Absorbing White

by Charlotte E Hart

“Really? Why? It’s just a present.”

  “And a very thoughtful one, if not completely inappropriate. Well done.”

  “It was just there, and I... Pascal, speak for god’s sake. What’s the problem? I can take it back if you don’t like-” The man snatched the thing off her so quickly she almost fell off her chair. He wasn’t surprised at all. He’d probably do the same if the roles were reversed.

  “Neither of you will ever take this off me again,” he eventually said as he stroked his fingers over it reverently and smiled. “It’s mine, as are you. Thank you. I am delighted by your offering.”

  “Well, yes. Good. I’m glad you like it, but I’m not sure what you mean by... It’s… I... I just didn’t like to see you so anxious. It’s not very Pascal like, is it? And I-” He yanked her over to him for the second time and plonked her on his knee, this time having asked some kind of permission via a small unnoticed look.

  “It is the most exquisite gift I have ever received and I may love you a little for it, Elizabeth. I can only assume he knew nothing of it, so thank you for your bravery in the matter.”

  “Bravery? It’s only a cane. It’s not like I’ve broken any underground rules, is it? Not that I have any idea what those rules might be. I just thought you’d like one back.”

  “Ah, but you have, my dear. You have just shown him that his power over me is of no significance to yourself, and have therefore given me free rein to abuse you with my new toy.”

  “Nope, not getting that,” she said, looking back at the man for clarification. He just stared at her with a deviant grin and yet another snap of his teeth. The man was going to be the death of him. Either that or she was. Alex held out his hand until she climbed off Pascal’s knee and sat on his instead. She felt so good there, all for him, his angel with her perfect body and perfect, if not innocent, mind. She frowned and glanced between the pair of them. “Alex? What’s he... I don’t understand what he’s talking about.”

  “I gave you his cane to stop him misbehaving with it, Elizabeth, to protect you from it until I was ready for him to use it with you. You’ve just handed him another one of your own free will. Nothing to do with me at all. Do you see?”

  She looked between the two of them again, that frown slowly receding and a look of astonishment replacing it.

  “Oh,” she said.

  Quite. Oh.

  Chapter 24

  Elizabeth

  “O h…” Once again that’s all I seem able to say. I’ve just realised what I’ve done. Oh is all I’ve got really, because I can’t quite work out if I’m happy about it or not. I mean, the times I’ve been with Pascal on my own have been extraordinary, and he’s always been gentlemanly in his own particular way. I’m damn sure there are plenty of people in this room that can testify that he’s not quite as much the gentleman as he may appear, including me, but with me he has been decent in a roundabout way.

  “Should we just get on with it, my love? Hmm? How long should we let him control us?”

  “As long as I damn well please,” Alex says behind me. I can almost feel the growl reverberating in his chest at the threat.

  “I think I’ll wait, if that’s okay with you,” I respond as I watch his eyes dance in delight at the thought. I no longer have any sodding clue what is happening between us, not that I had much before.

  The crowd suddenly erupts in cheers and wolf whistles so I turn to see what’s going on. There’s a man and a naked lady wandering towards a large clearing in the middle of the room. They reach it, and she immediately kneels down in front of him so he can circle her with what appears to be a large black sheet. He swings it around like a matador and eventually lands it over her completely until she’s hidden beneath it.

  “What is-”

  “Shh, manners, my dear,” Pascal says beside me. I continue watching until another man slowly emerges from the crowd and crosses the floor towards her. He’s big. In fact, I’m pretty sure I know him from somewhere but I can’t quite place him.

  “You chose Draven?” Alex asks as he strokes my collarbone and pulls me back towards him a little more. Draven, yes, the chap from Rome. I remember him now, although I wouldn’t have guessed because there isn’t a hint of leather on display this evening. Pascal shrugs and hands me a glass of something that is clearly not champagne. I drink in anyway with a shrug of indifference.

  “He offended you. It seemed the appropriate response given our innovative arrangement. And I’ve never seen his cock. He’s overly shy about it, remarkably.”

  What the hell is about to happen?

  Draven hovers near the woman, looking decidedly uncomfortable, and then the lights dim down until there’s hardly any light at all, just a spotlight on them. I’m so engrossed in the pantomime that I don’t even notice all the guests sitting down and servers bringing food to the tables until its put in front of me. We’re supposed to eat and watch this? Wow.

  Having tucked into my duck in port jus, and then memorised the entire dish because it was so fabulous, I glance back at the floor again to notice that nothing has happened yet. He’s still just standing there and the woman is under the sheet.

  “Come on,” I say. “You have got to tell me what’s going on here. Are they actually going to do anything?” I ask.

  “Patience,” Pascal says from beside me. He hasn’t eaten anything, merely prodded it and then pushed the plate away, preferring his port in a glass. He has, on occasion, taunted poor Reubin with the occasional offering of a vegetable or two while he’s been sat as his feet, but other than that, he’s been non-committal on the food front. He really is a vampire.

  “I am being patient, but this is ridiculous,” I reply, now scanning the room for yet another intriguing piece of equipment and finding what looks like a swing of some sort. I tilt my head at the contraption and try to align my body with it’s positioning. “And what’s that for?”

  “He means Draven’s patience. We are not known for patience, none of us in here, and this is a show of our host’s never ending power in this dominion of his,” Alex drawls on the other side of me with sarcasm rolling off his tongue in waves. I swing my eyes to his and giggle at his relaxed smirk as he pulls my chin to his lips for a kiss.

  “Why, thank you,” Pascal says from behind us.

  “You’re very welcome,” Alex says as his butchering hands climb a little higher along my inner thigh. I so could at the moment… It really wouldn’t take much. He could spread me out on this table and help himself. “Are you going to end the man’s misery at any point?”

  “Perhaps Elizabeth should. It could be an initiation.” Alex’s hand instantly stops and he scowls over my shoulder at Pascal. “It is my birthday.”

  “She’s not ready.”

  “I’m not ready for what?” I am. I’m very ready for anything with them. I turn to look at Pascal and find him standing up, and then quite harshly prodding my thigh with his new cane. I scoot away in response and frown at the thing. Present or not, it wasn’t bought for that. Although...

  “If it moves, it is ready. Is that not what you used to say? I’m positive I have-”

  “No,” Alex cuts in firmly. It’s his ‘don’t piss me off’ voice, and as he uses it to full effect, I watch Pascal raise a brow at him.

  “You would deny her the pleasure of this?” he asks, knocking his port back and licking his lips. It immediately reminds me of his kiss yesterday, and I barely contain a moan at the thought.

  “I said no.”

  “He is such a spoilsport, my dear. I am not sure how you have survived with him this long. Think of the fun you could have had with me. We could have fucked with abandon and desecrated the entire world with sin.”

  “Yeah, I’m guessing your idea of fun involves me being manhandled and used by varying other men at this point.”

  “Hmm... Can she at least begin proceedings?” Alex rolls his eyes and eventually waves a hand at the floor, offering me a chance to go with him. I’m entirely sure I should be say
ing no, but I can’t stop myself from standing up and taking Pascal’s very enticing hand.

  Before I know it, we’re walking across the floor through the party guests who have now gone deathly silent. It reminds me of the charity ball I went to with Alex, everyone looking and staring at me as if I’m some new object to play with. The main difference here is I’m sure most of them would be very happy to play with me in an entirely different way.

  “What do you need me for?” I ask as we get closer, and I notice a few of the men removing their cravats.

  “I want you to be yourself, my love. And when you have found yourself, the three of us will leave the rest of this gaggle to it, I think. I would normally choose someone I have little care for, but tonight you are here, and I quite like the fact that it annoys him.”

  “What annoys him?” I reply as he walks me in front of the sheeted woman and takes a few steps away with a wink. I could look a mess, I’m sure. I could crumble from all of these people staring at me, but I refuse to do it. I am Alexander White’s girlfriend, and Pascal Van Der Braack’s, well, whatever I am. I lift my chin, grab onto feisty Beth and stare him straight in the eye. That’s rewarded with another delicious smirk.

  “Take the end of the sheet, my dear,” he says, tapping his cane on the floor. The sudden noise behind and all around me makes me jump a little and I realise everyone is banging their feet and canes on the floor. I gently pick up the end of the sheet and hear a moan coming from beneath it. Draven takes a step towards us but I see the flash of disgust grace Pascal’s face and watch the man retreat again. “Now, ask me you to fuck you,” he says, quite loudly. My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. I just stare in response as feisty Beth leaves at a rapid pace and sods off somewhere else. He can’t be serious… In front of all these people? Does he mean here? Surely not. I glance across at Alex to find him studiously watching me, his gaze drifting up and down my body and a smirk creeping onto his lips. He so knew this was coming. “Find yourself, my dear. Ask for what you want,” Pascal says again. Oh, for God’s sake.

  “I want you to fuck me,” I say as quietly as possible. I flick my eyes around at everyone else and try to keep some composure. I will not look like an utter moron in front of these people.

  “No, no, that will never do. Louder, my dear. Beg for it,” he says, flamboyantly waving his hand around as if this is a theatre of some description, and looking like utter sin as he does so. What a bastard. If I could twat him with this cane, I probably would. How fucking dare he embarrass me like this?

  “Fuck you,” I spit out in fury.

  “I think you may have missed some vocabulary. Try it again, with some begging.” His eyes light up with that deviant animal that I know lives in him. He’s waiting for me to give him a chance to show this room that’s he’s in control of me, regardless of that fact that I’m Alex’s. The room still chants and bangs the floor around us, and I consider the fact that it is, in fact, his birthday. My hands find my hips.

  “I want to fuck you, please,” I manage as sarcastically as I can, although I don’t really feel the sarcasm because it’s true, isn’t it? I do, and I now can’t stop imagining it because he’s licking his lips while I stare at them.

  “Then come for me,” he eventually says. “And do it on your knees.” There he is. That’s his moment to humble me again. No matter how much I may want to fight with him about our ranking in this arrangement, he will always find a way to have me kneeling beneath him, whether by Alex’s command or not. We stare at each other for a time as the banging and jeering goes on around us, and I listen to his words circulating in my head. I want to look at Alex for his thoughts but I know this is between the two of us, and I’ve got only two choices. Crawl, or stand my ground.

  “Just take me,” I growl out before I’ve thought too much about it. “Just get on with it, Pascal.”

  I have no idea why that popped out. I’m pretty sure it was just my brain wandering through my mouth with no actual thought involved. He raises a brow and continues with his infuriatingly beautiful stare. He couldn’t look any better tonight if he tried, or maybe that’s just because he’s already had his hand in my pants. He eventually does the only thing he can do and looks over his shoulder toward Alex. The room goes quiet as he does so, and it becomes clear to me in an instant that this is new to the room, that nobody knows what this situation with Alex is. They’re probably never been seen Pascal asking permission for something before. I’m also pretty sure that whatever should be happening between Draven and the woman at my feet is of no interest at all to anybody, so I swing my eyes over to Alex, too.

  He sits there watching the show with no emotion on his face whatsoever. Nothing. I’m not even sure if he’s still here or not in reality. If I was closer, I could see his eyes, but all I can see is his frame, draped in that black regency suit as he begins to pull himself upright at the table. There is no movement of his head, not a nod or a shake or anything other than a slight raise of that damn brow, and then he simply walks away towards a door in the corner of the room. My whole body tenses for the possible onslaught that is Pascal, because I have no clue if they’ve just had a conversation or not.

  He just watches him leave and then turns back to me and bows. Bows? In the middle of the bloody room? What do I do with that? Am I supposed to curtsey or something? What does any of this mean? I look back at the doorway in the hope that Alex will appear to clarify what the hell is going on. He doesn’t.

  “After you, my dear, and do put the dear girl out of her misery,” Pascal says. Oh, what? I turn back to him to find him holding a hand out in the direction of the very door Alex walked through. Oh, right. Umm... Does that mean what I think it means? Oh god, my ankles almost give way at the thought as I slowly move my frozen body forward and watch his disturbingly attractive one move backwards. The rapture of applause behind me has me swinging back around to see that I’ve pulled the sheet from the woman, and Draven has wasted no time in devouring her right there in front of everyone. I watch for a minute as he begins to undo his trousers while rutting at her backside like a starved animal in heat. My pulse quickens at the vision as I feel my core clenching around the sight. Fucking. Lots of fucking, and hair pulling, and pain. She’s moaning and then screaming as Draven yanks her onto her back and then slaps her face. I pull in a breath and turn back towards Pascal, my chin as high as I can manage and my legs firmly striding onwards as I move past him. I refuse to acknowledge him or show any fear in this moment. I knew it was coming. I’ve waited for it for God knows how long, and yet every step towards that door is like torture. It’s like all my dreams could be shattered if it’s not right, or Alex disappears, or Pascal isn’t decent. I reach the door eventually and hover my hand over the handle.

  “Pascal?”

  “Hmm?” He’s so not thinking of anything other than getting his hands on me.

  “Will you listen to me?” There’s nothing but silence as a response. Nothing. No, “Yes, my dear,” or “Why would I not?” just silence, and fingers wrapping around the back of my neck. So I just stand there and feel those fingers, try to listen to some hidden conversation in my mind that he might be trying to have with me, but again, there’s nothing. Just silence.

  Soft lips suddenly land on my shoulder, warm and caressing as they make their way across me and up to my throat.

  “You think too much, Elizabeth.” That’s all I get to allay my nerves. Helpful it is not, and it sounds far too much like Alex for my liking, but those warm lips soothe me back to relaxing as he pushes the door open for me. “Would it help if I promised to kiss you the entire time? Hmm?” Yes, probably.

  Oh god, what am I doing?

  The corridor in front of me seems endless and Alex is nowhere in sight. I also have no clue as to where it is that I should be going, so I just stand there and wait for some instruction. He waves a hand in front of me toward the end of the blue corridor, so I hesitantly walk along it, wondering what’s going to happen next. On turning a corner,
I’m met with Alex leaning against a door looking at the floor, which halts my momentum. He slowly raises his eyes to me. Those light blues have disappeared, and he’s consumed with darkness. I can see and feel it pouring out of every fibre of his being. He looks huge as he stands there, a slight sneer gracing an otherwise detached face.

  “Is this what you want?” he asks. No pleasantries. He almost seems pissed off with me, although the thought that he’s actually asked is comforting.

  “If... If it’s what you want, yes,” I mutter. I have no idea if what I said out there annoyed him or made him happy. He’s so gone, completely and utterly in his twilight zone of need, and while that inner slut of mine is jumping all over the place, there’s no denying my fear – fear of losing him and never getting him back. What if this destroys everything? What if this is enough to drive a wedge between us that there’s just no coming back from?

  He pushes backwards on the door and it swings open to reveal a room. He disappears into it so I lift my head again and follow him as Pascal chuckles behind me. Chuckles? Nothing is funny here, not one thing. I couldn’t be more nervous, excited, or scared if I tried. This is my life I’m playing with, my love, my whole world. He might find it amusing to see me worried, but I certainly don’t. I’ve spun on my heel and slapped him before I’ve even thought about doing it. He recoils from me and growls. Growls. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard him really angry, and he suddenly is, very, more so than that time at Eden. Within seconds, I’ve been lifted and thrown. I’m not sure where the fuck I’m going to land, but as something soft hits my back, I blow out a breath of thanks for at least some decency.

  He’s standing at the end of the bed I’ve landed on, yanking at his cravat and undoing his coat with the other hand. It’s like a regency drama playing out in front of me, and I scoot my eyes around the dark room to find Alex. He’s sitting in the corner of the room having removed his jacket and rolled his sleeves up. I gaze at him for a moment and wonder what’s going through his mind. Is he happy? Comfortable? Relaxed?