The Fire Saga (The Club)

by Katherine Rhodes

  “Apparently not. We just shared similar things.”

  “Like the lifestyle?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper on the last word.

  “Yes.”

  Veronica vigorously passed the already tattered kitchen towel back and forth over the Formica counter even though there was no dirt left.

  Nick shook his head, his hand running through his close cropped hair, and lightly pressing his fingers over his eyes. He exhaled. “There were so many things that could go wrong. The clinical director told him that. I told him that. A patient could die.”

  “But Danny didn't. At least not right away. Christopher's treatment did help Danny and for a time I saw hope shining in my brother’s eyes once more. Christopher had given him hope. so whatever Christopher did to me was worth getting my brother back.” She threw the ragged towel into the trash can in the corner before hugging herself. As if that could fend off the cold she felt inside every time she remembered what she had to sacrifice. Who would have thought that the last person she expected to unburden was a Dom, the very embodiment of all that she feared. And all that she craved. She always believed that there was something more to the pain, that she'd experience more pleasure. Despite what Christopher had done to her and what he drummed into her head about abject servitude to Dominants, her gut instinct told her that there was something different out there. Even though what her husband did to her made her shun sex almost completely, at times she still longed to experience the better side of sex. And right now, she was thinking that maybe Nick…

  I’m so not going there! I’m still married, dammit!

  And there was the rub.

  “It's two in the morning.” Nick noted gently. “Do you still want to continue?”

  She nodded, darting a glance at him.

  “You might want to go. Jet lag and all.” She made the offer, even though the idea of him leaving left a twinge of disappointment inside her chest.

  “Don't have any.” Nick's mouth turned downward while he shook his head. “I'd like to stay if you'll let me.”

  Chapter Seven

  Nick watched Veronica's body language. There was nothing more he wanted to do than take her in his arms. When he saw her shudder after hugging herself, he wanted to carry her to the sofa bed and let her sit on his lap while he administered aftercare. He didn't have any chocolate with him, but perhaps soft words and a kiss or two would do? God, he hadn't been this indecisive as a Dom since he was trained, and that was more than a decade ago. Christopher really did a number on his wife and all Nick wanted to do was to beat him to a pulp. Nick had known about the pioneering work. Hell, he'd worn Christopher down with all of the technical questions he had asked him.

  He just didn't realize that Veronica's brother had been Christopher's guinea pig.

  “Go on, then.” He prodded quietly. His chest tightened at the vulnerability he saw on her beautiful face, the need to touch her almost drowning him.

  Veronica nodded. She walked around the room once more, giving Nick a glimpse of the fluidity of her movements in the swaying of her hips and her legs encased in slim fitting denims. When she had her back to him, she gave him a full display of the roundness of her buttocks...

  Travers, get your mind out of Dom mode!

  “Money started to dwindle,” she said. “Not even my job in the investment bank was enough to keep Danny's treatment going let alone keeping the roof over our heads. The disability benefits weren’t enough either and to top it off I didn't get the promotion I was banking on because my attention was split between my job and my anxiety for my brother.” She sighed, staring into space. “It was getting harder. So I spoke to Christopher, begging for the treatment to continue and I would pay it in instalments. He refused.”

  Nick looked away, his face hardening. Bloody hell, how could he not have known Christopher's cruelty? Or had just looked the other way?

  “He gave me an alternative instead,” Veronica spoke once more. She laughed without joy, her face mirroring her cynicism. “I called it an ultimatum. He said he didn't want me to be mired in debt. The great Christopher Duffy had a heart of gold after all, I thought. When I thanked him, he said he needed something from me.”

  “What was that?”

  “In exchange for Danny's treatment, he asked me to marry him.” She heaved a huge breath. “I knew it was too good to be true. Life didn't give me and Danny any favours when we were inside the system. I worked my ass off to get to the stage where I was in my job. Why would it be any different? I just never really understood what I was getting myself into.”

  “So when Danny died, you disappeared.” Nick stated.

  “Not right away. I told Christopher I wanted a divorce. He said no. I threatened him, told him I was going to the police. He told me we had an agreement. I didn't bloody care, I just wanted out. He became conciliatory but I wasn't having it. After so many times and he refused to acknowledge my safe word --”

  Nick inhaled sharply. “He what?”

  Veronica shook her head. “Not even when I had a ball gag, I didn't have a safe gesture.” Her smile was tired, as if she had recounted what she went through so many times before. “I just had to take it.”

  “Fuck!” Nick couldn't remain seated. He gulped several breaths to rein in his fury. “Fuck!” Hands on his hips he paced the apartment.

  Veronica remained by the sink, her eyes wary, almost fearful. Nick saw her grip the counter behind her. Bloody hell, he didn't want her to see him lose control, not after what she went through with Christopher. He needed to get a grip. This just wouldn't do. “I need to go. I'm sorry. I'll see myself out.”

  He nearly wrenched the doorknob from its mounting. His jaw clenched but he was able to give one last parting shot.

  “For what it's worth, Veronica, you don't have to worry about me telling Christopher. He died in a boating accident last year off the coast of Monaco.” Then he added quietly, “You're free.”

  Nick closed the door behind him softly. He sure as hell wasn’t left with any doubt that that bit of news had shocked Veronica. At the moment he didn't care. His primary goal was to leave, hoping the open air cleared his mind of all the things he wanted to do to his dead friend. He had a macabre desire of exhuming the body only to beat it back to a huge mass of protoplasm. Then again he didn't want to soil his hands with his friend’s remains. Neither was he that disrespectful.

  He was deep in thought the entire time he walked to the hotel. The streets weren't completely deserted. There were still a few late night revellers taking it to the early hours of the morning. He walked past bistros and shops, the single fluorescent or soft yellow lights inside casting shadows against chairs upturned on tables and empty bars. The patio coolers had long been switched off but it didn't matter. Early morning Karim, with the skies lightening to a dusky and pale blue, was cool enough to make Nick shiver and insert his hands deep into his pockets.

  He breathed in the morning air, only too glad that the cooler temperature outside did wonders to the rage flowing through his veins. Fuck! His head jerked, a sign of denial. If Christopher was still alive, he’d make sure that his friend wouldn’t be able to step into any reputable BDSM club again.

  How could have not have known? Not seen the signs when they had frequented clubs together prior to Christopher's marriage? He couldn’t have intervened even if he wanted to. Whatever was happening was between Christopher and his wife. Thinking of which, who was the dead woman Christopher had identified as Sherri? Several days after Sherri vanished the police received a call from a dog walker. A woman's body had been found covered in plastic. After Christopher had positively identified the dead woman, he had grieved. He had lost all will to treat patients that the hospital had to field his patients to his colleagues. At one point, Christopher had been the prime suspect in the investigation, now treated as a homicide. But they couldn't find any evidence, circumstantial or otherwise to connect him to the woman's death. It had become a cold case.

  A possibility niggle
d in Nick's mind that stopped him cold. What if it had been some elaborate undertaking on Christopher’s part? Could he have continued role playing with unsuspecting women and accidentally killed one of them? Could his friend have destroyed all evidence implicating himself? Nick knew how meticulous, methodical, and obsessively compulsive Christopher Duffy was about cleanliness.

  He looked up at Hotel Paradiso's facade, the lights still twinkling in welcome against the pre-dawn sky. But he couldn't move, too frozen with shock. Even if the point was neither here nor there, and questions couldn't be answered unless he requested that an investigation be opened up once more, Nick realized that he never really knew his friend at all.

  Chapter Eight

  Three Weeks Later

  Veronica wiped down the tables, cutting through pesky sticky blots left by spilled sauce or sugary desserts that stuck to the surface before making a sweep with the dishcloth and cleaning spray.

  She still couldn't believe the relief she felt talking to Nick. It took time to get out of the mindset that she didn't have to play the submissive in front of him. And Christopher's death. After the initial shock and as horrible as it sounded, it was the best thing her ex gave her. That and his decision to help Danny. The men in her life were both dead. One she mourned for, the other she rejoiced about.

  And now she was free. Free to live her life without having to hide any longer fearing that he’d come looking for her.

  Nick had visited her later that morning, calmer and contrite at his loss of temper. Veronica’s mouth lifted to one side at the memory. It was actually quite endearing to see a Dom look rueful and boyishly handsome despite his close cropped hair and angular features that had looked harsh and forbidding when he had gotten angry. They had continued talking more about what had happened to her since she decided to disappear. At no point did Nick make a pass at her that would make her believe that he'd ask something in exchange for being nice. She had told him more about Danny and how after several months undergoing treatment, Danny had developed a simple cold that had gotten worse. The treatment had apparently affected Danny's immune system that caused him to develop pneumonia. A week later, Danny was dead.

  Nick had left four days later. He didn't call in to see her to say goodbye, and why would he? Still when he left, Veronica suddenly felt empty. She convinced herself that it was for the better.

  “Veronica, you have a visitor,” Angelo hollered at her from the bar.

  “Angelo, pipe down,” she chided, shaking her head with an exasperated grin. She had a soft spot for the dark haired, tattooed nephew of her employer. His joy of life and daring reminded her so much of Danny. “There's no one here to make you shout loud enough to wake up the dead rattlers in the mountains.”

  He snorted. “Pah! I'll break their skeletons with my bare hands, bella. They won't get past this door.”

  Veronica walked around the wood and glass divider. “I wonder what Gemma...would...” Astonishment made her falter.

  “Say?” Angelo continued to wipe the bar counter, oblivious to the tension rising in the room. He wore a singlet that showed his well-defined form and tattoos. “First, she'll scream because I killed zombie rattlers then she'll make sweet love to me because I'm her hero.” When Veronica didn't reply, he stopped cleaning the bar and looked at her and the visitor. A knowing light entered his dark brown eyes. “Eh, I'll leave you two. I need to prepare for the crowd tonight.”

  No one listened to him. He rolled his eyes.

  “Cara, I'll leave you.” He turned to Veronica's visitor and winked. “Looks like she's got it bad for you, man.” The he wagged a finger. “Now don't go breaking my bella's, heart, capisce? You'll answer to me if you do.”

  “Angelo,” Veronica said in a strained voice.

  “I'm going. I'm going.” With a shrug he left the restaurant hollering once more at the other staff inside the kitchen until his voice became muffled by the kitchen door.

  “Hello, Veronica.” Nick smiled.

  “Hi.” Damn she smelled of sweat and onions that she had peeled earlier. She had planned on taking a shower after she had made sure that the restaurant was clean. She took a deep breath and she smelled his cologne in the air. She nearly closed her eyes at his clean masculine smell. She drank him in like someone starved of water for so long. His hair had grown, a sandy brown color. He wore tan trousers and a long sleeved white shirt rolled up to his elbows, and he had stubble that shadowed his jaw that made him sexier. “When did you arrive? I didn't think that you'd be coming back.”

  Shit, I'm starting to blab.

  His eyes crinkled at the sides. “Just today and decided to drop by from the airport.”

  Her stomach bottomed out and her heart picked up a deliriously happy beat. “You've not seen Adam yet?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Oh.” Dammit, she was like a nervous ninny. Why was she like a nervous ninny? “That's nice, ah...thank you.”

  “Sorry it took longer to come back.” Nick ran his hand through his hair and the way he looked at her cause her breasts to tingle.

  What the hell?

  “Why should you apologise?” Veronica angled her head to one side. “You came over here to see if Adam's private practice was something you'd consider.”

  “And I've considered it. I've decided to accept his offer.”

  “That's great!” She beamed. Oh man, she'd be seeing him in and around Karim now. All the more reason to stay in the kitchen...maybe? Butterflies flew in a frenzied twist inside her belly. Did he have a girlfriend? A wife? He might have brought her with him already and might have proceeded to the hotel. The thought was enough to bring her imagination to a grinding and deflating stop.

  Veronica moved away and entered the bar. “This calls for a celebration. It's on the house. What can I get you? A glass of wine? Chilled beer?” She gave a soft laugh. “Though we Brits don't exactly drink chilled beer.” She took a frozen beer stein from the freezer under the beverage shelves.

  Nick stepped forward and sat on one of the stools.

  “You, Veronica. I want you.”

  She nearly dropped the stein, immediately holding it with both hands and putting it in the counter.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I want you,” he said simply. “I want you to experience the lifestyle with me.” He blew out a breath. “I have always wanted you from the minute I saw you. When it came to you, I suddenly became selfish because I wanted you for myself. You didn’t belong to Christopher because I saw you with me.”

  Nick huffed out a laugh. “Did Christopher ever tell you that I asked about you?”

  Veronica looked at him, speechless.

  “No?” Nick tucked his hands into his pockets. He chortled softly. “Well I did. You know why? Because the strong and beautiful woman I saw getting married in the Registry was slowly withering in front of me.”

  “But I never saw you.” Veronica searched his face to see if he was making it all up. “I hardly visited the hospital because I was always with Danny.”

  “When you did, I watched in the shadows. Creepy isn’t it? But that was the only way I could catch a glimpse of you and you were slowly withering the longer you stayed with him.” Nick’s eyes darkened with how he felt and it made her blush. “I want you to know what it feels like to be truly cherished, Veronica. To be truly cared for. To know what real pleasure is.”

  She stared at him, her mouth agape. Her pulse beat furiously with every wave of sensual heat lapping at her body.

  “I want you to be my sub.”

  Veronica gasped. “What? Why?”

  “What Christopher did to you wasn't what a true Dom does. I just want you to experience the lifestyle and see what a Dom really is. With me.”

  Just like a dam, the fear she bottled up inside came sloshing out. Her throat burned, and she tried to swallow but she couldn’t do it. Her brain seemed to have forgotten how to do so. She took a deep breath and it appeared to reboot her brain. Scenes in Christopher's p
layroom, ran across her mind -- the hobby horses, the implements he used on her. She couldn't call them toys because toys denoted enjoyment. The sensation that glared at her was the excruciating pain she had to endure before experiencing pleasure. The biting cut of wood against her open skin before eager fingers played with her most intimate parts.

  “And how will I know that you won't be as cruel as Christopher? That I can trust you to listen and respect my safe word? Will you use the ball gag on me so that I don't scream? Will you paddle me to an inch of my life so that you can mark me as your property?”

  Veronica hadn't realized that her voice had risen until Angelo and some of the kitchen staff burst out of the swinging doors.

  “Veronica?”

  “Stay out of this, Angelo,” she snapped. She'd never done that before to anyone, but then she'd never been in this kind of situation either.

  Throughout her tirade, Nick listened, not interrupting her even though his face hardened.

  “I'm not forcing you to be my sub, Veronica. I'm inviting you if you'd like to do so. There's a difference. I'm giving you a choice.”

  “Just like what Christopher did?” She shot back, sarcasm dripping with every word. Bloody hell, she was so close to tears again and she hated it. She just wanted to stop crying.

  “No, not like what he did to you,” Nick said softly. He stood up from the bar stool. “I'll be at the Club tonight. If you want to try again, meet me there. I'll ask Adam to leave your name at the door. If you don't want to, I'll understand. I always will understand especially because it's you.”

  “You're not being fair,” she whispered. The mistiness in her eyes brimming and threatening to fall.

  “Yes, Veronica. I am. Whether you agree to meet me so that I can correct what was done to you or whether you decide not to do so, won't change a thing between us. I am still the man who will always want you.”