by Rayna Stone
As he snuck a peek into the great room, he noticed Kat reclining in a leather chair like a beached whale. She looked absolutely miserable. She was also glaring at Kelly with malice. Kelly was glaring right back. She was tapping her foot and pursing her lips like it was taking all her control to keep her mouth shut.
“I’m just saying, you look a little like Sasquatch. I know you’re pregnant and not interested in your personal hygiene at the moment, but seriously, Kat. What doctor wants to deliver a baby with all that going on? You haven’t even been shaving your legs! It’s just too much, Katherine. As a woman, and the only one currently in this house who is not afraid of you, it is my responsibility to tell you that you have taken this far enough. I’ll have everything brought to the house. You won’t even have to go anywhere. We’ll get you all fixed up in no time.” It looked to Troy like Kelly was trying to reason with a red-haired maniac. He had never seen a person’s eyes get as big as Kat’s at that moment. Poor Jay was sitting in the corner pale as a ghost.
“Sasquatch? Not shaving my legs? Let me tell you something, Kelly. I haven’t seen my legs in two months. I can’t reach my fucking legs. And as far as my hoo-ha is concerned, any doctor who is more worried about that particular sight than getting this thing out of my body can go fuck himself.
“I’m bigger than a whale and I do not give a shit about how attractive my legs and girly parts are. I don’t intend to let Mac or Jay ever touch me again, so I really don’t think it matters. And if you bring the Wax Nazi into my home, I swear I will make you babysit this child. I’m not afraid of your threats to bind her up for her own protection. She already hates me. I think she broke a rib last night. You can’t possibly piss her off more than she is already. Though why she’s trying to kill me is beyond my comprehension. Why does my baby hate me? Oh, God, I’m already a terrible mother!” Kat began her argument with full steam, but now she was sobbing hysterically. Troy was completely at a loss. He looked to Jay and Kelly to see who was going to end this horror, but they were both useless. Kelly had lost her color, too, and it didn’t seem like anyone knew what to do.
Finally Mac came into the room with a cat. He placed the ball of extreme fluff on top of Kat’s huge stomach and soothed her with kisses. He told her the baby loved her and she’d be a great mother. Kat just melted into his side and snuffled a bit. Kelly and Jay quietly eased out of their chairs and made a hasty escape to the kitchen. Troy was right on their heels.
Chapter Two
Kelly grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator and gulped down half. Pregnant women were insane. She should have known not to say anything when Kat told her that the baby had hiccups. Hiccups were bad news. Kat said it felt like she’d swallowed a vibrator. And she was definitely not babysitting that child. There shouldn’t be a human population, the way small children were constantly trying to kill themselves. Her nephew practically gave her a heart attack when he decided to make a game out of flinging himself off the back of the couch. She still had nightmares about the time he sailed down the stairs on his tricycle. Jesus, kids should be bound and placed in padded rooms at all times. Even if she did very secretly want one someday, that little sucker would have every safety device known to man and a few that she would design on her own.
“I’m never trying to help you out again, Jay.” Jay was drinking his beer just as fast and handing one over to Davis. They both looked a little shaken.
“No, you have my permission to slap me next time I suggest absolutely anything until this baby is born,” he said seriously.
Kelly looked at Davis. Poor guy was probably going to get a vasectomy after that display. Kat was a walking birth control ad lately. Too bad, really. Detective Davis was one hot piece of real estate. His light-blond hair was fairly short, but it looked so soft. His eyes were hazel, but she noticed it seemed like they changed color with his clothes or mood. He was a big man, over six feet of muscle that somehow looked graceful on him. She’d been observing him more closely at the club ever since Jay had started working with him last year. She didn’t want to admit it, but it was difficult to focus on anything else when he was in the room. It took all her self-control not to openly ogle the man. She tried not to be too hard on herself. After all, the fact that she hadn’t been attracted to a man in forever could explain her ridiculous reaction to him. She couldn’t keep her eyes off him. And that was not normal for Kelly. Christ, she needed to reevaluate her life. Was it possible she was ready to move on? Could she ever trust her judgment in men again? And what the fuck was wrong with Davis? Intelligent, hot-as-hell men were not generally single for years at a time.
She wondered what he would be like as a top. She hadn’t seen him play at the club, but he had given some demonstrations. He definitely knew what he was doing. The way he treated the volunteer subs was mesmerizing to watch. She’d never seen anyone use a single tail with such precision and grace. He could caress the skin like a lick of fire or leave a stinging bite. Kelly actually had to excuse herself from the room when he demonstrated his skill with a flogger. It wouldn’t do to orgasm in her chair just from watching a fucking demonstration. It was really quite astonishing how deeply this man affected her without even looking at her. She wanted to feel what it would be like to be in the hands of a man so focused on her pleasure. He wouldn’t ever hurt her. She may not have always been a good judge of character, but she knew this man was a protector.
Kelly snapped back to the present when she heard the word victim. She listened with increasing fury as Davis told Jay about the latest murder and his theory that the killer was posing as a Dom. She had spent her adult life trying to protect subs. She and her friend James had opened Exchanges to provide a safe haven for their community. And now there was a predator hunting young submissives. “Let me go with you. Let me go in as your submissive,” she blurted out.
Davis froze. After a minute he looked at her with sympathy in his eyes. “Kelly, I appreciate that you want to help. I know it’s difficult knowing our own people are being targeted for these vicious attacks, but I can’t take a civilian undercover with me. I can’t put you in danger.”
Kelly straightened her spine. She knew all about danger. That was precisely why she needed to help stop this killer. “You need someone who knows the scene, Davis. How long is it going to take to train one of your officers to behave like a true submissive? If this guy knows what he’s doing, he’ll spot a fake a mile away. You can tell them what to do, but you can’t just fake mannerisms. And if they’ve never seen what goes on in a club like that before, they could give themselves away with negative reactions. You need me.”
“Kelly, cop or not, I will never put you in a dangerous situation. My team and I will figure out a way to deal with this.” His tone had gone stern and she knew she was being dismissed.
“Fine, tell me when the next girl shows up dead if you’re still figuring it out, detective.” She slammed her bottle down and flew out of the room. She needed to get home. Too many emotions were fighting for attention in her head and she needed to work through them alone.
* * * *
Kelly took a lungful of air and dove. The cool water of her pool bathed her body and eased her tension. She had been swimming for as long as she could remember. Her parents used to tie her down with every flotation device known to man, but she’d just wiggle free and swim away. They finally gave up when she was four. By the time she was five, she was a better swimmer than her mother.
Her mother. She hadn’t spoken to her parents in twelve years. After they’d disowned her, she moved to Colorado and never looked back. Even her sister rarely spoke to her. She would call when she needed something, and occasionally invited Kelly to see her niece and nephew, but Kelly could never forget that she wasn’t allowed to even attend her sister’s wedding. Kelly tried not to feel their loss. She wouldn’t think of the past unless she was swimming. The pain of all that had happened was too much for the open air. The water buried her sadness and kept her safe from the memories.
&n
bsp; Today, in her sanctuary, she could admit that her fear was taking away her future. She had imagined that one day she would be able to move on and open herself to life again. Now she was afraid that day would never come. Worse, she was afraid she didn’t even know what kind of life she wanted. She was becoming the kind of victim that let their monsters continue to destroy them, and she hated it. She needed help, but she just didn’t know how to ask for it.
Kelly allowed herself to remember as lap after lap drained her strength. She was the darling of her family, the youngest daughter with an eye for business. Her father was so proud that she would follow in his footsteps that he managed to get her an internship with his firm after her freshman year of college.
Appearances were everything to her parents. They didn’t come from money, and their only goal in life was to belong with the country-club crowd. Her father had managed to rise in the ranks of a highly respected investment firm. She remembered being a little girl and taking etiquette lessons so she wouldn’t embarrass her parents at the boss’s company parties. She would have done anything to make them proud of her.
After her first week at the firm, her father told her that they would be meeting with the CEO. She had seen Marcus Flynn a few times before and had the biggest crush on him. He was a genius in the financial world. One of those whiz kids that had taken over the firm at the age of thirty-five. At forty, he was still the most gorgeous man Kelly had ever seen. She was nineteen and had never even gone on a date. Her parents wouldn’t allow dating in high school, and once she started college, she felt awkward around boys. She was too shy to know what to do, so she decided to focus on her studies for a while. She wanted to get her career on solid footing before committing to a man, anyway. But she had never met anyone in college who exuded power and authority the way Mr. Flynn did. He was successful, sophisticated, and he wanted her to be one of his assistants.
He spent weeks romancing her. At first, he just complimented her work, but she noticed the way he looked at her. His eyes were fierce and hungry. He made her feel so beautiful. Then he asked her to dinner. That was all it took. One date and she was under his spell. He lavished her with attention and gifts. No one had ever made her feel so special. And her parents were practically planning their wedding. They were so excited to be part of Flynn’s inner circle.
One night after a fundraising gala, he took her to his penthouse and explained that he was a dominant and he truly felt that she was his submissive match. He wanted to open a whole new world to her. Train her to be his. He said that after training, he wanted to marry her.
Kelly was nervous at first. She had never even heard of BDSM, and she knew that she was only just now establishing her own identity, but she trusted Flynn with her whole heart. She’d try anything for him, for his love. As her lessons in servitude and protocol began, he was patient with her, always praising her for her efforts to learn. She took to bondage like she was born for it. She loved the feel of the ropes tying her to his will. She loved the lash of his whip even more. She never imagined how erotic pain could be. She didn’t realize her body could feel so alive. The orgasms he gave her were mind-blowing. She’d never been with a man before, but the few times she was able to climax on her own felt like pathetic little sneezes in comparison. And Kelly was desperate to make him happy. Submitting outside sexual situations didn’t come easily for her, but knowing that she was learning and serving him well was all that really mattered.
Flynn never had sex with her. He taught her how to pleasure him, and he gave her release as well, but he never consummated their relationship. He told her that when he married her, he would take her virginity. That it was his right as her Master, but it would be his right as her husband as well. He warned her never to seek another. That if she didn’t guard her innocence, he would never touch her again. Kelly couldn’t understand why he would even be worried about such a thing. She had no interest in anyone else, couldn’t really see anyone but him.
The next year flew by as she juggled school and the increasing demands of her Master. He began acting like a jealous lover when she had study groups that involved other men, occasionally taking his anger out on her. The beatings were a shock to her at first. He had never mentioned actually hurting her as being a part of the Master/slave code. She knew deep down that things were getting out of hand and his treatment of her was wrong, but Flynn would always shower her with love and apologies afterward. He kept telling her that he just couldn’t stand to share her with anyone. Though Kelly was becoming more worried about his increasingly possessive behavior, she was too afraid to lose him to try to assert any independence. She couldn’t imagine her life without him. What would she do if he didn’t love her anymore?
She had no idea how naïve she was. She never realized how isolated she’d become. Most of her interaction with her family went through Flynn by that point, and she didn’t have any real friends. He took all of her time and made all the decisions in her life. She was even going to drop out of college at the end of the semester like he suggested. Flynn felt it was a waste of time and money to finish her degree, since he wouldn’t allow her to work once they were married. He told her that she would be too busy tending to him and their home to have a career. He wanted her to start focusing on learning to be the kind of wife he needed, and she couldn’t imagine denying his wishes.
One night after a long study session at the local coffee shop, she came home to her apartment to find Flynn sitting on her couch. He’d been drinking and he looked so disappointed in her. She had no idea what was wrong. He didn’t often drink, and she had just seen him earlier in the day. She was frantically running through the events since then to figure out what could have upset him. She was wearing what he asked her to wear. Her hair was done the way he liked. She hadn’t gone anywhere without telling him. Nothing. She didn’t understand what had happened. She stripped off her clothes and dropped to her knees. “Master, how may I serve you?” God, she wanted him to hold her. Tell her he loved her.
“You’re trying my patience, Kelly. Do you think I don’t understand the games you’ve been playing? Flirting with all those college boys, taunting them with your body. Are you such a slut you can’t even wait for our wedding night to get fucked? Have I been wasting my time with a whore?” Kelly could not believe the vile words coming from his mouth. He’d never been so angry with her. She wanted to tell him that she hadn’t flirted with anyone but him. She certainly never tried to play games. But she was so shocked and confused she couldn’t even speak.
He pulled her to her feet by her hair and threw her face down on her bed. Before she knew what was going on, he had her tied to the headboard and footboard, spread eagle and helpless. “I will remind you of your place, Kelly. Since you seem to want it so badly, I’ll even fuck you like a whore. Maybe then you’ll reconsider your behavior and start acting like the woman I thought you were.” Her mind was in chaos. What the fuck was he talking about? She had no idea what she’d done and she was too afraid right now to say anything. She was terrified to make him angrier.
Kelly remembered hearing Flynn rummaging in his toy bag. He took it everywhere they went. She tried to figure out what he was getting by sound, but she couldn’t tell. The next thing she knew, she felt the searing pain of the single tail slice into her back. She screamed out in pain. He had never before broken her skin. He would occasionally raise some welts and leave her with bruises, but this was beyond anything she had ever experienced.
The lashing continued for what seemed like hours. She could feel the blood streaming down her back and sides. The pain was so intense she wanted to break free from her mind to escape it. Her throat was raw from screaming and crying, and she could barely grunt by the time she heard him drop the whip. “Whores get fucked in the ass, Kelly. That’s all you deserve if you insist on acting like cheap trash.”
She felt him release her ankles. She was too weak to fight him. He pulled her hips up until she was propped on her knees. Just when she knew he was going
to rape her, she heard sirens. She was shaking with pain and fear, sick to her stomach knowing that the man she loved had savagely beaten her and would rape her. But someone had heard her screams and called for help. She would be saved from this last horrific act, and she would be alive.
Flynn was rushing to get dressed and untie her. He was swearing up a storm and telling her to keep her mouth shut. Kelly had no intention of letting him get rid of the police. She was finished. She couldn’t take it anymore and she wanted him gone. She needed help. The police broke her door down. One look at the scene in her bedroom and they had Flynn cuffed and out the door with lightning speed. The paramedics got to work on her immediately while the cops asked her what happened. She passed out before they even got to the hospital.
Flynn was arrested for assault with intent to rape, but it was little consolation for Kelly. Her parents were convinced that she was the one who had driven Flynn’s actions. They thought she was a sexual deviant who had destroyed his sanity. They abandoned her and told her they never wanted to see her again. They said they would not allow Kelly to shame them further by being a part of their lives. She was shunned by the entire community in which she once belonged. Nobody wanted to believe that Flynn was a predator, that he had ensnared a young and inexperienced woman and then abused his power over her. She didn’t have his money or connections. She didn’t have anything anymore.
Kelly knew that social standing was important to her parents, she just never thought it would be more important than their daughter. Weren’t parents supposed to put their children first? Thinking about it in her hospital bed, she realized that she never made them choose before. She never rebelled or failed them in any way. Kelly had lived her entire life to please them. And when she needed them most, they abandoned her. How could she have been so wrong about everything?