Protector #6 (A Navy SEAL Military Romance) (3 page)

And
then I thought I saw him move. Or did I? I thought I saw the tiniest movement
of Brian’s finger, but I wasn’t sure. Had he moved? Or was it simply my
imagination playing tricks on me? It was agonizing to think that we were all
going to die in this room and I knew it was up to me to divert attention from
Brian just in case he was conscious.

And
if he wasn’t, well, I’d think of that later.

 
Dominic and Cheese were still fighting amongst
themselves and as I looked over toward the door, I saw the poor room server
still lying face down on the floor. I’d forgotten about him.

“Dom,
baby?” I called in the sweetest voice I could muster. “Don’t you think that it
would be wise to let the poor little room server go? He doesn’t have anything
to do with this and he’s scared out of his mind. I think he might have even wet
his pants.”

“Jeez,
what a baby!” Cheese laughed. “Pissed his pants like a little baby!”

I
had hoped that the room server would be smart enough to pick up on my cue and
actually wet his pants, and by the sound of Cheese’s reaction, I’d played my
cards right.

“Shut
up, Cheese,” Dominic ordered. “That little baby is going to go out with the
meathead here. I want you to take care of him. Do you understand me?”

“Wait,
what?” Cheese looked at Dominic with a frown. “Hey, I didn’t sign on for
hurting anyone. You told me it was just going to be getting the girl back and
then leaving.”

“Well,
sometimes things don’t go as planned, now do they?” Dominic smiled. “And you
have to adjust your plan to fit the circumstances.”

“
Dude
, there is no way in hell I’m killing anyone!”
Cheese declared. Dominic looked at him for a moment, then turned and walked
over to me.

“Ah
yes, the big bad frat boy turns pussy,” he laughed as he began to loosen my
ties. “I had a feeling this was what would happen, so I made sure that I had a
backup plan. Always have a backup plan, Christopher.”

“Hey,
wait a minute,” Cheese protested. “Seriously, you did not tell me that there
was going to be real killing involved. I don’t want any part of that, Dominic.”

“Then
if you will not participate,” Dominic said in a low, sinister tone. “You have
become part of my problem, as well.”

He
quickly untied my hands, pulled me to my feet and then turned and punched
Cheese so hard that he fell to the floor. Out cold. In an instant, Dominic was
behind Brian with the gun pointed at his head as he smiled at me.

“I
know you have a soft heart, kitten,” he said. “But you’re here to do some work
for me before I finish up the show with a bang. Get it? A bang?” His maniacal
laughter filled the room, and I stood trembling as I looked at the gun pressed
against Brian’s temple. Now that Cheese was out cold on the floor, I knew that
getting him to turn on Dominic wasn’t going to happen, but I didn’t know if
Brian would regain consciousness or if he could escape the restraints if he
did. I felt my heart sinking as I realized that saving us was entirely on my
shoulders at the moment and that I couldn’t rely on anyone but myself.
 

“Ava,
listen to me,” Dominic murmured softly. “We are going to dispose of all of
these problems and then you and I are going to go out for dinner and discuss
our future.”

“Yes,”
I said in a weak voice as I nodded. “Okay, we’ll take care of the problems and
then have dinner.”

“Good
girl,” he said smiling. “You are always so appealing when you say yes to me.”

I
stood rooted to the spot where he’d left me as I scanned the room. He wanted to
kill three people and then go to dinner? It was a sure sign that he’d gone
completely off the deep end, and I knew that I was our only hope, but I had no
idea how to stop his evil plan. What did I have that he wanted? What could I
offer that would keep him from killing Brian and the other two? Suddenly it
came to me, and I knew exactly what I had to do.
 
I only hoped that Brian would forgive me once
we were free.

“Dom?”
I asked quietly.

“Yes,
kitten?” he replied in a distracted voice as he scanned the room for the tools
he’d need for properly disposing of the bodies. “What do you want?”

“You,”
I said with a giggle as I dropped my skirt and lifted the hem of my t-shirt.
“It’s been so long!”

Dominic
turned and looked at me as I continued my strip tease, and I smiled seductively
as I nodded towards the bedroom and begged, “Just a quickie? Please? Please,
Dom?”

“Ava,
you’re going to have to wait for that,” he lectured. “This is neither the time
nor the place.”

“But
I’m so incredibly horny!” I cried as I undid the hooks on my bra and slipped
the straps off my shoulders. “It’s been ages!”

“I
thought lover boy here was keeping you busy,” Dominic said in a bored tone.

“Him?
Oh no, he isn’t someone I could have sex with! He’s the help!” I laughed and
silently begged for Brian’s forgiveness.

“This
is true,” Dominic chuckled. “You were definitely raised better than that!”

“So?
Please?” I begged as the bile rose in my throat. “You know how I love it when
you take me hard and fast.”

“Oh,
do I,” he flashed the sinister smile and I could see that he was thinking about
moving into the bedroom with me. “You like it rough, don’t you, kitten?”

“You
know just how I like it, Dom,” I whispered as I fought to keep from screaming.
The thought of his hands on my body made me want to vomit, but I knew that the
only way we were going to get out of this was if I distracted Dominic well
enough to take control of the situation. “Please? Just a little? Now?”

Dominic
quickly scanned the room and saw that the three problems were neutralized at
the moment, and he smiled that awful evil smile as he walked over to me. I was
nearly naked and trembling, but he read my fear as desire and wrapped an arm
around my waist as he walked me backwards toward the bed. In his other hand he
held Brian’s gun, and I knew that I would have to find a way to make him put it
down or else I’d be forced to go through with this awful act.

“Dom,
I need you touch me,” I whispered into his ear as he held me against his chest.
“I like it when you hold me down and touch me, you remember, don’t you?”

“
Mmmmm
,” he murmured. “Indeed I do. You like it when you
have no control, don’t you, Kitten?”

“Oh
yes,” I breathed into his ear. “Oh yes, you remember!”

“Lie
down,” he ordered in that soft sinister voice. “I want to see you spread out
before me. I want to know that I own you, all of you.”

I
swallowed hard, nodded and lay down on the bed on my back trying hard not to
expose the depth of my hatred as I looked up at him. I tried to recall Brian standing
over me and the way his eyes shined when he saw me naked for the first time. I
tried to remember the feeling of his hands on my body as Dominic lightly
trailed his fingers down my torso. There was nothing sexy about this, but I was
determined not to let Dominic hurt Brian - no matter what it took.

“You
always liked it when I stroked your skin,” he purred.

“Oh
yes, I love the way your fingers feel,” I sighed. I couldn’t close my eyes or
look away because I was scared that he’d sense how much I hated him if I did.
More than that, I was afraid that if I didn’t focus on him, my mind would
realize what I was actually doing and my body would rebel. I whispered, “Hold
me, Dom? Please? I haven’t felt your arms around me in so long, and I’ve missed
them.”

Dominic
ignored my plea and continued caressing my skin. There was something about his
touch that frightened me, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the past or
the present. Either way, my mind was spinning as I watched him.

Please wake up, Brian. Please. Please. Please.

Dominic
lay down next to me and continued stroking my skin as
he slid his other arm under my neck. He still had the gun in his hand, but at
least it wasn’t aimed at anyone. He looked down at me as he raised his free
hand and brushed the hair away from my face.

“You
really should make an attempt to keep your hair out of your face, Kitten,” he
scolded. “Your face is too pretty to be hidden.”

I
nodded and forced a smile as I said, “I will do that from now on, Dom. I
promise.”

“Ava,
don’t you wonder why I went to all the trouble to get you back?” he asked in a
tone that made my blood run cold in my veins. I knew that he had a plan, I just
didn’t know what that plan was or why he was doing what he was doing.

“I
thought it was because you loved me and you wanted me back,” I replied as
innocently as possible.

“Oh
my goodness,” he laughed as he grabbed one of my breasts and squeezed so
tightly that I gasped. “Aren’t you absolutely
darling!
Naive, but darling.”

“Then
why are you doing this, Dom?” I asked in a trembling voice.

“Because
you humiliated me and I want that rectified,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“You left me and you told lies about me and everyone thinks I’m a monster, and
now I’m going to prove that I’m not only not a monster, but that you and I were
actually meant to be together.”

There
was no way to hide the terror in my eyes now. He saw it and it made him
stronger. The only possible way out now was to fight, and I was well aware that
this choice might end badly for me—and the others—but it was my only choice
left.

“What…what
do you want me to do?” I asked.

“You
and I are going to take care of these problems together, and then we are going
to go tell our story to the police,” he explained. “Your father hired a craze
body guard who held you hostage and abused you. I tried to rescue you from him,
but he’d brain washed you and convinced you that I was the enemy based on false
evidence and lies.”

I
stared at Dominic wondering what had to happen in a person’s brain to make them
believe the lies they told. He was living in a fantasy world of his own making
and he had no intention of recognizing reality. All I could do was nod and
listen to his grand plan for us.

“It
took me a long time to track you down because he was very adept at hiding, but
when I received a cryptic email from you inviting me to come talk, I knew you
were trying to let me know your whereabouts. I came to the hotel, enlisted the
help of the room server, and broke in just as Brian was about to allow Cheese
to have his way with you.”

“What
on earth?” I was truly perplexed by this.

“You
thought I didn’t know?” he smiled. “Cheese got kicked out of the Fijis because
of your little friend’s antics at the party. He wanted to get even with you for
that humiliation and to have a little fun while he was at it, so your bodyguard
agreed to give him what he wanted in exchange for a little cash.”

“You
are twisted,” I couldn’t hide my disgust any longer and it seemed useless to
even try. Dominic had planned everything and wasn’t going to deviate from his
plan. Now all I could do was fight back.

“Ah,
the kitten has claws!” he laughed as he forced his hand between my legs and
grabbed my crotch so hard I screamed. “I knew they’d show themselves sooner or
later. You’re no shrinking violent, baby.”

“Get
your hands off of me!” I yelled in his face. “You are not allowed to do this!”

“Allowed?
Oh no, no, no, my dear,” he grinned. “I don’t need to be
allowed
to do anything. I’m going to
take
whatever I want and you will have no choice but to let me.”

“You
have always been a sick, sick man,” I spit as I twisted to try and escape. In
an instant, Dominic had the gun pressed to my temple as he gripped my arm so
hard I swore I could feel the bones beginning to crack.

“I’m
not sick,” he growled. “I’m perfectly normal, I’m just angry at you for
embarrassing me the way you did last year. I treated you like a princess, and
you treated me like dirt.”

“Because
you beat me,” I said in a flat voice. “You beat me until I couldn’t move. You
are sick.”

“I
beat you because you asked for it,” Dominic said in a casual tone. “You know
you did. You misbehaved and I punished you. There was nothing wrong with what I
did. In fact, you liked it.”

“I
what?” I gasped. “I never liked anything you did to me. You beat me so badly I
couldn’t leave the house for days at a time. Have you forgotten that?”

“Oh
no, I’ve not forgotten anything at all,” Dominic grinned. “I’ve got it all on
tape and I watch it whenever I’m in the mood for you.”

This
revelation knocked the wind out of me. He had my beatings on tape and he
watched them for entertainment. What kind of monster was he? And then another
thought struck me;
he has the beatings on
tape. Evidence.
All I had to do was escape and I could tell the police
about the tapes, and they would put Dominic away for good.
 
But first I had to escape.

“You’re
so disgusting,” I said calmly. “Do your parents know that they’ve raised an
absolute monster? If they don’t, they’re going to be sick when they find out.”