If The Iron Colt Brotherhood only knew.
If they only knew just how much my body craved the darkness. Roman wasn’t the monster. I was the fucking monster. I wanted and actually liked every single lick of pain. I ached for the next fix. I absolutely writhed in agony when I was without Roman and his touch. I was an addict, and Roman was the only one who could deliver the drug I craved.
“You only have five more diamonds to earn,” he said after my evening belting. “Five more until you are free to go.”
It was as if ice cold water had been thrown on my quivering body. My heart froze as my knees buckled, and I fell to the floor. I looked up into Roman’s stunned face with wide eyes and shook my head in denial.
With furrowed brow, he kneeled down and took my hand in his. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?” The look of concern on his face was foreign, and I took a moment to absorb an element of the man I barely remembered.
“I’m not sick.” Although I couldn’t breathe normally, and my body grew clammy.
Roman wiped a loose strand of hair from my face and placed his palm on my forehead. “What’s going on, Cheri? Do you need a doctor or something?” He pulled my shivering body against his and cradled me.
“What happens then?” I asked in a whisper. “When I earn the final five diamonds?”
“I told you. You will be free. The Iron Colt Brotherhood are men of their word.”
“What about the wedding? Do we still get married when this is all done?”
Roman surprised me when he kissed the top of my head and still held me securely in his arms. “Is that what has you like this?” He kissed my head again. “Yes, we can leave and start our lives together. I told The Iron Colt Brotherhood to expect your release tomorrow.”
“But what if I don’t want that?” I said as I tilted my head so I could look up at him.
“Don’t want what?” His eyes darkened.
“What if I don’t want to leave here?” I swallowed hard. “To leave what you and I have… what we have here.”
Roman recoiled as if I had just slapped his face. “What are you talking about? Of course you want to leave here.”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t.”
Roman shot to his feet, and his look of concern was quickly replaced by one of fury. “Have you lost your mind? You are about to be free. No more diamonds. No more punishments.”
“But also”—I sniffed as the tears finally fell from my eyes—“no more you. I have you all to myself. We are in a little bubble, regardless how dark it is. I don’t want to lose the connection that we have formed.”
“You don’t know what you are talking about,” he snapped. He shook his head. “Of course you want to leave here. What person in their right mind would want to stay?”
“Me. I want to stay. To stay here with you.”
“Cheri.”
“Is that so wrong?” I moved myself into the kneeling position I knew Roman liked me to assume. “I don’t want to leave you. Here. I feel safe with you and comforted in your hands, no matter how firm they are. You called me a pain slut, and maybe you are correct in that as well. I do like it. I love it. You know more about me than anyone ever has before. The real me. You have stripped me naked from the inside out. You said I was yours. I am! I truly am.”
“It doesn’t have to stop once we leave,” Roman said with a wicked glimmer in his eye. “Trust me. It doesn’t have to stop, nor do I intend for that to happen.”
“But it will. We will go back to the flashing lights, the wedding planning, the proper behavior of a princess and a prince. The thought of that life damn near suffocates me. It’s why I ran away so long ago to Costa Rica. Being here… as sick as this is going to sound, is the first time I have felt… secure. Comfortable with who I am and with my desires. I’ve changed being here. I feel like I have figured out a dark secret. I have figured out what it is I want. And I one hundred percent know I want you.”
“I agree. Which in many ways is why the initiation happens. It’s meant to break the old you in order for you to truly embrace who you really are. But that doesn’t mean we are staying.”
“So when we leave—”
“We figure it out,” he interrupted. “But right now, Cheri, you have five more diamonds left.”
He once again grabbed a fistful of my hair. I hissed as the sting intensified, but as I was about to beg for more, Roman brought his lips down upon mine. Passion erupted as he pressed his tongue inside my mouth and danced it within. A kiss from my prince. His breath merged with mine as our bodies pressed together and our kiss intensified.
“Be careful what you wish for,” he said between his claiming of my mouth.
I held onto his shoulders hoping to never let go. I hoped desperately Roman would not force me to let go of the only thing—the only person—I wanted.
Breaking the kiss but still holding me close, he said, “You have five diamonds to still earn.”
Fresh tears built and clouded my vision as I stared into his stern expression. He brought his lips to mine again. He then swooped me into his arms like the first time we connected and carried me to the bed. “Five diamonds will be rewarded when you milk my cock dry with that tight pussy of yours.”
I looped my arms around his neck, nuzzled my head into his shoulder, and sighed as a wave of euphoria washed over me. I pulled back and looked into his eyes as we neared the bed. “And I will earn my diamonds like a dirty girl, Master.”
Chapter Eighteen
Roman
We sat in the car driving back to Cheri’s mother’s house in silence. I watched a woman I loved more than ever stare blankly out the window. I understood she had been through a lot and wasn’t exactly sure how to handle her. She was dressed for the first time in weeks, and I’m sure the sensation of clothing as well as seeing something other than the interior of the manor had to feel foreign.
“The media shouldn’t be there when we arrive. They’ll still be trying to find us in Monaco. It’s where Silas tipped them off that we are at.”
Cheri nodded but didn’t say anything. Her eyes still locked on the passing scenery.
“I’m proud of you,” I said as I reached for her hand. Her soft, delicate palm rested limply in mine, though she didn’t pull it away. “I know returning to the real world is going to be an adjustment.”
Silence. She wouldn’t even look at me, but I didn’t feel as if she were angry—more like lost in thought.
“I have already notified your mother of our arrival, so she will be expecting you. Both she and my parents have already started wedding planning, which isn’t surprising. I know that may not be the first thing you want to deal with when you return home, but it’s inevitable. Plus, the sooner we are married, the sooner we can be together all the time. I hate the thought of dropping you off, but it’s only temporary.”
I watched Cheri’s lip quiver and her eyes glassed over with tears.
“Cheri,” I said, squeezing her hand. “Everything is going to be all right. I promise you that I will try to make this entire wedding process painless. But I want you to fight for what you want. Don’t let my parents or your mother bully you. If you need me to unleash my wrath on them all to give you your dream wedding, you tell me so.”