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I stood up, towering over her.

“
I
know what is best for you and your safety. And
I
am telling you what is going to happen. Don’t fight me on this.”

She blinked.

“No. I can’t just blindly accept that Joss. I’m sorry.”

“Dammit Trista- you’re mine now. I need to be able to protect you!”

“I am not a child!”

“No. But you might be carrying one.”

Her jaw dropped.

“Is that what this is about?”

I exhaled, the tension breaking.

“No. Well, it’s part of it. But I wanted you out of the spotlight from the moment I realized I wasn’t going to be able to-“

“Able to what?”

“Stay away from you.”

“So because you wanted to fuck me, or decided I belonged to you or whatever- you get to tell me what to do with my career?”

“You can still have a career! It’s just too dangerous what they are doing to you!”

I exhaled, reaching for her.

“Don’t you know that you could be so much more than just a sex symbol?”

“Is that what you think I am?”

I stepped forward, staring directly into her eyes.

“That’s what I know you are.”

Trista

I stared at the big, thick headed man in front of me, struggling with my rampaging emotions. I was feeling something I never felt before. It wasn’t just the overwhelming love I was feeling for him. Or lust.

I had a feeling I had just grown a backbone.

“What
exactly
do you want from me Joss?”

“I want more
for
you. You deserve better than this.”

I looked away from him, turning away. He was distracting me with his beautiful, buck naked body. I needed to focus.

He slid his arms around me from behind.

“I want you to be mine. Permanently. I want you to have my baby.”

I shook him off, facing him again.

“Joss. I will do that, eventually. Gladly. But not now.”

He lifted me up and pressed me against the wall. His lips were on my throat as his hands wandered all over me. I moaned as his husky voice whispered in my ear.

“Yes, now.”

I pushed against him.

“No Joss. I need to think about this. I’m not just a- walking baby maker!”

He looked adorably confused as he stared at me. He was still completely nude, his cock pointing right at me. I licked my lips. He was hard again.

I inhaled, trying to stay focused.

“I didn’t say that you were.”

“Yeah, well, you
didn’t
say a lot of things.”

We both knew what I was talking about. He’d made me say it again and again. That I wanted him. That I belonged to him.

That I loved him.
 

But he hadn’t said it back.

His jaw clench as he stared at me. He cursed and stepped away, leaving me leaning against the wall.

“I need time Trista. This is- new for me.”

I nodded.

“I need time too. I think… I want to be alone tonight. I have a big show tomorrow.”

He stared at me, his jaw clenching furiously, then he grabbed his clothes and left the room. I didn’t follow, no matter how much I wanted to. A few minutes later I heard the front door of the suite close behind him.

I slid to the floor and wrapped my arms around myself. I stayed there for a long time, tears running down my face. It was hours later when I got up and crawled into bed, pulling a pillow against my chest.

I inhaled the clean, manly scent of him. It surrounded me, wafting from the shirt I wore, the pillow, the blankets.

He was everywhere. Even inside me.

What was I going to do?

I stared at the ceiling until dawn.

When I woke up, my eyes were dry.

Chapter Eighteen

Joss

I couldn’t believe this was happening. She was ignoring me. After everything that had happened between us, Trista was flat out ignoring me.

It had been almost 24 hours now. I felt like I was going to go out of my mind if she didn’t talk to me. Kiss me.

Tell me she still loved me.

I ran my hands through my hair, hating this feeling. I felt like a bad little boy told to sit in the corner while I stood outside her dressing room backstage at the arena. I paced back and forth, waiting for her to come out. To open the door. To actually speak to me.

She had to come around dammit.

I was right. I knew what was best for her. I would protect her.

Why couldn’t she see that?

The venue talent manager approached the door. I held up my hand signaling that he should wait. I knocked. Then I followed him inside.

I took one look at her and my mind went blank.

Trista was wearing a costume I’d never seen before. I’d never imagined anything like that was possible. It was a glossy vinyl schoolgirl outfit. Or maybe it was latex.

Either way it looked like it was poured on.

She looked like an animated cartoon character.

One that was meant for sex.

Illicit, taboo, degrading and hot as hell sex.

Hot pink and white, the skirt barely covered her ass. She stood and I saw that it did
not
in fact cover her ass. Two glorious cheeks were barely exposed. Just enough to drive the audience wild with lust.

Her top wasn’t much better. A shiny pink and white bustier with fake suspenders pushed her perfect breasts up and out. A pink bow tie completed the look. Her high heel sneakers were hot pink and lit up with sparkling lights.

She looked like an illegally underage porn star.

On steroids.
 

I swallowed, trying to control my anger. I was torn between extreme lust and the urge to throw a burlap sack over her body. If there had been anything large enough near by, I think I would have wrapped her up in it and carried her out of there kicking and screaming.

As it was, I just stood there, blazing my disapproval at her with my eyes.

The manager told her that tech was prepped and gave her a ten minute warning. Then he left. I shut the door behind him.

“I need to talk to Trista. Alone.”

Shasta and Jenna glanced at Trista, who nodded regally. I narrowed my eyes, staring at her until they were out of the room. She ignored me, leaning forward to inspect her makeup in the mirror.
 

Giving me a good look at that spectacular ass of hers in the process.

“What the fuck are you wearing?”

She shrugged.

“The studio wanted it.” She glanced over her shoulder at me flirtatiously. “What’s the matter Joss, you don’t like it?”

“I think it’s sickening.”

She turned to stare at me.

“What did you say?”

“You heard me.”

She backed away as I walked over to her. I was furious. She was finally paying attention now. She looked nervous.

Good.

“You aren’t a little girl. And you aren’t a whore. I think it’s disgusting to dress you up like both at the same time.”

She smirked at me. She was really pushing it. Her hand slid down my chest to my hard on.

“It sure seems like you like it, Joss.”

I caught her hand and held it against me.

“I like
you.
It doesn’t have a fucking thing to do with what you are wearing. That just pisses me off.”

“Why?”

“Because you are too good for this. Do you have any idea what kind of fucked up message this sends?”

Her eyes searched mine. She wanted to hear the words. I was too pissed off to use them though.

She cracked a little, looking away.

“Maybe you are right. But I can’t do anything about it.”

“Yes, you fucking can. You’re the one who told me you are a woman now. Right?”

She nodded tearfully.

“
Whose
woman are you?”

She licked her lips nervously as I pulled her close to me.

“Joss- I have to go on stage in a minute-“

I reached down and ran my fingers up her thigh to her cleft. I stroked her through the latex fabric and she moaned.

“You’ve been teasing me since the moment we met, haven’t you? On purpose.”

She nodded, her head falling back as I toyed with her.

“Hmmm… Yes.”

“Well sweetheart, you should know…”

“Ahhh…Yes?”

I leaned in and whispered in her ear, letting my breath fan the sensitive skin of her neck.

“Two can play at that game.”

I lifted my fingers away and licked them clean while she watched, staring at my mouth hungrily. Then I slid them back down to her cleft. I slid my finger up and down the outline of her folds.

“So, whose woman are you?”

“Oh God!”

“Whose woman Trista?”

“Yours!”

I smiled grimly as I played with her.

“And this is the last time you will wear that outfit, or anything like it, isn’t it?”

“Yes!”

She started to shudder in my arms as she came. I held her up as she convulsed. Her forehead leaned against my chest as I kissed her hair.

“I’m glad we reached an agreement.”

She nodded against my chest, her silky hair tickling my chin.

“Are you ready to go on stage?”

She nodded weakly.

“Yes Joss.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

Trista

I took my position on the platform, grateful for the dark. With the low light safety lighting there was no way anyone could see the pink in my cheeks. By the time the lights came up, it would be too bright to notice that I looked like a woman who had just had an orgasm.

A really, really
big
orgasm. Standing up. Just from his fingers over my clothes.

I hoped so anyway.

I inhaled and exhaled slowly as the platform rose high above the stage. My dancers posed around me, crouched low for the first big reveal. I hoped they didn’t notice that my legs were shaking.

Joss had made me come just by touching me.

He was… very talented that way.

And the things he had made me say, well, I wanted to believe I would have fought harder if his hands hadn’t been working their magic. But that was a lie. I knew what he was saying made sense.

Most of it anyway.

He said I belonged to him, and I did. I wanted to anyway. Everything had happened so fast. I had fallen in love with him without even noticing.

I just didn’t know if he had fallen for me.

The lights went up and the sound from the crowd washed over me. They went wild as I started my routine. I sang my heart out, feeling every word with new meaning.

I understood love songs in a different way now. I sang for him. When I danced, I pretended he was watching.
 

I was doing it all for him.

Before the concert was even halfway over I knew this night was special. I’d never been better and the crowd knew it. They responded with the loudest cheers I’d ever got.

When the lights went down the audience went insane, screaming and chanting my name. I was grinning as I slid behind a panel to catch my breath. They wanted an encore, and they were about to get it.

I grabbed my mic, about to signal that I was ready to go back out.

That’s when I felt the hand clamp over my face. A soft cloth covered my mouth and nose. I was overwhelmed by a strong smell. It made me recoil instantly. But the arms around me were too strong. I couldn’t escape.

I heard a rough, unfamiliar voice murmur in my ear.

“Shhh… it’s alright. You’re with me now.”

And then blackness.

Chapter Nineteen

Joss

“Where the fuck is she?”

I strode through the backstage area, two security guys on my heels. They knew their asses were on the line. Trista shouldn’t have been able to sneak off with all those eyes on her.

Somehow though, she had.

If this was an act of defiance… if she was punishing me for what had happened earlier in her dressing room… there would be hell to pay. She was playing a dangerous little game. I cursed as I turned a corner, finding another empty stage exit.
 

The problem with the stupid set design is that there were too many places to hide. The dancers came and went from the stage through out the show, changing costumes and hairstyles. But Trista had remained on stage until the very end.

And she should still fucking be here now!

I’d watched the entire show instead of patrolling the area. If she’d been trying to prove to me that she could have any man alive, she’d done it. The seductive, emotional performance had made me feel like I was breaking into a million little pieces.

When she’d sung her ballad, it felt like those pieces were put back together.

If I hadn’t realized it before, I did now. She wasn’t just a sex object. The girl could
sing.

I’d been planning to tell her I loved her that night. I had to. I felt like the words were bursting out of me, watching her up there in the spotlight. She’d looked strong and vulnerable at the same time.

It was the real her. The woman I loved. With no pretense.

If she was that courageous, that brave, then I had to be too.

But now she was fucking around and I was getting angry. Furious. Of course, she didn’t know about her stalker. The sick fuck with the penchant for disguising fan mail.

But I did know.

And I should have fucking told her. That was my mistake. She’d proven to me that she was a woman. She had the right to know. I’d treated her like a child.

I was a hypocrite. I’d been wrong. And now I was paying the price for it.

As the minutes ticked by, I was started to get worried. More than worried.

I was petrified.

I stared at the panels that lined the back wall. Dancers could slip in and out of the stage that way. They were black and unobtrusive.

And the last place I hadn’t looked yet. My team had been back there but I’d been checking all the exits and coordinating the search with the venue staff. I ran to the back of the stage at full speed.

I raced from one panel to the next, using a flashlight to sweep the small enclosures. Halfway across the stage I found something that made my blood turn to ice.

Such a small thing.