Chapter 4 Tilly
TILLY
“Holy fuckballs.” Bianca steps forward, pressing her palms flat against the glass, and stares down at the scene below us. “This is better than I could’ve ever imagined.”
“You’ve imagined this?” I wave my hand toward the people having sex one floor down.
Not just having any kind of sex; they’re banging like rabbits out in the open.
Even in the darkened room, I can see a blush creep across Bianca’s cheeks. “So many times.”
My gaze goes back to the glass and the people below. My eyes widen as a woman steps up to a large wooden X and a man starts to strap her in. She’s naked. Nothing covering her body, and she’s not the least bit self-conscious about her supple curves or the way the people around her are staring.
Part of me wishes I could be that bold and unashamed. Nudity isn’t something I’ve ever been completely comfortable with, except with Angelo and Mitchell. Even when I’m in a swimsuit, it’s a one-piece, trying to cover as much of my pale skin as possible.
“Watch,” Izzy says as she steps next to me and points to the couple. I can’t seem to tear my gaze away from what’s happening either. “He’s going to whip her.”
I gasp, moving my hand to my mouth. “Why?”
“She wants it.” I can feel Izzy’s eyes on me. “Needs it.”
I shake my head, and I feel my eyes widen as he straps her wrists and ankles to the wooden boards, but there’s no fear on her features. “I don’t understand,” I whisper.
I’m trying like hell to figure out what could be pleasurable about a man, or hell, anyone, inducing pain and getting off on it.
“Just watch.” Izzy touches my arm and leaves her hand there like she’s protecting me. “You’ll understand more after you see the exchange.”
I’m mesmerized even as worry works across my shoulders, and the air around me seems to thicken. A small crowd has gathered around the couple, not hiding in the shadows like we are. A few people point off to the left as the man whispers in the woman’s ear, and I follow their movement with my eyes.
My breath hitches in my throat as a naked woman kneels on a bench, presenting her ass to a man who’s sporting a giant hard-on.
“Oh my word.” The words slip from my lips so softly, I’m pretty sure no one, including Izzy, heard them.
“That’s hot. She likes to be watched,” Izzy says, and I realize our room isn’t as quiet as I think and Izzy’s standing closer than I thought.
“Do you like being watched?” I don’t know why I ask her that question.
Sex isn’t something I was brought up to speak about in public. But then again, I wasn’t raised to watch other people, very naked people, having sex either.
Izzy shakes her head. “No. Not really.”
I want to ask what “not really” means, but I keep my mouth shut. That wasn’t a no, but it’s not a yes either.
“Not with so much nudity and fucking,” she says softly like she’s read my mind.
“What else is there?” I ask because now my mind’s spinning more than it was before.
“I could watch this all day,” Suzy says as she steps to my other side and stares out through the glass. “There’s something so naughty and forbidden about being in the shadows, watching the carnal display.”
I turn my face, taking in her white skin and blond hair. The girl seemed so pure, so innocent when I met her a short time ago, but clearly, I was wrong.
Izzy leans forward, looking at Suzy and getting my full attention. “Let your freaky side show, girl,” Izzy says.
“You know what this does to me,” Suzy replies as I turn to look at her again, still in shock.
Yep. Not innocent at all.
“You’ll thank me later.” Izzy laughs.
Izzy motions toward the cross again, and I don’t know where I want to look anymore. One scene is better than the next, each couple or group sexier than the last. “See the way he’s touching her ass?” Izzy asks.
I nod slowly as my eyes rake over the couple, the woman strapped to the tilted cross and the man running his hand over the swell of her naked ass.
“He’s calming her, preparing her for what’s to come. Watch her face. See the way she enjoys his touch and how she’ll crave the lash of his whip, too.”
My heart hammers in my chest as I place my hand against the glass in front of us, trying to gain control of my breathing.
The whip is in his hands as he stands at her side, whispering against her lips, and rubbing the swell of her ass.
Her eyes are hooded; that much is clear in the light they’re bathing in and from the shadows where we stand.
He says something to her, and she nods before her gaze drops to the floor.
The man places the handle of the whip under her chin, lifting her eyes back to his.
A few more words are exchanged before he leans forward, whip still under her chin, and kisses her so passionately, my knees almost give out right from under me.
“I think we got another one,” Izzy says, but I stay silent instead of asking what she’s talking about.
I can’t seem to find words. My mind’s scattered, and my thoughts are running wild, making speaking damn near impossible.
“What are you guys looking at?” Daphne asks from behind me before gasping. “Is that a St. Andrew’s Cross?”
“Yep,” Izzy says quickly.
“Fuck. This is so much hotter than in books,” Daphne replies.
For a moment, I wonder what alternate universe I’m in or how I feel like a nerdy high school virgin who’s the most clueless one of her friends about anything sex-related. Innocent Suzy and my soon-to-be sisters-in-law seem to know what I’m watching, but I know nothing.
My eyes are fixed, my breathing harsh as the man backs away and stands behind the woman with the whip in his hand.
The woman looks calm, too calm for what’s about to happen.
When he raises his hand and the whip whirls through the air and the tip touches her ass, she barely moves.
He makes the motion again, this time a little more of the whip cascading across her ass, and she tips her head back, eyes closed and a look on her face so serene, it totally throws me off-kilter.
I want to close my eyes or cover my face, knowing I shouldn’t watch this couple and their intimate moment, no matter how out of the normal realm of sex it may be. But I can’t do it. I can’t stop looking, wondering what’ll happen next, and slightly turned on too.
His hand moves faster, the whip lashing against her ass in rapid succession until red streaks across her pale skin. I reach back, rubbing my ass, knowing the pain from childhood and hating the memory.
“It’s not like that,” Izzy says, again like she’s reading my mind. “She likes the pain. It heightens her pleasure.”
“What pleasure?” I whisper, not trusting my voice enough to speak any louder.
Just as I say the words, the man steps forward and reaches between the woman’s legs. I widen my eyes again, and my breathing hitches. The woman’s mouth falls open as his hand moves forward and his fingers disappear inside of her. She’s pushing her ass backward, giving her body to him to use.
“That’s pleasure,” Izzy says with a hint of laughter.
He curls the whip in his fist, using one finger to trace the red lashes running down her ass as he thrusts his other fingers into her. His touch isn’t gentle. His arm flexes with each push of his fingers, sliding them deeper.
Izzy leans over, invading my personal space, but I’m too caught up in the couple to notice. “Breathe,” she tells me.
I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath. I’d been so consumed with the couple and the need on the woman’s face to pay attention to myself. I gasp, sucking air like I’d just come from underwater after holding my breath for longer than necessary.
The man steps away, his fingers glistening with her arousal in the overhead light. The woman straightens her head like she’s been brought back to reality, forced out of whatever pleasurable world she was in moments ago.
He raises his arm and the whip comes down harder, and I swear I hear the impact of the leather against her ass. I jolt a little, scared and strangely aroused.
“Bianca, you have a scene like this in one of your books, yeah?” Daphne asks, but her voice seems too quiet and distant when she speaks.
“Something like this,” Bianca replies, and I turn my head, looking at her.
I shouldn’t be surprised by her revelation. She is Bianca May, worldwide bestselling author of spicy romance.
Bianca’s eyes are fixed on the couple too, but there’s no shock or surprise on her face like there is on mine. “My heroines are pleading for it, though. They’re a little saucier, talking back and begging to be whipped.”
I turn back around without saying another word, thinking it’s time for me to pick up my first Bianca May novel because there’s more to her than meets the eye. There had to be, though. Vinnie is a wild one, and not just any woman could capture his heart and tame the man the way she has.
“This is way better than strippers,” Delilah says, and I realize we’re all pressed against the glass, staring.
“Dude, look at that guy’s cock,” Daphne says, but I don’t know which guy or cock because there are so many freaking naked people in front of us, I don’t know where to look first.
“Oh,” Max coos somewhere to my right. “That’s quite a piercing.”
“I bet that feels amazing,” Suzy says.
I feel like I’m stuck somewhere in the naughtiest Twilight Zone episode, where all my relatives are freaks, and I suddenly realize I am too.
There’s a dull ache between my legs and a feeling of emptiness.
A small part of me wishes Angelo were here to quench the need and fill me like only he can.
But then there’s the other part, the part that wonders what he’d think about all this and the fact that I can’t stop staring at the people, their nudity, and the carnal acts taking place only a few dozen feet away.
The door opens behind us, the room momentarily filling with light from the hallway. “We’ll take another round,” Izzy says without looking backward.
No one moves. We all seem to be in a trance as the man’s hand and whip come down repeatedly against the woman’s ass until she’s practically hanging from the cross, only held up by the leather restraints on her extremities.
The light dances through our room, shadows moving across the floor and covering our bodies. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” a man says, and Izzy gasps, turning so fast, she almost knocks me over.
My already frozen body stiffens further, and I know in an instant who’s behind us.
Shit.