by Belvin, Love
“Tell me what happened and I’ll let you come,” he rasped, authority laced in his tone.
Feeling a burst of anger all over again, now from his ever-present cocky persona, my chest heaved viciously as my orgasm receded. After all the shit I’d uncovered today, he was still hung up on being cruel. I was being held, bound to a bed, in my home, against my will. I could play the game; I was still angry, boiling with venom. I could demand that he uncuff me so I could pack my shit and go; and I knew he would because as savage as I believed Ezra could get, I knew without a shadow of a doubt he’d never hurt me…maliciously. I could do lots of things to show him I’m not the chick to fuck with, because I wasn’t built to be broken—not even by his sick and twisted plan for my life. But I was tired, now unbelievably horny, but mostly wounded. I didn’t have the stamina to fight him the only way I knew to battle.
I licked my dry lips, willing my stubbornness away. Ezra’s big stoic build stood uncompromising. I wouldn’t come out of this thing unscathed.
“Marva stopped by the office this afternoon and so happen to run into me.” I licked my lips again, gaining my lungs. “She told me I should go to the Nurses Ministry meeting tonight. I finished my day, went and learned about the disgusting cult y’all got going over there,” I gritted, reclaiming my anger.
“Is that it?” he asked without emotion.
I rolled my eyes and pushed my head into my arm.
“Very well, beloved,” I heard before the thunderstick was placed on my sex and vibrated at an even higher pace than the last.
This propelled me to the edge quickly. I had no dignity at this point; I was naked and strapped to a bed, exposed to him. I also had the urge to release my frustrations through an orgasm. And if he was going to torture me with multiple ones as he did months ago, after the club, I was prepared to endure them all. This was all a game to him—albeit a sexual head spin, but I wouldn’t back down. I’d been built for physical adversity. Little harmless sexual games wouldn’t break me. Harlem Pride.
I let my resentment take me into my head. I wanted to remember what got me here instead of falling into the trap of ecstasy Ezra set for me. My mind went back to earlier.
When I got there I saw lots of women filing into the Mercy Room. Precious sat next to Marva and whispered something in her ear. Marva then demanded I sit at the table and not the chairs against the wall. She pointed to a specific side of the table; the opposite of her and Precious. I faced Precious and the seat next to me, directly in front of Marva was empty. It was clear Marva ran shit. She started the meeting, discussing different preaching appointments the ministers of the church had coming up. She had several women report the events and then she assigned some of the women in the room to go with them. It wasn’t clear to me at first why all of these women running down the events were on my side of the table. What was strange was after the women would report, the women directly across from them would write in some sort of calendar in front of them dates of the events and would answer if they’d be available to go with the men. There were at least ten of us in the room—at least I counted five seats across the table. All had a corresponding seat across from them on my side. All chairs were occupied, except the one next to me, directly in front of Marva.
My pussy pumped uncontrolled in the air, snapping me into the here and now. A groan shot from my belly as my shoulders vibrated, my entire body heating for an explosion.
And then the sensation was removed.
My sex pulsated, desperate for what would have happened with two more seconds on the clock with the vibration.
“Oh, kitten,” Ezra sang noncommittal. “You were so close.” He chuckled wickedly. “Look who can hold it now.”
Bastard!
“Are you ready to provide me with more details as to what had you so up in arms earlier, prepared to spit in my face? That’s a completely deplorable act; one you reserve for vultures. Is that how you perceive me to be in your life, kitten?”
I sucked in a breath and winced at that reminder. I didn’t plan on spitting on him, but came so close. I was that pissed the hell off. My drunkenness was fading. Guilt waved over me as my vagina excreted tears that I refused to let release from my eyes. I didn’t view Ezra that way, but he played me!
So I thought to continue.
“It took me a few minutes to work out the players and the game, but eventually it became clear that the women who faced Marva and Precious at the table were wives of the ministerial staff!” I hissed. Ezra’s forehead wrinkled. He had a reaction. Good! “They were there exchanging availabilities for their husband’s calendars. These wives share their husbands for their mistresses to attend events and…” I swung my face into my arm again, disgusted.
“And what, Alexis?” he growled, still immobile, but affected no less.
I pulled at the cuffs on my wrists, protesting. I didn’t like feeling as though I was being interrogated, humiliated. Sometimes Ezra did that to me. He’d have me wait on him down here, restlessly for him to fuck me. It was all a head game for him.
“It is well, kitten,” he murmured before switching on the thunderstick.
He placed it between my labia, and this time I could tell the vibration was at an even faster pace. My hips bucked right away, forcing me back in my head. Fuck him! I would not lose!
“What’s on Pastor’s agenda, sweetie?” An older woman my stark chocolate complexion, who sat to the right of me, turned to ask.
I had no idea what was expected of me, but even if I did, I wouldn’t share anything about Ezra with them. This was sick—unless I was mistaking about what was happening.
That’s when Precious butted in. “Oh, I have Pastor Carmichael’s full agenda with me. I don’t think Lex will be reporting much. It’s not her thing.”
My eyes hardened.
“My thing?” I asked. “And what is that? Knowing my husband’s whereabouts?”
“Precisely,” Precious gave a snarky response.
“Look—” I started before Marva interjected.
“Sweetheart, there’s no need to take offense. We know you’re new. It could be hard for women our men pick who aren’t a part of our fold. I guess my Ezra didn’t teach you yet. My Precious here handles all of his ministry affairs. There will be things you’ll be required to attend as his wife, but all other matters—especially when you two have children—will be taken care of by Precious. She’s been with Ezra since they were kids. He’s used to her and comfortable with how she manages things.”
My jaw dropped. What the fuck was this?
“Yes,” Marva purred, perceiving my full understanding. “Precious has been trained for Ezra. She will be whatever he needs when you can’t be. Now that you’re working you certainly won’t have the flexibility in your schedule to fly across the country with him, or attend events overseas. Precious will handle that and all the other things he requires. They work good together. Don’t worry.” She winked with sarcasm, further belittling me.
What the fuck? My pulse raced and mouth went dry. I glanced around the table for someone to drop a hint of this all being a joke. Nothing. The only thing I could pick up was down to the left of me, the woman next to the empty chair was glaring across the table at the woman, who was assigned to her husband, with disdain. I knew that look. It was one of insecurity and burning jealousy that I’d often paid Precious over the past few weeks since returning to RSfALC.
This shit was real!
Marva checked her wrist watch for the time. “This woman is going to be late for her own funeral,” she murmured, glancing toward the door.
Who was she talking about?
The pads of my feet heated as my heart beat out of my chest and my palms tightened into fist. I opened my eyes and blinked several times. I saw the tip of the thunderstick glistening with my lubrication. My hips gyrated against it. My core tightened prepared to explode. I tossed my head back gearing up for it. Then it was gone. The vibration, the tingling, and the heat from my extremities.
&n
bsp; “Fuck!” I screamed.
My core twisted with an ache I was sure was from the sudden break in stimulation. My heavy eyes shot over to him, and I couldn’t ignore the bulge in his pants. Though he seemed to…
“Sorry to interrupt, kitten, but something just occurred to me,” his tone totally oblivious to the heightened state of arousal my body was incurring.
My god! I’d never been so horny. Twinges undulated in my belly, and I finally understood the concept of being so aroused it hurt.
“Ezra, please!” I resorted to begging.
“Shhhhhh… I know,” he soothed facetiously as he bent to rub my swollen nub with two fingers, “I know. But I need to understand your processes here. You were alone with a group of strangers. No one with whom you could trust to address the idiocy.” I could hear the bite in his voice. Ezra was not down with the sister-wives club? “However, your unnecessary, ever-present spirit of stubbornness is what concerns me at this point. You were all by yourself. Why didn’t you call or send me a text?”
My eyes shot daggers at him. Ezra went beyond his usual arrogant controlling persona, he was now a damn tormentor! I wouldn’t answer that condescending question. Mostly because it brought back to mind a sickening memory. I squeezed my eyes and willed my body to keep still. I had to keep strong.
“As you wish, kitten,” he hummed before powering on the thunderstick and laying it on my sex.
I didn’t know who Marva was referring to, but I damn sure wasn’t going to allow another moment before addressing the role being assigned to me.
“I’m not sure why you asked me to this meeting, it has nothing to do with my role as Social Services Coordinator for this organization. But I can assure you that I will not be doling out any roles as it concerns Ezra.”
“You won’t have to,” Marva hissed. “It’s been going on for seven years now. I’ve trained my child well. I hope you don’t think because he’s married an outsider that he no longer has use for Precious, do you?” She smiled smugly.
“I can bet you he doesn’t!” my voice escalated. I was heated. “And what makes you think you can make up the rules regarding my life? You don’t know me. You can have whatever board or group here you want, but you have no jurisdiction in my home. Does the Bishop even know what’s going on here? Would he approve of this shi—” I caught myself. I didn’t want to blow up. I just needed to bark back at the bitch for setting me up. Even in the eye of the betrayal I had a conscience about embarrassing my conniving husband.
“Listen, sweetheart—” Marva started then got distracted by something in her peripheral.
“Oh, my word! Traffic can’t get any worse on the West Side Highway now that they’re doing that construction business off of 125th.” I heard a familiar ring. “I know I’m late. Plus, I had to have Bishop’s assistant forward me his itinerary—which I’m sure you had anyway.” She sat next to me. In the sole empty seat. “Has everyone gone?”
Even in my stark horror, I noticed Marva’s self-assured leer to me across the table. I could have died on the spot.
“Why would you want to endure that alone, Alexis?” Ezra shouted, bringing me back into the moment, out of my head.
I felt the layer of sweat all over my body that must have sprouted recently. Some of my hair clung to the side of my face, drenched with sweat. And tears. My body was breaking down. My pussy vibrated feverishly and my breasts bounced as I chased after my orgasm, grinding on the thunderstick. Ezra was a tormentor, alright. And I was his damn martyr. I needed to come.
“Do you want to come?” he growled, visibly angry. “Why, Alexis?”
“I wasn’t fucking alone!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Your mother showed up!”
I felt and heard the ringing of pressure in my skull, reminding me of what I felt when my mother issued the first blow after the last detail of my confessions of forfeiting. Tears trailed down into my ears and the hollowness in my chest weighed heavily.
“Christ!” Ezra breathed before falling to his knees.
My knees jerked, frustrated by the removal of the thunderstick at what was about to be the crest of my orgasm, and were caught in the air by the restraints. Then I felt a cool fullness push into my pussy from a different toy that was too small to be the thunderstick. It vibrated densely inside, against my dripping walls. Ezra’s mouth kissed my clit, his lips swiped deliciously over it before his tongue settled on a firm rhythm. He moved the vibrator in and out of me according to the quick movements of my hips, pushing down against it and his face. His arm reached up and flicked my right nipple.
And I swear I fell apart milliseconds after the sting resonated.
I was immediately thrust awash by a fierce orgasm that I couldn’t tell if it ignited from his busy mouth on my clit, or detonated from the stiff vibrator buried in my sex. My entire body tensed then jerked as all of my limbs pulled violently against the restraints. Brutal jerks from my shoulders and legs as they kicked out around his shoulders. I came so hard and long that I lost a sense of reality. And just when I thought I’d had my most powerful orgasms with Ezra, I saw how wrong I was. It was a high that was astronomic; I saw fucking stars, felt the sun…kissed the moon.
My body twisted in fits long after Ezra stood from his knees and walked away from the bed, leaving me alone looking like a lunatic in a strait jacket. I was momentarily insane. I had no sense of time or speech. I could only feel the electrical pulses of bliss shooting through. My mouth hung agape, heavy eyes struggled to remain open, and legs couldn’t stop with their dance.
I didn’t even feel when the restraints were removed. I could, however, feel when I was being lifted from the bed and carried into the shower. When he placed my feet on the tiles, my hands reached out for the walls to remain upright. Ezra stood behind me and pulled me into his hard chest, and my eyelids finally failed. Though I was very much awake, I was in a trance-like state and still couldn’t speak. He rubbed shower gel into my chest, shoulders, on my belly, and down my arms before applying a gentle brush in his wake. I couldn’t even protest when he pulled me under the shower faucet to wet my hair for washing. If I had all my faculties, I would comment on him having a bottle of my shampoo stored down here. I would even praise him on his strong grip on my scalp during his massage. But I could do nothing but stay ahead of my diaphragm.
Ezra wrapped my hair in a towel and dried my body then his own. He carried me back out to the bed and wrapped my naked body under the silver silk sheets. I watched as he slipped on his pants then sauntered upstairs, his broad back shifting left to right, carved with delicious knots. Even admiring him I hated him for weakening me this way. I tried to center my thoughts to think of a recovery plan. How would I get myself out of this job and his home? I needed the one if I gave up the other. But I couldn’t devise a plan in my condition. I had to wait until my full mind returned.
Ezra strolled in with a serving tray topped with food. My stomach growled as he neared. He didn’t speak when he repositioned me to sit up in his arm, and neither did I. I also didn’t protest when he fed me dinner. I was starved and completely stripped of all dignity since succumbing to an orgasm I had to beg for. I ate white hard dough bread swiped in gravy, sopping all the sauce from his fingers like a savage. It had Ms. Remah written all over it. Sooooo good! He gave me water from a glass that I gulped with gladness; mouth was so dry. Ezra hardly resembled the relentless dom he was less than an hour ago.
“I regret you had to experience that soon-to-be-debunked group today,” he rasped with cool authority. “I can assure you I will address all the players, and that you don’t have to be concerned about job security.”
His mention of that church shit ruined my appetite. I’d almost cleaned the plate. I hoped he hadn’t planned on sharing it. I stirred to leave his hold, but Ezra firmed up his grip, making a motion for me to stay.
“And?” I managed, my voice coarse.
He placed the tray on the floor next to the bed and turned back to pull me closer into his chest.
“And you don’t have to worry about reporting to Precious. You’ll be reporting to Ann Bethea.”
I tensed in his arms. Ezra felt it and looked down at me.
“And what about her being your…” I didn’t know what to call her. Did they have names?
“I can assure you I’ve never been a part of that ring. I had an inkling of its existence, but because I didn’t marry until recently, I had no reason to really look into it.”
And then came the burning question. Something I couldn’t look over. “Who is Marva to your father?” I whispered with little confidence.
Ezra swallowed, his eyes fixed ahead. “Marva Graham is my father’s mistress. They’ve been in a relationship that I can’t pretend to understand, for more than twenty years, close to thirty. As you now know, my mother is privy to the nature of their relationship, but has chosen to turn a blind eye to it. It’s not the most stellar feature of the church but, I promise that is not a lifestyle you have to be concerned about taking on. You’ll never have to share me with anyone. I am aware of the strange dynamic between Precious and me,” he admitted. “But it has always been managed because I’ve not been remotely intimate with her since my undergrad years. I’ve made it clear I am no longer interested. She’s only pushed the issue since you’ve come into my life. And even then I made it clear that I was not, neither will I ever be interested in any type of relationship with her outside of Redeeming Souls.”
He gazed down at me, offering his truth in his eyes. And I took it without reservation. It relieved me tremendously. An obsessed former lover, I could deal with. A mistress, I couldn’t. The weighty hollowness of my chest had been lifted, and instantly I was reminded of the magnetic pull Ezra had with me. He didn’t want a mistress, and my job wasn’t a hoax. I exhaled long and hard, my diaphragm seemingly under control.
I lifted from his chest, my face tight. “What are you doing home on a Thursday night? Why aren’t you teaching Bible class?” A spike of panic ran through me.
