The Heart of the Matter

by P Nelson

  Eric shuddered beside Elizabeth, and she watched his expression. “I’m going to take a whole lot of ribbing if my sisters see them.”

  “My lawyers will be all over this church first thing Monday morning. I have them drafting cease and desist orders as we speak,” Flynn added. “By Monday afternoon, they’ll know they’ve fucked with the wrong Dom.”

  “I’ll monitor anything about them on the web, financials, who their supporters are, etc.” Linkin glanced over at Thea. “Maybe you should put your fingers in your ears if you don’t want to hear the rest.”

  “Just do a good job and don’t get caught,” Thea retorted.

  “Never.” Linkin’s face was grim before he looked at Elizabeth. “Delaney wants you to come back to the club, and I always get Delaney what she wants.” Picking up his laptop case. “Now, I’m going to see if there’s any pie left for me.” Linkin left the kitchen.

  “Honestly, how does he function in the real world?” Eric asked with a half-smile.

  “He’s such a fucking genius he doesn’t have to,” Flynn remarked before turning his attention to Elizabeth. “Stay safe, we can’t make this problem go away like it never happened, but I sure as hell am going to do my best to make sure these fuckers don’t get another chance to make us their victims.” He nodded at Eric. “Talk to you soon.”

  Dillon stood up. “Listen, guys, I can’t tell you how sorry I am.” He looked broken. Elizabeth reached out and put her hand over his.

  “This isn’t your fault.” Thinking quickly, she said, “And you’re still my favourite porn star Dom.” Dillon flashed a half smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Eric huffed out a breath next to her but didn’t say anything.

  “You see, pretty boy.” Thea came around the kitchen island and slapped Dillon on back. “Subs still find you sexy; now, let me know if you ever want me to drip hot wax on your ball sack. I promise to make you come so hard your balls will go dry for a week.” Dillon and Eric blanched at the same time as Elizabeth let out a giggle. Thea winked at her.

  “Stay away from my fucking balls, woman.” Dillon ordered as he looked at Thea. “But let me know when you want someone to leave handprints over that fine ass of yours.” He grinned at her before turning his attention back to Eric and Elizabeth.

  “Anything you need and I can do, call me. No hesitations. I know what these assholes are capable of.” He was silent for a second. “Tiffany could be a merciless bitch, but she wasn’t crazy before she met these guys.”

  “Thank you,” Eric said and held out his hand, which Dillon shook.

  “Come on, why don’t you let the big bad Domme buy you a maple cream donut?” Thea’s face lit up as she nodded to Eric and Elizabeth and followed Dillon down the stairs.

  “You mean you want me to buy you a donut?” Dillon replied. Elizabeth half-listened to the conversation while Eric went back downstairs to make sure the alarm was set.

  “Oh, baby boy, you know I’m the bigger, badder dominant,” Thea joked and the door shut on Dillon’s snort of laughter. Eric came back up the stairs as Elizabeth put the coffee mugs into the dishwasher and cleaned out the coffee pot.

  “How are you?” Eric put his arms around her from behind and Elizabeth leaned into his strength. Elizabeth thought about her answer.

  “Not surprised,” she said as Eric shut off the lights in the kitchen and led her back up the stairs to the master bedroom. Settled naked in bed again in Eric’s arms, she snuggled up to him. “I thought there was something off about Jerry taking those photos. He’s such an idiot; it couldn’t have been him.”

  “But Thea thinks Jerry is connected to this church. Are you sure you don’t know anything?” Eric started to massage her breasts and nuzzle her neck. Elizabeth immediately relaxed under his tender ministrations.

  “Jerry is not religious,” Elizabeth reaffirmed and gasped as Eric spread her out on the bed and lowered his head to one of her nipples. He settled his weight between her legs, and she felt his cock hardening and lengthening against her inner thigh.

  “Friends?” Eric started to massage her breasts, and Elizabeth watched the fascinated expression cross his face. His delight in her body made her feel beautiful.

  “They work on cars all day.” Elizabeth arched her back as Eric bit down on one of her nipples. “They smoke weed and talk shit. None of them ever mentioned going to church when I met them.” Elizabeth whimpered and tried to think through the haze of lust Eric was creating by manipulating her body. He made her feel so good.

  “I need to be inside of you, Elizabeth.” Eric pushed one of her legs up, her knee near her face. With a grunt and a sigh, he penetrated her in a long movement meant to torture them both.

  “Eric,” Elizabeth released his name on a long sigh as he filled her up completely. “Aren’t you supposed to be torturing me somehow?” she teased. Flexing his hip, Eric dragged his cock, in and out of her swollen, sensitised flesh a few times.

  “This isn’t torture?” he asked as he rested his forearms on either side of her head and captured her lips in a thorough kiss. Elizabeth was panting by the time he was finished, moving her hips looking for more friction. “Bad girl.” He whispered and leaned to the side, giving one of her of nipples a hard smack. Elizabeth cried out at the pain, the heat of the smack seeping into her breast, sensation arching straight to her pussy. “You don’t get to steal orgasms from me.” Elizabeth stuck her lip out, but quickly had a groan escape as Eric adjusted his position as his cock began to hit all the right places inside of her.

  “You feel so good, Master,” Elizabeth moaned.

  “I don’t need to tie you up every time to torture you, do I, sub?” Eric continued his methodical thrusts and Elizabeth had to concentrate on not moving her hips with his seeking just enough friction to send her over the edge.

  “No, Master,” Elizabeth replied and tried to concentrate on the way he felt.

  “Let go, Elizabeth.” Eric nuzzled the side of her neck. “Stop fighting the pleasure, let it build inside of you. This is my time to be in control. All you need to do is trust me.” He bit her earlobe, and Elizabeth shivered. She did what he said. Like earlier in the night, she stopped thinking about what was happening and just let herself feel. Eric’s body pumping in and out of her own, the wetness of her pussy, throbbing and fluttering around his length.

  “Good girl.” Eric praised and increased the speed of his movements, the feeling of his pelvis bumping into her own softness had her arms wrapping around his neck. “Come for me, Elizabeth. Come all over my cock.” He ordered as he started to pump faster, and Elizabeth looked up into his eyes aware of every small movement he made, how they fit together and his thrusts grinding against her clit. The sensations coalesced until she finally went over the edge. Eric shouted at the same time as black spots popped up in front of her eyes and her whole body clamped down on his, never wanting to let go.

  &

  Elizabeth put the finishing touches on the dinner she prepared on Monday night. They had spent the morning at the Vancouver PD giving their statements to the police and filing a formal complaint about The Supplicants of the Lord’s use of her image on their website. Flynn’s very intimidating lawyers had been present, and Elizabeth thought they reminded her of sharks in suits. They did most of the work, while Eric and she just sat back and listened.

  Eric had been annoyed they couldn’t do anything other than accuse Jerry of the B&E and damage to private property. He was still fuming when he insisted on dropping her off at home before going to work. A quick blowjob and an amazing orgasm later, he had gone off to work at least smiling.

  Grinning at the memory, Elizabeth checked her phone. They had some good news today finally, and Elizabeth finally felt like she was getting control of her life. The Supplicants of the Lord had immediately pulled the pictures of Elizabeth and Eric off their website on Monday afternoon as they were hit with a multi-million-dollar lawsuit Flynn’s lawyers had filed against them. Elizabeth didn’t care about the money, she
cared that they had purposely ruined her life.

  Nobody had heard from Jerry, and that he was still out there sent a shiver of worry down Elizabeth’s spine. He had never gotten truly physically violent with her. He mostly used his words to cut her up; there was something about the way he had disappeared that didn’t make sense to her. A car coming up the drive made Elizabeth’s heart start to race, and she danced over to the kitchen island and closed her laptop lid. She had applied for several jobs today and felt much more confident about getting them now that her naked picture wasn’t making the rounds of the internet, thanks to Linkin. Undoing the tie of the robe she was wearing to greet Eric at the top of the stairs in slave pose, Elizabeth sunk to the floor, clearing her mind of everything that had happened that day.

  After a few minutes of breathing exercises to centre her mind, she realised Eric was taking way too long to come inside. Frowning, Elizabeth stood up and grabbed the robe, covering her body and tying up the sash as she went over to the kitchen island where her phone was. Linkin and his team had set up surveillance cameras all over the house and property sending the feed through to an app on her phone. Apparently, it was something he was experimenting on with another member of The Cage. All Elizabeth knew was that it was easy to use. A couple of swipes and she saw an unfamiliar car parked in the driveway. The door was half open, but there was no other movement.

  Heart thumping in her chest, Elizabeth went over to the window and pulled the curtains back to look down at the driveway. Only the rear of the car was visible because of the wraparound deck. Pressing her face to the glass trying to get a better look, a movement to the right where one of the staircases led to the ground floor caught her eye as her phone started to ring shrilly.

  Jerry had a tire iron in his hand, and it was swinging for the glass. Elizabeth jumped out of the way just in time for the iron to connect with the glass. The pane cracked, but it didn’t shatter. For a second, Elizabeth stood staring at Jerry, completely transfixed by the maniacal expression he wore.

  “Miss me, Elizabeth?” He tapped the end of the tire iron on the glass, the noise making Elizabeth flinch. “I’ve missed you. Unbelievable, I know. When I first met you, I thought you’d make a good piece of ass on the side. Then, you wanted me to tie your ass up. I had my doubts, but I realised we could go to a BDSM club where I would get to fuck loads of hot chicks.” Jerry’s smile deepened, and it made Elizabeth’s stomach twist. He stepped right up to the window and licked the place where it had started to crack. Elizabeth’s skin crawled as she watched him. “Well, it was like I found the perfect woman.”

  Something snapped inside of Elizabeth. She was no longer Jerry’s doormat. Eric had taught her that true submission was a gift, and he would never abuse her nature like Jerry. Elizabeth stood up a little straighter. Her cell phone continued to ring, and she knew it was either Eric or one of Linkin’s team alerting her that Jerry was at the house.

  “Fuck you, Jerry.” Elizabeth wasn’t going to take his abuse sitting down any longer. Jerry shook his head theatrically and stepped away from the glass.

  “Not very nice, Elizabeth.” Jerry made a faux sad face. “Your Dom isn’t very happy with you. I think I’ll have to take your disobedience out of your ass. With extra punishment for making me come to another man’s house to find you.”

  “You’re not my Dom.” Elizabeth took a stab in the dark, for some reason she wanted to bait Jerry. Before she would have appeased him, but now all she wanted to do is make him feel small as he had always made her feel small. “You’ll never be a real Dom, Eric is a real man, and now that I’ve had him, I’d never go back to a little boy like you.”

  The last insult appeared to have Elizabeth’s desired effect because Jerry’s face turned bright red. “You better run, Elizabeth. Because when I’m through with you, I’m going to make sure that no man ever wants to fuck you again.” He lifted something out of his back pocket, and Elizabeth saw light from the kitchen glint off the knife. He slid it down the glass making an awful noise as he continued to smile. He lifted the knife away from the glass putting it back in his pocket before lifting the tire iron. “Run, Elizabeth, because it’s going to feel so much sweeter cutting into your skin when I catch you.”

  Elizabeth turned away from the glass as Jerry attacked it with the tire iron again and ran further into the house. She had no idea where she was going to hide, but she believed Jerry was going to kill her. Tears started down her cheeks, and the only person she could think of in that moment was Eric. He would come home and find her. The last week had been a revelation, the strict Dom she had first met at dinner slowly eroding away to reveal the caring man underneath. Elizabeth heard the glass smash behind her and knew her time was up.

  &

  Eric punched the redial button on his phone again, panicking because Elizabeth wasn’t picking up. Linkin had called a few minutes ago to say there had been some unusual activity around the house. He had hung up and tried to call Elizabeth immediately, but her phone was going to voice mail. Doing his best to stay focused on traffic, Eric hung up as Elizabeth’s cheery voicemail greeting started and called Linkin back. Thankfully, he answered on the first ring.

  “She’s not answering.” The words snapped out of Eric’s mouth as he sped up. A niggling feeling in his hindbrain was warning him to get to Elizabeth fast. She was in danger, and he needed to protect her.

  “I have bad news, Eric.” Linkin’s voice was clear giving him details of a nightmare. “Thea’s car is at the house, but I can’t see her on any of the feeds. Our friend Jerry is smashing through your sliding glass windows on the second story, near the kitchen. It’s not going to take long for him to get through.”

  “I’m one minute away.” Eric’s voice was choked. Adrenaline racing through his nervous system making him hyper-aware of everything happening around him. “If he puts one fucking hand on her, I will tear him apart.”

  “Emergency services have been dispatched to your address, Eric.” Linkin’s voice remained calm, an anchor to the real world. “What are you going to do when you get to the house?” Eric blinked a few times.

  Thinking about it for a second. “I’m going to rip that fucker’s head off.”

  “Good plan. Do you have a gun in the house?” Linkin asked.

  “No, I don’t shoot shit,” Eric replied and wondered if this wasn’t suddenly a lack in his self-defence skills.

  “OK, that’s good news,” Linkin replied. “Most of the time guns only make situations messier.” Eric only heard silence on the other end of the line. “Shit. He’s in the house, Eric.”

  Panic boiled in Eric’s gut as he turned the wheel of the car through the familiar streets near his house. “I’m almost there.” Hold on, Elizabeth, I’m coming for you, beautiful.

  “I need you to stay on the line with me, Eric, and tell me exactly what’s going on so I can liaise with emergency services.” Linkin’s voice held a note of calm command Eric had never heard before.

  “I’m here.” Eric felt tension in his chest as he turned his car off and undid his seatbelt.

  “What do you see?” Linkin’s voice came through the cell in Eric’s hand as he pressed it to his ear.

  “Thea’s car is in the driveway, but the driver’s-side door is open.” Eric pushed his own car door open and felt the blast of cool spring air on his face. It helped to still and focus his mind as he quietly shut the car door behind him and walked up to Thea’s car. “Shit.” He muttered into the phone. Thea was lying with her head at an unnatural angle against the headrest of the driver’s seat. Linkin was demanding more information, but he used the light from his phone to survey the damage. She had a nasty cut above her left eye.

  Speaking into the phone again. “Asshole attacked Thea.”

  “Is she breathing?” Linkin’s words spurred Eric to start thinking over the rising panic he felt for Elizabeth and his friend.

  “I can’t tell.” Eric swallowed hard as he heard a man’s voice scream out into the night.
Jerry was calling for Elizabeth, and it made his blood freeze.

  Chapter 16

  “Find her pulse in her throat, Eric.” Linkin repeated the instruction twice before Eric could stamp down his rage. His hand shaking in anger, he did his best to be gentle as he repositioned Thea’s head on the car seat. She let out a long breath, and Eric’s heart stared to pump faster.

  “She’s breathing, but she’s got a nasty bump on her head,” Eric said as he tried to make her more comfortable. “How far away is help?”

  “Going to be another five to ten minutes, Eric,” Linkin updated him.

  Eric’s neurons began firing faster, and he felt as if he could see the situation much more clearly now. “I’m going to lock her in her car in case Jerry decides to come back this way. But I can hear the asshole shouting for Elizabeth in the house, and I need to get to her.” Breaking glass from somewhere inside the house punctuated his statement.

  “I’ll inform emergency services about Thea.” Linkin was quiet as Eric shut the door of Thea’s car and thought of the best way to get into the house. “I can’t see him on any of the monitors, but I think I caught some movement on the far side of the house. Elizabeth might have gone out of the sliding glass doors on the other side.”

  Thinking about his options and what was best for Elizabeth. He knew he had a decision to make. Go to her or try to make it safe for her. “I’m going to draw him towards me.” Eric told Linkin as he headed for the front door of his house. It took him a second to unlock the door and step inside.

  “I’ve already disabled the alarm from here, seemed like there was no point with the police on their way.” Linkin sounded as if he was focusing hard on whatever he was seeing. Eric grabbed one of the pool cues from the table and started up the stairs. He took a deep breath and shouted.