by S. J. Lewis
Claudia felt herself beginning to come. She gave Sam no signal and he kept pounding away at her. She shivered as the feeling grew and grew, until it finally overwhelmed her. She could feel herself quivering, contracting around Sam’s hard maleness. She could hear herself huffing and panting through her nose, moaning weakly behind the tape gag. When she shuddered violently, Sam finally seemed to notice. He rammed himself into her, burying his face against her neck, letting her take his full weight. He held her like that as he groaned and grunted and emptied himself into her. Even after he was done, he laid heavily on top of her for a long moment. She stirred weakly under him, moaning a little for his benefit. She finally felt him get up off of her. She was briefly worried that he would immediately free her. He usually did and that would put an end to the fantasy she’d constructed of being the helpless victim of an intruder who would treat her cruelly and use her mercilessly…all day and all night. But instead, he simply nudged her once with his foot before rolling her onto her belly on the carpet. She heard him walk away, into the kitchen, and breathed a sigh of relief. She could become very uncomfortable if he kept her bound like this, but for the time they had left together, she wanted to experience all the intensity, all the pain and pleasure that she could. It might have to last her for a very long time.
She did not know how much time had passed before he came to her again. She thought she must have slept because now her legs felt cramped and strained. He peeled the tape off of her mouth. It wasn’t as painful as it might have been, because she’d drooled a little bit and her saliva had weakened some of the adhesive. Still, it hurt a bit and she gasped and gulped after he’d yanked it off. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her up onto her knees. It hurt and she whined in complaint.
“Shut up.” Sam slapped her lightly, made her tilt her head back, and held something to her lips. She could smell that it was beer. She must have been asleep for some time, because she felt very thirsty. She opened her mouth, and Sam poured some beer in. Too much. She choked and sputtered, but managed to drink most of it down. Then he did it again. She was a little more prepared for it this time and did not dribble so much. Then Sam slapped her. “Keep your mouth open, bitch!” he growled.
She yelped weakly at the slap but obeyed him. She knew what was coming, and she almost wriggled with anticipation. But she made small noises of complaint and protest, earning herself another slap and another growled warning. She whined, but kept her mouth open, waiting.
She had tried to explain to him once how this was, to her, the ultimate submission…to kneel before a man, bound, and take him into her mouth. At first, Sam had not quite understood. Wasn’t anal sex the ultimate submission? She’d pointed out that if she was tied up and helpless, she didn’t have much to say about whether a man used her pussy or her ass. But her mouth was another matter…for one thing, it had teeth. Sam had looked at her blankly for a second and then burst out laughing before conceding her point.
Now she felt the tip of his cock touching her lips. She fought the urge to immediately lean forward and take him in as deeply as she could. Instead, she moved her head away and whined. He slapped her again, much less gently. This time, she let him push his cock into her mouth.
“Suck, bitch,” he growled, slapping her lightly. She whimpered, and obeyed. She knew he would make her swallow and the thought made her shiver with anticipation.
***
Claudia rolled onto her back. She brushed a stray coppery lock out of her eyes and blinked. The tape blindfold was gone, she didn’t remember Sam removing it. The tapes binding her wrists and legs were gone too. She was lying on her bed, covered with a sheet, and watery light was filtering in through the heavy drapes of her bedroom.
So it had to be morning…Sunday morning…She closed her eyes and sighed. There seemed to be something around her neck. She reached up and touched it. It was a thin leather belt, Sam’s belt, the one he’d used as a collar and leash on her some time last night. She sighed again. She turned her head to look, knowing and dreading what she would not see.
The other half of the bed was empty, except for a single small rose lying on the pillow. Where on earth had he found a rose? When could he have possibly even gone looking for one?
It didn’t matter. The rose might be here, but Sam was gone. She reached out and took the flower in her hand just before she began to cry.
Chapter Eight
“Hey! Ow! HEY!!! I said, that’s ENOUGH!”
Claudia stepped back, panting and sweating. She held up her hands. “Sorry! Sorry! I got a little carried away.”
“A little carried away?” Her sparring partner rubbed at her upper arm. “Who were you trying to kill? I know it wasn’t me.”
“I’m sorry, Carline.” Still breathing heavily, Claudia peeled the thinly-padded gloves off of her hands. “I think I just had a lot to work off.” The adrenaline that had been fueling her was fading away now. She felt suddenly tired.
“Uh-huh.” Carline nodded. She wiped her forearm across her brow. She was half a head taller than Claudia. Her coffee-and-cream skin shone with her own sweat. She took off her own gloves, tossed them away, and ran her fingers back through her close-cropped black hair. “What’s his name?” she grinned.
“What?”
“Come on,” Carline prodded. “I’ve never seen you lose control like that before, so it has to be because of some guy. Am I right?” Her grin was teasing now.
“Yeah,” Claudia admitted after a long pause that was an affirmative answer all by itself.
“So what happened? He said he’d call and never did?”
“Not exactly,” Claudia shrugged. In fact, Sam had called…once. But there was a three-hour time difference between where he was and where she was, and he’d wound up talking to her answering machine. It hadn’t been much of a message, just that he’d arrived safely and would be in touch. She’d waited two more days for him to call, getting more and more restless and irritated when he didn’t before she thought to check her e-mail. She checked it infrequently anyway, and she hadn’t even thought of it in all the time she and Sam had been together, so her mailbox had been stuffed. Most of it was junk mail. It always was, but since she didn’t know Sam’s e-mail address…strange that he’d never told her…she’d had to check through each message until she found it: unclejack01. He’d sent her at least two e-mails every day, including the day he’d left the message on her answering machine. Okay, so he’d kept in touch like he’d promised. But somehow, the way he’d done it annoyed her anyway. Why couldn’t he have told her he was going to use e-mail?
“So…he called?” Carline looked puzzled.
“Not exactly.”
“Girl, I’m confused. What the hell did he do, then?”
“He sent me e-mails.”
“Oh. Well, that’s something, anyway. So what’s the problem? He brush you off?”
“No.” Claudia shook her head. “It’s kind of complicated. He had to go out of town on short notice.”
“Uh-huh.” Carline folded her arms and nodded. “And you believed him?”
Claudia looked at her. She really didn’t want to talk about it at all, but Carline was the nearest thing she had to a close friend here. “Yeah. I believe him.”
“He coming back?”
“I think so. I just don’t know when.”
Carline snorted. “Right. How is it that gorgeous, savvy women like us can still fall for those old lines?” Her grin was back.
Claudia laughed weakly. “Hormones, I guess,” she shrugged.
“He must’ve got to you real good,” Carline observed. “I’d like to say that’s great, but you’ve been skippin’ your workouts for over a week and then you come in and try to kill me.”
That wasn’t the half of it. She’d been skipping work, too, and the boss should just never do that. The past couple of days she’d been overdoing it at the office as if she could make up for the lost time. It hadn’t been fair to Jerry or Amanda. Jerry was leery of talk
ing to her at all now and poor little Amanda had been near to tears more than once. She would have to apologize to both of them tomorrow morning. If Marabel had still been in the office, she would have set Claudia straight, boss or no boss. But Marabel wouldn’t be back for at least another week until she settled some family problem.
“So…” Carline shrugged. “Maybe he comes back, maybe he doesn’t. You gonna just sit around and wait for him? C’mon. There’s a whole lot of guys here who’re already interested in you. I could make a few introductions.”
“Thanks, but no.” Claudia shook her head. “I’ll be all right, really.” She sighed. “I think I just had to work something off. I’m better now.”
“You better be,” Carline replied. “You go crazy on me again and I’ll flatten you.”
Claudia had to smile. Carline was not only taller, she was also a lot more muscular, not body-builder muscular, but still impressive. She also taught many of the self-defense classes here. There was no doubt that she could do just what she’d promised.
Carline smiled back. “You gonna hit the showers now? I’m almost at the end of my shift. We could go out someplace, have a couple of drinks, bitch about guys.”
“Ah…” Claudia hesitated. This was unexpected. She’d intended to shower at home. She still had some marks on her body…mostly on her rear. They were faint now and fading, but she still didn’t want to risk anyone seeing them. “Maybe some other time, thanks. I’m just going to go home and go to bed.”
“Gonna check your e-mail first, I bet.” Carline laughed. “It’s okay, girl. Some other time.” She gathered up the gloves. “Let me know how it goes.”
***
Claudia entered her apartment, shut the door behind her, dropped her gym bag on the floor, and sighed. It was the same place it had been before Sam had come. Now, with him gone again, it felt cold, empty and bleak. Or was that just how she felt? She sighed again and slipped off her shoes, still standing by the door. She began peeling off her gym clothes. When Sam was here, he’d talked her into stripping naked for him the minute she’d gotten inside. Well, he hadn’t had to do all that much talking to get her to do it. She loved the hungry way he always looked at her when she was nude. He was gone now, but through preserving the ritual, she could recapture a little of the excitement and the lust.
Sam had installed a full-length mirror on the wall opposite the front door. She left her clothes lying on the floor and regarded her image. She put her hands behind her head, spread her legs a little and arched her back, keeping her face expressionless. That pose always seemed to kindle a fire in Sam…and in her. She closed her eyes, imagining him coming over to her, running his big, rough hands possessively all over her body. She shuddered and opened her eyes again.
She was in her mid-thirties now, but she still looked pretty good, she thought. Her breasts were on the small-to-medium size. Years ago, she’d privately bemoaned that fact. Now, she was grateful that gravity, that ancient foe of women, had so little to work with. Her legs were long and shapely and while she wished at times for slimmer hips, she wasn’t completely unhappy with the ones she had. Sam had certainly never voiced any complaints either, and she was sure he’d seen enough naked female bodies to be an expert judge of them.
She turned her side to the mirror then shrugged. What was the use? Being naked in her apartment just wasn’t the same without Sam as an audience. She picked up her discarded clothes and padded off to her bathroom. She needed a shower. That wouldn’t be the same without him either. The big hook he’d installed in the ceiling over the tub was still there. She tried not to look at it as she let the hot water course over her. After she’d dried herself off, she thought about remaining nude, but again…what was the point? She put on a big, soft, dark green bathrobe. It had been Sam’s. It still held his scent. He’d left it here. Would he ever come back for it?
Sam might be gone, but his presence was everywhere. She nuked a frozen meal for dinner. After Sam’s cooking, it tasted bland, and using a knife and fork wasn’t the same as kneeling on the floor, naked, collared and handcuffed, waiting for him to feed her each delicious bite. She wolfed the meal down. She wished she hadn’t immediately afterwards. The meal might have been nearly tasteless, but eating it had at least given her something to do. Now…the empty, empty evening stretched out before her. Sam always had something planned for them. She supposed she could watch television, but she’d never been much for that. She had some books she could read…mostly crime novels…but reading didn’t appeal to her tonight. She didn’t feel like going out either.
She paced restlessly around her living room. She wasn’t anywhere near tired enough to go to bed, despite the furious workout she’d put herself through at the gym. It was way too early for that, anyway. Maybe a drink, to help her relax? Sam had left a small stock of liquor behind. After reviewing it, she settled on a glass of wine. There was rum available, but she liked to mix that with fruit juice, and she’d used the last of that the other night. Grocery shopping would kill some time, but she just didn’t want to go out. All she wanted, she realized sadly, was Sam.
A thought struck her. She took a sip of her wine and carried the glass with her over to her computer. He’d almost certainly sent her another e-mail or two. As she started the computer up, she thought about calling him. He’d sent her his cell phone number previously. Up until now, she hadn’t used it. She’d still felt angry over him not calling her more than once and some part of her had insisted that he still had to call and speak to her, not her damned answering machine…first. Maybe it was time to bend a little. His last e-mail had said she could call him any time of the day or night. What was the time now where he was?
Her phone rang. It had been so very quiet in her apartment that the sudden noise made her jump. Her first thought was to wonder who could be calling her. Right on its heels was the thought that it might be Sam. It took an effort, but she managed to walk, not run, from the computer to the phone. She let the phone ring three times before she picked it up. If she let it ring any longer, the answering machine would kick in.
“Hello?” She kept her voice calm.
“Red? It’s Sam.”
“Sam…Sam…” She pretended not to recognize the name or his voice. “Are you sure you have the right number?” She sat down on the chair next to the little table that held the phone.
“Pretty sure,” he answered. “Sent you an e-mail. You read it yet?”
He hadn’t picked up on her joking…or maybe he was just ignoring it. His voice sounded peculiar. Was something wrong?
“No…no, I haven’t. I just started up my computer when you called.”
“Okay. Listen, Red…”
“Yes?”
There was a pause before he went on. “I got a little problem out here. I was thinkin’ you could help.”
She had a sudden thought that his little problem was that he was missing her as badly as she was missing him and that she could help with a little phone sex session. But, no…he sounded too serious…even grim.
“What’s the problem?”
“A friend of mine’s missin’. So’s a big pile of cash.”
“He took it?”
Another pause. “Not this guy, Red. I know him. He just wouldn’t do that. Ever.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’ve gone to the police, the sheriff..Hell, even the state cops here. I can’t get any of ‘em interested in the case. They all think they know what happened.”
“What do they think happened?”
“They think he took the money and skipped. They’ve got apb’s out for him all over the place.”
“What do you think happened?”
There was a very long pause now. “Red…” he said at last, “I think he’s dead. I think somebody killed him, took the money, and dumped his body somewhere.”
“But…how can you be sure?”
He sighed across the miles. “I’m sure. That’s all.”
“But what do you t
hink I can do? Either way it’s a police matter.”
“I was thinkin’ maybe if you come on out here you might turn up somethin’. I’m damn near desperate here, Red. Every minute means whoever did it has a better chance of gettin’ away with it.”
She could hear the frustration and the anger in his voice. She didn’t know what to do or say.
“Sam…”
“Yeah, Red?”
“I can’t…I’d really like to help, but I can’t. It’s something the police should handle.”
“They won’t,” Sam’s voice was bitter. “They all think they know what happened already.”
“I understand. But…I’m not even licensed to work in that state. If I came out there and started poking around, I’d get arrested.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I’m sorry, Sam. Truly.”
He sighed again. “I know, Red. But I tried everything else I could think of. I got nowhere. You sure you couldn’t come on out anyway?”
“No, Sam, I can’t. I have to run my business here and even if I did come, there isn’t anything I could do without some official…cover.”
“I miss you, Red. I’m missin’ you real bad right now.” There was real pain in his voice and it wasn’t just from his missing her, she was sure.
“I miss you, too,” she replied. “But…I can’t. I’m so sorry…”
“I know, Red…it’s okay. This was kind of a long shot anyway.”
“I wish I could help…”
“Well…” Now he just sounded tired. “Have a look at the e-mail, Red. It’s kinda long, but it lays out all the details. Maybe you could see something everybody else missed.”
“I’ll do that, Sam.” He didn’t say anything and for a moment she thought he’d hung up. “Sam?”
