The warning is clear. I feel terrible as I turn for the door.
“Not you, Ella.” I glance up at Lucas before stepping aside and letting Jessie and Hannah leave. Once it’s just me and Lucas, I’m waiting for him to lose it. But he doesn’t.
I’m surrounded by his smell and warmth as he pulls me into his arms. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
I’m pushing him away, fear tightening my throat. “Don’t say something like that.”
“Why Ella, because it’s true. What were you thinking?” His anger has reignited. He takes a breath.
“It’s not safe to talk here, come on.” We are leaving the study. Lucas looks around corners like someone might be waiting there. I think it is overkill, but I don’t want to enrage him anymore than I already have. He opens his bedroom door and while touching my back directs me in quickly before closing the door behind us. I’m back in his room, so many emotions chime together. My eyes dart from the bed to the wardrobe. I was here. This is my chance to get the box.
“You need to tell me everything,” Lucas says as he draws the curtains on his windows.
I don’t speak until he spins around to face me. “I needed to know what happened to you.”
“Don’t try to put this on me. You endangered Hannah and Jessie. Not to mention yourself.”
“I can’t say it enough that I’m sorry.”
He’s shaking his head like he’s trying to believe me but just doesn’t. “You’re sorry you got caught.”
“Fine. You’re right. I am sorry I got caught. I went in there to find out what happened to you. Because I care about you and your father found me and brought me down.”
All the color leaks from Lucas’s face. His chest is still and I’m wondering if he’s even breathing.
“He showed me where you kept the food. But as I was leaving I saw blood droplets leading to a closed door. I put ten and three together and came up with Vicky being held captive there.”
I’m out of breath. I sound so dumb. But the color is slowly returning to Lucas’s face.
“So I devised a plan to go and investigate.”
Lucas exhales loudly before sitting on his bed.
I stay where I am and finish my story. “I took a walk.” I skip the whole Henry thing. “When I got back, they had left without me.”
Lucas rubs his face with both his hands, his eyes heavy like I’ve just taken five years off his life. Guilt churns quickly in my stomach.
“Let’s clean your hands.” Is his answer as he stands and walks into the bathroom. I follow but slow down as I glance at the wardrobe doors. The box is in there. I need to get that box.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
LUCAS
Ella’s skin is sweaty and she looks like she can’t stand much longer. I take out two washcloths and run them under some hot water. “Sit on the toilet seat.” I tell her while I rinse out the washcloths. She exhales heavily. She has no idea the danger she had put them all in.
I squat down in front of her. “Give me your hands.” I can’t look at her, my anger is still burning through my system.
Her hands are cut. But as I wipe them, I see the cuts aren’t deep. “Are you injured anywhere else?” I don’t look at her. Being this close has my mind going in a completely different direction.
“My knees.”
That is under her long skirt. I stand and wash out the cloths before running them under warm water. I can hear the shuffle of material. I glance over. She’s pulled her skirt up. It sits above her knee in a bundle of dark material.
I squeeze the cloth out un-necessarily tight before returning to her. Squatting down, I come eye to eye with Ella. Her pulse beats rapidly in her neck. “I want to make you promise not to do anything foolish again, but I think I’m wasting my breath.”
Her eyes widen slightly, but she doesn’t answer me. I can read her so easily but now she seems conflicted.
I focus on her knees and try not to trail up higher. Resting a hand on her thigh, she stiffens at my touch. Her skin is warm and I want to separate her legs and taste her.
“How did you do this?” I ask to distract myself. She’s only grazed the skin, but I still dab her knees gently.
“How did you hurt your hands?” She retorts.
Her words grab my attention and I tighten my hold on the washcloth. Water drips out onto her knee and runs down her leg. I follow it until it hits the floor.
My heart won’t slow. “I beat someone.” With my hand I start from her ankle and run my finger under the line of water, bringing it back up. I can hear her breathing quickening.
“It’s how all this works,” I say as I run my hand past her knee. Her skin is so soft and I don’t want to stop touching her.
“People who break the rules, get punished.” I separate her legs and she opens them for me easily. I still haven’t looked at her, I don’t want to see what she thinks of me.
“They know the rules. They know the consequences,” I answer as I push up her skirt. Placing a kiss on her thigh, her hands immediately sink into my hair and her legs spread a little more for me. Running my tongue all the way to her panties has her wriggling. My shaft grows painfully hard.
I stop what I’m doing and look up at Ella. She’s staring at me. Her eyes clouded with lust and fear. But lust is winning. Her lips are soft and warm as I take them in mine. I break the kiss while I rise and take her hand, leading her into the bedroom.
I pause, giving her a moment to stop this. Giving her a moment to really let what I just told her sink in. I need her right now. I need to tell myself that she is here and fine. Flesh and Bones.
She moves and grips my face, her lips touching mine giving me permission. Lowering us onto the bed, I try to silence the want in me to pull off her panties and take her hard and fast. She is a virgin, I need to remember that. I still can’t stop the wildness in me as my hands greedily grip her breasts. Her skirt has fallen down, the material blocking me from entering her. I release her and push down her skirt and panties. Her hands pull at my waistband and I remove my own clothes. The eagerness in me wants to take her but I allow her to take me in. Her eyes widen as she focuses on my cock. She pulls her bottom lip into her mouth and I can’t hold back. I move myself in between her legs. I want to pound it in; I want to cum inside her, but once again I hold back as she stares up at me, I allow her to stop this but she pulls me down into a kiss that I greedily take, while reaching down and dipping my fingers inside. She’s wet and ready. Placing my cock at her entrance, I push it gently. She groans into my mouth and it’s agony going this slow. I push a bit deeper and she grabs my shoulders allowing me to sink further and further into her. She gasps and I groan when I’m fully inside her, as I pull out slowly she tenses and I pause before moving back in.
Holding myself up with one arm, I use the other to play with one of her nipples. She gasps and I pull out of her before moving back in. She widens her legs and tenses when I’m fully in. I keep the rhythm slow and can feel her relax under me. I move faster but nothing like I want to do, but I keep reminding myself she’s a virgin. I break the kiss so I can watch her face, it’s ecstasy as her arousal takes over her features. She’s grabbing me, pulling me closer and I move a bit faster and harder, my own release not far away. I roll her nipple between my fingers and she gasps again. Moving quicker, my release is there and I can’t slow down as flesh slaps against flesh. Ella tenses around my cock, her wetness soaking me, causing my own release inside her. It pulses through both of us and it feels like we are both coming forever until the waves subside and I slowly move in and out before taking myself out of her completely. Sweat trickles down my back and she’s panting as I look down at her. She opens her eyes and smiles.