by HELEN HARDT
I was still trembling, but my nipples had hardened into berries. My skin was heating. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and that alone was starting to turn me on. This surprised me. I could tell my pussy was getting wet. I had that telltale tickle between my legs.
Jonah inhaled. “God, you’re ripe. So fucking ripe.”
“What are you going to do to me?” I asked.
“You’ll see. And from now on, don’t talk until I tell you to.”
The sternness in his voice unnerved me for a moment, but I was determined to get through this, to show him I could be what he needed. I loved this man so much, with my entire heart and soul. I wanted nothing more than to bring him some semblance of peace tonight. If this is what it would take, I would gladly participate.
He came back to the head of the table and placed a silk blindfold over my eyes. Just as well. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see what he’d be doing anyway.
“I’m going to use nipple clamps tonight, Melanie. I think you’ll enjoy it.”
I shuddered. I opened my mouth to say something, I wasn’t sure what, but then closed it. He’d told me not to speak unless told to.
“Your nipples are already hard. They’re so beautiful. They’re going to get very red when I clamp them. You’ll feel it in your pussy, baby. You’ll feel it through your whole body, and I’ll feel it too, as I watch you.”
Again I said nothing, but tensed up a bit, waiting for the clamps.
“First, I’m going to slap your breasts, baby. Slap those pretty titties.”
Swat!
Something came down on me. I was blindfolded, so I had no idea what he was using. The sound as much as the sting made my nipples tighten further.
I cried out, not from pain so much as pleasure.
“You like that, baby? You like when I punish your breasts?”
Did that mean I had permission to talk? “Yes,” I said.
“Good. Ready for the clamps?”
“Yes.” I bit my lip.
I was expecting cool metal, but what touched me felt more like vinyl. I gasped as the clamp tightened around my nipple. Soon the other was in a clamp as well, and as he tightened both of them, I cried out.
“Too much?” he asked.
“God, no.” I gritted my teeth. It was painful, yes, but oh, so amazing at the same time. My nipples were being twisted in the most wonderful way, and I felt it all the way down to my pussy, just like Jonah had said I would.
“I’m going to chain the clamps together now, Melanie, and tug on them.”
I groaned.
Soon my nipples were being pulled. God, so good.
“Jonah,” I gasped. “I need you. I need you now. Your cock inside me.”
Slap!
Something came down upon my abdomen.
“I told you not to speak without permission.”
I started to open my mouth to say I was sorry but bit my lip instead.
I was at his mercy. He could do with me whatever he wanted right now. If he hurt me, I could tell him to stop, and I trusted that he would. So far, he wasn’t hurting me. The clamps were…surreal. As much as I loved having my nipples sucked hard, the clamps were something completely different. Yes, they were influencing the same nerve endings, but it was a different sensation, different than a suck, different even than a bite. Perhaps it was because it was prolonged. I didn’t know, and I didn’t rightly care. All I knew was my body was hot, so hot.
This was more physical for me than it had ever been before. Right now I wanted to be fucked.
But Jonah obviously had other ideas.
“I’m going to put some clamps on your thighs. Let me know if it’s too much,” he said.
I sucked in a breath at the first pinch on the top of my thigh.
Too much? Hell no.
I breathed out. A few seconds later, he pinched my other side in the same spot, about a couple of inches below my groin.
“Okay?” he asked.
“Yes.” I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to say any more.
He applied two more to each thigh, one in the middle and one right above the knee.
I tensed, letting the pain course through me, letting it grow into something that wasn’t quite pleasure but was amazing at the same time.
“This is why I like this kind of play, Melanie,” Jonah said. “I know what it does to you. It’s doing exactly the same thing to me. Everything I produce in your body I feel in my own. I don’t know why, but I do. I have such a hard-on right now for you, Melanie.” His erection pressed against my hand that was bound. “Feel me. Feel what you do to me. Feel how much I want you.”
Then fuck me! I longed to shout. But I would not disobey him again. I kept my hand on his bulge until he moved away.
Slap! Tiny smacks that didn’t hurt—in fact, felt amazing—came down on my abdomen and then on my clamped thighs.
Slap!
This time on the blond curls between my legs, and then again, between them, against my slick folds of my pussy.
I bit my lip to keep from crying out, so hard that I actually drew blood. The tangy metal taste made its way to my tongue. If only he would fuck me, fuck me hard.
As if he were reading my mind, two fingers suddenly forced their way into my pussy.
I let out a gasp. “Oh!”
Something slapped against my clit.
“I told you not to speak.”
He tugged on the chain joining the clamps again, and oh my God, without any clitoral stimulation, I began to orgasm.
How was this possible?
I couldn’t help myself. I tried to stop it because he hadn’t given me permission to come. But it was too late. The convulsions started in my pussy and spread outward until I tingled all over, and sparks of electricity surged through my entire body, culminating in those places where I was bound, where I was clamped.
“Good, baby. Enjoy it.”
I flew and I flew, and when my pussy finally stopped pulsating and the tingling in my body subsided a bit, I said, “I’m sorry.”
This time he didn’t discipline me for speaking out of turn. “Why are you sorry?”
“Because you didn’t tell me I could come.”
He let out a little laugh. “No, I didn’t. But I didn’t tell you that you couldn’t, either.”
I smiled.
He touched my lips. “You need to stop biting your lip so much, Melanie. You’re bleeding.”
“May I speak freely?”
“Yes.”
“I was biting my lip to keep from begging you to fuck me.”
Another chuckle. “I may never again put any restraint on your talking.”
I let out a soft laugh myself at that.
“I will fuck you, Melanie. But all in good time.”
Chapter Twenty–Six
Jonah
She was so beautiful. Laid out before me naked, each of her limbs bound, her legs spread, her nipples and thighs clamped. She did this for me because she knew I needed it.
She hadn’t completely surrendered to me yet. That wouldn’t happen until she knelt at my feet while I sat in my chair. But this was enough for now. I could not push her any further tonight.
I grabbed a feather boa from one of the boxes near the wall and delicately drifted it over her.
I was done inflicting pain for tonight. Now I would give her only pleasure. She sighed against the touch, and after she was sufficiently relaxed, I removed the clamps from her thighs, relishing the pink marks they left. Although I would show no pink marks on my own skin, I felt every place those implements touched her. I closed my eyes, sighing, my cock hard as granite.
I would keep the clamps on her nipples for now. She responded well to them, and when she came again, this time with me embedded deep inside her, she would be glad of the clamps.
I slowly removed my shirt and then my boots, socks, jeans, and boxers. My cock was the biggest it had ever been, harder than normal even. I was ready to put it inside her, to complete the scen
e and make her mine. I knelt between her legs for a moment and licked her folds. She was so juicy and glistening. She sighed.
“I’m going to ram into you, Melanie. Fuck you hard and fast. It won’t be gentle.”
I climbed onto the table and slid my knees into the notches that had been built to my own specifications. I was primed at the right angle, and I entered her with one swift thrust. She let out a gasp as I embedded myself into her balls-deep.
She began biting her lip again.
“You can speak now, Melanie. Speak at your will.”
“God, thank you. You feel so good inside me, Jonah. I’ve been longing for this all night.”
I groaned. “Me too.” I pulled out all the way so the tip of my cock was only barely touching her slick folds. I waited for a moment, even though my instinct was to plunge back in.
I wanted to tease her a little.
But only a little.
I thrust back into her, all the way, pulled out again, and thrust back in.
She screamed my name.
And I thrust again.
My entire body was tense and rigid, in need of release.
So I pulled back out again, tickling her folds with the head of my cock, and then thrust into her violently, letting my orgasm release into her.
As I emptied into her, the tension and stress left my body.
And I knew, with this woman by my side, I could get through anything.
Anything at all.
* * *
After we showered, we sat together in the bedroom, Melanie with her laptop.
“What are you working on?” I asked.
“Just some basic searching. Trying to find out what the future lawmakers club is. Maybe it’s some national thing, like National Honor Society. So far I haven’t found anything though.”
“None of this makes sense. I always thought my father went to Snow Creek High School. That’s where he always said he went.”
“Your family has a lot of money, Jonah. It also makes sense that he’d go to a private preparatory school like Tejon.”
“Wendy Madigan told us so many lies.”
“I know. But remember, you’re the one who had a feeling she wasn’t trustworthy when you met with her. Turns out you were right.”
“Great. I was right. So why do I feel so awful?”
“You know the answer to that as well as I do. Because this is an awful situation. And now you need to find out what your father’s role was.”
I shook my head. “I’ve always wondered why my father swept Talon’s abduction under the rug and never let any of us deal with it. I always wanted to know why, for my own sake as well as Talon’s. Now that I know about a link to the three abductors…” I raked my fingers through my hair. “Melanie, I’m afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“Afraid of finding out who my father truly was.”
She put her laptop away, came to me, and then, taking a seat on my lap, curled her arms around my neck. “Our parents are never really who we want them to be. I know mine aren’t.”
Her words made me feel selfish and self-indulgent. I had been focusing so much on my own familial turmoil, and here she was, the woman I loved, and I knew next to nothing about her own family. “Tell me about your parents, sweetheart.”
“There’s not much to tell, really. It’s not something I like talking about.”
“I want to know you, Melanie. I already know that I love you more than anything, but I need to know you, everything about you. Beginning with your childhood.”
She heaved a sigh and then gave me a kiss on the cheek. “It’s not a happy story, but it’s not horrible either. My parents gave me everything I wanted or needed…except their love and affection.”
I looked at her beautiful face. She must’ve been a gorgeous child. How could her parents not have loved her? “I’m sorry, baby.”
“I’ve long since gotten past it. At least I like to think I have. It has come back to me a little since Gina’s death. I think part of the reason I wanted to help Gina so much was because my own parents were a lot like hers. She sought love and affection from someone else because her parents weren’t giving it to her. That someone else turned out to be her uncle, and you know where that led.”
“Did you seek love and affection from anyone else?”
She shook her head. “No. I threw myself into school. I was a basic nerd, always had my nose in a book, always made straight As. I ended up getting scholarships for most of my college and medical school, and for what didn’t get paid for, I took out student loans. My parents could’ve helped me, but I didn’t want to take their money. That was all I ever had from them, and I vowed, at that time, that I was done taking it. That I would make it on my own. So far I have. I’ve never asked them for a penny since I left for college.”
“I’ve said this before, Melanie. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known.”
She bit her lip. “I’m stronger now than I was mere weeks ago. It’s funny how things get put into perspective. Even with all my successes, I always thought of myself as average. If I’d been anything great, my parents would’ve loved me, so I must not have been anything great. The truth is that no matter how old a child gets, somewhere in the back of his mind—it can be fully subconscious—he always longs for his parents’ approval and affection.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but she placed two fingers over my lips.
“You’re going to tell me how wonderful I am.” She smiled. “I can see it in your eyes. Every time you look at me, Jonah, I can tell how much you love me, and that means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
“Are your parents still around?”
She nodded. “But we don’t talk much. There’s no reason to.”
“I’d like to meet them,” he said.
“There’s no reason for you to meet them.”
“Melanie, if you and I are going to have a future together, which I hope we will, I do need to meet your parents.”
She let out a sigh. “All right. We’ll drive to Denver to meet them sometime. But not anytime soon, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I never thought I’d have kids. I didn’t want to make the same mistakes my parents did.”
“I never thought I’d have kids either, Melanie. But now that I’ve met you, I think I might want to try.”
She smiled, shaking her head. “I may be too old for that.”
“I doubt it. Lots of women are having kids in their forties.”
She laughed. “Someone just told me that same thing.”
“Oh? Who?”
“Ruby Lee. She and I had quite a talk the other day.”
“She’s another one we probably need to talk to further,” I said. “After all, her father was one of Talon’s abusers. A member of that ‘future lawmakers club,’ whatever that could mean.”
“I think Ruby will be cooperative,” Melanie said. “She wants to see her father behind bars. She told me so.”
“Damn it, so do I. I want to see my brother avenged.”
She touched my cheek. “We will, my love. I know we will.”
Chapter Twenty–Seven
Melanie
I woke up at about nine a.m. and stretched. Jonah had taken the yearbooks to his office early that morning to have Dolores make the copies we needed. Then we had to return them to Jordan before anyone noticed they were missing. He was going to get back to the house as quickly as he could, because he and I were taking a trip to Denver to see Wendy Madigan.
I wasn’t sure what her story was. She had obviously been a respected newswoman, so on the surface, at least, she was intelligent and hardworking. But who knew what went on in her mind?
She was a sophomore in the yearbook where she was shown as one of the members of the future lawmakers club. Tom Simpson and Theodore Mathias were seniors, and Brad, Rodney Cates, and Larry were juniors that year. Wendy had told Jade that her family had moved from the western slope to Denver when she was sixt
een and Brad was seventeen. She didn’t appear in any yearbooks after that year, so perhaps she had been telling the truth.
What was that club truly about? Larry had called the club the “future lawyers.” Had he made that mistake on purpose, trying to throw us off track? Or had he simply misspoken? After all, he and Tom were the only ones who actually became lawyers. I shook my head to myself. No, he had given us the wrong name on purpose. I was sure of it.
I would find out later. Right now, I had to get Lucy fed, take a shower, and get ready for Jonah to come home so we could drive to Denver this afternoon.
When I stood, a vibrating buzz met my ears. My phone was still hooked up to the charger in the bedroom, but I looked around.
Jonah’s phone sat on the kitchen counter. Very odd. He never went anywhere without his phone, but there was a first time for everything. I grabbed the phone. It was a text.
Now you are mine.
I dropped the phone back on the counter with a clatter. Icy chills crept up the back of my neck. He was still getting those texts. Had Mills and Johnson traced that number yet? Had Jonah even called them? I had no idea. Well, I had the number right in front of me now. I would call and get to the bottom of this. Taking Jonah’s phone with me, I walked swiftly to the bedroom where my own phone was. Quickly I dialed Trevor Mills’s number.
“Mills.”
“Hi there, this is Melanie Carmichael, Jonah Steel’s…girlfriend.”
“Of course. What can I do for you, Doctor?”
“I need you to trace a phone number for me.” I rattled off the number. “Jonah’s been getting some unusual texts from this number, and all we could find is that the area code is in Iowa.”
“I’ll get on it. Anything else?”
“No. Just give me a call when you have any information.”
“Will do. Have a good day.”
I stared at Jonah’s phone for a moment, again questioning why he’d left it here. Probably just an oversight. I walked into the bathroom and started the shower.
