by Zoey Marcel
She squirmed in her seat and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s nice. I told you to look at me.”
When she failed to comply he used the strength in his arm to jerk her forward. She winced when the metal dug into her skin, but she stood and stepped toward him. He made her sit on his lap and used his other hand to direct her focus to his displeased look.
“Don’t ever threaten to leave me again. You made me a promise and I’m not going to let you break it.” His hold on her tightened. “Don’t look away. You’re stuck with me, sunshine, whether you like it or not. And I think one thing you’ll learn quickly is that shitty threats like that are only going to earn you a punishment instead of a divorce.”
She looked as relieved as she did scared. “I need some freedom, Ben, or I’ll hate my life again.”
“I never took away any of your freedoms.”
“My dad did. Promise me you won’t become him.”
Her pleading, almost tearful look broke his heart. Ben pulled her closer and snuggled with her. “I’m not him, honey. You know that, and I won’t ever be him. I have no intention of throwing out your clothes. In fact for the most part you can wear whatever you want, but I’d like to pick out your clothes sometimes. How often depends on how far we’re willing to delve into this.”
She gave him a thankful squeeze and kissed his neck like a sweet little thing.
“All right?”
She pulled back so their eyes met when she nodded. “Okay.”
He smiled and then unlocked the cuffs. “Hop up. I’ve got to get ready for work. Go ahead and read those blogs and articles I gave you. Log into that account we made for you last night and do some reading. Talk to people, too, and make friends if you want. They can answer some of your questions and I’ll answer any more you have when I get home.”
“Okay.”
He studied her carefully, noticing that her excitement was partnered with an obvious level of vulnerability. “Are you all right?”
She nodded with a weak smile. “Yeah, it’s just a lot to take in. I’m fine, though.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. You’d better get ready for work or you’ll be late. I’m going to get started.” She headed into the living room, seeming more cheerful.
“If there’s anything you need to tell me then do it. We have to be open and honest with each other.”
“Ben, I’m being as open and honest with you as I know how to be,” she called out to him from the other room. “You’re worrying too much. I’m fine. Neil mentioned something about maybe stopping by later after work. He gets off early today.”
Ben smiled. He could only imagine Jill’s decadent research would take a very hedonistic turn with Neil in the picture. Too bad he had to work.
His thoughts turned to their two daughters. Tonight Jill’s friend was flying in with them. He’d meet the little girls face-to-face for the first time. Part of him looked forward to it, but the other half of him was nervous that they wouldn’t accept him as their father.
Then, too, the youngest one wasn’t even his child. Who the hell was her real father? Jill wouldn’t tell him when he asked, and he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know. It was probably some unknown asshole she slept with in California during their separation. Probably someone he’d never met.
* * * *
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jill stared at the computer screen with her mouth open, consumed with indignation.
Neil came in from the other room. “What’s wrong?”
“I sent a friend request to this woman and she wants me to ask one of her three Masters for permission to befriend her. What the fuck?”
He smiled and came to stand beside her, looking at the screen. “Gothic Rose, huh?”
“Yeah, that’s her name. I wonder if she got to choose for herself or if they picked it for her.” Jill rolled her eyes.
Neil shrugged. “If you want to be friends with her why not ask one of them?”
She threw him an “are you kidding me?” look. “Neil, she’s a grown woman, who’s perfectly capable of choosing her own friends. I’m not going to ask her knuckle-dragging love interests if I can play in the sandbox with their little toy. What the hell do you take me for?”
He shrugged again and massaged her right shoulder. “What’s the big deal? It doesn’t mean you’re submitting to them. You’re just being respectful of their wishes. It’s no different than visiting someone’s house and they have a no-shoes-in-the-house rule. You wouldn’t cuss at them and keep your shoes on, would you?”
“Well, no. That would be rude, but this is different.”
He smiled. “How is it different?”
“Because this ticks me off.”
“Then don’t befriend her.”
“But I want to befriend her.” She sighed and stared at the screen, clenching her jaw. “Fine, I’ll ask for permission.” She typed a message and showed it to Neil. “What do you think?”
“Um, you might want to take out the words ‘fuck’ and ‘ass’ and reword your request,” he teased.
She retyped it, muttering under her breath. “How about now?”
He read it over and rubbed her neck. “Looks good.”
“She wrote some poetry on here. It’s really beautiful, but I don’t get it. How can complete submission be so freeing?” Jill found herself drawn to the woman’s writing, but the allure of slavery escaped her. Surely the poor woman was deluded into thinking she was free, even though her three men had her completely under their thumbs. It made no sense.
“There are different kinds of freedom,” Neil murmured against her neck and earlobe in between delicate kisses.
She shivered and melted at the sensual softness of his lips and the warm moisture he branded her with. “I guess, but I could never feel that way.”
“Maybe you’ll change your mind.” He worked her shorts open with one hand while the other slipped up her shirt and deftly unhooked her bra clasp. “Looks like your clothes are coming off.”
She smirked and lifted her hips so he could get her shorts and panties off. “I noticed. It would be fun, but I’m supposed to be doing research right now. Work before play, you know.”
He knelt in front of her with a mischievous little smile. “You’re a woman, Jill. I thought you guys were all about multitasking.”
“We are.” Her pulse accelerated as his face drew near her excited pussy.
“Then keep reading and learning while I lick you.”
“That’s not—ah! Possible.” She tensed when he split her labia open and kissed her sex lips softly over and over again.
“Do it, baby. I know you love a challenge as much as I do,” he coaxed in a gentle hush.
She lost her breath and pushed into his face, enjoying the erotic bath of his tongue on her sex. “They just gave me permission to befriend Gothic Rose. The bastards.”
Neil grinned and then grunted when his tongue probed her pussy again. “You should send her a message.”
“I can’t think while you’re eating me out.”
“Do it, baby. I’m not stopping, and Ben wouldn’t want you to put off your research.”
She moaned gently at Neil’s persistence and the wicked delight of hearing him mention her husband’s name while he sucked her cunt. “Fine. Crap. I just typed the word ‘pussy.’ Neil, you’re going to make me send her an obscene message.”
He chortled and flicked his tongue in a fluttering tease over her keenly interested clit. She braced herself with her feet and tried to focus through the judgment-clouding pleasure while she typed her message.
Gothic Rose, whoever she was, apparently lived in Temptation, too. She was a slave to three Masters. Hopefully it wasn’t actually her sister, Chanel. That would be awkward. Jill didn’t think it was, though. Chanel’s tastes were more classic and Victorian rather than Gothic.
Neil slurped on her clitoris, groaning like a dirty boy the wetter she became.
Jill
read over the message carefully to be sure she hadn’t accidentally typed something inappropriate and then hit send. She closed her eyes and melted into the oral attention he treated her pussy with. Higher and higher she climbed until suddenly everything stopped.
She whined and opened her eyes, gasping when Neil suddenly wasn’t there and her shorts and panties were on her body again. He’d disappeared. Where the hell had he gone?
She glanced at the computer screen, but there was a message telling her that the member Gothic Rose didn’t exist and her search produced no results. What the fuck? She was just talking with her for crying out loud. What the hell was going on?
Panic raced through her. Had she dozed off at the computer and imagined the whole thing? She didn’t think so. Everything had felt so real.
“Neil?” she called out in a shaky voice.
“Yeah, I’m coming.” Neil came around the corner from the kitchen, carrying a glass of ice water. “Here’s the water you asked for.”
“What? I didn’t ask for water.”
He appeared confused. “Yeah, you did, just a second ago.”
Her mind raced. No, she hadn’t. “Weren’t you just licking my pussy?”
He looked perplexed before a cute grin took over his adorable face. “No, but I’d love to.”
Jill felt goose bumps sprouting on her arms. He had just eaten her out. She knew he had. She’d seen and felt him do it. What the hell was happening? “Okay, now I’m really freaked out. The search engine says that Gothic Rose doesn’t exist and I was just talking to her. Look, her Masters’ status says they don’t currently have a slave. Where did the third Master go? There are only two on here now. What the hell happened to Gothic Rose?”
Neil stared at her blankly. “Who is Gothic Rose?”
Her jaw went slack when she gawked at him, and her eyes watered in fright. This was just plain spooky. “The woman I told you about. Remember? She wanted me to ask her Masters’ permission to befriend her?”
He seemed like he tried to place the memory and couldn’t. “No. I don’t. I’m sorry. I only just got here and you asked for a glass of water. I don’t know who you’re talking about. Are you feeling okay?”
Jill shuddered, feeling afraid all of a sudden. She really needed Ben or Logan to hold her and tell her everything would be all right. What the hell just happened?
Chapter Eight:
Eyes of a Child
Jill couldn’t stop shaking on the way to the airport with Neil. Something was going on. She wasn’t crazy, but it scared her the way he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.
They waited at the airport until Piper Covington arrived with Jill’s two daughters, Pasadena and Coral.
“Mommy!” They ran at her with their chubby little arms outstretched, and she caught them both up in an enormous hug and squeezed them tight.
“Oh, my babies, I missed you.”
“We missed you, too.”
Neil gaped when he saw Coral. “Oh my god.”
Jill knew why. “Neil, these are my daughters, Pasadena and Coral. Girls, this is Neil. He’s a friend of mine and your Daddy’s.”
Coral smiled at him. “Are you my cowboy daddy?”
Neil chuckled nervously. “No, but I don’t mind raising you like your Daddy.”
She giggled. “You’re silly.”
Piper helped the girls get their luggage, and Neil pulled Jill aside. “Holy crap, Jill, Coral looks just like Judah probably did at that age.”
Jill grimaced. “I know.”
Coral was a cutie, and Jill was glad she looked so much like her Daddy, but she wished it wasn’t so obvious to everyone else.
“What the heck is Ben going to say when he sees her?” Neil worried.
Jill sighed, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “I don’t know.”
* * * *
Neil went home after dinner, and Jill gave the girls their baths while Piper did the dishes for her.
“Do we get to meet my Daddy tonight?” Pasadena asked eagerly.
“Probably, as soon as he gets home.” Jill’s heart thudded with apprehension when she heard the front door. Ben was home. “I’ll be back.”
She went out into the living room to greet him.
He gave her a sweet smile when he saw her. “Hey, sunshine. Are the kids here yet?”
She swallowed nervously. “Yeah, they are.”
Pasadena’s voice sounded from behind her. “Mommy, is that him?”
Jill turned around, relieved that only Pasadena stood there. “Yes, sweetie, this is your Daddy.”
She led her oldest daughter over to Ben. He knelt down to her level. “You must be Pasadena, right?”
Pasadena smiled. “Yeah. You’re handsome.”
He grinned. “Thanks. You’re very pretty, just like your mother.”
She blushed and got a bashful grin on her sweet face. “Thank you.”
Coral’s voice spoke up from behind Jill. “Where’s my Daddy?”
Jill grimaced and turned to face her youngest daughter. “Sweetie, I told you Pasadena’s Daddy is going to be your Daddy now.”
Jill saw Ben freeze in her periphery and she reluctantly stole a glance at him. His eyes were huge when they fell on Coral. He rose slowly, seeming tense with shock.
Jill gulped down her discomfort and moved to stand behind Coral. She placed her hands on the little girl’s shoulders. “Ben, this is Coral. Coral, sweetie, this is your Daddy.”
Ben just stared at her, seeming jarred to the core.
Coral’s tone said she frowned. “But he’s not a cowboy.”
Jill cringed inside. “No, sweetheart, he’s a cop.”
Coral sounded riled. “Is he the bad cop who tried to take you away from my Daddy?”
Blood roared in Jill’s ears as she turned Coral swiftly toward the stairs. “Ben is a good man, sweetheart. Now go to bed. You, too, Pasadena.”
Piper came in from the kitchen. “I’ll put them to bed for you.”
“Thanks,” Jill said meekly as she watched the trio climb the stairs. She couldn’t bear to face Ben, but she knew he’d have plenty to say to her.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you had Judah’s child?” he asked in an angry tone.
She winced and swallowed before turning to face him. He looked pissed off beyond her comfort zone. “I didn’t want to hurt you or upset you.”
“You must think I’m some kind of idiot. The kid is the spitting image of him.” He ran his fingers through his hair in aggravation. “Shit, Jill. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You said you’d help me raise them.”
“I’m not raising his bastard kid!”
“Lower your voice,” she scolded. “I’m not giving her up, Ben. It’s either you raise her with me or I go back to California without you.”
His eyes narrowed and his tone became even more furious. “Did you really tell her that?”
“What?”
“That I was a bad cop who kept you and Judah apart?”
“Of course not. Piper told Coral that before when I wasn’t around. I never told her that when I talked about him.”
Ben’s countenance became poisoned with jealous rage. “So you talk about him with her, terrific. What do you tell her? Some candy-coated fairy-tale shit?”
Jill shifted on her feet uncomfortably. “She asked how we met. I kept it simple and brief.”
“Why not tell her the real story? About how you ripped your husband’s heart out and fucked another man?” he bit out angrily. “Or tell her that she’s a bastard child and her father’s a worthless piece of shit.”
“Judah’s not worthless.” The words came out before Jill even realized she was defending him.
Ben’s vehemence worsened and his voice darkened considerably. “Do you love him?”
The question was like a hard blow to the stomach. “Why would you ask me that?”
He strode toward her and grabbed her arm in a tight lock. �
��Answer the goddamned question!”
She shuddered at the wrath in his voice and the deep pain in his eyes. “No, I don’t.”
His eyes closed briefly before reopening, and she knew he had to know that she was lying.
“Then why are you crying?”
Her eyes brimmed with additional tears. “Because you’re yelling at me. I’m not alone anymore, Ben. I’m a mom now, and if you can’t accept Coral, how is this supposed to work?”
He sighed, looking more miserable as he turned and headed out the front door.
Fear struck a match inside her as she hurried after him. “Ben! Wait. Please don’t leave me.”
He turned to face her again and put his hand up. “Just give me some space.”
She stopped on the porch and watched him get into his truck and drive away.
* * * *
Jill walked alone at twilight as a conflicting concoction of emotions brewed inside of her. What if Ben couldn’t accept Coral? Would he want a divorce? Her eyes watered and her chest hurt. She couldn’t lose him, but she couldn’t be expected to give up one of her daughters, either.
She got goose bumps when she saw one of the club’s owners walking toward her looking furious. Joaquin Sullivan, wasn’t it? His eyes looked black as he drew near her.
“What did you do?” he asked in a severe tone.
“Excuse me?” She shrieked when he grabbed her by the arms and rammed her up against the side of a building in the alley.
“Where is Claire?” he yelled. “What did you do?”
Jill shook violently, wincing at his aggressive grip on her. “Who’s Claire?”
“I don’t know!” His eyes flashed with rage and pain. “I keep having visions of a blonde slave with baby-blue eyes. I feel like I know her, but I’ve never met her. All I know is her name is Claire and she’s gone. She was never here, but she was.”
Jill wanted desperately to run like a bat out of hell, but his grasp on her arms wouldn’t allow her the chance. “I don’t understand.”
The club’s other owner, Dakarai Hawthorne, approached from out of nowhere. “Let her go, Joaquin. This might not even be her fault. For all we know we have lost our minds.”