Caged (20 page)

“I’m sure she was there with you.”

Shrugging, she stepped towards me and lowered herself onto the step beside me. “Brian didn’t come back for six days after he killed her. I counted them. The light and darkness that came through a small hole in the brickwork. I was so hungry. And maybe a lot crazy.”

Taking her hand in mine, I gave it a small squeeze. She squeezed back harder, holding onto me like I was the shock to her system that kept her heart beating. The tears that had bubbled in her eyes fell freely down her pale cheeks and she placed her other hand to her chest as if it would stem the agony inside her heart.

“Having my mother there, albeit… dead, was… She was still my mum, Anderson.”

I nodded quickly. “I know.”

“And then…” she coughed faintly to clear her throat, “well, after eight weeks, Brian decided it was time for my mum to leave.”

My heart was beating so fast. Because I knew what was coming. I knew.

“He tried to take her from me. I was nine! I was just a little girl!”

“I know,” I whispered, pulling her to my chest as she broke.

She nodded against me. “I don’t know what happened.” She leaned back, blinking away the sorrow from her eyes. “He picked her up. I remember screaming, so hard that I felt something pop in my eye.”

Trying to contain my emotion, I ran my tongue around my dry mouth, attempting to replace some of the moisture that had evaporated with the adrenaline surging through me.

“And… and the next minute. He was on the floor, groaning. Blood poured from a big hole in his belly. I… I …”

“Hey, hey.”

Her head was shaking so much, the fear and terror in her eyes making my body vibrate. “I thought I’d killed him.”

“You didn’t?” The aforementioned adrenaline that had overtaken plummeted so quickly that I felt dizzy. Fear, for the first time ever, clamped hold of me and I stared in shock, unable to move.

“No.” Slowly her eyes moved to mine, the mirror image of my fear staring right back at me. “I grabbed his keys and ran. I just ran. I remember it was raining, and suddenly it was so good to feel that beat against me. Fresh air and rain now two of my most favourite things.”

The fact that I was keeping her locked up made my gut twist painfully.

“I... Someone found me in a park, just stood, staring up at the sky as the heavens opened.”

Silence curled around us as we both reflected.

“I’m so sorry, Kloe.”

Shrugging me off, she sighed. “The police went back but he was gone.”

I nodded. Somehow I’d known. “Hence the change to your name, and new life.”

“Yeah, they couldn’t risk it. I was just a child. My name was changed mainly because of the media coverage. But a lovely couple fostered me and…” She shrugged again.

“Where are they now?”

“They both died eight years ago. Car accident.”

“Shit...”

“No.” She shook her head and smiled. “They showed me how to live, Anderson. I was so lucky. There’s not many that get a second chance at life. They encouraged me to use my past and help people.” She barked out a laugh. “Not that I helped you much.”

Guilt made my veins tremble. How could I do this to her? After everything she’d been through? She was like a wild bird, created to soar in the wind and the sun, and the rain if she chose to. And I kept her in a cage, on a little perch, locked away from what she craved - life and freedom.

She stared up me when I shot up, my fists clenched in anger.

“Anderson?”

“I… God damn it! I can’t.”

She called my name once more when I snatched up my jacket and walked out of the front door. The front door I left unlocked.

I
KNEW
I
HADN’T BEEN
asleep long when the darkness outside still glared back at me through the window. I don’t know why but after Anderson had left I went up to his room and curled up on his bed. I needed the familiarity of his scent, the comfort of his pillow pressed to the front of my body.

Somehow I knew he’d left the front door unlocked and I could have bolted –
should
have bolted. But there was something inside me that held me back. Part of me knew it was the finality I needed, the end to the chapter between us. Yet there was a silent voice in my head, and my heart, that told me for the first time in a long while, I fit. I clicked into place with Anderson. He saw through the smokescreen I hid behind and I recognised the loneliness he tried so hard to bury deep inside him. Even after witnessing what he had done to James, I should have been appalled, horrified, but I wasn’t. And I wasn’t quite sure why.

Red lay beside the bed, stretched out on her side, and her soft snores made me smile. I missed Dave, along with his morning kisses that would wake me at 7am like clockwork. And the way he would nuzzle his cold nose into my hand, telling me it was time for scratches.

The clock on the bedside table told me it was a little after 2am. I was surprised to find the other half of the bed empty and I frowned, swinging my legs over the edge, wondering where Anderson was.

The house was relatively quiet apart from a few muffled sounds coming from the lounge area. It grew louder the lower I descended, a mix between groans and quiet talking.

My heart beat harder the lower I got, the apprehension of what I would find making my skin feel too tight. The last time I had walked in on Anderson I had been greeted to James’ dead eyes and the red stain of his blood covering the floor. Plus, Anderson hadn’t exactly been in a great mood when he’d left.

However, what I did find was, although as shocking as a dead body, nothing remotely akin to the horrific discovery of the last time.

I should have moved away. I should have turned around and gone back to bed. But I couldn’t. My legs wouldn’t move and my eyes wouldn’t budge from the scene playing out in Anderson’s front room.

The air stank of sex, the stifling heat to the room suffocating with the energised lust pouring from Anderson and Robbie.

Anderson was on his knees on the carpet in front of Robbie. His eyes were locked onto Robbie’s face as he slowly but deeply took Robbie’s cock to the back of his mouth and then gradually pulled back. The rhythm to his sucking was hypnotic, almost regulated, the forward and backward motion of his head enthralling me.

Robbie’s hands were tightly clamped around Anderson’s head, controlling every single stroke in and out of Anderson’s mouth. The look of sheer pleasure and profound lust on his face made my mouth dry and my belly heavy with warmth.

I’d never witnessed anything so utterly erotic in all my life. Unlike their violent fucking in the basement, there was something completely different this time. There was no rush between them, no aggression or frantic urgency, and an absolute effortlessness to their coming together. Anderson was completely in Robbie’s control, obeying every single unheard command and concentrating wholly on his partner’s pleasure.

Robbie’s head fell back when Anderson sucked deeper, taking most of his cock into his mouth at the same time as he lifted his hand and cupped Robbie’s balls in his palm.

“Shit, Anderson.” Robbie’s voice was gruff and full of need, the sound of it turning the heat in my stomach into something new - something more.

Anderson’s tongue swept out and he ran the flat of it up the underside of Robbie’s cock, then collecting the pool of pre-cum, he dragged it around the head, a shudder ripping through him when Robbie hissed indulgently.

“You want me to fuck you?” Robbie asked through the clench of his teeth.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Robbie’s face as he looked down. There was a needful hunger in his eyes, and a respect, both at the same time. It confused me. Anderson couldn’t be gay, not after the way he had fucked me. So what did that make Robbie if he wasn’t his boyfriend?

Anderson nodded, staring up at his friend/lover. “This time though, I want to do things a little differently.”

Robbie quirked an eyebrow. “Oh? What…what do you want?”

“I want to be buried deep inside Kloe when you take me.”

My eyes snapped to Anderson who had turned his face my way. He was staring at me with a darkness in his beautiful eyes, a question and an order glaring at me.

I thought I had been hidden from them, concealed by the angle I stood in the doorway watching them. I was wrong.

My mouth fell open, stunned at both his intuition and his comment.

Slowly, Anderson stood up and strolled across the room to me. He was completely naked and the breath in my lungs caught in my throat. His muscles rippled deliciously as he walked, the deep contours of his stomach hardening and damp with sweat, and his thick thighs showcased just how much power he had, both physically and characteristically.

“You’re still here.”

His cryptic statement made me frown.

“I thought you would have gone. I left the door unlocked. Tell me why you’re still here?”

If I didn’t know him so well I would have misconstrued his question, thinking that he was angry that I was still in his house. Yet it wasn’t anger he spoke with but shock and perplexity.

“I was hoping you’d tell me,” I whispered, unable to get my voice any higher.

He was right; I could have walked away so easily after he’d gone. But there was something inside me, inside this house, in Anderson, that held me back. As stupid as it sounded, I wanted to learn – learn what he had promised me I would learn. Him. And myself.

A ripple of a smile moved across his lips but he didn’t indulge me with an answer. Instead, silently, he took my hand and directed me across the room to where Robbie stood patiently waiting.

“Hello, Kloe.”

I returned his greeting with a smile, not sure if words would come out of my dry mouth. My heart was racing inside my chest, banging furiously on my breastbone. Surely what I thought was about to happen, wouldn’t. Surely Anderson had been joking.

Yet when Anderson moved behind me and his hot breath rushed across the nape of my neck I had trouble holding back the moan.

“Do you trust me, Kloe?”

Knowing the answer to his question so quickly made me realise there was something so very wrong with me. Because I shouldn’t trust him, I shouldn’t even be standing there, arousal and need making me eager. Fire licked my body with anticipation and excitement. I wanted what they both had, yet deep within me I knew I shouldn’t want it. I shouldn’t have been so accepting of what he wanted. I shouldn’t have allowed him to manipulate me like he was. But I couldn’t help it. The moment his skin touched mine I lost all power over myself, and all train of thought.

A simple nod of my head and a simple ‘yes’ from my lips brought a muted gasp from Anderson. My acceptance confused him as much as it did me.

“Take his cock in your mouth.” His harsh demand made my bones vibrate with need. My thighs trembled and my breath caught when, slowly, I dropped to my knees before Robbie.

Aware of Anderson right behind me, I stole a glance over my shoulder.

“It’s okay. You want to stop then we stop,” he said softly, easing my worries.

I’d never done anything like this in my whole life. My sex life existed of me and Ben, and nothing more. I hadn’t experienced lots of different partners. Ben had been a gentle and encouraging lover, but there was nothing explosive about us when we had come together. But now, knelt before a man, with another man right behind me, I thought I might pass out from the sensations already running through me. Excitement, nervousness and longing made my breath come in quick short bursts and my body felt heavy with desire.

Apprehensively, I leaned forwards and took Robbie’s cock in my hand. The faint hiss of approval through his teeth at my fragile, anxious touch made my eyes fix on his as I bent and took him in my mouth.

His jaw fell and he blinked slowly when I sucked gently. Whereas to me, my timid movements seemed inexperienced and stupid, the look in Robbie’s eyes as he watched me suggested he found them arousing and gratifying.

“Good girl,” Anderson whispered in my ear. “That’s it, good girl.”

I nodded, reassured a little, and sucked harder. Robbie’s groan rewarded my effort and I started to relax. My heart still beat hard and my thighs still trembled but my rhythm, encouraged by both men, grew faster and smoother.