Eric nodded. "You do that and I'm off to get ready."
After he disappeared upstairs she picked up the phone and called her aunt only to learn they were having dinner at six and she should bring Eric. Getting a replacement drivers license didn't take as long as she anticipated and as scheduled, she and Eric showed up at her aunt Laura's just before six to find her parents and Paul waiting for her.
Amy's jaw tightened. The sight of Paul pissed her off and she wondered what the hell he was doing there. Eric noticed her immediate change in mood and put on a big smile.
Once they were all seated around the table, looking at each other over plates of her aunt Laura's famous lasagna, Amy couldn't hold back anymore. "So is there a reason you invited both Paul and Eric to a family dinner after the house burnt down?"
Her father looked nervous. "Amy, we need to talk to you. We found out something today..."
Amy's eyes narrowed. She glanced at Paul who was giving Eric threatening looks. Eric remained calm with a reserved expression plastered on his face. "Well spit it out," she said, her voice cold.
"We found out the fire was no accident. It was set on purpose. As it turns out Paul here was driving by while we were at the house today and he stopped. He was concerned for your well-being and told us you were hanging out with some bad people. No offense intended toward Eric, but I need to know exactly who he is, how come your mother and I have never heard about him before, and what kind of shady things he's into." Her father looked directly at Eric when he said that.
She paused for a moment like a deer caught in the headlights. First, the fact that the fire wasn't an accident was definitely concerning. Second, Paul... she couldn't even finish the thought because it filled her with such rage. Taking a deep breath she finally said, "Paul's just angry because I dumped him so he's created bullshit stories about Eric. Eric is my boss and a friend. The nature of our relationship beyond that really isn't anyone's business unless we choose to make it their business."
Paul stood up and started toward her. "You are sleeping with him! I knew it! You were cheating on me the whole time with this freaky fucker?"
Eric stood, calmly locking his hand around Paul's wrist and directing him back toward his chair. In that deep calming Dom voice he said, "Sit down. Let's not start anything or let tempers get out of control."
Pulling his wrist away, Paul glared at Eric. "You got her hooked up with the S and M crowd."
As if unbidden, Eric's left eyebrow lifted, begging Paul to continue.
"I followed you two to Black Lily. Everyone knows what goes on there. Did you turn her into one of your whores? Are you beating her?" Paul challenged.
Eric's expression turned hard. "I would never hurt Amy and I resent the implication that I'm abusive toward her in any way."
Paul leaned around Eric and looked Amy square in the eyes. "Has he hurt you?"
Amy's mouth was hanging open. She knew it and made no move to close it. She just didn't have the words. Had she known Paul was following her... she felt her face turning red with anger. That's when she noticed her parents looking at her. "No! Eric has never hurt me. What the hell?"
"Have you been to that club?" Her father asked in a subdued tone.
"Well, yeah, we stopped by there for a drink with some of our friends Saturday night. We didn't go into the back or participate. Damn, Paul, if you're going to talk crap about me to my parents at least get your story straight. I have two more friends who will tell you it was only drinks." She gave Eric an apologetic look.
"He owns the damn club!" Paul challenged.
Amy swallowed the lump in her throat. Paul had been a busy little beaver.
Eric shook his head. "Correction - I am an investor in that club, but I also co-own a bookstore, a furniture store, and I've invested in a movie production company and a micro-brewery. I don't keep my eggs in one basket. I find it makes more financial sense to spread out into different areas," he said in a very professional, business-like tone. "And yes, Amy and I are dating. But I didn't ask her out until you were out of the picture. Truth is, man, she was thinking about dumping you weeks before she actually did it."
She nodded. "True."
"Then if everything you say is true, Amy won't have any problem showing us her back. Or at least taking her mother and aunt in the other room to show she doesn't have bruises or marks on her from this asshole beating her," Paul said triumphantly.
A swell of panic rose in the pit of Amy's stomach. She hoped the panic she felt wasn't written across her face. Even Eric shifted uncomfortably in his chair. There was no hiding the marks from the whip the night before or the caning from the night before that. "Well that's a dumb idea," she finally said.
"I don't think it's unreasonable and it would give your mother and me some piece of mind," her father said.
"No, it's a dumb idea because I do have bruises and scrapes on my body after climbing out of a small basement window and trying to climb out of a window well. The rose bush caught my back," She stood up and showed them the real bruises from her climb to safety. They were on her forearms, and gave them a peak at her back under her shirt. It sounded plausible to her at least. After all, when she'd seen her own back in the mirror that morning she mused that's what the whip marks looked like. Like she'd fallen into a rose bush. She was hoping her parents wouldn't be any the wiser.
"In that case all the more reason for your mother and aunt to take a look, go." Her father dismissed her with a wave of his hand and turned to Eric.
Amy got up and started to follow her mother and aunt down the hallway but she stopped short. "Wait a minute. Why am I doing this? I'm an adult. I'm over twenty-one. You can't force me into a strip search." She turned around and grabbed her jacket and bag, generously supplied by the industrious Kali. "Come on Eric, we're leaving."
"Amy, if you leave this house..." her father started.
Eric got up and followed her toward the door.
She stopped, "If I leave what?"
"If you leave before we know what's going on I'm going to have to tell the police everything Paul knows so they can catch the arsonist who burnt down the house."
She whirled around, really angry now. "So you're saying that just because my boyfriend invests in a club, just because I went there for drinks and just because I won't submit to a strip search that somehow that's why the house was burnt down?"
"If you're hanging out with people who are of a criminal element, yes," her father concluded.
Paul nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Criminal element?" Amy rolled her eyes, ignoring Eric's imploring look. He clearly didn't want her to make things worse, but the truth was being honest and knowing it would be shocking and scary and upset her family, and even more so Paul, made her feel powerful no matter what miserable consequences came of it. "Fine. I am into bdsm, but only with Eric. I have a couple other friends into the scene, but neither of them would have burned the house down. The only reason Paul saw fit to stalk me was because I dumped his lame ass. If it weren't for that neither of you would have had any clue what my private sex life entailed. Thanks for that, Paul. I hope you're satisfied that I'm absolutely embarrassed and mortified that my parents know more about my sex life than they should. So in the same spirit I'll say in front of everyone present that you're lame in bed and couldn't find the clitoris if you were given a map. The reason I dumped you is because you treated me like a good for nothing whore. Eric has never treated me like that - ever!"
Taking a startled Eric by the hand, they left the apartment and soon found themselves sitting in the car in silence.
"Well that was... shocking?" Eric finally concluded.
"Does your family know you're into bdsm?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Hell no. I can’t imagine what I’d say or do if they ever found out."
She shrugged. "I have nothing and therefore have nothing to lose."
Turning to her he took her hand into his. "That's not true. You've got me, and Brad, and whet
her you like it or not, I think Kali has taken a liking to you, too."
"Well, I'm going to have to find a new place to live, ugh. I don't want to think about it." She looked out the window. She watched her aunt's apartment complex disappear in the side view mirror as he pulled out of the parking space and turned onto the main road.
There was a pregnant pause. "You can stay with me for as long as you want."
"Yeah, but that's an imposition..." she started.
"Amy, were you serious about wanting to have a relationship with me?"
"Well, yeah, but it's moving too fast," she told him.
He was silent for a few minutes. "I see your point, I do. But there are people who get married after knowing each other a month or two. I'm not suggesting anything that rash. Just living together. You can even have one of the spare bedrooms if sharing a bedroom is too strange for you. You can call me your roommate with benefits if that's what you want."
The lump in her throat was back again. This time accompanied by heartburn from the bite of lasagna she'd managed before all hell broke loose. "I have to think about it."
He nodded. "Okay. Fair enough. Now let's go get some dinner. After that revelation I'm starving and I don't want to deal with policemen on my doorstep without something in my stomach."
Chapter Eight
The police never showed up at Eric's, instead, they showed up at the bookstore the following day. Amy had stopped by the college and talked to all of her professors that morning. Now, she sat doing the makeup homework. There was no way she was leaving her courses unfinished. The student loan people didn't care if she finished a semester or not. She still had to pay them back. The two plain-clothes detectives, a woman and a man, looked like customers at first. Both were dressed in jeans, boots, and solid colored shirts. Amy looked up from her textbook, set it aside and forced a smile. "Welcome to By the Book. Can I help you find something?"
"Actually we're looking for Amy Myers and Eric Parsons," the man said. As if they shared some unspoken cue, both detectives flashed their badges. "I'm Detective Tafts and this is Detective Graves."
She fought the urge to give a heavy sigh. "Well, I'm Amy Myers and Eric Parsons is coming up on your left."
"What can we help you with today, detectives?" Eric said with a grin.
"Arson." Detective Tafts looked at Amy and then at Eric. "Can I speak to you privately Mr. Parsons?"
Eric shrugged. "Sure, come on over here."
Detective Graves took a step toward the counter and gave Amy a reassuring smile. "So how long have you been working here?"
"A little over three weeks now," she said, pretending to look at a receipt.
"So you've known Mr. Parsons for..."
"A while," Amy finished.
"So does Mr. Parsons hit you?" The detective put a hand on Amy's shoulder.
"Seriously? Did my parents tell you that?" She rolled her eyes. "My stupid ex-boyfriend, who's stalking me by the way, saw fit to share my personal sexual fetishes with my family. My family, thinking I must be under the influence of someone or something else, can't understand my personal tastes, and so they assume that I'm being abused because it's the only way they can wrap their heads around it. For the record Detective, I'm over twenty-one, I was only living with my parents because I was going to school, and what Eric and I do in the bedroom is consensual. So don't think you're going to get into my head and convince me how abused or mental I am, because I'm neither. I like it rough. A lot of women do and last I heard that wasn't a crime."
The detective nodded and her tone turned from soft to firm. "Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt you?"
"You mean aside from my ex-boyfriend who is incredibly upset that I dumped him for Eric? No. Well," she paused and then remembered the incident with Emily. "Well, no. Eric has a psycho ex-girlfriend, too. She hit me the other night at the club, in the bathroom. But I’m pretty sure she’s not the type to burn down houses. I’d almost bet on my ex-boyfriend."
“And why is that? Did he ever hit you?”
“No, but I thought he was going to when I dumped him. Just a look he sometimes gave me when we were together and I wouldn’t bend to his will. Like when I wouldn’t have sex with him. He was a jerk,” she paused thoughtfully. “Though I don’t know, maybe he wouldn’t do anything like that either. I mean, it could have been just some random freak thing that some arsonist chose our house for burning, couldn’t it?”
The detective shrugged. “Anything is possible. Now back to Mr. Parson’s ex. What happened there? She followed you into the bathroom? Were there witnesses?"
Amy nodded. "Oh yeah. My friend Kali was there and had Emily removed from the club. She's not allowed back there. She was pretty pissed about it too because she showed up at Eric's house later that night demanding an explanation and telling him how much she loved him. But she left when he told her to."
The detective listened, taking down all the information. Then, Detective Tafts pulled her aside and they compared notes. Eric went back to helping a customer. His jaw was set. Undoubtedly the detective had asked him questions implying he was abusive. Finally, both detectives made their way back over to Amy and Detective Tafts motioned Eric over to them. When they were all assembled the detective eyed them warily. "So we’re going to question Paul Marks again. Now what is Emily's last name?"
"Emily?" Eric's face was blank.
"Your ex-girlfriend," the detective clarified.
A sudden shock of realization ran across Eric's face. "Emily Stottle."
After getting as much information as they could about both exes Detective Tafts put his notepad away in his pocket. "We'll start there, but if either of you think of anything, call us."
With that, Eric and Detective Tafts exchanged business cards and the detectives left.
Brad came up from his desk behind the counter. "What the fuck was that?"
She frowned. "It's a long story." Taking some books off the counter she hurried off into the stacks to get some work done. She didn't want to talk about it or think about it.
Eric stayed behind. She heard them talking but she couldn’t hear what they were saying since they were both speaking in hushed whispers.
The day couldn’t end soon enough. By the time nine o’clock rolled around she was tired and ready to go home. Her new home. That thought alone brought back the stress of the sudden change in her situation. Before she could stop it, that same feeling of numbness seemed to be coming back. She tried to fight it, but she couldn’t.
She sat patiently waiting while Brad and Eric locked up. Finally, scared, she whispered, “Eric, I’m not feeling so good.”
Brad was closer. He looked into her eyes. “No, you’re not. Eric, Amy is shutting down again.”
Eric came out from the back room. “Oh babe, not again.” Leaning down he helped her up, taking her into the back room.
Brad followed just in case Eric needed his help.
Carefully he removed her jeans and panties.
She barely felt the coolness of the air on her skin. The world started going foggy.
“Over the bench,” he said, draping her carefully over one of the benches. He didn’t bother restraining her. “Flogger,” he said.
Clearly Brad didn’t agree, but he gave Eric the flogger anyway.
Eric’s hand lightly caressed the area to be flogged.
Amy only felt a light soreness. Then the flogger came across her ass, harder and harder until the sting finally brought her back. Eric gave her a few hard open palm swats with his hand to supplement. That did it. The pain was intense. The tears started flowing and she felt such a great sense of relief she began laughing. Brad brought a blanket over and gave it to Eric who threw it around her shoulders.
“It’s okay, babe,” he whispered. “Though I really wish you’d use your safe word.”
With a sniffle she said, “But it needs to hurt. I need to feel. I need to cry.”
“Yeah, well I don’t think you’re going to tolerate any more
whips this week, gorgeous. I’m cutting you off so you can’t shut down like this, oaky? We need to find a better way...at least until your body has had some recovery time.” He rubbed her back gently, pulling her into his chest.
Amy’s head swam. Something sparked inside her and suddenly she was ravenous for him. Her body was on fire and she wanted him, right there, right now. Not caring that Brad was right there in the room with them, her lips found Eric’s and she kissed him, pushing her tongue into his mouth. She felt his arousal on her thigh and her hand slipped down to touch it. She’d ran her fingers its entire length before his hand caught hers and pulled it away.
“I thought I was moving too fast?” he challenged.
“Take me now, Master,” she whispered breathlessly. Her heart slammed in her chest. She was so turned on what slipped out of her mouth next surprised even her. “I want you, but I want Brad, too. Both of you, at the same time.”
Eric’s eyes went wide. “Oh. Well, for a threesome we’re heading to the home dungeon, if Brad agrees, that is.”
Brad actually laughed. It was a surprised laugh, but it was still a laugh. “I need to check with someone first to see if she minds sharing me.”
Eric lifted an eyebrow at him, and then turned back to her.
Amy ran her hands through Eric’s hair. “Why not here?”
“Don’t be greedy or all you’ll be getting tonight is a mouthful of cock, if you’re lucky.” Eric’s voice had changed to that rough, sexy Dom voice again.
It made her want to melt into the floor and do whatever he asked of her.
Brad left the room with his cell phone in hand. She could hear him talking to someone.
“I’ll be good,” she said, quickly pulling her panties and jeans back on so they could leave.
“Are you sure you want a threesome?” He lifted an eyebrow at her.
She nodded. “I just want to know what it’s like, Master. I thought since you and Brad are friends and he’s seen me naked in a cage…”
Eric grinned.
Once Brad had agreed, the drive home took too long, and making their way to the dungeon took even longer. Or so it seemed.
Training Amy (BDSM Erotica) Page 12
