Trapped in his End Game (Series)

My feet slip on the floor as I run into the kitchen, grabbing the white telephone off the hook. Dad’s still gasping on the floor. Mom screams as the pool of blood grows wider, touching her knees.

“9-11 what’s your emergency?”

“My daddy’s been hurt!”

“What happened?”

“A man stabbed him. Please hurry!”

I can’t hear him anymore. His feet are facing me, and occasionally they twitch.

“His face is blue! HIS FACE IS BLUE!”

The phone drops from my hands and the excited voice of the operator fades. I run across the room to Dad, and slip on the blood. I land with it all over my hands. I see his blue lips and face no longer struggling. My mother leans over his body and utters an unnatural sound. The worst screams I’ve ever heard ripped from a human’s throat.

“Oh, GOD! He’s dead!”

“Daddy?” I grab his shoulder and shake it, and I scream as his face stays in that horrible, painful expression.

* * *

My head still pounds with the dream when I meet him downstairs. I’m glad to see he’s dressed in more casual clothes, because I did the same thing. He looks delectable in jeans and a t-shirt in a way that he doesn’t in a suit.

I love the way his jeans fit, the way his white shirt makes his skin glow. It’s a plain outfit, but he’s so stunning that he doesn’t need much. Other girls strolling through campus give him admiring looks, but he only has eyes for me.

“You look great.”

My face heats up and I grin. “Thanks.”

“Where do you want to go?”

I don’t really feel like staying indoors. “How about Central Park? We can just walk around. It’s so nice out.”

He seems surprised to hear me suggest that. “Sure.”

The campus is so close to the park that he finds a parking garage and we walk the few blocks towards the north side entrance. I take his hand in mine, glad not to be alone. He helps me forget all of the crazy shit in my life, even if it’s only for a few hours.

It’s a brilliant day, perfect blue skies with cotton ball clouds. He’s smiling to himself as we enter the North Woods. It’s cooler under the shade of the trees, and dark and moist. It’s wonderful to escape the noise and excitement of the city under the shelter of trees, and smell earth and pine instead of gas fumes. Our feet crunch over dead leaves as we walk through the path in silence. I look at him again and he’s still smiling.

“What’s so funny?”

“I just didn’t think you would want to do this. Most girls want to go to a movie, or they want to take a ride somewhere or go on my boat.”

“You have a boat?” I fake an excited squeal and laugh when he gives me a look. “I’m low key. I don’t need boats.”

“What made you change your mind yesterday?” he asks suddenly. Vince veers off the path and pushes me gently against a tree. “At the game.”

His arms pin me against the tree, trapping me. His eyes won’t let me go.

“I was angry about something.”

“Tell me.”

Damn, he’s bossy. One look at his face, and I know he’s not fucking around. He expects me to tell him the truth.

“Tell me why you’re hurting for cash.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because if you’re mixed up in something, I deserve to know.”

I know what he’s thinking. He’s worried I’m a loose cannon. That I have a drug problem or a baby daddy or something serious that would make me want to risk my neck in illegal gambling.

“I found out this week why my student loan was denied. My mom stole my identity. She took a credit card and a fifty-thousand dollar loan in my name, and if I can’t make twenty grand in a couple months, I won’t be able to go to school.”

Vincent’s face falls. His eyes grow round and his mouth is parted, apparently speechless. “Jesus Christ.”

“Yeah.”

“Does she have a drug problem?”

“No, she has debts. It’s pretty bad.”

“So she decided to steal from her daughter?”

The sight of his face, contorted slightly in disgust, makes me realize that my predicament really is awful. That my mom really is a terrible person, along with my father. It’s so embarrassing just to be related to them. I feel like a failure.

“I’ve done a lot of drinking this week.”

I slide away from the tree, unable to bear the look of his pitying face any longer. Bending over, I grab a couple of rocks and throw them as hard as I can against a tree. Knock-knock.

His hand comes out of nowhere, grabbing my fist full of rocks. “I’m the last person who would normally suggest this, but have you thought of going to the police?”

I shake my head. “I can’t send my mother to jail, Vince. She’s all I have left.”

Leaves crunch as he shifts and moves behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist to hold me. “My offer still stands, you know. You could borrow from me.”

He nips at my ear as I shiver in fear. I barely know him, but I know that I never want to owe him anything. I turn around in his arms and flatten my chest against him as I wrap my arms around his neck.

“Never.”

“Wise choice. I’m afraid I would take advantage of you.”

The smile on his face makes my knees weak and suddenly he’s pulling me down, kissing me with his magnificent tongue and mouth. His hands lift up my shirt and I grab him, face flushing.

“What are you doing? The trail is right there!”

His eyes are blazing. “So what? The risk makes it fun. I’ve never had sex in public.”

I giggle. “Well, me neither, but-”

“But what?” he grins. “Someone might see? Who cares? Let them watch.”

“We might get arrested! Plus, you can’t do all the things you want to out here.”

He looks at me like I’m challenging him. “Oh, I can’t?”

Laughing, I don’t take him seriously when he rips off my t-shirt. I squeal in protest when he balls it in his fist and throws it at least five feet away.

“You’re crazy!”

I’m twisting against the tree, trying to see if there are any people watching. Vince takes the opportunity to reach around my back to unclip my bra. My face burns when it falls down my arms. He takes that too and hurls it deep in the woods.

“Hey!”

“Be quiet,” he growls in my ear as he yanks at the waistband of my jeans.

I’m struggling with the heat of being half-naked with him, and fear that at any moment, someone might stumble upon our tryst in the woods and call the police.

And I’d be hauled off to jail.

For what? Public indecency?

At the same time, my blood gallops through my veins as if I drank too much five-hour energy. His eagerness to fuck me right here in the woods is downright crazy.

It’s also hot as hell.

My jeans and panties are ripped off my body with some difficulty, they’re skinny jeans and they don’t come off easily, but he manages it. Then I’m completely nude, the dappled sun kissing my skin and my nipples contracting as he covers them with his hands, groping and massaging the sensitive skin with his thumbs. His mouth lowers to them and he takes my breast in his cavernous mouth. A wet muscle plays with my nipple, flicking it hard. I arch my body against him and forget all about the world around me. His tongue moves in slow, tantalizing circles and I feel electricity shooting everywhere. I seize his head of hair and pull hard as I gasp loudly, almost screaming as he sucks, leaving my nipple raw.

He sucks hard around my nipple, leaving bright red patches everywhere before he attacks the other breast. Vince grins wickedly as I yank his hair and take high gasps.

“You’re going to alert the whole world to us.”

“Sorry!” I gasp.

“Don’t apologize. It turns me on like you wouldn’t believe.”

Looking down, I can see the outline of him straining against his jeans and I wrap my hand around him. All of a sudden, I hear footsteps and leaves and the blood drains from my face. Vincent laughs at my fear softly, sliding a hand up my thigh. I whisper a warning but he gives me his devil-like grin, sliding his fingers along my soaking clit. They penetrate me easily, sliding up the slick walls and making me moan when I want to keep quiet. He kisses me hard, and gradually I hear the footsteps disappear.

“Vince, please.”

His lips fall on my neck. “Oh, now you want me to fuck you? Beg me.” His brown eyes shine with mischief.

“Fuck you.”

Suddenly, he yanks me over his knees and his hands smooth over my ass. I’m completely exposed to the trail, having lost the small protection of the tree.

“Everything’s healed. Too bad.”

Then I hear the sound of his belt buckle flapping through his loops and my heart races.

“No, Vincent.”

He chuckles and I hear him looping the belt in his hand. I’m just waiting for that terribly loud, cracking sound. I know I’ll scream. I know it.

“You’re so disrespectful. It’s absolutely disgusting.”

I tremble as he slaps my ass lightly, his palm kneading my flesh before disappearing.

“Vince, wait-” my voice lifts into a scream as the belt strikes the same spot he whipped days ago. It’s still sensitive.

“Shhh,” he hushes. “You need to learn-”

SMACK!

“To obey.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

It’s so raw that tears spring in my eyes.

“I’m a bastard, how many times do I have to tell you? Still, you treat me like I’m one of the jamooks sniffing around your pussy, hoping to get laid. I’m no fucking jamook. I can do anything I want to you.”

I can’t explain how badly his words affect me. I want to be owned by him. I want him to do anything he wants to me. Even the veiled threat in his voice turns me on instead of scaring me. I grit my teeth as he whips me again, my backside clenching to brace against the pain. Then he pulls me up on his lap and grabs my neck, looking at me with a mixture of amusement and deadly serious calm.

“Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

Is this part of the game?

It doesn’t really matter. There are more footsteps coming and voices.

“Hey, Did you hear that?” Some voices call out in the distance.

I hear the voices, my blood chilling as Vince tries to suppress laughter.

“I-I’m really sorry.”

“As you should be.”

Suddenly, I’m lifted into the air as he drops his jeans. My legs tighten around his waist as I feel his hardness against me and then he thrusts upward violently. My back scraps the bark as he enters me roughly, his face red as he pounds hard. I marvel at his strength as my whole body shakes with the force of his thrusts. Fingers twist in his hair and I’m moaning in his ear, so loudly I can hear it echo. To silence me, his lips seal against mine and his tongue shoves down my throat.

I’m trying so hard to be quiet, but then Vince groans out loud and the wet smack of his hips against me is so loud, that it hardly seems to matter. He throbs inside me mercilessly. I’m nearly ripping out his hair with the effort of squeezing him and keeping myself silent, and then I become undone. I exhale with a shuddering cry and Vince, his face screwed up as he pulls himself out of me, coming over my stomach.

He lowers me to the ground, his arms trembling as he sets me down and helps me clean my stomach off. I’ve never seen him look so happy. Laughing to himself with a big grin, he retrieves my clothes one by one.

I’m still a pile of jelly, basking in the glow of my orgasm, even my sore ass.

“I can’t believe no one saw us.”

“Well, they definitely heard you.”

The comment makes me blush, and I can’t pull on my clothes fast enough, which are now covered in dirt. The bastard is fully dressed of course, but he enjoys watching me struggle. When I pull everything back on, I stand up and try to brush off the leaves clinging to me.

“We should head back to my place. I’m covered in dirt.”

We walk back to the path and reach the streets in less than five minutes. Vince gives me a guilty smile. “Guess we didn’t walk very far.”

Heading back into campus with him is strange. We’ve never walked through it together. He marvels at the gigantic library in the distance.

“That’s a library? Jesus. It looks like the Capitol in D. C.”

I laugh and take his hand as we climb the stairs to my dormitory. The guard doesn’t even look twice at Vince, who is completely out of place.

He wraps his arm around my waist while I unlock the door.

“Is your roommate home?”

“Nope.” A smile flicks on my face.

Everything in me screams for a shower. Part of me is a little embarrassed by the state of my dorm. My side of the room is a mess, while Maria’s is neat.

“This is where you live?”

“Yeah.”

His tone is unimpressed. I think he expected something much grander after seeing the library. Vince wanders towards my side of the room and hops on my bed. His gaze wanders all over my cluttered desk with the glass snow globe I’ve had since I was five, the blank walls, and the deck of cards sitting there. He picks them up, frowning.

“By the way, I might have found an associate who wants you for his games.”

I’m already stripping off my clothes, eager to jump in the shower, but when he mentions that I stop. “Thank God.”

Darkness stirs in his eyes as he looks up from the cards. “I don’t like it, Adriana.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t like sharing you.”

“It’s not like I’ll be sleeping with him.”

He cringes at the suggestion. “I know, but it still bothers me.”

I frown. “And I’m supposed to share you?”

His eyebrows knit together. “What does that mean?”

My eyes bore into his as I cross my arms over my chest. “You know damn well what it means. I know that you’re a player.”

Vincent’s face cracks into a laugh as he doubles over, nearly dropping the cards. “A player, huh? That’s what you think of me?”

Heat flushes my face as I look at him, wondering if I somehow offended him. No, he looks amused. Slipping off my bed, he moves close to me in one stride, close enough to make me tremble under his hot gaze.

“Is that what’s bothering you? I haven’t been with anyone else. I don’t have any plans to, either, not while I’m having so much fun with you.” He smiles. “I gotta be honest, though. I’m not the type who gets tied down.”

Looking in his eyes, I know that he means it. Deflated, I nod towards the floor. Wearing nothing but underwear, I stand on my toes to kiss him. I feel his smile under my lips as he kisses me back. I think he’s starting to realize how much I like him, that he might just know how bad I have it for him.

I decide then to give it back to him. The pen I stole. Biting my lip, I pull back and open the drawer with all my stolen crap. He gapes at me as I grab the pen and place it in his hands.

“How the fuck did you get this?”

“I’m so sorry. I stole it from you the night we met.”

“You stole from me?” He sounds angry, but his voice cracks with laughter. “Do you know how crazy I’ve been, looking for this thing? It belonged to my father.”

I’m burning all over. “I’m so sorry, Vince. Sometimes I can’t help it. I would have returned it to you earlier, but I was scared of you.”

His hand clenches over the pen, which returns to his pocket. His shirt lifts and I’m surprised that he doesn’t have a gun. A smile spreads over his face. “You’re not scared of me anymore?”

“No, you’re not even carrying a weapon.”

He grins as he bends over and lifts his pant leg, revealing a pistol strapped to his ankle.

“Do you bring it everywhere?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Vince shakes his head. “Because of who I am, Adriana.” He gives me another unsettled look as he pats down his pockets. “I still can’t believe you stole from me.”

The way he says it makes me squirm with guilt. “I’m not a bad person, it’s just a bad habit. I can’t help it.”

“I should belt your ass until you bleed.”

With a wolf-like grin, he grabs my waist and pulls me towards him.