by Belle, Jove
“I’m sorry, who are you?”
“Tim.” He stuck out his hand gamely.
Jude shook it because that’s what cops did all day long, shake hands with people they’d rather not touch. She’d learned long ago to use the experience to help her read other people.
“Okay, Tim, you’re right. I would know if I’d been here. But I figured that learning your name and vocation on day one wasn’t quite as important as scooping up a sick fucker who likes to kill women and then fuck their skulls.” Jude took a long drink of her smoothie.
Tim turned a satisfying shade of green. So did Reeva.
“If you’ll excuse me.” Jude pushed away from the table and stood. Dramatic exits aside, she really didn’t want to be late. It was too early in the day to provoke Hollis. “I’m going to head to class.”
Reeva chased after her. “Is that true?”
“What?”
“That part about…skulls.”
“Yeah.” Jude tossed her trash into the bin with too much force. It didn’t budge and that made her feel foolish. Her outburst had no place here. She scrubbed her hands over her eyes. “Sorry. It’s been a rough week.”
Reeva squeezed her shoulder. “I can’t imagine.” Maybe Reeva would be okay after all.
“You shouldn’t have to.”
They walked out of the building and were halfway across the compound before Reeva spoke again.
“So what’s the deal with you and Special Agent Hollis? For real?”
Jude smiled. “Nothing.”
“That was convincing.”
Slumber-party confession wasn’t Jude’s style. She knew better than to share anything tangible. Especially with a person who “remembers everything.”
“What do you think’s going to happen? I’m here for three weeks to learn. Then I go back to Oregon.”
“But she’s hot, right? You noticed that?”
“She’s definitely hot.”
“I knew it!” Reeva did a ridiculous little hop clap that made Jude mildly nauseous.
“Jesus, calm down.”
“I can’t. You have a crush!”
Jude stopped walking and stared at Reeva. “What are you? Like twelve?”
“No, but I saw you watching her yesterday. And she is hot. And now we’re bonding because you talked to me about it.” Reeva clapped again.
“Are you kidding me?” Jude shook her head and started walking again. Reeva laughed and skipped to keep up.
“Yay!”
“Stop it. You’re a federal agent. Have some decorum.”
“They didn’t hire me for my decorum.”
“Right. I forgot. You remember things.”
“That’s right. Like yesterday you wore workout clothes for classroom time, which means you didn’t check the itinerary beforehand. Obviously you were a little tied up with the whole apprehending-a-psychopath thing. And you were cold, with goose bumps and everything, but you wouldn’t take my jacket. You were watching Special Agent Hollis and obviously didn’t want her to know you were cold. And, just so you know, she was watching you just as closely.”
“And?”
“And since the sun was bright enough the blinds didn’t block it out, the light switch, which should have been on the opening side of the exterior door, was actually located in the middle of the back wall. And Hollis tapped her fingers against the wall heating unit sixty-seven times after you joined the class, but didn’t do it once before. And you smelled like bus even though you obviously took time to change. Your shoelaces were tied perfectly in the middle, but your hair was coming undone. And the video showed two people on the screen, but there were at least six in the room, based on the shadows and background noises—”
“Enough. What do I have to do to get you to promise to never, ever do that again?”
“Admit she’s hot.”
“She’s hot.”
*
“What were you talking to Reeva about?” Hollis scraped the sharp edge of her nail along Jude’s spine.
“When?” Jude stood naked and blindfolded in Hollis’s office. The combination was so disorienting she wasn’t able to track Hollis’s subject change.
“A few days ago when you were leaving the cafeteria.”
Hollis’s voice floated into her, disembodied and soothing. It wove Hollis into Jude’s subconscious, fixing her in place with sense memory of pleasure and pain. Memory recall of any event that took place prior to Hollis securing the scarf over her eyes and saying “Trust me” was a complete loss.
A sharp, stinging blow landed across her backside, in that crease too low to be ass and too high to be thigh. The cutting line caught her off guard. Hollis’s gentle touches had lulled her into relaxing. She sucked a breath through her teeth and straightened instantly. She’d been sloppy, and Hollis had called her on it.
“I don’t remember.”
“Let me help.” Hollis traced her fingers over the fire-hot line where she’d just struck her. Jude wondered what she’d used. The ruler from her desk? It definitely wasn’t her palm. Her touch was cool and comforting, taking the heated bite from Hollis’s skin. “Reeva said ‘she’s totally hot,’ and you agreed. Now do you remember?” Hollis held her mouth close to Jude’s ear as she spoke, and the word “hot” shivered down her spine and further fanned the flame building inside her.
Jude vaguely remembered the conversation. It’d been Jude’s first trip to the cafeteria and they’d just finished eating.
“I remember. She was talking about you. She thinks I have a crush on you.”
Hollis laughed, a weird mix between surprise, amusement, and cruelty. “How cute.”
“She’s young.” Jude couldn’t remember a time when she’d been so staggeringly naive, but she imagined she must have been at some point. Maybe when she was twelve.
“Yes, she is, but is she right?” Hollis resumed her slow tactile exploration of Jude’s body.
“About what?”
“Do you have a crush? Should I get you a collar and make it all official?”
Jude couldn’t stop the snort that escaped at Hollis’s question. It was just too absurd for her to do anything else. “That won’t be necessary.”
“No?” Hollis circled her neck with her hands where a collar would go. She pressed in tight to close the circle. It was snug, but not suffocating. Jude focused on her breathing and waited. “You wouldn’t like that? A snug band of leather around your throat to remind you who owns you?”
Hollis squeezed hard enough to cut off airflow, and Jude’s head swam. It didn’t matter that she had plenty of oxygen in her lungs; the action both excited and frightened her. Something to explore later, perhaps.
She shook her head no, and Hollis loosened her grip but kept her hands in place.
“Have you ever worn a collar?”
She nodded. “But only for play. Not as part of a commitment.”
“Why not?”
The same reason she’d never gotten married. As clichéd as it sounded, she just hadn’t met the right person. “I don’t know.”
“Do you want to?”
“Maybe, some day. With the right person.”
Hollis dropped her hands. “Isn’t that sweet. Reeva is rubbing off on you.”
“Have you?”
Hollis laughed, a brittle, dry sound that communicated everything except amusement. “Once. It was…interesting.”
Before she could ask any further questions, Hollis circled her body and snaked her arms around her waist to palm her breasts. “Wait right here. I’ll be back.”
Jude heard Hollis’s soft footsteps as she crossed the room, followed by the sound of the door opening and then closing. She shifted her stance into a military at-ease pose. With her hands clasped together behind her and her legs spread slightly, she was more comfortable.
She hoped the shades were closed but couldn’t be sure. They had been when she’d stripped, but after Hollis had applied the blindfold, she’d heard too many sounds to keep
track of everything that had happened in the room. For all she knew, the blinds were open and an audience was seated on bleachers outside the window.
Her nipples perked at the thought. Something else to explore. She’d never been a fan of audiences in the past, but tastes change, and her body definitely liked the idea of others watching her with Hollis.
The door opened and closed again, but Hollis didn’t speak. Rather, Jude hoped it was Hollis. It would be difficult to explain her current position to anyone else. She waited a few moments, straining to hear even the slightest sound. It had to be Hollis. Anyone else would have gasped or yelled or said something. Wouldn’t they?
This was a test, she was sure of it. She wouldn’t blow it by calling out. Hollis would speak when she was ready. Jude started to count. She reached four hundred and twelve before Hollis broke the silence.
“You’re very good.” Hollis’s voice caressed her. “So beautiful, so controlled.”
Jude felt the moment that Hollis stepped near her. Her body recognized her energy and reached out for it.
“You’re back.” Her voice was breathless to the point of embarrassing, but all Jude could focus on was the promise of Hollis’s body so close to her own.
“Did you miss me?”
“Yes.” She didn’t even try to hide her arousal. Hollis dismantled her without even trying. She didn’t mind sharing.
“I brought you a present. Spread your legs.”
Jude stepped out wide, opening herself with the stance. She heard a tinkling noise, like an empty drink glass with only ice left in the bottom. Then she felt it, something so cold it felt like fire being pressed between her lips and up into her cunt.
She gasped and clenched to keep it in place. The sensation of being penetrated and burned flashed through her like a wildfire.
“Okay?” Hollis asked. She played in Jude’s folds, rolling her fingers and knuckles through the wetness. It was the first truly intimate touch since Jude entered her office, and the sensation overwhelmed her.
“Yes.” She forced the answer. Hollis liked her questions to be answered.
“Good girl. Can you hold it there?”
“Yes.” Another stilted answer was all she could manage.
“Excellent.” Hollis moved her fingers to her clit, circling easily to awaken the parts of Jude that threatened to freeze and burn to ash at the same time. “Can you come?”
Come? Jude hadn’t even thought about it. She’d been so focused on controlling the slippery, melting cube inside her that the rising tide of arousal had built without her recognizing it. Her body responded though.
“Yes, please.”
“Whenever you’re ready.” Hollis continued to play with her clit without urgency. Her fingers slipped smoothly through the growing wetness, drawing Jude’s clit out until it was fully exposed and hard.
The careful, steady touch drew Jude higher until finally, blessedly, her orgasm washed over her. Every ounce of control drained from her muscles as she rode her release through to completion. She felt what was left of the ice cube slide out of her as she slumped against Hollis. She didn’t have the strength to stop it.
The bright light from the fluorescents overhead blinded her when Hollis removed the blindfold. She blinked to give her eyes opportunity to adjust.
Hollis smiled at her, a smirking satisfied smile that said she was well pleased with herself. Jude hoped that satisfaction extended to include her.
“Thank you.”
Hollis nodded. “You should get dressed. I’m sure you have homework to finish tonight.”
Jude nodded, too. This part of their relationship was odd to her. As familiar as the actions were, something about Hollis watching her gather herself to leave unnerved her.
As she was about to go, Hollis stopped her at the door. She placed a simple, chaste kiss against Jude’s cheek and said, “Thank you. I enjoyed tonight.”
Jude nodded once more and stepped out the door, unsure exactly which part Hollis had enjoyed.
Chapter Three
Sweat rolled down Jude’s back and saturated the waistband of her federal-issue gym shorts. Her heart pounded as she gulped air. She’d been warned. Squad mates who’d previously attended the FBI anti-terrorism training session had told her it wouldn’t be all book learning. They hadn’t, however, prepared her for the sadistic instructor whose singular goal was to make Jude’s lungs bleed. She’d been there for just over a week, and Hollis seemed to enjoy making her suffer during class almost as much as after hours in her office.
Seven miles, for fuck’s sake. When she chased perps, which wasn’t very often, they ran for a block or two. Half a mile, tops. They didn’t race full out through the woods, over trees, splashing through streams for seven fucking miles. She was here to learn how to catch terrorists, not rabbits.
For now, though, she’d settle for catching her breath.
“Move it, people.” Hollis smiled. “Get a drink of water and let’s go. The American people don’t want to waste their tax dollars paying you to breathe.”
Jude pictured Hollis in a leather corset snapping a whip at their heels. It wasn’t an entirely unpleasant image, even if the timing was crap. Forget the fact that they were surrounded by Jude’s classmates. The brutal, slipping-toward-middle-age truth was she was too damn tired to enjoy the fantasy.
“You’re staring again.” Reeva handed her a cup of water and collapsed on the grass next to her. “And you have a little drool right there.” She pointed at Jude’s chin.
Jude swiped her hand over her mouth and chin just in case Reeva wasn’t kidding.
“Thanks.” She took a long drink, then poured the rest over her head. If the ice-cold water didn’t cool her down, nothing would.
“Show of hands, people.” Special Agent Hollis dangled a pair of handcuffs from her finger. “Who here has actually cuffed a perp?”
Jude raised her hand reluctantly. She was probably the only person in the group to have done a lot of things, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be singled out. She had the sinking feeling that, with the admission, she’d volunteered for something.
“Really? Lassiter’s the only one?” Hollis raised a brow and snapped the cuffs through the air to Jude, the chrome winking in the sunlight. “Bring your roommate with you.”
“Great,” Reeva mumbled under her breath as she followed Jude to the front. “I get to be strapped to your work-experience ass.”
A trickle of sweat threatened to fall into Jude’s eyes, and she hiked up her shirt to wipe her brow. The cool breeze against her skin was a revelation. She took her shirt off completely, used it to towel her hair to spikey submission, then tossed it to the side while she waited for directions. She doubted the FBI would approve of her change in wardrobe, but she wasn’t a federal employee so she was willing push it. What was the worst that could happen? Special Agent Hollis would punish her?
Hollis’s gaze lingered on Jude’s abs. The run might have turned her into a sweaty, heaving wreck, but what she lacked in cardiovascular endurance, she more than made up for in muscular definition. She tightened her stomach. If Hollis wanted to stare at her for the remainder of class, Jude was fine with that.
“Lassiter, pretend you’re an agent and cuff her.”
“How ’bout I just be a detective and do it anyway.” Jude turned to Reeva without waiting for a response. “Turn around, hands on the back of your head, fingers interlaced.”
Like most people, Reeva did as she was told, and Jude snapped the handcuffs home on one wrist, guided both arms down behind her back, and secured the other side. She spun her around and stood, hand reflexively positioned low on Reeva’s bicep. She didn’t actually think Reeva would try to run away, but you can’t undo almost twenty years of training and practice.
“Good.” Hollis unlocked Reeva. “This time trade positions.”
“Really?” Being restrained wasn’t new to Jude, but she only yielded to those who proved worthy. So far, Reeva hadn’t demonstrated the
appropriate amount of strength to make Jude willing to slip into that role.
Hollis regarded Jude, her face placid, almost bored. “Really.”
“Turn around, and put your hands behind you?” Reeva sounded uncertain. Until that point, the prescribed script had been words on a test, and she clearly struggled to get them in the right order.
“Yeah, about that,” Jude took a step back, “I don’t think so.”
“Huh?” Reeva reached for Jude’s wrist and Jude slapped her hand away.
“Not everyone goes down easily.” Jude smiled at Reeva and took another step away. She felt bad for making things harder for her roommate, but not bad enough to acquiesce.
“No, not everyone does.” Hollis spoke from behind her, her lips close to Jude’s ear, her breath hot and teasing against Jude’s neck. “But eventually, everybody goes down.”
Before Jude could spin around, Hollis twisted her arm behind her, pressing her fingers high between her shoulder blades, and kicked the back of her knee, forcing her to the ground. Jude landed hard, her face muffled in the grass. “Fuck,” she groaned.
Hollis twisted the arm a little higher and pressed her knee into Jude’s back. The sudden pressure was sharp and wicked. Jude gasped, relishing the aggressive touch. It’d been forever since someone had commanded her attention through brute force, and the sensation was delicious.
The cutting edge of metal bit into Jude’s wrists when Hollis snapped the cuffs in place, cinching them down tighter than any law-enforcement agency allowed. Jude struggled, pushing up against Hollis, knowing she couldn’t get away, but testing her boundaries anyway. Hollis shoved her down roughly, mashing her cheek into the sod. The rich, earthy scent of grass soothed her, a direct counterpoint to the harsh command Hollis issued. “Stay down.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jude stopped squirming and held her body rigid, the urge to obey too deeply engrained to suppress. She averted her eyes, out of habit rather than need. She hadn’t been able to see more than a glimpse of Hollis since she’d forced her to the ground.
“Good girl.” Hollis rubbed her thumb lightly over the skin just above the handcuffs—a touch too intimate to be unintentional.
