Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
There was a big and elaborate wedding reception planned that was also supposed to take place at the Cathedral but I’m guessing that’s no longer needed. He proved his point and made me his wife.
We sit in silence as the driver takes the curvy two-lane road while the rain comes pouring down. He takes us downtown and my heart races when he pulls under the awning of the hotel, knowing why we’re here. I was hoping that he’d skip this part. The valet opens the back door for us, and Tyson exits. It takes me a moment to get back by the door, and I mumble a thank you as a man at valet helps me out.
“Congratulations.” The guy smiles when his eyes land on my wedding dress, and I feel my shoulders slump, unable to thank him this time. No matter how rude of me that is.
Tyson takes my hand and drags me up the black velvet stairs and through the glass door. I feel eyes on us, so I keep mine on the white marble floor with the black diamond inlay design.
My heels get caught in the dress, and I almost trip, but he yanks on my hand, keeping me up.
We make our way through the elaborate lobby of the luxury hotel and to the elevators. We have to wait for ours, and I try to calm my breathing. I’ve spent a lot of my childhood here at the Minson. My father owns it. He has over five hundred locations in the United States alone. People check in having no clue what kind of illegal activity goes down here. The Lords place their members throughout the world to benefit their society. They will take the worst kind of evil, dress it up in a ten-thousand-dollar suit and give them an expensive bottle of scotch and the ability to suck your soul out of your body without you knowing. I’ve seen my dad do it too many times. Poor bastards never see it coming.
Our elevator opens up, and we step into it. Tyson pulls out a card before scanning it. This is the only one that has access to the floor. H for honeymoon suite lights up and takes us over twenty-five floors up in silence.
I run my wet hands down my dress when the door slides open, and we step into the suite. On any other day, it would be gorgeous. Red and white rose petals litter the white and gray marble floor. A black circular table sits in the middle of the foyer. A glass vase sits on top with the most beautiful red roses I’ve ever seen, and a bottle of champagne along with two flutes sits on either side.
He walks past them, stepping down into the open living room. I slowly follow.
“Gavin will be here shortly.” He finally speaks to me, making my pulse race.
I’ve heard that name before. I’ve seen him a couple of times when he came to visit my father. I’m pretty sure he’s a doctor. That has to be wrong. “Who … who is he?” That’s my biggest fear. That he’ll whore me out. Let others use me because I’m no use to him. Sell my body to make him some extra cash. This isn’t a marriage out of love. So why would he treat me with respect?
“A doctor,” he clips, removing his black tuxedo jacket from his broad shoulders while walking farther into the room. I take a look around, seeing more flowers all over. The overwhelming smell almost makes me gag.
I swallow nervously. Afraid I was right. “Why … why do we need a doctor?”
He comes to a stop and turns to face me, his baby-blue eyes scrutinizing my smeared makeup from the downpour. I hate that I care what I look like right now. “Are you on birth control?”
My cheeks flush. Luke didn’t want me on birth control. He wanted a baby straight away. An heir. A Lord is nothing if he doesn’t have someone to carry on his name. I hadn’t quite figured out how I was going to keep that from happening, but I wasn’t going to have Luke’s child. I answer Tyson. “No.”
“Exactly.” Turning his back to me, he goes over to the baby grand piano. A silver tray sits on top with a tinted decanter with an M in the middle. He removes the glass diamond top and pours the whiskey into one of the glasses that sits next to it. “The last thing I want to do is knock you up,” he adds.
I want to be happy that he doesn’t want to get me pregnant because I don’t want kids either. But instead, it pisses me off because it’s just one more way he’ll control me. Why wouldn’t he take away my ability to reproduce?
Taking in a deep breath, I remind myself it’s something we agree on. But that thought also makes the hair stand on the back of my neck. He’s going to fuck me. I knew this day would come. That it would be my wedding day. That a man would take my virginity. I just never thought it’d be my sister’s ex.
A part of the agreement of me being handed over to Luke was that I was a virgin. I know the Lords have to abstain from sex their first three years at Barrington. He wanted me to remain one until our wedding night. If I didn’t bleed for him, then I would be considered a whore. My parents promised him my innocence, and I had to deliver. I know for a fact that Luke had been fucking women the past few years. I didn’t care. I actually prayed to God, hoping that Luke would fall in love with one of them and forget about his arrangement with me. They were not answered. Instead, God laughed at me and sent me someone far worse than Luke.
“Here.” Tyson offers me the second glass of whiskey, and I look from it to him, making no attempt to take the drink from his hand. “I didn’t drug it,” he growls.
“I don’t believe you.” I lift my chin. He could have very easily slipped something into it since we entered the room. It only takes a second to spike a drink. I know. I’ve seen it done before.
He rolls his eyes and throws the one he’s offering me back, proving that it was, in fact, not laced with something. Setting both down on the tray, he walks over to me, closing the distance, and I stiffen. “Why would I drug you?”
I swallow nervously but answer honestly. “Makes me compliant. Easier to take advantage of.”
Reaching up, he runs his hand through what’s left of my bun, pulling bobby pins loose and letting them drop to the floor at our feet. The long, wet curls fall down across my bare back and over my shoulder, some falling in front to frame my face. “That would be too easy.” He finally speaks, his knuckles brushing it off my shoulder. “I want you to feel me holding you down. I want you to hear yourself gasping for breath when I force you to come. And I want your eyes on mine while I make you cry. I’ll never drug you, Lake, because I don’t need you compliant. You’re now my wife, and I can take whatever I want from you.”
My throat closes up while his eyes bore into mine. He’s got it all figured out. I hadn’t realized until just now that he’s had this planned. I thought it was a last-minute thing. Like he just woke up this morning and decided he would crash my wedding and make me his wife. But I was wrong. He’s had this plan for quite some time. The Cathedral, the hotel-he’s rubbing it in my father’s face. It wouldn’t have been hard for him to figure out any of this information. It’s been in the works for years. My parents and Luke making a big deal out of this day. “Tyson, please…”
“You’ll do that too, little darling.” His hand moves to cup my jaw and he lowers his lips to my forehead, brushing them against my skin. Words spoken as soft as the tender kiss and my pulse races at how calm he can be. How well he can hide what he really feels. He hates me and my family. I’m nothing more than an outlet for his revenge.
His cell rings, making me jump, and he pulls away to answer it. “Hello? Yes, send him up.”
The elevator dings before the door opens, and he turns, giving me his back. I let my shoulders fall while trying to calm my breathing.
“Mr. Crawford. Good afternoon, sir,” a man’s voice says.
“Who the fuck are you?” Tyson growls.
“I’m Jackson,” the man answers.
“Where the fuck is Gavin?” he snaps.
“He got caught up in surgery and asked me to fill in for him.”
Tyson pauses a second before he speaks. “She’s in here.” They enter the open living room a few seconds later. Tyson is holding his cell to his ear, eyes on me. But after a few seconds, he hangs up.
“Hello, Mrs. Crawford.” The kid gives me a big smile, and my stomach sinks that that’s what I’ll be known as now until the day I die. So easily stripped of my maiden name that once meant something to me. Minson is known around the world-wealth and power are just a couple of things. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always hated that my father is a Lord and the life we have to live, but that doesn’t mean I want to be a Crawford either. “This will only take me a second.” He places a briefcase on top of the piano and pops it open, pulling out a couple of packages. He rips one open, revealing a syringe, and the other is a vial full of liquid.
“Whoa.” I take a step back. “I thought-“
“You’re getting on the shot,” Tyson interrupts me, and I look over at him to see he’s now standing at the island in the kitchen, making himself a new drink. “Too many women are irresponsible when it comes to taking the pill, and I refuse to wear a condom when I fuck my wife.” He glares at me, daring me to argue.
My cheeks redden at the way he talks to me in front of this stranger in the room, but this is one fight I’ll let him win.
The guy inserts the syringe into the vial and pulls back the plunger, filling it with the liquid. Once done, he looks at me. “Turn around and pull up your dress.” His eyes drop down to the train, and he frowns. “Tyson might have to hold it for me.”
I take several steps back away from him, my heels tripping over the silk material, and I fall onto the bench seat at the piano. “Excuse me?” I shriek, wide-eyed.
“Turn around-“
“You will administer it in her arm,” Tyson snaps at the man, and I flinch when I hear him slam the glass down.
“Of course.” The man nods, walking over to me. He opens the new alcohol pad before rubbing it on my arm. He lets it dry and then grabs the skin. “Small pinch,” he says and sticks me.
I don’t even feel it. Too many other things running through my mind right now. “How long will it take?” I ask, hoping he says days, maybe weeks. It could buy me some time to stay a virgin if Tyson refuses to wear protection.
“When was your last menstrual cycle?” the guy asks.
“Earlier this week,” I answer softly, counting the days in my head. Luke planned our wedding around my cycle. I’ve always been like clockwork. I just recently got off it.
He smiles. “You should be good then. As long as it’s five days out from when you started, it should work immediately.”
Fuck my luck.
“But I also brought some morning after pills that you can take just to be on the safe side. Just remember, they aren’t to be used as a form of birth control. Just last resort. You may experience some bleeding for the next couple of months but that’s nothing to worry about. Make sure to schedule another shot within twelve to thirteen weeks for it to be the most effective.” His eyes drop to my chest, and silence fills the large room.
My eyes shoot over to Tyson in panic. Am I payment? Will he let him fuck me now that I’ve received the shot? Is that another reason he’s putting me on birth control? So other men can’t get me pregnant when he allows them to fuck me? A Lord raising another Lord’s child? Unheard of as far as I know. If it’s not their bloodline, they don’t want it. It’s just another awful thing on a long list that disgusts me about these men.
Tyson was about to take another drink but sets it down. Not as hard as last time. “Is there a reason why you’re staring at my wife’s chest?” he demands.
I hate that my thighs tighten when he calls me wife. Like it actually means something. As if he will protect me. I could laugh at myself right now if I was alone. Tyson Crawford only cares about himself. History proves that.
“Oh no.” The guy chuckles. “The blood.” His eyes meet mine. “Do you need stitches?”
“She’s fine,” Tyson growls before I can say anything. “And your services are no longer needed.”