by Tina Donahue
“Isn’t there always?” Her frown grew seriously nasty. “You couldn’t be friends with Connor and Mitch too, right?”
Nikki didn’t much like Shoshana’s judgmental tone but figured she’d earned it. “It was way worse than that,” she mumbled. “I had to be as cruel to them as everyone else was, not that anyone actually got in Mitch’s or Connor’s face. They were too big for that, six feet already when I first met them. One of the guys said his buddy had tripped Connor in middle school, thinking it was funny. Mitch broke the kid’s nose. After that, it was never physical abuse, just mental.”
She fisted her fingers, remembering. “If I wanted to belong, I had to pretend Mitch and Connor didn’t exist, at least until they walked by, then I had to laugh to make them think I was ridiculing them. On Halloween, we all gathered outside their grandmother’s house. The others were going to throw rotten eggs at it and warned me I had to do the same. ‘Their grandmother deserves it,’ one of the football players said, ‘she’s a pig’. All during high school the bullying went on relentlessly with the veiled threat that it was either them or me. I opted to save myself, not even wanting to consider how they endured it.”
An image of them rose in Nikki’s mind, their pain, anger and finally their indifference to everything she was. That hurt the worst and made her angry with them, wanting to lash out even though she had no right.
She spoke on a weary sigh. “I missed them more than I could stand. I loved them and still did all those terrible things. When they graduated, I went to the ceremony so I could see them one last time before they left for college. They were two kids alone, unsmiling, unwelcomed in this sea of happy people. I wanted to congratulate them on getting their diplomas and scholarships to great schools. Hell, I wanted to apologize and beg for their forgiveness, but by then I was too ashamed and afraid. I wish I could take it all back.”
“Are you planning on doing better by them now that you’ve returned?”
“Are you kidding? I’d never hurt them again. I’d die first.”
“Glad to hear it.” Turning to leave, Shoshana said, “Because if you do anything to make them unhappy, this time you’ll be answering to me.”
On Friday morning, Nikki sat in the backseat of the rental car, clutching Connor’s graphic novel, Eve. The story of a young woman born and bred to serve the aristocrats in the House of Lords. They bid on her and other young women each night, using them as they willed. Submission and strict adherence to the rules were key. Each transgression earned Eve a mark on a slate, tallied at the end of the week. If there were enough violations—from failing to take a man’s cock deeply enough into her mouth or the inability to hold off her own orgasm while delivering his—there would be punishment.
She might be aroused orally for hours without relief, the men bringing her to the brink repeatedly only to retreat and leave her wanting. Bent over a table, she’d be warned against crying out as servants whipped her bared ass. When finished, they’d leave her there gasping, her reddened skin displayed for the others to see, her cunt and anus available to the highest bidders who’d make certain to use her well while refusing her climax. Every evening three men—no less, no more—would mount her.
No one’s touching her but me, Mitch had said.
A pulse ticked deep within Nikki’s pussy. Already she was so wet she wouldn’t have minded if they stopped to rehearse the scenes right now.
Mitch didn’t appear as excited at what would soon happen between them. He kept his attention on his driving. No different from when he’d piloted his single-engine Piper to this island. Nikki suspected his disinterest was to appease Connor. He sat in the front passenger seat, the same position he’d taken in the plane, still ignoring her.
She cleared her throat. Neither man moved a muscle or asked if she was okay. Good thing. Nikki wouldn’t have known how to answer. “How far do we have to go?” They kept passing mansions with the structures getting bigger on each successive lot.
“It’s the end one,” Mitch said.
At their approach, Nikki leaned up in her seat. Secluded didn’t begin to describe this place. Dotting the extensive grounds were lofty palm trees, imposing oaks and plump shrubs, their waxy green foliage swaying in the warm ocean breeze. From the center of the lush vegetation rose a white-and-coral mansion looking mythical beneath the overcast sky. Of a Mediterranean design and possibly eight-thousand square feet, it boasted three stories, arched windows, a red-tiled roof and numerous porticos with wrought-iron railings.
Nikki stopped counting after she’d reached thirty rooms, unable to see the complete structure even when she was out of the rental car. From behind, horns honked, announcing the arrival of Connor’s all-male cast and crew.
Some of them were performers or servers at the club. Others were new to Nikki. All of them were surprisingly good looking. If Eve had been here, in the flesh so to speak, she might have had an attack of the vapors.
“We’ll set up in the backyard,” Connor announced, leading the way.
Like everyone else, he wore jeans and a tee. Nikki hadn’t even bothered to put on underwear. What was the point?
Thick shrubbery isolated this part of the grounds from the rest. Its scent and the sea’s breeze were vaguely primal. Within the space stood a gazebo large enough to hold more than a dozen people and constructed of sheets of beveled glass, portions of it in a diamond design. Moisture beaded on the bottom panes. A small pulley hung from the gazebo’s arched ceiling. Dangling from the device were a chain and shackles that needed no explanation. Last night, Nikki had read about and seen their use in Connor’s graphic novel. In no time at all, she’d be stripped bare, restrained, explored and enjoyed.
Her head spun with delight. She locked her knees to keep standing.
“We’ll start here,” Connor instructed the cast and crew, acknowledging each with a glance while studiously avoiding her. “No rehearsal, I want all of your reactions to be fresh and uncensored. We’ll follow the chapter closely. Eve has just been purchased by one of the nobles.” He gestured to Mitch. “As the shot opens, she’ll be manacled, unable to escape her fate, the first part being her master demanding she be fully naked, not even her pubic hair being a barrier between their bodies. Shaving soap will cover her mound. With two fingers inside her cunt to hold her still, he’ll slowly draw his razor over her tender flesh, baring her completely so she can’t hide any part of herself from him.”
Several of the cast members snuck peeks at Nikki as though they expected her to run. Foolish men. This wasn’t far off from her more brazen fantasies. Warmth rose to her cheeks.
Connor continued, “Finished, the master will release her, ordering her to remove his clothing. Once she has, she’ll sink to her knees before him, taking his cock into her mouth. Seeing that, the other aristocrats will go to the back of the gazebo, their fingers clawing the glass, trying to get inside so she can take them orally.”
“Which she won’t,” Mitch informed.
Ignoring his brother, Connor turned to Nikki, but focused on something in the distance, most likely their troubled past. “There’s a dressing room in the mansion that you can use. It’s the second door on the left past the back entrance. You’ll have to do your own makeup. It’s already inside. You have twenty minutes.”
Mitch grabbed her upper arm not allowing Nikki to move past. His grip was firm but hardly painful, his thumb stroking her biceps. Bursts of heat traveled the length of her body, weakening it even more. He leaned into her and murmured, “I want to see a lot of feathers and that glitter shit on your upper face. If you’re at all recognizable when you come out here, if I see one freckle, this isn’t happening, got it?”
“There’s no way to stop this now.”
His thumb slowed, then halted, the rest of his fingers tightening as he pulled her closer. “Don’t test me, Nikki.”
She fell silent and obedient just as he demanded and she liked.
“Don’t forget to take off the body jewelry too,” he added.
“I want you totally nude.”
And unrecognizable, not to mention accessible.
Affording her no chance to comment, Mitch released her arm and went to his brother.
Connor pretended to fool with the camera but his attention remained on Nikki. Whatever Mitch had said had her moving toward the mansion at a sleepwalker’s pace, her ass and breasts bouncing within the confines of her clothing. She paused frequently to glance back at them, her lips parted, cheeks rosy, hair fiery in the day’s gloom.
Within minutes, she’d be naked, chained in the gazebo, her mouth and body belonging to Mitch. Connor would direct them making love while he battled his own lust, his weakness to pull her close, smell her hair, hear her say how much she’d missed him.
Goddamn her. Goddamn Mitch. His brother knew better than to have insisted on doing this film with her. As teens, they hadn’t only talked about living with Nikki when they all grew up, taking turns making love with her. They’d discussed the possibility of a threesome. Heady shit for teenage boys.
Even after she was out of their lives, the fantasy had lingered with Connor. More times than not, he imagined the women in his films to be her, while the men were him and Mitch, not just his brother alone.
“Want me to get that?” Alex, his cameraman, reached for the equipment.
Connor handed it over, not caring that he’d screwed up the settings.
Mitch stripped to his skin, then put on one of the period shirts and breeches a crewmember handed over. When he noticed Connor watching, he warned, “Laugh and you’re dead.”
Considering his brother and Nikki were about to fuck up a storm, leaving him pissed and wanting, Connor figured it would be months before he’d be able to crack a smile.
Moving closer so he couldn’t be overheard, Mitch asked, “You going to be all right?”
Connor screwed up his mouth. “Better than you after all of this is over, and believe me, it will be.”
“Don’t be so sure. Look at Nikki. Talk to her. Give her a fucking chance.”
“No way.” He shoved his hands into his back pockets. “I can’t forget what she did.”
“No one’s asking you to, but you might try to understand and consider forgiving her. It’s my guess she wants that more than anything else, including the money you’re so fucking worried about. If we let her know we’re on her side, she might forget this crap that neither of us wants her to do.”
“I’m not holding my breath. “ He moved past, directing the crew to get the props ready.
* * * * *
The blade of the straight-edge razor was as blunt as a butter knife, its metal gleaming dully in the sunlight tamed by the clouds. The manacles and chains looked cruel and heavy to Mitch, even though he figured they weren’t. He’d seen them used on the last Eve. When her boyfriend had arrived on set, she managed to wave her shackled arms in an enthusiastic greeting.
Of course, Mitch hadn’t cared whether she hurt her wrists or not. She wasn’t Nikki.
Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention, a flash of cream, the silk robe the last girl had worn before her scene began.
Nikki stood just short of the crowd, the flimsy fabric swishing around her body with the steady breeze. It blew her hair away from her face and wiggled the ends of the feathers surrounding her eyes. They sparkled like the glitter she’d applied, her irises a deeper blue than usual, her expression without guile, defenseless.
Mitch’s heart turned over. He stopped himself from running to her.
There was no need. She approached him first. Crewmembers and cast parted, allowing her to pass. Connor stopped speaking to the guy who was getting the shaving soap ready.
She paused at Connor’s side, waiting for some kind of acknowledgement from him. His Adam’s apple bounced with his hard swallow. It seemed enough for Nikki or maybe all she hoped to receive.
She resumed her approach, moving with confidence across the cushiony grass. In front of Mitch, she stopped and pulled open her robe, shrugging out of it, handing the garment to a crewmember. “I’m ready,” she said.
Her husky announcement set Mitch’s pulse into overdrive, while her nudity… She was exactly as she’d been in his office, nothing but pale skin and curves that went on forever. The only change was that she’d rouged her nipples as indicated in the graphic novel, while moisture glistened on her pouty vaginal lips.
Mitch would have bet his life she was wet naturally, not from some prepared shit. Instinctively, he lowered his hand to cup her mound.
A crewmember interrupted the moment, speaking to Nikki. “I need to manacle you to the—”
“I’ll do it,” Mitch said.
Connor didn’t object, but he did look wary, as though Mitch was siding with Nikki somehow, turning against him as so many others had in the past.
Dammit. Didn’t he know they could both have her? Why was he so dead set on throwing away this second chance? Not willing to do that, Mitch took Nikki’s hand, leading her into the gazebo. He clamped the manacles around her wrists and pulled on the chain. Her arms lifted. He met her gaze.
She wore the look of a woman ready for hours of sex—savage and hard. If she kept doing that, Mitch figured he’d die of desire, right here and now.
“Can I tell you something?” she asked.
Anything except that she didn’t want him. “Sure. What?”
“I like your duds. You look really hot.”
Mitch choked on his laugh, enjoying her teasing, realizing how much he’d missed it all these years. “Bull,” he sputtered.
“It’s true…though you’d look even better without them.”
His laughter disappeared beneath a horny sigh. He ran his fingers down the insides of her arms. Damn, they were soft. He shivered. So did she.
“Don’t stop,” she whispered.
As if he could, even with the others around. Mitch cupped her breasts, testing their weight in his palms, dragging his thumbs over her nipples.
“Oh yeah,” she breathed.
Just outside the gazebo door, Connor shouted, “Everyone take your places. Mitch.”
He held back a curse as Connor and Alex stepped into the gazebo. Another young man entered, handing a bowl of shaving soap and the razor to Mitch. He jockeyed for a better look at Nikki. Mitch remained in front of her, glaring at the prick. He finally gave up and backed out of the structure.
“You know what to do,” Connor mumbled to everyone inside, then called out to the others, “let’s make a film.”
Mitch gave Nikki a wink, offering encouragement she didn’t appear to need. She focused on him to the exclusion of everything else, even the camera pointed in her direction, recording her nudity.
On one knee at her side, he soaped her baby-smooth mound. The chains clacked with her sudden ascent to her toes. He stopped immediately. “You all right?”
She nodded and gulped air. “Way better than the babe in the book.”
Alex laughed. Mitch didn’t dare look at Connor. He slathered more of the almond-scented stuff on her. Nikki sagged back down, her heels tapping the gazebo’s marble floor.
Careful not to harm her in the least, Mitch draped his arm across Nikki’s ass as he pretended to shave her mound.
“No…wait,” Connor said, sounding as if he was waking from a triple-X-rated dream or remembered he was directing this damn film. “You’re doing it wrong. You’re supposed to put two fingers inside—”
“Yeah, okay, got—” Mitch didn’t finish. The intense heat from Nikki’s sheath surrounding his fingers stole whatever he’d intended to say. He glanced up. Her mouth hung open. Each labored breath wiggled her breasts.
“Spread your legs more,” Connor ordered her, gesturing Alex to focus on them.
After a long moment, Nikki obeyed. So did Alex. His fucking lens was practically resting on her damn cleft.
Outrage surged through Mitch. Sweat ran into his eyes, burning like a motherfucker. It was stuffy and too crowded in here. He wanted Nikki to himse
lf. At the most, he’d be willing to share her with Connor.
She moaned softly.
Why?
And then Mitch knew. Unknowingly, he’d been stroking her clit, the small rise of flesh firm and wanting of a man’s touch.
Connor made a noise somewhere between a sigh and an oath. “Shave her,” he ordered.
Mitch did, his strokes lazy and measured, each meant to arouse Nikki, the same as his thumb manipulating her nub. She babbled incoherently, the sounds a woman makes when enjoying herself. Finished, he tossed the blade aside, ignoring its clank-clank-clank against the stone floor. With his fingers still inside her, Mitch licked her nub. It smelled of almonds mingled with magnolias and musk. It tasted better than any food he’d ever eaten, even when he’d been a hungry teen.
Nikki grunted indelicately, the best thing Mitch had heard in years. He ran his free hand over her ass, down the furrow between her cheeks, exploring her anus.
She tried to wriggle away. He held her fast, driving his tongue into her opening and the tip of his finger past her tight ring, letting her know that no part of her was going to be free of his touch.
Connor said something, no doubt a direction Mitch didn’t catch and cared nothing about. He suckled Nikki’s nub and spread his fingers inside her sheath, making her pant, causing her body to grow moist with perspiration. Again, she pushed to her toes, jiggling the chains. Mitch continued, not giving her a moment’s peace. Gently, he bit her nub, then licked it as fast as he could only to stop without warning, pleased with her frustrated groan. He toyed with her repeatedly, feeling the mounting tension in her body, knowing what she had to have, giving it to her at last.
On her breathless cry, the orgasm cut through her, leaving Nikki shivering and weak because of what he’d done. Proud as hell, Mitch rested his forehead against her belly, savoring her softness and warmth, letting her know that after all these years, he wasn’t about to allow her to escape.
“Hey,” Connor snapped. “I said cut. You’re getting it all wrong. Whoa, hold it. That isn’t what you’re supposed to be doing next.”