Jake Read online

  “No? Don’t put you on the cross, or no you won’t speak?”

  “Both, Sir.”

  “Emily, do you trust me?”

  She went to shake her head, then stopped and in a tiny voice whispered, “Yes.”

  “Tell me what scared you. I promise I will not let you go.”

  Her eyes filled with tears, and he thought, Maybe at last. But then she opened her mouth, drew an enormous breath and sucked those tears right back.

  “Well, it’s going to be a long night, but I have nowhere else to be. I hope you don’t either because I am not letting you out of this room until we talk once and for all.”

  It was obvious that she was having some sort of internal fight with herself. Jake could see how hard she tried to get herself back under control after what had happened. Gently he spoke, hoping it would get through where harshness hadn’t.

  “Speak to me, Emily. Please.”

  She shook her head. This was ridiculous. His jaw was aching, his whole body taut. Once more his voice held anger.

  “We are not leaving, sub! I don’t give a fuck if we have to stay here until next Saturday, or next month or even next year. Do you hear? You will tell me!”

  She flinched at his harsh words but then muttered something under her breath. Jake thought she’d called him a “bastard” and hid a smile.

  “You know, Emily, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your decision.”

  “No, Sir.”

  It went on and on until Jake’s anger rose again. This wouldn’t do. A Dom had no right to get angry. He pushed it down. Hours seemed to pass, and Jake had no idea how long they sat there. Brian came into the room and whispered something to Ash. He shook his head, and Brian left. Iain still was uneasy. Countless times he went to stand and force Jake to stop, but Ash held him back.

  Jake thought at least three or four hours had passed when he said forcefully, “Right. I’m going to tie you to the cross, and if I have to flog it out of you, I will.”

  He went to stand with her held tight. She grabbed his arms, shock paling her face even more.

  Gasping, she screamed, “No! No! No! Please, Sir, no!”

  “Then I will ask you one more time. This is your last chance, if you don’t tell me now, I will.”

  Those eyes stared at him with such horror, and Jake felt like the worst person in the world. He wanted to hug her, to tell her he was sorry and to tell her she didn’t have to speak. How he managed to stay steel-like was almost a miracle.

  “They. They. They…” A tear ran down her cheek, only one solitary tear, but as Jake watched it, it tore into his guts. “They spread me on the table.”

  Her voice sounded strangled and broke. Finally, she began to sob.

  No. Sobbing wasn’t how to describe the howls that tore from her. They pierced him to the core. He glimpsed at the others over her head. Ash had his hand on Iain’s arm, as if holding him back. Then the two men clasped each other’s arms. They were so stunned as the shrieks shook the room. The visceral screams and howls that tore from her mouth were like an animal’s—a wounded, terrified animal. Jake felt sick, and he winced at the horror of those shrieks. They made the hairs on the back of his neck stand to attention, made him clench his jaw.

  Jake rocked her. That was all he could do.

  “Cry, my Little Bird. Let it out.”

  And cry she did. She wailed until her voice was raw, until no more tears fell, and yet she couldn’t stop. Gasping, draining sounds still poured out. Jake saw Ash open the door and speak with someone. A few minutes later a tap on the door and someone handed him bottled water, a glass of ice cubes, and juice. His face pale with worry, he put them within reach of Jake.

  Finally, her body still shuddering, she fell silent. Jake held the juice to her lips.

  “Here, baby, drink.”

  He managed to get a few mouthfuls into her, then popped a piece of ice between her lips

  “Get it all out, baby. Tell me what happened.”

  Her voice almost shattered, gravelly from her grief, she spilled it out. It took another half an hour before she managed to utter the few words between her gasping dry-eyed sobs, but in the end, she managed to tell them the bare facts with ten horrifying words.

  “Six men…” She wailed. “Six men grabbed me and took turns in raping me.”

  Emily drew a ragged breath, staring at Jake as suddenly quiet tears simply fell from her eyes—she didn’t make a sound, but the three men watching felt her overwhelming grief, her loss. Her despondency broke their hearts anew, and Jake felt his blood turn to ice, felt his own eyes fill with tears.

  Suddenly, with a loud gasp, her head fell onto Jake’s chest.

  Iain rushed forward. “Jake, lay her on the bed. That’s it, no more. Do you understand? She’s had more than enough. I’ll give her a sedative. She needs to sleep.”

  “I understand, Iain. I have no intention of pushing her anymore tonight.”

  Ash pulled back the covers as Jake settled her on the bed, he went to stand, but she grabbed Jake’s hand.

  “No! No!”

  “Hush, Little Bird. I’m not going anywhere. I only have to take my boots off.”

  But it seemed as if she couldn’t let go of his hand so Ash undid the laces for Jake and threw the boots across the room while Iain prepared the sedative. Jake climbed onto the bed and gathered her in his arms.

  “Get that corset off her, Jake. It will be uncomfortable trying to sleep with it on.”

  She didn’t resist as he undid the fastenings and pulled the garment from her, leaving her in her tiny panties. For the first time he saw her semi-naked body. He gave a gasp as he saw the terrible, healed wounds on her stomach and her breasts. He shared a look of horror with Iain. She hadn’t told them this part. No wonder she’d never taken her clothes off. They were raw and ugly still, but he kissed each one.

  “Close your eyes, Little Bird. Master Iain is going to help you sleep.”

  “No! The dreams, no. They’ll come!” Terrified, she dug her fingers into Jake’s arm, into his hand. “It’s down. The wall is down!”

  He wasn’t quite sure what she meant but guessed she’d built barriers in her mind to hold back her horror. “It’s okay. I’m with you. I will hold you all night.”

  “Promise?”

  “I’m your Master, I promise.”

  She let Iain inject the sedative, and Jake nodded his thanks.

  “I’ll let Dulc know. Beats me how she’s kept that inside all this time.”

  Jake could hear the pain and shock in Iain’s voice. Ash’s gaze softened as he examined her held tight in Jake’s arms, but his face was pale under his dark skin. It seemed he shared the same overwhelming disbelief at what she’d endured.

  “I’ll…” He cleared his throat. “I’ll send you both breakfast later.”

  “Thanks, Ash.”

  The two men left the room, turning off the main lights but leaving a soft light burning.

  “I’m very proud of you, my little sub. You’re so brave.”

  She gave a tiny shake of her head.

  “Yes, you are. To finally let it come out. Tomorrow we’ll talk some more, but I promise it will be easier.”

  In her graveled, harsh voice she whimpered, “Why?”

  “Why did I make you tell me?”

  She nodded.

  “Because you were letting it rule your life. You were letting them win. I didn’t know what it was that you were hiding, but I knew it was stopping you from living. Now it’s out. Later we’ll talk more about it and then you can move on.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t understand, why what?”

  “You, me.”

  “Because you’re my sub, my Little Bird.”

  She stared at him as if she didn’t believe him. He could understand that. They’d known each other for a little over three months, and the whole time it had felt as if she resisted him every step of the way. He’d push her in the days ahead, but together they wou
ld make it. He felt a stab of possession—she was his, she just didn’t know it yet.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Emily finally fell asleep, the drug acting, but Jake had to keep pushing his anger down as he held her. About an hour later there was a light tap at the door—Ash. He tiptoed in.

  “She asleep?”

  “Well and truly at last, out like a light.”

  “I used the master code and got her things from her locker. You okay?”

  “No, but I will be.”

  “Well you won’t be for a while longer, I’ve found out the details.”

  Carefully, Jake moved Emily and slid from the bed. Reassured when she didn’t move, as it reaffirmed that she was deeply asleep, he joined Ash on one of the couches. The two men talked softly.

  “I rang Nico Morelli. He’s on duty tonight. He made a few calls and got the court transcripts. It’s worse than we thought.”

  “What could possibly be worse than being raped by six animals?”

  “Apparently she was driving to the east coast to start her new job when she pulled into a well-known rest area. There were two truckers there who remembered her driving in. It was about two o’clock in the afternoon, and she got a coffee from one of those mobile coffee vans. He remembered her as well because he ran out of milk and decided to call it a day, so she was his last customer. The truckers also left at the same time, leaving her alone in the area.

  “About two-fifteen a car with three men inside pulled alongside hers. She was sitting at a table drinking her coffee when they began harassing her. She tried to get into her car, but one pushed her and she hit her head on the side of the door, knocking her out and cutting her forehead. They decided since she was alone and unconscious they’d have fun and rang three of their friends to join in.”

  The blood drained from Jake’s face and he thought Ash was still pale under his dark skin as he continued. Jake’s stomach churned, and he tasted bile, knowing the worst was still to come. He clenched his fists, trying to prepare himself from what he was about to hear.

  “They carried her a little ways in. There was a clearing with a number of picnic tables, and they tied her spread-eagled to one after stripping her. Unfortunately, she’d come around while they were tying her and she tried to fight them off. They broke her arm in several places and dislocated it from her shoulder trying to restrain her. She was continually punched and hit. Then they repeatedly raped, sodomised her, and made her perform oral sex over and over for more than two hours, all the while with her broken arm and her body tied down.”

  Ash wiped a hand across his brow, mopping the light sheen of sweat and shook his head.

  “A couple of cops, a rookie and an old hand, had driven passed the area at two-thirty. They saw her car and another and routinely noted the makes and number plates. They’d driven to a disturbance and noted the third car when they were on the way back to their station at three-forty.

  “The six men left her around five. They had stabbed her several times, cut her about the breasts, and left her to die. It had only been sheer good luck that one of the police officers who had seen the cars passed the rest area on his way home. It was the rookie, and he was suspicious that one car, with the driver’s door open, was still there after almost three hours. So he figured he’d check around and found her.

  “They determined the six men had actually only left a few minutes before the cop turned up, which was lucky for Emily.”

  His anger making his heart race, Jake demanded, “How the fuck could that be lucky?”

  “Because any later and she would be dead. The rookie actually rang in to say he was investigating the empty car, and then when he saw her, he thought her dead and called for back-up and an ambulance. But then he heard her groan and discovered she was alive. He went to untie her, but her limbs, mainly her left arm, were in funny positions, and he wasn’t sure what to do. Worried he’d do more damage by untying her and having her move, he left her tied. He raced back to his car, getting a first aid kit and calling the station back saying he thought they’d need a medic helicopter instead. She was bleeding profusely from the cuts and the stab wounds, so he knew he had to photograph her before he did anything else. Somehow, he did, then got the bleeding was under control, and he took more photos for evidence.

  “Emily was conscious, she tried to speak, and all the cop could do was reassure her that help was on the way. But then she suddenly stopped breathing.

  “So he administered CPR while waiting for help. According to the report, she arrested again in the helicopter and on the operating table from loss of blood. One of the stab wounds had lacerated her liver, but they finally managed to stabilize her. She stayed in the hospital almost two weeks.”

  “Tell me they caught them, Ash. Tell me or honestly I’ll find them and tear them apart!”

  Ash rested a hand on his arm.

  “They caught them. They had fucking well filmed the whole thing on their fucking phones! As well they were responsible for several other brutal rapes and two murders of rape victims in the surrounding area. All six are in jail, marked never to be released.”

  “That’s too fucking good for them! They should be dead.”

  “At least they can’t hurt anyone else.”

  “How could anyone do such a thing? How could they leave her to die, broken and alone?”

  “Yeah, well what seems like the final insult was when caught and they admitted it. When asked why, the leader said she was ‘only an old, fat cunt that no one would miss’.”

  Jake growled, and he felt his tears running down his cheeks. His Little Bird had been hurt that badly.

  Ash stood and touched Jake’s shoulder softly. He left the room, leaving Jake to stare across to the bed where Emily lay sleeping. No wonder she’d wanted to forget. He had no doubts he would do the same. Still, from what he understood she’d never grieved, never faced it and moved on. That was what was eating her up. He hoped the two of them would be able to deal with this abomination and move forward.

  He wanted her to live. He wanted her to enjoy life, not sit on the sidelines frightened of showing emotion, of letting go.

  Jake sighed, stood, and then yawned. After he used the bathroom, he took off his watch, then climbed back into bed. He doubted he’d be able to sleep with all that horror playing out in his mind. He lay with Emily snuggled tight against his body and gazed at the ceiling. His mind was in torment. How could he help her? Once she woke, she’d have to face the consequences of telling, and he had no idea how she would handle it. He knew now that it was out she should talk about it and move past it, knew she needed to grieve, but the question was, would she?

  He must have drifted off because the next thing he knew, Ash was in the room placing a tray on the tiny side table. Jake glanced down at the still sleeping figure, rubbed his eyes, and carefully sat up.

  Ash came to the bedside and whispered, “There’s hot coffee in the Thermos, juice, and some fresh croissants.”

  “Thanks, Ash. What time is it?”

  “Just past ten-thirty.”

  “Can you watch Emily while I use the bathroom? I don’t want her to wake and think she’s alone?”

  “Sure thing.”

  Jake used the toilet and rinsed out his mouth after washing. He walked back to the bedside.

  “She’s moved a couple of times. I think she’ll wake soon. I’ll leave you both, but yell if you need anything. Iain said if you need him, he can be here in about fifteen minutes. He’s at home.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  Ash left the room, and Jake sat back on the bed. About forty minutes later Emily opened her eyes. She seemed confused as first as she searched around the room, then spied Jake alongside her. Her eyes widened, and Jake guessed the terror of the previous night flooded into her mind as she began panting. She clamped a hand across her mouth as Jake pulled her against his chest.

  “It’s okay, Little Bird. Everything’s okay. You’re safe.”

  Her body was wracked
with her sobs as she began crying. Jake rocked her, rubbing a hand up and down her back, murmuring softly.

  A few moments later she fought against his hold. “Sick, going to be sick.”

  Jake swiftly carried her into the bathroom and held her while she vomited. When she finally stopped, he washed her face and hands, gave her water to rinse her mouth, then took her back to the bed. She seemed drained as she curled against him. He let her rest, thinking all the time of the ordeal she’d been subjected to. When she stirred again, she told him she felt much better.

  “I’m very proud of you. You’ve been extremely brave. I’m sorry I forced you to speak last night, but, Em.” He lifted her chin that way she could see into his face. “Em, you can’t carry this around any longer. Get it all out.”

  “I…” Tears began again, dripping down her cheeks unheeded.

  “Little Bird, the worst is over. I know what happened to you, and now I want to help you heal. I won’t let you go. I’ll be here all the way.”

  Her gaze searched his face, those eyes still haunted by her pain.

  “It will be okay. We’ll talk it through, and then you can finally get back to living. The pain will always be there, but it won’t hurt as much. Do you understand, Em? You have to face it and then accept it, then let it go.”

  She gave a tiny nod of agreement and dropped her head back onto his chest. He could only hold her until she was ready to talk again. Maybe fifteen minutes later she pushed herself out of his arms and climbed off the bed.

  “I need to use the bathroom.”

  “You’re not going to be sick again?”

  “No. I’m okay.”

  “Emily, your clothes are here. Ash got them for you.”

  She swooped them up then scuttled into the bathroom. While she was there, Jake poured out a mug of coffee, added cream and sugar for Emily, then poured a black coffee for himself.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Emily stood staring into the bathroom mirror. The woman who stared back at her was a mess. Her eyes had dark rings around them, and her face was blotchy, swollen. She had a horrid taste in her mouth from being sick. Her hair had come loose here and there from her plait, and even her body had red splotches in places. She washed her face, rinsed her mouth again, then pulled on her jeans and a t-shirt. Fortunately, yesterday she’d actually come to the club dressed in street clothes with her corset underneath because she’d had to fill her car with gasoline. She didn’t have a bra, but at least her body was covered.