Damn. Am I trapped here?
I pace, glancing into the bedroom. I contemplate calling down to the building concierge to see if we can work something out. Should I? Will Gage be upset?
I love how Gage is possessive, but a girl does need a little freedom. To not be able to leave here without him is a little unnerving.
I quietly close the bedroom door and take the landline phone with me into the kitchen. I call down and ask to speak to the concierge. After a relatively easy conversation with Jeffrey Porter—as I just learned his name—I’m all set.
I leave Gage a note on the kitchen counter with the time that says, Out for a walk and some fresh air. Jeffrey has me covered. I’ll be back in about 30 minutes. I hesitate before signing my name. I want to write, Love, Emma. That would be too bold and a little awkward. So I just write, Emma, and head out, letting the door close with a soft click behind me.
I greet Jeffrey in the lobby. He smiles and calls me Ms. Lavender, and tells me that when I’m ready to go back up to Mr. Parker’s apartment, he will ring me up in the elevator and alert Mr. Parker that I am on my way. I tell him maybe he’ll be awake by then, and we laugh.
Feeling good, I head out into the sunshine.
After a short walk and a brisk ten-minute jog through the park, I turn to head back to the condo. My adrenalin is pumping and I’ve worked up a little sweat, so I decide to walk for the next five minutes or so. It feels awesome to be alive and I begin to contemplate what the rest of the day may bring with Gage.
Last night, he was sweet and tender and playful. I could almost call it loving. Of course, he fucked me like a wild man, and he gets off on ordering me around, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Afterward, he held me and kissed me, and we fell asleep wrapped up in each other.
My pussy tingles a bit thinking about him.
I turn the corner and a woman stands there. She looks familiar.
“Hey,” she says, staring directly at me.
Her hair, slicked back into a long blond ponytail, trails down her back. She doesn’t look to be out for a run, or even a walk, dressed in jeans and boots. Her familiar, icy stare stops me in my tracks. The woman from the Mexican restaurant?
I don’t speak and pass by.
“Hey, bitch!”
I definitely am not turning around for that.
I hear her boots behind me. “You’ve been fucking my Master, bitch. Turn the hell around.”
Not exactly sure what I just heard, I stop and then turn slowly. “Excuse me?”
“You’re fucking my Master.” The woman physically pushes herself into me and glares. “And you need to get out of Billings while you can.”
I push back and smile my sweet saccharin smile. “I don’t know you, and I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m sure you have the wrong person. Please don’t touch me.”
I turn and take a step in the opposite direction.
She grasps my arm and turns me back around. “I’m not finished.”
I jerk back. “Stop it! Leave me alone!”
The woman inches up in my face. “Get out of Gage Parker’s life while you can, honey. You have no idea what he has in store for you.”
That stops me. I stare back, in disbelief. “What?”
“You heard me. Get out while you can. What Gage has in store for you is going to be rough and painful, not like the play sex you’ve been having.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
The woman laughs. “You don’t? Let me show you.” She pulls out her cell phone and swipes through some pictures. “Is this not you fucking my Master?”
I’m stunned. “Where did you get that?” It was a picture of Gage and me in his truck several nights ago, the first night we had sex. And it’s very obvious what I am doing to him.
She shrugs. “I took it. I’ve been following you. It’s my job to keep up with my Master’s comings and goings.”
“Gage is your Master?” I am so confused. “I—I don’t understand.”
“That’s why you need to run now. You have no clue what you are in for and you won’t be able to handle it, little girl. He’s only playing with you. I am his submissive.”
“No.” I shake my head. “I—am his sub…”
She laughs again. “You have no clue, pretty girl. Such an innocent. You think what you’ve been doing with Gage is being submissive? Think again. Besides, you’re only temporary.”
Two weeks, Emma.
I’m not sure my brain and heart can take all of this in.
“Oh, I can tell by the look on your face that you know this is true. He’s sending you home in a few days, isn’t he? What, next Monday? You haven’t been to the ranch yet, so I’m assuming that is the plan. Interesting because Gage generally doesn’t keep a temporary sub around for this long, so you’ve obviously got something special.” She pauses, her finger to her lips. “I know. It’s the sweet and innocent thing. Well, sweet thing, you might as well go on home now, before you get hurt. Because you will. Get hurt.”
I start backing away, unsure of my next step. This woman took pictures of us days ago. She was in the restaurant yesterday. And now she’s here?
Stalking me?
“You are puzzled,” she laughs. “Don’t worry, I’ve seen it before. Gage can really make you think he’s into you, can’t he? He sucks you in and makes you feel wanted and safe. Believe me. I know how that feels. Then it gets ugly, and I’m here to spare you that. Just go on home now and keep the warm-fuzzy memories you have already made with Gage—while you can.”
She swipes her phone again. “I’m his permanent sub. I know how to handle Gage Parker. And he knows how to handle me. We’ve been together too long.”
She thrusts the phone toward me.
“Turn it on,” she says. The phone is in my hands, and I glance down to see a video up ready to watch.
My heart falls into my gut. Hesitantly, I tap the screen and the footage blinks to life. The woman standing in front of me is restrained with leather around her neck, ankles and wrists, facing a black cross in a dark wood-paneled room. Gage stands behind her, naked, with a whip in his hand.
I look up.
“You need to watch it,” she says.
Gage strikes her, yelling and calling her nasty names. The woman’s back turns red and white with welts. She takes it with barely a flinch. As the video rolls on, I can’t look away, mesmerized. I hear the zip of the whip and her moans as the tip makes contact. Gage flicks the whip over her upper back, her ass, her thighs….
Then he unshackles her, roughly turns her around, and re-shackles her wrists to the cross. I watch as he puts the whip away and takes a long chain from the wall. The woman flinches and gasps with a sharp intake of breath as he clips one end of the chain to a nipple, then the other. With the other end, he pulls out the fleshy part of her labia and places a clamp on each lip.
Gage stands back to look at her, then reaches for the chain and tugs. The woman gasps again. Gage tugs once more, pulls a section of the chain up to her mouth, and tells her to bite it, pulling the chains taut.
Then Gage takes something else into his hand—something leather with a lot of strings. He twirls it about and flicks it over her nipples and she cries out. He teases the chain with the flogger and the woman throws her head back and screams. In one quick motion, Gage rushes to her and pulls the clamps off her nipples and then pussy. She gasps and moans loudly. He grabs her breasts and slaps them hard, calling her a slut, and then reaches lower to squeeze her between the legs.
“My cunt,” he says firmly.
“Yes, Master,” I hear the woman say.
Finally, he tosses the flogger aside, unshackles her again, and orders her on all fours.
Stunned, I watch, unable to look away, while Gage shoves his cock up her ass.
I have had enough. I throw the phone at the woman.
****
I run all the way to the condo, my brain whirring. I need to get back to my apartment wh
ere I can think. Away from Gage. Unfortunately, I don’t have my car but I’ll figure out something. I can problem-solve—or walk. I don’t care. All I need to is to go upstairs and get my purse and keys, and then I’ll be gone.
I don’t want to wake Gage or talk to him. I just want out.
Jeffrey sees me coming and opens the door, smiling. My insides are shaking, but I try to remain calm on the outside. “Thank you, Jeffrey. I’m wondering if you can do me a favor.”
“Of course, Ms. Lavender. What can I do for you?”
Still smiling, I ask, “Could you call a cab for me? I need to run back to my apartment and pick up a few things, and I don’t want to bother Mr. Parker. I just need to go upstairs to get my purse and phone, and I’ll be right back down.”
He nods. “Of course, Ms. Lavender. But maybe you should check with Mr. Parker. He was down here a few minutes ago looking for you.”
“He was? Oh.” Dammit. “What did you tell him?”
“Just that you were out for a walk. That I’d take care of seeing you back up to the penthouse.”
“Thank you. But I don’t want to bother Mr. Parker. He’s got a full agenda today. Could you still call that cab?”
I twinkle my eyes as best I can, seeing I still can’t get the image of Gage fucking that woman out of my head.
He leans forward and takes my hand. “It will be my pleasure, Ms. Lavender.”
“Thanks. I’ll be right back down.”
He walks to the elevator with me, swipes his master key card and punches in the code. Up I go. Soon this will all be over.
****
Gage is standing on the other side of the elevator doors when they open. The look on his face is one of extreme displeasure. He is fully dressed in jeans, boots, and a starched white shirt. Hands on his hips, he glares at me with hooded eyes.
He has never looked so handsome. I can’t think about that.
“Emma! Where in the hell have you been?”
I stalk past him and toward the apartment door. “None of your damn business,” I shout.
Gage grabs my arm. I twist around. He crowds up against me and I back up against the wall, staring. I will not back down. “Don’t push me, Gage. Leave me alone. I am going to get my purse and phone and I am leaving.” I turn for the door. “Good-bye.”
“You are not leaving. Emma!”
I ignore him and go inside, slamming the door behind me.
Gage follows and I rush into the bedroom for my things.
“Emma, you had me worried sick. What possessed you to leave? Where did you go?”
I find my purse, stuff my phone into it, and look at him. “Um, exercise? I just wanted a walk, Gage. Some sun on my face. Did you not see my note?” I head for the bedroom door.
“Of course I did. Where are you going?”
“Back to my apartment. This is off. We’re off, Gage.”
He blocks my way. “Why? What happened?”
“Ask your submissive.” I push past him into the living room. I’m surprised he isn’t trying to restrain me. I make it as far as the front door before he grabs my shoulders and turns me around. I glare back and say, “Get your hands off me. You have no authority over me. Our contract is null and void. I’m done.”
Gage steps back, hands in the air. He takes a deep breath. “Emma, what’s going on here? Can we talk about this?”
I narrow my gaze. He’s breathing hard and so am I. My heartrate feels like I’ve run a marathon. “What’s her name?”
His face screwed up into a puzzle. “Who?”
“Your submissive.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. Emma, you know how I operate. Everyone is—”
“Temporary. Like me. Gage, you have no idea how temporary I am right now.”
His shoulders slumped, his voice quieted. “No, Emma. Not like you. You’re…” He didn’t finish.
“You can’t say it, can you?”
He shakes his head. “Say what?”
“You almost said something and then you backed out of it. You almost said something like ‘I’m different,’ or maybe that ‘I’m more.’ But no, you couldn’t finish it because you fucking can’t. You don’t know how to tell people how you really feel.”
He steps toward me, grasping my elbow. “Emma, let’s talk. Let me tell you about Amanda.”
I huff. “Amanda approached me at the Mexican restaurant yesterday. She also found me in the park a few minutes ago and told me a whole lot of things. She has pictures, Gage, of you and me having sex. And I saw video of you fucking her and doing other…things to her. My God…is that what you want to do to me?”
Gage’s eyes widened. “No. Goddammit, no. She didn’t. I warned that bitch…”
“Oh, so it’s true.”
He shook his head. “Amanda is not my submissive, but we have had a relationship for many years. She knows I am not committed and I’ve never wanted to be committed to her. She wants a Dom/sub relationship. I don’t. She is not my submissive.”
I stare at him. “Keep going.”
“She’s just…convenient. When I need to fuck something and I don’t have anything lined up.”
My stomach turns. I stare at Gage a minute. “Do you have any idea how awful that sounds? You just called her a ‘thing.’ Beds are things, Gage. Chairs and pencils are things. People are not things. At least in my world. Look, I admit, I’m not very fond of this woman but she is a woman, Gage, not a ‘thing.’”
“Shit. I didn’t mean it like that, Emma.”
I shake my head. “I’m getting it, Gage. I mean, I knew it from the beginning. You told me, warned me. Fucking is business. It’s pleasure. It’s nothing more. Well, go fuck your ‘thing’ Amanda from now on. I’m off your fuck list.”
I open the door and step through it.
He follows me. “There’s more that you need to know, Emma.”
I don’t answer, looking at the elevator. I don’t want to hear one more detail.
“Amanda is why you are here, Emma, in my condo, and why we put the new security system in at work.”
“Excuse me?” I turn around.
“She sent the pictures of us in the truck to me several days ago. I met with her and told her to back off. But she threatened to hurt you and I was worried.”
“You knew she had pictures and didn’t tell me?”
“That’s right.”
“And she had threated to harm me and you never told me?”
“I knew I could protect you.”
I’m trying to process this. “So you didn’t bring me to your home because you wanted to be with me, but because this Amanda was making threats? Well, sorry for the inconvenience.”
“It wasn’t like that, Emma.” He reaches for my hand. I jerk it back.
“So, are her threats why I got promoted and Christina got fired? Dammit, Gage, you do love to manipulate people, don’t you?”
“I’m just trying to protect you, Emma. Keep you safe. I protect what is mine.”
“Stop! I’m not yours. I’m leaving.” I punch the hell out of the elevator call button.
He places his hand over mine, stopping me. “Please. Emma, look at me. I’ll beg if that will make you stay.”
Looking at the elevator doors, I say, “Begging is not becoming on you, Gage.”
“Look, I just wanted you safe. That doesn’t make me a bad guy. I was trying to protect you. Don’t I get points for that? Shit, I’ve treated you a helluva lot better than the other bastards you called boyfriends.”
I whirl back. “You know nothing about the men in my past.”
“Wrong. You told me enough. I find out things.”
I am shocked. “What do you know? Or think you know?”
“I know that your prom date didn’t just take your virginity, he beat you into submission and then raped you. I also know that your college boyfriend cheated repeatedly and tried to break into your apartment.”
Every bad feeling about men I’ve ever had just b
alled up in a knot in my stomach. “How?”
“I hired a private investigator.”
“My God. You’ll stop at nothing.”
“Not when it comes to you. I… Emma, I don’t know what you saw in the video, but I could never be that way with you. I—I can’t. I care…”
I want to believe him. I don’t. “Care? You don’t care, Gage. You’ve already established that fact. You don’t have feelings. You are without emotion. You are a cold, hard, twisted man. And we’re done here.”
The elevator rattles to a stop behind me. I turn and step into the car and jam my fist on the down button. I pray he will not follow. I pray there is a cab waiting for me downstairs.
I refuse to cry.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Gage’s head was spinning. He had to let her go, of that he was certain. As much as he wanted to hog-tie her and throw her on his bed, lock all of the doors and disengage all of the phones, he knew he couldn’t do that.
Giving up that power, at this particular moment, was incredibly difficult.
He was going to lose her. He knew it was coming eventually, but he thought he had another week. What will she do now? Quit her job and high tail it back to Charlotte? He hoped so because he didn’t think he could bare to see her in the office and not be able to run his hands up the back of her skirt, or look down into her pretty blue eyes.
Then again, he wanted her to stay. He needed to know she was around. Even if she wouldn’t speak to him.
He shook his head. That would never work.
Anger blistered him from the inside out. Fire ate at his gut and almost made him nauseous. He suppressed it best he could as he’d called up his truck from valet parking. He watched her cab leave the parking lot and move into traffic. By the time his truck arrived, she was long gone.
He went to her apartment anyway. Just to make sure she got there all right and Amanda wasn’t following her. He parked and called into the front desk. Yes, he was told, Ms. Lavender had arrived a few minutes earlier and headed upstairs to her apartment. Gage asked for security to follow-up and make sure everything was okay and call him back.
Corporate Cowboy Page 16