Chapter Twenty-Two

Nila

My screams ricocheted off the walls. Blood ran ruddy down the drain. I was completely shattered, but I would not give up. Jacob could dish out the torture, I could give him that, but it was nothing compared to some of the things his father had done to me.

I would fight until my last breath if that was what it took to get out from under Jacob’s thumb. Obviously, he had a plan for us floating through his deluded head, and I would have to hold on until I could figure out his plan and make my own. I’d defeated Jacob’s father, surely, I could defeat the son.

My screams were my outlet, a release of the rage and pain wreaking havoc throughout my body. My senses were on overdrive between the anger and pain, but simmering underneath it all was a hint of lust.

“Come on, Alana. Be a good girl and cooperate.”

There was that word again. Cooperate. As if I were a child meant to be tamed. I wasn’t a child nor was I Jacob’s toy.

“Never.”

Jacob chuckled coldly in my ear. “This could have been a lot simpler, you know.”

As he adjusted his stance, his erection brushed against my thigh, and I wanted to spit in his face. With all the willpower I had left, I held control of myself. Another lash hit me, this one unexpected. I screamed, but it didn’t matter. I picked this place because no one would hear screams, even if the soundproofing failed.

But as his erection once again dug into me, I immediately knew what he had planned.

With a swipe of my hair to my right shoulder blade, Jacob rained kisses to my shoulder in an affectionate gesture. It was so contradictory to the fact he had beaten me bloody.

I was barely standing. In fact, if I had not been trained to tolerate the pain, my body would be a heap on the ground. As it was, my legs quivered, trying to hold me steady and beginning to fail.

“Don’t do this, Jacob,” I barely managed to get out, my voice hoarse from screaming.

“Don’t do what? Love you?”

“This isn’t the way to show it!”

“I didn’t ask you to talk.”

Shoving me against the wall, his body crowded mine.

“You’re going to take it, Alana. You’re going to take my dick in your tight little pussy and love it. You’re going to beg for more like the little slut you are and never make a fucking sound unless it’s to moan in pleasure.”

“No … No … No. Jacob, don’t do this!”

I heard the smack of something hitting the ground. Looking down, his shirt laid upon the wet shower floor. His pants followed, and his naked body pressed against mine for the first time, making me wince in pain as his skin rubbed against the welts left behind from the lashes. Although it hurt like hell, there was something about it that was so damn good. His cock dug into my pert ass while he licked across my neck. One strong arm wrapped around my waist and I was thrashing, throwing my head back to try to slam against his nose. Something to cause damage. Something to hurt so he wouldn’t go through with this.

“You bitch!” he cried out, wrapping his arm around my throat. I sank my teeth into his forearm, biting down until blood was drawn. “Oh, you fucking cunt!”

No warning came before he thrust into my ass, and I screamed from both the lack of lubricant and for the fact that no one, not even Jacob’s father, had dared enter there before. I may have been forced to lose my virginity, but this was one thing I’d kept. Once more, I was violated by a man who thought I belonged to him.

Thrusting harder, deeper, I was being torn apart. My ass was on fire, the burn spreading down to my toes. I could no longer keep myself standing and fell slack as Jacob’s arm stayed wrapped around me. He followed me down, thrusting faster. There was an ache spreading through my insides. I had been violated by a monster. I had been raped repeatedly, but this time … Oh, this time evoked something brand-new.

I wanted to hate Jacob. Part of me did. But another part pitied him. I had been the only connection Jacob had ever made. He had latched onto me, and now his brutal, so-called love bruised my skin.

Pulling my hair back, Jacob’s hips jerked as he rode my ass deeper, sinking every inch of him into my tight hole. I wanted to scream, but I was afraid if I opened my mouth, I would throw up and give away my weakness. Tears streamed down my face as I gave myself over to them. I cried for myself, for Jacob, and for who we were before we became these sick, damaged things. The pain spread over my back, burning my soul.

“I’ve never had this.” Jacob’s words were barely a whisper. Awe, wonder, and fear all wrapped into one.

His hand went to my pussy, spreading my folds, and my nerves came to life under his fingertips. Circling my clit, my body began to spasm. The burn started to leave my ass and pleasure took over. As sick as it was, I was beginning to enjoy Jacob’s brutality. Within seconds, his masterful touch was sending me over the edge. I’d always known I needed it dark. Vanilla sex did nothing for me, and I’d given up on being with a man. But having this, with Jacob, was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

“Good girl, Alana.”

His voice sounded mocking, and it made me want to fight. Made me want to tear him apart from limb to limb, but then he was pulling out of my ass and invading my pussy, and my mouth flew open in a moan instead. He filled me in every way, and it burned away the past. His hands on my hips, him fucking me harder than ever, I was on the brink of my second orgasm.

What had happened to me? Why was I enjoying this? I was a therapist, for fuck’s sake! I knew I was being raped. I was being forced into this and yet I couldn’t stop my body from responding to Jacob’s touch. Try as I might, I couldn’t bring myself to stop him.

I could use sex to get Jacob where I wanted him. I could pretend to love Jacob. I could build him up, like I did with my patients, but this time with some smooth touches and submissive behavior, I could gain Jacob’s trust and make him mine. I could own him. I could make him bleed for me and send him to his grave.

And I would take pleasure in it.

Game on Jacob, game on.

With one last thrust, I clenched around Jacob’s cock as my orgasm rushed over me like a tidal wave. The thought of defeating Jacob turned me on more than ever, giving me the orgasm I so desperately craved.

“Don’t you see how perfect we could be, Alana? We could be brilliant together.”

“You’re demented.”

Brilliant. That was one word for it. Twisted was more like it. Jacob and I were one side of the same coin. We were dark and evil. Twisted and broken. But we both had a hidden glimmer of light left in the very deep crevices of our souls. No one but us could possibly recognize it, but it was buried under the rubble of the mess his father had left behind.

I remembered an old tree in my backyard growing up. It was struck by lightning and left for dead. It was blackened and mangled, but my family kept it. I once asked my dad the reason for this, and he explained, “You can always find beauty in the brokenness. This stump is a reminder that this tree once stood tall and proud. It may be broken now, but if you look closely, you can see its beauty shine through.” That was Jacob and I. Twisted, but we could find something beautiful in one another.

Face down in the shower, I remembered my Jacob, the one I knew at eighteen. Not this man claiming to know me and following his father’s lead on how to treat me. Pulling out of me, Jacob planted a kiss on my neck, a parting gift to soothe the pain. If he wouldn’t have come back, I would’ve been fine. Free to live my life as I damn well pleased. My act would have gone on forever. The after show, the murders, they would’ve continued to go smoothly. But no, Jacob was back. Jacob was here.

And Jacob raped me. Brought me to tears. He’d coveted me, and I was his. For now. My plan was cemented, and all that was left to do was follow through with it.

“Why, Jacob? Tell me why.”

“Because you were the only one ever there. You and Noel. Even in my dark times, even when you weren’t physically there, I had you. I had Noel. I had no one before you. No mom. Fucked-up dad. But I had you. And that bastard tried to steal you from me.”

“I’m sorry your dad ruined you.”

“He didn’t ruin me, he created me!” Jacob screamed.

It was as if he was a different person when his father was mentioned. Who could blame him? I remembered Jacob’s confession. I remembered vividly killing the man who’d spawned Jacob. It was a wonder Jacob lasted as long as he had. Now though … Something had snapped in Jacob. He was darker and more dangerous than ever before.

“I’m sorry, Jacob. I’m sorry.”

“No. You don’t get to apologize. Shut up, Alana. Shut the fuck up! Shut up, shut up, shut up.”

Jacob had himself backed into the wall, tears in his eyes and hands covering his ears, afraid to hear my words. I was powerful as he fell apart. I was once again back in control, but …

This was Jacob.

The boy who helped free me.

The boy who gave me my last kiss.

The man who found me.

The man who claimed to love me.

And now he was falling apart, lying at my feet after raping me. After stealing what his father hadn’t even managed. Jacob wanted to make me his in some way. He’d succeeded, and now he was broken. The reminder of his father was too much for him to bear.

I remained still as a statue, waiting to see Jacob’s next move. All too soon he was yanking me up by the hair.

“Don’t you ever mention my father to me again. Don’t you ever apologize, or I will kill you.”

My therapist brain was supplying overcompensating, manic, daddy issues as Jacob raged on, a war within himself.

“Wash the fuck up. We’re leaving!”

“Where are we going?”

“Home. It’s time for us to be the family we always should have been.”

Not another word was spoken as I washed up, ridding myself of the blood, the cum, and the filth. Once I was finished, Jacob took me into the other room and started rummaging for something.

“What are you looking for?”

“First aid kit,” he snapped.

“It’s in that drawer.”

Following where my finger was pointed, he opened the drawer and removed my first aid kit. I only kept it in case one of my victims was dumb enough to bite or scratch me. Fishing through it, Jacob walked back over to me until he was standing behind me.

Pulling my wet locks aside, he rubbed cream on my wounds.

“Learn to be good, Alana. Learn to submit. I hate hurting you, but as long as you keep taunting me, fighting me, I’ll keep punishing you. Got it?”

“I understand, Jacob.”

It was time to put my plan into action. If Jacob wanted me to be submissive, I would be submissive. I would follow his lead, and right when he left his guard down, I would kill him. I may be connected to him in ways I couldn’t explain, but this was too dangerous. Anytime genuine emotion was involved, life became too complicated, too messy, and I wasn’t about to go down this road. And sure as hell not with him.

“That’s a good girl. Real good. Are you ready to go home?”

“I’m ready.”

But are you, Jacob? Are you ready to meet your end at my hand?