AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘You’re doing an excellent job, Mariana,’ Emilio murmured, placing his hands on my breasts and squeezing them. It hurt, so much that my eyes watered and I had to bite down on my tongue to keep from crying out, but I didn’t move. Fighting was futile. Besides, it would be over soon. It would be over, and then I could be with Dornan again. And everything would be okay until the next week, when we’d go through this all over again.
‘Thank you,’ I replied, my gaze matching Murphy’s, my gut twisting with impatience. Hurry, I wanted to say. Just get this over with so I can wash my hands of the fucking filth you two make me feel.
‘Alright,’ Emilio said, taking his hands away and motioning for me to move. ‘Get up. We’ll keep going now.’
‘See you next week, Annie,’ Murphy crowed as I passed him on my way out.
The first time Murphy had called me Annie, nine years ago, he’d been trying to hold me down and rape me on my dining room floor. The only reason he hadn’t succeeded was thanks to John and Dornan arriving at my apartment unexpectedly and kicking the living shit out of him. Dornan had almost killed Murphy, would have if John hadn’t stopped him.
I swallowed down my disgust and eyed the sharp butcher’s knife in Murphy’s hand, the one I’d been silly enough to think I had a chance of using on him that day.
He flashed a wide smile and pointed to his pants. ‘Well then,’ he said, tipping his head to one side and fixing those weird blue eyes on me, ‘I suggest you get on the floor and get naked.’
I gritted my teeth and stared as he squeezed his cock through his pants, then started to stroke it slowly, as much as the material would allow. He didn’t take his eyes from mine the entire time.
He looked at me in mock despair, using his free hand to gesture down to his hard-on. ‘Well, come on,’ he said. ‘I don’t think it’s going to suck itself, Annie.’
My skin crawled as I was thrown headfirst into the memory of him on top of me, his insistent hands grabbing at my thighs, his gaze pinning me along with his arms that he’d used to cage me in. Annie. His mouth curled up a little on one side. I knew he was thinking about the exact same thing as me, only he was clearly enjoying the memory. He wrinkled his nose up and smiled, winking.
Rage and nausea bubbled up in my stomach, but I swallowed them down. I didn’t bother replying. It wouldn’t make a difference, it never had. I’d already used my daily dose of polite on Emilio, and nobody ever seemed to care if I was nice to Murphy or not. So he didn’t even get my wasted breath on a snarky comeback or a meaningless goodbye.
CHAPTER FIVE
MARIANA
Sunday afternoons were like rituals. Dornan would talk business with his men – sometimes I heard shouting, sometimes laughter – and then he’d finish, find me in the rabbit warren of rooms that made up the Gypsy Brothers HQ, take me home and fuck the life out of me.
I had my own responsibilities to attend to while the Gypsy Brothers convened in the great room at the front of the clubhouse. While they spoke business and made plans, I was tasked with a meeting of my own.
With Emilio. And Murphy.
Every single Sunday.
But now that meeting was over, and I had another hundred and sixty-seven hours before I had to endure it again. Seven whole days before I had to endure Emilio’s touch and Murphy’s roving eyes. Today had been tame. Some weeks, the things Emilio did to me . . . He’d never actually held me down and raped me, but it had gotten close a few times. Who knew if the old bastard could still even get it up? Maybe that was the only saving grace that had stopped him from raping me. Or, like he said, maybe he just preferred blondes. Who knew? I wasn’t exactly dwelling on if or when he’d consummate our owner/slave relationship. Mostly, he just liked to threaten to hurt me. It was all part of his sick, twisted mind-fuckery.
I wandered down the long hallway that ran through the centre of the Gypsy Brothers clubhouse. It always made me nervous, being alone in there. Although Dornan was a formidable VP, and would no doubt kick the living shit out of anyone who dared touch me, it still didn’t feel right, being in this place. It was obvious the warehouse conversion was for men, and men only – no women graced its hallways, except the club whores. And me. Walking into the place was like disappearing down a dark hole, a hole that smelled like beer and gasoline. The slivers of sunlight that did manage to get in were framed by barred windows that you’d never be able to escape through in a fire.
I made a sharp right at an intersection in the hallway, turning into the large communal kitchen and dining area. The Gypsy Brothers had many, many members, and they demanded to be fed and watered and liquored to keep them tough and at the ready. The place was deserted, a sign that the club meeting hadn’t finished yet. I crossed the room briskly, my heels making sharp clicks on the polished concrete floor, threading through tables and chairs as I made my way to the fire escape. That was our place to convene, Dornan and I. Our safe haven, if only for a couple of hours.
‘Hey,’ a voice called out to me. I stopped in my tracks and turned slowly, looking for the source.
Caroline Portland, John’s wife, sat at one of the tables that was partially hidden from view by a half-wall. I hadn’t seen her when I entered the room, but I could see her now, and what a sight she was. Her hair stringy and dishevelled, she was wearing jeans and a checked shirt that swam on her emaciated figure. I hadn’t seen her in months, had counted myself lucky to avoid the displeasure of crossing her path, and now here she was in all her junkie glory.
I smiled thinly at her, but didn’t offer a response.
‘Where the fuck you think you’re going?’ she slurred, leaning her head in her hands as she slumped over the table. I was about to turn and walk away when I saw her teenage daughter walk out of the kitchen, a glass of water and some graham crackers in her hands.
Juliette didn’t notice me as she walked towards her mother. An image of my own father danced before my eyes as I watched the young girl try to rouse her mother from something that she was obviously in too deep to shake off.
‘Mom,’ she said softly, setting the water down in front of Caroline. But Caroline ignored her. She could hardly focus, her eyes were rolling around in her head so violently.
‘Mom!’ More forcefully this time. Caroline’s eyes fluttered shut completely and she sagged forward on the table.
The girl looked around, noticed me for the first time. ‘Do you know where my dad is?’ she asked quietly.
Something stabbed painfully in my chest. She was only a little older than my son, and I wondered if he would be taller than her, if he had his father’s dimples when he smiled.
I nodded. ‘I’ll get him.’
