by Avery Gale
* * * *
Alex stood in the doorway, watching Katarina look out the window, he could always tell when her mind was working at warp speed because she chewed on her bottom lip and talked to herself. “It’s not going to happen, you know.” She spun around so quickly he saw her wince with pain before she was able to mask it. “Jenna isn’t going to come and spirit you away. For one thing, she knows we’ll be watching for her, and for another, she is avoiding this place like the plague because of Colt.”
“Colt?”
“Colt Matthews is our chief of security. He was our team leader and has been our friend for more years than I care to think about. He and Jenna have a mutual attraction that they are both fighting. Instead of seeing where it might lead, they pick at each other like a couple of kindergarteners. We’ve been amused by it, but we are probably going to have to give them a little shove soon, it’s starting to be distracting for everyone around them.” Alex pushed away from the door and moved into the room. He walked to Kat, taking her hand in his and pulling her to stand. “Raise your arms up, Katarina, I have something for you to wear so we can go downstairs for dinner. There are often others eating at this time, employees, friends, Club members; we want you to meet everyone, but we’d rather you were dressed. For now.”
Alex’s sly smile told her that he didn’t plan to always have her dressed in front of his friends; why that didn’t make her angry was a puzzle in itself. As a matter of fact, even though the idea scared her, it was also exciting. God, maybe her college boyfriend had been right, maybe she was sick and twisted.
“Christ, what I wouldn’t give to know what just went through that sharp little mind of yours.” Zach had been standing behind Alex, watching the play of emotions move across her face. It was obvious she’d responded positively to Alex’s not-so-subtle reference to having her naked in front of others in the future, but then he’d seen what had looked a lot like shame for just a heartbeat, definitely something they would need to explore.
Kat raised her hands and felt Zach move behind her, he placed his hands on her hips and slid his hands up in a slow, seductive move that had goose bumps breaking out all over her body. Alex dropped the silk chemise over her head and let it slide down her body. The dress was a beautiful midnight blue and fit her like a glove. It fell to just a few inches above her knees and flared slightly from the waist so it would swish when she walked. God, she loved clothes that swished. “Beautiful,” was all Alex said as he lifted her hair and spread it over her shoulders. “Let’s go, I’m sure you must be starving.”
“Hold on, I’m not ready yet, I don’t have any panties or shoes.” Kat stood with her hands on her hips, looking at the two of them like they’d lost their minds.
“You don’t need panties, we’ll just rip them off you, so what’s the point? Hell, if we have our way, you’ll never wear the damned things again.” Zach was obviously trying to not grin at the wide-eyed look she was sure had been on her face before it flushed wildly. “And we don’t allow subs to wear shoes in The Club unless they are ‘Fuck me’ shoes; so having you barefoot will not be seen as unusual to anyone you might meet at dinner.”
“Seriously? You want me to eat dinner without panties? That’s just…Well, it’s just wrong! I can’t go down there with just this dress covering me. What if someone knows I’m not wearing underwear? God, they’ll think I’m a—” She was cut off by Alex.
“They’ll think you are a gorgeous woman, and they’ll be jealous as hell of the two of us. Now come on, it’s time to eat.” He’d grabbed her hand and had her halfway down the hall before she even realized they’d moved.
Frick fracking fudge. Her mother had always told her to choose her battles, and she was pretty sure this wasn’t the time to argue. Likely there would be other issues more worthy of the effort to argue, and to be honest, she was indeed starving. Giving herself a pep talk, she vowed to be stronger and take control back from them as soon as she’d gotten some dinner. That’s right, she just needed fuel…Right, and you can watch for the sun to rise in the west tomorrow, too.
* * * *
As they walked toward the dining room, they could hear loud voices laughing and joking, they were the sounds of people who obviously knew each other well. They were enjoying themselves, laughing and teasing one another like longtime friends do. The minute Alex and Zach led Kat in to the room, everyone fell silent. Kat had been standing between Alex and Zach but quickly took a step back and tried to step behind Zach before Alex tightened his hold on her hand and drew her back between them. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet Katarina. Katarina, we’ll introduce you to everyone after we are all seated.” Alex’s unspoken order was clear, and everyone began moving to their seats around the biggest table Kat had ever seen in a private residence. Holy shit, it must seat at least thirty people.
Kat sat between Alex and Zach, listening as they introduced her to employees and friends, resigning herself to the fact that she wasn’t going to remember even a fraction of that they were telling her because as soon as she’d settled in her seat, they had each put a hand on the knee closest to them and pulled her legs apart. While Alex was making the introductions, Zach had leaned close and whispered, “When you sit with us, this is how we will want you, accessible.” When Kat tried to slowly move her legs back together, they had each tightened their hold on her thighs, and at Zach’s low growl, she stilled once again. She hoped there wouldn’t be a quiz later about all the introductions, job titles, hometowns, or general information they were throwing at her. She was sure her eyes were beginning to glaze over as their hands began gentle massaging strokes that were bringing them both closer and closer to her now-soaking-wet pussy. From the knowing looks she was getting from most of the others at the table, she was sure everyone knew what the rats were doing to her. God, could she be any more embarrassed?
I can do this, just concentrate on something benign, jigsaw puzzles, yeah, that’s nice and boring. I’ll just think about—Okay, what was I going to think about…Oh God, that feels so good…oh yeah, just a little more to the center and I’ll be able to…Oh Shit, I can’t do this here! Kat straightened up in her chair; the scalding look she sent each of them was met with matching wicked, knowing grins. Damn them both, they know exactly what they’re doing to me. Alex leaned toward her and said, “Don’t worry Katarina; we won’t make you come in front of others…yet. For now, those sounds are for our ears only. You aren’t yet ready for that, we’ll know when you are, baby, trust us to know what you need.”
Kat knew her heart wouldn’t survive their rejection a second time. She was convinced Alex and Zach were looking for a woman well versed in the ways of passion as well as their chosen lifestyle. And when they found out she wasn’t as experienced as they seemed to think she was, she didn’t doubt for a minute that rejection would be a certainty.
Learning about the lifestyle the Lamonts had chosen had shown Kat she had misinterpreted the scene she’d walked in on as abuse. But she’d also learned that true Dominants placed a lot of value on experience and compliance, two traits she was certain the Good Lord had failed to give her in any measure. There just wasn’t any way to make this work, she needed to get her head back on straight and figure out a way to move on as soon as possible. But first she’d have to find out exactly what measures they’d taken to insure her safety, because anything that had been put in place to keep others out would also keep her closed in.
Chapter 7
Kat managed to deflect questions throughout dinner from not only Alex and Zach but also their Chief Snoop as she was starting to think of him, Colt Matthews. Cripes, the man was a kick-ass interrogator in a designer package. He was as tall as Alex and Zach, but his six-foot four-inch frame was broader, he reminded her of a very large refrigerator with monster feet and with an even bigger attitude. She suspected his apparent disdain toward her had more to do with her friendship with Jenna than it had to do with her; but that didn’t make dealing with him any more pleasant. And if he thoug
ht being a jerk was the way to get information from her, he was about as insightful as a refrigerator also.
After dinner Alex took her hand and led her to his office. Zach, Colt, and several other members of their security team also moved into the room. There was also a much older man off to the side, she couldn’t remember his name, but she was fairly sure they’d mentioned the fact that he was not only a friend, but also their attorney. Looking around the room, Kat was impressed with the casual feel of elegance in the décor. When it had been their father’s office, it had been much more formal, but the soft leather furnishings and beautiful wildlife prints had softened the room’s appearance. It was obvious the office was used for a variety of purposes, because there was a long conference table at one end as well as a grouping of chairs facing a massive stone fireplace at the other end. Since the office was in the back corner of the house, two walls were entirely done in floor-to-ceiling glass; Kat knew the view would overlook the main entrance leading to the house and The Club, as well as giving them a partial view of the back gardens and pool area. Gonna be pretty difficult to fly under their damned radar in this place, welcome to Sing Sing West.
Positioning her between them, Alex and Zach sat on the smaller of the sofas. Alex turned toward her. “Katarina, we need you to tell us who we are dealing with and what we’re up against.” Boy, directly to the point as always. Suddenly a picture from an old movie she’d watched as a kid flashed through her mind; she felt like the suspect sitting on a stool in a dark room with a light pointed directly at her face while she was questioned by the menacing shadowy figure pacing behind the light. While it might have just been a split second of distraction, she still fought the urge to shudder at the image; it was a little too much like the scene that had gotten her in to this damned mess. Her, bathed in a spotlight, surrounded by dark, with someone asking questions. Damn. Okay, so the whip was different, and oh yeah, the guy in the movie wasn’t wearing leathers, but…suddenly Kat realized she’d obviously taken a little mental side trip, uh oh.
“Katarina?” Alex wondered where on earth she’d gone, he knew she had heard the question, but then it was if she had just completely blanked out for several seconds. PTSD? Definitely something he’d want to discuss with his brother and Colt.
Glancing around the room at all the eyes trained on her, Kat took a deep breath and began. She started by explaining how she’d started her own web-design business so she could stay under the radar, so to speak, and how one of her first clients had been Cal-Corp Industries. At their wide-eyed expression, she conceded she’d been ignorant to the rumors about their true sources of revenue. All she’d known was that they’d been willing to pay her huge sums of money to design and maintain various web pages for different branches of their business. Working with them had been easy at first; they’d only met via webcam, and all payments had been made by direct deposit. They’d always sent information to her either electronically or by messenger, so she hadn’t had any personal contact with anyone from the company for almost the first four years of her contract. But during the last year, things had gotten much more complicated.
Thinking back over the years she’d done work for Cal-Corp, Kat was again amazed at how easily she’d been led right in to the middle of a nightmare that she still couldn’t completely wrap her mind around. She tried to explain how it had started when they requested that she design a site to deal with young woman wanting to “study abroad.” The site was supposed to tell prospective women about opportunities to “earn free room and board” in return for “simple household or nanny duties.” They’d added little changes along the way that together threw up huge red flags, but when they’d been brought forth so subtly and several weeks and months apart, they’d all failed to alert her to the true purpose of the site.
Colt was the first to interrupt her. “So it never occurred to you that they might be running a sex slave trafficking business via the web page you’d designed and were maintaining?” His disbelief was obvious from his tone, and she stiffened at the accusation.
“Well, no, I guess I was naïve, but when you aren’t a criminal yourself, you don’t always know how they think.” She glared back at him, she didn’t care if he thought she was accusing him of being less than a stellar citizen because he’d seen it so quickly, she didn’t need to justify herself to him, and the sooner he decided she wasn’t worth the effort, the sooner he’d ignore her long enough for her to slip past him and his merry band of prison guards.
Colt returned her glare as she continued to explain in as much detail as she could remember how she’d come to start talking to Cal Robertson, the son of electronics mogul Calvin Robertson, Sr. She hesitantly added that they had long chats about everything; she’d considered Cal a friend, and when she had confided her interest in BDSM during one of their many late-night chats, he’d told her he’d be happy to answer all her questions, as he had a lot of experience in the lifestyle.
God, could this be any more humiliating? Here she sat, telling all these men how she’d chatted up a virtual stranger about her interest in all things kinky. And two of the men were ones she’d been in love with since she’d been a junior high school girl with stars in her eyes, adoring her best friend’s older brothers from afar. While they’d always been polite, they’d never really seemed to take much notice of her. They’d been six years older than she and Jenna, so seeing them when they’d been home from college had always been the highlight of her summer and Christmas breaks. Even though a part of her wanted to just sit back and drift through her memories of those happier times in her life, she shifted in her seat and continued.
By the time Kat had explained everything, well, almost everything, about how she’d come to be at the BDSM club in Las Vegas where Cal had decided to show her how refusing him would be dealt with, she was beyond exhausted. Leaning her head against Zach’s shoulder, she let her eyes close slowly. Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard Alex say, “Gentlemen, I believe Katarina needs to rest now. You have enough information to begin your investigation. Since you have retrieved her computer from her car, please begin there. We need to gather everything we can to nail this son of a bitch.” Then, turning to Colt, he spoke quietly, “Call this in, make sure you let the brass know we’re working on this thing. I know we don’t do domestic, but the ring is international, so they can’t balk too much. Let them know it’s nonnegotiable and we’ll turn over everything we come up with.”
Zach slid his arms under Kat’s knees and lifted her in to his arms. He started toward her suite as Alex finished up the meeting and saw everyone out. She felt so small cuddled up against him, he couldn’t help wondering how much of the story she had either edited for their benefit or simply omitted. There were lots of ways to get at the truth, he was certain that he and Alex would find something that would not only be effective, but would lead to their mutual enjoyment also.
Chapter 8
Kat came awake when she heard a moan, slowly realizing it was her own, and quickly realized why her body felt like it was tingling all over. Her legs were spread wide open and being held in place by something wrapped around her ankles, and her hands were held together above her head. Opening her eyes slowly, Kat saw candle light dancing off the ceiling being reflected from candles sitting on every available flat surface. Looking to each side, she saw Alex and Zach lying on their sides, propped up on their elbows, watching her intently. They were slowly drawing the backs of their fingers up and down her body, leaving goose bumps in their wake.
Alex was the first to speak. “We’d like to talk to you, baby. We have the feeling that there might be things you forgot to mention when we spoke to you downstairs.” Uh oh, this didn’t seem like it was going to be a regular, get-together-over-coffee-and-chitchat session to Kat.
“You didn’t leave out anything did you, kitten?” Zach’s voice was soft, but there was an edge to it that Kat didn’t want to think too much about right at this moment. How did they expect her to think clearly when they ha
d her tied down and they were lighting her up with warm sensation? Somewhere in the back of her mind she’d known her smoke-and-mirrors version wouldn’t get her by forever, but she hadn’t expected this, this was going to be a whole new method of interrogation, she was sure of that much.
“Well, of course I didn’t review each and every moment of the last seven years. That would have taken hours. I told you everything you need to know to protect yourselves until I am well enough to travel. Honestly, I don’t think there is anything to worry about, I was always careful to avoid telling anyone where I was from; there isn’t any way Cal will be able to find me here before I move on. I’m sorry if you feel I’ve brought trouble here. If you’ll just help me get my car from the woods, I think I’d be able to travel in the next day or so.” She tried to sound upbeat even when she didn’t know exactly where she’d go. She was out of cash and certain any attempt to access her bank accounts would lead Cal straight to her.
“Your car is locked up securely in one the sheds down by the garage. Anything you needed from it has been brought up to the house.” Alex’s calmly spoken words didn’t match the tension that seemed to be coursing through him, not a good sign at all.