Her favourite part about reading to Gregory, was how contrasted the content of the ebooks were to the surroundings in which they were read.The ceilings throughout the house were high and coffered in many of the rooms, and the windows generously proportioned deeply set and dressed in draping fabrics over sheer. The rugs laid over the hardwood floor were all rich in colour and luxurious in texture.Gregory leaned towards dark wood in his décor style, and she knew little about wood (of that type), but she imagined that no expense had been spared. All the furniture had that detailing that spoke of money spent, from the curve of the legs to the ornate carving on the back rests. Vintage expensive, she thought. She knew enough to recognise the floral pattern on the tea set that she served Gregory’s tea from and knew that the setting probably cost more than she had earned in a year prior to meeting him and was detailed in real gold.Gregory lay back on the cushions of his bed. He was too th
On Tuesday, Raven sat through a blood test, scowling, and wondering what the f–k was wrong with his head that he would give blood in order to give the woman he wanted to f–k bare-backed a piece of paper. He was not the one engaged in risky lifestyle factors. Ticking the sheet that the GP had given him, his pen hovered over: Engaged in anal sex? and Multiple partners?Shit, he closed his eyes, pushing back at the desire that curled its way out from the secret corners of his soul and begged for his attention. No, he answered to both, and felt that he lied, but there wasn’t a “think it is highly likely” option on the sheet.On Thursday, he sms’d her a screen shot of the page from his email account that said he was all clear, but to repeat in six weeks if he had engaged in risky behaviours. After fifteen minutes, she sent him back two screen shots, one for Gabriel last name redacted, and the other Temperance Patience Lawrence.He had feeling that her parents would get along with his, and
Raven turned and strode quickly to catch up. There was no drag on the leash, Shadow kept pace with him easily. Vixen did not glance behind, pausing by the heavy-set bouncers to pay the cover-charge. The bouncers opened the door for her, and Raven felt the heat and pulse of the main chamber wash over him. There was a scent to the space, he thought, that he might not have realised the first time. It smelt like sex, hormones and come. The scent made his pulse pick up, and the leather of his g string to feel confining. Vixen turned away from the VIP area, strolling casually around the booths, curtained or un-curtained as the occupants preferred. “Mistress Vixen,” a woman with an impressively blunt fringe and her hair scraped painfully back into a ponytail greeted her. She was clad in vinyl from jaw to crotch, in a severely form fitting jumpsuit that stretched to loops over her middle fingers. She played with a black leather belt, stroking it between her fingers. “Your new sub is pretty.
“This is your place?” Raven was not sure what he expected, but the warehouse where he had tracked the car to previously was both appropriate and unexpected. Where would a punk rock chick live after all? He could not imagine her in a neat and tidy suburban house with a manicured lawn, nor in a tight, barren apartment like his. Both Vixen and Shadow laughed as she activated the garage door and drove them down into the bowels of the building. “Holy shit,” Raven breathed as the lights came on. There had to be over fifty cars, in various states around this level. He could see a spray-booth in a corner, and stacked toolboxes, all sorts of equipment for washing and detailing, even a little office tucked away with glass windows. “It is a chop shop.” “No, we are legit,” Vixen parked the Ferrari next to another that was half red-half black with a sexy fade in between. He saw the customised yellow 4WD drive a few cars down. “We customise cars. The band, that is, in between gigs and rehearsals
“I think we will blindfold you again,” she decided. “As nice as it is for you to see everything, it could lead to some anxiety, and we want you nice and relaxed, so,” she picked up the mask from along his side and trailed it up his ribs, causing him to draw in a sharp breath. She leaned over and kissed him as she drew it over his eyes. As he had done the last time, he closed his eyes within the covering. The blindfold did help. It should have made him anxious, he thought, not to be able to see, whilst tied down to a bed, but being blindfolded and bound gave both distance from and a release of responsibility, whilst also focussing him on the sensation of their touch on his body. She ran her hands down his torso, the heat of her palms soothing. He felt the rubber ring holding Shadow’s mouth open and the heat of Shadow’s tongue descended upon him, and gasped. The c-k ring that Shadow had placed on him earlier was a blessing, he thought, because the sensation, blindfolded, was intense,
Shadow lowered himself over Vixen, finding her face in amongst the wig hair and kissing her cheek and mouth. Raven could not hear what he breathed into her ear, but the tone held love. Raven’s chest ached. He had never truly believed in love, he realised. Never thought a person could feel that deeply, be so selfless as to care that much for another. He had never experienced it, and never seen it. Not really. Shadow loved Vixen, and Vixen loved Shadow, with that depth and selflessness, and Raven wanted to experience what they had, but he was not sure that he knew how to. Perhaps love was something other people could feel, he thought watching as Shadow eased off of Vixen. Perhaps Vixen was right, and he was a broken boy toy. She rolled onto her back and removed the vibrator. Shadow took it into the open bathroom and dropped it into the sink. From the clatter, the other toys were in there. Vixen rolled to her feet and recovered the little black camisole and shorts, pulling them back on
The next morning as he and Vixen sat at the breakfast bench and watched Shadow, in a pink frilled apron and butt plug and nothing else, cook bacon and eggs at the stove, Raven sipped his orange juice and wished it were coffee as he admired the view. “You knew that I would have a moment, last night,” he accused Vixen. “It is not unusual,” she replied. “You are very new, and very f-ked up, Raven. There is bound to be a few times that what you want clashes with what you think you should want, and the vacuum left when you cross those boundaries will leave you feeling a bit raw.” “How many broken boy toys have you fixed?” He asked her suspiciously. “One and one eighth,” she replied with a smile. “The first one was also very f-ked up when I started.” “Extremely f-ked up,” Shadow agreed. “So, I am boy toy number two?” Raven clarified. “It is not something a Domme undertakes lightly,” she told him. “It would be irresponsible to start someone down this path, and then abandon him or her
Shadow was right. As he had followed up the cases from the missed calls, Raven’s mind began to dwell on everything from the night before and pull it apart, turn it around, make it sordid. “I am not a f-king girl,” he told himself sternly. “I am not being taken advantage of by some f-ked up high school golden boys. I am making decisions as a consenting adult, doing nothing illegal, and have nothing to be ashamed of.” He did not listen to himself, and by the time Shadow called to say that band practise was done, Raven had worked himself into a dark place. He would f-king take them to Vice and Victor’s, he decided, and then he was out and done. He had gone too far down that f-king rabbit hole, he needed to get out now, before he started f-king rabbits or blowing smoke rings with stoned caterpillars. Vice and Victor were his best friends, but f-k, this was going too far for the sakes of friendship. He needed to do this one last thing, tell them he was done, and then find a pretty, whol
Vixen stacked her boxes against the wall in the new apartment. Office. Apartment. Whatever. She was relatively sure that Thomas did not know about this building, as his sexuality had been Gregory’s closely held secret. She knew that Gregory had made Andrew make the purchase disappear off the books. The accountant had been very helpful from his sandy, sunny, retirement.And that was all that mattered. That she and her boy toys would be safe.“Alright?” Shadow paused by her, carrying a box. He had taken off his shirt, pushing it into his waistband, and his face was sweaty, his arms and chest dirty as the dust from the boxes mixed with his sweat, leaving behind streaks.She smiled at him with false brightness. “Fine.”He was still worried about her.She had made choices that she did not regret, but they had come with a cost, and she had paid it. Broken boy toys, she thought, and a broken Domme. But she was a Fixer, and she would f-king fix herself, along with her boys.She saw the number
Raven opened his laptop on his normal Friday morning table after checking that its surface had been wiped free of spills and crumbs. He was glad of the quiet moment - it had been a chaotic week of packing up Vixen’s apartment. They had hired a moving truck and moved the furniture out themselves, a b-tch of a job, but they had not wanted any trail that someone could follow to the office building, so had decided that it was better not to hire removalists and keep the move off record.They had also hired an architect to begin putting together plans for the band’s apartments in the building, and the smaller ones that they would lease out to others. There were eighteen floors, plus the basement level in which the sex club was located, so the building would eventually be a good income for them, though, from what Gregory had left Vixen, they probably wouldn’t need it.It had been fun and interesting to explore the building and basement with Vixen and Shadow, to spend an evening drinking cham
The approach to Gregory’s house was blocked off, and the news reporters had been pushed back to a point beyond view of the house, where the trees were set back from the road, leaving a gravel edge convenient for parking. Shadow had to park far back from the blockade, behind rows of news vans, support vehicles, a couple of ambulances on standby, and the cars of curious passers-by, and they worked their way through news crews and thrill seekers alike as they made their way to the police-guarded rope.“Anything?” Raven asked Shadow who had his phone to his ear, redialling Vixen’s phone for the one hundredth time since the news story. He rose onto his tip toes, craning his neck, searching through the crowds of police and SWAT officers behind the barricade, looking for Vixen. “What colour was her hair today?”“Rings out,” Shadow shook his head. His face was pale. “I can’t remember man,” he added. “Blonde, I think. Though my mind has totally shut down, and maybe that was yesterday? Blonde,
Vixen touched her brow as she drove between the rows of police cars and black SWAT vehicles to the gates. “No need to stand to attention, fellows,” she murmured under her breath. There was a flurry of activity around her. Speed was of the essence, she knew. There was always the risk that one of Thomas’ associates would drive up the road and spot them. All it would take was one phone call at the wrong time.“All good Tempie?” Claudia said in her ear.“Just admiring the view,” Tempie replied. “Lots of beef on the side of the road today, makes a girl a bit hungry, you know?”Claudia chuckled. “Keep that spirit up, Tempie. Not long now, hey? And then this will be done.”Tempie wound down the window at the gate and pressed the intercom button, smiling for the cameras, as if a man in camouflage was not crawling along the side of her car. The gates opened, and she eased her way forward, hoping that there were no limbs or other body parts in her way and bracing for a bump and a scream.In the
“Look, Tempie,” he gripped her shoulders, pulling her until she had no choice but to look at him, using his strength against her for the first time, but trying to be gentle about it. “I’ve got police contacts, and some big shit is about to go down. I don’t want you there when it happens. I care about you and Shadow. I don’t want to see you both mixed up in this.”“Gregory’s dying,” she replied calmly. “I’m not leaving him to die alone, Raven, with just employees around him.”“Tempie,” he pleaded, lowing his head until his forehead rested against hers. “Listen to me for once. Please. Don’t go.”“Raven, I need to get dressed,” she shrugged his hold off, and her disregard enraged him. He had tried asking nicely, he thought, he would have to insist.“For f-k sakes,” he growled. “I’ll chain you to that f-king bed if I have to Tempie. You are not going.” He caught her back up. “It’s too dangerous. You. Are. Not. Going. That’s it. Final.”“Raven!” She pulled away from him sharply and pulled
Midday Friday, Raven was stalking a surveillance target when his phone rang. He glanced at the display. Vice. “Hey,” he said putting the phone onto speaker so he could take photos if the target came into sight.“Raven, sweet boy.” It was Nicola, Vice’s mum. Raven checked the read out on the phone. Definitely Vice’s number.“Nicola,” he said warmly. “Have you stolen Vice’s phone?”“No, I am looking after it for him,” she replied. “Something has happened Raven. I am guessing that you have not been listening or watching the news.”“No,” Raven felt a cold fist close around his heart. He put the camera down and picked the phone up, taking it off of speaker. “What happened, Nicola? Are Vice and Victor okay?”“They are fine,” she assured him. “But we are at the hospital. Miranda was shot this morning.”“Holy f-k.” Raven was shocked. “Is she okay?”“She lost a lot of blood, but she is a strong girl. It was a shoulder wound. Some man from her recording label who has been causing her grief. He
“Alright,” Vixen told herself as the gates to Gregory’s house opened to admit her. “It is easy.”“We will be here with you,” Detective Callahan said in her ear. Vixen adjusted her hair to cover the earpiece. It was skin coloured and barely noticeable, but if she were caught with it, it would not only give away the entire plan, but also her part in it.“That is nice, but we both know there is nothing you can do if I get busted. Not without giving away twelve months of investigation, right? So, you are not going to come riding to my rescue if I get into trouble.”“Have you changed your mind?” Claudia sounded strained.“No,” Vixen eased the Ferrari into the parking spots. “No. This will make Miranda safe, and you promised to leave Gregory alone, so no, I have to do this.” She drew in a deep breath and fixed her lipstick, before picking up her handbag, and opening the car door.She adjusted the mask on her face, and flicked her hair over her shoulders, before strolling up to the front doo
Kissing Shadow was no different to kissing a woman, at least the mouth part, Raven thought. Sure, there was a slight prickle of stubble where there was not normally, but Shadow’s lips were soft, and his mouth hot, his tongue against Raven’s was no different.But Raven was used to being the taller partner, to leaning over someone, being the one to lean back in order to kiss was new. To grip a man’s hips and tug him closer was new too. To feel Shadow’s hard on against him, different.Shadow could kiss as well as he gave head. His hands cupped Raven’s face, the big palms warm against his skin, and he sucked on Raven’s tongue in a way that made desire curl up from the soles of Raven’s feet into his groin and his heart pound faster against his ribs.It was like being bound to Vixen’s bed, the balance of power had shifted in the experience, and Raven’s responsibility diminished. Shadow might be a sub, but his experience and size made him dominant between them.Shadow eased the kiss, brushin
In the morning, Vixen left the two boys curled up in bed. Raven’s eyes opened briefly as she left the shower, before he closed them again. Shadow wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him closer, and snuggled into Raven’s dark hair.“Aww,” she leaned over to deliver them kisses, breathing in the warm scent of their skin. “Snuggly boys.”“Don’t go,” Raven tried to pull her back into bed, but she laughed and eased away with lingering kisses.“I must, my pet.”Raven heaved a sigh. “It’s not even eight.”“Do you have to work today?” She wondered as she sat on the edge of the bed to lace up her boots.“Should do,” he muttered, lured to the edge of sleep by Shadow’s hot body against his. “Have a surveillance job that gets active around ten.”“Should I set you an alarm?” She offered.He groaned pressing his face into the pillow. She took that as a yes and programmed the smart device on the bedside to wake him at nine thirty.She paused in the doorway in order to look at them with a feelin