Chapter 13

Thirteen

Izzy

"That's it, Pumpkin, you're so fucking sexy when you come," the Horseman's voice was penetrating my dream. I was floating on a cloud of sleep and quenched desire, making every part of me heavy. I could still feel his hands on my body, holding me tight as he filled me. He had to be taking something to keep himself up. If not, he deserved a trophy.

I'd passed out when he came for the fifth time. My eyes had fluttered open long enough to watch him unhook me from the pillory. I sighed as he licked the fresh blood off my hands and fingers before laying me down on something entirely too soft for a barn. If I hadn't been so weak and all my limbs pins and needles, I might have tried to escape. The little voice in my head laughed at me. It knew as well as I did that I wouldn't have done anything at this point.

The last thing I remembered was him putting leather cuffs on my wrists before clicking me to something over my head. I had been dreaming of him touching me erotically and fucking me nonstop since.

I moaned and wiggled. His body was insanely warm for a dream. My breath quickened as I was once more pushed toward a climax. It slammed into me, making my back arch. My throat was too sore to scream, but I found the word Horseman on my lips, which was wholly terrifying. I slumped, panting, every muscle screaming.

The bed shifted, and my eyes fluttered open. It took a moment to adjust to the dull light and the sight of the hard chest glistening above me as he moved. His arms were flexed tight, and even though I couldn't see his face for the mask, his head was thrown back. He growled as he pushed into me hard, and my brain came online as he came. Jesus, it wasn't a dream.

Breathing hard, he looked down at me, and I knew I was nearing the end of my sanity when the mask seemed normal and sexy.

"You make the sexiest fucking moaning sounds when you're being fucked while you sleep," he said, confirming my suspicion.

He pushed himself up and stood. His cock hung limp out the front of his black jeans. I couldn't help staring at it as he tucked himself away out of sight but left his jeans undone.

"I don't know if I can take anymore," I whispered as I moved my legs and winced. He unclipped my hands, and I cried out as he pulled on them, dragging me off of the wide cot. Landing on the floor on my knees, I flinched as the lactic acid build-up screamed louder than I ever could.

"You're done when I say we're done and not a minute before," he snarled as he pulled again, and I was dragged across the cold floor. Everyone seemed to be in the same positions, as if they were frozen in time. Not even my parents had moved, and I blinked as I stared at them across the large open space. Were they actually dead, and he had them propped up to keep me in line?

The Horseman grabbed a chain off the ground and clipped my cuffs to it. I sat there staring up at Branson, who looked as dazed as I felt. How long had we been here? It was still pitch black without a single glimmer of light filtering in, yet it felt like hours or days had passed. I glanced at my parents, situated just far enough away that I couldn't see if they were breathing. He began pulling the other end of the chain, and even as I was being hoisted off the ground like a slab of meat, I couldn't help staring at his arms, flexing with the strain of my weight. As soon as I was completely upright, my toes touching the ground like Branson, the Horseman wrapped the chain around one of the floor anchors, keeping me in place.

He walked over to a small table he had set up and picked up a takeout coffee cup and an old-fashioned milkman's bottle with what looked like watery milk inside. He held them up as he approached me.

"Do you know what this is?"

"No."

"Not even a guess?"

"I'm not in the mood for guessing games." He cocked his head and pulled out that dreaded remote from his pocket. Branson screamed from beside me as his eyes snapped open and his body flexed in obvious pain. "Okay, I'll guess. Stop," I begged, but he stared at me a few more seconds as if to hammer home the point of who was in charge before he shut the device off. I didn't know what it was doing to Branson, but he slumped and whimpered beside me. "I'm so sorry," I said, and his eyes rolled up to meet mine. "I'll do whatever he says. I love you." His brows knit together, and I wished that I'd never taken this case. It had caused so much pain to so many people.

"What's your guess, Pumpkin," the Horseman asked, drawing my attention away from Branson.

"It looks like watery milk," I said, and he laughed.

"In a way, I guess it is." He walked closer and slowly swung the bottle back and forth. "I sat and watched you sleep every night, saving every drop of come when I jerked off." I swallowed hard as I realized just how long he'd been watching me and the entire time I was hunting him while he laughed in my face. "I stood by your bedside and stroked myself while your fingers played with your sweet little pussy. But I wasn't letting it go to waste." He held out the half-filled coffee cup. "Your favorite, pumpkin spice latte," he said, smirking as he poured his collected come into the cup like it was homemade cream. My lips pressed together as my stomach rolled, watching the liquid fill the cup, lumps and all.

Please don't make me drink that. Please don't make me drink that.

I repeated my mantra over and over, but I knew it was going to happen. I could feel it in the way he was nonchalantly taunting me. He set the bottle down and swirled the cup before sniffing it. "It's perfectly made with three creams just the way you like it." He didn't give me the option to drink it on my own. Reaching out, he snatched my jaw and squeezed it hard enough that it forced my mouth open. Tipping my head back, he poured the cold, lumpy coffee into my mouth. I was ruined for life from the first touch and taste of it on my tongue. I would never be able to drink a pumpkin latte again without thinking of this or feeling the slimy sensation of it going down my throat as I quickly swallowed so I didn't choke.

He emptied the rest of the cup, and I gulped it all down, trying hard to ignore what it was. I almost cried as he held out the bottle with the remaining three inches of come in the bottom. Branson stared at the side of my face as I slowly opened my mouth and held out my tongue.

"Naughty girl indeed." Just before he would've poured it in my mouth, he said, "Tell me who made you come harder. Me or Branson?"

It hurt my heart to say the words, but I knew what he wanted to hear, and it wasn't a lie. "You," I said quietly.

"I didn't catch that."

"Fuck…you. Okay, you. Happy now?"

"I am actually, and because you were honest the first time…." He walked to the table, and I thought I was free of the come bottle, but he picked up a can of instant whipped cream that I hadn't noticed. I watched in horror as he stuck the nozzle in the top and squirted a large amount of it into the come before walking back, swirling it together. "You get it with a treat this time."

As soon as the cold bottle touched my lips, I gagged and had to swallow to keep from being sick. "You better keep this all down, or I'm going to increase the pain level on lover boy." I nodded, not daring to speak, or I would lose it. He tipped the bottle up, and I ended up sucking on it like it was a giant baby bottle. I didn't know what was worse, the coffee or the extremely sweet version with the whipped cream that felt curdled on my tongue.

"So what's the plan now," I asked as he walked away with the bottle. He looked over his shoulder at me. "And why aren't my mom and dad moving or trying to escape? Did you already kill them?

"No, they are alive and will remain that way since you held up your end of the bargain. At least for now."

"So what then? Are you going to let us go?"

He didn't say anything as he came back and stood staring at me from inches away with a small bucket in his hands. Surprisingly, he proceeded to wash my legs and took extra care around my clit and sensitive lips. The water was cool, but was refreshing and I sighed. Once finished with my sensitive pussy he ran the cloth down my body and washed away the blood that had stained my legs and ankles.

"Are you going to answer me," I asked as he patted me dry with a towel.

"Nope," he said, walking away. When he returned, the Horseman's hands were behind his back, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know what he had. I shivered as he slowly lowered himself enough that he was at eye level with my pussy.

"I wouldn't move if I was you," he said, and I tensed as he pinched my clit.

"What are you doing?"

"Suck in a deep breath," he ordered, and my pulse shot through the roof with anticipation.

Click.

"Ah! Fuck! What. The. Fuck was that?" I swore another long line of swear words, my pussy burning as he stood and showed off the silver contraption. I tried to see what he'd done but couldn't. "What did you do to me?"

"Gave you a piece of jewelry to always remember me by."

"You pierced my fucking clit?"

"Yes, and…." I gasped as he wrapped his hand around my throat. "You will never take it out. Do you feel how I'm holding your life in my hands?" I couldn't nod. My mouth was opening and closing, trying to get any little bit of air. "I want you to remember this feeling. You're mine, Pumpkin. It doesn't matter who you fuck or marry. It will be my child you raise, and it will be me who visits you every night in your dreams. Understand?" Little stars dotted my eyes, but I managed to push out the word yes, and he let go. My burning lungs drank up the cool air. "Tell me you understand?"

"I understand."

"Say you're mine."

"I'm yours," I said without hesitation.

"Excellent. One more thing." He put on thick gloves that covered his arms to his elbow, and my trepidation rose once more. I watched in horror as he carefully opened a container that I could tell was liquid nitrogen, even from where I was hanging. He took something metal and stuck it inside.

Thump, thump, thump.

My heart hammered out of control as he turned around, holding up a branding iron. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of begging him to stop. He stood there looking at me like that was exactly what he expected. Pushing my chin up high, I tried not to care as he walked around me.

"Right here," he said and pressed the metal into my hip. At first, it was just cold, but the burning sensation hit a second later, and I clenched my teeth, squeezing my fists tight. Tears stung my eyes, and shamefully, a few fell and trickled down my cheek as the pain took control of all my senses. "Perfect. You're perfect."

I glared at his back as he walked away. "Tell me why you chose me?"

"Why not you?"

I shook my head in frustration. "Can't you just answer one of my questions with a simple straight answer?"

When he crossed his arms, I expected another punishment, but he shocked me by walking closer and gently running his hands down my sides. "Because in this life, there is only one soul that matches yours so closely that when you are together, they mirror one another. With a single touch, it's impossible to breathe properly until you're joined forever. If one of them dies, then the other soul will perish without its other half. That is who you are to me. You are my mirror, and even though I know you think your heart belongs to Branson, it really has always been mine. It's always been you."

I didn't know what to say, but I didn't have to worry about it as he pulled a needle from somewhere and stabbed me in the hip.

"What? What…what is…that," I asked, my eyelids getting heavy. I stared at the orange mask and realized that he was right. There was a tiny part of me that understood him and craved him, but it could never work. Not now, after everything he'd done, and he knew it.

He cupped my cheek.

"Rest, Pumpkin. Rest and dream of me."