Chapter 79: The Danger of Gorgeous Men Who Engage in Rather Odd Recreational Activities

Octavia’s eyes traveled around the room, taking it all in.

Whips. Leather harnesses. Handcuffs. Leashes. Spreader bars. Collars. Cages.

At the sight of all the various equipment hanging from wire racks, it wasn’t hard to guess what recreational activities Lucas used the basement for.

There was even a clear space in the center of the room with a strange-looking bed illuminated with its own spotlight.

~Of course, he has a sex dungeon,~ Octavia thought. (Honestly, what else would you expect from handsome, wealthy, young, bachelor men? It’s completely logical.)

She felt his hand at her neck, stroking her cold skin.

“Welcome to my playroom,” Lucas said. He trailed his lips over the back of Octavia’s neck. His arms gripped her by her shoulders.

“You’ve…got a lot of stuff in here…,” Octavia remarked.

“I know. And you’ll get to experience every single one.”

Her heart didn’t jump for joy at this prospect. There were a lot of items in that room.

“Oh, goody…but I think there’s just one vital thing missing here…”

Lucas was a bit preoccupied using his tongue to sponge Octavia’s neck.

“CONSENT.”

Lucas chuckled. “Wait till I take you for myself. You’ll like it. The things I’ll do to you…you’ll never want to leave this room.”

Octavia noticed that he no longer had the knife in his hand. A quick glance confirmed he’d set it on a table nearby, amid an assortment of butt plugs.

Perfect.

“Do you want to know what I’m going to do to you?” Lucas murmured in her ear. “I’m going to spread you out on that bed and tie your hands and legs down. Then I’m going to—OOF!”

Lucas’s detailed play-by-play of the intended assault was cut short by Octavia driving her elbow into his middle.

With a quick step forward, she clasped both of her restrained hands and swung them in a large arc while whirling around.

Her fists drove into Lucas’s head like she was digging a volleyball. She immediately followed this up with a kick to his chest, a firm pushing kick that sent him stumbling across the room.

It was a combo that even the Crusher would have been proud of.

While Lucas went skidding over the floor, Octavia immediately lunged for the knife. Once she grasped it in one of her bound hands, she whirled to face Lucas.

He was still where he had landed from the force of her kick.

“Bitch!” he spat, scrambling to get up.

Octavia held the knife up at him, but he didn’t approach her. Instead, he reached for a switch near the door.

“I need someone down here now!” Lucas bellowed into an intercom mic.

He dabbed at the trickle of blood that was running down his face, coming from the bruised skin on his head where Octavia’s dig had landed.

“Put the knife down, Octavia,” Lucas said darkly. “My men will be here any minute. Just do what I say, and you won’t get hurt.”

Octavia’s eyes never left his bleeding face. But she juggled the knife in her hands and began sawing at the rope on her wrists.

“Looks like I’m going to get hurt either way,” she said. “I’ll take my chances.”

It wasn’t long before the clattering of feet was heard and two of his hired ruffians were banging at the door. Lucas unlatched the door quickly, and they clambered in. He pointed to Octavia.

“Tie her up,” Lucas said shortly.

Octavia was still sawing at her binds. She watched the two of them approach her warily, watching the knife. She backed away cautiously, still furiously working on her bind.

“Get her!” Lucas ordered.

In the moment the two men lunged forward, Octavia finally cut through the rope.

The knife flipped around in her hand, and she swung it out at her attackers, slashing one across the face and causing the other to wheel backward, narrowly missing the blade.

But Octavia had become possessed by a spirit of rage. The danger of her position was forgotten.

All she wanted to do was make this man pay for thinking he could just do with her, or anyone else, what he wanted. And just so he could feel better about his pathetic self.

Octavia was angrier than she’d ever been in her entire life. And she knew exactly how to let that anger out.

In a split second, she reached for the closest object she could get her hands on. It was some kind of steel paddle.

While one of her attackers still lay on the floor with a hand to his bleeding cheek, the other once again lunged for her.

His face met the flat side of the paddle as soon as he got within three feet of Octavia. Unlike using the knife, she was able to strike him at a distance, keeping herself safely out of his reach.

With the space between them, Octavia was able to kick at his knee, driving that joint inward in a direction knees aren’t meant to bend.

He fell to the ground with a loud cry, and Octavia drove her foot into his face, which promptly shut him up. The other crony had risen, and he grabbed the closest thing to him and approached Octavia.

He stretched a leather whip taut in his hands and eyed Octavia with a venomous look.

Octavia returned the venom in his eyes and suddenly hurled the paddle at his face. He easily dodged it, and it went flying past him and clattered across the floor. But that was the plan.

As soon as his head whipped back into place, Octavia was there.

She had stepped forward, crouched low, and then swung her leg in a wide arc. A firm, swift, roundhouse kick met her attacker’s head with the crack of her foot on his skull.

He instantly dropped to the floor and did not get back up.

Octavia stepped over both of them, her eyes trained on Lucas.

Lucas swore and then yelled again into the intercom. Just before Octavia closed in on him, two other of his cronies rushed in.

Octavia acted fast to catch them off guard. She grabbed two nearby spreader bars and swung them forward.

She hit one attacker in the face and the other in the balls. As they doubled over in pain, she brought both bars down on one’s back, sending him to the floor.

Then she whirled around to the other and swung one bar at his leg, making him trip. She quickly followed this up with a blow to his middle, tripling his pain, and a final blow to his head, knocking him out.

Again, she looked toward Lucas.

“I’ve got my own surprise for you, Lucas,” Octavia said, her voice cold, her eyes ruthless.

Lucas could only do so much to disguise his terror. He backed himself against the wall, his eyes darting to the door opening that was only a foot or so away from it.

But the look in Octavia’s eyes warned him not to even think about it.

Lucas desperately flashed her his disarming smile. “Octavia…you…you know I truly care for you. I would never do anything to hurt you…”

Octavia smirked. “Sure you wouldn’t. I want you to keep telling yourself that when I beat the shit out of you.”

Lucas’s face paled. He swore.

“Fuck you, bitch! I never wanted you anyway! I only brought you here to get back at Raemon. And it worked! No matter what you do to me, Raemon has paid the price!

“I did what I meant to do—I have destroyed him!”

Octavia listened to this impassively, mentally planning where her first hit was going to be. She wanted to go straight for his head, but then it would be over too quickly.

Maybe she wanted to break a few of his bones first before she knocked him out cold.

Suddenly a figure appeared in the open doorway.

Octavia’s eyes flicked away from Lucas, and she dropped her makeshift weapons in surprise.

Lucas’s panicked face followed her gaze, and he fairly jumped out of his skin at the sight of the man who had just shown up.

He stepped into the room as Lucas scrambled away from him, clinging to the wall in terror.

“Raemon,” Octavia remarked.

Raemon glanced at her with a scowl so deep it could turn living humans to stone. But the inferno in his eyes was not directed at her.

He only glanced at her to make sure she was all right, then his eyes went directly to Lucas.

“Lucas…,” he said slowly, stepping toward him. His fists were clenched at his sides, and his stride was purposeful—and it promised death.

“What are you doing here?” Lucas snarled.

“You think I couldn’t find you?”

“You’re too late! She chose me, Raemon, not you! You hear me? It will always be me over you. ME!”

Octavia blinked. In a second, Raemon lunged for Lucas. Lucas made an attempt at fighting back, but Raemon had years of internalized rage to let out.

They scuffled, Lucas attempting to throw Raemon to the ground, but Raemon brought a hand down on Lucas’s back, sending him to the floor.

He kicked at his side, and Lucas curled up in pain. Then Raemon pounced on him and began raining down punch after punch.

The moment was surreal. Octavia stood by, watching as Raemon hit Lucas, over and over. With each fist slammed into his face, Lucas’s gorgeous face transformed.

As the hits came raining down, the bruises appeared, and then the blood. Lucas’s body was still, but he mustered a strangled cry. Still, Raemon hit at him.

“Stop!” Octavia shouted.

The sound of her voice seemed to snap Raemon out of a trance. He froze, one clenched fist poised over Lucas’s bloody face.

Raemon’s breath was almost as ragged as the strained, choked gusts of air coming from Lucas’s mangled face.

Raemon stared down at him in silence before rising. His eyes remained on Lucas’s face, on his limp, battered body. On the blood staining his olive skin.

On the puffy, purple bruises marring his perfectly sculpted features.

Finally, Raemon turned to Octavia.

“Are you all right?”

Octavia remained motionless as he walked to her and took her in his arms.

“I’m fine.”

“What did that bastard do to you?” Raemon demanded, searching her eyes.

“Nothing. I’m okay, Raemon, honestly.”

“If he hurt you, I swear I’ll—”

“I’M FINE, goddammit,” Octavia snapped. “How many times do I have to say it?”

Raemon’s scowl deepened, and he fixed his intense gaze on Octavia but said nothing.

Octavia sighed. “I’m sorry…I didn’t need to snap like that. I’m just—”

She was cut short when Raemon pulled her into an embrace. His arms tightened around her body, pulling her as close to him as he could.

Octavia pressed against his body in surprise, but then she relaxed into his hold. She felt his words rumble through his chest.

“I…I thought I’d lost you…”

Octavia was silent. Her fingers curled around his shirt, and she buried her face in his shoulder.

When she finally spoke, she asked, “How did you even know it was him?”

“Lila told me.”

“What? Lila?”

“She came into my office, crying, and admitted what she’d done.”

“She’s sooooo not invited to girls’ night after this,” Octavia muttered. “But, wait, how did you know where I was?”

Raemon’s fingers tightened around her.

“I know this place. It’s the old apartments where I lived—where Lucas and I met.”

Raemon pulled away from her, enough so he could look down at her face.

“I had everywhere searched. I went to every place I could think of. The man had sold all his properties and cleared all his bank accounts. He wasn’t planning on being found.”

Raemon pressed his forehead to hers.

“This was the last place I would have thought to look. But when I discovered the name on the property deed was one of Lucas’s aliases, I knew this was where I would find you.”

Octavia sighed. “I can’t wait to get his ass thrown in jail.”

Suddenly Raemon’s head shot up. He looked to where Lucas had been lying only moments ago. The spot was now empty.

“He’s gone!”

Octavia whirled around to face the empty space. “Damn it! Sure knows how to skulk out of a place without being noticed. Just like the coward he is.”

“I’ll kill him,” Raemon was muttering to himself.

“Cool…but first, can we get out of here?”

Raemon shook his head. “I can’t let him escape this time. I’m going to make him pay.”

“Come on, the police can handle it.”

“I have to do this.”

Octavia scowled. “Oh SURE. You know what? You go on ahead and fulfill your revenge fantasy. Yeah, I’ll just sit here and wait while you go after the bad guy.

“I mean, it’s not like you were the one who was drugged and kidnapped and almost forced to become some lunatic’s sex slave, all because of some childhood trauma he didn’t have the sense to sort out in therapy!”

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Your issues are the priority here. CLEARLY.”

Raemon was quiet throughout Octavia’s rant. When she quieted, he took hold of one of her hands.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I should get you home.”

Octavia’s eyes dropped to the ground. “I’m sorry too. It’s not like any of this is your fault…not entirely anyway.”

She sighed. “Fuck. Being kidnapped turns me into a real bitch. I need to get out of here.”