The Devil's Gate

by Rue Volley

I held it up so that he could look at it and he leaned forward to study it. His expression was that of pleasure and curiosity mixed into one.

  “Seems you will be branded.”

  I looked at it and then glanced at the cabby who suddenly looked at his paper again.

  “It is, I guess, but—I, the experience was confusing.”

  Jack grinned and let his eyes go to the cabby and then back to me. “Oh, you mean that I got hard while I stitched your finger up? Or was it that you almost came while I was doing it?”

  I let my jaw drop as the cabby lifted his paper and tilted it to hide his expression. I was mortified.

  “I did not…” My voice dropped to a whisper, “come, Jack.”

  “Is that a command, Abigail?”

  I shifted from one foot to the other again. My arms firmly crossed on my chest, but my heart was starting to race; it was his ability to fluster me that irritated me the most. He wasn’t going to make this easy at all. In fact, I knew that he meant to force me to let the cabby go, abandoning me here.

  “No, it isn’t,” I said as my teeth ground together. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. I was breathing harder. The chilled air gave it away as white smoke rose from my lips and into the air. Damn this weather.

  “Don’t you want to talk about the theater, too?” He looked down and then back up at me. He was so attractive I lost my train of thought and had to regain it as the situation flustered me even further.

  My cheeks blushed. “No, not so much, Jack.”

  “Pity, I enjoyed watching you come in public.”

  The laugh rose from the cab and I hit the side of the door. The cabby stopped as Jack walked toward me. I backed up until I could feel the cold steel pressed against my back, he leaned forward and then handed the man a card as he stared at me. His smell was overpowering and his size engulfed me. I turned my face to prevent him from seducing me with those eyes once again.

  The cabby slid the card and handed it back to Jack, who was still staring at me. He stepped back and I stumbled as the cab took off and left me standing there without any will to chase it down.

  “Rude, Jack.”

  He sighed and held his hand out to me. “Abigail, stop being so difficult, come inside.”

  I shook my head no like some aggravated teenager. He laughed.

  “Seriously? Are you walking home?”

  I pointed behind me. “That wasn’t up to you at all. I said that I would pay him, and I had every intention of leaving and never stepping foot in your home.”

  Jack tilted his head as he studied my face. It made me feel awkward. “What?” I bit my lip.

  Then he spoke, his words only adding fuel to the fire. “You are even more stunning when you are angry; that’s a gift. Just one surprise after the other.”

  I laughed and shook my head as I looked down at my tennis shoes. Now he was just being condescending. I didn’t appreciate it.

  “I get it, Jack. I do. You don’t have to torture me.”

  His comeback came like the crack of a whip. “That’s unfortunate. I thought that you liked it.”

  I parted my lips as I stared into his eyes. He lifted his free hand and touched his bottom lip.

  “Don’t—please don’t do that.”

  “Do what?”

  I pointed at him. “That—that thing with your lip and your thumb. Just don’t.”

  He took a step toward me. “What, this?” he rubbed his lip very slowly as he looked me over.

  “Yeah—that.”

  He stopped and lowered his hand. “I will stop doing it when I stop wanting to devour you.”

  I took a breath and tried to ignore his advances. He was so skilled at it that it had my body humming in a peculiar way. I can honestly say that I have never had anyone affect me like he did without even touching me.

  “I’m not here for that.”

  He looked behind me as I stared up at him. I had to turn to see what held his attention out of pure curiosity. A long white limo rolled up the lane toward us. He leaned into my ear and whispered. My eyes closed as the words consumed me.“I want to fuck you, Abigail. I want to make you scream my name over and over again until your body surrenders to my every will.”

  I felt the words shoot through me like an orgasm. No one had ever talked to me like this and I couldn’t combat it, I just couldn’t. He grabbed my wrist with a bit of force and I opened my eyes as he waved a hand. I turned to see the white limo stop, stretched out before us. My cheeks were red, my heartbeat had lowered to nestle between my legs, and I felt weak. Not as if I would pass out, but weak as in he could have taken me right here, in front of the world. I would not have any defense against it.

  A driver stepped out of the limo, dressed as nicely as Jack was. He walked around to the back door and opened it up as one black heel emerged and delicately stepped onto the concrete. Then a pale hand appeared and the driver took it as the woman stood up and stared at Jack. Her eyes lingered on him and ignored me. I am sure that standing there in my jeans and t-shirt made me look incredibly ridiculous next to Jack and the mansion as a backdrop.

  She stepped up to him and placed a hand on his face. Gently holding it and then she leaned in and kissed his lips. The kiss was simple in nature, but it lingered a couple of seconds. Then she stepped back and let her eyes shift to me.

  “Interviewing new staff?” she asked as I suddenly felt like a complete idiot yet again. Jack smiled and took my hand, kissing the back of it.

  “No, mother. I would like you to meet Abigail Watson, my new friend.”

  “Oh,” she said as she looked me over. She stepped up to me and stared down. She was a tall woman and with heels on, she was even more daunting. I stared up at her as she held her hand out, and my hesitation caused her to lower it. She tilted her head, not unlike Jack does when he is curious about me. He had her eyes and then it hit me that I had seen her nipples. I rubbed my neck as I looked down at my feet and allowed her to be the dominant animal.

  She turned to Jack, “This is the girl who tried to kill herself?”

  “No, I would never do that,” I said as she turned her gaze back to me.

  “How could you possibly step in front of a bus?”

  “I—I wasn’t paying attention, ma’am.”

  She laughed and shook her head at me. “Victoria. Victoria Elizabeth Landon.”

  I was taken back with her formality.

  “Abigail…”

  She smirked. “I heard my son…Watson. Isn’t that some sort of detective?”

  I closed my mouth as she wound her arm into his and started to pull him along with her. She talked about her trip to Rome and meeting the new pope as I stood there like a villager at the Queens gate. Jack stopped and looked back. He held his hand out toward me as he let his mother’s arm go. I could tell by her tight lipped expression that she wasn’t happy about it. I swallowed hard and climbed the steps as he took my hand and we walked up toward the house together.

  We reached the top step and Jack stopped as his mother kept walking. She paused and looked back at him. “Mother, why don’t you settle in? I was in the middle of something here.”

  She looked me over as if I should be disposed of and in her mind perhaps that is what she thought he might be doing. Gently letting the little poor girl down.

  “Okay darling. Is your brother here?”

  “He is.”

  She rolled her hand, a strange gesture but I guess it fit her personality. “Good, it will be so nice to have a dinner with family again. I can’t tell you how boring Charles is.”She looked at me. “Prince Charles.”

  I didn’t say anything. Of course she visited popes and princes. I felt like a pauper.

  She rang the bell as if she were a guest and a man answered the door. She stepped in and the door closed behind her, swallowing the snake whole. I let out a sigh of relief.

  “She is a bit overwhelming.”

  I laughed. “Her?”

  He smiled at me. “Well, I d
on’t think of myself as overwhelming as much as a formidable opponent.”

  I shook my head. “Maybe I should go home.”

  “Are you joking? You can’t leave me here with her.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Like you can’t handle her.”

  He paused and then leaned up close to my lips. “I meant what I said, Abigail Watson.”

  His hand took mine and I felt something in it. He stepped back as I looked down at a small black box in my palm. “What is this?”

  “Open it.”

  I lifted the lid and there it sat. A red ruby, set in fine silver. A ring that rivaled Avery’s in every way.

  “I—Jack, seriously? I can’t take this; it must have cost a fortune.”

  “I don’t know what it cost.”

  I looked up at him. “What?”

  “No, I don’t know. I saw it, and I wanted it—for you. Cost didn’t concern me.”

  I looked back down at it and all my thoughts simply floated away as I could see my reflection in the blood-red stone.

  “Will you go out with me, Abigail? Dinner, maybe more.”

  I looked up at him with glossy eyes. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “A date, you and me. That ring on your finger. There is also a charity auction, but you can decide if you want to go to it, it’s an unusual auction. A yearly thing, hosted by my mother. We could go out to eat first and then see how you feel about it. The charity starts at eight.”

  “I—I guess so. I mean—yes. Yes, I will, Jack.”

  He stepped up and took the box from me. He lifted the stone out of it and slid it onto my finger, on my right hand. I looked down at it as his words came soft and floating down from above me.

  “I have never done anything like this, so I need for you to be understanding.”

  I let my eyes rise to meet his own. His remained locked on my mouth. He leaned in and gently kissed me, a real kiss. The kind that makes your knees weak and your heart race. Suddenly all of my anger and frustration started to melt away. The gift wasn’t so much the ring on my finger as it was Jack himself. Giving me something he had never offered to anyone before.

  CHAPTER SIX

  PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

  I didn’t stay for dinner. I couldn’t. His mother’s stares penetrated my very being and I was too excited about Jack’s gentle admission. I had no idea that he would do this, of course I couldn’t even imagine it. To be honest, I didn’t know exactly what he saw in me. I couldn’t speak on things that he knew about. I had not traveled the world, I was not gifted—in the bedroom, in fact, I knew very little and I had no idea how to broach that subject with him. It rattled me to my core to think about the act, as it would be.

  To be honest, I had one near sex experience in high school, in the back seat of a cherry red Mustang at my senior prom. I made out with a boy who lowered his hand, gently touching my breast and moving in between my thighs. I yelled and pushed him off of me, of course he stopped. He wasn’t a beast. In fact, he was more than nice about it, even apologizing to me. I accepted it and apologized too. I hoped that I had not given him the impression that I wanted to do that. I didn’t—not until now. I was, however, attracted to that boy enough to let him get that far with me. But when the time came, I couldn’t. It just wasn’t right.

  The fact remained—I had never had anything inside of me larger than my tiny bullet. My full-size vibrator was something I simply glided over my clit to bring on pleasure. In essence, no man had been inside of me before, and the thought of it made me so nervous.

  I had felt him in my hand. I was still shocked at how I allowed him to press my fingers against him, experiencing how large he was, the twitching and his ache for me. Perhaps the pain set me free as his words egged me on. Jack had a true gift, one that I could not ward off, and I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to.

  Oh my God, we may do it. I leaned my head against the glass in my shower and closed my eyes. The hot water felt good, but it could not untangle the nerves. He asked me out, on a date. A real one. Something he admitted that he did not do. I appreciated the honesty, but I was terrified at the thought of what it could mean. Did Jack want me as badly as I wanted him? He was undoubtedly experienced, the way he talked to me, seduced me and heightened my senses. The way he made me come in the theater, his confidence and attention to detail when it came to me just made it worse.

  I lifted my head as Avery climbed in the shower with me. She had done this on so many occasions over the past few years that it seemed normal. It wasn’t meant to be sexual in anyway, Avery would climb in and share the shower when she needed to talk. So I knew it had to be something important.

  She paused and shook out her ponytail. Placing the small elastic band on her wrist. Her shoulder-length auburn hair always looked so healthy. It matched her pale skin, rosy lips, and large brown eyes. She was naturally pretty. She seldom wore make-up, was small in build and my height. A catch for any lucky guy.

  I put shampoo in my hair as she traded places with me and let the water run over her. I never even looked down. I had no interest in her naked body. She was my best friend, like a sister to me.

  “I can’t believe it.”

  I stopped messing with my hair and hoped that she didn’t mean anything about me and Jack. The panic started to rise in me, but quickly subsided as Avery went on, ignoring the look on my face.

  “He’s married.”

  I lowered my hands. “Who?”

  “Professor Snape, head of Slytherin.”

  I laughed, “You mean Professor Jones?”

  “Yes—that snake.”

  “Professor Snape ended up being a good guy, in fact, I adore him.”

  She stopped and stared me down. “You know what I mean.”

  “I’m sorry, Avery, but…”

  “But what?”

  I started rubbing my head again, and the bubbles lathered up. “Well, he’s our professor, Avery; you shouldn’t have been poking around with him.”

  She laughed at me. “Poking around?”

  My eyebrow rose; I wasn’t about to act as if I wasn’t right. “You know what I mean.”

  She shook her head and rubbed soap on her face. “I swear that sometimes you talk like a teenage virgin, Abi, it’s so funny.”

  I swallowed hard and lowered my hands as she washed the soap from her face and then turned. Her expression changed at she studied mine. “Oh my God, Abi?”

  I traded places with her and started to wash the shampoo from my hair. “What?”

  “Are you—a virgin?”

  I stopped, and the laughter gave me away. “Of course not. Come on.”

  She tilted her head and reached toward me. I jumped back and hit my head on the shower head, owing and rubbing it as she let her mouth hang open. “Oh my God, you are, aren’t you?”

  I sighed. “Avery—I, well. I mean, I’ve had orgasms.”

  “Holy shitballs.”

  She got out of the shower like I was suddenly toxic. I turned the water off and stepped out, grabbing a towel as she wrapped one around her body. She crossed her arms on her chest and made me feel uncomfortable. “Avery, don’t stare at me like that.”

  Her hands rose up and then fell, “I just can’t believe it.”

  “Listen, I know! I had a couple of dates where my boob got grabbed, or they tried to put their hand between my legs, but it never felt right. I just couldn’t.”

  She tilted her head. “I’m not mad, I’m just hurt—I guess.”

  I stopped tucking my towel in. “Hurt? Why?”

  “Because, I tell you everything, and we have been here for four years, four years, Abi! You never said a word! I have told you things—you know! Sex things.”

  I rubbed my hair and loosened it on top of my head, letting it drop down my back.

  “I wasn’t hiding secrets from you, Avery. I mean, it’s just awkward; it’s not something I ever wanted to talk about. It wasn’t personal, at all and to be honest, I appreciated living vicariously through you, i
t’s not like I know how it feels.”

  She stepped up to me and then her expression changed to somewhat serious in nature. “What about Jack?”

  I bit my lip. “What about him?”

  “You may not tell me everything, but I can see it all over you.”

  I laughed. “See what?”

  “Oh, come on, Abi! Him, he is all over you; you are glowing, you want him.”

  I looked into the mirror. “Glowing?”

  “Yes,” she cooed as she leaned on the counter next to me. I looked at her in the mirror as she refused to take her eyes off of me. “I could even go as far to say that you may be in lo—“

  I held my hand up and laughed, it came out very nervous, so she instinctively stopped talking.

  “No,” I said, and she pursed her lips. “Okay then—are you guys going to do some naughty?”

  I rubbed my neck as my face started to get red. She leaned down. “Oh my God! Have you already done things with him, Abi?”

  I turned to her and couldn’t look her in the eye. “I don’t even know what to call what we do together.”

  “Oh my God—so it’s true.”

  “What?” I said as I looked up at her. “Oh—well, it’s nothing.” She added.

  “No—tell me, Avery.” She walked out of the bathroom, and I had to follow her. She walked to the kitchen and placed a cup on the Keurig. She pressed the button, and I could immediately smell the delicious aroma of the coffee. It made my stomach twitch.

  “Avery,” I said as she turned with the cup in her hand. I couldn’t understand how she drank it black, I had to toss milk and sugar into mine. She took a sip and then looked up at me.

  “Jack Landon has a reputation for being very strange in the bedroom.”

  I leaned back on the island and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Like what?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “So what have you done with him?”I took a breath and looked down. She shook her head. “Abi, tell me.”

  I looked up at her, I had to tell her. I had to tell someone. It was killing me. “Well, I ran into him at the theater.”

  She lowered her cup, “What? The show we just went to?”

  “Yeah and he—he wanted me to put the bullet in me, you know so he could watch me and stuff.”