Beloved Beast Read online

  She did not dare look at him.

  “Are you going to beat me?” she asked, her heart beating quickly.

  “No! I don’t hit women,” he said gently. “But I will punish you.”

  He pulled her to him and kissed her again. He slowly put her down onto the soft ground and pulled down her trousers, spread her legs and began to pleasure her with his lips and his tongue. She thrashed about, gasping under his skilful caress.

  “Ramon,” she whispered hoarsely. “Don’t stop.”

  He took her higher and higher, until she was about to orgasm, then he suddenly moved away from her, breathing deeply, and looked down at her with a mixture of desire and sternness.

  “That’s your punishment, Crissy – I’m denying you satisfaction.”

  “No,” she whispered. “I’d prefer you to put me over your knee for what I’ve done than leave me lying here like this. I need you.”

  He jumped up and turned away. His breathing was heavy and Crissy had seen the bulge in his trousers very clearly. He was punishing himself as much as her.

  “If you don’t want to relieve me, then I’ll have to do it myself,” she whispered. “Look at me.”

  To her surprise he actually turned round and, spellbound, watched her performance. She had put her hand on her womanhood and was now rubbing her pearl in search of relief.

  She could tell that he was battling with himself. He had clenched his fists. His whole body was tense and his expression drenched in passion.

  “You could help me,” she said quietly and enticingly.

  She enjoyed seeing how aroused he was. He had set the rules of the game, but at the moment it looked as if she was about to take control of the game. She was sure that he would give in.

  “You see, Ramon. I don’t need you for this,” she challenged him boldly.

  With a wild roar he jumped onto her and got rid of his trousers in a second. He entered between her legs and took her with a powerful thrust.

  “Oh, you do, you do need me,” he panted angrily. “It’s not the same if you do it yourself. Only I can make you scream! You belong to me!”

  I won, thought Crissy triumphantly, as tears of happiness ran down her cheeks and waves of ecstasy ran through her body.

  *

  They lay there, tightly wrapped around one another. Their sweat had mixed with blood and tears. Crissy’s heart was pounding in her ears so loudly that she could hear nothing else. Her thoughts came thick and fast, as did her heartbeats. Whatever had become of her peaceful life? First she had to watch as her brother-in-law-to-be killed an innocent child, then she was left to be eaten by alligators, rescued by a combination of Rambo and The Beast, dragged away, made love to, chased through the swamp and, for good measure, once again nearly eaten by an alligator. The most perplexing thing was that she had never been so happy. With Ramon she felt alive as never before.

  He let go of her a little and looked at her.

  “Are you happy now?” he murmured darkly.

  She smiled and nodded.

  “You won’t always get your way, Crissy.”

  “Maybe not,” she said, unconcerned. “But you need me just as much as I need you. Deny it!”

  A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

  “Unfortunately you’re right. Yes, babe, I need you. But I’m no good for you.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m a monster and a criminal. I can’t give you a life out there, but I can’t in here either.”

  “But Brodie and Jeanette live here, too!”

  “That’s different. Jeanette is just as much of an outcast as Brodie and I. Crissy, people live here because they have nowhere else. They can’t go anywhere else. No one lives here for pleasure.”

  “I don’t care where we live. I just want to be with you. You said we’re going to Brazil.”

  “I said that I’d take you to Brazil. I didn’t say that we’d live there together,” he told her.

  “Does that mean you’re going to leave me?” asked Crissy in horror.

  “It’s better that way.”

  “No, please! Don’t do that!” she pleaded in a choked voice.

  Ramon shook his head in sorrow.

  “You’ll find another man,” he forced himself to say and he jumped up. “We should try to get out of here.”

  With his back to her, he collected their things together.

  “Do you like the idea of me doing it with another man? – Him affecting me the way you do? – Lying between my legs and … “

  “Be quiet!” he hissed. He had turned towards her and was looking at her angrily.

  “You want that as little as I do,” she asserted in a whisper.

  “No! I don’t want it!” he said roughly. “But it’s for the best!”

  He threw her trousers to her and went away to relieve himself in a bush.

  With trembling hands Crissy got dressed.

  5

  The Hunt Begins

  “I can’t bear the thought of any more crabs,” grumbled Crissy.

  They had been on the move for days. During the day they either argued or were silent; during the night they made love, full of anger and despair.

  “Whose fault is it that we lost most of our supplies?” asked Ramon cuttingly?

  “I know. Thank you for reminding me,” she yelled.

  “When I took you prisoner you were just a little mouse, and now you’re getting pretty brave. Perhaps I’ve treated you too gently.”

  “You don’t like it, do you? You need someone that you can suppress and dominate.”

  “I can still do that,” he snarled and grabbed her by the hair until she screamed in pain. “I can dominate you any time I want to.”

  He kissed her roughly and although she pushed away angrily, she soon gave in and responded to the kiss with the same passion.

  “I’ve already told you before that you can’t beat me,” he growled.

  He stroked the material on her blouse and smiled triumphantly as her nipples hardened and she groaned. With his thumbs he stimulated the sensitive tips until her eyes glazed over with longing and she bent towards him.

  He kissed her again and this time she nestled willingly into him. He began to undo her blouse and his hand searched and found the warm, soft flesh beneath. Suddenly he moved away from her abruptly and she looked at him in confusion. Was he punishing her again?

  “What … ?”

  “Shhhh!”

  She listened, as he was doing, to the silence of the evening swamp. No animal sounds were to be heard, just the distant humming of a motor.

  “Is it them?” whispered Crissy fearfully.

  He nodded grimly and jumped to his feet.

  “Pack the things together. We’ve got to get away right now.”

  They quickly packed their belongings into both rucksacks. With trembling fingers Crissy did up the buttons on her blouse. Adrenalin pumped through her veins. She glanced at Ramon. He looked angry, but, under the circumstances, he seemed very calm. She trusted him. He would know what to do. He would protect her.

  “Come on!” urged Ramon, and he took her by the hand.

  “But the boat!” she said, irritated as Ramon pulled her further into the forest.

  “Forget the boat! That won’t work any more. Anyway, they’ve got a motor boat, so on water they’re in a better position than us. If we have any hope, then it’s on land. Now, come on!”

  She stumbled after Ramon. The ground was strewn with roots. If Ramon had not been holding her so tightly she would have fallen over a long time ago. He appeared to be incredibly sure-footed. And yet it was already getting dark and the visibility was very poor in this dense part of the forest. Crissy got a stitch but she knew this was a matter of life and death, so she clenched her teeth and carried on.

  They could hear voices some way behind them. A shot rang out and Crissy suppressed a scream.

  “Keep going!” Ramon ordered. “We’ll stay ahead as long as we don’t stop.�
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  A shot rang out again, but it sounded further away than the first.

  “They don’t know where we are,” said Ramon and pulled her to the left. They crossed a damp valley and climbed a slope before he stopped.

  “Take a rest. They don’t know where we are and it’s getting dark. They’ll probably spend the night on the boat and wait until dawn. We’ll make the most of the last light. We have to find a safe place.”

  “They have guns and we don’t!” Crissy pointed out.

  “I have my crossbow. That kills quietly and precisely. Don’t be afraid. I promise to get you out of here.”

  She nodded. It comforted her to know that Ramon thought that the pursuers would spend the night on the boat instead of following them. It sounded logical. The swamp was a dangerous place and one wouldn’t give up such a safe sleeping place to search blindly in the dark, when one could do that so much more easily by daylight.

  “Come on. We’ll go along there. If I’m not mistaken, we’ll have a good stretch of dry ground in this direction.”

  *

  Crissy woke up as Ramon was slipping his hand under her blouse and kneading her breast. It was still dark and relatively cool. She liked the heat that he was providing. The thin mat below her could not stop the cold coming from the damp ground.

  He made love to her in an unusually gentle, slow way. Why could she not have met him under different circumstances? She was certain that he was the man that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. He had admitted that he needed her. She would not allow him to leave her in Brazil.

  They had already packed their things before dawn broke. Ramon took her in his arms and kissed her. There was a strange feeling in this kiss and it made her nervous.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked when he let her go.

  “In case anything happens, I want you to keep going in this direction. I’m pretty sure you’ll find a ranger’s station up there. They’ll help you.”

  “But what can go wrong? They’re a long way behind us.”

  “Not far enough. I’m just saying, in case anything happens. No acts of heroism. I don’t have a problem with death. Don’t worry about me.” He shook her. “Run if I tell you to. Do you understand?”

  “I don’t have a problem with death either,” she declared defiantly.

  “Crissy! Your death won’t be a quick one. They’ll torture you. I don’t want to have to worry about you. You’ll do as I say! You’ll save yourself!”

  “But then your death won’t be quick either!”

  “I’ve experienced plenty of pain in my life. I can deal with it,” he said. “So promise me. Promise me that you’ll save yourself.”

  “Yes,” she sobbed. “Damn bastard! If you do that to me then I’ll kill you with my own hands and tear out your black heart!”

  He smiled.

  “Let’s get out of here. It may not come to that.”

  *

  “Can’t we take a break? Please, I can’t go on!” begged Crissy, and held onto her aching side.

  “We’ll rest soon. But this is not a good place. Keep going for a few more minutes.”

  Ramon pulled her along and she stumbled behind him. Her straggly hair hung over her face and she was sweaty and covered in mud. Ramon did not seem to be put out at all by the speed at which they were going. He did not seem to be out of breath at all.

  “I should have gone to the gym more,” she gasped breathlessly.

  “What?”

  “I said I should have gone to the gym more, then I wouldn’t be so done in right now.”

  Ramon grinned at her.

  “You’re doing really well. Come along here.”

  They crossed a piece of muddy swampland. When they finally had fairly firm ground beneath their feet Crissy stood still, breathing heavily.

  “Let me catch my breath.”

  He granted her wish, took a look around, and came back to her.

  “There’s a good place to rest. Come along here,” he said, and stretched his hand out to her.

  She took his hand and followed him to a small clearing in which there was just one fallen tree. She sat on the tree stump and Ramon passed her the water bottle.

  “Drink slowly,” he urged her.

  She took a big gulp and gave the bottle back to him. He drank from it and shook the rest out over Crissy. She squealed.

  “Hey, what are you doing? And anyway – we need that water.”

  He laughed and kissed her on the forehead.

  “No worries. Fresh spring water is pouring out of the hill over there. So we can fill up both of the water bottles.”

  He gave her a squashed hazelnut-flavoured protein bar and she tore open the wrapper eagerly, biting into the bar with pleasure.

  “Do you think we’ve shaken them off?” asked Crissy with a full mouth.

  Ramon shook his head.

  “No! I don’t think so. It’s not hard to follow our tracks. You can’t move here without leaving tracks. Also they’ll know where we’re heading.”

  “Does that mean that you know where we now are?”

  “Pretty much, yes. Did you think I’ve been stumbling around in this swamp with my eyes closed?”

  “Well, everything looks the same and I thought you might not have been right here before.”

  “I haven’t. But I have a map here,” he said, and touched his head.

  “Men!” sighed Crissy.

  He grinned.

  “Unfortunately there aren’t any shoe shops or shopping centres here for you to orientate yourself by.”

  “Oh! You monster!”

  Ramon laughed.

  “You started on this subject.”

  A humming sound startled them and Ramon grabbed Crissy’s hand. She looked at him, frightened. He looked very worried.

  “We must keep going. Hurry!”

  They quickly packed up their things and put the rucksack on. Ramon took Crissy’s hand and pulled her along. They ran so fast that Crissy saw everything in a blur. She was now blindly taking Ramon’s lead.

  Voices could be heard behind them and a shot whistled through the sticky air. Crissy’s heart raced, and as a second shot hit a nearby tree, she screamed. Ramon pulled her along mercilessly. Without warning, he suddenly threw her into a ditch. She screamed and rolled up into a ball, painfully hitting with a tree stump. She turned towards Ramon and wanted to tell him what she thought about his rude behaviour. He had thrown himself onto his front on the slope of the ditch and was aiming at their pursuers with his crossbow.

  She heard a cry of pain and knew that he had hit someone. Although she despised violence she did feel a certain sense of satisfaction. These men deserved it more than anyone. They were murderers and did not even stop at innocent children. Shots whistled over the ditch and Crissy pressed herself against the ground as much as she could.

  Ramon had killed another Mafioso and was now taking aim again, with a calm concentration that Crissy could only admire. He was not the sort of man to panic. Slowly and with deadly precision, he aimed at his victim and shot. The arrow buzzed audibly through the air and a yell confirmed that he had struck again.

  He grabbed Crissy and pulled her to her feet.

  “Come on! Carry on!”

  “But there are two more men,” gasped Crissy and fought the impulse to turn back to see her pursuers.

  “They’re being more careful now. We’re not safe in the ditch. We’ve got to keep going.”

  “They’re following us!” shouted Crissy in horror, having quickly looked back.

  “I know. Now come on. Get going!”

  6

  Reunion with Death

  “I can’t believe we’ve left that damn swamp behind us,” said Crissy, and put the last few chips into her mouth.

  Ramon grinned.

  “If you want anything else to eat, order something. We won’t be going into any more diners. It’s too dangerous. Once the Mafia has set its bloodhounds onto us, it’s best to stay aw
ay from people who might recognise us. We’re not exactly your average-looking couple. Everyone’s looking at us here. By tomorrow at the latest Don Mario will know that we’ve been here.”

  “What are we going to do now?”

  “We’ll get hold of a car and do a big shop somewhere – for two days’ worth of food, clothes and other things that we need. Then we’ll head for Orlando. We’ll spend the night there and head for Miami the next day. “

  “A big shop?” Crissy took a crumpled tenner out of her bag. “Sorry, but after paying for the food here, that and a few coins is all I have. Mario took my credit card off me.”

  Ramon rummaged about in his rucksack and took out a credit card enclosed in plastic.

  “I’ve got one!”

  Crissy grinned.

  “You’ve got a bank account, too, heh?”

  Ramon nodded.

  “Are you sure there’s still money in it?”

  “If no one’s stolen it, there should still be 1.8 million dollars in it.”

  Crissy laughed.

  “Very funny!”

  She fell silent as Ramon made no move to join her in laughing. He looked at her calmly before saying soberly:

  “It’s not a joke.”

  Crissy’s eyes widened and her mouth gaped. Up to now she had only seen Ramon, the outlaw, who lived with other freaks in the swamps.

  “Why do you live in a hut in the swamps when you could have a villa in the Bahamas?” she asked.

  “I wanted to.” A grin appeared on his face and he bent over the table a little to whisper to her: “I didn’t think the sewers were a very good place to live, even if it would suit a beast like me. They might look romantic in the films, but in the films you can’t tell how much they stink. So the swamps were more appealing.”

  “Well, I’m glad you decided on the swamps,” answered Crissy, laughing. “Otherwise I’d have already been digested.”

  Although she meant it as a joke, she suddenly got goose bumps, as she realised how true her words were. Yes, if it had not been for Ramon, the alligators would definitely have had her for dinner.

  Ramon reached over the table, took her hand and squeezed it.

  “I told you that I would get you out of the swamp and I have. I told you that I would take you to safety in Brazil and I will do that, too. Trust me.”