The Sinner

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

ELLINGTON

I WAKE UP, opening my heavy eyes, and I realize I’m in the passenger seat of Sin’s car.

My head falls to the left, and I look over his tense body. His hand grips the steering wheel, the other holding the shifter. His defined jaw is tight, eyes narrowed on the road like it betrayed him. “Sin,” I moan his name, my throat sore.

His eyes quickly look over at me and then back on the road.

I lift my ass out of the seat but can’t move. My arms are tied behind my back, and he’s pulled the seat belt so tight that it’s locked me in place. My thighs tighten while my breath hitches. “Where are we … where are we going?” All of a sudden, my throat is dry.

“Something I have to take care of,” he answers cryptically.

“Untie me?” I ask more than demand. A part of me knows I like it, while another part tells me I shouldn’t.

He chuckles but doesn’t respond or make any attempt to free me. I look out the tinted windows, trying to see where we’re at or where we’re going. It’s just woods, but I know exactly where we’re going. The Freak Show .

My breathing accelerates as he pulls off the two-lane road and drives through an iron gate to the parking lot. He brings his car to a stop next to a white Audi that I know is Jayce’s. Just as I look out of my window, I see a Black SUV pull in next to us, and it’s Corbin.

Sin comes around and opens my door. He leans in, undoing my seat belt, and yanks me out of the car with his hand on my upper arm, bringing me to the back of the SUV when Corbin pops his hatch.

He spins me around to face Jayce, then pulls something over my head and down my body. Looking down, I find it resembles a black cloak of some kind. It’s got a high collar on it. I can feel the material rubbing on my neck.

“Open wide,” Sin orders from behind, and I do as I’m told only for him to reach around my face and shove a ball gag into my mouth. It’s big, forcing my teeth open wide and I whimper around it while I feel him fasten it in place behind my head. It tastes of rubber, causing my mouth to instantly produce more saliva. My tongue explores the back of the round ball, trying to push it out of the way, but that’s useless. He’s secured it tight enough that the leather is digging into the corner of my lips and cheeks. The pain makes my thighs clench.

Then hands grab my shoulders, and I’m spun around. Sin lifts something in his hands and places it over my head. Thankfully, it has two eye holes so I can see. But it’s hot in here. I can hear my heavy breathing echoing in my ears.

I’m guessing it’s so no one can see I have a gag in my mouth. And the cloak they put over me doesn’t have any arm holes, so it too hides my arms tied behind my back.

Each of the guys puts on their black hoodies and masks from last time. Corbin’s is the clown, Jayce’s is the skinless face, and just as I had guessed, Sin is the broken mirror. “Let’s go,” Sin commands, and Corbin closes the hatch.

I’m escorted by three men into what looks like a red-and-black tent. I expect some kind of circus inside but that’s not even close to what I see. The tent was just painted on the front of the building. There is a guy taking tickets and two carts connected to one another. The lights are dim, making it harder to see with the small holes as eyes.

Drool runs out of the corner of my mouth, and I can’t help the moan that escapes my lips when my pussy throbs. I catch sight of the kid, who’s taking the tickets, frowning.

Sin grabs my upper arm, helping me into the car, and I see Corbin and Jayce get in the one attached to the back of ours. It jerks forward and Sin leans over into me, his hand gripping my throat, forcing my head back, and I whimper.

His hand tightens, taking away my air, and I struggle in his grip, although wetness fills my underwear. I try to suck in air but get nothing, and it just makes me squirm more.

“The sound of you trying to breathe makes me so fucking hard,” he whispers in my ear, making my nipples harden, and it just forces another unintelligible noise from my lips due to the tenderness the piercings still cause. “If you didn’t have a gag in your mouth, it’d be full of my cock.”

My throat burns, my chest heaving, and tears sting my eyes.

He lets go of me, and I suck in a deep breath through my nose. A line of drool steadily runs from the corners of my mouth now. My jaw already starting to get sore.

The car jerks again, but this time to a stop, and he grabs me. I protest, but he pulls me from the car effortlessly. I get a quick glimpse at Corbin and Jayce through my small eye holes to see they also exit.

Sin pulls me through a door I didn’t notice hidden in the black wall and to a stop, then he rips the mask off my head, my hair sticking to my sweaty-and-drool-covered face. I blink to see a prop tied up to a wall. His arms were raised above his head. His feet tied together at the ankles.

He’s got a pair of jeans on with a black T-shirt. It’s ripped, looks like a knife slashed across his skin in various places, fake blood running down the front of him. There’s a mask over his head. Looks like an animal of some sort with long and thick devil horns that curl backward around to a point.

There’s a red light pointed right at it.

I don’t understand why we’re here or what we’re doing. A beeping sound makes me jump, before I hear what sounds like our cars leaving us on the other side of the wall.

Panic fills my chest, making my heart pound faster. My wide eyes go to Sin to ask what the fuck is going on, but he grips my hair in his hands, and I cry out in the gag when he yanks me forward. He brings me to a stop in front of the prop, and Jayce rips the mask away.

I scream into the gag when a set of dark brown eyes meet mine. Mr. Hamilton is the prop that’s hanging on the wall. And the smell of blood hits my nose, making me gag.

“Don’t do that, little demon.” Sin commands in my ear, standing behind me to keep me in place. “This piece of shit doesn’t deserve your pity or your forgiveness.”

I shake my head, quickly trying to loosen his hold, but he just tightens it, forcing my head to look up at the dark ceiling. I start to choke on the slobber that slides to the back of my throat.

“I’ve been watching him.” Sin goes on as if I’m not going to choke to death. “You’re not the only student he’s been sticking his dick in.”

How did he know that I had been sleeping with my professor? I mean, he had to have known before I read off my diary today in class. But I also know that Sin is the reason he dropped me from his class in the first place. So he was aware before today.

Sin goes on. “Some even underage. He had the videos and pictures to prove it.”

My body tenses at that, my breathing stopping altogether.

Sin laughs roughly, the sound echoing in the room, making the hair on the back of my neck rise. “That’s right, little demon. He’s got a long list of girls who have been more than willing to get undressed for him.”

The way he says girls makes my chest tighten and bile rise.

“He’ll hang here for as long it takes him to die,” he adds. “I made sure not to cut him too deep, or into any major organs. Bleeding to death can take hours. Sometimes days, if he’s unlucky.” Letting go of me, I right my head, my neck now as sore as my mouth.

Sin reaches out his hand to his friend and my diary is placed in it. I start mumbling behind my gag, trying to grab it out of his hold. I know he read my journal, but that is different than my diary. I talk about Sin in there.

“We’re going to have a class.” Sin states and hands grab my shoulders, pulling me down into a chair. The metal cold on my ass and thighs through the thin cloak. “You shared your fantasies, little demon. Now let me share mine.” Licking the tip of his fingers, he starts turning the pages until he finds what he’s looking for. “Imagine you tied to a bed down in a basement.”

I stiffen, unable to take my eyes off Sin.

“Just lying there ready to be fucked. To be taken full advantage of. I softly run my hand along your thigh, and you shift on the bed, begging me to fuck your wet cunt.”

My pulse starts racing. Why is this so familiar?

He closes the diary and tosses it to the floor, no longer interested. Leaning forward, he places each hand on an armrest, caging me in. His mask just inches from my face, and I hold my breath. “Imagine me fucking your pussy with my hands wrapped around your throat while you fight the rope that ties you to the bed.”

My heart is pounding, and I’m holding my breath. Why do I feel like I’ve been there before? And how does he know about it? Was he watching Mr. Hamilton and me?

His hand shoots out and wraps around my throat, forcing me to lift my chin as a steady line of drool runs from my gagged mouth.

“That was the first time I fucked you, little demon. In his house.”

No. It can’t be. I try to shake my head, but his shattered mirror mask nods once. “Yes. He left you all alone in his basement. And I walked right in and had my way with you.”

Tears fill my eyes. I was so mad at Hamilton that night. After my second bottle of wine, he tied me to the bed and then said he was leaving me. When I started to panic, he shoved my underwear in my mouth and taped it shut. Then there was nothing. Just silence. I knew he had left and wasn’t sure when he’d return. But the longer I lay there, the wetter I got. Then I felt a touch, and I wanted… no, needed more. My body begged him to fuck me. I was practically sobbing when I came. Then I passed out. I woke up the following morning in my room, confused as to how I got home, and my car was in the driveway.

“My point is, Ellington.” Sin lets go of the armrests and reaches down to grab the cloak’s hem, pulling it up.

My pulse accelerates. He never calls me by my full name.

He runs his free hand between my legs, and they fall open on their own. “Is that you belong to me. I owned you before you even knew it. And I’m going to make sure you never forget that.”

I go to stand, but my hair is grabbed at the crown, and my neck is yanked back. Mumbled words come from my gagged mouth, and spit flies out around the edge of the rubber ball.

Hands are on my knees, holding them wide open, and I try to fight them, but it’s useless. There are three of them and one of me, and my arms are tied behind my back.

“You belong to a Lord now, Elli. And a Lord always takes what he wants.”

I swallow, the feel of the cold spit that’s set in my mouth making me gag.

“I vow …” Sin’s voice fills the room. “To fuck this cunt.” My already soaked thong is shoved to the side and a finger enters me, causing my hips to buck involuntarily. “You vow to be mine, don’t you, little demon?”

I nod the best I can, which isn’t much, and moan a yes when a second enters.

“We vow to never be apart in this world or the next.” He enters a third one, and my teeth sink into the rubber while I inhale sharply through my nose. “Because I will always find you, pet. No matter how far you try to run, how hard you fight me, or how long you live for me. You will never escape me.”

I see a red light, almost like a flame lighting up the small room, but I can’t look to see what it is because one of the guys behind me is still holding my head back by my hair, forcing me to look up at the black ceiling. Sin removes his fingers, and I sink into the chair just as hot searing pain shoots through my body.

I scream into the gag, my body thrashing in the chair, and I swear my vision fades for a second. When I come back to reality, my face is wet from tears running down my cheeks, and my body is shaking. Hands are on either side of my face and Sin’s face is in front of mine, his mask long gone and so is the hand that was fisted in my hair.

He smiles. “That was such a good girl, little demon.”

His hand slides behind my neck and pushes my face down. I see their crest on my inner thigh—a circle with three lines running parallel inside it. It’s the size of the ring he wears. The irritated skin is red and bleeding.

He grabs my neck once again, forcing me to meet his eyes. They’re wide with amusement, the corner of his lips turning up, just showing the tiniest hint of a smile. “That’s a reminder of who you serve.”

My thighs tighten while a mumbled whimper falls from my gagged mouth. The feel of the wetness between my legs reminds me just how fucked up I am. He was right. I like pain. My body gets off on it.

“You like that, don’t you?” he asks, lifting my head to meet his eyes again. “You always wanted someone to make you feel worthy, Elli. I’ll make sure you know your place. You’ll be my personal little pet. I’ll tie you up and play with you whenever I want. However I want.”

I nod my head the best I can with his other hand around my throat. At this very moment, I realize I’d do anything for him. To be his little demon.

When I burn the world down and they ask me why, I’ll tell them the devil asked me to do it. And I wanted to make him proud.

He steps back and I slump in the chair, trying to stop the tears while I shake uncontrollably. Sin lifts his hand to Corbin and a backpack appears in front of me in Sin’s hand. He unzips it and dumps the contents out into a bucket that Jayce sits on the ground next to him.

My eyes widen when I see what was inside the backpack. Sin tosses the now empty bag back to his friend and reaches down, pulling a notebook with my name written on the front from the bucket, holding a lighter to it. I’m screaming unintelligible things when the pages catch, and he drops it into the bucket to light up the rest.

Sin reaches out, grabs my hair, and yanks me to my knees in front of the bucket. He comes to stand behind me, one hand in my hair, and the other wrapped around the chair as he kneels behind me. Forcing me to watch him burn my memories, my fantasies. A part of me wishes they were that easy to erase.

“You don’t need those anymore, Elli” he whispers in my ear as the flames grow higher, the room hotter. I can feel the fire heating up my skin he’s got me so close to it. “I’ll buy you new ones. And I’ll make sure you always have something to write about.” promises, gently kissing my tear-streaked cheek.

SIN

SHE’S MINE. FINALLY. It’s taken me years to get to this point, but there has never been a doubt about what I wanted. I always knew I would go to great lengths to get her.

I let go of her, taking a step back and she slumps, kneeling on the floor watching the fire, her mumbled cries filling the room.

Corbin pulls his cell out of his pocket and types away a message. Jayce turns to look at David. I was going to let him live. I didn’t think he was that big of a threat. But after I heard what she had to say in his class today, I knew I had to take care of him. For her.

She sniffs, getting my attention, and I look down at her. The cloak is still shoved up to rest around her waist, so she’s looking down at her inner thigh, where I branded her with my ring.

I pull the cloak back into place, and her pretty eyes meet mine. Fresh tears spill over the bottom lashes and run down her cheeks. Along with drool.

Fuck, she’s gorgeous.

If I could, I’d keep her like this forever.

She is officially mine. Technically, she can’t be my chosen, but I can have more than one. The vow ceremony wasn’t a tradition in the Lords’ eyes, but I still made it happen. You’re supposed to dunk your chosen in water to cleanse them from past fucks. And it’s done in front of a congregation to show ownership. Two fellow Lords who happened to be my best friends were enough. She wears our brand. She’ll belong to me until the day she dies.

“Let’s go,” I say, reaching out and grabbing her upper arm. I pull her to her feet, and she sways a little.

She starts mumbling behind her gag, her eyes widening. I ignore her obvious struggle to remind me that she’s still gagged and restrained. She’s not getting loose anytime soon. Her shoulders shake, and I slip the mask back over her face to cover it up.

Corbin puts out the fire before we exit through the back, and I lead her to my car and place her in the passenger seat. I close the door and turn to my friends. “I’ll come get him in the morning,” I inform them.

Jayce adds, “I can meet you here. Just let me know what time.”

Corbin is still typing away on his phone, but he gives a nod.

We say our goodbyes, and I get into the driver’s seat. Reaching over, I rip off her mask, and her heavy eyes look over at mine. She’s getting tired. Her adrenaline is starting to wear off.

I run my thumb over the ball covered in her drool, and she moans, her hips lifting off the seat. Reaching across her, I grab her seat belt and fasten it, locking her in.

_______________

I CARRY HER unconscious body into her house. I overheard that Linc is out of town until this weekend. Since her mother is also MIA, I’m guessing they’re together. So I’d rather take her here than my parents’.

I kick her bedroom door open and lay her on the bed. Her heavy eyes open, and she looks up at me, trying to roll onto her stomach to release the pressure on her arms tied behind her back.

“Stay,” I order, pressing her shoulders into the mattress. “I’m going to clean your thigh.”

She nods, and I walk into her adjoining bathroom. I grab what I need and then go back to the bedroom. I sit on the side of the bed, yanking the cloak up her legs, high on her waist. Then I grab the cotton shorts and underwear, pulling them off to where she’s naked from the waist down.

I take the washcloth that I already have soap and water on and gently run it over the raised red skin.

She screams into the gag, her body turning away from me.

I get up, push her back onto her back, and straddle her legs, right below her knees. “I’ve got to clean it,” I tell her.

She nods, her eyes held tightly shut while tears run down the sides of her face. I clean it up as quickly as possible and then bandage it.

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my pocketknife and pop it open. She looks up at me, breathing heavily through her nose, and I cut down the middle of the cloak and her shirt. When I had entered her room earlier, she was already in bed for the night, so she wasn’t wearing a bra. When I push it off her shoulder, she’s now naked underneath me.

I get up off her legs and spread them wide, centering myself between them. My fingers run over her soaked cunt. “I love how wet you get,” I mumble when I push one finger into her. “I’m going to enjoy pushing you, little demon.”

Arching her back, she moans. I unzip my jeans, releasing my hard dick and rub it over her entrance before pushing my cock into her tight cunt.

I lay down on top of her, my arms behind her knees, spreading her open wide for me, and I start to fuck her, loving the way her mumbled cries sound as I make her mine.