Vignettes of a Master

by Luke, Jason

  I muttered the line out loud, and the words jagged in the back of my throat like broken shards of glass.

  Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews

  March, 24th.

  Jonah and Leticia in a car accident.

  Blurred movement burst from my left – a dark shape exploding through the intersection. Suddenly the air was filled with the scream of wailing tires and I had just an instant to reach out for Leticia before the vehicle collided into the side of the car with shattering force.

  I heard Leticia scream. I saw Tiny in the driver’s seat, wrestling frantically with the steering wheel.

  Time slowed…

  And then stood still.

  I felt myself shunted across the seat as the side of the car folded in. Metal screeched and the impact was like a hammer-blow. I felt the air driven explosively from my lungs and then my vision began to blur as warm fresh blood spilled down across my face and into my eyes.

  I turned my head slowly. Leticia was a crumpled mess. She had been thrown head-first against the glass of the passenger door. She lay perfectly still in a tangle of arms and I heard my self cry out in pain and despair as I reached out for her and frantically groped to find a pulse.

  There was none…

  Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews

  March, 24th.

  Jonah’s thoughts on wanting to live.

  I stared out through the office window and the night became dark until the room felt like a tomb.

  The darkness – it had become my friend. It hid me away from the world, and left me alone with my misery. It wrapped itself over me like a thick veil and left me in peace to mourn a life I would never get to live.

  I thought back bitterly over the opportunities I had missed, the chances that had passed me by.

  The loves I had lost…

  I shifted in the chair and the soft leather creaked and groaned. I sighed bitterly. I was old before my time – old and worn down by despair and regret and bitterness.

  And I was angry.

  I hated God. I hated fate. I hated everything that had conspired to rob me of a life.

  I wanted to seize it back. I wanted one more chance to have what everyone else in the world had. The one thing I had lost.

  I wanted a future…

  Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews

  March, 24th.

  Drunk Dial Damnit..

  “Jonah… Jonah… is that youuuu?”

  I held the phone’s receiver hard against my ear and frowned. There was a riot of sound in the background, and overlaid above it was the slurred voice of a woman.

  “This is Jonah Noble,” I said. “Who is this?”

  There was a giggle of laughter and then a young woman’s voice came loud in my ear. “It’s me, you big boo-boo! It’s your luscious little Le-tit-ia,” she drew the sound of her name out so that the second syllable was emphasized. Then she burst out into a riot of laughter. “I just said tit!”

  I felt my frown deepen, and my mood grew darker. “You’re drunk.”

  I heard Leticia gasp, the sound like some naughty school-girl who had been caught smoking. “No!” she wailed. “I’m not drunk… Jonah, with a boner! I’m horny. I’m horny as hell and I want to lick my way from your toes to your… thingy!”

  “Thingy?” I repeated. I switched the phone to my other ear. “You’re drunk,” I said again. “Call me back when you know how to talk dirty like a real woman, not a little child.”

  I put down the phone.

  And then I started laughing.

  Rude Girl Blog

  March, 24th.

  Jonah and Leticia, training room, Leticia's first orgasm.

  I felt Leticia arch her back in a voluptuous movement that drew the muscles of her back taut. I traced the line of her spine downwards, feeling each rounded knuckle of bone with my fingertips as though I were playing a musical instrument. Leticia shuddered beneath the soft touch of my hands and she tilted her hips forward and moved her weight so that I felt the press of her pelvis hard against the swelling flesh of my arousal.

  I drew in a sharp breath, feeling myself pulse with life and Leticia gave a gasp that became a slow breathless little moan.

  “You will come for me tonight,” I said. It wasn’t a question.

  It was a command.

  “You will give yourself to me willingly and you will do as I say.”

  Leticia nodded. She pressed her naked breasts flat against my chest and her arms entwined around the back of my neck. Her soft lips parted and she hunted the flesh of my neck with her mouth as though suddenly ravenous. I threw my head back to the ceiling and felt the electric sensations of her mouth and tongue as it snaked down across the ridges of my chest, until I knew it was time. I knew instinctively that Leticia was ready…

  Rude Girl Blog

  March, 24th.

  Leticia asking Jonah what he wants her to learn in the playroom.

  “And so this is the room you would train me in?” Leticia asked. She had been here before, and yet she cast her eyes quickly across the bare simple furnishings to see if anything had changed.

  It hadn’t. I had not been in this room since I had shown it to her.

  “Yes,” I said simply. “This is where most formal training would take place. Training… and punishments…”

  Leticia heard the ominous tone in my voice, yet she came forward boldly until she was standing in the middle of the floor, facing me. Six inches of space separated us.

  She was close enough for me to reach out and caress.

  Close enough for me to force to her knees.

  Close enough for me to take her.

  “What things would you teach me here? What kind of things do submissives learn?” she asked softly. Her voice had dropped a note and become subdued.

  “Discipline,” I said.

  “And what else?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “In a BDSM relationship, discipline is everything. From it comes everything else. If you learn discipline, you become obedient. I don’t need to teach you the physical aspects of your submission, Leticia. I simply need to teach you to obey. Once you do - I assure you - everything else will be instinctive.”

  Rude Girl Blog

  March, 24th.

  Leticia and Jonah in a Karaoke Bar.

  The crowd parted, the noise subsided just a little… and I caught sight of the stage. It was a small, raised platform in the corner of the bar, with dark curtains drawn back on either side. In the center of the stage was a microphone on a stand.

  I frowned. This wasn’t my idea of fun. This wasn’t the way I liked to enjoy myself.

  Not at all. Not in a crowd, and not in a crowded bar.

  Suddenly a spotlight split the gloom and it settled on the table where Leticia and I sat. I saw the blood drain from Leticia’s face and the mortified look in her eyes.

  I looked at her in sudden alarm. “What’s wrong?” I sat up straight in my chair.

  Leticia’s eyes were wide and terrified. “The spotlight,” she said, pointing. “It means one of the people at the table must sing.”

  I said nothing.

  Leticia was holding her breath.

  “Can you sing?” I asked her.

  She nodded. “A little. I had lessons…”

  “Then you sing – because I’m not.”

  The look of terror spread across her face and distorted her features as blind panic overcame her. “What? What do I sing?”

  “Meatloaf,” I said instantly. “Bat out of Hell was the last great record ever made. Every single Jim Steinman song on that album was a classic. Pick any of them – they’re all brilliant.”

  Leticia pushed herself away from the chair and walked like a condemned man towards the stage. I hadn’t told her one thing, and now I smiled to myself with wicked relish. Most Meatloaf songs run for six or seven minutes.

  That would teach her to bring me to a place like this, dammit!

  A note from Jason:

  This was another suggestion for a paragra
ph that kept popping up on various Facebook pages. The problem I had was that I just could never imagine Jonah Noble in a Karaoke Bar. In the end I came up with a neat twist that made me smile.

  Rude Girl Blog

  March, 24th.

  Porno and popsicles, Jonah and Leticia.

  “Watching pornographic films can be educational,” I explained to Leticia. She perched herself on the edge of the sofa, and glanced at my face nervously – then her eyes flicked to the big television screen. Leticia had her feet planted on the floor, her knees pressed together, and her hands clasped tightly between her thighs, like maybe she was cold.

  But it was hot. The sun outside beat in through the glass. I handed her a popsicle. “Sit back and try to relax,” I encouraged her. “There is no test afterwards, Leticia. I simply want you to watch the way the women in the film act when they are being instructed by their Masters. Watch the expression on their faces, and the look in their eyes. Learn, but don’t study.”

  The film burst into color on the screen and the scene began to unfold. I glanced at Leticia from out of the corner of my eye. On the screen a woman was on her knees before a Master. The woman was taking the man’s length hungrily between her lips while the man stood over her with his hands on his hips. Leticia watched, entranced.

  It was the first time I had seen this film. I glanced back as the camera panned around for a close up view of the woman submissive.

  Then suddenly I sat forward and felt the icy grip of shock squeeze like a fist around my heart. I knew that woman! I knew the porn actress.

  It was Caroline!

  A note from Jason:

  Talk about pressure!

  This was one of those suggestions that just wouldn’t go away. A group of readers were constantly urging me to write this scene, and for at least a week I kept avoiding it. How the hell could I include pornography and popsicles into a scene? Finally I bit the bullet.

  Seductive Romance Reviews

  March, 26th.

  Jonah and Leticia’s first dance.

  Food was sizzling softly on the hotplate. I stood in the entrance to the kitchen and watched quietly. Leticia was standing by a kitchen counter. She had slid back into her jeans. I glanced at the clock by my shoulder. It was after midnight. The kitchen was lit by a single light above the hotplates so that the room was cast in a golden glow. I watched the way Leticia moved, enjoying the simple grace of her.

  And then suddenly, unaware that I was watching her, she began to sing.

  It was a Hootie and the Blowfish tune. One I knew. Leticia had a surprisingly mellow husk to her voice – a soulful tone that I had not expected.

  I crossed the kitchen and stood behind her. She bent at the waist to turn down the hotplate, and as she rose again I tapped her on the shoulder and she turned in a flicker of alarm.

  I said nothing.

  I slid my hand around her waist, pulled her close to me. I felt the warmth of her, the way her body molded to mine. Leticia blushed, and then smiled into my eyes.

  And then I guided her across the tiled floor, and we slow danced, all alone, under the soft pale glow of the kitchen light while Leticia finished her song.

  A note from Jason:

  This was a case of art imitating life. I remember at the time selecting this scene suggestion the instant I saw it. By pure coincidence, my girlfriend, Vivien and I, had slow danced in our kitchen to a Hootie and the Blowfish song just two nights earlier.

  Seductive Romance Reviews

  March, 26th.

  Caroline confronts Jonah after the articles are published.

  Caroline held the newspapers out to me. Her hand was trembling. There was pain and heartache in her eyes. I didn’t accept the newspapers. I didn’t need to. I knew what Leticia had written.

  “You said all this about me… about us, Jonah…?”

  I nodded. “Yes,” I said.

  She shook her head, and thrust one of the articles at me. “You never loved me?”

  I said nothing.

  Caroline’s voice rose, became strident. “You never loved me?”

  I shook my head. “No, Caroline, I never loved you. I cared for you, I cherished you, I trained you… but I never loved you. That was never a part of our relationship. You knew that.”

  She shook her head, and began to cry. Her whole body shook, and her sobs became great painful gulps of air, as though she were suffocating. “Don’t make what we shared together sound so clinical – so heartless,” Caroline hissed suddenly. “Guess what, Jonah?” she cuffed away tears that streaked down her cheeks. “I loved you! I couldn’t help myself. I adored you!”

  Seductive Romance Reviews

  March, 26th.

  Leticia feeling sad with Jonah sleeping.

  Leticia stood in the threshold of the bedroom for long seconds, reveling in the secret pleasure of watching Jonah sleep.

  She stood quietly in the gloom, enchanted.

  His body was muscled, but not overly so. She could see the planes and swell of his physique below the dark skin of his chest, covered with soft dark whorls of hair.

  Jonah Noble’s body didn’t have the delicacy of the other young boys she had known; there was a maturity in his physique, a denseness of muscle that showed as he rolled onto his back, still sleeping soundly.

  Leticia felt the burn of soft unshed tears at the corners of her eyes. She wanted to cross the room. She wanted to touch the man’s forehead, sooth away his worries and doubts. She wanted to crawl under the covers with him and curl her body around his, taking comfort in his size and energy.

  But she didn’t. She turned away, closed the door quietly.

  As always – even asleep – something kept Jonah Noble out of reach…

  Shh Mom’s Reading

  March, 26th.

  Jonah finds Leticia pleasuring herself.

  I felt like an intruder – this was something very private, very intimate. I took one small step away from the curtained window… and then paused… because I heard Leticia softly moan my name.

  She was pleasuring herself, and I was the subject of her fantasies.

  I edged back to the glass, looked down upon her laying across the bed. The sheets were a tangle around her feet, and her thighs were wide apart. She had one hand clutched tightly over her sex, and with the other she was pinching and caressing her nipples. Her head was thrown back, her back arched with the tension of her passion. I felt my own breathing become ragged watching her.

  I heard Leticia moan, and then she softly called my name once more. I felt my fingers bunch into a tight fist of anticipation… and then she exploded; her entire body released in ecstasy of an orgasm. Her legs tensed, then thrashed, and her thighs fell wide open. I saw the toned muscles of her abdomen heave and then pulse, as the waves of her pleasure rippled out to all parts of her body.

  Shh Mom’s Reading

  March, 26th.

  Jonah finds out Leticia is going to interview Jason Luke about a second book.

  “You’re going to interview Jason Luke?” I was incredulous. Somehow, this felt like the worst kind of betrayal. Leticia nodded, and her expression was grim and determined. “Yes,” she said, and then some of her cold austere reserve crumbled away, and she reached for my hand. “He has the power, Jonah. Despite what you might think, he controls your world. I’m hoping that I can convince him to let you live through the sequel.” I turned away, feeling a sudden surge of anger that I was unaccustomed to. Jason Luke was a jerk. “I forbid it,” I said, turning back to Leticia, my eyes cold, but my temper blazing. “I forbid you to meet this man.” She shook her head and snatched up her handbag from the sofa. “I am prepared to do whatever it takes to convince Jason Luke to let you live,” she said levelly. She unbuttoned the top three buttons of her blouse so that the tight cinch of her cleavage was obvious, and then hoisted her skirt an inch higher up her knee. “Anything and everything it takes, Jonah.”

  A note from Jason:

  This was another scene where I got
a mention in the unfolding events – and, just like the others where I was able to interact with the fictional characters, it proved to be tremendously popular with readers.

  Shh Mom’s Reading

  March, 26th.

  Jonah teaching Leticia how to talk dirty on the phone.

  “Erotic conversation is an art form,” I explained to Leticia. I stood close beside her so that my words were like a seductive, hypnotic whisper. “Without the benefits of sight to fuel your listener’s imagination, you must create the mood only with the tone of your voice and the words you choose.”

  Leticia nodded her head, but didn’t turn. She stood staring out of the big window, listening to my every word, but not daring to turn – not willing to see the hungry look in my eyes.

  “You must keep your voice soft, use your words carefully. The point of the exercise is to arouse the listener. You can’t be crude – that doesn’t work. You need to seduce, Leticia… seduce the person you are calling with the sound of your voice alone.”

  Jason Luke Author Page

  March, 28th.

  Jonah's response to Leticia's ex boyfriend showing up and wanting her back.

  I stared at Leticia, and my face was expressionless: cold and devoid of any emotion.

  “So that’s your news?” I asked. “You came her tonight to tell me that your ex boyfriend wants you to return to him?”