Party of Three

by Daire St. Denis

  “I’m the replacement.” I shivered like her words were ice cubes she’d dropped down my back. One time, Tina, that’s all I ask. So it was a load of bull. Friday night wasn’t going to be the end. It was going to be the beginning. “Why are you telling me this? Why would you sabotage your own freedom?”

  She looked away, took a deep breath and continued with a shaky voice. “It’s different with you, Tina. He’s obsessed with you. I…I caught him watching a video of you. It was weird because the person on the video, it was you and yet it wasn’t. The stuff he was doing both in the video and while he watched it…it fucking scared me. I’ve slept with Kenton a couple times.” She looked me right in the eyes. “He’s twisted.”

  Suddenly Vivien’s face swam in front of me and I covered my mouth. The sound of her voice grew quieter and quieter as the alarm bells rang between my ears.

  “Ask Desi for help. She’ll know what to do.”

  Slowly I shook my head. “I can’t.” God, was that my voice? I sounded so far away.

  “Promise me you won’t go there tomorrow night. Please, Tina. Promise me.”

  * * *

  Vivien had scared the hell out of me. I took Friday off work and spent the day walking on the beach, trying to figure out my options. Even though it was cool and windy, because it was close to the holidays there were more people on the beach than usual, mostly tourists, and I was forced to listen to the sounds of happy, laughing people. It was helpful in the way that rubbing salt in a wound is supposed to be therapeutic.

  My whole world had fallen apart; my job, my reputation, my love life down the toilet in one giant flush. There was no way in hell I was stepping foot in Kenton’s place, which spelled the end of my design career in L.A. But losing my career paled in comparison to losing Josh and Des. The fact that I couldn’t choose between them, the fact Desi even asked me to, meant we were over. Knowing I’d never be with them again left me feeling utterly bereft.

  There was only one thing for me to do. I had to leave. I certainly couldn’t stay at the house. No way. But where would I go? Stay with friends? No, Des and I had known each other too long. We had all the same friends. To be aware of Desi’s and Josh’s existence, to be reminded of them everyday, but not being able to be with them? I couldn’t take it.

  What I needed was a fresh start. It wasn’t the end of the world, though by the way my chest ached, my heart certainly believed it was. I had money in savings. Not a lot, but enough to get by. I’d sell the business, and I would get the equity out of my half of the house. There was no reason why I couldn’t move. I could go north, San Francisco or Seattle. Or I could go somewhere completely different, like New York or Miami. I could start over again where my reputation wasn’t tarnished, somewhere beyond the temptation of Josh and Desi.

  I spent the rest of the day driving by all my old haunts: Cositas Café and Wine Bar, Primetime Club, the In-N-Out Burger, Sentinel Park…there were so many places, so many memories involving Des and now Josh. The unbearable ache in my chest only served to remind me I needed to move on. I couldn’t stay here without them.

  It was dark by the time I parked in the driveway. My clock read seven-thirty. There was no sign of Desi’s or Josh’s cars yet. I replayed the scene over and over in my head—how I would tell them I couldn’t choose and that things were over. I envisioned tears, but that was where my vision ended. I had no idea what would come next, whether there’d be a scene, whether Desi would take it calmly or not. As for Josh, I had no idea how he’d react.

  All I knew was how heartbroken I already was. When I finally got up the energy to walk to the door, I felt like I was walking the Green Mile, like this was it, the end of everything. I was so distracted I didn’t even notice the front door was already unlocked when I slid my key in place. I stood in the foyer and looked around the dark, empty house. My home suddenly seemed foreign to me.

  “Did you forget our date?” He approached out of the shadows of the living room.

  I was too startled and shocked to scream. My knees buckled beneath me, and I fell against the closed door. But there was no mistaking his voice, no mistaking the size of the shadow. “W-what the fuck, Kenton! How did you get in here?”

  He held something up in his hand but it was too dark to make it out. I fumbled in my purse for my cell phone but couldn’t find it before Kenton was right in front of me, wrenching my bag out of my hand. “We had an arrangement.”

  “An arrangement? You mean blackmail. Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you I’m not interested?” I opened the door. “Now get the fuck out.”

  He wrenched me away from the door so hard and fast I was taken completely by surprise. Then he slammed the door and pressed me up against it. “Did you really think I would go away so easily?”

  I tried to push him but he wouldn’t budge. I opened my mouth to scream but he covered my mouth before I could make a sound. I struggled inside his arms, biting and scratching until my mouth was free. “Let me go, you fucker.”

  “You have a lot to learn about me, Bo Peep.” He twisted me around so I faced the door and leaned against my body while he worked a scarf around my mouth and tied it snugly behind my head.

  That’s when I really started to panic.

  “Do you know how many women want me? Do you?” As he spoke, he ground his pelvis against my ass in slow, fierce circles. “I can fuck whoever I want. I could have two, three, four women at once if I want. More. Men too. Not that I’m big into men but I sometimes I fuck them just for variety’s sake.” He wrenched my hands behind my back, and I heard the sickening click of metal against metal.

  The bastard had handcuffed me.

  He flipped me around to face him and unsnapped the button on my pants. There was nothing I could do to stop him. Nothing I could do except pray Des and Josh would come home.

  With his hand sliding down the front of my pants and his fingers between my legs, I tried to scream but the scarf bit into the corners of my mouth. My tongue and the scarf and my scream got all tangled and I started to gag on my own spittle. I flipped my head back and forth trying to loosen the scarf but to no avail.

  Kenton grabbed my face and turned me back. “Look at me.”

  I gasped, on the brink of hyperventilation, unable to draw enough air into my lungs.

  “Look at me!”

  There was just enough light from a streetlight for me to make out his features, the dark intent in his eyes. “I could fuck you right now.”

  He shoved his fingers into me and I tried to twist away.

  Kenton laughed at my response. “That’s it. Whatever you do, don’t stop fighting me.” He groaned in pleasure as he fingered me.

  My muffled cries seemed only to incite him further.

  “Do you know what happens to a man who gets whatever the hell he wants?” Kenton asked as his other hand made its way beneath my shirt. “He starts to want the few things he can’t have.” He squeezed my breast hard, inserting another finger into me. “And he wants them with the kind of passion few people ever experience.”

  Headlights shone on the wall across from the window but I didn’t hear the welcome sound of a car parking on the driveway. Kenton noticed too. “As much as I’d love Desiree to watch us, I don’t think we’ll wait around for her today.”

  At the mention of her name, I squirmed and tried to cry out.

  “You and Des have a thing for each other, huh? I figured as much when she came to my place to demand I leave you alone. You know what I told her? I told her you were in love with me. That you were doing everything willingly. I even had the video clips to prove it. I also had your key.” He held the object up again. “Remember? The one you gave me?”

  I tried to shout, tried to deny what he’d said, but everything was muffled back at me, leaving me with the sensation I was drowning.

  He must have stolen my key sometime and made a copy. Why? Did he have all this planned? Did he know I wouldn’t show? What else did he have in store for me?

 
; Brief images of me and Kenton flashed through my brain, all the times I’d been to his place, all the times he casually touched me or kissed me. The bastard must have been filming it all—everything. Hidden cameras were probably everywhere. And the more I remembered, the more I realized that if clips were edited properly, it might actually appear like I desired him. Even my struggles might look like passion from the right angle.

  I…I caught him watching a video of you. It was weird because the person on the video, it was you and yet it wasn’t you. The stuff he was doing and the stuff he was saying as he watched it…it fucking scared me.

  My heart kicked into high gear. I tried to scream, but the gag kept me from making anything more than a gurgled yelping sound.

  “God, Tina, what I wouldn’t give to see you and Des together. She’s feisty, just like you.” He twisted his hand out of me and raised his fingers to his lips and sucked. “I can’t tell you how much I’m going to enjoy breaking you. And maybe after I’m done, I’ll convince Des to join us.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I have no idea how much later it was that I woke up to a pounding headache and my arms screaming in pain. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. I tried to move but I was restrained. My hands were still cuffed but now chained to a post set securely in the floor.

  What the hell?

  Then everything came flooding back: Kenton covering my nose with a damp, foul-smelling cloth. The lethargy that set in within seconds. The last thing I remember was him hauling me over his shoulder and carrying me outside to my car.

  Oh God, where was I?

  “Help!”

  With the realization I was no longer gagged, I started screaming at the top of my lungs.

  A bright light shone directly into my eyes.

  “Do you really think I’d remove your gag if I thought someone might hear you?”

  “Kenton?” I squinted into the blinding light. “What the…? This is crazy. You need to let me go.”

  “Oh, Bo Peep. I can’t do that. We haven’t had any fun yet.”

  Bo Peep. I looked down at myself and realized he’d dressed me in an outfit that resembled my Halloween costume. The very idea of him performing such an intimate ritual as dressing me made me shiver with revulsion. I closed my eyes and assessed my body. Had he raped me while I was unconscious? No. I didn’t think so. Besides, from what I was starting to learn about him, raping a limp body wouldn’t turn his crank.

  I watched with trepidation as Kenton went around the room lighting candles that were set into the wall. Finally he lit a candelabra suspended above his head. Once the candles were ignited, I realized where I was. The chains, the assortment of whips and other paraphernalia attached to the walls and the bars on the windows told a story I didn’t want to hear. I was in the dungeon and, based on the look on Kenton’s face, he had some depraved plans for me.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “I told you.”

  “What did you tell me? That you want what you can’t have? That doesn’t explain why you’ve kidnapped me. Why you’re such a sick bastard.”

  He adopted a look of sorrow and slowly walked toward me. “You want to know why I am the way I am? Okay, Tina. Here it is. When I was a kid, my mom remarried. He was a decent dude until he started routinely beating and raping me.”

  I gasped. “Is that true?”

  Kenton laughed, stopping only a foot away. His grin was malicious. “Sure, why not? If believing that shit endears me to you? Yes, it’s fucking true.”

  Oh, God. Whether it was true or not, I suddenly realized Kenton was a monster and I was scared shitless. I knew the sick bastard wanted a fight; I knew that’s what turned him on. Maybe if I just gave in and let him have his way with me, he’d tire of me quickly.

  But I couldn’t do that. I hated him too much. My instincts absolutely refused.

  The minute he touched me I bucked and screamed like a banshee.

  “Oh yes, baby, that’s it.” Kenton’s weight fell on top of me. I heard the clink of chain and felt something clamp around my right ankle. He grabbed my left and did the same, chaining me so I was forced to lie on the hard stone floor, hands pinioned above my head, legs spread wide. “Look at you.” He crouched down beside me and fondled my breasts through my tight bodice. His breathing quickened as he touched me. “What the fuck is it about you?” He grasped the neck of my bodice and with a grunt, tore it in two.

  I choked out a cry. His hands and mouth were on me as if he intended to devour me. He probably did.

  I squirmed and writhed and screamed and bit. But I only made things worse.

  “Don’t stop,” he panted, kissing me through the blood on his lips.

  The realization that I was turning him on should have sobered me. But it didn’t. I couldn’t help myself. I had to fight him—hurt him—if at all possible.

  As I struggled, he ripped my dress to shreds. Where it wouldn’t rip, he slit it with a knife, nicking my skin in the process. When I was down to only my underwear, he used the knife to slice my bra straps, groaning in ecstasy every time I cried out in pain. Smothering me with his big body, he sucked my tits, leaving angry red welts behind. With one hand he loosened the tie on his robe and let the expensive silk slide from his shoulders, leaving his hulking body and ginormous cock exposed. I stared at the thing that lay heavy down the length of his leg and realized I was making small sounds of distress.

  As if sensing my fear, Kenton’s cock perked up, and I swear to God the thing smiled.

  I’m not kidding.

  When he’d exposed himself at his house, I’d noticed that Kenton had a tattoo, but I couldn’t make it out. But now, there was enough light in the dungeon to see Kenton had his superfreak penis tattooed like a wolf.

  An enormous, hungry wolf with a wide, fucking grin.

  Straddling either side of my chest, he stroked himself mere inches from my face. “He likes you,” he said, his voice husky with desire.

  “Fuck off.”

  “He loves it when you talk dirty to him. Tell him where you want him, Peep. C’mon. He wants to know where to fuck you first.”

  I shook my head and tried to contain a sob of panic.

  Kenton caught my jaw and squeezed until I heard it pop. “That’s what I love about you. You look like a virgin, you act like a virgin, but you’re not a fucking virgin, are you?”

  By the sound of his satisfied growl, I knew he was loving this and there was nothing I could do about it.

  “You know, Des was the only one able to suck my cock to my satisfaction.” He laughed. “She’s got a gorgeous mouth on her, doesn’t she? Tell me, how does it feel when she tongue-fucks you? Is she as good as Vixen?” He leaned forward and pressed the head of his cock flush against my lips, bruising my mouth because I’d clamped my teeth shut. “Is that when you decided you wanted pussy more than cock? Was it because of Vixen, or was it Des’s wide mouth and her pretty cunt?”

  Holding on to his cock with one hand, he used the other to stroke my throat.

  “I can’t say I blame you. That mouth of hers and that long neck…damn! She’s a sword swallower, that girl.”

  He pressed down on the soft spot on my neck and my mouth opened involuntarily. I was too shocked to even gasp. Kenton took advantage of my moment of weakness and shoved himself in. He forced my head back, opening my throat until I gagged.

  “Fuck, Tina, that’s good.” He groaned. “Maybe as good as Des. Do you think she’d like to watch us?”

  With him in my mouth and his hand on my throat, I couldn’t breathe. I bucked wildly, not carrying how much the restraints bit into my flesh. I desperately needed to turn my head and spit him out of my mouth.

  But I couldn’t. He was too big. His hold was too strong.

  He left me with no choice.

  I clamped my jaw right down on his wolf-tattooed cock.

  Kenton screamed and pried my jaw apart. He backhanded me hard across the side of the face until I saw stars. The warm
trickle of blood oozed from my lip, but I didn’t care. I could breathe and though I knew it would be short-lived, I felt a modicum of triumph.

  “You shouldn’t have done that, Bo. Now I’m going to have to punish you.” He unchained my feet and hoisted my arms up higher on the stake so I was forced to stand. I heard him moving behind me, heard him pull something off of the wall, but I couldn’t see what it was.

  “I don’t care what you do,” I said through a swelling lip. “Beat me, rape me—”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he interrupted, circling me, his cock still erect but bleeding, a whip swinging leisurely from his hand.

  I spat at his feet. “I can’t wait to take you down, you sick fuck. You’re going to love it in prison…all those men, all those cocks.”

  He hit me across the cheek with the butt end of the whip. I smiled through the pain but that only made him laugh. “Holy shit, you’re fun to play with.” Kenton used the whip to caress my bare back and buttocks. “I knew you’d be entertaining, but you’re even more fun than I’d imagined.” He leaned in and licked the side of my bruised and bleeding cheek. In a low voice he whispered, “You can threaten all you want. I’m not going anywhere. No one will believe you didn’t want this when they see all the video I’ve collected of you. Besides, too many people owe me too many favors. You have no idea who I know, how high up my influence reaches.”

  Kenton’s laugh was so smug, so self-satisfied that I was left with only one option. I would have to fight him, to the death if that’s what it would take. Even though my hands were chained, I was standing with my feet free. I kicked, swinging my legs wildly. There was no pain when I connected, only satisfaction at the sound of Kenton’s surprised grunts of pain.

  However, there was only so much I could do. I heard the whistle first. The unbearable burning sting across my back followed soon after and the pain brought me to my knees.

  Before I could get up, Kenton was there, kneeling behind me, forcing my legs apart and rubbing his wounded cock between my legs. “Oh, Tina. I’ve fantasized about this day. You’re my fucking dream come true.” He panted heavily into my ear. “And if you thought that little flogging hurt—” he bit the raw and broken skin on my back, “—wait until you feel this.” He held me tight around the hips as he pressed the head of his cock up against the tight entrance of my ass.