My body went airborne as Calind cradled me in his arms.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
IT WAS AS though I had just woken up from a long bender. The last thing I remembered clearly, Calind had left for a business trip. Other than that, everything was a garbled up mess. It was an absolute head trip.
A cutting emotional pain and the feeling I’d done something wrong remained in my thoughts.
Why can’t I remember much of anything?
My illness had worsened. My brain had become my worst enemy.
The surroundings weren’t of any house I knew. I slid out of bed, roaming around the foreign house in the pitch-black night. From the windows, a view of a coastal bluff relieved me.
I followed the stairs outside in the back, leading to the private beach as a very familiar figure ascended out of the water. I ran to Calind and jumped on him. Wrapping my body around him, I showered him with kisses. “Why didn’t you wake me up when you came back from your trip?”
He wasn’t smiling or receptive to my kisses.
“What’s wrong?” A thought sliced through my head like a shard of ice. Van was dead. “Van,” I mumbled. “I don’t remember much else. Was I drinking or something? I don’t know how he died. I knew he had cancer, but I don’t know how I know he died.”
“He took his own life.”
“Oh, shit. I’m so sorry, Calind.” Knowing how much Van meant to him, the inclination to improve his mood was overwhelming. I held his wet body tighter, planting a kiss on his salt-flavored lips.
“There’s no need to apologize. I realize his pain was too much to endure. My need to have him around while in that condition was selfish on my part.” He brushed his lips against mine, preparing me for a deeper kiss.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” I asked, trying to catch my breath.
“Be who you are. That’s all I need.” He closed his eyes as though he was reliving a painful memory and kept them closed as he whispered, “I missed you.”
It was an odd time to smile. But when the man admitted any emotion, I had found a golden ticket on the bottom of a bar of chocolate.
I slid from his body to stand and glided my hands underneath the waistband of his wet swim shorts. “Missed me, huh? Are you going to show me how much?”
“I never forgot my promises to you,” he said, out of the blue.
“And I didn’t forget my promise to you, Calind. I was a very good girl. Bored, I think, but good.”
He sighed as he stood erect, removing himself from my arms.
I tried to reach for him, but he receded. When I sidled up to him, he pushed me away. “What the fuck happened? Did I miss something?”
His eyes shot open, and he shook his head. “No.”
“Okay,” I conceded, halfway disbelieving him. “So, what’s up with the new house?”
“The prior one irritated me.” He linked his hand into mine, guiding me back to inside the bedroom. “If you recall, you picked this house as your favorite when we returned here. I gave you your way, for a change.”
I wasted no time showing him how much I missed him and appreciated the gesture.
Calind separated his lips from mine and pressed his body forward, running his fingers underneath my chin.
I sank into his touch, clamoring for more.
“What am I going to do with you, sweetheart?” he cooed.
“Punish me.” I pressed my mouth against his ear and whispered, “Make me cry, Mr. Glace.”
His crooked smile was slow to appear.
“You keep promising me a severe punishment and never deliver.” As I thought about it, I came to terms with my pending admission. “The first night at Switch, do you know why I ran?” I didn’t wait for him to reply when I said, “Jealousy. A random exotic dancer shouldn’t have more of you than I have ever had. Show me I have all of you. Make me feel the way Kay did.”
A brow angled in surprise. “I’m not persuaded. You’re not prepared to visit that level of pain.”
“I am ready. I’m very ready.”
A CANDLE SERVED as the sole source of light in the otherwise dark spare bedroom, mostly devoid of furniture. A hand-braided, red velvet rope was tied in a constrictor knot on my wrists, connecting to a metal hook in the ceiling and confined my hands. Velvet cuffs wrapped around my thighs and ankles, keeping my knees bent and my legs spread. My weight was distributed between my wrists and thighs, suspending my naked body.
The instrument waffled through the air before it stung the bottom of my feet again. I twitched, and as the pain intensified, I screamed inside the tape covering my mouth.
Calind came into view, dressed in dark slacks and an Oxford shirt. A black cane was in his right hand. “Open your hand,” he said, his inflection even.
My chest heaved with a labored breathing pattern. I unclenched my fingers as my hands hung above my head.
Steady, light strikes vibrated up my arm until he hit my open palm.
My eyes watered. The duct tape muffled my screams.
“Doesn’t sound as though you’re ready,” he said, baiting me.
My eyes pleaded with him, and I nodded as much as I could.
He leaned over me, peeling the tape from my mouth. “I want to hear your pain.” He swung his arm, resembling a conductor of an orchestra, and slapped the cane against my torso.
I squirmed and expressed my torment through my teeth.
The cane was the worst. The agony it induced felt slight at first, but quickly spread, as though it were a growing colony of fire ants convening onto my skin every time he hit me.
“Tell me,” he commanded with ferocity, “why are you being punished?”
“Because I wanted what—”
“Ten...nine…” He cut me off, steering me away from thinking this was happening because I wanted it.
“I-I guess I don’t know.”
Twack! He caned the upper part of my right thigh, near my pussy.
“May I please have permission to answer again, Mr. Glace?” I strained to ask though my agony, buying time.
“Granted.” With a look of mirth, he neared me and ran his fingertips along my jaw. “Why are you being punished, Regan?”
“Because…” So confused simple thoughts were impossible, I barked out, “I don’t know!”
He clucked his tongue and shook his head.
“Shit,” I whimpered, squirming under the restraints. I gave myself a silent pep talk, preparing myself for what Calind had in store.
Calind moved the candle from the floor and placed it on the only piece of furniture in the room, a long wood table containing only a spool of thick twine and a pair of scissors. Measuring the twine on the wood dressing table, he cut it to a specific length.
He approached me and looped both ends around my neck. Extending the strands, he wound one end around one nipple and then the other, knotting it in the center of my chest. With some of the length, he lined it up between my thighs, fit it between my slit, and up the crack of my ass, securing it with a knot at the small of my back.
He wrapped a considerable amount of the remaining length around my torso and tied it. He pulled the rest upward and attached it to a low hanging hook implanted into the ceiling, leaving a few inches of overhang. Standing back, he wound the excess around his fingers, tightening the twine against every pressure point.
Under the dim lights, his brown eyes were glossy black orbs, narrowing at me as he pulled his arm down farther.
I bucked, enduring the pain as it sliced into my nipples, pussy, and ass all at once.
“Are you still with me, Regan?”
“Yes,” I replied, my voice raspy.
He pulled a little more.
I clenched my teeth at the burning sensation on my clit and the tightness around my nipples. “Yes, Mr. Glace.”
“Why are you being punished?”
“Fuck,” I whimpered as the rope cut into my most sensitive parts and my eyes expelled tears onto my cheeks.
“Do
you want to end this?”
“No, Mr. Glace,” I gritted through my teeth, defiant.
“You think this is a game of wills?” He pulled several more inches, forcing my body to arch and tremble.
“No. I-I don’t know the fucking answer, Mr. Glace.”
“My answer and your attitude will cost you several more centimeters. Can you handle that?”
Through quivering lips I whispered an almost inaudible, “Yes, Mr. Glace.”
He yanked the rope, hard and fast.
I screamed as the burn hit every nerve ending and shut my eyes, willing myself out of my body. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, and was floundering to endure it.
Calind showed no mercy and drew upward more than a few additional centimeters.
Instead of a scream, I cried as I never had before, and I couldn’t stop.
Suddenly, the surrounding movements slowed to a near crawl. My pain transformed from a numbing agent into a plateau of pleasure. I was on a high, and it wasn’t synthetic. It was all consuming, bringing me on the brink of euphoria.
In the small space, only Calind and I existed, connecting beyond our flesh, and it was mind-blowing. Stuck in a state, the aftershocks left me giddy. I’d never experienced such clarity in my entire life.
At the point of restriction, the rope released, allowing me to relax into my restraints.
Calind moved forward, pressing his body against me as his lips grazed my forehead. His touch made the aching wane. “Look at me, sweetheart.”
My eyes wandered before settling on his.
He smiled as though he knew the trip I was on and had experienced it himself. He moved the twine, licked his thumb, and massaged my pussy. His fingers slid between my lips while his thumb continued to rotate around my clit.
I whimpered, relinquishing my body to a flight into an orgasm.
His fingers worked me into a frenzy, making it hard to delay the thrill. No longer able to control my pending orgasm, I came hard. He slapped my swollen lips, breaking my ascension.
I stifled a derogatory term from crossing my lips.
The chains suddenly snapped free and I slipped into Calind’s waiting embrace. The twine and cuffs fell away from my body, disintegrating. They dropped to the ground in a pile of ash, leaving lingering burns on my skin.
Alerted, I stared at Calind for answers. When he opened his eyes, the invisible wall collapsed, and I could no longer fight the urge.
“Thank you,” I whispered, placing a weak hand across the stubble on his jaw.
He shushed me with a finger to my lips. “There’s no need to thank me.” With his arms around me, he laid me on the floor and caressed my mouth with his soft lips.
I melted into his mouth. Missing his lips, his touch, and his taste.
He grabbed my sore legs to wrap around his body, and held me.
Hours later, I was still straddling Calind’s lap. His soothing hands were rubbing my body, threatening to lull me to sleep. Stuck in the position for so long, my legs were numb and didn’t want to move.
A severe look settled across his eyes. “I sacrificed my beliefs to ensure your safety—to ensure you received what I promised.” He inhaled a breath so deep his chest heaved. The pain was evident in eyes. “No matter what happens, know that if I had to choose between you and the rest of the world, I’d choose you every time.”
I pressed my lips against his, showing appreciation for what I didn’t understand now but knew someday I’d receive an explanation.
“Regan,” he pulled away from my kiss, “we have little time left.”
“I know,” I whispered, aware. “I’m forgetting things lately. Too many things.”
“What do you want from me, sweetheart?”
I grabbed his hand and slipped it to my pussy.
He parted my slit and circled my nub with the pads of his fingers. “Is that all you want,” he whispered, seduction dripping from his mouth, “my cock inside your pussy for hours on end?”
I moaned, rubbing my pussy against his fingers and nodded. “Yes, and I want to leave this state for good. Just you and me in some exotic locale where you send me off in style.”
He furrowed his brow and sighed, deep and long. “And where would you like to go?”
“Surprise me, and let’s get one thing clear.” I knotted my hands into his hair, messing it up. “I only want you. All I need is you. So, if you own a private island where we would add to a population of zero, that would be very fucking ideal.”
He struggled to hide his smile and failed. “A gentleman’s promise.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“I SAID AN exotic location, and you pick Alaska? This wasn’t on my bucket list.” As I looked around, nothing but flatlands piled with snow greeted me, and I was a tad bit pissed.
Calind stood at my side looking toward an estate nestled between a dense forest…and not much else. “There is something I want you to see if you can behave yourself.”
“Fuck you. I have been behaving myself.”
His eyes narrowed at me.
“It was a joke. Heard of those?”
“And now it’s pulled you into trouble.”
SORE AND FUCKED into a stupor, I hardly had the strength to lift my head from the mattress to see if my hand landed where it should have—on Calind’s body. My fingers touched an empty space instead.
I slid out of the bed, half asleep and drunk on the aftermath of Calind’s marathon sex session. I snatched up the first thing I could find from the walk-in-closet and threw it on.
By the time I found the final empty room inside the palatial ranch, I was wide awake and panicking.
I shoved on a pair of boots and my coat before venturing out into the frigid weather.
I wandered, calling Calind’s name along the way. My feet sank into the snow, leaving tracks and a way to get back if needed. Stuck deep inside a dense and dark forest in a foreign land, I thought I’d better turn around before a bear mauled me.
Someone grabbed my hips and pushed me against a tree, knocking the wind out of me.
I was ready to put up a fight and scream until a man in a mask and commando gear greeted me. I erased the idea of fighting back because a man decked out in tactical gear had a reason, and could’ve been a killing machine.
I went for the poor me, take pity on me route: “I’m pregnant! Don’t kill—”
A gloved hand went over my mouth and the mask lifted to reveal Calind’s face.
I shoved his hands away and put my hands on my hips. “Why the fuck are you out here skulking around in commando gear? It’s a little early for Halloween. Calind, you have some mansplaining to do.”
“It’s a temperature controlled suit, this place is heavy with sensors to detect temperature abnormalities—namely, mine.”
“It’s kinda hot.” I grinned. “Wait a second? Temperature abnormalities? A place loaded with sensors? Is this another business trip for you?”
A crease formed on his otherwise perfect face. The one that always popped up when I was trying his patience. “Can we return to your earlier statement? You think you’re pregnant?”
“While I haven’t had my period since…I don’t remember when, it might be a side effect of lots of things. I said it to defend myself.” Looking at his uncharacteristically shocked face, I squinted at him. “You’re looking at me like it’s impossible. Why is it impossible, Commando Calind?”
“It’s not possible.”
“Isn’t it? You are a virile man who travels with some pretty heavy and advanced tech that makes me think what isn’t real is and shit. Anything is possible.”
“Regan, you don’t understand. It’s not—” He covered my mouth and pressed me against the tree trunk. Bringing a hand to his mouth, he directed me to stay silent. His eyes shifted to the left, his chin remained pointed toward me. He extended an arm, and I heard a gasp in the wind, then a grotesque cracking sound. “Turn away, Regan.”
I shoved his hand down from my mouth.
“What? Why?”
“Turn. Away.”
I slipped out of his grip and turned my back on him. I heard a pop and a muffled groan. A splintering, similar to the sound of a cracked tree trunk mixed with a broken sprinkler resounded. A heavy splash covered my legs. When I looked, I spotted a chunk of something bloody decorating my calves. I leaned in for a closer peek and realized it was a piece of brain matter.
“D-do you have radius control on that?”
Unclear images flooded my brain as if memories, leaving me with a pounding migraine. A fear as encompassing as any sane woman should have consumed me, but I couldn’t make myself terrified.
Standing in front of me, Calind lifted my chin until I stood upright. A brow quirked up and a half smile appeared. “No,” he replied, mildly entertained.
What the hell was funny about a guy exploding and spraying me with his gray matter? Calind had a dark and sick sense of humor. “Again, why are you out here, dressed like that, killing people?”
“We don’t have time to talk about this. Double back and return home.” He looked at the ground and then over his shoulder. “Go, Regan.”
I marched away, muttering, “I feel like I’m missing out on all the fun. All I can do is evade, or run away. I want to kick ass, too.”
“Regan.”
I whirled around to Calind pointing at the rainbow of lights radiating and dancing in the sky. “Is this what you wanted to show me?”
“It was.” His boyish smile rapidly faded. “Go home, Regan.”
A sudden whizzing sound left my inner ears ringing. In an instant, my indomitable man was on his knees.
“Calind?” One stride of my legs and I was also on my knees for an inexplicable reason. A burning at the back of my neck forced me to place my hand there. Needlepoint spikes poked through my flesh and back under my skin, injecting a warm and viscous fluid.
“Calind?” I asked, blinking up at him. Stuck frozen in place, Calind closed his eyes. Black veins popped to the surface and appeared on his face before he slumped on the ground. I struggled to get closer to him. Instead, I tumbled to the ground, back first. A figure stood over me, staring and still. Emile.
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