A Brush With Obsession

by Theresa Papa

  She unbuttons my shirt part of the way. Palming my pecs, she then rips open the rest of the buttons, sending the microphone across the room somewhere. If Joe could hear us before, he probably lost all communication now. Giselle proceeds to unbutton my jeans but gets flustered with the shackles on my ankles, so she frees them to remove my pants. When she is on her knees, I look around the room and realize how familiar it is. Then I look up at the wrist cuffs.

  Giselle has lost her mind. There is no way in hell this woman is gonna make me her slave. This is the same chamber I was in with Sam. Jaxson taught me how to get out of these wrist shackles, so I can get free now that she took the restraints off my ankles. But maybe I can get some information first.

  She’s slightly off balance as she tries to stand in front of me. Something’s off about her demeanor. Her breathing has increased, and she’s sweating profusely.

  “I thought you were the manager here, not the entertainment, Giselle. Don’t you have girls who work for you? Like, for instance, my cousin, Lizzie.”

  When she comes face to face with me, it’s clear she is on some kind of drug. Her pupils are dilated as she speaks to me. Her coloring is off, and she’s slurring words when she replies. I can feel her spit on my face as she gets angry when I ask about Lizzie.

  “That bitch caused me all kinds of problems when she offed that scum and left the bloody mess for me to clean up.”

  “Who do you mean?”

  “Marcus! She killed the asshole and escaped from his apartment over the garage in the back of Club Beta mansion. He insisted on keeping her all to himself up there and not with any of the other girls. Well, that was his mistake. Ha!”

  “Did you call the police?”

  “Are you crazy? If I called the police, I would be as you Italians say, ‘sleeping with the fishes’ just like Marcus is now.”

  “So no one knows that Marcus is dead?”

  “Oops! I shouldn’t have told you that. Just Ivan and I know; he helped me get rid of the bloody mess. Now we might have to kill you too. Ha-ha. But not until I’ve had my fill of this hot body.”

  She rubs her fake tits against my torso while her fingernails dig into my back.

  Ivan must be who helped her drag me in here. I want to keep her convinced that I’m agreeable so I can catch her off guard. It’s the only way I’ll get out of here.

  “You don’t have to worry, baby. I won’t tell anyone. So now you are the boss here at the club since Marcus is …uh, gone?”

  “It’s only been two days since I found the bastard. I don’t know what to tell the owner yet; I have to figure it out. I don’t want to get blamed.”

  “Sounds like you're afraid of the owner?” Her hands squeeze my ass cheeks, and I need to put an end to this soon. This is the strangest feeling; I’ve never had a woman touch me against my will. It’s repulsive as opposed to arousing. Her answer brings me out of my thoughts.

  “He’s a very rich man who closely guards his identity. His affiliations with very important people make him dangerous. Only a few people even know he owns this place. He has hidden it so well within dummy corporations.”

  She goes still and rests her head on my chest as she continues to ramble.

  “I’ve never met him. He lives out of the country, and a family member handles his business for him here in the States. Nico, why don’t you want me?” Her voice is whiny and childlike. “I can show you so many pleasures that mousy Samantha has never even dreamed of.”

  As soon as her hands invade the waistband of my boxers, I know I’ve had my fill of Giselle’s crazy. My hands are already free, and I’m just holding them above my head to fool her. She is so caught up in her lust now that the transition is easily accomplished. I grab both her hands, spin us around quickly, and close her wrists in the shackles. The look on her face is priceless; she sputters almost incoherently, cursing the day I was born. There are even some phrases in French that I’m sure would make an interpreter blush. I lock her ankles in to make sure she’s secure, then I grab my clothes, quickly step into my pants, and get the hell out of there. As I carefully escape down the hallway, I can hear a woman’s lustful groan.

  “Oh, Ivan!”

  I chuckle to myself.

  Ivan must have thought he’d get some for himself since Giselle was occupied. It will probably be a while until he’s ready to go find Giselle and free her. She won’t be happy about that.

  I join the guys back in the van and buckle myself in as we pull away.

  “What happened to you in there? I only had transmission for the first few minutes,” Joe asks.

  “Crazy Giselle drugged me and tied me up.”

  “I couldn’t tell by listening that you were restrained, and since you seemed to be calm, I didn’t send in the cavalry,” Joe says.

  I hope the part about Elizabeth doing away with Marcus was a piece he missed. The last thing I want is for her to be brought up on murder charges again, even if it is self-defense. If I remember correctly, Giselle sent the microphone flying across the room before she talked about Lizzie. Since Giselle and Ivan did away with the body, they won’t talk for fear of prosecution. I won’t say anything, so hopefully, the secret won’t ever be revealed. Now the problem will be to find Elizabeth, especially if she believes that she needs to be on the run for killing Marcus. Giselle said it was two days ago, so there’s still a chance she may call her roommate Anna or us.

  “It’s all good, buddy. I outsmarted her,” I say.

  Tony sits in the back staring, his hands folded with both thumbs rubbing the beard on the underside of his chin.

  Jaxson is noticeably absent from the van, so I inquire as to what has transpired while I was ‘tied up.’

  “Where’s my brother? Did he get Jennifer out safely?”

  The two men look at each other before Joe answers.

  “Well, he did get her out safely. But she doesn’t want to see or talk to anyone except Jaxson. Jaxson will have to fill you in on the details himself. He respected her wishes and wanted me to tell you that he would take good care of her and not to worry. He called the limo to take them to his house, and when he left, he told me to tell you and Sam to wait for him to call you,” Joe explains.

  “Well, Samantha won’t be too happy about that. But I guess we will abide by Jennifer’s wishes.”

  Chapter 41

  Sam Marconi

  With my overnight bag and purse in hand, I lock my back door and walk out onto the sidewalk just in time observe Louis get into a black SUV on Sheridan Road. I never thought about someone to accompany him to drive him back to the garage. So Nico really pays two people to deliver cars all over the city all the time. Crazy. I turn around and see the Tesla parked at the end of my block where Louis left it. As I walk toward the ridiculously expensive but extremely fun to drive car, Nico, Tony, and Joe pull up alongside me in the van.

  Nico jumps out of the van and wraps me in his arms so tight I can hardly breathe. Joe and Tony both acknowledge me and then quickly say their goodbyes while Nico still has a death grip around my shoulder. He grabs my bags with his other hand, and we walk to the car where he places them inside. Then he opens the passenger door for me.

  “I love you,” he whispers as the streetlights make his eyes glitter under the shadow of those long dark eyelashes. The usual flutter in my nether region makes me want to forget all the questions I have and just jump into bed with him as soon as we get to his place. Something happened that he’s not telling me by the way he hugged me so hard and in front of the other guys. I need to find out what.

  Nico pulls smoothly into traffic on Lake Shore Drive before I start to ask questions. I wanted to wait at least a couple of minutes to get settled in the car.

  “So tell me what happened. Where’s Jennifer?”

  He rubs his hand over his chin where a slight beard shadow forms. It makes his eyes look even brighter against the darkness when he glances at me.

  “Truthfully
, I never saw Jennifer. She was gone when I came out of the club. They told me that she refused to speak to anyone but Jaxson. So he took her to his home for now and promised to take care of her until she wants to see others.”

  “By others, you mean me?”

  “No, she means anyone. Jaxson told them she was fine physically but needed time to get herself together mentally.”

  “Jennifer has been through some tough situations in her short life. After her return from the memorials in Scotland and selling her parents’ house along with cleaning out their possessions, she became very depressed. Some nights, I would hear her come in at all hours of the early morning, and if I asked, she would say she went for a walk. But I knew she was dating someone who she didn’t want me to know about. She pulled away from me for a while, avoiding my calls and visits. I wanted to give her some space, so I let her be for a few months. I thought we were as close as sisters, but Jen’s omission of important details in her life and her tendency to pull away says otherwise.” Things I have no control over should not be allowed to affect my emotions. But they do.

  “Sometimes, that’s what the person needs. You shouldn’t feel guilty about that, Sam.”

  “I know, I know. But that’s not all. One day I had a cold, so I needed to stay home from school and rest. At midmorning, a loud bump over my head startled me out of bed. The source, Jen’s apartment. Then running, thumping, and yelling. I quickly got out of bed and threw on some clothes. By the time I unlocked my front door that leads out into the vestibule where the mailboxes are located, a large man whisked down the last three steps past me. He never noticed me as he violently pushed open the outside door and banged it against the wall, almost shattering the glass. His face escaped me because he was gone so quickly. I knew I should see if Jen was all right, so I went up and found her door still open. She was curled up in the corner in a fetal position crying softly. I helped her up and tucked her into bed. No questions asked.”

  Nico grabs my hand and squeezes while he steers with the other.

  “She never offered you an explanation?”

  “Nope. And we never spoke of it again. I just always hoped that if she ever needs to talk, she’d pick me to talk to. But she’s never even met Jaxson before tonight, so why would he be the person she would want to be with while going through all of this?”

  He exhales forcefully through his lips, then says, “I don’t have an answer for that question. But Jaxson will be in touch with me tomorrow for sure.”

  I gaze out the window and lean my head against the glass.

  Could it be that Jen never really disappeared? Maybe she just pulled away from everyone and checked out of life again like she did right after her parents were killed.

  Nico’s phone rings, and it’s his father.

  “Hey, Dad, you’re on speaker in the car. I’m driving home with Samantha.”

  “Hello, son. Hello, Samantha. I can’t wait to meet the amazing girl who both my sons pursued at the same time and didn’t know it. Jaxson tells me you’re really special, and that Nico is a lucky man.”

  I grin at Nico, and he winks back.

  “Well, I’ll have to thank Jaxson. And I hope we’ll have the opportunity to meet soon.”

  “I just may surprise you, dear, and seek you out during your internship hours at the firm if my son keeps you from me any longer.”

  Nico rolls his eyes.

  “Oh, Dad, don’t make Sam nervous. It hasn’t been very long at all. We’ll make plans for dinner this week. Did you call for an update on Elizabeth?”

  “Dinner sounds great. Yes, did you find Elizabeth?”

  “No luck at the club. But I think Marcus Dent had her against her will. I was told she escaped two days ago.”

  “Any news on where she is now, son?”

  “No, but we’re still looking into things. I’ll let you know when we know anything.”

  “Alright, I’d hoped for better news, but Elizabeth is a little spitfire, so it doesn’t surprise me that she escaped. Did you catch this Dent fella?”

  “No, he disappeared shortly after she escaped.”

  “Son? Did you find Samantha’s friend Jennifer?”

  “Yes, she’s safe. Jax got her out of there.”

  “Good. Good. Listen, son, call me if you find out anything. I look forward to meeting you, Samantha.”

  “I look forward to meeting you too, Mr. Pope.”

  “Bye, Dad.

  “Bye now.”

  Nico clicks off the phone, and I turn in my seat to face him.

  “So you weren’t kidding when you said that Lizzie could defend herself. She managed to escape her captor.”

  “That’s what I was told.”

  “Where would she go?”

  “I hope she would call me for help if she’s afraid.”

  “But she asked you and Jax and Tony to leave her alone, so why would she ask for help from you now?”

  “If she’s scared enough, she would call one of us.”

  “I hope so.”

  Chapter 42

  Nico Pope

  A better outlook accompanies the sunrise the next morning. I decide to get up early and prepare breakfast for my girl. I bring a tray in and wake up Sam with light kisses all over her face.

  “Thank you for making me breakfast. You’re the best.”

  “You have a great deal going on, so you need to eat properly with the schedule you’re going to keep for a while. Make sure you have a good lunch too.”

  “I will, don’t worry. How about you? Is it busy at the salon today?”

  “Pretty steady but I want to ask Jaxson to meet me for lunch so I can discuss things with him.”

  “Will you text me if you find out anything important about how Jen is doing?”

  “Of course, sweetheart.” I kiss her on the forehead and head to the bathroom to shower.

  We kiss goodbye, and I leave for the salon.

  Once I’m in my office, I text Jaxson to see if he can meet for lunch. He blows me off. When I ask about Jen, he answers that we all need to give her some time, but that she promises to call Samantha tonight and briefly say hi. I decide to text Sam and give her the small amount of information to satisfy her concerns somewhat. Whether Samantha’s first day of classes have her preoccupied or she just has accepted the fact that Jen will come around in her own time, she’s less on edge about the situation with her friend.

  Due to a last-minute schedule change for one of my clients, I find myself with an hour free before lunch. This gives me a nice window of time to go back up to the penthouse and look into a few things about Elizabeth. I call Tony for any new information.

  “Hi, Tony, what’s new with your investigation?”

  “I was just about to call you. I got a message from Liz through some phony email address. I’ll forward it to you now.”

  I open my email on my tablet and pull up the message to Tony from Elizabeth.

  Tony,

  I wanted you to know that I’m aware of the fact you were going to rescue me from that sleazy Marcus at the club. Two days before you were scheduled to show, the opportunity presented itself for me to escape. I gladly took it, knowing I would never forgive myself if any harm came to you because of me. Please don’t try and find me. There are so many psychotic perverts looking for me. I’m hidden pretty well. The sick bastard is offering a lot of cash for me, so all the lowlifes think they can easily kidnap me, turn me over to him, and cash in. Listen, I can’t be in one place too long. Gotta go. Liz

  I shake my head and scrub a hand over my face before I ask, “Do you know who she refers to that is offering money for her kidnapping?”

  “No clue. But you can bet I’m going to find out. Why won’t she let us help her? She should have gone to the police.”

  “Elizabeth doesn’t have the greatest faith in the police after her experience with them during her ordeal with her father’s death.”

  “Well, sh
e knows that you and Jax and I can keep her safe.”

  “She’s already proved what her thoughts are on that by not involving you in that rescue to keep you safe.”

  “Stubborn woman! She never listens to me.” Tony exhales loudly, then continues, “I will look into who might pay a large sum of money to kidnap Liz. Talk to you later.”

  “Later.” I decide to do a search on the internet for websites that offer prize money. I key in Elizabeth’s name and any other things that come to mind.

  After a few searches, I put down my phone and lay my head down on my forearms across my desk. The stress of the past few days and the lack of sleep last night have me weary. As I doze off, my mind conjures up images of Giselle as she stands over me in her full domme regalia. I kneel before her. In my dream, her features are exaggerated like she’s some kind of reject from plastic surgeries gone wrong. Her lips look like cartoon fish lips, and her tits look like beach balls. She makes for one huge nightmare as she alternates between licking those huge lips and laughing maniacally.

  I’m jolted awake by my phone vibrating across my desk, thank goodness. I snap upright and grab it. I blink a few times to figure out if I’m still asleep, dreaming this, or if this is reality. On my phone is an instasnap of Giselle in her leather outfit with her red lips blowing me a kiss. After ten seconds, the picture disappears. I shake my head in hope that I still need to wake up, but my phone is really in my hand and the picture was really that psycho bitch. While I run my hands through my hair, curling my fingers so it pulls from the roots, I launch myself off the chair, propelling it into the bookcases. Now on my feet, a restless energy runs through me, and I pace back and forth. The repulsive images of Giselle flash through my memory from my dream, the club, the hot tub, and the phone. I press my palms into my eye sockets as a cold shiver runs up my spine. A voice inside my head tells me this situation has escalated to a whole new level of complications.