by Jesse Jordan
“What's that?” I ask, and Larissa drives her shovel into the dirt again, turning it as she pulls it out.
“Heinrich was one of the big financial people for the Eastern European gangs that have been fighting a clandestine war with The Composer's part of The Network for years now,” Larissa says. “Because of where he's from, and the groups he associated with, me being Greek was seen as... well, let's just say I'm sure that he didn't want to be seen with anyone less than your stereotypical Aryan superwoman.”
“Neo-Nazi?” I ask, and Larissa nods, making me laugh. “Sorry, but any man who looks at you and thinks you're not a superwoman is out of their fucking mind.”
“I agree, and once I was able to get some private time with Heinrich, he was of the same opinion. It just took a little more discretion, and a supposed business trip to get him away from his fuckhead allies enough to get into his bed. Once I was alone with him in his hotel room, I got to try and have a little bit of fun with him, but that fucker...”
She sighs, plunging her shovel into the dirt again and I pause my picking, curious. “What?”
Larissa slams the shovel into the dirt and gives me a desperate look. “You know, I've had a lot of men, it's my fucking job. And some have had big dicks, some small, and a lot of the small dicked guys try and make up for it with foreplay and good skills. In fact, the best pussy eating I've ever gotten was from a guy with just an average dick. This guy. though... if I were his wife I would have killed him just out of frustration! His idea of foreplay was about twenty seconds of fumbling with my tits, he refused to go down on me, and when I decided to try and tease him up with a little cock sucking, the asshole blew his load down my throat in less than a minute! No wonder I literally jammed the poison in his ass!”
I can't help it, her obvious frustration and the image in my head of her stabbing a syringe into a Neo-Nazi's ass for some reason is absolutely hilarious, and I laugh. “I'm sorry Larissa, but the image... phew, I didn't know quite how lucky I've been.”
Larissa laughs, nodding. “Yeah. So if you tell me that you've hit the jackpot, I'm going to hate you just a little bit inside. Still like you, but hate you too.”
“Well.....” I say teasingly, fingering my collar, and Larissa laughs. “I can't say he's perfect. There's one thing we haven't done yet. But, last week Master tied me up and licked my pussy for an hour, and I came so many times I passed out. He punished me by taking away my clothes again and then fucking me after dinner in the dining room.”
Larissa blushes, then mutters under her breath in what I guess is Greek. “What's that?”
“I said 'Thessalonian bitches,' which is more or less the Greek equivalent of 'blondes get all the luck.' Most blonde women in Greece have roots around Thessaly,” Larissa says, then sighs half wistfully. “You sure that Rodrigo doesn't have another collar available?”
“Oh hell na...,” I start, then blush, looking down. “Master makes his own decisions.”
Larissa laughs again, and I join in, it feels good after the terror of the past few days. “Okay, well I'll just have to find my sexual release with someone else. And if you want, I'll be happy to give you some advanced training. Especially if you want to learn how to fight. Rodrigo is a good fighter, but women have to react different than men. Smaller bodies, less muscle, you know.”
“I understand,” I say, surprised when Larissa offers me her hand. “What's this?”
“Something I've never done before with a woman in your position. You might be Rodrigo's slave... but you're my friend. I like you too.”
I shake her hand, she's got a good strong grip, and we continue work. When Larissa leaves, I think about what we talked about. I wasn't shocked or repulsed by anything Larissa said. Well, I was shocked, but in a good way, she's so straightforward in the way she told me about her mission, and she's got a wicked sense of humor. When it came to her offer of friendship, I was more than eager to accept it, something that I would never have done even before she left on her assignment. It wasn't loneliness either, I think I genuinely like Larissa.
Thinking about liking Larissa, I know that back at Rutgers I would never have thought of becoming friends with her. The change is all in me. I wonder, how much am I changing?Am I anything at all like the woman who I was before? Then again, did I ever want to be that woman anyway? Doing chemistry and being a general standoffish bitch to every weak-willed wanna be Alpha who comes my way, my only joy in a relationship in seeing how much I can break him before I get tired of him? Aren't I happier being with Rodrigo, who pushes me to my limits and makes me stronger each and every day?
I take out what I'm going to make for my dinner and think. It takes me a while, in fact I'm washing up the dishes and drying them to put away before I make my decision. The fact is though, other than the specter of death and violence that exists outside this villa and is repped by the gun on the counter next to me.... I like who I am and what my life is now.
I've never been happier in my entire life.
Rodrigo
“Is that a blister on your finger?” I ask Larissa when she sits down at the cafe, our normal meeting spot. “Did Jessica get you to help her in the garden?”
“Without even asking,” Larissa says, looking at the pink and white spot on her thumb. “Ah well, it's out of the way, I can take care of it later. If I get creative, maybe I can needle Father Giacamo into thinking I got this from something that'll have him creaming his cassock. So... have you fallen for her yet?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I ask, surprised at the sudden change in topics, and Larissa laughs. “What? You keep this shit up and I'm not paying the bill this time.”
“Come off it, Rodrigo. I saw the way you looked at her, and that kiss. You've got feelings for her,” Larissa says with a twinkle in her eye. “Very dangerous, especially considering the other problems in your life.”
“Like I don't know that,” I comment, refusing to agree with Larissa's accusation. “Considering I broke my own damn gate last night.”
“Hmmm.... you know what? Let's skip the cafe, just walk with me,” Larissa says, and I agree. We leave the cafe and Larissa goes over to my truck. “Up in the hills?”
We start off, and in the privacy of my truck Larissa finally opens up. “The Sultan isn't going to let this go, you know.”
“I figured. I'd hoped that by just taking care of his bitch boy that I'd be clear enough. I don't want this to come to a head between us,” I reply, lying. After all, that's exactly what I have been ordered to do, although if Larissa knew that and who ordered it, she's try and kill me herself. “It's a big fucking world. Even the Mediterranean is pretty damn big when you consider it all.”
“It is a big world Rodrigo, but the word I'm hearing is, The Sultan's got something personal with you. He's not going to let this go, especially because it seems he looking for proof on something.” We stop at the top of a hillock that overlooks the city, and I get out, sitting down on my tailgate. Larissa joins me, not sitting down but just leaning against the sidewall, watching me to see what my reaction is.
“Proof on what?” I ask finally after a minute, and Larissa shakes her head, even as a cold ball of fear starts to spread through my chest. There's only one thing that there could be proof on.
“I don't know. Something to back up why he doubts you, why he doesn't want you as the capo for North America. Before it was just professional I think, but after what you did to Leon, it's not just professional any more,” she says, sighing. “You better have eyes on both sides of your head.”
I nod, frustration building inside me. “Why are you telling me this?”
Larissa shrugs. “Two reasons. First, and the smaller one is, I offered your slave my friendship. The fact is, I like the woman. And keeping you alive keeps her safe and happy, whether you want to admit your feelings for her or not.”
“I don't....”
“Don't give me your bullshit right now, Rodrigo,” Larissa says, cutting me off. “I know how
to read people, even better than they read themselves. But that's only a small reason. The fact is, I have a personal reason in this as well. If you and The Sultan do come to blood, I know who I want to remain standing afterwards, and that's you.”
“Why?”
Larissa goes quiet, and I wonder if she's going to answer, and when she does, her voice is quiet, different than anything I've ever heard before from her. I wish I could see her, but the moon is hidden by clouds, all I can see is her outline in the darkness. “How old were you when you first killed someone, Rodrigo?”
I think for a moment before answering. “Twenty four. I'd gotten into plenty of fights, shit goes down you know, but the first time I knew I killed someone? Twenty four. I was working a delivery for Scoglitti when the stupid mick who was supposed to take the shipment decided that instead of paying full price, he'd pull a gun on me. I was faster.”
“I was eleven,” Larissa says softly, her voice more emotional than I've ever heard before. “I've told you a little about my childhood in Greece, but for me, childhood ended when I was ten years old. That was the day that I was taken... and sold.”
“You were a slave?” I ask, and Larissa nods. “As a child?”
“The Network might be one of the biggest players around, but there are smaller operators who cater to... more extreme tastes,” Larissa says. “The man who stole me from my home, he sold me in the underground slave markets in Jeddah. The man who bought me was one of the richest men in Mecca actually, who made a lot of his money off of fleecing the annual Hajj pilgrims, charging obscene amounts of money for shit they didn't need. He kept me... and when I was eleven, I started puberty. He said that since I was now a woman, I would serve him as a woman.”
“You fought back,” I whisper, and Larissa nods. “How'd you get away?”
“His wife... well, one of them at least, took pity on me,” Larissa says. “She made it look like a suicide, and since I'd technically been adopted by the man, she sent me away on a legal note. It was all she could do, but it wasn't much of a mercy, it was just a one way ticket on the first flight out of Jeddah. I ended up having to become a street kid, and then worked my way up from there.”
“How'd you get into doing what you're doing then?” I ask suddenly, the echoes of Jessica's question months ago to me bouncing around in my head.
Larissa laughs bitterly. “As I grew into my teens, I figured out that I'm very good looking, Rodrigo. So I was a street kid with no money, no way to get a formal education, but with looks that had men offering me money to do most anything to them. And no matter where I went, it was the same. Berlin, Paris, London, Beijing, Sydney, it didn't matter. Men wanted to fuck me, and they would give me nearly anything to do it. So I learned what it took to survive, and then educated myself in the meantime. Before you ask, no, I don't like the slave trade even though it's part of our business. And I don't hate The Sultan because of his beliefs, despite the bastard who I killed being Muslim. I've met just as many bastards who pray to the cross as the crescent.”
“Me too,” I admit, thinking that when it comes to assholes, no religion has a monopoly. “So you deal with the parts you don't like?”
“Pretty much. But like I told Jessica, what we do, it's better than what some of the options are. Still, nobody in The Network seems to enjoy the slave trade as much as Omar Al Gazi. Of us all, he's the one I could see doing the same disgusting shit that led to me not having a childhood. At least the women we trade in now... at least they've had a chance to be little girls. I don't know if that makes it better or worse, but they at least got to be little girls.”
I nod, saddened and feeling even more trapped and frustrated. The fact is, if I could shut down the slave trade I would. I know it'd make me a hypocrite, Jessica always had a choice in her submission, if not the rest of her service. But I wasn't lying to Jessica when I said that it'd go on without me. It all would go on without me, which is the hardest truth of being Deep Cover.
“So you don't like The Sultan,” I finally say, dismissing my own guilty feelings. “Yet you like me. And I own a slave.”
Larissa laughs. “Rodrigo, if you weren't so damn deadly, you'd be sweet in a twisted way. I know you, and in talking with Jessica, you have always given her the choice. About the only thing you didn't give her a choice in was in actually being your slave. I bet if she'd been stubborn enough, you'd have kept her in that downstairs cell, well fed and well cared for this whole time.”
I chuckle, she's right. “You know me pretty well, Larissa.”
“Which is why I'm on your side in this. Oh, don't doubt it, there's something in it for me, too. If The Sultan meets his end, I've got my own contacts in Israel and some of the more Western friendly countries in the Mideast. Nobody would be better positioned in The Network to keep up the flow of trade to there. I'm so ready to get out of the whole fuck 'em and then kill 'em trade. Don't mind the information brokering so much, but seriously... you watch your ass, Rodrigo.”
It's nearly ten thirty when I get home, Jessica letting me in and I see the pistol next to her thigh as I drive by, just increasing the frustration that I'm feeling. I know there's nothing I can do about it, and getting out of my truck, Jessica can see my feelings. “What's wrong, Master?” she asks, her gray eyes searching my face. “Bad news?”
“Nothing I didn't already know, and nothing I can do anything about,” I grumble. “Which just frustrates the hell out of me.”
“Is there anything I can do?” she asks. “Anything?”
I think, and a wonderful, silly idea comes to my mind. “Yeah... let's play a game.”
“A game?” she asks, perplexed but interested. “What is it?”
“Hide and seek,” I say, chuckling when Jessica gives me a raised eyebrow. “Oh, there's going to be stakes in this game. Sexual stakes.”
“Really?” Jessica asks, a small smile spreading on her naughtily angelic face. “And what would those be?”
“I give you a ten minute head start, where I'll stay in the training room. You can hide anywhere within the walls of the villa. After those ten minutes, I have a twenty minutes to catch you. If I do... I'm going to be rough. If I don't, I'll be gentle.”
“I see,” Jessica says, crossing her arms. She bites her lip, then leans in and kisses me on the lips. “See you in thirty one minutes, Master.”
Jessica takes off into the darkness, which in the countryside on a cloudy night is nearly complete. I shake my head, going into the training room where I think about what Larissa said. Am I getting real feelings for Jessica? I don't know. I do know that her amazing body and even more amazing mind drives me wild, and that I want her more now than ever. Even thinking about the hunt and the fun we're going to have has me hard in my pants, and as I count down the time on my watch, I still think about Larissa's comment.
Do I have feelings for Jessica?
Does it matter? She's mine either way, and we have fun together.
My watch beeps, and I leave the training room, going out into the darkness. I listen carefully, not feeling that upset that Jessica doesn't know that I've had FBI training plus more. Going through night recon training with the Marines is no fucking joke, and I can hear most of the roughly one acre space that makes up the walled portion of my villa. It helps, I can move through the space quickly if quietly, listening for any of the telltale sounds that a person in hiding makes. There's nothing though, and either Jessica's a ninja or she's not outside the house.
I go into the first floor, checking my watch, I've got eight minutes left. Plenty of time, as long as Jessica doesn't do something silly like jump from a window. I don't want her to, so I move through the first floor carefully, checking each room quietly. I pause, looking in her first room, remembering Larissa's comment that even if Jessica had refused everything I'd have kept her fed and taken care of. She's right, I would have. Maybe I am a hypocrite, but it's enough of a distinction that I can sleep peacefully over it.
The first floor's empty with five minutes
left, so I climb the stairs quickly, checking my living room before going through to the kitchen. I find Larissa's pistol on the counter, I'll have to remind her it isn't safe to do that even when I'm home, and then I move on. The pantry, Jessica's bedroom, and I've got less than one minute left when I move into my bedroom. There's unfortunately a lot of spaces here, and part of me is tempted to let her ride out the time when I hear a shuffle and a giggle from behind me, and I go into my bathroom, finding her hiding in the shower. “Gotcha.”
“Aww.... and I only had how much time left?” Jessica asks in a mock disappointed voice. My watch beeps, and she giggles again. “I win.”
“What?” I ask, surprised, and Jessica crosses her arms and grins.
“You said if you caught me. You haven't caught me yet, you haven't put those strong, sexy hands on me before the time was up. Now Master, do we need to take this to the Hide n' Seek Supreme Court?” she asks, and I have to admit, she's got a point.
“Are you a chemist or a lawyer?” I ask, laughing. Did I say her mind turns me on? Her mind is the sexiest thing about her, which considering her body, means I'm surprised I don't have a constant stiffie. Jessica reaches for her shirt and starts unbuttoning it, revealing her remarkable, sexy cleavage in one of her newer bras that I bought her. Okay, her body and mind are maybe a tie. “Ah, distracting me now?”
“No Master,” Jessica says, her fingers still unbuttoning. “But I was thinking... let's call it a draw, and you can be a little rough right here in the shower?”
Her fingers reach her waist and she pulls her shirt open other than the knot that she used to tie it off around her waist, revealing the bountiful curves of her breasts, making me hum happily. She's curvier than a classic pinup model, and with her lips twitching in a smile, she's seductive and one of a kind. Still, I have to maintain some image of control. “I don't know... what if I want to take you to the training room instead?”
“Please Master?” Jessica pleads, coming closer and putting her hands on my shoulders. “I had a naughty thought today, and I was kind of hoping... well, the shower would be better for it.”