Chapter Five
SKYLAR
One Month Later
Over the last month, I’ve spent more time at Mason’s place than at my own apartment. Ever since that first magical night with him, making the giant bend and crumble to my will, I haven’t been able to shake the feeling. What’s even more surprising is how willingly Mason plays the role.
During the days, Mason locks himself away in his office.
I hear the murmuring and whispers, while he discusses business, but I’m rarely able to make out what he’s saying.
At night, he eats from the palm of my hand, obeying my orders, and worshipping me like a queen.
I don’t know what it is, what has come over me, but the more I live in this strange world with Mason, the easier I take to it.
It’s a sense of power I’ve never felt before.
Since my parents passed, I’ve been so lost and afraid – but Mason…
He makes everything better.
I’m in the living room, flicking through various TV stations trying to find something to watch, when Mason steps out of his office.
He’s dressed in a sharp suit and tie, his hair combed back and his beard neatly trimmed.
He walks over to me and the smell of cologne hits my nose. He gives me a kiss hello.
“I won’t be in tonight,” he says. “I’ve got something very important to take care of.” A sudden rush of sadness hits me and I’m sure my eyes don’t hide any of it. I don’t have many plans for the evening, but I don’t want to be alone, either.
“Where are you going?” I ask, getting to my feet and fixing the double Windsor knot in his tie.
“I’m sorry, Skylar, I can’t tell you that. You rule every part of me, but my work has to stay secret,” Mason replies.
He’s already half-hard in his pants just from seeing me dressed in my boy shorts and tight shirt. I lick my lips and graze it with the tips of my fingers. Mason lets out a labored breath, and I can see it in his eyes. He wants more. He always wants more, but I rarely let him have it.
“I understand,” I say with a sigh. “What am I going to do all alone?”
I run my hand up his body, gently stroking his cheek, while I walk around him and inspect him. He looks damned fine in a suit, far better than I could’ve ever imagined.
“I’m sure you’ll find some way to entertain yourself. You always do, right?” Mason replies, following me with his eyes, until I’m behind him.
“I always do,” I rise onto my toes and press my lips against the back of his neck. A shiver runs through Mason, before he turns back to face me. He wraps his strong hands around my waist, pulling me in for a kiss.
“Don’t worry, my queen. I’ll be back and ready to serve, before you even realize I’m gone,” Mason says. I can tell leaving bothers him. The puppy-dog look in his eyes gives him away, but he doesn’t linger. I guess he knows that if he stays too long, he might not leave at all.
Then he does leave.
A few hours pass, and I can’t find much to do.
Flipping through TV channels gets boring fast when damn near every station is playing reruns.
I get up and start making my way through Mason’s apartment, snooping around.
Feeling this drawn to someone so quickly is unusual for me.
I’ve never been one to fall head over heels for a person, but after that first night with Mason, I knew I was trapped.
I was his queen, and he was fast becoming my everything.
As I make my way into the hall, heading for the bedroom to prepare for his return, I notice that the door Mason keeps under lock and key has been left slightly ajar.
It can’t be a coincidence, right? Mason’s been so secretive about his office; he’d never leave it open unless he wanted me to go inside.
At least, that’s what I tell myself, standing outside it, looking for a reason for why I’m doing what I shouldn’t be doing.
I grab the brass doorknob, and push the door fully open.
What secrets and mysteries await me inside?
I’m almost giddy thinking about it. I’ve spent more or less a whole month here, thinking about what he keeps in this room, and now I finally get to find out.
It’s not as if he cares about my snooping, anyway. He’s let me go through pretty much everything his house has to offer, so why would his office be any different?
Before I know it, I’m inside. Unlike the rest of the apartment, the office looks immaculate.
A giant oak desk sits across from me on an angle, and opposite it sits a red leather sofa beside a bookshelf packed with novels.
Paintings hang from the wall, and every table is decorated with a lamp or ornament.
Unlike the hardwood floor, throughout the rest of the apartment, the office has carpeting; it’s soft to the touch and surprisingly luxurious.
“Holy shit,” I mutter to myself. This isn’t just some regular office; it’s like something out of some high-rise businessman’s office.
I walk over to the desk. Stacks of papers, documents, and folders are lying across it.
I know whatever is Mason’s work, I shouldn’t go near because of what he told me, but I can’t stop myself.
I reason that he won’t ever know I was even in here, so why not get a little look at the life of the man I’m spending all my time with.
As soon as I get to the desk and open the first Manila folder, overwhelming terror washes over me. It’s a folder full of pictures of me, while I was living with the Mercers.
I dig through file after file, and it becomes clear that my fear of being watched and hunted was true. Only the man who killed Daniel and Lory Mercer could take these photos, the man I’m now sleeping beside every night, and is a puppet dancing on my strings.
Suddenly, I hear a footstep at the door and I look up. Mason’s standing in the doorway, his hands raised defensively, and the same terror I feel written all over his face.
“Skylar, I can explain,” he says. I recoil from him and, as he approaches, I try to run. He reaches out, grabbing me mid-flight.
“Let me go,” I shout, trying to pull free from Mason.
“Please, let me explain,” Mason says, but he releases me on my command. Before I can make it out of the room, I hear the heavy thud of Mason dropping to the ground. He’s on his hands and knees, practically begging. “Just give me a chance. I can explain everything.”
I don’t know what comes over me, or why my feet stop running, but I do. I stop, and look down at Mason, on the ground with tears in his eyes.
MASON
How could I be such a fucking idiot?
So excited to show Skylar how good I look in this damned suit that I left the door unlocked. Now I feel my whole life crumbling around me. She’s scared of me, she knows what I’ve done.
But… she’s not running away, either. She’s still standing there, looking at me as I kneel before her, pathetically begging her not to leave. I can’t even find the words to speak. I’m lost, stunned, and terribly scared of losing my queen.
“You killed them,” she says and repeats it a few more times.
“It’s not what you think,” I start to say, but she sends a hard slap across my face, and then another. After the third, I catch her hand. “Skylar, please…”
“Please what?” Skylar spits, pulling herself free from my hand and trying to throw another wild slap. I narrowly avoid it. “You killed the only people who were good to me after my parents… and then you followed me…”
“Since the first day I saw you, I knew you were the only woman for me. There’d never be another in this world for whom my cock would stand.
I couldn’t stop thinking about you. About having you in my arms and squeezing you tight.
I couldn’t imagine spending my time with anyone else,” I stutter out, staying on the ground.
I look at the floor, because I can’t bear to face her hateful gaze.
“The Mercers were bad people, Skylar. They hurt a lot of innocent people.”
I swallow hard.
“What do you mean?” she takes a step back from me. “What the hell do you do, Mason?”
“They call me a cleaner,” I reply. “When troubles get too messy to deal with, I get brought in to fix it. Daniel Mercer started running a drug operation, soon after he got into Colorado. He slung dope to anyone that would buy it, and more often than not, they were kids, too stupid to know the difference. A lot of people didn’t like that and some of them asked me to sort it out. ”
I pause, finally mustering up the courage to look at Skylar. The terror in her eyes has subsided somewhat and has been replaced by what I can only assume anger.
“I saw you while I was scoping out the place, and I knew I couldn’t go on in this life if you weren’t by my side.” That was the damned truth, too.
I hate seeing her like this. The way she’s looking at me, disgusted and betrayed, breaks my heart.
She’ll never forgive me. She thinks I’m scum.
I stay on my knees for as long as I can bear it, but Skylar doesn’t speak.
She just continues to look at me with those disappointed eyes, inching ever further away.
Who could blame her?
I don’t try and stop her; I can do nothing now, anyway. If I try, she’ll think I’m attacking her, and that’s the last thing I want. Skylar’s been through enough, and I won’t make it worse.
What will this life be without my queen? Only agony and torture. I can’t lose her. I finally feel as if I’m a person again. It’s as if she melted the cold, hard cage I built around my heart. Without her, there’s nothing for me.
“I’ll leave,” I say, getting up from the ground. “You take all the time you need. I won’t bother you again. I’ve caused enough harm.”
I can’t face looking at Skylar again, so I just walk through the door and down the hall. I can feel tears welling in my eyes. I haven’t cried since I was a child. What the hell has she done to me? These feelings and emotions, an overflow of pure horror.
I’m lost and at Skylar’s mercy, and she doesn’t even know it.