A Beautiful Prison (13 page)

He stood, tapped her on the head as if she was an obedient child, and turned back toward the estate. She watched him, and then looked at the field in front of her and then at the woods. Was it really so bad to be here? It wasn’t about all the money that Gavin clearly had, or the possessions that surrounded him. This was a very beautiful home and the land was breathtaking. What she was asking herself was if she wanted to leave the only person that actually made her feel something other than loneliness and despair. Sure, the way they had come to be in each other’s lives was less than conventional, and there were aspects of Gavin that frightened her, but when she was around him and he touched her she felt
alive
.

Ruby stood, not sure if she would run or head back inside. Looking over at Adelbert, who now stood by the backdoor, she knew that strangely, she didn’t want to run as badly as she had.

“You bring the flowers, and I will show you how to make
Jodenkoeken
, a very delicious butter cookie.” Ruby didn’t want to just forget about how she had gotten here, or why she was still here, because it wasn’t that easy. But she also didn’t just want to push away the fact that Gavin made her feel
alive
. She felt as if she were more than just someone that took up space. She looked down at the flowers by her feet, bent to scoop them up, and stood again.

She started walking back toward the mansion. She knew that her life before now had been a horror on its own, and that she had also been a captive in her own way. But Ruby wasn’t so sure going back out in the world was what she truly wanted. Adelbert’s words played over in her head. They made so much sense, and it was as if he had been speaking to her soul, and that she had felt exactly that way.

R
uby stared at
her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She was in the room Gavin had taken her to when she first arrived, even though she hadn’t actually slept in it until tonight. She rested her hands on the counter, bent her head and closed her eyes. She was really tired, but for over an hour she had lain in the bed just staring at the shadows moving across the ceiling. The idea of staying in this mansion with Gavin scared her, the way he made her feel scared her, but what frightened her more was what lay out there in the real world. She never tried to pretend that she was perfect or lived a gilded life. She had survived solely because she had wanted to live. If she had left it up to her mother she would have died a long time ago. But despite the fact that Ruby had never felt like she fit in, had always been an outcast in school, she still pressed on, because the alternative was not something she wanted.

She lifted her head and looked at herself in the mirror again. Her dark hair was wet from the shower she had just taken and hung in loose waves around her naked body. Not able to sleep, she had thought a shower would help, but it hadn’t relaxed her, just amplifying the fact that she was tender between her thighs, and that every part of her tingled with awareness. If she closed her eyes she could practically feel Gavin touching her. A shiver worked over her. Her skin looked pale under the bathroom lighting, and the bruises Gavin had given her during their intense rounds of sex stood out like a flashing light. She straightened and ran her fingers around the fingerprint-sized ones on her hip, moved her hand down her thighs, and touched the ones that lined the still-tender flesh of her leg. Why did seeing those make her feel almost special and cared for when it should have made her feel abused?
Because when he gave them to you there was a life that sprang forward inside of you.

She had never been loved in her life, never felt wanted, not even when she had been with a boy. They had only wanted one thing from her, and when she hadn’t given it to them they had discarded her just as easily as everyone else had. But she had felt loved when Gavin touched her, even though there was no way those deep emotions could be present this early on. She had seen the way he looked at her, like a treasured possession. There was no way his seemingly infatuated fascination with her could ever grow into something meaningful, right? There was a lot of evil in the world, and unfortunately it far outweighed the good.

After she had picked flowers with Adelbert and carried them back inside, she knew that she had just made a monumental decision. Adelbert didn’t seem to make it matter that she was a captive in this mansion, because to him and his sister Gavin was their savior. But did they know that the man that had saved them, and that they looked up to, enjoyed sadistic sexual play?
And do they know you like to be his masochist?

She ran her hand over the mirror one again when it started to fog up. “Well, what are you going to do?” Silence greeted her as she looked at her reflection. She turned and grabbed the plush robe that hung behind the door. After she had it on she opened the door and turned off the light, but she knew she wasn’t alone as soon as she stepped into the room. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness, but she saw him sitting on the edge of her bed, and felt his eyes on her.

“Hello, Ruby.” Gavin’s voice was deep, and now that her vision was clearer she saw he wore a suit, but he wasn’t as impeccably styled as it usually was. He didn’t wear a tie, and the first few buttons of his shirt were undone. His jacket wasn’t buttoned either, and the vest underneath was visible.

“You’re back.” She didn’t know why she was surprised to see him, because he had said he might be back tonight. Was she disappointed that he was already here, and that he hadn’t stayed away longer? No, and that realization had her heart racing and her mouth going dry.

“Come here, Ruby.” His voice was low, and he sounded exhausted, but there was that ever-present assertiveness and dominance laced in his words. She moved away from the bathroom and closer to him. She stopped in front of him, and hated the fact that her breathing increased just from the way he looked at her. The moon was full and the light from it came through the window where the drapes didn’t quite close. “Did you miss me?” He reached out and tugged on the belt that held the robe closed. She didn’t stop him as he undid the knot, or when he took each side of the robe and parted the material.

She was naked underneath, and a deep noise left him when he saw what she had done. “I see you did miss me.” He ran his finger over her freshly-shaved mound. Why had she shaved all of her pubic hair off? Honestly she didn’t know. “You must have thought about me a lot to have done this.” He looked up at her, and even though his exhaustion was clear around his eyes, he looked so damn good. Like a fallen angel.

Ruby had found herself in the shower, with a razor in hand, and thoughts of how pleased Gavin would be if he saw her completely free of hair down there. He stared at her pussy for a long time, ran his finger along her now smooth, slick cleft, and groaned. Gavin pulled her closer and pressed his face to her chest. All he did was hold her, breathe against her, and not let her go. It was a very affectionate embrace, and Ruby found herself lifting her hands and spearing them in his hair. The thick strands weren’t like his normal perfectly-styled appearance. It looked like he had already been running his hands through it. He tensed momentarily, maybe just as surprised as she was at this intimate action. She couldn’t explain her reaction to him, but didn’t want to question it again. She had already done enough of that since being with him.

“You left the razor. You must not have been too worried about me hurting myself.” Ruby didn’t know why she had even brought that up, because wouldn’t bringing it to his attention that she had actually thought about hurting herself—which honestly she had for a spilt second—make him even stricter? He leaned back to look up at her.

“Did you want to hurt yourself, darling?” His voice was soft, but she wasn’t fooled. He lifted his hand and stroked his finger along her cheek. She thought about how to answer, but knew honesty was the only thing he would accept. He would know if she was lying anyway, that she knew without a doubt.

“I thought about it.” The words were almost a whisper, and a flash of darkness washed over his face. In the next second he had her on her back on the bed, with her hands pinned above her head, and her thighs spread wide to accommodate his hips. He was hard, and his erection nudged at her bared opening. There was nothing stopping him from plunging inside except for the thin layer of his pants.

“Is your time here so horrible that you would resort to harming yourself?” He thrust against her and pleasure rocked her when he rubbed her clit. “Have I treated you so badly that you want the coward’s way out?” He leaned down so they were nose to nose. “Have I not given you pleasure, and seen to all of your needs?” He thrust his hips forward once more, nudging her clit and causing a moan to leave her.

“And pain. You’ve caused me pain, too.” He bared his teeth, but it was a frightening display of his anger.

“Yes, and you cried out for more and came undone. Right, Ruby?” He tightened his hold on her wrists until she opened her mouth and cried out silently. He kept pumping against her, right on her clit and causing her to become wetter from the act. “I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again. You and I are the same.” He let go of her wrists with one of his hands and moved it down to between her legs. He kept her in a secure hold with his other one, making her know without words that he was the one in control. But Ruby knew he was in control. He made sure to not let her forget that. Spreading her wetness around with a finger, there was a very satisfied look in his eyes. “You can call it whatever you want, and deny it until you can’t breathe, but the life you had back there doesn’t give you the satisfaction that I do.” He removed his hand from her pussy and pressed his finger into her mouth. “Suck it off, Ruby. Lick off the arousal that you got thinking of all the dirty things you want me to do to you.”

“I hate you.” There was no heat in her words, and he pressed his finger deeper into her mouth.

“Fucking lick it clean, Princess.” She ran her tongue along his finger, tasted the flavor of herself coat him, and shouldn’t have liked it as much as she did. He took his finger from between her lips and claimed her mouth with his own. Swirling his tongue along hers, his flavor mixed with hers until she was panting against him. “If you want pain,
I
will be the one to give it to you,” he murmured against her mouth. He leaned back, and his hard expression spoke louder than anything he could have said. “Do you understand me, Ruby?” When she didn’t respond quickly enough, he slammed his mouth on hers so forcefully that their teeth clashed together. “Fucking tell me you understand.”

She nodded. “Yes. Yes, I understand.” She might have thought about it, wondered what that kind of escape would bring, but she could never do that to herself. But she didn’t say that, didn’t tell him that she wouldn’t ever take her own life, no matter what. She wasn’t strong enough to do that, or maybe it was that she wasn’t that much of a coward. He looked down at her once more, but showed no emotion. She expected him to fuck her right then, to make his point in a physical way, but he didn’t, and instead moved away. She laid there, her legs still spread, her pussy and breasts on full display, and his hard-on still tenting the front of his pants.

“Get some sleep.” He turned and headed toward the door, and before he left he stopped and turned to look at her again. “And every room in this estate is monitored. There wasn’t one moment that I didn’t know what you were doing, and if I thought you would have really hurt yourself someone would have been at your side in seconds flat.” He opened the door. “And don’t touch yourself. If you do you’ll regret it.” He left her lying on the bed, her heart thundering, and her body so aroused but with no relief in sight.

*     *     *

Gavin didn’t go
back to his room after he left Ruby on the bed looking deliciously submissive. He knew she would have given herself to him very easily, but his emotions were running high right now at the ideathat she had actually thought—even for just a second—about harming herself to get away from him. He headed down the stairs and into the kitchen. He needed a drink, needed something to help him unwind and ease the ache in his balls.

Staying in New York until tomorrow had been the plan, but he had gotten through all of his obligations with work and had taken the jet back to his estate. He was jet-lagged, exhausted, and horny as fuck. All he wanted to do was bury his dick inside of Ruby, and then when they were both sated he would pull her close and fall asleep with his body still connected with hers. But he had left her, and he knew that punishment would be far stronger than tying her up and bringing his hand across the luscious mounds of her perfect ass.

He pushed open the kitchen door and saw Adelbert. “It is late. You should be sleeping.” He spoke to him in their native language, and Adelbert stopped and looked over at him.

“Master Gavin, I didn’t even realize you had returned.” Adelbert dried his hands on a rag. “I was in the cellar fixing a pipe that had busted. There was water everywhere.”