Page 8

OPHELIA

J ames releases my chin. Warmth erupts on my forearm when he brushes his fingers over it.

The same, deceptive warmth spreads out to my back when James pushes his hand between me and my tied hands, splaying it over my back.

“What else?” I fix my eyes on his, not daring to avert my gaze.

This conversation, his touch, they might be other tricks to distract me. Who knows what he might do if I look away.

He levels me with a look. I remember what he mentioned earlier. No. No.

“It can’t be?—”

“Yes, it can. Your virginity.” From my back, he trails his hand up to my belly, flattening it possessively over my stomach.

His cold eyes turn fiery hot when he points his fingers south.

I’ve lost control over my breaths altogether. I’m panting. Breathing in the scent of his cologne.

“You’re not a doctor.” Deep inhale. It’s almost impossible with how he’s touching me. Looking at me. “Are you?”

James makes a satisfied sound in the back of his throat.

“No, I’m not.” The material of my dress is being scrunched a little higher. Cool air brushes against my thighs. “I do, however, know how to check if your hymen is intact. Our lineage doesn’t leave anything to chance. That includes this exam.”

Imagining James performing an exam like that on me is humiliating enough. To have Topher repeat it in front of the buyers will ruin me altogether.

“Get away from me!” I scream, my lungs burning. “I don’t want anyone to touch me. Leave me alone, you sick motherfucker.”

“Used to include this exam.” His stony expression. His dark eyes. This man is out of his mind. “In past tense.”

Then he growls. The sound is territorial. Animalistic. As if he’s had a hand in ending this barbaric, decades-long show.

As if he won’t let Topher check me, no matter what.

While I wonder what the hell is going on, he hikes the rest of my dress up to my waist.

I gasp. He hums. “Oliver, Camden’s father?—”

The other name partner in their law firm and Topher’s dad’s best friend. They’re in on it too. The other virgin must be Baylor. Topher showed me their photos once. When I asked when I could meet them, his answer had always been soon .

Yet again, another reason why I started losing interest.

I wasn’t a dirty little secret.

Stupid me, I thought he didn’t want me to meet his friends because I didn’t come from a wealthy background.

That the only reason he took me to meet his dad was that the latter had insisted on seeing for himself just how poor the woman he was dating was. If she—me—was a gold digger.

He had me questioning my self-worth so bad when in reality, Topher never cared about how much money I had in my bank account.

The fact that I was basically alone in this world was what made me the perfect target. For him. For his buyers.

A lonely woman, desperate for love. A virgin to keep out of anyone’s reach until the initiation. Until they sold her to another shark.

A monster who’d gladly sink his teeth into this untouched piece of flesh.

“—and I, we made a joint decision to terminate this barbaric part of our ritual. The men in our family shouldn’t be handling this aspect of initiation.

This role is better suited to a doctor. But since an outsider can’t be trusted, the check-ups will be performed on stage, not behind closed doors.

” He goes on peacefully—while chaos detonates inside my head.

Bombs go off. Limbs fly. Total destruction.

“This, what I’m doing here, goes against our decision.

I shouldn’t be performing this check-up myself. But you...you intrigue me.”

The sparks. The attraction. The pull. He’s felt it just as much as I have.

It does nothing to comfort me.

Nothing at all, since his fingers stroke my pussy over my panties.

Being drawn to him means shit. He won’t save me. He’s a monster.

I clench my thighs, refusing to give him access to my body. I won’t.

Maybe I could save myself. At least from this. Earn myself a few quiet hours before my life takes on another terrible turn.

“I’m a virgin. I swear.” The last word is half-moan as he shoves my panties to the side.

He spreads my lips, presses his fingertip to my clit, and I react, damn it.

My back arches, my eyes fly open. He dips a finger in my pussy, then rubs my wetness over my clit.

God. Fuck. “I swear I am. You don’t have to do this. You don’t…Please.”

Tears line my eyes. I’m just as sick as he is to get off on this. On the attention he’s giving me.

At this very moment, I’m the only person in his world. It’s as thrilling as it’s nauseating.

I want him off me.

“I don’t have to do anything, Sonnet.” This name again.

I have no idea why he chose it. Nothing about being tied up and caged is poem-worthy.

Nothing flowery or romantic about a degraded, captive woman.

“I want to, and you’ll let me. Topher swore you were a good girl, so show me.

Open your legs and let me have a look at you. ”

This is beyond obscene. Humiliation doesn’t begin to describe it.

This is my dignity being ripped to shreds.

I try to throw my head up, bash my forehead against his. He’s faster and has the instincts of a predator, avoiding me before any contact is made.

“Be a good girl.” He grips my chin. “You might even enjoy it.”

“Never.” Both he and I know it’s a lie. I’ll like it, despite myself. Without my consent, I’ll like it. “I’ll never enjoy anything you do to me, asshole.”

“We’ll see about that.” He moves down my body, reaching for the bag on the floor.

Self-loathing burns my eyes. My cheeks. My heart. Watching him pull out a speculum and a small flashlight wakes things inside me. Dark cravings. Darker desires.

Tears escape my eyes. All of them at once, I think. They roll down my temples, soaking my hair.

Still, I see him clearly. The inside of his palm, there’s an old scar slashed onto it. A white line. It’s out of my line of sight when he grabs another tool, placing it on the bed.

“Shh.” James pets my thighs like I’m a wild animal. “I’m going to touch you. Going to look at you. You’re going to let me.”

He’s said that before. This…request.

Only it isn’t a real request. Not at all.

“Do I even have a choice?”

“No.”

When he hooks his fingers into my panties and drags them down my hips, I don’t kick him as I should. I cry harder.

It’s mortifying, this unstoppable desire for him. My nipples are pulled into tight peaks. My pussy is hot and wet.

The craving in my soul hurts the most.

“Please.” I squeeze my thighs, staring at him through the rivers of tears. “Please, don’t. Call a doctor. Have them look at me. I’ll let them. But you, don’t do it. Please.”

“You tempt me, Ophelia.” James pries my legs apart. Just like that, with his warm hands that get me wetter and needier. “The way you beg so prettily. How you crave this.”

“No. No, no, no.” More lies. I shake my head anyway. “Please. I don’t want this.”

“You’re such a liar.” The flashlight and speculum are in his hands while he kneels before me. “I won’t punish you for it, though I should. No. I have my methods to get you to tell me the truth.”

“Methods?”

“Methods, yes.” He hovers over my pussy, gripping the speculum in his left hand. Without so much as a warning, he spreads my lips with his right one and spits on my clit. “Stay put.” His icy glare is back on my face. “Can’t have you hurting the merchandise.”

“Please, please, oh— Fuck,” I groan when his thumb circles my clit. When he presses it hard until the pain turns into pleasure. “Stop. Stop, please.”

No man has ever touched me there. No one. This is the wrong man to do it. The right one. Jesus . He’s so fucking right for it.

“Good girl.” His thumb is still on my clit, rubbing while he bends lower. “Good little sacrifice, spreading your legs for me. Staying where you are so I won’t damage your perfect, pretty cunt.”

There it is. The cold metal of the speculum pressing against my walls. The pressure of it. The humiliation. It’s not painful. The invasion is not unwelcome. It only makes my heart bleed harder.

I can’t afford to break down in front of him again.

No more crying, then. None of it. I pinch my eyes shut as James pulls out the speculum and runs it up and down my slit, getting it wet.

As the tears slow, I breathe easier. “I hate you.”

“There you go. That’s my good girl.” His hands are on my pussy, eyes burrowing into mine. “I promised you you’d like it.”

“You’re delusional.” He’s not. Heat coils in my belly, and I’m powerless to stop it.

“And you’re enjoying this.”

My clit throbs even when James is no longer touching me. It’s hard not to be desperate for him when I can see his thick cock stretching his pants. The outline is mouthwatering.

I’m fucked. So fucked.

He brings the flashlight up, his head cocked. He’s considering something, and then he doesn’t, throwing the flashlight as hard as he can at the wall on the other side of the room.

I jump from the loud noise it makes as it crashes against it.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Won’t be needing that.” His voice transforms into something visceral.

Raw and rugged. He has no control over himself, or maybe he does.

Maybe this is the side of him that nobody else has ever met before.

“Wherever you are. Whatever you do. Light. Dark. Doesn’t matter.

I see you just fucking fine. Always will. ”

A million thoughts and feelings burst inside me. Desire. Hope. Fear. They need exploring. They need tending to.

There’s no time.

“Now, relax for me.” James lowers again, nudging the speculum into my opening.

I should clamp up. I don’t. I listen to him, not because I’m scared.

I want to. Shame locks my throat. “Fuck, I could tell you’re good.

” His gaze is on my pussy as he slides the metal device in carefully. “Feisty little one.”

How fucking obscene it is that he’s talking to me while starting what should be a gynecologist check-up.

How arousing.