‘No!’
‘Stop yelling.’ He pulls her back against him and covers her mouth with his hand.
Coral Gables is well protected by the high taxes its residents pay to feel safe, and at that moment a police car is cruising slowly up the street.
Jay sees it and lets go of her.
Blue lights flash, and the squad car accelerates over to the curb.
‘Fuck.’
Carmen can’t take her eyes off the restless blue serpents of light slithering over the vehicle’s white hood and dark windows.
Leaving the engine running, the police officer steps out to investigate. One hand resting on his gun, Will strides up the walkway towards them. ‘What’s going on here?’
Jay lunges past her.
‘No!’ She grabs one of his arms with both her hands.
‘Go ahead, assault a police officer,’ Will says coolly, but doesn’t come any closer.
The tension in Jay’s body makes it feel as dangerous to hold on to as a live wire.
Will ignores him. ‘I was worried about you, Carmen.’
‘I don’t believe this.’ Jay sounds deceptively calm.
She steps in front of him and slips both her arms around his chest.
Will looks around them. ‘Did you tell him?’
‘Yes.’
‘Listen, Carmen, I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me, I really don’t. It was like – shit, it was like being possessed.’
‘Really?’ Jay says. ‘Then it wasn’t your dick that fucked her?’
‘You know what I mean.’Will looks around them again to make sure no one is approaching along the sidewalk. ‘I’m not the only one she’s affecting like this.’
Jay’s tone is poisonously civil, ‘I thought you didn’t believe in anything, officer.’
‘I do now,’ Will declares.
Carmen finds his sudden humility strikingly attractive.
‘Judging by the marks on her throat,’ Jays accuses, ‘you nearly strangled her.’
Will meets his eyes. ‘And what the hell were you doing just now, whispering sweet nothings in her ear?’
Jay pushes her away from him.
She suddenly finds herself face down in the grass wondering at how sharp the short blades are. From this angle, the terracotta vases adorning the front of her building look sinisterly significant, as if their true purpose as something more than decorative objects had eluded her until that moment.
Jay crouches down beside her. ‘Carmen, I’m sorry, are you all right?’
She rolls over onto her back, but then discovers that she can’t sit up.
Will crouches down on her other side. He sees her problem, and grasps one end of the scarf to pull it out from beneath her, just as Jay grabs the other end with the same intention.
‘No,’ she gasps, ‘please don’t!’
Their eyes meet, and lock, over her body.
‘Jesus,’ Will breathes.
‘Incredible,’ Jay murmurs.
‘I can’t believe this,’ Will sounds stunned. ‘I remember… I remember… killing her!’
Just as in her dream, Mike suddenly appears at her feet. ‘Carmen?’
She tries to sit up again.
Jay and Will both hold her down.
‘What the hell is going on here?’ Mike demands.
Jay glances up at him. ‘You know what’s going on here. You’ve felt it too.’
‘Look, I’m just here to pick out a kitten for my—’
‘No you’re not.’
Carmen feels as though she tripped, not on a crack in the sidewalk, but on the line between reality and dreams. Elation and terror, desire and despair, every emotion inside her suddenly has an evil twin biting it in the throat like that Viking doorway.
Will looks over both his shoulders. ‘We have to get her inside before someone sees this.’
‘Her apartment’s too small,’ Jay says.
‘Where then?’ Will sounds impatient.
‘I have a boat,’ Mike announces, ‘at a Marina in Ft Lauderdale.’
Jay asks, ‘What about your wife?’
‘She’s afraid of the water, she never goes near it.’
‘Let’s do it.’ Will pulls her roughly to her feet. ‘I’ll take her with me, since technically I have the right to restrain her.’ He cuffs her hands behind her back with practiced ease.
‘What are you doing?’ Mike asks nervously. ‘Take those things off her.’
Ignoring him, Will leads her towards the squad car.
‘Jay?’ she cries, and watches in disbelief as he walks away towards his own car as though he didn’t even hear her.
Will yanks her off the sidewalk onto the street, forcing her to concentrate on her footing. He opens the back door on the passenger side, and rests a hand on her head. ‘You’re under arrest, sweetheart.’ He eases her in, and then slams the door closed on her.
Carmen twists around in the seat, and cranes her neck in an effort to catch a last glimpse of Jay.
Will slips in behind the wheel.
Mike’s Porsche races down the street. Then the sight of Jay’s small black car shooting after it sucks the breath out of her. ‘Will, wait, you have to go close the door to my apartment!’
He shifts into drive and glances back at her. ‘What?’
‘My apartment door is wide open! My cats are going to get out!’
‘More importantly,’ he shifts back into park, ‘you might get robbed.’ He gets out of the car and runs into her building as if responding to a 911 call.
She can’t believe Jay would have left her home open and vulnerable. Even if he had bothered to close the door when he ran after her, he wouldn’t have locked it, and his lack of concern for her possessions cuts her with a despair so sharp she barely feels it. Or rather, she feels nothing as a result of it. Yet it is her own fault that her feelings are worthless to him now.
Will walks back to the car with his arms held slightly away from his body to accommodate all the instruments of violence orbiting his hips. At least he made sure her home was locked and safe. At least he cared enough about her that he didn’t want her to worry, which reassures her that her life will, somehow, go on after tonight.
‘Your cats will be fine, Carmen. Your door was closed and I locked it, after I grabbed your keys.’
‘Thank you,’ she says fervently.
‘You’re welcome.’ He meets her eyes in the rearview mirror as he accelerates down the street. ‘You should be more concerned about what’s happening to you.’
‘I don’t really care anymore.’
‘Listen, Carmen, I’m sorry about this morning.’
‘Why, didn’t you enjoy it?’
‘Shit,’ he whispers, ‘you know I did.’
‘Then why are you sorry?’ she snaps.
‘I was just trying to be nice.’
‘Oh, really, handcuffing me is being nice?’
‘It is if you like it.’
She can’t argue with that, and fear and excitement make all the headlights they pass feel like her own burning blood cells rushing down the street’s dark artery.
‘Look, Carmen, admit it, you wanted this to happen. If I really thought we were forcing you—’
‘What, you’d let me go?’
His eyes in the rear-view mirror are the cold silver-blue of a wolf’s. ‘No, I don’t think I would.’
Knowing she couldn’t stop what is happening even if she wanted to turns her on so much she can’t speak.
During the drive up to Ft Lauderdale she has too much time to ponder the fact that three men are taking her somewhere. Yet that is as far as her mind will allow her to go. Her wrists are handcuffed, and her imagination is similarly paralyzed, because her helplessness arouses her so much, it is like looking directly at a white-hot light in which she can catch only a shadowy glimpse of impossible fulfillment.
Will remains silent, as if she is only another prostitute he arrested and is driving to the station. He is going well ov
er the speed limit. It normally takes her forty-five minutes to get to Ft Lauderdale, yet before she knows it they are turning off the expressway.
She concentrates on the red and gold glimmer of traffic below them. The view reminds her of science films in elementary school, when she first saw a magnified picture of blood flowing through an artery. In the dark room she was excitingly aware of the cute boys in the class sitting around her while cells swerved urgently around each other, rushing into congesting clumps, slowing down, and speeding up again.
Right now, she can’t think any more clearly than she did when she was a little girl. Her brain has shut down all higher functions and is simply sustaining her body, which heightens her physical awareness of everything.
‘We’re almost there,’ Will finally addresses her.
She moans, and tries to take a deep breath. ‘Oh, God,’ she gasps. ‘Oh, God!’
‘Hey,’ he glances back at her through the metal screen caging her like an animal, ‘relax.’
She laughs, because it helps her breathe.
‘It’s all right,’ he says gently, ‘we won’t hurt you.’
‘Yes, you will.’ She waits for him to deny it, but he doesn’t, and with the blood rushing violently through her heart she senses the ocean drawing closer, its powerful waves breaking on the shore flowing back into the darkness as dangerous undertows.
They enter the marina through an automatic gate, and turn into a sprawling parking lot. She immediately spots Mike’s red Porsche, and Jay’s car parked close by.
Will backs into a space a few yards away, cuts the engine, and gets out of the car.
‘Please, God,’ she whispers, ‘don’t let them hurt me.’
‘Watch your head,’ Will commands as he helps her out.
Jay walks right up to her, and slaps her.
Mike says angrily, ‘If you hit her again—’
‘She loves it. Look at me, Carmen.’ Jay grabs her face with both hands. ‘You’re mine,’ he whispers, ‘and don’t you forget it.’
‘No,’ she breathes.
‘Say it.’
‘I’m yours!’
He lets go of her, and turns to face the other men. ‘Let’s get one thing straight right now,’ he says, ‘this is an exorcism, and I call the shots.’
‘I’m not sure I understand what’s going on here,’ Mike replies gruffly.
Will steps up behind her and unlocks the handcuffs. ‘Just take us to the boat.’ He snaps them off her and takes possession of one of her arms. Jay grabs the other one, and they start walking in the direction of the water.
Mike leads the way, and the rhythmic beat of six hard soles surrounding her makes her feel so weak with desire she almost needs their support. Then she sees an old woman heading towards them, and trips on an irrational stab of fear, so that only the hard grip of the men on either side of her prevents her from falling.
The woman’s mouth is just one more line in her time-ravaged face. ‘Is there a problem officer?’ She is walking a small black and white dog.
‘No, madam, the young lady just had a little too much to drink, that’s all. She’ll sleep it off.’
Mike hurries up a flight of weathered wooden steps onto the pier. In a navy-blue sweater and loose black slacks he looks right at home surrounded by boats.
‘Watch your step, Carmen,’Will says beneath his breath, and she trips again over the tension in his voice.
Jay drapes one of her arms over his shoulder, Will follows suit, and they lift her up the steps between them.
She almost enjoys the sense of floating, of shedding the weight of her freewill and exchanging it for a blind faith… in what? Her lovers? God? Is there a difference?
‘This all seems so familiar,’ Will mutters, ‘as if I’ve done this before.’
‘An old woman was part of the rite,’ Jay informs him, ‘it’s all falling into place.’
‘We’ve got to get her inside fast, people are staring.’
‘Give her to me,’ Mike commands, ‘I’ll carry her.’
Her feet slip out from beneath her, and the universe breaks over her in a glimmering wave. A strong pair of arms hold her safe even as they carry her away like an undertow, yet this is what she wants, to go with him, to lie with him forever where she’ll never feel cold or tired, and where she will finally be worth something again, her self-esteem magically resurrected in the rich dirt of his grave.
The fresh salt breeze is replaced by a musty warmth that tells her they have entered the cave. Yet they do not take her as deep into the earth as she had expected. Almost at once she feels herself laid across a cool leather skin.
‘Now what?’
‘Now we take the boat out.’
His ship is ready to sail.
‘I’ll need help.’
The sound of receding footsteps confuses her, and she opens her eyes.
She is not surrounded by walls of solid rock, nor is her skin being licked by warm tongues of torchlight. She is in a crescent-shaped room with smooth cherry-wood walls and milky-white leather furniture, lying across a horseshoe-shaped couch beneath a dark porthole, and the man kneeling beside her in the steady light is not a stranger.
‘You’re back,’ Jay observes.
They seem to be alone for a moment.
‘I want you to tell me something, Carmen. Whatever your answer is, I won’t be angry, I just want to know the truth. Are you faking this?’
She isn’t sure whether the truth will condemn her or save her, but either way she has to give it to him. ‘No, Jay.’
‘I didn’t think so.’
A deep, rumbling sound comes from within the walls.
‘Well, baby,’ he straightens up, ‘you’re on his ship.’
She hears Mike and Will returning before the door opens and admits them along with a damp gust of wind.
She swings her legs off the couch and folds her hands in her lap, unconsciously adopting a prim posture. She meets Will’s eyes, for a second that breathlessly prompts her to seek refuge in Mike’s face, but his expression only makes her look anxiously at Jay, who turns his back on her.
‘You said this was an exorcism,’ Mike reminds him. ‘What exactly did you mean by that?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘Are you two still trying to justify what’s going on here in mystical terms so you can feel better about yourselves?’ Will asks scornfully. ‘Well, face it. You’re about to cheat on your wife, and you’re about to get off watching your girlfriend be—’
‘Shut up,’ Jay snaps. ‘You’re the one, as the Cuban’s say, who’s trying to cover the sun with his thumb. There’s clearly something out of the ordinary going on here, and I need a drink.’
‘Now that’s an excellent idea.’ Mike walks into the dark galley. He returns a moment later with an ice-cold bottle of Vodka, and four shot glasses he sets on the coffee table in front of her.
‘She doesn’t get any,’ Jay states harshly.
‘Why not?’As usual Will challenges him.
‘Because she can’t dull her senses, she needs to be fully conscious so she can come to terms with what happened to her in that tomb centuries ago, and face it.’
Mike fills three shot glasses to the brim then distributes them, leaving Carmen out.
The three men down the vodka in perfect unison.
Two more efficient rounds, and they have killed what was left of the bottle.
Mike sighs, ‘Now I’m ready.’
Her eyes cling to Jay’s boots, but they fail to step in front of Mike’s dark blue slacks and block his progress towards her. All her lover says is, ‘Shouldn’t somebody be on deck?’
‘There’s no immediate traffic ahead of us,’ Mike grabs her by the hair over the nape of her neck like a cat, ‘but feel free to go up and keep watch.’ He lifts her off the couch, and shoves her down onto her hands and knees in front of him.
She reaches for one of Jay’s legs to brace herself in every sense, but he steps out of her reach as Mik
e lifts her skirt out of his way, and tugs her white panties down as he kneels behind her.
Time seems to stop as she prepares for his thrust…
It comes as a beautiful shock experienced at the same time as Jay’s penetrating stare, which is eclipsed by Will sinking to his knees in front of her.
‘Here, sweetheart,’ his zipper fills her vision like a flash of lightning, ‘I’ve got what you want.’ He pushes his pants down, and cradling her chin in one hand quickly fills her mouth with his half erect penis.
She has never before had two men inside her at once. She closes her eyes, afraid of the responsibility, about how hard she’ll have to work to really please them both. Yet she is even more worried by how dangerously good it feels when they begin moving their hips back and forth, slowly at first, then faster and harder as their excitement grows and they fall into rhythm. Will stuffs her eager mouth with his big cock while Mike slides his dick into her tight wet pussy, and their pleasure meeting in the center of her body immediately begins building her own orgasm. The mere thought of what is happening to her is an intangible yet irresistible finger on her clit, the mere concept of being done by two men at once stoking her climax. She hopes Jay can’t tell how much it turns her on to be plugged at both ends by two opposing currents of male energy, but she can’t stop herself from moaning in response as the satisfaction they take in her body surges up and down her spine in an experience that transcends mere physical enjoyment in its intensity.
‘Pace yourselves, gentlemen,’ Jay says firmly, ‘we’ve only just begun.’
Will’s laugh is deliciously threatening, but he slips obediently out of her hungry mouth, and a moment later Mike empties her pussy of his delicious erection.
She tosses the hair out of her face, just in time to see Jay’s boots step to one side of her. Her brain registers the sound of a switchblade opening, but she doesn’t have time to think before the panties caught around her knees fly away like wings glimpsed in the corner of her eye.
‘Bring her.’
Their erections disappointingly buried in their slacks again, Mike and Will each take hold of one of her arms, and haul her to her feet.
Dazed by her brief taste of absolute fulfillment, and scarcely able to imagine what awaits her, she walks tamely up the narrow steps between them as her Master leads the way.
Thor'sday Night - Paranormal Erotica Page 21