Taken: Original Sin Book 1 Page 16

  Jolie shook her head. “I don’t understand,” she said haltingly.

  “You will. Now strip,” I commanded, nodding toward her underwear. “All of it. Then turn around.”

  She quickly did as I said. My cock ached at the sight of her bare tits jiggling as she bent down slightly to remove her panties, and when she turned around and showed me that perfect pert ass of hers, I felt like I might implode.

  “Step over to the wall and face it,” I said. “Put your hands in the restraints.”

  Once again, she did as I said.

  “Good girl,” I muttered. I fastened the iron manacles around her wrists, and she let out a whimper of fear. She didn’t know it, but she was the hottest thing I’d ever seen. Naked, restrained, no chance of escape.

  Fierce need stretched the fabric in the crotch of my pants as I stood behind her, running my hands up and down the soft curves of her body. I was fucking rock-hard.

  “This is how men used to punish their women when they were bad,” I murmured next to her ear. As I spoke, I reached down with one hand and roughly squeezed her left ass-cheek, making her squeal. “They did it with their hands. Sometimes with other things, too, but I prefer this. My hands on you, marking you like you deserve. You’re a bad girl, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” Jolie gasped out, nodding fervently. “Please… please show me. Teach me.”

  “Are you sure you’re ready?” I asked.

  “Yes. Punish me for my lies,” she said breathlessly. “Please, I need it so much.”

  “Yes, you do. My naughty little girl,” I growled.

  I lifted my right hand and brought it down, landing it on her ass. Hard. The sound she made in response made me even stiffer; a desperate, keening mix of pain and pleasure.

  My hand connected with her ass a second time, and another frantic moan escaped her lips. Fucking music to my ears. I rained down more punishment on her soft skin, slap after slap, and with each one, Jolie moaned and begged for more.

  “Feel good, baby?” I asked, nibbling at her earlobe after the sixth slap.

  “Yes!” she gasped. “I mean… no…”

  I chuckled. “It’s okay. I told you, it’s a different kind of pain. A different kind of punishment. You’re allowed to let it feel good. You’re supposed to.”

  I kept going. The porcelain skin on Jolie’s ass changed with each blow, turning from blush pink to bright red. After the tenth slap, I reached around to her front with my free hand and twisted one of her stiff nipples. She gasped in shock, then quaked as if she’d been zapped. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “This is part of your punishment,” I murmured against her ear. “Do you think you need more?”

  “Yes,” she moaned. “Oh, yes…”

  I pinched her nipple again, and then I slowly moved my hand lower, stroking ever-so-gently until I reached the patch of hair between her legs.

  “Mason,” Jolie gasped out as my fingers slowly circled her clit. “I used to think our God sent you to me. Now I think the Devil might’ve sent you. This feels too…”

  She trailed off as an enraptured moan tore from her lips. I chuckled. “I wasn’t sent by God or the Devil,” I said. I continued to rub her clit, speeding up my movements as she jerked and shuddered beneath me. “I’m just a man who wanted so badly to be with you that he dropped everything and came all this way to find you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. Just for you, Jolie. Just for you.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered, eyes squeezing shut as her legs began to quiver.

  “Do you want to know what you are?” I asked. She nodded, and I continued. “You aren’t sinful. You haven’t been taken by the Devil. You’re just a woman who’s finally seeing what she wants for the first time and taking it like she damn well deserves.”

  She nodded again. “I think I like that,” she murmured. “Oh…”

  She was close now. A few more strokes and she’d tip right over the edge, screaming and clenching and twisting.

  I moved my other hand down and spread her thighs wide before sliding a finger to her entrance. She was soaked. So fucking ready for me. I could slide my cock right in with ease if I wanted to.

  “You’re so wet for me. So fucking sexy,” I muttered in her ear.

  I pushed my finger past the very edge of her entrance and slid it inside, just the tiniest bit.

  In an instant, the atmosphere in the room changed. Jolie began to writhe around, using her body to push me away. I pulled my hands away from her immediately.

  Her eyes were wide and bright as she stared up at me, head turned over her shoulder. “I… I can’t do this,” she choked out. “Please, Mason, let me go!”

  “What can’t you do?” I asked, carefully removing her hands from the manacles. She needed to feel safe right now, above everything else.

  “The thing I think you are trying to do. Even if I wanted to let you do it more than anything else, it’s…” She trailed off and shook her head. “I can’t let you touch me like that,” she finally added in a ragged whisper.

  I stroked her hair. “Okay. I don’t want to pressure you. I won’t do anything you say no to. But you heard your father. He wants me to do things to you in the next Joining ritual. Things that might hurt you. I don’t want your first experience of sex to be like that.”

  She stared up at me, forehead crinkled. “Why?”

  I shook my head and sighed. “Because where I’m from, we were taught that sex is supposed to be amazing. For men and women.”

  “No. That’s wrong.”

  “It’s right,” I said firmly. “Your first time shouldn’t involve you getting fucked in the ass in front of everyone. It should involve you and someone you care about. Alone, exploring each other’s bodies, doing everything as nature intended.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, as if what I was describing was a completely foreign concept to her. I guess in a way it was.

  “I mean I don’t think your first experience with sex should be fucking hardcore anal in a goddamned orgy. It’s fine if other people wanna experiment and try new things, but for an innocent, clueless little virgin like you… I just think you should know what it feels like to do things the regular way before you do anything else.”

  “You mean the way which can lead to babies?” she asked.

  I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Yeah, if that’s what you wanna call it.”

  A hand flew to her mouth. “We can’t. It isn’t allowed.”

  “Where I come from, it’s allowed,” I said, sliding my arms around her waist again. “Look, I know I have to live by new laws now, but I can’t just abandon all my old beliefs. This is one of them—that a man and a woman should both feel pleasure, and the woman’s first time should be her decision.”

  Her body went rigid against mine as she considered my words. “The thing you are describing… only a married man can do that to his wife.”

  “We’re going to be married one day, aren’t we? Isn’t that what your father said?”

  “Yes, but we aren’t married yet, so it is forbidden. You shouldn’t ask me to do such a thing with you. And you shouldn’t have touched me like that when you punished me.” She shook her head and wrapped her arms tightly around herself, as if she were trying to squeeze out all the shame and regret. “Even the kiss… it was wrong. If we were found doing that, I would be punished severely, and you would be cast out into the Wastelands.”

  “But that’s why we’re in here, isn’t it?” I said. “No one can see us or catch us in this room. Isn’t that part of the reason you told your father all those things? You knew he would want me to punish you in here, but really you just wanted to spend time with me. You wanted me to touch you. That’s the truth. You said it yourself, Jolie.”

  She swallowed hard. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I… I made a mistake.”

  Fuck. I was losing her. Fast. Her long-held beliefs were winning the war in her head, beating down the part of her tha
t wanted to be touched and loved and adored.

  “Jolie, if there were no rules and no punishment, what would you want to do right now? What’s your body telling you?” I asked. I held up one palm. “You can tell me. Everything that is said in here stays in here. I won’t tell another soul.”

  Her hands were trembling by her sides now. “If there were no rules, I might want to do the things you are talking about,” she whispered. “But there are rules.”

  She didn’t meet my eyes as she spoke. Poor girl. She was so fucking ashamed, even though she didn’t need to be.

  I backed off and held my palms up. “Like I said, I don’t want to pressure you. Don’t want to make you feel rushed or forced into anything. All I’m saying is that I think your first time should be special, and this Friday, at that fucking ritual… it won’t be special. But we’ve got a few days. So just think about it, okay?” I said softly. “You might not believe this yet, but I care about you. I want to make it right for you.”

  Jolie’s lips quivered. “Even if I said yes, we still couldn’t. The Healer tests the girls for virginity before the wedding season. He would know if you did anything to me, and he would report us.”

  For fuck’s sake. I was gonna have to have a twisted sort of ‘birds and the bees’ talk with her.

  I sighed and motioned toward the trestle table in the center of the room. “Sit down. I need to explain some things to you.”

  She did as I said. I sat next to her and put my hand on her knee. “Out in the Wastelands, I had a couple of friends who were doctors.”

  “Doctors?” She tilted her head to the side.

  “Healers. One of them talked to me about this subject once, because it pissed him off so much. He ranted for fucking ages while I sat there trying to enjoy a beer.” I smiled at the memory. At the time, it annoyed the shit out of me, but now I was glad my friend and I had that particular conversation. “You wanna know what he said?”

  Jolie nodded, her eyes lit with curiosity.

  “He said there’s been a ton of myths about girls and their virginity for a long time now. Thousands of years. But apparently it’s all bullshit. I bet you’ve been taught that all women have some sort of natural film over that part of their body which breaks and bleeds the first time, right? And a Healer can tell if he looks down there and finds it missing?”

  Another nod, firmer this time. “Yes, that’s true.”

  “Actually, it’s not.”

  “It is,” she insisted.

  I smiled patiently. “No. That thing we’re talking about is a stretchy bit around the area. My friend said it changes a bit as girls get older and become women, and it can bleed if it stretches too much or tears. But that can happen anytime. Doesn’t mean jack-shit.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  I sighed and rubbed my temples. “I’m saying there’s no real way to look down there on a woman and know if she’s a virgin or not. It’s all bullshit. Anyone who says there’s a way is either lying or misinformed. The only real way to know if a woman is no longer a virgin is to directly witness her having sex.”

  Jolie narrowed her eyes. “But all the married girls I know told me they bled the first time.”

  “Yeah, a lot of girls bleed their first time, but that’s because the guy is either too inexperienced and hasn’t gotten her wet and ready, or because the guy is simply too forceful. Or because she’s nervous and clenching without meaning to.”

  “Really?”

  “Yup.”

  She contemplated this for a moment, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. “Even if that’s all true, I would still break the rules set out in His Word if I engaged in an act of the flesh before we are married. I would become impure.”

  And yet forced blowjobs and anal are totally fine before marriage, I thought to myself wryly, wishing she would see how senseless and hypocritical her father’s so-called religion was.

  I sighed and patted her on the back. “Yeah. I know you believe that.”

  She looked at me, her eyes pained and desperate. “I want so badly for you to touch me, Mason. All I’ve been able to think about these last few months is you, ever since you first came here. It’s driving me crazy. I know it’s a sin, and I should be punished hard, but I—”

  I put a finger on her lips and cut her off. “Where I come from, it’s not a sin.”

  She looked down at her feet. “Where I come from, it is.”

  I pressed my lips firmly together, knowing I was fighting a losing battle. Today wouldn’t be the day to sway Jolie’s views. The mood had been well and truly ruined the second I had to play doctor and explain hymens to her, anyway.

  I stood and looked down at her. “You won’t tell anyone what we did in here today, will you? Or what we discussed?” I said sharply.

  She shook her head vehemently, posture turning rigid again. “No. Will you?”

  “Of course not. I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine.”

  Her shoulders sagged with relief. “Okay,” she said in a small voice. “Thank you.”

  “No need to thank me. That’s what a real man does for his woman. He protects her,” I said. “Besides, you’re protecting me too. If your father found out about our discussion, he’d send me away.”

  She nodded slowly. “I suppose so.”

  “So we’re on the same level now, aren’t we? Partners.”

  She licked her lips. “Partners,” she said slowly, rolling the word around her mouth. “I like that,” she added timidly.

  “Good. Now get dressed. We’re done here.”

  I watched her while she put her clothes back on. Even though it was such a simple act, it was captivating. Every part of her was entrancing. The way she moved. The way she twisted her lips in concentration as she did up all her buttons. The way she filled out such a drab, boring dress and made it look like a fucking ball gown with her sheer exquisiteness.

  “I really do care about you, Jolie,” I said as I unlocked the door and opened it for her.

  She nodded. “I know,” she replied in a soft voice as she stepped over to me.

  “I want you to think hard about what I said earlier.”

  She looked back at me. Her face was scrunched up slightly, as if she were in physical pain. “I have thought about it. I… I can’t do it.”

  “Just try to under—”

  She cut me off. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t.”

  Then she fled, down the hall and back into the dark maze of New Eden.

  13

  Jolie

  I lay in bed, wide awake, staring at the ceiling.

  It was well after midnight. Everyone else had gone to bed at least two hours ago, but try as I might, I couldn’t sleep. My whole body felt electrified. I couldn’t stop thinking about Mason and the things he said and did to me in the Penance Room earlier.

  In fact, I couldn’t stop thinking about everything. My mind was constantly racing, and everything around me seemed brighter and clearer. It felt like I’d just stepped out of an enormous rolling fog. I was more alert. More awake.

  Was Elena right about the vitamin pills? Or was it something else that set my mind and body aflame? Could it somehow be both?

  I groaned and squeezed my thighs together, trying to relieve the throbbing, tingling sensation between my legs. I’d come so close to giving in earlier. So darn close. I wasn’t sure how much longer I would last around Mason. Especially when he called me ‘baby’ and kissed me like that.

  Oh, the kiss…

  When his lips pressed over mine for those sweet, hot seconds, I lost my mind and forgot where I was. I forgot all about the threat of punishment looming over us. What good was that threat against the reality of Mason’s kisses, anyway? He destroyed my control with those lips. Made me forget all my objections and excuses. Turned my willpower to a quivering mass of jelly.

  The memories stirred the ache within me, and I let out another frustrated groan. Then I rolled over and reached up to my pillowcase, feeling
around for my illicit book. If I couldn’t let Mason do all those forbidden things to me, I could at least read the sinful scenes of lust in the book and touch myself to bring some relief from the hot pressure building deep within.

  A sudden coldness bit at my core. The book wasn’t there.

  My heart pounding with terror, I sat up and pulled the pillow onto my lap, feeling around it again before tipping it downward, praying the little book would fall out. It didn’t. Someone else must’ve come into my quarters and found it.

  I swallowed the hard lump of fear in my throat as I leapt out of bed and started searching every crevice of my dim room. No one had said anything to me yet, and I hadn’t been dragged off to a disciplinary meeting with the Elders. So perhaps no one had found it. Perhaps I hid the book somewhere else a while ago, and I simply forgot. Or maybe it slipped out of the pillowcase and lodged itself under the bed somewhere.

  “Looking for something?”

  I jumped and turned, a flush of adrenaline tingling through my body. Mason was in the doorway.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice a strangled whisper. He was lucky I hadn’t reflexively screamed and inadvertently attracted everyone’s attention.

  He quietly closed the door behind him. “I wanted to see you. I couldn’t wait.”

  I shook my head. “You can’t be here. The door doesn’t lock. Anyone could walk in at any moment,” I said, my heartbeat more frenzied than ever.

  “I’m well aware of that.” In the darkness, there was a flash of white. He was smiling, even though this wasn’t amusing at all.

  He stepped over to the small table on the far side of my room, picked it up, and placed it in front of the door. “I used to do stuff like this as a teenager, so I didn’t get caught with girls in my bedroom,” he said with a low chuckle.

  “That won’t stop anyone from coming in,” I hissed. “It’s not heavy enough.”

  “It’ll give us fair warning,” he replied, stepping right over to me. His eyes glinted in the dark. “We’ll hear a scraping sound if someone tries to open the door, and I can hide in the cupboard or something. But I don’t think anyone’s awake. I didn’t see or hear anyone on my way here.”