No One Has to Know (Deal with the Devil)

by Carin Hart

she has an innocence about her that makes her seem even younger. At least until you get a good look at her lovely hazel eyes and realize that they’re haunted.

From the moment she shyly flagged me down months ago, offering me a single daisy to brighten my day, I’ve only ever cared about keeping one soul safe. Of watching her, of learning

all her secrets, of obsessing over the moment I could find a way to make her mine. My angel.

“I’m the best, angel,” he tells me. “That’s why you made me do this.”

“Don’t struggle, baby. You’ll like me a lot more if you don’t struggle.”

“What did you do? You tried to give yourself away to another man. You’re not allowed. That pussy is mine.”

“Because, at first, you saved me from the dark thoughts.” From the way his gaze roves over me, I can guess what those thoughts are about. “But then they just got darker. I had to take you. I had to make you mine, and the only way to do that was to make you mine. Lover… captive… prisoner. It doesn’t matter to me what you are so long as I can claim you. You belong to me, and that means you belong with me—locked up or not.”

There’s nowhere for me to go as his hand goes to my throat, a collar that forces my head back and my lips to part on a sudden gasp as he pulls me to my feet. Swooping down, he kisses me fiercely while gently squeezing my neck. It’s a claiming kiss, possessive and invasive at the same time. He sucks my tongue into his mouth, before dipping his into mine, stroking my tongue, clashing our teeth together. I’m powerless to stop him, and I don’t even try. When he’s finally done, he pulls back, dark blue eyes gleaming. His voice is a throaty rasp as he says, “Fuck me, angel, but your lies taste delicious.”

Once I have my ring on her finger and her ass in my bed where it belongs, I plan on having her scrawl her name on my heart. I want it in her handwriting, just like I want her to be the one to witness how pain and pleasure go hand in hand.

She’s mine. No matter what I have to do, no matter how I have to convince her… she’s mine, and the sooner she accepts that, the better.

Finally, when it feels like I’ve been waiting forever, the door to the basement creaks open. I sit up, watching warily as Burns slowly descends into the basement. What kind of captor will I get today, I wonder? Fierce? Playful? Commanding? Possessive? Horny?

“Oh, angel… you’ve got it wrong. You let me fuck you with my tongue and I’ll owe you.”

“I own you, Angela. Your body. Your soul. Your loyalty, too. I will fuck you… that’s your body. I will marry you… that’s your soul. And, when you don’t take an easy out on what we have together, I’ll know I have your loyalty.”

“See. I already warned you, angel. Good girls get pleasured, and bad girls? They get punished.”

I let him finger me—and he took one of my cuffs off. He went down on me—and he fed me a slice of my favorite cake. I tried to escape—and he made me orgasm out in the rain.

“I’m the only one allowed to make you scream, angel… and, I promise you, you’ll enjoy it every time I do. So, tell me. Who did it? Who hurt you?”

It’s not just a flower. It’s a kiftsgate rose. I guess, at first glance, any layman would think it’s some kind of basic flower. You know the kind that kids draw? With a yellow circle for a center, then five lopsided petals around it in the same design as a star? One at top, two at the side, and two at the bottom? That’s what kiftsgate roses look like. They’re persistent little monsters known as a climbing rose because they can climb arbors and gazebos. Most of the flowers grow in bunches, creating wicked barriers made all the more nasty because of their pointed thorns.

“Damn it, Angela.” Burns lifts his hand. The gun is aimed right at my forehead. “I killed for you. I’d die for you. You’re my goddamn world, the only thing worth anything in this life. I love you. You love me. Now fucking tell me.”

“I always knew you had a bit of devil in you. Just enough to make you my perfect match. My perfect soulmate.”

“You keep walking around like that, I can’t be responsible for what I do to you.” I give him a mischievous grin. “You said you’d never force me.” He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Did say that, didn’t I?” “You said you’d wait for me to beg you to fuck me if you had to.” He gulps. “Sounds like me.” I lean in, making sure my tits brush against his bare chest. “You said you’d fuck my hair wild.” “Angel… you’re playing with fire. You know that, right?” “No,” I say earnestly, grabbing his cock. “I’m playing with Burns. Only I’m not playing.” I squeeze. “I’m begging.”

I can tell that her heart’s not in it. My angel doesn’t want to give in that easily, but we both know she will. That’s what makes her such a good girl. She’s begged for my fingers and writhed while I buried my face in her pussy, she’s stroked me off, sucked my cock, and she even let me shove my cock all the way inside of her… she’ll give me this, too. I’ll demand it.

I’ll fuck her. I’ll breed her, too, if that’s what it takes to keep her. When I fill her up with my come, I’ll know that I’ve reached parts of her no one else has.

My angel… she was born to run. Never staying in one place for long, always looking over her shoulder. All she’s ever wanted was someone to love her. To cherish her. To choose her above all, and provide her with the security she’s chased her whole adult life. She wanted me.

Clearing his throat, he opens my journal and begins to read one out loud. “‘I gave Officer Burns a daisy today. I don’t know what came over me. I just… I wanted him to notice me.’” Glancing up from the page, his expression softens. “Oh, angel. Believe me, I already noticed… but the second you gave me the daisy, you sealed your fate. I knew you were meant to be mine.”

“‘Sometimes I think about putting a secret mark on me. Like a flame… something that shows how much I want him to be mine without anyone else knowing. A tattoo just for us.’”

“‘I want someone to protect me… to show me that I matter…’

“I did this for you. I gave you what you wanted because I love you, and if this is the man you want as yours, I’ll be it. I’ll be whatever the fuck you want because you’re not going anywhere. Neither am I. We’re it. You understand me?”

“Look, we’re both broken. I was born this way. You were made this way. But that’s the beauty of us, angel. No matter what, we can make each other whole. Forever has been built on less, and we have our mutual obsession and a taste for justice to keep us together.”

“Love can fade. I love you desperately, but sometimes that’s not enough. But obsession? You’re all I think about it. I close my eyes, I see your face. I lick my lips, I taste you. If I thought you’d let me, I’d fucking chain you to my side so that I would never have a heartbeat when I wasn’t experiencing you.”

just like me—a whisper of pain always leads him to going off like a damn rocket.

“Angela… if I put this on your finger, that’s it. Nothing short of you stabbing me in the fucking heart will get me to agree to let you take it off again. Even then, I’ll plead with you as I bleed out to keep it on until I’m dead and can’t see you without it. I’m that fucking serious. Do you understand me?”

“Mason, baby?” He grunts, fingers on my hip, pinning me in place so that he can rock into me madly, barely slowing his pace as he answers me. “Yes, angel?” “So.. about our true love story⁠—” Mason’s grin turns devilish. “You mean how I obsessed over you for months, snuck into your apartment to watch you sleep, eventually read your journal, discovered to my fucking delight that you were just as obsessed with me so I went on to fulfill every single one of your very descriptive fantasies to make you mine forever?”