Protected (21 page)

SOPHIE

‘Everything
okay, Sophie?’ Kane’s head appears around the library door. 

‘All
fine, thanks, Kane,’ I turn and provide him a small smile.

I
had asked to be left behind today, not for a minute expecting to be
permitted.  I had got my period and had cried off with cramps. 
Surprisingly, Luke had acquiesced and left Kane to watch over me while he went
about his daily business.  He had already had his morning fuck, so was in
more of a relaxed state by the time I approached the subject, during breakfast. 

I
didn’t get regular periods as I had the contraceptive implant fitted, which
leads to less or no periods, thankfully.  It appearing this morning had
given me a day to breathe, a much-needed break.  Luke had mentioned he
would try to be home early, but personally, I was hoping that he got caught up
and gave me my much-needed reprieve. 

I
was chilling in the library, a book in my hand that I had no intention of
reading, it was a prop to prevent people from speaking to me or asking me where
my mind was, and it seemed to work, up until now.

As
soon as Luke had left, I had put on my jogging bottoms and a tank, and finally
felt myself physically relax.

I
felt Kane’s gaze still on me as he loitered in the doorway.  He normally
provided me some space if he minded me.

‘Everything
okay with you?’ I asked, softly.

He
stepped into the room and approached me, stopping directly in front of me.

‘You
happy, Sophie, or is that a silly question?’ He enquires, quietly.

My
mouth opens before immediately closing, is it a trick? 

He
glances at the door, ‘it’s a silly question, I know,’ he continues.  ‘Your
detective?’ He almost whispers.

Again,
I gaze blankly at his brown eyes, had Luke put him up to this?  Is it a
pass or fail test, that decides whether I die or not die?

‘He’s
going to get himself killed he gets in between this with you and Ericson,’ he
informs me as if I don’t know.  ‘He’s trying to get between this,’ he
notifies me, ‘his brother and I, we served together,’ he confides.  ‘He’s
asking questions, so answer me here and now Sophie, you happy with the current
situation?’

I
begin to tremble, the mention of Nate and the knowledge that he is trying to
find me hitting me deep down somewhere I haven’t felt for a while.  Kane
drops to his knees in front of me, ‘I need you to speak, Sophie,’ he urges.

I
hear a scuffle in the hall and instantly Kane stands and the mask of
impassiveness on my face shifts into place, covering my vulnerability. 

‘There
you are,’ Luke glares at Kane standing so close to me before his eyes fall to
me evaluating my expression.

‘What
you doing, Kane?’ His gaze moves to the man before me.

‘Just
checking to see if I can get Miss Parker anything, sir,’ he explains,
respectfully.

‘Well,
I am here now, you are relieved of your duties,’ he insists, dismissing him.
‘I’m perfectly capable of taking care of my woman’s needs,’ Kane nods and
instantly departs the library.

I
fall into character easily, much practised now.  ‘You're home early,’ I
smile up as if his appearance makes me incredibly happy.

‘I
was worried about my woman,’ he shrugs off his jacket and drops beside me on
the sofa.  ‘You feeling any better?’ He questions.

‘A
bit,’ I cup his jaw, ‘thank you for worrying,’ I move to place my lips on his,
‘I hope I haven’t interrupted your day?’

‘You
can interrupt my day, anytime,’ his mouth crushes to mine, as he pulls me into
his lap.  I feel his hardness at my hip.  He wants to fuck. ‘Don’t
like not having you to hand,’ he complains.

‘I
got cramps, Luke,’ I exclaim, softly.

‘You
got another hole down there, baby, bedroom now!’ He commands,
unsympathetically.

********

NATE

‘Thanks
for seeing us, Kane,’ Nate shakes the big man’s hand with vigour.

‘Putting
a lot at risk here,’ Kane feels torn between loyalty to his employer and doing what’s
right for the stunning woman with the huge hazel eyes.

‘Appreciate
that, man,’ Kyle slaps a hand on his back. ‘What you got for us?’

‘She
trusts no one, not even me.  I told her you,’ nodding to Nate, ‘would get
yourself killed if you kept up trying to find her,’ he shakes his head, ‘went
as white as a sheet, and shook man like she was naked in the middle of Alaska. She’s
at the point of no return, disappearing inside herself.  We need to get
her out, don’t know how, don’t know when, but if we don’t, he’s gonna kill her
one way or another.  She stayed at home, one day, not feeling good, he
couldn’t even give her that.’

‘What’s
wrong with her?’ Nate asked, his voice tight.

‘Nothing
bad, period cramps.  The bastard came home after a couple of hours, fucked
her for hours.  That’s the price she paid for daring to ask for a day to
herself.’

‘Jesus,
fuck!’ Nate paced up and down, his gut churning with rage.  ‘I’m going to
fucking kill him,’ he growled.  Pain tears through him at the thought of
that animal touching the woman he loves.

‘Calm
down, Nate,’ Kyle called, ‘we do this, we need to do it with clear heads, fella.’

‘What’s
she doing there?’ Nate roared, ‘why is she putting up with this?’

‘She’s
keeping you alive,’ Kane snapped.  ‘She had a choice, your life or hers;
she chose yours.’

********

SOPHIE

Kane
is sticking close, I was used to him always being within distance, but now I am
tripping over him.  Neither of us mentions the conversation of the other
day, I am too scared of the consequences, and it seems he is also wary about
being overheard. 

I thought
about it in the dark of the night and convinced myself that Kane wasn’t trying
to trap me into saying something that I would regret.  Luke’s behaviour
didn’t suggest he was impressed with the way Kane stood over me in the library,
when he walked in unexpectedly, which is why I think he made me fuck all
afternoon, despite the cramps.  It was a punishment, for what, I don’t
know, but I took it like I do, the pain of his punishments at least reminds me
I can still feel.

I
was in the library, before dinner one evening, when I glance up to see Kane
beside me.  I frown up at him, and he puts his finger to his lips.  I
stay motionless as he glances to the door.  Luke is in his office,
shouting at someone on the phone. I tend to use the library as an excuse to
escape the aggression.  I never read the books, so chose ones that I have
read beforehand in case he questions me on the plotline.

‘You
want to get out; I have to know one thing?’ Kane whispers.

‘What?’
I glance nervously to the door.

‘Will
you testify against him about things you have witnessed?  It could be the
only way out, lock him up?’ He presses, urgently.

Again,
I can’t bring myself to answer, the niggle of distrust curling in my stomach.

‘I
know you don’t trust me,’ he reads me, ‘Nate said to tell you that the boxes
have arrived, and he is waiting for you to reorganise the loft with your girlie
shit.’ A hot poker pain sears through me at the mention of Nate and our various
playful arguments on me bringing my girlie shit.  I double up to stop
myself from collapsing into an emotional heap and I can hardly breathe.

‘Sophie!’
He stands me up, ‘you have to hold on to the strength,’ his voice is panicked,
‘just a bit longer.’

I
take a deep breath as I try to bat away the emotions that run deep.

‘What’s
going on here?’ Luke is in the doorway, his voice like a slap in the face, it’s
cold, accusatory tone cutting through the haze of emotion.

‘Miss
Parker had a funny turn, Mr. Ericson.’ Kane pretends to help me over to the
sofa, where I allow my legs to give out as I fight to regain my control. 
I push my head between my legs, to even out my breathing.

‘What
is it, baby?’ Luke is at my side, his perceptive eyes watching Kane’s hand on
my arm.  ‘Get your fucking hands off of her,’ he growls. 
Straightway, Kane drops my arm and inches away.

‘Sorry
sir, she seemed to almost faint,’ he excuses.

‘Call
the doctor,’ he directs and taking my jaw, lifts my eyes to his.  ‘What is
it, Sophie?’

‘I
think I’m just hungry, honestly, don’t get the doctor.  I didn’t eat much
lunch is all, maybe we can have an early dinner?’ I suggest.

He
nods, ‘okay,’ he calls Kane, who appears in the doorway.  ‘Cancel the
doctor, tell the cook that we will eat in my suite, immediately.’

‘Yes,
sir,’ he turns away.

‘And
Kane!’ He calls him back.

‘Yes,
sir?’ His eyes hold Luke’s steady.

‘Manhandle
my woman again and I’ll have your hands cut off, you understand?’ His voice is callous
and threatening.

‘He
was helping me, Luke,’ I touch a hand to his face.

‘Yes
sir!’ Kane dips his head and straightway moves into the hallway.

‘Don’t
ever do that again,’ Luke growls to me, his teeth gritted, his fingers grasp my
chin, painfully.

‘What?’
I attempt to speak, but he is holding my face tightly.

‘Defend
the fucking staff!’ He glares at me, ‘no one touches you, but me, you hear?’

‘I’m
sorry, baby,’ I murmur, softly. 

‘Up
to the bedroom, now!’ He releases me and leaves the room, leaving me shaky and nauseous
as I make my way to the bedroom. Another punishment.

Tonight
was the worse it’s ever been, the pain in my backside and back still stinging
like fuck, despite me showering in cool water.  He was making me pay for
daring to question his word in front of Kane.  He couldn’t have heard any
of our conversation; he would have done worse than belt the life out of me
before fucking me stupid.

I
lay in the darkness, tears leaking out of the corner of my eyes,
silently.  I can’t allow my mind to go over Kane’s words.  if I did, I
would crumple and die.  Nate will get killed if he attempts to rescue
me.  Kane knows it, and I know it.  I can’t let that happen.

‘Sophie,’
I tense, he is awake. I wipe the tears and turn my head to face him, my stomach
to the bed, laying on my back too painful.

‘I
hurt you?’ His voice is soft.

‘It’s
okay, I upset you,’ I whisper.

‘I
don’t mean to hurt you,’ that’s as much of an apology that I imagine I will
ever get. ‘The thought of you with another man destroys me,’ he admits.

‘Kane
was only doing his job,’ I take a chance on defending him in the privacy of our
room.  ‘You asked him to watch me,’ I remind him.

‘I
know, but the thought of you with another man, destroys me,’ he repeats.

‘Okay,’
I watch him in the darkness. 

We
never cuddle, Luke isn’t a cuddler he is a give her an orgasm to show you own
her kind guy. He is on his side of the bed, but facing me.

‘I
want you to have my baby,’ he reveals.

‘Luke,’
I breathe, my insides screaming,
fuck no, never, bring an innocent life into
all this fuckedupness?

‘I
want you to have my baby,’ he repeats, he doesn’t like repeating himself.

I
think on my feet, ‘I’m not ready to share you yet, Luke,’ I whisper, ‘I love
that I have you to myself,’ I flirt.  ‘Maybe next year?’ I suggest.

He
turns and switches on the bedside light.  ‘Next year?’ His eyes shine with
excitement.

‘That
okay with you?’ I charm.

‘Okay,
baby,’ he pushes down the sheet to expose the whelps on my skin.  ‘Sorry I
hurt you,’ he kisses softly along the raw skin.  ‘Going to make love to you,
this time, Sophie,’ he turns me over onto my back, I hiss at the pain but give
him an encouraging smile when his eyes shift to mine.

He
kisses me gently, all over my body until he reaches my sex.  After I come
in his mouth, he pushes deep, his eyes on mine as he glides slowly in and out
of me, keeping the connection between us with his gaze. I know he does this so
that I know who I’m fucking, he knows I think of Nate when we are fucking, he
can’t prove it.  He may have abducted my body, but he can’t abduct my
mind.  When he comes, he tells me I belong to him and him alone.  I
am his possession.  After months of brutal sex, it was a relief to
experience a bit of sweet, not Nate sweet, but sweet in comparison to the past
couple of months.

The
following day, the sweet continued.  Luke brought me breakfast in bed and
told me to have a lie in as he was working from the office this morning. 
I ate my breakfast and fell back into a deep slumber, my body delighting at the
time out.  At noon, he slipped in beside me and woke me with his mouth,
eating me as if his life depended on it. After I had come hard, he pulled me on
top of him and let me ride him to climax.