Captured Devil's Blaze MC Book 1 (24 page)

Skull’s asleep. We’re lying in bed and I’ve lost count of the orgasms he’s given me, though I know it’s at least five. I’m going to be sore tomorrow. The thought brings a smile to my lips… even while my heart feels like it’s breaking.

I’m propped up on my pillow with a hand holding my head up. My leg is wrapped over Skull’s body, watching him breathe and memorizing every mark of ink, every scar and curve of his body.

“How are you still awake,
querida?”

His voice is whisper-soft and hoarse, and it sends delicious chills over my skin.

“I’m just watching you sleep.”

“What on Earth for?” he asks.

I let my index finger slide down his chest, following a jagged scar.

“You’re beautiful,” I tell him honestly.

He turns to his side and props himself up much like I am, studying me.

“I think that last orgasm might have fried your brain. There’s nothing beautiful about me, unless you count my woman,” he says, his fingers trailing down my neck to my breast and kneading it before sliding his thumb over the nipple. Even sore and worn out, I can feel the answering moisture between my legs.

“Skull,” I whisper, not even sure of what I want to say. He must understand because he leans over and pushes me carefully on my back before taking my nipple into his mouth lovingly. My ass leaves the mattress as I strain to get closer to him.

He lets go of my breast to look at me. “Jesus, you want my cock again,
querida?”
he asks as his fingers brush through the sticky wetness of my pussy. I’m so sore there and he’s taken me so hard and so much that it’s almost painful. Still, the way he touches me and pets the swollen and tender area soothes me too.

“You, Skull. I just want you. I will always want you,” I tell him, giving him honesty in those words that I can’t with others. He positions himself over my body and looks down at me. I caress his face with a hand, my thumb brushing the contour of his nose and the fine wrinkles around his lips. He captures the tip of my thumb with his mouth, memorizing the feel and the shape, then kisses it gently.

“So sweet, so fucking sweet,” he murmurs, his voice quiet.

He blows on the breast he’d sucked on. His breath causes tiny bumps of awareness to pop up across the skin, making the nipple pebble.

“Make love to me, Skull.”

“Are you sure,
mi cielo?
I don’t want to hurt you.”

In response, I spread my legs wider, making room for him. “Please,” I beg him.

He pulls his pillow underneath my hip and wedges it, then guides himself into me. I hiss from the sting, and when he tries to back out, I tighten my legs around him. “No, don’t stop,” I urge him. He’s worried, I can tell, but he begins carefully pushing inside of me at my request. I can feel every wonderfully thick inch of him sink into me.

“Every time feels like the first,” he whispers, and he’s right. It does. “It just keeps getting better,
querida
. Every damn time I’m with you, it just keeps getting better and better.”

“I love you, Skull,” I whisper, his cock stretching me more than ever before.

“It’s never close enough is it,
querida?
No matter how far I get inside your body, it’s never enough.”

His words break me because they echo what my heart is screaming. “It’s never enough, Skull. It’s never enough.” My voice breaks. I can’t hold the tears back—I don’t even try. I let loose the slow-rolling tears, spiked with emotion.

“My sweet, tender Beth,” Skull says, his thumb wiping a tear away.

“Love me, Skull,” I plead. “Never let me go.”

“Always,
mi cielo,
” he moans. “Nothing will ever stop me.”

I hold onto him as he takes my mouth, kissing me and possessing it as surely as he’s possessing my body. I come just like that, surrounded and owned by him, my orgasm sweet and gentle and consuming. When he does too, I feel his heat fill me. I swear, I feel it all the way in my soul.

My palms are sticky from sweat and my heart beats out of my chest as I watch Skull talking to Beast. He’s trying his best to get his brother to talk, but Beast only turns away and ignores him. I see the pain in Skull’s eyes. I want to take it away. I’m mad at Beast for hurting him, but then remember that in just a few short hours I will be hurting him worse. Guilt churns in my stomach. 

Skull finally gives up and moves to the window where I stand. It’s a cloudy, rainy day and the drizzle of the water hits the windowpane. It matches my mood. He gathers me up in his arms and pulls me close. I can’t resist touching the side of his face, wishing I could take away all his troubles.

“He’ll be okay, Skull. He just needs to heal.”

“I don’t know,
querida
. The doctors say there’s no reason he shouldn’t at least be talking to us.”

“Some wounds run so deep, it’s hard to claw your way out. He’ll talk when he’s ready.”

“How did you get so smart?”

I drink in his face. His eyes shine with love, his lips curving into a smile with the tiny laugh lines crinkling at the corners of his eyes. I love the way his dark hair falls in a beautiful mess that I can’t resist touching. I commit all of it to memory, every bit of it.

“I met a man and fell in love.”

“
Mi cielo,
you cannot be sweet now. I have to go oversee some shit so we can get this dark cloud off of us. We don’t have time for me to fuck you. Besides, after last night, I think you broke my dick.”

I smile despite my mood. I boldly rub my hand over his pants, finding his cock. He lied; he’s semi-hard. I rub it, putting enough pressure so he can feel it through his jeans.

“He doesn’t feel broke.”

Skull groans, pulling my hand away.

“Enough,
mujer
. You wrung me dry last night. I don’t even know how you’re walking this morning.”

I bite my lip as I remember the night we had. He’s not wrong; every time I take a step, I feel the soreness in my stomach. There’s bruises all over my body from his rough lovemaking and I relish every one of them. My body is tired and definitely well-used, but if he pulled me into the adjoining restroom right now, I’d gladly make love to him again. The thought of never again being able to get that close to him, to feel the heat of his body when he is holding me, to just be with him… is killing me.

“I can’t help it. I want you again.”

He kisses the back of my hand, but pulls away from me, not giving in. “I always want you,
mi cielo
, but I have to get to work. I will punish you later for torturing me.”

I do my best to hide the pain that slashes through me at his words, because I know there won’t be a later.

“Stay safe today, please?” I ask him.

“I will. I made Pistol and Latch promise to bring you home in an hour,
querida
. Do not argue with me. I don’t even like you being here. I still don’t know why I caved.”

“Because you knew it would make me happy…?”

“I think it had more to do with your mouth on my cock, but your version makes me sound like a better man, so we will go with it. Promise me to keep Pistol and Latch with you, alright?”

“I promise.”

“Give me your lips and let me get out of here before I weaken and give you my dick.”

I kiss him, and maybe he can tell by the way I wrap my arms around him tight and drag his lips down to mine. I’m not sure, but our kiss is more urgent, rougher, definitely more demanding than any we’ve shared in a long time. My tongue sweeps into his mouth, searching and finding every hidden spot that I can, dueling with his and coming out victorious. I drink in his taste, hoping I will still taste him on my tongue in the months and years to follow. Maybe I will get lucky and it won’t be that long.

The truth is, I don’t trust my father. There’s a reason I’ve taken to calling him the Devil. He’s pure evil. I don’t know the real reason he’s demanding this of me, but I figure he may kill me. If not on purpose, then he will when I grab Katie and break free, because I won’t rest until my sister and I are free from that monster. I hope somehow I can get Katie from him and manage to kill him. I could die happily if I achieve that.

“
Wow!
That was a kiss,
mi cielo!
You are feeling needy today, aren’t you?”

“I am always needy around you, Skull. You better get going before you’re late,” I tell him regretfully. I just caught a glance at the clock on the wall. I have twenty minutes to get down to my father. I don’t want to risk being late; I don’t know how he’ll lash out at me.

“
Si
,” he says, kissing my forehead. “Pistol, Latch… you two, do not let her out of your sight. Keep her safe.”

“Will do,” Pistol says, and I wish I could kick him in the balls and stomp on him. I need to find a way to warn Skull further about Pistol. I just don’t know how without risking my sister’s life… or Skull’s.

Skull leaves, and we are all sitting around Beast’s bed. Pistol gives me the signal with his hand. I take a breath. Time to get started, I guess.

“Would one of you mind taking me to the cafeteria? I’m starved. I was running late this morning and didn’t get any breakfast.”

“I can—”

“Nah,” interrupts Pistol. “Latch, you stay here with Beast. I need to stretch my legs, anyways. I had to ride a freaking cage over here.”

“Only if you’re sure,” says Latch.

I try to smile reassuringly when he looks at me. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be back soon,” I tell him, and that’s just the first of many lies I’ll be telling today.

I hear the echo of footsteps. They seem abnormally loud, like what a man on death row might hear as he makes that final walk to his execution. I feel like that, like each step I take brings me closer to the end. I allow a few tears as I picture Skull’s face when we said goodbye. I rub my hands down the sides of my pants, trying to calm the emotions inside of me. I need to be cold when I talk to my father. I can’t let him see how much I’m hurting. Something tells me that will only bring him pleasure.

“You might as well dry it up. It must be really hard being filthy rich and having your father cart you off to the South of France to protect you.”

South of France?
I have a feeling Pistol wasn’t supposed to let that escape. I can’t imagine why my father would do that. That’s where the Donahue family have a lot of holdings. I know if I wasn’t so emotional, I might be able to piece it together better.

“Skull will kill you someday,” I promise him quietly.

“He’ll be destroyed when he loses you,” Pistol responds. “He won’t notice what’s going on right under his nose.”

“He might not. But his brothers will, and when you’re found out, he’ll kill you.”

“Don’t worry about it, doll face… You won’t be around to see it.”

“Maybe not, but I’ll take comfort in knowing that it
will
happen, and Skull will spit on you when it’s done.”

Pistol slaps me hard across my face. His ring catches my lip and tears it open. The coppery taste of blood drips on my tongue. I would respond, but my father picks that moment to walk out of the room and meet us. I glare at him, not bothering to contain my hate.

“What happened?” my father asks right away, and the spark of anger in his eyes surprises me.

“Just a little love tap from your henchman,” I answer sarcastically.

He turns to Pistol. “You hit her?”

“She was mouthing off,” he says with a shrug.

That’s when I see a side to my father I should have known was there, but somehow didn’t.

“I told you she wasn’t to be harmed.”

“She’s in one piece. I just decided to teach her that women should be
seen
and not—”

I scream. I can’t help it. Before Pistol can finish that sentence, my father shoots him in the stomach. Pistol drops to the floor moaning and clutching his belly. 

“W-We had a deal—” he moans.

“That didn’t include you touching my daughter. Besides, you had to know your men would suspect you if you weren’t injured. This way, you have the perfect cover…
if you live
.”

“Damn you!” Pistol gasps, his breathing turning hard.

“You should save your breath, unless you use it to pray that Devil’s Blaze cares more about you than you obviously do them,” my father says, then turns to me. “Elizabeth, hand me your locket.”

My hand goes to it, grasping it tightly with refusal on my lips. My father shoots Pistol in his foot. I jump in response.

“Do it, or I’ll just keep shooting, and then we’ll move onto those men upstairs in room two hundred and three that you actually care about.” I surrender the locket to him, doing my best not to cry. He puts it in Pistol’s hands, then calmly looks back at me. “Come along, sunshine. We need to get out of here before people start looking for you.”

He grabs my arm and doesn’t give me a choice. He leads us away and into the room he came from. I look over my shoulder at Pistol before my father jerks me away, demanding my attention.

He walks me quickly through the back room, which appears to be a storage room for the hospital, then through a metal door which leads to the outside. I briefly consider running away, but the tight, bruising grip my father has on me doesn’t give me the chance.

A limo waits for us at the corner. A man in a nondescript suit stands with the door open. My father pushes me in without a word. I stumble inside, managing to keep from face-planting into the seat. Just as I sit upright, my father joins me.

“Where’s my sister? I want to see Katie!”

“Don’t worry,” he says. “I’ll make sure you get to see her soon.”

“Where are we going?” I ask, staring straight ahead at the privacy screen and thinking I’ve made the wrong decision. That phrase just keeps going over and over in my brain:
I’ve made the wrong decision… I’ve made the wrong decision…

“To my yacht,” he says, and I hear the tinge of pride in his voice.

“We can’t! Skull—never mind.”

My father laughs. It’s a warm laugh, one I remember as a child. The same laugh he used when my sister Katie climbed up on the table for our fourth birthday. She saw the birthday cake and wouldn’t stop until she got up on the big fancy dining room table that was my mother’s pride and joy. The trouble was, she had on her muck boots that we had to wear to go to the barn. My mother freaked out and came running, screaming at Katie. It scared Katie. She scrambled to get away from mom and, in the process, dumped the cake all over my mother’s dress. Dad laughed for ten minutes, infuriating my mother so much that she left for two days.

I had forgotten those memories. How? My father had doted on both of us during that time. It had been good. We were happy, but now…

“Don’t worry, sunshine. I already know your boyfriend is striking today and destroying my yacht. I told you before, I know it all. You don’t have to fear spilling the beans. Interesting, though. You would be willing to kill me and yourself to guard his secrets? Such loyalty. I definitely kept the wrong daughter.”

“If you know Skull is destroying it, why would you be heading straight there?” I ask, confused and hating the man in front of me at the same time.

“That is the question, isn’t it? A question that will become all too clear, soon. For now, I suggest you lie back and rest. We have an exciting day in front of us.”

I turn away from him, staring out the window.