HIS PROPERTY (Book Three) Read online

“That’s what I thought,” I said finally, letting go. “So don’t talk to me about protecting people.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said quietly.

  “I know exactly what I’m talking about,” I shot back. “I know because I’ve lived it, Liam, the protecting your parents, the lying, the – ”

  Suddenly, his hands were around my waist, and he’d picked me up, tossing me over his shoulder like I was a bag of sand.

  “Hey!” I screamed, pounding my fists against his back. “Put me down!”

  He crossed the room to the chair in the corner, laid me over his lap, and pulled up my dress. The skin on the back of my thighs prickled with heat.

  “You will not talk back like that,” he commanded, and then his hand spanked my ass. It was already raw from the spanking he’d given me on the plane, and the balm he’d used had helped, but my skin wasn’t ready for another spanking so soon. I yelped in surprise and pain.

  “I’ll say what I want,” I said anyway, and his palm connected again with my bare flesh, harder this time. My core tightened, the desire and lust swirling together deep in my belly before settling in between my legs.

  “Oh really?” Liam asked, and now he sounded amused. The vibe between us had completely changed – before, we’d been having what could have been a fight between any couple, a disagreement, a shouting match.

  Now he was fully back in control, pushed there by the way I’d defied him, questioned his authority, pressed him for answers about his family.

  He grabbed my panties. My breathing quickened, and I closed my eyes, trying to get control of my desire. But it was no use.

  “You like this,” Liam said. It was a statement, not a question. “This is what you want.”

  “No.”

  “Yes,” he said, and he was pulling my panties down slowly now, the lacey fabric of the skimpy thong he’d made me wear sliding over my skin until it was bunched at the top of my thighs, right under my ass. “You need this.”

  I wanted to protest, but I couldn’t.

  “Remember what I told you?” he said, his voice low and ragged, so sexy I instinctively clamped my legs together. His hand pried them back apart, further even than they were before, and I felt my pussy lips spread the tiniest bit, my channel clenching in anticipation. “About your body?”

  “That it was made to be fucked?” I whispered.

  “Yes, baby,” he said. “It was made to be fucked. And you want this. Your pussy doesn’t lie.” His open palm slapped against my bare ass again, and he gripped my ass cheek, his thumb probing my asshole.

  “Liam!” I said in panic, struggling to get up.

  “Relax,” he said, but his thumb stayed at my asshole while his finger slipped into my pussy. “So wet,” he murmured. “Your pussy is so wet, baby. Are you turned on?”

  I didn’t say anything, and he reached down and grabbed my hair, pulled my head back. “Answer me when I ask you a question. Are. You. Turned. On.”

  “No,” I ground out between clenched teeth.

  “Liar.”

  He held the back of my neck and forced my head to turn toward his, then kissed me hard and deep on the mouth while his fingers probed at the folds of my pussy, which was getting wetter by the second. When he pulled back, he released me so fast it was almost violent.

  His fingers left my pussy and grabbed again at my panties, pulling them all the way off. My bare pussy was against his lap now, and I could feel how hard he was.

  I was wound tight, and despite what I’d said, I wanted a release badly. I slammed my legs together again, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of keeping them spread willingly even as my body screamed in protest, wanting me to grind myself against his hard cock.

  I didn’t know how long I could hold out, but it turned out I didn’t have to worry about it, because a moment later, Liam pulled my dress back down and stood me up.

  He slipped my panties into his pocket. “You can have these back when you earn them back.”

  He stood up and began to walk to the door. It took a moment for the evilness of what he was doing to hit me. He wasn’t going to let me come. It was part of the punishment. He’d taken my panties, leaving my pussy swollen and wanting, reminding me how much he owned me, how he was the one who decided if and why I’d been good enough to come.

  I began to follow him, my bare pussy throbbing, every step a reminder of how badly I wanted him, how I was powerless under him, how he had some kind of sexual and emotional hold on me.

  I was about to demand answers again, but before I could, there was a knock on the door of the room.

  Liam frowned, then crossed to the door and opened it.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” Tony said. “But he insisted you would want to see him.”

  “Who?” Liam demanded.

  “Henry, sir.” It was strange to hear my father’s name said out loud. For so long, whenever he’s been spoken out, it was always just “my dad” as if he were an entity and not a person.

  Tony stepped to the side, and there was my father, standing there, a huge smile plastered on his face.

  “Where’d you go?” he asked happily, as if we’d all been at Disney World or something and Liam and I had wandered off while waiting in line for a ride. “I have good news!” my dad crowed, not waiting for an answer to his question about where we’d gone. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of colorful casino chips, red and green and blue and black. He fumbled and dropped some of them onto the maroon carpet. One rolled away and came to a stop near my foot.

  I looked down at it. It was black, stamped with a picture of the casino and a huge 1000 embossed in gold numerals.

  “I have the money,” my father said, sounding pleased with himself, as if he were a hero come to save the day instead of the one who’d gotten me into this mess in the first place. “I have the money to pay your ransom!”

  3

  EMERY

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “I’m on an amazing run.” My father looked past me into the room. “Wow, nice digs.” He gave a little whistle of appreciation then turned and looked at Tony. “Is this room available for tonight?”

  “No, I’m sorry,” Tony said, shaking his head. He was acting professional about it, but something about his demeanor led me to believe that he was annoyed by my father. Not that I could blame him. My father looked a mess. I couldn’t remember what he’d been wearing a few nights ago, the night he’d lured me into Liam’s car, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was the same dirty khakis and too-big button up shit he was wearing now.

  His face was covered with salt and pepper shadow, and he somehow, inexplicably, wore a pair of sparking white sneakers. He smelled like whiskey.

  “Where’s the money?” Liam demanded.

  My father took a step back, as if he were shocked at Liam’s tone. “I have to go to the cage,” he said defensively, as if he was offended at the fact that someone may have thought he didn’t have the money. “They don’t let you carry around that kind of money in chips.”

  “Then let’s go,” Liam said. He told Tony he had it from here, sending the security guard scuttling down the hallway, then took my hand, wrapping my fingers in his. It was half a gesture of ownership, half one of warmth, and despite myself, I felt my fingers instinctually curl around his. He kept his hand in mind as we walked down the hall and stepped into the elevator.

  “So how have you been?” my father asked me as the elevator descended. He caught sight of Liam holding my hand, and he gave a little smirk. “Looks like things have been working out between you two.”

  “No, things haven’t been ‘working out,’” I spit. “You sold me off like I was some kind of product.”

  “Oh, come on, Emmy,” he said, using the nickname he always used whenever he was trying to get me to see something his way, usually when he’d done something horrible. “There are worse things than having to spend a week with this handsome fella.
” My father licked his bottom lip and looked thoughtful. “You look very nice, Emmy,” he said. “You’ve always had such a pretty face.”

  It was a subtle dig about my weight of course, and I felt the rage radiating off of Liam as he went to take a step toward my father, almost lunged toward him, but I tightened my hand around his and held him back. What was Liam going to do, beat my father up in an elevator? It wouldn’t accomplish anything.

  “Let’s just get the money and get the hell out of here,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure it was really going to be that easy. What would happen once my father got the money? Where would it go? Would it be wired to some man somewhere, the one my father was in debt to? I imagined some faceless businessman sitting in front of a bank of computers, like on that show Deal Or No Deal, waiting for the transfer to show up in some covert bank account. Would I be free to walk out of here right away? Would I be put on a plane back to New York? Would Liam go with me?

  “Get out of here?” my father repeated, frowning as he stepped out of the elevator onto the main floor of the casino. The sound of slot machines echoed around us, the air heavy with the cloying scent of cigarette smoke. We began weaving through the machines, past the men and women holding buckets of quarters and cards filled with money. Their eyes were glassy and shiny, their faces slack-jawed.

  “After this we’ll have a steak dinner,” my father declared. “At Uncle Frank Dio’s Steakhouse.” He smacked his lips together. “Best T-bone in the casino, only 9.99 with a baked potato. Do you still like steak, Emery?”

  “Yes,” I said dully. “I still like steak.” There was no freakin’ way I was going to have dinner with him, and even if I was it certainly wasn’t going to be at a place called Uncle Frank Dio’s, where you could get a steak and a baked potato for $9.99. And yet part of me still craved a connection with him, still remembered how badly I’d wanted him to be there for me on my birthdays and Christmases and everything else.

  “Where’s the cage?” Liam demanded.

  “Right there.” My father pointed to a closed door on the other side of the casino. “There’s the pit boss I’ve been dealing with,” he said, motioning to a man who was standing by the door, almost guarding it. He had trimmed red beard and was wearing a dark gray suit.

  As soon as the man saw my father gesturing to him he hurried over, as if he’d been summoned by a king.

  “Tito!” my father said, sounding delighted. “This is my daughter, Emery, and my friend, Liam.” Friend? I tried not to laugh. Although him calling me his daughter was also pretty funny, since he definitely hadn’t acted like a father to me, so I supposed he might as well call Liam his friend.

  “Nice to meet you,” Tito said. He held his hand out to me and I took it. He had very nice nails, this Tito, clean and perfectly shaped as if he’d recently had a manicure. And yet the rest of him was somehow rough and dirty, his hand calloused, his skin leathery and his cheeks sunburnt. The sleeve of his suit slid up and revealed a tiny oozing sore above his wrist, and I averted my eyes.

  Liam glared at him until Tito finally dropped my hand. Liam immediately picked it up, his fingers tightening around mine possessively.

  “We need you to get Mr. Waters cashed out,” Liam said rudely. “Now.”

  “Of course, of course,” Tito said, licking his chapped lips. He clapped my father on the back. “How much are we looking at?”

  “Around 150k,” my father said.

  “Come with me.” Tito began leading my father toward the door he’d been standing in front of at a few moments before. “I’ll have him fill out the paperwork and we’ll be right back.”

  Once they were gone, I dropped Liam’s hand.

  “Emery.” The way he said my name made me hot.

  “What?”

  “Look at me.”

  I forced myself to raise my eyes and meet his gaze.

  “You should be happy.”

  “Happy?” I threw my head back. “Why, because it was confirmed that my father is a scumbag just like I thought he was? That now I don’t have to wonder? Isn’t that what you said? That I won’t have to wonder anymore?”

  A cocktail waitress walked by, holding a tray filled with drinks. She was beautiful, the kind of girl that Maddie and I would have hated on if we’d met her out in the real world, making snide remarks about her, mostly out of jealousy. Maddie was gorgeous, of course, but this girl … this girl was a different level. She looked as if she’d been airbrushed to life. She was probably in Vegas auditioning for shows, trying to become a dancer or a model or an actress.

  Everything about her was flawless. Her porcelain skin, her long blonde hair, the shape and color of her teeth, the way her legs were toned without being too muscular as they peeked out of the short flared skirt of her uniform.

  She reminded me of London Banks.

  Just Liam’s type, I thought, irritated.

  I became even more irritated when she stopped in front of him, her eyes giving him a quick onceover. I could almost see her taking stock of him in her mind. Rich. Check. Sexy. Check. Her eyes flicked so quickly it was almost imperceptible when he gaze slid down to Liam’s left hand and the back up. No Ring. Check.

  She glanced at me, immediately dismissing me as any kind of threat.

  “Would you like a beverage, sir?” she asked, holding the tray of drinks out to Liam.

  “No,” Liam growled, obviously annoyed at the intrusion. But this girl wasn’t used to hearing no. Her eyebrows knit in confusion for a moment, and then she pasted a smile on her face.

  “Enjoy a free play on us,” she said, her voice warm and seductive. And then she reached into her ample cleavage and pulled out a card identical to the ones I’d seen people sliding into the slot machines. It was like a debit card, only for gambling money.

  Before Liam could respond, I grabbed it out of her hand. “Thanks!” I said. “I’d love to play.”

  I stomped off to a slot machine and sat down, slamming the card into the slot. A rectangular box on the screen lit up in neon green, showing me I had ten dollars. Ten dollars? That was all the casino could spring for? Cheap.

  I pushed the button for a spin, watching as the reels spun around. This machine had a wolf pack theme, and graphics of wolves howled at the moon while the reels spun, the sound hypnotic.

  They finally stopped.

  Nothing happened.

  I’d won nothing, and now the display that showed how much money I had left said nine dollars. A dollar a spin? What a rip-off.

  I went to push the button again, but Liam was next to me now, and he ripped the card out of the machine.

  “You’re acting like a child,” he said.

  “You’re treating me like a child,” I said. I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest. “You couldn’t have told me why you’d brought me here?”

  I was talking loud, and I knew he was right -- I was acting like a child, but I couldn’t help it. This was how I felt when I was with him, like he was an ocean current and I was expected to just go along with wherever he pulled me, accepting that I couldn’t control the current.

  I took a step toward him. “Why?” I asked, and now I could feel the familiar sting of tears behind my eyes, and I hated him for that, too, hated that he could affect me like this, hated that I cared. “You could have at least warned me.”

  “We will talk about this later,” he said. “After we get the money and get out of here.”

  “No.” I shook my head.

  “Emery – ” he started in that same bossy voice of his, the same voice he used when he was getting ready to dominate me, when he was getting ready to make me do his bidding, to do everything he wanted and more.

  “No,” I repeated again, louder this time. Because the truth was, I was acting like a child. He may have had power over me, but it wouldn’t be for long. Because as soon as my father got the money, as soon as he paid off whomever it was that was blackmailing him, I would be free. Free to make my own decisions. “As soon as my father g
ets that money,” I said. “I never want to see you again.”

  * * *

  I walked back to the place where we’d left my father. I stood in front of the door he’d disappeared through, my body wired with nervous energy.

  Liam stood a few feet away, watching me, his gaze making my skin prickle.

  Please, hurry, I whispered in my head. Please, just hurry so I can get out of here. Not that I knew what I was going to do after this. I guess I would have to figure out how to get a flight home. Maybe I could call Maddie. I would tell her she was right, I would thank her for calling the goddamn police, I would tell her that I was sorry, that I missed her, that I just wanted to get back to my old life.

  A woman came out of the door I was standing in front of. She was dressed in the casino uniform I’d seen some of the dealers wearing, a maroon suit with gold trim. She had salt and pepper hair done up in tight curls, and she was carrying one of those navy blue insulated lunch sacks.

  “Excuse me?” I asked, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. “I’m sorry, but can you tell me if there’s a man in there? His name is Henry Waters, he was cashing out?”

  She frowned, looking distracted and annoyed. “What?”

  “A man is cashing out back there,” I said impatiently. “Do you know how much longer it might take?”

  She stared at me blankly.

  “Can you please go check on him?” I asked, using the tone of voice I’d heard Maddie use when she wanted something and people weren’t giving it to her, like the time she tried to return a dress to a store after she’d lost the receipt and there was a sign on the wall that said NO EXCHANGES WITHOUT RECEIPTS NO EXCEPTIONS with NO EXCEPTIONS underlined five times. Maddie got them to take the dress back and we walked out of there with an insane amount of cash. She took me out for a fancy steak dinner before putting the rest of the money toward her textbooks for the semester.

  “Cashing out where?” the woman casino employee asked me now, and the regret and sadness I’d felt thinking about Maddie and my old life was immediately overtaken by more annoyance.