Pure Illusion (25 page)

“Hunter,”
I mew.

“Right
here, baby.”

“Baby,”
I moan. “I need you.”

He
growls, then his tongue dips inside of me and his fingers pinch my bundle of
nerves, instantly paralyzing me. My eyes screw shut and I explode inside his
mouth. Hunter plants wet kisses on my stomach as he crawls up.

“I
love the taste of you,” he says, sliding his nose down mine.

“Yeah,
you’ve mentioned it before,” I pant, breathlessly. I roll him—and he is
reluctant—on his back.
“My turn.”
But as I begin my
descent down his chiseled body, Hunter reaches down, tangling his fingers in my
hair. He presses my face into his hard abs, smothering me with his scorching
skin.
“No, baby.”

“But
I want to.”

“I
don’t want you to,” he replies quietly.

My
hand moves down to grip the colossal hardness of him. He sucks in a sharp
breath.
“Why not?
You’re beautiful down there,
Hunter.”

He
looks conflicted but it’s only momentarily. “I said no, Isabel.”

“But—”

“Isabel,
get your ass up here.
Now.”

Bending
my head, I kiss his abs and his chest as I move up his body. His muscles tense
and then relax underneath my lips. Staring into his eyes is so much of a
contradiction right now. They are soft but somehow hard and cold with an
endless depth of mystery I can’t begin to unravel. I don’t know what I
triggered for him to get upset with me.

Leaning
forward, I press my lips to his, not to kiss him but to talk and feel them
against mine as I do so. “What have I done now?”

I
watch in utter awe as his eyes go soft.
“Nothing.”
He
captures my bottom lips in his mouth and nips it with his teeth, soothing the
sting caressing lick of his tongue.

My
breath catches in my throat and squirm on top of him. He only releases my lip,
chuckling darkly. Hunter tucks my head under his chin as his fingertips trail
up and down my spine. “Sleep now, my sweet.”

Listening
to the magical lullaby of his heart, it takes me no time at all to fall under
the spell of his command.

World
Of
Reverie

I
wake with a sudden jolt and with my throat constricted, gasping and choking for
air.

Just a dream.

I’m
not drowning.

It
was just a horrible nightmare.

At
first glance I notice that I’m alone in his massive bed, soft moonlight beaming
through the wide windows. Sitting up, I rub my eyes and swing my legs from the
bed. I pick up Hunter’s wrinkled T-shirt off the ground and slip it on,
wandering down the corridor and staircase to find him but I freeze on the last
step, heartbeat deafening in my ears. Within the soft glow of the kitchen,
Hunter and Sally talk quietly among themselves. Hunter is reclined against the
sink countertop with his thick arms crossed at his bare chest, though he has
jeans on. Sally is wears a stylish black cocktail dress and dainty black heel
that I’m sure coast more than my entire wardrobe put together. Her shiny blond
hair is loose, silky straight and flows elegantly down her back. Sally’s neck
and ears are dripping with diamonds. She is sheer grace and elegance.

As
I inch closer her sweet but musky perfume wafts from the kitchen and clouds me
in a light mist that’s very intoxicating to the senses.

God,
she even smells expensive.

Sally
stands a foot away from Hunter, smiling evilly. Attempting to decrease my heart
rate, I press up against the wall and listen.

“…you
haven’t returned any of my phone calls. I had to check in on you myself,” Sally
purrs.

“I
want you out of my fucking house,” Hunter growls.

“That’s
no way to treat your fiancée, is it?”

“Ex,”
he corrects.

She
smirks and moves closer running a manicured fingernail down the skin of his
neck, leaving a deep red mark in its wake. He growls again, gripping her wrist.
He squeezes it when she strains to reach for him. Her wrist appears so fragile
in his solid grasp.

“Touch
me again and I’ll break your fucking wrist.” He isn’t joking either. Hunter’s
face is as serious as a heart attack. He is definitely not in the mood to be
toyed with.

To
my surprise, Sally actually moans and licks her lips.
“Promise?
You should check to see how wet I am right now.”

He
makes a disgusted face, releasing her as if her wrist caught fire. “Are you
going to put me in the hospital again, Hunt?” She moves closer, prowling like a
seductive feline that’s about to rip the man I love to shreds. “What will be my
excuse this time, huh? I fell down the stairs? I tripped? Whatever the reason,
I’m sure it’ll work just like all the other times. Isn’t that right, honey?”

What?

Did
he beat her?

His
arms uncross and his head drops. It’s as if his entire body goes lax for the
brutal punishment Sally is about to unleash. Hunter blankly stares at his bare feet,
breathing in deeply as Sally advances. It looks like defeat and she is ready to
attack; it hurts my heart to witness. When she reaches out to put her filthy
paws on him, I step into view like a wild and untamed animal ready to defend
what’s mine.  

“
Don’t
fucking touch him!”

She
jumps, startled momentarily and then grins as I make my way to Hunter, gladly
stepping between the two. “Don’t you ever fucking touch
him.
I’ll fucking kill you.” I’m astounded at the weight of my words…and the honesty
behind them. I’m so blinded with fury that I’m sure I can follow through.
 

I’m
stunned when Hunter’s fingers swiftly threads in my hair, yanking me toward the
floor. “Kneel and be quiet, Isabel.”

The
strangest thing happens: my knees actually bend until I catch myself. Following
his commands is just as natural as breathing, but I don’t want to look weak in
front of The Bitch.
“No way!”

He
growls, tugging my hair from its roots. “Kneel!
NOW!”

With
a sudden surge of pain, my knees hit the tile floor. Unaware by rage before, I
now notice a male kneeling, poised by the opposite side of the wall. He has on
a simple dark jacket and jeans. His skin is a flawless dark brown and his eyes
are a deep shade of chocolate. His features are very handsome. His body is
athletic with a lanky kind of gracefulness. I immediately want to smack him
clean across the face, though. Although I am one third African American, I
still feel that this is wrong on so many levels.

What
is he?

Her submissive?

Her slave?

Can’t
he understand how taboo this really is?

Being
a part of the African American and Mexican American community means a great
deal to me. I feel like he and I share an unknown bond just because we are
ethnic. Enraged, I narrow my eyes at him but he simply shrugs as if reading my
mind. He glances at Hunter, silently saying I’m no better.

My
cheeks heat because he is absolutely correct. I lower my gaze to a fixed spot
on the floor, breathing heavily.

Why
should I care who people get their kinks from anyway.

“She
has such a mouth on her, Hunt. You should teach her proper manners,” Sally
suggests, her heels clicking my way. The tip of her sleek-looking shoe glides
underneath the hem of Hunter’s shirt. “Is she bare under your shirt? I can show
you how to punish her correctly.” I jerk forward from Hunter’s grip to try to
bite her leg as she attempts to lift the shirt up.

“Still
yourself, Isabel,” Hunter warns quietly, wrenching my head back in place.

Sally
giggles.
“So feisty.
I bet she’s a wonder to mold. The
lively ones are always a challenge, but Chance there…,” she points at the
beautiful, poised male by the wall, “is my finest. I adore him so much. It’s
been five years strong for us. He brings me great pleasure.”

Five
years?

She
was with him while engaged with Hunter?

While she was with Hunter?
 

“Leave
her alone, Sally.”

At
his harsh tone, she removes her shoe. “You’re no fun anymore, Hunt. You’ve gone
tremendously soft on me. She’s changing you into a domestic role model. Where’s
my feral beast, honey? Does he still live?”

“Shut
your damn mouth you stupid whore,” I snarl.

Hunter’s
hand twists cruelly into my hair, forcing my head down and face into my lap. I
grunt uncomfortably from the feel of my stomach pressing in on itself. “I said
quiet. Do not test my patience, Isabel.”  

Tear
spring to my eyes. My face is sticking to the thick material of his shirt from
the rivulets running down my cheeks. I’m only shedding tears because Hunter is
humiliating me when I’m trying to stand up and defend him.

“Hmm.
Does your mother
know she stays with you?”

“It’s
none of your fucking business,” he mutters, easing some of the pressure off my
head.

“Oh,
but it is, especially if she doesn’t know. How am I supposed to take care of
you if you’re keeping secrets from me?”

“Sally,”
he cautions in menacing voice. “What you fail to understand is that I don’t
need
your care. What I do, in fact need, is for you to stay the hell away from me,
away from Isabel. Do not intervene in my life. I promise you I am capable of
getting by on my own.”

She’s
silent for a long moment that feels like years. “Does she know, Hunt?”

“Sally—”

“No,
Hunter. You love her yet you tell her nothing. You leave her in the dark to
suffer. And it seems that she has suffered long enough by the scars on her
arms.” She gingerly strokes my hair before Hunter growls viciously. “Well
suffer no more pretty, Isabel. Are you interested in why Hunter left me all on
my own?”

Hunter’s
hand twitches in my hair. I don’t respond when she lowers her voice to barely a
whisper and leans further down so that her lips are at my hair. “Hunter will
make such a lovely father. You would understand completely if you saw him with
children. He loves them all to pieces. You should have seen Hunter when I told
him I was with child. His face—God, it was like seeing the sun for the very
first time. You also should have seen him when I told him I aborted it. That
happened three times and each time the devastation grew worse for poor Hunter,
each time he would drop to his knees and beg me to keep it. He would promise me
the world, sweet thing. But can you imagine Hunter’s spawn growing inside of
me?” Sally pauses and makes a gagging noise. “No thank you. I don’t need a
demon baby. He is clearly too erratically unstable to do much of anything—the
man is great fuck though. He would probably kill us all in the end, anyway.”

My
heart ices over and I feel like I’m about to vomit as she stands and smoothes
her dress.

Three
aborted babies?

Hunter’s babies.

“Hmm.
I wonder will
she stay after she finds out the truth about you, Hunt. What do you think?”

“Get
the fuck out.” His words are barely audible.

“Pleasure chatting with you, sweet
thing.
I insist that we must have tea sometime.” She snaps her fingers at Chance, and
I watch them disappear from my view.

I’m
so focused on what she said that I didn’t feel Hunter’s hand free my head.

“Baby,
are you okay?”

Tilting
my head up a little, I peer into concerned blue eyes that remind me of the sea.
I didn’t notice him kneeling too. “Is it true?” I whisper, feeling shaky.

He
screws his eyes shut as if pained. “Yes.”

“Why?”
My tone is still hushed, salt from my tears drips into my mouth.

Hunter
eyelids flutter open, gazing steadily and somberly into mine. “She’s evil,
Isabel. At the time I thought I deserved that.” He shrugs, inhaling deeply.
“Karma, I guess.”

“You
didn’t deserve that, Hunter. No one does. She needs help. Any woman would be so
very lucky to be the mother of your child.”

He
wipes my tears with his thumbs and then presses his flat palm against my stomach.
He stares at me with wide, hazy eyes. “Even you?”

My
breath catches in my throat, then his hand on my belly feel like scorching
iron.

Me… a mother?

That
forbidden thought is quite laughable.

I’m
a mess and way too young to be a mother right now.

“I
would love to have your babies…sometime in the future. Maybe ten years from
now. I don’t know, Hunter. I don’t even know what I’m say—”

Hunter
crushes his mouth down on mine, knocking me down to the floor. My back slams
against the cold tile. “This is going to be fast, baby. I can’t guarantee that
I’m going to be gentle with all the shit running through my head right now.”

“Fast, rough.
Yes,” I pant
throughout kisses.

“Turn
around,” he growls.

Breathlessly
and trembling, I flip on my stomach. Hunter’s fingers trail up the backs of my
thighs, bringing up the hem of his shirt. He makes a deep gravelly noise in the
back of his throat,
then
smacks me hard on my ass,
biting along the aching spot.

I
moan and tilt my backside against his face, searching for more of his mouth.
The stinging sensations lead to an overwhelming pulsating between my legs.

Hunter
harshly tangles a hand in my hair, shoving my face to the floor.
“Pain slut.”
 I can’t respond fast enough when he
swiftly sinks into me.

After
everything that just transpired, I would have never in a million years thought
that Hunter Knight would end this night sadistically fucking me face down on
his kitchen floor.