by Tara Rose
Kari glanced at the women who were standing in front of the paddles and floggers with wide eyes to make sure they weren’t close enough to hear. “Do you want us to come with you? I’m sure Adison and Noah would.”
“That’s really sweet.”
“I’ll talk to them today. Consider it done, Alexa. This will be good for you, and we’re your best friends. We aren’t going to let you do this alone.”
Alexa smiled for the rest of the day. How could anything else go wrong with so much love and support from the most important people in her life?
Chapter Twenty
Alexa was jumpy on Friday, and she kept telling herself it was only because she was going to the support group meeting that night, but she couldn’t stop staring out the windows or thinking she heard strange noises in the house. They hadn’t seen any rental cars cruising past the house since the night of storm, and Sean hadn’t called with any information. It was as if that entire incident had never actually happened. So why couldn’t she settle down today?
They closed the shop early, and the six of them piled into Kari’s new SUV she’d just bought the week before. The car she’d had for over twelve years, and that had driven her and Alexa all the way from New York, had finally died.
The meeting was more crowded than Alexa had expected. She insisted on sitting toward the back, and had said she absolutely would not speak in front of the group that night. She simply wanted to listen and be there to get a sense of what it was like. The others said that was fine. No one was going to push her to do something she wasn’t ready for.
As she listened to the stories, Alexa realized something that, intellectually, she had known all along, but emotionally she hadn’t been ready to accept. She wasn’t alone in what she’d gone through as a teen. Not by a long shot.
There was a ten-year-old girl there who had been gang raped at age seven. A young man of maybe twenty years old told the story of how he’d been beaten and sodomized in the locker room of his high school after coming out to two trusted friends that he was gay. There was more than one battered wife who’d finally left her husband, and one woman about Alexa’s age who told the story of how her Dom had abused her, physically and mentally.
The drive home was quiet. The guys tried to make small talk, but Alexa was lost in her own thoughts. So many people were struggling with the same kinds of things she’d gone through. They had the same recurring nightmares and doubts during their waking hours. But most of them hadn’t found friends like she had. She was truly blessed in that regard.
They pulled into town and began to drive toward the house they now called Alexa’s. Kari had finally moved out, and Adison had an offer on his condo, so he and Kari were officially living with Noah in his condo. Tonight though, they planned to order pizza and watch movies together, and the house was large enough to comfortably accommodate all six of them.
Alexa’s cell rang, and it was a Racy number, so she answered it.
“Alexa, it’s Sean Brennan. I have information for you, but I want to tell you in person. May I come over?” Alexa’s palms grew damp, and she had to clutch the phone tighter to keep from dropping it. “We’re on our way there now. We should be there in about ten minutes.”
“Great,” he said. “See you soon.” He disconnected the call, and Alexa stared at the phone, wishing she’d never answered it. She didn’t want to know whatever Sean was coming to tell them.
“Who was it?” asked Chase.
“Sean. He’s meeting us at the house. He has information for us.”
“It’s okay, Alexa.” Luke put an arm around her. “This is good. Maybe we’ll finally have this over and done with.”
She wished she could be as optimistic as Luke, but the feeling of dread she’d had all day settled back over her like a shroud. The nine minutes it took Kari to drive over to Lawnview Drive felt like nine hours.
As they drove toward the house, Kari slowed the SUV. “That’s odd,” she said. “Alexa, did we leave the shop lights on when we closed up?”
Alexa’s heart skipped a beat. “No. I’m sure we didn’t.”
“Fuck,” whispered Kari.
“Stop the car,” said Chase. He had his cell phone out and was punching in a number before Kari could hit the brakes. “Pull over to the curb.”
She did as he asked. Alexa watched the house, but she didn’t see anything. Her car was still in the drive, along with Chase’s car and Luke’s truck. Chase had driven Noah and Adison to the house earlier, so they could all leave for the meeting once she and Kari closed the shop. She didn’t see any movement inside the shop. What the hell was going on?
“Sean, it’s Chase. I think someone is in Alexa’s house.”
Alexa heard Sean tell Chase to stay put, and not to let any of them go into the house. No shit. They weren’t about to. After Chase disconnected the call, Kari put the SUV in park and the six sat quietly, watching the house.
It didn’t take long for three police cruisers to pull up, and then Kari pulled in behind them. “Jesus Christ,” said Chase. “That’s half the Racy police force.”
“Maybe it’ll be good for business.” Kari put the SUV in park, turned off the motor, and opened the door.
“Hang on,” said Adison. “Wait for Sean.”
She flashed him a warning look. “Alexa and I worked our asses off restoring this house, and I’ve already faced down a rapist and murderer. If Brad is in there, I’ll kill him myself.”
Noah chuckled. “God, I love her.”
Sean met the six as they tried to come up the front walk. He held up a hand. “Stop right there. The alarm has been deactivated. Who else has the code besides you six?”
“No one,” said Alexa. Her voice shook. How the hell had Brad found the code?
“Who set up the system?” asked Sean.
“I did,” said Adison. “Any code can be cracked, but he’d have needed time to do it.”
“How much time?” asked Alexa.
Adison shrugged. “Depends on what he was using. Police can crack a code pretty fast, and if he had access to the same equipment they use—”
Sean cut him off. “He’s had help from someone on the job in New York.”
Alexa gripped Luke’s hand so tightly he actually winced. “What?”
“I have a lot to tell you six about Brad Foster, but first let them make sure he’s not in the house and then we’ll talk, okay?”
An explosion rang out, and at first Alexa thought it was firecrackers. Sean yelled at them to get down, and suddenly police officers were running everywhere at once. Alexa heard Brad’s voice, begging them not to shoot. It hadn’t been firecrackers she’d heard. It had been gunshots. She was seized with a strong urge to tell them to shoot anyway. Kill the fucker dead. Instead, she clung to Luke’s hand again.
Six officers walked Brad out from behind the house. Alexa stood, and Luke tried to pull her back down, but she shook off his arm. As she walked toward Brad, she experienced the same floating sensation as when she went into subspace, only this time it wasn’t from sex. This was retribution time.
Images flashed through her mind at light speed. Brad’s smile the first time she met him as a customer in Starbucks where she worked. His lies—all his lies. The endless times he paddled and flogged her until she could hardly breathe through the pain and the tears. The fear she felt every time he told her she’d committed some infraction and had to be punished for it. She could never keep up with his rules because he changed them on a whim. The horrible names he called her every single day, and none of which she’d ever deserved.
“Well, well. Alexa.” Despite the fact six big cops held him at bay, his voice was still full of sarcasm and self-assurance. What a pretentious little prick he was. How had she never been able to see it? “You’ve moved up in the world, I see. Your own little sex shop to play in.”
“You’re nothing but a crook, Brad.”
He laughed. He actually laughed. His gaze swept over the four men and one woman standing
behind her. “Looks like you’re a bit busy these days doing what you do best.”
“Go to hell, you insane asshole. If I ever see you in my house again, or even in this state again, I’ll fucking kill you.”
For just the briefest moment, his eyes registered confusion and surprise. It was quick, but Alexa caught it. It was the only time in the ten years she’d been with him that she could remember seeing it, and her heart soared. No matter what happened from this point on, she’d just won the war. Brad couldn’t hurt her anymore, and now he knew it as well.
“Get him out of here,” said Sean. He turned toward Alexa and the others. “You six, come inside and make sure nothing is missing, although I’d love to add theft to that scumbag’s long list of charges. Then we have some talking to do.”
* * * *
“I’ll never feel safe in here again.” Alexa sat between Chase and Luke while Kari, Adison, and Noah sat across from them. Sean had pulled an armchair over so he could address the entire group.
“It’s done. All the players are locked up now. Let me try and outline this for you.” He glanced at Kari and Alexa. “And just so you know, sometime in the future, IAB may need you to come to Manhattan and give testimony.”
“Internal Affairs Bureau?” asked Adison. “A dirty cop is involved in this?”
“Two, but they know nothing about Kari and Alexa, and it’ll be kept that way.”
“How did you come by all this info, Sean?” asked Chase.
He gave them a droll look. “I reached out to people in Chicago where I used to work. They reached out to people in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and here we are. Let me try and explain. Alexa, did you know Brad has a juvie record?”
Alexa shook her head. “Really? But he’s from the Upper East Side. He told me his parents were wealthy and that he’d had an idyllic childhood and got straight As in school.”
Sean snorted. “What? Try South Brooklyn with parents who were both crack addicts. Alexa, he grew up in Red Hook. His childhood consisted of doing time for grand theft auto and breaking and entering, and I’m pretty sure he never even graduated from high school.”
“That lying sack of monkey shit.”
“During one of his stints in juvie he met another punk named Rocco Marino. Rocco is bad news. He’s from a big-time Mafia family. He and Brad kept in touch after they both got out. Rocco also knew Donnie McCoy from one of their various stints in jail together as adults, and at some point introduced him to Brad.”
“Are you kidding me? I knew nothing about this.”
“I’m not surprised, Alexa. Brad was into a lot of shit you probably never knew about. As for Rocco, he had a few cops on his payroll. After Donnie was sent to prison, he put word out that he was trying to find Rocco. Brad got wind of it, and he went to see his old friend Donnie on Rikers.”
“Holy shit,” said Kari. “That’s the connection. But what do the dirty cops have to do with this?”
“Their involvement only goes so far as giving Brad tips on how to crack a security code. We don’t believe he or Donnie ever mentioned your names to the cops, or that they knew where Brad was headed.”
“What if they do know?” asked Chase.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? Right now, you need to know you were right about the car you saw the night of the storm. Brad has been holed up in a Motel 6 about a half hour outside of town since then, waiting. He stole the rental car, by the way. And he’s been watching you. When you all took off tonight, he came inside and was trying to plant these.” Sean held up a plastic bag that contained what looked like tiny transmitters.
Adison nodded. “He was bugging the place.”
“Yes. And we believe he wasn’t only targeting Alexa, but also had some grand scheme to avenge Donnie’s death.”
“So Brad went to see Donnie in jail, and that’s why our apartment was ransacked?” Alexa was having trouble following Sean’s story. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Brad had been watching the house for almost three weeks.
“Donnie wanted revenge. When he gave Brad Kari’s name, Brad of course knew you worked with her and found out where you two lived. We still don’t know if it was Brad who broke in or another thug. But the end result was that Donnie and Brad both found out that Kari was from Racy.”
“Why did Brad wait so long to come after Alexa?” asked Luke.
“We don’t know yet. But he’s going to jail for a while, Donnie is dead, and Rocco is in custody right now in Manhattan on unrelated charges.”
“Will Brad be tried here?” asked Alexa.
Sean shook his head. “No. New York has more on him than we do, and I don’t want him in my city any longer than necessary. We’re not pressing charges for his little adventure tonight, and in turn they’ll keep me apprised of what’s going on in New York.”
Alexa scanned the group. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“Cariño, this isn’t your fault.” Luke’s strong arm pulled her closer, and Alexa drew strength from it.
“It’s no one’s fault,” said Sean. “They’re crooks. It’s what they do. But it’s over now.”
“Thank you, Sean,” said Alexa. “We owe you big time.”
He actually cracked a smile. “Just doing my job. See? I told you I was a good detective.”
“Yes, you are. Thank you so much.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Alexa couldn’t sleep. Kari, Noah, and Adison had all insisted on staying overnight, and of course so had Chase and Luke. The two were beside her in bed, but her mind wouldn’t stop going over everything. She got up and sat in the living room, flipping through channels, but it didn’t help.
“I can’t sleep either.” Chase came in and sat beside her. “I can’t stop thinking about what I would do if I lost you.”
“Oh, Chase.” Alexa snuggled into his warm embrace. “It’s over now, and I know that, but it’s just that I knew something was going on. I knew it, and so did Kari. We should have told all of you before.”
He shook his head. “Don’t second-guess yourself, Alexa. You did what you thought was right at the time, and you were only trying to protect the people you love. Any of us would have done the same thing.”
She sat up and looked into his eyes, her heart racing. Did he know how she felt about him and Luke? “The people I love, eh?”
Chase grinned. “Yeah. The people you love. You got a problem with that, slave?”
Alexa giggled. “No, Master. No problem at all.” She kissed him with wild abandon. Alexa needed her men tonight, and even knowing that Kari, Adison, and Noah were across the hall and could discover them at any second didn’t stop her.
Chase slipped a hand under her robe and caressed her breast, and Alexa had to bite back a loud moan. After everything they’d gone through tonight, his touch was like soft, cooling rain on a hot summer day. “Let’s go back to bed and wake up Luke,” he whispered.
She nodded, rising to take his hand. Once they were in her bedroom, Alexa took off her robe and slipped into bed next to Luke. She felt bold tonight. He slept naked, so she licked his cock and balls until he stirred in his sleep.
Behind her, Chase massaged her ass cheeks, moaning softly, and then he gave each one a hard smack. She suddenly didn’t care if the others heard them. She needed her Doms to spank her. She needed the pain and pleasure to wash away fear and bad memories.
Luke finally woke up with a startled gasp that quickly turned to moans of pleasure as he realized what was going on. She continued to lick and suck his dick while Chase rummaged in the dresser drawer.
“Get on your hands and knees,” he said, his voice raspy and gruff.
Alexa shivered as she released Luke’s dick and did as Chase said. When he put a blindfold around her head, a hot sliver of fear tried to push its way in, but she shook it off. Trust went both ways.
He whispered into her ear. “We’re going to conquer the fear tonight, Alexa.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He bunched up pillows and draped her over them so that her ass was up in the air. Alexa tried to keep quiet, but she was so aroused it was difficult not to scream in pleasure and delicious anticipation.
“Put your hands behind your back.”
He tied them with what felt like rope, tightly. Then he put a spreader bar on her ankles. “Go on, Luke. You can spank her first. We’re banishing demons tonight.”
“Oh Alexa…” Luke sounded like he was going to come just looking at her. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
“Thank you, sir.”
She heard the whistle of the flogger before it struck her. He wasn’t hitting her as hard as she knew he could, but she didn’t mind. It stung, and it was also so erotic her pussy was soaked within seconds. She moaned softly, aching with the need to cry out, but also not wanting to wake the others.
Luke stopped, and one of them rubbed lube into the crack of her ass, and then he inserted what must have been a butt plug. She hadn’t known they had one up here.
“Just for a while, to heighten the impact play,” whispered Chase, “And then we’re each putting our dicks in there.”
Alexa groaned as one of them began to paddle her. She guessed it was Chase as the strikes were more forceful. It hurt like crazy, but it also felt incredible, and Chase was right about the butt plug. It did heighten the impact. She drifted into subspace much faster than she usually did.
Chase stopped when her moans turned into grunts. She’d been about to use her safe word, but he’d already known she was done for now. “Good girl,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
One of them shoved his dick into her pussy, and Alexa cried out, just once, then stopped herself. When the other knelt next to her and reached under to flick her clit, the orgasm crashed over her. It was crazy, and intense, and so forceful she nearly passed out. She shook her head back and forth, wanting to scream but knowing she couldn't, and that made the experience even more erotic.