His Absolute Betrayal - Elise's Love Story: The Billionaire's Continuum (#2) (A Contemporary Romance Novel) (10 page)

"It's unsafe," he said.  "Extremely unsafe.  I can't even begin to explain how unsafe it is."

"I don't care," I said.

"Why are you being so belligerent?" he asked.

"I'm always this way," I said.

He stared at me, trying to find a way to disagree, but he couldn't.

"Will you at least consider letting me help you hide it somewhere?  Of your choosing, I suppose, since you're decidedly more belligerent than usual.  Will that suffice?"

"I suppose so, yes," I said.  Just in case, I clutched the hard drive tight to my chest, keeping it close to me.

He rolled his eyes.  "I'm not going to steal it.  You know where I live."

"That's what you want me to think.  You probably have some hidden house somewhere that's your real house, and I don't even know about it."

Lucent scoffed.  "Hardly."

"Oh," I said.  "I was kind of hoping you did, because that'd be neat."

Both Sam and Lucent laughed at me.  I didn't know why, because it really would have been neat.

"Shall we go then?" Lucent asked me.

"Yes," I said.

I didn't know where we were going, though.  In hindsight, maybe I should have thought about asking...

We didn't go to Lucent's car.  We never went to get my purse.  We didn't even leave Sam's Delicatessen the way we came in.  Instead, we went around back towards the alley and the dumpsters.  It was kind of grimy and dark, definitely seedy and sort of corrupt?  I thought it probably looked like most other inner city alleys, but I also thought most other inner city alleys looked bad, so that didn't help much.

We walked away from Landseer Tower, down the alley towards a side street, then down that to the corner.  I thought we were going to keep walking, but Lucent stopped me and opened the door to a car instead.  Before I knew what was happening, he helped me in and then got in beside me, closing the door after him.  A man in the front of the car nodded, saying nothing, then pulled the car away from the sidewalk and started driving.

No one said anything.  Lucent didn't, and the man in the front didn't.  I didn't, because I didn't know what to say, and I wasn't entirely sure what was going on.  The man in front looked a little shady, too.  He reminded me of the type of person who would hang out in the type of alley Lucent and I had just come from.

So, any alley, really.  The whole situation was more than a little passing odd.

We drove through the streets, everyone quiet.  Halfway to our unknown destination, I realized maybe I should have asked where we were going.  It wasn't too late to do it now, but by the time I thought I should, we stopped.  Lucent reached into his pocket and handed the man some money, then opened the door to leave.  He offered me his hand and I stepped out, too.

Before closing the door, Lucent bent down and said, "Thank you, William.  I hope we didn't delay your exhibition work too much.  Good luck with the gallery."

William?  Gallery?  Exhibition?  Was that code for something?  Maybe like voyeurism and exhibitionism and all of that?  Something dark and bad and mysterious, perhaps.  Money laundering... yes, that must be it.  I didn't get it.  It made no sense.  Money laundering voyeurism?

Lucent closed the door and William drove away.

"What did that mean?" I asked.  "'Exhibition work' and 'the gallery?'  What kind of code is that?  Is that a—"  Someone passed us on the streets.  I hushed and stood on tiptoes to whisper directly into Lucent's ear.  "Is that a money laundering code words thing?"

Lucent stood there, brow furrowed, staring at me.  "Miss Tanner, it's an art gallery
thing
.  William runs the Hadria Art Gallery.  They're doing an exhibit today on contemporary art emulating the Rococo style from the early 18th century."

"Oh," I said.  "What, really?  He was an art director?"

"Yes, something like that.  More precisely, the curator."

"He looked a little shady," I said.

"He's anything but shady," Lucent said.

"That's what you say, but is he involved in your... your things?"

Lucent frowned.  "He might be somewhat shady, by that definition."

"See?  I knew it."  I looked around then, realizing I didn't know anything about where we were.  I didn't recognize any of this.  "Where are we, by the way?"

"Somewhere safe," Lucent said.  "Come."

He took my hand.  I went.  We walked down the street for a little, then turned and went up some steps into an older styled apartment building.  It looked nothing like mine, and definitely nothing like Lucent's.  It looked nice enough, though.  Most of the buildings on this block looked like that, built in a much older style, possibly from around the time the city was first established.  It almost reminded me of the library, except obviously this was an apartment building and had been for some time now.

Lucent opened the door for me and I stepped inside.  He entered after me.  The door closed behind us of its own accord, an easing spring mechanism shutting it gently.

We walked through a quiet lobby towards an elevator.  Lucent pressed the button to go up.  The doors opened soon after, and we stepped inside.  Lucent's hand hovered over the the buttons on the interior panel before hitting the button marking floor three.  Then, up we went.

All things considered, it was very normal and uneventful.  We arrived, stepped out, and walked down the hall to apartment #307.  Lucent knocked on the door.  He waited, and I waited with him.  Someone started to undo the bolts and locks from the inside, then the door swung open.

An attractive woman with dark hair and pale skin ushered us inside.  I didn't know how I felt about that.  I didn't want to be jealous, but how and why did Lucent know an attractive woman?  It was just an instinctive thought, a vague worry, except perhaps it turned out to be more.

Once the door shut behind us, the woman scrambled to her knees in front of Lucent.  She lowered her head, hiding her face with her black flowing hair.  She rested her hands on her thighs, complacent and submissive.  I recognized that pose, because it was one Lucent taught me about.  Maybe it wasn't exactly sexual, but in my mind it was.  It was related to BDSM, at least according to what Lucent said.

He seemed as taken aback by her gesture as I was, but he hid it well enough, returning to a wall of austerity after a fraction of a second of confused annoyance.

"Master Storme," the woman said.  "Welcome.  Thank you for trusting me with something this important," she added.  And then... "Sir."

Master Storme?  Submissive pose, kneeling before Lucent, hands on her thighs as if she were awaiting orders.  And, sir?

What the hell was going on?  I wanted to ask Lucent that, to demand he tell me, but my voice stuck in my throat, too shocked for words.

Lucent wasn't shocked, though.  Oh, no, not at all.  He treated this like some common occurrence.  Maybe not exactly like that, but he didn't seem too surprised.

"Come now, Elle," he said.  "We've been through this before.  Stand up."

She stood.  It seemed to me that she stood more because Lucent ordered her to as opposed to what she actually wanted to do, though.  She kept her eyes cast downwards, hair still hiding her features.

I stared at her, worried, unsure why I was worried.  She was pretty, yes.  More than pretty.  She was extremely attractive.  Possibly not like a supermodel or an actress, but I thought she probably turned more than her fair share of heads when she walked down the street.  She wore a casual dress, a darker brown color almost like a burlap sack, except much nicer and form fitting.  And she had a form to fit to it, too.  Soft curves sweeping up her body, feminine hips, nice breasts.  I had nice breasts, I thought.  If Lucent couldn't see I had nice breasts, then I thought he was blind.

Except, no, he did think I had nice breasts.  I didn't remember specifically what he said, but he liked them.  Why was I even doing this?  Comparing myself to this woman?  I didn't know.  I didn't like her.

Then I saw it.  Just a quick glimpse, but she wore a choker.  I didn't have mine on me at the moment, but my hand went to my neck in remembrance.  It was a gift Lucent gave to me months ago.  I loved it, too.  It was plain, crafted from leather, and fit tight around my neck.  On the inside of it, burned into the leather so that I could feel it whenever I moved my head and it pressed against my throat was the word
His
.

Lucent gave it to me.  I knew I wasn't a very good submissive most of the time, even though I did like it and I tried, but still.  He gave it to me because of that, because I was.  I was his, and he knew that.  It wasn't just that he'd given me the choker, but that I gave him myself, too.  I...

This woman had a choker that looked remarkably similar to mine.  Did she have a single word burned into the leather on the inside, pressing against the hollow of her throat, too?  Did it say the same thing as mine, or something else?

I stared at her harshly, refusing to accept or admit that maybe she did, maybe I wasn't the only one.

"Elle," Lucent said.  "This is Miss Tanner."

Elle cocked her head to the side.  "Mistress?"

Lucent sighed and shook his head, but if she saw it, she pretended to ignore him.

"Elle," he said.  "Enough.  How many times do I have to tell you?  That's over.  It's done with."

"What's over?" I snapped.  "What are you talking about?"

Before Lucent could say anything, Elle chimed in, giddy.  "I'm Master Storme's submissive," she said.

I fainted.  Or I wanted to.  I wish I could have.  Unfortunately I didn't.  Instead, I just got really really mad.  "What!" I shouted.  "What the hell, Lucent?  What's going on here?"

Elle shied away from me, returning to her knees.  This time she looked to me instead of Lucent.  "Sorry Mistress Tanner.  I—I—I thought you must have known.  Because Master Storme, of course he would tell you.  It's been a long time.  Oh.  Oh. 
Lucent
.  Sorry.  That's it.  Lucent.  I know you said things are over between us but I thought, I... this... I thought maybe..."

"Stop," Lucent said.  "Elle, stop.  No.  Elise, I can explain.  Please.  Elle was my submissive, but that was a long time ago.  We were never in a serious relationship.  It's not the same as—"

Not the same as what?  Was I supposed to care about that?  Oh, not the same, except she's got a choker just like the one Lucent gave me.  And so, oh, I really had to wonder if he just gave those to everyone?  Yes, perhaps Lucent said he and Elle weren't ever serious, but I didn't know why we were here if that was the case.  Even if they were serious, I still didn't know why we were here.  Maybe he didn't believe it, but he'd basically just brought me to his ex-girlfriend's place, hadn't he?

It really all boiled down to: Why were we here?

I couldn't think of a single good reason.  Not one.

And, so, I slapped him.  Hard.  My palm hit his cheek, echoing through the foyer of the apartment building.  I didn't say anything to him, I just seethed.  I didn't want to slap the pretty little tramp on the floor, because she hadn't really done much except be a pretty little tramp.  That was crime enough in my mind, though.  Crime enough not to be nice to her, at least.

I stomped past her, pushing her to the side with my body.  She scrambled away, whimpering.

Good.  I didn't even know if she was actually whimpering.  I thought she was faking it.  Yes, well, it was just a game, now wasn't it?  How much of a game?  What sorts of games did Lucent like to play with her?

I knew.  I probably knew all of them, because he must have played them with me, too.

I wanted to love him.  I wanted to just ignore all of this and leave.  I did leave.  I left them.  While they stood in the front hallway of Elle's apartment, watching me walk away, I stomped through the house, my heels clicking on the tiled floor, looking for somewhere else to go.  Anywhere else.  I needed to think.  I needed time.  I should have gone the other way.  I should have left the way I came in, but I didn't think about it until I'd walked away.  I needed to get away more than anything.

I didn't know what I needed.

I needed Lucent.

I didn't know how I could have him, though.  I didn't know why he kept hurting me like this.  What did I do wrong?

This apartment was completely foreign to me in more ways than one.  The decorations were strange, first off.  Parts of it looked very domineering and cold, while other parts looked nice and warm.  Nothing to do with the actual temperature, no, but...

I found dark, Gothic-style paintings hanging up in the hallway of one room, with curtains on the walls to accentuate the style.  Then I passed by the kitchen, which looked cozy and familiar.  One hallway led to a giant dining room, which had another hallway leading away from it.  Both hallways had doors to rooms scattered here and there along them, going to somewhere or other.  Some doors were closed, while others were cracked open slightly and darkened on the inside.  A few rooms had lights on, but they didn't look too out of the ordinary.

The layout confused me, though.  A hallway went to a room went to a hallway, to a room, and another hallway.  Not straight through, though, no.  They formed a circle of sorts; or probably more likely a square.  Which, I thought, begged the question of what was in the middle?  I decided to find out, because I didn't want to keep walking in circles.  I wanted to find somewhere to stop and stay and think and wait.  Perhaps to simmer, but I didn't really want to simmer.

I wanted to be happy.  Again.  With Lucent.  Maybe.  I wanted more than what I had right now.

By my random calculations, I should take the next door on the right, which might bring me to the center of this strange apartment.  It was really big, actually.  Not as big as Lucent's place, but much bigger than mine.  Did Elle live alone, or...?

Did Lucent ever visit her here, too?  The thought made me seethe.

The door on the right was closed, but I opened it easily enough.  The lights were off, but I found a switch to the left of the door and flicked it on.  The lights blinked, then flared to life, illuminating the room.  A bed sat off to one side, with a dresser near it, and then another door opposite the one I came in.  I didn't want to look at the bed or the dresser, so I kept going in, heading to the other door.