Elsie
“Shit!” Felicity hissed when I walked up behind where she sat at the table in the pub ‘Peter’ had asked her to meet him in.
“Sit!” I ordered when she tried to get up. “Sit the fuck down!”
“Elsie,” she tried, but I held up my hand, silencing her.
“You hurt me, Felicity. You used me because you needed a few quid! You were my friend, not just my Sister.”
Tears bubbled in her eyes and plopped onto her cheeks. “I have no excuse, Elsie. I don’t. There’s nothing I can say to you that will make it better unless you want a lie?”
It wasn’t that she was heartless by what she had done, she just said it like it was. Her self-disgust was blaring at me from the misery on her face and with every tear that fell from her guilt-ridden eyes.
“I take it Frank has called for my termination.”
“I haven’t told him.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “What? Why?”
Shaking my head in disappointment, I stared at my former best friend with sadness. “I loved you,” I whispered, the pain at her betrayal causing my heart to ache.
Brushing away my own tears, I pulled the thick envelope from my bag and slid it across the table. “Take it and go.”
Lifting the flap of the envelope, she frowned and peered inside. Her mouth fell open, and she gaped at me with shock. “There must be fifty K in here, Elsie.”
I nodded. “And a passport with fake documents. If Frank finds you, he will kill you. Euan and I will fake your death to put him off looking for you. But you mustn’t ever come back, Felicity.”
She put her face in her hands and sobbed. “I didn’t know what to do, Elsie. Peter came to me one night and offered me a way out.”
“But you knew you could have come to me. I would have helped you; Frank would have!”
“We both know that’s a lie. We never bring shame or drama to the institution, Elsie.” Swallowing hard, she screwed up her face. “I have a gambling addiction.”
I sighed and closed my eyes in despair. “There’s nothing I can do for you now, and whatever you choose to do with the opportunity that is in that brown envelope is on your own back.”
“I don’t know how to thank you for this, Sister.”
“I don’t want your thanks, but I do want to know what information you gave Peter.”
Guilt made her look away, and she chewed on her bottom lip. “Everything concerning you.”
My heart stampeded, and I fell back into my chair. “He knows my mother is alive?”
Her chest heaved as a sob broke from her, and she nodded. “I’m so sorry.”
Pushing back my chair, I stood up and looked at my Sister for the very last time. “Stay alive.”
As I turned to leave, she called my name, and I stopped, although I didn't look back.
“Get out while you can, Elsie. Learn to love, because staying in there will kill you anyway. And if you never experience happiness, then what’s it all for?”
My gaze dropped to the floor as her words swam around in my head.
And then I walked away.
***
I sensed him coming up behind me before I saw him.
“You okay?” he asked, handing me half of his cigarette.
I shook my head and took it from him, drawing on it deeply and replenishing my lungs with the filth I craved.
“Do you know if Felicity has gone yet?”
Again, I shook my head. “Nope. I’ve done all I can for her; it’s her choice if she takes the chance we’ve given her.”
He placed his hand on the base of my spine, and the warmth of his touch made me shiver. “I’m sure she will.”
“Some people can never be helped, Euan.”
“That’s as may be. But Felicity only did this because she was backed into a corner. You gave her freedom, and I’m sure that’s something she’ll grab with both hands.”
“But,” I disputed. “What if the cash is already burning a hole in her determination. She’s an addict, Euan; she always will be.”
He leaned on the balcony rail and stared out into the night. Because we now had to work quickly to bring Peter down before he got to my mother, Euan and I thought it would be better if we stayed at his house, allowing him constant access to his computers. I had been delighted when he had shown me the small veranda attached to the bedroom he had allocated to me, my smoking addiction easier to accommodate.
“You ever think it’s worth it, Elsie?” he asked quietly, leaving his gaze on the still night.
Taking another drag, I exhaled it loudly. The smoke swirled around in front of us, mixing with the steam from our breaths. “It’s all I know. Just because something isn’t right, doesn’t mean it’s not what we need. Whatever you may think, Frank has taken care of me. He has taken care of all his Weapons. He is a good man, even if his methods seem a little alien to you.”
“Who am I to say what is wrong or right,” he proclaimed. “We’ve all done things we’re not proud of. Hell, there’s lots on my list of things that will one day send me to hell.”
I smiled, nodding in agreement. “Well, at least it will be warm down there. And, we both know parties are way better in front of a bonfire than on a fluffy cloud we’ll both fall through after too many whiskies.”
“Fuck, with a body as hot as yours, I just know hell will be so much better for you.”
Smirking, I kept my chuckle silent.
“So, how did you end up with the secret service?” I asked, desperate to divert the subject away from my body.
He was staring at me. I could feel his gaze on me even if I refused to meet his eyes.
“Fate,” he whispered, cryptically.
Frowning I turned my face to look at him, but before I had even laid eyes on him, his lips were on mine and his fingers threaded through my hair.
I knew I should have pushed him away, but I just couldn’t. It was like he had control over me and my body was his puppet, every thought in my head, every beat of my heart, and every movement in my limbs his to control.
“Jesus, Elsie,” he muttered over my lips as he rested his forehead against mine. “What the hell is going on?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea. But I know it’s not okay. Giving in to this will kill me, and I don’t just mean because I’m a Weapon.”
“But it will kill us if we don’t,” he claimed, tenderly trailing the tip of his finger along the bridge of my nose. “I want you, Elsie Grey. I want to feel the wild beat of your heart thud against my chest when you come undone for me. I want to see the ecstasy ride through every single fibre of your body.”
I whimpered when his warm breath whispered in my ear.
“And I want to feel your hot cunt tremble around my cock.”
My mouth was so dry I wondered if all the moisture in my body had slid down to my pussy because it sure as hell wasn’t dry down there.
I couldn’t move when he cupped my breast over my thin cotton shirt, my nipples hardening under his touch.
“Euan, please.” I was practically begging, yet I didn’t want him to listen to my plea.
He stared at me, his chest heaving with each heavy breath. I couldn’t look away from the depth of need in his eyes.
As I slipped the first button of my shirt through its hole, my mind went crazy with the consequences of what I was about to do.
His eyes dropped to watch as I undid more buttons, and when I opened the last one, he put the palm of his hand on the scar that ran between my breasts. Raising his gaze to mine, he looked at me softly. “I know what this means, Elsie. You need to be sure.”
Placing my hand over his, I slowly moved it up to my breast. He didn’t move his gaze from my eyes, his expression one I didn’t recognise. “Just make me feel. Just for one night.”
With both hands, he opened my shirt and finally looked down. “You’re perfect.”
“I doubt that,” I murmured when he dropped his mouth to my chest and planted small kisses over my flushed skin.
The warmth of his breath, mixed with the chill from the winter night air, broke goosebumps over my skin and I shivered at the sensation.
“You are to me,” he breathed as he peppered kisses up to my lips.
Cupping my arse, he lifted me, and I hooked my legs around his waist so he could carry me upstairs.
Slowly he peeled me out of my clothes, his greedy stare eating up every inch of my body that he uncovered.
Euan didn’t fuck me; he made love to me. He drove me higher and higher, his tongue caressing every bit of my skin as his fingers explored my flesh until I couldn’t take it anymore and he slid inside me.
He was slow, his crusade to make me feel was paramount, just as I had asked.
“You feel that, Elsie?”
He kept his gaze trained on mine, searching my eyes for the truth when I breathed, “Yes.”
“I won’t ever hurt you again.”
He kissed me, speeding up when I ran my heel over the back of his calf. There were so many sensations, so much pleasure guiding me towards orgasm, that when it hit me, I couldn’t hold back the cry of bliss.
My back arched, my body spasmed, and I clung to Euan like he was the air I needed to breathe.
He followed me over, biting into my neck and growling with each jet of ecstasy that burst through his body.
***
His fingers trailed up and down my back, soothing the storm that raced through my veins. The night was still, and the silence sang a lullaby of calm as we lay in the darkness.
His chest rose and fell beneath my head, and I closed my heavy eyes.
“What happened to you, Elsie?” Euan asked quietly, breaking the tranquility in my mind.
Closing my eyes, fortifying myself, I inhaled deeply. “I was eighteen. It was my fourth assignment. Frank received a contract to clear out an old hospital that was being used to hold girls to be sold on.”
He nodded, continuing with the soft strokes on my back and soothing the typhoon that was building inside me.
“I was teamed up with Lola. Frank had had intel that there would just be a couple of guys inside. Lola was to direct me around from her position outside, and I was to take out the guys and find the girls.”
I shivered, my storytelling triggering memories I didn’t want.
Euan flicked on the bedside lamp and lit a cigarette, taking a slow drag before passing it to me.
“To cut a long story short, the information Frank had received was doctored. They were expecting us, or more precisely, me. I had no chance. They took out Lola and…”
“It’s okay, Elsie,” he whispered and placed a tender kiss on the top of my head.
I shook my head, forcing it out. “I’ve never told anyone the specifics, and I need to.”
He remained silent, waiting patiently for me to carry on.
“They took me to a warehouse where they beat and raped me.”
Running his tongue over his teeth, he looked down at me. “How many were there?”
“Five.”
He hissed. “Jesus Christ.”
I sat up and took a long drag, needing the nicotine to settle my mind. “That’s not what gives me the nightmares, Euan.”
He looked confused and brought his hand to my face to trail his thumb over my cheek. “Go on.”
“I was sold on.”
Shock made his hands tremble, and he dropped it from my face. He couldn’t get any words out, and he just stared at me.
“I was just merchandise. I was kept as a slave for eighteen months before I finally got out.”
“Holy fuck,” he finally managed to breathe out as he swung his legs out of bed. “And the men who sold you?”
I twisted my lips. “I managed to find three of them, but the one I really want seems to have fallen off the edge of the earth.”
“His name?”
“Kenneth Raymond.”
He stood up, and my hungry gaze fell to his firm arse. “I’ll see what I can dig up.”
I smiled at him when he turned to me. “Thank you.”
He went to fix us a drink, and I lay back on the bed. His offer to help me showed that he was a good man, and I knew he offered because he wanted to, not because he felt he had to.
What he didn’t know though, was that his help would be a waste. I wouldn’t be alive for much longer anyway. Not now I had given in to my desires.
Euan had given me so much ecstasy, but with every ounce of that pleasure, so much agony was waiting to find me.