Chapter 32
elaine
Peter snorted, looking at Vera’s hand on his wrist. “What’s that? Aw… the little girl thinks I’m scared of her? There’s a lot of us here, sweetheart.”
“I am giving you three seconds to let go of my wife, and promise never to touch her again,” Vera said, voice bubbling quietly.
My heart surged, a soaring feeling that made me feel like I could cry with relief.
Vera.
Protecting me again. The instant she was here, I’d never felt so safe in my life, like nothing could possibly happen to me. Even with Peter still clutching my hand, I wanted to throw myself on Vera and kiss her already.
“Oh, yeah? Or what?” Peter chuckled, and the others laughed with him. Vera gave them their second of laughter before she spoke in a deadly low voice.
“The human hand has eight carpal bones, five metacarpal bones, two phalanges in the thumb, and three in each other finger, for a total of twenty-seven bones. Breaking the carpals will disable your wrist altogether. Your hand will be completely useless, which will give me the opportunity to break each of the metacarpal bones and bend your hand backwards over itself, and then to break each phalange before you can do anything other than scream. They make a sound like stepping on gravel. Your hand will never fully heal, and you’ll keep hearing that sound for the rest of your life.
One more time. Take your hand off of my wife. ”
The room was deathly quiet now, and Peter’s hand felt limp and clammy on mine. He let go, and I tugged my hand away. Vera gave him one more squeeze around the wrist, and I heard him make a quivering sound of panic before she let go.
“That’s better,” she said. “I understand the mistake. It’s easy to mix people up in a masked ball. But just so you know, this woman belongs to me and me alone.”
“I… Constance,” I whispered, voice shaky. She smirked at me, and Peter scoffed, turning away.
“All right,” he said, puffing his chest and putting on the bravado, “someone doesn’t know how to act at a party. Come on, guys, let’s get out of here.”
Vera watched him go before, quietly, she said, “He’s lucky I’m in a good mood.”
“That was your good mood?”
She turned to me, eyes gleaming behind the mask.
“Follow me,” she said, and she slipped her hand into mine, leading me through the crowds until we got into one of the quiet rooms, up on the mezzanine floor, with a heavy red velvet curtain drawn most of the way covering the view of the ballroom below.
She pointed me towards an electrical outlet on the wall.
“I broke some of the internal casing to create a ventilation channel into the next room’s circuitry.
You’ll be able to hear clearly, but just to make sure, I’ve set up a listening bug inside as well.
Between the two of you, you should be able to make out everything about the conversation. ”
“All right…” My heart was still pounding from the interaction with Peter, my hands shaking. Vera smiled at me, licking her lips.
“Now that that’s settled,” she said, her voice low and murky, and she backed me up against the wall.
Something surged in my chest, the soaring feeling from when she’d stepped in to rescue me flaring up into heat instead, and I murmured softly as she buried her fingers in my hair.
“I just watched somebody else try to make a pass at my wife, and I need to stake my claim on her.”
“Vera…”
“Shh. I’m Constance now.”
“I’m glad you showed up…”
She pressed her lips against mine, gripping me tighter as she kissed me hungrily, our masks clicking together. “Mine,” she whispered hungrily against my lips, and I nodded eagerly, my knees buckling.
“Yours. Only yours.”
She nipped on my bottom lip, sucking lightly, and I moaned in surprise when she pushed her hand down my front.
“Oh, V—Constance—I—is this the moment for…?”
“Just enough to prove that you’re mine.”
Oh, God. It wasn’t the moment at all, but my body didn’t get that message. I moaned quietly as my back arched into her touch, quivering. The adrenaline heightened the situation… the panic of a strange man dragging me away, and then Vera appearing to save me, like she always did.
I wanted her so badly. I wanted to do whatever she asked.
She hiked my dress up, raking her fingers up my thigh, and I moaned into her mouth. Her strong fingers teasing higher before they dragged up the front of my underwear…
“Oh, God,” I whispered.
“Do you want it?” It was a rhetorical question. Yes was the only answer I knew. And yes was the answer.
“Please, yes.”
“Then let’s make sure we’re properly making a point of it,” she said, and I gasped as she took me by the hips and repositioned me, pushing me through the curtains to see the ballroom below, and I went with a gasp, leaning against the railing as Vera’s hand continued to reach up my dress, obscured by the draperies on the railing.
She pressed herself up behind me—a tender embrace to anyone looking, anyone who wouldn’t know better.
“Make sure to keep a straight face,” she whispered in my ear. “Don’t let any of them know I’m up here claiming my fuck toy’s needy little pussy.”
I gasped, but I had to keep it to myself, had to keep it quiet as her hand plunged down inside my underwear. All these people watching… a couple of them looked up at me, just to see the people coming out of the curtains. A whole room of people who had no idea Vera was marking me as hers right now.
I pursed my lips together to quiet the needy little whimpers I made as Vera’s fingers touched my center, as she swirled over my clit, slipping through my folds and making me melt.
My knees quivered underneath me, and it took everything I had not to collapse or cry out as she kept going relentlessly, driving me up towards the edge, and then—then pausing there, leaving me hanging in anticipation, wanting, waiting.
“Please,” I whispered. She breathed in my ear.
“You want it, don’t you?”
“Y-yes…”
“You want to come in front of this room full of people…”
“I-I do, yes, please.”
“Let me decide… whether or not to let you.” Her fingers moved agonizingly slowly, just enough to keep me right on the edge, and I moaned quietly through where I bit down on my lip. My hips were starting to shake…
“I-I can’t… keep… acting like nothing is happening… if you…”
“Are you going to lose it, darling?” she teased, voice low in my ear. “Are my fingers on your needy little pussy so much that you’re going to start moaning to a whole room like a dirty little slut?”
“Yes. Please. Please, please, I-I can’t… I’m so close…”
“I haven’t had nearly enough of you yet. Be a good girl and hold on just a little longer. I’ll count you down.” She whispered in my ear. “Thirty.”
“Oh, God.” I clenched the railing so hard my knuckles went white. Vera’s fingers against my wetness, circling on my clit… all these people right there…
I was already soaked down my thighs by twenty.
By fifteen, I couldn’t help begging her, tiny little gasps as I whispered I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.
By five, every second seemed to be an eternity, but finally, she reached zero, and she sent me over the edge, my body coming undone in a wave of release.
I pushed my lips together hard to suppress the moan as my hips shook, everything releasing finally against Vera’s hand, and it felt like hours I was there in the peak of my orgasm before I came down, breathing hard.
I was glad the mask hid my face. I don’t think I covered it up very well.
“Good girl,” Vera whispered. “That’s much better. I don’t like someone else putting their hands on my wife.”
I swallowed, looking down, blushing. “Um… I’m happy I could help.”
“You did very well.” She guided me back inside to sit in the room, and she bent down and pressed her lips to mine, a quick, deep kiss before she stood up with a satisfied smirk on her face.
“Now, I am going to go to the bathroom and wash my hands. And then once you’ve recovered, let’s attend a party.
Together. Where nobody is putting their hands on you. ”
I nodded sheepishly, still blushing. “I suppose.”
She paused, giving me a look. “Don’t tell me you’re looking to have people’s hands on you.”
“No. Just… it’s not like I mind how it ended up…”
She laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. We’ll continue this once we’re home. Without anybody else needing to make me angry in the process.”
We joined up with the party, moving together now, and I felt a little…
bubbly, going around everywhere locked onto Vera’s arm, this beautiful and incredible woman talking to people and claiming me as her wife.
It was just an act, but it was still… I never dreamed of a situation where someone would claim me like that.
We both kept watch on the attendees, and especially on Peter, who continued to aggrandize in his groups, and we pieced together what we could from conversations around the room.
People didn’t know Scarborough was Peter Kravins, but a lot of them knew about Peter Kravins—a mogul of government corruption, superintendent with the police force, acting as an intermediary between organized crime and the government. With a hefty cut himself.
And a penchant for strongarming young women into spending time with him.
The masquerade was full of laughter and dancing, and people swirled around from one person to another to dance with them, but Vera didn’t take her hands off me for one second, taking me to the floor to dance with me every single time, her eyes locked on me with that fire and passion that tied knots in my chest and fizzled through my body.
It was late in the evening once Peter finally went to the Centauri room, and we both gave it some time before we moved too, making sure not to look suspicious. Finally, Vera nodded to me, off at the edge of the ballroom.
“I’ll guard the doors and keep a lookout for dangerous activity out here. Remember, don’t make a sound once you’re in position. The room isn’t soundproofed anymore, and that goes both ways.”
“I understand.”
“So try to be quieter than last time you were there.”
I shoved her shoulder. “As if it wasn’t your fault, Constance.”
She flashed a grin, and once again, something possessed me to kiss her cheek before I went. I told myself it was just part of the act.
I slipped back up to the side room, sinking onto the floor next to the outlet, my ear close to the wall. I strained listening through, and I could hear Peter’s voice from the other side, blistering with anger.
“I told them it would be ready now! That we’d have permits for Horizon this weekend! I already got payment upfront. Do you know what they’re going to do to me for this?”
Another voice—a man’s voice, something about it sounding not right, like it wasn’t quite human. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have spent the money without confirming.”
“There was a problem I had to make go away. If she’d had the baby, I would never have heard the end of it. And this shouldn’t have happened if you’d just done your part!”
“The project is still slated to begin. The broader timeline will remain unchanged. Next time, underpromise, and overdeliver.”
“Tell me you have something for me. I already have people in the system poking their noses into my business. I can’t deal with getting rid of someone right now.”
“The logistics routing key, as agreed on. Don’t lose this.”
I pressed myself up to the wall, listening closer, trying to tell anything I could.
The sound of a zipper opening, a small one…
probably a hidden zipper, a coat rustling.
That would be enough. I almost pulled away from the wall before I heard Peter say something else that froze the blood in my veins.
“What are we doing about this place? I know we don’t like to leave potential witnesses.”
“Revelers always cause too much damage… it’s going to be a shame. We’ve already planted the story of the event fireworks stored recklessly inside the building. I trust you can wrap up the investigation before anyone finds out too much.”
Potential witnesses. Even just beyond the people in the ball, there were so many people downstairs who were completely unconnected to this.
I went to stand up, but my stomach dropped out at the sensation of cold metal against the back of my neck—a blade, pressing into my skin.
“I thought I recognized that ring,” said a voice from behind me. A woman’s voice, cool, detached.
Yulia.