by Avery Gale
Trish hadn’t ever been in any of the offices, her interview had taken place in the club’s main room. She had learned later that wasn’t the way it was usually done and had often wondered why she hadn’t been allowed in Kyle and Kent’s office. Shaking off the feeling of isolation she always got before the slow slide into darkness. Trish refocused her attention on the task at hand as she slipped the sheathed knife into the top of her boot. She didn’t necessarily plan to kill the bitch that had stolen her men, but she wasn’t particularly opposed to the idea either.
*****
Peter stood to the side in the West brothers’ office and listened as Trac Hughes explained his part in the FBI’s investigation of Senator John Stevens. The man clearly didn’t like Stevens, but he was also adamant the prick seemed desperate to renew his relationship with Ms. Lanham. Trac agreed with the other members of the security team, it seemed unlikely Stevens was responsible for anything other than ordering his chief of security to watch Meri.
Dex leaned forward resting his forearms on his knees, grinning, “You deliberately botched the installation didn’t you?”
“Yeah and I erased most of the footage too.” He looked between Dex and Ash, “You two are a couple of ruthless bastards, damn.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out Meri’s assessment of the agent’s body language had been correct, the man was definitely a Dom. Hughes’ grin and soft chuckle gave away the fact he’d known exactly what had been taking place before any of them had spotted the equipment. Peter didn’t feel any deception from the agent, and was relieved to know pictures from the erotic scene hadn’t made their way into John Stevens’ hands. Peter could feel Trac’s disdain for the man he was investigating and couldn’t have agreed more.
Ever since the undercover agent had walked in the front door, Peter had felt unsettled, like he’d missed something important. Since the feeling persisted, he quietly excused himself making his way back to the front. Tank was deliberately holding people up as long as possible until he returned, but Peter noticed a short list of members that had already moved into the club. Glancing down he only noted one female member that was unescorted by a Dominant. Since everyone felt they were looking for a woman, hers was the name that caught his eye. “Tank, did you see Trish Jantz arrive?”
“Nope, but I saw her name on the list when I double checked the electronic sign in list, so I wrote her down. When members slide their card through the reader it notes the date and time of their arrival, so I’d say she came in about the same time you went down the hall with Mr. Hughes.” Tank was aptly named because the man was absolutely enormous. It wasn’t hard to see him as the professional football player he’d once been. What did blindside most people was the fact he was extremely bright. He worked at Prairie Winds because he liked the people, not because he had an interest in the lifestyle or needed the money. From what Peter had heard, Tank had invested the money he’d earned playing for the Cowboys rather than indulging in the extravagant lifestyle most professional athletes enjoy. After his last closed head trauma, the man had made the wise decision to walk away, and thanks to his foresight, had been financially able to do so.
*****
Meri leaned against the railing surrounding the pool area and looked out over the beautifully landscaped gardens spread out like a Victorian era fan beginning at the front of the Prairie Winds Forum Shops. The forum shops were Tobi and Gracie’s pet project. The convenience and privacy of having quality fetish clothing and supplies readily available meant the small shops had been a resounding success. Most members of the club living the BDSM lifestyle had careers where preserving their reputations was paramount, so having a safe place to shop was a huge plus for them. And the added bonus of having specialty personal services available meant Doms could now personally supervise their subs during their waxing or massage settings without the technicians freaking out.
During a recent gab session, Tobi had admitted family friend, Cameron Barnes, was trying to enlist their help to set up something similar at his ultra-exclusive club in Houston. Tobi and Gracie were both excited about the opportunity, but admitted their men were less thrilled. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. Tobi must have noticed how Meri had stiffened when she and Gracie had mentioned their men weren’t sold on the idea, because she quickly explained, “They don’t want us taking on too much since we both have small children to care for, you know how overly protective they tend to be. We teased them that they are just worried they won’t get as much nookie as they do now.”
“You should have seen their expressions. Holy Mother of God in heaven, I don’t think they’d even considered that angle. A couple of them actually went pale.” Gracie broke out in gales of laughter at the memory and Meri had felt herself relax when she’d realized the women weren’t offended by their men’s concerns. She wished she knew their secret. Their self-confidence was inspiring. Why couldn’t she get the memories of John Stevens’ words to stop playing over and over like a stuck record in her head? Being called stupid by someone who was obviously less intelligent was annoying enough, but realizing she’d actually entertained the idea his words might be valid was just plain exasperating.
She wondered if there were programs to help women identify emotional abuse and combat its long-term effects. She knew the local shelter worked extensively with domestic violence victims, but there had to be many victims whose injuries were from words not fists…who helped them? Meri thought back over all the times John had screamed at her that she was worthless and stupid, and held them up against the day-to-day interactions she’d seen between her parents. Her mom and dad had been her biggest supporters, they’d always encouraged her to stretch her wings and to try the very things that scared her. If she didn’t want to pursue the activities, that was her decision…as long as she’d given it a fair shot before quitting. Her dad had arranged music lessons, mercy had that ever been a bust. Her mom…painting and sculpture lessons at a local gallery. Those had gone marginally better, but it had been clear to everyone the arts probably weren’t going to be her life’s passion.
Meri had learned to swim, tried ballroom dancing, and various sports, but nothing had really captured her interest. It wasn’t until her dad introduced her to martial arts that she’d felt as if she’d finally found her niche. Her mom had been mortified by the bruises she’d gotten in the beginning, but had quickly realized how valuable the skills would be. Knowing her daughter could easily fend off most attackers had quieted her mother’s protests. Meri still trained as often as she could, and even though her skills were no longer sharp enough for competition, she wasn’t a lightweight when it came to protecting herself either.
The night air sent a chill up her spine, fall had definitely arrived. A light breeze sent chill bumps racing over her skin and Meri wondered how long she’d been outside. Ash and Dex had been meeting with Special Agent Hughes for so long she’d gotten tired of waiting inside and had stepped out for a few moments of peace and quiet. When she turned to walk back inside, she came face to face with a young woman whose sneering expression caused her to take a step back. The brunette was dressed in clothing befitting a submissive, but her body language wasn’t right for the part. Recovering, Meri moved forward and attempted to step around the woman saying, “Excuse me.”
“I don’t fucking think so, bitch. I’ve waited months for this moment. Don’t move.” The woman’s eyes were wild with a crazed anger Meri didn’t understand, but the hint of insanity was easy to figure out! Meri stepped back another step and felt the edge of the pool beneath her bare feet. Letting her eyes move over the woman in front of her, she wanted to smile when she noticed her assailant’s ill-fitting thigh high leather boots. Oh yeah, those babies are going to fill with water and you’ll sink like a stone. Now to figure out how to get her crazy ass in the pool.
Meri subtly slid her foot along the edge of the smooth concrete making sure she was in the best possible position. One of the points her self-defense instructors had driven home time a
nd again was the importance of knowing everything you could about your environment and position before engaging. “Who are you?”
The woman’s eyes narrowed and Meri found herself wondering what she could have done to make her so angry. Even though she’d seen the young woman at the club, Meri was certain she hadn’t ever met the woman personally. “You don’t know me?” she asked. Before Meri could respond, the woman huffed in exasperation, “Of course you don’t, you’re too important to bother with the likes of me.” Meri didn’t take her eyes off the woman’s face, but could see her rolling the handle of a long, slender knife against her palm, it was that nervous gesture that told Meri just how unstable her assailant was. An angry attacker was much more predictable than one who was skating on the edge of crazy…and leave it to me to get some whack-job who wants to knife me by a pool…on a cool fall evening…outside a kink club. Lord of the Lepers, my life is a Charles Dickens’ novel parody. Great headlines—I can see it now—Local Foundation Leader Makes Huge Splash in Attack Outside Local Sex Club. Oh yes, indeed—the local gossip columnists and tabloids will have a field day with this one.
“I know you are a member of the club, but I don’t think we’ve ever been introduced. Care to enlighten me about this…” Meri said as she waved her hand in the direction of the knife the woman was holding. “It seems to me that I should have at least have the opportunity to know why you’re so angry.”
“They were supposed to be mine…they said they were coming back for me, but they didn’t. They took you to the dungeon instead. I watched you know…I watched them whip you. I knew it was a punishment, but everyone could see when it changed. Everybody talked about it, the uncollared subs were practically swooning.” Meri was baffled—did Ash and Dex have some connection to this woman? Had they been in a relationship with her? Holy shit, she did not want to get involved in a domestic disturbance and this woman sounded as if she had some claim to the men. Hell, the headlines are getting juicier by the minute.
Stall. It was the only thing Meri knew to do. She was unarmed and the crazy woman in front of her was becoming more agitated with each breath she took. Maybe John was right, my kinks will cause me nothing but trouble…because it sure seems to be playing out that way…well, that isn’t entirely true…there have been some pretty spectacular moments…but even those aren’t worth the price I’m paying. If I get out of this unscathed, I’ll walk away, and chalk it all up to learning experience. Just thinking about walking away from Dex and Ash sent shards of pain through her chest, Meri felt her entire body clench at the thought. No…focus on this moment…don’t be distracted or you’ll miss that microsecond of opportunity to make your move.
*****
Micah put out the alert as soon as the silent door alarms sounded. Whoever had attempted to lock up the system hadn’t known about the backups, so he’d unlocked all the doors with the flip of a switch. There had only been one blind spot on the Prairie Winds property and it had been Lilly West who’d discovered it. She’d exploited the information and shared it with the women months earlier, but they’d quickly remedied the problem so he should be able to see every nook and cranny of the entire property. As he scanned the monitors he noted the feed from one of the pool’s cameras was blurred out. He immediately entered the commands to begin recording, but it took several seconds to move other cameras into position so they displayed that area. As things came into focus, what he saw nearly stole his breath.
Meri was backed up to the pool and even though she was looking at the woman in front of her, Micah noticed her furtive glances to the camera above the woman’s head. He knew she would have no way of knowing that wasn’t the one she needed to play to, but he was grateful she was focused enough to know where to look for help. He sent out the all-call and then began listening to their conversation.
“They were mine before you came along. I’d played their game and had them eating out of the palm of my hand. Hell, you can go back to that ass-wipe boss of mine anytime you want to, so it’s not like you won’t have a man.” The woman’s shrill laugh reminded Micah of fingernails against a blackboard and the grating sound made her shudder.
“You work for John? Did he send you here?” If Micah hadn’t been a trained sexual Dominant he might have missed the mixed tones of Meri’s voice. It was clear she was waffling between fear and anger, and he’d be willing to bet anger was going to quickly win out.
“Yes and no. I have worked for him since just after you two broke up. It was easy to land the job, I just had to make myself look like you.” Micah saw Meri’s eyes widen as she realized just how true the woman’s statement had been. Zooming in closer with another camera, Micah was surprised to see the two women did bear a striking resemblance to one another. “I’m finished working for him, but I assure you he isn’t finished paying me.” Meri looked as puzzled by that statement as Micah felt and the woman he’d just identified as Trish Jantz, was happy to continue even as she stepped forward and waved the knife at Meri. “I’ve got enough on that worm to keep him paying my way for a good long while. And when I’ve bled him dry, I’ll go after his business associates because I’ve compiled some nice tidbits on several of them as well. But that isn’t why I’m here.” The woman leaned forward and sneered, “You’re a hard woman to scare off, and I’m ready to ensure you stay away from my men from now on.” Her men? Is she talking about Ash and Dex? What the hell?
During Micah’s career as a Special Forces operative, he’d seen missions go completely to hell in the blink of an eye on several occasions, but he’d never seen a clusterfuck unfold as quickly as the one on the screen directly in front of him. Somewhere in the back of his mind the thought raced through his mind that he’d have to play this back in slow motion to see everything because there was no way to process the explosion of activity playing out down by the pool.
Chapter Nineteen
Ash and Dex were both still in the Wests’ office even though their meeting had technically ended. They’d been offering their assistance to Special Agent Hughes when the first security alerts vibrated their phones. Since they’d left Meri at the bar with instructions to wait for them to return for her, they weren’t worried she was the woman they were rushing to help. But the second alert pinged their phones before they’d made their way out the back of the club, and hearing Micah’s sit-rep identifying Meri as the woman being accosted had sent a white-hot bolt of fear racing up Ash’s spine. “Did he say Trish Jantz?” When Dex merely nodded, he continued, “What the hell does she want with Meri?” Even as the words were leaving his mouth, he knew the answer.
He and Dex had agreed to scene with the young woman the night they’d met Meri despite their mutual reluctance to do so. They’d known she was becoming too attached, but had fooled themselves into believing one more scene wouldn’t matter. Neither of them had ever figured out how she’d managed to get their personal cell phone numbers, but the deluge of text messages they’d received had become more and more aggressive as the weeks wore on. Both of them had recently blocked her number in hopes of sending a clear message. Ordinarily they’d have confronted her face to face, but protecting Meri had become their priority and they simply hadn’t taken time to follow through. The truth was it had probably been far too easy to simply let the problem slide and now it seemed Meri was paying the piper.
Ash burst through the gated area surrounding the pool just as both women screamed and hit the water at the deep end of the pool. Dex, Trac, and Peter were right behind him, and before he could kick off his boots, both women had sunk to the bottom. They were struggling and Ash saw a reflection from the underwater lights glint off shiny steel blade of a knife. In his peripheral vision, Ash saw Dex ridding himself of his boots and they hit the water at the same time.
The pool wasn’t particularly large, but it was fairly deep. It only took the former SEALs a few short strokes to reach the women and he’d been stunned to see Mary grab the back of Trish’s shirt and push off the bottom toward the surface. Since he w
as closest to the bitch who’d attacked Meri, he took over and was surprised at how difficult she was to maneuver through the water. God damned boots have to be full of water, no wonder she went straight to the bottom.
Trish was unconscious but still breathing when Trac and Peter pulled her out of the water. Dex helped Meri to the edge before climbing out quickly. Ash watched his friend lean forward, wrap his hands around Meri’s forearms, and effortlessly lift her from the water. It was only then that Ash noticed the trail of pink tinging the pool water.
Meri’s clothes were plastered against her tan skin making it difficult to see where she was hurt. Ash left Trish to the others, focusing on Meri, “Is she hurt?” Ash saw her eyes flame for just a second as she realized he directed his question to Dex rather than her, but just as she opened her mouth to protest her knees folded out from under her and she dropped like a stone.
*****
Meri’s lungs felt like they were going to burst as she fought the crazy bitch who’d stabbed her. She hadn’t been able to take a deep breath before they’d gone under and for a few seconds she’d wondered if they weren’t both going to drown. Just as she’d predicted, the woman’s boots had instantly filled with water and taken her straight to the bottom of the pool. What Meri hadn’t counted on was the woman’s panic. The loony broad had latched on to Meri and fought so hard Meri hadn’t been able to get her back to the top before the crazy woman passed out. Just as she’d pushed off the bottom toward the surface, someone had pulled the woman from her hold. It was then that she’d felt a band of steel encircle her waist. She was propelled toward the surface by whoever was holding her, and she was grateful because her lungs burned as if they’d been set on fire.
