Black Listed (17 page)

He'd pleasured her with pain. Awarded her with an orgasm. And now it was time for her to return the favor.

The ropes were released from her wrists and ankles.

“We're not here for your enjoyment,” he said, the lie almost sounding convincing. “It's time to put you and that pretty little mouth of yours to work.” He pushed on the top of her head. “Get on your knees.”

From the floor, she looked up at him expectantly. While she obviously loved the beating and the orgasm, she lived to serve him, the fulfillment it brought her more intoxicating than drinking a bottle of wine.

Belts unbuckled and fell onto the carpet. Pants were dropped, baring four men from the waist down. Sawyer and Hunter moved to stand in front of her, each with their legs slightly spread. Two thick cocks, one with a metal ball pierced through it, jutted out as if begging for her touch. Her hands itched to do just that, but she controlled her impulse, awaiting her Master's instructions.

She didn't have to wait long.

Sawyer kneeled beside her and pushed her toward Hunter's cock. “Open your mouth wide and take him in.”

Her mouth opened as if she had no say in it. Which, short of using her safe word, she didn't.

Sawyer didn't give her a second to get acclimated. Just forced her down the length of Hunter's cock until she took every inch of him inside. His hairs tickled her nose. She swore she could feel the piercing against the soft tissue of her throat, but just as she got used to him, Sawyer tugged her back by her hair. He pushed and tugged, pushed and tugged, controlling the blow job she was giving his friend.

Then Sawyer ripped her away from Hunter, and another cock entered her mouth, this one longer. She wasn't sure who it belonged to, and she didn't care. She became a vessel for the men's pleasure, the gift her Master bestowed upon his friends.

Closing her eyes again, she sunk into the rhythm that Sawyer played with her, letting him use her mouth to please his friends as they each took turns inside her mouth.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when her mouth was no longer filled. Sawyer lifted her soaking pussy onto his waiting cock. He didn't move. Just held her tightly to him, breathing heavily into the crook of her neck, as if they were the only two in the room.

“Can you handle more?” he whispered, breaking character.

“I can handle as much as you give me, Master,” she replied, kissing the top of his head. “Give it all to me.”

He continued holding her to him as one of the men worked a lubed finger into her ass and began fucking her with it. She squirmed on Sawyer's lap, eager to be filled with two cocks.

“Stop moving,” he ordered roughly.

Breathing deep, she somehow stifled the urge to move up and down on Sawyer's hard cock, instead concentrating on pleasing her Master.

She rested her head on Sawyer's shoulder as one finger became two and then three. Sawyer tilted himself backward, rolling her with him then resting the upper part of his back against the wall.

Lube poured down her crack and a hand pressed against her spine right before she felt the stretch and burn of a cock entering her ass. Minutes ticked by as the stranger worked his thickness as far as he could go.

The man behind her groaned loudly, his body quaking. “Yeah, give it to me. Fill me up.”

Startled, she opened her eyes. Sawyer's lips turned up in a little grin. “You're not the only middle in this sandwich. Look over your shoulder.”

Following his suggestion, she saw Oz behind her and another man behind him. The idea of the dominant Oz being topped by another man sent a wave of heat flowing over her. When a pierced cock appeared in front of her face and she took it in her mouth, she realized Rowan was the one in Oz's ass.

Slowly, the men began to move, pushing her pussy onto Sawyer then her ass back onto Oz while Hunter fucked her mouth.

It was dirty.

Naughty.

Depraved.

And she loved every fucking second of it.

The men moved like a unit, their experience with ménage apparent from their silent communication and the ease with which they thrust and retreated in perfect harmony. It was a sinful dance she never wanted to end.

Her nipples, still aching from the clamps, brushed against Sawyer's sweaty chest, and each time she was thrust forward, her clitoris grazed his pubic bone. She held onto him like he was her anchor in a windstorm and if she let go, she'd blow away, never to be found again. Her body was on fire, as if hot lava coursed through her veins.

She could feel Sawyer's heart beating against her chest. They breathed in sync. Together, they were one.

One heart.

One mind.

One soul.

He'd trusted her with his deepest, darkest pain and proven that she could trust him with the same. He loved her enough to give her this fantasy, to share her with his friends without judgment or jealousy.

It was time to trust him with more than her body. He deserved to know the truth. She had to have faith that once he learned that truth, he'd still love her and love her enough to keep her secret.

Her belly quivered as the muscles underneath it tightened, the climax gathering at the base of her spine. Her fingernails dug into Sawyer's arms as bands of heat wrapped around her middle and squeezed. She was helpless to the sensation growing sharper and more acute by the second, mindless from the carnal pleasure of having these men inside of her.

They were Sawyer's closest friends . . . his band of brothers. He was giving them to her as a gift, as a sign of his never-ending devotion and his desire to include her in the family he'd created. Their use of her body signified their acceptance of her into their fold and tethered them in a way only those with this particular kink would understand. They loved her because Sawyer loved her. They would protect her as one of their own.

She belonged to them all now.

The climax crashed into her, her body jerking uncontrollably and white lights exploding behind her eyelids. For a moment, they all stilled, allowing her a brief respite before chasing their own orgasms. Hunter came hard, ropes of his come shooting down her throat as he groaned her name. Only seconds later, Oz and Rowan shook with their own releases, although she wasn't sure which of them achieved it first. Then, staring into her eyes with more love than she would've believed possible, Sawyer reached his own climax.

The fantasy was over, but the reality was only beginning.

After cleaning her up and getting her into bed, Sawyer slipped under the covers beside her and took her into his arms.

One by one, her new friends kissed her cheek and thanked her. She rested her head on Sawyer's chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

She'd asked her brother how he'd known when to trust Thea, and he'd answered that he'd just known. She hadn't understood what he'd meant, but now, she finally did. There wasn't an ounce of doubt left in her. Sawyer loved her enough to share her with his friends. To other people, that wouldn't mean anything, but to her, it had meant everything.

When the front door of their hotel suite closed and only they remained, she propped herself up on her elbow, ready to trust him with the truth. She had nothing to fear.

L
ISA
'
S VOICE PIERCED
the darkness. “I'm ready to tell you everything. Asa wasn't thrilled with my decision, but I can't hold it inside me anymore, and you deserve to know the whole truth.”

Sawyer rolled over and turned on the lamp. He sat up and settled against the headboard. “Whatever you say, I promise not to judge you.”

She believed him.

She trusted him.

Shifting to rest her head on his chest, she exhaled a shaky breath as she recalled the terror of her childhood. “My first memory is from when I was three years old. I was with my family, and we were at some county fair. Everything was so exciting. The rides that whirled around and around. Laughing families. Scents of the fried foods coming from the stands. I was barefoot, wearing a pretty blue dress and a matching ribbon in my hair. My parents had me sit at a picnic table and told me they'd be back in a few minutes. They took Asa and Mitch with them. I sat there all day in the hot sun. Thirsty. Hungry. My skin burning. I watched as kids ate hot dogs and drank lemonade and went on the rides. Everyone was happy. I didn't leave that table, even when I had to pee so badly that I ended up soiling my underwear. I worried if I left, they'd never find me again. When they finally came back at dusk, my brothers were all sticky with ice cream stains on their shirts and my parents' pockets were stuffed with cash they'd managed to pickpocket. That was the first time I realized we weren't like other families. Most of the time, we lived in the back of a truck, because we could park it in different lots and no one thought too much about it.”

Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, the pain in her heart excruciating. For years, she'd refused to think about those early memories of abuse and neglect. She'd filed them in a locked drawer somewhere in her mind. Now that she had unlocked that drawer, the memories crashed into her consciousness, making her body tremble and her heart race as if she was watching a slasher film. But unlike watching a scary movie, she couldn't escape the images when she closed her eyes.

Sawyer brushed his hand up and down her arm. “It's okay, baby. You can keep going. I'm here.”

She tilted her head up to look into his eyes. “My family perfected the art of grifting. According to my Dad, I come from a long line of con artists on both sides. He made it seem like a privilege.” She frowned, realizing how silly that was. “It was a long time before I understood that what we did was wrong. It was my normal. By the time I was six, I got to help them with their cons, and by junior high, I had my own swindles going.”

Nothing that would get her into too much trouble. She mostly sold candy bars at a premium under the guise of the money going to charity—only she was the charity.

Continuing, she sat up and reclined next to him, putting her head on his shoulder. “Obviously, we had to move around a lot to evade the authorities. You'd think we'd have lived well, but turns out, my parents had a bit of a gambling problem. The money we earned from our cons was usually in the bookies' hands by the end of the football games on Sunday night.”

So much money gone in the blink of an eye because of their greed and selfishness. The high they got from gambling was more important than feeding their children. Most Sundays would end with her hiding under the trailer to escape the beating that would follow the games.

There were hundreds of stories to tell, and someday, she'd share them all with him. But right now, she needed him to know the worst of it. “After my mom died, my dad told me it was time to perform the same sort of cons she did. I was only fifteen at the time, so Asa convinced him to let me wait until I turned eighteen.” She swallowed, her throat growing thick and tight. “That's when I started using sex as a weapon.”

She hadn't been a virgin by then, but all the same, the first time she'd slept with a mark, she'd gotten physically ill afterward. That's when she learned to dissociate her mind from her body. When she was with her marks, she was no longer Annaliese Hunt. She was whoever they wanted her to be. Somehow that had made it easier.

“I didn't become attached,” she explained on a whisper. “It was a job. Nothing more.” She captured his gaze, holding it hostage. “Not until you. When my father gave me your file and I saw your picture for the first time, I became obsessed. I read everything I could about you. I dreamed of you. I stalked you for weeks. I went above and beyond my normal preparation. Something about you called out to me, and it wasn't your money.” She reached out and cupped his cheek. “It was the pain in your eyes. I wanted to ease it in any way I could. As your lover. As your slave. As your wife.”

His throat worked over a swallow. “So I was more than your mark?”

She sat up and laid her hands on the sides of his face, needing him to understand. “You were my everything.”

He nodded, his eyes closing as if in pain before they opened again, shining with relief. If she had to spend the rest of her life proving it, she would; she never wanted him to doubt how much she loved him again.

As if she was outside naked in a blizzard, her entire body shook violently, her teeth chattering. “At first, my instructions were to marry you, divorce you, and take you for as much money as I could without getting any attorneys involved. But my dad got greedier. He decided he wanted all of it. If you died, you would have been worth a lot more to me than you would as my ex-husband.”

Her throat constricted, preventing her from speaking. It took her three tries before she could say it. The words were like razor blades, cutting her from the inside. “I was ordered to kill you.”

He didn't seem surprised.

Pulling on the blanket, he wrapped it and his arms around her, enveloping her in warmth. “You should have told me.”

Relief swept through her as she cried into his chest. The truth had never tasted so sweet. “I wanted to. Believe me, I wanted to. But if I didn't do it, he would have. There was only one way to save you. He kept a book—he called it his black list—that logged every con he'd ever done. I stole it from him. I left a note telling him if anything happened to you I'd give it to the FBI. And then I ran.” She couldn't stop crying, her tears soaking his skin.

“Why didn't you go to the FBI in the first place?” he asked softly. “I would've helped you. We could've stayed together.”

“We would've been torn apart.” At least that's what she'd thought then. Now, she wasn't as certain. “Even if you forgave me, my father wasn't the only one who had committed a crime. My brothers—Asa and Mitch—and I would have been sent to prison, as well. I couldn't do that to them. And I was scared. Scared once you knew the real me, you'd hate me. Scared to spend the next twenty years in prison. Scared my father would find a way to kill you in retaliation. I didn't see any other way.”

He ran his hand over the stubble lining his rigid jaw. “I would've had my attorneys negotiate a plea deal for you so you'd do as little time as possible, if any at all. You didn't trust me enough, you didn't trust in our love enough, to take that risk.”

He was right.

But she'd given him all she had at the time. “I loved you as much as I knew how to love anyone.”

A notch formed between his eyebrows. “If you had to do it all over again, would you make that same decision?”

She'd asked herself that same question several times this week, and she still didn't have an answer.

She blew out a breath. “I don't know. All I do know is I can't change the past.”

His eyes blazed with heat as he dragged his finger down her throat and hooked his finger in her silver collar. “Your father is dead. There's nothing standing in our way anymore. Let's break our damned agreement.”

Her heart thundered as he stood from the bed and, in all his naked glory, strode across the room to where his pants were draped over a chair. He dug through his pockets, coming back with a closed fist. After shifting her so that her legs hung over the side of the bed, he kneeled on the carpet and opened his palm, revealing their wedding bands. “I don't want a divorce. I just want you. My wife. My submissive. Forever and ever, until death do us part.”

Her hand itched to snatch the ring and place it on her finger. But he needed to know the risks in being with her. “Someone wants you dead because of me.”

He shrugged as if it was nothing. “Let me worry about that.”

“I went to my office earlier today, before I went to Asa's,” she said quickly, so she wouldn't chicken out. “Someone had broken in and left me another note.”

His face went stony. “You lied to me?”

“I didn't want you to follow me there.” She slid off the mattress onto her knees in front of him. “I was going to get the black list and give it to Asa so that I could move on with my life. With you.”

His expression softened. “What did the note say?”

“
Next time it will be Sawyer
. The note was attached to a dead squirrel. Whoever is doing this isn't going to hurt me.” She placed her hand over his heart. “But he will hurt you.”

“I'm not going to let anyone keep me from you ever again,” he vowed, as if he could stop death from claiming him.

“If we stay together, we'll be risking your life.”

His heart began to beat a bit faster underneath her palm. “Love is always a risk. But we'll find out who's behind the threats. And then it will just be you and me with no more lies between us.”

She wanted to believe it was possible more than anything. “If you died because of me, I would never forgive myself.”

He covered her hand with his, trapping it against his chest. “I understand what that feels like. I've blamed myself for my parents' deaths for years. But you were the one who allowed me to see that I could have done everything differently and the outcome would have been the same. We can't predict when I'm going to die. There are some things even a Dominant like me can't control. If it's my time, then I'm going to go—whether it's because some nutcase cuts the brakes on my car or I get hit by a bus walking across the street. I choose to live each day to the fullest. And that means living it with you. I choose you. What are you going to choose?”

She realized then there had never been any choice to make. She'd known from the moment he'd breezed back into her life that she belonged to him.

She unfolded his fingers from his closed hand and took the rings from his palm. With shaky but eager hands, she slipped his ring onto his fourth finger and then happily adorned her own finger with the symbol of their eternal love. “I choose a life where I finally get to be the real Annaliese. I choose you.”