Read Online Big Sky by Kitty Thomas - Free Book Online Page A

have fought harder, but he was right. There was nothing to fight to get back to. The only real fear was that he might kill her or harm her, but God help her, she believed his story about the previous woman. Veronica didn’t even care that he’d taken her to fulfill the deluded fantasy of bringing the woman he’d loved back to life. All she cared about was that she didn’t have creditors hounding her and the fear of homelessness hanging over her head.
    She knew that one way or another, her body would be forfeit to someone, better Luke than random nasty men driving past those street corners.
    “Okay. I’ll do what you want.”
    He laughed. “That was never in question, princess. The only question was would it be the easy way or the hard way? I’ve broken horses. I have never ending patience with women.”
    After dinner, he took her into the living room. “Sit.”
    She picked a spot on the sofa and sat, unsure of what was coming next. She’d assumed they’d be going to bed soon. She wasn’t sure if she’d be joining him or not. The idea tied her stomach in knots.
    “I want to show you something.” He pulled out a box with some old VHS tapes. Veronica hadn’t seen anything but DVDs in years. It was an anachronism as if she’d fallen through a hole and had been transported back to the eighties.
    From the couch, she could see that they had the labels on them that meant they weren’t commercial videos bought from the store, but either things recorded off the TV or home movies. He thumbed through them and pulled one out and popped it into the VCR.
    He went to sit on the stairs where he had a good view of Veronica, but none of the TV.
    “Aren’t you going to watch?” she asked, still not sure what she was about to see.
    “No. I can’t watch it. I need to watch you watching it.”
    He stood for a moment to flip the overhead lights on. Before, the room had been lit only by a dim floor lamp. He tossed her the remote.
    “Push play and don’t take your eyes from that screen, no matter what you see.”
    Okay, now he was starting to scare her. It hadn’t occurred to her that giving in and saying she’d do what he wanted might speed up whatever his plan was. While he might not kill her, whatever he would do might have taken longer to work up to if she could have managed the will to fight him more, but a part of her had been afraid he’d get tired of her attitude and toss her out. It would be like biting the hand that was feeding her. The very idea that she didn’t want her kidnapper to throw her out where she’d be subject to the whims of the elements was enough to make her stomach turn over.
    She pressed the play button. There was a woman on the screen. She was naked, on her knees—a brunette like Veronica. Ivory skin like Veronica. When her face rose to the camera, Veronica could see the resemblance—it was eerie. Trish. There was someone else on the film. A man in black pants and riding boots. A riding crop dangled casually from his hand. Veronica couldn’t see his face, but then he spoke.
    “I want you to crawl for me,” Luke said.
    She began to crawl in slow, long circles across the floor, running the length of a large oriental rug, revealing a brand on her hip that looked like the image on Luke’s business card. He followed, hitting her across the ass with the riding crop, leaving red welts as she continued to move across the floor. Finally, he stopped her.
    “I want to look at what’s mine. Show me.”
    The woman stopped crawling and sat back on her heels, her legs spread wide. There were a few tears sliding down her cheeks from the crop, but the look in her eyes when she looked up at him was pure adoration. She loved him.
    “Show me, slut. Show the camera. I’m going to show this to the guys later. Would you like that?”
    “Yes, Sir.”
    “Of course you would, you little whore. Now show me.”
    Her face went red as she spread her legs wider, parting the folds of her labia with her