by Logan Fox
“Glasses,” Tina said.
Pearl’s head snapped straight. Every eye in the room flashed to Tina. Seemed Pearl wasn’t the only one who’d forgotten about her. Tina had closed the video camera — it swung loosely from her grip as she trotted over to Caden and handed him back his spectacles. He studied her for a moment before taking them and slipping them onto his face.
It was like he’d become the news reporter to Superman’s persona. In an instant, calm-as-fuck Caden had returned and not a trace of the beastly passion he’d unleashed on the bed remained.
“If you say so.” Caden shrugged, his gaze touching on Pearl before returning to Tanner. “Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow.”
The direction of Tanner’s voice moved Pearl’s eyes to him. He was staring at her, watching for her reaction. So she kept her face exactly as it was and wriggled her fingers at him.
“Can I get out of these? I need to pee.”
Tanner’s mouth moved into the ghost of a smile as he slithered closer to her. His naked thigh brushed against her ribs as he began untying her from the bed.
The door closed quietly behind Caden. She could hear Tina cutting another line on Tanner’s dresser, but the man blocked her view.
Her hands slid free from their restraints, flopping to the bed before she could work her muscles to keep them up.
“Got some surprising stamina in you, baby girl. Swinging around a pole really that good a workout?”
“Sure,” Pearl said, twisting to the side to make for the end of the bed.
Tanner caught hold of the back of her neck. Pearl froze, her breath catching as those fingers slid around to the front of her throat. The man touched his lips to her ear, hand tightening a fraction as he spoke. “You really saw her?”
For a moment, Pearl had no idea who the hell he was talking about. But the sudden, tiny tremor in Tanner’s fingertips made realization bloom an instant later.
“Yes.” Pearl swallowed hard. Her throat was sore, her stomach queasy. She could still taste Caden on her tongue, and desperately to wash that bitterness from her mouth. “Now can I go?”
“What did she say to you?”
“Nothing.” Pearl squirmed, casting Tanner a furtive glance over her shoulder. “I really have to—”
Tanner released his hand, lifting it away — palm facing her — with raised eyebrows.
“Mi casa, su casa,” he murmured.
She could feel him watching her as she fumbled with her dress. It fell away from her, and her shoulders slumped.
Of course — she didn’t have a dress anymore.
Tanner grabbed her wrist and moved her hand to the bundle at the foot of the bed. His shirt. She grabbed it and tugged it over her head.
His smell — booze-soaked cedarwood softened by patchouli — clapped around her like a physical force making her legs buckle for a moment before she could straighten them again.
He watched as she walked to the door and tugged it open with leaden, clumsy fingers. It took monumental effort not to look back at him, not to catch sight of his expression.
Outside, the solid, unmoving outlines of Tanner’s bodyguards made her pause. Thank God she’d put the shirt on. Pearl wrapped her arms around herself and padded down the hallway. God, they’d probably heard her screaming out. Fire tinged her cheeks with heat as she hurried past them.
They didn’t watch her leave.
Perhaps they didn’t perceive her as a threat. After all, what could a slip of a girl do to a strapping, knife-wielding man like Tanner?
Pearl shuddered. The thought had brought a memory of cold steel whispering against her skin. She heard a soft voice behind her, a giggle, and then a breathless “wait up!”
If she’d been able to walk faster, she would have. Instead, her legs moved at the same, unsteady pace as before. Tina caught up with her seconds later, looking as energized as lightning in a bottle. Her scowl didn’t seem to make it to the girl’s enthusiastically-sparking neurons.
“That was so hot,” Tina said, voice quavering as she worked at her piece of gum with ferocious intent. “My God, but you’d be good at porn.”
“Fuck off,” Pearl muttered.
“Hey, what the hell crawled up your ass?”
Pearl shoved her palm into the bathroom door, twisting the handle and barging inside. Tina’s shoulder wedged between the door and its frame before Pearl could slam it shut in the girl’s face. Tina’s brown eyes were confused, her lips tight.
“What gives, Pearl?”
“What gives?” Pearl leaned closer, still trying to force the door closed. It didn’t work, of course. She’d been fucked six ways from Sunday while Tina’d watched. She had zero energy — Tina could have powered a small city for several days.
“It was just sex.” Tina wriggled furiously, sliding her arm and shoulder inside the bathroom.
Pearl’s muscles gave out seconds later.
Tina burst into the bathroom, giggling furiously as she and Pearl stumbled against the basin. Pearl shoved her aside — tried to — but her arms could have been cooked spaghetti for all the strength they held.
She sank onto the toilet, glaring at Tina as she peed. The girl — hair disheveled but now wearing her Fox Pit dress — slid onto the edge of the basin and cocked her head at Pearl.
“Don’t hate the playa,” Tina said with a crooked smile. “Hate the game.”
“Shut up.” Pearl flushed the toilet, keeping as far away from Tina as possible while she washed her hands. She paused, dripping hands limp as her wrists hung over the edge of the basin, and turned to Tina, her face tight. “What’s wrong with you?”
“With me?” Tina pressed her fingertips to her breast, gaping at Pearl. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Pearl flicked her hands, tugging free the towel beside the basin and turning back to Tina as she furiously dried her hands on it. “So you get off on doing his bidding? On obeying him? Does it make you—”
Tina slid off the basin, tugged the towel out of Pearl’s hands, and replaced it with a black keycard. It happened so suddenly that another few words tumbled from her mouth before she could snap her jaw closed over them.
“—wet, seeing him fuck…”
“You’re an idiot,” Tina said, voice utterly blasé.
Was it the drugs? It was obvious the girl was stoned as fuck — and on more than just coke or weed. But that vapid expression of hers had hardened into something jaded and apathetic.
“I wasn’t expecting rocket scientists inside here, but really?”
When Pearl — open mouthed and frowning — didn’t respond, the girl rolled her eyes to the ceiling, crossed her arms over her chest, and let out a long, impatient sigh. “You seriously need me to spell it out?”
“What the fuck—” Pearl began, her fingers tightening over the keycard.
Tina glanced over her shoulder, ducked her head closer, and whispered fiercely into Pearl’s ear.
“I’m with Ethan, honey.”
The girl drew back, brown eyes flashing between Pearl’s astonished stare. Then she smiled, shook her head, and urged Pearl’s finger tighter around the keycard.
“Thanks for getting him back, by the way. Of course, I’d have been more grateful if you hadn’t gotten him thrown out to begin with.”
Tina touched the tips of her fingers to Pearl’s chin, gently closing her jaw. Then she took Pearl’s unresisting hand and maneuvered the keycard inside the breast pocket of Tanner’s shirt, tapping it down with a black, glittering claw.
“Now let’s get back before Tanner thinks we’re making out in here and comes to watch.”
The girl grabbed the door handle, but Pearl surged forward, jerking her back with a furious tug on her arm.
“You’re with Ethan? Undercover, with Ethan?”
Tina’s eyes flashed wide as she threw a furtive glance over her shoulder.
“Could you try saying that a little louder? China didn’t fucking hear you.”
“Sorry,”
Pearl whispered, and then shook her head. “How—”
“Not now. If I can, I’ll track you down later and explain. But right now—”
Tina was turning back to the door. She had her hand on the handle, ready to open it. Pearl’s chest grew tight, guilt wreathing hot coils through her stomach.
“Tina, wait.”
Tina’s voice was tight with impatience. “Listen, honey—”
“He knows.”
Tina shook herself free, throwing Pearl an irritated glance.
“Who knows what?”
“Tanner.” Pearl forced a hard swallow. “He knows.”
Tina’s eyes crinkled in confusion.
Behind her the door opened, knocking into Tina’s shoulder. She spun around with a surprised sound. Tanner stood in the doorway, one eyebrow cocked.
“Tanner knows what?” he asked in a low voice.
“Tanner knows what?” the man asked again when they didn’t answer him. He slipped into the bathroom, eyeing them with the nonchalance of a wolf still deciding whether to make a meal of the pair of rabbits he’d trapped.
“That… I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t enjoyed it,” Pearl managed, the words falling out of her mouth in a near incoherent babble.
“You would,” Tanner said, giving her a faint smile. He stepped aside, throwing out his arm and watching as Tina slipped from the bathroom.
Pearl, however, he caught hold of before she could slip free. So only one rabbit for supper tonight.
“That was quite a performance, baby girl,” Tanner murmured into her ear, urging her up against him. Whether he was talking about her obvious lie or the hours of sex she’d just endured was a mystery; those grey eyes gave away nothing.
“Unfortunately, Seth needs you back in the morning. With Gia and Bonny gone — she was one of Ethan’s, you wouldn’t know her — we’re running a little short on foxes.”
“And Ivy,” Pearl added, lifting her eyebrows. God, how heavy that keycard had become in her pocket. What would he do if he found it? Who would he blame this time?
Tanner cocked his head. “Yes. Her.”
She didn’t imagine it. Not standing this close to the man, with his warm breath on her face and his body cool against hers. His eyes had tightened at the girl’s name, his smile inching down a fraction.
“Which means I’ll have to share you. Just until we’ve found replacements, of course.”
He grabbed the edge of her chin with thumb and curled forefinger, lifting her head. “So, just to make sure I don’t have to deal with another presumptuous wolf so soon after the last…”
He released her chin and, still staring defiantly down at her with his stormy eyes, slid something around her neck.
Pearl glanced down. She couldn’t see anything — he already had the thing tight around her throat. Reaching up hesitantly, already knowing what her trembling fingers would find, Pearl gave her lips a quick swipe with her tongue.
Supple leather; a thick band more than an inch in width spanned her throat. Her fingertips bumped into something circular with a cool, slick surface. They studded the circumference of the collar — from the tiny bell dangling down the front to the strip of cold metal at the back. She brushed against Tanner’s fingers there, and he caught her hand before she could pull away.
“Know what I love about this one, pet?”
Pearl gave a small shiver. It was the first time she’d ever heard him use that name on anyone. It made her chest grow tight with apprehension.
“No?” she murmured through lips that were slowly losing sensation.
“Firstly—” his index finger curled away from his hand “—it has a lock.” He guided her fingers, helping her explore the flat clasp at the back. The tiny keyhole.
He tightened his grip, forcing her fingers to close around the clasp. Forcing her to lock the collar around her own neck.
She felt that click all the way down her spine.
Goose bumps broke out over her arms as Tanner slid his fingers along the top of the collar and flicked the tiny bell dangling by her throat.
“Secondly, with this—” another harsh tinkle filled the bathroom “—there’ll be no more sneaking around from you.”
He stepped away, his eyes gliding over her lips and chin and throat, settling on the collar. Pearl twisted around — as much to stop looking at those self-satisfied eyes as to see what Tanner had secured around her neck.
A white leather collar — snug and thick — spanned her throat. The bell, bright silver and too tiny to seem capable of making such a noise, still swung from its hoop. Blood red stones — rubies? — gleamed savagely from their golden bezels. Smaller diamonds studded the leather between — twenty, maybe more — and gave the set up a ludicrously extravagant glitter.
Tanner crowded into her until her hip bones ground against the edge of the marble-lined basin. She bit back a groan of pain, eyes flashing to the new, wide smile tugging at his mouth.
“But… most of all?”
He slid a finger under the collar of his button-up shirt — it was creased, as if he’d found it on the floor — and tugged out a thin, platinum chain. A tiny, insignificant key glittered from the end of it.
“There’s only one key,” he murmured into her ear.
4
Opal's Last Scene
Pearl woke up thinking she’d heard Gia turning over in her sleep. She sat up, blinking groggily at the fox-print partition.
But Gia’s bed was still perfectly made. And still empty.
Pearl’s fingers went to the bell around her throat, muffling its maniacal jangling. She yawned, running the back of her hand over her eyes as she swung her legs over the side of her bed.
Dull, heavy thoughts wreathed her mind.
Tina — undercover with Ethan. The keycard — safely hidden away in the bottom of her sneaker. Tanner’s collar — that constricting band of ownership so tightly fastened around her neck.
Tanner had sent her and Tina away about an hour after he’d snapped that collar around her neck. After making them tidy his room as he watched, of course. Luckily, she’d been able to slip out of his apartment still wearing his shirt — the keycard safely inside its breast pocket. Tina hadn’t responded to any of her wide-eyed stares as they’d grabbed Tanner’s clothes from the floor and herded his shoes back into his walk-in closet. And Tanner had let Tina leave first, keeping Pearl back in a half-hearted attempt to get her undressed and back into bed. But the man was either tired or distracted, because a short string of protests was all it took to have him send her away too.
She’d hoped Tina was outside Tanner’s apartments, waiting for Pearl to be released. But she wasn’t.
Pearl had briefly considered going to the east wing and tracking Tina down, but it seemed a bad move. From what she suspected, Tina’d purposefully acted like a bitch to Pearl. For Pearl to seek her out wouldn’t make sense — it might just put the girl in jeopardy.
But had Tina understood? Had the girl figured out what Pearl had been trying to say before Tanner interrupted them?
Because if she hadn’t… then Ethan was unwittingly returning to a hornet’s nest.
Don’t thank me. It was Pearl’s idea.
Pearl stared glumly at nothing as a memory of Tanner’s unpleasant smile replayed in her mind.
No, not a hornet’s nest — a fucking war zone.
There was a knock at the door. Pearl blinked away Tanner’s face and turned, frowning when the door opened and Seth walked inside. Her shoulders immediately drew back, her spine snapping straight.
His eyes were bloodshot. His beard, unruly. There was an unmistakable tremble in his fingertips as he paused at the threshold, touching the door frame as if unsure of its solidity. He wore dark jeans, a blue long-sleeved tee, and the weary face of someone who hadn’t had enough sleep.
“Morning, kitten.” His voice was hoarse, as if he’d been shouting, partying, or crying.
None of those options seemed to fit.
“
You’re back.” Pearl slowly got to her feet, her bell jangling with the movement. She wrapped her arms around her waist, her fingertips struggling for grip on the smooth satin of her golden nightie.
Seth’s lips parted, but he didn’t reply immediately. Instead, his eyes fixed with dogged confusion on her collar.
“Oh.” Pearl lifted her hand, touching the tinkling bell. “Tanner. He—”
“Figured,” Seth said, voice low. “Scene in twenty minutes. Get ready.”
Seth turned to leave, pausing when Pearl hurried after him and caught hold of his sleeve as the man turned back, putting his body less than an inch away from hers.
“Is Gia safe?” Pearl asked.
Seth’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“In California. You took her home, didn’t you?”
“Should be.” Seth watched her with a weary crinkle above his nose. “She went back to her folks’ place.”
“Oh, good.” Pearl gave him a smile, which he didn’t return. She pressed a hand to her heart, shaking her head. “You two left so sudden—”
“Stop yakking and get ready.” Seth’s eyes cut to her collar, a flicker passing over his eyes. Anger? Disappointment? Resentment? It came too fast for her to be sure. He turned away from her while she was still speaking.
Pearl closed her mouth, lifting a hand to still that inane tinkling around her throat. Seth disappeared into the den, and Pearl could hear his gruff voice as he went to Morgan and Opal’s doors in turn.
Collecting fresh clothes from her closet, Pearl peeked out of her door before slipping into the den. Seth wasn’t around, thankfully, and she had the bathroom to herself for most of her mid-morning ablutions. She was drying her hair with the hair dryer when Opal came inside the bathroom, hair disarrayed and eyes bleary.
“Mornin’,” she mumbled, letting herself into one of the stalls.
“Morning.” Pearl brushed her teeth, studying her collared reflection in the mirror. The collar was gorgeous, of course… as gorgeous as a golden, filigreed cage. And Tanner had the key. Like Seth, when he’d locked her in that cage her first day at the Fox Pit. She brought her hand up, running it over the circles of blood-red stones set into the leather.