Fallen Ever After (5 page)

Chapter 3

When the elevator doors opened to the second level I gave a cursory glance to the hedonistic world filled with open sexuality sprawling around us. The first time I’d come here with Arie I was shocked. Undeniably turned on, but still shocked.

After all, it wasn’t every day that you walked into a room to see someone suspended by cellophane, and vampires feeding out in the open. Then again, they could do that since the upper levels of HFC could only be accessed with key cards. Only members of the club or Tessa’s employees were given key cards. Although that slowed Katarina down on the night of the gala, I’d been stupid enough to fall into her trap.

So much has happened since then.

I wouldn’t make the mistake of being lured now, and I knew better than to have a false sense of security just because I was a vampire. Plenty of them were a lot older and stronger than me. As I looked over the scene laid out in front of me the smallest of impressions and details that I would have never noticed as a human made my head hurt. The mix of patrons—covered in masks, latex, and leather, carrying their whips and chains, barely made me bat an eye. Yet this place had released a desire in me. I’d been more than just curious. I’d read enough of the BDSM romances that I stashed in my nightstand to know what it was about.

Perhaps that’s why I didn’t turn away when I was thrown into his world without much warning. Maybe the adrenaline from my life being in danger gave me the courage I needed to meet Arie’s world with questions rather than fear. Maybe having the Sight and experiencing the horrific range of things that humans were capable of made Arie’s admission to me about being a vampire not seem so terribly shocking. Humans were fucked up. Undoubtedly. All you had to do was watch the History Channel or read the paper to know that humanity was severely lacking. Honestly, I didn’t know which was scarier—vampires or the five o’clock news.

“Remember the first time you brought me here?” I asked.

A corner of Arie’s mouth twitched. “I had to remind you to close your mouth and you damn near fell off your barstool.”

I laughed. “You have to admit, it was a lot to take in.”

I nodded in the direction of a human carrying a medical bag filled with blood. He strolled without so much as a sideways glance past a woman wearing a collar giving a blowjob to a man who sat sipping a drink. This place wasn’t about the kink, although that drew our clients—its design as a feeding ground for vampires was its real purpose.

“I suppose you have a point,” Arie said with a grin. “Come on. Let’s grab a table.”

It took me a minute to find my brain as I followed him across the club. Walking behind him gave me a prime view of his perfect ass. We grabbed a highboy table over by the balcony that overlooked the Goth clubbers dancing below. My gaze lingered on Jess. She seemed content and unaware that there were better possibilities and more suitable partners she could be with, but I imagined she’d never been with anyone substantial. Guys like that were probably all she ever knew. Then again, I had Arie, and it was hard to measure up to someone like him.

I sighed with pure female appreciation at having such a prime male specimen sitting across from me. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the woman giving a blowjob. My pulse quickened. It surprised me that I still had one. I looked back at Arie, who was watching
Defiance
play to the crowd down below, his dark hair curling over the collar of his leather jacket. The ear-piercing shrieks and bone-rattling bass line weren’t nearly as interesting as his cool gray eyes, which reminded me of the shifting water of Lake Michigan. He watched the band below while I watched him. I imagined bobbing up and down on his lap like the woman giving head across the club.

Arie looked up. “What?”

“I was just questioning my decision to meet up with everyone to get us out of the loft and do something other than fucking.”

Arie shrugged. “Hey, this was your idea.”

“This place is killing me. You’re killing me.”

“Me? I didn’t do anything.”

“You don’t have to—you’re breathing. That’s enough. And the sideshow over there doesn’t help matters.” I gestured toward the blonde woman bobbing up and down. “I feel like a bit of a pervert watching them, but I can’t help it when it’s right in front of me.”

Arie laughed. “Mmm, my little voyeuristic pervert—there’s hope for you yet.”

“Hope for what? That I’ll tear your clothes off before we even order drinks?” I asked with a grin.

“Well I don’t think anyone would mind if we lost a few clothes. We can do whatever we want.” His voice turned serious.

Shit.

Suddenly I felt flushed, overheated. I knew from his suggestive tone and the look in his eyes that he meant it. But I wasn’t sure how I felt about doing whatever he had in mind. Did I want him to take me right here, right now, in public? It was too humiliating to think about. But if it was so embarrassing then why did my nipples tighten just thinking about it? I swallowed. I didn’t know how to answer him.

And I couldn’t help but want him even after I’d just had him back at the loft. Our relationship was so new, and our crazy chemistry couldn’t possibly last, but I didn’t think I would ever get tired of Arie. It wasn’t just our indisputable attraction; we shared an emotional connection that went beyond sex. Don’t get me wrong, the sex was great, but Arie was complicated, tender, and the fact that he made my toes curl was just a titillating bonus. Even without a mirror, I knew that my cheeks were beet red.

“What, here? Now?”

He laughed, grabbing my hand across the table. “We’ll grab a drink, assure everyone that you’re unalive and well, and then we’ll get out of here and do that again.” Arie nodded to a vampire cuffed to a steel chair with a woman riding his cock.
Dinner and entertainment.
“Except you’ll be the one in cuffs.”

My mouth went dry. He grabbed my hand, encircling and rubbing his thumb over my inner wrist. The adrenaline rush from feeding ratcheted my desire to feel cold hard metal around my wrists as Arie mimicked with his strong grip. I loved when he was in control. It was freakin’ sexy as hell, and it made my pussy clench.

“Well, if you think you can go another round,” I said.

“Do you doubt me?”

Oh, no.
I shouldn’t have teased him. Determination reflected in his eyes. What to say?

“Your stamina is unreal. You’re like a machine.”

“Only with you. Are you certain that you can handle waiting until we get home?”

His thumb continued to trace circles on my wrist. With the way he kept looking at me, the only thing I was sure of was that I needed to feel him inside of me. I looked again at the woman riding the vampire cuffed to the chair; her hands were planted firmly on his shoulders for balance.

My clit throbbed as I imagined Arie’s well-defined pectorals pressed against my breasts. It felt hot, despite the winter air that the refurbished warehouse did little to keep out. Would anyone stop to watch us? Would they even care? Inexplicably the thought of being watched as Arie took me made my skin prickle. I wanted to know what it would feel like, but didn’t know if I had the guts to go through with it. He’d taken me in Tessa’s dungeon upstairs, but we’d never done anything out in the open.

I reached under the table and ran my hand up Arie’s thigh, cupping him through the taut denim. “I don’t know, Arie. I want to but I don’t. Take me home?”

Arie stared at me like he might take me right there. “You’re awfully bold, taunting me under the table. I don’t want to wait. I want to feel you wrapped around me now. Right now.”

I looked down at the table and pulled away from him but he grabbed my hand, wrapping it around his hard-on. Our eyes met, and I knew that I’d be sucked into whatever he had planned regardless of my conflicted feelings making me hot and anxious at the same time.

“Arie...”

His chest rose with his intake of breath as he urged me to squeeze his cock through his pants. He swelled beneath my grip. “You will do exactly as I say.”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Come with me.”

Arie stood and grabbed my hand, leading me to the other side of the room, where there was a stage with a spiral staircase to one side and a floor-to-ceiling pole on the other. A few feet from the pole stood a large wooden chest. It reminded me of the cedar chests where linens are usually stored, but somehow I didn’t think it contained anything so mundane. Beside it sat a black leather chair.

My thoughts raced like my pulse and I recalled Tessa walking down that staircase and whipping a man. He led me toward the chest, and we stood in front of the metal pole. “Take your shirt off.”

My fingers shook as I began to unbutton the front of my shirt. His eyes never left mine. I took my shirt off and Arie took it from me, draping it over the chair. I looked around the club, but no one seemed to be paying attention to us.

“Lose the bra.”

I gasped, but unhooked it just the same. He took it from me and it joined my shirt. “Beautiful.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a few people watching us now that I was topless and it looked like Arie was starting a scene with me. No one made any move to stop us, but then I never expected them to. But they didn’t move closer, and for some reason that helped. My nipples pebbled from the cool air of the club. Arie cupped one of my breasts, brushing his thumb over the hardened peak.

“Breathe,” Arie said.

I looked down through my lashes and tried to focus on my breathing. In and out.
Steady girl. You can do this.
I focused on my feet and not the people who watched. In and out.

“Good. Even though you don’t need to, it helps if you breathe,” Arie said. “Take your shoes off. Pants too, and your underwear.”

I worried my bottom lip and kicked off my shoes. Then I unzipped my cargo pants and slid them down my legs. I did the same with my underwear, and concentrated only on what I was doing, not the growing audience. It was easier that way. Arie picked up my discarded clothing and placed them on the chair. Naked in front of everyone, I felt both vulnerable and turned on at the same time. The adrenaline from feeding on the maggot dancing with his girlfriend down below still rushed through my veins. It gave me the push I needed to follow Arie’s directives without analyzing what I was doing or what he was about to do to me.

“Stand with your back against the pole. The support will help.”

Even though I did what he told me, I wondered what he had planned. My skin tingled and a chill ran down the length of my spine as the cool metal supported my back.

“Now spread your legs and clasp your hands around the bar behind your back.” His voice was thick with desire. This was what he loved, what turned him on, and I wanted to give it to him. Surrender to him. I’d been born for this—born for him. It gave me pleasure to surrender to him and only to him.

Arie walked over to the trunk and he pulled out a spreader bar with cuffs on each end. He bent and attached a cuff to each of my ankles. Then he returned to the chest and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Arie walked behind the bar. The cool steel sent goose bumps along my skin as it encircled each of my wrists. As I looked to my left there, I saw a woman sitting on a vampire’s lap. The vampire fondled her naked breasts as they both watched Arie cuff me to the pole. My clit throbbed between my legs where the cool air caressed my exposed pussy. I couldn’t clamp my thighs together or even move without Arie assisting me.

“How do you feel?”

“I’m okay, sir.” I responded automatically, knowing he expected that.

He cupped my breast again and ran his hand down my stomach, then between my legs. His eyes grew dark. “You’re wet.”

Arie plunged two fingers into my channel. I moaned at the unexpected penetration. The woman on the vampire’s lap, was riding him backwards while he cupped both her breasts. Her wavy blonde hair flew through the air as she jerked her body up and down the length of his cock. As I watched her hips move, the pressure continued to build from Arie thrusting his fingers in and out of my pussy. Without warning he stopped, shoving his fingers into my mouth.

“Suck.”

I sucked my juices from his fingers. He pulled his fingers from my mouth and grabbed the back of my head, plunging his tongue inside, teeth clashing as he dove in for a kiss. When he pulled away I was a little breathless, which I thought was strange considering that vampires don’t need oxygen the way that humans do.

Arie walked back over to the chest. He pulled out nipple clamps and ripped open the packaging on a vibrator. It was bigger than the one he kept in the bedside table at our loft, but I was so wet that I didn’t think it would matter. I couldn’t remember ever being so turned on. It was hotter than our scavenger hunt. The hum of the vibrator buzzed through the air when he turned it on, causing my heart to pound in anticipation. All my doubts from earlier faded with the buzzing of the vibrator. I gasped at the twinge in my nipples as Arie attached the clamps.

Arie’s eyes met mine. “Don’t come. Not until I tell you to.”

“Sir?”

Arie raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“If you’re going to use that on me I don’t think I’m going to last very long.” I nodded toward the vibrator.