Chapter 45 #2
“I’ve got an eye, Alfie does too. Does he put lotion on your pussy after he fucks you harder than usual?” I stared at him, shocked–had he really just asked me that? He tugged on the rope, jolting me a little. “Tell me.”
Suddenly, my mind was filled with Alfie. Alfie taking me rough, holding me after, gentle and sweet. Alfie using a warm washcloth to clean me, Alfie using lotion on the sore parts of my core, my inner thighs.
“Sometimes.” I clenched my fists pushing thoughts of him away. I didn’t want him here. I wanted to forget.
Kal pulled the rope taut, securing me to the table, my hands between my knees.
“Colour?” he asked, startling me out of my thoughts.
“Green.”
With a nod he crossed to the other panel and my anxiety cranked up a notch as he opened it to reveal more sex toys than I had ever seen in my life. He selected a drawer and I blinked in surprise when he pulled out a hair brush.
What was he doing? I stayed silent as he came behind me and began brushing my hair. His motions were firm yet gentle, taking his sweet time. I found myself gritting my teeth in frustration. Washing, drying and brushing my hair was Alfie’s favourite thing.
“You have incredible hair,” Kal said, his voice hushed. “I wish there was more of it.”
“It used to be longer,” I said before I could stop myself.
“Why did you cut it?” I didn’t answer. That would be giving away more than I wanted. “Alfie didn’t like it?” Kal asked and I squeezed my eyes shut. “Or maybe he liked it too much.”
He set the brush aside and I shivered as slender fingers massaged my scalp.
This wasn’t what I wanted and I shifted in frustration.
He was supposed to be distracting me, but all he was doing was letting Alfie in.
He pressed a hand to the nape of my neck, another to the small of my back.
“Straighten, arch your back, drop your shoulders.”
I moved as he directed me, automatically feeling like a gift being presented.
“When Alfie ties you, this is how you need to sit for him, it lets him see the lines of your body.”
Why did he keep mentioning him?
I stiffened at the thought of Alfie tying me up. Kal's hands on my shoulders told me he’d noticed. He rubbed his thumbs in soothing circles, massaging me. “Colour?”
“Green.”
He took the second piece of rope and began braiding it through my hair. I relaxed into the silence as he worked, his presence surprisingly calm. This wasn’t the teasing man I’d met before.
I don’t know how long I knelt there, eyes closed as he wove his mark into my hair. The heartbroken girl wailed deep inside, I willed her back to sleep but it was getting harder to keep her quiet. The gentler and kinder Kal was, the worse it got.
Steel grey eyes watched me, judging.
I shouldn’t be here. I felt a warm hand cup my cheek but when I opened my eyes it wasn’t Alfie staring back at me, it was Kal. Beautiful Kal who was everything except my Alfie.
My Alfie?
The thought was a joke.
“Colour?”
“Green.” I answered but the crack in my voice betrayed me. Kal’s mouth set into a thin line.
“I don’t tolerate lies in here, Lola. Tell me your colour.”
I automatically tried to lift a hand to my necklace but of course I couldn’t. I looked down at the ropes binding me, ropes I’d wanted but ropes that were wrong because of who had put them there.
Alfie…
I wanted Alfie. Just like the night at the Never Tell Club, I couldn’t do this as a casual encounter. No matter how hard I tried, I was never going to be that girl.
But I couldn’t be Alfie’s girl either. Not after what he’d done.
He’d…
I gasped as a tear slipped free as the weight of what he’d done came to sit fully on my chest.
Alfie had lied to me.
Another tear followed.
Alfie had violated me.
Yet another tear.
It still wasn’t over. Despite his actions, it still wasn’t over.
My tears fell one after another in agonised silence.
Kal brushed a tear away. “I wondered how long it was going to take for you to break.” He pulled on my bindings and my wrists came free. His arms came around me and I held stiff for a moment before falling into his chest and crying like I hadn’t in two years.
“I’m getting snot on your shirt.” My voice was muffled by Kal’s chest and broken by soft hiccups.
“I don't care.” He lifted his arm, offering me his sleeve. “Go for it.”
I hesitated for a moment before wiping my nose on it. He lifted me off the table and helped me back into my sweater. I wrapped my arms around myself, cold and suddenly exhausted.
“Sorry for being a buzzkill.”
Kal gave me a ‘stop talking nonsense’ look. He took my hand and we returned to the office where the drugs were still laid out in their neat little line.
He took the first pill and handed it to me. The sleeping pill. I stared at it wondering at how lucky I’d been to run into Kal tonight.
“You know, sex was never really on the table, right?” Even if I hadn’t burst into a blubbering mess, I knew in my heart I never would have been able to do that to Alfie.
“Despite how much I want to, I would never fuck my friend’s girl. It’s good to know you wouldn’t betray him either.” It hit me then that he’d been testing me. A test wrapped in the form of help. I wondered if I should be angry about that but no, Kal had the right to know what kind of woman I was.
He helped me back into my coat and I grabbed my bag before following him to the lift. I felt tired to my very bones.
In silence, Kal led me through the house and finally to a decadent bedroom. A stunning four poster bed stood proudly, and there was a velvet blue chaise-lounge by the bay window. It was beautiful.
“This is perfect. Are you sure you don’t mind if I stay?”
“I’m sure.” He gestured to a small screen next to the door. “Press the button next to the screen if you need anything, it’ll connect you to the staff quarters.”
“A phone charger would be good.” I really needed to let Keira know where I was.
“Done.” He put his hand on the door to go but I stepped forward.
“Why did you do that tonight? I get why you would give me a place to stay but the…rope stuff…why?”
Kal hesitated, an action that seemed deeply out of line with his assertive character. “I have my reasons.” His tone told me those reasons were not about to be shared. He nodded at the pill in my hand. “Sleep, love. The world can wait until tomorrow.”
He closed the door with a soft click. I slumped onto the bed, wondering why my chest didn’t feel like it was caving in.
I was angry, I was hurt, I was tired from crying but I wasn’t broken and I didn’t understand why.
I lay there, contemplating the canopy for the longest time until there was a soft knock at the door.
I answered it to find a young man with a phone charger in his hand. I thanked him and he disappeared quickly into the darkness. I put my phone on to charge and stripped down to my underwear.
I looked at myself in the ornate gold mirror. I looked tired, my nose and eyes tinged pink from crying. The rope was still bound in my hair. I pulled it over one shoulder, admiring the intricate braid work wound around my red locks.
I should take it out, but I was too exhausted to unpick the complicated knots. I fell into bed and slid under the covers.
Alfie came to me then and I wondered where he was, if he was okay. Had the doctor seen to his hand yet?
I felt guilty that I cared, and angry that I did. So much waited for me out there. Keira, Natalie, Alfie, Elliot, my work…but Kal was right, the world could wait until tomorrow.
I took the pill and nestled into the sheets, letting the oblivion take me, knowing that even the strongest sedative in the world couldn’t keep Alfie Tell from my dreams.