Stepbrother Biker (MC BDSM Dark Erotic Romance) (5 page)

“
Like I said, I'm not going to hit you unless you disobey. So the choice is really yours whether you get hit or not.”

“
Seriously? I'm done with this! Completely done. It's gotten out of hand and you know it. I'm not going to let you control my life over some...some silly book!”

He cocks his head to the side, remaining as cool and calm as ever. “Good thing I brought my phone then, so I can start texting all those photos of your diary to all our relatives.”

He pulls the phone out of his pocket and she starts fuming, marching over to him and attempting to grab the phone from his hands but he's too quick.

“
How would you like it if I told everyone you blackmailed me into having sex with you?” she spits out, furious.

He looks her up and down. “If you want to let everyone know you had sex with your
brother
that's fine with me,” he says. Kara's shoulders slump a she looks into his dark, cruel eyes.
God, I hate him. If he died right now I don't think I'd shed a tear. And yet, he does things to my body that only make me more and more addicted to him.

“
Look, how this works is simple. If you disobey me and don't run, you get whipped. If you don't run fast enough, you get whipped. Only under those circumstances. Got it?”

She folds her arms across my chest defiantly like a child. “Run from what?”

He takes another step towards me, looming over her with his menacing presence. “From me. This is what you wanted. Welcome to your ultimate fantasy.”

She gulps. “No. My ultimate fantasy was to...” Her voice trails off, realizing he's right
.
Shit.
She told him yesterday about the fantasy she had of being held down. It was straight from her diary and it started with her being hunted. Each time her fantasy was in a slightly different place, like an abandoned warehouse or a maze, but it was always some place desolate and remote. A place like the one they were in now.

He looks up into the sky. “You're still mine until this weekend ends. That's in about 6 hours. If you can outrun me for that long, then I never lay a finger on you again.”

“
And if you do catch me?” she asks softly.

That seductive dimple of his appearing on one cheek when he smirks. “Well, you know what happens then.”

She sucks in a deep labored breath, her lips trembling as her head turns towards the forest just a few feet away. It's so thick that she can't see more than 30 feet into it. She's not exactly an outdoors type of girl and has never taken a hike in her life. She knows that Cole and his dad went camping and out to a lake every once in a while—what if he's some kind of expert tracker, she wonders. Is this even a fair fight?

What if I want him to catch me...

The last thought shook her to the very core.

She turns her head upwards and observes the sky. It's more of a pale gray now than it was an hour ago. “The sun is going to set soon,” she says apprehensively.

He nods. “In one hour, precisely. If I were you, I'd get running. I'll even give you a head start because I'm a nice guy like that.”

She side-eyes his smug smile.
Yeah, right.

“
It's a simple yes or no Kara. The choice is yours.”

She runs her shaking hand through her hair and nods her head solemnly. “Yes.” It's not like she actually has a choice here.

He smiles and pulls her in by the waist. He brushes his lips softly against the bridge of her nose, in that nurturing way that only he can, and rests his lips there for a moment. It's like a silent promise for what comes after all of this.
If I survive, that is.

“
Good luck, Kara,” he whispers against her skin, pulling her violently out of their joint reverie.

She pulls back from him. His jaw goes rigid and his eyes look sadistic and soulless once again. It nearly scares her. She stumbles backwards as he draws the long whip back.
What the hell did I get myself into?

She scrambles forward and into the forest, hearing his whip crack at her heels, just missing her calves. She runs so fast, jutting side to side to avoid the massive trees, their branches whipping and cutting into her skin. But she doesn't pay any mind to it, because she knows she has to make it as far away from him as possible, and keep it that way.

It's darker in there than it was outside. The looming canopy of trees shades out the light, and there wasn't much of that to begin with today. In less than an hour it will be pitch black –what's it going to look like in here, she wondered. Would she even be able to see in front of her at all?

After about five minutes of running at full speed her chest is heaving and her heart is pounding. She slows a bit, but her adrenaline is still going and her mind is screaming at her t
o
get out.
But get out where? She remembers seeing things on television where people with no experience and no compass entered the wilderness and ended up going in circles. It seemed ridiculous to her at the time, that someone couldn't figure out if they were going straight or not, but suddenly it made sense, considering everything around her looked the same no matter how much progress she made.

A compass.

That's right. Nearly 10 minutes in and she completely forgot that she had tucked her phone into her bra. She pulls it out, glancing around her before slowing down to a light jog, and flips through her apps until she finds it. But as soon as it opens she gets the message, “no signal found”.

“
Shit!” she screams, throwing her phone to the ground. She almost immediately throws her hands over her mouth and glances all around again, hoping he didn't hear her. In a huff, she picks her phone back up and stuffs it in her shorts pockets, hoping it will work later on if she finds a clearing or something.

She's not exactly sure where to go from there, and more than ever she wishes that compass worked.

“
This way is as good as any,” she whispers to herself as she continues on. She says a silent prayer that she's actually moving forward, and, of course, that he isn't hot on her heels.

For some reason, slowing down makes her feel things. Like the fact that the twisted roots of trees on the forest floor cut in to her feet, and that her lungs burn from running so hard. But physically, she wasn't tired. Hitting the gym when she could has certainly paid off. Hell, at this pace she could go all night, she figured.

But this pace wouldn't keep him off her heels and she knew that.

She urged herself to go faster, but every time she sped up it hurt her lungs even more. Her mouth was parched, her lips dry. he told herself they were petty concerns and that she should learn to endure the pain, but that was difficult to do when they were all she could focus on.

After all, if she had learned nothing else this week, it was that pain could be used as a motivator.

She picks up the pace again, moving for swiftly through the trees. She couldn't see the sun anymore and it was getting darker and darker. Dusk faded into night quickly. In the distance, the trees became nearly indistinguishable from the canvas of blackness that engulfed it. An unsettling feeling sunk into her chest—Cole was nowhere to be found, for better or worse, and she started to wonder what would happen if he didn't find her at all. It could mean being lost out here all night, and the temperature was dropping just as quickly as the sun.

Tears purge her eyes as she stopped by a tree.
Why the hell did I ever agree to this
, she wonders. Was avoiding humiliation really worth dying alone in the wilderness for?

Yes. Yes it was
.
It was a foolish sentiment and she was well aware of that. But as frightening as this endless, dark forest was, the thought of the world knowing her most privately guarded secrets just made her want to curl up in a ball and die.

Then she hears something. Her head snaps to the side at the sound of rustling in the trees. Her heart starts to beat fast again. The rustling darts from one side of her to another, and also above her. It wasn't Cole, that much she knew. He wasn't the only creature that lurked in the woods, and she wondered why she hadn't considered that earlier.

Move! Keep moving! A voice inside her head urged her. But there was nowhere to go. She didn't know how long she had been walking but she knew it had been well over an hour. She was mentally drained in every way possible, and worst of all, she had no idea which way to go.

Something rustled again, much closer to her. She jumps up and away from the tree. “Anything is better than here,” she whispers to herself softly.

It's getting chilly. Moving helps, she realizes. She wraps herself in her arms and wishes she had brought a sweater.

Her eyes start to adjust to the darkness just slightly, making it easier to make out the shadows from the silhouettes in the distance. She squints, thinking she sees something far in the distance, beyond the brush. It looks like...light?

It's a trap.

Hell, maybe it isn't even
real
, but she tells herself to stop being so cynical and moves toward it, her pace quickening. The jagged rocks embedded into the ground are tearing their way into her flats, and there's more than one pokey thing lodged inside of her shoe, sticking her bare foot. She knows the shoes won't last much longer but she prays that she can find a good hiding place before they fall apart.
That's exactly what I need, a place to hide.

Maybe the light in the distance was a road, or a car, or even someone's home. Maybe they had a phone and if they did, she could tell them she got lost while hiking and needed to call her mom and dad. They should be home by now, she realizes. pangs of guilt wash over her knowing her mom is probably worried sick about her. Besides, Cole never said calling for back up was against the rules. She smirks, just slightly, pleased at the idea of beating him at his own twisted game.

She walks with a bit more confidence, but the closer she gets to it, the more and more she realizes the light isn't as bright as she thought. She axes any idea of it being a streetlight or a car headlight—neither could possibly be that faint. But a business or a home? Still a possibility. Not that ringing on a stranger's door was something she'd usually consider smart behavior, but heck, maybe there will actually be some reception near the house, she figured.

The brush grows thicker and she knows what she was right on the other side. She pushes through, hands first, trying to break as many twigs and branches as she can. But it still scratches her body from head to toe and pulls on her hair. At one point even her clothes get caught on it and she has to yank herself away, causing her to trip and fall against the ground when she makes it to the other side.

She winces at her skinned knee, but it's not nearly as bad as anything else she's endured tonight or the two days before. Looking up she realizes she's out of the brush and has made it into a very narrow clearing of some sort—and the only light is from the bright and vivid moon up above.

Something in her heart sinks until she realizes she's standing a few feet from a stream. It's a tiny, shallow stream, but it's babbling sound is like music to her ears. Just looking at it reminds her of how dry her mouth is. She practically crawled towards it and dips her hands in forming a cup to drink out of. The cool water runs down her chin and stains the front of her tee but she doesn't care a bit. She reaches back in, taking drink after drink and soothing her cracked lips and aching throat.

“
Did you enjoy your drink?”

She flinches at the sound of his voice. How the hell did he catch up with her out of nowhere? She didn't see him or hear him come up, and yet, there he is, stepping out of the forest on the opposite side of the stream. Her heart race increases rapidly and she knows she should run, but she doesn't. She's too tired and all she wants to do is take another sip and maybe soak her aching feet for a few minutes.

“
Get up,” he says.

“
Go away and come back in five minutes.”

“
Get up, now,” he repeats.

She groans. “I'm tired of this, I'm tired of running. This was a fucking stupid idea and I'm scratched and bruised all--” Her words are cut off by the sound—and sight—of his long whip striking the pack of grass right beside her.

“
The next one won't miss.”

She looks at the upturned grass incredulously, and then back at him. “You fucking psycho!” she mumbles, pulling herself up to her feet.

He starts toward her, kicking his feet into the stream and splashing the water everywhere. “You're trying my patience, Kara,” he says sharply as he draws the whip up high over his head.

Oh, fuck
, she thinks. He isn't playing around, she knew that for sure now. The next one would hit her and it would
hurt
.

She stumbles forward, her feet moving faster than her body can keep up with to get away from him. She runs down the length of the stream but every time she accelerates, so does he, staying right on her heels.

“
Not fast enough, Kara!” he hollers from behind her.
What the hell
?
He sounds deranged, like a mad man. She's running as fast as she can and decides to make a sharp turn to the left, right into the stream.
If I can make it to the other side maybe the water will show him down.