Bought

by Jaymie Holland

  They were supposed to be on their weekend to Half Moon Bay, but John had some issues to deal with at work that he couldn’t get away from and they had rescheduled for another month from now. It worked out fine since she had ended up with a cold.

  She shifted her position on the couch and snuggled into her thick terry robe and her favorite quilt that her mother had made. She grabbed another tissue before reading the news on her iPad. She wanted to ignore the stories written up about the serial killer, but it seemed to be staring her in the face every time she went to the news.

  New information had been leaked to the press. The victims had all been tied up with intricate rope bondage skills. For some reason that made her think of John tying her up and it caused a strange shiver to travel down her spine.

  Enough. She set the tablet aside and snuggled under her blanket to wait out the cold.

  The doorbell jerked Roni awake from dreams of having all of her hair chopped off and stuffed into a bag. She had been running from someone holding the bag of hair in one hand and rope in another.

  She shrugged out of her blanket, thinking it would be nice if John had a key, but it was far to soon in their relationship. It had the feel, though, of having been together for months rather than weeks.

  When she peeked out the peephole, she saw that it was John and she opened the door. He walked in and enveloped her on a one-armed hug and kissed her on the forehead.

  “I’m sick.” She playfully pushed him away. “I don’t want you to catch it.”

  “I don’t get sick.” He raised one of his hands and she saw that he was holding a paper bag.

  “If I could smell anything I’d bet that was chicken soup.” She closed the door behind him and followed him into the kitchen.

  “Then you’d bet right.” He set the bag on one of the counters and pulled out a large thermos.

  “Don’t tell me that’s homemade.” She came up beside him. “Or is it?”

  “An old family recipe.” He reached into a cabinet, grabbed a bowl, then proceeded to fill the bowl with soup.

  “Mmmmm.” She hadn’t felt like eating all day but the soup looked delicious. “Homemade noodles?”

  “Egg noodles.” He pulled a soup spoon out of the cutlery drawer. “My grandmother and then my mom made them when I was growing up. Really simple.”

  He carried the bowl to the kitchen table and helped her sit before he took a seat across from her.

  “Why aren’t you eating?” She blew on a spoonful of soup with noodles and pieces of chicken.

  “Made myself a chicken sandwich.” He motioned to her spoon. “I know you like to talk but try eating.”

  She couldn’t help a smile at the way he liked to tease her. She ate a spoonful then said, “This is amazing. I swear I’m feeling better already.”

  “Just eat.”

  After a few bites she asked, “Are you going to that dungeon thing tonight?”

  “My plan was to go with you.” He shook his head. “It’s always fun to go and see a few people I know and watch a little. But since you aren’t going I should get things done.”

  Maybe she shouldn’t have, but she felt pleased that he wasn’t planning on going without her. She still felt stuffy but she really did feel better after polishing off the bowl of soup.

  When she was done he asked her if she wanted more then took her bowl to the sink when she declined and said she would save it for later.

  “Are you staying?” she asked. “You’re already germ infested now.”

  “I really do have some things that I need to take care of,” he said. “But I’ll call you later.”

  She followed him to the front door. “Okay.”

  He kissed the top of her head again then let himself out of the house and closed the door behind him.

  She returned to the couch with her box of tissue and snuggled into her quilt to read while she waited out her cold.

  “Yes, the man who bought you at the auction is here and he’s with another woman.” Leslie spoke over the music in the background. “I thought you were seeing each other.”

  “I thought so, too.” Roni gritted her teeth. John had given her every impression that he wasn’t seeing another woman. “I think I’ll drop by and see for myself.”

  “Sure you want to do that?” Leslie said.

  “You bet I do.” Roni pressed the OFF button and found herself shaking. She didn’t think her shaking had anything at all to do with her cold.

  As a matter of fact right now the fire in her veins had replaced the achy feeling with energy. She’d have to get angry more often whenever she came down sick.

  She pulled her hair back with a clip, put on a little lipstick and mascara so that she didn’t scare anyone with her pale complexion, and pulled on a nice skirt and blouse. She might be headed off to murder someone, but she wanted to do it in style.

  Her Prius had more get up and go than most would expect, but it didn’t seem fast enough at all as she raced to Sir Thomas’s Dungeon. She intended to catch him at it before he left.

  She almost marched right past without paying but she caught herself and stopped long enough to fork over the money to get in. Twenty was a cheap price to pay to rip off someone’s head.

  What she didn’t expect was how bad it hurt to see him talking with another woman. She was a redhead, about Roni’s age but slender. She wore a collar and John was holding the leash.

  The pain in her heart was like something hot and hard was lodged there. She had known him for a short time, but it had been long enough that she had fallen for him. Yeah, stupid me, she thought. Stupid me.

  She couldn’t take it anymore. She turned away and found Drake standing behind her.

  “What’s wrong?” He looked at her with concern. She shook her head but he looked past her. “That’s the guy who bought you at the auction.”

  Pain stabbed behind her eyes but the last thing she was going to do was cry. “Yep. That’s him.”

  “Did you two have something going on?” He studied her intently. “Is that why you didn’t return my call last week?”

  “I’m sorry.” She dug in her purse for a tissue, afraid her nose was going to start running. “I just didn’t want to lead you on when John and I seemed to have something going on.”

  Drake looked grim. “You deserve better than that.”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

  He gave a nod in the direction of the entrance. “Why don’t we go somewhere a little quieter?”

  “Okay.” She glanced at John one more time and saw his surprised expression when their gazes met and it caused something to twist in her belly. She turned away. “Let’s go,” she said to Drake.

  Just as they reached the entrance she heard John calling out her name. “Roni,” he said. “Roni.”

  She ignored him but he reached her, caught her by her shoulder, and turned her to face him.

  “What are you doing?” She shrugged off his hold. “Why don’t you go back to your little playmate?”

  “Let me explain.” He kept his grip on her arm. “I couldn’t focus on work and I needed to get away so I came here and met up with a friend who has a new sub.” He raised the leash as he indicated the woman behind him. “My friend was called back to his restaurant for a little emergency and asked if I would stay with her until he got back. Being alone makes her nervous so I am just watching her while he is gone. It is not a big deal.”

  Roni looked past his shoulder and saw that the slender redhead behind John.

  The redhead raised her hand and wiggled her fingers. “Hi.”

  Confusion made Roni’s stuffy head spin. “That’s all this is? Why didn’t she go with him?”

  “Look at what she’s wearing,” John said. “He wasn’t taking her to his restaurant dressed like this.”

  Roni looked over the collared submissive. She had a small leather bra on and also wore leather brief type shorts, stockings, and high heels. The thought of the sub walking into a nice restaurant dressed l
ike she was, let a lone even in a car driving, was amusing.

  “I would have called you but I figured you were resting and I didn’t want to disturb you.” Still holding the leash, he put his free arm around Roni’s shoulders, hugged her to him, and whispered. “Look at her. Do you think she’s my type? Besides, as far as I’m concerned, you and I are exclusive.”

  She took a deep breath and smiled. “Me, too.” She leaned into his shoulder. “I’m sorry. When Leslie called and said you were here with another woman, I sort of lost it.”

  “I would have lost it, too,” he murmured as he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. “Just trust me, okay? If anything happens, give me the benefit of the doubt.”

  She sighed. “Fair enough.”

  It occurred to her then that she had forgotten about Drake. She looked in his direction.

  He was gone.

  Chapter 8

  “I bought this just for you.” John held a leather hood in his hands. “You deserve one of your own. I picked out my favorite one.”

  “I’ve never worn a hood before.” Roni swallowed as she looked from the object back to him. “But I’ve seen them in some movies that I’ve watched online and I’ve wondered about the experience.” She felt like she was babbling as she spoke. “I read a discussion about them too that a lot of people who are claustrophobic can’t handle them. I’ve never been claustrophobic, but… What if I can’t breathe?”

  “Relax.” He picked up the leather hood from off of his bed. They were in his bedroom in his apartment. “Once you get used to it, you’ll like it.”

  “I’ve seen them and I know people who love to play in them.” She met his gaze and his intense blue eyes. “And I know it’s about the look as well as about control. But I don’t know if it’s for me.”

  “Roni.” He had a stern note to his voice. “You will wear it.”

  “Please—”

  He quieted her by pulling the hood over her head. She gasped and felt a moment of panic as she was encased in the leather. She forced herself to breathe. People use these in play all of the time. I’m not going to suffocate and John won’t let anything happen to me. I’ll be just fine.

  There were openings for her eyes and mouth, and small round holes where the nose was, to breathe through. To look at the hood on the outside, it was actually rather cool looking, with the eyes and sensuous looking lips showing through.

  She decided to focus on his naked body instead of the hood. He had one of the finest male bodies she’d ever seen. Every muscle was defined, from his sculpted biceps to his taut belly to his athletic thighs. Strength and power radiated from him. His skin was a few shades darker than hers, the hair on his arms golden against his tanned skin.

  He pulled her hair through a hole in the top of the hood, leaving a long ponytail. Then he took time lacing the hood up in the back. She could hear the sounds of the lacing amplified as he slowly tightened it snug. He turned her around and adjusted the mouth and eyes then turned her again and tightened it a final time. She could feel the snugness of the leather as it encased her head. She found that she could breathe easier than she’d thought. She peered out through the eyeholes and it was a bit like looking in from another world.

  “You’re doing great.” He caressed the hood. “I love how you look. I love how it isolates your beautiful eyes and your mouth.” He put a collar around her neck and buckled it in the back so that it was snug and not too tight. “Some people do have trouble handling it well the first time wearing it. Others love it. You are handling it well.”

  She pulled against the rope binding her arms and wrists behind her back. “Who says I’m handling it well?”

  He hooked his finger in an O-ring at the front of her collar and brought her close for a kiss. She sighed. It was weird kissing him through the hood but something about it was hot. “I love that you’re doing this for me.” He caressed her naked body from her breasts to her hips and back. “I love the way you look and knowing that it’s you inside of there, just for me.

  “I love doing it for you.” Knowing how he felt about her being encased by the hood made it exciting. There was something about him restraining her and taking away her senses and controlling even her appearance, transforming her into an object for his pleasure…it actually excited her. She wanted to please him more than any man she had ever met.

  “I have more in store for you. Lots more.” He went to a duffel bag that he kept things in and brought back two nipple clamps with a chain connecting the two. Her eyes widened, but she remained still, waiting for him. When he attached the first one she cried out. He didn’t give her any time to adjust to the first clamp before he put on the other one. It was just as painful and she couldn’t hold back a groan.

  He moved her in front of the mirror so that she could see herself as he caressed her breasts. She looked sexy and bizarre.

  “I love how you look… Amazing.” He tugged on the chain between the nipple clamps and she gasped.

  From the top of the dresser he picked up a leather gag the pressed it into her mouth and she heard it snap into place. She pushed on it with her tongue. It was there until John wanted it out.

  “Love it.” He squeezed her breasts as they looked in the mirror.

  There was something about the slow deliberate way that John went slowly taking away her senses. Transforming her into his own object for pleasure that excited her. She loved that he picked out this hood for her and he loved her inside of it. She loved pleasing him.

  But then he raised a matching leather blindfold and she shook her head. He caught her to him and turned her around to buckle the matching blindfold on. Now it was dark, so dark that she felt locked away, a more intense feeling than when he had put patches of duct tape on her eyes.

  Her heart beat faster as he took everything away from her again. Almost all of her senses.

  “You’re doing great.” He hooked something to the O-ring on her collar and she realized it was a leash when he started leading her around.

  It was so dark with the blindfold cutting off her eyesight and blocking out any light at all. Part of her was afraid she would run into something, but a greater part of her knew she could trust him to guide her safely along.

  She felt a subtle shift of air against her bare skin and knew they had entered a larger room. The air felt cool but his body heat radiated off of him.

  All along she had to force herself to not think in terms of suffocation but on the fact that she could breathe easily.

  He tugged on the leash and she moved forward until he grasped her upper arm and said, “Stop.” Then, “Take one more step.”

  She obeyed and when she took a step forward she felt something soft against her ankles and knees.

  “Kneel.” He guided her to the floor with his hand on her shoulder. She eased down, trying to maintain her balance with her hands tied behind her back. When she was on the floor, he slowly pushed her forward. “I want you lying over the ottoman.”

  So that’s what she was in front of. She’d noticed it when she first walked into the room. It was large, about two feet by three feet in size and overstuffed so that it was well cushioned. She leaned over so that her face and upper chest were against the ottoman. He helped her move so that she pushed up and then she was lying over the piece of furniture with her ass in the air.

  He secured a spreader bar between her ankles so that she couldn’t move them. Then he unbound her wrists. Before she could feel any sense of relief, she heard the ominous sound of chains and then he took each wrist cuff and fastened them to something. She tried to pull her wrists away and heard the rattle of the chains and could not move her hands.

  His hand was warm on her ass as he slid his palm down. She felt the press of something against her anus and she stiffened.

  “Relax.” He smoothed his hand. “You know it’s so much easier when you do.”

  Yes, she did know. She let her whole body relax and felt the stretch and fullness of him gently pushing the butt p
lug into her. When it was in, she heard the sound of him pumping the plug up with air so that it expanded inside of her and she felt so full that it made her feel even more excited.

  Then he pulled on the O-ring on top of the hood and she heard the sound of a chain rattling through it. He pulled her head back and secured the chain to her ankle cuffs so that her head was held up.

  She could hear him in front of her.

  “You can’t move,” he said. “You’re all mine.”

  Yes, she was his. She loved being his.

  “I adore how you look.” He stroked her arm as he spoke. “So sexy. So hot. So helpless. You’re amazing looking. I love putting you in another world, a world of isolation where all you think about is me and what I have in store for you. You will see that being isolated in there will heighten all of your senses. You will be more aware of touch and sounds.

  “You are wondering what I will do next aren’t you?” And then his voice deepened becoming almost harsh. “Aren’t you?” He pulled on her head chain bringing her head back more.

  She groaned. “Mmuuummmph.”

  “A little pleasure my little sub,” he said. “Then I have a surprise for you.”

  She shuddered with excitement. What did that mean? What was next for her?

  He caressed her from her naked ass to her thighs, his callused palm rough against her soft skin. He slid his hand down then slipped his fingers between her thighs and into her wet folds. He stroked her clit and she gasped behind the gag and then she moaned as he continued to rub it.

  She fell into the sensations. Her hearing was muffled and she felt locked away. When he stopped she was disappointed, yet wondering what he had planned next.

  He crouched close enough that she heard him speaking close to her ear. “I’m going to leave you for a while.”

  Her heart rate bounced. Alone? He was going to leave her alone? Fear of a different kind went through her. She didn’t want to be left alone.