Chapter 22: God of Pain: Chapter 22

I think I’m in trouble.

When I first took interest in Creighton, I never thought things would get so…out of control.

In the best way.

Or maybe in the worst way.

It’s been two weeks since he took my virginity and must’ve put some voodoo spell on me, because I haven’t been able to stay away since.

It doesn’t matter that the girls gave me shit about having gone on dates and not telling them—especially Ava.

I’ve even started to slack off on the excuses I offer my brother—that he somehow believes.

Or he’s probably too busy with the clubs’ war to pay me attention. An opportunity I’ve used to the fullest in order to spend as much time as possible with Creighton.

I don’t have to bug him about dates anymore since he willingly takes me out like that time in the cinema a week ago. Otherwise, Creighton’s idea of a fun date is going somewhere where we’re secluded from the world so that he can have me all for himself. And fuck me whenever he wishes.

That man has the stamina of a porn star, I swear.

When I grumbled that he only takes me to secluded places because he wants to have access to my pussy, he merely said, “People have no place in what we have. I’m out for you, not for them.”

And it’s true. If it were up to Creighton, he wouldn’t get out, but he does. For me. He even takes me to the movies because he knows how much I love them.

He steps out of his comfort zone for me.

He treats me like a princess in public and his custom-made whore in private. He fucks and punishes and pushes me to lengths I didn’t realize were physically possible.

My favorite parts are right after he unties me, gathers me in his strong arms, and kisses me. It’s the little things, like how he washes me, tends to the marks—that he left, but semantics—or how he cuddles me to sleep because he knows how much I need that connection after the intense sex.

Creighton gives the best aftercare in the world, and that alone makes me fall deeper into his web. I’ve never felt so safe, happy, and free as when I’m in his arms.

Sometimes, I feel so special but other times, I’m not actually sure if he’s interested in me or in simply dominating me.

Maybe he likes my perseverance and my willingness to get immersed in his kinky, fetish-filled world?

When I asked him what he liked about me, he just flicked my forehead.

It wasn’t antagonistic, but it wasn’t an answer either.

So I will keep on asking until I get a reply.

Maybe after tonight ends.

We’re at a pub with our friends to celebrate Remi’s basketball team’s accomplishment. They won against TKU, so it should be a conflict of interest to even be here, but anyway.

These people are the only real friends I’ve had in my eighteen years of life.

Ever since Jeremy gave me freedom, I’ve never gone back to the Heathens’ compound. I do text back and forth with my brother, though.

As much as I love him, I realize how monstrous Jeremy can get under certain circumstances.

I’m lucky that he’s too busy to focus on me much.

It’s how I get to come to this pub.

It’s cozy with wood-themed decor, not too big, not too small, and definitely the least rowdy compared to all the clubs I’ve gone to on the island. I used to call it a club, but I’ve been informed that everyone here calls it a pub, so who am I to go against the flow?

Soft indie rock music plays in the background and the smell of alcohol permeates the air. Our group is seated around a large table in the middle of the room.

Cecily and Ava keep whispering to each other. Bran is showing something to Glyn on his phone and she’s laughing. This is one of the few times she hasn’t ghosted us for Killian. Usually, he’d barge in uninvited, but apparently, the Heathens have a club event this evening.

Creighton and I are seated beside each other. I take a sip from my martini while he watches me openly.

Like, no kidding.

He leans his elbow on the table, supports his head on his palm, and never breaks eye contact or stops eating my face with his hungry gaze.

It’s like I’m the only one he’s interested in around here, and he’s not the least bit discreet in showing it.

While I like his attention, it does put us in an awkward position whenever we’re with people.

“Stop it,” I whisper.

“I’m not doing anything,” he murmurs back, voice rough.

“You’re looking at me like…like .”

“That?”

“Like you want to punish and fuck me, probably in that order.” My voice lowers further so no one hears.

“Then maybe we should’ve gone with my plan and stayed in my room.”

“No,” I whisper-yell. “You promised we could have this.”

“Never promised.”

I open my mouth to protest, but Remi stands at the head of the table and raises his glass. “This is a toast to the man of the hour, the basketball god, the unattainable star, Lord Remington Astor!”

I start to raise my glass but stop when Creighton gives me a look. Or more like a glare.

It’s totally unfair that he gets to communicate so much with a mere glance.

“Hey, bitches, why aren’t you raising your glasses for my lordship’s toast?”

“We get it, Remi, you won.” Cecily leans back against her chair. “You’ve been making a hundred and one speeches and toasts to inform us of the fact.”

“You zip it, nerd. What do you know about winning highly competitive sports?”

“The fact that you act like a wanker after every win.”

Ava laughs. “True that, Rems. We’re starting to wish that you don’t win anymore so we don’t have to sit through these tedious speeches.”

“What the actual fuck? You bitches are jealous of me and it totally shows on your snobbish faces. Anni, Glyn! Help me out here.”

“I mean, it’s not completely false,” Glyn says with a raise of an eyebrow.

“You little—”

“You’re really awesome, Remi,” I cut off his rage-filled—or dramatic—comeback.

“Right? I knew you were my favorite.” He takes a detour, comes to my side, and grabs my shoulder.

Or starts to.

The moment he touches me, Creigh slaps his hand away. “I said. No touching.”

“Whoa.” Remi laughs and puts both hands in the air. “Territorial much?”

“Tell me about it.” Ava side-eyes Creighton. “He doesn’t even let her spend time with us anymore.”

“We went shopping yesterday,” I offer with a smile.

“After, like, a whole week of no shopping. You’re losing bestie privileges, Anni.”

“You barely drop by the dorm anymore,” Cecily supplies.

“Or spend girl time with us,” Glyn says.

My smile becomes awkward at best. “It’s not that I don’t want to—”

“You spend more time with Killian than with us, Glyn.” Creighton looks at her, then slides his attention to Ava. “And you ignore everyone when my brother is around.” He stares at Cecily. “As for you, let’s just say you’ve been sneaking out whenever everyone is asleep. So do not, under any circumstances, attempt to make Annika feel bad about choosing herself.”

The table falls silent.

While Creighton has been slowly but surely becoming somewhat talkative with me—and by talkative, I mean his replies aren’t monosyllables like in the past—he’s still the silent presence at the table.

So the fact that he said all of that, and even attacked them during it, has driven everyone to the shock phase.

“Damn,” Glyn breathes out. “Looks like you have one hell of a solicitor on your team, Anni.”

“For the record, I don’t ignore everyone whenever He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is around.” Ava points a finger at Creigh. “That’s fake news!”

“You kind of do.” Cecily coughs. “Constantly.”

“You damn traitor!” Ava nudges her before a sly grin lifts her lips. “What’s with sneaking out when everyone’s asleep? I knew you were hiding something from me.”

“T-that’s not true.”

“You just stammered, bitch!”

They start arguing, but when Remi joins in to egg them on, they give up on poking each other and gang up on him instead. Glyn and Bran try to mediate but are currently losing.

Creighton, however?

He has a pleased expression on his face, as if he did what he set out to do.

Everyone says Landon and Eli like to instigate chaos, but Creigh can reach their level if he puts his mind to it.

Or if he feels that I’m in a compromising position.

“Don’t fake a smile when you’re feeling uncomfortable. If you’re in a bad mood, show it,” is what he’s been telling me again and again, trying to make me get rid of what he calls a nasty habit.

Being with Creighton is similar to being thrust into this country’s weather. At times, he’s amicable, allowing some sunlight to slip from between the clouds, but most of the time, he’s rainy and miserable.

Well, he’s not miserable, I am.

Because ever since he told me about his childhood and revealed the fact that he’s adopted, he’s shot down any of my attempts to reopen the subject.

No matter how much I talk about my family in an attempt to have him reciprocate, he just isn’t having it.

His phone rings and I catch a glimpse of ‘Landon’ on the screen before he gets up and tucks a strand of brown hair behind my ear. “I’ll be right back. Behave.”

Then he’s heading toward the hall to take the call.

I wonder what he and Landon talk so secretly about. The other day, I found them in the kitchen and Landon was whispering in his ear like the devil.

For some reason, that made me extremely uncomfortable. I’m aware he wouldn’t really hurt his cousin, but I don’t know why I have a bad feeling about whatever information they’re exchanging.

Creighton told me it’s nothing I should worry about, which made me more concerned.

While Landon and Eli might have similar traits, I know for a fact that Eli dotes on him and would never sabotage him. Landon, however, is a wild card.

Remi slides to my side, surprisingly interrupting his arguing session with the girls. I would’ve sworn that he enjoys that a bit too much to walk out on it.

He tips his glass against mine and grins, looking so aristocratically beautiful. “Now that the territorial little shit is out of the way, let me thank you, Anni.”

“For…what?”

“Bringing him out of his shell. I was so sure the cheeky bastard would die alone and I’d have to worry about my spawn even as I was living my glamourous life. Don’t you know just how pressing that is? The worst, I’m telling you. So thanks again. I’ll be forever grateful and I’ll sacrifice anything in your name except for virgin blood. Unless we go back several years in time?”

I can’t help the chuckle that spills out of me. “Oh, don’t be silly. Besides, I can’t take all the credit. If you hadn’t mentally prepared him before I came along, I wouldn’t even have been able to crack the surface.”

“True that! Damn, I feel like a proud papa.” His expression turns serious as he grabs my hands in his. “But I’m still grateful as fuck. I thought his demons would devour him whole, but now, I’m sure you won’t let them.”

“You can totally count on…it.”

My voice catches when a sudden vibration starts in my core.

A burst of flames explodes all over my skin and my fingers turn clammy.

I glance around in search of the culprit, but there’s no sign of him.

The vibration goes up in intensity and my legs clench as I resist the urge to topple over.

I swear to God, he’s insane.

This isn’t the first time he’s turned on the toy since he made me wear it, but it’s the first time he’s done it in public. With so many people around.

The day after he inserted the plug, I tested the waters and took it out, but he found out because he has the remote control. After the punishment I got, I didn’t attempt to remove it again and wore it for the duration he specified.

Two days ago, he switched to a bigger butt plug that’s stretched me to lengths I didn’t think possible. Though I did enjoy the way he played with it while he was fucking me raw in the shower last night.

I just never thought he’d turn it on in public.

“Anni, are you okay?” Remi watches me carefully. “You look all red.”

I release a shaky breath as the vibration goes up a notch, causing me to flinch.

Dammit. Does he intend to make me come in front of everyone or something?

I stare down and find my fingers trembling in Remi’s, then I swiftly remove them.

Creighton must be somewhere and have seen this. That’s the only logical explanation for his craziness right now.

Damn the possessive asshole.

Despite the fact that I’m no longer touching Remi, the rhythm doesn’t lessen, but it doesn’t go up either.

“Anni?” Remi calls again. “You okay?”

“Y-yeah. Be…right back.”

I don’t know how I stand up, grab my phone, or walk. All I’m aware of is that I can’t just orgasm in front of them. I’d rather die.

At first, I pick the bathroom, but the line in front of it makes me immediately change direction. I basically run outside to the parking lot, but before I can find a nook to dissolve in, someone grabs my wrist and drags me behind him.

“Do you need a hand, little purple?”

“Stop it…” My voice is too throaty, too turned on as I clench my thighs.

“I told you not to touch them. I specifically said no touching.” His voice is calm, but anger flickers beneath the surface.

“I didn’t mean to…

…”

The intensity goes up again as he opens his car door and slips into the backseat.

I remain outside, watching with bated breath, my legs shaking and sweat trickling down my spine.

Creighton unzips his jeans and pulls out his hard cock. “Sit on my lap.”

My gaze strays sideways before I lick my lips. “We’re in public—”

“When I’m done with you, the public will be the last thing on your mind.”

You know what? Trying to please people never did me any good anyway.

Screw it.

I climb into the car and onto his lap, causing my dress to hike up to my waist. He closes the door, confining us in the narrow space. But it’s still much more comfortable than his previous sports car.

“Can’t you wait until later?” I whisper, but it ends on a moan when he slides his cock against my sensitive folds. The combination of that and the vibration sends my pulse flying.

“No underwear?” he whispers in dark words against my ear.

“I, umm, forgot?”

“Forgot or you were being a brat?”

He accentuates his statement with a flick against my overstimulated clit.

“Creigh, please…”

A pinch of his fingers against my clit, a slide of his cock near my entrance, but I’m not quite there.

He’s torturing me on purpose, I realize. He wants to make me feel the pain yet deny me the orgasm.

It’s a game he plays sometimes—driving me crazy for sport.

The rhythm goes on and on until I think I’ll go mad from the friction.

“You’re soaking wet, look at your cunt begging for me to fuck it. It’s so ready for me, isn’t it?”

I nod in quick succession, unable to say the words.

“But I’m tempted not to satisfy it tonight. You let another man touch what’s mine, and I don’t react well to that.”

“Won’t happen again, promise.”

“You made the same promise the other day while you were falling apart around my cock, so maybe we don’t believe you anymore. Maybe we’ll keep you soaking wet and messy, but without any chance to come.”

“No, please, Creigh.” I grab his face and kiss him on the cheek. “You wouldn’t do that to me, right?”

My lips move to his nose, then to his mouth. “You can punish me all you want after, but not like this.”

He groans against my lips and we inhale and exhale each other’s air.

Tension lingers between us, but he doesn’t stop his rubbing.

His nostrils flare when I keep sliding my fingers in his hair. “Don’t be a flirt.”

“I’m only a flirt with you.” I brush my lips against his cheek, knowing how much he loves it.

“Keep this up and you’ll only get hurt.”

“I don’t mind if it’s you.”

A low grunt escapes his lips before he pushes the toy’s extension away from my clit, lifts me up, then shoves me back down, burying himself inside me.

I cry out when he’s fully sheathed, then takes a moment to adjust to his huge cock. But I don’t have a moment.

Not even a fraction of a second.

Creighton jerks his hips and thrusts with rough strokes. I’m sure he can feel the thin skin between him and the plug. I sure as hell do, and it’s so full, so absolutely full that it hurts.

The good hurt.

The type of pain I need with my pleasure.

Creighton fucks me with a brutality that leaves me gasping. I wrap my arms around his neck for balance.

With each thrust, a burst of pleasure washes over me. His hands grab my hips so possessively, so intensely, as I bounce off his cock and hit my head on the roof of the car.

He slows down when he notices. “Fuck, you make me an animal. Are you hurt?”

“No. Don’t stop…” I murmur.

That’s all the invitation he needs as he drives inside me with progressive intensity. This time with one of his hands on top of my head so it absorbs the shock of slamming against the roof.

The pleasure is overwhelming and the slap of flesh against flesh adds more to the erotic scene, but I’m not coming.

Something is missing.

My thoughts are scattered when he pulls my hair to the side and his teeth bite on the sensitive flesh of my neck. Then he releases my hip, yanks down the strap of my dress and bites my breast, adding more marks to the already fading ones.

When he traps my nipple between his teeth, I come. The blinding wave transports me to an alternate universe and I scream.

Creighton slaps a hand on my mouth. And even the muffled voice is so erotic that it adds to the consuming pleasure.

Pain with pleasure.

A combination only Creighton can give me.

He keeps ramming into me on and on until I’m almost out of it. When he shoots inside me, my eyes slowly close and I bury my face in his neck.

“I love you,” I want to say, but I keep it hidden in that dark nook in my heart. The one that’s too scared of letting people too close because I’d have to watch them leave.

The one that’s scared my feelings would mean nothing to him and I’d be cruelly rejected.

We remain like that for a while, breathing each other in while he’s inside me. Then we clean each other up with wet wipes.

It takes us more time than necessary, considering the stupidly narrow space. Cars aren’t made for sex, seriously.

The chances of convincing him of that fact are close to zero.

I tell Creighton to take me to his place. I totally look like I just got laid, and if we go back inside the club, everyone will just give us shit.

Creighton is all for that idea since he didn’t want to go out tonight anyway.

But instead of driving to the Elites’ mansion, he stops at a grocery store.

On the way inside, I ask, “Why are we here?”

“I’m running out of ropes.”

“Wow. Romantic.”

“Only for you.” He interlinks his fingers with mine.

I can’t help grinning at that, because I know he’s not the type to lie.

“I wonder what your parents would think if they knew about your tendencies,” I say.

“Dad is all for exploring who we are, so he wouldn’t mind. Mum…it’s better that she doesn’t know.”

“I gather your dad is open-minded?”

“The best. Nothing is too wrong or too taboo. He encouraged me, Eli, and Landon to pursue what we wanted.”

“He sounds badass. I wish Papa were the same. I mean, he’s awesome, just too strict, I guess. Like Jeremy. It’s why I wanted to have a fake boyfriend, you know. So my father doesn’t marry me off to the first suitor.”

“That won’t be happening. You have me now.”

My heart nearly explodes. “Does that mean you’re my boyfriend?”

“If you want to put that label on it.”

“What would you call me?”

“My girl.”

“I like that.” I beam. “You’re like my man then.”

“Your man, huh?”

“Yeah, sounds badass and suits your grumpy personality. I’ll proudly introduce you to my family one day. Papa and Jer won’t tell me what to do.”

His lashes lower as he stares at me. “How about your mother? Is she like them?”

“Nope. Mom is the sweetest and constantly acts as my armor against both Papa and Jer. They can’t defy her.” I laugh. “Women rule.”

“I like your mum. She sounds like mine.”

I grin. “Yeah?”

“Mum managed to tame the lion, aka my father, and that’s a superpower. See, Dad is the most ruthless in our family aside from Grandpa Jonathan and Grandpa Agnus, but if Mum is unwell, Dad looks like he’s ready to burn the world.”

“Why would your mom be unwell?”

“She has a heart condition. Most of the time, she’s this ball of energy who’s capable of doing anything, but sometimes, her chronic disease acts up and Dad goes berserker. It’s really nothing major, just some dizziness, and it’s even confirmed by the million doctors he hired that it’s not a threat to her life, but he doesn’t understand that logic.”

My heart warms. “That’s because he loves her.”

“It’s more than love. Eli and I know that if she somehow dies, he’ll join her, no questions asked.”

“Honestly, I can’t imagine Papa without Mom either. They had a dark past that Jer was a witness to—it happened way before I came along—but they’ve shared every sweet and bitter pill for as long as I’ve known them. I love how fiercely they love each other and us. Sometimes, I hate that I’m a mafia princess, for obvious reasons, but I wouldn’t change my parents for the world.”

“Such a good girl, my Annika.”

I groan, feeling my body heating. “You can’t just call me that in public. Now I want to kiss you.”

“And why can’t you?” He tugs on my hand that’s in his, pulling me flush against his chest, and then his lips find mine.

I wrap my arms and legs around him, basically strangling him, to find balance more than anything.

The kiss steals my breath and all my thoughts. All I can do is fall harder and faster for this man.

More than I bargained for.

More than I thought was possible when I first met him.

He places me on my feet and pushes me against the nearest shelf to devour me.

Just when I think the kiss will never end, I’m jerked back by the elbow and I crash against none other than my brother.

Who’s glaring.