Page 111 of Wicked and Claimed

With narrowed eyes, he grabbed her jaw and squeezed with a growl. “Open.”

Haisley tried to shake her head and press her lips shut.

His eyes lit with approval for her performance as he stiffened his fingers to make it look as if he clamped harder on her jaw. “Open now, goddamn it!”

She did, acting as if her capitulation was involuntary. With a roar of triumph, he slipped inside, taking command of their kiss.

Haisley kicked beneath him, gasping and shaking when he shoved her slip up her body. He wasted no time gripping her thigh and hoisting it over his hip, which spread her legs for his invasion. Another rapacious grin for show stretched across his face as he settled between them. Her heart stuttered, then ratcheted up. The gawking crowd seemed to buy their act when more cheers erupted. The whistles and catcalls morphed into chants of “Fuck her. Fuck her. Fuck her!”

Their rabid fervor was scary. If Nash wasn’t faking his part, everything would be terrifying.

She shook, instinctively twisting and bucking under Nash. He felt his way across her body with wandering hands, as if inspecting his merchandise, before he gripped her hips. He pressed against her, lifting her hips up to his roughly, as if taking what belonged to him.

“You heard the crowd,” he said loudly, reaching between them to unfasten his pants.

Was he insane? Was this really about to happen in front ofeveryone?“No!”

“Oh, yeah, baby.” He all but pressed his face to hers and ground his cock against her, his eyes willing her to play her part. “I’m going to get what I paid for. You be a good girl and scream for me.”

She hadn’t thought their performance would require that much reality. But he was right. Whatever they had to do to get off this island alive was what needed to happen. Acting in any way that made these degenerate flesh peddlers suspicious would only make Nash’s mission harder and the possibility of detection more dangerous.

Their gazes locked. She gave him an imperceptible nod.

Relief passed over his face for an instant, here then gone before he wiped it away, replacing it with another lewd grin. Then he shimmied down her body and lowered his mouth over the silk covering her breast. His teeth closed around her nipple sharply. Shock. A sting. She yelped in genuine response. The crowd cheered.

More adrenaline flooded her system. He repeated the motion with the other breast, his teeth making an even more intense impact.

This time, she did exactly what Nash demanded. She screamed.

The cheers became a baritone of lusty roars, all egging on her defilement. Even Mr. Gray chuckled into the microphone, as if the sound of her fear aroused him.

Nash hovered over her breast before licking the still stinging, silk-covered tip. Shrieking, she shook her head and thrashed beneath him as if his every touch terrorized her.

He nuzzled her neck and dragged his lips up to her ear. “Good. Keep fighting.”

Pressing her lips together, she whimpered and jerked her head back and forth. She had never tried her hand at acting, but even though Nash was the man on top of her, it wasn’t difficult to act afraid.

With a groan, he raked his lips up her neck. “That’s it, baby. Fight me. It’ll make fucking the sass out of you that much sweeter.”

Though he spoke for the crowd, Haisley shuddered. But the onlookers loved it, erupting in another series of degrading whoops and laughs.

God, what kind of human beings believed it was all right to hurt and enslave others for sport?

“Stop! No!” she protested for the depraved crowd, who undoubtedly believed her wails were for Nash.

“This isn’t a date. I spent ten million on you, so no doesn’t mean no anymore. Time to take what’s mine. To knock your fine ass up and put you in your place.”

The roars of the crowd erupted even louder. A horrifying lust-frenzy settled over the room, seeming to grip every one of the onlookers. It was shocking. Disgusting. Dehumanizing.

Fear gripped her. As Nash settled over her body again, she lifted her gaze to him. He sent her a reassuring stare.We’ll get through this together.

Relief and dread filled her. This wasn’t over yet; she still had a role to play. They both did. The horrible inevitability of that stung her eyes with tears. They pooled, then rolled from the corners, down her temples like hot acid.

“Why are you crying, bitch? I haven’t hurt you.”

He hadn’t, but what if he had? What if this was real? She thought about all the women who had been abused tonight in this very bed, taken against their will and stripped of their dignity, of the right to refuse the man on top of her. She sobbed harder for them.

Nash seemingly ignored her and whipped the edge of his cape aside to flash onlookers her hip and thigh. At their whoops and hurrahs, he burrowed his fingers under her and squeezed her ass, fingers digging into her flesh. Thankfully, his palms were so big, he covered most of her exposed skin.

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