Conquer

  Daemon pulled out of me and I groaned from the loss of fullness within me. Flipping me over, he pushed me up on to my knees before pulling my body up flat against his. His chest, slickened with sweat, heaved against my back from his labored breathing as his hands came up to cup my breasts. He pinched the tips between his fingers and I cried out as the pleasure mixed with pain ran down the thread connecting my breasts to my core. I arched my body to push myself harder against his hands.

  His words were breathless as he spoke into my ear. “You need to understand, Damsel, that from this day forward, you are the only woman that I will bury myself within. No matter how often I have you, it will never be enough. Even if you attempted to escape me, I will hunt you down and drag your stubborn little ass right back to my bed.” His teeth closed over my earlobe causing my head to roll back from the sensation. He let go of my earlobe and chuckled softly behind me. “Give in to me, Paige. Let go of all your grief, your fear, your anxieties about the future and let me fill the empty spaces created within you from the loss of all that unnecessary bullshit. You can fight against me all you want, but you should know that there is nothing in this world that will keep me from having you in every way that I want.” His right hand traveled down my abdomen, finding its way to the apex of my thighs. When his thumb met with that wonderful bundle of nerves, my legs quaked as a shudder rolled over my body. His long finger found its way within me causing me to tighten around him as my mouth opened to let out a silent cry. Like a toy he wound me up until I didn’t think I could take anymore. His hand moved from my breast to my throat as he continued his southern assault. Just as his fingers closed, lightly preventing my breath, he pushed me forward so that he could fill me again. Within seconds I was floating within a hormonal cloud, feeling like I had lost touch with the physical plane. My body floated back down from its peak, only to be taken back again; over…and over.

  I lost count of how many times Daemon drove my body to the peaks of ecstasy that evening. All I could remember, all that mattered was the last thing I remember Daemon whispering as my body finally gave way to sleep. “I’m here with you, Damsel…always and forever.”

  Chapter Five

  ~~Daemon~~

  “Come inside for a while, Buddy. It’s hot out there and you need to rest up and get some water in you. Paige, you should come inside as well, baby girl.”

  My mom’s head was poked outside of the back door of The Center. Her eyes were turned up to the branch of the tree as Paige and I grumbled while making our way down as instructed. We’d spent the day playing in the backyard, chasing dragonflies and exploring the woods. Same thing we did every day, but it never got old. I jumped down into the bottom of the large tree and looked up to help Paige. I spotted her sitting three branches above me, trying to get her footing on the branch below her. A smile broke out at the corners of my mouth and I chuckled watching her attempt to climb down. She never had any problem making her way up the limbs, but ever since that day I pushed her out of the tree, she always hesitated on her way back down. I felt bad for having done that, causing her to fear something she never feared before. I couldn’t help but laugh though. She looked real funny wrapped around the limb like she was.

  Paige’s eyes narrowed when she caught me laughing at her. “Need some help?” Her eyes narrowed even more at my question and I could tell she would rather stay up in the tree than admit that she needed my help getting back down.

  “No!” Her cherub face screwed up into a stubborn little scowl causing me to laugh even harder. “Stop laughing, Buddy. It’s not funny. My legs aren’t as long as yours. It’s harder for me to reach the next branch.”

  I stared up at Paige. She kept swinging her foot out, attempting to step on the lower limb. Her foot never quite made contact because her arms had a death grip on the branch she was on. My patience was running thin so I started climbing up after her. “Come on, Paige. You have no problem getting up, you should have no problem getting down.”

  When Paige’s foot couldn’t make contact with the limb below her, she panicked and pulled herself higher onto the branch above her. I became nervous for her and noticed that she was becoming more upset. “You need to climb down to me, Paige. I’m right here if you slip. You only have to make it down another branch to get to me. Just try for me, please. I promise you, Paige, I won’t let you fall.”

  Paige’s face turned to look at me and I saw a single tear roll down her cheek. I knew she was embarrassed, so I tried to keep my face as blank as possible to keep from making it worse.

  Her little arms finally started to relax, lowering her body enough that her foot firmly landed on the lower branch. She slid slowly down to the limb below her and I was able to reach up and steady her as she climbed down to the branch where I was waiting for her. As soon as she reached me, I wrapped my arms around her and held her until she started to calm down.

  Forcing her little face up to look at me, I reminded her, “You have to stop being afraid of falling, Paige. You’ve never fallen before, except for that one time, and that was my fault, not yours. You’re a good climber and you need to remember that. You don’t need me or anyone else to get you down. Understand?”

  She nodded her head once but refused to look me in the eye. I knew she was being headstrong so I choose to ignore it this time instead of poking fun at her like I would normally do.

  When we finally reached the ground Paige started running towards the back door. I easily caught up to her and reached out to grab her shoulder. Once I got ahold of her, I shoved her back so that she landed on the ground with a heavy thud on her bottom. Almost instantly, her arms crossed over her chest and she looked up at me with that cute little scrunched up face.

  “Well, what are you doing just sitting there? Get up, Paige. You’re not going to be able to do anything about it by sitting on the ground like that.” When she didn’t move, I sighed and walked over to help her up. I had every intention of shoving her back down again because she knew better than to wait for me to help. I would keep doing this with her until she finally learned that the only person who would pick you up when you fall was yourself. As soon as I got near her, I reached my hand down to help her and chuckled as she reached up to accept my assistance. Just before our hands joined, her little leg kicked out and caught me in the knee. I fell to the ground and my hands instantly went to my leg from the pain.

  Paige jumped up from the ground, not waiting for me to push myself up. She ran to the back door and opened it. Before walking inside, she turned around and stuck her little tongue out at me.

  I laughed as she disappeared inside the building. It was about time she started defending herself. I was proud of her. If she kept that up, she would never end up like my mom.

  I walked inside and headed back to the room my mom and I shared. I could hear the radio playing some old Southern rock and mom sat on the bed humming along with the music. She looked happy and I wondered why her mood had suddenly turned. We’d been here for almost three months and up until recently, she never seemed to smile. As soon as mom caught sight of me, she opened her arms, inviting me in for a hug. I walked over to her and she pulled me in for a tight hug. Holding me to her, she started singing the lyrics of the song before stopping and asking, “Do you know who sings this, Buddy?” I shook my head and looked at her funny. I’m seven. How am I supposed to know who sings some random song? She laughed before saying, “This is Lynyrd Skynyrd. Song’s called ‘Simple Man’. It’s one of my favorites.” Her hand came up to ruffle my hair. “Reminds me of you little buddy.”

  I looked up at her in question and she smiled brightly. “It’s what I want for you. I pray every day that you’ll grow up strong, fall in love, get married and be happy. So many people spin their wheels out there trying to get rich, or control the world, but they’re never happy.” Her face fell as she thought back on some distant memory. “Your daddy, well, he’s never satisfied. When everything goes bad he turns to drinking and drugs and that’s why he gets like he does.
”

  My face twisted at the mention of my father. Mom just kept rocking back and forth to the beat of the song. “You know what I think? I think you’re sweet on Paige. Maybe she could be your wife someday. You’d be lucky to have her. I bet that girl is going to grow up to be a beauty. But, Buddy, no matter who you end up marrying, you treat that girl like a queen. Every girl deserves to be loved and cherished. Don’t become like your daddy. Don’t fill up with so much hate that it poisons you. Nothing good comes from it and everyone around you would end up getting hurt. I don’t want that for you, baby.”

  When Mom had stopped talking she turned me around to look me in the eye. “You be a simple man, Buddy. You get married, you love your girl, you make babies if you want, but you better make sure to look out for them.”

  I squirmed at what she was saying. “Mommy, I’m not marrying no one, and especially not Paige. She’s annoying.”

  Mom laughed a deep belly laugh at those words. “You might say that now, Buddy, but mark my words; one day that girl is going to turn your head like no one else. I can already see it between you two. Don’t know what to call it, but you are two halves of one whole and I think God, or fate, or whatever you want to call it has plans for you. Keep looking out for her Buddy and stop pushing that girl around.” Mommy shot me a pointed look. “Don’t think we don’t see you doing it. Paige’s momma is about to whoop you good for it. But, I talked to her. She knows you care about that girl, so she hasn’t done nothing…yet.”

  I twisted out of my mom’s hold and folded my arms across my chest. “I’m not trying to hurt her mom, I’m just teaching her not to cry, not to sit around and take it.”

  My mom’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “That’s a bad way to teach her, don’t you think? Why do you think you need to teach her that, anyway?”

  “Because nobody taught you that, and look what happened. Daddy hurt you over and over again and you never did nothing about it.”

  Mommy cried and folded in on herself at my words. I felt bad and reached out to take her hand. Choking back sobs, she looked at me and finally said, “I know I haven’t been able to do much to make things better, but things are going to change, Buddy. Don’t you worry. Someday…things are going to change.”

  ~

  ~~Paige~~

  I stood in the full length mirror putting my hair up into a bun. Today was the first day of training with Daemon and I was excited to show him that I could kick his ass with my eyes closed if I wanted to. Laughing to myself, I adjusted my shorts on my hips and pulled my tank top into place. I could hear Daemon in the living room listening to the radio.

  Is that Lynyrd Skynyrd he’s playing?

  After I was finished dressing, I walked into the bathroom to wash my face and came back out to find Daemon’s large form leaning against the doorway of the room. His hair was still wet from the shower he’d taken earlier and I had to brace myself to keep from running to him to lick away every leftover drop of water that slowly slid down his skin. His chest glistened from the moisture that still adorned his body and my eyelids suddenly felt heavy and hooded as I took in the lines of his abdomen which dipped down to the top band of the cotton shorts that hung off his narrow hips. Holy crap, the man was a masterpiece if I’ve ever seen one.

  “You look ready to go.” The corner of his mouth twisted up into a grin and I melted a little where I stood when that dimple on his cheek popped out.

  “Well…I was.”

  His head tilted slightly as he looked at me for an explanation.

  I let out an exasperated huff of air before saying, “If I have to kick your butt today, I’m going to need you to put on a shirt, Daemon. I can’t concentrate very well, with all of you showing like that.”

  Daemon laughed and sauntered over to me. Taking me in his arms, he leaned down and placed a kiss on my forehead. “Number one, Damsel, I will be putting on a shirt and number two…you won’t be kicking my butt.”

  I looked up at him and smiled innocently. Batting my eyes, I said, “Oh, you have no idea, Daemon. You have yet to see my ninja skills in full force.”

  He chuckled and reached down to take my hand and push me towards the door, slapping me one time on the ass as I passed by. “Go wait for me in the living room, Damsel. I’m going to throw on a shirt, and maybe some padded gear, just in case those ninja skills are as scary as you claim.” He winked at me and then turned to walk into his closet. I threw a few eye daggers in his direction before making my way out into the living room. Eventually, Daemon joined me and we walked down to the garage.

  The gym I was being taken to was thirty minutes from Daemon’s apartment. I flipped through the iPod plugged into the car, finally settling on a fast beat song. My eyes scanned the scenery through the window as it flew past while I was practically jumping up and down in my seat, excited to see what Daemon had in store for me.

  “Now remember, Damsel. This isn’t a state of the art gym we are going to. The place has seen better days and most of the people you meet there will be somewhat crotchety.” Daemon’s eyes briefly flicked my direction before settling back on the road.

  “I’m not worried about it. You said before that Frank used to take you there, right”

  “Yeah.” His voice was quiet, but the hint of a smile could be seen on his lips.

  “What was he like? How did my parents know him?” I was genuinely curious about the mysterious man that I never had the opportunity to meet. Come to think of it, I never really met many of my parents’ friends growing up. They were always so busy with the Center that on the rare occasion that we were able to get away, there was only time to visit with relatives. After my grandparents on both sides passed away, my parents didn’t seem to ever leave The Center.

  “He was a rough old Marine. He was as old-fashioned as you could get, strong as an ox, and didn’t put up with my shit.” Daemon chuckled as he remembered back. “The man scared the shit out of me when I first met him, and I spent that entire first night contemplating escape. His accent was so thick, you could barely understand what he was saying. First thing he said to me was, ‘Boy, now you and I will get along, as long as you don’t act like a stupid punk kid.’ He sounded kind of like Foghorn Leghorn from the Bugs Bunny cartoons.”

  I laughed as Daemon attempted to imitate a thick Southern accent. Needless to say, his imitation needed work.

  “I stayed with him, though…only because I had nowhere else to go but the streets. He was a good man, Paige. He whipped my ass into shape. Every time I did something stupid, or I started acting like a hothead, he had some random, menial task for me to do. Cleaning, fixing shit at the bar, working on old cars with him, it didn’t matter. Surprisingly, though, those tasks seemed to calm me down. He always told me that I needed to stop letting the shit I couldn’t control bother me, and instead, focus on the things that I could control, such as my actions and emotions. He took me to the gym to ‘work out’ my aggression. Said there was nothing wrong with fighting, as long as it was done legally.”

  I smiled as Daemon continued telling me his memories of Frank. He sounded like an interesting character and I was somewhat dismayed that I’d never been given the opportunity to meet him. “So, where does the control thing come into play with women?”

  Daemon smirked as he eyed me from his seat. “What makes you think that has anything to do with anything?” His eyes flicked back to the road before I could formulate a response.

  “I dunno. It just seems like it would. Is it an aggressive thing or what?” My foot suddenly became interesting as I attempted to avoid looking directly at him. For some reason, I was nervous about what his answer might be and it was easier if I didn’t look at him while I waited for his response.

  Daemon sighed before saying, “Honestly, Paige. I’m not sure what it comes from. A lack of respect, maybe…possibly an attempt to remain emotionally distant? I’ve thought about it often, but never came to any conclusions. All I know is that it turned me on; but then I met you and things changed
…”

  My eyes shot to him. “Changed?” A humorless laugh escaped me. “I’m going to control you, own you and possess you,” I deadpanned. “Sounds like nothing changed to me.”

  He barked out a laugh in response to my statement. “Yeah…well…that was the plan initially. However, when we got to that point, I couldn’t stop myself from worshipping you. Don’t get me wrong, Damsel, I thoroughly enjoy when you submit yourself to me entirely. It’s hot as hell. But, unlike other women, I don’t feel a need to control you. I want you there with me, completely, and not just on a physical level.”

  He flashed a sheepish look in my direction and I grinned. I remembered the one evening with Drunk Daemon and a chill ran through me. I was still in shock that other women had agreed to be treated in such a manner. There was no emotion, no mental connection, just a physical encounter. For some, that’s all that is needed, and that is fine for them…to each their own. Hell, technically the same thing could have been said for my relationship with Alex, even though I cared for him deeply, it was physical only. With Daemon it was different, he touched not only my body, but my soul as well.

  As we pulled up to the gym, my expression changed. ‘State of the Art’ was not the way I would describe this place. In fact, the terminology I would use to describe the gym was ‘condemned.’ The exterior of the building looked like an old warehouse that had been converted into a strip of shady business offices. The white paint was peeling, revealing the grey color of the metal paneling underneath. The roof was flat and the rain gutters that ran along the perimeter were falling down in some areas and entirely missing in others. Glass doors were evenly spaced across the front portion of the building. Some of the doors had stick on logos, whereas others lacked any type of identification at all. One door had what appeared to be a handwritten sign on a sheet of notebook paper. My eyebrow arched as I looked over our destination. “Uh…I know you said the place was run down, but I didn’t know you actually meant to say falling down.”