by Dace Everan
Cal grinned, shaking his head. “My tummy grumbling has nothing to do with yours. You worked yourself way too hard. I told you to ease up on that hill. We’ll talk about Frank when you’re ready to share.”
Lania grunted. “You know, I’m starting to hate that you know my moods so well.”
Cal grinned, kissing her right on the lips. He hummed as her tongue darted out, licking his lower lip. “We’ve been in each other’s lives for years, Lania. If I don’t know anything about you, you should really think of kicking me to the curb.”
Lania giggled, rubbing her tummy. “Okay, order the good stuff now. I can’t live off of fruit and smoothies,” she ordered, kissing him back on the lips, deepening the kiss.
His hand was grasping her hair, and his other hand was on her shoulder by the time she pulled away, panting, and flushed. “Well…it seems this man has kissed me stupid again,” she mumbled, staring at him. She was sure she had ordered him to do something.
Cal chuckled, caressing her jaw. “You kissed me. You’re amazing,” he murmured.
Lania’s insides warmed at the compliment. She could definitely get used to this. This hugging, kissing, and feeding each other. This comfortable state of sharing with each other.
Chapter Fifteen
Lania held the leash loosely, knowing full well Cal would follow at his designated two feet behind her. She stopped in front of the door and waited for him to pass and ring the bell, well, in this case, bang the steel, bear-shaped knocker.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize Laird had gotten a hold of them and let them know we were here together.” She had had every intention of bringing him to the meeting, but to have a display of play. That was not what she had in mind for today.
Cal peeked at her, shooting her a sly grin. “I serve my Mistress,” he proclaimed, lowering to his knees and bending over, kissing the tips of her shiny stiletto heels.
“Lania!” greeted a droning voice from the open door. Cal took note of the shiny black shoes. It was one way he’d kept track of the different Masters in the club his first few months as Lania’s boy.
“Well, well, well…Laird said he was a good boy, but I hadn’t expected you to have trained such a well-mannered slut.”
Lania held her disgust toward Frank at bay. “Yes well, my little slut knows to be a good boy.” She looked down at Cal. “My pet, up and say hello to Mr. Frank.”
Cal stood and was surprised he towered over the little man. Ah, that explained a lot. Little man syndrome. He also understood why Lania hated Frank. He was a straight-up class-act asshole. This was also the first time Lania had ever introduced another Master as “Mr.” Cal had always been told to call any other Master “Master.”
“Mr. Frank,” he greeted.
Frank glared up at the beefcake of a man. “You may lower and kiss my shoes,” he ordered.
Lania snorted, haughtiness radiating from her. “My little boy kisses no one’s feet but mine, Frank. Feel free to invite us in. I would like to see your beautiful wife, and I do miss my talks with Ben.”
Frank snorted, narrowing his eyes at Lania. “Well of course. Ben has missed you,” he drawled, eyeing the six-foot beast at the end of the leash, a rather drab, studded collar around his neck, black wife-beater and blue jeans with black leather chaps molding his thick and, he assumed, muscled legs. “Please come in and make yourself at home, Lania. Perhaps you would like to put your pet in the kennel?”
Lania guffawed. “My pretty pet hasn’t nor will he ever deserve to be put in there,” she uttered, passing Frank. Cal stayed at his designated two feet behind her. He side-stepped Frank’s foot as it swung out. He caught sight of Lania’s grasp on the leash tightening. He could sense she did not want to be here at all.
Cal surveyed the area, thankful he was tall and he could assess the place without being overly rude and bad. When Lania stopped, he lowered and took his place at her side, presenting himself.
“Good boy,” she purred, bending at the waist and blessing him with a kiss on the head and a tousle of his hair.
“Lania, sweet woman, who is this handsome little man?” greeted a rich, masculine voice.
Lania giggled, offering Ben kisses to the cheek. She lowered herself and hooked a finger under the chin of the plump pretty at Ben’s feet. “Lorena, beautiful,” she purred, kissing each cheek. “Say hello to my pretty pet.”
Lorena peeked at her Master and waited for his approval before crawling to Cal. “Hello, pretty pet,” she murmured in the softest voice.
Cal nearly did a double take up at Lania at the melodious voice coming from the woman in front of him.
Lania giggled at the look on Cal’s face. “Handsome boy, yes we call her our pretty fairy. Say hello to Lorena.”
Cal furrowed his brow. He wasn’t sure how to greet another sub. He’d only been introduced to Masters, not subs in this manner.
Ben chuckled. “Don’t be shy.” He looked at Lania for the name of her pet.
“Pet,” she offered.
Ben raised a questioning brow but accepted. “Pet. Lorena doesn’t bite unless instructed to.”
Cal licked his lips nervously. “Permission to speak, my Mistress?” he murmured, head bowed.
“Yes my boy.”
“How do I greet pretty fairy Lorena?”
Lania lowered and hooked a finger under his chin, making him look at her. “Like you would any woman who deserved a proper introduction,” she offered.
Cal inhaled a breath and stood, motioning for Lorena to stand. “Pretty fairy Lorena, it is very nice to meet you.”
Lorena smiled and took the large hand offered to her. “Very nice to meet you…pet?”
Cal smiled, nodding, lowering to his knees, and awaiting orders.
Ben grinned. “I do believe I like him, Lania.”
Lania nodded as if it was common sense to like a man like Cal. She reclined back in her seat, putting on her Domme face. “I did not expect to have to dress up when coming out here. I do expect an explanation,” she replied airily. God damn! To try and find the proper outfit in the middle of nowhere had been a challenge. But she had managed to pick up some lingerie. It was a plain, poorly constructed corset of deep green. Matched along with a pair of leggings, it would have to suffice. Thank goodness she always had a pair of heels with her.
Ben nodded, leaning forward and whispering in his wife’s ear. He watched her crawl away and turned his attention back to Lania. “Well, Frank thought you would have a better meeting if we were a little more aggressive.” He glanced across the space of the room and his gaze landed on Frank.
Lania’s gaze followed Ben’s and she stopped herself from snarling at the bastard. His beautiful wife was crammed into a tiny cage. “Ugh, I suppose she was a bad girl to have deserved her place there?” she pondered out loud.
Frank scoffed. “Had I known you were a busybody I wouldn’t have suggested this meeting.”
Lania narrowed her eyes. “Yes, and if I knew you were this kind of sadist I wouldn’t have bothered coming.”
Frank laughed and kicked the cage. “I give her what she wants.” He growled.
Lania’s lip twitched, and she kept her sights on Frank. He stood over the cage, glaring down at his wife. The sneer on his face made her nauseous. She refused to be a part of this. She turned her attention back to Ben. “I’m sorry, Ben, I will have to decline the rest of your afternoon. Perhaps you and I can have a friendly dinner at the Château later tonight? Please bring Lorena. I would love to catch up with her on the kids.”
Ben nodded. He could sense Lania’s discomfort with Frank’s treatment of his young wife. It had bothered him a few times and he’d had an agenda today inviting Lania and her pet over. “Yes, that would work well for us, seven good?”
Lania nodded, standing. There was no way she was staying and watching this treatment of Meena. Meena was not a masochist in any way. Even she knew that! “Meena, I hope you and Frank would join us as well.” She looked at Frank. “Of course, if
you are up to dealing with me in a public, professional matter?”
Frank narrowed his eyes on the tall woman. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to piss her off over the years, but it was getting rather tiring. One day she would speak wrongly to the wrong guy and find herself knocked right on her ass.
Lania raised a brow. “I’ve seen many a man give me that look, Frank. None have succeeded. I would not bother,” she recommended, snapping her finger at Cal. “Come, my pet,” she ordered. It was time to leave and they had better do it soon before that idiot Frank made the wrong move.
Cal’s hackles were up the whole way out of the house. Once outside, he continued behind his Mistress until the car. He opened the door for her, waited until she was seated, and released his leash before he closed the door. When he settled into the driver’s seat, Lania unhooked the leash from his collar and released a shaky breath.
“I really hate that fucker!” she muttered, neatly folding the leash and placing it into her purse.
Cal grunted. Normally he wouldn’t say anything, but the vibe he’d gotten off the bastard had brought out the cop in him. “I would really like it if you were never in a room alone with that guy, ever.” He knew a scumbag when he ran into one. His radar had never been wrong on those types.
Lania laughed, and it was short and bitter. “I know better than to put myself in that position. Ben is always in the room when we have a meeting, as is his wife.” She glanced at him. “You and she will get along great. She’s the local sheriff.”
Cal stared at her. That little plump thing was a sheriff! Wow, she seemed so feminine. “Supper sounds like it may be fun. Is that dick coming as well?”
Lania shrugged, motioning for him to start the vehicle and move out. “I fucking hope not,” she drawled, glancing back to the house and spotting Frank standing in one of the windows, curtain pulled to the side, watching them. She narrowed her eyes and the curtain floated closed. “I’ve never seen him treat his wife like that. I’ve seen her in punishment, but to be crammed in that cage.” Her fist clenched, and shit if she didn’t want to go back there and kick his ass. “She’s gotten smaller since the last time they were in the city. Even then she had thinned out.” She rolled her eyes. This was of no concern to Cal, so why was she even telling him these things?
“Has he ever hit her in a way not to their lifestyle?” he asked, eyes darting about watching the mild traffic of tourists. He detested those people. Always so busy trying to figure out where they were going, trying to see everything, that they weren’t paying attention completely.
“I don’t know?” She wiped the back of her hand across her forehead and rolled down the window. “Hot in here,” she mumbled, trying to calm her breathing.
Cal furrowed his brow. “You okay, Lania?” He reached over and took hold of her hand, ignoring her flinch. She was crashing for some reason, and she was crashing hard and fast. Her breathing already accelerating, she’d paled considerably, and shit if it didn’t get his heart pumping.
Lania nodded. “Fine. Can you take me back to my hotel, please?”
Cal nodded, making a right. He assumed she was staying at the Chateau if that was where she was planning to have supper.
Chapter Sixteen
Lania raced to the washroom, slamming the door as soon as she reached it.
Cal closed the main door and crossed to the door Lania had slammed. He went to knock and stopped at the sound of her retching. Something in that house had set something off in her. What the hell had it been? She’d been around submissive women. He heard the sob and started pacing. Had Frank’s wife upset her that much? Had the cage upset her? “Lania, can I come in?” he asked, hand already on the knob.
“Just a minute,” she called softly. He heard the water running, the flush of the toilet, and then the door was open. “Just really needed to go,” she explained, passing him.
Cal considered taking hold of her arm and calling bullshit, but assumed that would only make matters worse. “I heard you puking. Don’t lie to me, please. What upset you?”
Lania shook her head. “Just tired, shit getting to my head.” She pulled out a bottle of wine from the full-sized fridge and grabbed two glasses from the shelf next to it. “I’m really sorry you had to be present for that kind of—”
“Don’t bullshit me, Lania. You’re upset about something in that house and you need to talk about it. Burying it will only make it worse.” her hands stilled and Cal waited. His breath halted, not sure of what was to come. Would she yell, possibly throw that bottle at his head? Fuck, she’d just taken him down a few weeks ago. It wouldn’t be beyond her to smash that thing over his head.
“They put me in a cage like that. They would cram me in there when they were done with me…” Her eyes glazed over and her hands started to tremble. “It was so cold, they would drape a blanket over the cage and call me birdy…” Her hands settled to the countertop and she teetered slightly.
Cal eased around the side of the island that stood between them and slowly approached her.
“They would bring in others. I could hear them.”
She went silent, and it tore at Cal’s heart that she was reliving this horrible memory. “Go on, sweetheart,” he encouraged. It may hurt a whole hell of a lot, but it was something she needed to do.
“I hated that cage, hated that I couldn’t get out. I hated those men.” She blinked her eyes and refocused, turning to him. She smiled up at him. “Thank you…I feel better.” She stood on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on his mouth.
Cal stood stunned. What in the hell had just happened? Lania had thanked him, and kissed him to boot.
“You’ve spent the last few days in a different relationship with me, Cal…” She poured the wine, half filling one glass and starting on the next. “It felt good to share. I understand sharing will make it easier to handle. I don’t mean to cause hurt at these memories, but…” She paused, setting the bottle down and looking up at him. “We are going into a different type of relationship here. Not sure what it is you’re looking for. I know you can’t have the relationship we’ve had the last few years, but I’m guessing you want something more.” He nodded, waiting for her to continue. “I think I do, too. I will have to share with you in order for you to understand what is upsetting me, and they come at random times. I have to share that part.”
Cal stared at her in awe. A grin broke across his face. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her close, nuzzling her neck. “Thank you,” he whispered, blessed when her arms wound around him.
“Thank you,” she whispered right back.
* * * *
“Do you have any proof?” Cal asked. A somber silence had fallen over the table, and seriousness enveloped everyone present.
Ben exhaled a heavy breath. “Not any hard evidence.” He looked Cal in the eye. “I have cameras in my club, but Frank doesn’t act the way he does when he’s at certain establishments that do not have surveillance.”
Lania tapped her finger on the table, annoyed. “You invited me over so we could see how far Frank has progressed in his sadism?” She straightened up. “You knew I had a cop with me and thought he could handle something like this out of his jurisdiction!” Her eyes widened. “Ben! You have your own acquaintances and support for this sort of thing. I thought we discussed any possibilities and how to handle them if anything like this ever occurred.”
Ben straightened up and stared her right on. “Lania. I do not have hard evidence that he is hurting other women. I have only seen the way he treats Meena. I know he has others at other clubs, but I have no clue if his cruelty is intensified in those places.” He inhaled a stressed breath and held his hand out to Lorena. She dug through her purse, producing a card. Ben took it from her and laid it on the table.
Cal took a calculated look, noting the insignia and letter type and every word on it before Lania plucked it up and looked it over.
Lania narrowed her eyes at the name scrawled on the card and recognized the horrific
symbol, a symbol she had once sought after and wanted so bad to be a part of. “I know this place,” she seethed.
Ben nodded. “I know you do. I also know Frank has a membership.”
Lania’s chest rose and fell rapidly. Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed. She felt Cal’s hand on her thigh under the table. “Lania?” She tossed the card at him. It drifted and landed in front of him. “That was the club I had gone to,” she replied curtly.
Cal picked up the card. This was the place that had changed Lania’s life, that had destroyed her innocence. His insides recoiled, and anger roared through him. His jaw tensed, followed by every muscle in his body.
Ben took a sip of his wine. “Let’s be blunt. I wanted Cal to go in with you. He has ways of getting evidence. I’ve heard of people going into this place and disappearing. Whether they are still in there or not I have no idea.”
Lania snorted. “If they are, they all wish for death,” she uttered, taking a generous gulp of her wine. She was sure the people associated with that club, or should she say the members, had been taken care of a decade ago when she had pressed charges. How many had been a part of that association? How many had gone through her? She shuddered, not remembering the details clearly. Had it been that many men? Her gaze fell back on the card and insignia. Cold chills rolled over her. She hated that place! Those people. Could she even call them people? Animals, they were all animals.
Cal looked away from the card and at Ben. “How long has he been a member?”
Ben shrugged. “I don’t know. I did a scene a few months ago, and he said I had potential and offered me the card. I am currently in the process of being accepted.” He looked at his wife. It was a strained look, filled with concern and worry. “Lorena will not be coming with me.”
Cal nodded. “I know a few women who could be of service, but they would be making all the calls.” And that was only after he did a thorough investigation on Ben himself to see who the hell this man really was.