Figure Eight (Celtic Knot Book 2) (18 page)

Tucking my gun back into the waistband of my pants after returning the safety back in place, I took a few slower, quiet steps toward her.

“Come for a lesson?” I asked into the silence of the room. Ashley jumped to her feet to turn around and face me as our eyes collided through the black inkiness of the room. Her green pools of light hit my brown ones for a moment, and the whole room seemed to light up even though it stayed dark. Those eyes of hers were always my undoing: even from the first moment that I saw her, she had captivated me with just one look. She had reduced my dominant nature to nothing. I had never wanted to give up my control as badly as I did with her. I’ve always seen myself as a strong person, but with her, I was fragile-weak. She was my center and I was falling closer and closer into her gravity.

She stared at me with her piercing orbs that reflected a reminder of our lost future, how our short time together had come to an abrupt end. Even now, knowing what she did to me, I still felt like I was being sucked into the innermost part of her soul just from one gaze. Only this time, I would pull back from letting go, not letting down my guard to allow her to slip back in again.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked her as I approached closer, stalking her like a vulture zeroing in on his prey. Never allowing my eyes to leave hers for fear they would scan every inch of her fucking delectable body, I focused right into her eyes. There was an ice in my stare, a coldness brought forth by the frigidness she had laid upon my heart. Only fear was that she held a pick in her hands to chip away at the crystalline solid block that had glazed over my once beating heart.

“I-I was-uh…” she stuttered nervously as her eyes darted away from mine to look at anywhere but me.

“Save it. I don’t need to hear any more of your fucking lies, Ashley. The truth. I want the truth,” I bit out as frustration forged through my body. Ashley held her hands together in front of her ringing them, no doubt trying to come up with some sort of explanation as to why she had broken into my club.

“Maybe I should call the police. Breaking and entering is a felony offense. You sent me to jail for something that wasn’t even true, wrecking the life I had built for myself. And not only that, you involved my best friend and
your
best friend’s boyfriend. So tell me, Ashley, what was in it for you? If you are looking for more money, you won’t find it here.”

I was standing directly in front of her now, so close that I could feel the warmth of her breath as it blew past my skin. I struggled to keep from reaching out and pulling her into my arms. I felt like I needed the comfort of her skin next to mine, just as badly as she looked like she needed it.

Pure fright filled her eyes and face as I told her about calling the police. They always say revenge is the best medicine. Would I feel better if I had her arrested for breaking and entering?

“No, Dominic, please don’t…” she begged as she shook her head rapidly from side to side. She took a few steps backward away from me and her foot got caught on one of the legs of a chair that was close to the stage causing her to stumble backward. Without thinking, I reached out for her, but to my surprise missed as she fell backwards on her ass on the stage. I walked over to stand above her, looming over top of her, as she looked up at me panic-stricken.

I don’t know what it was about the position we were both in that made the dominant, authoritative side of me come out, but heat crept into my body as I felt it respond to her cowering below me. My dick sprang to life, remembering how good it felt to be buried inside of her. The urge was too strong, overpowering and it was as if a demon had been conjured into my soul, seeking only what she could provide.

“Dominic, please...please...I will do anything. I’m sorry...I can’t...I have no explanation to give you.”

My body trembled. The look on Dominic’s face was unlike anything I had ever seen before. He had always screamed dominance, and commanding authority, but this was different. It was almost as if he was here physically, but someone else was in his place. I didn’t want to go to jail, although with the hell I had put my friends and him through, I deserved it.

“You shouldn’t have said that,” he said in a deep baritone voice that rumbled through to my bones. Even in the darkness of the club, I could see the feral look in his eyes. The silence of our surroundings had every nerve ending in my body on high alert, and I was terrified, exhausted, and completely turned on by the man towering above me. It was the same feeling that I had that first night in this club when he pulled me on stage for the nightly lesson. The expression on his face now, nearly matched the one I received that night, only this one was more fierce and predatory.

He leaned in, placing one hand on either side of me until his face was mere millimeters from mine. My tongue darted out to wet my dry lips as I tried to steady myself on my forearms that were pressed into the cold hard wood of the stage. My elbows dug into the varnished timber, sending pain coursing through my arms from the tension of my position.

“You’ll do anything?” he whispered just on the outside of my right cheek. His breath tickled the fine hairs on my face producing goose bumps on the surface of my flesh. A shiver ran down my spine as the surface of my skin was chilled, but the inside of me was ablaze with fire from his close proximity. I wanted so desperately to reach out to him-to pull him into me seeking the comfort that my body needed.

His eyes zeroed in toward my neck. Lifting one hand, he brought it up to the top of my chest and grasped the one item that had been my small bit of comfort throughout this whole situation.

“Still wishing you were a participant, Ashley? You have a dominant nature about you I will give you that. But when you are with me, you give in to it. Why is that? Did you come here tonight looking to continue your lessons? Funny, how I am the Master here tonight, isn’t it?” he said fingering the necklace on my neck.

“The Triquetra. It means many different things. I chose this symbol to represent The Celtic Knot because this club can mean so many different things to the members. To me, it is life, death, and rebirth. I had life before my mother was murdered, then a piece of me died with her that day. The Celtic Knot was my rebirth. My escape from the reality that is life into one I could create on my own. That is how it changed to creation, preservation. Then you came along and added destruction. How did you manage to creep in when no one else had been able to?”

I didn’t know what to say. I needed to keep him distracted, so that he didn’t find out why I had, in fact, came to the club tonight, so I simply didn’t say anything. He gave me a small, side of his mouth corner smirk.

“Good girl. You seem to remember your training by not speaking without permission. I’ll make a deal with you, Ashley. Tonight, we continue with your sub training. I am going to push you to your brink, test your limits, and take you further than you have ever been before.
If
you can make it through the lesson, I will let you go. If you safe word, I call the police. Do you remember what the safe word is? You may answer.”

“Sw-Switzerland,” I said in a meek, broken voice. If I said I wasn’t frightened, I would be lying, but it was that fear that also had me turned on far more than I ever had been before. My body craved this man’s touch. Just one fingertip brush of his skin against mine set my body to flames, heating me from the inside out.

One fingertip lifted to my chin and he forced my gaze up to his. My breath was now coming in short, nervous pants. My chest brushed against his as it rose and fell with each inhale and exhale causing my nipples to make the briefest contact. My head spun with dizziness, much like it had earlier with my encounter with Asher, but this time was caused by fear, want, and anticipation for what he was going to do to me. I had seen the dominant side of Dominic many times before, but this time it was different. It was almost carnal, savage—untamable even.

“Go to the center of the stage. Stand with your feet apart and your arms behind your back with your head bowed. You remember don’t you?” He pressed away from me and disappeared into the darkness, leaving me sitting alone on the stage. My heart pounded so forcefully in my chest, it filled the deafening silence of the club and I feared it would fly from my chest.

“Now, Ashley! I will not ask again. I will be unrelenting in your punishment tonight if you do not obey me. My patience is thin and nothing would please me more than to leave the print of my hand across your ass,” he said from out of the darkness. The coarseness in his voice caressed my body in an indefatigable way. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of a punishment that I knew was just simmering under the surface of his need, I hastily made my way up onto the stage stumbling up the stairs on my path. I couldn’t see much of anything in the darkness, but I could hear every move that he made just barely above the noise of the thunderous hammering of my pulsating heart; the rhythm of each beat matching the vibrating throb in my aching clit. I was terrified and turned on at the same time, and only Dominic was the man who could bring out those feelings in me.

Suddenly a high-pitched squeaking sound trembled through the noiseless environment. As the noise got closer and echoed with the sound of footsteps, my body began to tremble with anxiety and heightened suspense. I tried to suppress a shiver as the object and Dominic both stopped directly behind me. I felt the warmth of his breath trickle past the tiny hairs on my neck from his close proximity. The barest brush of his chest made contact with my shoulder blades as he stood behind me just breathing me in. I had no choice but to stand there in the position he commanded me because I wanted to get out of this situation without being thrown in jail, I had to obey his every demand. I
wanted
to obey his every demand.

Suddenly, cold air brushed past me as I felt his presence behind me disappear. White, blinding light shined upon me as the lights on the stage came to life bathing me in their presence. My eyes squinted as they tried to adjust to the forceful intrusion of illumination. I kept my eyes to the floor and my arms behind my back not moving, unwavering.

“Lie down on the table face down, Ashley,” Dominic’s voice mandated from the side of the stage. I turned around to find a padded table fitted with restraints behind me. Looking down, I saw that it was on wheels and that it was the object that made the squealing noise when Dominic rolled it behind me.

I kept my head bowed, not daring to look at him. When I had first met Dominic that was one thing that seemed I was never allowed to do, but now, I was doing it out of fear of what I would find in his eyes. I took a tentative step toward the table, but only made it an inch before his voice barked another command.

“Undress first.”

I paused. I had a generalized idea of what he wanted to do to me when I agreed to go along with his ultimatum, but I was still apprehensive about the unknown, yet completely turned on. My momentary pause must not have pleased Dominic because he approached me in a split second. My ball cap was torn from my head, allowing my golden hair that I had tucked in a ponytail through the opening in the back to spill down my back. Dominic gripped the ends and I felt him wrap the silky strands around his hand before he tugged it back, forcing my head to fall backward and my chin to lift to the ceiling.

“You hesitated. That displeases me,” he said as his mouth descended upon my neck, taking a small, only slightly painful, bite into my flesh. The effect sent heat racing down my belly and straight to my clit, making it ache with violent and despairing need. Dominic’s arms snaked around my middle and I sighed backward into him trying to enjoy what I thought was a gentle embrace. I was surprised however, when he grabbed the hem of my black V-neck shirt and ripped it with his hands from the bottom all the way up before removing the rest of the fabric from my shoulders, caressing the skin of my arms with his fingertips with excruciating leisure.

When the fabric was able to finally escape the presence of my skin, Dominic’s hands slid up my back to round the tops of my shoulders. The calluses on his palms etched a pathway of pleasure along the way. Before I knew it, he shoved my shoulders downward, forcing my arms to brace against the table in front of me. The coolness of the leather padding on the table made me gasp as it came into contact with my belly.

“I think you need a reminder of who holds the control, Ashley. I can reach for the phone in my pocket right now and end all of this. One phone call to the cops and your hot little ass would be sitting in jail in a matter of minutes. Or you can take this punishment I am about to give you for your hesitation. Your choice. Speak,” Dominic asserted and he trailed a finger down my spine, sending tiny sparks of awareness of how wound up I was, vertebra by vertebra. He stopped when his finger reached the top of my black pants, waiting for my answer.