Their stroking gentled as her orgasm slowed. Her heart was stuttering in her chest and her legs felt wobbly. Fainting was not entirely out of the question.
Jude slid out and pulled her into his lap, cradling her against his chest. Something brushed her leg and Q cracked open an eyelid to see Sabrina sitting down beside them, leaning into Jude’s embrace. Q shifted a bit and buried her face blissfully in Sabrina’s hair.
When her heart finally slowed back to its usual speed, Jude removed the cuffs and collar. Freed, she rose, drawing her lovers up with her and dragging them to the window seat. Even with the three of them stretched out, there was still plenty of room.
The sky beyond the window blazed with hot purples and cool blues, but Q discarded the idea of grabbing her camera in favor of staying exactly where she was – pressed as tightly along Jude’s right side as Sabrina was on his left. Jude’s arms wrapped around them both and Q’s fingers laced with Sabrina’s on his chest. Lethargy swept over her and her eyelids drooped.
“So did you pick something, Jude?” Sabrina said. Apparently she wasn’t sleepy.
“Hmmm?” His tone suggested he had started to drift off, himself.
“For your safeword?” she explained. “After seeing Q’s disturbing need for violence, I think you might need one.”
“Passports,” he mumbled. “You’ll need one to make a run for it if either of you tries to knee me again.”
Sabrina was laughing as sleep stole Q away.
Chapter 9
Sabrina
Nestled in the warmth of two bodies, limbs tangled with hers, Sabrina woke slowly. Q’s soft breath on her skin made goose bumps rise on her arms. Her face was nuzzled against Jude’s chest, his manly scent made her insides clench with the memory of the afternoon. The strange surroundings triggered more memories. This was Jude’s bedroom, not the sitting room.
Mmm. She wanted to throw her arms around both of them and hold them tight while drifting off into a sweet dreamland. But unfortunately her bladder had other plans. She opened her eyes then blinked a few times. Pitch black. It was still the middle of the night.
She groaned quietly then began the process of untangling herself from the duo, careful not to disturb Q and Jude. How did she get stuck sandwiched between the two? She should’ve warned them about her impatient bladder.
She swung one leg over Jude’s hip and gracefully lifted herself over his body. Then not-so-gracefully lost balance and flopped to the floor with a loud thud.
“Ow.” She shifted to her knees and checked that the two were still asleep. Their soft snores were the only sound in the room. She needed light. Her phone was on the side table. She fumbled around for it, knocking into other objects. Jude and Q didn’t even stir.
Finally, she felt the solid rectangular shape in her hand. She turned it on and used it like a flashlight to tip-toe her way through the room. Third door on the right, third door on the right, she chanted. Jude had made her memorize the layout for this very reason. She flipped on the bathroom light, shielding her eyes from the brightness.
On her way back from the bathroom, a blinking light in the hallway caught her eye. Red, green, and yellow lights flashed on the floor in the corner. The EMF detector! She rushed for her equipment bag. She must’ve left it on yesterday when she packed up.
After she pulled it out, she studied the readings. Disbelieving, she checked it over and over. Then she dug through the bag and took out her infrared air thermometer and turned it on. They all said the same thing.
“Holy shit,” she mumbled. There was an active spirit in the house right at this moment! She grabbed the small pouch at the bottom of the bag labeled Emergency – a competent investigator was always prepared – and set off to find her ghost.
It crossed her mind to wake Jude and Q but she didn’t want to risk their irritation if this was a false alarm. She’d feel guilty if they lost sleep because of another dead end. Besides, ghosts couldn’t hurt her. It helped to chant that in her head as she crept through the dark hallways.
Ghosts can’t hurt me, ghosts can’t hurt me. The floorboards creaked with each step. Her PIN pointed down. She peered down the pitch black stairwell toward the first floor.
The Ghostbusters theme song popped in her head and she rolled her eyes.
Then, steeling her courage, she flew down the stairs as fast as her bare feet could take her. At the bottom, she cursed herself for not throwing on a pair of shorts before she went so far from the bedroom. Hopefully, any ghosts she ran into weren’t literate. Otherwise they’d know she was a “naughty girl.” And how embarrassing would that be?
At least her t-shirt was decent – a black v-neck borrowed from Q. Shoving back the hair from her face, she followed the signal onward. From her emergency pouch, she pulled out the cheap digital camera and a flashlight. She held the flashlight between her teeth while she fiddled with the camera, turning it on and putting it on the nighttime setting.
Then she felt it. A cold spot. Right in the middle of the rundown dining room where they’d done the séance. A shiver rocked her. Early July on the New Jersey coast was muggy and warm. But the dining room was at least ten degrees cooler than the rest of the house. There was an active spirit here. Her equipment agreed with a series of soft beeps.
Trying not to tremble – from excitement and fear – she held the camera up and spun in a circle, snapping pictures as she went. Sometimes spirits invisible to the human eye, showed up on film.
A low moan came from behind her. She jumped and the flashlight clattered to the wood floor. She spun in a circle, but it was almost impossible to see without the light. Silence encompassed the dark room. The air grew colder, making her teeth chatter. That and her heavy breathing were the only sounds.
But there had been someone, only a moment ago. She was positive she’d heard a human voice. As if someone was right behind her.
She squinted into the dark. If Q was playing a trick on her, she was so dead. “Q,” she whispered. “I’m gonna kick your ass if that’s you.”
The moan came again, from her left. Her chest tightened and a small squeak escaped her. Fuck! She dropped to all fours, reaching frantically for her flashlight. The groans got louder – a woman’s voice.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! It’d never seemed this scary in the books. Her fingers grasped the hard plastic of her flashlight and she shot to her feet, whirling the light around. Big fucking mistake.
Something floated by the light. So briefly, she almost didn’t catch it. Her heart leapt in her throat. It crossed the light again – gaunt, translucent figure – then disappeared.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Ghosts can’t hurt me, ghosts can’t hurt me. What the fuck was she thinking looking for ghosts? And why the hell didn’t she carry one of those ghost-sucking backpacks from Ghostbusters?
Wails of pain bounced off the walls. She could barely breathe. Stumbling back, she put her arms out behind her, searching for the wall to steady her. Finally, she found the hard surface. She pushed her back up against it, dragging air into her lungs in big mouthfuls.
The wall moved. It fell away behind her, gravity taking her with it. She tumbled backward into a small tunnel, a yelp her last noise before the wall swung shut in front of her.
No! She jumped up and felt around the door. No handle. She pushed, straining with all her might. It didn’t budge. She tried to find purchase for her fingers between the door and the wall, but she couldn’t get a firm enough grip.
With a whimper, she stepped back and covered her eyes with her hands. Get yourself together, Sabrina. Don’t be a helpless victim.
Think. This must be the other side of the secret passageway Jude had showed her upstairs. So if she followed it, she should come out in his closet. Yes. That was a good plan.
Carefully, she made her way down the narrow passage, tripping a bit on the uneven floor. Only a few yards along, she hit a dead end. Pushing at the wall blocking the passage over and over did nothing. Hopeless.
Tired an
d sweaty, she banged on the hard surface. “Q! Help me!” While she paused to listen for footsteps, she caught her breath but all she heard was the harsh sound of her own panting. “Jude! Heeeelp!”
No one answered. No one came. Alone in here. Unless the ghost returned.
Beating the wall and screaming exhausted her, made her throat ache, and her fists throb with small pains. She slumped to the floor, tears streaming down her face. The ground was grimy under her bare legs. She hugged her knees and cried.
When they found her – if they found her – she was turning in her paranormal investigating badge for good.
Chapter 10
Jude
The shift of the bed woke him. Jude blinked open his eyes to see Q sitting on the edge, her white back standing out in the darkness. The moonlight cast in through the gap in the curtains bathed her in creams and subtle grays, enticing his eye with curves and shadows and the fall of raven hair tumbling down her back – her tattoo barely visible. Q, the voluptuous siren. Where had his wrestling champion gone? Or the mouthy woman who’d twisted and moaned in his ropes a few hours ago?
“Fuck.” she said, so softly it might not have woken him if he wasn’t already yawning.
Ah. A grin pulled at his mouth. There it was – Miss Attitude.
Q turned her head, her hair swishing across her back. “Jude, you awake?”
“Yes.” He reached out to her and smoothed his palm over her hip. “What is it?”
“Sabrina’s been gone a few minutes, and I think I heard a weird noise. My heart’s still pounding.”
If anything could upset Q it would be something happening to Sabrina. Funny, but he felt a twinge of envy. He sat up next to her. “Come on. Let’s take a look. She probably got lost on the way to the bathroom.”
“Yeah, maybe. Or she’s pranking us.”
“She’d better not be or I’ll make her stand in the corner for the rest of the night.” He tweaked a curl of Q’s hair then slipped from the bed.
The night had cooled but not enough to make Q pull on more clothes. He adjusted the waistband of his boxers. The timber underfoot echoed a little as they walked. This house was big enough to feel like an empty world at night.
This was so distracting – following along behind her when she only wore her black underwear. Like all her clothes, Q’s underwear was functional. Maybe he could get her into something a bit prettier, or sluttier? He smiled at the thought of Q in a breast-baring corset and stiletto heels.
“Sabrina, you in there?” No answer. He pushed open the bathroom door and switched on the light. The room was empty. He stepped back out into the hallway and listened, but heard only crickets and creaking timber as the house settled with the change of temperature. “Where’d you hear this noise?”
“I don’t know. It woke me. But it wasn’t that loud, I think.”
“If she was pranking, she’d be making more noises.”
Q shrugged. “Maybe.”
Then he heard something. A sob? “Shh. You hear that?”
She paused then shook her head. “Uh-uh.”
He filled his lungs. “Sabrina! Where are you, sweetheart?”
The yells were distant but definitely from Sabrina. The desperation in her voice chilled him. For some reason, the poor girl was terrified. “Did you get what she said?”
“Not really. I think she said something like stuck, maybe? Sabrina! I’m coming!” Q turned to him, her eyes wide and dark. “How do we find her? Where is she?”
“Tell us, Sabrina! Where exactly are you?”
Loud bangs rattled timber somewhere, and kept going, punctuated by more sobs and cries. Was she doing that, or… No.
He wrenched his thoughts together, ran back to the bedroom with Q following, grabbed the flashlight from the drawer and thrust it into Q’s hand.
“Okay. If she’s stuck, there are three places I can think of. The passage up here dead ends after a few feet. Can’t be that. There’s another passage on the first floor. I’ll take that. The attic – the door sticks sometimes. Go all the way to the end here.” He pointed. “Door at the end opens onto the stairs. There’s heaps of junk up there, and you need to lift the attic door up a bit to open it. Don’t let it slam shut on you. Go!”
Though why in hell would she have gone up there, or downstairs?
Didn’t matter. From the continued banging, he could tell she was hysterical. Despite calling to her, she didn’t reply in any coherent way. The sobbing tore at his heart.
He found his way downstairs by moonlight and memory. He switched on the room light. After turning the hidden switch, the passage entrance opened with a faint creak. The loud shriek from up ahead told him he’d found her.
“It’s me, Sabrina. It’s me.” Very little light penetrated to the end but he shuffled along until he found her, his foot bumping into her shuddering flesh.
“Shh. Shh. It’s me. Jude. Come here.”
“Jude?” Her voice quavered. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I got lost.” Her small hands patted at him and he pressed them then crouched and took her face in his palms. The wetness of tears made him ache so much to comfort her.
“Yeah, we figured that. But I’m here now.”
“There was a ghost…or, or something, in here with me! Please. Get me out! Did you leave the door open? It didn’t close?”
“It’s open. Nothing here. Just me. Come on.” He carefully tugged her upright and led her back to the entrance.
“Let’s sit a while.” But when he went to pull out a chair from the dining table to sit and comfort her, she hissed at him.
“No!” He felt a shudder run through her. “Not here, Jude. I’m too scared.”
“Okay. Come back to bed then.”
When he stepped on her camera with his bare foot and swore, Sabrina didn’t even make a single snarky comment. Not once. Damn, she needed some TLC. He picked it up and put it in Sabrina’s hand. She absentmindedly clutched the camera as if barely aware she held anything. Before they went up the stairs he was careful to show her the emptiness of the room.
“Nothing. Right? You just got panicked in there. It’s not hard to do. I understand.” He swept her tousled hair from before her eyes and kissed her softly on the lips. “Come on. We have to tell Q. She’s looking for you in the attic.”
When he turned off the room light, they plunged into darkness. Carefully, they made their way to the bottom of the stairs. He hadn’t fixed the blown stairway chandelier light yet – hard to get to way up on the ceiling without a super long ladder.
“Oh.” In the dark he saw her hand go to her mouth. “She’ll be worried.” She inhaled deeply. “Q! It’s okay! I’m okay. Come back to bed!”
He added his own, much louder, shout, then felt more tremors rock Sabrina’s body. So he crouched and lifted her into his arms. “I’ll carry you. Snuggle in.”
“Can you see?” she asked tentatively, as he took the first step. “Can you carry me that far?”
“Sure. You’re light as a feather and I’ve got excellent night vision, my little ghost hunter. I’m not that old.”
That made her giggle and he felt her stroke his back. “That’s good. I wouldn’t want to have to negotiate a trade-in.”
He mock growled at her. “I think I already proved I don’t need senior vitamins.” More giggles made him grin. She was recovering. The fragrance of her hair and the soft feel of her body in his arms seemed to flow in and fill a hollowness inside him. This was so good. He’d not been this right, despite the scare, for ages, maybe even forever.
“How’d you get in there anyway? There’s a secret switch.”
“It just opened. I fell in, sort of.”
He grunted. The catch must not be clicking back in place. Half this house was falling apart in some way.
“But there was a ghost,” she whispered. “A real one. Like a floating lady type apparition thingy. I swear it.” Sabrina trembled. “Where were you both? I frickin yelled and yelled and yelled! I could’ve built the pyr
amids waiting! There I was with a genuine apparition and you two were snoring! Freaked me out.”
He frowned, took a few more steps. “Harsh, and a little ungrateful, brat.”
“I am grateful. I am.” She kissed his chest. “But… Oh! And I have pictures! I took some with this.” Her hand waved the thing madly and faint light reflected off the screen. “Put me down. I have to look.”
“Not now.”
“Please? Please, please, please?”
He ignored her and took the last steps with big strides.
Q met them at the bedroom. The lights were on and the relief on her face was clear. “Are you okay, beautiful?” Her gaze met his. “Is she?”
“Sure.” He walked to the bed and dropped Sabrina onto the sheets from a foot above, so she bounced a little, then rolled her over into the center. “Pile in everyone. We’re cuddling.”
To his delight, that drew a chuckle from Sabrina.
By the time they’d gotten comfy, he had an armful of Sabrina on one side with Q on the other. The women’s heads bumped his chin now and then as they whispered to each other. Seeing them care for each other like this, letting him be a part of it… He watched as Q played with Sabrina’s hair. Damn if he didn’t want to keep this going. Summer only? What a waste.
“You scared the fucking shit out of me, little girl.” The sternness in Q’s voice made him jiggle her.
“Hey. Q. Be nice. I just spent five minutes gluing her back together.”
“Yeah. Shh, Miss Dommy Pants. Besides…” Sabrina shifted where she nestled and reached over to prod at Q’s side. Only Q grabbed her hand first.
“Besides?” Q’s tone made him feel like an emperor peering down at two sparring gladiators.
“Besides…I can’t help that I had to pee. I didn’t check bathroom control on my questionnaire so my bladder only works on my schedule.”
The Dom with a Safeword (Badass Brats #1) Page 14
