by Piper Trace
Come When Called
~THE PUNISHMENT~
Episode Six
Piper Trace
Copyright © 2015 Piper Trace
Cover design by Mark Henry
www.pipertrace.com
All rights reserved. Scanning, uploading or electronic sharing of any part of this book without the prior written permission of the author constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. Other than for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author. The author can be contacted at [email protected].
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious and are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER ONE
WITH THEIR FORD out on a date, Evie and Charley ate pizza in her bed and watched TV, something Ford would never have done. That little rebellion made Evie feel a smidge better about being left at home while Ford was out on the town with another woman.
Charley entertained her with inane observations on everything from fashion to plot twists. Evie couldn’t remember a time she’d laughed so much. Charley was in a great mood, nearly walking on air after Ford asked him to move in, though he’d given Evie an extended, arms-crossed lecture when he found out about her hiding the picture from him and Ford. When he pointed his finger at her she’d finally cut him off.
Craving an after-dinner treat, Evie went to the kitchen to find something for the two of them to share. Going into the walk-in fridge by herself always gave her the creeps, but she was rewarded for her bravery when she found a cheese platter arranged with five different types of luscious cheeses. After locating crackers and a sharp knife she grabbed two wine glasses and a bottle of zinfandel. She studied the label for a minute and then shrugged. It could have been a $15 bottle or a $1500 bottle. Either way, she decided Ford wouldn’t miss it. Balancing the glasses on the platter and tucking the wine under her arm, she headed back to her room.
The route back to the stairway led her past the library that doubled as Ford’s office, and when she heard his voice she pulled up so short she nearly sent the wine glasses tumbling. She thought he’d already left for dinner.
Ford’s biting voice sounded angry. Curiosity overcame her and she slowed her steps, realizing he was on the phone. She wanted to keep walking so as not to eavesdrop, but Ford sounded so angry, and she’d never heard him lose his cool. Fear gripped her stomach at the sound. Whatever he was talking about, or whomever he was talking to, was really upsetting him.
“No I got your message and I’m calling to tell you that you will not step foot near my house, ever.
“No, no need. I will take care of it tomorrow, and after I do, I expect you will cease all contact immediately. And hear me on this—I better never hear your name again.” Ford’s words seethed with hatred. She heard the phone clatter to the desk and then his angry footsteps neared the door. Ducking into the darkened doorway of a nearby room, she held her breath. He was so livid that she didn’t want him to know she’d overheard him.
His footsteps disappeared down the hallway and she heard the front door open and slam. Soon after the tires of his sleek, black Aston Martin Vantage peeled out of the driveway.
Damn. She took a deep breath, trying to slow her heartbeat, and crept into the hallway and back toward her room again. She didn’t know Ford could get that rattled. She wondered if she should tell Charley, but Charley was Ford’s bodyguard. Surely he knew if Ford had gotten a threatening phone call. And if he didn’t…Evie didn’t want to get in the middle of that. If Charley didn’t know about the call, there was clearly a reason Ford didn’t want him to know.
She remained quiet through the rest of the movie they’d rented. Charley stage whispered through the entire climax of the film but Evie didn’t mind—she was too preoccupied to pay attention anyway. Her thoughts didn’t wander far from the phone call she’d overheard. Could it have been John?
She volunteered to return the snack to the fridge, hoping to run into Ford again, but this time all was quiet in the mansion’s wide, dim halls. Still troubled, she made her way back to her room to find the lights dimmed and Charley under her covers and naked, as far as she could tell from her quick inventory of men’s clothing strewn by the bed. “Should I take it you’re looking for dessert?” she asked wryly.
“What?” He affected offense. “I just want to cuddle!” He threw back the covers on her side to offer her a spot, revealing his thick cock, already rigid and ready.
“With that?” Evie pointed to his huge erection. “You expect me to believe you just want to cuddle?”
“Just cuddle! Naked. And hard. And repeatedly.” He patted her spot in invitation. She shook her head in exasperation as he continued. “I call it ‘sticky cuddling’. It’s just like regular cuddling, only stickier. Hop in and I’ll teach you the finer points.”
Evie laughed so hard she bent over, bracing her arm on the bed. She needed Charley—he was the perfect foil to Ford. She waved a hand at him. “Stop! You’re a nut-case,” she gasped as tears streamed down her face, but she pulled off her robe and climbed in naked next to him, still giggling and wiping her eyes. As much as she thought she should feel strange about putting out on demand for Ford and his friend, Charley made it too fun not to enjoy it, and Ford… Well, Ford was a walking multiple orgasm with whom she hoped to collide at every opportunity.
She and Charley stared at each other silently after she’d caught her breath. Evie never felt more content than she felt when looking at Charley lying on the same pillow as her. “Are you happy?” she whispered. “Living here. Plus, you and Ford…you made love.”
“We had sex.” He corrected her.
“Right. Well, maybe. Did you like it?”
Charley reached out and took her hand, tangling her fingers in his. He closed his eyes, a look of pure satisfaction softening his features. “Incredible. Better than I thought it would be.”
“Really?” She figured fantasy nearly always trumped reality.
“Because you were there. In my fantasies it’s always been just Ford and me.”
Evie blinked, shock slowing her response. She frowned. “You wouldn’t have rather been alone with him?”
“No, not now that we have you. With you and Ford I get everything I want.”
Her pulse kicked into higher gear and her stomach twisted with the realization of it.
Goddammit, he’s right.
With him and Ford, she had everything too. A loving, loyal, affectionate soul-mate and a dark, edgy sexual master. She wanted them both—needed them both. Closing her eyes, she sucked in her breath. She was totally screwed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled.
“Evie, tell me.”
“No, it doesn’t matter.”
“If it makes your face look like you just ran over four baby ducks being pulled in a cart by ten kittens, then, yes, I’m guessing it matters. At least it matters to me.”
“Wha—” She couldn’t even come up with words, so instead just shook her head in disbelief, giggling. “I’ve run out of words for you, Charley. You’re a comple
te wacko.”
“We already know that. Now tell me what’s wrong.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Tell me or I’ll get Ford to spank it out of you.”
“What?” Evie punched his massive shoulder with their clenched hands without releasing him. “You’re not into that, so you’ll just have him do it when you need something?”
“I never said I wasn’t into it. It’s just not my thing like it is Ford’s. Now stop stalling and tell me.”
“No,” she whispered.
“If you tell me, I’ll tell you a secret too.”
“I like secrets,” she grinned. It seemed Charley could always make her smile, no matter what her mood.
“You’re a filthy whore,” he whispered, his eyes glittering with good humor. “My favorite kind.”
“That’s not a secret,” she whispered back, deadpan. “I kinda am.” They both burst out laughing and he reached around her, flipping her easily to spoon her backside against his rigid cock and wrapping a tree-trunk of an arm around her protectively.
“That’s one of the reasons I like you so much,” he said softly as he rained kisses on her cheek and neck. “But I’ve got a lot of other reasons too.”
She really loved Charley—the things he said to her, his tough vulnerability, his charm, his body. As Ford had pointed out, Charley really was something special. “I was thinking I’m screwed,” she blurted out.
“That’s not a secret either,” Charley whispered from beneath her ear where he was nibbling on her lobe. “You’ve been screwed a lot since you got here…by Ford, by me.” He ground his erection against her bottom. “And you’re about to get screwed again. Remember, Ford says I can have you whenever I want.” He murmured the words against her skin, and she felt his cock jump. “Speaking of that, can I have your ass yet?”
“No, you can’t. And that’s not what I meant. I was just thinking that you are almost everything I’ve always wanted in a man.”
“Almost?” he asked the question plainly, without any pretense of the insecurity or offense she’d have heard from most men.
“Ford sorta forced me to discover something about myself—that I crave a…I don’t know…an almost cold control from a man, sexually.”
“You didn’t know that before?”
“No.” She shook her head and pulled their clasped hands to her mouth so she could kiss his fingers, loving his warmth. “That’s why I’m screwed.”
Charley’s chest rumbled as he laughed. “You’re gonna need to explain that one. I might like to have sex with men, but I’m not one of your girlfriends. I don’t speak ‘girl-talk’.”
Evie gasped, trying not to laugh. “You’re a dick sometimes, you know that?”
“Sure I am. Now explain.”
She closed her eyes. He really was hilarious and endearing in a way she’d never experienced. And he felt so familiar. It was as if they’d been friends and lovers for half their lives. So she felt comfortable enough to try to explain.
“It’s like Ford’s a puzzle-piece that completes my picture, but I hadn’t even known I was missing a piece at all until he showed me.” She frowned. “No. That’s not right. He doesn’t complete my picture—it’s not like without him I’m less than whole. Ford’s a catalyst. Like I can have good sex and a good relationship, but you add Ford and now it’s something more—it’s explosive and mind-blowing on a whole other level. It’s like he’s the vinegar to my baking soda.”
Charley hugged her close, laughing so hard he shook the bed. “The ‘vinegar to my baking soda’? I can almost guarantee you no one has ever called Ford that before.” His voice softened. “But I know what you mean. He’s magnetic, in the best and the worst way.”
“He’s a little dark and I like that.”
“Darkness is good?”
“It is on Ford. It’s part of his dominance. I’d feel like I was missing out now if I didn’t have it. I want that controlling, ownership flavor Ford brings to the table. Even when it feels like he’s using me just to pleasure himself, it totally does it for me.”
Charley pressed his hardness to her bottom again. “I know it does. I’ve seen what it does to you.” He pulled her shoulder back, kissing along her collarbone and making her shiver. “So I’m still not getting why all this means you’re screwed.”
She smiled weakly. “How am I supposed to find all that in one guy? I’ve been out there. There is no other Ford, and there’s certainly no other you—not on this planet anyway.” She laughed.
“Well,” he murmured against her skin, “who says you need to go find it elsewhere?”
“The deadline says so—a year is all he wants. No more. Not to mention he’s been clear he can’t have a relationship, and he doesn’t want one.”
Charley stopped kissing her and was quiet for a moment. The only sounds she could hear was their breathing. “He told me in the past that he couldn’t have sex with me either. But he did. You can’t know what the future holds, and neither can he. No matter how all-powerful he thinks he is.”
“You’re so optimistic, Charley.” She twisted her body, wanting to look into his eyes when she said the words she knew would hurt him—wanted see his reaction so she could punish herself with the memory of it later, over and over as penance for saying it. But it had to be said. She loved Charley. She’d come to realize Charley may be the only real friend she’d ever had, and as such, she’d do anything to protect him, even if that protection had to be against their own Ford. For all his size and muscle, she didn’t think Charley was as strong as she was.
“But Charley, even after you got what you’d been wanting from Ford all along, what do you have? Are you closer to what you want? Or are you just one step closer to total annihilation by him?” She swallowed the sick taste in her throat as she watched his face crumble from the high of a step closer to his dream of love to the low of oh-god-maybe-you’re-right. “Charley, I’m so sorry to have to say that.” She reached up and touched his face, cupping his solid cheekbone in her palm, feeling the scruff of a day’s worth of stubble.
Pressing his lips into a thin line, his eyes bore into hers. She could see the war in him, raw on his face. But then he blinked twice and his face visibly softened though his voice was hard. “You might be right, Evie. You might be almost certainly right and I might be the biggest idiot ever, but I will never apologize for loving someone and opening myself up for them to love me back. No matter how badly they could hurt me.” A subtle shift took place in the set of his eyes, and suddenly Evie thought he looked sorry for her. “Evie, love is an amazing, rare thing, and even if it’s not reciprocated, that doesn’t mean it’s not still worth everything. To love someone—really love them—it’s worth all the heartache in the world. And it should never be denied or ignored. A connection like that might never come along again.” He twisted his mouth into a wry smile. “I won’t ever regret loving Ford the way I do, even if it means someday I have to heal from what I let him do to me. Even if it kills me. It’ll still be worth it, to love like that.”
Her heart seemed to skip a beat as she realized in many ways she was doing the same thing, only far more literally. Letting Ford hurt her and healing later. Both of them taking what they needed from the other and dealing the consequences down the line. She blinked at Charley. She hadn’t been giving him enough credit—maybe he was infinitely stronger than her. Infinitely braver.
Charley narrowed his eyes, seeming to understand her mind was working overtime. He hesitated before adding. “At least I’ll know I gave everything to try to nurture a real love. And that’s the best I can hope for, I think…to have loved someone enough to have been destroyed by it. I guess I’d feel lucky. Some people never find someone capable of inspiring a love like that.”
A wide smile broke across Evie’s face and a tear slipped down her cheek. “God, I always feel like I want to protect you, but you don’t need any protection, do you?”
Charley wiped her face with his thum
b, his calloused skin rough against hers. “Evie, my being open to love doesn’t make me weak or blind to what’s going on here. I know the danger. I’m making choices with open eyes and I’m prepared for the consequences. I’m ready to live with my decisions, no matter how they turn out for me. I just needed Ford to give us a chance, and you’re helping him do that.”
She moved her hand to his mouth, tracing a finger along his upper lip. “You are really, really special. I wish I had a tenth of your courage and heart. I really do. But I can’t do it like you. I can’t just willingly walk into the lion’s den and hope my love’s enough not to get mutilated. Especially not with Ford. He’s done and said everything he can to make sure I’m crystal clear on what a moron I’d be if I fell for him. I don’t think there’s much more he could do to try and warn me off of him.”
Charley was quiet again. Then, his voice barely above a whisper, he said, “Maybe there’s something to that? Has it occurred to you maybe he’s trying to push you away a little too hard?”
She shook her head, mussing her hair against the pillow. “Don’t do that. Don’t encourage stupid ideas. And besides, what about you? If that was the case, why would he push you and me together? Maybe he’s hoping you and I will just run away together so he can be alone and miserable like he wants.”
“I don’t believe that.” But Charley’s body had stiffened and Evie could feel the anxiety prickling off him. “I don’t think you should either.”
“No?” Evie pulled away and propped her head on her hand, her elbow on the pillow. “Charley, he’s on a date tonight. He left you and me together with instructions to fuck while he’s on a date with another woman. How stupid do we have to be to think there would ever be any chance for…for… What? What is there? All three of us? Together? What is that? Pinning down Ford is one thing, but calling the three of us some kind of relationship is another. There are just too many impossible hurdles that no sane person would take on.”
The usual light in his warm brown eyes dimmed and Evie’s gut clenched again. It was one thing for her to be hard and cynical. It was another thing for her to take hope away from this wonderful, loving man in front of her. “Charley, I’m sorry. That doesn’t mean there’s no chance for you and him.”