Page 9 of Dangerous Deviance
“What are you going to do then?” Derek asked.
It was always the same when it came to any person. Whether you were dealing cards or cocaine, people usually had one desire. All you had to do was figure out what it was that they wanted and dangle it in front of them. Keeping the hope alive, and the light flickering. A little reward and a little surrender, and she’d be mine.My offering.
“Same thing I always do,” I smirked, “Deal her a hand, watch how she plays. She’ll see who’s in charge.”
As the words came out of my mouth, the door to the bedroom opened. Maddie’s deep red hair cascaded down her back. A curvy woman with large hips she flaunted, I had thought about her once, but good help was hard to find, and I had backed off once I realized how hard of a worker she was. She had been working for our family for over a year now.
“She’s all yours,” Maddie said. Derek watched her turn towards the door, and though his eyes followed her, he said nothing. My chest tightened at those words:all yours.She was all mine. All I had to do was make her see that.
“How’d she do?” I asked.
“She’s frightened,” Maddie said, “Understandably so.” She shrugged. “But I think she’ll come around.”
“Good,” I said. I trusted Maddie’s instinct. “Her name?”
She paused, her hand lingering at her side as she clutched it to her jeans. “Her name is Ellie.”
“Ellie,” I said. “Short for?”
“She didn’t say.”
Those words floated in the air, a mystery about them. We said our goodbyes, and Axe and Derek walked Maddie down to the floor.
Once they were gone, I opened the door, finding Ellie standing at the window, gazing out, wearing a loose sweater and jeans that were tight around her ass and loose at her calves. She had a muscular body with thick arms, but a delicate throat, like a swan’s. A ponytail held up her light brown hair, revealing a tattoo on her neck: four rounded hills crushed together, in red ink.
I hadn’t seen any other art on her body. The tattoo must have been important to her.
“Do you like the view?” I asked. I stood beside her, watching as her eyes flickered across the horizon. To the ocean. To the woods. To the streets that were alive with people and cars and everyday life. Ellie didn’t say anything. “Where are you from?”
She opened her mouth, her lips soft and inviting. The smell of moss and decay filtered to my nose. How long had she been in the woods? Had she seen Lance’s body after he had been murdered? Or had she never crossed his path?
She faced me, her eyes fluttering about, unable to find a place to stop. “I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I don’t remember. I can’t—” she shook her head, “I can’t remember anything.”
I grabbed her chin, lifting it until her blue eyes met mine. Hard like sapphires, and deep like the ocean. Was her memory loss a lie? What was she hiding inside of there?
“Your name is Ellie,” I said. “That’s a good place to start.”
A small breath escaped her lips.
“My name is Wil,” I said again. She nodded her head. “I want to take care of you.” Because Ellie, you will learn that you’re mine. “But you have to work with me.” She nodded carefully.
People never change, and most of them were awful, but at least with family, you had blood that linked you forever, and that loyalty was never forgotten. My brothers and parents were the only ones I trusted. Everyone else, including Ellie, could turn on you in a second.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t mold Ellie so that she was close to that level of loyalty. Because this was my chance to be different. To create a new set of rules specific to us. To show her how to surrender to me. To teach me how to be her god.
“My brother found you in the woods,” I said. “Do you remember any of that?”
Her eyes scanned the ground, searching for that memory. “No,” she muttered. “No. No, I don’t.”
“He found you naked in the woods,” I said. “You weren’t able to speak. Do you remember who brought you there? Left you in the woods?”
She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut. Her lips moved as if she was trying to think something through, but then she opened her eyes wide.
“No,” she said, her tone flat. Stronger than I had expected. Almost defiant.
I clenched my teeth, my heart rate increasing at the urge to discipline her. To teach her a lesson.
“What do you need, Ellie?” I asked.
