Pretty Deadly

Chapter Two

Spade

I kept one hand on Nalini’s neck and the other on the gun in my hand. A thrill zinged through me that she trembled beneath my fingers. Fear was a powerful motivator.

A crowd had gathered in the corridor. Guards blocked anyone from venturing past the bathroom doorway. I wouldn’t escape unnoticed. Good. I wanted witnesses, wanted Kyng to know he’d lost her on his watch. Not even his guards would be able to stop me. Another guard blocked the emergency exit.

“Who the fuck are you?” the guard asked, gripping his gun.

Nalini sucked in a sharp inhale. I tightened my hold on her, tugging her closer. She pressed along my side, fitting her small frame against my hard edges.

Unsteady, she gripped my shirt. Her fingers tightened in the fabric, almost as if she leaned into me for protection. Did she not recognize I was the villain in this scenario? If not now, she would. Her nightmare was just beginning.

“Let the girl go.”

“Kyng took something of mine.” I held his gaze, daring him to challenge me, and stepped in front of Nalini. “I’m taking something of his.”

The office door lurched open. Ayla stumbled forward, gripping the jamb to stay upright. “He’s taking Nalini.”

In the confusion, I lifted my gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The bang ruptured the heavy music and drone of voices. Red misted in the air as the bullet ripped through the guard. He grunted, gasped, and dropped to his knees. His gun clattered to the floor. Blood oozed from between his fingers as he clutched his chest.

Screams reverberated through the hall. People scrambled. Some ran back into the club. More charged toward the emergency exit.

Ayla shrieked, retreated into the office, and slammed the door closed.

“Go.” I shoved open the emergency exit. Alarms instantly pierced the air, adding to the chaos. “Don’t make a sound,” I said, propelling her through the doorway.

A flood of people followed, swallowing us into the crowd. Stopping at my black utility van, I slid open the side door. “Get in.”

“If you took me to get to Kyng, it won’t work. I’m nothing to him.”

“You’re nothing to me .” With a shove, she tumbled into the vehicle. Braced on her hands, she crawled until she was completely inside. I climbed in behind her and slammed the door closed.

She scrambled away from me. “Where are you taking me?”

I ignored her question, worked quickly, and asked my own. “What are you on?” I grabbed my bag, shifted the syringe I’d planned to use on her out of the way, and chose a single dose of naloxone instead. She was high on something. If he had her on an opioid, naloxone would counter the effects.

“No, please.” She tried to back away from me. Perhaps she finally realized Kyng wasn’t going to be able to save her.

People screamed outside the van. I focused my attention on the girl, drowning out distractions. I had moments to get her stable and get the fuck out of the area.

“Calm down. It’s naloxone.” Since I didn’t know how an anesthetizing patch would react with whatever was in her system, I’d have to restrain her another way. “Heroin, Ketamine, Rohypnol, MDMA?”

Her eyes tried to focus. “What?”

“Fuck, smack, Special K, roofies, molly?” I popped the orange cap on the naloxone and stabbed it into her thigh.

“I don’t know, but I’m hot, and—” She licked her lips.

“And what?” I snapped.

“I need to be touched.” She slid her legs together, her hips rolling. She rubbed her hands on her thighs, inching closer to the heat of her pussy.

“It’s a shit situation because I don’t give a fuck what you need. You have something that I want.” I grabbed a length of rope and closed the space between us. “Clasp your hands together.”

“I won’t try to get away.” Her wild eyes widened, and her lower lip trembled. “Please don’t tie me up.” Panic laced her words. “Please,” she begged and twisted her arms to hide her hands behind her back. She brought her knees to her chest, curling herself over her thighs. Her fear was palpable.

“Give me your hands,” I demanded.

When she lifted her head, tears shimmered in her eyes. She slowly moved her arms in front of her. Her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. I gripped her wrists. Tears slid onto her cheek, and her eyes closed. Her lips moved, but no sound came from her mouth.

I inhaled deeply, flaring my nostrils. The woman vibrated with fear. I twisted the rope around her small wrists. What the fuck? Red lines cut a crisscross pattern on her tender flesh. The scars were rough, and the skin abraded. I loosened the rope and ran my thumb over another set of raised bumps. These were self-inflicted.

She whimpered, and her heartbeat raced beneath her skin, the rampant pulses mimicking the fluttering of her chest.

She was soft, pretty, and deadly. Whatever coursed through her veins had her riding the rails of arousal. With a few twists of the rope, I had her hands bound.

Had I been able to sedate her, I wouldn’t have had to restrain her, wouldn’t have had to touch her. Because touching her felt too fucking good. My fingertips slid over her soft skin as I wrapped my hands around her bare biceps and positioned her against the wall of the van.

“I won’t fight.” Her back arched, and her nipples poked against the fabric of her corset. A low moan rolled from her chest.

That moan settled in my balls. Heat surged into my hardening cock. Her lips parted with a breathy exhale. I inhaled her exhale, taking in her truth. She was turned on and terrified. I had the queen on her knees.

“We’re going for a little ride. Make a sound and I’ll duct tape your mouth.”

“You don’t have to do this.” Her voice trembled.

“Are you afraid?” I spoke low, letting my words seep into her psyche.

She swallowed and touched her tongue to her upper lip. “Yes.”

“Kyng’s guards couldn’t protect you.”

Bent at the elbows, she clutched her bound arms in front of her. “You’re under the impression I hold value to him?”

“You should be more concerned with the value you hold for me.” I tugged the rope to ensure the knots were tight. I picked up a black pillowcase. Her wide eyes blinked. I covered her head. “Don’t fight me. He can’t save you.” I lowered my voice. “He’ll never find you.”

From behind the black fabric, she released a shuddering exhale. “Promise?”

I paused, listening to her rapid breaths.

“Because if he does, he’ll kill us both.”

“I can promise someone is going to be dead.” And his name was Madden Kyng.

I reluctantly backed away from her because I ached to feed the beast inside me, the one that wanted a taste of her. Scent wasn’t enough. I slammed the door on my thoughts and climbed behind the wheel. I hadn’t been caught because I was smart.

For some reason, that pissed me the fuck off. This woman made me reckless.

Police lights cut through the night. Another nightclub, another shooting. Panicked people filled the parking lot and street. Tonight hadn’t gone exactly like I’d planned, but I had the queen in the van. Another one of Kyng’s pawns was dead, and the guy in the bathroom should be joining his friend in the morgue.

I slowly drove between vehicles to the rear of the lot, rolled over the curb, and drove away from the pandemonium. My gaze shifted between the driver’s side mirror and the mirror angled to watch my captive.

Her head bowed, and her dark hair tumbled around her shoulders. The black cover over her head shifted with her ragged breaths. She rubbed her hands between her legs, either to loosen the rope or to get herself off. Either way, the muscles in her arms strained.

“Stop.”

Her head snapped up. In less than five minutes, she’d rubbed her wrists raw. “I don’t like to be tied up.” She twisted and turned her wrists, shredding her skin against the rough fibers.

I wanted her contained, not injured. “If I wanted to hurt you, I would. Until I do, calm the fuck down.”

“I can’t calm down.” Her movements became violent. Blood stained the ropes.

“Fuck.” I pulled to the side of the road, threw the van into park, and launched over the seat. I jerked the hood off her head and then grabbed her hands. “I’m not going to kill you.”

Sweat beaded on her upper lip. Goosebumps peppered her flesh as she twitched and shivered. “Then why did you take me?”

“Insurance to get what I want.” My jaw clenched. “I don’t plan to kill you, but I will. I’ll untie your wrists. If you move from this spot, I’ll send you back to Kyng in a body bag.”

Once the ropes were off her wrists, she rubbed her arms. Her gaze darted to the handle on the side door.

“Don’t try it. It only opens from the outside.” I climbed back into the driver’s seat. She fidgeted behind me.

“Where are we going?”

“Does it matter?”

She loosened the ties on her corset and wiped the sheen on her breasts with her fingertips. “It depends on how long you plan to keep me.”

I shook my head. “I’m not keeping you.” She was just a piece in the game. Once played, I wouldn’t have any use for her. I imagined Madden discovering her gone and his anger at his men for allowing her to be taken. How many would pay the price?

All of them, I hoped.

As I navigated through the city, the headlights cut through the night surrounding the vehicle. I wanted her isolated, under my control, and I needed her to fear me more than she feared Madden Kyng.

“Talk to me. Tell me something,” she said. She’d gone from light perspiration to sweat dampening her hair and trickling along her temple. Makeup smeared down her face. “What’s your name?”

I’d warned her not to speak, but her voice, soft with trepidation, slipped under my skin.

“The next time I stop the vehicle, I’ll gag your mouth.”

Nalini

My body burned. Even the air scorched my flesh. The only relief came from embracing the pain.

“Something’s wrong with me,” I whispered. “I’m not coming down.” My high was still climbing. Endorphins fired through my brain. The beautiful taste of colors had become an unquenchable thirst. Blinding lights burned my eyes. Closing them sent a piercing symphony of pain into my brain.

Breathing tightened my chest, catching fire, searing lower, and boiling to a fevering pitch.

The stranger gripped the steering wheel. Those strong hands could ease the ache. I imagined his fingers stripping me, caressing my breasts—no, he wouldn’t caress me. He’d tear me apart.

My core clenched with the need of turbulent, angry thrusts. My breath came in ragged gasps. I kept my eyes on the tight stretch of his T-shirt as I lifted my heavy breasts and pinched my nipples. The memory of his scent, the dangerous tone of his voice, and the way he’d stood protectively in front of me sent a shiver of electric current into my clit.

Unlike Madden’s brutal touch, I imagined the stranger’s firm grip holding me hostage for pleasure, not for pain. Popping the button on my pants, I spread the wings of the leather to make room for my hand.

Quivers rippled low in my abdomen with the first touch of my fingertip through the drenched folds of my pussy. A low moan crawled up my throat.

The stranger’s jaw tightened, and his Adam’s apple bobbed on a hard swallow.

Heat rushed through me, but I couldn’t stop. The need to come was stronger than my will to fight the effects of whatever Madden had injected into my veins. Stronger than any fear I had of my captor.

“The naloxone didn’t help.” Tears filled my eyes, intensifying the kaleidoscope of colors swimming in my vision.

I rubbed my clit. A wave of tension built, drowning me in darkening waters of a drug fueled need.

The van came to a screeching halt. The driver’s door slammed, and a moment later, the side door slid open. The rumble of the automatic door echoed in the large open bay.

“Get out.”

His harshly spoken command sent a corkscrew of panic curling in my belly, but I couldn’t stop. I cried out as my climax rushed over me. Every nerve exploded in a volcano of pleasure. My heart hammered against my ribs. I lost focus as my eyes rolled and my body quaked with wave after wave.

A tide of fear surged through me. The orgasm didn’t ebb but continued to rage. I screamed, punishing my clit with rapid strokes.

“Fuck.” The stranger vaulted into the van, ripped my fingers from my pants, and lifted me into his arms.

I gasped, winding my arms around his neck. I was on fire yet craved the warmth of his body. I buried my face in his neck, drinking in the scent of his skin, and crushing my face into the soft hair of his beard. My fingers slid over the hard hills of his broad shoulders.

A desperate need held me in its clutches. With a soft flick of my tongue, I tasted salty sweat from his neck.

“Don’t.” A low rumble vibrated from his body and seeped into mine. “What the fuck are you on?” His hold on me tightened, pressing my breast into the solid wall of muscle carving his chest.

I didn’t know. I was crawling out of my skin to get under his. He juggled me in his arms. I kept my eyes closed, breathing him in, desperate to relieve the fire snapping through my veins. Everywhere he touched sizzled with awareness.

Holding me in his arms, he entered the building and kicked the door closed. I clung to him as he strode down a stark corridor. He placed his hand on another door, and the sound of a lock sliding open followed.

The stench of antiseptic wafted over me. I tightened my arms around his neck, holding him as tremors wracked my body. The back of my thighs brushed against a cold, metal table, and his hold on me loosened.

His hand curled around my neck. I waited for the pressure, the delirious, mind-numbing euphoria of being choked, but his palm stilled on my throat. “Your pulse is racing. Sweats. Heightened sexual responses. Dilated pupils. Are you feeling anxiety?”

“I feel like I’m coming apart. I can taste how badly I need more.” I covered his hand with mine, forcing him to squeeze. His grip tightened. “I need you.”

“All you need is your next fix.”

“No. I never wanted this.” I’d been blinded. A girl who hadn’t had much growing up at least had dreams. Those dreams became nightmares the day I met Madden Kyng.

“You’re Kyng’s queen.”

“No, I’m not. He considers me his property.” I traced his hand to his wrist, following the clean cuts of tendon and sinew in his forearms. His biceps flexed, and I pulsed between my legs. I moaned as my body begged for more.

“Does it hurt?” The rough touch of his fingers had me on the brink of orgasm.

“Yes.” My gaze met his as I raked my nails down his chest. My fingertips caught the snap of his jeans. “Please—”

Those dark eyes focused on me. “Please, what?”

My gaze tracked lower. Quivers rippled my abdominals. Outlined behind his jeans, his cock was thick, long, and hard. “Kill me or make me come.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

Did he want to hurt me as much as I needed to feel the bite of his fingers on my hips, the thrust of his cock, and the edge of his teeth scoring my flesh?

“I’ll give you whatever you want. Just make it stop.” Tears slipped onto my cheeks.

The hand at my neck held me immobile, and his other slid into the front of my pants. One touch had me shattering. An unholy cry erupted from my chest as his fingertip parted my slick folds, grazed across my swollen clit, and pushed into my soaked opening.

He growled and aggressively plunged a second finger deep into my core.

I clawed the corset from my chest, parting the lace and fabric and exposing my breasts. With a hard tug, he wrenched me to the edge of the exam table and stepped between my thighs.

“Is this how you hold onto a king? Does your cunt keep him on his knees?” The stranger twisted his fingers. His palm ground against my clit. Another gush of fluids drenched his hand.

“Don’t talk about him.” He’d taken me to hurt Madden, but he didn’t know Kyng the way I did. Madden wouldn’t be hurt, but I would be if he ever found me.

“Protecting him even while you’re begging to ride my fingers?”

I gripped his wrist, my nails cutting half-moons into his flesh as I rolled my hips against his hand. “I’m not protecting him.”

Another climax tore through me. Pain warred with pleasure. I clenched hard against his fingers, but my overstimulated clit screamed in agony. I bit my lip until I tasted the coppery tang of blood. And still, there was no reprieve from the coil of lust knotting low in my belly.

When I’d asked him to kill me or make me come, I wished he would have killed me.

Spade

After her third orgasm, I’d stripped Nalini out of her leather pants and panties. Her tattered corset lay on the floor. Naked, her thighs were spread, and I had three fingers crammed into her swollen core as I wrung another orgasm from her. Only her release had nothing to do with me. Whatever fed her habit had her creaming on my fingers.

I’d stalked her for weeks. I considered it pursuing with purpose. Three weeks of watching her sip lattes with her blonde friend before climbing into the back of Kyng’s limo. Men surrounding her, using her. I understood the fascination.

She was beautiful. Her body was made for sex. I’d wanted to see her suffer, but with every whimper from her lips, with every breathy exhale, I was the one in turmoil. I pressed my lips to her temple as she tumbled, locked in the throes of continuous climaxes.

I couldn’t watch her writhe in pain. Maybe because the last woman I’d had my hands on had been tempted by the same addicting affliction. Ella had gotten in bed with a beast, not me, but the allure of Madden Kyng and his promise of a chemical pleasure.

She’d been clean for two years. Then her pale eyes had changed, going from a beautiful, blue summer sky to the dead, lifeless eyes of a junkie needing nothing but her next fix.

We had dreams. Or maybe they were just my wishful fantasies. Maybe if I’d kept her with me. Maybe if I hadn’t given her the ultimatum. But I’d grown tired of the lies. I’d made her choose, let her go, and now, she was dead. I shook the mental image, the one that clawed into my thoughts every fucking minute of the day.

I hadn’t been enough for her, but Madden Kyng had been too much.

I couldn’t save Ella. I wrestled with what I knew of Nalini Bryan. Kill me or make me come. I didn’t want to see her dead.

Fuck me. Her pussy gripped tighter to my fingers.

She screamed as violent convulsions ripped through her. “Please, I need more. Fuck me.”

I rested my forehead against hers. “I can’t. Hold on. Breathe through it.” I eased my fingers in and out of her tender flesh.

Her head tipped forward, resting on my chest, and her legs trembled as she braced against my hips. She whimpered as tears streamed from her eyes. Her open mouth slid along my neck, licking, biting, and sucking.

My cock throbbed. I wanted inside her, but this wasn’t a mutual attraction. She was out of her fucking mind on whatever poison she’d taken.

Yet, I had to touch her. She shivered beneath my palm as I trekked my hand along the ladder of her ribs. Hardened nipples centered on soft, luscious breasts. She filled my hand. The nipple prodded my palm.

Wrecked and exhausted, she breathed deeply. Her body softened against me. Juices from her multiple orgasms pooled beneath her, soaked her folds, and trickled down her thighs. Her limp arms held onto my shoulders, but she didn’t have the strength to fight the power of the drugs weaponizing her body.

Her eyes slid closed, and she slumped against me. I eased my fingers out of her trembling body and shifted her onto the exam table.

“Nalini?”

Sweat beaded on her brow and on the cupid’s bow of her lip. I combed damp tendrils of hair from her face. Even unconscious, she leaned into my touch.

With one hand, I ran my fingers along the delicate features of her face. With the other, I rubbed my fingers against my lips, breathing deeply of her scent. My gut clenched as I slipped my fingers into my mouth and tasted the sweet tang of her essence. She’d spread her thighs for a king, but she’d rode my hand searching for salvation.

My shoulders were tight with tension. She was at war with her body, and I fought against my intentions. Who was this woman?

I’d watched her, seethed with my hatred, and yet, somehow, revenge against her tasted bitter on my tongue when I wanted more of her dark and musky sweetness.

I still wanted Madden dead, but what if I wanted to keep the queen?

Careful of her head, I positioned her on the exam table. Once I had her strapped down at the shoulders, hips, and feet, I extended the left armrest and restrained her at the biceps and wrist. With my fingertip, I traced the blue veins beneath her translucent skin.

I crossed to my supply cabinet and loaded a medical procedure tray with a tourniquet, needle, tubes, and gloves. When I returned to Nalini, I softly stroked her hair. Blood marred her mouth where she’d sunk her teeth into her bottom lip.

Locked in her restlessness, she writhed on the table. The scent of her arousal had me biting the inside of my cheek. The heat of her flesh seeped into my fingertips as I tightened the tourniquet, ran my thumb over her blood-swollen vein, and slid the needle into her arm.

Dark red blood filled the first tube. I slipped the tourniquet from her arm as the second tube filled. I expected to see more track marks in her arms. She was a junkie. I could kill her now, pull the tube, leave her vein open, and watch her bleed out onto the floor. A sleeping beauty, so perfect in death. So fucked up in life.

Her eyelids fluttered open, brows furrowed, and her lips trembled. She shifted on the table, but the straps held her immobile.

“No,” she said on a whimper. “No.”

Her eyes closed again. I wasn’t sure if she was speaking to me or whatever nightmare played out in her mind. I pulled the needle from her arm and pressed my thumb against the vein. Because I needed her immobile, I couldn’t release the restraints, so I applied pressure until the blood coagulated.

My lab was specific to my needs. A micro core laboratory with a hematology analyzer. A centrifugation process separated the fluids, and an automated aliquoting dispersed the fluids to different wells for analysis. High-performance liquid chromatography would tell me exactly what substances were in her system.

While the machines completed the analytic procedure, I dampened a cloth at the sink, then crossed to Nalini and gently ran the cloth over the feminine slope of her shoulders, followed the softness of her neck to her round breasts with rose nipples. She was a petite woman with trim thighs and a flat, toned stomach.

I spread her legs. Instant anger roiled in my chest. She was marked, and I’d seen the image before, tattooed on a dead man’s neck. Nalini had a fucking spider scarring her inner thigh. Not tattooed but burned. Her words came back to haunt me. Branded as Madden’s property. She carried the mark of the cartel.

Not anymore.

She moaned in her sexual fog as I tenderly washed between her legs, holding the cool cloth to her pussy. More scars crisscrossed her body. What the fuck had she been into? While I had her on my table, I did a full examination.

My computer buzzed and chirped. I crossed the room and sat in the chair and analyzed the composition of her blood. She was a toxic stew of chemicals.

Madden had her enslaved with drugs, just as he’d done with Ella. I would’ve locked Ella away if I thought I could’ve saved her. She’d chosen. Fuck, she probably did drugs with Nalini and Ayla. The last time I’d seen Ella’s body, she hadn’t been branded, but that hadn’t changed her loyalty to Kyng.

I was a chemist with a medical degree and enough rage to burn down the fucking world. If Nalini wanted to be chained to a monster, she could be a slave to me.