Defiance (New Adult Romance) (Isaac & Maya) (36 page)

46

Isaac

Maya doesn’t come home from school when she’s supposed to. I call her, but she doesn’t answer, and the last one went directly to voice mail. Remaining calm, I decide to call
Lisa’s phone instead. She doesn’t pick either.

They’re twenty minutes late now. Anyone else would just glance at the clock and shrug their shoulders, but I can’t do that. Something happened, I can feel it. A million scenarios run through my mind as my breathing gets faster. In one of them, Maya stops on her way home to pick something up for dinner to surprise me, but that fantasy is soon eclipsed by far more likely scenes of torment and fear.

Jace doesn’t answer his phone right away, so I text him that it’s an emergency. It’s another five agonizing minutes until he calls me back because he was in the shower. I explain what I’m dealing with, surprised that he doesn’t tell me to calm down.

How could I have been so careless? I should have
gone to pick her up today, I was going to, but my head started pounding and it took longer than I expected to make her favorite brownies from scratch. They were still in the oven when it was time to leave. I wanted them to be warm when I got home. I should have let them burn. I should have gone to get her, that was so much more important.

Jace gives me the location of the car that picked Maya up from school. It hasn’t moved in ten minutes and it didn’t stop on the way to our apartment. We decide
to meet there. The drive takes forever, I’m sure that I’ll arrive after he does because his place is closer, but somehow I beat him to the parking garage. The doors are all open and the only thing inside is Lisa’s dead body. There’s vomit in the back seat and I recognize the tiny chunks of red pepper that I sprinkled into Maya’s omelet this morning. A few long strands of her blonde hair glimmer on the head rest. I gather them up, wrapping them around my fingers so that I can touch some part of her. Where is she?

I tuck the hair into my pocket as Jace pulls up. He doesn’t take
Lisa’s demise very well, wailing and stomping as I stand there paralyzed. They must have been better friends than I’d realized. At this point, the building’s rent-a-cops have come to question us, instantly pulling their guns and informing us that the real police are on their way. Jace pleads with them from one underestimated private security guy to another to let him see the surveillance tape. They agree, holstering their weapons and leading him inside. He tells me not to leave, but where would I go? Maya could be anywhere.
Anywhere
. I lost her.

I keep fiddling with these strands of hair as my mind grows eerily tranquil. I have a thicker coil in a little box in my sock drawer, right next to the box that holds the ring I was planning to give her tonight. I used to gather loose strands of her hair when we were sequestered in that apartment, I started picking them up the very first night because I was so obsessed with her. I thought she would think it was creepy when I explained the keepsake, but she thought it was kind of cute and she gave me a blow job to prove she wasn’t lying. Why is she always so sweet?

My phone rings and for an instant I imagine hearing her voice on the other end, I want it to be her so badly even though it won’t be.
Please
. I’ll do anything.

I can’t even say hello, but I can tell from the breathing Maya wasn’t the one that called me from this unlisted number. “Isaac?”

“Diego?”

“Yeah. Isaac, she’s okay. Well, sort of.”

“Maya?”

“Yeah. Luke brought her to one of your father’s clubs. He has her in a playroom.”

“How the
fuck
is that okay?” I scream as Jace reappears. “Which club?”

“Isaac, he probably isn’t doing anything to her. Christina told everyone that he can’t get hard anymore when she left him.”

So I took his dick, his hand, his teeth, two of his women, and his pride. And right now Maya is paying for all of it. “Diego,
please
. Which club?”

“I shouldn’t even have called you.”

“You know he doesn’t need a functioning penis to hurt her,” I remind him. Jace’s eyes widen, but not nearly as much as the two guards flanking him. “Go back there. Stop him. I’m fucking begging you.”

“I can’t,” he croaks. “I’m sorry.”

“
Tell me where she is!
”

“Isaac… you can’t come here. That girl your father bought you—”

“Kasia! She has a name, they
all
have fucking names.”

“Yeah, they do, and there are about a dozen of them being smuggled here, maybe more. Kasia tipped us off, it’s happening tonight. This club is about to be raided. I’m guessing Luke wants to trade in your girlfriend, that’s probably why he brought her here. But don’t worry, that won’t happen.”

“Holy shit.” An image of Maya huddled in some dark closet somewhere infiltrates my thoughts. “When will they come?”

“I’m not sure. A few hours, maybe.”

“Diego,” I groan. “A lot can happen to a person in a few hours. I’ll say that I had a tracking chip in her bracelet or something, I won’t tip them off.”

“Isaac… I can’t. This is huge. She’ll be okay.”

“Don’t fucking do this to me,” I wail. “
Please
.”

My old friend
pauses for a second. “Number Seven. She’s in the back, fourth door on the right. Your dad will probably show up, man. Luke is not welcome here anymore, someone is bound to report him.”

“Thank you,” I exhale. “Let’s go,” I tell Jace.

One of the security guards looks like he wants to tell us to stick around, but he must know better than to push me. Luke should have known better, too.

47

Jace

I’ve always been curious about what these kinky sex clubs look
ed like. Turns out it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect. Poor lighting, no windows, and lots of practically naked chicks dancing on rich looking dudes to shitty music. I was expecting there to be some creepy chains or whips on the walls though, but there aren’t any. Maybe that would be too obvious.

Isaac just walks inside like he owns the joint. I guess he kind of does, he’s got that whole Prince of Darkness legacy going for him and he is majorly throwing off that vibe right now. I’ve never felt more out of place in my life.

The décor gets freakier as we walk farther back. I can’t stand being in a building without knowing where all the exits are, even when that building isn’t a giant demented sex dungeon. Isaac looks more intense than he ever has, and that’s really saying something because he’s a pretty intense guy by default. This is a horrible idea, but we can’t just abandon Maya to whatever goes on in this hell hole.

I was on the phone with my mom when Isaac called to tell me what happened. I should probably be at the hospital watching my father take his dying breaths right now. This is a lot more important. I guess I get to text Piper soon, an official emergency text that she promised to answer. Hopefully, it won’t be to tell her that Maya took her dying breath today, too. Like
Lisa did. They say this shit happens in threes. I hope they’re wrong.

Isaac is walking several steps ahead of me, not taking his time to check around corners or glance in the rooms we pass. It’s careless, but this place isn’t as foreign to him as it is to me and every second his girlfriend spends out of his sight is one too many. He doesn’t even hesitate before opening the door to the room where he thinks Maya is. I don’t know why I expected him to. I’m moving so fast to keep up that I slam into him, unaware that he froze in the threshold when he turned the corner and disappeared from my sight. I look over his shoulder into a fucked up sex or torture chamber, I can’t tell which. Maybe it’s both.

Maya is tied to a rack in the center of the room, her hands suspended over her head. She isn’t naked, but she doesn’t exactly have any clothes on either, it’s all chains and straps and mesh. She looks so… decorated. Lots of makeup with her hair flowing over her shoulders, covering her breasts. Her eyes are closed and at first I think we’re too late, then I see her take a shallow breath. I don’t think Isaac saw it, he’s still frozen, so I nudge him inside.

Maybe he didn’t care about coming in here armed because he knew weapons would be so plentiful. There are a thousand ways to kill or maim someone decorating the walls, but I still feel safer having my gun at my side. Isaac walks up to her slowly, reaching out and touching her face. I see him exhale in relief when she jerks a little. As soon as he knows Maya is still in there, he springs into action, pulling out his pocket knife to cut the straps tying her hands together. She falls forward into his arms and he lowers her gently onto the floor.

“There should be a white t-shirt or a sheet in the bottom drawer of that chest,” he says to me as he starts pulling off pieces of whatever the hell she’s wearing.

I’m not sure if I should be terrified or turned on by the things I find in that bottom drawer, but I’m definitely confused. “There’s nothing here, man.”

“This place has really gone to shit without me,” he grumbles, taking his own shirt off and pulling it over Maya’s head. “Wake up, baby,” he whispers, pressing his mouth to hers. She doesn’t respond.

“What the fuck?” someone says.
Apparently there is another door at the back of this room.

I lift my face and find myself staring into Luke’s confused eyes. He obviously didn’t expect to find the pain in the ass friendly neighbor here. His gaze leaves mine and settles on Isaac huddled on the floor, seemingly oblivious to the threat. I can’t help but grin as I watch Luke put the pieces together, finally understanding that he lost the woman he wanted to marry the moment that he sent her to off to some messed up sex boot camp, nearly a year ago now. He really didn’t see it coming. The shock and confusion quickly morphs into rage.

“You son of a bitch!” Luke growls, lunging toward Isaac, who appears to be in a trance.

I jump forward, hoping to intercept before this piece of shit crashes into my friend, but Isaac was faking him out. He is one slippery, sneaky guy after all. His arm swipes through the air at the perfect moment, catching Luke off guard. I forgot that Isaac still had a knife until I see Luke’s eyes widen, looking down at the long slice through his shirt and the red trails beading down from his chest. It wasn’t a deep cut, but enough to rattle him and give Isaac his chance.

Somehow I thought I’d need to help him subdue the target, but in the chaos that follows I realize that Isaac might hold back when we grapple for sport. That, or he needs the hatred that grips him now to be at his best. Either way, I never want to see the insanity illuminating his laser beam eyes directed at me. The fight moves so fast it’s hard to keep track of whose hands are whose, until I see that Luke’s are suddenly shackled over his head against some bizarre torture station cross like apparatus pushed up against the wall. What the hell goes on in here?

I’m about to find out. Isaac’s maniacal snicker sends a chill down my spine, I can only imagine how Luke reacted to it. He tries to call out, but as soon as his mouth opens wide enough, Isaac shoves an orange ball inside it and straps it to his head. When did Luke’s feet get tied to the bottom of that thing? In mere seconds, Isaac flexes his sex dungeon master prowess and has the threat silenced and immobilized in the most fucked up, vulnerable way. I can’t believe people seriously get off on this shit, it is beyond weird.

“Surprise,” Isaac hisses, taunting his opponent. Uh oh. That’s definitely his lights are on but nobody’s home crazy voice.

“Isaac, we should really get the fuck out of here,” I say, but I don’t think he can hear me. The only thing that could snap him out of this is Maya and she is out cold.

“You didn’t suspect me at all, did you?” Isaac pokes that knife into his throat. “
Did you?
” he screams. Luke shakes his head no before Isaac pushes it into his neck, barely drawing blood. Holy shit.

The insane person who looks so much like my friend draws back, laughing triumphantly as he looks at his conquest. “I’m going to kill you now,” he chuckles. That’s fucking great. “She asked
me not to do that. Not for you, shithead.” Isaac punches him in the stomach hard enough that his body wants to double over automatically, but it can’t. “She said if I did, it would change me, that she wouldn’t look at me the same way. But that was before you brutalized her again. I think she’ll forgive me now. I think she wants you dead as much as I do. That’s the only way you’ll ever stop, isn’t it?”

Luke’s screams are stifled by that gag as Isaac slices across his throat. At first I think it’s over, but it’s hardly a scratch. He’s just toying with him. “You fucked up,” Isaac snarls into Luke’s ear with the knife pressed against his stomach. “You leant me your woman and I stole her. You wanted her to be different, but you fuckers stuck me in a room with exactly what I wanted and I never even tried.” Luke’s eyes start to burn and he thrashes. “I kissed her, I held her, and I ate her pussy so much I can always taste it now,” Isaac continues. If this wasn’t so twisted, it would be awkward. “She came more than anybody probably ever has because I like hearing her squeal and holding her still while she writhes beneath me.” I guess it’s a little much to expect a TMI warning in this situation. “Did you
know that she’s a squirter?” Isaac chuckles as Luke’s nostrils flare. “You didn’t. Because she’s mine and that’s for
me
.”

I start to turn my head around to check on that noise behind me, but Luke’s muffled scream draws my attention. I only took my eyes off this grisly scene for an instant, but now the asshole’s shirt is open and there are three longer, much deeper cuts decorating his chest.

“What were you going to do to her? Cut her?” he snaps. “Where? Here?” Luke screeches, bucking helplessly in his restraints as Isaac slices through the center of his victim’s nipple. “Maybe here?” Isaac drags that knife through Luke’s navel. I can’t help but wince, it doesn’t matter if the bastard deserves it, it’s still so fucking sick.

“Was she a brat with you, or just with me?” Isaac asks casually, stepping backwards to watch him bleed for a second. “Because that’s my thing, but it isn’t yours, is it? You hate her smart fucking mouth, don’t you?” He crashes back into him, laughing as he slices his bottom lip open. “God, I fucking love the mouth on her. She pushes my buttons all day until I can’t take it anymore, then she gets on her knees when I tell her to and that smart mouth worships
my
dick until I bend her over and fuck her up the ass.” Isaac’s eyes look totally fucking gone, he is very much off his meds right now, brandishing the weapon and glancing around Luke’s body at his rear. He starts to panic, thrashing helplessly until Isaac laughs and shakes his head dismissively. “Maya loves it,
every
fucking second of it. She is so good for me, she does everything I want her to and I didn’t have to train her at all. It’s natural for her. But just for me, you sick fuck.” I can’t help but think that it takes one to know one.

“And that genius factory womb of hers, and that’s
all
you ever wanted,
isn’t it
?” Isaac growls as he cuts Luke above his groin. “That’s all mine too. Your kids would have been smarter, but mine will be a hell of a lot hotter, won’t they? You’re perfect lawyer wife is mine too, but she’s a hot, kinky little math geek because she is
my
fucking fantasy,
not yours
.” Isaac backhands him across the face, blood and sweat flying everywhere.

“I think I know where you were going to cut her.” My stomach turns as he drags knife down into his victim’s pants. Luke is practically hyperventilating through the corners of his mouth around the gag. “Were you going to breed her?” Isaac growls. What he fuck does that even mean? “Keep her locked up in a dark room in some hell hole for a few years until she popped out a few smart puppies for you?” Oh. Man, that is messed up. Does that actually happen? Then Luke, the sick bastard, actually has the nerve to laugh and tries to smirk, so maybe it is. “Maya never said anything about castrating you,” Isaac whispers. “I wonder what it feels like to bleed to death out of your dick…”

“Isaac!” I shout as loud as I can. “Jesus Christ, just fucking shoot him and let’s get out of here.”

“No. That’s too good for him,” Isaac replies calmly, keeping his eyes locked with Luke’s. “He was going to take days to kill her, maybe years. I have a lot of pain to cram into a few minutes.”

“Mission fucking accomplished, dude.” Holy shit, what the hell do I say to him? “Isaac. We need to get Maya out of here, she should probably see a doctor or something.”

My friend blinks and pulls the knife away, starting to snap out of it. I wish I would have thought of that sooner. “Right,” Isaac whispers. I brace myself to watch him finish the job, but I don’t think he wants to.

“Come on. Let’s just go.”

“I can’t leave him like this.”

“Your father will clean it up for you.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Isaac groans, stomping his foot as he wipes sweat off his brow. “I have to take him out, he will never leave us a—” The knife clatters to the floor as he spins to face me, his freaky eyes looking over my shoulder, filled with horror. “Don’t hurt her.”

What the hell? I turn around slowly and see Baron standing in the doorway, holding Maya in his arms. Our eyes meet, he’s even more surprised than Luke to see me here. Has he been standing there the whole time? “Why aren’t you at the hospital next to your father?” he asks me. Obviously he got the memo that his mentor is about to pass into the next life.

“Your son needed my help more,” I mumble, stepping backwards. “It’s probably another false alarm anyway and I saw him this morning.”

Baron nods at me, his attention turning to his wayward son, but I can’t tell if he’s proud or angry at him. “You
stole
one of your clients’ girls?” he accuses Isaac, nodding down to Maya.

“Yes.”

“That was a rhetorical question! I heard everything,” he snaps.

“Glory knows about us,” Isaac replies quickly, stepping toward them.

“You don’t honestly expect me to believe that, do you?”

“It’s true. She’s my mother, I tell her everything. She’s known since I called her the first night of the assignment, asking for advice to help me control myself,” he explains.

“That was ten months ago.”

“I knew what I wanted right away. You knew, too. That’s why you gave her to me, isn’t it?”

Baron laughs under his breath. “Did Glory tell you to keep this a secret from me?”

“Yes,” Isaac answers, “but I would have done it anyway.”

“What about the other girl?”

“Um… I’m guessing that Glory wanted me to have another outlet so that I would stop roughing up her favorite protégé. Mom can’t accept that Maya likes it as much as I do. I don’t need the girl, I’ll give her back if you want. I haven’t
even done anything to her yet, I just knew it would put Glory’s mind at ease.”