#RunningWilde Ch. 13 | Pandora's Box
“I brought you something,” Aiden said stoically, offering the small black box to her.
Ava glanced at Aiden’s offering then up at him. Shielding her mouth with her hand she asked, “What is it?” Aiden didn’t reply, he simply continued to stand before her with his gift to her extended before him and a look of something illicit brewing in his eyes. Ava knew then that whatever was in this box was something that she did not want. She put her fork down and swallowed her mouthful of scrambled tofu. A moment ago they were engaged in a harmless (albeit slightly awkward) conversation and it was one of the most normal things to happen to her since she’d been taken, but now she realised that it was only a ploy to make her drop her defences enough so that Aiden could spring something else on her. She knew better than to play into his hands like this, but she had craved that brief window of normalcy and she suspected that Aiden knew that. He wanted her to feel secure so that it would be all the more entertaining when he pulled the rug from under her. Ava shifted away from him.
Aiden cocked his head to the side with a small smirk, “Why have you stopped eating?”
“I’m not hungry anymore.”
He knotted his eyebrows together and frowned at her. “Eat,” he said in a tone that allowed no room for debate, “You can have your present afterwards.” He placed the black box on the table, directly in her line of sight so she could peek at it and wonder.
Ava sighed and picked her fork back up -she really wasn’t hungry anymore. Aiden filled her with something intangible but oh so real; a deep anxiety that made a million butterflies spring to life inside of her and fill every available space. She felt sick, but the way Aiden had instructed her in his silk wrapped dagger tone made her obey him. The tofu now tasted dry and flavourless in her mouth; chewing had become a task but she did so without any arguments. When her plate was empty, Aiden took it from her and place it back on the tray then handed her the glass of orange juice.
“Drink,” he instructed her in the same tone.
Ava tried to drown the butterflies with each gulp. She didn’t want to feel them anymore. She knew that something bad was coming and they were only making her nerves worse, but when the cup was empty they were still there. Her eyes landed on the black box.
“Would you like your present now, Ava-Marie?” Aiden purred stroking the smooth, dark surface of the box with the tip of his index finger.
“I don’t think I do, Sir.”
He smirked at her, “Do you think you have a choice?”
“No Sir, I don’t,” she said tightly.
“Of course you don’t.” Aiden rose from his seat and picked the box up, and then to Ava’s surprise he dropped onto one knee in front of her like some twisted proposal. He placed his other hand on top of the box and gripped the sides of the lid, “I hope you like it, honey.”
Ava held her breath and leant backwards as subtly as she could as Aiden began to open the box. She let out a sharp puff of air when she finally saw its contents and furrowed her brow, “What is it?”
Lodged between two cushioned black satin rectangles were two small gleaming silver balls connected by a silk string with a loop at one end. Aiden reached inside and pulled them out. He held it at eye level, “These are Ben Wa balls.”
“And this is my gift?”
Aiden blinked at her, “Yes.” Ava laughed airily; it sounded like a mixture of obnoxiousness and relief. “Are you not impressed, Ava-Marie? We’re you expecting something a little grander?”
“No. To be honest I half expected something to pop up and shoot me in the face.”
“Why? You still have one more day for Daddy dearest to save you before I kill you.”
Ava stopped laughing. “I find your gift underwhelming,” she scowled.
Aiden placed his free hand on her bare knee and though his touch was gentle, Ava jumped like he’d slipped a knife into the soft space around her kneecap. “Oh, I think you’ll change your mind once I put them inside of you.” He pushed her legs apart and used his raised knee to keep them that way. Ava tried to shuffle away from him; this was the part that she knew was coming, the part where the temporary calm fell to pieces to reveal the danger that was always lurking in the background. “Ava-Marie!” Aiden grabbed her forearm and yanked her forwards that they were nose to nose. “Stop it,” he scolded her through gritted teeth, his dark, empty eyes glaring right into her glassy hazel ones.
The air swirling around inside of Ava’s lungs grew thicker and heavier, suffocating the butterflies in her stomach and making them drop from flight one by one, then all at once. “I don’t want them inside of me,” she said in a hoarse whisper, the lump developing in her throat betraying the courage she was trying to hold on to.
Aiden released her arm and returned his hand to her knee. Spreading his fingers lightly across the expanse of her trembling joint, his eyes fell to her mouth, “I know what you want inside of you, Ava-Marie,” he shifted a little closer, not so their lips could touch, but so that she could think about what it would feel like if they did, and he knew she was thinking about it by the way she wasn’t so quick to back away from him, but rather how she hesitated to see if he would. Aiden lowered his other knee to the ground and let his body provide the barrier to keep her thighs from meeting. His hand travelled up her thigh and he tilted his head to the left, the way you would if you were switching kissing positions, skimming the tip of his nose across her face. “But I’m afraid that’s not a part of the deal.”
“You’ve lost me, Sir,” she said tightly, feigning knowledge of what Aiden was referring to so she could save face. It was ridiculous of her to pretend that she hadn’t spent the better part of last night pressed up against him in the bathtub, silently begging for him to bury himself deep inside of her every time she arched her back and whimpered for him.
“See that’s where you’re wrong Ava-Marie,” his touch graced the hollow crevice between her thigh and her sex making Ava unconsciously pull her bottom lip into her mouth and bite down. His eyes met hers again, “I have you exactly where I want you.” Aiden dropped the string of balls into the hand that patiently waited on the cusp of her centre to strike, then snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her body forward. Her legs spread wider. He pinched the first of the silver balls between his thumb and his index finger and started to run it along the edges of her outer lips -he was surprised by how slippery it was. Ava squeaked at the coolness of the metal against her warm and embarrassingly wet flesh. “Have you heard of Ben Wa balls before, Ava-Marie?”
Ava shook her head, “No Sir,” she breathed.
“Of course you haven’t,” he said dryly as if he’d had some small hope that there was some semblance of a flaw on her sexual innocence that didn’t include the ones he made. He almost seemed disappointed, and for some reason that tinge of disappointment from her captor made Ava feel like less of a woman. For a moment she wished she did know what they were.
It was strange how Aiden’s dark obscurity was able to make her feel so small. Normally her lack of sexual knowledge and experience didn’t matter to Ava, but as she sat before him with her legs akimbo trying to quell the urge to lean forward just a little so that she could feel his mouth on hers whilst his hand drew tremor inducing patterns on her sex with the unfamiliar object, she knew that it should matter even less…but Aiden had this way about him that got to her, no matter how much she tried to resist him.
“They’re used to provide sexual stimulation or to tighten up your vaginal muscles,” Aiden explained. He drew a shallow breath as he moved the little metal ball to closer to her opening –God she was so wet. It made him feel things that he didn’t want to feel; an escalating burning desire, not just to have her, but to own her completely. Up until this point Aiden had refrained from touching Ava between her legs in any manner that went beyond teasing or spanking -it was one of the barriers that stopped their hostage arrangement from becoming something it wasn’t meant to be. He knew that he was taking a huge risk by playing this game with her, but he had convinced himself that he had everything under control. He wouldn’t go too far, he wouldn’t break for the beautiful young girl with the cinnamon skin and eyes like autumn, whose blush made her glow rose gold; he couldn’t. He’d been able to withstand The Siren, so the daughter of his enemy should be no trouble. He licked his lips, “Each ball is hollowed out with a small weight inside of it. The longer you hold it inside of you,” he put it right at her tight entrance and applied pressure, “The more intense the feeling becomes.” Aiden watched her face curiously. He shouldn’t have allowed himself to get caught up in the small details, but he desperately wanted to see what she looked like the first time her really touched her.
The ball slowly began to ease its way inside of her, opening her up as the smooth circumference widened. Ava squeezed her eyes shut and bit down on her lip, gripping the bed sheets on either side of her body as the small foreign object infiltrated her centre. It didn’t hurt but it was slightly uncomfortable. Ava had never been inclined to insert anything into herself before -the daughter of Vincent Lockewood would never do anything like that, plus she’d been afraid, afraid that if she tried it she might like it, and if she liked it then who knows what else she would like...
The first ball popped inside of her making a wet kissing sound as her lower lips closed around it, and she felt the soft pad of Aiden’s finger touch her briefly. She stifled a gasp, not wanting him to know that she didn’t mind his touch as much as she should have, and she definitely should have, but this game he was playing with her made her so confused. She couldn’t explain why despite the circumstances and his mercurial treatment of her, she wanted him.
While Ava concealed her gasp, Aiden concealed his smirk. It hadn’t been much, just a light touch, but damn if it didn’t feel good to finally feel Ava-Marie…really feel her. He exhaled through his nose and pinched the second ball between his fingers then brought it to her entrance.
“Open your eyes, Ava-Marie.” His voice sounded thick and warm. He hadn’t meant for it to come out like that, but it had. She made him speak that way.
Ava opened her eyes with trepidation. When she finally looked at Aiden she noticed that something was off. His daunting air of superiority was still intact, but something disturbing twitched beneath the surface of his hardened exterior that made Aiden grit his teeth and lean away from her.
When it came to Aiden Michaels, someone with an eye as inexperienced as Ava’s shouldn’t have been able to notice the shift in his demeanour, but the past two days in his presence made her knowledge of Aiden quite specific. She watched him as much as she could; she had to, it was the only way she could teach herself to figure out how much danger she was in at any given moment with him. She studied the way he sauntered around like he was a force to be reckoned with, how he would cock his head to the side when something intrigued him, the way he bit down on his back teeth when he was trying to keep his temper, and how the black light in his dark eyes flashed just before he’d snap. None of those tell-tell signs were there and Ava found herself at more of a loss than usual.
Aiden blinked and cleared his throat, “Tell me about your bodyguard.”
“Max?” she asked with a rattled breath.
“Yes, Max. Tell me about him.”
“There’s n-n-nothing to t-tell.”
“Oh, I disagree, Ava-Marie,” Aiden tutted, sweeping the second ball around her entrance in smooth circular motions. Ava’s thigh quivered. “I think you have plenty to say about the man you spend almost every waking hour with.”
“I don’t know what t-to…tell you. I…God…I don’t know w-what you want me to say...”
Aiden circulated the ball around her entrance faster, spreading the steady flow of juices around; “Tell me something true.”
Ava’s stomach tightened as her grip on the bed sheet begun to slip. She lifted her head in the air and sucked in a breath through her mouth to settle herself. “You’regoing to hurt him.”
Aiden yanked her head back down; Ava was fascinating to watch as she came apart at the seams and looking at him seemed to make her unravel faster. He knew he should draw the line soon but he figured there would be no harm in holding out a little longer. Ava’s warm breath blew across his mouth in soft, warm bursts and the pool between her legs swelled making it difficult for Aiden to keep his grip on the ball. “That’s none of your concern,” he replied in that thick and warm voice again, training his eyes on hers.
Ava’s chewed on her lips and her breathing deepened, “I won’t…help you…oh God,” her hips bucked aggressively against his hand. She grunted and fell back on the bed providing Aiden with a clear view of her glistening sex. Aiden’s dick hardened at the sight of it and his eyes darkened to a bottomless black as he imagined just how satisfying it would feel to sink his entire length deep inside of her, hard and fast, right now…
He had to stop this. He had to stop this right now.
Aiden gathered the hem of her t-shirt in his hands and pulled her upright, “You will help me, Ava-Marie, and you will enjoy doing it.” He pushed the second ball inside of her and forced them deeper with his fingers, clinically ignoring the way her walls tightened around his hand as if they were begging him to stay.
Ava’s eyes widened as she felt her principles and morals collapse and melt away with the rest of her sanity. She yelped and threw her arms around Aiden, digging her nails into the back of his suit jacket, trying desperately to transfer the overwhelming sensation of being penetrated somewhere else, anywhere else.
Aiden stiffened.
He tore her arms from around his body shoved her away from him, his eyes as wide as hers. If there was anything she shouldn’t have done, it was hold onto him like that…like she needed him.
“Don’t touch me,” he snarled. He quickly scrambled to his feet and put himself at the other side of the room, burying his hands in his pockets. He could still feel her all over his fingers; the pressure from her walls felt like it was imprinted on his skin and her juices coated everything else.
He watched her bewildered figure from across the room, panting, quivering and twitching unable to calm herself properly as the Ben Wa balls took effect, and for a moment he wished that they had met under different circumstances, that he could go back over to the bed and sit and hold her. It was in his nature to hold her, and quiet her whimpers, and stroke her hair, and kiss her face until she felt like she was safe again, but she wasn’t really his and none of this was really real. She was his hostage and he’d been kidding himself to think that he could play these sorts of games with her and still keep her behind enemy lines.
Flustered, Ava gathered the bed sheets around her waist to reclaim some scrap of her modesty. “I didn’t mean to,” she snapped back. She had meant to, and if given the chance she would do it again, because like Aiden, for one small moment Ava wished that none of the bullshit existed and that they could just have that pocket in time to just be. Yes it was twisted, and yes it was wrong for Ava to even think about Aiden Michaels this way, especially now that there was the added threat of him hurting Max, but something about this dangerous man made her feel dangerously good.
Aiden straightened up and narrowed his eyes at her, “You’d do well to watch your tone, Ava-Marie,” he said menacingly, suddenly itching to continue with his plan despite his better judgement. “I’m not through with you yet and I don’t think you want to provoke me anymore than you already have.” He pushed himself off of the wall and went for the paper towel poking out from underneath Ava’s empty breakfast plate on the tray, and wiped the remains of her moisture off of his fingers. He sat back down in the chair, crossed his leg and clasped his hands together in his lap. He steadied his gaze. ‘I can do this,’ he lied to himself. “Pick a number between zero and one hundred.”
“Why?”
“Do it now or I will choose for you,” he said evenly.
Ava pursed her lips together and looked away from him. She could feel the weight of the Ben Wa balls tugging downwards and the weight of Aiden’s eyes on her and it made the air in her lungs thicken even more. What new game was going to come along with her decision? Was it better to pick a high or low number? Would he make her regret it?
Aiden began to count down, “Five, Four, Three Two, On_”
“Thirty-Eight,” Ava yelled out in a panic. She didn’t know why she had chosen that number, only that it was the first thing to pop into her head and she had to say something before her time ran out and Aiden chose for her. Aiden knew the rules to the game so whatever he picked would be in his favour, and as she didn’t have much choice in anything while she was trapped here, this little freedom would have been silly to waste.
“Good girl,” he smirked, his full lips tilting up on one side in a way that would have been even sexier if he didn’t look so dangerous doing it. Aiden stood up and reached his hand to her, “Come.”
Ava eyed his large palm and thick fingers with dark deep-set lines woven through the pale flesh like marble, then her eyes flicked up at him. Aiden didn’t move or speak, he just waited for her. Ava laid her hand in his hand gently as if it were a Venus Fly Trap that she was afraid to trigger -he hadn’t reacted well to their previous contact.
His fingers closed around hers encasing them in his warmth, and he pulled her to her feet. Standing next to Aiden in the state that she was in felt like standing too close to the sun; all of the heat he gave off scorched her skin and made her hot and bothered. He was a being filled with chaotic energy, contained in a form of an unforgivingly powerful man, and he scared her -God he scared her even more than the looming threat of what he could and would do to her, because just like the sun, Aiden could set her on fire, and as Ava had discovered burning wasn’t always a bad thing.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked quietly as he pulled her into the hallway.
“Somewhere you have no business being with me.”
Where do you think Aiden is taking Ava and what do you think will happen when they get there?
Do you think she will betray Max and give Aiden information about him?
Hope you enjoyed that chapter. Please leave your comments below (your feedback helps A LOT).
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