Double Entendre: (City of Steel 2) (The Vault)

by Katherine Rhodes

  “I moved her in with me and I brought Cameron the divorce papers. Vanity is a hard-core masochist, and she asked to have a poly relationship. I said yes and thought I was okay with that.”

  “You weren’t okay with that.”

  “Not even close,” I admitted. “It was hard to admit I couldn’t keep her happy in the bedroom all the time. But I also felt like she wasn’t giving me the chance to prove I could. At all.

  “So when I went to get Cameron to sign the papers, we chatted and that all came to the surface. I let it get out of hand and…well. I had sex with Cameron right in her kitchen.”

  “Oh. Oh, dude. Bro. That’s not good.”

  “Thanks for that flash of insight, Einstein. But this gets worse. Weirder? Really fucked up?” I shrugged. “After we did that, I realized I wasn’t over Cameron. I’m still in love with her. But I’m in love with Vanity too.”

  “Oh, boy.”

  I scrubbed a hand over my hair. “I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to figure out how to confess to Vanity that not only was I not just still in love with Cam, but I had cheated on her with my nearly-ex-wife. Because we both believe in honesty and that’s what’s been working for us.

  “And then she finally set up a dinner date with her Domme so we could all meet and chat and understand what this relationship was. That was tonight, and that’s where I came from.”

  “What happened at the table?”

  “We didn’t make it to the table. I turned around to meet the woman and it was fucking Cameron.”

  Sal choked on the air he was breathing. “Excusemewhatdidyousay?”

  “Cameron Laicillia Garabaldi has been my girlfriend’s Dominatrix for about four months.”

  “Your ex-wife is a Dominatrix?”

  “My almost-ex-wife is apparently bisexual, as well.”

  My brother just stared at me. “Whoa.”

  “Yeah. Exactly.” I put a hand on my forehead. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “I don’t even know where to tell you to begin untangling that mess, Simon. That’s twisted up on a whole other level. It sounds like you got some serious thinking to do. I mean, you’re welcome to crash here and do the thinking, bounce ideas off us…”

  “That’s all I need. I couldn’t go home-home because I need space.”

  “I got cake!” Nadine blew in the back door with arms loaded with grocery bags and a plastic container of cake in her hand. “It’s chocolate and—oh. Hello, Detective.” She glanced back and forth between me and Sal. “So, he knows?”

  “I know.”

  “Jesus, thank you. It’s about time. Why do you look like the dog shat in your good shoes?”

  “Because that’s about right.”

  She put the bags down with a grunt. “Well. Come tell me about it. And have some cake. Cake makes everything better.”

  Vanity

  I stood in the door of the room in the basement with a hand over my mouth. I was speechless.

  Glancing over at Laicy—Cameron—she had the same look of shock on her face.

  “I can’t believe he bought all this,” she breathed. “I can’t believe he agreed to the poly. I had no idea that he…”

  “He does. He knows the whole community really well. They love him, and more, they respect him.” I stared at the unused spanking bench and the leather paddles on the wall. “I just didn’t want to do this to him. I didn’t want to make him into this person.”

  Laicy—Cameron walked to the wardrobe and pulled open the doors. There were floggers, whips, canes, ropes, clamps…just all manner of things I loved to feel on my body. She ran her hand over the ropes. “I thought he was joking when he said he wanted to tie me up.”

  There were fresh tears in her eyes, and I walked over and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m sorry, Laicy. I didn’t know he was yours.”

  “I left him because of this stuff,” she managed. “I didn’t think there was a remote chance in hell he would want to do any of this. I didn’t think he would want to play. I was scared to tell him that I…”

  I nodded. “You two were really young when you got married, weren’t you?”

  Nodding, she smeared away some tears. “We were. Twenty.”

  “Unless you’re way more curious than the average bear, there’s no way you two would have been thinking about things like BDSM so young, or so early in your relationship. Most vanilla couples don’t experiment until after the kids, when sex gets boring.”

  She quirked an eyebrow. “You’re not that much younger than me, Vanity.”

  “I was always way more dysfunctional and fucked up than you were, Laicy.”

  “Fair point,” she said. “I was so scared to talk to the big bad detective about the fact I found myself attracted to women. I don’t know why! He was hanging out with people who could kill with ropes and whips and thought nothing of exhibitionism. It had to have rubbed off on him a bit by then…”

  “You were still seeing him as Simon, the guy you met in college. You weren’t seeing the detective at all.” I leaned in. “He likes a little wild in the bed. He really likes my nipple piercings.”

  “Jesus, just the thought of him being turned on by that makes me conflicted.” She walked over to the four-poster bed that was set up against the wall. “He bought all this? For you?”

  “I called Darien, and he said—”

  “Darien?”

  “Darien Thompson? The master at Wanderer’s End?”

  She shook her head. “Don’t know him.”

  “Do you know Franz Dorn? Titus Salucci? Mistress Dee?” That name gave me a pang of sadness.

  Again, she shook her head. That was interesting. “Where did you learn how to use the whip and cane?”

  “I went to New York. There was a Mistress there who was willing to teach me.”

  “Why all the way there? You knew Simon was working in the community…”

  “Just for that reason,” she said. “I didn’t want him to find out. I didn’t want him to walk in on me having sex with another woman before I was ready to come out and tell him.” She snorted. “I wasn’t even ready tonight.”

  “I’m going to have to introduce you around the community, then. Darien was my master for a long time. Well, until you. But Simon knows him and knew I was his pet. He called him and asked him to come over.” I sighed. “Darien was very upset with me on the phone.”

  That had been an understatement. I called him while Laicy had gotten her car, and he had given me an earful about what I had done. He was mostly angry that I hadn’t considered where Simon was coming from.

  And he was right. I hadn’t considered that Simon, until he met me, and even though he was known by the community, was vanilla. Even now, he was only just a little kinky. I shoved him straight into one of the most complex kind of relationships in the BDSM world. One that sometimes even the infamous Doctor Billings had trouble explaining to his patients.

  “I’m upset with myself,” Laicy said, running a hand over the gorgeous black leather wrapped around the headboard.

  She turned and looked at me and I could see she was struggling to decide something. I waited, running my hand over the satin bedsheets he’d chosen for this room.

  “Vanessa…”

  I glanced over at her.

  “Vanessa, we had sex. Two weeks ago.”

  The words didn’t make sense for a long moment, and then I realized what she was telling me. “You and Simon have been sleeping together?”

  “No. We got carried away the other day. We wound up just fucking each other in the kitchen. It got out of control, and the next thing either of us realized, he was balls deep and I was mostly naked.”

  I clasped my hands together in front of me. “By the strictest sense, you both cheated on me.”

  “We did.”

  “Did…he go there on purpose for that?”

  “No! No. Not at all. He was dropping off the completed divorce decree so we could both sign it and be done with what was our marr
iage.”

  How did I feel about that? How was I supposed to feel? My boyfriend, who wanted to be my everything had gone to see his nearly-ex to make her his completely-ex, and had wound up fucking her in the kitchen.

  “Why?”

  “Why what?” Cameron was confused.

  “Why did you screw him? Why did you screw each other?”

  She stared down at the bedding for a moment, and I could tell she was trying to put the words together correctly, trying to frame it so she understood as well. “We never fell out of love for each other. We still have really strong feelings, and this divorce was my idea. But I never stopped caring, and I don’t think he did either. He told me…he told me he was in love with you and that he was going to choose you.”

  “Choose me?”

  “I asked him if he thought we could try the marriage again before the decree was signed. He said no because there was you. I was jealous, I’ll admit it. I wanted my husband back for just a little a while to see if it would work, if I could admit that I like kink, if I could admit that I like women. I had no idea I was competing with the woman I had fallen in love with.”

  My heart jumped, and my face grew hot. “You love me?”

  “Of course I do.” She smiled. “That’s why I was so happy when your officer agreed to the polyamory. I had a chance to either win you totally or share your life with you. And when you said he wanted to meet me… Well. I was just pleased as punch. Oh, Vanessa, what are we going to do?” She sank onto the bed.

  I looked at the wardrobe full of toys. “Well, I think that each of us has to talk to Simon alone. That’s where we need to start. We can have a big conversation later. He’s going to be so put out and sad.”

  “He’s guilty in this, too,” Cameron said.

  “We’re all guilty,” I answered.

  “Are you mad I had sex with him?”

  I smirked. “Of all the people you could have cheated with, it was your husband and my boyfriend. Honestly? I find the whole thing a little funny. Also, he is really good in bed.”

  She chuckled. “He is, isn’t he? He always knew how to move those hips just right.”

  “And he’s a got a great ass.”

  “He likes tits.”

  “Oh, does he ever. I’m telling you. He loves the rings. The hood piercing is fun for him, but the rings in the nipples? Like candy to him.”

  She pursed her lips. “We can’t push him, though. He had to make any calls on his own. I don’t want us both to lose him.”

  “Maybe he’ll still agree to me seeing you.” It was the smallest thing I could hope for.

  “Maybe. Look, Nessa, I still have a few people I see at the Vault. Are you okay with that?”

  My heart tried to plummet again. “Are you…fucking them?”

  “No!” She gasped. “No. They are literal clients. People who just like a trained sadist to delight them. One of them I…well, all he likes is to be punched in the balls and then have me watch him masturbate.”

  “That’s an interesting set-up.”

  “Hey. Whatever floats your goat. Your kink isn’t my kink, and that’s okay.”

  I stared at her and blinked a few times. “There are no actual goats involved, are there?”

  Simon

  My phone vibrated with the call, also vibrating the watch on my wrist. I opened one eye and looked at the number.

  The station.

  I slid my thumb across the answer button. “This is Garabaldi.”

  “It’s Wanamaker. You need to get to the Vault. Now.”

  “Huh?” I was trying to listen, but my brain was just not aware enough to figure how to do that.

  “Vault. Murder. Now.”

  That seemed to slam my brain into gear. “There’s a murder at the Vault?”

  “Yes. They just called in. You need to get there.”

  “Yeah, yes. I’ll be there as fast as I can.” I pressed the end button and dropped the phone on my face.

  Tossing the covers back, I sat up, yawning fiercely and forcing myself to stand. I was glad that Sal had given me the spare bedroom with the attached bath, as I was not really awake enough to figure out how not to make a racket in the hall, stumbling in an unfamiliar house.

  I was washed, dressed, and headed down the stairs within about ten minutes, only to find Nadine standing there holding a to-go mug of coffee for me.

  “Woman, you’re a lifesaver.” I grinned and took the cup from her hand.

  “You’re welcome.” She held up a spare key. “You’re also welcome here anytime. Come and go as you please while you figure this shit out.”

  “Thank you,” I said, pocketing the key.

  An idea flashed through my brain, but it was too early to chase it. “Are you all going to be around tonight?”

  “Sal and I will be home at about nine, after practice.”

  “Can we sit and chat?”

  “You got it.” She pulled the door open. “Go get the bad guys.”

  I trotted out to the car and was pulling away from the curb in minutes. Sal’s house wasn’t that far from the Vault, which was good. I pulled into a spot down from the ambulance, the two cop cars, the coroner’s car, and the CSI van to make sure I could pull out easily later. Another car pulled up behind me, and Lys jumped out, looking haggard and not nearly as professional as she had been for the past two weeks.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Not used to the middle of the night phone calls.”

  “You never get used to those because they’re never anything good. The day you feel blasé about them is the day you need to retire or find a new job.”

  “Good point.” She yawned. “Damn you for having coffee.”

  “I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for my sister-in-law.”

  Lys yawned again and shook it off. “Can’t go in there like that.”

  With the tip of my head, I motioned her into the scandalous little B&B. “Have you been here before?”

  She nodded. “A few times. Mistress Faye knows me, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Have you stayed here?”

  “Um. Well, yes.”

  “Okay, good, then you know the layout a bit. Faye is going to be pissed as hell that this happened here because Vanity told me she was already pissed that these beatings were happening. That the first murder would be in her building is going to set her off.”

  As predicted, Millie—Mistress Faye—was fuming. First that someone had been killed. She was red with fury.

  “No one needs to die! No one needs to go around murdering people! How dare they come in her and commit this heinous crime in my sacred space. This is a safe space. This is a welcoming space. No one in here should ever act like this!”

  “Mistress Faye, you’re going to have to calm down.” I motioned her to one of the couches in the reception area. “I understand this isn’t what you want here. And we’ll process the scene as fast as possible. But you have to calm down and talk to us.”

  “There is a dead—”

  I snapped at her, “Millie. We know.”

  Her jaw clamped shut and she stared at me. “Detective. I apologize. I am not in my right mind right now.”

  “That’s understandable. This is a bad situation, all the way around. We lost Dee, and now…well, I won’t say our sadist has crossed the line yet, but that’s probably what’s going on. Sergeant Stathopolis is going to take your statement, and I’m going talk to any other witnesses.”

  Nodding, Millie pointed at the room off to the right. “You have three. Two from one side of the room, one from the other.”

  “Thank you. Lys, you have this?”

  “Yup.” She nodded.

  I pulled out my recorder and headed into the sitting room where there were three people sitting on the various couches. Two of them were in robes and one was in a full leather Dominatrix costume.

  “Good evening,” I said, quietly as I walked in. “I’m Detective Garabaldi, and I’m going to talk to each of you alone
to get your statements.”

  The woman in the Dominatrix outfit turned around as I spoke.

  It was Cameron. Of course.

  I said a silent thank you to whoever designed long coats, because my dick was pointing out that it really liked that look on her.

  “Cameron,” I managed to cough out.

  “I’ll wait.” She nodded and turned back to the window.

  Oh, God. That hot ass.

  I mentally punched myself.

  “Which one of you would like to give your statement first?” I held up the recorder. “I’ve started doing it this way so that we don’t have to do it again at the station.”

  The young man stood and glanced at Cam, then walked over to me. “I’ll go first.”

  Neither of them had anything ground-breaking to tell me, mostly because they weren’t really paying attention. The younger man had been engaged in play with Cameron—Mistress Laicy—and he had been into sensory deprivation. He literally did not hear anything.

  The other was in the shower when he started to hear the shouting, so he was mostly good for a time frame. He was rattled, big time, and kept asking me if anyone was going to contact his wife about where he was. I didn’t promise that we could keep it from her, but that he might want to try talking to her about his kinks. She might be willing to listen. He was completely shocked by this suggestion. As if it had never occurred to him that his wife might like to play around in the bedroom as opposed to shove-shove-nnnngh-done sex.

  Some of these men were just unreal.

  Cameron walked in. She had found a robe, but since it only came down to just above her thigh, it wasn’t much better than her standing there in thigh-high fishnets and boyshorts, with the tightest little leather corset I could imagine.

  I scrubbed a hand down my face.

  “Could you state your name for the recording please?”

  “Cameron Garabaldi, known as Mistress Laicy.”

  Damn it, she still used my name. “What did you hear or see up there?”

  “Heard. Screaming. It’s not unusual to hear some screams, and you get good at figuring out which is a good scream and which is terrible. This was not the good one. This was the long, agonized sound of someone being seriously injured. And you know that’s not the goal in a play session.”