Tame his Beast Part 1 Read online

  Beast sneered. “Real soon if you’re lucky, bitch.”

  Jenna shook her head and looked back at me. “Some men can’t be saved. They don’t want to be.”

  “Sure as hell don’t need saving from some uppity bitch like you,” he spat back. “Fucking clean me and get this shit over with.” He looked over at me. “And get the fuck out of here. This ain’t a motherfuckin’ circus, bitch!”

  I stumbled backwards, grasping for the handle on the door before throwing it open and getting the hell out of there. I slammed it shut behind me, feeling awful at leaving Jenna in there on her own but glad to be away from that horrible man. He was ugly both inside and out, and I didn’t want to spend any more time with him.

  Gauge, the man outside, began to chuckle and I glared over at him, my chest heaving with the need to shout or cry, or both.

  “He’s a fucking peach, ain’t he?” he sneered.

  “He’s such an—”

  “Yeah, yeah, he’s that as well,” Gauge cut in with a laugh. “Don’t take it personal. He hates everyone, not just you.”

  My mouth opened and closed. “He hates me?” I stammered. I hadn’t even thought of it that way. Why would he hate me? He didn’t even know me.

  “He hates everyone, including himself,” Gauge said before turning his attention back to his cell and effectively dismissing me.

  Beast hated me.

  And himself.

  I should hate him back for the way he treated me and the way he spoke to Jenna. But the stupid part of me didn’t. All I could think about doing was trying to take away some of his pain. I just didn’t know how to do that.

  Chapter Four

  ~ Beast ~

  Every part of my body hurt. With every drag of that damn sponge across my sensitive flesh, I wanted to scream. It was like dragging nails across my skin and slicing them into the muscles. At one point I would have loved being bathed by a hot-as-hell nurse. I would have seduced her and had her bent over my bed within five minutes. But now I was reduced to lashing out angrily at her so I didn’t cry out in pain.

  She had swiped over one of the worst scars on my stomach and all I could think about doing was rearing back and slamming my fist into that pretty face of hers. I wanted to see her cry. I wanted to see her trembling in fear, snot and tears colliding down her cheeks as she cowered beneath me. Blood running down her face as she begged for me to stop. I hated that the thought turned me on, but it did.

  I’d never in my life been violent to a woman—men, yes, but not a woman. Yet the image of her stripped naked with my handprints over her pale flesh was seducing me and making the violence inside of me grow.

  “Unless you want it cut off, I suggest you quit that,” the nurse snapped.

  I chuckled darkly and pushed all thoughts of violating the pretty Belle out of my mind. She didn’t need to know that I hadn’t felt a single thing from my cock since I woke up in the hospital over three months ago. Nothing, not even a twitch. I was dead from the waist down.

  “You had no place bringing her in here,” I said, staring up at the white ceiling as her hands moved down my thigh.

  “She needed to see that not all people were good.”

  She spoke matter-of-factly, like I was the epitome of the Devil or some shit. Hell, I guess I was.

  “Nice,” I said with a shake of my head.

  “She needed to take some of the emotion out of the job so she could get on with it. Every patient can’t be a bleeding heart or the job will kill her.” She dropped the sponge back into the bowl and dried her hands off, her gaze moving over the tender burns that were finally healing on the left side of my body.

  I’d been in here months. Some of it awake, and some of it in an induced coma. I was glad for the coma, because if the pain of what I’d woken up to was anything to live by then I wouldn’t have survived that first month if I’d been awake. Pain, so much pain.

  “So you brought her to see me,” I chuckled. “Bitch will probably quit after this little encounter. You’re welcome.”

  Jenna pulled out the tube of cream for my burns and my body involuntarily shuddered. Fucking hated that cream. Hated new bandages. Hated sponge baths. Hated this place and this room and this damned bed. Jenna’s scowl grew deeper.

  “What the fuck did I say now?”

  “Her name’s Belle, not bitch, not sweetbutt, and most certainly not your darlin’. Belle. Nurse Belle to you. And getting her to quit was not my intention, not ever.”

  I held up my hands and then winced as pain lanced down both arms when the scars and burns and bruises stretched with the too-quick movement. Fuck, that hurt.

  “I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not,” I said truthfully.

  “I wouldn’t want your apology anyway, Beast.” Jenna removed the cap on the cream. “A man like you doesn’t ever mean his apologies, so what would be the point.”

  “True,” I agreed.

  I gritted my teeth as she rubbed the cream into the worst burns, the pain making me feel sick. Everything hurt, all the fucking time. But the cream was like a thousand bees stinging me over and over and over and over. Little daggers of death pricking my skin and splitting me in two. Goddamn I hated the cream.

  “Almost done,” she said almost kindly, continuing on with her slow torture. “Just the big one to go now.”

  Great. Just the really big one that made me want to pull my own teeth out. Just fucking perfect.

  I let my mind go elsewhere. To a place better than this where I didn’t constantly hurt. Where my body was tattooed and sculpted to perfection, not shredded by knives and fire. Where my muscles weren’t wasting away in this fucking uncomfortable bed. To a place where grown men feared me and beautiful women adored me. I let my mind go there, ignoring the way my head spun and my stomach clenched with the need to vomit because it hurt so fucking much. I was shivering with the pain of it all and willing myself to not be there.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, replacing the cap on the cream and placing it on the cart next to her.

  I laughed bitterly, my body already covered in sweat again. “The fuck you are.”

  She frowned, grabbing a bandage and wrapping it around my burns and then draping the bedsheet back over me, mummifying and hiding my horrors from prying eyes.

  She removed her gloves and cleared away her torture devices before coming to stand next to the bed again.

  “You don’t make it easy, Beast,” she said, her voice softer than it usually was.

  “Nothing in this life ever is,” I said, my one eye gazing out the window at the dreary day outside.

  Doctor Collins wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to see out of my damaged eye again. Said it needed to heal. It needed time. And maybe, just maybe, if I was real lucky…

  “I am sorry. I’m a nurse; I don’t like seeing people in pain.”

  I snorted out a laugh. “That’s not what you just said.”

  She sighed and I looked back at her. My body felt like it was on fire all over again. Every muscle ached and burned and throbbed in angry, vibrant pain.

  “Men like me, we deserve what comes to us, right?” I bit out, and I rejoiced in the sadness that crept across her features and stole the softness that had filled her eyes. “We deserve it, so fuck it. Let’s bring in people and show them what happens to men like me. Ain’t that right, Nurse?”

  “That’s not what I said,” she stammered, but we both knew that was a lie.

  And we both knew that she was right too.

  Men like me didn’t deserve a second chance. We didn’t deserve kindness. We deserved a long, painful death and a one-way ticket to hell. And that was exactly what I’d gotten.

  “Yeah it is. How many men have you treated that I put in here, I wonder? How many men with bodies broken and skin destroyed? Men just like me that probably deserved it too, right?” The words tasted good on my tongue, the anger and violence that writhed inside me coming to life as she frowned harder at me and shook her head. “You wanna know a secre
t, Nurse? I enjoyed it every single time.”

  She frowned in confusion at me and I smirked. I was on a roll now, ready to destroy her little bubble of self-righteousness. Cunt thought she could come in here and speak to me like I was nothing. Like I hadn’t earned my place in this world. Like she had the right to judge me.

  “Every man that I broke, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the blood I spilled; their screams of pain, their cries of terror. I fucked women afterwards with their blood still on my hands and their cries inside my head.”

  I felt alive for the first time in months as I let it all out—every goddamned evil truth that spilled from my viper’s tongue.

  She swallowed and took a step back from me with a shake of her head. “I need to go.” She turned away from me and headed to the door.

  “I enjoyed the death I brought. The necks I snapped, the fingers I crushed, the hearts I tore apart. I enjoyed it every time. And when I leave here, I’ll go back to enjoying it all over again. Maybe more so, because now I know exactly how it feels. And when I send those men to the hospital, I’ll be sure to tell them to ask for you.”

  Jenna turned to look at me from the doorway. “You’re sick, Beast. Or should I say Nathanial?”

  I gritted my teeth. “That ain’t my name no more. I’m Beast. Beast by name and Beast by nature.”

  She smiled sadly and took a long breath. “Yes, you are, aren’t you.”

  “Keep that prissy little bitch out of my room or you’ll regret it,” I bellowed as she opened the door and left. “And bring me my fucking pudding!” I roared.

  God, what I would have given to get up and throw something. To smash my fist through the wall. To grab that fucking torture cart and throw it out the window and hopefully crush some poor innocent people below. But as it was, I couldn’t get up and move around like that because if I did I’d be in agony for hours. My scars would likely split back open and I’d be bleeding out on this godforsaken bed all over again.

  One day I’d be back on my feet again. One day I’d be strong and I’d be back to doing what I did best: killing and maiming and punishing anyone I saw fit.

  One day.

  And then the motherfuckers who put me here were gonna pay.

  They didn’t know pain. But they would.

  “Gauge!” I roared, fury and pain coursing through my blood.

  The door swung open and he strolled in like he had all the time in the world. “’Sup?”

  I glared at him, my teeth clenching so hard I was surprised they didn’t shatter. “Give me something,” I snarled.

  “Can’t. Nurse said I wasn’t allowed to give you anything else. Says you don’t need it and we’re fuckin’ you up more by givin’ it you.” He shrugged like that was the end of that discussion.

  “Brother, get your ass over here and give me something now before I drag myself out of this bed and tear your throat out with my teeth.” My hands clenched the covers.

  Gauge sighed. “Just a small hit to see you through the night. But she might be right about this; it might be time to start rolling this shit back. It can’t be helping with the healing much.”

  “Bitch don’t know shit about shit,” I snapped as he came closer, eager for the drugs to take me away from there.

  “She must know some shit—otherwise she wouldn’t be a nurse.” He pulled out the baggie of drugs and I almost foamed at the mouth at the sight of them. Needed them so bad my fucking teeth hurt.

  “Just give it to me.” I reached for them, snatching them out of his hand. “She don’t know nothing about me. Good-for-nothing bitch thinks men like us are all the same. That none of us are good for anything. Thinks that she’s better than us.”

  I sniffed the drugs up in one hit, feeling the buzz at the back of my brain almost immediately.

  “Fuck,” Gauge sighed. “She ain’t wrong about that.”

  “More,” I snapped.

  Gauge looked like he was about to argue with me but then thought better of it.

  “Whether she’s right or wrong isn’t the point, brother. That bitch has been in and out of this room for months, dragging me through hell and back and all the while looking down her pert little nose at me.”

  Gauge frowned. “Not to be a dick, brother, but she’s the only one that will come in this room anymore. No other doc or nurse will come near you, so maybe just reel it in a bit before you fuck it up for yourself. She’s just trying to help.” He pulled his cell out of his pocket and checked it. “Look, I’ve got one of the prospects coming to sit outside tonight. There’s a meeting I’ve got to go to, but I’ll be back in the morning to brief you.”

  I wasn’t listening to him anymore. I was already working out what I was going to do next. That nurse thought she was so good and pure. That a man like me wasn’t good enough for a woman like her or that Belle bitch she let in here. I’d show her exactly who I was, since she thought so fucking highly of me.

  And once I’d stamped my impression on her, she’d be sorry she ever opened her damned mouth.

  Chapter Five

  ~ Belle ~

  Sleep washed over me in waves, my muscles relaxing the second I hit my bed. I’d stripped down to just my panties and kicked off my sneakers before falling asleep on top of the covers. Without air-conditioning, the trailer was basically a little metal oven that cooked you. The hungry ache in my belly went forgotten. Instead, I grabbed my pillow from the top of the bed and fell into a blissful sleep before my eyes were even closed.

  I slept through most of the day, the roar of engines finally disturbing me. The sound infiltrated my sleepy head, invading my dreams enough to disturb me but not fully wake me and pull me from the great dream I’d been having about eating tacos and drinking tequila. I turned over, not ready to wake up just yet. Whoever or whatever it was could come back later.

  However, the heavy thump on my trailer door was what finally dragged me back into the world, blinking past sleep and sitting upright. Rubbing at my gritty eyes, I stumbled to my feet angry, exhausted, and incredibly hungry.

  The thumping came again and I looked around in confusion, not sure how long I’d been sleeping or what time it even was. All I knew was that I was ravenous and still incredibly tired. But at least today was my day off, so I could eat, watch some crappy TV, and then go back to sleep. It was the routine of my life right now.

  Work, sleep, eat, repeat.

  The thumping came again and I groaned in annoyance. I stumbled feeling foggy and disoriented, and grabbed a pair of ratty denim shorts and a white T-shirt before heading out of my room and down the short hallway toward my trailer door. I stared longingly at my empty coffee mug on the counter as I ran a hand through my thick curls and tried to tame them into something less wild.

  “Hello?” I said, hesitantly as I opened the door and blinked into the brightness, confused as hell as to why I had three leather-clad bikers on my doorstep. “Did you take a wrong turn? Do you need some directions?” I asked stupidly. My trailer was set far back from the road and away from everyone else’s, so being lost was the only explanation for these men to be at my door.

  The tall, dark-haired one I’d met at the hospital—Gauge, I think his name had been—glanced across at the one with a shaved head.

  “You seein’ this, brother?” Gauge drolled.

  “Fuck yeah,” the other replied with a grin. “Now I get it.” His grin could only be described as adulterous. There was just to other way to describe it, and I suddenly felt vastly underdressed and wishing that I’d grabbed my bathrobe, or at least put on a bra before answering the door. It was another hot day today and I could already feel a light sheen of sweat trailing between my breasts and no doubt making the thin cotton T-shirt cling to me.

  My arms crossed in front of me to cover my chest as I looked between them all. “See what?” I snapped. I was tired, hungry, and in desperate need of a shower and so my stranger-danger alarm wasn’t quite sounding off loud enough for me to hear. “I think you have the wrong trailer.”


  The third man, whose shoulder-length, dirty blond hair hung around his shoulders, smiled, and tired or not, my stomach fluttered. I was only human, after all.

  “Ma’am,” he started, and the shaved-headed biker snickered, “my name’s Shooter, and I need you to come to the hospital with us.” He looked me up and down before continuing.

  Panic rose in me, my hands falling to my sides. “Is it Jenna? Is she okay?” I took a step down, looking between them all with worry.

  “She’s fine. But a brother of ours has requested your umm…assistance,” he asked politely enough.

  The shaven-headed one chuckled. “Yeah, now we get the kind of assistance he wants.”

  Shooter turned and glared at him. “Shut the fuck up, Casa.” He turned back to me. “Sorry about that. He’s a dick, but he’s a harmless dick.”

  The taller one raised an eyebrow at Shooter like he didn’t quite believe him. “Says who?”

  “Not my old lady, that’s for certain.” Casa smirked.

  “You need to get anything before you leave?” Shooter asked, that panty-melting smile of his making my stomach flip once again.

  “Umm, my shoes, I guess,” I mumbled, completely confused.

  “Go get ’em then,” Gauge said.

  I started to turn around to go get my shoes before turning back to them. They didn’t look like the sort of men you said no to, and yet I really wanted to say no. Today was my day off. I didn’t want to do anything today but veg out on my sofa and sleep. Besides, I had no idea who they were even talking about. My sleep-fogged brain was clearly slow on the uptake.

  “I’m sorry, who are you again?” I asked with a frown.

  “That’s Gauge,” Shooter said, pointing to the man I’d met at the hospital. “The walking hard-on behind me is Casa, and I’m Shooter, president of the Devil’s Highwaymen motorcycle club.”

  I frowned. “And you want me to go to the hospital to see to your friend?”

  I was even more confused than ever now.

  Gauge sighed. “It’s not difficult to follow, darlin’. You met our brother Beast yesterday, and he wants you and only you to look after him from now on.”