He seemed happy to have her around. Neither of them said any words about feelings but a sense of affection seemed to saturate the air around them.
He held her. Not just after being handcuffed, whipped, and fucked within an inch of her life, but other times too. Like when they were watching movies or sitting in his giant tub together. Or the nights when her period had her feeling bloated and ugly so she’d just slept in his arms.
They went out. Restaurants she would’ve never dreamed of trying either because they were so expensive or because they were a tiny hole-in-the-wall she didn’t even know existed. Roman knew them all. The food in each had been exquisite.
And in more than one Roman had dragged her under a table-clothed table and forced her to suck him off and swallow every drop or had made her come with this fingers until it was all she could do not to draw the attention of the whole restaurant.
He took her to Museums. Opera. More galas—unfortunately without any supply closet visits. Sometimes his brothers would join them, Lukas always with different girl, Dominic always alone. His brothers accepted her, even though they’d both seen her naked whenever Roman had decided to play with her publicly.
Which she loved. She’d stopped trying to pretend like she didn’t love it all. Every single dark, perverting thing they did together.
It was the first Monday of the month, the day she worked at the school during the summer. It was nice to get away from Roman’s house, to come in and prepare her classroom for the upcoming school year. Sometimes she did some training with other teachers. Today she was just organizing supplies and getting an advance jump on lesson plans in her room.
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to get away from Rinaldi?”
Sarah let out a little shriek and spun around. Robbie had entered through the back door of her classroom.
“Oh my God, what are you doing here?” She ran over and hugged him, not caring that he didn’t return the hug, then stopped and began slapping him on the arm. He looked tired, thinner. His blue eyes, so much like hers, were haunted. “Robbie, why did you run? Do you know how much trouble you’re in? Do you know how much trouble you almost got me into?”
He skulked away from her. “Did you really expect me to just wait around? Rinaldi would’ve killed me.”
“No, he wouldn’t have. He gave me his word. He still gives me his word that he won’t kill you.”
Sarah walked over to her purse and pulled her phone out, keeping her back to Robbie so her phone was hidden from view. She turned on the recording app. She knew her brother well enough to know that he was going to run again. Maybe recording their conversation would help her be able to find him. She set it down and turned to him.
He was looking at her with fury in his eyes. She didn’t understand—he was angry with her?
“He’s Cosa Nostra, Sarah. You’re an idiot if you think he’s telling you the truth. He would kill me in an instant.”
“No, he won’t. You need to trust him. Or if you can’t trust him, trust me.”
“Trust you? You’re his fucking whore. Everyone knows it.”
Sarah flinched as if her brother had slapped her. “It’s not like that. Maybe at one time that was the case, but things are different now.”
“So you’re what, dating? Somehow I doubt an underboss would be interested in a kindergarten teacher as an actual girlfriend.”
She took a breath and tried to concentrate. Robbie was lashing out because he was frightened. He’d done that all his life. She needed to stay focused and work the problem, not get drawn into a fight.
“Robbie, I can protect you. I can’t promise you Roman’s not going to knock some sense into you if you surrender yourself to him.” She knew for a fact he would. “But he won’t permanently injure you or kill you. I promise.”
Robbie’s face softened. Here was the little brother that she’d raised. He was only twenty years old. Had gotten into trouble like a lot of young men his age did, although she still didn’t know how he’d become involved with the mob in the first place. All Robbie had told Sarah was that it involved that woman, Audra.
His voice turned softer. “I don’t have any money, Sarah. I don’t know what to do. I made some deals that are bad. Can you help me? Can you set up a meeting with Roman?”
She nodded, ready to take him immediately. “A meeting with you and Roman? Yes. Let’s go see Roman right now, together. If you turn yourself in to the family, they’ll protect you.”
“No, not a meeting with me. I need you to get him to schedule a meeting with someone else. Someone who wants to talk to him. Business stuff.”
Sarah shook her head. “I don’t have anything to do with Roman’s business dealings, Robbie. I will get him to talk to you because you are my family. But for anyone else? I can’t help you.”
“You can talk him into it. If you’re dating, like you said, then he’ll listen to you.”
There was no way Sarah was going to ask Roman to meet with anyone but Robbie. “No, I can’t. I don’t have anything to do with his business. You come meet with him. Then you don’t have to worry about any of this other stuff.”
Robbie stared at her for a long moment like he was undecided. She thought he might agree then his face hardened. “No, you’re as stupid and gullible as you’ve always been. He’ll kill me the first chance he gets. Just give me some money and I’ll be out of here.”
“Robbie, I only have probably thirty or forty dollars. How far are you going to get on that?”
He slammed his hand down on one of the student desks. “I know you have more money than that! You’re one of the Rinaldi family’s whores. You can’t tell me you don’t have money.”
Now her voice raised. “I’m not his whore, I’m his girlfriend. He’s never given me money for sex. The only thing I ever traded for sex was your life, Robbie.”
The fight seemed to go out of him. “You shouldn’t have done that, sis. You never should’ve gotten involved. Now you’re deep in the middle of it and you’ll never get out without getting hurt.” He began backing away from her, shaking his head. “I’ve done some bad things. Made some bad deals. Convince Roman to take a meeting. That’s all I’m asking you to do.”
“No, Robbie. But come with me, we’ll figure it out together.” She took a step towards him, holding out her hands toward him. “You and I will talk to Roman. Whatever it is, he will help you. I promise.”
She believed that with every fiber of her being. She trusted Roman. He would help, no matter what Robbie had done, if there was any possible way.
Because Roman cared about her. He hadn’t said the words, but he’d shown her in a thousand different ways. Roman would help her brother because of her.
Robbie shook his head. “No. If you thought it was too late before, it’s really too late now.”
He done something worse than steal one hundred thousand dollars from the Rinaldi family? “What did you do, Robbie? Tell me.”
He backed away further. “No. You backed me into this corner and there’s no way out now. You shouldn’t have become his whore.”
“I’m not his whore. I’m in love with him.”
“Yeah. But does he love you?” Robbie shook his head. “It won’t matter. You should’ve just minded your own business.”
He turned and ran back out the door he’d come in. Sarah ran after him, but he was too fast. By the time she made it outside, he was gone. She saw Tomas, Roman’s man who had driven her here staring at her. She just went back inside.
She turned the recording device off on her phone. She didn’t think anything about the conversation would tell her where Robbie was going, but she didn’t delete it. Maybe when she listened to it again it would give her some sort of clue she’d missed.
Should she give the recording to Roman? Tell him about Robbie coming here? Robbie had probably avoided being seen by Tomas, so Roman wouldn’t know.
Had her brother truly done something –—something else—so unforgivable that
Roman wouldn’t be able to let him live no matter what? Surely he couldn’t have. He wasn’t working for the Rinaldi family any more, so how could Robbie have betrayed them again?
He must be in trouble with someone else.
God, telling Roman that Robbie had screwed up again would be hard, but she knew she had to do it. She didn’t want to sign her own brother’s death warrant but she’d promised Roman she would tell him if she heard from Robbie. She would let Roman listen to the recording of their conversation.
But first she had to figure out how to delete the part where she’d announced she was in love with Roman. That didn’t need to be part of the conversation he heard. She’d research how to do it tonight and then give Roman the entire message in the morning.
Hopefully Robbie hadn’t done anything so truly bad that there was no hope. She didn’t want to have to choose between her brother and the man shed loved.
Thirty seconds after Robbie left Sarah’s school, Roman knew about it. Tomas, one of Roman’s most trusted soldiers, had called Roman to let him know. Tomas thought Robbie had probably been waiting in the building for awhile before Sarah arrived. He hadn’t been sure whether to go after Robbie or stay to protect Sarah.
Roman doubted anything would’ve happened to Sarah, but he hadn’t been willing to chance it. He’d told Tomas to stay in case protection was needed. To keep an even closer tab on her, besides just giving her a ride.
The one damn day that she worked outside of his house in the whole month and this had to happen.
Roman waited all day for Sarah to tell him about the occurrence. Waited for a text or a phone call just to let him know that Robbie had shown up. Because she had promised him weeks ago that she would.
But nothing.
He’d given her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she’d wanted to wait until they were face to face to tell him.
But when she’d come home and kissed him in his office before going upstairs to shower and change, she still didn’t mention it. When she made it all the way through their dinner together without bringing up her brother he realized she didn’t plan to tell him at all.
She’d lied to him.
Fury burned through him but he tamped it down, smothering it with ice. This changed everything he thought he’d known about her. Called everything about her—about them—into question. Suddenly the possibility that she’d been playing Roman from the very beginning didn’t seem so impossible, or even improbable. Maybe she and Robbie had set Roman up, offering Sarah to Roman as a trade, pretending to be innocent. Roman had agreed to spare her brother’s life in exchange for dirty, perverted things she loved to do anyway.
He had to admit, it was the perfect way to maneuver him. She’d walked into his office all lovely and blushing, and he hadn’t wasted any time falling completely for the ruse.
The feelings he had for her, that he’d almost convinced himself were real and permanent, were actually a mockery. Sarah’s innocence, sweetness, charm… nothing but a con. What a fool he been, worried about debasing her when she’d been playing him the whole time.
But now it was time for him to play.
With his fuck toy.
Chapter Fifteen
“I have some people coming over tonight. I thought you could serve us drinks.”
Apprehension and desire waged in her blue eyes. If she knew what he had planned, apprehension would definitely win out. The guests were due to arrive in about an hour. Right now he and Sarah were in his bedroom—their bedroom—and she was braiding her hair like he’d asked her to do.
He’d always planned for her to serve drinks tonight to his guests, made up of his brothers, his men, and a few business associates. He’d bought the cutest little French maid costume. The corset would’ve cinched her waist and pushed up those pretty tits just enough to have every man in the room standing at attention when walked in. The skirt had been so short that it would’ve only covered three quarters of her luscious ass. As soon as she bent over to pick something up, and she would have–often—anyone behind her would get a heart-stopping view.
She would’ve loved it. But that costume was meant for play. A lighthearted way for Roman to showoff his gorgeous woman who liked to be shown off.
Tonight was no longer for play. Tonight, and every night she was in his possession from now on, would be a reminder that she was his property. To be used and abused by him as it pleased him.
Everyone else would know it too. Roman would make sure this night was one anyone who’d even heard of La Cosa Nostra would whisper about for years to come. Sarah Hastings’ name would never be mentioned again without the words fuck toy surrounding it once this night was finished.
“Am I going to be serving you naked?” she asked.
“Tempting.” Roman smiled but knew it didn’t reach anywhere near his eyes. “But I have something special for you to wear tonight. Take off all your clothes and get on the bed, on all fours.”
She shivered slightly before immediately doing what he commanded. He reached down and slid a box out from under the bed. One he’d gone and found in a closet.
He hadn’t intended to use this with Sarah for many, many more months, if ever. It would’ve been something he eased her into to see if she would enjoy it. But now her enjoyment no longer mattered. They were back to where they’d began: she was paying off a debt of disrespect and he was going to make sure everyone knew about it.
Except now the disrespect wasn’t just her brother’s, it was hers.
Roman took the bit gag out of the box, bending the rubber part that would fit in her mouth to test its flexibility. It had long leather reins attached to the O-rings on either side. Later he would use that to lead her around, or give her a quick slap on the ass. He moved around to stand on the other side of the bed so he was in front of her.
“This is a bit gag. Just like it sounds, it goes in your mouth.”
Confusion clouded her eyes. “Like a horse?”
“Exactly. Tonight you’re going to be my sexy little pony. Complete with riding crop marks all over your hind quarters.” She stiffened. Good. He leaned closer. “The riding crop leaves very distinct welts on fair skin like yours. Everyone tonight will know you’ve been cropped thoroughly. A naughty pony.”
He brought the bit gag up to her face. “I’ll put a bridle on these O-rings on the side so you can be led around like a pony too. Is there anything you want to say to me before I put this on, Sarah?”
Part of him willed her to tell him about her brother, to stop this madness before it went any further. To explain what she kept trying to find on the computer since she’d been home. He’d offered to help, but she’d just guiltily shut down her browser. Not a sign of innocence.
But she said nothing, just looked up at him with trust in those clear blue eyes. God damn it. A liar shouldn’t trust anyone, particularly not a mobster.
He gripped her hair by the nape and pulled her forward, putting the gag in her mouth, bit over her tongue and fastening it behind her head. The tiny padlock, more of a toy than anything, would keep her from being able to remove it until he allowed her to.
“Now we’re going to add some nipple clamps. Sit up on your knees.” He reached over to the box and pulled out a set of clamps with a braided leather cord attached to it. He played with Sarah’s nipples, with his fingers and then his teeth, hearing her breath become heavier as he teased the flesh into standing points.
He heard her muffled gasp as he caught one nipple in the clamp, then tightened it then did the same with the other. Her face became even more flushed as he attached the leather cording to the O-rings on her bit gag. The stretch of the cord pulled on her nipples, causing constant movement against them.
“Your pony ensemble is starting to come together. But no pony is complete without a pretty tail.” He eyes grew wide as he pulled the large glass plug out of the box, a long brown patch of what could pass as real horse hair flowing from behind it. “Ass up in the air, eyes forward.”
Roman
applied the lube straight to her asshole and heard her gasp as the cold liquid hit her body. But soon she was gasping and moaning, muffled through the gag, as he worked the wide plug deep inside her back passage. He did it slowly, knowing it stretched her little hole so wide it had to burn. As he watched the plug work in and out, mesmerized, he couldn’t stop his hand from sliding around and playing with her soaked pussy and swollen clit. She ground against his fingers, but there was no way he was going to let her come.
“Such a pretty pony.” She sighed as he finally gave her some relief, working the plug into her ass past the widest part to the much more narrow segment near the base which fit plum against the outside of her ass. He grabbed her hips and shimmied them back and forth so she could feel the hair of the tail sliding against her thighs. Saw her cheeks burn in mortification at this newest debasement.
Fuck, that was so damn sexy. He wanted to lay underneath her, play with the reins attached to her nipples and gag. He wanted to fill her pussy with his cock while she had that huge plug in her ass. She would be completely full and he would watch her come apart as he gripped her hips and made her ride him, feeling the pony tail rub over his thighs as he did so.
“Why did you have to lie to me, Sarah?” he whispered. “It didn’t have to be this way.”
She couldn’t have heard his words over her labored breathing but her eyes spun around to him over her shoulder like she had.
It was time to get this over with.
“Eyes front. Ass up.” Roman took the horse tail and flung it over her back so it wasn’t hanging over her legs. Then he picked up the riding crop, flicking it against his palm, feeling the sting. “You’ve been a bad pony. You get twenty from the crop.”
He made every single one count, hard, precise. Marking her. He encased his emotions in ice as he brought the crop down against her skin again and again. On the inside of her spread buttocks, up and down her thighs all the way to the back of her knees. And especially at the tender fleshy part where the curve of her ass met the tops of her legs. She would not sit down for days without remembering this.
Roman: A Triple Threat Novel Page 10