A Jade's Trick (Lilly Black's Jaded Series Book 1) (53 page)

"I never wanted there to be, Cain, but I don't see any other way.  I can't forgive this.  Can't you understand that?"

"If it were true!" he roars, his mood turning on a dime.  Then I hear the sounds of glass shattering and falling all around as he smashes the mirror over the dresser.

"Fuck this!" He stalks out, and a second later, I hear the door to the suite slam shut.

Now I'm stuck here, tied to this bed, but that's not the worst of it.  Cain has left me.  Tonight, I was doing the leaving, and when I visualized this moment, him begging me to stay was supposed to be the part that would have made the wound I'll carry with me for the rest of my life ache a little less.  Now he's gone, I feel the loss of him like a phantom limb, and I do not like where I feel it.

"Just walk out, you fucking bastard!" I shriek into the darkness.

"Misogynistic prick!  Fucking liar!" I shout then pause to listen for him.  Nothing.

"I hate you!  Do you hear me?  I fucking hate you, you filthy, fucking whore!" I pull at the tethers, thrashing in the bed.

"You can't leave me like this, you goddamned psycho!" I wail.  "I'll fucking kill you when I get loose!" 

I pause again.  Still nothing.

"You motherfucking, egomaniacal, self-righteous cocksucker!"

"Are you about finished?" Cain asks as he appears in the door way, his face illuminated by his tablet.

"You son-of-a-bitch!" I snarl.

"That's the first accurate name you've called me," he jokes.  I'm in no mood.

"Fuck you!  I thought you left."

"That's what I wanted you to think," he says, smugly, then he stands the tablet on the dresser and walks out.  It's off kilter because it's setting on broken glass.

"Evan?" Zahara asks.

"I'm here," I say, meekly, mortified that he's placed her in front of me.

"I can't see you.  Can you see me?" 

"Yes."

"Good enough," she says, then wastes no time getting right to her point.  "This is not your riding crop.  For one thing, these aren't even real diamonds."  She shines a flashlight at the "diamonds", and I see the stones sparkle in rainbow colors, not clear like the real diamonds of my riding crop.

"I can assure you that this was not created by anyone we use at Grohl's.  It looks fine at a glance, but on closer inspection, it's actually pretty sloppy work, definitely not up to our standards," Zahara explains.  "Also I spoke with the artisan who made yours, and what you might find interesting is that there is a date burned into the leather if you look inside the fold of the tip.  You can see it in good light."

"And you can feel it," Cain hisses.  "Thank you, Zahara."

"Call me if you need anything else," she says abruptly and disappears from the screen.  Cain knocks the tablet over and comes to the bed, thrusting the crop into my hand.  He grabs my right index finger and shoves it into the loop of the end.

"Feel it," he orders me, and when I feel something that seems like characters embossed into the leather, it isn't necessary for me to look at it because I realize with a heavy burden of guilt that Rain was the one deceiving me.  I don't know how she switched them out, but now that I know she lied about the riding crop, I know the rest was probably a lie, too.  In an effort to try to maintain some semblance of justification, I play my last card.

"Then how did she know to say that you called Elizabeth Domina?" I ask, and Cain thrusts his phone in my face.  It's a video in a text from Lucy.  Cain hits play.

"The case you ordered came in the day after you left for Vegas, so I put the riding crop in it when I took it out of Evan's closet."  As Lucy talks, the video shows the case, and when she zooms in, I see a metal plate by the center lock.  In a strong, yet feminine font, it says: 

I have really fucked up.

 

"Cain, I'm sorry," I say.  "I'm so sorry."

"Not yet, you're not," he says, and when I feel him at my feet, releasing them from the tethers, it scares me.

What does he mean?  Is he going to throw me out?
  Panicking, I feel like I can't breathe as he yanks my panties off and flips me over onto my stomach, crisscrossing my wrists uncomfortably and forcing me up onto all fours.

Is he going to fuck me?  Do I want him to?  Does he care?
  As my mind reels, his hand comes down hard on my ass, and he's not playing.  His open palm strikes me over and over, but I won't cry out.

"Are you sorry?" he asks sternly.

"Yes," I say, my voice flat, which only incites him

"Not sorry enough," he rules, and then he grabs the riding crop.  It bends around the sides and stings my hips when he strikes me, but I remain stoic.

"Are you ever going to doubt me again?" he demands.

"Are you going to give me reason to doubt you again?"  My pride asks, spitefully inviting his wrath.  He brings it down a second time, and though it hurts like hell, I find the pain cathartic and satisfying as it quells my guilt.

"I didn't give you reason this time, Evan."  His words are hard and deliberate as he spits my name out of his mouth and swings the crop against my ass even harder.  "Will. You. Ever. Doubt. Me. Again?" 

"No," I give in, my voice shaky, my eyes tearing up.  "No, I promise.  I swear.  I'll never do it again."  I hear the whip hit the floor, and before I realize what's happening, Cain's cock is abruptly inside me.  I feel violated, disturbed that his brutal spanking gave him an erection and more disturbed by how wet I am, which worsens as my legs start to tremble until he has me screaming his name within seconds.  I know this is so wrong, but I love it.

With my wrists still tethered and twisted, Cain pushes me down flat on the bed, lying atop me as he fucks me.  I arch my back, and with no room to relax my elbows, they hold me up as Cain's mouth finds my neck, biting me.

"Never leave me, Evan," he orders as his teeth tear into my shoulder, vicious enough to leave an impression but not break the skin.  "Swear it!"

"I swear," I breathe.  "I'll never leave you."

"And never doubt my love for you."

"Never," I promise, my voice wavering as he moves to my ear, running his tongue around the rim before biting the lobe.

"I love you, Evan," he whispers.  Then I feel his weight lifted off my back as his hands run down my spine to find my hips, pulling me back onto my knees, but when I feel his hands on my ass, he stops suddenly.

"Oh, God, baby, I've marked you," he says, his voice full of remorse.

"I don't care.  Just fuck me!" I demand, and he swiftly leans over me to release me from the tethers.  Pulling me upright with his hands on my tits, he fucks me slowly, but I don't want to be fucked slowly.  I bend back over on all fours, bucking against him to force my will, and his anger not entirely spent, he grabs me by the back of my neck and shoves my face into the bed, holding me there as his cock swells with the impending release until I feel him burst inside me, hot and wet, instantly taking me with him to a glorious end.

I collapse under the weight of emotion and fulfillment, and when Cain falls to the bed beside me, putting his arms around me, holding me so tight I can barely breath, I finally know peace.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper, breaking the beautiful silence as we lie wrapped around each other.

"You were set up, baby.  It's not your fault.  I just don't understand why Rain would do that to me.  Maybe her sister would, but..."  he sighs.

"She said her sister was the one who asked her to steal the riding crop from Elizabeth's apartment."  This piques Cain's curiosity, and he prods me to tell him everything in detail.  I go over the entire conversation with Rain, and when I tell him how terrible she looked, he's suspicious.

"People on heroine don't gain weight.  They lose it."

"She didn't look fat, just...frumpy." 

"And she actually said her sister was being more mature?" he asks, and I nod.  "That sounds more like Sunny posing as Rain.  Could that sweatshirt have been hiding a pair of fake tits?"

"I guess, but would Sunny really have dyed her hair for this?"

"Yeah, maybe."

"What kind of psychos have you exposed me to?"

"I didn't realize I came with so much baggage."  He makes me laugh.

"I shouldn't have fallen for it." 

"I'm just glad you waited to confront me before running away."

"But I went off the deep end.  I deserved worse than a spanking."  When I say it, he rolls me over.

"You didn't deserve this," he says, running his hands over my ass and upper thighs.  Now that he's touching it, I realize it's really sore. "Baby, I'm sorry."

"Really.  It's not a big deal," I say, and though I do wish the marks weren't there, I feel better for having them.  They're my penance for doubting him.

"It's a big deal to me, and I swear to God, I will never touch you in anger again.  I never meant to hurt you like this," he says, pulling me onto my side to face him.  I keep my head down, but now that both of us have adjusted to the darkness, he notices my swollen, red eyes.

"Or like this," he says, tracing the edges with his hand.  "I don't deserve your forgiveness." 

"Rain did this, not you," I explain.

"This is the last time.  Evan, I swear.  If any bitch from my past ever does anything to try to hurt you or to drive you to leave me again, she's dead." 

"You're the only one who could ever make me leave you."

"Swear it," Cain commands, his eyes fixed on mine, "because losing you would destroy me." 

"I swear," I assure him, and his expression melts into a smile.  I smile back, but it's a misrepresentation of what I'm feeling at this moment because I have made a decision.  I'm going to explain what predisposes me to expect the worst in people.  I owe him that much.

"Cain," I say as I move to sit against the headboard.  "It's time I told you something about my past."