Page 9

Willow

S team filled the ensuite as I stood under the scorching hot shower,letting the water burn my body.

Another day had passed, and James hadn’t returned. My anxiety wasworse than it had been in years, my instincts on high alert knowing it was only a matter of time before he returned.

My period was in full flow, the cramping still uncomfortable, but not aspainful as it had been the day before.I’d hoped that a hot shower would bring me some relief from the dull ache that had settled in my stomach. But when my fingers turned to prunes, and the ache was still there, I switched the shower off and got out, accepting that I’d just have to tolerate it for another few days.

Wrapping a towel around my body, I ran a comb through my wet hair,the debate I’d been having with myself for the past twenty-four hours once again dominating my thoughts.

Was I going to tell James about the conversation I’d overheard? It’dplayed on my mind all day and all night, and I’d gone from keeping my mouth shut, to convincing myself that it was some sort of test James had set to see whether I’d be loyal to him.

If that was the case, I couldn’t afford to fail.

But, the conversation happened in the middle of the night, and Ihadn’t switched my light on when I’d laid down next to the balcony doors. No one would have known I was awake and listening. So maybe it wasn’t a test after all, but that didn’t mean I could keep quiet about it.

Sighing, I headed out of the bathroom, intent on lying on the bed andmaking a decision about what to do when I stopped on the spot, and a small squeak escaped me.

The blood in my veins turned to ice at finding James sitting in thehigh-back chair, his long legs spread wide, and the top three buttons of his shirt undone. In one hand, he held a glass of what I was sure was whiskey.

His eyes narrowed on me, traveling over the length of my towel-cladbody.

“Drop the towel, Mouse,”he said as a way of greeting.

Every nerve in my body prickled with awareness as his dark eyesburned into me. Swallowing, I pulled the towel apart and let it fall to the floor, holding my breath as I waited for his next command with dread pooling in my stomach. But James didn’t tear his gaze away as he took a sip of his drink, histongue coming out to lick his lips. Under the cold air of the air-conditioning, my nipples pebbled, drawing his attention to them.

“Edith tells me you got your period?”he said, his head tilting to oneside as he rubbed his chin in thought.

“Yes, Sir,”I replied quietly, momentarily forgetting that he’d told me tostop saying that.

He hummed before taking another mouthful of whiskey.“Guess I’llhave to keep fucking you then, Mouse. Let’s hope you have better luck next month.”He smirked maliciously, sending a shudder down my spine.“On your knees, Willow. Crawl to me.”

Hesitantly, I lowered myself to my knees, obeying him as I crawledacross the room, reminding myself that to make my life easier, I just needed to keep him happy. His eyes tracked me as I moved closer. The collar around my throatseemed to burn into my flesh, reminding me that it was there, and I was nothing but his pet.

When I was halfway to him, he unbuckled his pants, shifting in theseat so he could pull out his hard length.

“Let’s see if your skills have improved, Mouse. Suck my cock.”

Trying to remember what I’d learned in the books I’d studied, Icrawled the rest of the way to him, sitting up on my knees when I reached him, and finding the tip of his cock glistening. Despite hating James, I was determined to please him if it meant hewouldn’t be rough with me the way he was before, and I had to hope that if I pleased him, then he would reward me for my good behavior.

Wrapping my hand around the base of his shaft, I lowered my headand licked the tip of his cock, the pre-cum tasting salty on my tongue. James hissed, his hands tightening on the arms of the chair, his whiskey now abandoned on the table.

Pulling up images I’d seen in the books to the front of my mind, I swirled my tongue around the head, making sure my grip around his base was firm. I parted my lips, and lowered my head, taking his swollen crown into my mouth, while bringing my hand halfway up his cock until it met my mouth.

A growl of appreciation rumbled from James’ chest, one of his handslanding on the back of my head where his fingers tangled into my wet hair. I braced myself, preparing for James to take control and start roughlyfucking my throat, but he didn’t.

Instead, he allowed me to slowly slide up his length, before taking him to the back of my throat again. I repeated the action several times, teasing him with a flick of my tongue on his tip each time I moved my mouth to the top of his cock, just like the books had instructed.

“Christ, Mouse. Either you’ve studied those books from cover tocover, or you’ve been practicing on one of my men,”he cursed, his fingers tightening.

I popped off his length, panic rushing through me.“No, Mr. Carter.I…I haven’t seen anyone besides Edith. I read the books because I wanted to please you.”

He held my gaze as if he were silently assessing if I was beingtruthful. When he nodded once, I lowered myself again, taking him deeper into my throat, and stopping just before he hit my gag reflex.

A wave of pride flooded me when I looked up at him from under mylashes. His head had fallen back, and a look of pure ecstasy had washed over his face.Hope bloomed in my chest that he really would reward me, and I wasall the more determined to please him, excitement building in me that I was going to be rewarded.

As I ran my tongue up the length of his shaft, swirling it around the tipand over his slit, a strange throbbing began between my legs. It was a throbbing I’d felt before but had never dared to do anything about.

Surely, this wasn’t turning me on?

Horror creeped in at the realization that my core was growing damperthe more I licked and sucked James’ cock, not helped by the small needy groans he was eliciting. I subtly squeezed my thighs together to try and stop whatever wasbuilding inside me. My traitorous body had clearly not got the memo that I didn’t want to do this. Him making me do it was not a reason to get turned on.

James’ other hand landed on my head, both hands now gripping myhair as he guided me up and down his length at a pace he wanted. He wasn’t as rough as the last time, but the more I bobbed my head up and down, the faster his hips began thrusting up in desperation for more.

“Fuck, Mouse. You really have been a good little whore, learning howto take my cock down your throat to please me,”he panted, his thighs tensing.

Tears began streaking down my cheeks as he wrapped my hairpainfully around his knuckles so he could hold me in place and fuck my mouth.

“I’m gonna come down your throat, Mouse. It’ll be your reward forpleasing me,”James grunted.“For being such a good girl, I’m going to feed you my come, and you’re going to swallow every damn drop.”

Disappointment crashed through me. I’d hoped my reward would besomething I wanted, like my journals, or to go outside, not swallowing James’ semen.

I should have known not to get my hopes up.

“Fuck, Willow, I’m coming,”James said, holding my head still as hethrust one more time.

Warm, thick liquid hitting the back of my throat took me by surprise,and I began choking on his come. Quickly composing myself so I wouldn’t disappoint James, I swallowed his release down, licking my lips to make sure I got every last drop.

Surprisingly, he didn’t taste terrible.

James pulled out of my mouth, his cock still semi-hard as he stareddown at me, satisfaction shining in his eyes. He reached forward, making me flinch when his hand came out to swipe the saliva that had gathered on my chin before he sucked his thumb into his mouth.

“Good little student, aren’t you, Mouse?”he said, standing.

He didn’t tuck himself back into his pants, instead offering me hishand. Reluctantly, I placed my hand in his as he helped me to my feet, stunned by his act of kindness.

Of course, that was short-lived.

“I’m not finished with you yet,”he whispered, his eyes lighting up withmalice as he dropped my hand.“Turn around.”

Once again, trepidation pooled in my gut as I turned, my eyesclosing when James pressed his body against me, and his fingers gripped my hips before he pulled me back. His cock was growing hard again, and he pushed it against my ass.

“You know, Mouse,”he said in my ear, his voice low.“Last night, awoman took me back to her hotel room and stripped down naked in front of me. She was fucking beautiful, and she begged me to fuck her,”he started, humor in his tone.

I wasn’t sure why, but my body tensed. It wasn’t like I expected him tobe faithful, in fact, I fully expected him to fuck other women, but I didn’t want to hear about it.I didn’t want to know that his cock had been in other women beforehe came home and shoved it in me.

James continued, his fingers digging more firmly into my hips.“But I couldn’t fuck her, Mouse. There she was, standing naked, telling me I could fuck every single one of her holes, and all I could think about was how damn perfect your cunt is. How I was desperate to come home and sink myself into your tight little pussy.”Relief rushed through me, and I told myself it was only because I didn’t have to worry about catching an infection if James had been with other women. As if sensing my relief, he carried on.“You were made to take my cock, Willow, and it’s too bad for you, but it seems my cock isn’t interested in any other pussy but yours.”He released my hips and took a step back.“Now bend over and grab your ankles.”

My brows shot up.

What?

Pushing my fear away knowing I’d anger him if he had to tell me asecond time, I did as he asked, reaching down to grab my ankles, and hating how exposed I was with the way my ass was up in the air.

James ran a tender finger down the length of my spine, before trailingit between my ass cheeks. Heat rushed to my cheeks as his finger pressed against my back hole, but embarrassment turned to mortification when he moved his finger lower, and I felt the string to my tampon being tugged.

“What are you doing?”I said, the question slipping from my mouthwithout meaning to.

He slapped my ass, his palm leaving a sting on my flesh.“Youspeak when spoken to,”he hissed venomously as he pulled the tampon the rest of the way out of me and discarded it on the floor.“You didn’t think a little bit of blood would keep me out of your cunt, did you, Willow? I hate to tell you this, Mouse, but I’d bathe in blood if it meant I could be inside you again.”

With a brutal thrust, James was inside me, steadying me with his gripback on my hips.

My hands slipped from my ankles at the sudden intrusion, but Irepositioned them and held on as best as I could as James began plowing in and out of me, cursing and hissing with every breath.

I wasn’t sure if it was because of the blood or because my core haddampened when I had sucked James’ cock, either way, he slid in and out of me with ease, and the pain I’d felt before when he fucked me didn’t appear.

Instead, there was a different feeling that shot through me every timehis cock hit a point inside me. A feeling that if I was asked to describe, I would have no choice but to say it felt good. Pleasurable . But I didn’t want to acknowledge that it felt good because I never wanted the monster to own any of my pleasure.

James’ shameless grunts filled the air, my own breathing growingrapidly as he continued to thrust inside of me. The muscles in my legs began to burn fiercely from the position I was standing in, and I bit my lip to stop myself begging him to let me move.

With a final thrust, James released his load deep inside me. Whenhis cock stopped pulsing, he pulled out of me, suddenly yanking me up by my shoulder to pull my back against his chest.“Be in my room tomorrow morning. 6 am sharp, Mouse.”

Releasing me, he turned to walk out of my room without waiting formy acknowledgment.

“Mr. Carter,”I called, making an on the spot decision to tell him whatI’d overheard, and hoping like hell I wasn’t making a mistake.“Please may I speak to you for a moment,”I added, trying to hold my nerve.

He spun back to face me, fury etched on his face at my audacity totalk without his permission.

“Speak,”he snarled, his eyes narrowing on me.

Ignoring his come and my blood beginning to trickle down my leg, I tooka small step forward.“The other night, I overheard two members of your staff talking outside my window. I…I think they were planning on stealing from you.”

He didn’t react, his features remaining expressionless, and for asecond, I thought he was going to accuse me of lying.

“What exactly did you hear?”he said after a moment of assessingme.

“They said they’d taken something from you before. A vase, I think,and that you had so much expensive stuff in your house that you wouldn’t notice. One of them, his name was Butch, he wanted to steal something else but the other one, Mack, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but he eventually agreed. That’s all I heard.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw, and I held my breath, waiting for him toexplode. After a few seconds, his emotionless mask fell back into place.“6 am tomorrow,”he said before walking out.

My shoulders slumped.

So much for being rewarded.

James didn’t visit my room again for the rest of the day. Atdinner, Edith brought a tray to my room like she had done every night James was away. I’d assumed that when he was home, he would want me to eatwith him, but maybe that was a privilege I had to earn.

Not that I was keen to repeat that dining experience again, but I’d belying if I said I wasn’t getting tired of being confined to one room.It had started to feel like Groundhog Day.

I supposed in a way, I should have been grateful that I wasn’t beingmade to do chores like I had been at Peartree House, but it wasn’t like I could relax in my room. It wasn’t exactly a place of safety when James could barge in at any given moment and demand I got on all fours for him.

When night came, I brushed my teeth, and got into bed, falling into adeep sleep that was once again plagued by a monster growing in my belly. Waking up in a cold sweat, I bolted upright in bed and flicked the bedside lamp on, gasping when my eyes landed on a figure sitting in the chair across the room.

I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and made sure I wasn’t stilldreaming, but after several seconds, and my heart slowing to its normal rate, I was certain that I was awake, and James was most definitely in my room. He’d been sitting in the pitch black, shirtless, and a glass of whiskeyin his hand. I wondered how long he’d been there, and if he was there to have sex with me. But then, why hadn’t he woken me up?

I couldn’t stop my gaze from dropping to his chest. I’d never reallygiven any thought to what James looked like without his clothes on, but I certainly didn’t imagine the enormous tattoo that covered his broad chest.The head of the eagle started just below where his collar bones met,and the wings stretched out, covering his defined pecs. The bird’s detailed tail feathers fanned out over his ribs, and its vicious-looking claws almost reached his belly button.

The tattoo was exquisite. It was mostly black, but had lots of shading,and must have taken hours upon hours to complete. I couldn’t imagine James sitting still long enough for it to be etched into his skin, he didn’t seem like he would have the patience for it. Yet there it was.

When he didn’t say anything or make any attempt to move from thechair, I finally coaxed my gaze back up to meet his. He was staring at me, an unreadable expression on his face that made the small hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“Um…is everything okay, Mr. Carter?”I said tentatively, hoping Iwouldn’t be punished for speaking when I hadn’t been permitted to. But the way he was staring at me was unnerving.

He took a mouthful of his drink before standing and slowly prowlingtoward the bed. I braced myself for him to yank the covers off, and rip my legs apart so he could fuck me. Instead, he sat down on the edge with the same weird look on his face.

“Who are you, Mouse?”he said, the tang of whiskey hitting my face,and a slight slur to his words.

“What…um, what do you mean?”I replied, confused by the question.

I was nobody.

“What’s your story? What was your life before you ended up atPeartree House?”

I swallowed nervously, the scars on my back suddenly prickling.“Idon’t remember.”

His hand whipped out, wrapping around my throat as his featurestwisted into a snarl.“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not, I promise,”I whispered, tears stabbing my eyes.“I…Ihonestly don’t remember, I wasn’t allowed to remember.”

He moved his face closer to mine, his dark eyes bloodshot, his hotbreath laced with whiskey, telling me the glass he was clutching in his other hand wasn’t his first.“What do you mean, you weren’t allowed to remember?”

“Director Welch…he didn’t want me to remember my life before Iarrived at the house. I was made to forget,”I said, doing my best to tell him why I couldn’t remember my life from before.

My back started burning, the same way it always did whenever I triedto conjure up memories of my past. Instead of images of my childhood, all I could see was a black hole, void of memories.

“How did they make you forget?”James said, his grip around mythroat loosening a fraction.

A lone tear slid down my cheek.“I was whipped.”

He stared at me for several beats until his eyes widened, and heremoved his hand completely.“The scars on your back.”It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway.“Welch did that?”

“Ms. Milligan,”I replied, my voice weak.“But it was ordered byDirector Welch, he didn’t want me to remember who I was before I got to the house.”

“Why?”

I shook my head, and shrugged, the reply lodged in my throat.

A heavy silence fell between us as James’ eyes darted betweenmine, a myriad of thoughts racing in his head, but none that he verbalized. Abruptly, he stood and stormed over to the door, stopping to look over his shoulder at me.

“Don’t come to my room in the morning. I’ll come to you when I wantyou.”With that, he left, slamming the door behind him.

I let out a deepexhale, my body slumping, and as I stared at the spot where James had been sitting only moments ago, my head began to replay the strange encounter, leaving me more and more confused as to why James wanted to know about my past when he claimed I was nothing to him.