Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 56208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
He was angry, fucking boiling over with rage, but instead of saying something, he just tightened his hands into fists and stared at me.
“You don’t play fair, Thorn,” he told me darkly, and I let out a low chuckle.
“This isn’t a fucking game,” I told him. “She’s been mine from the start. If you got attached to a little plaything, it’s your problem, not mine. She was always going to end up with me. She’s not yours. The sooner you accept it, the better off you’ll be. Any questions?”
He stared at me with pure hatred in his eyes. In that moment, it was difficult for me to see him as the snot-nosed kid I took under my wing, the boy I had trained to take over my business, knowing I probably wouldn’t have a heir of my own. I wanted him to be my successor, yet since Harlow had come along, the man had done nothing but disappoint me. I wasn’t pleased with him, and I was going to tell him as much. I ruled kindly, but with a firm hand, and if Ellis didn’t learn his place, I would be sure to show it to him.
“I understand,” he hissed, reminding me of a snake. “I’ll make sure to take care of her.”
I stared at him, and he went on with his lips tightly pursed together.
“I won’t lay a finger on her.”
“Good,” I smiled. “Not a single fucking finger, or anything else either. I want you to make sure everyone stays the fuck away from my girl. And keep an eye out for Pia. She’s up to no damn good.”
He nodded brusquely and turned to leave, but I grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn back. His muscles tensed under my touch and I wondered when we’d grown this far apart. Our relationship didn’t used to be like this – it seemed that the crack between us had only deepened since Harlow came along.
“Ellis,” I said, trying to keep my tone from going too formal. “You know I…”
“I do,” he growled, seemingly even more uncomfortable than I was. “I know.”
“Good,” I ground out, and let go of him.
It was time for him to leave, yet he stood there, bristling with anger and unanswered questions. Part of me almost hoped he would come out and say it – accuse me of all the shit I’d done, tell me I’d toyed with the girl’s emotions as much as I had with his own. I was a selfish, sick prick but I couldn’t help myself. One time inside her and it had been decided. She would be mine and mine alone.
“I’ll see you soon,” Ellis said uncomfortably.
“A week from today,” I nodded. “Make sure everything goes like I instructed.”
He nodded again and turned to leave. He was almost out of the room when I called after him. My gaze was focused on the screen where Harlow was being serviced by the two women and a man.
“Yes?” he asked roughly, and I motioned to the screen.
“She’s something else, isn’t she?” I asked thoughtfully.
I was a fucking jackass.
Ellis didn’t answer. He slammed the door on his way out, leaving me alone with my perverted thoughts about a girl who deserved someone so much better.
Someone normal…
17
Harlow
I didn’t remember how it ended.
One second, I was strapped into the contraption, weeping freely and begging for mercy… and the next I woke up in my cloud-like bed with the duvets and pillows piled high around me. I vaguely remembered Pia forcing two pills between my lips and how dry they made my mouth feel. She’d said one was a sleeping pill, and the other was the morning after pill. I must have slept restlessly, and if it hadn’t been for the marks of the restraints around my ankles and wrists I would think I’d imagined losing my virginity.
First, I inspected the ridges left over on my skin, the imprints not hurting but definitely there, my skin lightly chafed and reddened from where they’d dug into me. And then I opened my legs, the nightie I was wearing riding up and revealing pink lace panties with a small red dot of blood on the fabric. It didn’t hurt, but it felt… different. I knew then that it hadn’t been a dream. I’d really been fucked, and I’d really enjoyed it.
It was too painful to remember what had happened afterward. I wondered whether I’d ever get used to someone changing my clothes while I slept, probably seeing me naked. It was an invasion of privacy I didn’t appreciate, but of course, I couldn’t voice my concern in the mansion. Anything I said would be dismissed by Ellis or Pia – and I’d likely be punished for so much as daring to ask the burning questions on my mind.
Still, I couldn’t shake the events of the previous day as I got out of bed and stretched my limbs. The first time I’d been fucked, the impossible connection I’d felt to Ellis when I felt him inside of me… It was something I wouldn’t be able to shake for quite a long time, and as much as I wanted to hate him, I couldn’t bring myself to do it as committedly as I had only the previous day. Now, there would always be that special connection, the first time that would bind us together for the rest of time.