Chapter 17
Anya
Whatever I was expecting, this was not it.
Nikolai pushes me forcefully through a nondescript door. I figured perhaps it was going to lead me into a bedroom where he was going to paint my ass red again. This room, however, is wholly and totally unlike anything that I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s a playground of pain.
The scent of lemon cleaner and freshly waxed leather practically slaps me in the face. The room is a collection of blacks and reds. It’s like walking into the most expensive, fancy sex shop that I’ve ever seen. Granted, I’ve always been the sort to avert my eyes and look the other way any time that I come near a store like this.
Featured in the middle of the room is a large four-poster bed. There are no drapes, but there are metal bars running the length of the top. The headboard seems to have restraints built in, just like the footboard.
There is a black leather board beyond that, covered with whips and paddles. Beside that is a bright red wooden ‘X’, taller than me, with restraints on the tops and bottoms. In the far corner is a medical table covered in black leather with stirrups already in place. There is something that looks like plastic or spandex hanging from a peg on the wall, along with various medical equipment.
Almost against my will, I turn to the other side of the room where the floor is padded and the walls and shelves are covered in toys of every length, girth, and anything else anybody could imagine.
The floor has good traction, I could probably try to run but there seems to only be one door. Only one way in, one way out. As he locks the door and slips the key somewhere on his person, my back collides with Nikolai”s. What is he planning on doing to me in here? He can”t possibly believe I”ll agree to any of these things, can he? How will any of this help me ”learnmy place”? Is that what he wanted? Is he telling me that what happened the other night was a mistake and that I am nothing more than a warm hole for him to fuck?
Bile twists in my stomach at the idea. It might have been an accident, but he mentioned my father having sent another woman to him. Is this where she died? Is this some sort of perverted sex and murder room?
Two years ago, for Christmas, one of my friends gifted me a vibrator as part of a white elephant gift exchange; it is still sitting in its box in my closet in case the occasion to re-gift it ever came up again. This room puts that silly embarrassment to shame. This is so, so much more than that.
This isn’t fair. I can’t hold my own here. I don’t even know what half of these things do let alone how to defend myself against whatever he might do with them. I hop back three paces, not allowing myself to blink in case he moves faster than I can. “What is this?” I demand. I want to sound brave, but I don’t think that I manage it.
Nikolai starts to slowly unbutton his shirt while heading toward me, stalking to me like I’m prey. Perhaps I am.
“That’s the question that you want to ask me?”
He finishes unbuttoning his shirt, and rolls his shoulders to rid himself of it. Fuck that’s sexy. He moves like a fighter entering a boxing ring, light on his feet like this is his element, like this room is his comfort space. It’s impossible when it’s lined with so many instruments of torture… then again, perhaps that’s exactly why it’s perfect for him. I just have to keep space between us.
I scoff. “What else do you want me to ask? You want me to argue some more? Ask what your problem is? You’re so fucking hot and cold anyway, Nikolai, I can’t even keep up.”
He simply grins as if he knows something that I don’t. “So yes, that is your question?”
We’re playing a game where I don’t know the rules. Just the way that he wants it.
“Depends,” I say. He unhooks his belt from the loops on his pants, allowing the fabric to droop dangerously low on his hips. I can see every toned muscle on his torso. The deep V fading into his pants, the bulge of his erection just starting. It doesn”t help that I know how that beautiful body feels pressed against me or moving within me. My throat bobs before I speak. “How many questions do I get?”
Nikolai smirks. “Now you’re catching on. How about… five. But the condition is that I get to ask questions in return. If you do not answer, or you hesitate for any reason, you both lose a question, and get punished.”
Heat curls through me, spreading in excited little tendrils. Like a game. My competitive edge and my will to thrive are awakening after their forced regression back on the balcony earlier. I can”t let him get away with it, and having him answer five questions sounds very appealing.
“And what do I get out of that?” I scoff humorlessly.
“Honest answers.”
“Because you’re suddenly so forthcoming?”
“This is a very rare opportunity, sweetheart, I suggest that you take advantage.”
“Any five questions that I want?”
Nikolai doesn’t answer me—he kicks off his shoes and lunges for me. I have to jump out of his reach. I made a dash across the silk sheets covering the bed, sliding easily in my leggings and make a dash for the door while he’s chasing me. I saw him lock it, but I needed to make sure that it was wholly impossible to get out.
Nikolai is right behind me, so I run for the other end of the room. I’m not a super athletic person, so I don’t think that I will be able to keep this up for too long.
“Where is your father hiding?” Nikolai asks, gaining on me. I slide around to the rubber-padded part of the room and he catches me. He hooks his fingers through my waistband, and I go down, hard. I have no choice but to wriggle out of the tights quickly, or else he would have me pinned.
“I don’t know,” I pant, racing for the other end of the room. I pull random objects off of the wall and start to throw them at him as hard as I can. “You’ve already pointed out that he isn’t my biggest fan. He doesn’t tell me where he goes, and he doesn’t give two shits where I am—your little plan is garbage.”
“Well then I suppose you better find other ways to be useful to me, don’t you think?”
I smirk, and throw a large purple dildo at his head. “That counts as your second question, sir. Yes, I think that in order to survive I will have to pretend to like you a little.”
I can tell he wants to comment on it, and given his proclivity for sarcasm, he”ll probably phrase it as a question. That would mean he would be wasting another question, so he says nothing. He grabs the dildo and throws it back. The massive piece of silicone slams into my stomach, nearly knocking my breath out of my lungs.
“Why are you after my father? Don’t say revenge!” I gasp.
“Revenge is the answer. Let’s just say that he tried to place a spy into my inner circle, and it backfired. Royally.”
“And avoiding the question is somehow supposed to count?”
“I answered it as honestly as you have earned.”
I frown and turn quickly to duck under his arm. “That’s not even fair. I answered your question and you just get to avoid mine? That’s bullshit.” I’m running out of breath, I’m not going to be able to evade him for much longer.
“You have a foul mouth,” Nikolai answers, still not answering my question.
“I thought that you liked my foul mouth?” I taunt, keeping as much distance between the pair of us as I possibly can.
“I suggest that you find another question before I catch you, sweetheart.”
I make a face. “That doesn’t mean that I’m anywhere near done asking. Have it your way though, like you always do.” It is a bitter comment, and I’m not going to apologize for it either.
“Where is your mother?”
It buys me another few seconds. “Dead,” he admits, thrown by the personal question that I asked. “As is my father.”
“Which makes you the head of the family, the whole empire.” I phrase it carefully so that he can’t pretend that it’s a question when it isn’t.
“Correct.”
He grabs me around the middle, and I put my foot up between us, kicking him in the thigh and shoving just enough to break his grip. But I”m going to have his fingerprints on my skin for days to come. Still, I”m naked and far more turned on by this little brawl than I care to admit.
“Is there somebody waiting for you at home?”
I slip, and I would have fallen straight on my face, but Nikolai catches me and spins me into his hard body. My hands land on his chest and I push, but it’s mostly for show.
“No. I don’t have a boyfriend or anything…” I trail off because it dawns on me that as much as I miss my friends, the life that I have back home in Vegas, there might not be anybody that’s going to come looking for me. I”d like to believe that they”d jump on a plane and come looking for me, but if Nikolai owns the club and my access has been revoked, they might not like me anyway. I”m hoping it”s just my insecurity speaking, but there”s no way to tell. I never made a habit of running off with a hot guy, but others in my friend group had. Is this considered normal? Expected? Would they be proud that I was off getting laid somewhere?
I don’t have to ask about his romantic history, there is no way that he has a woman in his life other than me. I would have seen something by now, I’m certain of it.
I go to slide across the bed again but I fail, and Nikolai catches me by my ankle and yanks me toward him. I kick him in the chest, but he flexes so it feels like I’ve kicked a damned brick wall. I hiss in pain as he chuckles darkly. I try to hit him to give me enough space to get free once more but he catches my wrist. He spins my body around to tuck my arms underneath my torso. He’s leaning down over me hard enough that my arms are useless. I feel his teeth connect with my shoulder and I scream out in shock and pain.
It doesn’t hurt like I thought it might. If anything, it makes me want to fight harder. I’ve forgotten all about our game. He is so much larger than me, and I can feel his erection pressing between my legs.
I arch my back to grind my ass against his dick, and he loosens his hold on me just enough for me to free one arm. I stretch it across my body and scratch down his other arm. Nikolai groans in pain, much to my surprise. I feelhis arm snake down between us, opening the front of his pants to free him.
My thighs are soaked with how badly I’m turned on right now. I feel like a wild woman in the best possible way. Nikolai shifts. He pushes me down into the mattress as leverage to straighten himself, and then he puts one hand on the side of my head, forcing me down into the mattress as he rids himself of his pants. I can feel the movement, the hot skin of his thighs over mine. My breath catches in my chest in excitement. I try to struggle, to fight, but he has me pinned. He’s won this game of cat and mouse fair and square.
I try to push at his hips, I try to put any sort of distance between the pair of us but I cannot accomplish it. I’m rooted to the spot, pinned down as his knee pushes the inside of my leg to open for him.
Then he’s there, the hot length of him pressing into my folds easily. My body wants him, craves him. I feel like a prize that he’s won—prey that he’s hunted. He forces himself inside of me until he’s buried to the hilt, and I let loose a feral sound of frustration. It doesn’t hurt, and I think that’s what makes me the most upset, it feels so fucking good.
Nikolai backs his hips away from mine a couple of inches and then slams back down so hard I see stars. The hand on my head shifts and twists up in my hair until he’s pulling a fistful backward. I try to get my knees up underneath me, despite the way his pounding thrusts are trying to keep us locked together.
Behind me, he chuckles darkly. I love the way his breaths are coming in short, punctuated gasps. I can tell that he’s still struggling to keep me pinned, and I hope that the way my walls grip him is driving him crazy. I just need him to slip, just a moment and I can be free.
“You cannot run, sweetheart.” Nikolai taunts me.
I grab fistfuls of sheets on either side of my body and pull, it is enough to move us forward toward the edge of the bed. Nikolai yanks my hair and my torso lifts to ease the pressure. His hand finds my throat and he pulls me back to him, holding me there by force. I try to press at his hands, to pry his fingers from around my throat, but that only encourages him to go faster. He holds my hip with one bruising grip and the pleasure is dragging the fight out of my body. I can feel myself sagging into his holds. The lack of oxygen available to my brain makes every sensation stronger. The crest that my body is chasing is everything.
My hold begins to slip, and my hands slide uselessly in fakeprotest. He”s fucking the fight out of me, and I can”t stop. I never want it to end. He’s won, I’m captured. I lose myself in the pleasure, the rhythmic sounds of his skin against mine. The groans of bliss from Nikolai”s lips are intoxicating, pushing me closer and closer to my orgasm. The pressure in my core yearns to be relieved. My head drops back onto his shoulder as my hands slide up my body, cupping my own breasts in my hands and squeezing as he had done before. His hand on my hip slides around the front of me, until his fingers just barely brush over my clit and I’m undone. I shatter to bits in his arms and my body becomes boneless.
My walls tighten around him as my orgasm intensifies, carrying me further and further as I feel him fill me. He groans inpleasure and lets me go. My body collapses onto the bed. I can hardly move enough to raise my head. As Nikolai collapsesbeside me, my body bounces. Our breathing is ragged and uneven, and if he feels anything like I do, we might as well be out of commission.
Nikolai”s strong arms wrap aroundme and draw me back into his broad, warm chest. I”ll never admit it, but there”s nowhere else I”d rather be.