Sophie Oak - Pure Bliss

She could imagine. She clenched her fists against the image. She wouldn’t let him touch her. It would be a brutal violation for him to touch her. Now that she knew what it felt like to really be loved, she couldn’t stand the thought of even seeing him again.

Would she ever see them again? She would give anything to see them, to touch them, to tell them she loved them.

“He’s going to be surprised when he finds out you’ve been playing around. If I were you, I would lie about what you’ve been doing with those two men. Maybe he’ll be satisfied if he thinks you were just staying with them. I would come up with some reason, any reason that doesn’t involve screwing those two guys.”

He wouldn’t believe her. She might try, but she doubted Christian was going to let her live. It would be up to her to survive.

Jay pulled the truck up, and she saw him.

Christian stood in the doorway of the small, neatly kept cabin. He was dressed in khakis and a loose-fitting button-down. His hair was shorter than it had been when she was with him, his eyes older, but there was no question the man in front of her was Christian Grady, the man from her nightmares.

“Get out,” Jay said. He had the gun in his hand.

With trembling hands, she opened the door to the truck. The paring knife she’d slipped in her pocket poked her in the hips, but she ignored the little pain. She smoothed her shirt down, praying he couldn’t see the outline of the knife. She would get one shot.

“Where’s Lucy?” Hope was pleased at the even tone of her voice.

Christian smiled. Once she’d thought it was a beautiful thing, but now it seemed ghoulish. “She’s still alive. Would you like to keep her that way?”

“Yes.” She would do everything she could to save Lucy, but now she was worried about her men. Had Brad lain in wait for them? James had a gun, but he didn’t carry one in the house. He packed a shotgun when he rode out, but he would be utterly unarmed, and Noah hadn’t even fired a gun in years. Had they walked into the kitchen to find her only to get shot?

“You look good, Hope.” He smiled as he said it, as though they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in a while.

“I thought you were dead,” she stated flatly. God, she had to force her feet to move. She didn’t want to get near him.

Christian looked over her shoulder. “You may go, Jay. Do your job.”

Was his job to clean up after Brad or to help Brad get rid of Noah and James? She needed to deal with Christian and find a phone. She prayed the cabin had a working phone. She would call James, and if she couldn’t get hold of him, she would call Cam. God, please let them be alive .

“Come along, love. We have a lot to talk about.”

She would have to get close. Hope’s heart was racing. Christian weighed roughly one hundred and seventy pounds. He was deeply fit. There was no question he was stronger than she was, but she had two things on her side.

She had her knife.

And he had never really known her. Not for one instant. He saw what he wanted to see. Softness. Sweet innocence. He saw someone who was weak, but she was strong enough.

Though her every instinct told her to run screaming from him, she had something far deeper urging her on. It wouldn’t matter if she survived only to find out James and Noah were gone. She had to fight. For herself. For them. For the future they could have.

He held out a hand when she reached the stairs. It was a courtly gesture, the type Christian was good at. He’d seduced her with his pristine manners. He’d never failed to open a door or pull out her chair. Hope doubted Christian would ever scratch his belly the way James did after a meal or talk about spaying pets at the dinner table like Noah. Christian was the perfect gentleman and the perfect person to draw in stupid young girls.

There was nothing wrong with her. It was Christian’s fault. All of it. He’d targeted her. He’d been older, smarter. She’d been barely seventeen. Stupid, but she’d meant no harm. Christian had been the one who lied, who manipulated. Hope had believed she was doing good, had loved the people around her.

She’d been foolish, but well meaning. She wasn’t the reason Elaine had died. But she would be the reason Lucy lived. And she would do whatever it took to save her men.

She put her hand in Christian’s and allowed him to help her up. She hoped her distaste didn’t show in her face.

“You were hard to find.” Christian kept her hand in his.

“I stayed under the radar for a long time.” She hadn’t been able to keep a job. It had made it easy to live off the grid. By the time she’d made it to Bliss, she’d been secure that no one was really looking. She’d given Nate Wright her real name, and she’d started a job.

“I was surprised you managed to do that.”

“How did you survive?” She asked the question not only because she was curious, but her mind was racing with scenarios. She had to put off the moment when he put his hands on her body. If he found the knife, it was over.

“My friends saved me. I woke up when the heat got to be too much, but it was difficult to breathe. I stumbled out, but the house was on fire. Thank you, by the way. The office went up in flames. I didn’t have to worry about the blood stains from poor Elaine. Jerry and Reginald pulled me out, but Jerry was hit by a beam. It was fortuitous. He died, but there was enough of him to identify. I took over his identity and identified his body as mine. Reg backed me up. We got out with most of the cash, though we owed a lot to certain factions. I had to hide for years before I could come after you. Luckily, a couple of months back, my mob connection landed in jail. He can’t come after me from jail. I immediately started looking for you.”

Alexei’s trials. God. Alexei had put away several major mobsters by testifying against them. She’d never dreamed his courage would bring her own monster out in the open.

“Show me Lucy.” She needed to know Lucy was still alive.

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t know if I want to do that. The last time you saw that side of me, you ran. I would never have hurt you, Hope. I loved you. A man has to do what he has to do in order to protect the things he loves. Can’t you see that?”

She didn’t want to listen to his half-baked explanations. “I just want to see Lucy, Christian. I want to make sure you haven’t killed her yet.”

He gestured to the door. “Fine. See her. I find your lack of faith in me very sad, Hope.”

He was off-the-wall, butt-fuck crazy. “Christian, if you told me the sky was blue, I would still think you were lying.”

She walked through the door and gasped at the sight in front of her.

Lucy lay on the floor, her hands tied in front of her. Hope looked down at those hands. Christian had tied the rope tight, but it looked as though Lucy had fought. There was blood on the rope. Her face was swollen, bruises making an insult of what was her usually sweet expression.

“She’s alive. I just tapped her a little, and she went right out. Women are fragile creatures.” Christian stood frowning as though the entire scene was distasteful. “You’re too compassionate. She’s a little whore. She tried to kiss me after one date.”

Hope got to her knees and felt for a pulse. It was there, strong and beating. Lucy’s eye cracked open, and she whispered.

“Run, Hope. He’s going to kill us both.”

“Is she awake?” Christian asked.

“No,” Hope said quickly, standing up. “I was just telling her I’m sorry for getting her in this, and I won’t leave her here.”

He sighed, a deep movement of his chest. “Like I said, you’re too compassionate, my love. You really were the better side of me.”