Hold (3 page)

Now she was locked in this cell with a nameless criminal.

But at least all the rest of them were locked out.

The cell wasn’t very large. There was room enough for a bed with a thin mattress attached the wall, a metal table with one drawer—also attached to the wall—and a bulky object covered by a tattered sheet in one corner. There was also an ancient battered sink in the opposite corner that appeared to have working water—another rare luxury in this hellhole.

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Hold

Riana stood in the middle of the floor and waited, something inside her shuddering.

The man gestured into the small nook with the toilet. “You can use it.”

His voice was curt and gruff and his oddly pale stare was utterly blank.

She limped toward the bathroom, a little sore from her scuffle with Thorn.

“Thanks.” She meant it. No matter how abrupt the offer, it was a generous gesture. She shivered at the thought of having to face the horror of the shared bathroom where she’d be threatened every moment.

When she got into the bathroom, she was brutally aware of the fact that there wasn’t a door. So she was grateful that he didn’t stand and watch her as she went—

which he could have insisted on.

Instead he stepped away and she heard him turn on the water in the sink.

The toilet was an archaic one that ran with plumbing but Riana was hardly going to complain as she flushed it. When she came out, she saw that the man was leaning over and splashing water on his face.

He even had a couple of towels. She wondered how he’d gotten his hands on them.

“Is your face okay?” she asked weakly, as she noticed him wiping away the blood.

“Fine.”

He sure wasn’t much of a conversationalist.

“I’m Riana.” She had no idea what she was supposed to do. Her knees were shaky so she sank down to perch on the edge of the bed.

“Okay.”

She blinked. He wasn’t even going to tell her his name?

“Thanks,” she began, trying to speak clearly despite her nerves, “for your help. I mean, for…”

He turned around and stared down at her.

19

Zannie Adams

The man was pure physicality. His closely shaved dark hair emphasized the sculpted curve of his skull. His olive skin—it must be natural since there was no sun to tan his skin here—was covered with a sheen of perspiration. He was wearing the kind of sleeveless t-shirt her grandmother had called a “wife-beater”, and it showed off his impressive shoulders and the rippling muscles of his arms. His well-worn trousers were slung low on lean hips. His large build was natural too and—although he was obviously in excellent shape—he didn’t look fake or overblown like Asp.

His features were too starkly chiseled and his expression too impassive to be labeled traditionally handsome. But power and masculinity radiated off him in waves.

“Do you think I helped you out of the goodness of my heart?”

It was the longest sentence she’d heard him utter and it made her heart leap into her throat. “Uh, no, but I’m still grateful.”

“No gratitude. I’m getting something in return.” His blue eyes seemed to impale her. “Right?”

She gulped. “Right.”

Never for a minute had she hoped he would generously give her a pass. Of course, she was going to have to fuck him.

He took three steps over until he was standing next to the bed, directly in front of where she was sitting. “Take off your shirt.”

Riana gasped and darted her eyes over to the bars of the cell. The other prisoners were still milling outside, some blatantly staring at the two of them inside.

He followed her look. “There’s no privacy here. You’ll get used to it.”

When he didn’t say anything else, she realized she was going to have to deal with the embarrassment. With trembling fingers, she started to undo the buttons on the front of her shirt.

The man watched her. His face didn’t change but she thought she saw something almost hungry in his gaze when she dared to meet his eyes.

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Hold

When she’d unbuttoned her shirt, she slowly pushed it off over her shoulders, left only in her stretchy camisole.

“That one too,” the man directed, his voice even lower and thicker than before.

Might as well get it over with. Riana turned on the bed so she wouldn’t expose her breasts to any passing ogler and pulled her camisole off over her head.

Her bare breasts jiggled slightly from the motion. She didn’t have an extraordinarily voluptuous figure. Her limbs were long and lean and she’d always been fairly athletic. But her breasts were firm and rounded so she hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed.

She was almost as terrified of his deciding not to bother with her as she was of having him fuck her.

He didn’t appear to be disappointed, although it was almost impossible to read anything on his face. He leaned down, pushing her down onto her back on the bed. He reached out to cup her breasts—not caressing as much as feeling them. His gaze devoured her half-naked form.

She tried to block out the crude laughter from outside the cell. At least his body now mostly shielded her nakedness from outsiders.

His hands were big and calloused and they felt rough against her smooth skin. Her rosy nipples had peaked from the cool air and his touch, but she was far too scared to feel any pleasure.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as he slid his hands down from her breasts to her flat belly.

When his fingers hooked around the waistband of her pants, she couldn’t hold back a little whimper of fear.

He paused and his eyes returned to her face. “I don’t get off on pain,” he muttered.

Riana swallowed hard and realized what he was telling her. It was a comfort. More of a comfort that she’d expected.

21

Zannie Adams

He wasn’t going to hurt her. At least, not intentionally.

She could fuck him. She’d fucked men she didn’t know very well before. The last man she’d slept with had been two years ago—a one-night stand with a guy she’d met in a bar. It had left her feeling kind of icky and she’d been avoiding sexual entanglements since then. She’d never had any hopes of falling in love in a traditional romance, so it hadn’t been all that hard to go without.

She had sexual urges like everyone else but there were simpler ways of dealing with those.

It had been a while for her but she could fuck this man. He was a better choice than anyone else here. He wasn’t ugly or nauseating. And he didn’t appear to be out to hurt or humiliate her.

She took a few, slow deep breaths and nodded at him.

He must have taken that as her sign of acceptance because he returned to unfastening her pants.

She lifted up her hips so he could pull them off with her panties.

The man stared down at her groin, that hungry look appearing again in his eyes.

Riana panted in nervous gasps, trying to will her body to relax.

He reached down and parted her intimate folds, pressing his thumb against her clit.

She made a little mew in response, feeling a surreal kind of disbelief that this was actually happening to her.

Using his thumb to rub her clit in little circles, the man kept devouring her body with his gaze.

Then she realized what he was doing. Trying to turn her on so she’d be wet enough for him to enter comfortably.

“Rub your breasts,” he said, sustaining the massage with this thumb.

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Hold

She obeyed his direction, flushing in embarrassment but realizing it was a good idea. The wetter she was, the better it would be. It was actually a generous gesture on his part.

He could have just thrust into her dry and started pounding away.

A lot of men would.

She twirled her nipples between her fingers and thumbs and felt the tugs at her pussy in response. She forced her breathing to slow, taking deep inhalations and long exhalations.

His thumb on her clit helped and her body finally began to relax. She felt the beginnings of pressure between her legs, although her heart was still pounding brutally in her chest.

The man readjusted his hand, sliding his finger into her pussy to test her readiness.

She was a little bit wet now and the feel of his finger inside her, combined with his thumb on her clit and her own fondling of her breasts, caused a sudden jolt of pleasure to surprise her.

She gasped and arched up slightly, her mouth falling open on the taken breath.

He grunted and pulled his hand from between her legs. “Fuck.” Something hot had flared up in his gaze and he began to fumble at the fastenings of his pants.

Riana stared, realizing with a clench in her belly that he wasn’t able to wait any longer.

He freed his cock, although Riana didn’t look down at it—afraid the sight of such an intimate part of his body would push her anxiety over the edge. Then he positioned himself between her legs and lined up his erection at her entrance.

She still wasn’t very wet so he used his saliva to slick his cock up before he pushed it into her pussy.

He was big. And she was tight. And even with his attempts to make it easier, the stretching of her inner walls was intense and uncomfortable.

23

Zannie Adams

Riana whimpered, her hands flying up to clutch at the pillow beneath her head.

“Fuck, you’re tight.” His face twisted and his head jerked to the side, his breath hitching in his throat. “Okay?”

She couldn’t say no. This was his payment for protecting her and letting her survive. She took two long, deep breaths, willing her inner muscles to relax against the penetration. “Yeah.”

His eased his hips back and then forward again in a small, experimental thrust. His cock moved pretty easily inside her and the discomfort was easing up some.

He’d reared up on straightened arms, holding his chest off hers. Since she had room, Riana squeezed her hand down between their pelvises so she could rub at her clit.

The stimulation had the immediate effect of distracting her from the tight stretching of her channel. So when he began to thrust for real, it was neither painful nor unpleasant.

He was panting above her now and sweating. And he made soft grunts every time he pitched his hips forward.

Riana bent her knees up higher and rubbed her clit hard and fast. It wasn’t bad. She could do this. He was an attractive, masculine man and he was taking it pretty easy on her. Maybe eventually she could even enjoy it.

Then she happened to glance over his powerfully built shoulder and noticed a few prisoners standing in front of the cell, staring blatantly as he fucked her.

She whimpered again, her body washed in the heat of mortification as she imagined what they were seeing.

The man paused with a thick hitch of his breath at the pitiful sound she made. He must have recognized what she had noticed.

With a primitive, guttural sound, he jerked his head back to glare at the onlookers.

“Back off,” he bit out, the words almost a snarl.

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Hold

They backed off.

Riana felt the oddest sensation in her chest. A weird, unnerving kind of satisfaction.

That everyone else feared him and that he was fucking her.

“Thanks,” she whispered, stretching beneath him and trying to loosen her muscles even more.

He didn’t respond except with a curt nod. Then he began to thrust again.

This time, when she started up her massage of her clit, she felt her pussy clench in response. Suddenly realizing that she should probably try to be a better fuck, lest he decide she wasn’t enjoyable enough for him to bother with, she tried to pump her hips a little, matching the rhythm of his steady thrusts.

She gasped and arched up as she felt another tug of pleasure shoot down to her pussy.

“Fuck!” he gritted out, his face twisting again as he paused with his cock buried inside her.

Riana was panting now, and her lips parted as she stared up him. “Wha—” she began. It looked like he was in horrible pain.

He thrust again, then fell out of rhythm completely. His grunts turned rough and primal as his hips jerked and pistoned against her. “Fuck. Oh fuck!”

She parted her thighs even farther as he drove into her in hard, choppy strokes. His motion was urgent, clumsy and animalistic and his features contorted with pleasure and effort.

He came hard. At least, it appeared he did, as he let out an agonized groan and pushed into her a few last times.

He released inside her and then lowered himself over her, bending his arms for more support.

They were both gasping desperately as his body began to relax above her, the clenched muscles loosening and his stoic features softening in carnal satisfaction.

25

Zannie Adams

His breath was hot and damp against the skin of her cheek as he muttered, “It’s been a long time for me.”

He’d been here a year. And apparently had fucked no one in all that time. It wasn’t as long as it had been for Riana but a year was still a significant length of time.

She wondered why he’d told her that.

She was just recognizing the gush of his semen in her pussy and assuring herself that she was up-to-date on her yearly birth control treatments when suddenly all light left the cell, the entire Hold falling into pitch darkness.

Stiffening in fear, Riana let out a strangled cry—feeling like her worst nightmares were coming true.

She didn’t like total darkness. And there wasn’t even the faintest trace of light left.

“Lights out,” the man explained. “Same time every night.”

She hadn’t even realized it was night. She hadn’t begun to develop a sense of timing on this planet. “I don’t suppose you have a night light?” She pitched her voice to sound unconcerned but it was a serious question.

“There is no light at night.” He slid his softening cock out of her pussy and rolled over, stretching out with what sounded like a sated groan.

Riana couldn’t even see the form of his body beside her. She couldn’t see anything at all. She groped around and was relieved when she felt her panties and pants on the floor. She fumbled until she’d put them on. Then she felt around on the mattress until she’d found her camisole.