Out of the Darkness (Untwisted #2)

by Alice Raine

  My brother was everything to me, so there was no fucking way I was letting him go and live with strangers. I immediately applied for, and was eventually granted, guardianship over him until he reached 18. Some social worker busybody told me I could claim benefits to get us a little cash each week, but I wasn’t going to rely on anyone else anymore. I was in control now. Not some prick in the benefits office, and not my father. I was the man of the house now.

  By the end of the following week I was no longer a college student, I was full-time guardian to a 16-year-old boy, my broken and fragile brother, and had managed to get myself a job as a labourer for a local building contractor.

  Chapter Eleven – Stella

  Unfortunately, even with Nathan’s veiled promise that we would have sex once I fully trusted him, I still found my stubborn body unable to give up its fear and I repeatedly failed the test of falling back into his arms. He would only ever attempt the exercise after a full weekend together just before I was due to leave, but if I was unsuccessful again today, this would be week five of my failure. Not to mention week five of no sex and week five of frigging frustration. At this rate, my new vibrator would need the batteries replacing sooner rather than later.

  Still, Nathan had stuck to his guns and made no move on me sexually; our days together had been spent in much the same way as the first weekend. Even with my final failures I knew I was definitely more comfortable in his presence now, so although frustrating, his training was at least working.

  As I waited for him in the lounge, blindfolded, it suddenly occurred to me that actually, when I thought about it, this was probably the most intimate I’d ever been with any man in my entire life. Which was ironic really, seeing as we weren’t even sleeping together. Nathan had literally been catering for my every need, and although he didn’t speak that often apart from his instructions, the closeness I felt when he was washing me in the shower, or combing and drying my hair afterwards, was exceptional. As corny as it sounds, it was almost as if words weren’t necessary between us.

  The carpet must have muffled his footsteps because the next second I felt a hand touch my shoulder to alert me of Nathan’s presence. My skin jumped to alertness as it always did when he was near, then his hand dropped away and I felt Nathan lean in behind me lowering his mouth close to the sensitive skin below my ear. ‘On the count of three, fall backwards, Stella.’ But this week he added an extra statement. ‘You know you can trust me to catch you,’ he urged me. His breath was warm on my neck and sent a tingle across my skin and just like that I knew without a doubt that he would catch me, Nathan would keep me safe. This time when Nathan counted to three I let out a soft gasp, opened my arms wide, and merely fell as if sinking back onto a huge feather-filled mattress.

  Not only did Nathan catch me in his strong arms as he had promised, but he then wasted no time in scooping me up with a growl, turning me in his arms and kissing me hungrily.

  At last . But unfortunately, his lips rose from mine far too quickly for my liking as he pulled away and removed the blindfold to reveal his flushed face and glittering eyes. ‘Get plenty of rest this week, Stella, you’re going to need your energy next weekend,’ he said huskily. ‘When you arrive here next Friday you better be prepared to hand yourself over to me completely. Bring back the vibrator too, there will be no more need for it, it’s going to be me driving you wild from now on,’ he promised darkly as he escorted me and my quivering body to his car.

  Chapter Twelve – Nathan

  Several months had passed since the hideous night when Nicholas had tried to kill himself, regardless of time passing I still occasionally found the events playing through my mind. It was a more frequent occurrence for my poor damaged brother, however, and I was often woken by Nicholas’ screams when feverish nightmares took hold of him in the dark hours around midnight.

  There were certain visual similarities between my father and me. I knew that, what with our impressive stature, icy blue eyes, and blond hair, but sometimes Nicholas would look up at me with apprehension and say, ‘You look just like Father when you do that, Nathan, I don’t like it.’ So for the sake of my brothers mental health I had grown my hair slightly longer to adjust my appearance and would always quickly change whatever behaviour it was that upset Nicholas. Deep down, however, I couldn’t move my belief system away from the fact that my father had taught me the correct way to behave in life.

  When I finally got up the courage to ask a girl at my work out I hadn’t really known what to do, so when she invited me in to her place for a coffee I did just what my father would have done and bossed her about. She hadn’t liked this one little bit, not like my mother had seemed to, so I’d tried demanding a kiss instead, wondering if perhaps that was what she wanted. It wasn’t, she’d thrown me out and told me to ‘Get yourself a sub if you want to be so fucking bossy.’

  Those words were what had led me to David Halton at Club Twist. Having gone home after my failed date I had immediately looked up what a ‘sub’ was, and apart from finding various entries about American sandwiches I had finally discovered a variety of sites devoted to submissive men and women who loved to be controlled in all manner of situations. When I’d searched more specifically for submissives in the London area a link for Club Twist came up and not long after my first visit to see David Halton, Nathan the dominant was born.

  Chapter Thirteen – Stella

  What a week! With Nathan’s intense promises last Sunday about the things that lay ahead for me I had barely been able to concentrate on work at all. Instead, my mind had been on Nathan’s contract, Nathan’s sublime kissing, and Nathan’s amazing body … but if I’m honest then I’ll admit that most of my time had been spent on imagining the things Nathan might do to me and with me.

  I’d been so ‘Nathan-focused’ at work that during one of my lulls in concentration I had made use of my mobile Internet to go online and purchase some rather risqué clothing that made me turn beetroot red as I pressed the ‘order’ button, but that I hoped Nathan would like. All of this was against office policy of course – ‘no phones allowed’ signs were plastered everywhere, and no doubt there was an unwritten rule against using office time to purchase corsets and crotchless panties, but seeing as I pretty much ran the floor I worked on I decided to risk it. Imagining Nathan’s reaction to my new purchases when I arrived at his apartment on Friday night made the risk worth it, and was enough to get me so hot and bothered that I’d had to go outside for some fresh air to calm my rampaging libido on several occasions. Perhaps I should start bringing my vibrator to work. Although technically Nathan had banned me from using it now, hadn’t he?

  But now finally it was Friday! Jeez, last week had felt like a frigging eternity. I’d rushed straight home from work and barely spoken a word of sense to Kenny during dinner, hardly touching the food that he had prepared, but he’d merely eyed me knowingly, removed the pasta from in front of me and forced me to eat a slice of plain toast instead.

  Six-thirty rolled around, and at last, I could think about leaving my place to go to Nathan’s apartment. Donning my newly purchased outfit, I sprayed myself with my favourite perfume, shrugged on a long coat to cover my skimpy clothing and headed to the lounge where Kenny was waiting for me. Most weeks I’d just got the bus or train to Nathan’s home in Docklands, but I hadn’t wanted to wear my ‘surprise’ outfit on public transport tonight so Kenny had offered to drive me over, although I suspected the ulterior motive behind his kindness was his nosy curiosity about where Nathan lived.

  Pursing his lips, Kenny eyed my long coat suspiciously as he rubbed his goatee between his finger and thumb and gave me a probing glance. ‘Do I want to know what you’re wearing under there, Stella?’

  ‘Nope,’ was my tart reply, but it was accompanied by a blush so hot that Kenny giggled loudly, his imagination no doubt in overdrive, then with a wink he linked arms with me and escorted me to his car.

  No more than 15 minutes later we were outside Nathan’s apartmen
t block both standing on the pavement gazing skywards. ‘Fuck, does his penthouse cover the entire top floor?’ Kenny asked in jealousy-tinged amazement.

  ‘Yep,’ I confirmed with a nod. ‘He’s even got a gym and a cinema room in there.’

  ‘Really?’ Kenny’s shocked squeal was louder than I had expected and I turned to him with a grin. ‘I’m so jealous, Stella, I wish I was banging a billionaire.’

  ‘I doubt he’s a billionaire, but sorry, Ken, I’m pretty sure Nathan only digs women,’ I joked lightly. At least this banter was helping to calm my leaping nerves.

  ‘Ask him if he has a suitably handsome and equally rich gay brother,’ Kenny called as I waved goodbye and made my way inside the foyer. ‘Or bisexual!’ he yelled, prompting me to roll my eyes and pointedly ignore him. ‘I’m not fussy!’ he cried desperately as the lift opened in front of me. Wasn’t that the truth! Kenny would bed any man as long he showed a vague knowledge of fashion and had a body that was suitably ‘bangable’, as he put it. Basically, male, under the age of 50, and preferably with blue eyes.

  My light moment with Kenny was now gone and I found myself outside the door to Nathan’s apartment chewing on my lip and desperately twirling the ring on my thumb. Well, this was it. Placing my weekend bag on the floor I undid the buttons on my jacket, took a deep breath for courage and rang the bell.

  Chapter Fourteen – Nathan

  At about ten minutes to seven, I frowned as my doorbell rang. I’d given Stella a key to my apartment so the bell ringing made no sense to me unless she was ignoring my request to let herself in upon arrival. Perhaps Stella would be receiving her first punishment sooner than I had been expecting, I thought in annoyance as I strutted across the room and harshly pulled open the door with a scowl to match my mood.

  ‘Gift for Mr Jackson.’ Stella murmured softly in front of me, then slipping the coat from her shoulders she let it drop to the floor before linking her hands in her submissive pose and turning her flushed face towards the ground.

  Holy fucking buckets of shit.

  All thoughts of anger and punishment slipped from my brain as my mouth hung open and my gaze took in Stella stood in the hallway – a sight that caused my groin to go rock hard within a matter of seconds. Stella, my supposedly inexperienced submissive, was standing in front of me wearing possibly the most smoking hot outfit I had ever seen. High black leather boots clung to her legs, stopping just below her stockinged knees and the suspenders holding up the stockings she wore were just visible below the short black skirt at her thighs. If possible, the top half was even more stunning, Stella was strapped into a silver corset so tight it sucked her waist to practically nothing, pushing her breasts up and out and was barely covering her nipples with a froth of black and silver lace.

  Even with the incredible outfit, my eyes couldn’t help but linger on the pale blue collar fastened around her neck. What the hell? My eyebrows flew up, she had bought herself a collar? It was about an inch wide, in a colour that was at odds with the blacks and grey of her outfit, but matched her eyes perfectly. Pursing my lips I wondered if Stella knew the significance of the collar she was wearing or if she had merely purchased it to add to her outfit. One thing was for sure, no matter how good she looked in it, or how much the idea of collaring her suddenly appealed to me, there was no way I was going to let her get away with her presumptuous behaviour.

  Seeing as she was a novice I decided to deal with the collar issue once Stella was safely inside my apartment. Delaying the moment I ran my gaze over her again. ‘You look incredible, Stella,’ I murmured thickly. ‘Fuck.’ I didn’t often swear out loud, but I couldn’t help but curse under my breath at just how true my words were.

  ‘I hope we might do, Sir.’ Stella replied teasingly causing me to shake my head in complete surprise at her playful confidence. She might not be so confident once I informed her of her gigantic slip with the collar though, I thought with a smirk.

  Stepping back to let Stella enter I calmly closed the door all the while feeling how my heart was rampaging under my skin. Perhaps it was time for a countdown? Breathing in through my nose I did my usual five to zero and then feeling marginally more in control I reached out for her. My fingers were magnetically drawn to the soft velvet collar at her neck and as I ran my fingers across it I felt Stella’s skin tremble under my touch. It seemed that she was just as affected as me, which pleased me greatly.

  ‘Do you know the symbolism of a collar in a dom/sub relationship Stella, or is this just for decoration?’ I questioned thickly.

  ‘It shows I’m yours, Sir. Your property.’ Stella murmured softly, a small smile turning up the corner of her mouth and making me want to kiss her there immediately. ‘You told me to come prepared to give myself to you … so I did, I’m all yours, Sir.’

  Well, fuck me. Stella’s response totally blew my mind. The urge to press her against the wall and lay claim to her there and then very nearly overwhelmed me, but the dominant streak in me couldn’t get past her mistake in collaring herself and so thankfully I dredged up my reserves of self-control and managed to hold myself back.

  I am in control. Or at least I used to be before Stella walked into my life.

  Chapter Fifteen – Stella

  Flashing a brief glance at Nathan before averting my eyes it had been impossible to read the expression on his face. I was fairly sure that he liked my outfit and was turned on like me, but as he stared at the collar on my neck the silence between us stretched on long enough for me to start to worry that I might have done something wrong by wearing it. I’d researched collars carefully, and knew it to be the show of an ultimate commitment in a dominant relationship, although technically I might have gone about it the wrong way by just turning up with it on. Or perhaps he was staring at it because commitment like that wasn’t what Nathan wanted from me? Perhaps he just wanted a few weeks of fun. The more I thought about it the more I decided that I’d probably made a huge mistake wearing it. Bugger, I’d only been here 30 seconds and I’d stuffed up already.

  Just as I was about to look up and check Nathan’s reaction he slipped his fingers under the soft material of the collar and gently tugged. His action took me by surprise and unbalanced me in my high heels so that I ended up staggering forwards into his arms clumsily colliding with his chest.

  ‘Damn right you’re mine,’ he muttered hoarsely as he hauled me roughly against him and kissed me purposefully, well and truly claiming my mouth with almost bruising ferocity. Then, just as quickly as it had started, Nathan withdrew his lips from mine and stood back leaving me feeling wobbly and cold. ‘This, however …’ he stated in an icy tone, running his fingers across my collar again, ‘… is rather presumptuous of you, Stella.’

  Forcing a swallow down my dry throat I flashed a glance at Nathan. His eyes were still fixed on my collar and a deep frown was marring his forehead. That wasn’t a good sign, and to top it off, there was even a muscle jumping along his tightly clenched jaw. Shit, he might not be screaming or shouting, but there was no way to miss the fact that he was clearly angry and I felt my skin tingle with trepidation.

  ‘Come with me, Stella.’ As Nathan turned and moved away he still had one finger tucked under my collar, so despite his apparent request I really had little choice but to comply as he led me speedily through the lounge towards the kitchen.

  Stopping by the central unit in the kitchen Nathan finally removed his finger from my neck. ‘Wait here.’ He instructed crisply, in the same cold tone of voice that I was quickly coming to dread.

  Nathan seemed so angry with me that I hardly dared to move a muscle whilst I waited for him to return – even my breathing was shallow and minimal. When he finally reappeared he stood before me, legs spread and arms crossed over his broad chest in a posture that screamed of authority and almost made me want to curl up into a ball to avoid whatever was about to come my way.

  ‘This,’ he ground out as he tapped at my collar again, ‘is a problem.’ Crossing his arms again he
shifted slightly on the spot before continuing. ‘I know you’re new to this, Stella, but for you to tell me that it shows you are mine indicates that you must have done some research on it, am I right?’

  ‘Yes.’ My voice was the tiniest it had ever been.

  ‘Then surely you must have seen that it is the dominant partner who chooses if and when to give a collar?’

  I was totally out of my depth here. I knew nothing about this world and yet I’d naively thought this would be a good idea. Stupid, stupid, stupid girl. Realising that Nathan was still silently waiting for my response I licked my parched lips and nodded, ‘I did see that, but … I … I wanted to please you, and I thought giving myself to you might do that …’ I sounded like the clueless idiot I was, so I gave up on my stuttered excuse and just shut my mouth.

  ‘So you merely assumed I would want a more permanent and substantial relationship with you?’ he enquired in that horribly distant tone again. Closing my eyes I winced, I had royally fucked this up, and really there was nothing I could say to improve the situation so I just stayed quiet.

  After what seemed like an age of silence Nathan spoke again in a softer tone, ‘Your reasons and sentiment please me greatly, Stella. I cannot, however, allow you to wear this.’

  ‘I would never even consider collaring someone until I knew if we were compatible or not. However, the idea of you wearing my collar is rather alluring, so I am willing to compromise slightly in this. I will replace your collar with a simple one of my own; consider it a training collar if you like. This in turn shall be replaced at a later date with a more decorative and permanent one if I see fit.’

  Reaching to the side of me Nathan opened a drawer and rummaged through the contents. Frowning, I wondered what on earth he could want, but then my frown quickly turned to an expression of shock when he withdrew a pair of scissors and held them up. ‘Hold very still.’ He commanded, before leaning in and pressing the cool metal of the blade to the quivering skin of my neck. One simple snip later and the ruined strip of beautiful velvet fluttered uselessly to the ground by my feet.