Fourth a Lie

Slowly, I nodded and gathered the hem of my dress. Without a word, I pulled it over my head. I had nothing on underneath. I’d left Sully’s shores in this dress. And I’d returned within it. Now, I stood naked in front of too many men and a woman I didn’t entirely have faith in.

Drake sucked in a breath. All the men did.

Sully growled, and my nipples pebbled with nervousness.

Jealousy didn’t pause. Grabbing the earbud box, she quickly adorned me with the hearing deceptors. Her hands quick and feminine compared to Sully’s possessive paws.

I bit my lip as she ran the scent stick under my nose, stuck fingerprint pads into place and struggled to be as gentle as she could placing lenses into my eyes.

Sully made a noise as I bent my head back, permitting her to obscure my vision and prepare my sight to see a different world than this one. At least these lenses weren’t tampered with. At least I still saw, if through an unwanted film.

Drake crossed his arms as he studied everything Jealousy did. A student learning a topic he wanted to excel at so he could steal every original idea and copyrighted magic from his brother.

I stiffened as Jealousy tipped oil into her palms and caught my gaze. With our eyes locked, she rubbed the silky liquid into my chest, over my breasts, along the planes of my stomach and then ducked to rub over my hips, thighs, and legs.

I couldn’t help it.

I glanced over at Sully, jolting on the spot as I caught his hungry stare.

Even with disaster surrounding us and monsters threatening to ruin us, he still cherished me. He still thirsted for me, wanted me, and couldn’t prevent his body’s obsession with mine. He bit his bottom lip, his stare touching me in intimate places, his presence preparing me for sex even though it wouldn’t be with him.

I hate this!

I hated that I had no way to stop this. I hated that a woman stroked my skin and not him. I hated that, unlike the other times I’d been inserted into a fantasy...this time, it wouldn’t be Sully. It wouldn’t be the man I loved hiding behind a mask and lies.

I couldn’t look anymore.

Dropping my stare, I balled my hands as Jealousy finished coating my back in oil, then dropped the empty bottle on the trolley and wiped her hands with a cloth. “She’s ready.”

“Not quite.” Drake smiled a wolfish, rabies-infected grin. “My turn.”

Jealousy huffed but obediently opened fresh boxes of supplies.

“Not you,” Drake sniffed. “Her.” Taking my hands, he placed my palms against this chest.

I shivered with revulsion.

“Undress me, Goddess Jinx.”

“Christ, stop!” Sully fought the three guards blocking him in a blast of power and fury.

For a second, he won. He stood and shoved two men to the ground.

But his victory was short-lived, paying for his outburst with heavy punches to his head and kicks to his already injured body. Falling back to his knees, he groaned as Drake pinned his nasty stare on me. “Undress me, or I shoot him.”

Jealousy murmured, “I’ll do it—”

“No, she will.” Drake let my hands go, cocking his head to see what I’d do.

Jealousy’s hiss mimicked the one snaking around my chest—sick frustration that men could dictate our existence. Inhaling hard, I kept my chin high even though my heart was one giant mess of gristle and grief.

“Don’t be a martyr, Eleanor,” Drake murmured. “Don’t think you can cause mischief and stop this. Do as I say, and everyone stays alive tonight.” Planting his hands on my naked waist, he smiled. “You’ll prefer me, I guarantee it.”

“Doubt it. I find you repulsive.”

His eye twitched beneath the perfectionism of Botox. “You’ll change your mind. Now, undress me. Otherwise, Sully can have a few fingers removed. For every delay you cause, he’ll lose an appendage. I need him alive...not intact.”

Everything he said aimed to break me. Every part of him thought he could crush me into his control.

No.

Just no.

I didn’t just find him repulsive, I found him lacking in every way.

He’s nothing.

Just like those traffickers.

Just like Scott.

Nothing.

And he’s standing in the way of everything.

I didn’t beg.

I didn’t cry.

I didn’t run.

Sully...

I ripped off Drake’s t-shirt like he was a naughty toddler and I was his mother about to spank him.

Drake grinned like a bastard as I yanked at his belt and unzipped his jeans. “Like what you see, Sullivan? Her hands are fucking Viagra.”

Sully jerked and fought so hard, another guard found himself on his ass with a punch to his nose. The other two men leaped on Sully, once again beating him, striking him—

“Stop it!” I yelled.

The men stopped, leaving Sully breathing hard on his knees with his hands bound and blood soaking brighter through his bandage. “I’m fine, Sully.” I pulled down Drake’s trousers and boxer shorts with no emotion whatsoever. “He has the smallest cock I’ve ever seen.”

Sully groaned.

Drake slapped me.

I spun to the side with his violence, wincing against his finger thorns and poisonous palm.

“You’ll regret that,” he hissed, kicking off his boots and stepping out of his jeans. He didn’t care four guards and his brother saw him naked. He didn’t care those same guards drooled as they looked at me, bulges in their pants disgustingly obvious.

What was his plan here?

Did he honestly think he could insert himself into Euphoria and the guards wouldn’t try to join in? That they would stand by like good little soldiers all while he fucked me?

My skin went snowy cold.

If he gave me elixir, I’d be a temptation too hard to ignore.

I wouldn’t care who joined.

Was that why Jealousy had been included?

To be the distraction while their boss got his kink on?

Drake grabbed my hair, dragging me closer and shaking me. “Sensors, Jinx. I’m sick of waiting.”

Every second I could prolong this gave more time for help to arrive.

Had the boat captain called the police? Had my dad done what I’d asked?

“Fuck it.” Drake grabbed the earbuds and stuffed them into his ears, followed by a quick slash of nasal scrambler under his nose. Fumbling with the lenses, he awkwardly plopped one over his right pupil and then his left. Squinting against the discomfort, he shoved a bottle of oil into my hands. “Do it.”

Jealousy glanced at me, her chest heaving in her black bikini. She seemed wound up, like a music box cranked too tight, the fragile ballerina about to dance into suicide.

Why did she look so tense?

What scenario ran through her mind while mine continued to fumble for a solution?

She nodded at me once, her eyes flaring with encouragement.

Ignoring the laceration in my heart, my stare found its way back to Sully. He’d been forced to bend deeper from three guns wedged against the back of his skull.

Dammit!

I wanted to drown Drake in the cursed oil. I wanted to pour it over his head and then set him alight.

“Fuck, you’re disobedient.” Snatching the bottle, Drake poured the entire contents into my hands then slapped my touch on his naked chest, forcing me to rub it in.