Chapter 24
twenty-four
Mouth dry. Head pounding. Vision flickering in shades of red before it finally sharpens.
I’m flat on a soft mattress, arms stretched above me, wrists bound in silk, the burn behind my ear outmatching the choke of whatever’s cinched around my neck.
A shadow stands at the foot of the bed, hands on his hips like a warden deciding my sentence. Sleek black belt, tailored trousers, and a look of utter, surgical disappointment.
“I’ll forgive you for not sucking my cock this morning,” he says in an even tone.
His voice soothes something deep inside me that I’ll never tell him about. Kidnapped…
By Aiden Cardell.
“What’s happening?” I ask, but the words get stuck in my arid throat. “Did… Did you drug me?”
“Yes.”
My eyes snap open wider. “You—what?”
“Yes, Ashlyn. I drugged you.”
“Pretty sure that’s a felony.”
“Probably, but what I’m going to do to you if you try to escape me again will be worse.”
When I jerk at the cuffs, my neck yanks with it. A pinch sharpens behind my ear, like a bee buried its stinger there and died.
“There’s something on my neck—”
“A more permanent collar.” His tone is bored, almost amused. “Only I have the key. And I have no intention of releasing you from your duties. In fact…”
He steps forward, leaning over until his crystal eyes lock onto mine with a vengeance that prickles my skin.
“I have no intention of releasing you at all.”
Terror and desire collide inside me, like an explosion beneath my ribs.
A sharp snap of his fingers cuts through the tense air as he grabs my attention. “Except to go to class. So get up. Shower and get dressed. Your first one is in an hour.”
One of his hands unties the silk wrapped around my wrists, and I hurriedly pull them in front of me, rubbing at the raw skin. I aim for the guest suite, but he sidesteps in front of me.
“Nope. My room. My bed. My bathroom… This is where you’ll stay from now on.” He points a finger toward his large bathroom at the back.
I scurry to the en suite, pajamas twisted around me, and shut the door—
Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound is not gentle.
“Leave it open,” he says, kicking in the door.
“I need to use the bathroom.”
“Great.”
“Aiden!”
“I don’t give a fuck, little girl. You’re my property. Door. Open.”
Fortunately, he stands in his bedroom while I use the toilet, but as soon as the sink kicks on and the shower, he reappears, leaning against the doorframe with an icy expression.
I toss my hair over my shoulder to see why my neck hurts so badly. Not only is the new collar thicker, but it also has a Theta embossed into the leather, and the initials AIC are branded across the front.
A small red spot underneath my ear catches my eye, and I gather up my long strands into a ponytail. There’s a surgical slit with a stitch of thread beneath the lobe.
“What is this?” I ask, eyes narrowing.
“Your tracker.”
I whirl on him. “You put a tracker in me?”
It comes out like I’m shocked. And angry… Yet I feel comforted by the fact that he’s keeping his eyes on me. Everywhere.
In two steps, he’s in front of me, his big body pressing mine into the counter behind. He grabs my chin and lifts it to face him. “It seems you can’t be trusted to not go running off wherever without telling your owner. So…I will treat you like the dog you are.”
He releases me with a shove toward the steaming shower, and I gasp.
“Wash up, baby girl. I don’t like my property dirty.”
Scowling, I get into the hot water while he leans against the far wall and watches. I don’t do a normal wash-up. Nope. Instead, I drop the soap. Letting it slip down between my legs until I bend over, giving him the full show.
When I wash my skin, I take my time to caress it like it’s delicate silk. The steam clears from the glass for long enough that I flinch to see Aiden standing so close to the entrance.
His fist is wrapped around his cock, the reddened head dripping with pre-cum, and he strokes himself rapidly. “Keep going,” he grits out through clenched teeth.
Satisfied with myself, I do. Washing my hair with my arms up, tits exposed, and with every motion, his face grows tenser, taut. Until I’m rinsing my hair, head back in the water, and a hand grips the front of my collar and pulls me down.
As I gasp, my open mouth is filled with his hot length. Stuffed full until I gag on the tip, which spurts reams of Aiden’s salty cum directly down my throat.
“Look at me, baby girl. Look in my eyes as you swallow me.”
I do, the heat between my own legs pulsing erratically. Wantonly. Being beneath Aiden Cardell and holding his power against my tongue makes me feel like I could control everything about him. Especially given the lust that coats his face.
“Good girl,” he breathes out, long and low. “Finish up and let’s go.”
With that, as if the moment has passed, and he’s done using me, he steps out and allows me to dress on my own.
Striding across campus attached to his arm in a tiny summer floral dress, organza floating with every autumn breeze, is no easy feat. Fortunately, I only have two weeks left of his punishments.
And my heart thuds hard with desperation, wondering what I’ll do after that…
“You made me wear a thong under this!” I sneer as some of the guys we pass watch me try to stuff the garment between my legs. “And no coat! My nipples are going to freeze right off.”
Aiden’s glance toward my tits results in a small smile. The biggest I’ve seen cross his face in days. “Yep. That’s the plan.”
In front of my classroom, I shove his grip on my shoulders aside, but he pulls me in for another searing kiss. It’s another stamp of ownership, nothing more. No emotion behind it other than rage and possession.
And, sure enough, when I turn around, lusty and dizzy, he swats my ass loudly. His signature send-off.
This goes on all morning. Aiden meets me outside my classes, his arm around my shoulders, escorting me around like a handler. In between, he steers me to the next building and forces me to tell him things like:
“What did you learn in the last hour?”
“I’m not playing this game with you,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“That was algebra, right? What did you learn?” He ignores my exasperation.
“That the teacher’s assistant spilled coffee on his tacky button-down this morning.”
He’s silent until we reach the cafeteria, where he pauses and spins me into his chest. I lift my chin to look at him, and a softened gaze comes over his eyes.
“For that sass, li’l miss, you’ll be doing extra problems by hand after lunch.”
“I don’t have time for this shit, A—”
“In the library. Let’s eat.” He shoves open the doors and leads us through the lines.
If I grab chips, he puts a salad on the tray. A brownie is replaced with fruit. But he loads up my plate with chicken and rice. Considering me for a moment, he turns and grabs the last brownie and slides it onto his own tray.
Asshole.
Irritated that I can’t even eat what I want, I follow behind him like a good pet, then sit on his lap as I’ve been trained to do. But if I ever give away how much I like it, I’ll die of embarrassment.
The warmth of his palms on my hips. The way he lifts a fork to my mouth with a bite on it and coaxes my lips apart.
His firm chest against my back anchors me to the seat.
Scent of adventure and the lake at midnight.
Without him realizing, Aiden’s thumb strokes over my thigh in one spot continuously as if it’s what’s keeping him together.
Landon sits across from me, but doesn’t speak directly to me. No, the only one who dares is Ryan Cardell. Not even Pippi, his girlfriend and my cousin, addresses me.
“Hello, Ashlyn,” Ryan says, like the punchline to a joke. He leans around to snag Aiden’s gaze, giving him widened eyes. Full of warning.
“Hello,” I respond politely, but Aiden only interrupts.
“Don’t talk to him.”
“She can talk to me if she wants,” Ryan interjects. “Besides…I’m curious about why she’s on your lap.”
“Because I want her there.”
Ryan’s jaw clenches, and he shakes his head slightly. “Dad won’t like it.”
“I don’t give a fuck, Ryan.”
“You? You who gives a fuck about everything doesn’t give a fuck about that? Mm-kay.” His voice is filled with snark.
Aiden, rebelling against the gods himself, turns my head toward him and kisses me.
This time, for the first time, it’s gentle.
Probing. One hand snakes up the back of my neck and holds me there.
His tongue explores my mouth as if he’s curious.
And when he breaks apart, he replaces his lip with a bite of brownie.
“Here, baby girl. You earned this. Daddy’s so fucking pleased with you.”
I almost soak my panties as I take off the corner of the sweet.
Aiden watches me chew, then offers another bite. “Good. So fucking good. When you finish, we’ll go to the library. Okay?”
All I can manage is a quick nod, not quite sure of the game he’s playing now. Or what part he’s using me for. But I’m assuming his family knows.
And the way the brownie settles in my stomach like rocks forces me back to reality.
Aiden and I can never be.
I made sure of that a long time ago.
If I thought I could have fun with him without getting my heart ripped wide open until I bled out on the floor…I was wrong.
And it’s way too late.
Tears sting my eyes, but I quickly blink them back. Aiden’s grabbing my hand and escorting me out of the cafeteria.
As carefully as possible, I sip a slow breath in and ask…
“Was that about me?” My voice is timid.
Aiden’s chin lifts against the biting wind, and he tugs me harder toward his side as we amble toward the library. “What do you think?”
“They don’t want to see you hurting again.”
“I won’t,” he barks. But then he freezes and spins me by the upper arm to face him. “Because you? You mean nothing to me. Except as a convenient hole to store my cum.” With a yank on my hand, he pulls me forward as I reel from the wrath coating his expression. “Move.”
His words make me wince. I know he doesn’t mean them. But I’m afraid of the day he finally does.