Runner: A dark enemies to lovers gang romance (Sapphire Duet Book 1)

I groaned, lifting my head and flinching at the stiff ache in my neck. I licked my lips, my tongue feeling like sandpaper. There was a tiny pulse of a headache, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting after being drugged with a fucking sedative. Had I been passed out long enough for most of it to leave my system? Forcing my eyes open, I was met with darkness. Pitch-black, making it impossible to know where I was.

“Gray?” I choked out, going rigid when I realized I couldn’t move my arms. I was sitting in a chair with my hands cuffed behind me. I pulled against the restraints, feeling the metal bite into my wrists with every move. Attempting to shift my feet, I learned my ankles were tied to the legs of the chair.

“About time you woke up,” Gray grumbled hoarsely from somewhere in front of me. “I thought she accidentally killed you.”

“If either of you die, it won’t be by accident.” My heart thundered against my ribs at the echo of Mili’s voice. Wherever we were, it was a large room.

Overhead lights flickered on, and I blinked until my eyes adjusted to the brightness. After a few moments, I was able to focus, seeing Gray cuffed to a chair about five feet in front of me. His ankles were zip tied to the chair legs, just like mine. After a quick look at his chair, I realized there was no point in trying to rock the chair. If it was wood, I’d attempt to fall and let it break. But the chairs were fucking metal. I shifted again, my muscles burning as I tried to pull my hands out of the cuffs. All I managed to do was cut up my skin.

The clicking of heels turned my attention to the left, where Mili was walking toward us. The first thing I noticed was that the chain around her throat was gone. Not that I expected to see it. I still wondered how hard it was for her to figure out how to cut it off. She was wearing tall black heels that matched her tiny dress. The thing was sheer, revealing every detail of her body. Her nipples were hard and pressing against the fabric, and her lace panties were bright red.

My eyes traveled to her face, and unease skated down my spine when we locked gazes. She had the same ruthless stare she’d worn when she confronted Rhett. But this time, a smug grin was playing on her lips. She moved her stare to Gray, and I took a second to look around the room behind her. The floor was an old white tile, and the walls were painted cement. If I were to guess, it looked like an old factory of some kind. There were a few abandoned buildings like this on the north side of town. Or she could have taken us out of Ridgewood. There were no windows, making it impossible to know what time it was or even guess at how long we’d been here.

“Better make sure you bury our bodies if you don’t want the crew going after you,” I grated out, refusing to fall into whatever game she was playing.

She arched an eyebrow. “Kill you? No, Kade. You’ll survive this. I’m just saying goodbye.”

“Goodbye?” Gray questioned, not hiding the fact that he was trying to wiggle out of his cuffs.

Her gaze moved past us, and I turned my head, confusion shooting through me. About fifty feet away were two cars. I had to study them for a second before I recognized them. The lights directly above us were bright, but the rest of the building was dark. My Jaguar and the Mazda Gray had raced. Rage boiled my blood as I stared at my prized car. I’d rebuilt every inch of it. She slowly walked between us, heading for the Jaguar. I struggled against the cuffs uselessly as she opened the driver’s door. But all she did was turn on the radio. Club music drifted through the air, and she left the door open as she crossed the room, coming closer to us.

“I know when I’m not welcome anymore.” She sauntered up to Gray and lowered herself onto his lap, straddling his legs. He tensed when she trailed her fingers down his cheek. “Killing you would be boring. Not when I can do something else.”

“Do what?” I forced out, my eyes darting between her and my car. I highly doubted she’d driven it here just to play music.

“I’m going to leave, just like you two want,” she purred, beginning to grind on Gray’s lap along with the beat of the music. His jaw dropped in surprise, and he glanced at me before focusing back on Mili. “And you’ll never see me again. Or maybe you will.”

I frowned, trying to pay attention to her riddles while my dick was stirring from watching her dance. She had me cuffed to a chair, but my body didn’t seem to give a flying fuck. If I was getting hard from just watching, I was sure Gray was worse off than me. His jaw was clenched, and he wasn’t moving a muscle as Mili continued to dance.

“You get to live wondering if I’ll ever come back to finish this,” she murmured, draping her arms over Gray’s shoulders. “Instead of comfortably ruling your city, you’ll be spending your days looking over your shoulder, waiting for me to make my move.”

“You do that, and we’ll release the footage we have on you,” I growled. “Then you’ll be too busy hiding from whoever you’re running from.”

Glancing over her shoulder at me, she grinned. “Oh right. The cameras from the club. You don’t have those anymore. It was smart to keep everything on the hard drive so it couldn’t be hacked. But you really should have locked it in a place I couldn’t steal it from. Leaving it at the club? Not smart.”

I didn’t answer, realizing that was why we’d found the club door unlocked the other day. She’d broken in. A small flash of panic sliced through my anger. If she had the tapes, we had nothing on her to stop her from killing us.

“I went to every establishment I visited while living here, making sure my face was nowhere to be found,” she continued. “When I leave, the only way you’ll remember me is by memory. And that video I sent you of Rylan and me. But my face wasn’t the star of that show, was it?”

I pressed my lips together, attempting not to react the way she wanted me to. Seeing her with Rylan—watching her come apart while screaming his name—made me fucking lose it. Yet I still watched the video more times than I’d ever admit.

“I need to take an extra car with me when I leave,” she said, a wicked gleam flashing in her eyes before she turned back toward Gray. “I decided to see why you two love these cars so much.”

“Take mine,” Gray rasped, his voice revealing how much her grinding on his lap was affecting him. “It’s faster.”

She giggled. “It’s cute how you’re trying to protect Kade.”

Gray knew how much I loved the Jaguar. He liked his Mazda too, but it was replaceable.

“But I am a bit confused,” she pouted, tugging on Gray’s hair. “If you want me gone so badly, why are you enjoying me on your lap so much?”

Gray didn’t respond, grunting when she yanked on his hair again. She leaned forward, pressing her lips to his. I gave him credit for holding out for a long few moments before he opened his mouth, kissing her back. The handcuffs clanged on the back of his chair as he strained to touch her. She finally pulled away, her chest heaving as she caught her breath. Gray bit his tongue, as if swallowing his protest when she slid off his lap. Her red lipstick was smeared across his lips, and even tied here at her mercy, I was jealous that it wasn’t me kissing her.

“Like I said, I only want one car.” She tapped her chin. “But how will I choose which one?”

Dread pooled in my stomach as she glanced at me, raising her arm and pointing her finger at me before moving it toward Gray.

“Eenie meenie miney mo. Who’s going to be the lucky asshole?”

Her finger landed on me as she said the last word, and I swallowed thickly, not knowing what that meant. Her devilish expression gave nothing away, but my gaze dropped to her body when she slipped her panties off. She balled them up in her fist before grabbing a bag from the floor and pulling out duct tape. We both stiffened when she ripped off a length of tape and stuck an edge of it to Gray’s jeans.

“Open up,” she told him, gripping his jaw with one hand while holding her panties in the other.

He frowned, keeping his mouth shut. She tsked, shaking her head before leaning down and whispering something in his ear. His eyes widened slightly, his gaze going to me as she spoke. I couldn’t hear her, and it was driving me crazy. When she pulled away, Gray glared at her as he relented and opened his mouth. She pushed her panties in before grabbing the tape and pressing it over his lips.

“Good boy,” she praised him tauntingly. “Enjoy the show.”

Her gaze went to the cars again before she focused on me. Vengeance brightened her eyes as she stopped in front of me.

“Do you want a goodbye kiss too?” she asked, running her tongue over her bottom lip.

That was a fucking loaded question. I could guarantee she had every detail planned out, no matter what I said. She was just toying with us.

“What did you whisper to Gray?” I tossed back, holding my breath when she climbed onto my lap.

“I told him what I really planned to do with your cars. But promised that if he behaved, I’d reconsider.”

She began moving against me like she had on Gray, causing all the blood to rush to my dick. The fact that she wasn’t wearing panties didn’t help at all as I tried to concentrate on her words. She dipped her hand into my front jeans pocket and pulled out my cigarettes, along with my Zippo lighter.

“You look stressed, Kade. Let me help.” She put a cigarette between her lips and lit it, inhaling a long drag before coming closer and kissing me. She blew the smoke into my mouth, and I sucked in on reflex, feeling the toxic addiction filling my lungs. She attempted to pull away, and I closed my teeth on her bottom lip, not ready to commit her taste to only memory.

Her hand went around my throat, and she pushed me back. “You do not get to fucking control this.”

Even with her anger, I could see the lust building. Her dancing on us was affecting her too. I smirked, letting my eyes fall on her body as she climbed off me. The inside of her thighs were slick, and I could bet her pussy was throbbing to be touched again.

“Did you know that a lit cigarette can’t set things on fire?” She stared at the cigarette in her hand as though inspecting it. “But let’s see if that’s really true.”

After taking another puff, she walked about five feet away, stopping in front of a puddle of water. I frowned, following the trail of water to Gray’s Mazda. I spotted a second puddle of liquid a few feet away that went all the way to my car. Fuck me. That wasn’t water. It was some kind of gas or accelerant. My heart lurched when she dropped the cigarette into the middle of the liquid, drawing a breath when it died instead of going up in flames.

“All the hard drives are in the Mazda,” she murmured, going back to the bag where she’d pulled the duct tape from. “I need to get rid of the evidence.”

“Wait,” I yelled hoarsely. “You can’t light a fucking car on fire in here.”

She pulled out a blank piece of paper from the bag. “It’s not going to explode. I drained most of the gas. You think I’m stupid enough to do that? And the ceiling is full of vents. The smoke won’t even touch us.”

I raised my eyes, seeing she was right about the vents. Just like I’d thought—she had this entire thing planned out.

“Give me a reason not to do it,” she said, staring at me. “Give me a reason to walk out of here right now and forget about it all. You. Gray. The last three months. Give me a truth, and I’ll spare Gray’s precious fucking car.”

I hesitated for only a second, but it was a second too long for her. Gray let out a muffled yell as she lit the paper and then let it fall to the puddle on the floor. This time, the flame grew instantly, racing over the liquid trail until it went under the Mazda. Flames licked at the side of the car as it grew, and soon the whole car was ablaze.

“One more chance, Kade.” She crawled back onto my lap. “I never planned on driving your Jaguar. I have every intention of burning it.”

“Don’t,” I snarled. “What do you want?”

“I want you to feel how I did when you locked that chain around my neck.”

My chest constricted with guilt when the tiniest flash of pain slithered through her mask.

“How about I make you feel good instead?” I asked in a low voice. I couldn’t tell her what that car was to me. It was personal, and if she knew how much it meant to me, she’d light the match in a heartbeat just to get even with me.

Suspicion lit her gaze. “Excuse me?”

“I can feel how wet you are through my jeans, Mili.” My confidence grew when her face flushed. “Use me. Make yourself feel good. I give you an orgasm, you leave my Jaguar alone.”

“I don’t need you for that,” she sneered.

“Can’t do it with an audience?” I taunted her, looking over her shoulder at Gray.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re being very transparent. You’re not going to make me angry enough to agree with you. It only shows how much you really want to save your car.”

“Come on, Little Hellion.” My gaze dropped to her lips. “What’s stopping you? You could do both if you really wanted. Use me and destroy my car. I’m just giving you a little more time to think about it.”

It would give me a chance to talk her out of doing it. I wondered if Vic and Juan knew we were missing. Our cars had trackers on them, but for all we knew, she’d already disabled them. She shifted in my lap, sliding my lighter back into my pocket. I straightened up as much as the cuffs allowed me when she went for the zipper on my jeans.

“What are you doing?” I hissed, swallowing a groan when she fisted my cock.

“You told me to use you. You didn’t think I’d just grind against you, did you?”

That was exactly what I thought she’d do. I certainly didn’t expect her to want to have sex. She held my stare, as if waiting for me to shut it down. She’d be waiting a long fucking time. There wasn’t anything in the world that would get me to turn down a chance to bury myself inside her. When I didn’t say a word, she grinned, falling off my lap and getting on her knees.

“Holy fuck,” I groaned out when she flicked her tongue out and licked me from the tip of my cock all the way to the base. She did it again and again until I had to bite my lip to keep from telling her to stop fucking teasing. If I began making demands, she’d stop.

She finally stopped, and I caught my breath, glancing at Gray to see his eyes burning with desire. We’d done stuff together with women before, but this was something fucking new, seeing as I was the one restrained. I waited for her to look for a condom, but instead, she straddled my legs again. She sank down until the head of my cock nudged her entrance, pausing to see if I’d protest. My heart raced, keeping my gaze locked on hers. I’d never fucked anyone without a condom.

She would be my first.

I witnessed a quick speck of indecision fly through her eyes, and I jutted my hips up. “Sit down and fucking ride me.”

She bristled at my command, and I reminded myself not to do it again. She’d only do this if she was in control. She lowered herself, slowly adjusting to my size. Her fingers dug into my shoulders as she began rocking back and forth, and it was frustrating as fuck not to be able to move in rhythm with her. A quiet moan escaped her when her clit rubbed against me as she moved. Her breasts were in my face, but I couldn’t lean forward enough to tease her nipples with my mouth.

“Did it work?” she panted as she upped her speed.

“What?”

“Trying to distract me so you’d have time to convince me to save your car.”

Shit. That had been the whole point. But the second her mouth touched my cock, all other thoughts flew out the window. My hands curled into fists, and I fought against the cuffs as she danced on me. All I wanted to do was to touch her. And hold on to her so she couldn’t fucking leave. As we stared at each, her cheeks pink from all the moving, I decided I didn’t want her to go.

“If you’re stalling so your crew can save you—they won’t,” she forced out as her body locked up. “Not until I’m long gone.”

“I’d rather stay chained up all night if it means my cock stays in your pussy.”

“Oh my God,” she screamed hoarsely. Her pussy clenched around my cock as she came hard. My eyes never left her face, loving that the only time all her defenses came down was when she was in the throes of pleasure. She almost leaned forward to rest her head on mine after she came down but caught herself. I figured she’d stop after she got what she wanted, but she started moving again.

Heat pooled in my stomach, and I could feel myself getting close. Until something snapped in her gaze, making me tense. She was going to leave me high and dry—again.

“Shit,” she said, her voice smothered with dramatic concern. “I messed up. I didn’t put the hard drives in Gray’s car. They’re in yours.”

Even as she spoke, she continued to grind on me. Her words did nothing to stop my release. I was too fucking close.

“Don’t do it, Mili,” I gritted out.

“Give me a reason.”

I wouldn’t tell her what that car was to me. She wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to share parts of their past.

“We were trying to get you to leave town,” I said through breaths as my balls tightened. “That’s why we did it.”

“Not good enough.”

Anger boiled my veins, and the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. “I fucking swear I’ll come after you. You’ll be lucky if you leave Ridgewood.”

I caught Gray shaking his head in warning, but it was too late. I saw it the second she made the decision. She lifted the lighter, and I stared at it, wondering when the hell she’d pulled it from my pocket.

“Do you know what the last person did when he tried to own me?” she murmured, pain lacing her voice.

She was still riding me, and I shook my head, trying to separate her words from how my body was reacting.

“Your little necklace was nothing compared to that. But it reminded me that men are all the same. They take what they want and will do anything to keep it.”

“Mili—”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her lift the lighter and flick it until a small flame appeared. She sped up, her pussy gripping around my cock like it owned it.

“Fuck,” I grunted, feeling my release explode inside of her. I was still coming when she gripped my jaw, making sure I was looking at her.

“Don’t ever fucking underestimate me,” she hissed, the promise of death in her voice. “Try to make me yours again, and I won’t hesitate to kill both of you.”

“Drop that lighter, and I won’t hesitate to chase after you.” I didn’t bother to mention we’d try to find her either way.

She grinned, her emotions fading until she was almost looking through me.

“No—”

My yell did nothing as she tossed the Zippo the few feet to the accelerant. It lit up the floor, hitting my car in seconds. She must have tossed more gas on the Jaguar than the Mazda because it was burning faster. The inside would be nothing but ashes by the time I got out of these handcuffs. A weight fell on my chest as I watched the smoke billow to the ceiling.

Mili slid off me, and she pushed my dick inside my boxers before tugging her dress over her ass. My chest heaved as I glared at her while she lifted the bag over her shoulder. Gray’s eyes were filled with pity as he looked at me, knowing what I’d lost in that car.

“See you boys never,” she called out, her back already turned.

Her heels echoed on the tile until she disappeared through a side door. I threw my head back, staring at the ceiling, not wanting to watch my car burn. Now that my dick wasn’t inside her, my mind was crystal clear.

And I decided she wasn’t fucking leaving.