by M. Never
“Then why are you here? Just checking on me?” I stop moving.
“Yes. And to tell you to leave.”
“What?” My voice cracks over the music.
“London, listen to me.” Jett grabs hold of the bars way too alarmingly. “When I walk away from this cage, drop your wings, walk out of this room, and straight to the garage. Don’t stop. Not for anything or anyone. A car will be waiting, get in it—”
“Jett—”
“Don’t argue with me. I’m not asking you—I’m telling you. I’m ordering you to get into that car.”
I’m utterly floored.
“Why are you sending me away?”
“Because I have to.”
“That’s the only explanation I get?”
“Yes, for now, that’s all you get. I’m asking you to trust me. For the very last time. I’m asking for your very last bit of blind faith.”
I can only stare oddly at this mysterious man.
“A bit is all I have left,” I admit.
“It’s enough.”
The sincerity in his big blue eyes has the power to command me. It has the power to eradicate all my doubts. To spin my single thread of blind faith into an entire tapestry.
Before I can argue any further, a part in the glowing white crowd catches my attention as Kayne totes Ellie through the room like a king with his concubine.
Kayne stands casually next to Jett with Ellie close behind him. Jesus, he has her collared, cuffed, and clamped seven different ways from Sunday.
She looks beautiful, though. Sultry, sexy, and submissive, eyes cast down at the floor.
“He’s here,” I hear Jett say to Kayne.
Who?
I follow their gaze to find Javier and a tall, lean man with white hair headed our way.
It’s subtle, but both Kayne’s and Jett’s demeanor goes on the defensive. Maybe I recognize it because I know them so intimately. Or maybe it’s because I’ve lived my entire life in fear and can pick up trepidation like a bloodhound.
I can only hear bits and pieces of the four men’s exchange over the thumping music . . .”Senor Roberts,” . . . Kayne and the man I don’t know shake hands . . .”I thank you for welcoming me and celebrating me in your home.” . . .”Mi placer. Es un gesto para expresar mi entusiasmo para las actividades futuras.” My pleasure. It’s a gesture to express my enthusiasm for future endeavors. Kayne responds to the white-haired man in Spanish. They converse some more as Jett hangs readily on my cage. I just play my part as the tension rises degree by scalding degree.
When the man turns his sights on Ellie, I brace for an explosion . . .”She’s quite stunning.” He pulls her out from behind Kayne by her leash. Ellie looks up once she’s directed. “Is she for sale?” . . . My heart stops. He’d never sell her, would he? I glance at Jett, who is watching the exchange like a sharp shooter.
“No,” Kayne immediately replies.
I breathe a silent sigh of relief.
“Borrow, then?” the man presses.
Kayne holds steady. “No.”
I don’t know who the man is, but he gives me the creeps. The same as Javier. I worry for Ellie. I worry for Kayne, and Jett, and myself. I’ve dealt with pieces of shit like these two most of my life, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be involved with a different kind of crew anytime soon. Not as long as I belong to Jett.
“I don’t blame you for keeping her all to yourself.” The man runs his thumb down Ellie’s chest and over the delicate chain that reaches all the way down to the apex of her thighs. Then he tugs, and Ellie nearly falls over. The clamp on her clit wreaking havoc on her body. I want to burst out of my cage and tackle the man. I want to scream at Kayne and kick Jett for allowing them to treat her this way. She’s innocent. Just like I once was. But before my fury gets the better of me, Jett chimes in.
“We have plenty of pets to play with.” He gains both Javier and the white-haired man’s attention. Apprehension suddenly churns in the pit of my stomach like riotous birds.
“Yes. I’d hate to miss out on the festivities.” The man steps away from Ellie, but Javier lingers a second longer. He then squeezes her breast, and Ellie whimpers before retreating behind Kayne. Scum of the fucking earth. Hurting Jenna wasn’t enough, he has to fuck with Ellie too?
“Your whore still needs work,” Javier sneers and my anger skyrockets. The only thing that keeps me in check is Kayne’s threatening glare. I think if he could shoot laser beams from his eyes, he would.
“Go,” Jett mouths, delivering one last communicative look before he leads Javier and his companion away. I watch helplessly as they disappear in the crowd, a sickening feeling of dread taking hold.
Confused, worried, and alone, I drop my wings as Jett instructed, slip out of the cage, and head straight for the garage without passing go.
My pulse pounds as I weave through the throngs of people and across the house. The farther away from the great room I get, the quieter my surroundings become. I step into the vast garage filled with all Kayne’s and Jett’s toys. Expensive foreign cars, motorcycles, and four wheelers all lined up on display. All shiny and impressive under the florescent lights.
As I stand in the middle of the garage, headlights suddenly blind me as a sports car pulls out of its spot. I jump back as it rumbles past me and then stops. The driver’s side door swings open and my heart dies in my chest as soon as I see his face.
“Is this some kind of fucking joke?” I snap as Alistair stands next to the sleek black Porsche.
“No, get your ass in the car.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I spit. Has Jett lost his fucking mind? Sending me away with the man who’s the star of my most horrific nightmares?
Alistair snatches me before I even see his hand move.
“You are my little pet,” his tone isn’t threatening, just urgent. It still speaks to all my hostility. My rage flares, and without a second thought I kick him square in the balls. He topples against the car with an agonizing groan as Amber flies out of the passenger side. “London, what the fuck?” she snaps, outraged.
I ignore her imperiously.
“My name isn’t ‘pet’,” I seethe, looking at the man who brought so much pain into my life. I feel like I’m possessed, being forced to confront him now. “I remember every heinous thing you ever did to me.” I shake from the hatred and rage. “I remember the last night I ever spent with you. How you ripped the virginity right from my body.” My angry tears boil over. “I also remember the man my father sold my virginity to, and how when I didn’t bleed, he raped me until I did.” That was the start of my second trek through hell.
“London.” Amber touches me lightly, but I smack her hand away.
“Why would Jett do this? Why would he send me away with you?”
Alistair looks up at me with a different set of hazel eyes. They’re nowhere near as cold as they used to be, but still just as shrewd.
“Because I’m the only other person he trusts with your life next to Kayne. I’m a solider, London. I have been my entire life. I do as I’m told.”
“What did Jett tell you to do with me?” I ask suspiciously.
“Protect you.”
“From what?”
“The entire world.”
I regard him like he’s crazy.
“Get in the car, London.” Alistair is finally able to stand at his full height, but it’s visible his nuts are still throbbing by the way he cradles his crotch. I wish I could cut his testicles right off.
“Please, we need to go,” Amber adds alarmed.
As much as I don’t want to, it’s Jett’s judgment I trust. So I cautiously open the back door. “You know what I did to my father,” I threaten Alistair. “Try anything and I’ll do the same to you.” Then I slip into the back seat, animosity radiating off me like nuclear decay.
Seconds later, Alistair is peeling out of the garage, leaving Mansion, and everything I’ve come to know, behind. The house shrinks away to
nothing as we fly down the half mile drive and turn on to the street.
“Where are we going?” I ask guardedly in the darkness.
“Airport.” Alistair hands over an answer with no hesitation.
“And then where?”
“The beach.”
Can he be any more vague?
I catch Amber rubbing his leg as he drives, the affectionate gesture causing me to feel ill.
“How can you be with him knowing what he did to me? Knowing what kind of monster he is?” The questions are like poison leaving my lips.
Amber turns to me, her long black hair and big brown eyes shining under the passing streetlights. “You can’t not love someone for who they once were. You can only love them for who they are now.”
How very poetic. She has no idea who he once was. I’m not convinced he’s a different man. If Jett was unaware of Alistair’s ulterior life, how can Amber be so certain he changed? That he’s who he says he is?
“Oh, really?” I reply to her naïve reasoning with disdain. “You must like it when he drowns you while you fuck or beats you with a bamboo stick when you don’t swallow his dick deep enough.”
Amber passes an apprehensive look to Alistair, and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. That’s right motherfucker, squirm. I won’t hide any of your dirty secrets. I’ll tell Amber every single one without an ounce of remorse.
“You can hate me for what I did.” Alistair glances back at me through the rearview mirror. “But you were my best work. My most prized pupil. It’s why Jett took to you so quickly. You possess the true makings of a bona fide submissive.” His chilling accent slips through, and my skin crawls.
“You didn’t mold me!” I shout, causing Amber to jump. “You took an innocent young girl and broke her!” I yell outraged.
My outburst doesn’t seem to affect Alistair one bit. “I don’t see anyone broken in this car,” he responds evenly, our eyes locked in as he fixates on me in the mirror.
Spitefully, I slip back into the leather seat, a ball of raging emotions.
“Give it to her,” Alistair says to Amber.
Oh, Christ, give me what? Amber reaches down and produces a large tan envelope.
I take it cautiously.
“Relax, it isn’t a bomb,” Alistair mocks.
I stick my tongue out at him. Fuck you. I’ll never trust you or anything you give me.
I open the envelope containing four strands of white pearls, a cell phone, and a handwritten note.
London,
I see you when you think no one is looking. I catch your glances and sighs. I read your reservations even though you think your confidence overshadows them. I always look beyond the surface, and when I do, I see you. The real, raw, vulnerable you.
One day, I’ll tell you these things.
One day, you’ll be more than just a woman on her knees who thinks her face doesn’t stick out of the crowd. You don’t know how you resonate to me.
One day, I’ll tell you.
One day, I’ll declare.
But today, I’ll keep our emotions safe. I’ll hold them in my heart and protect them with my life because when they are released, oh little bird, when they are released, we’re going to fly . . .
I’m sure you want to murder me right now. But I’m asking you to trust me one last time. I know I’ve hit my quota on requests, but please believe I have only ever had your best interests at heart. Always remember, my beautiful little bird, there’s you and me, and then there’s everything fucking else.
I’ll see you soon.
Your Jett
I clutch the pearls in my hand as I re-read the note several times with tears brimming.
How soon is soon, Jett?
It’s been three days since Alistair and Amber whisked me away from Mansion. I went from one beautiful confinement to another.
Holed up in a Tuscan-style gated compound on the California coast. I knew exactly where we were the second we landed at the private airport outside of LA. As a native to California, I recognized the landscape and the smell. Unsavory memories returned as I recalled how my father used to fly me all over the world, in and out of little hubs just like the one we flew into.
If you had to put a label on it, I would call our living arrangement a social experiment. I keep away from Alistair at all costs, tolerating Amber when and where I can, spending most of my time on the outdoor veranda that overlooks the sparkling Pacific Ocean.
There’s been no word from Jett, except the random love quotes I receive through text message.
“I still haven’t figured out how to sit across from you and not be madly in love with everything you do . . . You are the most beautiful thing I keep inside my heart . . . In a sea of people, my eyes will always search for you . . . You are the last thing I think about when I go to sleep and the first thing I think about when I wake up.”
I won’t lie, that last one is my favorite. Because Jett is the first person I think about when I wake up and the last person I think about when I go to sleep. You know, when that actually happens.
I will give it to him, he knows how to be romantic. I just wish he was doing it in person. Because the ache in my chest is unbearable from his absence. The only tangible thing I have to hold on to is my camera and the precious memory card inside.
Jett didn’t send me away empty-handed. His plan was premeditated. Alistair pulled a suitcase from the trunk of the Porsche when we arrived at the airport. Jett had packed a variety of my favorite things, like my perfume, my knee socks, and my camera.
I’ve scrolled through the pictures a thousand times since I’ve been here, finding comfort in familiar faces. Jenna, Jett, and the rest of the girls, who would let me play dress up and host photo shoots. More new emotions to experience. More new feelings to sort out. Jett always helped me navigate the unfamiliar waters, like the nautical star tattooed on his arm. Now I’m drifting through the dark sea alone.
I watch the sunset by myself for the third night in a row. Isolation is getting old.
I turn on the outdoor fireplace and make my way inside. The plus side to the oversized villa—besides Alistair and Amber having their own wing—is the stocked wine cellar. I’ve been testing a new region each night. I think I’m going with New Zealand this time. After grabbing a bottle of red, I head back through the open living area toward the kitchen. The house is absolutely magnificent. All white furnishings throughout with natural wood beams running along the ceiling gives it style and a tranquil feel.
I grab a wine glass off the shelf in the kitchen and the bottle opener from the drawer, prepared to tear into some of New Zealand’s finest wine.
“Pour a glass for me,” a sultry voice rasps in my ear, and I jump sky high.
“Jesus Christ!” I spin around so fast I knock the wine bottle right off the counter. Jett snatches it faster than a striking snake before it hits the floor. We both freeze for an elevated heart beat before Jett gazes back at me with an impish grin on his angelic face. Two more recognitional seconds pound before I launch myself at him, nearly knocking us both to the ground. “Where did you come from?”
“Queens.” He chuckles.
“Huh?” I hug him tightly, refusing to let go.
“It’s a long story.” He drops a lingering kiss on my lips, and I race for more, locking my arms around his neck and slipping my tongue into his mouth. I don’t care where he’s been or what he’s been doing. The only thing that matters is that he’s here now. With me.
“Someone missed me,” Jett mumbles against my ravenous mouth.
“More than missed you.” I pull at his button-up shirt, desperate to remove it. Desperate to remove all his clothes.
Jett chuckles harder, lifting me off the ground and placing me on the granite countertop. He relocates the wine bottle between my legs before indulging me by unbuttoning his shirt and tossing it away. I immediately zero in on the thick bandage wrapped around his left arm. Right over his star tattoo.
“What happened
?” I ask, upset.
Jett grabs the wine bottle and opens it while still between my legs.
“A lot of shit.” Pop goes the cork.
“What kind of shit?” I touch the gauze.
He looks up at me, weathered. “Is there more of this?” He lifts the dark red bottle.
“An entire room. Why?”
“Good.” He pours a hefty glass and takes a huge sip.
“You’re worrying me.” I clutch his face once he’s done guzzling.
Jett smiles lovingly. “There’s nothing left to worry about, little bird. It’s all over.”
“What is?” I draw my eyebrows together.
“My pretend life.” Jett swallows another mouthful of wine.
“I’m not following you.” I search his eyes anxiously.
“All my secrets are about to become yours. Do you think you can handle that?”
“After enduring three days with Alistair, I can handle anything.” I cross my arms haughtily.
Jett snickers darkly. “Are you mad at me?”
“Yes.” I laugh so I don’t cry.
“I know how much you hate him. But he’s the only one I could trust. I hoped Amber would be a buffer.”
I steal the wine glass and take a large sip of my own. “Lucky for you, she was.”
“My gamble paid off.”
“There’s something else I would like to come off.” I tug at his pants.
Jett clutches my face and tangles our tongues, trapping our mouths in a fiery embrace.
“I should tell you everything first,” he huffs between greedy breaths of air.
“Is Ellie safe?” I ask as we kiss.
“Yes.”
“Is Kayne safe?”
Another yes.
“Are we safe?” I pause to look to him.
“Yes. We’re safe.” He nods sternly.
“Then that’s all I need to know, for now.” I rip open the button to his dark jeans.
“Has your blind faith been renewed?” he asks as he briskly peels off my yoga shorts.
“Yes. You’re here.” I effortlessly pull off my scoop neck sweatshirt.
I’m naked on the counter in the middle of the kitchen and have never been more confident in my own skin. That’s Jett’s affect.
