2. Katya

I lean out of the window, look down at the ground, and get slightly dizzy. I’m on the third floor, so it’s about 25 feet down. A white lattice trellis against the house supports creeping ivy, and towards the bottom, climbing roses. If I can hang down and get my feet on the trellis, it’ll be like climbing down a ladder – still, I’ve never done this. Never snuck out, not once.

I threw one leg over the windowsill and start to wriggle out, carefully, slowly, my feet outside, then knees, then all but my wrists. I take a deep breath, fish around with my foot for the trellis and finally find it. I have no idea if it’s strong enough to hold my weight or if it’s rotten. One finger at a time, I release my body weight onto the V-shaped lattice.

Looking good …

It cracks but doesn’t break. It terrifies me but doesn’t send me crashing to the ground. I chose another foothold and this one is silent.

I take it agonizingly slowly, careful not to slip on ivy with my feet or hands, staying on the lattice, distributing my weight and listening intently for creaking, breaking wood.

Another step down.

And another.

My foot snags a vine, I yank it free.

“Holy shit, I’m actually doing it.”

Don’t celebrate until you’re done.

I reach the bottom of the trellis, push myself off and land on the soft, freshly mowed lawn. I look at the window I’ve just climbed down from.

Fuck yeah .

My gaze tracks down to the house, my eyes meet a floor-to-ceiling window at ground-level, directly across from me. I see my reflection in the glass, brush my hair back and whisper, “Screw you asshole. I don’t need to be rescued.”

I’ll get out of here and build a life of my own.

Get a job.

Rent out a motel room until I can find a decent studio apartment.

Grind it out.

I’ll bust my ass every single day if it means I can be free of all this.

The light flips on, my reflection vanishes, and in its place a grinning Yuri.

“Jesus Christ!” I hiss then start to run towards the Weeping Willow tree.

My legs are pumping as hard as they can, my chest screams at me to stop but I keep going, resisting the urge to look back. I’m nearly at the canopy – the umbrella of lazy branches bent all the way to the ground – the trunk is not so very far. I might win.

So close.

A little further …

Under the canopy ...

I feel a weight hit my back hard enough to take me to the ground. I shriek and throw my hands out to break the fall, but Yuri is rolling me, to take the brunt of the ground on his back. My instinct is to go limp, to give up, to not fight back, to just go easy.

Fuck that!

I’m so close. I shove an elbow into his ribs, he lets out a quiet groan and loosens his grip for a half second – that’s all I need to squirm out of his arms and get my feet on the ground. As I bolt away to the tree trunk, he catches my ankle and reels me back to him, ankle to shin to thigh until he grabs my hips and flips me over, on my back.

Then crawls on top.

His hips are between my thighs, pinning me to the ground with his weight, his hands shackling my wrists to my sides in a powerful grip.

“Almost, princess.”

“Let me go,” I shout as I struggle against the cage his body traps me in.

“I think we need to get a few things straight.” He wraps a hand around my throat and pins my head against the ground. “I’m the only one who gives orders around here.”

I claw at his back; I bite his forearm – nothing works.

“Don’t make this harder on yourself,” he growls and slaps my nose, like a nippy dog.

It’s infuriating. “Let me go, asshole!”

“Not going to happen.”

My body thrashes against his.

“I didn’t think you had it in you to even try. It took balls, sweetheart, but you weren’t fast enough.”

I scream and struggle, but he doesn’t let go.

“Enough, let me up,” I try to command him.

He looks down at me with amusement, “Here, use your hands if you want to try to stop me from taking what I want.”

My hands meet the solid wall of his chest. I can feel his warmth, his pulse radiating through me like an electric shock. “Get off me.”

He sighs then he grabs my wrist again, twists it over my head, and shoves it down against the ground as he slides over my body. His breath is hot and heavy across my skin.

I try to get a grip on myself. “Let me up.”

“Your heart is pounding and you’re sweating,” his words send vibrations through me. “Your lips might say one thing, kiska but your body betrays you. It wants to stay right here and find out what happens next.”

“Rape? Something nonconsensual?” I say as calmly as possible.

He raises his eyebrows, and every trace of a smile slides off his face. But he doesn’t shift his weight off me. “You think I want that? You think I would?”

“You take what you want.”

“That is not what I want.”

I’m not the only one whose heart is pounding and whose neck is beading with sweat. He wants me too.

I snake my hand down between us and rest on his massive bulge. “ Your body betrays you too, Yuri.”

His jaw clenches, but instead of struggling against himself like I do, he grinds his cock deeper into my hand. “My body betrays nothing. I told you I want to fuck you. My body is ready.”

His erection is pressed between my legs, and my body responds with liquid heat against him. My body isn’t betraying me, but it is giving up my secrets. I wish I didn’t want him but what can a girl do? I’m hoping he doesn’t notice that my nipples are hard.

He grinds his cock against me. I let out an involuntary gasp that sounds an awful lot like a moan.

“See?” he laughs as he pushes himself off me. “You want this more than you’re willing to admit. But your body tells the truth.”

“My body responds to lots of things – heights, horror movies, hot cocoa – don’t mistake that for feelings.”

“I never would. Is that what you think I want? Feelings? Love? Not at all, Kat.”

“What do you want then?”

He pretends to think for a moment and says, “The opposite of your freedom. Your total obedience. To me.”

Everything I’m trying to avoid, his cage instead of this one or Petya’s.

“Never,” I hiss.

He grins widely, “Is that a dare?”

“It’s a promise.”

His breath is hot on my nose as he looks at me under him, his eyes wandering from my mouth to my eyes. It takes everything I have not to lick my lips.

He forces my arms over my head, clasping both my wrists in one of his hands. I fight him. I try to fight him. He uses his free hand to hold my chin, his eyes lock mine. I’m helpless as he opens my legs apart and fingers my throat, “We both know why you won’t make me stop. You want this.”

“I don’t want this.”

I really do want this .

His free hand slides down across my stomach and works its way south from there. “Should we ask your body?”

I’m wet and aching to be filled by him, we both know that.

I shouldn’t want this, but I do.

“I don’t want this,” I repeat. Unfortunately, my hips have a mind of their own, rolling on his finger, betraying me. His thumb makes slow circles over my clit, and the waves of pleasure coil through me.

“Say stop and I will.” His hand drops away and then his voice is in my ear, low and rough and I know he can barely control it, “Don’t and I’ll …”

I hear his zipper slide down, then his cock is there, pressing against my entrance.

I hold my breath, waiting for him to push ...

He lets me wait until I gasp for air.

Damn him. It would be easier if I could say I tried to fight him off. Anything would be easier than this, him making me say I want this .

Want him .

I try to roll my hips as a nonverbal cue, but they can’t budge under his weight. My voice comes out just as ragged as his, “I won’t say it. Just finish what you started.”

Still, he waits, and I think he’s going to make me beg for it. But then he grips my hip and shoves deep. I moan, I can’t help it. I arch my back towards him, trying to get him deeper.

He keeps his grip on my hips as he rams his cock inside, and I let out a yelp, gripped him tight with my legs.

It was such a beautiful fuck. Deep and angry.

“Take me,” I whispered. “Please, take me…” He breathed against my mouth, hard and deep, his forehead pressed to mine. “All of me…” I spoke. “Please…” I held his face, and he let go of my jaw.

His eyes softened. Just a little. Just enough.

I wriggled under him, and he pulled his cock out, I was so tender I sucked in breath, but I was smiling.

“Yes!” I hissed. “Fuck me! Now!” I said. “Oh God, Yuri, fuck me!”

He groaned in my ear, a guttural noise that sounded like a primitive battle cry.

Jesus, how he fucked me.

Jesus, how I wanted it.

I didn’t care. Not about any of it.

Yuri took me so hard my eyes watered. It felt good enough that I screamed.

“Don’t stop!” I hissed. “Whatever you do, don’t fucking stop! Don’t you dare fucking stop, Yuri!”

“I’m not going to stop,” he barked. “Until you fucking beg,” and pushed his cock in to the hilt. He keeps thrusting, both of us making guttural, animal-like sounds, until finally, he pulls out of me and his come, hot and thick lands across my stomach and upper thighs.

I can do nothing but lie there and remember how to breathe. I look up at the willow tree branches and realize how far under it we are. I look up and the trunk is right there, so close I can reach out and touch it.

Yuri is watching me, bemused, “Touch it or don’t, who cares. My plans are spoiled with you here, like I told you. I’m telling him to send you away, just as you wanted.”