Unleashed: Volume 1 (Unleashed #1) (12 page)

“What are you doing
hanging around a barn? You should be out.” With people her own age.
And her boyfriend.

I hated her boyfriend.
Bryce or some tool name. The kid was the high school quarterback, son
of the sleezeball mayor. The few times I’d seen him around town,
he’d given me the eye, like he was a tough guy and he was on to me.
I’d love to square off with him sometime, just him and me. I knew
it would take one punch, just one, and he’d be lying flat on the
ground bawling for his mommy. The boy was as tough as a newborn
kitten.

“Yeah, I guess.”
She looked down. None of the bounciness I’d come to expect from the
resident cheerleader.

“You’re not going
out? It’s Friday night.”

“I don’t know.”
She seemed reluctant and bit that plump lip of hers, hesitant. Then
she looked up, all wide-eyed and innocent. “What are you doing
tonight?”

Shit, she wasn’t
fishing around to hang out with me, was she? This had gone too far.
Her father would probably fire me just for talking to her alone in
the barn. Plus, I didn’t do schoolgirl crushes. She needed to stick
with the teen heartthrob posters I was sure she had up in her room.
And her quarterback boyfriend.

“You should go out
with Bryce.” I all but patted her on the head and sent her out the
door, class dismissed.

She winced again. You’d
think with what an asshole I was she’d steer clear of me. “I
don’t know, maybe.”

“Seems like if he’s
your boyfriend, you should hang out with him.”

She shrugged and looked
deflated. I hated that. I didn’t want to hurt her. That’s why I
needed to push her away. Standing there in the barn, the last ray of
sunlight streamed down into her golden hair. What would it feel like
to wrap my hands in that honey goodness? I bet her skin was as soft
as silk. She didn’t weigh so much, I could pick her right up in my
arms. Better yet, I could pull her down into my lap and spend a long
while like that together.

I cleared my throat and
turned away. “Have a good night, princess.”

“Thanks, Declan.”
She left, disappointed. Good. She needed to be.

§

That night I didn’t
stay long at the bar. A girl I’d hung out with a few times was
there, raring to go. She liked to fuck. It wouldn’t be me tonight,
though. I wasn’t feeling it. A whole host of other guys would be
more than happy to oblige, I was sure.

“What’s the matter,
sexy?” She stood next to my barstool. My eyes roamed the bar until
she took matters into her own hands, literally, and reached right
between my legs. She was one subtle, classy chick. “I bet I know
what to do to take your mind off of things.”

“Yeah, maybe later.”
I finished my beer and slid off the seat.

“Asshole,” she
muttered, heading over to the dartboard.

“You got that right,”
I agreed. At least someone knew me for what I really was.

Driving back in my
truck, I couldn’t find anything on the radio other than sad-sack
love songs. What was wrong with people that they wanted to wallow in
that shit? My personal philosophy on life was Move On. You spent too
much time dwelling it would eat you up.

I barely ever thought
about the past. I was too busy moving forward into the future. What,
was I supposed to cry myself to sleep every night on account of never
having a daddy? Yeah, my so-called father had split before I was
born. And my mom was a junkie. Real happy family. The kind you put on
a Christmas card and mailed all over town.

I didn’t even know
where my mother was at these days. I knew I’d hear from her again
once she needed money. As if I had any.

Every now and then I
wondered about my father. I didn’t know a thing about him, not even
his name. My mother refused to talk about him. Sometimes she’d hint
at not even knowing for sure who he was, like she’d been at some
crazy orgy or something. But that struck me as a lie. Every now and
then, she’d say something, usually when she was pissed off. If I
was being stubborn, she’d shake her head and say, “Just like your
father.” Didn’t sound like an orgy to me.

Did she even know how
to track him down? The couple of times I’d asked she’d changed
the subject real quick. I’d wondered, of course, when I’d had to
go into foster care. She’d fallen asleep with a cigarette and
burned an abandoned building to the goddamn ground. No one had gotten
hurt, but it had come to light that her parenting skills might not be
all that sharp. But it didn’t matter, anyway. I wasn’t about to
chase after him. He’d left me, never wanted anything to do with me.

In my experience, it
never paid off to show any weakness. You toughened up or you got
fucked over. Nights like these, driving late in the dark with too
much time on my hands, I found myself thinking about things. I didn’t
like it when that happened.

Sometimes I’d
remember Shelly. We’d only lived together for about six months in
one of the many foster homes I’d bounced through. Shelly had been
real small for her age, at eight or nine she’d looked about six.
All she’d done all day long was watch this goddamned DVD. She had a
machine that played it and she’d watch it start to finish, over and
over,
Beauty and the Beast
.
She loved that shit. “Be Our Guest!” she’d sing along.

I looked out for her
the best I could, but there was only so much I could do. I didn’t
even get to say goodbye. I’d left in a hurry. When you got arrested
and thrown in juvie they didn’t exactly give you time to say fond
farewells. I’d never looked her up since, though. Deep down, I was
a coward.

Maybe I should have
stayed at the bar, had a few more beers. Headed out to my truck with
a girl or even two. My mind was restless tonight.

I pulled into the
ranch. Up in the big house, no light shown from Kara’s bedroom. She
must have taken my advice and gone out with her boyfriend. They were
probably out with all their high school buddies toasting marshmallows
and eating s’mores. Either that or the two of them were out
steaming up the back seat of some car. I didn’t like the thought of
that at all.

I’d go watch some
porn. That would do the trick, take my mind off things.

Down to my briefs in
the comfort of my one-room cabin, I popped open a beer and settled
onto the couch. I watched the first thing that came on: two girls
playing with each other’s big, fake titties. Stupid, but it would
serve.

I reached my hand down
my briefs and drew out my cock, already hard and ready. Hand wrapped
around the shaft, I started to move, slow, building up the heat and
friction.

I wondered if Kara had
ever had someone play with her tits. Sure, someone had probably felt
her up, but I doubted she’d ever really been with someone who knew
what he was doing. She was an innocent, but she was 18 going on 19 as
I’d heard her mention more than once. Not exactly a kid.

My cock swelled, thick
in my grasp. My breathing grew heavy. I lost my focus on the screen
and instead retreated into my memory of Kara, her sun-kissed skin,
her plump lips so full and inviting, her curves so lush in those
little sundresses she wore. Sometimes her strap would fall down her
shoulder, all temptation, the ribbon calling out to you to pull it,
unwrap the present, discover what lay underneath. What would she be
like, if I had her to myself? One of those nights she wandered down
to the barn, what if? What if I gave her what she wanted, more than
that, held her there in the dark, taught her what it felt like to
really be touched by a man, to have a man’s mouth on her ripe
breasts, down on her slick, needy pussy while she cried out for more.

I came, hard and fast.
And I felt like a beast right after. What was wrong with me that I
couldn’t be out fucking some bar skank? Or even getting off on a
couple of porn stars? No, I had to fixate on the one I couldn’t
have, the princess up on the hill. And I’d come harder fantasizing
about her than I usually did actually fucking someone else. That
wasn’t good.

I cleaned up in the
shower. Maybe I’d see about wrapping up here early. I could talk to
Harlan about heading out mid-summer. It might be a better idea to
move on somewhere else. I wasn’t going to be a ranch hand forever,
I knew that much. This fall I had something set up at another ranch
that was turning itself into a resort. That intrigued me. I wanted to
learn about it, see what they did and how they did it. I could see a
future in that.

But that job didn’t
start until October. I didn’t have enough money saved up to get me
from now to then. Plus I didn’t want to leave, not really. I just
needed to keep it in my pants, that was all.

I was a dark, fucked-up
beast. And Kara lived in a world of rainbows and unicorns. It was
like that movie Shelly used to watch, I realized with an ironic
laugh.
Beauty and the Beast
.
Only in that story the beast had turned into a prince at the end.

I was no prince. But I
could keep my hands off her, keep her safe from me. I had
self-discipline and then some. I wasn’t going to be the one to drag
her down into my dark cave. No matter how badly I wanted to.

Now

“Here’s the key to
your room.” In the lobby of the Stanyon, I handed the card to her.
She took it, still looking dazed, her lips bee-stung, her hair thick
and somewhat tousled. Women paid a fortune to makeup artists and hair
stylists for that effect. Kara had it because I’d pulled her into a
stockroom and given her the best orgasm of her life. I liked the look
on her. I planned to see it a lot over the upcoming week.

“You’re going to
stay here tonight. Alone. I want to give you time to think things
through.”

“Here?” she asked,
looking around the high-end hotel.

“I own it. You’ve
got a suite in the northwest corner with a good view.” Right
underneath my penthouse suite. I wanted to keep her close.

“You own this, too?”
she murmured, taking in the high-ceilinged, newly remodeled features.
We’d put in Carrera marble at the check-in desk, an expensive
detail where it could make a valuable first impression. I loved
seeing her impressed, knowing all this lavish beauty was mine to
offer her. My cock swelled as her eyes grew wide. I liked her seeing
my power. She hadn’t seen anything yet.

“I’ll have some
things sent up to your room, anything you might need. And is there
something you’d like from your car? I’ll send a valet.”

“My bag, I guess. I’m
parked a couple of blocks away.”

“Why would you do
that?” In my experience, a woman in the kind of heels she had on
wanted to be rolled up directly to the entrance, then helped out of
the car and steered in the right direction until she could sit.

Kara shrugged.

“Let me have someone
park it for you in the hotel lot.” I held out my palm. She dug into
her clutch purse and pulled out a set of keys so old they’d
practically rusted away.

“Don’t tell me.”

She giggled and I knew
it was true.

“You’re still
driving Bessie?” How could she still be hauling around that old
hunk of junk? It had been on its last legs six years ago. I’d put
in a new carburetor for her, figuring the truck had a few thousand
miles left in it, tops.

“Don’t knock
Bessie,” she warned me.

I waved over a valet
from the front entrance, gave him the keys and Kara told him where
she’d parked. I’d have to get her something more reliable. That
truck wasn’t safe.

I put my number into
her cell phone and handed it back to her.

“You’ve got a lot
to think about.” I led her over to the bank of elevators. Tilting
up her chin, I gazed into her gorgeous blue eyes. “You need to
consider the arrangement I’m offering, Kara. If you agree to give
me a week, I want you to surrender completely. Nothing held back.”

I felt her shiver, her
body responding to the idea. As I ran a hand through her hair, she
leaned in to my touch, nearly swooning. Aroused again, her nipples
pressed against the fabric of her dress. I bit back a groan.

“So responsive, my
Kara.” I traced a finger along her jaw, then up to her mouth. Her
lips parted slightly.

With great effort, I
pulled away. “You know the terms. I’ll accept nothing less.”

I pressed the button
for her floor. “I’ll get in touch tomorrow for your answer.” I
gave her the tamest kiss I could manage, along her smooth forehead.
As soon as the elevator doors closed, I wanted her in my arms again.

I turned my back on
that adolescent nonsense. I knew how to play my cards, wait for the
right moment. Or the right week. It would all begin soon.

iPhone out, I called my
PA, Angie. I knew I could ask one of my hotel employees to put
together a hospitality basket for Kara and they’d do it well, but I
wanted over-the-top. Angie knew how to do that.

I was fortunate that
I’d found Angie early on, and that I knew how to judge character.
She hadn’t had prior experience as a PA so she was willing to start
at a rock-bottom salary when that’s all I could afford. What she
did have was ten years of experience as a single mom juggling three
kids and two part-time jobs as a bookkeeper and a waitress. I knew
I’d found someone who could multi-task and execute. Now her oldest
was off in college, paid for by Obsidian Investments, and Angie drove
a BMW.

“VIP guest at the
Stanyon, room 1940,” I began as soon as she picked up. I didn’t
have to waste any words with Angie, that’s another reason I liked
her. She took direction and ran with it. “There’s a young woman
here for the night. She needs the works.”

“Cashmere pajamas,”
she said, and I knew her well enough to understand that she wasn’t
even talking to me. She was speaking out loud because she had already
started making a to-do list. “I’ll have it all sent over within
the hour.”