Beast's Demands (Crude Hill High Book 3) Read online

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  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2021 Sam Crescent

  ISBN: 978-0-3695-0403-6

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Audrey Bobak

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  BEAST’S DEMANDS

  Crude Hill High, 3

  Sam Crescent

  Copyright © 2021

  Chapter One

  Ashley

  I wasn’t used to being important.

  All my life, I’d been told how useless I was. How I’d destroyed my mother’s figure. Stopped her from finding the perfect man. How men didn’t want a woman with a kid. Before we moved to Crude Hill, I either hid out in my old bedroom when she had guests or left. I’d spent many nights camped out at a park, or down by one of the lakes while she pretended to be a single woman.

  I did all of that out of love.

  I loved my mother.

  So much.

  She was the worst and best person in my life. I loved her more than anything. Then he came along. A man with smooth words, and within a matter of months, we’d gone from living a life of struggle to luxury. He was a married man with a family. He didn’t require me to leave. Knew all about the daughter, and for a short time, everything was perfect. Or as perfect as it could have been. He’d told me straight, I wasn’t going to get anything out of the arrangement that he wasn’t willing to give. While he had my mother eating out of the palm of his hand, he had a whole host of other plans for me.

  Strange how life turned out.

  The same man who held the threat of my life over my head was the same man whose daughter I befriended. I didn’t do it on purpose. Emily was … everything. She was the best friend I never had before. She didn’t have to stick up for me, but she did.

  She was the first and last person to put her life on the line for mine. It was because of her that I was alive.

  Staring across my room, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the door. I had no choice but to focus on something. I would be sick if I didn’t.

  Earl Valentine.

  Emily said she’d seen him. I’d hoped she’d been wrong, but now, for whatever reason, I’d been taken. I was locked away on a boat. Damn it. I hated this.

  Why did people think it was so cool to go out in open water?

  It was fucking scary.

  Sickness swirled within my gut. All I wanted to do was throw myself overboard and vomit.

  I didn’t.

  I couldn’t.

  The door was firmly locked from the outside.

  Fucking fuckers.

  I hadn’t eaten in hours.

  What was this game? More importantly, what was his game? I’d met Earl once, and I couldn’t even be sure if it was the same man.

  Seven years ago, at the party that had changed my life, I’d danced with a man. He’d held me, stared at me, and for a short time, I’d felt like the only person who had existed in his world.

  Was it the same man?

  I’d thought about him often over the years.

  This was what I’d turned into. A woman so desperate for attention and affection, she’d imagined a man into some kind of being.

  I sucked.

  Big time.

  After running fingers through my hair, I glanced around the room while wrapping my arms back around my legs and keeping my body right. With how unstable everything was, I didn’t want to let go of anything.

  The water.

  Why?

  Ugh. I was going to be sick.

  As if on cue, the door lock flicked open, and Earl Valentine stood in the doorway. Seven years was a long time, but I would recognize those shoulders and hands anywhere. The scar down his face wasn’t scary or ugly, but sexy, showing how dangerous he actually was.

  Neither of us spoke.

  I watched him.

  Waiting.

  Terrified.

  Curious.

  I was a lot of things all mixed into one.

  He was right here, in front of me, well, a few feet away.

  “You’re awake.”

  “I want to go home. This isn’t funny.”

  Earl smiled, but it wasn’t a nice one. Something sinister and dark lay behind his gaze, promising. I didn’t want to know this man too intimately.

  There was a lot more to this man than what met the eye. After years of seeing my mother move from dick to dick, I’d gotten a pretty good read on them. I recognized a keeper, a loser, an asshole, and the man you really shouldn’t catch the eye of. Earl Valentine was one of those latter men.

  “You think I’m doing this for your amusement?”

  “What do you want?”

  “A lot of things.”

  “Last time I heard, it was a cherry you wanted to pop.” I hated speaking the words, but I wasn’t going to cower from this man.

  Seven years, Emily and I had formed a life together. She was sad most of the time, but there were always rare sparks of light in our darkness.

  I loved her like a sister, and right now, being trapped on a boat with this man, it would leave Emily alone.

  Earl tilted his head to the side, and I realized I’d surprised him.

  Good. I’d grown up.

  Since I’d been alone with Emily, we only had each other to count on. No men. No fathers. No mothers. Just the two of us, and we’d been doing quite well on our own.

  Looking at Earl now, even though I didn’t want to believe it, I just knew our time together had come to an end. I was stupid and naïve to have thought it would last a little longer. Happiness was always rare and short-lived.

  Having a mother like mine taught me that.

  There were times she’d feel guilty for the way she treated me, and for a week tops, she’d be the perfect mother, attentive until boredom hit her, or she believed she’d done what was needed.

  Either way, she’d hated me by the end of it.

  I was still alive. She was six feet under. Her thirst for a good life had caught up with her and nearly ended the both of us.

  “Where’s Emily?”

  “I believe right about now she’s back in Crude Hill.”

  This made me tense. “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No, they can’t take her back. She’ll be killed if she goes back there.” I knew all about the contract the four Monsters had made to keep Emily and me safe. Even though they were completely in love with her, they couldn’t have her. Their fathers made sure of it.

  It was why I’d gotten to live. They’d bargained her life and mine.

  The thing about Crude Hill and the Monsters’ Crew was that they had a rule. Once a man was a traitor or a rat, everyone in his family was taken down with them. No one was allowed to survive.

  I was as good as dead because of my mother’s connection to Emily’s father. We both should be dead. Rotting away somewhere. Instead, we got seven years.

  “This isn’t funny,” I said.

  “I’m not laughing.”

  “Then you’ve got to stop Emily. I know you wanted her virginity once and all of that crap that went with it, but she’s not the same person, okay? Please, do not let her get killed. She’s my best friend.” I hated to beg.

  Staring at Earl, I despised
feeling desperate enough to ask him to help her, to save her.

  “Emily has her hands full, Curves. She doesn’t need my help or my interference.”

  I wanted to hit him. The urge swept through me like a sick and twisted wave of desire. I held on to it as I stared at him.

  At that moment, my stomach decided to make its presence known by growling. It had been too long since I last ate.

  “Follow me.” He turned and started out the door.

  Looking around the room, I tried to think of anything that could be used as a weapon. Nothing came to mind.

  “Don’t even try. There’s nothing you can do, Ashley.”

  I clenched my hands into fists. This anger wasn’t something I was used to.

  Taking a deep breath, I followed him out of the cabin and to wherever he wanted to take me. I kept my gaze focused straight ahead.

  I was sure the boat was rocking left and right. There were a few times I was convinced a sea monster was bumping the side, wanting to tip us over so he could have a snack.

  Yeah, I had a thing for shark movies. Giant sea creatures, anything.

  Emily didn’t share my enjoyment. I went from the extreme of loving shark movies to being a lover of all things romance. I was a sucker for them. I wasn’t a horror kind of girl, though. I couldn’t stand them. There was nothing worse than being frightened out of your wits.

  We headed out onto the top of said boat, and now I knew it was more of a yacht. The extravagance was clear. The crew didn’t talk to me, but they nodded at Earl. He was the one in charge.

  We moved to the back of the boat, or was it the front? Either way, it was a deck with a parasol to protect from the hot sun. I was sweating. I hadn’t showered, and the clothes I was wearing were designed to take on dreary England. Not this kind of heat.

  I was sure I stank. I could feel the sweat trace down my back.

  Earl took a seat. I realized he was dressed all in white.

  He rested his hands clasped together in front of himself. The power he exuded, even outside in the open air, shocked me. This man was used to getting what he wanted. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was so used to getting what he wanted, why did he wait this long to exact revenge?

  A virgin was what he wanted.

  Emily didn’t give herself to him, and he’d lost, big time. As I watched him now, I wondered what the hell he could want. Where did I come in? I was nothing. No one. I wasn’t important. I didn’t deal with powerful people. All I was good for was keeping an eye on Emily and cooking. I commanded a kitchen. I made those ingredients my bitch.

  “Take a seat.” He pointed at the chair opposite him.

  The last thing I wanted to do was follow orders, but I found myself lowering into the seat provided.

  A woman wearing a bikini approached, pouring him something out of a jug.

  “A drink?”

  “I don’t drink.”

  “It’s water, Ashley. You need it.”

  I nodded at the woman and hoped my nerves didn’t show. Earl was the kind of man Emily was used to dealing with, not me. I wasn’t used to any of this, and I feared it showed. I didn’t want it to show.

  He lifted up his drink and took a sip. Once mine was poured, I followed suit. The water was nice, cold, refreshing.

  Quickly, I put the glass down. My hand shook, and I hated to show any kind of weakness. Hated this so much.

  Earl was watching me again.

  His hair had grown out some, I thought. He didn’t have long hair, but thick. The length was enough to grab hold of and grip in place as he did … other things. I didn’t even know why my thoughts went to sex.

  I’d never been the kind of woman to be curious about the opposite sex. After all that my mother went through, I did everything in my power to avoid it.

  At least I was still alive.

  I hated the way he stared at me. He saw everything, and I didn’t have the power to stop him from looking.

  Tucking some hair behind my ear, I waited, knowing this wasn’t going to go well if I spoke up. All I could think about was Emily. We hadn’t been apart before. Seven years was a long time to get to know one another.

  Time ticked on by. I couldn’t keep looking at him. My gaze went around the boat, and seeing the ocean swirling around us didn’t bring me any comfort. A storm. A giant sea monster. We were all as good as dead.

  “I can play this game forever,” Earl said.

  I looked at him. “I’m not playing any game. I’m not here of my own free will. You got me, remember? I don’t need to talk. This is all you.” The desire to keep on rambling was strong, but I nipped it in the bud. I didn’t want to completely irritate him, even though the very thought was fun.

  Earl watched me and suddenly leaned forward. On instinct, I jerked back. It wasn’t even an intention of doing that, but it happened quite quickly.

  “I won’t hurt you. You’ve got no reason to fear me.”

  I laughed. “No reason to fear you? You’ve taken me out in the middle of nowhere. I’ve got no family. All I’ve got is Emily. I’ve got every reason to be afraid.”

  Earl rubbed his hands together. “Then how about we agree I won’t hurt you.”

  “You expect me to believe you?”

  “I’ve never hurt you before.”

  “I’ve done nothing to deserve it.”

  “And you think you’re going to end up with me hurting you?”

  I licked my lips. My mouth was suddenly dry. I wanted the water but I didn’t want to move. This man was dangerous. The last thing I wanted to do was incite his anger.

  “I have no idea what you want from me. Why don’t you tell me what you want?”

  He snapped his fingers, and the people closest to him all started to leave, giving us space.

  “I was offered a very precious reward for my compliance, and that was taken from me. Emily is not mine. Never has been. However, I still want my gift.”

  I stayed perfectly still. “I can’t magically grow Emily a hymen.”

  Earl wrinkled his nose. “I’m not interested in Emily.”

  “I’ve never been gifted with genius, Mr. Valentine. You need to come out and tell me what exactly you want from me.”

  That smile again, only this time, it sent a shiver down my spine.

  “Oh, Ashley, I’m very much aware of what I want from you, and if you really thought about it, you’d be as well.”

  I needed water.

  “You’re a virgin. Untouched. I’ve been watching you and Emily for years. Much longer than the Monsters would even begin to imagine. At first, I wanted to take Emily. To hurt her. To ruin her. I know the Monsters are to be feared, but they underestimate me. I earned a great deal of money doing business with them, but I have plenty of money. It’s not an object for me.” He waved his hand in the air as if it didn’t matter. This was spoken by a man who clearly didn’t know what it was like to have nothing. To go day to day, wondering when the next paycheck was going to come in. “I want my cherry. I want an untouched woman, and you, Ashley, you’re that woman.”

  ****

  Earl

  Ashley was even more stunning up close than in any of the pictures I’d seen, or videos that had been taken over the years. After I’d first been taken for a fool by the men’s fathers, I’d had every intention of taking Emily, using her, putting her to work in one of the many brothels I owned, and getting my just reward. My virgin woman was gone, and I didn’t like being offered something so precious for it to be taken away so swiftly. It pissed me off.

  I wasn’t a man to be messed with.

  Over the years, I’d made sure to build a reputation that everyone feared. I killed without mercy. Crude Hill may be home to monsters and thugs. I was worse than all of them. I was a fucking beast.

  I didn’t need a reason to kill. I did it purely because I wanted to.

  Without mercy.

  For fun.

  I traded in lives for cash, and I reveled in it. Watching men and women fall f
or the first strip of human flesh. What I did made me sick. To many, I was probably the worst kind of person to ever live, but I didn’t care.

  Life was a game, and I loved to play it.

  All I’d ever demanded was truth, loyalty, and the knowledge that when the time came for me to take a woman, she’d be untouched.

  Ashley was that woman.

  No man had even had the pleasure of kissing those full, plump lips.

  I couldn’t wait to tutor her. To have her kissing me. The idea of training her to accept my touch, to learn to fuck me exactly how I liked, well, it certainly made my dick rock-hard.

  Sipping at my drink, I saw her glance at her own glass but refuse to actually take it.

  Stubborn woman.

  The position I was offering her was something most women would jump at. I’d had many women who worked for me beg to service me. They craved to be at my mercy. Of course, they’d experienced many a fat cock in their body, and I didn’t have an interest in sharing.

  I was a selfish, greedy bastard. A hypocrite. I was far from a virgin myself. All in the form of entertainment, I’d done some degrading stuff just to amuse myself with how far I could push a woman.

  When it came to Ashley, she would never know a man’s touch. Never feel another’s cock inside her body. Every single part of her would belong to me. She would be my ultimate possession.

  Mine.

  “This is a joke.” She stood up and swayed a little.

  The clothing she wore wasn’t designed to take this level of heat. I reached for her, but she swatted my hand away.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  I gripped her shoulders. No one told me what to do. I forced her to take a seat and snapped my fingers at the woman holding a tray of fruit. After taking some pieces off the platter, I pressed them to Ashley’s mouth.

  “Open, or I force you to eat. Either way, I’m not having you die on my fucking watch. I’ve got too much shit to do, Ashley.” The Monsters would cause me a great deal of problems if they found out Ashley had died. I had no interest in killing her.