Survival Read online

  Survival

  A novel by J. Marie

  Book Two of the Stronger Series

  Copyright © 2016 J. Marie

  Self - Published by J. Marie

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email without prior written permission from J. Marie.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events, locales, or person’s living dead, are coincidental.

  Warning: This story is for mature adults only. It contains violence, mature and explicit content and non-consensual / dubious, graphic sexual activity that some readers may find upsetting.

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Chapter One – His

  Chapter Two – Welcome Home

  Chapter Three – The Rules

  Chapter Four – Introductions

  Chapter Five – Mine

  Chapter Six – Good Night Kiss

  Chapter Seven – Fight or Flight

  Chapter Eight – Game On

  Chapter Nine – Company

  Chapter Ten – Reality

  Chapter Eleven – Checked

  Chapter Twelve – Negotiate

  Chapter Thirteen – System

  Chapter Fourteen – Listen

  Chapter Fifteen – Compromise

  Chapter Sixteen – Whiplash

  Chapter Seventeen – Admission

  Chapter Eighteen – Winner, Winner

  Chapter Nineteen – Wager

  Chapter Twenty – Midnight

  Chapter Twenty-One – Business

  Chapter Twenty-Two – Spill

  Chapter Twenty-Three – A Little Game

  Chapter Twenty-Four – Branded

  Chapter Twenty-Five – Sorry

  Chapter Twenty-Six – Routine

  Chapter Twenty-Seven – Fuel

  Chapter Twenty-Eight – Acceptance

  Chapter Twenty-Nine – Tests and Lessons

  Chapter Thirty – New Boundaries

  Chapter Thirty-One – Discovery

  Chapter Thirty-Two – Trouble

  Chapter Thirty-Three – Torture

  Chapter Thirty-Four – Deal

  Chapter Thirty-Five – Crumble

  Chapter Thirty-Six – Plan

  Chapter Thirty-Seven – Prepare

  Chapter Thirty-Eight – Escape

  Chapter Thirty-Nine – Chase

  Chapter Forty – The Wait

  Chapter Forty-One – Recovery

  Chapter Forty-Two - Spark

  About The Author

  Connect with J. Marie

  Acknowledgements

  This is just a special thanks from me to you, and not just for reading this story. By doing so, not only have you helped spread awareness, but you helped donate to a charity that supports victims of human trafficking. This horrific industry is very real and is happening every day, all around the world. With a little help, we can chip away at it until it's nothing but a dusty, dirty stain in our history.

  I’d also like to thank everyone who supported me in this. Even if we’re not that close, it still means the world to me. I love you all.

  Also a super special thanks to these lovely ladies!

  Cover and Web Design by Amanda Simpson

  Pixel Mischief Design - www.PixelMischiefDesign.com

  Edited by Jenny Sims

  Editing 4 Indies - www.editing4indies.com

  Dedication

  This is for you. For the ones who have suffered. For the ones who have despaired. For the ones who continue to fight every day to simply stay alive. And for the ones who are already lost. It is my greatest hope that you find your way back to us, for I am not done fighting for you...but only you can make yourself stronger.

  Chapter One

  His

  I shook my head slightly as my heart slammed into my stomach, sure I was dreaming, sure this couldn’t possibly be real. For a moment, I felt like a deer caught in headlights; yet I really wasn’t as surprised as much as I was horrified by the fact my instincts had been right all along.

  I had been purchased by the man of my worst nightmares.

  The owner was now my owner.

  He was never really going to let me go, not even to another person. I only wondered what the final straw was that had solidified the decision, but I realized it didn’t matter. I was fucked beyond recognition, but at least, I knew exactly who and what I was dealing with – my single silver lining.

  The owner glanced at the guard still standing in the room and motioned with his head for him to leave. The moment he walked out the door, I felt the chill of panic and terror slowly start to sink in. Everything was about to get real ugly real fast, especially with that sick look my new “owner” was giving me. I wanted to wipe it right off his gorgeous smug face … with a cheese grater.

  “Now, before we go,” he said heading over to me with heavy, determined steps. I stood up immediately, fear and rage boiling inside me as my hands raised at the ready, but before my fists were even closed, his strong fingers were already wrapped around my upper arms and pushing me back toward the desk. “I have something for you.” He smirked.

  “Get the fuck off me!” I yelled as I moved to strike him, but he just maneuvered me like a rag doll and forced me facedown onto the desk behind us. I felt my stomach shrink as pain exploded in the right side of my face. He handled me with much more force than he usually did—not a single hint of hesitation. He didn’t have to hold back anymore, and the realization made my heart pulse with anxiety.

  His hand then reached around my head, clamping down on my mouth and the entire lower half of my face inadvertently. Tightening his grip, he nearly squeezed my face until it felt like my jaw would snap. I screamed and fought, but it only came out as a muffled sound.

  “Allow me to let you in on a little something,” he seethed in my ear from behind. “Whatever restrictions I had for myself around you before are now gone, which means if I want to break your jaw …” he said as he squeezed even harder. I screamed as I clawed at his hand and wrist, praying he would let go. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t even think. “I fucking will because I can. Because I officially own you now.”

  My nails dug into his skin, sure I would cause him to bleed, but it did nothing. Until his grip finally let up, his hand remained in place, unyielding in his strength. I whimpered with relief, attempting to calm my breathing as tears began to form in my eyes. But I refused to let them fall. I could get through this.

  “Do you understand me, Jaden?” he asked harshly.

  Hearing my name on his tongue sent a strange vibe through my system, pulsing straight up my back and plunging right into my stomach. I didn’t like the feeling. His voice and my name didn’t mix well. They felt wrong, like breaking physics wrong, and it disgusted me to the core.

  “I said do you understand or do you only respond to slave now?” he roared, the pressure returning to my face from his reinforced grip. I screamed again, nodding as hard as I could with what little movement I had left.

  “Good girl,” he said and released my face but kept my body bent in front of him over the desk. I gasped for air, my heart racing in my chest as I tried to calm myself and keep the tears from spilling. “Now, if you can behave for one second, we might actually be able to get something important accomplished.”

  He then lifted a black leather briefcase from the floor and placed it on the desk in front of me. Unhooking the latches, he lifted the lid and confusion came over me.

  There, laid perfectly on beautiful red satin
cushioning were five silver plated rings. They resembled bracelets as they were about a centimeter wide and had tiny diamonds aligning the center of the rings all the way around. Two sets of the rings were the same size, two being very small and oval-shaped, and the other two just a little larger. The last one was much larger and also circular. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought they were nothing more than fancy jewelry. I looked up at him in confusion, but he looked so excited that I doubted he would have answered the tornado of questions spinning in my head.

  “The fuck?” I whispered under my breath, returning my gaze to the briefcase.

  Still standing behind me and placing his hands on my bare shoulders, his mouth dipped low to my ear. “These are your new chains, my dear. They will symbolize my ownership of you and prevent you from ever running from me.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it,” I spat.

  His fist slammed down onto the desk just inches from my head, and I couldn’t stop the flinch as fear jolted through my body.

  “You wanna bet?” he seethed, that smoothness in his voice almost snake-like as it coiled through my ears.

  I hunched my shoulders as a defensive reaction, and I tried to keep my brave face on, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. My head swam with a heavy current of emotions—rage, pain, confusion, fear, and utter hopelessness. I felt compelled to back away from the rings, but with the wall of a man behind me, I wasn't going anywhere.

  Fortunately, he walked away, heading over to one of the drawers of the desk, and pulled out some kind of cloth-like material. I righted myself immediately as he unfolded the material and held it out for me to see. It was a short fire engine red silk nightie with more red lace on the fringe.

  “Now,” he said, feeling the material in his hands, “if you can behave and put the cuffs on without a fuss, I’ll let you wear this on our way home. I’m sure you want to be rid of that rag of a dress. But if you want to resist and risk pissing me off, we’ll continue without clothes and you’ll still end up with the cuffs on anyway.”

  Goddammit.

  Clothes and chains? Or no clothes and still chains? What epic choices.

  My eyes quickly glanced around the room as I estimated my chances of either getting to the door or getting to something relatively pointy. Not even so much as a pen was on the damn desk and the door was about fifty feet away as I stared at it, compelling it to open and free me from my new fresh Hell.

  “Whatever stupid ideas you have running through your little head, I would seriously reconsider them,” he warned, but my eyes were still on the door.

  I was almost one hundred percent sure he would catch me before I reached the door, and that was assuming it was even unlocked in the first place. I’d be fucked even more than I already was. I stared down at the “chains” that would represent my life, and of all the emotions I was swimming in, rationality won. And it killed me inside.

  “Fine,” I said rather harshly.

  “Smart girl,” he replied. “Hold out your wrists.”

  Smart girl, yet I didn’t move. I couldn’t. My fingers gripped the wood of the desk like a hawk clutching a branch; letting go would mean losing my control, my everything. At least, if the hawk let go, it wouldn’t fall to its death like I would. It could fly. My wings were still working on the process of evolution, assuming I survived the processing period in the first place.

  “Now, Jaden,” he growled, and I nearly jumped again. “I will not ask again.”

  Begrudgingly, I held out my wrists as if they were about to be placed in handcuffs. There didn’t seem to be much difference. I turned my head away, hiding the tear that slipped down my now hidden cheek as the owner picked up each little cuff and gently linked them around my wrists. They clasped around my flesh perfectly as if they had been made for me, so naturally, there would be no possibility of slipping them off.

  “Sit on the desk and put your feet up,” he ordered.

  Hating every single bit of myself, I did what he asked as he bent down and placed the larger of the cuffs around my ankles, looking very satisfied with himself as he did. Then he grabbed the final ring, the largest of them all, and held it up for me to see. Dread and humiliation filled me as I suddenly realized what it was and where it was going next.

  “Lift your hair,” he ordered, staring me down, ready for my resistance.

  Cuffs were one thing but a goddamn collar? That was too much, and I didn’t think I had it in me to willingly let him do that. What was I now, some fucking animal to him? Fuck that noise.

  “No fucking wa-” I started to say before he pulled me forward by my hair, turned me around, and slammed my head and upper body down on top the desk. His hand kept me in place.

  “I thought we had agreed no fuss,” he said menacingly in my ear.

  “You said cuffs, not collar,” I retorted through clenched teeth.

  “It doesn’t matter what you interpreted. You’re mine now, little girl,” he growled in my ear. “There will be no arguing with me anymore,” he said, leaning over me now. “In time, I will teach you my rules and you will obey them to the T or you will face the consequences. And you already know how much I love to deliver on that. Now, lift your fucking hair or I will fuck you right here until you bleed all over my cock.”

  I clenched my fists until my nails bit into my palms. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I couldn’t believe it had come down to this. I knew what kind of person he was, knew what he would want from me, but now that it was happening, I had a hard time believing this was even real. Yet here I was, bent over a desk waiting to be fucked or collared. Neither option was ideal, but I knew one of them was going to happen whether I wanted them to or not.

  Hating him and fighting my pride, I complied and reached back, lifting my hair from my neck to accept the one real chain that would truly symbolize my status of property. I felt him clasp the diamond-studded collar around my throat, and I nearly broke down right there. It wasn’t snug, but it wasn’t loose either, the metal feeling icy cold around my neck and sending shivers down my spine. My pride was officially pounded into a tiny cube and shelved just like the rest of my freedoms.

  “Get up and turn around,” he said, backing up now.

  I shoved myself off the desk quickly and turned with more hatred in my heart than I had room for. The owner gazed down at me with a sick, twisted grin and devious awe in his eyes. I could only imagine what he was doing to me in his head … and when he was planning to act on it.

  “Mmm … picture perfect.” He smiled with obvious approval.

  “Fuck you,” I scowled, unable to filter anymore of my outspoken words.

  And then he backhanded me across the face so fast I hadn’t even seen it coming. I grunted as I fell to the floor onto my side, pain exploding in my temple and cheek. I brought my hand to cover my now swelling face and looked up at the piece of shit, but the darkness that came over his eyes was enough to make me shrink a little inside. I didn’t know why it surprised me that he actually struck me with his bare hand; it wasn’t as if he was above hurting women. He did it for a living.

  “You had better wipe that attitude off your face, Jaden. Suddenly, I’m not feeling so generous with clothing with such a disrespectful mouth,” he mocked. He stood over me with his hands in his pockets and the most sinister and satisfied look on his face.

  Even though the damn nightie would barely cover my ass, I still wanted something that actually covered me. Hell, I’d wear a potato sack if it were at my disposal.

  “Now, get up,” he ordered.

  I stood; the scowl still present on my red and now swelling face as I glared at him.

  The owner smirked at me then. “Tell you what,” he said, taking a light step toward me. “I’ll change my mind if …”

  I waited for the awful act I would have to endure just for the sake of clothing and the thought made my stomach wrench.

  “… you give me a kiss … right here.” He pointed at his cheek, that shark grin of his ma
king my insides curl.

  I dropped my arms and narrowed my eyes. Fuck this guy.

  “You expect me to kiss you after that little display? You know what? I don’t need it that bad,” I said with an attitude and turned away from him. If he wanted a kiss, he could kiss my perfect ass.

  He grabbed my arm, and I instantly wrapped mine around his to trap it in place, but his other hand came around and tore the flimsy material of the “dress” from my body in one strong tug. The clothing ripped like it was made of paper, and I was instantly naked again, covering myself as best I could with my arms and hands.

  “What the fuck!” I shouted at him.

  He charged at me then, his large body intense with so much capability as he quickly backed me into a wall, my arms and hands too concerned with keeping myself covered from him to defend myself.

  When I felt my back touch the wall, my shoulders hunched and my skin broke out in goosebumps as I stared straight into my now owner’s cold blue eyes. I could feel the fire fuming from my own gaze as I burned him alive with my stare alone.

  “I expect you to do exactly as I say, exactly when I say it, without question or complaint, no matter what the fuck objections you think you’re entitled to!”

  His voice was chilling and loud, and it made me flinch even more, my eyes leaving his to hide away from the wrath emanating from his glare. I felt so helpless and vulnerable standing there naked and small as I attempted to conceal myself from him and failed miserably.

  “Drop your hands, Jaden. You don’t get to hide from me anymore,” he demanded.

  “No,” I replied weakly, the word nearly coming out as a whisper as he chipped away at my resolve piece by piece.

  Before I could blink, his hands slammed into the wall on either side of my head, causing me to flinch again. Anxiety was pounding away inside my head, and I was beginning to wonder how long I could keep my façade going. He kept his hands in place as he slowly lowered his head to my ear, his breath tickling my skin and sending shivers up my spine.