PAYBACK (A Bad Boy Romance) (5 page)

I
groaned
as I opened my eyes. I rolled to my back when I realized my face was stuffed against a disgusting mattress that smelled of urine and other things best left unmentioned.

I never imagined things could go from bad to worse.

Suddenly Tito’s lumpy bed didn’t seem so terrible.

I clutched my pounding head, biting back a cry as a wave of nausea threatened to burble up my throat.

My eyes fought to focus and I discovered I was in a bedroom, bare of anything aside from the mattress thrown on the musty carpet.

Great, now I’d been kidnapped by a sex trafficker.

If I weren’t scared witless, I’d have laughed at the irony.

Was I wearing a sign on my back that said, “Kidnap me, please!”?

A near hysterical laugh fell from my mouth.

But there was nothing to laugh about.

I was in real trouble.

Serious, bad, fucked-up trouble.

I rose on shaky legs to look for something I could use as a weapon but the room was like a prison. The window was bolted shut with thick, black metal bars across the grimy glass.

Wiping at the tears that leaked down my cheek, I realized I’d have to go down swinging.

If only I’d taken that self-defense class
, I thought with despair. But the class had conflicted with my reading time and I wasn’t going to sacrifice my precious down time with getting awkwardly sweaty in a class filled with Barbies.

Right about now, I was rethinking that decision. It occurred to me that I hadn’t put the correct priorities in place.

But I was such a sucker for a good romance novel and I’d been so excited to finally dig into the newest Kresley Cole that I don’t think it would’ve mattered if the Vin Diesel had been teaching the class.

Nothing was going to keep me from that book.

Which put me here. Alone — defenseless — and feeling pretty low.

I tried the door but it was locked.

Not that I expected anything different but…I had to try.

Footsteps came my way and I sprang away from the door, running to the furthest corner of the room. The door opened and Juanita came in, tossing some clothes my way.

“Put these on,” she told me.

“Why?”

“You do as you’re told, bitch. Put those on,” Juanita said.

“Or what?”

“Or you gonna wish you’d done as I told you.”

The threat was vague but real enough.

I reached to pick up the clothes she’d thrown at me. There was nothing to them. Lingerie? I held up the filmy negligee and balked. “I can’t wear this,” I protested, unable to imagine being squeezed into something so ridiculous. “I’m…I’m a college student…not a…”

“You what we say you are,” Juanita cut in with a smirk. “And today, you a whore. Got that?”

“This is illegal,” I said, my voice shaking. “I…if you let me go, I’ll forget this ever happened. Please.”

It was the same plea I’d offered Cason — surprise, surprise, Juanita scoffed at my offer, too.

“You a dumb bitch. You think it’s fun to slum it up? Well, you gonna find out just how life works here. We got customers who gonna love banging a redhead uppity bitch. You gonna make us some fast cash, honey. Maybe if you nice, I let you shower after you done.”

Oh God.

I was in a nightmare. “My brother is Butcher Brannon,” I blurted out in sheer desperation. “You don’t want to mess with me. My brother is crazy. Let me go and I promise I won’t say anything to him.”

“Who Butcher Brannon?” Juanita asked, not impressed. “That supposed to mean something to me?”

“My brother runs the Ice Town Rebels.”

The gang name struck a chord of recognition but Juanita wasn’t sure what to make of the information.

But instead of peppering me with questions, she turned and left, locking me in again.

I breathed a sigh of relief, if only for the short reprieve.

An hour later Juanita returned with her man. I still didn’t know his name.

He was eyeing me like a wolf slavered over a juicy sheep.

“And here I thought you was just good for whorin’. Then my lady tells me you’re related to someone actually important.”

I tried to remain brave. “That’s right. And my brother will cut your balls off if you hurt me.”

“Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right,” he agreed, rubbing his chin in thought. “But here’s the problem…I already got you booked, baby girl. I got money on the line. My reputation is at stake. I have to deliver.”

The blood drained from my cheeks. And here I’d thought I’d missed a bullet.

“Your life isn’t worth a few bucks,” I tried reasoning with the man. “I’m not joking when I say my brother will hunt you down and strip the meat from your bones. He’s…unreasonable when it comes to what belongs to him.”

“You belong to him?” Juanita repeated, tittering. “Twisted.”

“Not like that,” I muttered. “But I’m his only living relative.”

“So, he’d probably pay for your safe return?” the man said, thinking out loud. “Maybe even more than I could get from that sweet pussy.”

I cringed, hating the entire conversation but I had to keep it up. “Yeah, probably.” Actually, Butcher would probably just feed Juanita her man’s balls and then shoot her in the head. Or have someone else do it for him. But there was no sense in telling these creeps that. “Let me call him.”

“Ahhh, hell no, sugar. I will be handling the negotiations. These things is delicate.”

I wanted to scream but I held the urge in check.

“In the meantime, you just sit back and enjoy our hospitality,” he said with a wide grin, exposing a rotten tooth. He motioned to Juanita. “Get the girl something to eat.”

No thanks. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

So when Juanita returned with some gloppy gunk poured over a chicken fried steak, I didn’t go near it. No telling what that crazy bitch had put in the gravy.

I wasn’t taking the chance to find out.

T
rue to his word
, Tito arrived fifteen minutes later, which meant he hadn’t been far.

“Who would take her in?” I asked. “Who would be willing to help her?”

Tito thought for a second, shaking his head. “This place isn’t big on Neighborhood Watch, if you know what I mean. Half the houses are abandoned anyway. The only house still regularly occupied is down the street…I think he’s a pimp of some sort.”

I didn’t like to think of Holly falling into the hands of someone like that.

Not that she didn’t deserve it for ditching me but even I wasn’t that depraved.

“I’ll go check out that place, you go the opposite direction and watch the roads in case she’s still walking. I’ll call you if I find her,” I said, grabbing my leather jacket. I hopped into my car and drove the short distance while Tito hopped his motorcycle and tore off down the road.

The house looked like a crack addict lived there.

Busted porch, peeling paint, overgrown weeds choking the yard…
yeah, real homey.

I exited the car and went straight to the door.

I banged hard, nearly busting the aged door in two.

The door opened and a frazzled black woman with hard eyes answered, giving me the look from hell. “What you want?”

“I’m looking for a redhead, about this tall,” I indicated Holly’s petite height “with big tits and a fat ass. You seen her?”

“Nope.”

She started to close the door but I shoved my foot in the way. “Think real hard.”

The woman glanced down at my intruding foot and returned to me, her gaze narrowing. “Maybe. I think I saw her walking down the road. She your girl?”

I smiled coolly. “Yeah, she belongs to me.”

“Sorry…she ain’t here.”

I didn’t believe her. My gut told me, this woman was lying.

“Mind if I take a look around?” I asked.

“Fuck you. You ain’t comin’ in my house,
motherfucka
. What you think this is? Better Homes and Gardens or some shit? Get the fuck on.”

She kicked at my foot to free the door but I shoved it against her face, slamming into her nose. Stumbling back with a screech, she swung a punch but missed as I dodged.

“Reggie!” she hollered, wiping at the trickle of blood from her mouth. To me, she said, “You dumb fuck. You gonna regret that.”

A wiry man with a belly appeared with a gun, pointing it straight at my dome.

“You messing with my lady?” the man taunted, waving the gun at me. “I don’t much like that.”

“You have my girl.”

“Says who?” the man asked, feigning innocence but I could see the covert glance at a closed door to his right. I was good at reading people. Holly was in that room. “We don’t want no trouble. Go on, get out, and I won’t blow your motherfucking balls off for insulting my woman.”

“Give me Holly and I won’t kill you,” I countered simply.

“This girl ain’t nothing but trouble,” the woman cackled, shaking her head. “I never seen so many people getting riled up over one fat white girl.”

My gaze narrowed. I didn’t like this crack whore calling Holly names. Something burned in my chest at the insult. “You got five seconds to make a good decision for your health and welfare,” I growled.

“Or what? I got the gun, shit-for-brains,” the man reminded me.

“I don’t need a gun.”

“Well, hell, I like your spirit but finders keepers, you know what I’m saying. She going to make me some cash and if there’s one thing I don’t mess with — it’s my cash flow. Sorry bud.” The man cocked the gun. I had milliseconds to react. I grabbed the woman and thrust her toward the gunman just as he pulled the trigger.

The bullet ripped through the woman’s gut but his momentary shock gave me the time I needed to bury my fist in his teeth multiple times. The gun scattered from his grip and I kicked it away from his scrabbling fingers as he hit the floor.

I didn’t hesitate and stomped the shit out of his hand, breaking bones. He howled in agony as his woman bled all over the carpet, eyes staring sightlessly. I grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt to growl, “You should’ve made a better choice.”

I dropped him and stalked to the door, kicking it open.

Holly, pressed into the furthest corner of the room, yelped as the door banged open but when she saw me, her relief quickly turned to dismay and for that, I didn’t blame her.

She’d lost her chance to play nice.

Now, she was just my captive.

“You just made things a whole lot worse for yourself,” I warned, striding to her, grabbing her by that thick reddish hair and yanking her toward me. Holly gasped, stumbling after me without choice. Hauling her up, I made her look at the dead woman, blood everywhere. “See? This is your fault. Now get your ass moving before I leave you here to deal with him.”

I shoved her into the car and wasted no time in splitting the scene. Wiping the blood trickling from my cut lip, I I ignored Holly to give my rage time to cool but I made a quick call to Tito so he wasn’t wasting time looking for her.

Tossing my phone, I shook my head, pissed.

“For a smart girl, you’re pretty stupid,” I said, my eyes never leaving the road. “What were you thinking? Did they look like the kind of people who could be trusted?”

“I was just trying to get away from you,” Holly spat but her voice trembled. “I gambled and lost. Don’t you think I know that already? You don’t have to beat me over the head with it.”

“Just like a Brannon…no responsibility taken for how you’ve put things into play. A woman is fucking dead because of you.”

“She was trying to whore me out,” Holly said in her own defense. “It wasn’t like she was Mother Theresa.”

“Yeah, well, I hadn’t been planning to commit first-degree murder today,” I replied caustically. “Thanks for that.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t plan to be kidnapped and then sold into sexual slavery either. I guess bad things happen everyday.”

I wanted to pull the car over and slap the stupid out of her. Not only because I was angry over what’d happened, but because I knew full well that if I’d been late finding Holly…she would’ve been ruined forever. As much as she talked a big game, Holly was as soft as a freshly baked sugar cookie.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere I know you won’t cause any trouble.”

“And where is that, exactly?”

I growled, cutting her a sharp glance. “Enough with the questions. Just shut up, all right?”

Holly must’ve sensed the danger in my tone. I was riding the edge. I couldn’t stop the rage that welled inside, threatening to splash over and contaminate all my carefully laid plans.

I needed to stay focused, stay calm.

But Holly drove me crazy.

I’d never in my life met a woman I wanted to beat and fuck at the same time.

But I promised myself, I’d do neither.

She was the key to my revenge.

I wouldn’t be so stupid as to lose my advantage.

Not when the stakes were so high.

I
couldn’t stop shaking
. As Cason drove, I snuck glances his way. I was grateful to be out of that house but I had a feeling that I may have gone from the frying into the fire.

I kept seeing Juanita’s dead body, lying on the dingy carpet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the woman deserved what she got but I wasn’t cavalier about death.

The truth was, this was the kind of stuff I was glad to be free from.

Butcher had made sure that my life wasn’t touched by his business dealings, even though I knew my brother probably did terrible things.

Maybe I’d spent my life willfully shutting out the reality that my luxuries came at a terrible cost.

And if so, that meant Cason had been right. I’d allowed my brother to pay my expenses with blood money.

Not that I had a choice.

Butcher controlled everything around him, including me.

He was my brother, yes, but we’d never had a sibling-type relationship due to the age gap between us.

Which was another reason why I didn’t think Cason’s plan was built with good information. He was basing his entire revenge scheme on Butcher’s tender feelings for me, that frankly, I didn’t even think he had.

My head still ached and my mouth was dry.

If Cason hadn’t rescued me, terrible things would’ve happened in that room.

I couldn’t help but shudder at how many other women had been tossed on that bed, forced to do things against their will.

I should be grateful to Cason for rescuing me.

But how was I supposed to be appreciative when he was the one who’d kidnapped me in the first place? If he hadn’t dragged me off campus, I wouldn’t be in this position at all.

So in fact, it was his fault that woman was dead.

“I hope you don’t think you’re a hero for what you did,” I said, making sure he knew where I stood. “You’re still one of the bad guys.”

“Oh, I know that honey,” he said with a cold smile. “But that’s okay. I never said I wanted to be the good guy.”

I believed him.

But why did bad look so good on him? I tried not to remember what’d it’d felt like to have his tongue buried between my legs.

Remembering that insanity messed with my internal compass of right and wrong.

Plainly, what he’d done was wrong on several levels.

And I was daft if I was actually lingering on the memory.

I drew a deep breath and said, “If I can’t convince you that your plan is flawed, can you at least tell me why you hate my brother so much?”

“That’s my business.”

“Well, I would say it’s also my business because you’re involving me,” I pointed out. “I don’t know, it just seems unnecessarily cruel to leave me in the dark.”

“Do you think I care about your sense of fair play?”

Seems no one did
, I wanted to quip.

Instead, I sniffed and said, “No, I don’t think you care about anything but your own feelings. In that, you and Butcher are the same.”

A snarl ripped out of Cason and I shrank against the door as he yelled, “Don’t you
ever
compare me and that fucking prick again. We are nothing alike. Do you understand?
Nothing
.”

I swallowed and jerked a tiny nod, afraid of the murderous rage flaring in Cason’s eyes.

Violence rippled from his body like a dark aura. Was Cason’s hunger for revenge going to require my sacrifice for my brother’s crimes? Was that the end game in all this?

I blinked back tears. “If you’re so intent on hurting me, why didn’t you just leave me in that house?”

He cut me a short look. “I gain nothing from whoring you out in a crack house.”

Was that all? Was there no other reason he’d been frantic to find me? Maybe I was putting too much value on the way he touched me last night but everything in me said that I wasn’t wrong.

Frustration laced his voice as he added, “Just shut the hell up. I need to think.”

But I didn’t want to be told how to act or how to be. Butcher had done that to me my whole life. Even when he wasn’t around, Butcher had been there in my head, stalking me with the threat of his displeasure.

I was done with that bullshit.

“Don’t talk down to me,” I warned, hating the image Cason had of me. I wasn’t some frivolous princess, nor had I ever acted like one. I kept to myself and just wanted to be left alone. “You’re the one who barged into my life and turned it upside down. Not the other way around, try to remember that.”

“How could I forget? Less than twenty-four hours together and you’ve already nearly ruined every plan I set into motion.”

“And I’m supposed to care about that?” I shot back, unable to believe his nerve.

Cason skewed a sour look my way but seamed his mouth shut.
Oh, now he wanted to watch his words? Fine timing.

Yesterday, I didn’t even know he existed. Today he’d rescued me from a fate worse than death but was probably still planning to take my virginity, at the very least, and who knows what else.

Still, at least I was alive. That was worth something, right?

“Thank you for saving me,” I said stiffly. I was many things but I wasn’t ill-mannered.

He grunted an acknowledgment but then said, “Save your gratitude. I doubt you’re going to be thanking me when you see where I’m taking you.”

His answer sent a cold sliver of dread shooting down my spine. Just where exactly was he taking me? How could anyplace be worse than Tito’s or the crackhouse?

I was in a twisted movie where everyone died at the end, which didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence.

If I could just get out of the situation alive, I’d call that a win.

I twisted away from Cason and stared out the passenger side window. My stomach yowled. It seemed I was always hungry. I don’t know if that was a fear response or stemming from the fact that I hadn’t really eaten anything aside from a slice of pizza last night. Not to mention whatever they had drugged me with had made me seriously sick.

“Can we stop at a gas station or something and get something to eat?” I asked, hating that I had to rely on him for everything.

“No.”

His terse answer gave power to everything I secretly feared. Maybe he was trying to starve me. Maybe he hadn’t liked what he’d seen last night and thought I could stand to lose a few pounds.

Surprisingly, that thought cut deeper than anything else.

Which was plainly stupid because why would I care what a man like Cason thought of me?

I was fast becoming irritated with my own thoughts. I longed for a good book, one where the heroes were two-dimensionally awesome, kind, loving and perfect. I knew men like that didn’t exist, but that was okay because I much preferred living my life within the pages of a story rather than the grim reality.

Reality sucked.

I must’ve fallen asleep. One minute I was awake and the next it was hours later, the sun had dropped into the horizon and Cason was pulling into a narrow alley, swinging around to the back of an older building to park.

There was no sign on the door and it looked deserted but the faint pulse of music filtered through the old brick.

Cason pulled me out of the car roughly.

I glared. “Do you have to jerk me around like that? I’m not a side of beef.”

“Keep your mouth shut and stick with me,” he warned with a growl as he banged on a rusted metal door.

A thick man with ferocious eyebrows and tattoos crawling up his entire arm stared then droned, “Password.”

Cason didn’t miss a beat. “Pineapple.”

Pineapple
? Why not
Bloody Skulls
or
Shattered Souls
? Seemed more appropriate than a sunny, tasty fruit that went well with barbecue pizza.

The guard nodded and allowed us into the smoky darkness. I held Cason’s hand in a death grip.

Music throbbed as shadows gyrated on the dance floor, glitter sparkled on the floor and people wore masks.

Where the hell were we?

Cason wound his way past the throng of people, most oblivious to anything around them, and we traveled down a creep corridor, lit only by the dimmest flickering lights embedded in the wall.

It smelled sour, like sweat and other bodily fluids that I couldn’t even imagine.

Wherever we were made Tito’s place look like the Taj Mahal.

Cason opened a door and pushed me inside, locking it as he closed us in.

I gasped as I stared at the grotesque room. A large bed with skulls and crossbones bedding was off to the left and to the right…I turned to Cason, my mouth parted with incredulous horror. “You brought me to a
sex
dungeon! Are you out of your mind?”

Cason mocked, “Now what does a virgin know about sex dungeons?” but before I could sputter an answer, he pushed me up against the wall, his big body towering over mine.

I shivered as I tried to quell the knot of fear and excitement pooling. “What are you doing?” I asked, jumping when he pulled my arm up to clamp a manacle around my wrist.

“You played on my weakness,” he said, securing my other wrist even as I struggled to get away. “But that’s not going to happen this time. This room is used for other purposes but I think it’ll serve my needs just fine.”

“You’re going to leave me shackled to this wall!” I cried, unable to believe his cruelty. “I can’t sleep like this.”

“Who said I will allow you to sleep?” he returned coolly.

My breath caught. I didn’t know what he meant but I instantly thought of the other night and I had to squeeze my thighs together to keep from squirming.

Cason was so close I could see his eyes flare with something powerful. I didn’t know if it was arousal or anger but being helpless to prevent whatever was coming did something strange to my insides.

“Please Cason,” I pleaded, trying to appeal to some sense of decency in the man. “You know this isn’t right. I’m innocent in all this. I’ve done nothing to hurt you. Please…”

Cason dragged a knuckle softly down my cheek. “You are sweet when you beg,” he murmured, losing himself for a moment in the hungry perusal of my body. I was still wearing his shirt. His scent was on my skin. Cason returned to my gaze. “If you’d just done as you were told…this could’ve been over within a week or two. But you had to go and try to run, fucking everything up. Now, I have to change plans — plans I’ve had set up for months. Do you have any idea how that pisses me off?”

“You can’t blame me for trying to run,” I said, my voice shaking. “What would you have done if you were in my place?”

He gripped my cheeks hard, saying, “I would
never
be in your place” before releasing me abruptly and striding away as if he needed space between us.

I worked my jaw, holding back tears. There was no reasoning with him right now. He was like an animal.

My gaze scanned the room. I couldn’t imagine what happened in these places.

There were paddles of varying sizes hanging on the wall as well as other contraptions that I couldn’t even begin to guess what they were for.

My breath caught. Would he use those on me?

Would Cason spank me?

As if reading my mind, Cason’s slow smile frightened me. He walked to the wall and made a big production out of perusing each one as if he were going to make his selection but he didn’t.

Instead, he walked slowly to me, his gaze holding me hostage, until he was in my personal bubble, crowding me, stealing the very air from the room.

“You deserve to have your ass beat,” he assured me, his voice sending shivers down my arms. “But I’d rather bend you over my knee so I can beat that ass with my bare hand. I’d love to see my hand print blazoned across that fine ass of yours but I don’t trust myself to stop.”

“Do you get off on beating women?” I replied with a bravery I didn’t feel.

“No, but for you, I think I could make an exception.”

This would’ve been a prime moment to spit in his face, like they do in the movies — it would be no less than he deserved — but I couldn’t. My lips parted. I wanted him to close the short distance between us, kiss me whether I wanted it or not.

Damn Cason, he seemed to know what was going through my head, too.

“There’s more to the little virgin than meets the eye…”

My cheeks blazed. I lifted my chin. “I won’t apologize for trying to save myself. If that means I screwed up your plans…I’m not sorry for that either. Do your worst. I’ll find a way to survive.”

But I wasn’t so sure about that.

Especially when Cason never seemed to follow the kidnapper playbook.

He leaned in, breathing in the space where my neck met my shoulders. The heat between us crackled, his soft breath tickled my skin. I gasped as his lips pressed against the delicate flesh.

Oh no, don’t do that.

My knees immediately wobbled as his tongue flicked my neck, his teeth nipping lightly as he traveled up the sensitive column of trembling muscle.

And then he sucked.

Softly at first, then hard.

I cried out as the warmth in my belly spread and my nipples pearled into hard beaded points of aching need.

He was marking me with a dark bruise on the tender flesh.

A hickey, in the most vulgar terms.

But I knew it was far more than that.

I knew as sure as I knew my name, Cason did it deliberately for one purpose — to remind me that I was his to do with as he pleased.

That even as Cason had saved me, no one was coming to save me from him.

I groaned as I fought the urge to thrust my hips toward him.

I wouldn’t beg. I bit my lip to keep from crying out.

But the memory of what he could make my body do came crashing back and I was mindless with the desire to feel that soul-shattering pleasure again.

Good God, what was wrong with me?

The easy answer?

I was weak.

And I wanted Cason.