The keys she laid on the counter top and noticed one of them looked different. Like an old key, maybe to a box or something. Curiosity overtook her, and she took the keys and went to Arsen’s office. He’d never taken her in there, but she’d seen him come out of it.
The aroma of leather filled her senses as she opened the door. The chair behind his large oak desk was leather and there was a leather sofa against the opposite wall. A large set of cabinets lined another wall, and she went to them, opening one at a time. Careful not to disturb any of the contents, she looked around in them.
At the back of the third cabinet, she saw a dark box. When she pulled it out, she saw it would take an old key to open it. She placed it on his desk and put the key in the slot and the box opened. Inside was one thing, an old tattered notebook with the words, ‘life sucks’ scrawled across it in black marker.
Steele pulled it our carefully and opened it to the first page. At the top of the first page was written, ‘Day 1 - The Day I Met Beth.’
She read the page and saw it was about Arsen’s first love. And by the end of the fifteenth page, she found out why he didn’t think love was something for him.
It seemed that Arsen had been beaten nearly to death by the girl’s father and the girl was actually mad at Arsen over it. Seemed he hadn’t stood up to the man who was older and larger than he was.
The rest of the little notebook told her about how his mother abandoned him while he was in the hospital and how he had to go live in a foster home. Then the girl’s mother, who was a secret BDSM lover, took Arsen as her sub.
By the time she was done reading, Steele was livid with the two women and one girl who had damaged Arsen so badly. She replaced the notebook and put it right back where she’d found it.
Her stomach hurt as she thought about Arsen as a skinny teenager who got beat up so badly he had to spend a week in the hospital. And he had described some of the things the woman he called Mistress Sinclair had done to him, to make him be submissive to her.
Steele was seething with anger at the women. In an effort to better understand the man she’d fallen in love with she went through his desk and a note in the top drawer caught her attention.
In feminine handwriting the note read; I know what you did, and you won’t get away with it. The initials, K.P. were at the end.
Steele put the paper back in the exact same spot she’d found it. One of the victims, the last one killed was Kyla Peterson. And by the file Tanner had on Arsen, she was his first sub.
Meagan had been killed first. A week later, Lacy Andrews, Arsen’s last sub, was killed. Kyla was killed last and somehow she must’ve seen something that led her to leave him the note.
Steele pulled every drawer on his desk open and in the back of one of the drawers was a small length of rope. She didn’t touch it, but she knew it was the same type of rope the three women were bound with.
She closed the drawer as her body went numb and her brain quit working.
He did it!
For Approval Arsen’s Rules Part 5
By Michelle Love
STEELE
Cool air blew over her face as the vent in the ceiling of the small room in the police station poured the cooled air out. Her chair was directly beneath it as she waited for Arsen to be brought in.
Tanner had called her early that morning and asked her to meet him there so he could talk to Arsen and she could take notes.
After what she had found in Arsen’s office the day before, she had a pretty restless night. But when it came down to it, she thought there had to be someone setting him up. The man she was beginning to know just couldn’t do those terrible things.
The door opened, and she stood, ready to see Arsen, but instead saw Rowan. “What are you doing here?” she asked as she sat back down.
“I work on this case too, Gannon.” He took the chair next to hers and she knew Arsen was going to have a fit if he got there before Tanner did and found them alone.
“Want to know what I found out about your boyfriend?”
“It’s most likely rumors but go for it, Rowen.” She crossed her arms over her chest and listened.
“After snooping around, I found the woman who made the man.”
“Let me guess. Her last name wouldn’t be Sinclair by any chance?” She smiled.
“Yes, and it seems he and her daughter had been high school sweethearts and your boyfriend got his ass beat pretty badly by the girl’s father,” he said.
“Look, I already know this. I know she was his Dom and that doesn’t make him a killer.”
“It certainly gives the man the psychological past which could make him into a man who hates women. A man who might kill women, Gannon. Don’t you see that?” He smirked as if she was stupid.
Steele scooted her chair away from his a bit as she was beginning to get uneasy Arsen would catch them alone.
“You have no idea about him. He doesn’t hate women. I have reason to believe he’s being set up.”
“I gained access to a club called, Fierce. Arsen has his own room there and what it’s filled with is more than kinky. It’s downright sinister, Gannon. More than mere whips and chains.” His eyes narrowed at her.
“How did you get into his room?” she asked in disbelief.
“A friend of a friend works there and let me in early this morning. Tanner knew about it,” he told her and she found herself furious he had gone through Arsen’s private things. “Choke collars, some things on the wall to hold women up off the floor in chains. You wouldn’t believe the assortment of paddles and even long poles. And two of these long poles looked like there were blood stains on them.”
“Blood?” she asked. Her body tingled with a chill.
Would he actually hurt someone?
“What do you think happens to flesh when something like that strikes it, Gannon? There was even this wooden thing where it looked like he could trap a woman in it and take her or beat her and there’d be no way she could get away. It was a room of nightmares for any woman.” He leaned forward and placed his hand on her leg and looked into her eyes. “It’s not a place for you and you really need to think about what the hell you’re doing with him.”
“I don’t know what to say. I don’t entirely believe you.”
“Not only is the man most likely a serial killer, he’s an awful monster who gets his rocks off hurting women, Gannon.”
And then the door opened and Arsen stood there. He was alone and free and his face was red with anger.
“What the fuck are you doing alone with him, Steele?” His eyes went to the hand Rowan still had on her leg and she jumped up.
“Arsen! You’re free!” she said and took a step towards him.
He reached out and grabbed her arm, moving her behind him as he glared at Rowan.
“I heard you, you little piece of shit! How dare you talk about things you have no idea about? I’m no killer and what I do in private is just that, private!”
Rowan was up and in Arsen’s face. A very stupid thing to do.
“Look, Sloan, you don’t intimidate me and she needs to know the truth about you and your sick ways!”
And in an instant, Rowan was falling backward as Arsen had punched him. In the eye this time and it was already red and swelling.
“Arsen, no!” she screamed.
Steele grabbed his arm and found him shaking with rage. She pulled at him and he finally allowed her to get him out of the room.
“I told you he would tell you things to interfere with us.”
What Rowan had told her was making her think she might be in over her head with Arsen. But the man had some kind of hold over her and her body continuously overruled her brain.
Maybe I am stupid!
ARSEN
The entrance to the police station was rather busy that morning and as Arsen and Steel made their way to his car, he stopped dead in his tracks. A man was standing at the back of his car, looking directly at Arsen and tipped his head in a he
llo. He walked away slowly, without looking back.
Steele noticed Arsen’s reaction to the man.
“Do you know that guy?” she asked.
Arsen began to move forward again.
“No.”
Steele watched the man walk away. His brown hair was cut short, and he wore tan slacks and a white collared shirt. He looked a bit like an accountant or a computer nerd.
Paul was quick to get out and open the door for them.
“Nice to see you, boss.”
“You too, Paul,” Arsen said as he let Steel get in first.
Once inside the car and alone Steele pressed him about the man.
“You know that man, Arsen. Who is he?”
“Never mind, Steele. It’s not important anyway. What is important is why you decided to be alone with that prick when I told you not to.” He took a bottle of liquor from the little fridge and took a long drink.
Steele didn’t say a word. After he took one more long drink she took the bottle from his hand and put it back in the fridge. “For God’s sake, it’s nine in the morning, Arsen.”
As she sat back down he looked at her and ran his hand over her cheek. “You have no idea how much I missed you last night as I lay on the tiny, hard bed in the cell they put me in.”
She took his hand in hers and held it to her face. “I missed you too. I hardly slept.”
“Me too,” he said.
“Tell me who the man is, Arsen.”
His eyes went dark, and he pulled his hand from hers. “Drop it, Steele.”
Her arms crossed in front of her and she frowned.
“Damn it, Arsen! You’re always telling me I need to trust you, but you don’t trust me enough to let me in on anything.”
“Maybe that’s because you’ve proven yourself untrustworthy.” He reached over and buckled her seatbelt. “Try to remember to buckle your safety belt, Steele.”
“How in the world have I proven myself untrustworthy?”
“I told you not to be alone with that prick and you did it anyway. I’m not an idiot. I know you thought Tanner would get there before they brought me in to talk to him. You sat there and listened to what the moron had to say. Your curiosity overrode your want to follow the rules I have for you.” His hand tapped her thigh, and the other took her chin and made her look up at him. “We’ll deal with that little indiscretion when we get home.”
He could tell that she was fighting the urge to roll her eyes at him. And he had to give her credit for not doing it. His hand left her chin and cradled the back of her neck, pulling her to him.
As mad as he was that she’d gone against him, he had missed her like he never imagined possible and needed to feel her. His body tingled as their lips met and he allowed himself to need her at that moment.
She was so far under his skin that he had no choice it seemed. He loved her and he knew it. With his impending arrest and trials, he felt an urgency to have her in a contract with him. His intention was to draw one up and hopefully she’d decide to enter the contract with him. He needed some security with the woman in order to stay sane with all the craziness in his life.
When he finally stopped his kiss and released her he pressed his forehead to hers.
“I love you, Steele.”
He saw her lips quirk into a smile.
“I love you too, Arsen.”
STEELE
After showing Arsen the note and the rope which he seemed to have never seen either before, Steele was sure that he was innocent and being set up. They took both things and burned them in a small metal trash can. Then for good measure, threw the ashes into the garbage disposal and cleaned everything with bleach afterward.
She was waiting for him in his bedroom as he had told her to go in there and wait for him. He had to punish her for breaking his rule about Rowan and she understood. She’d known the moment Rowan had walked into the room she should’ve went out and waited in the hallway.
And for some damn reason, she wanted him to do it. Wanted him to discipline her for not doing what he told her to. Steele was a strong woman and had never felt she needed anyone telling her what to do.
It wasn’t so much she thought she needed the discipline as she thought Arsen did. She felt if he felt she trusted him and would be submissive to him, he’d really let her in. Let her into his mind, his soul, and the past that made him the intricate, dark man he was.
She sat on the bed and looked down as he came into the room. She was willing to take the pain his punishment would bring if it would somehow help her take the pain which filled him away.
Arsen was nearly a part of her. She loved him more than she thought possible. When he told her he loved her, she knew she’d do anything for the man. Anything to help him get past the terrible things which were done to him.
She was ready for whatever he was about to do to her. She’d read a little about what the punishments in the dom/sub relationship were about. She knew she was supposed to cry to shed tears. It would show him she understood what she’d done to displease him and that she was sorry.
Then she was to thank him for what he’d done for her. She was prepared to do those things for him. To show him she was his and in the process if things went how she hoped they would, he’d become hers as well.
It wasn’t her plan to remain in a dom/sub relationship. She knew to get to the place she wanted though she had to go that route.
The sound of the leather belt sliding from his pants made her heart race. “Stand up!” She did as he said and continued to look down. “Turn around.”
She turned and felt his hand at the small of her back. The zipper of her skirt he pulled down and pushed it off her hips. It puddled around her ankles and then her panties were ripped off.
His hands grasped her shoulders, and he turned her around slowly. He ripped her shirt open, buttons flying in all directions. His arms went around her to unclasp her bra and he gently pulled it off her.
He took a step back and sighed as she could tell he was looking at her naked body, but she didn’t dare look up at him. She stepped out of her heels as he took her by the arm and moved her towards the closet.
He opened the door and said, “Raise your arms.”
She did and felt something cold go around each wrist then the sound of metal clicking and she knew she was in handcuffs. He pulled her up until she was on her tippy toes. He looped the cuffs over some kind of hook at the top of the door. Her arms ached already.
He stepped back and when he came back something went around her eyes, covering them with a soft material. Arsen leaned close to her. His breath hot against her ear and neck.
“Do you trust me, Steele?”
“I do, Arsen.” Her body was tense, and she was surprised to find she was aroused.
His fingers trailed over her back, sending chills through her.
“What was it you did that brought this punishment on?”
“I broke your rule about being alone with Rowan.”
The crack of the belt across her butt made her wince. It stung, but it wasn’t unbearable. Not yet anyway.
“Why did you break my rule?”
She had to swallow to make sure her voice was steady.
“My stubborn curiosity.”
Another loud crack and the belt bit into her flesh. She had to bite her lip not to scream.
“Why do I make rules for you Steele?”
“Because you care for me and want me to be safe and healthy.”
The leather stung as it slammed across her ass. She couldn’t hold the tears back any longer and a sob came out of her involuntarily. His hand reached between her legs and one finger ran into her.
“You reacted appropriately Steele and now you’ll be rewarded. Tell me our safe word.”
She choked back her sobs. “Thank you, Arsen. Our safe word is Rose.”
He pulled her long, dark hair back and kissed her neck. “That’s right, baby.”
Arsen pulled her cuffed hands off the hook and
led her to the bed. He bent her over the bed and she heard his zipper then felt his large cock press into her in one hard thrust.
Each hard thrust sent waves of pleasure through her. His hand fisted in her hair and he pulled it hard. She panted with excitement and her body began to quiver.
His voice was hard and demanding. “If you come without me telling you to, I’ll give you five more licks of the belt, Steele.”
She didn’t want any more, so she held back. Her body was cresting, and it was growing more difficult to keep from letting go. Finally, she said, “Please, Arsen…” Her body was shaking from the need to release.
He stopped and pulled out of her. Then she was picked up and laid out on the bed flat on her back. Her cuffed hands looped over something and then she felt something go around one ankle.
It was cold and her leg was pulled and then it was obvious to her he had cuffed her leg to something that held it in place. The same was done to the other, and she was helpless to move at all.
“Do you trust me?” he asked her.
“Yes, Arsen. I trust you.”
The swoosh of fabric she heard and then she felt his bare skin on hers as he pushed into her again. The wave which had built up had dissipated, and she was no longer in danger of climaxing without his permission.
With her sense of sight gone, she was able to concentrate on everything her body was feeling. The way his large cock was moving inside her felt amazing and his muscles rippled on his stomach, moving against hers.
His breathing was a thing she found amazing. Hard, deep breaths which came from deep in his lungs moved hot air over her cheek and some of her shoulder.
The way he smelled seeped into her senses. His expensive cologne, his sweat, and the unique smell of them together filled her nostrils and made her head feel slightly light. Intoxicating her with the aroma, distinctly them.
His mouth took hers and his tongue moved to the back of her throat. Stroking against hers. It was all getting to be too much for her to handle and she began to feel the orgasm starting. In the position she was in she couldn’t stop it. It was impossible.
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