Exploited (The Dark Redemption Series) (14 page)

“
My mom’s name was Valerie. She died when I was eight. I think Ben was supposed to be my new father.”
 

I have to swallow past the knot in my throat before I can talk. “So why the tattoo?”              

“The white flowers are gardenias, and they represent secret love. The yellow rue is for regret, and the blue flowers are forget-me-nots. The two butterflies…some cultures say they carry souls to heaven, so maybe in another life, they can be together.”

“How did she die?” I ask, even though I already know the answer. I need to hear it from her.

Blair’s shoulders slump and her head falls forward before she scribbles, “
I can’t do this
,” and then gets up and goes to lock herself in the bathroom.

While she’s showering, I glance around the childish bedroom, and consider rummaging around for the answers that I can’t get from her, but I decide against it. She’ll open up to me eventually about the other man, or boy, rather, or maybe she won’t. I need to try harder to get her to talk, and being an angry, jealous asshole isn’t gonna help. I need to calm down, be honest with her, and figure out what to do next. Which is gonna be hard since she’s either angry at me for ditching her yesterday or she’s still thinking about someone else because she didn’t even look at me once from the time she opened the door.

I’ve got to find some way to get through to her because the clock is ticking even louder. She’s not safe here, so I’ve got to convince her to leave with me, and soon.  

Blair

The water stings when it cascade down the side over my new tattoo. I try to hurry up and finish up so I can climb out, but it feels like my arms and legs weigh a ton when I move them. Maybe I just need more sleep. Or maybe it’s a side effect of withdrawal from the pharmacy of drugs they’ve had me on for years.

All I know is that I was so close to telling Brede everything. The only reason I didn’t is that then he’ll know I’m a lying coward, and I would probably never see him again. It’s bad enough that Aden knows the truth, the truth that he wants me to admit to set a man free. I want that too, more than anything. So I need to toughen up and do the right thing.

I’m not sure how long it takes to dry my hair and leave the bathroom in a towel, but I can’t say I’m in a hurry to face Brede again. At least he came back tonight, but he was a jackass for leaving me last night at the tattoo parlor.

When I walk back into my room, he’s standing in front of my dark window, his back to me. Hearing me shuffling through my mother’s clothes, he turns around, and that’s the first time I notice the change in him.

He shaved his entire beard off.

I barely refrain from saying the words begging to escape after I gasp in shock. Just as I suspected, he has a gorgeous face and looks so much younger. The word
wow
seems to be the only way to describe him.

“It’s summer, and the beard was getting hot,” he says in explanation as he strokes his now smooth jaw. “Well?” he asks. “Better?”

I nod enthusiastically making him turn his head and chuckle, almost like he’s embarrassed by my compliment. Going over to him, I have to touch his face. Otherwise, he doesn’t seem real. He’s too handsome and manly to be standing in my childhood bedroom with me. Reaching up, I run my fingertips over his cheek and down to his chin. I’ll miss tugging on the hair there and feeling the rough texture of his beard between my smooth thighs. But without the beard…God, he’s so freaking hot.

Standing on my toes, I kiss him to see how that feels too. I can’t say I miss the way his mustache used to tickle my nose. And the taste of cigarettes on his breath surprises me since he didn’t smoke any yesterday while we were together. It’s not exactly unpleasant, just different.

The two of us kiss, tongues tangling until I feel his hard erection pressing into my stomach. Not quite ready to take that final step yet, and remembering what I promised Aden, I still want to pleasure Brede and give him some relief. So I drop to my knees and go to work undoing his pants.

“Lose the towel,” he orders, widening his stance. I quickly oblige by pulling the white towel apart and tossing it to the floor next to me, baring all of my body to him. After the last few days of being touched and caressed by two guys, I’m not nearly as self-conscience as before. In fact, I feel sexy since both men are so gorgeous, so different but also so alike. Sure, it feels naughty to be fooling around, sharing my body with both of them, but I can’t help myself. They’re irresistible, and I like the attention they give me. It’s so freeing, making me feel alive after being hidden behind four walls for more than half my life. 

Once Brede’s pants are lowered, he reaches down to cup my face and tilt it up to look at him. From the corner of my eye, I see a tattoo filling his once bare forearm; and when I grab his arm to examine it, I can’t help but suck in a breath at how stunning it is. An angel, hugging her knees while she weeps into her arms, so beautiful and sad and…

Brede clears his throat before he grumbles, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now suck my dick.”

I glance up, meeting his eyes, biting down hard on my bottom lip to keep from smiling while arching one of my eyebrows in question, just because I want to hear him say it. 

He eventually gives in, huffing out a breath and rolling his eyes. “Yes, it’s you. Are you happy now?” he asks, and I nod. “Good. Now put that mouth to use.”

He grabs the hair at the back of my head to guide me forward, not the least bit gentle. But even still, the warmth between my legs rises and fills me up, all the way to my chest just knowing that for some reason this man wanted me to have a permanent place on his skin.
Me.
The girl who was cast aside and forgotten ten years ago. Now I’ll never be forgotten, at least not by Brede. No matter what happens, he’ll always remember me in the most amazing form, as an angel, sad and weeping as she loses her tarnished wings, but still a beautiful angel. She’s definitely not what I see when I look in the mirror, but is that how
he
sees me?

Quieting my racing thoughts, I do what he wants, parting my lips to take his cock into my mouth. The jerk of his hips and rush of air from his lungs urges me to take him deeper. In fact, after I tease my tongue near his engorged tip, I take all of him.

“Fuck,” he groans, and I hum triumphantly around his thick length when he loses his balance and crashes into the chair and desk behind him before quickly reaching out and righting himself. Such a big, tough guy and I have the power to throw him off balance with just my mouth.  

He doesn’t last very long before I feel the usual swell of his cock and pulse of his release down my throat. Once he’s finished, I use my fingers to wipe my mouth and then stand up to get dressed, leaving him to pull his own pants up. I’m sort of surprised when he doesn’t bark at me, ordering me to do it for him.

By the time I get dressed in clean white cotton shorts and a black tank top, Brede’s barely moved. I glance over and see that his jeans are up and zipped, but he looks a little…stunned or deep in thought, which makes me ecstatic.

“I love having your mouth on my cock, but I wish you would sometimes use it to talk to me,” he says when his dead serious eyes lock on mine, causing the smile to slide right off my face.

Lowering my gaze, I shake my head. Anytime I even think about speaking I hear my mother screaming and see her body covered in blood and the image of my father turning into an angry monster. It’s bad enough that Aden knows the truth, but I don’t want Brede to know about my lies too. 

“What’s with the stolen car, Blair?” he asks, causing my eyes to shoot back up to his in surprise. How did he…? “Yeah, I stole the car you stole from the tow lot. It’s out front,” he says with a jerk of his thumb. “Might want to hide it in the garage.”

I nod in agreement, thankful to have it back and hopefully the photo album still in the front seat.

“Blair?” he asks. “Blair, did you escape or did they let you out of the mental hospital?”

Oh my God. How does he know? Covering my embarrassed face, I shake my head, refusing to answer him, refusing to admit I’m a certified crazy person who they want to lock up for the rest of my life. My actions the past few days with Brede and Aden have only confirmed the fact that I’m out of my fucking mind. I’m so overwhelmed by them both that it’s making me feel even more confused than usual.

Three weeks ago when I turned eighteen, I thought I might finally get free from confinement, that they would let me leave now that I’m legally an adult. But nope. The doctor deemed me mentally unstable and upped the dosage on all my meds.

“We need to leave,” Brede suddenly says. “You’re in danger, more than just getting hauled back to the crazy house.”

My palms that had been covering my face slip down so that I can convey my confusion, hoping he’ll explain what the heck he means by that.

“Just trust me, okay?” he says, his hands braced on his hips in a sign of his frustration.

I shake my head, knowing that I’m unable to leave, even if I did trust him not to abandon me somewhere like he did at the tattoo parlor. What if he decided to do that to me in California or who the hell knows where? What am I supposed to do to get by on my own with no job, no money other than the cash leftover in my purse, and no identity?

Aden’s a cop, and he’s promised to take care of me. I have to stay here and help him bring down my dad and get Ben out of prison. How am I supposed to explain all that to Brede?

“Blair? Get your shit and let’s go. Now. Tonight,” Brede says.

I shake my head again. What’s with him and the urgency? He was gone all last night and today, and now he thinks he’ll just show up here without even apologizing for bailing on me and that I’ll take off with him?

“Stop being a fucking brat,” he replies as he walks towards me and snatches me up by my arm. “Come on.”

“No!” I say, the vehemence in my voice surprising the both of us apparently, because Brede’s steps instantly halt, and his hand falls from mine.

“Why not?” he leans down and asks through clenched teeth.

I try to decide what to tell him, how to explain it. Aden told me not to let anyone know he was here, and I think he specifically meant Brede since he also warned me to stay away from him. Because I can’t tell him the truth, I go with a lie. The words burn my throat before they even leave my mouth.

“You’re an asshole and…and he’s not,” I say. 

Brede jaw ticks twice before he responds. “I guess that’s the first and last sentence that I’ll ever hear you say. So here’s the last one you’ll get from me; your father wants you dead before he gets back in town next week.”

With that metaphorical punch to my gut, he stomps out of the room; and a second later, I hear the front door slam shut. I slap my palm over my mouth when a sob escapes from my throat, and I can’t help but feel like I just made the biggest mistake of my life.

Aden

Nothing.

We didn’t find a single fucking thing. Of course, it’ll take weeks for a team of agents to sort through all the boxes, but nothing seemed to implicate him directly to bribery, murder or any fucking thing else.

Angry doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel right now, especially when I drive past Blair’s house and see the car parked out front. The stolen car! Furious is what I am when I climb into Blair’s bedroom window and smell…smoke. Fucking cigarette smoke.

“Blair,” I say into the darkness as I move to where her small form startles in the bed. “Tell me he hasn’t fucking been here tonight!”

She sits up, holding the sheet to her, and I turn on the lamp to see the expression on her face since she still rarely talks.

When she blinks her eyes and turns her face away from the light without answering, I nearly fucking snap. This girl could be all we have to nail the goddamn DA, and I may very well have to beat the words out of her! Although right now, I’m more pissed because she let
him
in the house.

Climbing on the bed, I straddle her legs and grab her face between both my hands, forcing her to look at me.

“Why was he here?” I ask her. Those beautiful eyes of hers seem to change color, and right now they’re grassy green in the dim light.

Her response? She just shrugs her shoulders. Shrugs her fucking shoulders like it’s no big deal to have a cruel, dangerous
assassin
in her bedroom with her. In her bedroom! My pulse races as I consider all the various things he may have done to her in this bed while I was gone tonight and trying to be the good guy cop. Fucking worthless asshole. He could’ve killed her, taken her from me in a matter of seconds. The thought makes me feel sick to my stomach and my cock hard at the same time with the need to claim her as mine, to make her forget about that bastard. First, I need answers.

Pulling the scarf from my pocket, I grab the hem of her top and take it off of her without her protest. Does she let him undress her too? Does she let his hands, his mouth, his cock inside her? I raise both of her arms above her head and tie her wrists to the bedposts like most other nights. She doesn’t resist when I restrain her because she likes it. I can tell by the way her red lips are parted, how her aroused breasts rise and fall rapidly, the blush on her cheeks and the way her thighs are rubbing against each other for friction.

In one quick jerk, I remove her shorts and panties so that my fingers can slip between her legs to see…fuck yes, she’s so wet. I feel dizzy from the speed at which all the blood in my body seems to rush to my dick. It’s so hard it hurts being cramped up behind my zipper, so I undo my pants and unleash it with a sigh of relief. Now, back to my unanswered question.

I stretch out on top of Blair’s naked little body, still fully dressed other than my free flying cock that I grind between her legs. When she moans, and her pussy wets the sensitive tip of my shaft, my entire body shudders above her. I need to be inside her, but first, answers.

Leaning down, I take one of her beaded nipples between my lips, sucking on it before I nip at it with my teeth, making her gasp.

“Why the fuck was he here, Blair?” I ask again while I keep pumping my hips, fucking her pussy lips but not entering her yet.

“I-I don’t know,” she eventually replies, her eyes drifting closed with her quickening breaths, her legs spreading wider and hips lifting to try and take me inside her.

“Try again,” I say. Wanting her so out of her mind with pleasure that she’ll tell me anything I want, I dip my hand between our bodies and ease a finger inside her tight heat.

“Ah!” she cries out before her hips buck, and she starts fucking my hand. I let her until those walls start to clench around my finger, and then I pull it free.

“Why was Brede fucking here tonight?” I ask through clenched teeth. While I want answers, I also want to bury my dick inside her right this fucking second.

“Car,” she says, meaning the one out front I’m sure. The stolen one that he stupidly left parked right outside the house.

“What else?” I ask. “Did he touch you?” Replacing one finger with two, I plunge them inside her, curling them so that it won’t take long for her to get off. “Tell me or I’ll stop,” I threaten, pulling my fingers away.

“No!” she exclaims, wiggling her hips and squeezing her thighs around my hand to keep it between her legs. “I-I sucked him off.”

Time seems to freeze as those four words bounce around my skull, and I try to make sense of them. Of course, I know what a blowjob is. I had my first one when I was twelve. It left me…confused, like I shouldn’t like that warm, wet mouth, but I did, so fucking much, despite how wrong it was. Since I ran away, I haven’t let anyone put their mouth on my cock, but I want hers on it, so much so that precum drips from the tip, leaking onto her pelvis.

“You sucked his dick?” I ask her. She licks her lips as if in remembrance of his taste and then nods. I nearly bust a nut right there, all over her stomach. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to think of…golf, the most boring sport there is so that I won’t come until I’m inside her pussy.

Well, I guess that explains why she’s still alive. He’s fucking with her. Using her.

“Is that it?” I ask. She nods, but then looks away, making me think she’s lying.

“He-he’s gone down on me…before,” she replies softly. “Not today.”

I already knew that.

“But he hasn’t fucked you?” I ask to make sure.

She shakes her head.

Thank God, because her virginity is mine. I’ve been through too much shit because of her and her father’s lies, so it’s the least she can do to make it up to me. She’s laid out naked in front of me, tied to the bed, mine for the taking. And I’m gonna fucking take.

My two fingers start pumping inside of her again, and she’s so wet the noise is obscene. It doesn’t take long for her to come for me, her back arching, her mouth open in a silent scream. I really wanna fuck that mouth too, but not right now.

While she’s still writhing in bliss, I fist my cock and guide it right on inside of her. Blair tenses up at the invasion, making her even tighter as I force my way deeper until I’m sheathed all the way in, her vise grip squeezing all around my aching cock.

“God, that’s good,” I say as my eyes close in ecstasy and I start to move, pulling out and ramming in again and again. Each stroke even better than the last. Blair cries out with every thrust, in pleasure or pain I’m not sure. It doesn’t matter because now the worst is over. I can’t stop even if she wanted me to. Her pussy is amazing, so goddamn tight like you only get that one time with virgins. She squeezes the fuck out of my cock until my balls draw up, and my release becomes all I can think about. My hips pump faster with the urgency to come. I’m so close…so fucking close.

“
FUCK
!” I shout as my cock swells and jerks inside her, so violently that my whole body shudders as I fill her with my cum.

After the last of the tremors, I collapse on top of her and kiss her neck where my head is buried, silently thanking her for giving me something so fucking amazing.

“You okay?” I ask, my breath still coming in pants. Her head moves in a nod underneath me that I don’t buy as the truth. “You sure? You’re gonna be sore for a day or so,” I warn her. She’s not the first virgin I’ve been with. There’ve been so many I lost count. So incredible, but still making me feel just as guilty as all the other times. It’s been years since I’ve popped a cherry, and this one was all for me, unlike the others. She actually
wanted
me to take it from her.

Sweat drips from my forehead and onto Blair’s shoulder, but then the liquid shower seems to speed up and I hear the all too familiar sniffle of a girl crying.

No, no, no.

She’s not supposed to cry.

I push up and sit back on my knees to look at Blair’s face and…my heart breaks. Tears are pouring down her cheeks right before the sobs start.

Oh, fuck. What have I done? I thought she wanted me to fuck her…

Oh God, I’m a monster.

There’s no one else to blame this time. No way to appease the guilt by saying I didn’t have a choice when I took my pleasure from her body. I’ve fucked everything up and snapped her in half. Now she’ll never help me go after her father, to free my own father, and it’s all my fault.

I’ve ruined everything.