The Mount Series Boxset

by K D Grace

  ‘But remember, Owen dear,’ she leaned forward and bit his earlobe almost causing pain, ‘if you break any of these simple rules Vivienne has set for you,’ her voice became a humid whisper, ‘you’ll lose it all as quickly as you gained it.’ She chuckled softly. ‘The Mount giveth, and The Mount taketh away.’ She ground her bottom into his lap and gripped him so tightly that he cried out, unable to breathe, as he shot his load in gut-wrenching spurts.

  When he was done, she grabbed his hair and pulled him into a deep, dangerous kiss, her tongue snaking inside his mouth like she owned it. Then she pulled away and wiped mauve lipstick from his parched lips. ‘There. You see, Owen? Money, sex, a story that will rock London. All your dreams are coming true, just like you always wanted.’

  Chapter Twenty-three

  ‘Get dressed,’ May spoke like she was talking to a naughty child. She handed Rita jeans and a T-shirt and a hooded jacket along with some plain-Jane underwear, then she left, pulling the door shut behind her. Rita heard the key turn in the lock.

  She had been changing Vivienne’s bed, a task the woman delighted in giving her on the mornings after the orgy had been particularly good, in spite of the fact that there was a full cleaning staff. It was only then that Rita noticed the silence, and her skin crawled up her spine. Vivienne’s flat was never silent, usually not even in the middle of the night. She wasn’t certain, but it felt like she was alone in the house. She had never been locked in before. There was no need. She knew well enough that if she left, the initiation was over, and she had failed. Vivienne would have loved nothing more, but if she had endured this much, she wasn’t about to give the bitch the satisfaction.

  Feeling a rising sense of unease in her chest, she stripped out of her slave dress and put on the street clothes, which felt oddly confining after the days in nothing but the loose cotton shift. She folded the shift neatly and continued with her work. When the bed was changed and the room tidied, she sat down on the floor at the foot of the bed and waited.

  The shadows were lengthening when the lock turned in the door, and to her surprise two guards, whom she had never seen before, came into the room.

  ‘Rita Holly?’ The big one said in a resonant voice that reminded her of a street preacher.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘You are to come with us.’

  With one behind and one in front of her, they marched her down the back stairway to the level of the main restaurant, then past the kitchen and down the long stairs to the Presence Chamber. With each step the knot in her stomach grew colder and tighter. Something was wrong. It couldn’t be more obvious if it were written all over the walls in big red letters.

  Inside the room, all chairs on the dais were occupied. No one was dressed for the occasion. In fact they all looked as though someone had grabbed them in the middle of whatever it was they were doing. Alex was in sweats with a towel around his neck, looking as though he had had a work-out but no shower. Leo was in khakis with grass stains on both knees, Both Aurora and Morgan looked as though they had just dropped in from the banking district. Lorelei and Vivienne looked like they were dressed for a day of shopping. And Edward looked especially incongruous in the dapper golden mask and jeans with an untucked cotton shirt. No one spoke. No one smiled.

  With a wave from Vivienne, the two guards stepped back, and Rita was left alone in the middle of the big room. ‘I’m guessing you know what this is about,’ Vivienne said. It was only then that Rita noticed the copy of Talkabout magazine resting open across her lap, and the knot in her stomach clenched still tighter.

  Vivienne stood and came to pace in front of her, magazine in hand. ‘Personally, I would have thought you’d at least have the decency to leave before this, this piece of rubbish hit the stand. But then you’ve never had any shame, have you?’ She came to stand in front of Rita and began to read from the magazine.

  Drugs, sex cult, white slavery, endangered species gourmet, we’ve all heard the wild rumours and the gossip about that enigmatic dance club and restaurant, The Mount. And who is to say what’s actually true since reservations are rarer than hen’s teeth, and a night out at The Mount would set most people back a couple months’ salary.

  She waved her hand. ‘But never mind any of that, let’s skip over to the good part, shall we?’ She ruffled through the pages and began to read again.

  There in front of the High Council, I was stripped and two of the bouncers were ordered to ‘make me come.’

  Suddenly Rita felt light-headed, and her face felt as though it would burst into flames.

  ‘Oh it gets better, much better.’ Vivienne began to pace again and read as though she were auditioning for a role on the West End.

  There were at least a dozen of us, all naked, all wearing collars, all forbidden to speak. Then Leo, the bearded one they call The Zoo Keeper, singled me out along with one of the male pets, whom he called Aralias and ordered him to have intercourse with me while he observed and masturbated. He always watched when–

  ‘Stop it.’ Rita’s voice sounded breathless, like she’d been running. ‘I didn’t write that. I’ve written better than that since I was twelve.’

  Vivienne turned on her and slapped her so hard she nearly lost her balance. The two guards came to her aid as she struggled to right herself and to hold back the tears that were as much from rage and frustration as they were from the sting of the slap.

  ‘Of course you wrote this,’ Vivienne roared. ‘How stupid do you think we are? Who else would have known these things? Who?’ She shook the mangled magazine in Rita’s face, then calmed herself and offered a smile that would have sweetened honey. ‘Of course The Mount will demand a retraction and an apology. You, well you’re hardly worth suing, are you?’ She heaved a sigh. ‘The worst I can do to you is banish you from The Mount and end this travesty of your initiation. If everyone had listened to me in the first place none of this would have happened.

  ‘She didn’t write it, Vivienne.’ The room was suddenly silent, and Edward got to his feet, holding up the flash card Rita had given him. ‘She gave me this almost a week ago.’

  ‘Oh for fuck’s sake, Edward, how stupid can you be?’ Vivienne snapped her fingers and Lorelei stood, rattling several sheets of paper. ‘Read it,’ Vivienne ordered.

  Lorelei cleared her throat and began to read as though she were reading a poem.

  –At first I was afraid, hand-cuffed to the handlebars of the Harley, alone in the dark with both my holes filled But when I calmed down a bit, I realised I could not only come easily in this predicament, but I could come repeatedly, and every orgasm built on the last, every orgasm was stronger than the one before.

  Vivienne raised a hand to stop her. ‘I’m not without my resources, Rita. Surely you didn’t think I would trust a journalist into the flock without doing a little research of my own.’

  ‘If you’d done a little research, you’d have known breaking and entering is illegal, but I’m sure you didn’t do it yourself, did you?’

  There was another hard slap across the face, and this time Rita tasted blood.

  ‘You stupid vile bitch!’ Rita lunged, but the guards grabbed her arms and held her tight.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Rita saw two more guards move to flank Edward, who nearly catapulted off the dais to get to her, roaring her name like a lion protecting his pride. Vivienne ignored him.

  Rita forced a deep breath, straightened herself and shrugged free of the guards. ‘You know I didn’t write that.’ She held Vivienne’s gaze. ‘If I had written it your arse would have been nailed to the wall where it belongs.’ She turned her attention to the rest of the council. ‘I don’t understand any of you. You outnumber her. Why do you let her push you around like a bunch of goddamned sheep? You know she’s lying. Surely you know she’s lying.’

  Vivienne tossed the magazine at Rita’s feet and returned to her chair on the dais as though she were queen of the universe. ‘You’ve all read the evidence. It’s time to vote. Shall we?’
She sounded like she had just asked the local ladies’ club if they wanted tea or coffee.

  ‘Leo?’

  The big man looked tired and drawn. His gaze was on the space behind Rita. His face was neutral. ‘Banish her.’

  Aurora bit her lip and shook her head. ‘Banish her.’

  Alex cursed under his breath, his eyes locked on her, then he nodded almost painfully. ‘Banish her.’

  And so it went, with each vote feeling like a nail in her coffin, until a sense of betrayal sizzled along her nerve, and the knot in her stomach became a clenched fist. Only Edward did not vote. He wasn’t given a vote because she was his recruit. She had no doubt he would be well punished after she left. ‘I’m sorry, Rita,’ he said very softly. ‘I’m so, so sorry.’

  She managed only a step forward before the guards flanked her again. ‘If you’re so sorry, Edward, then vote with your feet. Come with me. Don’t let that bitch tell you who you can and can’t be with. You can do what you want. You don’t have to –’

  ‘Edward? Do what he wants?’ Vivienne laughed as though she had just heard the best joke ever. ‘Afraid not, girl. He’s not free to go with you anywhere. I warned you that you would never be able to understand the relationship Edward and I share. But I’ll try to boil it down for your simple mind. Edward belongs to me, and he knows it, don’t you darling?’ With her hand on his shoulder, she pushed him back down in the chair next to her.

  And he stayed.

  For the first time, Rita felt like the bottom had dropped out of her world. She turned on her heels and fled up the steps, stumbling through a haze of tears. The guards hurried after her until she pushed through the back exit, then she was alone. Out on the street in was raining, and night was settling on the water pocked Thames. There was a limo waiting to take her home, but she ignored it. She wanted nothing else to do with The Mount. Ever again.

  She had sacrificed her job, her heart, everything, and for what? She had enough money for next month’s rent, then after that? Well she didn’t know what after that. At the moment, living rough sounded better than hearing her mother’s I told you so when she showed up home broke and miserable.

  It was only after she left The Mount that she realised her mobile had been returned to the inside zipper pocket of the jacket, along with her wallet. In her state, she would not have noticed if the mobile hadn’t signalled an incoming text. For a second, her spirits lifted. Perhaps it was Edward texting to make things right. She jerked it from her pocket, practically dropping it on the wet pavement. It wasn’t Edward. It wasn’t a number she recognised. It simply read.

  F U try 2 contact Edward or any1 at TM again, your mum will b told evry detail of the past few wks.

  She shoved the offending phone back in her pocket and walked on in the rain, letting the tears fall uncontrolled. Surely the mysterious texter must know that she couldn’t find Edward even if she wanted to. He didn’t exist. Hadn’t he told her that himself? Hadn’t her efforts to research him proven that? She didn’t understand it, but the thought still gave her a chill. Damn it, she should have at least stormed the dais and unmasked him. Surely she deserved to see the face of the man who her ruined her life. Perhaps Vivienne was right. Perhaps he really was a monster after all.

  She wasn’t sure how long she walked, but at some point she got tired of being wet and cold and caught a taxi.

  As she stumbled up the stairs to her flat, she bumped into Lidia, the cleaning woman, and tried to force an apologetic smile.

  ‘Oh Ms Holly, Hi. You are so wet. You’ll catch cold.’

  ‘I’m fine, Lidia,’ she lied. Who knew, maybe next week she’d be needing Lidia to put in a good word for her with the house cleaning agency she worked for. ‘What about you? Do you have an umbrella?’ The girl always seemed so under-dressed for the London weather.

  ‘My cousin, he is driving taxi. He will come for me.’ She smiled. ‘Did Mr Owen get your memory stick to you? He said you needed it real bad for the important story.’

  ‘Pardon?’ Rita stopped in her tracks and stood dripping on the carpet. ‘Owen was here?’

  ‘Oh yes. It is almost two weeks ago now. I let him in. He said it would be OK. Ms Holly? Are you all right?’

  Rita suddenly remembered to breathe.

  ‘Ms Holly, you must go inside now. You’ll catch cold.’

  Rita nodded and stumbled up the stairs as though she were sleep-walking. The slimy bastard betrayed her. She should have known when he offered to help with the story that he had something up his sleeve. Damn it! She knew she shouldn’t trust him, but she would have never expected him to pull a stunt like this. He must have been working in cahoots with Vivienne. Surely it couldn’t be a coincidence that he wrote her story and Vivienne ended up with a copy of her private journals. She’d kill him. Next time she saw him she’d rip his throat out and make him eat it. Fat lot of good that would do. The damage was done, and all she could think about was that now she would never get to see Edward’s face.

  She slinked up the last flight of stairs barely able to put one soggy foot in front of the other, aching in places she didn’t know existed until tonight, wondering how she’d ever face tomorrow. There was a bottle of malbec in the pantry. She’d start with that, then she’d worry about what to do next. She turned the key in the lock, shoved open the door with gargantuan effort and found herself face to face with her mother.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  The chick’s parents would shit themselves if they knew their little angel was taking it up both holes and begging the two biker blokes to fuck her harder. Gavin couldn’t remember her family’s title, but they probably owned half of some small county somewhere. And anyway he thought these were the same two bikers who were giving the chick’s father a ride last month. She was just another one of those rich twenty-somethings with no prospects, no ambition, but lots of mum and dad’s money to blow. Like he gave a shit. Rich people could afford to get creative with their sex fantasies. He might be just a glorified bouncer, but what he saw on the job beat the best porn he had ever watched, and he got paid well for his efforts.

  Like an unhappy stray cat, the chick suddenly shoved the bikers aside. ‘Get away from me,’ she huffed. ‘You’re rubbish, both of you.’ As she crawled from between them and heaved herself off the big bike, the two blokes shrugged and went to work on each other. The chick’s eyes were locked on Gavin. Both hands cupped her half-lemon tits pinching enormous nipples as she moved toward him. ‘I want a real man.’

  Before he could give her the usual, employees don’t fraternise spiel, her tongue was halfway down his throat and she was undoing his fly.

  She offered a breathy giggle, at the discovery of his hard-on. ‘I thought you might be enjoying the show.’ She guided his fingers over her smoothly shaved puss. ‘I like to be watched’

  He pulled his hand away and struggled to disengage her. ‘You are being watched.’ He nodded to the cameras strategically positioned around the room. ‘So am I, and I’m not a part of your little fantasy.’ He’d already been reprimanded once for taking improper liberties with members, but Vivienne could hardly punish him when every time he turned around she wanted him to fuck her while she pretended to be Rita Holly. And she had literally ordered him to make that bird come, so how could she say anything?

  ‘Come on,’ the chick pouted. ‘I know you want me.’ She nodded to the two bikers. One was now buried to the hilt in the arse of the other, who was stroking his cock with a vengeance. ‘They won’t miss me.’ She pulled his hand back to her pussy, opening her legs just enough for him to get a good feel of her slippery pout. His cock jerked against his half-open fly. She sighed. ‘There, you see? I bet your balls are so full.’ She guided his hand deeper and gyrated her naked hips like a belly dancer, riding his fingers as they thrust and stroked almost of their own volition.

  She undid his fly and shoved trousers and boxers down, groping his arse as she did so. He pulled away long enough to shrug out of his jacket. ‘Mmmm,’ she sighe
d as she released his erection into her hand. ‘I want it in me.’ Her slit quivered and gripped at his fingers, and the smell of hot pussy bloomed from under the clean sanitised smell of wealth.

  ‘You’re not in Surrey any more, bitch. If you want that,’ he nodded to his stiff cock, ‘you do what I tell you.’

  ‘Oooh,’ she breathed. ‘Tell me what to do.’

  ‘That’s better,’ he whispered, glancing up at the cameras, hoping that Vivienne were watching. Pretty stupid to think such a thing, he knew, but he couldn’t help himself.’ He could feel the rich chick – what was her name, Eliza? Jemima? – straining against his hand, her whole body tightening as she tugged at her tits with one hand and yanked on his cock with the other. Oh, she was close. So close.

  He pulled away, and she howled her frustration. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to him. ‘You come when I say, bitch, so hold your cunt.’ He shoved her to her knees and guided his cock into her mouth, imagining what it would look like to Vivienne, hoping it would make her jealous and hot for him.

  The chick moaned and gagged as he thrust into her gob, but she kept sucking like she couldn’t get enough. He slapped her hand away when she tried to finger fuck herself, and she whimpered.

  Butt-fucking Biker Bloke grunted, ‘I’m coming, holy fuck, I’m coming!’ Just as the bloke being fucked shot a fountain of semen onto the shiny chrome of the big bike. Gavin was afraid Rich Chick would pinch her swollen nipples right off as she tongued the underside of his cock to the rhythm of her thrusting hips.