by Brook Wilder
"Look at me," he said. "Did I give you permission to break eye contact?"
I held my ground, and he responded with three more swats on the rear. After that, I made sure to find his eyes with mine the second he stepped around, but not out of any desire to please him. All I wanted was for the spanking to stop. The logical part of my mind was screaming at me to give the safe word gesture and end the scene. I sure wasn't enjoying myself, and I could tell that Garrett wasn't having the time of his life either. I pressed on, though, hoping that by going along with the scene, I might recall some of those trusting, happy feelings that had flooded through me the night at the hotel.
Garrett sighed and stepped behind me. I knew he could sense how tense I was, and I realized that he was employing the same tactic I was. Instead of slowing down or stopping completely, he was pressing onward in the hopes that I would break down and open myself up again. I heard the scrape of his dresser drawer and a rustle as he rifled through the contents. When he stepped back into my line of sight, I saw that he now had a whip and a silk blindfold. He put the blindfold on me, gently caressing the side of my face when he was done. Though I was now more nervous than ever because I couldn't see what he was doing, part of me was glad I didn't have to focus on keeping eye contact.
"Stay where you are," he said, "And remember what to do if this becomes too much. I want to break you Laina, and it won't be pleasant."
I nodded, gritting my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut behind the silk fabric as I braced for impact. I heard the swish of the whip as he raised his arm. I expected to feel the sting of the whip any second now, but instead, I heard a loud bang in the distance. Shouting was coming from down the hall, and I wondered briefly if this was all part of Garrett's plan.
"What the?" he said in a tone that made it very clear that this was a surprise to him as well.
I stood and tugged at my blindfold, managing to get it off despite my bound wrists. I opened my eyes just in time to see a group of police officers swarm into the living room. As soon as they saw Garrett, all of their attention locked on him.
"On your knees and hands behind your head!" one of them shouted, waving a gun in his face.
I watched him hit the floor with a bewildered look on his face. He glanced at me and I did my best to convey that I had no idea what was going on either.
"What the hell is going on?" he asked as another officer stepped behind him to cuff him.
"Stand up," the first officer barked.
The officer behind Garrett didn't want for him to move and, instead, pulled Garrett up to his feet. They marched him out of the room, and he thrashed against his restraints. He shot one look back at me and I saw malice creeping into his eyes.
"Laina! Did you do this?" he yelled. I shook my head violently, but he didn't seem to believe me. "I thought we had something different, or are you just another slut out for my money?"
I couldn't answer as my mouth was still gagged, and the officers simply wrenched his head back around. As soon as Garrett was out of the room, it seemed like the remaining two officers finally noticed that I was there. Their eyes went wide before they dropped their gaze to the floor. One of them managed to find one a blanket and he draped it over my shoulders. It finally hit me that I was standing there, stark naked with a gag in my mouth and my skin turned hot.
Neither of them made another move to touch me and they both scurried out of the room toward their teammates in the hall despite my muffled cries. The cuffs were still on my wrists and locked in place, and the police had just dragged away the man with the only key. With an unhappy grunt, I drew the blanket tighter around me as I gazed out of the windows at the glitter of the city below.
What I had tried to tell Garrett was true. Despite all of my doubts and anxiety, the last thing I would do was call the police on him. Not only would that tarnish his image, which I had no desire to do, it would also put my own future in jeopardy. That last thought hit me with a wave of anxiety. I could stand to lose my scholarships if the school found out what I was doing here. I wasn't sure how exactly this fell under the several 'good conduct' contracts I signed, but being caught bound and gagged in a billionaire's penthouse surely didn't reflect well on my character.
"Yes, Mr. Nassar," I heard a voice say in the hallway. "She's right in here."
My heart dropped as I watched Victor turn the corner into the living room. He saw me and gave me a quick, vindictive smile which dropped as soon as the police officer turned his attention back to Victor.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
"Thank you, sir," he said in a sugary sweet voice. "I'm just glad she's alright."
"Now that you've seen her," the officer replied, "I'll ask that you step back into the hallway so we can get your official statement.”
"Of course," Victor replied smoothly.
I watched them walk out, but their footsteps stopped just outside the door. I couldn't hear what the officer was saying, but Victor's voice floated through the door.
"I know it might sound strange, but she's my girlfriend and …"
I tried to scream against the gag, but it only came out as a muffled cry. I tried to reach around and take it out of my mouth, but I just couldn't get my bound hands around to the clasp. With a frustrated sigh, I ran to the door to hear what lies Victor was spreading now. I pressed my ear against the wood, straining to make out his voice.
"…called you because I saw her follow this man into his penthouse."
"Why would your girlfriend be following Mr. Rutherford?"
"Well, it's kind of a sensitive subject, but she's been in a really tight spot monetarily speaking for the past few months. Her father has a lot of medical bills he can't pay, so she tries her best to help him. She told me last night that Mr. Rutherford had offered her a job as his personal assistant."
"And this made you suspicious?"
"Of course," Victor replied smoothly. "I'd heard rumors of Mr. Rutherford's, ah, unconventional desires from another girl he'd tried to pick up."
"So you suspected that he might try to seduce your girlfriend? Is it possible that she went along with his actions willingly? I hate to imply that she was cheating on you, Mr. Nassar, but I have to ask the question."
"I know my Laina, and she would never be coerced into something like this unless it was against her will. I honestly hoped that this would all be a false alarm, I didn't expect to find her like that…"
He made a hiccupping sound like he was holding back tears, and my blood started to boil. What the hell did Victor thing he was doing? I tried to make out more of the conversation, but all I heard was their footsteps as they retreated further down the hall. I rested my head against the door, trying desperately to hold back angry tears. I almost fell forward when the door opened suddenly, and another police officer stepped through.
"Miss Albertson," a young officer said, his eyes pointedly staring at the floor as his face flushed red, "I've been told to, uh, make you more presentable."
He had a bolt cutter in his hands, and it wasn't long until both my cuffs and the gag were removed.
"Thank you," I said.
"Now if you wouldn't mind getting dressed," he said, his eyes still on the floor, "We would like to get your statement."
"Gladly," I said. "Would you mind bringing me my clothes? They're in the bedroom and I'd hate to have to parade past everyone in the hallway."
The officer nodded and scurried out of the room. He returned with my clothes quickly and tossed them to me before retreating again. After I had dressed, I made my way into the hall and approached the detective who I had seen talking with Victor. Victor himself was standing outside the kitchen, chatting jovially with another officer.
"You must be Ms. Albertson," he said as I approached.
"I am," I replied, smiling confidently. This was my chance to set the record straight, and I couldn't afford to look weak. “I was told I would need to give a statement?"
"Oh, there'll be no need for that," he replied breezily. "Your boyfr
iend's statement is good enough for us..."
"Excuse me?" I replied indignantly. "What if I want to give a statement?"
The officer said nothing in reply and simply turned to walk down the hall away from me. I wanted to chase him down and strangle him until he heard my side of the story, but I knew that it was a moot point. I looked around at the other officers in the room, but none of them would meet my eye. I started walking to the door and it wasn't until I pushed the down button the elevator that a police officer reached out to stop me.
"Excuse me, miss," he said to a point just to the right of my head, "Your boyfriend would like to speak to you."
"He's not my boyfriend," I said tartly as the officer started to drag me toward Victor. "What he told you guys is a lie, what actually happened was…"
"Oh there you are, Laina," Victor said sweetly when he saw us approach. "I was looking for you. Thank you, Officer Barnes."
"Anytime," he said with a tip of his hat.
He then walked over to join two of his colleagues that were talking over steaming cups of coffee. I looked around the apartment again to see the place swarming with even more police officers and a couple of detectives, all either chatting, snapping photos or carrying frightening looking toys in clear evidence bags. I wanted to scream at them all to leave, but if the past hour was any indication, no one would bother listening to me. I turned to Victor to see him standing next to me with a smug look on his face.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I hissed at him.
"I'm telling just telling the truth, sweetheart," he said. His voice still carried a sugary sweetness that barely masked the smug tone that lurked beneath. "Why don't we go home, you look exhausted?"
"If you think I'm going anywhere with you, you have another thing coming..."
"Excuse me, Officer Barnes," he interrupted, hailing the officer. "Would it be possible for us to head back to our apartment?"
"Certainly," he said. "I believe we've gotten everything we need from the both of you. How about I give you two a lift?"
"Sounds great!" Victor said with a grin.
Part of me wanted to resist, to not get into that police cruiser with Victor, but a larger, stronger part of me just wanted to go home and curl up in bed. This was easily the worst day I'd ever had in a long time, and I didn't even want to think of the repercussions Victor's little stunt would spell for Garrett. I followed the two men into the elevator and down onto the street. They joked and laughed with each other the entire time, and I wondered how anyone was actually buying Victor's story. If I had discovered my significant other bound and beaten by a strange woman, I'd certainly not be in the mood to joke around.
When we reached the street, Officer Barnes told us to wait on the curb while he pulled the cruiser around. As soon as we were alone, the happy look dropped from Victor's face. I had a million things to say to him at the moment, but my seething anger kept me from forming the actual words.
"I only did this for your own good," he said quietly.
"Yeah, my own good, sure," I replied.
He shot me an irritated glance, but the cruiser pulled up before he could form a response. We both climbed in, and Officer Barnes turned to speak to us.
"Where to?" he asked.
I blurted out my address before Victor could get a word in edgewise. He glanced at me in irritation, and I was afraid for a moment that he'd correct me. There was no way in hell I was going back to Victor's apartment tonight, and I would have started screaming bloody murder if Officer Barnes had tried to drop me off there. I gave Victor a glare that I'm sure could curdle milk, and he sat back in his seat with his mouth firmly closed.
"So," the officer said, breaking the awkward silence, "You two been dating long?"
I gave Victor a pointed look and turned my attention to the window. He was the one who wanted to pretend we were dating, not me, and I wasn't about to have any part in his lie. I spent the rest of the ride in silence while Victor fielded the officer's questions about us. He managed to spin a fantastic story about how we met at freshman orientation and fell in love instantly. As he fleshed out the details, I realized that this was how he pictured our ideal relationship, and how he'd rewrite our history if he could. I felt nauseous listening to him because he seemed to paint me as this little naive girl who couldn't wait to become a housewife and raise his children. It felt like the single longest car ride in my life and I almost wept when we finally pulled up to my building.
"Thank you for the ride," I said quickly as I hopped out. Victor followed quickly after me.
"Of course," Officer Barnes replied. "Stay safe you two!"
As the cruiser pulled away, I realized I was finally alone with Victor and the thought sent shivers down my spine. He turned to me with a predatory look on his face and grabbed my wrist before I could do anything else.
CHAPTER TWENTY
"Let me walk you up," Victor said as the cruiser pulled up to the curb.
I said nothing in reply and climbed out of the car without a looking backward. Unfortunately, he took my silence as consent and followed me up to the entrance. I heard the cops pull away as we started to climb the stairs and my mind was spinning with all I wanted to say to Victor. As we approached the apartment door, I heard the sound of the T.V. blaring on the other side. With a sigh, I opened the door.
"Hey, Laina," my roommate, Jeff, called from the couch.
He didn't even look away from the screen as I stormed past him into my bedroom. I was actually kind of glad he was there, though. The last thing I wanted right now was to be completely alone with Victor. Maybe the knowing that there was someone else in the house would keep him in line. Victor still followed and shut my bedroom door behind him after we had both entered. I set my purse down on my bed and kept ignoring him as I rifled through my closet. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but the actions kept me busy.
"Look, Laina," he said. "I'm sorry."
I snapped around at him and saw him wince at my expression. He did have a genuinely apologetic look on his face, but I wasn't about to back down. For all the shit he pulled this afternoon, a simple 'sorry' just wasn't going to cut it.
"Sorry? That's all you have to say?"
"Well, yeah. What else should I say?" he said sheepishly. "You forgive me, right?"
"Hell no," I spat, doing my best to keep my voice down. The last thing I wanted was to have a screaming match with my roommate on the other side of the wall. "Not after the mountain of lies you told to the police. Garrett wasn't doing anything wrong!"
"What was I supposed to do?" he said. "He was hurting you, Laina. I mean, I'd only suspected before, but I saw what he did to you tonight. I had to take some sort of action."
"You could have talked to me before going to the police!"
"Laina, he had you handcuffed! The police officers said he had a whip in his hand!"
"Yeah, and if you'd actually talked to me first you might have learned that what we were doing was consensual!"
Victor stared at me, his mouth hanging open. I immediately regretted what I had said, but there was no taking it back.
"You're telling me you're actually into that kind of shit?" he asked quietly.
"Don't act so surprised," I said. "You knew what Garrett was into, you said it yourself the other day. Hell, you made an entire Facebook group devoted to the topic!"
"Yeah, but it's different, uh, hearing you say it."
He fell silent and I debated what to do next. Victor needed to leave, now, before I said anything else I regretted, but I wasn't quite sure how to get him out.
"Victor, I think you should go," I said, trying the simplest tactic first.
"No," he said. "Not before I get a chance to explain myself."
"Then explain. You don't deserve the chance, not by a long shot, but if it means you'll finally leave me alone, I'll listen."
I sat down on my desk chair and crossed my arms, giving him an expectant look.
"Look. What I did was st
upid, I realize that. I'm talking both about the rumors I spread and what I did tonight. I know I should have talked to you first, but I panicked, ok? I just want to look out for you, Laina. He was hurting you, whether you think you liked it or not. Guys like him should be in jail, and there's no argument that can change my opinion on that."
"Victor…" I started.
"No. I love you, Laina. I've loved you ever since I first met you, and the feeling's only grown during the time I've know you."
"Why didn't you ever say anything before?"
"I know it's shitty timing, but I was always so nervous, you know? What if you rejected me? I'd be heartbroken and you'd probably never want to see me again. That would have been too much for me to handle, so I played it safe. I've watched you date other guys and was content knowing that someday you'd come around and we'd be together. When I saw you holding hands with Garrett, though, something snapped. I knew I needed to give it a shot before it was too late."
