Chapter 5
GRAYSON
I untethered her from the o-ring and let my beautiful victim crumple to the floor.
Thankfully, I didn’t need to clear much out of the room before leaving her unsupervised.
The stacked chairs were plastic. The couple of suitcases, I toted those out the door and returned; the rest could stay.
This was the space I’d used when I’d played a similar game with Madison, and I’d never really come down here again.
Big houses made for a lot of unused space.
Not that Madison and I had played this exact game.
Madison had a safeword. Madison hadn’t been afraid—or not afraid enough to satisfy me.
She’d been pretty, but not obnoxiously beautiful, like Emme, who I had an irrational need to ruin.
No, my new captive would be much harder to let go, since my every instinct was screaming at me to keep her, debase her, sully her…
Only one week.
I’d allow myself seven days and then I’d let her go.
After a week her friend from the café would be looking for her and would call the police, even if Dave reassured her.
The arrangement was for a week only, and prison sentences weren’t my kink.
I couldn’t let myself get attached to the idea of keeping her.
I wasn’t even sure my shoddy morals would let me do that.
Although, the way she looked right now gave me pause.
Emme lay on the floor, partly on her back, with her legs sprawled apart enough to give me a tempting view. Glassy-eyed, she stared up at me.
“Open your mouth.”
When she didn’t immediately comply, I nudged her cheek with my boot.
“Now. I’d hate to bruise this lovely face.”
Tentatively, she opened her mouth, making her look like a badly used, hyper-realistic blowup doll.
I spat, letting the line of it trail down. She sobbed, but kept her mouth open as it hit her tongue.
“Such a good girl for me. Now, stay still.” I unzipped my jeans and freed my erection, aching even though I’d fucked her on the way here.
It had been a while. She squirmed, and I propped my booted foot on her chest. “Do you like breathing, Emme? Move again and my heel will be on your throat, instead. Do you know how fragile a throat can be?”
Threats were easy. Threats were nice.
She swallowed hard, and fresh tears bled from her red-rimmed blue eyes to trickle down her temples. I stroked myself, watching as her gaze fastened onto my cock.
“Yeah, that’s my good little toy. You want some come in that pouty mouth, don’t you?”
She whimpered again. The fresh welts all over her perfect body were a balm to my soul.
My balls ached with the need for release, and my hips stuttered along with the motion of my hand.
I was too turned on, but tried to play at nonchalance.
Better she did not know how hard I was struggling not to damage her.
Better she did not know my conscience fell eerily silent every time I met her miserable, tear-streaked gaze.
Fuck, it didn’t take long, looking at her exhausted and so fragile on the concrete.
She smelled of sweat, fear, and come. The first jet of my release splattered across her cheek.
The next hit her mouth, and I kept stroking on and on until my balls were empty, until her mouth was brimming and spilling over.
“Don’t move,” I said quietly. “Don’t spit. Don’t swallow. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I tucked myself back into my jeans.
I left the room and closed the door behind me, pausing just on the other side to draw a deep breath and lean into the wall. My head felt like it had been deprived of oxygen since I’d left the café. Heart pounding, I forced down the panic that tried to overtake me.
I’d fucking done it. I’d kidnapped a human being—a complete stranger, and even if she had arranged this, it left me teetering on the edge of sanity.
I’d told her lies and I knew she still doubted what I’d said.
The thrill of this, of making her wonder, making her fear she was in the hands of a killer…
She was clinging to the hope that I was the guy she’d arranged to meet.
Next time, she might think up better escape clauses and have a safeword. If there was a next time.
Charity might still call the police if she discovered Dave didn’t know my address or my real name.
I could check Emme’s phone for texts. Taking it out of the bag blocking the signal meant it would ping off the phone towers.
Later.
I drew another deep breath. Adrenaline was still pumping through me, making me feel invincible, but I had to keep my head on straight.
I went to the bathroom and washed my hands, fixing my hair and rinsing my face while I was there so I looked slightly less unhinged—there was no way to wash my eyes, though, and the gleam in them was diabolical.
Knowing she was downstairs was giving me too many wicked thoughts—I couldn’t do them all, at least not tonight. She needed to rest, and to wallow in tonight’s stupid choices. She needed time to wonder and be afraid.
Thinking about her flailing legs as I’d fucked her with only her lower half hanging out of the trunk made my dick twitch.
Would she still have a mouthful of come when I went back to check on her, or would I have to punish her again?
God, I felt like a rutting goat. I wanted more—needed more.
As I flicked off the light, the gleaming porcelain of the toilet caught my eye. Fuck. I’d forgotten she needed to pee.
Quietly, I moved down the stairs to check on her. My little captive was in the same spot I’d left her, staring at the ceiling, mouth open and still full. More come had dribbled from the corner of her mouth and had left a trail to her earlobe, but she had obeyed me.
Scared of me, despite her bravado and her guesses about who I was. Good.
I breathed long and low, savoring the sight.
“Good girl.”
She startled but managed not to spill much more.
“Swallow.”
Her throat moved as if she would gag, but she did as she was told, coughing a bit when it was all gone. It had to have been almost cold.
Amused, I hauled her to her feet. She was a mess, with come glistening on her face and down her neck, on her thighs, and in her thoroughly mussed hair. Dried tears streaked her face too. Such a beautiful wreck of a girl.
Had she ever taken it in the ass? A kinky girl like this must have, though she’d said it wasn’t her kink.
Time for that later.
I walked her upstairs to the bathroom I’d so recently vacated, then guided her to sit, waiting as she peed. Naked girl, bound hands in her lap, downcast eyes. Everything about this was perfect. I wiped her, which made her twitch and balk, but I didn’t give her a choice.
Back downstairs, I helped her to the floor, threw her the clean and itchy blanket that had been washed and waiting for the next time I had Madison over.
She still left me messages on occasion, begging for more, but I’d ignored them for what—eight months?
It hadn’t been right between us. It had been a game.
The do anything you want to me had made Emme not a game.
“Get some rest. You’ll need it.”
“What does that mean?” Emme asked. Her eye makeup and lipstick were hopelessly smeared.
“Try not to worry. I probably won’t hurt you that much.” I shut off the light and closed the door, padlocking it behind me. I waited, listening to her moans of distress in the absolute darkness, and basking in the sniffling sounds of her tears.
My bed was warm and soft, and I imagined her down there, trying to get comfortable on the concrete with her scratchy blanket, both terrified I really was a stranger and yet hoping I was.
I knew the feeling. I’d heard what she’d said to Charity. In all the years I’d been into kink, I’d never heard anyone express my own sentiments so closely. Yes, I should have walked away, but what man could have resisted taking her when that was exactly what she’d been dreaming about?
Although I was tired, excitement made it hard to drift off.
Every small sound was a potential escape attempt.
There were no cameras in that room—I’d resisted the temptation with Madison, loving the feeling of surprise as much as my victim did.
The anticipation of what I might find down there the next time I entered the space was all part of the fun.
The smell of bacon woke me, or maybe it was the clanging of pots.
The fuck?
In a bleary moment I had visions of Emme having escaped in the night, only to stick around and cook me breakfast.
I had the urge to grab a weapon, but a home invader would hardly be puttering around in my kitchen.
“Axl,” I growled as I wandered into the kitchen, smearing my hand over my face to wake myself more. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
He threw me a glance over his shoulder, and although his face was expressionless, there was amusement in his eyes.
“Are you going to start telling me when I’m allowed to visit?”
“It’s not a good time.”
He was buttering a stack of toast tall enough to feed an army.
“Hot date last night?”
“You could say that.”
“You really need to tell me when you’re going to have company.”
“It was unexpected.”
“The best kind always is.”
I tried to hear past the sizzle of bacon, and the whir of the kitchen fan. The fact that I’d been sleeping like the dead disturbed me. The slightest noise usually woke me.
“Why are you here?” I didn’t care if I was being rude. We were past all that.
“Why are you always so cranky in the morning?”
“You need to leave.”
He sighed and handed me the spatula. “In a sec.” He bit into a piece of toast and leaned against the counter. “I just came to bribe you.”
“For what?”
“I need help with some renos.”
Groaning, I turned my attention to the bacon. There was no sense in letting it go to waste. “Again? That didn’t work out very well the last time. Pay someone.”
“I like annoying you. Who else am I going to ask?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. The man had more than enough money. “What do I get out of it?”
“My undying devotion?”
“It can’t be until next weekend, at the earliest.”
He lifted a brow. “Extended date?”
“I don’t want to discuss it.”
“Sounds serious.”
“We’ll see,” I said, fishing a piece of bacon out of the pan and blowing on it. It was scalding my fingers, so I put it in my mouth. Dumbass move. I could already feel my mouth blistering.
Axl knew it, too, but only acknowledged what I’d done with a mild tilt of his lips.
“She’s staying for a week,” I muttered. “She gave me full permission to do anything.”
“Fuck. Anything?”
I nodded.
He whistled. “Only a week, huh? We’ll see.” He licked some butter off his fingers. “Can I meet her?”
“Get the fuck out.”
He sighed and polished off his toast. “I can take a hint. Just get back to me about the renos, okay?”
“You know I’ll do it.”
“You’re never going to remember. Guess I’ll text you Thursday unless I hear from you sooner.”
“Good idea.”
“Who the fuck am I supposed to talk to for a week?”
“Why don’t you call your mother?”
“Why don’t you call yours?”
I followed him from the kitchen to walk him out, but more to make sure he left rather than to be polite. He paused in the foyer.
“Your front door was unlocked, by the way. Getting sloppy in your old age.”
“Get out.” Had I really left the door unlocked? That really wasn’t like me. Then again, I’d had a lot on my mind. Axl had a key anyway.
He smirked. “Okay, I’m going. Tell her I said hi.”
“Absolutely not.”
Unabashed, as always, he patted my cheek. I swatted his hand away.
“Be careful, Grayson. I’d hate to see you get hurt…or arrested.” Despite his usually sardonic demeanor, his words were sincere.
He was walking down my front steps before I could reply.
Thank god, Emme hadn’t started screaming bloody murder while Axl was standing in my house.
Best friends were nice to have, but they were also a pain in the ass.