The Unfortunates (Unfortunate #1) (25 page)

“Don’t be so witless, Fortunate.”
I slap his hand away, playing on deadly ground now. Relief radiates through my jaw. “You’re not as scary as you want people to believe. You want to threaten me? To hurt me? You want to rip off my clothes and fuck me all over your room while I cry and beg you to stop? Do it, because if you’re going to threaten me and it’s going to happen anyway, why drag on my impending doom? The day makes no difference to me.”

Kade snaps
forward, gripping my hips with devastating force and crushing me to his body. He forcefully brushes all of his paperwork and pens off of the desk and onto the floor before lifting me and dropping me roughly against the hard surface.

“
You want to play a game? You want to test me?” He forces my thighs open with his knee and panic instantly bubbles in my chest.

“Stop!”
I demand, as his hands claw at the edge of my dress and he forces the fabric further up my thighs. “Kade, stop!”

I’
m in the deep end now and it’s all because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “You want to see how evil I really am? You want me to prove it to you?”

He drops his weight on me, pinning
me firmly against the wood. His hard length presses right into the apex of my thighs and tingles flare throughout my body, almost reducing me to jelly. I’m paralysed… and underneath the fear, tingles roar through my body and I like it. His fingers dig into my hair and tighten, making me wince as he tugs my head back.

“You think I’
m nice enough not to fuck your tight, virgin cunt until it bleeds for me? Think again, Unfortunate, and make no mistake. You mean nothing to me. I protect you because you wear my crest. You belong to me.”

His eyes fla
re, daring me to speak again. I’ve already come this far and although he’s giving me a way out of this, I can’t take it. Here I am, pinned under his incredibly hard body, totally helpless... and yet, I’ve never felt so in control in my life. I love that I made him mad. I love that I, Nine, using only the words of my mouth, have pissed off a Fortunate. The feeling is addicting—it elates me and I can’t stop now.

“You killed for me.”

“For respect. I killed in honour of my own name.”

“
You held me while I cried, you let me sleep in your bed, and you can’t handle the thought of someone else touching me or telling me what to do.”

He shakes his head
—the perfect picture of indifference. “Stupid girl.” His insult rolls off my newly thick skin. He’s out of his mind if he thinks his ‘old Kade’ behaviour is going to drag me back to the beginning. We’ve passed that point. Fortunate or not, he’d never hurt me.

“You see me only for yourself.”

His dark irises flare, seeming more dark brown than black. “I see you as a mere toy I possess.”

My eyes drop to his lips and he runs his tongue over it slowly
—the purpose to moisten them or moisten me, I have no idea.

“
And yet you refuse to use it for its only purpose.”

Keeping my hands against the wood and not on his body, I push my head forward, crushing my lips to his. I feel his body tense against
mine, as he no doubt tries to make sense of my actions. I run my tongue along his bottom lip and a growl emanates deep in his chest. He kisses me back with wild abandon and I open my mouth to him. Not a second later, I feel his fingers glide quickly under my dress and up my thigh, making me quiver. They slow as they reach the top, almost hesitantly, and I bite down on his bottom lip, causing him to gasp into my mouth. His fingers press against my centre and I shudder as one slips between my lips and touches a small, electrifying spot. I moan loudly, subconsciously thrusting my hips into his finger.

“You’
re so goddamn wet I could slip right in,” Kade groans against my lips. “Fuck, I want to slip inside and fuck you until you dissolve into nothing.”

Oh, I want this… I want him.
He kisses me roughly, fucking my tongue with his. A shiver rips down my spine as he begins to circle my little bundle of nerves. My stomach twists and I begin to pant and moan every time our lips separate for air.

“Touch me
,” he demands against my lips and I falter with my kiss. How? How do I touch him? Is there a certain way I’m supposed to do it? Kade growls impatiently, lowering his mouth to my neck. “Put your fucking hands on me.”

His finger strokes me ruthlessly
, sending an electrifying pulse through my body and I rake my fingers through his hair, drawing him even closer to me. His hair is soft, feeling exactly how I imagined it.

“Oh,
god!” Something sinister builds and builds in my stomach, threatening to spill over and crush my organs. “Wait. Wait!” I gasp, not ready for what’s about to hit me. “Stop.”

I hear him ch
uckle darkly under his breath and I bite my lip hard enough to draw blood. Kade slips the very tip of his finger into me and my breath hitches at the sudden friction and pressure. My back arches and my entire body clenches as I scream out and waves of ecstasy roll over me. Kade crushes his mouth to mine as vibrations shake my body and I grind my hips into him, unashamed by my outburst, until the intense pulses cease to exist. When he pulls away, his breath hits my face in heavy bursts and I can’t help a lazy smile as I glance up at him through heavy lids.

“You don’t fear me anymore…” A statement, not a question.

“No,” I reply, uncurling my fingers from his hair. I smooth out his jacket and allow my fingers to brush along his rough jaw, speckled with shadow. “Not anymore.”

“Why?”
He releases me, bringing his hand to rest on my thighs. He’s frustrated. I can hear it in his tone—deep and gruff.

My smile fades. Why don’t I fear him? I don’t even know the answer to that. In the begin
ning, he was the most terrifying thing in my life, but somewhere along the line, the fear melted away and we’re… I don’t know… friends, maybe.

“You saved me
,” I utter, avoiding his stare. “I trust you.”

Though our conversation has flowed into casual territory, his length still presses hard into my thigh.
I flick my gaze to his and heat filters into my cheeks as his dark, stormy irises study my face.

“If you trust me, you’ll do this for me.”

He knows I’ll do it and he knows I don’t have a choice. I straighten my posture, trying desperately to remain unaffected by Kade, who stands dominantly between my legs. “I’ll do it, but you have to kill him before it goes too far. I don’t want to have sex with anyone…” I pause because that’s not entirely true. “Unless it’s y—”

His fingers dig into my thighs. “Don’t say it.”

I cover his hands with mine. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want you to mak
e this harder than it already is.”

I frown. “Harder than it already is?”

Peering up at me from underneath his brow, his face betrays no softness. “You think I don’t think about it? You think when I sleep on my hands most nights it’s for fun? No. I struggle with myself every day when it comes to you.” He exhales slightly, slumping his shoulders ever so subtly. “I am different to the rest and they know it, too. I’m watched all of the time and they’re just waiting for me to fuck up. I almost have. If this becomes more than a normal Fortunate/Unfortunate relationship and we’re caught… neither of us is coming out of this alive.”

I angle my head.
Did I not just have an orgasm by his hand? “But it already has, hasn’t it? Become more than a normal relationship?”

I want him to admit it. I want him to admit that over the past few weeks he has developed feeling
s for me, like I have for him. Mine started the day after he saved me from the Black House. In the morning, we had breakfast together and neither of us said a thing. Then he left, locking me in his room until nightfall. When he came back, he switched off my lamp and climbed into bed. That was enough for me. In those dark nights, all I had was him. He comforted me, soothed me back into my own skin by wrapping his arms around me and holding me close. In those weeks, he didn’t have to say much, but then again, actions have always spoken louder.

He grits his teeth and I see his perfect jaw tighten. “
What exactly are you fishing for? A declaration of feelings? Of love? So I made you come,” he states plainly with a shrug of his shoulders. “Don’t be so naïve. Orgasms are a specialty of mine that I’m more than happy to give away.”

“Even though you’re not allowed to
,” I point out. A selfless act, really. “Tell me, how many Unfortunates have you made come by your hands?”

“Don’t play this game with me.”

“How many?” I ask again, more forceful this time.

When he allows it I like to push him
, and there’s something that tells me he likes it when I push. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about arguing with someone who’s supposed to be in ‘power’ that electrifies every cell in my body. Dominating a Fortunate and making them uncomfortable is every Unfortunate’s wet dream.

“One.”

I manage to keep my lips from curling victoriously. “One.”

Exactly what I thought.

He smirks. “You’re reading into it. In this world, you have to watch who you fraternise with. You don’t want anyone to slip up and spill all of your secrets, so yes, only one. One that I trust will not share it with anyone else.”

“I wouldn’t
,” I say with absolute confidence.

In this house, Kade is the only Fortunate I’
m loyal to, everyone else can go to hell.

“I’ve answered your intrusive questions and sated your annoying curiosity. Are you finished?”

My fingers twitch around his. “For now.”

Kade’s irises flare and the corner of his lips pull further. “
Good, now we can get back to work.”

He pulls away from me and straightens his thick, black tie. While he adjusts his clothes, I adjust mine and slip off of his desk. My bare feet press into sheets of paper and pens. Out of instinct, I reach down to tidy them up.

“Leave them,” Kade orders. “We’ve got other things we need to deal with.”

I straighten my posture, placing my hands on my hips. “Like what?”

With a tiny breathtaking smile, he slips his hands into the pockets of his pants. “Take off my clothes and I’ll show you.”

I feel my brows pull in, furrowing tightly. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Take off my clothes,” he drawls. “And I’ll show you.”

“Is-is this a joke?” I wonder aloud as I step closer to him.

He exhales in annoyance and angles his head. The way he looks at me from such an adorable angle kicks the rate of my pulse up a notch. “Keep wasting my time and you’re going to wish it was.”

I suck in a breath and stroll towards him. Naturally, I reach for his tie and, naturally, he swats me away before I even see it coming.

“The jacket is first,” he tells me in a dark, frustrated tone as I hiss and cradle my hand to my chest.

“You know this whole thing would go a lot smoother if you just
told
me what you wanted me to do instead of slapping me away whenever I try.”

“Are you even trying?”

“Yes!” I shout and when his eyes darken like coal, I wish I could take it back.

“So you’re telling me you don’t have a single seductive bone in your tight little body? Not even one?”

I shrug. “I don’t know… but if I do, let me figure it out on my own. You and your slapping isn’t helping.”

“You want to do this on your own? Without any coaching?”

I almost scoff.
Coaching, my ass
. I think he looks for excuses to piss me off and turn my skin pink. “Yes.”

Abruptly, he reaches out for my waist and tugs me into him. I
’m still in his grasp as his brooding eyes scan my face. “Good luck with that. You do whatever you have to do to distract my father.” He drags an index finger over my bottom lip and I bite the inside of my cheek as his warm breath skitters across my face. “But if these lips touch his, I’ll kill you both,” he adds in a whisper and I almost smile.

“Death threats over a kiss?
I thought you said you had no feelings for me.”

He catches my lip between his thumb and forefinger
. It stings, but I do nothing to free it. “Get out,” he orders, staring a second too long at my mouth.

When he releases me, I whirl on my heel and march to the door.
“You know where to find me,” I call over my shoulder with a wave. I approach the door, ignoring the rapidly rising panic of the outside world. I haven’t left the room in weeks. On the other side of the wood, Vince exists—dangers exist—but I’m too proud to turn around and ask Kade to let me stay. I had to go the course. I had to show him that I’m capable of making my own decisions and that I’m not one hundred percent controllable, and I never will be.

∞ Kade ∞

Kade slumped into his chair. Nine was becoming harder to control, harder to keep in line. She’d always been different, always curious and proud, but it had progressed tremendously over the course of her stay. Kade knew it was his fault. He knew he let too many things slip with her, but he hoped she was smart enough to remember her place when other Fortunates were around. If it were witnessed, Kade would have to punish her… and he really didn’t want to. He tapped his fingers along his bare desk. She cared for him, trusted him to protect her, but he knew better. There would eventually come a time when Kade wouldn’t be able to help her and she’d be as good as dead. It was inevitable.