Lust & Lies Box Set-Sexual Awakenings, Excess, Predator & Prey

“Do you want to fucking die today, Taylor!” Rage and cold eyes greeted me as I managed to get some breath back into my lungs.

I looked around us for Rocco and saw he was nowhere to be seen. Daniello gripped my shoulders painfully as he tore into me again. “Never would I trust you.” He gripped my T-shirt, handling me like a ragdoll, opened my car door, and then threw me into the backseat. I sat up, indignant, in an attempt to defend myself.

“All right, you’ve made your point,” I snapped with slight fear as he pulled the seatbelt free behind me along with all the excess belt, wrapping one of my wrists tightly and snapping the belt into place so that it hung above me. He tied the other the same way, leaving me tied to the back of my car, completely helpless.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I screamed. “I said I got it, all right. I’ll leave!”

Daniello cursed and hit the roof of the car repeatedly before his breath hit my face and he snarled his reply.

“I am save your fucking life, and I will not do it again, Taylor.”

“It’s saving, Jesus, and you can’t fucking leave me here like this!” I was grasping at straws. I knew damn well he had every intention of doing so. He got into the driver’s seat, pulling my car over to the side of the road where I’d be less likely to be hit. He pulled out the key and slammed the door without another word. I fumed as I watched the SUV speed away.

That was fucking stupid.

I pulled at the seatbelts to no avail. I felt his anger in the bite at my wrists as I pulled at the belts. Giving up after about a half an hour, I tried to ignore the pain spreading through my chest at his harsh words.

He was just supposed to be a fuck, a distraction. Why the hell did I care what he did when he wasn’t in my bed? The longer I waited, the angrier I became, and the more I distanced myself from my situation with Daniello.

As of that moment, I needed to be done with him. I’d made the decision for myself, even if he’d already decided the same. Hours passed as the heaviness in my bladder kept me on angry edge. Eventually, night fell as I sat tied to the backseat of my car. Panic crept its way in the more time passed. I hadn’t seen a car the entire time I’d been tied up. Civilization seemed a million miles away.

That was re

ally fucking stupid.

I didn’t need this shit. I’d had enough of complicated to last me a lifetime. I didn’t need to add some crazed mobster and angry sidekick to the mix. As sweat gathered at my back and I fought the urge to relieve myself, I thought about the fact that Daniello had been intrigued with my car collection.

I’d told him that men had raised me, and it was the absolute truth.

Lazarus might have taught me to ride a bike and eventually shoot a gun, but the valuable truths I learned didn’t start until the day he returned from juvie.

“Wow, you’re almost full grown now, Red.” I stiffened as I pulled my nightgown over my head and turned to see him smoking a cigarette outside of my window. No one had ever seen me bare the way he’d just witnessed and I felt a small thrill at the thought that he liked what he saw. He had grown at least another half a foot taller as he watched me through sharp blue eyes. His brown hair had grown slightly longer, and a smile graced his lips around the pull of his cigarette.

“I was sure you had forgotten about me,” I huffed, unimpressed with his failure to write me a single letter in reply to the dozens I’d sent him.

“I had to go hard in there, but I kept them all. I couldn’t let them see me writing to a girl in there. I had no privacy. I had nothing.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said, bracing my hands on the window to help myself out. He gripped me by the hips, pulling me out and closer to him. He smelled like sweat, cigarettes, and a hint of soap. I gripped him tightly to me for a brief moment, letting myself feel the false safety I always did when I was with him. He hadn’t stopped the last few years from happening, and my hero worship for him was short lived when he failed to save me from it.

“Why doesn’t it matter, Red?” he asked curiously. “You can’t lie and say you didn’t miss me. I have it in writing.”

“Yeah, I missed ya,” I agreed. “But I think you should know I’m the one leaving next.” I brushed past him as the breeze played with the hem of my long T-shirt.

“Oh yeah? Where are you going?”

“Anywhere. I can’t take it here with her, not anymore. I want to go to college.”

Laz stayed silent, and when I turned to look at him, I saw he was staring at me openly with something new in his eyes.

“You’re beautiful, Red. I knew you would be, but I didn’t think it would hurt so fucking much.” He made two quick strides toward me.

Surprised and confused, I asked, “Why would it hurt?”

Flicking his cigarette, he placed his hand on his chest, rubbing back and forth as he gripped my hip and pulled me closer. “Because when you want something this much, it hurts.” I looked up at him as he smiled down at me. “And it’s time to make you mine.”

I didn’t have time to answer as his mouth descended. I inhaled as he kissed me with hunger and separated my lips to explore with his tongue. I felt my nipples tighten in response to him as I kissed him back. Eager fingertips gripped me tightly to him as I wrapped myself in his need for me. The sensation of his closeness, his tongue, his taste, his touch had me leaning into him, wanting to feel more. He pulled away, placing his forehead on mine. “I missed you. I thought about you every day.”

“You could have written one letter,” I scorned, though his kiss melted every single bit of anger I’d harbored. It was the first time anyone had touched me tenderly in years.