Stabled (The Stables Trilogy #1) (10 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Maple gasped and flattened herself against Bonnie. “What are you doing here? How much did you hear?”

Reece sighed, over dramatic. “Not nearly enough, I’m afraid. Just enough to titillate. What happened with your truck? Why were you so eager to leave New Orleans?” He moved into the stall, stalking near her. Maple edged along Bonnie’s body, trying to evade Reece’s advances.

Her heart pounded with her discovery, but the icy clutches of fear were dissipating-- he hadn’t heard her complete confession. He didn’t know the truth about her-- not really.

“That’s none of your business,” she muttered.

He laughed. “None of mine, but this old horse needs to know your deepest and darkest?”

“You don’t know if it’s a deep, dark secret.” He was getting closer, and she was running out of room. Reece would have her pinned in no time. To her horror, his stalking game was eliciting a response; her pulse raced and her skin grew flushed.

Maple would hate herself more if she wasn’t so busy trying to get away.

“Of course I do. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be whispering it to a horse, you’d just be telling a human. Tell me, pretty Maple.” His hand caught her wrist, squeezing hard enough the bones ground together. “Tell me your secret.”

“No. I should get back to the house--”

“Okay, then, let me tell you mine.” He dragged her close his hands gripping her hips. Maple was so startled she froze. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. All her control spun away, and she felt very much like she did with Tony, too frightened to move or speak, her body turning on and disabling her fight or flight instincts. “Lovely, lovely Maple. I want you. J.B. never hides things from me, but I think he meant to hide you. I find that so… enticing.” Reece clutched her closer, his erection pressing into her belly, scalding her with shame and heat. “The things I could do to you--” He slipped a hand in her hair before tightening his grip, fisting a handful of her honey brown locks. “J.B. thinks he’s the only one who can train, but goddamn, you make me want to prove him wrong.” With that, he kissed her. No, that wasn’t right. A kiss went both ways. A kiss wouldn’t involve the punishing, claiming drive of his lips on hers.

Maple just stood there, unable to break away, still unsure of what was happening. Out of habit, her mouth fell open, letting Reece drive into her with his tongue. He groaned as she admitted him, but she scarcely heard it. Her body molded itself to Reece’s, already preparing for what he was offering. Instincts took over, blocking out wants.

J.B. thinks he’s the only one who can train
.

Every fantasy of J.B. flared to life in her. Every spank, paddle, cane, clamp. Every chastisement and deprivation.  Her mind swam with them, blinding her to everything else.

Reece, broke from his kiss, his hands gripping her shirt and ripping. Maple heard the cotton shred. “Wait,” she gasped, but Reece was already wrenching her bra cups down. As soon as her breasts were free, he mauled them with teeth and hands. He bit down, making her cry out in pain and ecstasy.

Maple’s hands flew into his hair, trying to pull him from her. She needed to get away, she couldn’t get caught up in this, not now--

She didn’t need to fight for long. A shadow loomed behind Reece for a moment before Reece was yanked off of her.

J.B. wheeled Reece around and decked him, hard. Reece’s head snapped with the force of the punch. He fell to the floor, laughing. “Oh, damn, J.B! I should’ve known.” He rolled to his back, looking up at a livid J.B.

“I’m sorry, Man,” Reece was still chuckling as he rolled once more and climbed, unsteadily, to standing. “I didn’t know, not for sure,” he added, for once sounding genuinely apologetic. Maple knew that wasn’t true, but was too scared to say anything.

“This crosses a line, Malcolm.” J.B. sounded hurt. His body, so tense it could break, was trembling with restraint.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. She seemed like fair game! It isn’t like your other--”

But then J.B. had Reece pinned against the stall door, arm barred across his throat. “Not another word. You may stay to finish your work. But you’ll work from the hotel. Tell me what you need and how long you need and I’ll have it brought out to you.”

Maple stood, stunned. It was like she wasn’t even there. Flashbacks of being on the table, a thing instead of a person, hit her repeatedly like a bat. What was happening? Her body throbbed from Reece’s assault, unsure of whether to be relieved or irate that J.B. had stopped it.

She watched as J.B. released Reece, wary. To his credit, not once did Reece lose his smug facade. He turned to Maple, tipping his head. “My apologies, lovely stable girl. Unless, of course, you’d like to leave with me?”

Maple shook her head violently while J.B. growled. “Get the fuck away, Reece. Our past won’t weather everything.”

Hands up, Reece conceded defeat, bowing out.

Maple was left with J.B. and Bonnie.

Her body began to shake, goosebumps covering her skin. Her heart beat so erratically it made her dizzy. J.B. stood in the stall doorway, seething. He punched the stall, and she flinched. Bonnie snorted, stomping. Maple didn’t know what to do. To say. She felt outside of herself.

J.B. punched the stall once more. His body was wound tight, but the movement was fluid, beautiful. He made a punch look like a work of art. It was as thrilling as it was scary.

“What the fuck are you doing, Maple?” He whipped to face her, lip curled in a snarl. “Do you want to make me crazy?”

His words were blows. How was this her fault? Words. She needed words. But there were none on the tip of her tongue. None choking in her throat. Just none. She couldn’t say anything because she was still trying to catch up to the moment. To find purchase.

He stormed over to her, and she backed away from him, afraid. She backed into a wall, and he pinned her there, a hand slammed on either side of her head. He was so damned powerful, menace radiating off of him. J.B. was an animal, one that had seduced her into ignoring the signs of danger until she provoked it.

Well, now J.B. was good and well provoked. “What were you doing kissing him? Letting him touch you like that?”

Tears welled in her eyes, and she was stammering her apology, “I-I’m s-s-sorry, he was in here, and I didn’t know what to do!”

“You fucking tell him ‘no,’ Maple!” J.B.’s low growl ripped harder than any yelling or scolding would have. Maple shook harder, her chest clenching.

“It wasn’t what it looked like, please J.B., I didn’t want him!” A new fear was sparking, one that easily superseded the shock of Reece’s rough attention; She was scared J.B. wouldn’t think her desire for him was genuine. Maple knew that’s what it looked like. While she never expected anything to happen between J.B. and her, she had no doubt he knew her feelings for him. It wasn’t much comfort to know he knew, but if he thought it wasn’t real--

“That’s not what it looked like! What do you want? Do you even know?” His blue and green eyes were locked on her, something daring in them. Crazed. “Did you want to be manhandled?” His palm slammed the wall again beside her head, sending vibrations down her spine. “Did you want it to be rough? Ruthless?” Slam! Slam! Each slap emphasizing a point, getting him more wound up.

Making her swell with a desire she couldn’t box in.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, that’s what I want.”

Even the toughest maples crack and break under enough pressure.

Maple broke. Trembling, she reached up beside her and grabbed one of his hands. J.B. tried to tug away, but she brought it firmly to her exposed breast.

J.B. cursed as he lost control.

Chapter Fourteen

His hand gripped her breast, hard, sending stinging aches through her chest. Her pussy wept with joy, and Maple sighed happily, arching. His cowboy hat fell to the ground beside them, a casualty.

J.B.’s mouth was on hers.
This
was a kiss. His tongue was hot in her mouth. He bit her lip, sucked her tongue, made every inch of her mouth his. J.B.’s hands were frantic, seeking to claim all of her. They weren’t gentle. He gripped and clutched at her, pressing them so tightly together Maple could scarcely move.

His desperation overwhelmed her, filled her. J.B.’s mouth snared one final kiss before devouring her neck, her collarbone. Wrapping one hand in her hair and the other cupping her ass, J.B. pulled her from the wall. His body commanded; she followed. In a stumbling, frenzied dance they left Bonnie’s stall. Maple barely registered the slam as he kicked the door shut.

There were more stalls than horses, and J.B. led her to an empty one. Pushing her roughly, she was shoved into the tether bar.

J.B. was on her again. He unzipped her pants and hauled them down her legs. They caught on her boots. It limited his access, but he didn’t seem to care as he stood beside her, mouth seeking her nipple. When he sucks it into his mouth, Maple gasped. When he bit down on it, hard, she mewled, squirming under his hands.

“J.B.--” She didn’t know what to say. Was afraid to say it. Maple knew this wouldn’t end well, but she couldn’t stop it. This was everything she’d craved, and now that it was happening she was lost to it.

His hand sought her sopping core. Fingers slipped easily into her pussy. It was just like she imagined. The rough, calloused workman’s fingers were sliding in her pink folds, two, now three fingers. He worked her hard, lifting with his hand so that her tiptoes grazed the floor. Maple was anchored to his hand. Her hands clawed at the wall behind her, holding herself steady as her body gave itself fully to J.B.

His thumb strummed across her clit in quick, merciless strokes. All she knew was sensation. His mouth, sucking her tit in, tongue lashing her raw, bite-riddled nipple. The mangled jolts of pleasure it sent to her core. Oh God, her core, it was ten thousand degrees, and his fingers were so far in her, stroking her deep. His thumb rubbed, rubbed, rubbed,
insisting
that she come. Time stopped for Maple--

Until she exploded. Her climax left her feeling mauled, lacerated, completely undone by its intensity. She tried to scream, but J.B.’s hand was over her mouth, stifling it. His green and blue eyes speared her own, holding her captive, silencing her even as his hand kept pumping into her pussy, prolonging the orgasm.

She was still reeling from coming when he flipped her around. The rough wood of the tether bar bit into her hips. J.B.’s hand slammed into her lower back. His zipper was undone, the zipping cutting through her ragged gasps. His booted foot kicked her legs as far open as the bunched jeans would allow.

He slid inside of her, grunting as his balls pressed into her ass. The limited spread of her legs made her channel tight. It felt so fucking good. Better than anything she’d experienced before. He was thick, making her feel stretched to her limit. His body was pressed in close, his breath on her neck. They were in the corner of the stall, the dark wood and musty smells amplifying their illicit fucking.

Maple gulped as his tempo increased, his hips slamming hers, hers slamming the rough wood. The grating sensation mixed headily with the slide and thrust of his hard cock, and she felt the tingling bloom of raw pleasure spreading through her.

A hand slid up her front, twisting a breast until she howled and clamped her legs, then up to her throat. J.B. held onto her exposed throat, pressing in lightly enough to let her know he was in control. His other hand dug into her hip, fingers strong enough to bruise.

J.B. said nothing. Maple’s mewls, her keening wails, her cries of ecstasy were muffled by his hand on her throat. J.B. tugged back, pulling her off the bar. She teetered, her steps unsure and clumsy because of the pants around her ankles.

His strength and grace led them both to the ground. Hay and cement bit into her knees, the stinging discomfort driving her wild. His hands pressed her face and upper body down. The chill of the cement stung her heated cheek. When she tried to get on all fours he spanked her. It was no playful hit. It was a full, open palmed spank. She felt her flesh ripple from the force first, then the needle-like sting that followed it.

Maple squeezed her eyes shut and smiled, laughing. Delirious.

J.B. mounted her then like an animal. His pace was furious, his cock pistoning in and out of her. Occasionally his hand would slap her ass again until she knew her skin felt hot enough to cook an egg on.

She snuck a hand between her legs and rubbed her clit. “Oh fuck! I’m coming!” she wheezed through the dust that had caked her mouth. Maple knew what happened in these stalls. She cleaned them to the best of her ability, but it was still an animal’s house. 

That knowledge, that degradation of knowing he was using her in a stall for horses, pushed her over the edge. She came so hard she couldn’t see. Her body clenched, jerking, no longer her own. Her noises were guttural and base.

The cool air hit her soaking pussy as soon as he withdrew. She felt empty, violated. She felt glorious. One thing was missing though.

It came in the form of his hand in her hair, yanking her face up. Her eyes opened to his thick, meaty cock in his other hand, being pumped into her face. She knew what was coming and opened her mouth wide.
You hungry whore
, Tony smiled viciously in her mind.

His come splashed her tongue and cheeks, her hair and eyelashes. He marked and debased her and she groaned, eager for it. Her tongue darted out catching as much as she could, swallowing his thick and bittersweet seed.

Maple crawled to her knees, eager to clean his cock with her tongue as Tony had taught her to do so many times.

J.B., though, shoved her away. His face was twisted, stormy. “Pack… pack your things. I’m calling the car. Be ready to leave in two hours.”

“Where are we going?” Maple didn’t like where this was headed.

“You’re going home. This was a mistake. You’re fired.”

Hurt can be a familiar thing. It can be comforting. When hurt is all you know, then it’s what you turn to when there’s nothing else.

Maple’s hurt was inviolate. It was pure and warm, sweeping her in. Hurt offered her a shoulder. It wrapped its arms around her and whispered “I won’t let go this time.” This was everything she’d felt when Tony had left her times a hundred. At least when Tony had broken up with her, she’d seen his manipulation for what it was.

But she’d been the one trying to manipulate J.B.. How had she imagined this would end? Had she really believed two people as dark and secretive as them could have made it together?

Yeah, she kind of had.

Some part of Maple had been sure that she needed J.B.. Needed his control, his anger, his discipline. And she had things to offer him, too. She
was
trainable, just like he’d said. Loyal. Devoted.

She stumbled to her room, thankful no one was there to see her tears and mascara (
and semen, you filthy whore
) stained face. J.B. had managed to eviscerate her in one sentence.
This was a mistake.

It hadn’t felt like a mistake.  Her body had hummed for him, each pound of his cock or strike of his hand a balm for her.

She’d wanted to be punished. Maple hadn’t factored in that the worst punishment, the one that would truly leave her decimated, wouldn’t come from a belt. Just a sentence.

Her room (
not your room anymore
) was as it had been. Clean, stark, beautiful. On her pillow was an envelope. Anguish howled through her, seeing evidence of J.B.’s efficiency. Had he had the letter of dismissal already prepared? Had the entire thing, including Reece, been an elaborate scheme?

The paper was heavy, thick. She unfolded it to see not J.B.’s letter of dismissal, but a masculine, elegant script.

“Lovely Stable Girl with so many secrets-- J.B. has secrets, too. Can you guess all of them? I’ll give you a clue. Look in the stable-- you know the one. I’ll be interested to know your reaction. -M. Reece-”

He was a cat and she the mouse he wanted to play with. She knew it. But as she stood in her small room and saw all the things she’d lost because of him, because Reece had put her in a spot, the emotions she normally felt-- shame, humiliation, defeat-- began to bubble. Their black became tinged with red, which grew until she thought she saw crimson spots in her vision.

J.B. didn’t need to be kind to her, but he couldn’t fire her. Not for this. Not without providing some answers.

Without second-guessing Reece’s obviously twisted motivations, Maple grabbed a cardigan to cover her ripped shirt and ran, determined. Peering out the door, she saw nothing but her stable of shame, where she’d let Raúl down and then J.B. with her fucked up needs. Beyond it, the off-limits stable.

What kind of secret was J.B. keeping out there?

No one was around. She ran, hard, for the stable. There was nowhere to hide if she got caught. No brush, or building, no cover of night. It was dusk, and the bruised purple of the sky was still sliced through with enough orange and pink that her darting figure would be visible.

Her feet were dragging by the time she reached the locked door. Her palms slapped onto its modern, smooth wooden frame, like a child running into the wall at the end of a school yard race. Her lungs burned, threatening to collapse from the strain of her run. Arms and legs like soup. The nausea she hadn’t had for days threatened her again. The rattlesnake’s bite taunted her, reminding her of how altered her body was. It didn’t taunt her as much as Reece’s words, though.

The wind was picking up. She was cold and out of time. Soon Raúl and the boys would be getting back to the ranch. They’d find J.B., who’d tell them he’d let her go. Maple chewed a nail, trying to not imagine that conversation. Raúl’s falling face, or whatever crap reason J.B. gave for firing her.

She had more immediate problems. The lock was an old fashioned bolt lock. She’d love it if she could just pick the lock with bobby pins or some other savvy trick. But Maple’s education had been in pain and pleasure, not espionage. She searched the ground until she found a rock large enough to do the job.

It was heavy and rough in her hands, cold enough to make her fingers numb and her palm prickle. The price of what was about to happen made it feel heavier. She was beyond Pandora. This was no box. It was a man’s treasure chest, hoarded and guarded, and she was about to bust it open.

Anxiety held her still like a puppetmaster. It stayed her hand. The thought of disappointing J.B. had once been the most terrifying one she’d known. But Maple had seen J.B. angry. He’d been on the verge of truly hurting Reece. This action she was about to take? It blew Reece’s coming on to her out of the water.

If she did this, she’d lose his trust forever. Lose him forever.

You’ve already lost him, Maple. He’ll never want a dirty, used up girl like you.