A Haunting Experience

by Kessily Lewel

  Having gotten her way in everything, Elizabeth seemed to be in a great mood. As they were finishing lunch, she asked if April had any other errands she wanted to take care of. April had been happy enough just to get out, and to stop at the bank of course, but that gave her pause. Was there anything she'd forgotten to pack? Nothing came to mind, not that she'd noticed over the course of the week. She hesitantly suggested the drug store, mostly just to extend her freedom for a few more minutes, and she could always find something she needed in a drugstore.

  While they were there and April was gathering up odds and ends to fill her handbasket, Elizabeth made another suggestion.

  "You know, April, since you're going to be more active on film, you might consider dressing the part." She paused and then clarified "We could stop at a lingerie store and pick you up a few things that would—"

  "No. Just—no," April said firmly. She shook her head, dropping a couple of candy bars into the basket and giving Elizabeth a look of annoyance.

  "But I'm sure your ghost would love to see you in something a little sexier than what you packed. I mean you hadn't exactly planned for romance," Elizabeth said, wheedling in a sweetly coaxing tone that didn't fit her well.

  "He'll have plenty of time for that when the cameras are gone," April snapped. Then, in a calmer voice, she said, "Besides, this is supposed to be a realistic game. You're using my story and adventure of coming to help investigate the house as a medium right? Well, no paranormal investigator shows up at a haunted house with sexy lingerie packed," she pointed out.

  Elizabeth looked disappointed, no doubt thinking that, realistic or not, it would give a sexier vibe to the experience. "I suppose you're right. Just thought it might put your lover in the mood if you dressed for the occasion."

  "He doesn't have any trouble in that department," April said as she turned away and headed for the cash register with her temporary boss right behind her. Inside she was seething. Elizabeth had made her feel like a prostitute with her suggestions, but she kept her mind on the prizes she'd been promised, and her mouth shut all the way home.

  "You don't need to have Mr. Bruebeker rush over with the contract changes. I'm fine with waiting until he comes next week to bring my check," April said casually as she got out of the car with her take-out box and a bulging plastic bag from the store. The less she had to see him the better, as far as she was concerned.

  "That's fine. I'm not going to cheat you; this is too important. But I expect you to start on your part of the bargain right now. We have less than three weeks to get lots of footage," Elizabeth said. "And if you can stir up the scary activity, too, that would be great. I want my pick of material for both modules."

  She left as soon as April entered the house, backing out of the driveway so quickly that her tires skidded on the gravel in her hurry to get away from the ominous feeling of dread that seemed to leak from the mansion. April, however, had gotten used to it. Or maybe it wasn't that. Maybe it was just that she could feel John's presence there and it overrode the negative energy that had soaked into every board, nail, and piece of glass that made up the structure.

  After popping her leftovers into the fridge, she went straight to her room. John had made it clear that he preferred to give her space during the day, but that he'd come when she called. She briefly considered doing so; there was a lot to discuss after her meeting, but she decided to wait and give herself some time. She filled the tub with steaming hot water and added some of the scented bath salts she'd picked up at the drugstore and then she settled under the water for a soak.

  John knew what was at stake when it came to the house. He wouldn't hold it against her if she had to do things on camera that she'd have preferred to keep quiet. Even before the meeting with Elizabeth, he'd been encouraging her to make more of an effort to get over the shyness, so there was no fear that he'd think she was a woman of ill-repute, or whatever they called it back then. And it probably didn't hurt that she'd been a virgin before him, either, but telling him what she'd agreed to was going to be difficult, anyway. The embarrassment of putting it into words was heavy.

  The bigger issue, the one she hadn't really considered when she agreed to follow this through, was what was looming in her mind now. If she did this, if she exposed herself on camera for everyone to see, it was tantamount to agreeing to stay with John. Everything she would be doing would be pointless if she packed up and left before the month was up. The house had already been on the table, but she'd had no idea what she was getting into when she decided to try for it.

  Now she knew, in full detail, what she was going to have to do. And to expose herself to the team, Elizabeth, the lawyer, and who knew how many game designers who would have to watch in order to recreate it in CGI, and then just walk away—no. If she was going to do this, then she needed to be sure, for once and for all, that she was going to stay.

  And once she let herself realize that, it became very obvious to her that she'd already made the decision. All of her worries and fears about whether it would work aside, she'd started thinking about what a future with him would be like. And it suddenly occurred to her that she'd never even have entertained Elizabeth's deal if she hadn't already, in her heart, decided this was her future.

  The realization took her breath away, and she slumped back in the tub, sinking up to her neck in the water. When had she decided? When had she realized that no matter how much she had to give up, how much she would have to adapt to this life, that this was it for her. He was it for her. She couldn't pinpoint the moment, but she knew she didn't need another month to decide.

  Her mouth was already opening to call John and tell him the news when she stopped short and settled back in the bath. No, not yet, she decided. His ways were old-fashioned, and while she was learning that she liked a lot of it, there were some things that she needed him to meet her halfway on. If he thought she'd already decided to stay, then he'd have no motivation to relax the alpha male routine and learn to compromise. Maybe it was a little sneaky, but it would be better for their relationship in the long run.

  She chose to keep that to herself later when John arrived with the setting sun. She'd gotten out of the cooling bath and taken her leftovers out of the fridge to heat by then. When he appeared behind her, she jumped and then laughed as she remembered that first night they'd met. She'd known him less than two weeks, and she already knew she was in love with him and wanted to spend her life with him. She only wished he could spend his life with her, but it was too late for that, so she'd make the best of what they did have together.

  "My apologies for startling you, darling," he said, smiling as he swept her up in his arms and kissed her passionately.

  "I'm used to it," she said, staring up at him lovingly when he finally released her from the slow kiss.

  Every evening when he appeared, he grabbed her up in his arms fiercely, as though he'd been away on a long trip and only just returned. She wondered if it was because he was afraid he'd find her gone one night, or if it was just that time passed differently for him sometimes. She'd ask him, but there were more important things to talk about at the moment.

  Settled in at the table with the remnants of her lunch, she began to fill him in on her afternoon. He hadn't been aware that she'd left the house, which reassured her in a way. It was nice to know that he wasn't spying on her. She couldn't stop him if he chose to and wouldn't even know if he was; just one of the many problems with having a supernatural lover, so it pleased her that he was giving her the privacy she could expect from a normal relationship. Of course, the fact that everything she was doing was being recorded offset that, but the cameras wouldn't be there forever, and it was good to know he'd respect her space.

  He listened attentively as she spoke, his eyebrow went up when she got to the part about the game turning into more of a sexual adventure, and he frowned, looking a little displeased with it.

  "I know, I know. I'm not happy about it, either," she assured him. "But it's not like I have a
choice, really. I signed the contract, and if I want to be able to stay here, I'm going to have to follow through."

  He was thoughtful, his voice carefully controlled when he spoke. "It was one thing for people to see these things, thinking they would be of no use to them. It's quite another to know they will be using you to—" He paused, struggling to put words to a situation he'd never experienced. "To excite others sexually. You're not a prostitute for them to please themselves with," he said, eyes narrowing. "If I could get my hands on that woman I would—"

  "Well, you can't. She'll never set foot in this house again because of the last time you got your hands on her," she reminded him, a little peevishness entering her voice as she spoke. She didn't like remembering that he'd had a quasi-relationship with the owner of the house. "I know it's not ideal. Neither of us wants this, but we're stuck with the situation. We're not going to do much we wouldn't already be doing, I'm just going to stop trying to hide off camera. Weren't you just encouraging me to do that, anyway?" she asked pointedly.

  "That was different," he said with a growl. His voice rumbled low in his throat, obviously displeased. "I had thought they only wanted the supernatural experiences for this game. Not the sight of your body for an erotic fantasy," he protested.

  "There's nothing we can do about it, because I agreed to it, and that's that." Her words were firm, and she punctuated the sentence by slapping her hand down on the table to make it clear the conversation was done. Truthfully, she hadn't expected him to be so annoyed about it, though she did see the difference, and it bothered her, too. It bothered her a lot, which meant if she could suck it up and deal with it, so could he!

  "You should have spoken to me first, April. I have serious doubts about the path she is taking with this," he said, his voice rising in volume with every word.

  She had no intention of getting in a shouting match with him that would make her look like an idiot on camera. She reminded herself that they'd only see her part, so instead of yelling back, she ignored him entirely and turned her attention to her food. She ate mechanically, barely tasting it, though she acted like it was consuming all of her attention. She could tell he was seething, and ignoring him probably wasn't going to help, but neither would fighting with him.

  He waited until she finished her lunch, no doubt remembering the previous kitchen fight that ended with her meal being destroyed, and then started again. "April, we can fight this. Regardless of what contracts you've signed, she can't force you to put your sex life on camera. We'll conduct such affairs in the privacy of the bathroom until the end of the month and—"

  "And then? And then we don't get the house, and I leave here. Or worse, they send people over to install equipment in there and we end up without even a place to talk alone. Is that what you want?" she demanded.

  "I won't allow it. I can destroy any devices they put in there," he said firmly. He crossed his arms and sat back in his chair with a mulish look on his face.

  "And then they accuse me of doing it, and I default on the contract and don't get the house. Stop being a complete ass about it because— We. Have. No. Other. Options!" she said, enunciating the words like she was speaking to a child.

  The conversation began to escalate, and although she knew she was going to regret it, by pushing him hard, she was triggering the exact scenes that Elizabeth had demanded for her game.

  It took very few exchanges after that one to send him over the top, and when he lost his temper, he did exactly what she knew he'd do. With a surprisingly gentle hand on her arm, he pulled her up out of her seat. Seconds later, she found herself being turned around and bent over the tabletop. His hand swatted down firmly across her backside without a second more warning.

  "Ouch! Damn it, John. This isn't fair! You can't tell me what I can do with my own body!" she protested weakly.

  His hand came down again, harder, and she was suddenly regretting her choice of outfit. Her skirt was too thin and too short, when she was bent over like that, to provide any protection at all.

  "I'm not telling you what you can do with your own body! I'm saying you committed both of us to this without discussing it with me! I admit that I do feel a certain level of possessiveness when it comes to you. You're my woman, but I am -trying- to adapt somewhat to your modern ways. That doesn't include letting you make decisions for both of us. You knew my stand on that and you agreed to try it my way!" he reminded her with a snarl.

  His arm began to swing at a quick tempo, hand landing every other second across her thinly covered rump and her bare thighs as he let her know exactly why he was angry.

  She yelped and twisted, throwing her hand back to cover her endangered backside. "All right! I'm sorry! I didn't think about including you because they won't see you!" she said desperately, trying to appease him. It was honest enough; she'd been concerned with herself and dealing with the exposure and hadn't even considered his role in the footage.

  "No, you didn't. And while they might not see me, they see my actions; so don't you think I should have been given a chance to voice my opinion before you agreed?" he demanded.

  He flipped the short skirt up onto her back, exposing the plain cotton panties she was wearing. He could already see a red flush rising on the skin underneath the thin white cloth and at the top of her legs below the elastic. The sight of it soothed him somewhat, but he didn't slow the crisp spanking he was giving her.

  He had been making an effort to respect her views and accept that she'd been raised in a time that allowed women a greater latitude in their behavior, but he'd warned her that he would be the master of this house. Perhaps if it hadn't been a topic that displeased him so much, he'd have let her thoughtless mistake slide, but the whole thing bothered him. He didn't like the idea of people seeing her like that, using her. He was shaky on the concept of such games, but she'd explained virtual reality to him and how realistic it could be. And now he was to allow their relations to become entertainment fodder for the world?

  It upset him, and what made it worse was knowing that she was probably right. He wasn't an expert on modern law, but he was familiar with business contracts and lawyers, and he knew that likely they would be stuck for it. That blonde woman was holding his house hostage, and having a legitimate reason to work out his frustrations on April's curvaceous bottom was the only thing likely to improve his mood. He took full advantage of having her there and held down firmly across the table.

  "John! Please stop!" she yelped, struggling to avoid his hand.

  He tugged her wrist up and pinned her arm out of his way.

  "You agreed to more time on camera, didn't you? Well, you're getting what you wanted," he said coolly.

  "It's not what I wanted! I didn't want this! I never wanted— John, you're the one who kept saying we couldn't hide in the bathroom!" she wailed in a combination of pain and frustration.

  "That was before you told that woman that she could use our private time to create a pornographic show. I was under the impression that they would not be using such things," he said firmly, a snap of anger in his voice as he whisked her panties down to expose her bare bottom. He paused and then shifted her body to the left by a foot, causing her to look up, confused. "Want to make sure the camera gets a good view, don't we?" he said.

  She gave him a look of embarrassed dismay and fought against the rearranging of her body, but he easily positioned her the way he wanted her, and the spanking began again. "I'm sure they'll find this useful for their endeavors," he grumbled as the flat of his palm swept down, crashing hard across her left cheek and leaving a blazing red patch before it moved to the right.

  There was always a noticeable difference between cloth and bare skin, and she began to cry. Fat tears of misery trickled down her cheeks to splash onto the table's surface.

  They would find it useful. Elizabeth would be pleased at the scene, and they both knew it. April had known what she was doing by prodding him when he was already upset, but in a way she'd had to do it. She'd forced him
to take charge and exert his dominance over her because it was necessary for their future, and the spanking was the expected result. She was heartily regretting it, now that her ass was on fire, but she knew he'd calm down afterwards.

  How long he spanked her, she wouldn't know until she saw it on film the next day. For her, it seemed endless. An eternity of stinging pain and humiliation that stopped only when he'd finally decided she'd had enough. By then he'd resigned himself to her decision and had made a few resolutions of his own. The first was that there would be no more letting her camera shyness put off what they both wanted and needed.

  She'd likely agreed to far more than she'd be able to follow through on, at least that was what he thought, judging by her behavior previously. For her to suddenly throw herself wantonly onto a public stage to copulate with all eyes on them would be entirely out of character. So he would enforce her poor, though admittedly made under duress, decision. Starting then, right there in the kitchen.

  His shaft had swollen until it pressed in a hard outline against the front of his trousers, and he let go of her to set it free. It sprang from the confines fully erect, and he nudged her legs apart with one hand. He pressed his palm up between her thighs, feeling only a slight dampness. She hadn't enjoyed this punishment the way she had others. He hadn't wanted her to, but punishment was over, and he'd see if he could fix that.

  "Spread your legs, April," he ordered.