by Ford, Brynn
He removed my hands and pulled his rock hard cock free from his black boxer briefs. He grabbed my face with urgency, pulling me into his fevered kiss. I curled my legs around his hips, digging my heels into him to urge him closer. He grabbed my ass, scooping me forward until I was teetering on the edge of the table. I felt like I would fall off, but he held me tight.
Vaughn would never let me fall.
I reached between us, grabbing his length and guiding it to my entrance.
“Fuck me, please, V,” I pleaded and sighed when he pushed inside me with haste to oblige.
He rocked into me slowly, rhythmically, his thumb finding my swollen, achy clit and pressing in soft and sensual circles. I was so primed, so ready to take him that I could already feel my orgasm building.
I held onto Vaughn with one hand around his neck. The other fell behind me on the table for balance and to angle myself so he could hit just the right spot.
There.
Right fucking there.
“Vaughn,” his name slithered from my lips as a whisper, a prayer.
The sweet release of my climax climbed from a low valley within me, building and creeping upward toward the peak. I trembled as Vaughn pressed with his thumb, taking me higher up that mountain and somehow holding me there at the summit in the most beautifully blissful feeling I’ve ever known. That’s when he came inside me, pushing me over the edge before I fell and fell in his arms.
I took his face in my hands as soon as I felt steady enough to take my hand from the table and pressed my lips to his, feather light and doting.
I whispered against our kiss, “Thank you, thank you so much. You don’t know what you’ve given me.”
He rested his forehead against mine as he caught his breath, “I know what I gave you, baby. I would give you anything you want, anything that will make you happy. I promise, Desi. I hope you believe that now.”
I felt the fresh tears form behind my eyes, “I do. I really do. I’m so in love with you, Vaughn.”
He smiled with the light of a thousand suns, “You're my girl forever, Holly Blue. I love you.”
* * * * *
Law had left us after the last brutal smack, leaving Vaughn and me alone in semi-private bliss. I felt a pang in my gut when I learned he had gone, the stab twisting like a knife as I realized I had never noticed him leave.
Vaughn and I dressed and left Black Ties together, happy as ever, but I couldn’t shake the worry I had over what this experience had done to Law. It was no secret that he wanted me, no secret that I wanted him, too, though it made me sick to admit to myself. We both knew it could never happen.
But, God, the sensation he gave me with that riding crop over my naked body, against my most sensitive parts, brought my dangerous curiosity for him flooding back to the surface. It wasn’t that I wanted him, but that I wanted them. Being held down and teased and tortured by Vaughn and Law at the same time was paradise. I’d felt loved, honored, respected, worshiped. Somehow they had made me feel worthy of the attention and adoration. Somehow they had made me feel worthy of pleasure, deserving. The memory of it brought grateful tears back to my eyes.
I collected my belongings from my locker in the Transition Room and met Vaughn outside Black Ties on the sidewalk. He was beaming at me, absolute heaven shining from his eyes with a broad smile that wrinkled the corners of his eyes into crow’s feet. I would’ve been a puddle on the sidewalk if he hadn’t held me so tightly in his arms.
“I wanna do something before we go home. Do you trust me?”
I answered without hesitation, giving him an easy smile, “Yes.”
We walked a couple of blocks, giggling and playing like the young idiots we were. It felt so good to be with him without awful, disgusting, despair hanging over our heads. I felt hopeful and light as he hoisted me up over his shoulder playfully, carrying me the last block to his intended destination. He set me down and spun me around to face a store front. An orange neon sign burned the word “Tattoo” in the shop window.
“You’re getting your first tonight, baby.”
“Now?” I was a bit taken aback, “I don’t even know what I would get, Vaughn. Or where.”
“You said you trusted me, right?” he charmed me with his mischievous grin, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close.
He drew a smile from my soul, “Of course.”
“Then trust me to choose for you.”
I hesitated. I trusted him with my life. But did I trust him to permanently mark my body with an unknown image in a yet to be disclosed location? Nerves gave me pause, but the way his hand came up to stroke my cheek hypnotized me with love for him, reminding me that he would never do anything I didn’t want him to do. That kind of trust was magical and I wanted to give him this gift in exchange for what he gave me.
“Let’s do it,” I grinned and he wasted no time pulling me inside.
Vaughn introduced me to the artist who had created the elaborate family tree tattoo he had gotten for me and Lucy just months ago. He left me out front while they went back to the artist’s chair to discuss my tattoo without me.
I hovered near the entrance, taking my time to observe the hundreds of images hung up on the walls, left there to provide patrons with ideas and inspiration for their own tattoos. I found myself drawn to the butterflies. Not only because I was nicknamed for the Holly Blue, but because of their innate beauty.
Sure, butterfly tattoos were predictable and typical, but they were popular for a reason. They were a symbol of transformation, of metamorphosis, of the beauty that comes when emerging from solitude.
I’d been burrowed in a cocoon of depression for so long and I was ready to emerge from it and see what I would become.
I was reminded of Law and what he had told me about pain when we first met. He’d told me that women don’t just endure it, but transform from it. I didn’t agree at the time and I don’t think I really understood what he meant then. But it was starting to become more clear. I could see it now, how pain can trigger a metamorphosis of sorts.
I glanced behind me toward the back of the room where Vaughn sat with the artist and I caught him watching me, smiling. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and tucked a loose stand of hair behind my ear, feeling uncharacteristically bashful.
A few minutes later, he came over to me. I placed my hands on his chest, rising up onto the balls of my feet to kiss him.
“Is he ready?” I asked, referring to the tattoo artist.
“Yeah, ready if you are.”
I nodded, “Just promise you’re not gonna have him write ‘mine’ on my forehead or something.”
“Ah, fuck,” he turned behind him and shouted to the artist, “Tony, we have to change everything.”
I smacked him playfully on the chest, giggling as the whole shop paused to look at us. He flashed me a dazzling grin before taking my hand and leading me toward the back of the room.
I didn’t ask any questions, I didn’t demand to know what it would be or where it would be placed on my body. Instead I gave Vaughn every ounce of faith I had that he wouldn’t steer me wrong.
They took me to a room behind a beaded curtain where there was a table I could lie on. Everything that had happened with Law and Vaughn at Black Ties less than an hour ago came rushing back into memory in a blur of amazement. That memory would always be a reminder that I could trust Vaughn with every part of me and I was so, so grateful for it.
They asked me to lie on the table on my stomach and I did, resting my head on my arms. Vaughn gathered the hair that had fallen from my sex-hair updo and pushed it aside. I knew then that whatever image he had chosen was going near my right shoulder when Tony the tattoo artist began to clean the area.
Tony positioned the template and it covered the expanse between my shoulder and shoulder blade. It wasn’t large, but it wasn’t small either. He asked Vaughn to confirm that the placement looked good and he agreed that it did. I flinched as the needle touched my skin, pricking
and stinging. But it wasn’t so bad. Nothing compared to being smacked on the clit with a riding crop.
We were there for a couple of hours. I had the sense that there were a lot of delicate details in the image given the way the artist worked. The more time that passed the more anxious and excited I got to see the artwork Vaughn had picked to display on my body for the rest of my life.
When it was finally done, I hopped up off the table, hardly able to contain my enthusiasm. Tony handed me a small hand mirror and lead me to a full-length mirror that hung from the wall. I turned my back toward the wall mirror, smiling at Vaughn as I held up the hand mirror in front of me, angling it until my eyes fell on the artwork at my shoulder.
Three pale, Holly Blue butterflies rested lightly on my skin. They were different sizes, one large, one medium, one small. The black ink that outlined their shape popped beautifully over the baby blue watercolor that created the details of their wings in an artistic fashion.
It was striking, stunning, and unique.
It was absolutely perfect.
I asked Vaughn to snap a picture and we looked at it together on his phone.
“It’s perfect, V. But how did you get the design worked out with Tony so fast?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Actually, I’ve had Tony working on it for a couple of months.”
“Months?”
“Yeah. I have dreams about you from our wedding, you know? The way you looked when you smiled at me in the garden, with that butterfly practically attached to your shoulder. I dream about it, seeing you in front of this bright light and that Holly Blue just melts into your skin, it becomes a part of you. In my dream, it looks like a tattoo. I knew you’d get one eventually and I wanted to show this to you as a possibility. Tonight it just felt right to put this on you.”
“But it’s three. Three butterflies.”
“Yeah, it’s our family, babe. It’s me and it’s you and it’s Lucy.”
I reached my arms around his neck, ignoring the twinge of pain from the fresh tattoo as my skin stretched. I pulled him close, inhaling his masculine scent.
I pulled back just enough to look at him, “You are everything, Vaughn Cooper.”
His brow furrowed as his eyes glassed over, regarding me with gratitude that I didn’t understand, “You are everything, Desi.”
“Let’s go home, okay?”
Vaughn smiled from his eyes, “You read my mind, babe.”
Chapter 29
Law
I’d been given something that I was never meant to have and I had to let it be enough. Walking out of that room knowing it could be the last time I put my hands on Desi was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do.
When I left the room at Black Ties, I looked back once, only once, when I pulled the velvet rope closed again after my exit. Vaughn was fucking her and it would’ve killed me to see it if it weren’t for the way she looked.
Her hair had been a tangled mess, falling in chestnut strands and pieces from her updo, framing her perfect face. Her cheeks were rosy from exertion and arousal. Her eyes sparkled like rare chocolate diamonds.
I envied the way she looked at Vaughn, the way she fed his soul with her diamond eyes as he gave her the pleasure I was desperate to give. I was tempted to stay, just long enough to watch her as she came. I had fantasized about it so many times, after each and every pain session with her.
My body wanted to feel her body.
My heart wanted to know her heart.
My soul wanted to feed her soul.
But she didn’t need that from me. She needed it from Vaughn. And I had to find a way to be happy that she was getting everything she needed now, even if it wasn’t from me.
As unexpected as our almost-threesome encounter at Black Ties had been tonight, I was glad it happened. It was something Desi desperately wanted and needed from us both.
It was comforting to see that Vaughn was naturally dominant in the way she needed, but in a more playful way that seemed to bring out the best in Desi. For me, it gave me the peace of mind I needed to walk away from her if they decided they’d had enough of me. Though I hoped that wasn’t the case.
Vaughn seemed to be a good guy, attentive to her wants and needs, a man who loved her and appreciated her the way she deserved. And I’d been impressed by the natural way he’d taken charge of her body and mind. I had justified the sneaky pain sessions with Desi behind his back for too long, all because I thought he couldn’t give her what I could. I’d been wrong.
Given our few, brief phone conversations and from what I’d seen tonight, it was clear Vaughn could give her more than I ever could have. That understanding bruised my ego. That’s why I’d had to walk away. Any involvement I might possibly have with them in the future was their call to make.
It killed me to think she could shut me out of her life entirely now. I had to hope we could at least remain friends, despite the pain it would cause me not to touch her. I didn’t know what she would think of me when they finished and she realized I’d left. I didn’t know what she would think of me when the high wore off and she realized what had happened.
Will she be embarrassed?
Angry?
Broken hearted?
Desperate for more?
I hoped selfishly that she would fantasize about it when she was alone, that she would touch herself thinking of me torturing her tits and her clit. I smiled to myself remembering how she’d told me in a text message so long ago that her “tits and clit” were off limits to me. I guess time really can change the rules.
In any case, she and Vaughn were finding whatever it was that was lost when their child died and I knew in my gut he wouldn’t let her needs go unsatisfied ever again.
I took a cab home and by the time I reached my front door, I felt drained. Physically, I was exhausted from prolonged tension I was holding onto throughout my body. Emotionally, I was spent.
I carried my blazer over my arm as I entered my penthouse apartment, wishing I could text Desi good night. I reached up to loosen my tie as I locked the door behind me. I scaled half the steps of the spiral staircase before I noticed the lights were on upstairs.
I had a flash fantasy that Desi was there, upstairs, waiting for me in my bedroom, having realized that she wants me more than she wants Vaughn. I forced the thought away, knowing that would never happen, knowing that entertaining such waking dreams would only hurt me in the end.
Finally, I remembered that I had insisted Ris stay here tonight after what happened at Black Ties with Asher. He was a drunken prick. He actually used to be a decent friend of mine until he asked to borrow money from me once and then gambled it all way. He still owed me, though I’d stopped bringing it up. Mostly for Christine’s sake.
They’d been together for a couple of years, their relationship having started much like hers and mine did. It was strictly power exchange and pain play at Black Ties in the beginning. But unlike my power exchange relationship with Ris, she fell in love with Asher.
Asher fell in love with Ris for all the right reasons. Ris fell in love with Asher for all the wrong reasons.
And because of that, he had been taking advantage of her real life power as a successful attorney by abusing the power she gave to him in their personal relationship. Slowly, Asher was becoming drunk on the control he had over such a strong woman. He thrived on commanding her in their relationship. That might have been okay for most dominant and submissive couples, but not for Ris.
Ris was a switch. Most of the time, she preferred to be submissive. She always justified it as a release for her mind from the stressors of having such a high-profile, high-stakes job as a public defender. But every so often, she wanted to be in charge, she wanted to be dominant. Incidentally, it’s the reason our relationship ended far sooner than I had wanted it to, because I just couldn’t give her that. Asher never preferred to submit to her, but he’d been willing to indulge her every now and then, so she’d moved on from me to him
after only eight months.
Now, it appeared that Asher was no longer willing to give her any power in their relationship and seemed to be misunderstanding where the line of consent was. She would never admit it if I asked, but it was clear to me she wanted out now. She needed out now.
At the top of the stairs, I turned left toward the guest bedroom, but saw that the door was closed. I was itching to talk to Ris, make sure she was okay, tell her about what happened, lean on her as a friend. But seeing as the door was shut, I wasn’t going to cross any boundaries, even if it was in my own home.
Instead I turned right and immediately noticed that my bedroom door was wide open and the lights were on. As I approached, I realized Ris was in there. I appeared in the doorway, casually leaning against the frame.
“I figured you’d be asleep in the guest room when I got home.”
She jumped, startled by my sudden appearance “Shit, you scared me.”
Ris was sitting in the plush, black leather armchair that sat in the far corner of my bedroom near the large picture window. She had her silver laptop, which she took with her literally everywhere, resting on her lap. Her thick rimmed, black reading glasses had slid down the slope of her small nose ever so slightly. That was a signature look for her when she was working outside of the office. It was rather adorable, really.
“The door was locked,” she told me, “to the guest room. I tried the key you gave me but no luck.”
“Shit, sorry,” I apologized, “I only gave you the house key. The housekeepers must have locked the guest room accidentally when they came through.”
I kept a separate lock on that room for guests, specifically for subs who I wanted to invite for an extended stay. I felt it necessary to give them their own private space with a separate key for peace of mind that their comfort and safety was my priority. That space was their space, not mine.
“I hope you don’t mind I’m in here. I actually tried to sleep here for a bit, but my mind is buzzing.”
“Of course. Are you okay?”
