hands me the sponge. I pour soap on it and lift one of her legs out of the water and start gliding the sponge up and down.
“I need you to do something for me, Alfie.”
I look away from the suds spreading along her skin to meet her eyes. She’s not looking at me, though. She’s looking down into the bubbles, hesitant. “Anything, El.”
“I need you to get me a morning-after pill.”
I almost drop her leg. I grip her ankle tight and turn my face back to it, stroking up and down. “So he fucked you then.”
“No.”
I look at her in confusion.
“He wanked off over me, then finished inside.”
I blow my cheeks out. “Fucking hell.”
Her hand comes flying out to grab my bare neck, bubbles and water streaming down my body.
There’s terror in her bloodshot eyes. “Please, Alfie, you can’t let him put a baby in me.
I can’t do it. The chances are slim anyway, since I haven’t had a period in God knows how long, but still. I can’t take the risk.”
I frown at her. “Why haven’t you had a period?”
She gestures to her body. “You saw the size of me when I came here. Anorexic and malnourished. Fucks with your cycle.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I know I’ve filled out but I still haven’t bled. But I’m recovering now, so the risk is there. Please, Alfie, I need you to help me.”
This goes against everything we are. Elodie’s main purpose for being here is to make an heir for the Blackwood bloodline. It’s her one job. Besides being a good wife to Caden but it doesn’t look like that’s happening anytime soon.
“El, you don’t know what position you’re putting me in here.”
“Please, Alfie.” She snakes her hand round to the back of my neck and pulls me in, begging me to hear her. “You can’t let him. If he does, I promise you I will fucking die. I don’t care how I do it, but I’ll do it. I won’t let him do that.”
I swallow hard. Place her leg down and get to work on the other one. “Elodie, he’s not all –”
“Don’t you fucking dare say he’s not all that bad. He is and you know it. Your relation to him obligates you to defend him. But we both know the truth. He’s a monster.”
I don’t respond. I may think it, but there’s no way I can say it out loud.
She finally releases me, leaning back into the tub. “Maybe I’d be willing, one day,” she speaks quietly, “if we ever found a way to get along, but right now, it can’t happen. Think of the life the baby would have if it’s born by parents who are the way we are. It’d be damaged beyond repair.”
I sigh long and slow. I know what she’s doing, and it’s working. I drop her leg, guide her to sitting up and start washing her upper body.
“Please, just this once, Alfie.” She turns her head to show me the fresh tears lining her eyes. “Just tonight. I won’t ask you again.”
I don’t know what this girl’s done to me, but the second she asked me I knew I was going to do it. She didn’t need to beg. It’s only the guilt I’m working on pushing past right now.
I heave in a deep breath. “I’ll fix it, El.”
Her whole body droops and her hands fly to her face as she starts crying again. It’s softer and quieter this time, full of relief.
I get the rest of her body washed, taking my time. Her hands come away from her face, and she finally relaxes, observes me closely as I run my hands and sponge all over her body. A lot of things go unspoken between us as the tension thickens.
A compulsion takes over me. Remnants of Caden could still be between her legs.
I didn’t go there with the sponge. I watch her carefully as I reach my hand down.
She stares back, her knees slowly falling apart for me.
I can wash him away for her. I can take that pain away.
I could feel the silkiness of her flesh between her legs, even inside, if I wanted to.
She wants me to. Even in this state, she’s willing to let me.
I stroke down the inside of her thigh, heart in my throat as blood rushes to my cock. Her lower lip disappears between her teeth.
Unless that’s all it is. One guy took from her already, so what’s the point in fighting? Just let the other guy take what he wants, too.
But it’s not that, and that’s the worst part. I know how badly she wants me. I know how badly I want her.