A Beautiful Prison Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  A Beautiful Prison

  by

  Jenika Snow

  Copyright © 2014 Jenika Snow

  Published by Jenika Snow

  www.JenikaSnow.com

  [email protected]

  Digital Edition

  First E-book Publication: March 2014

  Smashwords Edition

  Cover design by Jay Aheer

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.

  WARNING: This is a Dark Erotic story. This is not a traditional love story. This book is fiction and contains material readers may find offensive. There is very disturbing content, graphic sex, violence, and strong language, but does end with a HEA.

  Ruby Jacobson wanted a new life, but it seems fate gives her a twisted version of it. Taken from her bed, and sold like an object, Ruby believes death is a far better outcome then what fate has in store for her. Or so she thought.

  Gavin Darris has always desired the darker pleasures in life. Normally not one to purchase his playthings, he needs a woman who will bend to his will, and derive pleasure from it, too. He sees Ruby, one of the many women for sale, and he wants her as he’s never wanted anything else before. She has a fire in her eyes and a determination not to yield. She looks like a fighter and is exactly what he is looking for. Making her submit will be almost as pleasurable as finally sating the darkness inside of him.

  He is ruthless in what he wants, and what he wants is Ruby.

  The dark desires Ruby has felt inside of her are about to be tempted in the most horrifying of ways. She should hate Gavin and fear everything he represents, but she can’t deny that her body aches for his touch. He tells her she is his; that he owns every part of her, and everything inside of her knows that is the truth.

  Faced with the ultimate decision, Ruby must choose to escape and gain her freedom, or stay with Gavin, the monster whose delicious punishment makes her yearn for more.

  Both are frightening.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About the Book

  Preface

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from His

  Coming Soon

  Connect with Jenika

  Preface

  She was his.

  Irrevocably. Undeniably.

  He knew this as soon as he saw her bound on the stage. He needed to possess her, own her, and make sure she knew that he was the one that held all the power. She was his property now, whether she accepted that or not. She would soon come to realize that there was no escape.

  He had bought her, picked her from all the other women that had been taken and sold like nothing more than inanimate objects. However, she wasn’t just an object. She was his to do with as he pleased.

  She looked at him with fear, but she hadn’t felt real fear yet. He was a monster, the kind that she had probably dreamt about as a child, prayed she would never meet, and one that now owned her.

  She would run, there was no doubt about that, but what she would soon realize was he wanted her to. He reveled in the chase, and when he caught her, he’d make her pay with her body until she gave him every part of herself.

  He was a sadist, and with each passing day, she would realize that she was his perfect masochist.

  Chapter One

  It was sweet, beautiful pain that filled her mind, washed through her, and had her needy for more. She wanted to stay here forever, in this dream that seemed to haunt her nightly. However, she couldn’t really say it haunted her, not when she prayed for the sweet release it brought her every night before she closed her eyes. Disgust and shame filled her each morning when she reflected on those dreams. For pain with pleasure wasn’t “normal,” right? It made no difference because it was only in her dreams that she would allow these dark desires to control her. She enjoyed the idea of marks on her flesh, a hand on her throat, slowly tightening until darkness threatened to take her away. Only in her dreams could she ever allow herself that moment of depravity.

  An outraged scream and the sound of something shattering had Ruby slowly opening her eyes. She blinked a few times, but otherwise stayed in the bed, her comforter that smelled faintly of mold pulled up to her chin, and stared at the ceiling. It was off-white, but riddled with brown stains. Her mother yelled something nasty and ugly, presumably at her boyfriend. Ruby thought his name was Buck, or maybe it was Chuck. She didn’t really know or care since there seemed to be a new one every week. With her graduation already past, it was finally time for her to leave. She had been thinking about this moment for years and time had finally come.

  Ruby was going to leave this shitty city behind her, forget about the ugliness that surrounded her every single day, and start over. She didn’t even have a set plan, but she didn’t need one because she just didn’t care. The idea of spending one more moment surrounded by the failings of her upbringing was enough to push her out the door. She’d work things out when she got to Fort Hampton. Maybe she would fail and feel just as misplaced as she did right now, but she wouldn’t know unless she tried. If she stayed here another moment longer, she knew she wouldn’t survive.

  Her mind felt like it was deteriorating with every harsh comment that left her mother’s mouth and with every inhalation of this smog-filled air. With a trailer to call home, a reputation as “trash” all through high school, and no friends, Ruby was used to feeling as if she didn’t belong. Yes, she isolated herself, but she found that being alone was a much better existence. The waste that surrounded her, the feelings of emptiness, and no self-worth was something Ruby knew, but not something she wanted. There was a big world out there, one that she could explore and hopefully, start to feel like she was finally living.

  She pushed up on the bed and the comforter fell away from her body. She hadn’t fallen asleep until well after midnight, courtesy of her mother and the boyfriend of the week having sex in the next room. The paper-thin walls did nothing to block out the sound of a banging headboard and the vile things the two said to each other. Scrubbing her hands over her face, she dropped them and exhaled. She reached over and grabbed her cell. Flipping it open, she stared at the lit screen. It was only five-thirty in the morning and already the yelling had started. Tossing the cheap phone back on her scarred bedside table, she decided she’d rather be sitting at the bus stop than stay here one more minute. It was only a matter of time before her mother took out her anger on Ruby.

  After she
had her jeans on, she grabbed a T-shirt and slipped it over her head. Getting on her knees and reaching under her bed, she felt for the straps of her backpack and wrapped her fingers around it. Once she pulled it out, she reached inside for her ratty hoodie. It was ugly as hell, but well loved. She grabbed the one-way ticket to Fort Hampton and moved her fingers over it. It was a fourteen-hour bus ride, and she had no idea what she would do once she got there, but anything was better than this. She tucked the ticket in the bag next to her money. Once she had her hoodie and her shoes on, she sat back on her bed. It was sad that everything she owned fit into this bag. Clothes, the thousand dollars she had saved from working at the fast food place down the street, and a few personal items were all inside the confines of the canvas. Although she had no definitive plans once she got to Fort Hampton, she had researched some cheap places she could stay. She had restaurant experience, well, fast food experience, but she was hoping to find something of that nature to do as soon as she got there. The thousand dollars she had wouldn’t last her very long.

  Standing and slinging her bag over her shoulders, she moved toward her door and waited a moment to see if there would be any more yelling. She pulled it open as silently as she could and listened again. Should she have felt guilt over the fact she planned to leave without telling the woman that had given birth to her? Maybe she would if that woman had actually acted like a mother in the first place.

  The lights were on, and she stepped out of her room shutting the door quietly behind her. If her mom was fighting with Buck/Chuck, she would already be in a foul mood. The sound of the TV was low, but she didn’t let that distract her. Ruby kept her eyes averted to the ground and made her way toward the front door.

  “And where the hell do you think you’re going?” On instinct, Ruby stopped and looked over at Missy Jacobson, her mother and the woman that treated her like she shit on the bottom of her shoe. She sat at the cracked, faded yellow Formica kitchen table, littered with cigarette burns. A bottle of whiskey in front of her, the glass beside it was nearly empty. The bags under her mom’s eyes were dark, and it was clear she hadn’t gone to bed yet. Missy lifted the cigarette she held to her mouth and inhaled deeply. She pulled it away and flicked the ash into the small aluminum tray beside the liquor bottle. “You gonna answer me or stand there like a fucking idiot?” she said at the same time she exhaled all that smoke.

  Ruby tightened her hold on one strap of her bag. “I have work early today.” Telling her mom that she was leaving for good would only cause a fight, especially since Ruby had been giving part of her paycheck to Missy since she started working. With this being her only home, it was either help keep this piece of shit trailer afloat or have her mom kick her out. Finishing school had been a priority for Ruby, so she sucked it up and told herself that as soon as she had her diploma she would be out of there. Today was that day, and Missy Jacobson wasn’t going to ruin it.

  “Is that right?” Missy took another puff from her cigarette and exhaled. “Then why you need that backpack? Flipping burgers and filling up Styrofoam cups doesn’t require a lot of books.”

  “I have to go.”

  “I need money for rent.”

  Ruby stopped and looked over at her mom. “I just gave you some last week.”

  Missy shrugged. “What can I say? Keeping your big ass in this house costs money. There’s electricity, water, rent. A lot of shit.”

  “I don’t have any more.” Missy narrowed her eyes.

  “Girl, I put up with your ass prancing around here in your damn underwear, trying to tempt my men. You’re fucking lucky I let you even live here. You’re more damn trouble than you’re worth.” Ruby wasn’t about to argue over the fact she sure as hell didn’t prance around anywhere in just her underwear. In fact, she rarely came out of her room when she was home, not after one of her mother’s boyfriends tried to touch her. Missy poured herself another shot and tipped the glass back to her lips. Her eyes were glossy and red-rimmed, and Ruby knew she was drunk, probably had been since yesterday. “I should have aborted your ass when I found out I was pregnant.” Bile rose in Ruby’s stomach. Even though nothing her mom said was sweet and loving, and was always vile in nature, it still hurt like hell.

  “I’ll bring you some money after work.”

  Missy leaned back in the seat. “You better or you can kiss your room goodbye.”

  Ruby stared at her mom for another second. “Bye.”

  Missy didn’t even respond, just stared straight ahead, and smoked. Ruby felt no sadness in leaving. In fact, there was a very deep comfort in the knowledge that this was the last time she would step foot in this shithole. Anything was better than this, including sleeping under a bridge, which might be a possibility once she reached Fort Hampton.

  * * *

  Ruby wrapped her arms around her middle when a gust of wind whipped by her. The sound of the approaching bus and her cramping stomach had woken her from a somewhat restless sleep. She had been at the bus station all day, sleeping off and on as best she could with the noise all around her. She had only had a granola bar and a bottle of water since she left the trailer. She could have eaten something a bit more substantial, but she wanted to save every penny for Fort Hampton.

  Straightening as the bus pulled to a stop, she noticed that several people lined up to get on the Greyhound. The smell of burning rubber from the bus braking and the exhaust filling the air around her had Ruby covering her mouth and nose with her hoodie. The door on the bus slid open and people inside started piling out. When the last person stepped off the bus, it was a few minutes before anyone could get on as the attendants cleaned it. Ruby glanced at the people waiting to load. There were a few families with children in tow, some college-aged kids, and the occasional elderly person. She glanced along the row of people once more and her gaze stopped at one of the several benches that lined the side of the bus station. A man in a long black trench coat held a newspaper in his lap, his attention on her.

  He didn’t look very old, maybe in his early twenties, with brown hair slicked back from his face, and eyes that looked black and bottomless. There was a clear darkness inside of him, and even though they were several feet apart, Ruby felt a very uncomfortable sensation move along the length of her spine. What she should have done was look away, but there was an invisible force keeping their gazes locked. She didn’t know him, had never seen him before, but he made her feel like he could see into her soul, and knew every secret she held.

  She quickly glanced away, tightened her hold on the backpack in her lap, and felt very uneasy all of a sudden. She still felt his stare boring into her, so she stood, needing to get on the bus and put some distance between them. Why did she have this sudden sense of wariness? Maybe her situation had her on edge. The knowledge that she didn’t know what her life would be like. That rationalization had her easing slightly because it seemed logical enough.

  Ruby took her place in line and waited as everyone loaded onto the bus. Maybe she shouldn’t have, but she found herself glancing at where the young man had been sitting. A breath left her, one that she hadn’t realized she had been holding, when she saw he was no longer sitting there. Yes, she was overreacting, seeing things that weren’t there because of the huge step she was taking. Putting everything behind her, the life she’d led, the worry she’d felt since deciding to follow through with her plan, she handed the driver her ticket and climbed on the bus. There was a seat in the very back, and she moved down the aisle toward it. After taking her seat, she glanced out the window and watched the cars passing by on the street. Well, this is finally it. You’re leaving all this shit behind. That had a smile curving her mouth even if she felt scared shitless.

  A tingling on the back of her neck had her turning away from the window and glancing at the front of the bus, and instantly her heart started to beat faster. The guy in the dark duster climbed aboard. His head was downcast, but he lifted his eyes and looked right at her. He took a seat a few rows in front of her, and she
slid down in her seat so she could no longer see him, pulling the hood of her sweatshirt over her head. Exhaustion settled heavily inside of her and she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep her eyes open much longer. Blissful ignorance as she slept and dreams of a happier place sounded a lot better than her reality.

  Chapter Two

  Ruby stepped off the bus and stretched. The sun was peeking over the buildings, and the smell of gas and smog filled her lungs. She stepped aside and allowed a few of the other riders to move past her. They had stopped several times throughout the night, but aside from a quick bathroom break and stretching her legs, Ruby had stayed on the bus. The man that initially made her feel uncomfortable was one of the first to disembark. The first thing she noticed was that he didn’t have a bag with him. She hadn’t even realized that when she had first seen him, but who went on a long trip like this without any kind of luggage? She had watched him through the window, saw him make his way toward a black stretch limo, get in, and then watched as it drove away. Why would he ride the Greyhound when he clearly had access to a limo? As he rode away in the limo, she put thoughts of him out of her head.

  Inhaling the smoggy air wasn’t pleasant, but she did feel freer. She walked over to a stack of newspapers, paid for one, and moved over to one of the plastic seats bolted to the ground. Ruby needed to find a place to sleep for a few nights until she found something more permanent. She had seen a stack of pamphlets, ones that had advertised less than attractive motels, but they had been in her price range—meaning dirt-cheap. She was starving, the morning weather was chilly, and the stops they had made along the way interrupted any sleep that she had gotten on the bus.

  People were laughing and walking by, children were complaining about being hungry and tired—which she could relate to—and a small group of younger guys stood off to the side smoking cigarettes and speaking low. Ruby leaned over and grabbed a few of the pamphlets she had seen about the motels. She looked them over, not knowing exactly where to start, and feeling a little out of place. Truth be told, as excited as Ruby was to start this new chapter in her life, she felt lost inside of herself and more than a little afraid.