Gratifying Lines Read online

  She lets out a breath. It sounds she’s trying to hold back a gasp.

  I pull against my restraints. “Get the fuck away from her!” I shout, pulling against the chains so hard I feel my skin tear away at the edges.

  Cruze ignores me. Instead he puts the blade back in his pocket and moves a hand to Cadence’s nipple. Squeezes hard. “Don’t we have an understanding, Cade?”

  She presses her lips together. John pinches harder. “Answer me, doll, or I’ll make it so you can’t speak.”

  Cadence gasps. “Yes, Cruze. Yes. We have an understanding. I’m yours.” Her hands were wrapped around his arm. I notice there is blood where she scratched him. Her arms fall away and she rests them at her side.

  That makes me even madder. “John, whatever you want you can have it, just let Cadence go. I mean it!” I strain harder. There’s slickness on the chains and I know I’m bleeding.

  Cruze looks over at me. His eyes focus on the blood. I look down and notice there’s red smearing the white shackles. Some of the blood has landed on the floor. It seems to both calm him and made him crazier.

  “All I want is for you to watch.” His mouth clamps over Cadence’s. She kisses him back. I watch their tongues tangle. Her hand moves to his neck and into his hair. I feel sick. If the urge to kill Cruze hadn’t been strong before, it would be now.

  “You’re a dead man, John,” I seethe.

  Cruze releases Cadence and laughs. He moves his fingers to her pussy and shoves a finger inside. “How does that feel, doll? You like that, don’t you?” He still has his fist in her hair so she has to look at his face.

  “Yes,” she gasps.

  His thumb finds her clit and he massages. “Come for me, Cade. Show Zane how much you love me.”

  She closes her eyes and moans. “Fuck, Cruze. That’s feels so good.” She lifts her hips, pressing her clit into his thumb.

  “That’s it, Cade. That’s it. Come for me.” He sticks two more fingers inside, moving them in and out. And then his whole hand is inside of her except his thumb. His eyes find mine. “Moan louder, doll,” he says. She complies. “Fuck, Zane. She’s so wet. She likes it. She likes me fucking her with my hand. I think she likes that you’re watching me do it.” His eyes go back to Cadence’s face. “Don’t you, doll? You like me fucking you with my hand while Zane watches.”

  She opens her eyes. “Yes, Cruze. I like it.” She glances at me. “I’m going to come. Fuck!” She arches her back and presses into Cruze’s hand.

  I’m ashamed, but I feel my cock harden. I know what’s it like to have Cadence come undone. I know what she feels like.

  Cruze looks at me and his eyes notice the bulge in my pants. He smiles knowingly. “You wish this was you, don’t you?”

  I do. No one should touch Cadence, my PFA, that way but me, goddammit. But I don’t respond. He pulls the blade from his back pocket and slowly runs it down Cadence’s thigh closest to me. “Don’t you?” he asks as he cuts.

  “Yes. Fuck. Yes.” I shake my head.

  Cruze laughs and presses a lever at the end of Cadence’s bed. It folds down so that he can stand directly between her thighs.

  Oh my god. No. No.

  “I know you wish you could slide your cock into her. She has such an incredible pussy, doesn’t she?” He undoes his pants. “Your wife had a beautiful pussy, too. I made her come as well. We fucked and fucked until I was too much for her.”

  “Don’t you fucking talk about my wife!” I barely recognize my own voice. He’s taken me to a place I may not be able to come back from.

  “She begged me to fuck her. Begged. Me. Please, Cruze, please,” he says using a higher, pretend-feminine voice.

  “I’m going to rip your lying tongue right from your mouth!” I’m straining against the manacles. There’s a dull pain coming from my wrists. It just urges me on.

  Cruze presses the tip of his cock against Cadence’s pussy. He’s ready to fuck her. And I know he chained me here on purpose. For the first time I wonder if he knew all along I’d come to save Cadence, and he’d planned for it.

  “Stop!” I shout as he’s about to enter her. “Please,” I plead. “Don’t.” I can’t let this happen. This isn’t the way this night was supposed to go. Shit, why didn’t I just kill him the moment he opened his fucking door?

  Cruze makes a tsking noise with his mouth. “You hear that, Cade? He doesn’t want us to fuck. Too bad, right? Because I’m going to fuck you good. So good. I’m going to fuck you better than any ma—”

  There’s a loud pop and Cruze falls on top of Cadence. She stiffens. I turn toward the door. Lincoln is standing in the entryway, breathing heavily. There’s a dark stain in the chest area above his heart, but he’s alive. Thank God.

  “Get me out of these,” I shout, so relieved Lincoln survived. He’d put a Kevlar vest on before we left, but I hadn’t been sure where the bullet landed. If it would’ve been the face, the neck, the thigh, or the belly this could’ve ended a lot differently. Both Lincoln and I decided to take a chance and hope Cruze would aim for the biggest part of Lincoln: his chest. The gamble paid off.

  I hear a growling sob from Cadence and watch her sit up and push Cruze off her. His body falls to the floor.

  Please don’t be dead, I think.

  I’m supposed to be the one to kill him.

  “Lincoln,” I growl again.

  “Sir, he isn’t dead.”

  I let out a sigh and hold up a chained wrist. “Good.”

  Chapter 22

  Cadence

  I’m shaking so hard I wonder if I’ll ever be able to stop. Words won’t form in my throat. The smell of antiseptic and blood and sex fills my nose. It makes me want to puke. The once white room is no longer stark; shades of red fleck over almost every surface. My mind is overrun with a myriad of thoughts: I can’t believe it’s over. And Zane is here. Zane had a wife. Cruze did this to her as well. I’m alive. Zane found me. He saved me. Cruze is a fucking psychopath. How had I not seen that coming? Was Jessica okay? Why did he do this?

  I sit and shove Cruze off me, sickened by the touch of him.

  Lincoln steps away from the doorframe. He tucks his gun behind his back and gives me a sympathetic look, one that I read as Hang on and he walks over to Zane.

  I’ll fucking hang on. It’s what I do. It’s my life. My teeth start to chatter.

  My ankles are still chained and I’m in an uncomfortable position. So exposed. So cold. I lay back, press the palms of my hands against my eyes. Tears have begun to form, but I will not cry. I won’t. I’ve been in worse situations than this during my seven-year career as a hooker. But I’m fucking done. I need to get out of this fucking town. Find a small shack on a glorious piece of beach. I’ll live there. I’ll survive.

  I can cry when I’m alone.

  Near my feet I hear grunts, and then it sounds like someone is pounding out a beefsteak.

  “Where’s that damn scalpel? I’m going to cut his tongue out, then I’m going to carve out his eyes, fillet his—”

  “Stop,! I shout, cutting off Zane’s vicious words. I get why he’s angry, especially if it’s true that Cruze killed his wife, but I can’t listen to any more violence. “Please,” I add, forcing my lips together when my teeth chatter more loudly.

  There’s a momentary silence.

  “Cadence.” I hear Zane’s voice close to me and I freeze. “I’m sorry. It’s okay. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

  I nod. I feel someone freeing my ankles from the shackles.

  “I’m so sorry. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Fuck, if he would’ve… hurt you…”

  I hear the emotion in his voice and pull my hands away. There are tears in Zane’s eyes.

  Fucking tears.

  Seeing him so broken up makes the emotions in me spring to the surface. My eyes water, but I won’t let the tears fall. I press my palms against them again.

  “Cadence, I’m going to get you out of here.”

  He slides o
ne arm under my shoulders and another under my thighs. Then he lifts me. The warmth of his body only increases the cold inside my body.

  “Give her your jacket. She’s freezing,” Zane growls. I feel the warmth of a coat cover my naked body and I’m grateful.

  “Did you text the captain?” Zane asks.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good.”

  “He isn’t dead, sir.” Lincoln says.

  My body freezes. So does Zane’s. “I want him dead, Lincoln. Make it happen.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Don’t,” I whisper, pulling my hands away, finding Zane’s face. “Please, no more killing.”

  Zane opens his mouth. Closes it. He opens it again and is about to say something but changes his mind. He turns to Lincoln. “Let him live.”

  “Thank you,” I whisper.

  Zane’s jaw clenches. He’s angry, I think. I guess I can understand why.

  Chapter 23

  Cadence

  The next however many days are a flurry of activity. I’m in and out of consciousness, probably because of painkillers. I know I’m in the hospital. I’ve talked to a nurse and a couple of doctors. One was a psychologist. My room is private, luxuriously decorated. The color scheme reminds me of the beach, and I long to be on one. Other than the doctors and the nurse I haven’t seen anyone else. It’s kind of lonely.

  I’m still surprised Zane saved me and I can’t help but think about him, wonder if he’s already left again. Did he know I was there before he got to Cruze’s house? Why was he even at Cruze’s house? How did he end up in the room with me? It all seems so weird. My biggest worry, though, is if he can’t be with me because of his wife—and the fact that I was with Cruze. I practically rubbed his nose in our togetherness sometimes. When I think of the time Cruze and I fucked in front of everyone I want to bury myself under a rock—especially because I know Zane had been there. He’d watched. God, I’d done those things with a murderer.

  It made me feel twisted. It made me sick. And because I feel that way about myself, I can't hate Cruze. I thought about him too and whether he was dead or alive.

  He’d been shot by Lincoln, but he hadn’t been dead. At least, not when I left. Maybe Lincoln killed him anyway.

  I still can’t wrap my brain around the fact that I thought I cared for him. The truth is, I still kind of do. I don’t want to have anything to do with him, but I feel bad. There was good in him and I can’t help but wonder what set him off. What made him the way he is? Was it his life in the trailer park? Had he lied to me about where he grew up? More likely, he’d just held back the truth. We never really talked. We never really got to know each other. I’d enjoyed his touch, though.

  At those thoughts, I shudder.

  He’d killed. Others. I didn’t know how many, but obviously he was seriously fucked up.

  A knock brings me out of my thoughts. The door opens. It’s Zane. His features are serious. “Hi,” he says, quietly.

  “Hi.” I study him. He’s still breathtakingly handsome, but he looks tired, distraught. More than a little upset. I can’t help but think of the first time I saw him in that warehouse. In the Blue Room. The things he did to my body. Everything about him turns me on.

  “I’m really sorry.” He shoves his hands in his pants pockets.

  It’s weird seeing him this way. So downtrodden.

  “What do you have to be sorry for?” I return.

  “I knew the kind of man John Cruze was. I should’ve fought harder to keep you from him. I just didn’t know how to do it without sounding like a jealous asshole. But maybe if I’d tried harder he wouldn’t have been able to get to you, to take you into that room, to…” he trails off.

  I feel the need to comfort him because, the truth is, he couldn’t have done anything to keep me away from Cruze. When I was with him I’d wanted to be—except the last time. “It’s okay.”

  He searches my eyes. “Do you mind if we talk a while?”

  “About what?” I ask, not sure there’s anything I want to hear from him. He’s already made it clear he doesn’t want me. “You’ve done enough. I know…” I fight back tears. “You saved me. You’ve done more for me than anyone else has. Ever. I’ll be eternally grateful to you. But you don’t need to stay and talk. You said you didn’t want me with you. I understand.”

  He moves to my bed and grabs my hand. “You don’t understand. That’s what I want to talk about.”

  A tear trickles down my face. “I’m listening.”

  “Almost eight years ago I met my wife. I was a different man then. We fell in love almost immediately. She got pregnant right away. A total accident, but we were excited. Nine months later twins were born.”

  “You have kids?” I ask. I remember the pictures on his desk—a little boy and girl.

  “Yes.” An easy smile lights his face, then disappears. “About a year after they were born Cruze killed my wife. I blame myself. We didn’t know the kind of man he was. We used to joke about him. It was my fault. Of course, at first I didn’t know who’d done it. The police tried to figure it out. There’d been a slew of killing and they believed the man who’d killed her was the serial killer they’d been after for months, but they couldn’t prove it. They ran out of leads. So I took up the case. When I found out it was Cruze, the police shut me down. They didn’t believe me and said they didn’t have enough evidence to get a warrant to search his house.” Zane sighs, and runs a hand through his hair. He’s tired and I wonder how long it’s been since he slept. Before I can ask, he goes on. “They couldn’t do anything, but I could’ve. I should’ve. I’ve wanted to kill him for years, but contrary to what a lot of people in this town believe, I’m not a crook. I play by the rules… on most things.” His eyes glaze over and I wonder if he’s thinking about the Blue Room. “About a week ago two girls were found murdered. I knew he’d started up again. When I found out he had you, I told the police chief my time had come. I would kill John for what he did to my wife.”

  “And he was going to let you?” I ask.

  “The police chief has many secrets, most of which he has no desire to see the light of day. So yeah, he was going to let me because there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.” He sits on my bed. “I agreed to let him know when it was going down though, so the police could show and clean up the mess.”

  I study Zane’s hands. The trimmed and filed nails. They’re large. They can do things—magical things—to my body. I push those thoughts away. “Why is he the way he is?” Zane’s hand reaches out and grabs mine. I let him take it. “Cruze, I mean.” Just to be clear.

  Zane seems unsure how to answer. “I honestly don’t know. And Cruze isn’t talking.”

  I sigh. Zane is rubbing his thumb along the outside of my hand. It feels wonderful. My skin starts to tingle. God, will I ever be able to get over his touch? I pull my hand away. “Now what?” I ask the question without meeting his gaze. I can’t. But he said he wants me to understand. I have a feeling when he’s done giving me his explanation he’ll leave me—and this time I’ll never see him again. The thought makes me so sad. I’m a strong woman. I’ve been through and survived a lot, but I don’t want to survive another day without him.

  A sick thought builds inside. What if I tell him I want to continue being his PFA, no strings, as long as he stays? Just the thought is weak, sad... but I love him. I want him in my life any way I can have him.

  I decide in that moment I’ll make it work.

  Chapter 24

  Cadence

  Zane scoots closer to me. “Cadence,” he says softly. He takes my chin and tilts it. “When you’re ready, I hope…” He stops, and I watch conflicting emotions rush over his face. “I hope you’ll forgive me and think about the possibility of being with me.”

  I swear my heart leaps out of my throat. “What?” I ask, searching his eyes.

  “When I said I didn’t want you with me, it was a fucking lie. I’m miserable without you. But I had to finish th
ings with John Cruze. I had to put my wife’s memory to rest. Now that I have, I want you.” He takes my hand in his and presses it to his chest. I notice he’s not wearing a crisp button down but has on a loose short-sleeved shirt. “If you’ll have me.”

  I suck in several breaths. Sobs wrack my body. I can’t stop the tears. I can’t stop the ugly crying noises coming from my mouth. Tears stream down my face. My nose starts to run. I’m a blubbering mess, just like that.

  “Cadence. Cadence. My sweet little PFA.” He pulls me into his arms.

  I throw my arms around his neck and bury my face in his neck.

  “It’s okay. It’s alright,” he coos, rocking me in his arms.

  We stay like that for a while. I haven’t let myself cry like that… maybe ever. Finally I say, “You mean it? You’ aren’t leaving me again?”

  He hugs me tighter. “The next time I leave you it’ll be because you’re so fucking sick of me you need a break.”

  I laugh and cry and laugh some more. “Promise?” I pull away so that I can see his face. His eyes are filled with sincerity and overflowing with love.

  “I promise.” He brushes tears from my cheeks and he leans in to kiss me.

  My stomach lets out a loud growl. I feel my face heat up.

  We both laugh.

  “I’m really not that hungry,” I finally say, wondering how long its been since I’ve had real food.

  Zane rises. “I’m going to have the nurse get that IV out of your hand and then I’m going to have some food brought.”

  I don’t want him to go, though.

  “I’m coming right back,” he says and kisses my forehead.

  I cling to his shirt.

  “I promise. I just want to get you fed.” He grabs my cheeks in his hands. There’s lust in his eyes. “I want you. I want you in ways…”