The Velvet Caress

by C. P. Mandara

  Now before you start thinking that everything was going swimmingly well, I have to confess I wasn't in amazing shape. From what I could gather I had some kind of infection that they were now treating with a hefty dose of antibiotics. This is about as much as I could gather whilst sky-high on meds. Clouds were floating around inside my head, and rainbows were twinkling. The doctors were poking and prodding at my back, and I couldn't feel a thing. It was great. Unfortunately it completely interfered with any rational thought pattern. Lying there, dreaming mostly happy thoughts, I really was quite content for a moment or two. I'd come back to reality eventually, but I fully intended to enjoy this for as long as I could. When it came to end I'd no doubt I'd be straight back in jail. Settling back on a hazy cloud of morphine I decided that I might look into recreational drugs in prison. Seriously… what could go wrong?

  I must have dozed off for a while, because when I came to my pillow was soaking wet and covered in drool. Urgh. Mind you, at least I'd had some sleep, and there was a lot to be said for that.

  Pushing the pillow out of my way I turned my head around slowly, trying to gauge what time of day it was. The large window behind my bed confirmed it was nearing dusk. God, how many hours had I been asleep for? It was probably an all time record for me.

  'Good evening, Mark.' There was a soft whisper from behind me - a soft, familiar whisper. As I'd been lying on my stomach I hadn't seen anyone yet. Twisting my head around in the opposite direction it was to find my wife seated next to me. She looked like an angel. Actually, she might have been an angel for all I knew.

  'This morphine stuff is really good. I thoroughly recommend the hallucinations,' I said to her. 'Is there any chance we could have filthy, hot, dirty sex as well?'

  The angel, who looked exactly like my wife, rolled her eyes and said, 'You aren't hallucinating, you're nearing the end of your morphine trip, and I don't think you're in any shape for sex of any variety at the moment.'

  'You told the police I tried to kill you.' I thought I'd just put that out there. I was still a little put out that she'd screamed at me and got me arrested less than five minutes after she'd woken up.

  'There was a nurse at your back with a syringe loaded with something very unpleasant. Better to get you tossed into jail than into a coffin ten foot underground.'

  My brow furrowed in deep lines. 'So you don't hate me.'

  'I wouldn't go that far. You're still one of the biggest assholes I've ever met. Oh, and by the way, my mother wants you dead. The guy who stabbed you in the thigh missed his actual target by some considerable margin. I rescued you from that too, by the way.'

  That took a few moments of processing. That meant that Jen's mum was actually…

  'You're welcome.' She raised an eyebrow at me.

  'You want a thank you? Seriously, you'd have needed to rescue me a whole lot earlier if you wanted a thank you. Preferably before I got stabbed.' I smiled grimly.

  'You'd better not mess with me, darling. I have connections. Next time I can make it hurt…' She grinned sweetly at me and waved my cell phone around.

  'Urgh. You're serious. You have a mother who's in the mafia. Fucking hell. I'm going to be eating my own testicles shortly.' I grimaced. Whilst few men were great fans of their mother-in-law, at least they didn't need to worry about being iced if they put a single foot wrong with their daughter. My life had just taken a drastic turn for the worse.

  'Maybe you should kill me now. If you let your mother do it I'm pretty sure it will hurt a whole lot more.' Judging by the last attempt on my life she really didn't like me all that much.

  'Nah. Where's the fun in that? I'd much rather have you scared witless and looking over your shoulder every five seconds.' She smiled again, this time evilly. 'Oh, and by the way, apparently I have more money than you do.'

  Fuck. If Jen had lots of money at her disposal she'd leave me in ten seconds flat. If it was true, and it might not be.

  'Yes, but yours is filthy dirty. Who'd want that money when you can have nice clean shiny stuff?' I laughed at my own joke and then moaned painfully as my lungs pulled at the skin of my back. The morphine was indeed wearing off and it was not a happy experience.

  'You're not telling me yours is all angelically gained, are you? If you're in business with Leyland I hope all your notes are wipe clean.' She stuck her tongue out at me. The woman actually stuck her tongue out at me! If I could have slung her ass over my knee right there and then I would have done. As it was I had to settle for a frosty look.

  'Ladies do not stick their tongues out. As to my money being wipe clean, the Royal Mint seems to have decided that we are to have those disgusting plastic notes in place of paper ones, so in actual fact it is wipe clean. Oh, and I'm not staying in business with Forbes much longer. I'm pretty sure he'll buy me out given the right encouragement.'

  'Oh, I don't know. Leyland and I could come to some arrangement about you staying in the drugs business, I think. It's not going to be so easy to pin murder on you if you don't have a ready supply of poison to hand, is it?'

  'Since when do you think that you call the shots around here?' I said acerbically.

  'Since you've been incapacitated and drugged up with morphine. Oh, and since I have a mother who's really keen on killing you, should you become a problem.' Jennifer patted my head affectionately.

  'I swear as soon as I get out of this bed your ass is going to be bright red and that mouth is going to be gagged with the biggest ball gag I can find. After I've done that we're moving to a very small island located in the middle of nowhere, where no one will be able to find us. Ever.'

  Jennifer bit her lip to stop from laughing. 'And then what are you going to do with me?'

  'Fuck you senseless every single day, over and over again until we both become so exhausted we can't move. Then you'll get a day off before I start all over again.'

  'Sounds like fun.'

  'Actually, it does.' My wife slowly sucked her index finger into her mouth and then proceeded to move it up and down to torment me.

  'Are you taking advantage of the fact I'm sick?' I growled the words at her, but was somewhat relieved that certain parts of my anatomy were working just fine. It appeared I wasn't a complete cripple.

  'I've got to take my advantages where I can. You've certainly made use of yours in the past.' Jennifer's voice sounded somewhat dry, and yes, I deserved the low blow.

  'This is probably about the time I should say I'm sorry,' I said. 'Jen, you don't know how grateful I am that you're alive.' I hoped I looked suitably contrite, but mastering facial expressions other than pain was beyond me at the moment. Instead I reached for her hand, grabbed it and squeezed it, hoping that would convey a little of the sincerity I felt. 'Oh and just in case one of us gets killed before we have the chance to speak again, I realize you had nothing to do with what your father did to me. I was an idiot. At the time I was blinded by rage and just wanted revenge in whichever shape or form I could find it in, and unfortunately that happened to be you. Actually, it wasn't unfortunately, because I happen to have fallen in love with you. If this is the point where you tell me I'm a monster and you never want to see me again I'd rather you do it now than later, so let's get it over with.' I squeezed her pale hand again. She was far too thin. I wanted to fatten her up. I would fatten her up, if she'd let me.

  Jen inhaled deeply and then slowly exhaled. 'If I was any kind of sensible I would leave you. I would run as fast as my legs would carry me, never look back, and never think of you again for a moment.' The last 't' was a staccato burst on her tongue and I thought I detected some resentment there. I could work with anger and resentment, but I couldn't work with a running divorcee. I looked down to try and figure out whether she was wearing heels. Craning my neck, I had a sinking feeling as I saw a pair of sneakers. They were running shoes all right. When the room had been silent for far too long and I could bear it no longer I asked, 'And are you going to leave me?'

  'It depends.' She withdrew her hand from m
y grasp, folded her hands in her lap and looked heavenward. I wanted to gasp in vexation. Just spit it out woman. What is it you want? To be fair I was prepared to do just about anything for her, she just needed to tell me what it was.

  'Name your demands. Never let it be said that I'm a man who is not willing to compromise.'

  She turned her head and gave me an enquiring look. 'You're prepared to compromise on the sexual side of our relationship?'

  Oh fuck. This was exactly what I'd been afraid of. She wanted everything vanilla, or worse, maybe none at all. The pained look I gave her had nothing to do with my back, as I said, 'I'm prepared to stop being a whip-wielding monster and leave the handcuffs and rope alone, if that's what you're asking. I can't be a monk, though. If you want a celibate relationship you'll need to walk. Every time I look at you all I want to do is rip your clothes off, and that's doubly frustrating at the moment, because I can't.'

  'Then the deal's off. We'll have to get a divorce.' She lowered her eyes to look at mine, and with horror I saw that she was deadly serious. Oh God. Could I go cold turkey on sex? Could I do that for her? I didn't even want to think of the amount of suffering that would entail, but neither did I want to think about life without her.

  Jen burst out laughing, utterly confusing me for a moment. 'There's no way I'm staying married to a vanilla man after you've introduced me to kinky sex. It's a bit like choosing between braising steak and fillet; one's tough and unappetizing, and the other is exquisitely amazing. They don't compare. If there's one thing in our relationship that cannot change at all costs, it's the fact that you're a sex-crazed monster.' She winked at me.

  Burying my head into the pillow I groaned. What was I going to do with her? She thought I was a monster? Seriously, what had I created here?

  'As soon as I'm back to fighting fitness you are going to suffer for doing that to me, little miss.' I threw her 'the look', but it didn't faze her in the slightest.

  'I'm enjoying you like this. Maybe I could have you stabbed more often.'

  I think she was only half joking. 'It's not the stab wound that's the problem,' I groaned, before I realized my mistake.

  'You've got another injury? Is that why you're lying on your stomach? What happened?'

  'I had a little incident with a very nasty whip.' There was no point beating about the bush. As soon as she saw the marks she'd know anyway.

  'In prison? You're kidding me. I'm surprised they didn't smuggle a gun in there and blow your brains out. Would have been easier.' She looked pretty horrified, so I decided I'd let her get away with that remark, though she was building up an impressive tally of spanks, let me tell you.

  'I was whipped before I went to prison. Quite honestly, I hadn't counted on spending the night in jail.'

  'Who whipped you? Why?' A flood of questions then rained down, but I fielded them away with my hand.

  'I thought you were going to die. I felt guilty as hell and I needed some way to atone for my sins. I'm not sure I'd have survived with your death on my hands.'

  Jennifer shook her head and looked aghast before saying, 'Couldn't you have just given all your money away to charity or something?'

  'That thought hadn't occurred to me, but I wouldn't have suffered nearly enough anyway. I needed pain. I'm a visceral, tearing agony and blood kinda guy. I can still give all my money away to charity though, if you like.' I raised my eyebrows in question although I might have worn a slightly dry expression.

  'Perhaps we'll settle on you giving some of your money away. If you suddenly leave yourself destitute you'll just work yourself silly trying to earn it all back again, and it will feel weird if I have more money than you.' She broke into a big smile then.

  I frowned. 'I think you will need to donate all of your money to charity, so that you're completely reliant on me forever. I think this term should be non-negotiable,' I muttered, having almost forgotten that my wife was shortly about to inherit a vast sum of cash.

  'I don't think you're in any position to make demands,' she said. 'I also think that those kind of demands could lead to a very messy and very expensive divorce.' The half-lidded look she wore was devilish.

  'You forget that I'm still allowed to use rope, cuffs and I can withhold sexual gratification. You'll be putty in my hands.' I returned the look with interest, feeling quite pleased with myself.

  'Not yet you can't. For now you're reliant on the doctors, nurses, and me. We're going to have a lot of fun at your expense. Trust me.' The infuriating woman blew me a kiss.

  'Maybe we should get that divorce after all…' I was only half joking.

  Jennifer blew me another kiss, which irritated me all the more. I wasn't sure if I should be glad that I'd managed to get a woman with lots of fire and spirit, or saddened that I was going to be spending the rest of my life trying to spank it out of her. Oh, wait a minute, I enjoyed that kind of thing. Unfortunately, so did she.

  'Oh and by the way, darling, did I mention they had dropped the charges against you?' She did the finger-sucking thing again and my cock immediately tried to poke a hole through the mattress. I swear this woman was going to drive me insane, whether mentally or with longing remained to be seen.

  'And you thought you'd just tell me this now?' I queried sweetly. It's a good thing you've got your running shoes on today; you might need those. I glared at her with all the disapproval I could muster, and began thinking about all the delightful torments I could put her through as soon as I got out of this damn place. It was a good thing I healed quickly. If I had to spend too much time around my wife like this I might actually murder her.

  'Ha. You have me to thank for that. The police were talking about poison found in your apartment. Does that ring a bell?' She stretched out her beautiful neck and slowly moved it from side to side, loosening it up. I realized then that she still looked far too pale.

  'Did you discharge yourself from hospital?' I narrowed my eyes at her darkly.

  'Do you want to know how I managed to get you acquitted for murder or would you rather go down that…?'

  'Don't change the subject young lady, or there will be consequences.' I ground my teeth together. She was going to drive me mad - it was official.

  'Yes. I discharged myself. My mother was trying her best to murder you and I wanted to make sure she didn't try anything else. You can sue me later.' She also narrowed her eyes at me and we had our first married 'staring match'. Hell, why hadn't I got married earlier? The way she was going she'd be in cuffs and chains for at least the next decade.

  I waved my hand at her. We could discuss her transgressions later. Right now I wanted to know how she'd managed to get my name off the shit list.

  'Go back. What about the apartment?' I twirled my finger in the air to demonstrate my point. I was going to need to get good at gestures in the next few days. Any movement upon anything bar my arms and neck was pretty grim.

  'So now you want to speak to me?'

  'That is three hundred and sixty-four spanks you've just earned yourself in less than an hour. Are you really sure you want to continue with the sass?' I was deadly serious. She'd earned at least that many, probably more, although I didn't intend to deliver them all on the same day. I like to take my time about these things.

  'Promises, promises,' she replied insouciantly.

  'Make that four-hundred and sixty-four spanks,' I said. 'Anyway, back to the apartment.' I took a deep breath and hoped we'd get somewhere this time.

  'Ah, yes, that.' She sniffed, and I wondered if she was going to prevaricate a little more, but thankfully she decided against it. 'Well, you weren't staying in your apartment, were you? You'd been at Fountaine Bleu with me. There was CCTV footage, staff testimonials and my own statement that proved you were nowhere near that apartment. Although on its own that probably wouldn't have been enough.' She paused and I filled in the blanks for her.

  'I might have taken the poison with me, or I could have had someone pop back to the house and get it.'

  'Exa
ctly. What actually got you off the hook in the end was some of your neighbours' security footage, which saw a deliveryman getting into the lift with a parcel but then reappearing later with his parcel still in tow. The uniform he was wearing was not connected with any parcel delivery firm that we know of in the UK, and no one recalls having missed a delivery. Security footage from outside the building saw the gentleman walk away, with no van in sight. All rather strange, wouldn't you say?' She looked at me questioningly.

  'Yes. Most odd,' I replied, 'but still not enough to get me off the hook for murder in my opinion.' My fingers were crossed that there was more, because I wanted this to be an open and shut case. I did not want to be tangled up in court for the next several months, even if I might stand a chance at getting bail now.

  'Leyland stepped in to inform the officers that anything you might have managed to get from him wouldn't have been strong enough to do any damage, unless taken in a massive dose. According to my statement it had been a tiny packet, which was consistent with me having taken it with a glass of water. They also still had some left over crystals, the one's they'd gathered from the table at Escape, that confirmed that the two poisons were not of the same strength. Whoever tried to frame you did a sloppy job.' Jen looked thoughtful.

  'Well, they were assuming that I'd be dead. They hadn't figured on you being the one to take the poison. Everything that happened after that was going to be a rush job at best.'

  'And thank goodness for that, else you'd either be dead or heading for a long spell behind bars.'

  'Are you disappointed darling?' I had to ask. Her life might have been much easier with me out of the way.

  She looked at me for a minute, as if surprised by the question, but then grinned.

  'Hell no. If you were behind bars the sex was almost guaranteed to be non-existent or terrible. Where is the fun in that?'

  'I'll have you know that my phone sex sessions are fucking amazing,' I said, and I was deadly serious.