Breakthrough
Piper
The cutting wind buffeted Piper and whipped her bangs into her eyes. Her hair was too short to tie back; the pixie-cut was a concession made years ago between fashion and necessity. Easy to maintain, it rarely gave her problems, except when the wind kicked up. Why hadn’t she thought to wear a hat, or a band to keep her hair off her face?
Under the onslaught, she wished her bangs were a tiny bit longer because then she could pull them away from her eyes. Or maybe, it was time to cut it short again? Except, Bent seemed to enjoy the longer bangs she’d been growing out for him.
The game today had him bothered. They had a lot of fun suspending reality during their short time in Forest’s creation. The whole enterprise had turned into a win-win for all involved. Forest had brought in some of his development team. She and Bent gave their feedback and the team tweaked in the background. Forest remained active, adjusting the sensitivity in Bent’s glove with his steady progress in rebuilding strength and dexterity in his injured arm and hand.
As hard as it was not to encourage Bent to play his guitar, she steered him away from it. Not that it had been such a difficult task. Bent showed little interest in playing. She and Forest had discussed at length how and when to reintroduce the guitar. Her biggest concern centered on needing Bent to experience success rather than failure.
If he went to play and failed, then all her work over the past several months would be thrown out the window. The line she tread, working on his injured hand and keeping him from his love of music, wasn’t an easy path.
Guilt ate at her too. In many ways, if Bent ever discovered the deception she and Forest had created, he could take it one of two ways. Fury came to mind, but she hoped for a more joyous emotion. Her worry lie in the promise she’d given Bent. As his submissive, she was honor bound to always speak the truth to him. That had been one of their first agreements. What she was doing wasn’t exactly lying, but neither was she being completely honest.
There was no denying the truth. She and Forest actively pursued a path of deception. Once Bent found out, because he would eventually find out, she would have to answer for her actions. Until then, the game forced him to use his hand. The more they played, the stronger his weakened hand became.
Bent wasn’t an idiot. He understood the basic premise behind the crazy VR world and the quests. He suffered daily frustration in his inability to master the spell casting and dragon training commands. Fortunately, he seemed to enjoy the adventuring as much as she did, but what would happen when he discovered Forest had been assisting him all along? Or how that assistance had recently been taken away in the last few weeks? The controls on the glove opposed Bent’s actions, presenting him with more resistance to overcome. It was a sneaky way to build up endurance, but it was working.
Every day, Piper began their sessions with an examination of Bent’s arm. He still had a long way to go, but the definition in his hand was returning. The withered and emaciated muscles slowly filled out. Her crazy plan was working.
Her only concern was would it be enough?
Forest mentioned a growing anxiety in the other members of the band. Ash and Bash were nearly finished with the songs to the new album. They wanted to begin practice sessions and were itching to set up tour dates. The entire band tiptoed around Bent, not mentioning his injury and basically avoided the whole issue, but that wouldn’t continue forever.
She needed a breakthrough, but how? And when?
The storm she and Bent had watched from the pool raged out to sea. A roiling mass of black clouds seethed with malevolent power overhead. Squinting, it was hard to see if the clouds were moving inland or out to sea, except the prevailing weather tended to blow inland. As if to emphasize the point, a gust brought cold air buffeting her body. Piper clutched at her sides and decided it was time to head inside.
The waves lapped at the shore, reaching higher and higher as the tide came in. Low tide had ebbed and it looked like the storm would bring swells slamming into the beach. She’d given her promise to Bent not to push her time down on the beach.
Months ago, a promise such as that wouldn’t have held much weight. Now, however, with the power exchanged in their relationship, she’d given that freedom over into his hands. Her desire to please Bent, and obey his wishes, brought a comforting warmth to the very center of her being. Knowing Bent was not only her lover, but her protector, did yummy things to her insides.
There were other yummy things she wanted to do with him, but he needed time. She hadn’t exactly been dismissed, but this was the first time he’d asked for space. What was going on inside his mind?
Worry gnawed at her and the feeling of impending doom wouldn’t go away. Maybe it was the storm rushing to land? Maybe it was the threat of rain bearing down on her. Or maybe, it was something more?
Piper hurried back to the gondola, suddenly needing to speak with Bent.
Escape
Bent
Fury bunched Bent’s muscles into tight knots. The destruction he’d left behind, while it had felt good at the time, left him aching and raw. Empty. Tearing apart his rooms hadn’t solved a damn thing. Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered. He was done. As a washed up has been, he no longer had a place within the walls of Insanity.
Where the fuck is everyone?
He’d send the guys a message later. Right now, he needed out, and away from the insanity of his life.
Not that he wanted to see any of his bandmates. Ash would give one of his get-your-shit-together looks. Bash would slap Bent upside the head. Noodles would try some Zen voodoo soothing wisdom. Spike would cross his arms and block Bent’s path.
He didn’t need any of that crap.
What he needed was to fly. Fly far away and leave his depressing life where it belonged—in the past.
The door to the Toy Box loomed at the end of the hall. It opened via cypher lock or facial recognition, depending on who approached. As one of the band, facial recognition had been activated for Bent. The high-tech security system scanned his approach from down the hall and granted him access to the garage.
He made a beeline for his black 911 Twin Turbo Porsche. The staff kept the keys in the cars, keeping them ready for immediate use whenever the mood struck one of them to drive. Bent folded himself into the Porsche and activated the controls for the exterior garage doors.
Two-seconds later, he put the petal to the metal and roared away from the estate. A minute later and he was racing past the security gates. Ten-minutes later, he screamed through the tight turns of the winding highway hugging the cliffs. He piled on the speed, reckless in his need to put the miles behind him.
Washed up.
Has been.
No longer a rock legend.
He hated what he’d become.
Briefly, he thought about not making the turn. What if he truly did fly? All he had to do was keep the car straight, and drive right over the edge. The hundred foot drop would ensure an instant end, but in those few seconds he would soar.
He jerked the wheel, careening and skidding through a tight turn. His sense of self-preservation, it seemed, outweighed the turbulence of his thoughts. Holy hell! Had he just…
Bent shook his head and clamped his hands around the steering wheel. His right hand gripped firmly on the expensive leather, tighter than he remembered from his last drive in the Porsche.
Had it really been months since he’d left the isolation of Insanity? Had he become that much of a hermit that he’d hadn’t wanted to leave the estate? A chuckle escaped him. He’d certainly had good reason not to leave.
Piper!
The brakes screeched as he stomped on them. Gravel and dirt spit out beneath the tires and pinged against the immaculate paint job. Grinding to a stop, he pulled to the side of the road, and took a moment to contemplate what almost happened.
This wasn’t the kind of man he wanted to be. Weak and pitiful and…No! That wasn’t him. Yet that was exactly how he’d been a
cting. Piper didn’t deserve a man like that. She most definitely didn’t deserve a Dom who couldn’t control his emotions. To deserve Piper, he needed to first master life.
What that life might look like remained unclear, but he wasn’t worthy. He didn’t want to face the disappointment in her eyes when he told her he was done. Because he was finished with trying and failing, especially when nothing seemed to change.
He pulled at his face and groaned as he tipped his head back. The million dollar view out his windshield was lost on him, but not what he needed to do next.
Putting the transmission back in drive, Bent eased back onto the two-lane highway and headed south. Away from Insanity. Away from Piper.
He’d drive until the sun went down, and then drive some more. Time for a fresh start.
Without Piper.
That realization slammed into his gut, leaving him breathless. But why should that matter? She wouldn’t be the first woman he’d walked away from, nor the first submissive. He’d had plenty of women bound through contracts for a week or two of play at a time. Walking away from those never gave him a second thought. Except now, a churning sensation ripped through his gut. It was as if he were free falling through space with no net to catch him. No sweet Piper to cushion his fall.
For months, they’d engaged in the sensual dance unique to dominants and submissives, but he’d never thought to have her sign a contract. The idea of setting an end date to their arrangement never crossed his mind.
Why hadn’t he had her sign a contract? He could walk away from a contract.
Driving away from Piper had him feeling despondent all over again. It didn’t matter that it was the right thing to do. It didn’t matter it was best for her. It didn’t matter one bit, because in the end, he was abandoning the woman who had handed over her heart into his hands.
He was an ass.
He glanced at the edge of the cliff. Suicide wasn’t his answer, but it sure would make things easier.
The mounting storm from earlier in the day finally hit land. The torrential downpour turned the asphalt slick and slowed him down. It would be too easy to find himself wrecked over a cliff if he wasn’t careful. Still seething, Bent forced himself to slow down. He eased off the gas as he headed into the curves and didn’t speed up coming out of them. The recklessness of his speed dissipated, even as the winds outside kicked up. The surging rage in his blood matched the relentless fury of the storm. As the wind and rain lashed down on him, Bent forced himself to use caution. His future with the band might be at an end, but he no longer had any desire to flirt with the loss of his life.
A future existed out there. It was on him to find it.
Stormy Weather
Piper
Rain pelted the glass of the gondola as Piper ascended the steep cliff face. She’d called her time down on the beach perfectly. The sky cracked with thunder and a heavy deluge opened up as she reached the relative safety of the outbuildings supporting the gondola. She had thought to stay down below, waiting out the storm before making the ascent, but the gray of the clouds had darkened to nearly black and lightening lit the sky.
Riding the gondola in a lightning storm may have been a poor choice, but staying on the beach hadn’t seemed any safer. Not with the surf kicking up with the advancing tide. A storm surge could turn deadly.
Nearly to the top of the cliff, she had the perfect view of an incredible storm. Gusts shifted the gondola in its tracks, but the heavy anchoring cables kept her in place. With a screeching of metal on metal, she approached her destination with agonizing slowness.
Damn, what a view.
The top platform had no protective shelter to shield her from the storm. She would have to make a run for cover. Less than a hundred-foot dash, she would be soaked in an instant. Luckily, she had a change of clothes in Bent’s rooms. She didn’t relish the idea of having to make the much longer trek outside from the main structure of Insanity to the building housing staff quarters.
Taking in a deep breath, and casting her gaze skyward, she paused while waiting for a let up in the driving rain. There was none. With a sigh, Piper ran.
Rain pelted her. The wind whipped at her clothes. Her bangs clung to her forehead as her entire being was drenched by the storm. Bent would be upset with her for waiting too long before returning to the main grounds of Insanity, but there was a glorious beauty in watching Mother Nature hard at work. Sunny days were only pretty because of terrible storms.
She reached the safety of the pool area and ducked under cover. Lightening flashed overhead and long resonant peals of thunder followed. The temperature had dropped several degrees, and her skin pebbled with goosebumps as she shivered. A box to her right held pool towels and she grabbed one, using it to towel dry her hair and body. She was soaked and getting colder by the minute. With thoughts of a nice long shower with Bent, or a long soak in his Jacuzzi tub, Piper headed to her lover’s rooms.
She came to a sudden stop when the door leading into his suite sat ajar. Cautiously, she walked through the doorway and pulled up short as the devastation of Bent’s rooms hit her full force.
All of his guitars had been smashed. Wreckage littered the floor, along with pictures torn down from the walls. Their frames had been shattered and glass shards covered all surfaces. The cushions of the couches had been tossed. Chairs had been upended. The table had been turned over. Not a single inch of the floor had been spared.
Her hand flew to her mouth and she fisted her stomach. The place had been ransacked, but there’d been no sign of forced entry. Where was Bent?
“Bent?” When he didn’t answer she raised her voice. “Bent!”
Picking her way through the damage, she searched his bedroom and the bathroom beyond. Not nearly as destroyed at the outer rooms, the entire place was in disarray. All the drawers to his dresser had been yanked out, and most of his clothes in the closet were on the floor.
“Bent?” This time her voice came out a whisper.
Had that feeling of dread been a premonition?
She pulled out her cellphone and called Bent. The call went immediately to voicemail. Pursing her lips, she dialed Forest’s number. He would know what to do.
“Yo!” Forest’s deep rumble soothed the jagged edges of her nerves, but did nothing to soothe the shakiness in her voice or the trembling of her hands.
“Something’s happened.”
“What?”
“I need you to come to Bent’s rooms.”
“I’m a little busy, hun. I’m with my developers. Can’t it wait?”
She shook her head, then realized he couldn’t see the gesture. Gripping the phone tight, she firmed her voice. “I need you now.”
“I’m in the middle of a meeting…”
“Please.” Her voice cracked. “I need you.”
“What happened?” As if it were possible, his voice deepened, and a protective growl rolled through the phone. “Did Bent hurt you?”
“No.” She rushed to reassure Forest. “But something is terribly wrong.”
Less than five minutes later, Forest stood by her side and surveyed the damage. She huddled on the corner of a couch she’d cleared from the rubble.
“Who did this?” He continued to scan the room. “Was there any sign of forced entry?”
“The door was ajar when I arrived.”
He scratched his chin. “There’s nothing else touched in the estate. I can’t imagine anyone got past our security, let alone made their way this deep into the estate.”
That odd sense of impending doom gnawed at her gut.
“I don’t think this is a burglary.”
He pulled at his chin. “And why is that?”
“I don’t know. Like you said, how could anyone make it back here without being seen? You said no alarms had been triggered.”
That had been the first thing he’d checked.
“True.”
“What about security cameras?”
“We don’t keep any insi
de the personal spaces. The guys value their privacy.”
He arched a brow, and she let out a sigh of relief. The things she and Bent had done between these walls weren’t something she needed anyone knowing about. Forest had an idea, but knowing a thing and seeing a thing were two different things.
“What about the halls? The common areas?”
“Security is checking, but I’ve got one better.”
“You’re tracking app!” She bolted from her perch on the couch. “You can find him, right?”
“On it.”
Forest grabbed an overturned chair and set it right. He straddled it backwards, and perched his phone on the back of the seat. His fingers flew over the screen as his brows knitted together.
While he worked, Piper paced, stepping over the debris. Bent had seemed out of sorts, but nothing worse than any other day. Had something set him off? Did she do something wrong?
“Found him.”
She ran to Forest’s side and peered over his shoulder.
“Where is he?”
“Halfway to Los Angeles.”
“LA? Why would he go there?”
Forest scrunched his face. “I have no idea, but he’s been on the road for at least an hour.”
An hour? If she’d only spent less time on the beach, maybe she would’ve been here to stop whatever had been going through Bent’s head.
Forest stood suddenly and stared at the screen of his phone.
“Security just confirmed it. Bent left the estate.”
“Who was he with?” Images of that plastic blonde fluttered through her head. Not that she thought Bent would cheat on her, except she was questioning everything with each passing breath.
Hearts Collide Page 17
