Real Girl: Aston Creek High (Book 4) Read online

  Lucien is going to punish me for every single sin I didn’t commit.

  He’s a monster through and through. There is no way he’ll ever see that this is all on him. To Lucien, the sun shines out of his own ass. He’s a God, unstoppable and all-powerful. No one can touch him which is why he takes whatever the hell he wants, consequences be damned.

  Don’t even get me started on the fact that he just evaded his arrest warrant and is somehow walking freely around his home. He should be in hiding. Cops should see that he’s here and should be storming the property, but then, most of them are on his payroll. I’ll probably be punished for that too, but when I consider the options of either me being punished or Daniella, I’d choose me. She’s already been through so much and is only just coming out of the darkness. I still have so much more to endure, and in hindsight, what’s a little more? It wouldn’t be fair bringing her back down into it.

  We reach the closed bedroom door that holds so many horrors on the other side and my hands tear free of Lucien’s tight grip and fly up, bracing myself against the frame. My heart rate kicks up a notch. I can’t go in there. This room…fuck.

  I fear what’s on the other side of this door more than I fear for my life.

  Lucien steps into my back and I feel him pressing into my ass as his dirty breath hits my skin. “I dare you,” he challenges, his tone low and full of promise. “I dare you to find out what happens if you don’t get your sweet ass through that door in the next two seconds.”

  My resolve breaks and a traitorous tear rolls down my cheek as Lucien’s hand slips around my waist and grabs the door handle. He twists it and pushes the door open with a hard swing, allowing it to bounce off the wall. He gives me a devastating push, releasing me and watching with a smirk as I tumble down to my hands and knees.

  Lucien kicks the door closed behind him and strides over to me. Fear rattles me as I try my best to get my feet under me but he grabs my hair and with an impressive show of strength, hauls me clear across the room.

  I crash into the side of the bed, slamming my back against the hardwood and crumbling to the ground in pain. I cry out as my back aches but the sound is drowned out by his deep rumbling laugh. “You didn’t like that, did you?” he grins, making me feel sick as I reach for the bed and try to pull myself up. “But guess what? The fun is only just beginning.”

  “Stay away from me,” I scream, desperately searching around my old room for anything that could be used as a weapon, but it seems my room has been completely cleared out of anything that resembles my old life. The bedsheets seem to be the only familiar thing in here, the same ones that were on this very bed only a few short months ago.

  Lucien continues as though I hadn’t just screamed at him. “You think you can run from me?” he demands. “Do you have any idea what kind of hell your little stunt has cost me? I’ve had Marcus breathing down my neck wanting to know where the fuck his bride went.”

  He gets closer and I start to panic, wondering how quickly I could get the window open and throw myself out of it, death be damned. I’m sure wherever I’m going in the next life is going to be a million times better than this.

  Lucien grins as his hand digs deep into his pocket and produces a set of handcuffs. He dangles it from his finger. “You’ll never evade me again, princess.”

  I run.

  As if sensing what I’m going to do long before I move, Lucien darts in front of me and catches me with a rough arm around my waist. His fingers dig into the skin of my upper arm, the metal from the handcuff also digging in. “I don’t fucking think so,” he warns, pushing me back toward the bed.

  I go crashing down and scramble as he steps up to the bed, a sickening sense of déjà vu traveling through me. This can’t happen again. I won’t allow it, but how the hell am I supposed to stop it? He’s huge and I’m nothing. I don’t even have a weapon.

  All those times the boys would get into fights, I was useless. They’re bigger than me, stronger than me. It was always so easy for Slade to grab me and throw me off his back like a ragdoll. How the hell am I ever supposed to fight this?

  Lucien grabs me, two hands on the back of my shirt. He picks me up and tosses me to the top of the bed, quickly coming down on top of me to keep me pinned. I try to fight him off, kicking and screaming as he fights to grab hold of my wrist.

  “HELP,” I scream through the burning in my throat, feeling as though the high-pitched wail is severing my vocal cords.

  “Scream all you want,” he laughs with a low, deep rumble. “I had your room sound-proofed for this very reason. You’re not marrying for another twelve days, and you have a lot of crimes to make up for.”

  I bring my knee up and try to slam it between his legs but narrowly miss, only angering the beast further. “You little bitch,” he growls. “When I’m through with you, you’ll finally know how to respect a man.”

  “Over my dead body. You can do whatever the fuck you want to me and I’ll still never respect you. You’re fucking trash. You’re a worthless piece of shit and you’re going to spend the rest of your life rotting in prison.”

  “You really think?” he laughs, wrestling my wrist up above my head and quickly cuffing it before tightening it to the bed, making it impossible to move. “How’d the arrest warrant turn out for you? You can’t fucking touch me, princess.”

  I scowl up at him, pulling tirelessly at my wrist in hopes that I can break the wood and free myself. Lucien moves back to survey his handiwork with a sickening grin. “Keep tugging on that all you like. I couldn’t care less if you break your wrist. Marcus might have an issue with it though, I’m sure he’s going to need both your wrists working perfectly fine for your wedding night.”

  “You’re fucking sick.”

  He shrugs, my words not affecting him in the least. “You do what you have to do for business, love. One day you’ll understand that.” He strides around to the opposite side of the bed, never taking his eyes off my body. “If you were smart, you would have learned from me like your brother did. He was going places.”

  I clench my jaw. I knew this was coming.

  “You did that to him. He could have been a star. You took away his life. You fucking raised him. How could you even do that? Are you that threatened that he could have become something great without you?”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I know you would have shot your own son this morning. Your own flesh and blood.”

  Lucien scrunches his face in disgust. “Slade Cruz is not my son. He’s the result of a lazy fuck.”

  “He’s the result of rape.”

  Lucien rolls his eyes. “I knew I should have fucked Rochelle that night. Daniella has only ever caused me problems since but your fucking father just kept getting in the way.”

  My jaw clenches. “Don’t you dare speak her name.”

  His eyes sparkle with humor and he gets back on track with his little speech. “It’s a real shame your actions have cost your brother his future, but he knows he’s welcome home. He can have a seat at the table. But you, never. You’re too stubborn, outspoken. You’ll do well to zip your fucking lips and learn how to submit. It’ll make the next twenty years a shitload easier for us all. If Marcus knew you had such a rotten mouth, he’d never let us forget it and you’d be as good as dead. You should be thankful that I even set this up for you. Do you have any idea how good you’ve got it? If you would just shut up and do what you’re told, you’d have the fucking world at your feet, but you insist on being an ungrateful bitch.”

  I gawk at him, not believing for one second that he did this for me. “You made this deal to line your fucking pockets. You couldn’t give a shit if I ended up in a fucking ditch.”

  Lucien shrugs, his eyes darkening, and warning me that my time is up. “Maybe you’re right, but what I do know is if you screw this up for me, I’ll be the one to put you in that ditch.”

  I swallow back, not doubting his words one bit.

&nb
sp; He looks down at me and I struggle against the handcuffs.

  This is it. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to go but to endure it again. His hand reaches for his belt. “You missed this, didn’t you?”

  “Like hell,” I spit, trying to kick him away as he gets closer. “You wouldn’t know the first thing about pleasing a woman. Your dick is fucking repulsive. Small and wrinkly. Did you learn your moves by watching cheap porn?”

  His hand slaps hard across my face, his thumb hitting my eye and making it sting. “You’ll fucking pay for that.”

  I clench my jaw, trying not to show the pain. Instead of tearing up, I look up at him with a smug grin. I figure that if I’m going to go out, then I should at least get in a few hits as I go. It seems someone has a little performance anxiety.

  “Daniella and I would sit up at night, laughing about how pathetic you were, exchanging stories, and you know the common thing that kept coming up? How you don’t have a clue about how to satisfy a woman. You didn’t twenty years ago and from what I see, you still don’t. No wonder you have to go around raping women. Is Maria tired of you flopping around on top of her, playing dead fish? You have to get it from somewhere else?”

  Lucien’s gaze darkens and he reaches for my shirt but I yank it out of his grip with my free hand, desperately trying to hold onto it. “You know you could just pay for it, right? At least, I know Maria does. She’s been fucking the pool boy for the past two years.”

  Lucien’s hand snaps out and he grabs my throat, squeezing it tight. “Shut the fuck up, you little bitch,” he demands, desperately trying to pull his limp dick out of his suit pants.

  “LUCIEN? Where are you?” Maria’s voice echoes through the hallway outside my bedroom door.

  Lucien’s eyes go wide as they snap down to mine. His hand squeezes my throat tighter and I struggle to breathe, but it’s nothing I haven’t already suffered through. His eyes narrow in warning. “You keep your fucking mouth shut.”

  Keep my mouth shut? But I thought he said he sound-proofed my room. Shouldn’t that mean that I could scream all I want and have no one hear me from outside? In fact, should I have been able to hear Maria out there?

  I narrow my eyes right back. If I’m going to die here, then I might as well go out fighting.

  What have I got to lose?

  “HELP” I scream over and over again. “HELP ME. MARIA.”

  “Fuck,” Lucien grunts, ripping his hand from my throat and hastily trying to get his dick back inside his pants before his wife catches him moments from raping a minor.

  His belt gets done up just as my bedroom door flies open and Maria stands gawking in, staring at me as though she’s seeing a ghost. “Well,” she sighs, pressing her lips into a tight line. “Look who decided to show up.”

  Chapter 3

  “You have a lot of nerve showing up here,” Maria snaps as she strides into my room, glaring at me while Lucien discreetly takes a step back, making me realize that he’s shit scared of this woman. All this time I thought it was Lucien who wore the pants in this relationship but my eyes are finally open. She may dote on him and think the world revolves around him, but she’s the mastermind here, not him.

  The way Lucien darted away from me and shoved his junk back in his pants makes it clear that he doesn’t want his wife to know what dirty deeds he’s been getting up to at night. I wonder how she’d feel if I shared it with her? Hell, I wonder how she’d feel if she found out that the bastard had a son all this time while she had to go to extreme lengths of having my parents murdered and me and Blake kidnapped just so that she could play the perfect doting parent role at the school PTA meeting.

  I try to pull myself up to a sitting position and straighten my shirt as I go, knowing how she will reprimand me for such simple things. Old habits die hard. It’s hard shuffling myself around with my hand attached to the bedpost but she glares at me as though she doesn’t even see it.

  Unable to help the snide comment on my lips, I let her have it. “Believe me, it wasn’t my choice to come back here. I was kidnapped.”

  Maria steps up to the side of the bed and her hand snakes out, slapping me across my face as her anger overwhelms her. My only saving grace is that she hit the opposite side of my face that Lucien has already been targeting.

  “Watch your tone. You wouldn’t have the slightest idea of the torture you and your brother have put us through pulling such a ridiculous little stunt like running away,” she snaps. “Now be grateful that Lucien was willing to go all the way out to that godforsaken town and collect the two of you.”

  “Two of us?” I scoff. “Unfortunately, my brother was not able to remove himself from the hospital to make the trip.”

  “Hospital?” she grunts in question, flicking her eyes toward her husband.

  My brow raises as I glance across to Lucien, whose face goes impossibly still. I grin, more than ready to dump him in a pile of shit. “Oh, your dick of a husband shattered his leg and left him in a ditch to die. He was lucky to get out of there alive. His leg is currently being held together by pins. Who knows if he’ll ever be able to play basketball again?”

  Darkness spreads over Maria’s face as she turns to face Lucien. “Tell me you did not touch my boy?” she growls between a clenched jaw.

  Lucien narrows his eyes at his wife as though they’re about to have some sort of power struggle. “I did what I had to do.”

  “When was this?”

  “Last Saturday night,” I supply helpfully, knowing he’ll never be honest.

  Her attention snaps back to Lucien. “I sent you to bring my children home that night, not to hurt them.”

  Her children? Like hell.

  “Oh, you didn’t want him to hurt us?” I question, smugly. “What about when he visited Aston Creek last month and rammed me and my boyfriend off a bridge and stood at the top, shooting at us until the car was completely submerged underwater.”

  “That’s a lie,” she accuses. “Lucien would never do that.”

  “You want to see the scar from where the bullet lodged into my thigh? What about the bruising on my ribs that still hasn’t completely faded from being resuscitated?”

  Her eyes narrow at me and she waits a moment before turning to Lucien. “Leave us.”

  Lucien’s jaw tightens and his eyes turn to slits as he glares at me but before he has a chance to fight it, Maria takes a step toward him. “Now.”

  Without another word, Lucien hesitantly starts making his way for the door when Maria steps in and blocks him. She holds her hand out, palm face up and waiting. My brows furrow as I watch their silent conversation and then with a heavy sigh, Lucien digs into his pocket and produces the key for the handcuffs.

  Maria curls the key into her hand and crosses her arms over her chest, silently waiting for Lucien to leave.

  I watch them in shock. Maria really does wear the pants here. In fact, she doesn’t just wear the pants, she wears the shoes, socks, and shirt. Lucien is her bitch man, though after learning that she is Anton Mathers’ cousin, I really shouldn’t be surprised.

  I watch with a grin as Lucien slinks out the door and slams it closed behind him, clearly not thrilled that he doesn’t get to rape the minor in the room today…but, there’s always tomorrow.

  “I don’t know what you’re so smug about,” Maria whips. “You have repeatedly humiliated me over the past few months. Do you have any idea what it feels like to host a bridal shower without the bride? I had to tell them that you were in bed unwell. Do you know how bad that looked? Half of your guests were assuming you were upstairs hiding a baby bump. It would have been the scandal of the year. If Marcus was to hear about this…”

  “Fuck Marcus,” I grunt. “Fuck you all.”

  “Watch your language,” she scolds, tossing the keys at me.

  I scramble around on the bed, trying to get the keys that land just out of reach. Naturally, she doesn’t help me and I have to strain against my wrist to get them.

  I instantly get b
usy unlocking myself and as my wrist comes free, I launch off my bed, more than ready to be off this filth that reminds me of one of the many shitty nights I’ve endured.

  As I get to my feet, Maria turns and starts walking for the door. “Follow me.”

  She speaks in a no-bullshit tone and I realize that if I don’t do as I’m told, my punishment would be worse than anything Lucien could possibly do to me.

  I silently follow her out the door, keeping a few feet behind while searching the hallway for anything I could slip into my pajama shorts that could be used as a weapon. Since Blake and I left, it seems this place isn’t so cluttered with random shit anymore and I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

  It’s as though this house has been baby proofed. There are no sharp edges, nothing I can break off that could be used to inflict harm. It’s as though they had prepared for this.

  With no other option, I follow Maria to the end of the hallway, scowling at her back as with every step I take, I’m reminded that this is all on her. She was the one who put the target on my parents' back for Anton to take them out. She was the psychotic bitch who was jealous of my mother. She’s the one who had to have her life.

  Because of her, I miss my parents every day and I’ll never let her forget it. But now isn’t the time. Right now, I’m free and need to focus on figuring out a plan to get my ass out of here. If I stay much longer, I’m going to end up knocked up with Lucien’s baby in my guts and Marcus’ ring on my finger, and no, that wasn’t exactly how I was planning on spending the next few weeks of my life.

  If I’m going to be knocked up with a ring on my finger, I’d want it to be Slade’s. Though chances are good that I’ll never see him again.

  The thought has a piece of my newly lightened soul darkening once again. If I spend much longer here, I’m afraid that everything Slade has done to help me feel free again will all be for nothing.

  Maria leads me into the room at the end of the long hallway and as I step over the threshold, my world crumbles.