Secrets Remembered

by Raven McAllen

  Her tongue felt like cotton wool, which filled her mouth and made it dry and unusable. It was hard to clamp down on the panic she felt. How could she shout red when her voice wouldn’t work? Even the fact that Aidan was staring at her intently didn’t help. He said he could read her, damn it, so why wasn’t he stopping?

  It was like something out of a horror film as the next drop of wax, and the next got closer and closer to her body, and hit.

  Onto the swell of her breasts, one by one and close to each other. The sting struck, the pain began… Ailsa coughed. “Ahhh, ohh r…” She stopped speaking. The pain was different. Oh it stung, but the sting was like someone was trailing their finger over her skin, creating tiny pulses of pleasure.

  Aidan straightened the candle up so the wax gathered in the shallow dip by the wick.

  “Color?”

  His voice wasn’t steady and that tiny hint of vulnerability resonated with Ailsa.

  “Green, oh my, argh.” She was babbling but didn’t give a damn. “More please. Take my top off.” She knew without a shadow of a doubt she wanted to see what he would achieve without having to try to miss the strip of cloth that covered her breasts. “Really, Sir, green. I want to feel it all. You were right, the pain isn’t an ouchie pain, it’s an ‘I want to feel more’ pain. Green.”

  Would he do as she wanted? How on earth could he, without untying her and spoiling the moment?

  Three seconds later, Ailsa realized she shouldn’t have worried. After all he was a Dom and probably used to subs changing their minds like they changed their knickers. Aidan nodded, put the candle down in a safety holder on the table, and lifted a wicked-looking knife from the table. The blade was a good nine inches long, with a serrated edge and a sharp point and the handle was thick and indented for fingers and thumbs, to enable the user to clasp it safely.

  It was one thing to tell yourself that he would be more than competent when he used it, another not to find your heart beating faster when the tip slid almost lazily across your skin and the point lifted the wax that clung there. Aidan flicked the cold pieces away like he was brushing crumbs from a tablecloth. Then he slid the blade of the knife under her top between her breasts and pushed upward. The material parted as if it was held together by a thread, not a tight-knit weave, and slid over her sensitive breasts and nipples to allow cool air to caress them like a lover’s kiss. Aidan smiled and rested the cold flat of the blade over her heart and moved it carefully over her skin.

  “One day, I’ll scribe you.”

  He said the words so quietly that Ailsa thought he was talking to himself.

  “Ready to be decorated, pet?”

  No more mention of scribing? Ailsa wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or disappointed. Mind you, her idea as to what it meant was somewhat hazy. Scratches that didn’t last? She made a mental note to research it. Hold on, woman, learn to accept and like one thing at once. Walk, don’t run. Aidan cleared his throat, and Ailsa realized she hadn’t answered him.

  “Oh, yes, Sir.” She regulated her breathing, a lot happier now she knew what to expect, and relaxed into the hard mattress as best as she could. How she wished her head was raised a little so she could see better.

  Was he a mind reader? Aidan replaced the knife in its cover and bent to reach under the bed. With a whirring noise, the top third tilted a little, just enough for Ailsa to be able to look down her body. Then he stood back, picked up two candles and held one in each hand.

  He didn’t speak again, but began to rotate and move his hands. It was mesmerizing to watch as he twisted and turned them and wax slid and slipped down the length of their candles. Tiny granules formed and twisted and almost shimmered as they spiraled down toward her skin.

  When the first one hit, Ailsa stopped thinking and let her senses fill her instead. The sting, the tug on her heart, the way her inner muscles tightened and her pussy throbbed, all morphed into one hazy, arousal-filled sensation of pleasure.

  With each new arc of wax, somewhere else began to sting and sing. Aidan knew what he was doing, and created a web of wax to decorate her skin. Nothing formal but a beautiful intricate design that any abstract artist would be proud of. Something as good as an old master by a new Master. That thought would have made her snigger except she didn’t want to miss one second of what was happening.

  Then, suddenly it was over. Aidan put down the candles, untied her and wrapped the blanket Ross had handed him around her, without removing the wax.

  Ailsa began to shake, and burst into tears. He cuddled her close and stroked her hair.

  “Shhh, let it out, it’s normal and natural. There, there.” He held her close and whispered nonsensical words until she quieted.

  Ailsa sniffed and looked around. “Can I have a tissue, please?”

  Connie handed her one and she whispered her thanks. Her voice didn’t seem to belong to her. None of her did. It was strange and disquieting.

  She wondered what happened next. After all she was still coated in wax, half naked and in a room with virtual strangers. For the first time she saw the sense in having more than one person around. As long as they weren’t all ax murderers.

  After all, what did she know about any of them? Not a lot, not even about Jess, who after all could have changed considerably since school. And Connie might be a policewoman, but that wouldn’t negate being a drug dealer or one of the aforementioned ax murderers.

  Aidan pinched her cheek. “I can see your mind’s back in gear, working overtime adding two and two and making seventeen. Just think how lucky you’ve been. An awesome play session with a fantastic Dom.”

  He rolled his eyes and she gave a half giggle. One thing was certain. He was able to make fun of himself.

  “No one bugging you for answers to questions you know fine well you need to answer, and amazing aftercare. About which…” He stood up and carried her back on the table and set her down on the mattress. “Lie back.” Once she did so he opened the blanket.

  Ailsa experienced the horrible sensation of being naked and vulnerable.

  “Time to lift the wax. Do you need fastening?”

  “No, I’m fine.” He raised one eyebrow and Ailsa realized she’d forgotten to add his title. She was too drained to care. To her intense relief he didn’t comment or pull her up. He took up the knife once more.

  “I’m lifting the wax with this. Hold still because otherwise there is the chance I might nick you.”

  The word nick conjured up a very different picture in Ailsa’s mind. Handcuffs and…

  Stop it. Concentrate on not getting cut.

  Within a few minutes all the wax had gone and Aidan wrapped her in the blanket once more and lifted her into his arms before sitting in a comfortable armchair. Across the room Ross was holding Connie, and Ailsa discovered she had no idea what the couple had done, if anything. It was so unlike her to become so absorbed with one thing she was oblivious to everything else that it brought her up with a start. Not the way for an undercover policewoman to behave, even if there were extenuating circumstances. She was going to have to pull back and think things over. Ailsa gave herself the luxury of being held for a few moments. It was bliss to revel in Aidan’s soft breath on her skin, the way he held her tight, but not uncomfortably so, and the way he nuzzled her head and occasionally stroked her back over the blanket.

  As much as she could have stayed like that for ever, Ailsa forced herself to sit up.

  “I’m fine now. Thank you, Sir.” She remembered to add the title. “I’ll go and change.”

  Aidan stared at her. “Connie will go with you so you don’t get lost.”

  And go where you shouldn’t, was the inference. She’d sort out Connie when she had to. “Of course, Sir. Thank you.”

  Aidan lifted her off his lap and stood her onto the floor. “Why do I think you’re up to something?” he asked rhetorically as Connie approached them. He patted Ailsa on her bum. “See you in the lounge area in a few minutes.”

  Ailsa nodded a
nd followed Connie out of the dungeon. Once they were out of earshot of the men, Connie grabbed Ailsa by her blanket covered shoulder. “What are you going to say?”

  “I’ve no idea.” Ailsa opened the door to their changing room and began to throw her clothes on. Once she was covered, she leaned on the wall. “What are you?”

  “Me? Oh fuck. You’ve dropped me in it as well, haven’t you? Ross and I are just sorting things out, and now I’ve either got to lie to him and protect him, or compromise my job.”

  Ailsa looked at her white-faced companion. “Not necessarily. You can just say when you woke up I’d gone.”

  Connie blinked. “What do you mean by that, ma’am?”

  So she was back to ma’am now. Ailsa decided that helped her to do what she was about to do.

  “This.” She clipped Connie on the jaw with her left fist and caught her as her head flipped backward and she lost consciousness. Yet again, Ailsa thanked the less than politically correct lessons she’d had the opportunity to attend and take heed of.

  Ailsa slid the blanket she’d so recently had wrapped round herself under Connie’s head, and looked around the room. In the corner was a neat pile of clean towels and she used a couple to tuck round Connie. She reckoned she had around five or six minutes to get away. Not long, but she could hide out in the passage or the lean-to if she had to. As long as she got into the passage without being found.

  She left the room and made her way up the servants’ stairs to the room where the entrance to the passage was situated. Luckily it was well away from the dungeon and she had remembered her way around the rebuilt castle from her previous investigations.

  Within minutes, she slipped into the room she needed without meeting anyone. Somewhere nearby a phone rang. Ailsa worked the mechanism, slid through the gap in the wall even before the panel had stopped moving and pressed the knobs to close the aperture. There was a horrendous grinding noise and the panel stopped moving, leaving a three inch gap between the wall and the edge of the paneling.

  Ailsa swore and tried to move it. No such luck. It seemed the aging mechanism had decided enough was enough. The only consolation was that if it was jammed where it was, no one would be able to follow her, unless they were a contortionist with an ability to get through such a tiny space. Nonetheless, she had no intention of chancing it. Fumbling slightly until she touched the webbing strap, Ailsa picked up her rucksack and felt her way to the top step. She daren’t turn on her torch, just in case someone entered the room behind her. Instead of an empty room, it was furnished now and Ailsa had no idea who used it or when.

  Resolutely she tried to ignore the thought of spiders, rats, bats and anything that might go bump in the night, and counted the steps as she moved downwards. By the time she got to the last one she was sweating, and she still had to venture out of the building and into the shed. Then the fun may well begin. The only plus point was that the lean-to was at the rear of the castle and it would take a while to reach it once Connie was discovered. Ailsa had to risk getting out and away.

  She eased through the door in the castle wall, and shut it behind her. If they hadn’t worked out where she’d disappeared to, she wasn’t going to help them find out. It took a few moments to wriggle around the spades, hoes and other old gardening implements without disturbing them, before she was able to peer outside. As far as she could tell, the area was deserted.

  Stay or go?

  She went. With a speed born of desperation, Ailsa ran over the rough grass between the lean-to and the woods, and didn’t stop to see if anyone had glimpsed her. She reached her car in a time an Olympic champion would be proud of, scrambled in and drove away as if the hounds of hell were after her.

  Which in one way, she reckoned, they might well be.

  Chapter Six

  “So, they said everything was fine and let us home and aren’t they cute?” Kath snuggled into the overlarge chair, and held a baby in each arm. She looked from one of her companions to another in turn. “I mean burps and poos aside, they are very well behaved. Of course they are very advanced for their age.” She giggled. “How I hated our Aunt Gwenda who always said that about her children. Luckily she lived in Swansea and we lived up here so we didn’t have to suffer her or her oh so advanced children very often. Tudor ended up in prison and Sioned ran away to be a hippy in Mallorca with a guy who already had five kids by four women. Mind you, I think Tudor is going straight now, which evidently is more than can be said of us. We have kinks. Okay,” she said without taking a breath. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Aidan, who was stroking the cheek of Lola—or was it Grey? Why couldn’t Kath be stereotypical and dress one in pink and the other in blue, not both in red?—shrugged and looked toward Jeff. Jeff raised one eyebrow. Behind him, his twin Jess became busy pleating the curtains and David, her partner, leaned on the wall and crossed his arms.

  “Look if something is going on that has you all talking in corners, and by all I include my so called best friend, and you’re not telling me what it’s all about then I will start to get mad,” Kath said in such a sweet, saccharine voice Aidan had to stop his lips twitching. “And my milk might dry up, and Lola and Grey will suffer and you’ll get no sleep, and I’ll get crotchety and—”

  “Okay, you blackmailer, you. You never know, you might have a theory all about it. Here, come to papa.” Jeff took his son from his wife and began to stroll around the room. He handed him to Jess who went white before she took the baby and held him close. The look on her face defied description.

  Grey gave a burp and farted.

  The five adults in the room laughed and the tension eased. Even Jess relaxed and didn’t hold Grey as if he were a time bomb.

  “I guess it’s partly down to me,” Aidan said. “Well it could be, I honestly don’t know. I’m thinking it’s my bloody father again, but it’s not quite his style. Too subtle for him. But when you went into labor something happened, which was nothing to do with any of you. Except for Jeff asking me to act for him.”

  “Clear as mud. Gah, you men are so pathetic at explaining anything except what you want your sub to do,” Kath said in a voice Aidan knew was full of put-on pathos. “How about start at the beginning?”

  That was the problem. “I would if I could, but to be honest, I’m not sure I really know where that is,” Aidan said. “Apart from that, is it just one thing or lots? Well I’ll give you my bit and we can try and sort out the jigsaw.”

  “Fair enough, but before we start, can someone bring me a laptop and a glass of water?” Kath asked. “And if you’re going to cringe when I feed my children, now’s the time to say so.”

  Behind her, Jess went pale, and David leaned forward to hug Jess and the baby. Jess leaned on him for a second.

  “Here, take your godson for a while,” Jess said and passed Grey to David. “He’ll want his mummy in a sec, so there’s no need to panic.” Luckily the baby didn’t seem to mind playing pass the parcel. “Jeff can get a laptop, he’ll know which one better than any of us. I’ll get water and coffee and stuff. Aidan, will you help me, please?”

  “Sure.” Aidan wondered why she’d asked him, but it was no big deal. He followed Jess out of the comfortable lounge of Kath and Jeff’s apartment, and into their kitchen. He knew they were hoping to move into the house they were having built on the grounds of the castle before long, but a series of unusual occurrences and the indication that there had been intruders in the castle had delayed the move by several months. Neither Jeff nor Jess, who owned the castle between them, wanted to leave it empty overnight. However, as both owners were building new homes nearby, Aidan wondered what they would do once they were ready. Maybe employ a night watchman, or offer one or both of the flats to someone in the lifestyle.

  “You’re an artist, aren’t you?” Jess asked as she piled soft drinks and water onto a tray along with dips, salad and crackers. “Could you sketch who you took to be Annabelle?”

  “Annabelle?”

 
Jess leaned against the sink. “Oh, sorry, I forgot we hadn’t got to that point yet. The sub from the night Kath went into labor. Her name is Annabelle. There was a message on the answering machine the next morning. She’d spent the evening in A & E at the local hospital with a friend who’d had a suspected heart attack. So the one thing we do know is your sub wasn’t her. I wondered if you could sketch her, and we could see if we recognized who it was.”

  “Not a bad idea,” Aidan said. “I’m no David Hockney, but I can get a rough idea. Do we have paper and charcoal?”

  “Yep, I, shall we say, purloined some from uni a few weeks ago for something I was trying out for the students.”

  He remembered Jess was a lecturer there.

  “It’s still in my study. If you take this through, I’ll grab it and bring it along. Oh and just so you don’t accidentally put your foot in it, I love Jeff and Kath and my new niece and nephew to bits. But please don’t ask David and me if we’ll be next. I’m sterile.” She turned and left the room in a hurry.

  Deep in thought, Aidan picked up the tray. So that was why she’d looked as she had. Poor Jess, if indeed she did want children. Oh there were ways and means, but he could imagine that to see her best friend and brother with two healthy kids would bring out mixed feelings.

  He walked back to the lounge, wondering about the low blows fate dealt people. He himself had never wanted to father a child. His own father’s attitude had made sure of that. However, that was one thing. Finding out what Ailsa was up to was more important, and he’d do what he needed to do to help.

  “Right, let’s see.” Aidan shut his eyes for a second to consider how he could portray Ailsa. “I’ll only do a head sketch, but she wasn’t very tall and had a nice shape. Not stick thin, not over heavy, just perfect.” He colored and laughed self-consciously. “Busted. I must admit, I knew damn well she couldn’t be your A, Jeff, because my first thought was that she was as green as grass. I bet everything she knew came from reading a novel. But she was an out and out sub, even if she didn’t realize it. God, what I’d give for her to be on the level and want me as her Dom.” He looked up from his sketching to see each of the others with a look of astonishment on their faces. “What’s up?”