Oliver (17 page)

She brushed the tangles from her hair while images of their tumble in the sheets rippled through her. Another disappointment. Not in the act itself, but in her lack of participation. Another something Oliver had fixed rather than helping her find her way back. Another thing she’d balked at. The power to give Lucas the pleasure and release he needed was in her hands.

Merideth set the hairbrush down and flexed her shaking fingers. Her team was finished before they even started if she couldn’t get her act together. Already she was dissatisfied with herself. How long before Oliver and Lucas grew weary of it all? How could they be partners and a team if one of the members didn’t pull her weight? More importantly, how could she live with herself if she couldn’t face the demons of her past? She’d placed the power of her healing in their hands when it had been
her
responsibility to make herself better, to take charge.

“I’m better than this.”

Then stand and fight.

She wanted to argue with her conscience that it was easier said than done. Merideth knew better. She’d had this discussion too many times with herself over the last six months. She was sick and tired of hearing herself whine. Tired of being afraid. Tired of hiding. Yes, she risked losing everything, even Oliver and Lucas again. But at least she’d regain her self-respect. Her power. Her control.

Beginning now.

Merideth made her way downstairs to the playroom. This was what determination felt like, power coursing through her veins. Until now, she hadn’t realized it had been missing from her life for a lot longer than six months. Lights filled the room the moment she opened the door, courtesy of automatic sensors. They helped empower her, made her feel she could conquer all.

Smiling, she walked toward the cabinet in the rear. She missed her leather duster, although getting it to fit after all these years would be tricky. Her weight might be the same, but her body had shifted. A call ahead to her former supplier in New York would resolve that problem. By the time they arrived, she’d be set, all decked out and ready to face her attackers head-on. Because she
would
face them. Nothing would stop her now. It was what she needed to feel whole again.

Merideth studied the array of whips, floggers, and cats. So many toys, so little time. She selected a short-tail whip. It’d be good practice for now. No sense tiring her muscles on a test run. All she needed was the rhythm and flow…and to not hurt herself in the process.

She pulled the leather through her fingers, reveling in the shudder that rumbled through her. On impulse, she lifted the falls from the red-and-black flogger on the shelf and drew them to her nose for a deep inhale. Pleasure filled her soul. Merideth had forgotten how much she loved the smell of leather.

Smoothing the falls into place, she promised herself this would be her next toy of choice. Perhaps even used on Lucas. She closed the cabinet and walked toward the weight bag dangling from a hook on the other side of the room. The practice area had been cleared of equipment and furnishings. She cracked the whip, warning her target she was approaching while she envisioned one of her assailants strung up before her, naked and vulnerable.

“Soon,” she whispered. “I promise.”

With that vow, Merideth snapped the whip. The resulting crack echoed through the room. Fear was nonexistent. She didn’t fool herself that it wouldn’t return if someone else wielded the weapon. It’d be something to work on, anesthetizing herself to the sound.

She pulled in a breath, flexed her shoulders, stretched the stiffness from her neck, and swung. Lash after lash hit her target, each more precise than the one before it as she found her zone.
Like riding a bike.

Merideth spun and struck again, moving around and around the bag, striking at random, never the same place twice but always where she wanted. Sweat trickled down her back, between her breasts. Poison leeching from her body, taking the evil with it. Anger remained, fueling her. This time it was tempered by her stalwart resolve to set things right and see justice served. After she avenged those they’d wronged.

Finally she stopped to rest and let determination sink into her bones. That was when she noticed Becky watching from the door. She mopped the sweat from her forehead with the edge of her T-shirt.

“It’s the blasted humidity,” Becky said and started her way. “You were magnificent, by the way.”

“Thank you. It’s nice to know I don’t look as rusty as I feel. Now if only I can catch my breath.”

They laughed like they’d been friends for years.

“I know that feeling well.” Becky leaned into the frame that had housed Merideth hours ago. “I didn’t mean to intrude. I couldn’t sleep and thought a workout would help.”

“Be my guest.” Merideth held the whip handle her way. Becky accepted it with a “thank you.” Merideth grabbed a couple bottles of water from the refrigerator and walked to the nest of chairs to relax and watch.

And was very impressed. Becky was grace in motion. She didn’t use the whip. She danced with it. Every stroke was an extension of herself. Focused, with no flicker of emotion touching her features. Cold, methodical. Ready.

When she was finished, Becky coiled the whip in one hand and joined Merideth.

“Excellent. Beautiful.” Merideth pushed a bottle her way.

“Oliver’s been making me practice since day one. So far no mishaps.” She rapped her knuckles on the wooden table. “I’m hoping that remains true once I’m working with another person. But after reading all these posts…” She let out a long breath. “Scary stuff.”

“Very. Newbies are easy prey. It’s my own actions I can’t understand. I knew better and…” Merideth bit off the words and sucked down the rest of her water.

“They had you once you walked in the door. All the knowledge in the world couldn’t have saved you from attack. They distracted and charmed with sweet words, then overpowered you with their numbers. Two to six men against one woman?” Becky shook her head. “Not good odds. And if you’d been one-on-one, you would have been drugged.”

She tucked her feet under her and turned Merideth’s way. “It was my idea to attack through the Internet. Oliver wanted to round them up and beat the hell out of them. I was trying to defuse the situation. Did I make it worse?”

Comforting to know Merideth and Oliver were of the same mind at one point. Although him taking action still wouldn’t give Merideth the cleansing her soul needed. But Becky’s methods had uncovered information that helped Merideth realize how deep this went.

“No,” she replied. “It’s given me more ammunition. Someone needs to make a stand. Someone needs to fight. That someone is going to be me. On my terms. I no longer care what happens to me. There is no me until this is resolved.”

“Tell me what you want to do, and I’ll help in any way I can. There’s a whole community out there, ready and willing to do the same.”

A plan of attack sprung to mind. Simple though involved in its execution. Merideth leaned Becky’s way. “Then let’s wake Oliver and Lucas and get to it. Time to mobilize our forces. Strike fear in men who have black souls.”

Becky’s grin matched Merideth’s. “I do love how you think.”

* * * *

“Ready whenever you are.” Lucas sat on the other side of Oliver’s dining room table, the video camera perched in his hand.

“Your makeup’s perfect.” Becky added a last brush over Merideth’s cheek and stepped out of the frame.

Oliver hovered over them all, watching, waiting, continuing to let Merideth take the lead. Not once had either of the men balked when she’d told them this was how things were going to be.

Composite sketches of the six men who’d attacked Merideth were spread on the table before her. She’d called her boss at the museum, the head of the board of directors at Lighted Portals, and her publisher to tell them what had happened. It hadn’t been as hard as she’d imagined, though she was certain the repercussions were yet to come. She’d handle it. She was a survivor. Strong and in control. A woman who’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As for her list of former clients… That would always be her secret. Her stand was that she no longer remembered, and names were never exchanged. If any of them came forward after this video, that was their choice.

“I’m ready.” Merideth folded her hands on the table. She needed no script. The words were etched in her mind. There would be no question she meant every single one.

“You’re on,” Lucas said.

“Hello. I’m Merideth. Some of you might recognize me as Lady Begood, though I haven’t been that person for many years. Oliver Holbrook recently posted a picture of the whip scars covering my back. Scars given to me by men who have infiltrated our community under the guise of safe and sane, only to turn and trap at the last minute. Others have reported a similar fate. I have admittedly lived in fear for the last six months. These men know where I live and work. They have threatened me. I have become a recluse as a result. It is only through the help of loved ones that I am on the road to emotional recovery.

“What was done to me and others is a heinous act. But to hear these men have also threatened children sets a fire of rage burning inside me. I will no longer tolerate their presence in my community, my city, my world. I will no longer cower in fear. By this video, I am giving you all notice.”

Merideth leaned into the camera. “I am coming for you. I will hunt you down and give you a taste of pain that will leave you pissing in your sleep. I won’t give up. I won’t rest until every single one of you gets what he deserves.”

She eased away. “I’m told I have an army to back me. I call on that force now to help round you up. Composite sketches will display the men who hurt me at the end of this video. I encourage others who were also hurt to confirm these are the same men or to post your own sketches. We must leave no stone unturned. Join me in this fight.

“I’ll be returning to New York later today via private plane, courtesy of Oliver Holbrook. Vixen, new to our community, will be with me and continuing to monitor communications. She is my trusted ally and very capable with a whip, should anything untoward happen to me. Others will be with me as well. I won’t be alone. We are never alone in a community such as ours. If you are a woman with children in danger, Lighted Portals is ready to take you in and provide you with a safe home during this transition.”

Merideth held up the first sketch and gave as full a description of the man as she could recall. “You will be found. You will be punished. You’ve been duly warned.”

Then she did the same with the other five.

She ended her video with, “I’m coming for you.”

Lucas held the camera on her no-nonsense stare for several seconds before he finally clicked it off. “Damn fine.”

“I got chills,” Becky added.

Merideth glanced at Oliver. The corner of his mouth quirked up in a half smile. He gave a slow nod.

“Let’s go kick some ass. Please upload that, Lucas. My name, of course.”

“Hell, all of our names,” Lucas said. He and Becky hurried to the office.

Oliver slipped into Lucas’s spot. “You’ll need to be outfitted. May I have the pleasure of seeing to that?”

He’d asked, not ordered. Odd, the thrill it gave her, the tug to her heart.

She granted the request with a nod tilted his way. “I would be honored.”

“Right away, my lady.”

Merideth’s nipples tightened. She shuffled her sketches together to keep from grabbing him as he walked by. One touch, and she’d be all over him, or he over her. They couldn’t afford the distraction. There was too much work to do.

There’s always the plane. It’s a long flight.

“Focus, woman,” she told herself and returned to her room to repack.

It seemed she’d barely started when Oliver and Lucas swooped in. One looking like he’d been punched in the gut. The other looking like he’d won the lottery. She went with the lottery winner first.

“What?” she asked Lucas.

“Julia, Lori, and Rachel are flying out with us. Rachel’s bringing Ben with her. I presume there’s room on the plane.”

“There is. Cooper Hawkins will be joining us as well. He’s the one outfitting you for your reappearance,” Oliver told her. “He can make necessary alterations on the plane. Excellent leather man.”

Nothing shocking about that. So something else must have happened. “What else?” she asked.

“The police commissioner? Really? A little warning he was a former client would have been nice,” he added.

“Whoa. We’re screwed.” Lucas started to back from the room. “I’ll tell the others to hold off.”

“Like hell.” Oliver braced his hands on his hips. “He’s in. Joining the fight. Rounding up your other devoted clients.”

Heat flushed her from head to toe. Words weren’t enough. Hell, they weren’t even possible. She cleared her throat.

“We’ll need a secure place to meet,” she said. There were some high-profile individuals on that list. Merideth wouldn’t allow their good deed to bite them in the ass.

“On it.” Oliver narrowed his eyes. “Anyone I need to know about?”

“Considering how far-reaching your associations are, it’s difficult to guess which of those acquaintances will be there. Who can really know who are my
friends
and who are yours? I’m inclined to say they are all yours.”

“Good.” He nodded. “Very good. I’ll make sure Clint knows that as well.”

“Hoods and masks won’t hurt either.”

“Agreed.”

“God,” Lucas gasped. “We’re really doing this.”

“We really are.” Nothing was going to stand in her way. “You’re free to stay in the background. After all, I might need someone to post bail for me.” Her attempt at a smile failed.

Lucas’s filled the gap. “And miss watching you in all your glory? Never.”

There went her heart again.

“Good.” Merideth rubbed her hands with devilish glee. “Because I have plans for you.”

“I…I don’t know whether to be very excited or scared as hell.”

Oliver leaned close to Lucas. “I’d go for scared.”

* * * *

Now
this
is power.