Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
I didn’t ask where I was.
If he was okay.
Or even why I was dressed in clothes that I wouldn’t wear…
I just stripped and dropped down onto his dick.
Lifting my hips up, I slowly ride myself over his length, grinding against him when I feel him pulse against me. “Come here…” He nudges his head, untwisting his wrists from my amateur tie around them before slipping my panties over his head like a necklace. He leans back, his hands resting on my ass cheeks and forcing me back down onto him until I stop just above his lips. He slowly raises his hips up. “Ride me.”
Moving to the other side of the room, his jeans unbuttoned and around his waist, he pulls open a drawer and takes out his hoodie that I was wearing. Tossing it onto my lap, he points. “Get changed. I’m taking you to the airport. Victor will have men waiting for you there.”
I slip my arms through, then force my head through. “What about you? And why do I get to leave and you don’t?”
“Because I just don’t, Ruby.” He steps closer to me, wrapping his fingers around my chin. “Sorry…”
I search his eyes. “For what?”
Clapping sounds out behind Wicked, and I tilt my head to see who it is. The same man with the diamond tattoo enters, leaning on the dresser. “Bravo, you two. That will make a splendid video.”
I pause. “What?”
Wicked steps backward, shaking his head. “Bye, baby girl.”
The man twirls his fingers and two other men enter. He clicks his fingers. “Drop her off at the airport. I’ll keep my end of the deal.” Betrayal claws its ugly talons into my skin as I watch Wicked walk down the long corridor. Every step he takes, I feel my heart beat in my chest slower. Heavier.
Angrier.
When love grows where hate was planted, you don’t get flowers. Just thorns.
I hate him.
I don’t stop walking until I’m out of his bullshit mansion and walking down the path that leads to the Pens. It’s where I deserve to be, that’s a given, and I’d rather take myself there than stay inside and listen to Ruby scream and fight her way out. She’ll no doubt hate me for the rest of her life, as she should.
I can’t find myself to care.
I stop just as the forest clearing opens up to the igloo-shaped pods that are scattered around the forest, hidden behind trees and broken branches. Five of them are spaced out around the ground, with each being completely transparent and open. For anyone to see, watch, or do whatever it is they want to do.
I rest against the glass one nearest to the opening, banging my head against the wall. Losing her hasn’t settled in yet. I don’t think it ever will, but I know I don’t have time to mourn, because now, I have to figure out a way to kill every single person who played a part in Poppy’s death. I hated fucking doing that video, but I know it’s for her own good. He won’t want her without it. I know that it’s not the civilians of The Institute. They’re simply there because they have nowhere else to go, but little do they know the dark underbelly of the person they call God and what he does—or has his Dragons do—to keep shit running afloat.
“That one is yours—” Diamond points to the igloo I’m leaning on. “You will stay here until I deem you worthy of leaving.” Diamond and Skully are brothers, but not blood. They’re like a ridiculous duo. I didn’t have much to do with Diamond growing up, but I had heard stories of him through TI. None of them great. He leads a normal life in the outside world apparently, a life where his family and kids have no idea the kind of dirty shit he does over here, or in his compound. The robes represent him and Skully. The white robes are for Skully, the black for Diamond. No one but me knows that. It’s Skully’s way of trying to make him feel like he is a decent person beneath it all. I think he really thinks he is… but he is also delusional, so there is that.
“And when will that be?” I keep my eyes locked on his as he moves around me, reaching into his pocket for a chain of keys. He pushes one into a keyhole and unlocks it.
“When I tell you you’re free.” He widens the door, gesturing inside.
“You’re not going to let me out of this fucking thing, are you?” Crows clap their wings up above, the wind whistling between the branches that hang ahead.
He shakes his head slowly. “No. But don’t worry.” He leans down, entering into the pod and gesturing to the space. “You have everything you need in here.” I follow his footsteps, ducking beneath the space and standing straight once I’m inside. There’s a double bed pushed up against the side, a small rug on the floor, and a bathroom to the other side. Everything somehow screams I have money, yet this is what he chooses to do with it.