Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69621 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69621 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
My feet hit tiles again, and ahead of me, I see the gates of the main entrance.
It gives me a lurch of recognition – the excitement as our cab pulled up and dropped us at our destination. It’s only been a few days but it feels like a lifetime ago.
Fuck it. I take a chance at heading straight in through the front door, trying to ease it open. And YES! It moves. It lets me in.
I feel like a chase professional as I complete my circuit, right back to the breakfast bar. I toy with the idea of disappearing back into the bedroom and hiding out where I started. The clock must have been ticking fast while I’ve been outside. I wonder how far away I am from the win…
I think maybe, just maybe, I’ll do it…
Until I hear footsteps behind me, charging fast from the dining table. Oh my fucking God, I shriek as the figure thumps into the opposite side of the breakfast bar and lunges over for me. And of course I have no fucking idea which of the pair this is, because he’s masked! In a Venetian style devil mask that looks ominous as fuck in the shadows.
That’s when the true instinct of terror hits me. It’s inescapable. Beyond rational thought.
I escape with a screech, racing with everything I have towards the doors to the terrace, knowing the masked figure is right behind me. I’m past the loungers when I see my second masked assailant on the other side of the pool, waiting for me.
Two masked assailants, in period style attire. It gives an edge of swords, teeth and ravaged corpses.
Nighttime Whispers.
I’m scissored in this position, with nowhere to go. There is no chance in hell that I will make it past the pair of them, so my decision is made in a heartbeat.
I hold my skirt as I run and leap straight into the pool, spluttering as I resurface to find the two men watching me. One at each set of steps.
“I’m not getting out!” I screech. “I’m not giving in! Forget it!”
“Oh, curva,” Heath’s voice sounds out. “Do you really think that’s going to stop us?”
I paddle in the centre of the pool, spinning as I tread water.
My blood is pumping, and my senses are reeling, my dress billowing out around me as I contemplate just what the fuck I’m going to do from here. A standoff, really?
But they answer the question for me.
Both men walk down the pool steps, not giving a toss for their suits as they enter the water. I’m a fucking fish being hunted as I flail for the edge to haul myself out, but I don’t make it. Two pairs of hands land on me and yank me hard away from the side.
I kick and lash out, beyond control as I try to get away from them. Fight or flight. Both screaming in my veins.
“Give in, curva,” Heath says, his grip firm on my arm, but I shake my head.
“No! Never!”
“Really?” I hear Josh’s voice. “Let’s see about that, shall we?”
I’m not prepared for the brutality of his hands when he shoves me under the water. I have no warning to take a breath, so the water chokes me, and I battle. Holy fuck, how I battle. But it doesn’t make any difference.
Josh lets me up for some gulps of air, and I blink and stare at the both of them towering over me, with their tailored suits soaked to their skin.
“Do you submit?” Heath asks, but fuck them, no!
I shake my head, kicking out at their legs until Josh shoves me right back under the water.
Both pairs of hands hold me under this time. I’m trapped. Truly trapped. Being at their mercy doesn’t even cut it.
I hold my breath, and the reality hits. I’ve been chased and captured, bound and beaten, but never fucking drowned before. I’ve never known the terror that comes from being held under water and unable to breathe. It’s a different sensation, being deprived of air.
It makes me fight harder. Desperate.
I’m choking and spluttering, gasping for deep breaths when they let me to the surface for the second time.
“Do you submit now?” Heath asks, laughing in his deep, vampiric tone.
“Fuck you!” I yell, insanity taking over. “No!”
Their attire makes it so easy for me to be Polly Anna, flaming with the fight. But it’s hard to be Polly Anna while I’m underwater for the third time, flailing with all my might but still powerless to get to the surface.
Again, they raise me. Again, I say no. I won’t submit!
I try kicking, punching, fighting, but none of it works. The plunges get longer, deeper, until I’m heady with the need for air. My lungs are hurting, my muscles are aching… and subspace is truly calling.
They let me up onto my back this time, so I’m floating – my tits bobbing as I retch then gulp for air. Heath’s hand clutches my throat, and Josh grabs my tits and squeezes hard.