by Lily White
The door to a gun safe was left open and I spun around the room, looking for any sign of where Duke had gone. An exterior door also was left open and, by the time I reached it to step outside, I heard the distinct sound of a rifle being fired.
“You’d better run, bitch!”
Duke’s voice bellowed out over the open fields and the barking of dogs could be heard in the distance. I cursed under my breath hoping he wouldn’t reach the dogs to release them before I could stop him. The wind blew so hard that sound carried, making it difficult to determine the direction of the dogs or Duke.
My feet pounded below me, the soles of my boots slamming against the ground, powering me in the direction of the barking dogs. Another gunshot sounded and then Duke’s obscene laughter echoed out across the property. Fear crept along my spine that he’d found his target and that Rebecca lay dead out in that field. Despite the fortunate timing of the evening’s events, I still may have waited too long to prevent her death.
“What are you gonna do now, slut?” The barking grew louder and more frenzied. “I was gonna wait until you were dead before I fed you to them, but now I guess they’ll be taking you alive.”
Rounding a corner, I spotted him across a dirt and grass patch. He placed the rifle down to pull a key from his pocket to release the gate. I ran up behind him, hitting him with the butt of my gun across the head. He fell back, but never lost his footing.
“What the fuck?”
It was the last thing he had the opportunity to say. Before he’d reached his third word, my barrel was pointed directly between his eyes. I smiled, pulled the trigger and watched as his body fell to the ground. A dark liquid puddle formed around him immediately and I reached up to wipe the blood splatter from my face.
I caught my breath and checked to ensure that the dogs were secured behind the gate. I picked up Duke’s rifle and strode out into the fields.
“Rebecca!”
I listened for a response and tried not to panic when I didn’t receive one. I ran out into the center of the field, spinning in circles desperate to see her moving shadow.
“Pet! Answer me right now!”
“Master …”
It was faint, barely a whisper against the destructive wind, but I heard it.
“Rebecca, keep talking or get your ass out in this field where I can see you!” My voice boomed out. When no response came, I screamed louder.
“Get your ass out here now!”
In my periphery vision, something moved slowly. I walked quickly in her direction. She fell to the ground before I could reach her. I picked her up and she groaned in pain. Running quickly, I took her back in the house, laying her on the floor before inspecting her body. Her arm was obviously fractured and she bled profusely from the leg.
“Fuck!” I cursed under my breath and ran through the house collecting towels and any medical supplies I could find. I dropped back beside her, the knees of my pants becoming soaked in the thick blood on the floor. I tied a tourniquet around the top of her leg and poured water over the wound.
I sighed with relief to find that she’d only been nicked. The adrenaline and her movement had increased her blood pressure making her bleed faster. I wrapped the wound before making a sling from another towel for her arm. Picking her up again, I walked quickly to my car, leaving the property behind – a distant memory.
While driving, I realized that if anybody were to discover Kelsey hanging in his house it would lead back to our group. I hit the call button in my car and listened to the phone on the other side ring. When I thought he wouldn’t answer, Anthony finally picked up.
“Aiden? What can I do for you, man? Did one of your courtesans get away from you?” He laughed. It was the greeting he used whenever I called.
“We have a problem that’s going to require some clean up. Tonight, if possible.”
I quickly explained the situation and Anthony didn’t ask any questions. He said he’d make some calls and take care of the problem. He also warned that the other society members in the region would demand an explanation for my actions and involvement with Duke’s death. I ended the call without giving him any details. I wasn’t worried and I had a story already formulated to explain what happened.
I’d sold Rebecca to Duke for three reasons. The first and foremost was to make myself a rich man – or at least – a richer man. The second reason was to set up an excuse for killing Duke. I knew his behavior would eventually be noticed and he would ultimately lead the police back to the group we’d managed to keep secret for years. It had been my intention to end him quickly, not considering that he’d have a torture chamber built in his basement. The discovery of that basement complicated matters, however, I trusted that Anthony could handle the problem. My third reason was to teach my slave a lesson – to break her spirit by breaking her heart.
I chuckled at the naivety of the thought. Even after I tore her heart from her chest, smiling when I shattered it; and even after living through hell for two weeks – she still rebelled and she still fought for her life.
She was remarkable.
We drove in silence for another two hours. When she stirred in her seat, it caught my attention and I reached over to touch her face, her eyes blinked open and bits of moonlight shone across their surface.
“Aiden?”
“Good to have you back.” My voice was rough from being quiet over the past few hours. I cleared my throat. “How are you feeling?”
She started to cry and I looked between her and the road. “Stop crying, Rebecca, it’s over – you’re safe.”
She sobbed for another few minutes. After growing quiet, she shifted in her seat again, her naked skin sticking against the leather of the seat.
“You know – if you get mud and blood all over my seats, I’m going to make you clean it up.”
She laughed and an eyebrow arched above my eye to hear it.
“You would do that to me, wouldn’t you? You have no fucking heart. You’re a fucking monster.”
I pulled the car over on the dark road. Once we were stopped, I turned to lean over her. “I just saved your life and you’re calling me a monster?”
Her eyes glared up at me as much as they could. The entire surface of her face was bruised and swollen, leaving small slits for her to see. She considered something for a moment, her eyes searching my face. Eventually, she breathed out a deep breath and said, “Thank you.”
I relaxed back into my seat. “I’m taking you home, pet. Go to sleep, it’ll make the ride a lot faster.”
When I pulled out onto the road again, she broke the thick silence of the night. “How were you able to let me go? Why would you send me off only to come back?”
Swallowing back my frustration that she wouldn’t sleep, I decided to be honest. “I knew he wouldn’t kill you immediately, you were too valuable to him – he’d paid too much. Plus, I’d shown him the anger inside you – the joy you took in punishing Kelsey when you were in my home. It made sense that he would want to use you in the same way. It’s rare for a woman to do something like that. He thought you were trained to be that way. I knew differently.”
She huffed out an indignant breath. “That doesn’t explain why you did what you did …”
“To complete your training.” I looked over at her and found that her eyes were turned to her window. It must have been easier for her to hear the truth without having to face it directly.
“If you hadn’t reacted the way you did the night I had to drug you, I wouldn’t have figured out how to finally break you.” I paused allowing her to absorb what I told her.
“You risked my life to teach me a lesson?”
I nodded silently before vocalizing my response. “Yes. I know it’s hard to understand – but it really is that simple.”
“How does that not make you a monster?”
I chuckled, reaching over and taking her hand in mine. She gripped her fingers tightly around mine.
“I never said I wasn’t. But yo
u don’t have much room to talk. You’re not much different than me.”
“Why would you think that?”
“From your reaction to what you discovered about Kelsey and Trenton. You were angry that night and I think it was an emotion you didn’t know how to handle; thus the reason you wanted me to beat it out of you. It consumed you because you felt lied to and betrayed. Instead of reacting with sorrow or grief, however, you were enraged –you became cold.”
“I still don’t understand why that makes me like you. I don’t steal people; I don’t rape them or beat them. I don’t throw them away and risk the lives of the people I care about.”
I laughed. “From what I’ve seen pet, you have no problem beating people. And your reaction was significant because it reminded me of myself. My mother was a courtesan; a whore traded and used by men, one of which was my father. She became pregnant with me while he owned her. After I was born, he allowed her to take care of me until I was five, but then she just disappeared one day. My father told me she left – that she didn’t love us enough to stay. He told me all women were whores and were good for nothing more than a good fuck. When I was older, I worked for a business associate of my father’s. He was the man who introduced me to the society and introduced me to Jack Renault; the Master who taught me everything I know.”
I paused of a beat to see if she would comment on anything I’d already said. She didn’t, so I continued.
“While studying under Jack, I ran across photographs of the women he’d trained through his career. One of them was my mother. He told me the truth of what happened to her. My father grew bored with her and traded her away. She eventually died, however Jack wasn’t certain of the circumstances.”
In my peripheral vision I saw that she finally turned to face me. “Everybody lied to you too.”
“I already hated woman by that time, so it wasn’t the discovery that made me cold – it only served to make me colder. I haven’t trusted anybody since. I don’t form bonds with people. I do my job, I make money and I move on. When I saw your reaction to the video, to the lie that your friends had told – I realized that you reacted the same way as me – you shut off completely, except for the rage you couldn’t control. You confirmed my suspicions the next morning when you beat Kelsey.”
“But you came back for me.”
I turned to look at her, squeezing her hand and still denying the truth of her words.
“I haven’t formed an attachment to you if that’s what you think – in the simplest terms; you are one of a kind among the other courtesans. That makes you very valuable. In addition, it’s like I told you, pet: Sending you off was just the last part of your training. I’m fairly certain when you’re at my house again, you won’t attempt to play games with me like you did before. I knew you were trying to force my hand – to seduce me into keeping you as my courtesan because that was something YOU wanted. It should never have been about that.”
“And the lesson I was taught?”
I grinned. “Now you know what happens when you play games. Ultimately, I’ll win, and you won’t like the results.”
Rebecca
His hands were on me before I sensed that he was near. A red silk scarf bound my wrists and a black lace blindfold was tied to my eyes. It was his joke – a constant reminder of how we met and the painting that caught my attention that day in the museum.
The heat of his palms warmed trails along my skin, my body arching into the contact demanding more from the strength of his hands. He chuckled wickedly.
“I’ll never get over how responsive you are, pet. No matter if it’s pain or pleasure, your body comes alive.”
His fingers pushed between my legs and I gasped, the breath knocked from my lungs by the sudden sensation. He’d left me tied up for an hour, sneaking by, touching me here and there to tease me and turn me on. He was an expert in building anticipation – in confusing the mind so that you never knew exactly how or when he would touch you again.
“Do you want me to fuck you, Rebecca?”
I didn’t answer – I knew this game. Any answer I gave him would be wrong because it didn’t matter what I wanted – only what he was willing to give me.
The funny thing about all of this is that I’d struggled against him for so long in the beginning, and I was hurt as a result of that struggle. When I finally succumbed to his control – his dominance and his desires – he made sure I was taken care of – that I had a warm soft bed and clothes that I never would have worn in the life I’d known before him. More importantly, he gave me freedom and he always gave me a release; whether it was violence, or sex … or both, he always made sure I laid my head on my pillow at night and fell asleep satisfied.
And although he would never admit it – he gave me love.
“Answer me, pet.”
I smiled. “I want what you want, Master.”
His chest brushed up against me when he chuckled. “That’s right, beautiful girl, and right now, I want to bury myself inside you.”
He filled me almost instantly – my head on the bed and my ass in the air. It was his favorite position. His hands wrapped around and ran up my torso, eventually cupping the weight of my breasts when he moved inside me. My arms were extending above my head and I peeked back at him through the lace. He was exquisite, a Master of not only my body, but my mind.
The muscles of his chest flexed and glistened as he moved and sweat beaded down his forehead, small strands of black hair slipping down giving him a boyish charm. His strong jaw was accented by the dancing shadow in the room and his piercing eyes stared back at me, a grin tugging at his mouth because he knew I was breaking the rules.
He would punish me for it, but I didn’t mind – and he knew it.
The familiar flame of an orgasm began to spark inside me, teasing me with the faint ripple of ecstasy through my body, a shudder along my muscles and heat blooming across my skin. When he brought his hand down and massaged my clit, it was like a trigger. I exploded almost immediately, the muscles of my core gripping at him, desperate for him never to pull away.
He growled out his own release above me, eventually falling to the bed beside me and pulling me in to kiss me, hard and hungry for more.
I’ve been Aiden’s courtesan for two years now. When he brought me back from Duke’s, he had a room set up and the medical equipment moved in from the exam room. James tended to me because my injuries were nothing that required specialized care. I still had scars on my body from that night, mainly a large gash were the bullet had broken the skin on the side of my leg.
It took four months for me to fully recover. Aiden and Theresa both nursed me back to health and I grew to care for Theresa deeply. She’d been nervous around me at first, but eventually she saw that I was happy in the life Aiden forced me to live.
During the period that I was recovering, the society members questioned Aiden regarding the facts surrounding Duke’s death. I wasn’t surprised to discover that Aiden already had a reasonable explanation prepared.
He told the men that Duke had invited him to his house under the pretense of hiring Aiden to acquire another courtesan. When Aiden arrived, Duke had lost control of Kelsey and me and Aiden claimed to show up around the time Duke was using me as target practice. When Aiden walked onto the scene, Duke attempted to shoot him, mistaking him for me. Duke missed and Aiden shot him in self-defense. After finding me in the field, he’d taken me inside to tend to my wounds. He discovered the basement and the condition in which Kelsey was left and was concerned that once Duke’s death was discovered, the courtesans would also be discovered and a paper trail would lead the authorities back to Aiden and, ultimately, the society itself.
I had to lie for Aiden when the men questioned me – and I had no problem doing it. They saw no reason to doubt him after that and even commended him for the act.
I asked Aiden what happened to Kelsey, if they were able to save her when they cleaned up the scene. I hoped that, at least, she’d been give
n to another owner and that she would be cared for like Aiden cared for me. Aiden’s expression fell when I asked and with a sympathetic tone to his voice, he told me that Duke killed Kelsey before chasing after me.
To reward me for my good behavior and for telling the society members what I’d been instructed to say, Aiden surprised me one day with something that I couldn’t resist. After my arm had healed and nothing was left of that night but the small scars on my body, he’d taken me to the dark room, opening the door and leading me inside – telling me nothing more than the fact that he acquired a new courtesan.
When we entered the room, my stomach churned and I had a sinking feeling. Memories of the first night with Kelsey flooded my thoughts and the pain I’d felt when he’d touched her in front of me. Five weeks of listening to him fuck her - enjoy her – but never me. He told me later on that he’d done that on purpose, as punishment for my behavior on the night I still don’t remember. He promised me that if I never reacted with jealousy again, he wouldn’t deny me.
My love had not changed him – or, if it did, he refused to admit it. I think he’s in denial – that he does love me, but won’t admit it. But, in the end, I guess it doesn’t really matter. You learn to live with things in life – to be flexible or be in pain. Those were the choices he gave. I either changed for him or I didn’t have him. It was that simple. It was about what he wanted – but when I learned to give in, to trust that he knew best for my life – I found happiness within the world he created for me.
Throughout the months that it took me to heal, Aiden explained the training process that he used in his profession as Master. I never understood why he told me the things he did or why it didn’t snap me out of the submission I’d given him as a result of the mind games he played. I should have known that, eventually, the reasons for what he told me would become clear. He was still training me – but, for what, I didn’t yet know.