The Pleasure House

by Kitty Thomas

  Matsumoto stood behind Mina with a knife to her throat. She was tied naked to a Saint Andrew’s Cross and bleeding. She appeared unconscious already. Maybe dead. He tried to shut out that last possibility.

  As if reading his mind, Matsumoto said, “I just whipped her unconscious. She’s not dead.”

  He moved closer and looked her over. There was too much blood. He grasped her hand. Her ring was gone, probably taken off her. She always wore it.

  Brian felt himself go cold. The rage and indignation he’d felt when the throwing star had nicked him was forgotten. Now he was really angry. The kind of angry that got quiet and still and felt like a subzero freezer. The kind of angry that doubled back until there was no discernible emotion to be detected anywhere.

  He shrugged. “What do I care if she’s alive or not. I came here to kill you for stealing our property and obviously breaking the contract you would have signed had you bought her properly. Kill her, don’t kill her. Either way, you’re a dead man.”

  Matsumoto must have bought the bluff because he darted to steal the fallen bodyguard’s gun, but he couldn’t get to it in time before Brian shot him in the leg and took him down. He didn’t want him dead yet.

  He grabbed the man and flung him over a spanking horse and shackled him to it. Brian rushed to Mina and felt for a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found it steady and stronger than expected.

  “Elsa,” he said.

  She looked up, her face tear streaked and angry. “What?”

  He took in the marks Matsumoto had left on her. “Why didn’t you tell us he was abusing you during our check ins?”

  “He was patient. He didn’t start until the check-in visits stopped. By then I was too afraid of him.”

  Elsa spoke in a reasonable manner, but there was murderous intent in her eyes for killing the man that was obviously her lover.

  “I can’t let you go. You’re a loose end. You’re too damaged to resell, and you’d be a liability at the house.”

  “Mina will never forgive you if you kill me,” she said.

  “She’s unconscious. She’ll never know what happened here.” He killed Elsa quickly and cleanly, and then untied Mina. She slumped against him, the blood still dripping down her back onto a white tapestry.

  “So you’re killing everyone but me? To send a message?” Matsumoto asked.

  “Oh, no, I’m killing you. You’ll die in the fire.”

  He took Mina outside and retrieved the gasoline he’d discovered in a nearby outbuilding during his initial sweeps. He went through every room, dousing the house—especially Matsumoto. When he and Mina were a safe distance away, he lit it.

  29

  Mina cringed when she felt the hand on her face. She wanted nothing more than to slip back into the grace of unconsciousness to step outside of this place and away from her new horrible master. She wanted this deceptively kind touch to be Brian’s. She wished it so fervently that she could almost smell him and believe.

  “Mina.”

  The sound of loud engines woke her more fully. When she opened her eyes, she found she was lying down with her head on Brian’s lap. His shirt was off, and there was a bandage on his shoulder. As she grew more lucid she could feel the bandages on her own back. And the pain. She felt the cool metal of the collar around her throat. She couldn’t see it, but reaching to touch it, she knew it was Brian’s. Matsumoto hadn’t put a collar on her.

  This wasn’t happening. It was a dream. A lovely dream. If she let herself believe this was real and then woke up…

  “Drink.” The cool water sliding down her throat finally convinced her she was really with him.

  “We’re going back to the house.” His tone brooked no argument, but she wouldn’t have argued. She would have begged to go back with him. She couldn’t believe he’d come for her. She’d been sure she would die in there. Maybe she was dead.

  “I shouldn’t have released you. But I shouldn’t have tortured that girl in front of you, either.” Mina lay silently listening to him speak as he stroked her hair. “I don’t know how normal emotions work. I don’t know why you’re an exception that lets me feel something almost like a real feeling. I don’t know if I love you or if I’m capable of it, but you are mine. You will always be mine. In the future I will consider all the ways I could damage you, not just the ways prohibited in a contract. And I will protect you from those things. That’s the best I can offer, but I need your obedience, and I need you to understand that I’m too broken to ever fix. I am what I am, but you are under my protection. That has to be enough. Is that enough for you?”

  It wasn’t enough. It should be, but it wasn’t. But it didn’t matter because whether it was packaged in the way she thought it should be, Lindsay had delivered to her exactly what he’d promised and what she’d asked for: a master who would be gentle with her and respect her boundaries.

  “Yes, Master,” she said. It was a lie, but it didn’t matter. Everything he’d asked was rhetorical. He wouldn’t let her go again. Not ever. She could feel the weight of self-blame on him for releasing her and his determination to keep her this time. It was explicitly stated in the grip he kept on her waist as if she might levitate up and away from him.

  “We don’t know how he found you.”

  Mina tensed.

  “But you do.” It was scary how little it was possible to hide from him, no matter how badly she wanted to. “Tell me.” It wasn’t a request.

  “The girl you punished in my place before you let me go…”

  “Cate?”

  Was that her name? She hadn’t known.

  “She knew he bid on me but that you’d taken the bid from him because of something Lindsay said. She broke into Lindsay’s office and found the man’s number.”

  The look that spread across Brian’s face was so dark and hard, she almost regretted telling him the truth. She didn’t ask what he’d done at the Japanese man’s house, if he’d killed everyone, if he’d left any survivors. She doubted it, but she didn’t want to know, and she was afraid if she asked he might tell her.

  “Rest. We’ve got a long flight,” he said.

  That was no problem. She was certain she could sleep for the rest of her life if she made the smallest effort. The last thing she realized as sleep claimed her was that she could feel the weight of her grandmother’s ring on her finger.

  Many hours later she woke in Brian’s bed. There was a tray of food on the nightstand. “You need to eat something. You need fluids, especially. I brought you soup, but you can have anything else in the kitchen after that.”

  “Thank you for coming for me. And for finding my ring.”

  He rested a hand against her cheek and nodded.

  “I’m going to deal with Cate now. Don’t interfere. Just be grateful if I decide to leave her breathing when I’m done.”

  Mina felt a coldness seep into her bones and spread to her extremities. She felt something flip over inside of her, a dark thing that she’d pushed aside each time before when she’d been hurt or misused.

  It itched.

  Her gaze rose to Brian. “I don’t care what you do to her.”

  He smiled and pressed a kiss to Mina’s forehead. “That’s my girl. I knew you were in there somewhere.”

  He lingered and held her gaze, a long moment of understanding passing between them. They were too broken—both of them—clinging to each other at sea on a raft that would never reach land.

  Brian squeezed her hand and left. Minutes later Cate’s screams filled the hallway. Mina looked to the door then back at her food and finished her dinner.

  30

  BOOK THREE: Surrender

  Dani’s Bar stood at the mouth of the bad side of town. But it was still close enough to the good side of town that an eclectic blend of respectable and shady customers always flowed through its doors.

  “You’re late,” Danika said as Julie pulled her long, auburn hair back with a hair clip.

  “I know, I’m s
orry.” Julie hung her coat on a wooden peg in the back and carefully slid her time card into the old machine. It was finicky. If she didn’t do it just right, it wouldn’t click and count her hours right.

  “Third time this week.” Danika hated late people. And though her boss was only five foot two and a hundred pounds soaking wet, Julie didn’t like to be on her bad side.

  “I’m sorry. My roommate is completely unreliable, and you know we share the car.”

  “You need to figure out a way to get to work on time.” Her boss sighed and pushed her long blonde hair behind her shoulder. “Anyway, he’s out there at the bar waiting for you. He won’t order until you get here.”

  “Who is?” But Julie knew. Gabe Griffin. The man all her fantasies had revolved around since he’d started coming to the bar last April. Tonight he wore his standard white T-shirt that strained to cover the impressive muscles of his arms and back, Levi jeans, and some boots. She still didn’t know what he did for a living, but she always imagined some kind of construction work. The white of the shirt seemed to glow against his dark tan and sun-streaked blond hair. But the back of him was nothing compared to the front of him and those startling green eyes that seemed as though they could read all your secrets.

  Danika laughed. “Girl, you’ve got it bad. You may as well own it.”

  “Shut up. I do not have it bad. I’m not a thirteen-year-old school girl.” Though she felt like it when he was near.

  Danika smirked. “Whatever you say.”

  Julie went out to the bar, trying to push down the nervous giddy grin that would let him know how badly she wanted him. He smiled when she approached.

  “Your usual, Gabe?”

  “Yeah, sweetheart, my usual.” His voice was something between a deep purr and a drawl. He must have been a big jungle cat in a previous life.

  She poured him bourbon and sat on the stool behind the bar. He downed it quickly and slammed the glass down on the counter.

  “Another.”

  Julie poured a second. “Rough night?”

  “Nah. I just need a little liquid courage.”

  “Oh?”

  “Hey Julie!” a drunk at the other end of the bar shouted. “Can I get another beer?”

  She turned to go fill the drink order, but Gabe’s large hand closed around her wrist.

  “You’re so tiny,” he murmured as his thumb brushed softly against the back of her hand.

  Electricity shot up her arm from where he touched her. That dark, beautiful tan, contrasting against her more delicate pale skin. He definitely did some kind of outdoor work. Construction. Landscaping. Something rugged.

  “Julie... let me take you out sometime.”

  These were the words she’d fantasized coming out of his mouth as cool spring had turned into the fire of summer, and then all throughout fall.

  “My boss doesn’t like me to date customers.”

  “Fuck that. They don’t own you. Come out with me. When do you get a night off?”

  Julie’s heart hammered in her chest.

  “Jules! Where’s my beer?”

  “It’s destroying your liver, Hank, hold on! I’m making a love connection over here!” She turned back to Gabe. “I’m off tomorrow. W-what time? Where will we go?”

  “Seven-thirty, and leave that up to me.”

  “Julieeee!” Hank sing-songed from the other end of the bar.

  Gabe rolled his eyes. “Go, take care of him, but when you come back, I want you to write down your address and phone number for me so I can find you tomorrow.”

  Another thrill of electricity went through her, this time down her spine. She’d imagined going out on a date with Gabe Griffin since he’d first stepped inside the bar. She didn’t reply. Instead, she went to the other end of the bar to get Hank another beer. But when she returned, she dutifully wrote down the information he’d requested.

  He winked at her. “Your life is about to get very interesting.” With that cryptic line, he got up off the stool and sauntered out of the bar.

  Danika came out from the back. “Did he just ask you out?”

  Julie didn’t have to answer. The crimson of her cheeks was enough.

  “You know how I feel about my employees dating customers. It’ll be nothing but drama.”

  “Then fire me.”

  Danika’s eyes narrowed. “You know I wouldn’t do that. Just don’t let it get in the way of your work. And be careful. We get some shady characters in here.”

  Yes. She’d heard the speech about Dani’s sometimes unsavory clientele about a thousand times, and she’d seen enough of them first hand to know it wasn’t just a cautionary tale. But Gabe didn’t ping her radar like that.

  “I know... but... he’s been coming here forever. I wouldn’t accept an offer like that from any random stranger off the street.”

  Danika shook her head and smiled. “If he looked like Gabe Griffin, you might.”

  Julie didn’t bother denying it. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if Gabe had asked her out sooner. She’d like to think she’d have the good sense to say no and not throw caution to the wind for a pretty face and even prettier body. But she wasn’t sure.

  The bigger mystery, however, was why now? Why tonight? He’d chatted and flirted with her for eight months. It had gotten to the point where she was sure he must be married—maybe to someone he no longer loved—and was looking for a cheap ego boost in the form of the worshipful looks she gave him each time he glanced her way.

  She’d convinced herself it was never going past casual flirtation. She’d convinced herself that was better. The fantasy could never be broken and spoiled that way. She could always keep and protect it if nothing real ever happened between them.

  And yet tonight, for whatever reason, he’d wasted no time securing her ready acceptance to his proposal of a night out. She hoped Danika was wrong about the drama.

  It was an unseasonably warm night. Gabe had been sitting in a red Honda Civic in front of Julie’s apartment with the windows rolled down for the past half hour. She wasn’t late; he was early. She still had five minutes before she’d be late, but he was about ready to pull away from the curb and disappear from her life forever.

  This was a stupid fucking idea. A nice girl like her didn’t need to be getting mixed up with him. It was possible that his radar was wrong, but barring any eleventh hour blushing confessions, this girl was about as vanilla as God could have ever hoped to make one. She was sweet and a bit demure, and something in her screamed to something inside him. But the things he was into would scare her. She’d never go for it. That much he was sure of.

  It wasn’t as if he planned to break out the whips and chains on date one. He had no intentions of sleeping with her tonight. No, tonight was an interview, though he already knew she wasn’t the right fit for the position he wanted her in. Clearly he had the thinnest ribbon of masochism blended with his sadism or he wouldn’t be bothering with this. He was already bargaining with himself.

  Along with a few friends, he ran a large secret, very illicit house that trained young kinky women into slaves for wealthy men who were similarly wired. A lot of money exchanged hands for this unorthodox service. As one of the partners, Gabe spent a lot of time naked with equally naked beautiful submissive women who ached to please him.

  Surely that was enough to scratch his itches. Julie didn’t have to actually belong to him. Couldn’t he have some nice vanilla thing with her and get his needs met at the house? Of course, he couldn’t imagine this girl would actually go along with any of that. It would be cheating to her. No doubt she expected a nice, decent man who only had eyes for her and who liked to cuddle. Well, at least she could get one of those things. Gabe liked to cuddle. Never let it be said he was all growl and no purr.

  But if things went forward with her, he’d have to keep his work a secret. He hated lying. Why did he have to want this woman so much? Typically vanillas did nothing for him. He might notice one was attractive. He might app
reciate that beauty from a distance, but there was no urge to get closer... to know her. Because it couldn’t go anywhere. And what excited him most wasn’t how a woman looked, it was how she submitted under his hand and begged for the opportunity to obey his commands.

  Yet, for the past eight months, he’d been torturing himself going to Dani’s to flirt with the bartender who looked far too sweet and pure to ever work in such a dive. He wanted to rescue her and whisk her away to the house. He wanted her to be like him so it would be some dream come true rather than something that would elicit horror, as he was sure it would in reality.

  Whenever he’d visited the bar and flirted with her, every bit of kinky innuendo had sailed right over her adorable head. But despite all these realities, he couldn’t stop thinking about her, dreaming about her, experiencing phantom scents of her perfume only to turn and find her not there. Finding her not there would stir an irrational anger in him that kept him going back to see her, to smell her in real life, to pretend this could be something.

  So here he was... for an interview Julie didn’t know was an interview for a position he already knew she wasn’t equipped to fill and wouldn’t want to. There was no way this woman would ever willingly kneel at his feet and call him master. Never in a million years.

  Julie came out of her apartment then, wearing jeans and a dark red V-neck sweater. Her auburn hair was gently curled and hanging freely down her back, something he never got to see at the bar. Around her throat was a gold choker-type necklace. It looked way too much like a collar.

  Gabe gripped the steering wheel and took a long, deep breath. He had to remind himself she wasn’t doing it to taunt him. She had no idea what seeing her like that did to him or what a band of metal like that around a girl’s neck meant in his world.