Page 10

10

AINSLEY

S inking my nails into Mercy’s side, I don’t know if I’m trying to push him away or pull him closer to me. There’s this small voice in my head telling me to stop, to not let this happen, but the hussy inside me is begging to know what this man can do. The feelings that he pulls from me are unlike anything I’ve ever known was possible. I work to match the way his tongue is exploring me, but I just get lost in the feeling of being owned.

Maybe to finally belong somewhere , that pesky voice deep inside of me whispers.

Mercy leaves my mouth, trailing kisses across my jaw to my ear. “Everything in me is begging to pick you up and watch as your sweet little pussy takes my cock.”

I gasp at the harshness of his words and how saying them seems to cause him pain.

His hold on me tightens to the point I’m probably going to have bruises this time.

“Too bad we know you’re a lying bitch.” He leans away, glaring at me as a sinister smile spread across his face. “That look is all I needed to see to know that you’re lying about all the shit you told us in there. So, either you tell me why you fucking lied without visiting the barn or I drag your naked ass out there and get the answers however we see fit.”

I try to swallow around not only the hand gripping my throat but the invisible lump that has grown there. There is no way they figured it out already. I paid good money for it to be believable. I mean, how do I tell this man in this club that a man wearing a cut like them tried to kill me for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? How do I even know that these are the same men? I want to tell someone anyone. I’ve been living with this secret for the last four years.

Life is hard on the run, looking over my shoulder at every turn. Jumping at every shadow or every unknown person who shows up. At this point, it almost seems better for me to just let Mercy do the honors of killing me so I can finally atone for all those that I’ve failed.

“Oh, Little Lamb, defeat doesn’t look good on you,” Mercy croons. “Where is the woman that burns hot and lets her mouth run unchecked?”

“At this point in my life, fighting seems about pointless,” I glare at him, over the games and ready to just be done.

“Awww now you’re just making this too easy,” Mercy drags his nose along my jaw.

“Listen asshole, my head hurts, besides feeling like I’ve been blown up and shot. Oh wait! That’s because I fucking was —on both accounts! I’ve had the ever-loving hell scared out of me more in the last … however many days I’ve been here.” I sigh, sagging in his hold. “I’m fucking tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of trying. Tired of running, and most of all, tired of failing all those who loved and trusted me. So do your motherfucking worst as long as you promise that in the end you snuff me out.”

I finally look up into the dark pools framed by long lashes, and what I see there is shocking. I see understanding, acknowledgment, and even some respect reflected back at me. That look seems to be what my psyche needed because suddenly my world spins and once again I’m swallowed by blackness.

“Fucking hell. Remedy, when will she stop fucking passing out at every turn?” I hear Mercy snap.

“Man, I don’t fucking know. She’s been through more than most, so I’m surprised she hasn’t completely lost it,” Remedy answers from somewhere far off. “Were you able to find out anything before she passed out?”

“Fuck no.”

I feel the bed dip and Mercy sighs. “There’s something about her though. I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel as if this isn’t the first time we’ve crossed paths.”

I fight to not react to his words. I know there is no way that I’ve crossed paths with this man or any one of them.

“You know Blender and Rhino said the same thing after you walked out of the meeting earlier. They mentioned that something about her was familiar, but they didn’t know what. Hermes is still digging and we should have something soon.” Remedy chuckles before I hear him moving across the floor. “We both know that motherfucker will figure it out one way or the other. I just hope you don’t get too attached to our little lamb before we have the answers.”

“What a fucking joke,” Mercy’s sarcastic tone is like a knife to the soul. “We all know that the only two people I’ve ever been attached to are Blender and Jenny.”

I hold my breath at the sound of her name. No, no, no, there is no fucking way. Why would the universe do this to me? Is this truly my penance for failing all those I’ve loved?

“I don’t know, brother, it seems Little Lamb, here, has you enraptured,” a new voice says.

“Considering what’s going to have to be done, we better all hope not. Because if so, we’re going to have to turn her over to Blender.”

Mercy stands from his place on the bed, and I hear him pacing. Fear like I’ve never felt before snaps my eyes open. “I don’t know what you’re wanting to know.”

Mercy stops his pacing as Raider holds a hand up, keeping him away. Raider sits on the edge of the bed, eyeing me closely. I sit up, pulling the blanket to my chin as a shield. I try not to react to the fact I’m in nothing but one of Mercy’s t-shirts. We sit there as the silence stretches until I break eye contact, looking at my hands fisted in my lap.

“Paisley, we truly just want the answer that we need to lead us to the assholes running a sex trafficking ring in this area.”

My eyes snap up to his and I suck in a sharp breath. “I don’t know anything about a sex trafficking ring or anyone involved in one. It was just the wrong place, the wrong time.”

I pray to whoever the fuck is listening that they hear the truth in my words. Only as I watch Raider’s eyes turn to stone I know that I’ve lost him. I don’t know how to prove things to them, but I know I have to .

“What do I have to do to prove to you I’m not a part of this?” I look each man in the face, doing my best to plead with my eyes.

“That’s just it, Little Lamb, the only way to prove it to us is to tell us the truth,” Mercy says in a way that is meant to calm me, but from him it incites terror. He leans down so we’re nose-to-nose, “We all know you’re lying about something and until we know what it is, we can only assume that you're a part of the sex trafficking.”

I try, I truly do, but I can’t stop the words, “You know what they say about assuming things, right?”

Mercy’s hands snap out, one fisting my hair and the second one closing around my throat, forcing my head back. “Are you certain you want to finish that line of questioning?”

My eyes burn with the tears from the pain of my hair and once again my brain-to-mouth filter fails me. “I mean, my momma always said it just makes an ass out of you and me.”

Remedy bursts out laughing before heading for the door. “Little Lamb, I don’t know if you are the bravest person or the daftest person I’ve ever met. Either way, this is going to be fun. Raider let’s go and leave Mercy to tend the little lamb. Don’t forget, she needs to hydrate and eat.”

Mercy says nothing, giving a jerk of his head in acknowledgment as he watches me study me. I notice for the first time that behind the steel in his eyes is curiosity and just a touch of fear. The sound of the door closing seems to be what my body and mind needed to finally relax.

I know it sounds crazy—don’t fucking ask me.

At some point Mercy decides on something. “You’re going to eat, take something for pain, and then you’re going to sleep.”

“And if I don’t want to do any one of the things you’ve just commanded?” Again, why am I poking the bear? I have no damn clue.

“The fact you believe that the choice is yours is truly baffling.” Mercy’s dark look causes two very different reactions.

Narrowing my eyes, I don’t say anything.

Mercy tightens his hold on my hair, releasing my throat as he takes a seat on the side of the bed. “Now I’m going to sit here and make sure you follow the instructions given. Are we going to have an issue?”

Swallowing hard, I try to shake my head no, but hiss in pain when it causes my hair to pull at the stitches running along my temple. “No issue.”

“Good girl,” he praises, letting go of my hair and reaching for the sandwich that was left on the side table earlier.

He holds the plate out to me, watching me closely as I pick it up and take a bite, not looking to see what kind it is. I eat the entire sandwich under his watchful eyes before taking the water bottle from him and drinking half of it. Then he hands me two pills that I swallow while finishing the water, never breaking eye contact with the predator stalking me.

“I’ve done what you demanded. Now what?” I question him.

Mercy leans into me with his hands on the bed near my hips. I can feel his next set of words as they plant into my soul. “You haven’t even begun to submit to my demands. You will, and when you do, your entire being will beg for me.”

I open my mouth, and for once, nothing comes out. I want to scream that he’s full of shit—that I’ll never do it. Only my body has other ideas as my core tightens and my nipples are hard. I’m arching into him. He doesn’t move, just continues watching me closely, as if daring me to react. Mercy's eyes undergo a shift as we continue to sit and lock eyes, causing the shutters to close once more, concealing what was momentarily revealed.

Mercy’s eyes narrow ever so slightly before he jerks away. “Now you sleep. I have some shit to do. There will be a man on the other side of the door, so don’t try to leave this room.”

With some space between us, it seems my brain comes back online. “And if I decide I don’t want to sleep and instead dig through your stuff, then what?”

Mercy gives a slight shrug and a tilt of his head before turning to walk over to his desk, taking the hard chair and placing it to the left of the door. I watch as he pulls his phone from his pocket and shoots off a message. I swear in less than thirty seconds there is a knock on the door. Mercy turns pulling it open to reveal the same man that had brought me to this room to start with.

Mercy steps back, waving the man in. “You will sit in that chair and keep watch. She is to sleep and sleep only. If for any reason that is not what she does, then you will pay for her disobedience.”

My jaw drops at his words as an angry flush covers my face. Mercy glances back at me before making his way over and uses his knuckle under my chin to close my mouth.

“Might not want to sit there with your mouth hanging open. I might just fill it with my cock,” he states, as if it’s the most natural thing in the word.

Glaring at the giant asshole, I ask, “If I have to pee, then what? Just pee in the bed like a child?”

“If you do, then I’ll just have to spank your ass red,” Mercy drawls before pulling away and focusing his glare on the man now sitting in the chair. “Out of bed for bathroom, and that’s all. No conversation between the two of you. You're here as a guard.”

“Heard,” is all the man says from his seat, not once looking at me.

“Sleep, Little Lamb. I’ll be back when my shit is done,” Mercy tosses over his shoulder as he leaves the room, turning the light off as he goes.

Sitting in the dark, I finally let my mind run away with the reality that the whole reasoning I went into hiding is now my keeper. Laying down, I let the memories of the few months I had with Jenny and the conversations of her brothers play in my head like a sitcom. I try to rationalize that there is no way. That there is more than one girl named Jenny in the world.

Yeah, but do all of them have scary brothers that threaten your life every week if she isn’t kept safe? That pesky voice in my head taunts.

Laying down, I let my eyes fall closed, hoping with everything I have left in me I’m wrong and it’s just some cosmic coincidence.