I drew my fingernail down one blue line, absorbing the shudder of her flesh. So nice.
I could’ve done more, could’ve kept going until she was a writhing mess, untied her even, since she wasn’t going anywhere with how she was right now, then done some smaller, focused intense pain, but Andreas was here.
“These are going to hurt like a motherfucker tomorrow.” I ran cream down the welt and massaged it in.
Andreas only grunted. After I was done, he helped me untie her. I hefted her in my arms and looked down at her sleepy face. Spaced out, definitely.
“Is she okay?”
“Yes. Now you know how much she likes pain…if I do it right.” I paced my way out to the deck, weaving around the indoor couches and the deck dining table. “Have you ever heard a woman come that loudly before?”
“No. But, you’re saying she liked the pain before that? As well?”
I gently laid her on her stomach on the big red sofa. My hand hovered over the dress. It had gathered above her shoulders and her breasts. Eventually, I settled for pulling it down to her navel level, leaving her cute, if multi-colored, butt exposed.
Andreas cleared his throat. “Damn, Chris. That’s fucking sexy. Even if you’ve turned her butt black and blue…and red. How do you know?”
I blinked and it took me a minute to figure what he referred to. “The pain?”
In the distance, the late afternoon wind was rustling the trees at the beach line. Getting darker here too, with the sun setting at the front of the house. I flicked on a standing lamp. When I stroked down her leg, Kat mumbled and turned her head to the side. “Stay there. Rest while we get dinner ready.”
Andreas twitched an eyebrow, staring down at her with that slightly annoyed look that meant, well, that she puzzled him. I could bloody well understand that. Kat was not easy to figure out.
“I doubt she liked it when I first started. That was meant as punishment.”
I thought back, remembering my reasons. I’d realized Andreas was watching everything and I’d scaled back. Besides, her behavior was unusual, even for her. Spitting on me? So damn provocative. She’d wanted it. Wanted hard punishment. I never gave them what they wanted if they were bad. Her initial squeals at the touch of the vibe had been thoroughly indignant. I was pretty sure she hadn’t wanted that either. So making her come as well as giving her that punishment – icing on the cake, or on the butt, in this case. I couldn’t help smiling at that memory too.
“You want to know if she liked the pain, ask her.”
“Okay. I’ll do that.” He nodded. “I’ve put some scaled and gutted fish in the fridge. Are you up for cooking it? We should leave some for breakfast, though.”
“I wondered how many you’d caught. Whiting? Bream?”
“Both.”
With her collar attached by a long leash to the sofa ring, Kat wasn’t going anywhere. I headed back to the kitchen with Andreas. “Show me what you want tonight. We’ve got mushrooms, leeks, cream, fresh garlic, and bread. I can whip up something good.”
“Whip.” He snorted and, as we stepped through, shoved the sliding door farther open.
I looked back. We’d be able to check on her from the kitchen. She hadn’t moved as yet.
It was while I was sautéing the garlic, leek, and mushrooms that Andreas came up with his new proposal. Had I heard him correctly over the sizzle of the pan, and the surge of the waves and the wind? I stirred the food again, looked him in the eye. “Say again?”
Andreas had been staring out at Kat. He swiveled on the stool to face me. “What if you simply let her go? Get her to promise not to tell about –” He swept his hand across the air in an arc. “All this, you, me. Let her go home. I can see why you’ve done this. And…”
His focus went back on her, where she still lay on her stomach, bare-assed, asleep maybe? Pain took it out of subs and the breeze out there was soothing.
“And?” I gave the fry pan a stir. “And what?”
His jaw worked. “I can see the attraction, of her, to you. I can.”
I frowned. That sounded more and more like Andreas was attracted to her, and in a deeper way than just appreciating her ass. “Keep going.”
“Why?” He swung that dark-eyed gaze on me. “I can hear the fuck-off tone in your voice. I know you don’t want to do this, to give her up, but you’re going to ruin your life, and hers.”
“You think?” More stirring. I threw in the fish fillets. “This, to me, is my life. It’s something I want to do. Yes, it’s perverted. Think of it as one of those life-affirming decisions. I want her, that woman out there –” I pointed with the spatula. “At my feet. As my slave, forevermore. Besides which, I can categorically tell you that you cannot trust her to do that. She’d have us all in jail before you could damn blink.”
“Uh.” He tapped his fingers on his thigh. “More than a passing hobby then?”
“Kat? Yes.” I flipped the fish, inhaling the aromas of the dish. “This is like…” I stared out at her. “Getting married, only with added extras.”
“And minus a few things like love, mutual commitment, and respect.”
“Love, honor, and obey,” I reminded him, waggling the spatula. “The last two are going to be mandatory. The first, we’ll see.” Funny but the idea of Kat loving me hadn’t entered my equation. Maybe it should. Or me loving her.
“Beer?”
I nodded.
Andreas rose and went to the fridge, pulled out a couple of coldies then popped off the tops and handed one to me. “I’ve always thought love was the biggest part of those three. The others tend to follow. Don’t you think she deserves love?”
“Deserves?” I took a swallow of beer, looked at him looking out at her. The man had some sort of fixation on Kat, already. I sighed. He hadn’t noticed I hadn’t answered properly and sat taking swigs now and then while I finished cooking and dished up the fish.
Tomorrow he was going. An emptiness was growing inside me and he hadn’t even left. Yet him staying was a big no-no for me. I couldn’t bear the idea of involving him in my perverted world. I was happy here. Not him. Andreas was honorable. He’d take a bullet for me, like I would for him. But there was no need for him to stay.
“Wanna come fishing tomorrow, early?” He waved his bottle toward the sea. “Not too early, of course. The crocs would be eyeing us off. I saw some of their drag marks higher on the beach today.”
“Sure. Sure, we can do that.” I didn’t ask what time he was going. I’d drive him to the Cow Bay air field when we were both ready. I was going to miss him.
“I took some photos of you.” His fingers wrapped and unwrapped around the dew-frosted bottle. “Of her and you. It was amazing. I don’t want to ever do that to anyone, but…” He rocked his head forward and back a miniscule amount like the words were difficult to get out.
“But you liked it?” The moment seemed as taut as a violin string.
He breathed his answer. “Yeah. I did. I can’t figure myself but I did. I liked watching you do all that. Most of it. Maybe not when she was screaming in pain. But the rest? Hot. Sexy. Incredible.”
Shit. I stared at him. My fingers hurt from gripping my bottle too tightly. I had to get him away from her soon. It was weird even to me, but seeing Andreas fascinated with whatever it was that kinky scene had held for him was just too much.
“You’re going tomorrow.” That had come out snappy, but anger had surfaced from somewhere deep. “Make sure those photos you took don’t ever get seen by anyone.”
“I’ll show them to you once they’re on my laptop. If you say so, I’ll delete them all.”
Fuck. The trust he had in me and I was chickening out on trusting him. “No. Keep them. Just password the shit out of wherever they’re kept.”
“Okay. Thanks. No worries.”
We were quiet after that. I gave Kat a plate of food and helped her sit up on a cushion, then we all sat eating and watching dusk arrive over the ocean. Even she was quiet. I’
d found at least one way to silence her. Other men could work the flowers, the gifts, and the getting down on bended knee angle. I’d stick with turning her body into a jigsaw instruction manual drawn in red, giving her orgasms to die for, and getting her to do whatever I wanted her to.
I needed a T-shirt that said, the things I want to do to you…
Another flash from my imaginary graphic novel. Grey mostly, the side of a man glimpsed, his hand with a leash trailing from it. A woman on the floor, knees to one side, head bowed, with red lines all over her body. Plus maybe her shadow, a puddle of black.
I shuffled about the words. The things I want you to do? Shit, maybe just the image would do… Hmm.
Of course, I glanced at her, the real thing was far better than any T-shirt.
Chapter 13
Andreas
I closed down the photo and stock market apps, shut the laptop, and slid it away, careful not to put the precious thing in the middle of any beer bottle rings or bits of food. The fish had been delicious. I was full, tired, and more than a little disturbed at feeling so normal after today’s events, after showing Chris the photos I’d taken of his big S and m session.
Though stills, with the photo right there on the screen, in front of my nose, I could hear her screams. I could hear her moans and the crack of the cane on her skin as if it was being replayed in video.
And, holy shit, I could hear those cute whimpers and gasps as she came for what had seemed like five minutes but had likely been only one.
Depraved? Wicked? I could take Chris being kinky but my own excitement was a revelation. I ran my hand through my hair, the curls flicking through my fingers. Same hair. I stared at my hand and the many lines crisscrossing my palm. Same me. But…who was I? I thought by thirty you were supposed to fucking know?
When I looked at her, Kat stared back at me. While we’d eaten at the table, Chris had let her stay over there on the sofa. From the fact that she’d decided to lie on her stomach again, she must’ve been hurting.
I stood and strolled over, feeling like some sort of creaking goliath warrior advancing on a slave girl in Conan the Barbarian. This was way too fantasy by far.
And she barely moved, lying there along the sofa. At least she’d pulled the dress over her ass. See-through dress though it was. Lilac this time? Purpley anyway. I could see everything, really. Worse than this morning. I swallowed, flicking my gaze from the slender arch of her calves, up to her face, managing to only vaguely stare at where her breast was squashed into the upholstery.
“Make room?” I gestured then sat at one end when she turned onto her side and tucked her feet up. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Approximately. Thank you for asking.”
Nodding seemed infectious but I stopped after a few seconds. “I’m sorry that happened.” Liar. No, wait. I was sorry. I just appreciated the view of her getting strapped down and made to come. Yeah that. If there was a sliding scale of voyeurism, I’d advanced a few notches above the average porn watcher on the net.
That I’d wanted to step up at the end and help make her orgasm too? A tied-up woman who’d just been beaten? Extra voyeurism points for that. I’d held myself back, but still, ideas counted.
Shit. I hated myself. Again.
There was a way to redeem myself.
I cleared my throat, wondering how it was that I felt awkward when she had virtually no clothes on.
“Did you want to say something?” Her voice lilted with suspicion. Her eyebrows crept up and she waited. And waited.
“I do.” Chris was off having a shower. I had ten minutes more? Tops. Say it. “I want to help you get away, but I need to be able to trust you. I need you to swear to me you will not go to the police.”
I had no way of being absolutely certain she would do this. But…Chris had been willing to go to jail. This was a lesser thing. Chances were, if we discussed it properly, she’d agree. Was I being a fool?
It’s worth trying. It’s better than leaving things as is. It has to be.
“Oh god.” Kat swallowed, adding in a whisper, “I’ll do anything to escape.” Her gaze swept the living room then came back to me. “I will do this. I swear it. How do I convince you?”
Like at the beach earlier, the gray in her eyes seemed so pure. Guileless. Not innocent but without deception.
I didn’t reply for a moment. I just breathed slowly, attempting to see the truth as I looked at her.
“Chris is my friend. You know that. A really close friend. I know he’s been…wrong in this, but I’m correcting his wrong.” The need to put some badass guarantee on this crept in and shook me. I tsked. Should I? Yeah, I should. “Do not cross me. Chris and me, we stand by each other. If you mess with me on this, or with Chris, I will not excuse you. I will come down on you like a freaking truck dropped from the sky.”
She nodded again, wide-eyed. “Yes. I can see that. I understand. I won’t go to the cops. I promise you, I won’t.”
“Good. Tomorrow morning, I’m going fishing with Chris. Before we go, I’ll unlock your cage. Take the car keys, and the money I leave near them and go. Just keep taking those left turns until you hit the main road then go south to Cow Bay. Once there, it’s up to you how you get home.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “Clothes? I can’t wear these.”
“Ah. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll try to find some for you and leave them in the car. Okay?”
“Yes. Thank you, Andreas. Thank you, so much.”
“You’re welcome, Kat.” I patted her leg. “Take care.”
The fear in her eyes only reinforced in me that what I was doing was right. Giving in to my perverted desires was wrong.
Yet I fell asleep that night with sadness and guilt worming in my gut. What I was doing might be right, but it also was a deep betrayal of the one man I’d have by my side if the world ever decided to end. I lay in the dark in my room and put my fingers on my eyes and pressed in, hoping to murder the ache in my head. It didn’t work too well. Dawn came and I woke bleary-eyed and sure that I was about to destroy something that meant everything for the sake of the welfare of one human being.
Like a man going to his grave, I pulled on my shorts and shirt then took out the two hundred and fifty in cash I’d kept for emergencies, and laid it on top of the bedside drawers.
I rolled my shoulders, blinking away the grit in my eyes. “You’d better be worth it, Kat. You’d better be damn well worth me doing this.”
Chapter 14
Kat
When some noise woke me, I opened my eyes to see a man squatting on the other side of the cage bars. I gasped.
Andreas.
Oh my.
Some escape artist. I’d slept like a baby all night when I should’ve been planning. I remembered trying to think but my tired brain had shut down.
Andreas unlocked the padlock and opened the cage door. “You need to wake up damn fast, Kat. He’s down at the beach already. I made an excuse so I could come back. Money and car keys are there on the bed.” He jerked his head toward it. “The sooner you get moving the more time you have. I don’t think the car noise will travel all the way to the beach but just in case it does, be quick. Open the gate first then start the engine.”
I took his offered hand and crawled from the cage, sitting up on my knees and blinking madly. This was it. My heart accelerated.
At least my heart knew the situation even if my brain felt like someone had filled it up with hot fudge.
“Move!” He gestured, lifting his hand palm upward.
“I am!”
As I climbed to my feet, Andreas shot me a last frown then headed for the door. His black curls, olive complexion and dark brown eyes always made me think of a Greek tour guide.
Crazy words invaded my head. Book now to get your next abduction cruise at a ten percent discount.
Two deep breaths then I staggered to the bed. Aches had woken up too, and my ass and legs throbbed. Every step made me want to wince.
>
“God damn it.” My ass could take a hike, to Greece maybe. I snatched up the keys and money, realized I had no pockets in my slave girl outfit and made for the door.
Something bugged me. An idea niggled. Think. I’d fallen into sleep while thinking about something, an important thing.
In the corridor I paused. Haste makes waste, even if being slow made Andreas have a purple fit. That made me think of what he’d made me promise. Something about that had been my last thought last night.
Don’t go to the cops.
Shit. I stared at my bare feet. I liked Andreas, admired his honesty and that he’d risk his friendship to Chris to help me. I really admired that. Most people were douchebags when crunch time came round but he’d stood up under fire and come to my aid. But, no cops? After what Chris had done to me?
I let the car keys dangle from my finger. In the deserted house the jingle they made scared me. Frantic, I checked the hallway. No movement, no footsteps anywhere. No creaks. No one. Just me.
This was about me…and Chris. Not Andreas. Why should I have to compromise? Or lie? Why should Chris win? Because that’s what this agreement did if I bent to Andreas’s demand and quietly slunk away and did nothing. Give it a week and Chris might be back at work smirking whenever he saw me. Or halfway to China.
The laptop. Yes. Hell yes. That was the other last thought.
I straightened then padded to Andreas’s room. If I was doing this, the more evidence, the better. Andreas had taken pictures. I’d watched him show them to Chris after dinner, last night. Passworded? Bullshit. IT experts could break into any computer given enough time. On a knee-high square coffee table, I found his bright red carry case, with the laptop inside it. Then I spent a few more seconds of my precious time staring, daring myself.
Go, chicken girl. Do it. I picked it up and tucked it under my arm.
The thing seemed as dangerous as a bomb. I guess it was. This laptop would help me fuck over Chris in a way that would make him think Hiroshima, 9/11, and the coming of the anti-Christ were minor incidents.
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