Reign of Freedom : A Dark Enemies to Lovers Romance (Corium University Book 5) Read online

  I frown, though thankful he even came. Still, I’m terrified of what will happen when he walks out that door. This is a whorehouse, and I’m trapped here, forced to work or endure god knows what.

  “Lucas…” My lip trembles, and I’ve never felt so weak before. I don’t want him to see me like this. I need to be strong, but even the strong can only be that way for so long. “They want me to sleep with other men. I don’t think I can do it.” I’m on the verge of tears all over again.

  In a flash, he’s on me, his fingers thread through my hair, and he pulls my head back, aligning our faces. His blue eyes are icy, and the fury in their depths makes it hard for me to breathe. I’ve never seen him like this, so… jealous.

  “No one will touch you. I’ll make certain of it.” He hisses through his teeth moments before he crashes his lips to mine. His mouth is hot against mine, and his tongue exploring mine is even hotter. The kiss isn’t sweet or gentle. No, there is none of that. It’s passion and fire; it’s him saying he owns me without saying it.

  He walks me backward until my legs bump into the bed, and I’m pushed onto the mattress.

  “Why don’t we take your mind off things? I paid to have you all night,” he teases, unbuttoning his shirt slowly. “Am I going to get my money’s worth?”

  My mouth is so dry that all I can do is nod as I unbutton my jeans with trembling fingers. Now I do wish I had worn the dress. Lucas helps me out of my pants before pulling the rest of his clothes off.

  I watch in awe as his muscular, tattooed body comes into view. He might be twice my age, but he’s in better shape than most men I know. His fingers wrap around my ankles, and with one harsh tug, he pulls me to the edge of the bed, forcing my legs apart.

  His display of strength is a sudden reminder of how much stronger he is and that he has used that strength against me. A memory of being locked in the cell flashes over my eyes. The way he held me down, forcing himself inside my ass. The pain. The loneliness after.

  “What’s wrong?” His concerned tone brings me back to the present, but the icky feeling of what he did to me remains.

  “I-I…” I don’t want to ruin the moment, but I can’t just forget what he did to me either. “I just remembered the last time we…” I trail off. The last time we had sex doesn't seem like the right phrase to use.

  Lucas’s face falls, and his eyes turn rueful, but I doubt there will be an apology. Not that a sorry would make things better.

  “That won’t happen again. Right now, I want to make you feel good and take your mind off this mess. You’ll just have to trust me. Close your eyes and let me make you come so hard you’ll forget where you are for the rest of the night.”

  “I wish I could.”

  “You can. Let me take care of you. Let me take care of this pussy—my pussy!” He spreads my legs a little wider, and before I can get another word in, his mouth is on me, on my clit, his tongue caressing it like it’s the most precious thing in the world.

  It doesn’t take me long to forget what I was thinking about five minutes ago. He sucks, nibbles, and licks the small bundle of nerves until my toes curl up and my back arches off the mattress. I need more. I need him deep inside me.

  My first orgasm still lingers in my bones when Lucas crawls up over my body and aligns himself with my pussy. He peppers kisses over my chest until his lips find mine. I can taste myself on his tongue as he kisses me, his mouth like a branding iron on my soul. I want to shatter in his arms because I know only he has the power to bring all my tiny shards back together.

  His kiss is so slow and intimate that I don’t expect him to slam his cock into me the way he does, burying himself into my tight channel with one thrust. He swallows my pained moan and pulls out all the way, just to thrust back into me with equal force.

  This would probably hurt a lot more if I hadn't already come. Luckily, I’m so wet, I can feel my arousal dripping down my ass cheeks, giving him no trouble fucking me with hard thrusts. My clit is still swollen and sensitive, driving me closer to a second orgasm with each brutal thrust.

  “No one touches this cunt except me,” Lucas grunts between pounding into me violently. “Do you hear me? This is my pussy, and you don’t let anyone else near it.” His hand circles my throat, and he squeezes, causing dots of black to form over my vision. It’s the most terrifying and exhilarating thing ever.

  “It’s yours,” I manage to wheeze out through his grasp as I hover over the edge of a cliff. He fucks me like he hates me and cuts off my air supply like he wants to strangle me, and I let him because I know deep down that hurting me is the last thing he wants to do right now. It doesn’t take much longer until I fall off, giving myself over to the place he takes me. He fucks me through my release until my brain is swimming in endorphins, and my body feels like it’s about to float off the bed.

  The only thing keeping me from floating away is Lucas’s heavy body on me and his cock impaling me. I don’t know how long he continues fucking me, but I want it to be forever. I’m barely awake, exhausted, and high on my own body’s hormones, but I know I’m safe, at least for now.

  I didn’t think I could possibly come a third time, but when Lucas grunts into my ear like a lover’s chant, and his cock swells inside me with his own release, a final orgasm wrecks through my body. I clench around him, squeezing him so tightly I think we both might die.

  All I want to do is go to sleep. My mind and body are sated. Lucas is here protecting me from everyone and everything. For a few hours, everything is okay.

  My mind is hazy when Lucas slips out of me and repositions us on the bed, so I’m lying on top of him.

  I rest against Lucas’s chest, letting the aftershocks of pleasure ripple through me. Maybe I shouldn’t have let it happen after how everything ended back at Corium, but he came for me. He came to save me, and that has to mean something.

  After a moment, Lucas pulls away, and I’m reminded that I’ll have to remain here while he leaves to figure out how to get me out of this mess.

  He pulls on his slacks and buttons them. My eyes linger on his chiseled chest and abs that are perfectly indented into his skin. I drag my gaze away from his half-naked body to see him pulling out a phone from his pocket.

  “I’m going to leave you my phone. Keep it hidden. I’ll message you from another number so you have it and can call me.”

  Relief pools in my belly. I can call him at the very least so I won’t be completely alone.

  “Okay, thank you,” I whisper.

  I take the phone from his hand and slide it under the pillow, then I crawl off the bed and slip back into my clothes. By the time I’m dressed, he is buttoning the last button on his shirt. I look up at him and wonder if I can really trust him.

  Everyone I’ve ever trusted has let me down or led me astray. Putting my trust in Lucas is giving him the bullet to kill me, but what other choice do I have?

  “Call me if anything happens.” I nod, and my lips turn down at the sides. “I promise, Delilah. I’ll come back to you, and I’ll kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand me?”

  My heart tightens in my chest at the notion.

  “Yes, I understand.”

  “Good, now be good and don’t cause any trouble.”

  I nod and watch as he leaves the room. As soon as he steps out the door and it closes, I hear a lock engage. I fall back against the bed and stare at the ceiling. He’s going to come back for me—he promised, and all I can do is hope he keeps his word.

  3

  LUCAS

  “You know, I did tell you—”

  “I don’t want to fucking hear it, Nic. Yes, you told me, but how could I have known he has a goddamn contract.”

  Nic leans back in his chair with a deep sigh while I continue pacing in front of his desk. I haven’t sat still since I left that place a few hours ago, and I don’t think I will until I have her with me again.

  “Lucas.” Celia’s concerned voice meets my ear. “Why don’t you sit and let me get you a drink?”

  A part of me knows she’s only trying to help, but the bigger part of me is irritated that she can’t actually help, so I snap at her. “I don’t need a drink. I need to get her out of there.”

  “We’re almost ready to go. My men are loading up as we speak,” Nic tells me for the third time in the past thirty minutes.

  What the fuck is taking so long?

  Just as I’m about to demand to leave and not waste any more time, a voice booms through the intercom. “Sir, we are ready to go.”

  “Finally!” I throw up my arms. My legs are already carrying me out. I don’t even wait for Nic to get up. “Let’s go, or I’m leaving you behind.”

  “So you can get in more trouble,” my brother fires back. He is a few years older than me but still in better shape than most men half his age, so it’s not surprising that he has no problem keeping up with my fast pace down the stairs.

  “Be careful!” Celia yells before the door closes behind us, and we’re speed walking outside to where four SUVs are waiting for us.

  Nic and I slide into the back seat of the second SUV, which is the only one that doesn’t have at least five people inside already. All my brother’s men are dressed in black from head to toe and armed to the teeth.

  Brookshire’s goons won’t stand a chance. Nathaniel is stupid enough to hire the biggest and most scary-looking guys he can find to guard his place. Ten of his men would not stand a chance against five of these guys. My brother makes a point of hiring the best of the best. He has three Navy SEALs on his team, two Special Ops Marines, along with CIA-trained snipers and a few former FBI agents.

  It turns out that when you offer people double what they are making, without the political bullshit attached to their job, they are very
eager to switch to the other side of the law.

  “Do me a favor.”

  Nic’s voice shakes me out of my dark, troubled thoughts. I can’t help but imagine smashing Nathaniel’s face into his desk, balling up that contract, and shoving it down his throat. The thought of watching his eyes go glassy the longer he chokes is almost as satisfying as the most erotic fantasy I’ve ever had.

  I look at Nic. “What’s that?”

  “Don’t take any unnecessary risks in there.”

  “What? You’re going to parent me all of a sudden? Where is this coming from?”

  “We both know I understand how you’re feeling right now.”

  “You don’t have the first fucking idea.”

  “In general, yes, I do. Let’s not pretend this is anything it isn’t. Kid yourself all you want, but don’t kid me. This is personal for you.”

  “Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be? I told him I wanted her, and he refused me. Didn’t give me the chance to negotiate.”

  “Right.” He shakes his head, snickering softly while tucking a Glock into his ankle holster. “That’s all it’s about.”

  “She’s mine to punish, Nic. Only mine.”

  “I understand that.” He adjusts his earpiece, and I do the same with mine. “So long as it stays there, and you don’t let your personal feelings about her get in the way.”

  He’s not going to let it go until I admit I care about her. It’s not going to happen. “What’s your point?”

  “The point is, I understand the temptation to say fuck it and be reckless. But we both know we can’t forget who we’re dealing with here. I want to cut that piece of shit’s dick off and dangle it in front of his face, but we can’t always do what we want in these situations.”

  Suddenly, he wants to talk about diplomacy. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “You just worry about your guys. I’ll worry about myself.”

  He growls something unintelligible but is smart enough to let the matter drop.

  Every mile brings me a mile closer to her. Has anyone else had enough time to put their hands on her? To sink their cocks inside her? Burning heat spreads through my chest like I swallowed a lump of blazing coal, and it’s eating me up inside. Is she hurting? Is she afraid? That much, I can assume. She’s terrified right now. And she’s counting on me. Hold on a little while longer. I’m coming for you.

  The unlit sign is the first thing to catch my attention as we roll up on the building. “Closed for the evening?” I mutter, exchanging a glance with my brother.

  “Either that or he knows this is coming.” Of course he would. He had to know this was coming next. We’re counting on it.

  “I assumed he’d use the other girls and his clientele to shield himself, then make his escape in the middle of all the chaos.” That’s still a possibility, though, whether or not the place is crawling with men ready to pay for sex.

  The SUVs pull to a stop, chatter overlapping in my ear thanks to the earpiece tucked firmly inside. “Testing the door,” one of the guys reports while another three men take the alley running alongside the building to survey the rear.

  “All clear,” one of them announces. “Eyes on the exit.” In case Nathaniel decides to sneak her out the back.

  I join the men at the front door and pound my fist against the wood like I did before. This time, there’s no answer. No goon in a suit that’s too tight for him. Nothing at all.

  I fall back to let the experts do their work. She’s in there, locked up, probably wondering if I’ll ever fulfill my promise of getting her out. I’m practically bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet as I wait for the C4 to be packed around the lock. Like everyone else, I retreat behind one of the SUVs in preparation for the explosion.

  “Three… two… one.” With that, a blast tears through the otherwise peaceful night and blows the door open. We’re moving before the smoke clears, pouring into the building and fanning out, weapons drawn, heads on swivels.

  “Deserted?” Nic asks as we move farther into the darkened building. No customers wander the halls, no chatter or laughter. Not even the laugh track from a TV show playing somewhere. Not a sound.

  The rapid patter of gunfire answers Nic’s question. We plaster ourselves to the walls, the lead man rounding a corner and returning fire. There’s a strained grunt quickly followed by a heavy thud as the gunman falls.

  In my earpiece, I hear the firefight taking place in the rear of the building. “Two of them trying to get out!” one of our guys shouts, the rest of it drowned out by more fire.

  “Is she one of them?” I shout, pressing my hand to my ear to hear better. “Is it her?”

  Waiting for the noise to die down is torture, every passing second aging me a year. Finally, I hear, “Negative. Two guys. Both down.”

  “Is Brookshire one of them?” Nic asks.

  “Negative.”

  I round the corner and find the bouncer I met on my first visit now slumped against the wall, legs splayed at awkward angles. He’s gasping for air, bleeding freely from a wound in the stomach and another in his shoulder.

  Crouching, I lean down so my face fills his field of vision. “Where’s your boss? Where is Delilah?”

  He looks up at me, eyes unfocused at first. Once he recognizes me, it sounds like he’s trying to laugh, but all he manages is a wet gurgle. “Go fuck yourself,” he grunts, blood dripping down his chin from the effort.

  I slam my fist against his wounded shoulder, and he howls before spitting out a mouthful of blood. “You think he’d tell me?” he bawls, raising a hand to his wound like that’s going to help anything. He looks down at the mess his gut has become. “Aw, shit.”

  “You’re dead within fifteen minutes,” I remind him. “If that. You wanna die with that girl on your conscience? Where is he? Was he waiting for this to happen?”

  He lifts his head, blinking slowly. “I thought I told you to fuck yourself.” I almost have to give him credit for holding out until the end, even if he sucks at choosing sides.

  “You backed the wrong horse.” He doesn’t have the chance to draw another labored breath before I blow his brains out.

  Then I stand, my mind made up. “He was ready for this.” Let the others search the rest of the place. I know exactly where I need to go.

  “Wait!” I ignore Nic’s plea in favor of taking the stairs two at a time and going to the room where I first found Delilah. There are so many doors, all of them closed, and from behind more than one of them, I hear weeping. I ignore it in favor of going to Delilah’s door and testing the knob. No surprise, it’s locked and unmoving.

  “Delilah!” Silence. “I’m coming in. Stay away from the door!” I take a step back and deliver a solid kick that sends the door flying open hard enough to bounce off the wall beside it.

  The room is empty, the lights off. I flip the switch on the wall, and the overhead bulb reveals nothing to give me a clue about what happened. No blood, nothing broken. The bed is neatly made.

  Not once I strip the thin blankets from it and throw them across the room. “Goddamnit!” The pitiful excuse for an adjoining bathroom is also empty—and grimy. The man couldn’t be bothered to keep the place livable for the girls he sells.

  I return to the hall, colliding with my brother. “She’s gone.” Without giving him a chance to respond, I begin with the door directly opposite Delilah’s and repeat the effort of kicking it open. A girl with dark skin and wide, tear-filled eyes cowers on the corner of the bed, holding a pillow in front of her like a shield.

  “Nobody is here to hurt you,” I grunt, approaching the bed. “Where’s your boss? What happened here?”

  “I-I don’t know!”

  “Is your door always locked?” Nic asks, standing in the doorway.

  Her head bobs up and down. “Always. We’re never allowed to leave our rooms.” I figured as much from the time I spent with Delilah, but now I know she wasn’t a special case.

  I leave her and go to the next room and the next. The girls are too thin, dressed in cheap, skimpy lingerie meant to excite their customers. The rooms are like closets, bleak and depressing.

  “Do you know where your boss is?” I ask a redhead at the end of the hall as she wipes tears from her freckled cheeks. She can’t be older than Aspen or Delilah. None of them can.