Magnate (Acquisition Series Book 2) (9 page)

Chapter Nine

Stella

“I get three
squares a day and a bed. That’s more than I got when I was on the streets.” Gavin shrugged, his eyes a deep amber. “I don’t even see Bob. I saw him for the ball. Otherwise, I sort of have the run of the guest house on his property. Nobody bothers me. I guess I could try to run, but he’s assured me he’d find me and drag me back. Nowhere to go even if I did. I’m just going to see it through. I don’t really have any other option at this point.” He sighed. “How about you? How’d you get talked into this?”

I sipped the drink he’d handed me. “Betrayal, deceit, lies, and a contract. Same song, different verse.”

“I get it. Trust me, I do.” He glanced around, the glaring strobe flashing in his face, making him ghostly one second and solid the next. “Hey, do you want to get out of this room? Go somewhere we can talk without so much noise and so many ears?”

“Yes, please.” The cacophony of music and the blur of bodies was overwhelming, and I couldn’t help but notice some of the guests pointing at Gavin and me. They knew who we were.

He took my hand and pulled me through the dance floor, past the frenetic dancers and the sex performers. The hall still thumped from the beat within the ballroom, but it was calmer. Delving further into the house, we turned a corner and found a small alcove backed with a stained glass window in a floral pattern. We sat on the window seat thigh to thigh, both silent as our senses became accustomed to the light and freedom from prying eyes. He was warm next to me, his body heat seeping into my bare leg that was revealed by the high slit.

“You look beautiful tonight, by the way.” He leaned back and let his head rest against the panes.

“Thanks. You do, too. Handsome, I mean.” I followed his lead, leaning out of sight from anyone further down the hall.

“Thanks.”

I glanced up at him, his eyes even warmer now that light reflected from them. “Are we going to survive?”

“Yes.” He answered so quickly that I wondered if he misheard my question.

“How do you know?”

“I’ve always been a survivor, and something tells me you have, too.”

I wobbled my head back and forth on the glass. “No, I’ve given up before.”

“Maybe, but I knew the moment I saw you at the ball that you had steel in your spine. The way you stared out into the crowd as if you were above all of them, the way you tried to help Brianne, the way you took the…”

“The whipping?”

He nodded and his hand found mine. “I don’t remember much of that night. Maybe I blocked it out, but I do remember how strong you were, how I wished I could be strong like that, too.”

“I think you have me confused with some other helpless woman caught in an antiquated trial for supremacy among rich sadists.”

He snorted and squeezed my hand. “No, it’s you. And nothing about you is helpless.”

“Don’t let the jewels fool you. I’m just as caged as you are.”

“I know you are, but your strength gives me hope. Don’t make me doubt it. I need it to keep going.” His voice was somber, pleading.

“Okay. I’ll try.”

“That’s all any of us can do.”

We fell into a comfortable silence, listening to the music and watching as guests staggered past, high and lit. I kept my hand in his, forming some sort of bond that I hoped strengthened the both of us.

After a brief respite where we were simply able to exist, someone laughed raucously and stumbled down the hall in our direction. I recognized the voice—Red. I tensed and tried to shrink into the alcove.

“What is it?” Gavin dropped my hand and put a steadying palm on my thigh.

“Red,” I whispered.

The steps came closer. I shivered.

“Oh, fuck. That guy?”

“That guy.” If he noticed me, I wasn’t sure if we could avoid an even worse confrontation.

Gavin looked down the hall and then back at me. “Trust me?”

I nodded. Then his lips were on mine, his body crushing into me and shielding me from the hallway. His eyes slowly closed as he slanted his mouth more, covering my face so that all Red would be able to see was Gavin’s dark hair.

I’d frozen at Red’s voice, but Gavin’s body heat tried to thaw me. He rested one hand at my waist and planted his mouth on mine. He didn’t seek entry with his tongue, just kept himself poised over my lips. Red’s voice grew closer, and I closed my eyes, praying he wouldn’t see me.

Red bellowed a string of profanities. He was so close it startled me and I opened my mouth. Gavin took the small chance I gave him and lightly darted his tongue inside, teasing along the tip of mine. He tasted like vodka and some sweet mixer. I gripped the lapel of his jacket as his hand slid up my bare thigh.

“Well look at this shit.” Red’s voice. “We got Acquisitions fucking each other now?”

Damn.
Gavin broke the kiss, his brow creased, before pulling away from me.

“You horning in on Sin’s little cunt here?” Red swayed and leaned against the wall opposite us, his head almost bumping into an ornate sconce.

“Fuck you.” I stood and stared him down.

He leered at me. “Wait ‘til Christmas, little cunt, then I’m going to be balls deep in your ass while you scream for me to stop.”

Rage lit me from the inside out and before I knew what I was doing, I’d slapped him, leaving an angry red handprint along his cheek.

“You fucking—” He lunged for me, his eyes wide with wrath. His hands were at my throat, pressing the metal of the necklace into my skin as he constricted my airway. I clawed at his wrists, drawing blood and wanting to do much, much worse.

Gavin yanked him off me, but I wasn’t finished. While Gavin was pulling Red backward, I walked up and kneed him right in the crotch with every ounce of anger I had. Red yowled and bent over. Gavin released him and held his hands up as if he’d just touched something filthy.

“You fucking bitch, you fucking bitch.” Red kept saying the same thing over and over with wheezing breaths as he cupped his balls and stared up at me from his hunched position.

Gavin came back to my side. “Stella, we need to go—”

I couldn’t look anywhere but at Red. The desire to inflict more pain blotted out any thought about Acquisitions or trials or who was watching or consequences. “You are never going to touch me, you sick fuck! You got that?” I seethed with hate, and pulled my hand back to strike him again, but Gavin gripped my forearm.

“Don’t.”

“That’s right, bitch. Don’t.” Red was trying to stand up straight, but kept clutching his crotch. “I’ll get you back. Don’t worry. In a few weeks, I’m going to fuck every hole you got. And there’s not a fucking thing you can do about it, you stupid cunt. Merry Christmas to me.” He laughed in a high-pitched cough.

I struggled against Gavin’s hold, desperate to hurt Red, to make him feel even an ounce of the pain I’d already endured.

“Gavin?” A voice floated down the hall. “Gavin, where are you?”

“Shit. It’s Bob.” Gavin pulled me next to him and forced me to turn my back on Red and walk away.

Red was still laughing. “Oh, I’m going to have a good time with you Stella. Such a good time. Can’t wait to see you at the Christmas trial. Come hungry.”

Gavin kept leading me away even though I wished I could go toe to toe with Red and win. I wouldn’t. He would beat me. And worse, I feared his words were true. There was nothing I could do about the Christmas trial, no way to pull myself back from the brink. Red would capitalize on it, make me hurt in ways I never had before. He would always have the last laugh, just like everyone here. Even so, I still held onto the slim hope that I could somehow stop it.

“Gavin?” Bob’s voice, closer now.

“Right here.” We turned the corner to find Bob, Lucius, and Vinemont.

My expression must have tipped Vinemont off that something happened because he was towering over me in an instant. “What?”

“What do you mean?” I dropped my gaze to the floor. I didn’t need his help and I certainly didn’t want it.

He leaned back to get a view down the hall we’d come from. Red barreled around the corner, mirth still lighting his eyes.

Vinemont advanced on him until they were standing chest to chest. “Red, stay the fuck away from her. I’m not going to tell you again.”

“You don’t have to. I’m done. Don’t worry, I’m a patient man. I’ll get my turn at Christmas.” He winked at me, though he still kept a protective hand over his crotch.

I hoped his dick was bruised and swollen. I only regretted that I hadn’t tried to rip it off.

Lucius stepped up next to his brother. “Stella belongs to me now, Red. If you touch her, speak to her, do anything to her without asking me first, I will skull fuck your little sister.” Lucius smirked. “She eighteen yet? Not that it matters.”

“Don’t you fucking talk about my sister!” Red screamed. His anger was raw, unexpected, the sound catching in his throat.

Somehow, this anger was far more real than any other emotion I’d seen from him. It was strange to think he cared for someone other than himself. But there was no mistaking it. Lucius’ jab had hit home. Why?

Vinemont put a hand on Lucius’ arm. “Come on. Let’s get the meet and greet done and then we can bow out.” Vinemont pulled Lucius back, reining in his younger brother.

Red shook his head as if to clear it, the auburn strands sticking to his sweaty forehead.

“Gavin, come.” Bob tottered away, his round body swaying like humpty dumpty as he headed toward the staircase to the third floor.

Gavin gave me a small smile and turned to follow.

“We’re going, too.” Vinemont placed his hand on my lower back, his fingertips hot against my bare skin, and led me forward.

Lucius was close behind and Red followed. We climbed the stairs. The music faded as we rose, until it was only a slight rhythmic bump.

We turned right at the landing and entered a solarium. The glass ceiling above opened to the night sky. Exotic plants that were painstakingly curated to give the appearance of wildness filled the room.

Branching ropes of wisteria climbed central pillars and fanned out across the panes, creating a patchwork of bark and greenery. I imagined how it must look in the spring, heavy lavender blooms hanging beneath the blue heavens. I closed my eyes, etching the image into my mind so I could paint it later. It would have been beautiful, but tonight the sky was nothing but a dark blur through the glass, no stars, no moon. The air stagnated with conversation and stale cigar smoke. Whatever beauty this room might hold was covered with a fine layer of grime from its occupants.

About two dozen more guests settled here, lounging, talking, drinking. Several older ladies in one group turned toward us, whispering and eyeing me with haughty disdain. Though they were long past their prime, their faces were frozen in an impression of youth—lips too plump, brows too unlined, smiles too improbably white. Like some of the plants in the room, they were sickly sweet and entirely predatory. I shivered and edged closer to Vinemont.

He wrapped his arm around my waist and something inside me calmed. The tempest of emotions Red, and now this room, had whipped up mellowed under Vinemont’s touch, and even though I knew I wasn’t, I felt safe.

I glanced up and caught his eye, the dark sapphire blue stopping my breath for a second. The memory of him in the cabin that day during the storm, the way he’d worshipped my flesh with his, flitted through my mind. A distant echo of those same feelings scattered through my heart and multiplied until the only thing inside me was his name, a whispered prayer.
Sin.

He leaned toward me until his lips were at my ear. “I should have told you before. But I have never seen anything more beautiful.”

My heart stopped, and then a warmth spread from it to the rest of me. His words were unexpected, and my steps faltered as I tried to keep his pace.

He straightened and looked ahead so that all I could see was his strong profile against the backdrop of the shadowy sky. His grip never failed, I gained my feet again, and we glided through the room.

Unlike the dance floor below, the atmosphere was almost cloyingly serene, and a string quartet played in a corner. The older guests here were sedate, perhaps having swum long enough in an ocean of privilege and depravity that they were now content to sit on the shore and watch the rest of the swimmers struggle and drown.

Cal rose from his perch on a love seat, Brianne sitting next to him, and greeted us. “Welcome, welcome. Make yourselves comfortable. Relax. It’s a party after all.”

He stepped forward and took my hand. My skin crawled, and Vinemont’s fingertips pressed more firmly into my waist.

“Come, let me chat you up. These boys can do without you for a few minutes, right Sin?”

Vinemont froze and focused on me.
Would he refuse
?

Cal faked a laugh. “But, wait, what was I thinking? Lucius is the proud owner now. I was confused, what with the girl on your arm, Sin, instead of your brother’s.” He gave Vinemont an acid smile and turned to Lucius. “So, may I speak with Stella for a moment?”