Heart Recaptured (Hades Hangmen, #2)(8)

I could feel his intense gaze. I squeezed my eyes shut, too afraid to face this devilish man. I lost all composure when he was near. He was crude, grossly promiscuous, and although my mind warned me of his evil and seductive nature, my heart betrayed my virtue and strived to have him close. His beautiful face and body tempted me to take him into my body. He was my very own forbidden fruit, one of which I had to keep far far away.

“You.” Ky sighed. I scented the strong smell of alcohol on his breath as his lips brushed down my cheek. I tried to move my head from his mouth, but his hand cupped my cheek and locked me in place.

“Look up, bitch. I wanna see those pretty f*ckin’ blues.”

I focused on trying to keep calm, but I could not help but panic.

Suddenly, I felt a hand palm my breast and I whimpered. The shaking was instinctive, and I cursed myself for coming down here to this room. I was not acting properly and I was now paying the price. God was punishing me for walking freely into this hell.

“Please… let me go,” I begged, still keeping my eyes shut.

Ky moved closer still and I could feel his hard muscles pressing against my breasts. I tried to swallow back my fear, but it did not work. Ky’s hand skirted up my neck and to the ties of my headdress. “Why you hiding this golden hair, darlin’? It’s f*ckin’ beautiful. You’re one f*ckin’ beautiful bitch,” Ky rasped out, his stubbled cheek rubbing against my smooth one as I felt his hands remove my headdress. He then tugged at the pins keeping my bun in place. I felt the edge of my hair reach my bottom and Ky expelled a long, pain-filled groan as my hair flew free.

Tears stung my eyes as I felt his hands wrap in my hair. Ky leaned down and inhaled, his hips grinding against my stomach.

“Fuck, bitch. I’ve been dreaming about making you come since the first time I laid eyes on you… I want you under me, on me, wrapped tight around my cock. I want to f*ck you hard, hear you scream… lick you until you can’t take it no more…”

I released a shuddering breath, my chest aching at his crass words.

Ky’s warm breath traveled down my cheek until I felt a wetness run along my lips and my eyes snapped open when I realized the source… his tongue, his tongue tasting my skin.

My hands planted on Ky’s broad chest and, as I was about to push him away, a loud, almost-deafening whistle sliced through the air.

Ky pulled back his tongue and his forehead rested against mine as he sighed, seemingly in annoyance. Feet stomped toward us on the hardwood floor. Then, suddenly, Ky was ripped from my rigid body and slammed against the wall beside me.

My eyes widened as I witnessed Styx holding Ky up by his throat. But Ky only had eyes for me. As my gaze met his, he groaned and bit his lip, his hand cupping his manhood bulging beneath his pants. Releasing a growl, Styx pulled back his hand and hit Ky hard across the face. I trembled from head to toe and strongly felt the need to leave quickly as things took a violent turn.

I averted my gaze from Styx dragging Ky toward a private room, and I noticed the rest of the club watching me, until a man with short brown hair ushered them all away.

Tears fell down my cheeks.

What had I been thinking in coming down here? I was not acting like myself. This place was corrupting my soul. Forcing me into unladylike behaviors. Women had no place challenging men, yet here I was acting all brazen and erratic.

“Lilah? Are you okay? What are you doing down here, alone?” Mae abruptly moved into my line of sight and placed her arms on my shoulders, her light-blue eyes filled with loving and sisterly concern.

I shook my head profusely. “I-I-I am just so tired and confused, and I wanted the loud, dirty music to stop. I need to sleep so badly. I am just so tired, Mae. Then he… he… he touched me… let loose my hair… put his mouth on my skin…”

A sob burst from my lips and Mae wrapped me in her arms. “He showed my hair, sister. Disgraced my modesty under God’s watchful gaze. I tempted him to touch me. I tempted another one, Mae… He spoke of salacious things… things he wants to do to me. He is under my spell. Another one, Mae. Prophet David warned that we were seductive traps, and we are! He told me he wanted to f*ck me… taste me…” I shivered with disgust, unable to repeat everything he said.

“Shh… Lilah. Calm. You are not the devil as we were told all of our lives. You are not a temptress. You are beautiful. Being beautiful is not a sin.”

I balked at her words. “You blaspheme, Salome. You are forgetting scripture and speaking untruths.”

Mae’s face hardened. I had never seen her look so angry. “Lilah, stop. I do not speak untruths. I am finally talking sense. What we were told to believe all of our lives was false.” Her hands rubbed at my arms. “I am still learning things about this world myself. Every day is a lesson. Every day is a surprise when I am taught something new. But you have to try, Lilah. Both you and Maddie must try.”

“I wish not to be in this life, Mae. I am faithful to the prophet’s cause and nothing will change that. And we are temptresses. Look at the way Ky acted toward me just now!”

“First of all, Prophet David is dead, Lilah! The Order is no more. The quicker you accept this and try to learn to live again, the better we shall all be! And secondly, Styx is speaking with Ky now. Ky will be punished for humiliating you, for touching you against your will. Ky is intoxicated with liquor and acting poorly. Believe me, in the short time I have been here, I know this to be usual behavior for him.”