Bound by Lies: Bound #1 (Adult Romantic Suspence) (17 page)

Five years ago

It’s late when I finish studying with a group of college
friends. Winston, one of the guys, insists on walking me back to my dorm, which
is all the way on the other side of campus. As we walk, I listen to Winston
talk about his plans for the summer. Winston is cute. Blue-eyed with hair like
corn fields, he looks and talks like he was raised on cornbread and sweat tea.
He’s sweet and lovely and the kind of guy my parents would have loved for me to
take home. If they were alive.

Not like Jacob.

Thinking of Jacob causes a flutter in my stomach. I’m
supposed to meet him later. He’s picking me up at my dorm to take me out to one
of his clubs in about an hour, which gives me plenty of time to get changed
into the dress he instructed me to wear.

Winston and I stop at the steps of my building.

“Are you coming to Dee’s party this Saturday?” he asks.

“I think so.” Jacob hasn’t wanted to meet any of my friends
or come to any of my college parties or anything, so I doubt he’d want to come.

“Cool, cool. So I was thinking that we could get a bite
somewhere and go to the party together.”

“That sounds good. Who else is coming?”

“I meant, as a ‘you and me’ thing.”

Oh. I hadn’t realized Winston felt that way. I run through
my last few interactions with him and hope I haven’t said or done anything
overly friendly to lead him on. “Winston, that’s very sweet but… you know I’m
seeing someone, right?”

He frowns. “I’ve never seen you with anyone. I just assumed…
Sorry.”

I smile and try to shrug off the awkwardness that has arisen
between us. “It’s okay. He’s not a student. But we’re still friends, right?”

Winston smiles. “Of course.”

I don’t notice the black car pull up as Winston gives me a
hug and kisses me on the cheek goodbye until he starts to walk away. Jacob
slams the car door shut behind him. Shit. He’s early. And he’s scowling. His
eyes are dark and he looks mean.

“Who the fuck was that?” he stabs his finger at Winston as
he stalks towards me.

“Baby, that’s Winston. He’s just a college friend. A
friend.”

“Did he just put his fucking hands on you? Did I see the
fucker put his motherfucking lips on you?”

“Shh, baby, please.” I glance up at my dorm windows and hope
no one can hear Jacob yelling. I reach out for him when he stops in front of
me. “It was just a hug and a peck on the cheek goodbye.”

“Just a kiss? Just a fucking kiss?” His hand grips around my
neck. It’s so tight and sudden, I don’t have time to scream before my air is
trapped inside my lungs. The choking sensation pushes tears up to my eyes.
“Where? Where did he put his filthy fucking mouth on you?” His other thumb
scrapes across my cheek like he’s trying to wipe away any trace of Winston. Oh
my God. I can’t breathe. My fingers tear at his hand around my neck.

“You’re hurting me, Jacob” I choke out.

“I’m hurting you? You’re fucking hurting me, princess.” He
slams his left hand against his chest and it makes a sharp deep thudding noise.
“Right here. You’re hurting me right fucking here.”

He lets go of my neck and I heave a large breath in. I feel
dizzy. I flinch when Jacob leans in. His eyes are dark and mean and brittle
like coal and his voice hisses and spits at me like a fire. “Winston needs to
learn
who you belong to. If he touches you again, I’ll fucking kill him.”

“He didn’t know any better. But he knows now that I’m with
you. It’s fine, baby, please leave him alone.”

Jacob grabs my arm in a vice. I know he means to hurt me.
“Ow! Don’t, please.”

“Wait,” he yells back to his driver. Jacob drags me through
the dorm doors by my arm. I trip as I stumble to keep up.

I pray that no one is walking through the corridors at this
moment and sees me like this. My cheeks flame with embarrassment. The stairs
blur behind my tears and every time I trip I can feel his grip tighten around
my arm, cutting off more of my circulation. When he throws open my dorm room I
sag with relief when I see the room is empty. Trisha is out. I don’t want to
have to try to explain this to her.

He slams the door behind us and his hands come up to shove
me. I whimper as my back hits the door. This isn’t right. I shouldn’t be scared
of Jacob.

Then Jacob’s mouth is on me. His lips are hard and bruising
and he shoves his tongue straight into my mouth. He’s trying to wipe away any
remnant of Winston from me. Jacob grunts from his throat. He pulls away and my
lips tingle from being crushed. “I’m the only one who loves you, princess. I’m
the only one who really cares. Winston just wants to fuck you. He doesn’t really
care.”

He’s hurting. I can see in his eyes and hear in the crushing
pain of in voice that he’s hurting. It hurts me that he is hurting.

I hurt him, I realize. I upset him. I need to fix it. So I
press kisses to his face. And run my hands across the back of his neck because
I know he likes it. I know it soothes him. And he needs me to soothe him right
now.

He starts to unbuckle my jeans. “He needs to know who you
belong to, princess.
You
need to know who you belong to.”

“You. Of course, baby. I know.” It’s because Jacob loves me
so much that he is like this. He just loves me this much.

My jeans are stripped from me and kicked aside. I am shoved
back against the door, the edge of his left forearm is pressed against my
throat. His fingers slip inside my underwear. “He needs to fucking know who
this pussy belongs to.”

I gasp as tingles rush through my body and across my head
making me lightheaded. How can this feel so wrong yet so right? “Yours, baby,”
I choke out. “All yours. Please, let−”

“Mine. That’s fucking right.”

His hand pulls from my underwear then I hear a sing of
metal. When I look down I see a knife gripped in his right hand. Oh God. What
is he doing?

“Do you know, princess? Do you really? Or do I need to teach
you a lesson?”

“No, Jacob, Please.” Oh God. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. My
stomach twists and I choke on my own bitter bile. This is what horror tastes
like.

He removes his forearm and I gasp for air. He places the
blade against the side of my neck. The cold metal burns my skin. I squeeze my
eyes shut.

He leans in, his breath hot around my neck. He whispers in
my ear, words I will never forget.

“Your body, your blood, your life belong to me.”

I cry out as the blade slides across my skin making a
shallow line of pain. Then I hear his grunting and feel his wet feral tongue.
He sucks the blood off my neck as he pushes himself inside me. It hurts because
I am tight around him like I am trying to keep him out. My legs give out like
the wooden limbs of a puppet. I slip a little until his hips slam me back up
against the door.

“Who do you belong to?”

“Y-you.” The voice that squeaks out of my mouth doesn’t
sound like mine. I want to slap this broken thing I have become. I want to slap
her and hug her and take her away. But I can’t. I can’t move. So I just cry
inside for her. I cry and I die a little.

“Louder.”

“You.”

“I want to hear you screaming it.”

Again and again, he slams me against the door, loud and
angry like an animal marking his territory, making me repeat after him. I choke
on each word. He doesn’t seem to care who hears us.

Suddenly his movements slow.

“Open your eyes.”

I don’t dare disobey him. I open my lids, but I keep my gaze
down. His hand cups my face and it is gentle. So gentle.

“Look at me baby, please,” he says. Now his voice sounds
pained, so pained like he is on the verge of tears. I look up in surprise and
see the hurt creasing his furrowed brows.

“Oh my God,” he breathes. His shaking fingers wipe at the
tears spilling from my lids. Tender. This is tender Jacob. He has come back to
me. The man I love has come back. “Look what you do to me. I just… I just love
you so fucking much. So much that you make me crazy, princess. So fucking
crazy. You understand that, right?”

I nod and his palms caress my cheeks. He leans in and sucks
on my bottom lip. Then he pulls his erection out almost all the way, stopping
at my entrance. He pushes a thumb inside the corner of our mouths and rubs my
tongue with it. It tugs at my lips when he pulls it free. His hand drops
between us and his palm presses against my lower belly. His wet thumb finds my
clit and I flinch. He starts to rub me and to move inside me again with short
and shallow thrusts. His mouth stays near mine, alternating between sucking on
my tongue and drinking in my breath. It shouldn’t but it starts to feel good.

I shouldn’t, but I moan as the pressure builds inside me.

“I just love you so fucking much, princess. I would die if
any other man ever touched you. You know that, right?”

“Yes. Oh, yes.”

“You love me, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“So come for me, baby. Do it now.”

His thumb vibrates across me and he leans back so he can
thrust himself deeper inside me. Oh God. My insides shatter like broken bones
and a heat ebbs through me like a bruise. My head hits the door and for a
moment I am lost amongst stars, among angels, far away from this man and this
monster who are one in the same.

As the gravity takes over and I descend into my body, my
lower belly clenches with guilt. Bastard. I hate that he can still make me
come.

He wraps his fingers in my hair too tightly. I feel the pop
of some of my hair from my scalp and I wince. But I don’t dare tell him that
he’s hurting me.

He forces my eyes to his. “No one will be able to touch you
the way I do. No one.”

I hate that I believe him.

Next Monday, I am waiting in our usual spot in our lecture
hall for our class to start. I have pulled all the hair over one side of my
shoulder to cover the bandage on my neck. I frown when I notice that Winston
isn’t here. Winston is usually one of the first of us to arrive.

For a second I get a momentary flash of panic. What if
Jacob…? But I shake it off before I dare finish the thought. I can’t think this
way about the man I love. If I keep doubting our love, it will ruin me. It will
ruin us.

Winston’s probably just sick. Or maybe he slept in. Or he’s
still recovering from Dee’s party on the weekend that I didn’t go to. Or got
called into work. There are so many reasons why Winston wouldn’t be here.

I try to ignore his empty seat and focus on the lecture.

The niggling worry comes again when Winston isn’t here for
lectures on Tuesday.

Or Wednesday.

“Does anyone know where Winston is?” I ask the other guys in
our group. I’m met with shakes of their heads.

“I think he’s sick,” one of the girls says.

Sick. Poor Winston.

I’m not being picked up by Jacob until later tonight and I
have a few hours to spare after my last class. Winston also lives on campus, so
I decide to stop in and see if he’s up for visitors.

“Winston?” I knock softly on his dorm room door.

“Who is it?” comes the tentative response.

“It’s me.”

There’s pause. “Go away.”

“Winston, I was told you were sick. Are you okay?”

“Yes. I mean, no, I’m really sick, so please just go away.”

I frown. “Are you sure? Do you need anything? Meds? Food?”

“I’m fine, please, I just need more sleep.”

Something doesn’t feel right. But as the door is locked and
I can’t get in, there isn’t much I can do. “Well, okay then. Send me a text if
you need anything.”

I hang around for a few seconds in case Winston changes his
mind. Then I amble down the hall. I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t see
Winston’s roommate walking my way until he calls my name.

I look up. “Oh, hey, Rick.”

“Did you just see Winston?” Rick says, transferring his
groceries to his other hand so he can give me a one-armed hug. “Terrible isn’t
it, what happened to him? I can’t believe anyone would do that.”

My mouth suddenly tastes funny.
I can’t believe
anyone
would do that.
“Yeah, it’s terrible. But I think he was actually asleep or
in the bathroom when I knocked. I didn’t get a chance to see him.” I look at
Rick expectantly.

He answers just how I want him to. “Come on. I’ll let you in.”

I follow Rick back to his dorm room and hold my breath as he
unlocks and opens the door for me. Inside, the dorm room has been turned into a
kind of cave with curtains drawn and only a small lamp giving off a sickly glow
by Winston’s bedside. Winston is curled up on top of his sheets with his back
to me.

“Winston,” Rick calls out. “Hey, buddy, I brought a friend
home to see you.”

Winston shifts, slowly and warily. Even before I see the
grimace on his face I can tell he is in pain. “Who is−?”

He sees me and he freezes.

The blood rushing to my head makes the sound of Rick saying
something behind me sound muffled. Winston has a black eye, swollen shut. His
lip and cheekbones are scabbed over. His right forearm is in a cast and the
fingers of both his hands are bandaged. I’m sure that there are a lot more
injuries that I can’t see.

“Oh my God. Winston. What happened to you?”

His face twists. “Didn’t I tell you to go away?”

“Who did this to you?” I step forward to touch him, but he
flinches away from me and I can see fear in his eyes. He’s scared of me.

“Leave me the fuck alone!” As he screams his voice cracks,
and he withdraws back into himself on his bed.

I feel a hand on my shoulder. Rick’s face is stern when I
look back. “I think you should go.”

I nod. And I leave.

And I know.

I know who did this. And why.

I stand dressed in black, my arms twisted across my chest as
the limo pulls up to the foot of my building. But Jacob doesn’t get out. I
glare at Garfield, my escort, when he gets out of the limo sent to pick me up
to take me to Jacob’s apartment.