Chapter Twenty-Eight
Olivia
Megan was one of those people who put you at ease, and made you open up. She chatted away as if there was nothing happening around us, and we were just two women out for a shopping spree.
“You said earlier about The Midnight Rooms,” I said, picking up a handbag to turn it back and forth to admire it. “Is that a —” I broke off unsure how to phrase it.
“The Midnight and Twilight Rooms are a place to explore your sexuality and pleasure,” she replied as if I had finished my question. “I met Jordan in the Twilight rooms. The lights are on there, and what your Dom says is law.” She winked at me, and moved to examine another bag.
“I wish I understood all this,” I muttered, embarrassed by my lack of experience and understanding of this sexual world.
Megan turned toward me, staring me directly in the eye. “I believe Maximus owns a similar club here in the States,” she said. “Sometimes the best way to understand it is to experience it.”
“He tends to not mention it in front of me,” I replied. “I’ve heard about it from others.”
She pointed a perfectly manicured nail at me. “I will speak to Jordan about it. That man does love an orgy.”
My eyebrows shot up at the activity she mentioned. I had never considered a mass sex session as an option. In my books, it had been Saint Andrew’s crosses, spanking, and anal plugs.
“I have nothing to say to that,” I replied, blinking rapidly.
Megan waved her hand as if dismissing my words. “Sex is natural. People need to relax, be more open about it, and willing to experiment.”
The assistant dropped an item from the display she had been working on close to us, her cheeks bright red with embarrassment.
“Nothing relaxes you more than an orgy with a variety of partners. My friend Cas didn’t enjoy sex, and it was because her partners were selfish, and didn’t have a clue where her clit or g-spot were.
Relaxing and letting a complete stranger give you pleasure releases your inner demons, and allows them to tempt you into playing.
” The assistant’s mouth fell open as she stared at us.
“You know what I mean?” Megan asked her.
She frantically looked to me as if I could help her. I was completely out of my depth with this conversation.
Megan frowned, looking between me and the assistant. “I assume you’ve both experienced orgasms?”
The assistant blinked, her lips pursed together. I nodded frantically when Megan looked at me. “I have no complaints in the bedroom,” I replied.
“And you?” she asked the assistant. “Are you in a relationship?”
I didn’t know whether to feel pity for the woman or indulge my curious side, and follow Megan down the rabbit hole.
“Um.” She cleared her throat. “I’ve been with my boyfriend for four years. He tends to prefer sex in the dark and under the duvet.”
Megan’s eyebrows shot up. “You’ve never had an orgasm?” she queried.
The assistant set the handbag she had been working with on the display. She looked towards the desk where the other assistant stood. “I’m not sure,” she whispered. “Sometimes it isn’t uncomfortable and I enjoy it. Is that an orgasm?”
“If you have to ask, then it isn’t an orgasm,” Megan replied. “That delicious moment when your body feels on fire, every nerve ending is pulsing in anticipation, and your muscles all clench before they explode in a pleasure that renders you unable to think coherently. That is an orgasm.”
“No.” The assistant shook her head rapidly. “I’ve never experienced that.”
Megan touched the woman’s arm. “Every woman deserves a man who worships her, and makes her pleasure more important than his. If you find a man who makes you come multiple times first, then marry him as he’s a keeper.”
“I would settle for coming just once,” the assistant replied.
Megan sucked in a deep breath, and released it in a sigh.
“A real man understands that a woman has as many needs as he does. We just need a little more attention to reach the finish line.” She pouted for a moment.
“My friend Cas accepted less than she deserved for too long, until she found a man who could break her headboard instead of her heart. You need to follow her example.”
We were starting to draw attention, so I decided to divert attention away from sex. People always seemed to be curious when it came to sex or scandal.
“What do you think would be a suitable accessory for this bag?” I asked, holding a random bag up.
“Suspenders and stockings,” Megan deadpanned and the assistant laughed.
I spun the bag towards me only to discover that it had a black patent front with leather straps. Hundreds of bags, and I had to pick the BDSM bag to turn the conversation away from sex.
Megan grinned at my expression, linking her arm through mine.
“As much as I would love to continue this conversation, we have to go,” she said.
“I wish you every success on your journey, and remember if your man can’t supply orgasms, there is always your battery operated boyfriend who always knows how to hit the right spot! ”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw the expression on the face of a customer. Megan flashed her a smile as she moved us out of the store, waving over her shoulder.
“You are extremely confident when it comes to sex,” I said in a low voice, not wanting to draw any further attention to us.
“I didn’t use to be,” Megan confided. “I used to be shy and awkward, signing myself up for submissive training, hoping that someone else could make my sexual decisions for me. The day a pair of designer shoes stopped in front of me as I kneeled on the floor changed my life forever. There is freedom and power in handing over control.”
I had never considered that, always assuming that the Dominant held all the power.
“Surely the Dom is in control,” I replied. “He is the one holding the whips and chains.”
Megan’s laugh cascaded over me. “Oh no,” she said. “He can only go as far as we allow. It is our submission that allows him to be in control. Jordan knows my every reaction by watching my eyes.”
Was that why Maximus was always staring into my eyes?
We were walking arm in arm through the shops when the hairs on my body rose and it felt as if someone was watching me.
“I—”
Megan squeezed my arm with hers. “They starting following us a few minutes ago when we were looking in the window. I noticed them behind us.”
“How did you notice them?” I had been trying to watch for people following us.
“Jordan released me in London so many times, testing me until it became second nature. He trained me to protect me.”
Love came in many different forms, and Jordan seemed to show his different than what I had witnessed, and it made me wonder what Maximus’ love would look like.
“What are we going to do?” I asked Megan, terror starting to rise up my spine. I had been badly hurt the last time I had encountered one of these people, and they had wanted to rape me in that house. I had no idea what would await me if they got their hands on me.
“Do you trust me?” Megan queried, turning briefly to look at me.
I pursed my lips together for a few moments. “I want to say yes, but something tells me that I should be saying no.”
Her lips turned up in a slow smile. “Good answer. We can’t create a scene here, and there is no way that either of our husbands will allow them to take us very far.”
I didn’t reply because fear stole my words, threatening to choke me.
“We can do this,” Megan said. “Neither of us is weak, we tamed and married men of steel who the world fear.”
“What are we going to do?” Whatever it was, I knew Maximus wouldn’t approve of it.
“We are going to do what our husbands would – set a trap and evaluate the situation as it progresses. Both of us know that no one is going to strike while we walk from store to store. Our enemy will only strike if they perceive us to be vulnerable.” Megan sounded so confident that I almost agreed, but at the last moment, I tripped over my feet when I realised what she had said.
“Sometimes you have to take the fight to them.”
Every footstep felt as if I was trudging through thick mud, and it was slowing me down.
We moved away from the main busy central area toward the back, where there were less stores and access to the outside world.
It felt as we were experiencing every cliché of a horror film, and I was expecting someone with a chainsaw to jump out.
We moved in the direction of a side door, which led to a street with few shops. I swore I could hear Maximus’ voice screaming in my head, telling me to turn back. Megan continued onward fearlessly, never once showing those watching us that she was aware of the danger she was entering.
The cool air was refreshing, but a shiver rippled down my spine. The shadows took on a sinister twist, and I imagined people waiting to jump out. A man stood smoking at the corner of a long closed shop, glancing up when we walked out.
Megan stopped for a moment, slowly turning as if recording everything we were observing.
“You’re either very brave or very stupid to walk out here alone.” I recognised the man, but didn’t know him well enough to have been introduced. “Maximus would have warned you to stay inside, and yet here you are.”
“You know what he’ll do if you put a finger on either of us?” I asked, trying to be brave, but my last word wobbled, showing my fear.
“The men I represent have no interest in putting a finger near you. Their dicks certainly, but not their finger.” He gave a low husky laugh at his joke.
“Don’t be vulgar,” Megan snapped.
His gaze moved to her. “You’re married to some English aristocrat,” he replied. “I’ll give you one opportunity to walk away. Olivia’s husband made a serious error of judgement, and is about to be taught a lesson.”
“Why do you always punish the wife for the sins of the husband?” Megan queried, her back straightening. “Could you not just go and discuss this with Maximus?”
His smile made the hairs on my neck stand up. “Most men in his position marry who they are told, yet he refused. We’re told to keep the women we love as mistresses, but Maximus wanted it all,” the man replied. “He is about to find out what happens when he does not obey the rules.”
“Max married me to save me from my brother’s disgusting auction,” I protested.
He waved off my words. “I’ve known him a long time, and he does nothing to help anyone other than himself. That man married you for one reason only, and it had nothing to do with saving you from an auction.”
I saw men emerging from the mall from the corner of my eye, forming a human barrier to anyone considering leaving through that door.
“Before you think either of your husbands are coming to rescue you, there have been a number of explosions taking out their intelligence hub, and our men currently control the mall.”
Megan stiffened beside me.
“I advise you to come quietly as I have no problem doing this the hard way.” He flashed that predatory smile, and I knew exactly who he was - his father had happily handed his daughter over to be sold.
Alexander Marino.
“Do you know what happens to your sister?” I asked, desperately hoping to gain time.
His smile made my skin crawl. He shrugged nonchalantly. “We have a lot of useless females in our family. Dad doesn’t mind who uses several of my sisters as long as we don’t get them pregnant.”
Acid burned up the back of my throat at the implication of his words.
He nodded, and there was a sharp pain to the left side of my neck.
I raised my hand to find a syringe lodged there.
Too late, I realised we had walked into a trap, and not the other way around.
The world moved in and out of focus, and I heard Megan’s voice as she shouted before the pavement welcomed me.
My last thought before I lost consciousness was that Maximus was going to be pissed, and nothing good ever happened when he lost his temper.