She smiled sweetly at him, though it proved hard not to make it more of a rictus grin. ‘That’ll be difficult with tape around my legs.’ Kara let her cheeks rest the moment Gavin glanced down at the restraints.
‘It’ll wait till later. Once we’re nearer home.’ He shuffled backwards on his knees, and then rose. ‘Once we’re off the island you can get dressed properly.’ He half turned as if to leave.
‘Gavin,’ she barked, determined to stop him before he got behind the wheel. ‘Gavin.’ He stopped at her second call, so that he stood silhouetted against the backdrop of the cliff face. ‘I thought you wanted to talk. You’re right. We ought to. You must realise that we’re wrong for one another. You’re a councillor. You can’t have a wife who screws around and poses for naughty pictures. And I will do both those things. I already have. It won’t take a minute to get those images out to the press.’
‘No!’ Immediately, Gavin took a swift pace back towards her. His normally placid face was screwed up into a puckered knot: mouth tightly pinched, his nostrils thinned. Kara’s breath caught in her throat. For a moment, she thought he would strike her. Instead, he crouched beside her. ‘Robin told me that you’d been prancing around half naked. She made no mention of photographs. I told her I knew my fiancée and that she wouldn’t do that.’
‘I have done it, and worse.’ Kara couldn’t help smiling inwardly at his consternation.
Gavin’s mouth opened and snapped closed a few times as he chewed over that detail. However, the question over what could be worse remained unspoken. He patted her leg.
‘I’ve let a guy screw me in the arse in public and I’ve masturbated another one for the camera. There’s also a whole sequence of footage showing me entertaining two guys together.’
Instantly, his fingers snapped back from her thigh as though the contact burned. Gavin’s face paled except for two red spots on his cheeks and another where his pulse showed in his temple. ‘Why? Why in God’s name would you do that?’ He hugged his singed fingers to his chest.
‘Because I can, Gavin. Because I enjoy it.’
‘I don’t believe you. You’re bluffing.’ His whole body quivered as he repeatedly shook his head. ‘You’re not that insane.’
Neither sanity or lack of it had anything to do with it. ‘They are real, and make no mistake; I will go public if you attempt to coerce me into anything. And while we’re on the subject of insanity, take note of your own actions. Kidnapping?’ She raised her still bound hands. ‘Unlawful imprisonment? I don’t think either of those things will look good on your re-election material. And what’s the purpose in it? Dragging me home isn’t going to change my mind about anything. That happily-ever-after my mum has planned for us, it’s not going to happen.’
She was talking in language he understood now. Scandal, even the slightest whiff of it, would destroy his political power base like nothing else. Gavin seemed to sink into a stupor.
‘Let me go, Gavin.’ She held her bound wrists out towards him.
‘I …’ Trance-like, moving as though wading through molasses, he produced a pair of scissors from the same plastic carrier bag as the underwear. Two snips freed her of the tape binding her legs. Another two and she’d be out of here. But he paused before making those cuts. Instead, his fingers worked over the small bones in her wrist in an unlikely caress. Kara stared straight at him.
‘What?’
‘You do know that he’s been in rehab, don’t you? And that he probably ought to have done time too.’
‘You alluded to it earlier.’ Clearly he referred to Ric. Zach simply didn’t strike one as the sort to land himself in trouble. ‘I’ve no reason to fear him.’ Admittedly, the subject of Ric’s wife was a touchy one, but not, she thought, because Ric had hurt her in any way. Rather the experience had emotionally scarred him. ‘I’d be more worried about what nonsense Robin is likely to inflict. You let her take my phone. She’ll use it to get to Ric.’
‘Why would she need to do that?
Had he somehow overlooked Robin’s manic glee over having her bound? Didn’t he find it a little strange that a woman he barely knew would help him orchestrate her capture? ‘She’s his stalker, that’s why. And you just gave her a way to get to him. Now will you free me, please?’
‘Are you sure it can’t happen between us?’ he asked as he severed the remaining tape.
‘Positive.’ Kara rubbed the life back into her cramped wrists. She refused Gavin’s outstretched hand to help her stand, and shuffled over to the doors on her bottom instead. ‘How come you’re here anyway?’ she asked as her feet hit the gravel. ‘Why aren’t you in Hawaii with Gemma?’
Gavin smoothed a hand across his brow. ‘I never went. She took her sister. I figured someone should benefit from the break. Where did it go wrong, Kara?’
She hopped out of the van into the night air. The sea breeze ruffled her clothing, and a fleeting smile crossed her face. ‘It didn’t go wrong. It’d never been right. I just let myself be swayed by the judgements of those around me instead of listening to myself. I’ve never wanted any of it – the politics, suburbia, a nice middle-class wholesome life.’ She shook her head. ‘That’s what my mum wanted for me. She vetoed anything I did to try and escape that. The occasional night on the tiles was the limit of what she’d allow. She liked you because you have the same goals as her, but I don’t want that respectability.’
‘So you’re shacking up with an ice-cream salesman and a sleazy photographer.’ He clapped his hands. ‘You’re a goddamn fool, Kara. But thanks for setting me straight.’
She wasn’t a fool. She was free.
Kara watched him drive off from the top of the cliff path.
Free, and hot for some kinky loving to wipe away the memories of the last hour of her life.
* * *
Zach sat hunched on the fort doorstep trying to preserve body heat. Goosebumps covered eighty per cent of his body and his toes were so cold that he no longer wanted to place them in contact with the ground. He’d rung the local police station, but they were on the mainland, and he wasn’t anticipating a rapid response unit, having been rather scant on the details. Hence the edited version he’d given – ‘I’m locked out. My friend’s inside and I think this woman has him tied up’ – rather than the truth.
It was a wonder they hadn’t laughed at him.
Still, he leapt into action at the sound of approaching footsteps, and ran along the tunnel to the fallen portcullis.
‘Hey,’ he called through the iron latticework, his voice hoarse from all the shouting he’d done earlier. ‘Hey! Over here.’
Profound relief surged though Zach’s body when he recognised the slim figure jogging towards him as Kara. Ever since he’d realised Robin had her phone he’d worried over what had happened. After the way Robin had swung at him, all manner of crazy scenarios had entered his head. He hadn’t entirely dismissed any of them.
Kara seemed well, if a little dishevelled. Her outfit was certainly one he and Ric would have appreciated, and would look ace with a pair of patent leather heels. Instead she wore sturdy flats.
She ran straight up to the portcullis and pushed her hands through the gaps to clasp his forearms.
‘Are you all right?’ they asked simultaneously.
‘Fine,’ Zach replied, though a residual ache remained in his stomach muscles from the impact. Robin had caught him off-guard more than anything. ‘We need to get inside. Robin has Ric trapped.’
‘Seriously? Shit!’ The warmth of her hands left his skin, to curl instead around the bars of the portcullis. She gave it a test shake. ‘How do we get you out?’
Zach scrubbed his hand through the long front of his hair so that it hung over his eyes instead of lying swept back. ‘It’s more an issue of getting in. Maybe if you could reach the study window?’
‘I’ll try it,’ she said before he’d properly finished the sentence, and disappeared at once, leaving Zach pressed against the iron latticework straining for s
ounds for her ascent.
‘Be careful.’ No matter how hard he strained his hearing, the wind drowned out everything but the bleats of the nearby wildlife. He was almost ready to tear his hair out when light bled across the cobblestones beneath his feet. Two dogs bounded into the space beneath the archway, forcing him to fend off friendly licks in order to reach the door. The overhead light cast a radiant glow over Kara’s smiling face. Zach wrapped her in a crushing embrace, lifting her clean off her feet in order to spin her around. ‘Thank God! I don’t know how you did it but huzzah.’ He smacked a generous kiss across her beautiful lips.
‘Lay off the smoochy stuff a moment.’ Kara wriggled until he deposited her feet back on the floor. ‘Which room’s he in?’
‘Master bedroom.’ Zach paused long enough to sweep his tongue across his lips. ‘Just so you’re aware, I had him tied to the bed.’
‘You tied him up?’ Kara’s eyes opened so wide that Zach was forced to look over his shoulder to make sure that nothing else had startled her. ‘You tied Ric up?’
‘I blindfolded him too,’ he added rather proudly, only for his conceit to immediately crumble into dejection. ‘This is my fault. I let her in. Do you think he’s realised it’s Robin and not either of us with him?’ Spurred by that uncertainty, Zach attacked the stairs with extra zeal, driving Kara ahead of him with some encouraging shoves.
An ominous quiet filled the first-floor corridor. Zach steered Kara towards the master bedroom, where they burst into the room together.
Zach realised two things immediately: one, his worst fears evidently hadn’t been realised; and two, Ric had a camera in his hand. Where it had come from, he hadn’t a clue. Maybe Ric kept a spare under his pillow. He certainly didn’t go far without some form of recording device. The camera whined and spat out a ghastly white light. Once Zach had stopped seeing disorientating spots, he recognised a few other details.
Ric’s blindfold lay on the pillow. Only one of his hands remained tied to the bed, the knot of which Ric sat working with his teeth.
Robin, whom Zach had expected to come at him like a banshee having a temper tantrum, lay on the floor in a semi-foetal position, her breathing disjointed and irregularly punctuated by pitiful sobs.
‘What happened?’ he asked, frozen to the spot. His gaze slipped back and forth between Ric and Robin, until the pressure of Kara’s palm on his back urged him fully into the room.
‘Did someone spill some perfume?’ Kara enquired.
‘Never mind that,’ Ric barked. He beckoned Zach over. ‘Help me with this.’
The knot was released with minimal effort. Zach immediately captured Ric’s hands. His lover looked every bit as perfect as when Zach left him; no cuts or bruises, no deeply engraved lines worn into his face, in fact no evidence of any physical harm except the red impressions around his wrists caused by the cords. He traced each line with his fingertips. ‘Are you – are you –?’
‘Fine.’ Ric shook off his hold to unclasp the cock-ring from his flaccid prick.
‘What happened? What did she do?’
‘Shush.’ Ric knelt up on the mattress. ‘Don’t beat yourself up. Come here instead.’ His hands slid comfortingly into the fine hairs at the back of Zach’s neck, so that he was pulled down into Ric’s embrace. ‘It was nothing I couldn’t handle.’ The pressure of Ric’s mouth, hot and loving, seemed to confirm that. His passion didn’t seem much dimmed since earlier, or maybe he craved company. Either way, the trace of his tongue against Zach’s stirred memories of what they’d been enjoying prior to him answering the door. As Ric claimed he was fine, then Zach was obliged to believe him. But even the tingle of arousal stirring in his loins couldn’t entirely quell his doubts.
Robin gave a horrified squeal, and curled herself tighter.
Kara crossed over to the bed. Rather than joining them, she crouched by Robin’s side and gave her shoulder a prod. The girl gave a loud hiccough, but refused to look up. ‘You didn’t hit her, did you?’ she asked Ric.
A tremor ran through Ric’s limbs. He pulled away from Zach and crossed to the wardrobe, where he began rummaging for clothes. ‘No, I bloody didn’t. You don’t need to feel sympathetic for her. She got what she asked for.’ He pulled on a pair of jeans with torn-out knees and an equally tatty chrome-coloured jumper.
‘Which was?’
Ric shook his head in reply, while Robin let out a teary burp. ‘Stay away from me,’ she said to Kara. She got to her feet and backed away from the bed. Ugly smears of mascara marred her heart-shaped face, while her usual red lipstick had been rubbed from her lips, leaving them seemingly bleached. ‘Wanker,’ she accused Ric. ‘You did it on purpose.’
‘I came. That’s what you were trying to achieve, wasn’t it? Proving you had me under control.’
‘You were ready for me.’
‘No. You disrupted Zach fucking me. Just because he laid me out like a banquet didn’t mean you were invited to take a nibble. You ought to learn some manners.’
‘Nibble?’ Zach interjected, unsure if he actually wanted to know. He followed the line of Robin’s gaze to where the discarded camera lay. The last picture on the slideshow showed Kara and him bursting into the room like a pair of comic-book heroes, complete with the requisite dumb expressions. Before that there were dozens of wildlife shots, pics of kitchen worktops and, much further back, some of him occupying the spare bed. Ric had to have sneaked in while he lay sleeping to have taken them. He’d have remembered posing in that position.
‘Would you mind not going through that?’ Ric insisted. ‘She’s already deleted all the relevant stuff. Not that doing so changes anything. The memories remain. May as well face the truth, Robin.’ As if to emphasise whatever point he was making, Ric wrapped his arms around Kara, and nuzzled up against her neck.
Zach dropped the camera back on to the bed and then tilted his head questioningly, only for Ric to continue lavishing affection upon Kara, a display that caused pangs of jealousy to cramp his innards, and which turned Robin an unfortunate shade of puce. Her blotchy cheeks clashed hideously with her red hair.
‘Robin objects to the fact that I love Kara and that her sexy body really turns me on. Hard photographic evidence of that proved a little too much for her. Luckily, the pictures are easily replaceable.’ Ric pushed a hand inside Kara’s top, so his fingers splayed across one of her breasts. Within seconds her nipples were hard, and poking against the fabric of her top.
Zach did his best not to wince. Ric loved Kara. Not him. He breathed deeply through his nose, determined to let the issue ride until he could address it properly.
‘It was still my actions that made you come,’ Robin snarled defiantly, though her voice wobbled a little and lapsed into a croak. She stared at Ric, tears trickling over her cheeks, though her eyes continued to track his movements. Her lips pursed tightly.
Ric gave her a cold smile that made his blue-grey eyes seem like splinters of ice. ‘I guarantee that if you shove a vibrator up any man’s arse he’ll come. It’s basic sexual mechanics. It doesn’t mean a thing. It certainly doesn’t prove that I want you. We both know who I was thinking about and, lady, it wasn’t you.’ Ric gave Kara another tight squeeze. ‘Doesn’t matter how many photographs you delete, the truth is right in front of you. Stick around and I’ll give you a demonstration if you like.’
‘No!’ Robin shuddered.
‘Best not,’ Zach advised. ‘I called the police. She stole Kara’s phone –’
‘– and colluded with my ex,’ Kara interjected.
Zach paused a moment, surprised by the revelation. ‘Colluded with Kara’s ex, damn near knocked me out, broke in –’ He stopped short of saying any more, still horrified by the idea of Robin putting her dirty, nasty fingers anywhere near any part of Ric’s anatomy.
‘And failed to make off with anything of value,’ Ric concluded. ‘I’m still here, and there wasn’t any point where I wasn’t in control of the situation.’
‘That’s no r
eason to let her get away with it,’ Zach finished dubiously. ‘Anyway, they’re already coming out.’
Robin gave a dismayed screech, echoed in a less ear-splitting grumble from Ric a moment later. ‘I’m not sure that was entirely necessary.’
‘It totally was. Robin had been a pest for years; it was time to put an end to her sulking about. I had no idea what she was going to do. And what you’ve described doesn’t convince me I acted wrongly.’ Christ! He’d genuinely feared for Ric’s life.
‘Better go.’ Ric gestured towards the door, staring pointedly at Robin. ‘I said scat!’ he added when she didn’t move. ‘And stay off the island, or I’ll be sure to send the police round to pay you a home visit.’ He snatched up his camera and snapped a mug shot of Robin’s face, which provoked another horrid scream. ‘I trust we can call it a day on this stupid obsession.’
Robin spat at him. Her gaze tracked across the three of them, and then, as requested, she fled.
‘You shouldn’t have done that either,’ Zach complained. ‘Ric, she’s dangerous. When has she ever listened before?’
‘This time is different.’
‘Yeah? How is it?’
Ric closed his eyes and gave a weary sigh. ‘It just is.’
Kara turned to wrap her arms around his waist. ‘Maybe if you actually told us what happened, rather than just the edited highlights.’
‘There isn’t much more to tell.’ He glanced up at Kara from under his eyelashes. ‘Robin objected to the fact that I screamed your name not hers when I came. That always tends to piss off a woman.’ His lips twisted into a smirk.
Zach embraced him too, so that Ric stood cocooned by his and Kara’s bodies.
‘Hey!’ Ric pushed them both away a little. ‘Chill the fuck out over the angst. I told you, it’s no big deal. I put her up to it.’
‘What?’ Zach asked.
Ric simply nodded.
‘Why the fuck would you do that?’ Not that long ago Ric had promised to make a go of them having a proper relationship, involving fidelity and all the other stuff that defined commitment. This felt like a kick in the teeth. Zach slumped on to the end of the bed. ‘I thought she’d just taken advantage.’
Anything But Vanilla Page 25
