Monster (Impossible #1) (10 page)

“I’ll let you scream for me later, whore,” said a low, husky voice in my ear.  I was engulfed in the stench of whisky and stale sweat.  “No one around here will give a shit.  But I want you to be quiet for now.  You see, this is my favorite part.  The part where you fight.  You fight until you come to the singular realization that there is no way you can win.  That’s when I get to see the light leave your eyes.”

He released me suddenly, shoving me forward harshly.  I caught myself against the wall, the bricks scraping my hands.  I used the momentum to shove myself back, turning to run.  But he was too close, too strong.  He grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around and shoving my back up against the unyielding wall.  I tried to scream again, but his hand was back over my mouth.

“Not yet, sweetheart,” he practically cooed.  He pressed his body up against mine, and I could feel his growing hardness against my hip.  My stomach churned.  I was going to be sick.

I shoved at his chest, clawed at his arms, but he just gave me a twisted leer, reveling in my frantic efforts.  The shadows obscured his face, but I could see a maniacal gleam in his pale blue eyes. 
A look that chilled me to the core.

That’s when the cold, horrible realization dawned on me: I was going to have to stop fighting.  If he wanted me to fight, then I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.  Dropping my arms and forcing my limbs to stillness, I glared at him defiantly.

His leer twisted into a furious snarl.  “What do you think you’re playing at, bitch?”  He growled, dropping his hand from my mouth.

“Refusing to play your twisted game,” I spat at him.

Pain exploded across my cheek as his hand cracked across my face.  I cried out, shocked and suddenly disoriented as my head spun.  I blinked hard to clear my vision, only to find myself staring into his eyes.  If I had thought Bradley’s eyes cold and inhuman, he was practically warm and friendly compared to this monster.  Despite my resolve to show no fear, I felt myself trembling.

“Oh, you’ll play,” he said smugly.  “They all do, in the end.”

His wet tongue traced a slimy line up my cheek, and I gagged as bile rose in my throat.  His hands were pawing at me, leaving a toxic taint everywhere that they touched.  Then they were on my thighs, easing slowly up my dress.

I couldn’t help it; I started fighting again, my nails shooting out like claws to gouge his eyes out.  He just smiled as he caught my wrists easily, pinning them to the wall on either side of my head.

“See,” he whispered.  “I told you that you would play.”

A scream was ripped from my throat, crying out my fury, frustration, and terror into the uncaring night.

Chapter 6

Hot tears were forming in my eyes as my body instinctively struggled against my attacker.  He held my arms above my head, one of his hands easily encircling my small wrists.  His other hand was touching me again, trailing slowly down my throat before tracing a line down my sternum, stopping at the top of my cleavage.

He smiled down at me, his eyes devoid of any shred of humanity.  I knew what he was going to do, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.  I jerked desperately against his grip.

“Please,” I begged, by voice ragged as I forced it through the tightness in my throat.  “Don’t.”

His smile twisted into a horrible, rictus grin as he gripped my breast hard, squeezing painfully.

The tears spilled down my cheeks and I let out a despairing sob.  I hated myself in that moment, hated myself for giving in, for showing weakness to this man who wanted nothing but to break me.  But he was right: I couldn’t help but play his game.  And I hated myself all the more for proving him right even as I tried to kick at his shins.  But he was too close for me to get any momentum, and my efforts were fruitless.

A furious roar echoed through the alleyway, filling the cramped space.  My attacker was torn away from me as something hit him hard from the side, knocking him to the ground.  Someone was atop him immediately, driving his fist downward.  There was a sickening crunch as it made contact with the man’s face.  He gave a pitiful cry, but the man assaulting him didn’t stop.  He pummeled him once, twice more, until my attacker was making sick, gurgling sounds as he gasped for breath.

The man pushed himself up off of him, pulling out a gun as he did so.  He aimed it directly at my attacker’s heart.  There was a loud click as he cocked the gun, and for a moment, I hoped that he would fire it.

“Get out of here,” he growled, his voice low and dangerous.  “If I ever see you in this neighborhood again, I won’t hesitate to kill you.  Understand?”

The bloody man nodded jerkily as he forced himself upright, clinging to the wall for support as he pulled himself out of the alleyway, clearly desperate to get away.  He shot one last look at me, pure hatred filling his eyes.  I shuddered and dropped my gaze, unable to look at him any longer.  Instead, I turned my eyes on my savior.

Sean’s expression was furious, and I trembled in the wake of his glare.  Or maybe that was just the residual shock of what had happened to me.  Whatever it was, it was too much for me to handle.  My shaking knees gave way beneath me, and I could see the ground rushing up at me.

But I never felt the impact.  Instead, a pair of strong arms caught me, lifting me up to cradle me against a hard chest.  Panic spiked through me at the feeling of being restrained, and a small, strangled cry escaped me as I writhed in his grip.

His large hand stroked my arm soothingly.  “Shhh, Claudia.  It’s just me,” he said, his tone low and reassuring.  “You’re safe now.”

Safe.

I buried my head in his chest, breathing in his now-familiar scent.  I didn’t even realize that my hands fisted in his t-shirt, clinging to him like a lifeline as my tears soaked it through.  Blindly, I allowed him to carry me.  I didn’t care where we were going, so long as it was away from that alleyway.

Sean murmured reassuringly at me in a soft, soothing tone as I cried silently in his arms.  Although his words were sweet, I could feel his muscles corded around me, his whole body tense.  Was it from the effort of carrying me, or was it something else?

I peeked up at him through my lashes.  He wasn’t looking at me.  Instead, he stared straight ahead, tight lines around his eyes and mouth as though he was under some sort of strain.  Was he angry with me?

He shifted me in his grip, and a door swung open.  My stomach dropped as I realized that we were going back into his apartment building.

I stared up at him pleadingly.  “Please, Sean,” I begged raggedly.  “I just want to go home.”

The lines of his face only deepened, and still he refused to look at me.  When he spoke, his voice was tight with suppressed anger.  “I can’t take you home, Claudia.”  Then he added, more softly.  “I’m sorry.”

Tears continued to slide down my face as I closed my eyes, unwilling to look at him any longer.  How was it that I could feel such gratitude towards him and such hatred at the same time?

After a few minutes, a bright light filtered through my closed eyelids, and I instinctively blinked.  Sean’s face swam into view, an odd expression etched across it.  There was concern, compassion, relief, and… fear?  And anger. 
Definitely anger.

I dropped my eyes so that I no longer had to face his burning gaze.  That’s when I noticed the red spray dotted across his white t-shirt: my attacker’s blood.  My stomach twisted at the memory of Sean’s violence even as I couldn’t help but feel gratitude. 

But there was a bigger red splotch on his shoulder, one that was slowly growing larger.

“Sean, you’re hurt,” I said, distracted from my thoughts by the sight of his injury.  His gunshot wound must have broken open.  “Put me down,” I insisted, sounding more like myself.

He looked at me skeptically.  “Can you stand on your own?”  He asked, leveling me with a hard look that dared me to lie to him.

I rolled my eyes at him.  “Of course I can,” I said.  “I’m not the one who’s hurt.”

His face darkened, the anger overriding all other emotions.  His movements were carefully controlled as he set me down on my feet, his muscles straining again.  I recognized it now for what it was: repressed rage.

“You’re not hurt?”  He demanded harshly.  He grabbed my shoulders and spun me around so that my back was to him.  I was staring at my reflection in the mirror; he had brought me into the bathroom.

My eyes were wide, a wild light in them; my hair was a tangled mess; and there was the shadow of a bruise appearing on my right cheekbone where my assailant had backhanded me.

“Oh,” I said softly.

“
Oh?
”  He said incredulously.  “Is that all you have to say?  What were you thinking?  Do you have any idea…?”

He trailed off, his eyes clouding over.

I rounded on him, my anger rising to match his.  “What other choice did you give me?”  I hissed.  “Did you just expect me to stay here like a good girl?  To allow you to keep me as your
pet
forever?”

His hand clenched to a fist, and a muscle in his jaw ticked as he gritted his teeth together.  “I don’t have a choice here, Claudia,” he ground out.

“Yes, you do!”  I insisted, my voice accusatory.  “And you’re making the wrong one!”

The tears were back, hot and angry this time.  I swiped them away,
then winced as my knuckles ran across my injured cheek.  His fingers encircled my wrist, pulling my hand away from my face.  I looked up at him, startled by the shock of his touch.  The feeling of him holding me, his long fingers trapping my wrist as effectively as a manacle, made something quiver inside of me.  His expression had softened, and the furious blaze in his eyes had given way to that darker flame again.  It seemed to burn into me, the heat of it cutting to my core, awakening an answering warmth within my chest.  And between my thighs.

“Here,” he said softly, reaching for my face with his free hand.  “Let me.”

His thumb lightly traced the line of my cheekbone, wiping away the wetness on my face with a tenderness that shocked me.  It stood in such jarring contrast to the way he held me so firmly.  The feeling of his rough, calloused skin against mine made my flesh tingle.  He was such an enigma: unbearably cocky, somewhat terrifying, and shockingly tender by turns. 

And
I couldn’t seem to resist him.

His hand shifted to
cup the side of my face.  His touch was feather-light, but I found that I couldn’t move; I was locked in place as though he were holding me in an iron grip.  My gaze involuntarily flicked from his eyes to his full lips, and I unconsciously licked my own.

The corners of his mouth twisted upward, a knowing smile.  He inclined his head forward, inching towards me at an agonizingly slow pace.  His eyes were studying mine as he neared me, gauging my reaction.  And there was a playful light there as well, as though he was enjoying making me wait.

Well, I wasn’t standing for that, wasn’t going to let him toy with me.  But instead of pulling away, I acted on an insane impulse: I wrapped my free hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down into me, crushing my lips to his.

For a moment, his mouth was still against mine.  My only warning was a low, rumbling growl.  His hand left my face to tangle itself in my long hair, fisting at the nape of my neck.  He pulle
d sharply, and I drew in a shocked breath at the slight pain as my head dropped back in response.  Only when my lips were offered up to him in the way that he wanted did he finally take my mouth.

His lips were hard and demanding, forcing mine to shape to his with almost bruising force.  The delicious sparks that had danced across my skin from his lightest touch were finally ignited as though they had met with an accelerant.  Flames bloomed within me, racing through
my veins until my whole body was ablaze, utterly consumed by the erotic heat that Sean had awoken within me.  And I gave in, reveling in it.  I had never felt anything like this before, and I wanted more, craved it.  All thoughts of where I was and what was happening to me were gone from my mind.  All I knew was that Sean was touching me, and I never wanted him to stop.

He obliged me as his tongue delved between my lips, tangling with my own as I fought to match his intensity.

But I never stood a chance.  He pressed his body into mine.  I would have stumbled if he hadn’t steadied me with his grip on my hair.  He didn’t release my mouth as he pushed me backwards.  I gasped in shock as my back came into contact with the wall.  I barely had time to register the fact that he had released my hair before he grasped my wrist firmly.  Never having let go of the other, he drew my hands up sharply, pinning them against the wall on either side of my head.  The coolness of the tiles contrasted deliciously with the heat of my skin, and I shuddered in pleasure at the sensation.

The part of me that would usually be screaming at me to struggle was oddly silent.  Instead, I went completely still, compliant.  His tongue took possession of my mouth, stroking my own tongue firmly as he explored every inch of me.  The feeling of him inside of me, claiming me, made me suddenly, acutely aware of another area that I desperately wanted Sean to fill.  There was something warm and wet on my thighs, and my core pulsed in need.  I pressed myself up against his hard thigh, a strange whimpering sound escaping me.  I could feel his lips curve up into a satisfied smile as he continued his relentless assault on my senses.