Page 3

Chapter

Three

LUNA

T he sun is warmer than I thought it would be.

But what shocks me the most is the ground. The hard cement was dusted with sand, and I gasp at the uncomfortable sensation.

“Are you ok?” Maxim asks as his eyes flick down to my feet. “Do you have any shoes?”

“Shoes?”

He points to the things on his feet.

“No. God never gave me any.”

“You don’t have shoes?” Colin asks. The shock in his voice makes me feel embarrassed like I’m the one doing something wrong.

“Colin,” Maxim says. “Just get on your bike. Let’s go, everyone.”

Sal lumbers over to his large motor contraption while Colin practically runs to his. It’s Jasper who lingers. His gaze on me is inquisitive. It’s like he’s studying me, but not in a good way.

Maxim steps between us. “Go, Jasper.”

Smirking slightly, he does what Maxim says.

“I know you’ve never ridden on a motorcycle.” Maxim leads me over to his large bike. That’s what it’s called. A motorcycle. “It can be strange at first. A little scary. But remember, I won’t let you get hurt. You’ll sit behind me. You’ll need to put your arms around me, and you can't let go, especially after I start driving. You could get seriously hurt if you let go. Understood?”

Yes and no, but I nod anyway.

My skin feels fragile under the sun’s glare. I’m so pale that my skin practically glows in the light. It’s so different from Maxim’s tanner skin tone.

After he gets on his motorcycle, he motions for me to get behind him. I hesitate. Once I do this, I’ll be leaving the lighthouse for good. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.

“Can I come back? To the lighthouse?”

“Uh … I’m not sure that’s the best idea. Whoever took you wants to hurt you.”

“Oh.” I lower my head and wrap my arms around myself. The thought of God hurting me makes me sad beyond repair. And yet, I don’t want to stay here. I want to see more of the world. I just want to know I have the option to come back if I want to.

Maxim sighs. “Let’s just get you to safety, and once some time has passed, if you want to return, I can take you back. How does that sound?”

“That sounds better.”

“All right.” He smiles slightly, which warms my stomach. “Get on. And remember, don’t let me go.”

I throw my leg over the bike, and my dress rides up around my thighs. I’ve never felt strange about my legs, but when I see Jasper and Sal looking at them, I suddenly have the urge to cover them. Maxim notices them looking and clears his throat pointedly.

They both avert their gazes.

“Hold on to me like this.” He takes my hands and places them on his waist. “Don’t let go.”

“I won’t.” Maxim is so warm and strong. I have the urge to snuggle into him.

He turns a key, and the motorcycle roars to life. I scream and cling to Maxim tighter.

Jasper laughs. “It’s just a bike. It’s nothing to be scared of.”

“She’s never experienced this before,” Maxim reminds him. “Be nice.”

“I was just stating the obvious. She doesn’t need to be afraid.”

“She can ride with me if she wants,” Sal suggests, waggling his eyebrows.

“Don’t be disgusting,” Maxim mutters. “Just leave her be. Now, let’s get out of here.” He kicks off with his feet, and the motorcycle begins to move.

Fear courses through my body. I burrow my head against his back, praying and hoping that I’ll be all right. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe I shouldn’t have left with a stranger. I don’t know Maxim. Maybe he’s lying to me about not wanting to hurt me.

And then we reach a long stretch of road, and Maxim drives faster, and I feel the wind in my hair. It feels scary but kind of fun.

But most of all, it feels … freeing.

I sit up straight and look around at my surroundings. The beautiful ocean is on one side of us. Sand dunes on the other. I’m really here. I’m really outside.

I let out a sound of pure excitement. Sal joins in, and soon, so does Jasper. Even Colin tentatively hollers at the sky. Only Maxim remains quiet. It makes me wonder what he’s thinking.

It makes me wonder why I even care.

I shut my eyes and let the sun fall on my face. The heat of it is magical. It’s warm but not too hot.

I could get used to this.

ED

It’s time for me to finally claim Luna as my own.

My cock stirs at the idea as I get closer and closer to the lighthouse. She’s been mine for years. Ever since I brought her here when she was five years old. I had no desire to touch a child. What I wanted to do was create the perfect woman.

One completely untouched and innocent to the world. One made for me.

I stop my car before the lighthouse and smile. This is it. Luna will never say no to me. She believes I’m her God and will do anything I ask of her.

I approach the door and stop. Something isn’t right. The automatic lock on the door is broken like someone … shot at it? It doesn’t make sense.

I shove the door open and run inside. Sometimes, when Luna was sleeping, I’d come in here and watch her. I always watched her through the cameras I installed, but it was nice to see her in person. Of course, she never knew about it. I didn’t want her to know.

I catch my reflection in the mirror by the kitchen table. Honestly, I could lose a few pounds. I’ve been trying to get in shape for Luna. I want her to find me handsome.

But then again, she has no other man to compare me to. She’ll find me handsome regardless.

I made sure to wash my brown hair. It tends to get greasy. Luna can only see me at my best. I even got a spray tan so I wouldn’t look too pale. I hope she likes what she sees.

I head upstairs, ready to surprise her when she’s in bed. But she’s not there. That’s fine. Disappointing but fine. Maybe she’s out on the top of the lighthouse. I always told her not to go up there since she would burn, and she always listened. But maybe she’s being a little rebellious today. I can work with that.

Yet, I don’t find her there either.

Ok. Maybe she went outside and is by the beach.

But she’d have no way to get outside. She’s not allowed outside. I always made sure of it.

I check the video feed of the cameras throughout the lighthouse on my phone. I haven’t watched it in a few hours since I was busy getting ready to come here.

I fast forward through hours of footage to find …

Oh no.

I stop the video when I see four men arrive at the lighthouse. They break in. I watch them talk to Luna, especially the one who seems like he’s in charge. Unfortunately, there’s no sound. The only time I could ever hear Luna was when we spoke through the speakers on the walls. So I can’t hear what these men are saying to her.

But Luna doesn’t look as afraid as she should. In fact, she looks … charmed by the one in charge. The one in charge is a good-looking man. Much better looking than me.

Shit, shit, shit.

I keep scrolling through the video until I see it. The moment Luna leaves with these men. She gets on the handsome one’s motorcycle, and they drive away. I have no way of knowing where they went.

Where these men took my Luna.

I stop the video the moment their bikes are facing away from the lighthouse. I can’t see the license plate of the handsome one with Luna on the back of his bike.

But I can see the license plate of the youngest-looking one. That’s a place to start.

Because I will get Luna back, and she will become mine.

And I will kill these fuckers for taking her in the first place.

MAXIM

Luna is shaking when we finally stop for gas. We still have thirty minutes to go before we reach the clubhouse.

“Are you all right?”

She pulls away from me, dropping her arms to her sides. “It’s just … a lot.”

“I get it. I mean, I don’t get it, but I can understand.”

“Thank you. You’re so sweet.” She ducks her chin. I can admit it to myself—Luna is pretty.

But she’s so innocent. Practically a kid in some ways for how sheltered she is.

There’s no way I can like her. It just wouldn’t be ethical. I consider myself a good man who occasionally does bad things. Some of those bad things include working with the Bratva. They include selling guns that could be used to hurt other people.

But I draw the line at hurting women, especially ones as innocent as Luna.

I stand and start filling the bike with gas. It’s a good distraction because Luna turns her curious eyes onto the gas pump.

“What is that?”

“This is a way to make the motorcycle run. It’s gas. Fuel. You pour into the bike, and it can move.”

“That’s fascinating. I’ve never seen anything like it.” She blushes. “That’s not surprising, though.”

“No, it’s not.” I offer her a small then silently scold myself for doing so. Luna smiles back. I want her to feel safe around me, but I also don’t want to give her the wrong impression.

That’s assuming she likes me, which she probably doesn’t. She doesn’t know what she likes.

Fuck, this is all sorts of confusing.

“I want jerky,” Sal says, heading into the gas station.

“Grab me some!” Colin calls out. Sal doesn’t even acknowledge him. The disappointment on Colin’s face makes me feel bad for the guy. He’s been a prospect for a while now and is so ready to make himself available.

Jasper walks over to Luna and gives her a smile that I don’t like. “Once we’re back at the clubhouse, you can see where we live. I can show you my room.”

“Ok.”

“No,” I say. “You’re not going to show Luna your room.”

“It’s just an innocent invitation, Maxim. Nothing more.”

“Uh-huh.” I put the gas nozzle back onto the pump. “I’m just going to make a rule that no one brings Luna to their bedroom.”

“Why not?” she asks.

Jasper crosses his arms, giving me that little smirk I fucking hate so much. “Yeah, Maxim. Why not?”

I don’t want to scare Luna and give her the idea that Jasper might want to touch her. But it’s obvious to me that both Jasper and Sal have the hots for her. I hate not trusting my men, but right now, I don’t fucking trust them. Not one bit.

“Because Luna will be in my room,” I tell him. “And you will all leave her alone.”

“Now, how is that fair? I wasn’t going to do anything to her.”

“Neither will I,” I growl. “Now, shut up and go back to your bike. And leave Luna alone.”

Jasper rolls his eyes but walks away. That’s the thing with him—he likes to put up a fight, but he always comes around in the end. At least, so far he has.

Luna turns to me. “I’m confused. I didn’t understand any of that.”

“It’s ok. But just a general rule of thumb, don’t be around Jasper or Sal alone. Always have someone else with you. Like Colin or me. You’ll meet some of the other people at the clubhouse. Like Rose. She’s a bartender there. Just don’t go into Jasper’s room alone.”

“But why?”

Because I’m worried he might hurt you . But I can’t tell Luna this because she believes me when I say I won’t hurt her. I won’t. But that doesn’t mean my men won’t try something.

I can’t see the trust in Luna’s eyes die.

“Just to be safe,” I tell her. “Don’t be alone with him.”

She nods, even though I can tell she doesn’t fully understand. And why would she? She doesn’t know anything.

LUNA

The place Maxim takes me to is a short, brick building within a city. He tells me it’s called Queens, which is a part of New York City. I’ve heard of this place in one of my books, but seeing it in person, I can’t believe just how large it is. Just how loud and smelly it is.

How many people there are.

Men and women walk by on sidewalks. Some have bags in their hands. Some have contraptions to their ears.

“What are those?” I ask Maxim, pointing to a man walking by and holding something up to his ear.

“A cellphone.”

“A cellphone?” None of the books I ever read mentioned those. God never uttered the word to me.

“You can talk to other people through it.”

“Like the speaker back at the lighthouse.”

He flinches slightly, but I don’t understand why. “Sort of. Here, let me show you.” He grabs his phone out of his pocket, making me gasp. “You go here to call someone’s number.”

“Number?”

“Each person has a phone number. You dial it, and they answer, and you talk to them.”

“It’s like magic.”

He smiles, handing me the phone. “Here. You can look at it. But first, let me show you the clubhouse.” He nods at the brick building we’re standing in front of.

Sal, Jasper, and Colin have already gone inside. I’m glad for that. I don’t like the way Jasper looks at me. I don’t have the words to explain it. All I know is he makes me uncomfortable.

I hold Maxim’s phone close to my chest as we walk inside. The smell of something strong hits my nostrils, but I don’t know what it is.

Maxim notices my scrunched-up face and chuckles. “That would probably be the smell of beer. Over here.” He leads me to a long counter where a woman stands behind it. Behind her are shelves full of bottles with liquid in them. “This is Rose. She’s our bartender.”

“I also help keep all these boys in line,” she says, leaning on the counter. “What’s your name, sweetie?”

“Luna.”

“Nice to meet you.” Rose has a kind smile, and I instantly like her.

Looking around the room, I see couches pressed up against one wall. Men sit on them, including Sal, Jasper, and Colin. A woman sits down on Jasper’s lap. Sal looks upset by this. Another woman snuggles up to an older man with long gray hair.

The one thing I notice is that all of them are looking in my direction.

“How’d you two meet?” Rose asks.

Maxim glances at me and clears his throat. “Listen, Rose, this is a very unique situation. I’ll explain everything later, but right now, I need you to run to the store and get Luna some shoes.”

“She doesn’t have any shoes?”

“As I said, I’ll explain everything later.”

“Ok.” She turns her kind eyes onto me. “What size do you wear?”

“I’ve never worn shoes.”

“Huh. Maxim, you have a lot of explaining to do.”

“I know. Just get her a comfortable pair of shoes in multiple sizes.” He slides money over to her. I know what that is: God told me about currency. “And make it fast.”

“Will do.” She grabs the money and, with a wink in my direction, leaves the clubhouse.

“Luna, you’ll be staying in my room for the time being. Just until we can figure out what to do with you.”

“What to do with me?”

“Sorry. Poor choice of words. Shit. I’m not handling this well. I’ve never had to deal with this before.”

“Deal with what?”

“Protecting a woman. Now, come along.” He walks past the group of people on the couches and goes up a set of stairs.

A part of me wants to talk to these people, but I also don’t want to be away from Maxim, so I follow him. The floor is sticky on my feet. What could make a floor sticky to begin with?

At the top of the stairs is a long hallway. Maxim opens a door at the end and motions me inside. A bed is in the middle of the room. An unmade bed, I notice. I always make mine. God expected that of me.

There’s a closet full of clothes, and across from that is a bathroom.

On the floor are underwear and a bra.

Maxim quickly picks it up. “Sorry about that. I forgot to clean up.”

“I wear those under my clothes.”

“Right. Of course, you do. I just …” He suddenly seems uncomfortable, which makes me feel comfortable in his presence. I get the sense that this is new for him, too. He shoves the underwear and bra into his closet and shuts the door. “So, why don’t you make yourself comfortable?”

I flop onto the bed. “Wow. This is nice. My mattress was getting old, but God refused to get me a new one.”

“Luna, do you have any idea who this God may really be?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did he reveal anything about himself to you? Where he lives? What he looks like? Places he frequents?”

“No. He never told me anything about himself. I asked, but he would always change the subject.”

“Right. That’s ok. If you do think of something, though, let me know.”

“Why?”

“I want to find him, Luna. He kept you kidnapped for years. He needs to be dealt with.”

“But God isn’t a bad man.”

The way Maxim looks at me causes a pang of disappointment in my chest. His look is … pitying. Before he can say anything, his phone in my hand begins to make a sound.

It startles me so much that I throw it onto the bed. Maxim smiles as he picks it up, and my pang of disappointment disappears.

“Hello?”

I can't hear anyone on the other end, but Maxim must be able to because his friendly expression changes.

“Ok. I’m on my way.” He puts the phone down. “I have to go, Luna. There’s some business I need to deal with. You stay here in my room. If anyone tries to come in, don’t let them unless it’s Rose or Colin.”

“Why can Rose and Colin come in but no one else?”

“Because I know Rose and Colin won’t hurt you.”

I stand up, my body tensing. “But you think your other friends will?”

“I’m not sure. I just don’t want to give them that chance. So, just stay here.”

“When will you be back?” The thought of not seeing Maxim for a while makes my gut ache.

“Probably in a few hours. I’ll be back soon.” He steps toward me and opens his mouth like he wants to say more before shaking his head and leaving, shutting the door behind him.

I sit down on the bed with nothing else to do.

I didn’t agree to leave my lighthouse just to sit around in one room all day, but Maxim doesn’t want me around his friends.

Already, I miss my lighthouse. I miss my books and my bed and my ocean view.

But I don’t miss the lumpy mattress and God’s voice making me uncomfortable and never being allowed to leave.

A knock on the door makes me stand. “Hello?”

“It’s Jasper.”

I didn’t like how Jasper looked at me earlier. But he’s just as handsome as Maxim. That means he can’t be all bad.

“Open the door,” he tells me.

“Maxim doesn’t want me to.”

“And you listen to him?”

Do I listen to him? Should I listen to him? Maxim isn’t God. He doesn’t control me, yet I want to make him happy.

“Open the door.”

“I shouldn’t.” My hands wring together. Something about this doesn’t feel right. That must have been what Maxim meant when he said he wanted me to stay in here.

“Come on, Luna. I just want to talk. Let’s talk.”

Talking isn’t a bad thing. I spoke to God countless times, and nothing bad ever happened.

Slowly, I open the door a crack. Jasper’s easy-going smile stares back at me. “What did you want to talk about?”

“How pretty I think you are.”

“Thank you.” God told me I was pretty. Beautiful. I know it’s a compliment.

“You know, I’ve always had a thing for redheads. They can be so feisty. Can you be feisty, Luna?”

“I’m not sure.”

Something flashes behind his eyes. “Want to find out?”

“What do you mean?”

“Let me in there, and you’ll see.”

“Why can’t you just tell me?” I’ve been deprived of a lot of knowledge; that much I can tell from my short time being out of my lighthouse. I don’t like that Jasper is being so evasive.

“It’s more fun this way.”

“Not for me, it isn’t.”

“Just let me in.” He pushes the door open before I can say anything else. “See? That wasn’t so hard.” His footsteps are loud on the wood as he walks right up to me. “God, you’re so pretty.” His fingertips trail down my bare arms.

Goosebumps break out on my skin. Despite my body’s reaction, I’m not sure I like this.

“You wanted to talk?”

“Did I? I’d rather touch than talk.”

“Touch? Like sex?”

He laughs, his breath fanning over my face. “Yeah, like sex. That sounds good to me.” Then he grabs my face and pulls me toward him. It hurts like nothing ever has before.

I scream and push him away.

“Come on, baby. Don’t be like that.”

Footsteps run up the stairs, and Colin is there, breathless. “Jasper, what are you doing?”

“I’m showing Luna a good time.”

“You’re supposed to leave her alone. That’s what Maxim said.”

“But Maxim isn’t here. He was the stupid one to leave his girl alone.”

His girl? I don’t think of myself as Maxim’s girl. If anything, I belong to God. At least, I think I do.

“Just stop it,” Colin says. “You’re going to get in trouble.”

Jasper leans over Colin, which is easy for him to do since he’s so much taller. “Oh, yeah? I’ll get in trouble if you tell him, and if you tell him, I’ll make sure to beat the shit out of you so hard you’ll wish you never said anything.”

Colin’s gulp is visible.

“What’s going on here?” a woman’s voice asks. Rose. She’s standing in the hallway with multiple bags in her hands.

“What are you doing?” Jasper demands.

“Bringing shoes for the girl. What I didn’t expect was to find two men in the room with her. Especially you, Jasper.”

“Why me?”

“You know why,” she says flatly. “Now, get out of the way. And leave.” She shoulders past the men and enters the room. “I said leave.”

Colin practically runs away while Jasper takes his sweet time.

Rose shuts the door. “Now. Are you ok?”

On instinct, I curl into a ball on the bed. That’s what I do whenever I’m upset, and the way Jasper grabbed my face has upset me.

Rose lowers the bags to the ground. “Ok. I take it that’s a no.”