Queen (Mistress & Master of Restraint) (40 page)

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, you know tha
t, right?” I say in annoyance.

“I know, Regina. Soon all will be revealed. I just hope you won’t hate me.” His fingers squeeze my flesh and I groan.

“I see you’ve figured out the purpose of this exercise. I waited for Cort to figure it out. I thought for sure he’d cop a feel and play with you. I anticipated his misbehavior and he ruined the exercise by behaving- so disappointing,” he mocks. 

He bites my breast ruthlessly and a strangl
ed sound emits from my throat.

“I see he’s rubbing off on you already. You’re already mimicking him,” he says jokingly about the noise the PB made over and over.

He bites a new location and I cry out in ecstasy. He attacks my cunny with his teeth. I can’t feel anything from the licks except the cooling of the latex. His bites, on the other hand, sizzle to my core. He feasts on me as I writhe in the cover that allows me no purchase.

Just before I fall over the precipice into oblivion, he yanks me from the wall, flips me around, presses my hands to the chair-rail making sure my nails dig in, and impales me with his cock. All I can do is hang on while he rabidly fucks me from behind.

He growls and marks my back, shoulders, and neck. He wraps my hair around his fist and anchors me. The echoes in the small room are enormous pounds, moans, and growls. He was always rough, but never like this. He’s feral.

“Go home, Kristal’s boyfriend is waiting to meet you,” he hisses and empties into my body. He disengages and flee
s the room before I can reply.

I’m left reeling after his onslaught. I heard a note in his voice I never thought I’d hear- jealousy. Tears prickle my eyes as I come to a realization that he’s jealous of Kristal’s boyfriend because he must lust for her. When will I ever be enough?

Chapter Twelve

I tried to freshen up before I left the Brownstone, but it was to no avail. I couldn’t look any more jaded unless I tattooed whore on my forehead. I’m wearing a cotton dress that scoops low in the back, almost to the crack of my ass. Marc bought it for me and he commanded that I wear it this evening. I will admit I look killer in the dress, especially since I can’t wear a bra.

What
makes me look like a wadded up tissue/cum receptacle is the marks all over my body. Marcus didn’t use control or finesse. I have at least twenty marks running up my back and neck and none of them are covered by the dress or my hair. He ruined my hair by fisting it, so that I had to twist it up. My neck looks like one of the
Lost Boys
ravished me. It’s like he knew where the dress wouldn’t cover and bit me on purpose.

Tonight we finally meet the man Kristal’s in love with- Alex. She made us wait a year, saying he was a nice gentleman and we would corrupt him. I laughed in her face- she’d be the one doing the corrupting. So here I am looking like I was fucked by an angry tornado as I enter my home to meet the virtuous Alex.

I know the real reason she didn’t want us to meet Alex; she didn’t want us accidently spilling her fabrications. We, meaning Ade, Fate, and I, have been angry with Kris for her lies. The poor Alex believes he and Kris are exclusive and according to her, he’s deeply in love with her. He’s been bringing up marriage. While Alex, is his uncorrupted glory, is monogamous, Kris feeds her addiction several times a night.

I now treat her how you do an addict. I humor her and pretend to accept her illusions with Alex. I’ve often wondered if she’s started to believe her own lies. I accept her as she is, as I do everyone else in my life. I’m not normal, so I don’t expect anyone else to be. But I do feel for the deceived man.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Kristal rushes to me and stares in awe.

Yeah, I’ve never came home from the Brownstone looking like a train-wreck. Her concern for me is a relief- Alex must be in another room or she’s be embarrassed. I know I am.

“Jealous Master on his way to the Pretty Boy’s initiation is what happened to me. Hell if I know what he’s jealous about, but he took it out on me. I’m in pain because he doesn’t appreciate the emotion. He said something about your boyfriend. I think our Master is a fan of yours,” I say flippantly.

I try not to let her hear the sadness and disappointment that makes me feel. I’d cried the whole way home. I’m not in love with Marcus. I’m not territorial of him. I know he’s my Master and special rules apply. But I’d like to be the object of someone’s affections once in my life. I’d like a small taste at least.

“Let me shower and cover up this disaster,” I point to my neck and back. “I’m sorry I’m late, but I don’t want to embarrass you. I know how important this meeting is for you.”

“Too late for that, Regina,” she whispers in embarrassment and steps to the side.

Alex and I lock eyes in shock. I sway when the connection is met. His face glows with delight and mine pales in shame.

My world crumbles at my feet. I don’t know if I want to bawl, scream, beg, die, or faint. I do know I want to dig a hole and bury myself in it. My Master wasn’t jealous because of Kristal. He was marking his territory on me and I’m going to kill him the next time I see him. He knew- he knew for a whole fucking year and selfishly kept it to himself. I made Grant promise to never tell me what happened. I’d forgotten that Marcus was the one keeping the tabs. The love of my best friend’s life, and most likely, she
’s the love of his life- Alex…

“Sweetheart,” he says in shock. My name’s a caress from his lips and I sway from the sound. I never thought I’d hear his voice again. The pleasure’s heightened by the
fact that he used my nickname.

“Sonofabitch,” I whimper underneath my breath.

“Roman,” rolls from my lips and I close my eyes in shame that he’s seeing me for the whore that I am.

“You two know each other?” Kristal asks, hurt. But there’s a note in her voice I find suspicious.

“I can’t have you see me like this, Roman. I’m going to go crawl into a hole and die now,” I mumble numbly. 

The door opens behind me and Ade and Fate enter talking about how excited Ella was to go on an overnight play-date.

I bolt like a startled animal. I make a run for my room, but a strong arm snags me around the waist.

“Shh… It’s okay,” he promises. “Calm down, Sweetheart. I’ve got you,” he comforts. 

I drop to my knees sobbing. He collapses with me and holds me, rocking me back and forth murmuring pretty lies.

“What’s going on?” Kristal asks in outrage.

I watch as Fate and Ade watch the scene play out with horror-filled eyes.

“Oh, no,” Fate cries for me. “No,” she says forlornly. “Roman Alexander is your boyfriend.” She gazes at me with pity.
The sight makes me want to curl up and die.

“Oh, Kristal, how could you? There’s no way you didn’t know,” Ade irately speaks her mind.

“I have to shower now. You can start dinner without me. I’ve lost my appetite. No worries, Kris, you didn’t break the sister-code. He was never mine.”

I run my hands through his inky strands of silk. It’s as soft as I remembered- softer. He still wears it swinging just under his jawline. I pull his hair back and stare into the face I thought I’d never see outside of my dreams. I look into the blue-green pools of his eyes and smile. He’s alive, healthy, happy, and in love. It doesn’t matter that he isn’t in love with me, because he is in my life again. A higher power answered my call and spared his life and that’s all that matters- I have my friend back. I just can’t have him seeing me as I am. It kills me to know that he will see me as a whore.

I kiss his forehead and allow my lips to linger as I inhale his intoxicating scent- clean, fresh, and can only be described as- Roman.

I kiss his forehead again and breathe, “I’ve missed you.”

I stand and do the walk of shame to my room. I grab a pillow from my bed, and crank the water in my shower to scalding. I scream my throat raw into my pillow, muffling the noise, and allowing the flow of the shower to eclipse the mourning sound that escapes around its edges.

I quickly wash. I’m not ashamed to have my Master’s scent on my skin. It just feels somewhat wrong to have my childhood friend know what I’d just engaged in. I dress in jeans and a hoodie and
pull my hair into a ponytail.

My curiosity overwhelms my embarrassment. I want to look at him, listen to his voice, and watch him. I need to see how he’s grown. I haven’t spoken to him in twelve years and I haven’t looked at him in nearly eleven. It hurts thinking of how Grant helped me grieve the absence of Roman the night I thought I’d lost him to a bullet and now Roman is th
e one alive and Grant is dead.

I find everyone chatting on the patio. I pull my shoulders back and raise my head and join them.

“Hey,” I say weakly. I sit next to Ade and across from the lovers.

“Good, you’re back. Sorry that I have to run, but something’s happening to
night and I have to be there.”

“Ade what could be more important than th
is?” I ask of her selfishness.

“Daddy’s throwing Whitt a party tonight.” She looks pointedly at me. I understand the gravity instantly. Whitt has never had a party in his honor.

“Why? He turned eighteen almost a year ago.” I never ask of him, but something in her demeanor raises alarms. Whitt being recognized as a Whittenhower is also unusual.

“I have to hurry. It starts soon.” She stands to leave
and won’t look me in the eyes.

“Ade, why so late?
Those events usually start at seven, not almost midnight.”

“G’night,” she ignores my tenacity. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person, Roman,
or Alex. Which do you prefer?”

“You can call me Roman. I use Alex at
Transcend
so that no one associates me with who I used to be.”

“Good night, Roman- Ladies.” She flees from me.

Kris flashes me a look of pity and it kills me- pity that Ade is keeping secrets about Whitt or pity that she’s fucking me over with Roman? I know that I will never marry and I’m done having kids. I’m not the woman for him, but what she did was underhanded and so very Kris. I wonder if this is why our Master is punishing her. Apparently she told the Pretty boy who I was. Since she’s already on my Master’s shit-list, I add her to mine- near the top.

“Wow, I never would’ve guessed you’d be sitting on my patio right now. I’m glad,” I say honestly and I really mean it.

It’s my home and I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable in it. I’m glad he’s here with me and it’s not his fault that Kris is a liar. I can be the congenial hostess.

“I know, who would have thought that Kristal donating all that money would bring me back to you someday.” He friendly smiles at me and then
turns infatuated eyes at Kris.

“Kristal didn’t donate the money, Regina did,” Fate interrupts Roman. Her voice is weak, but infused with betrayal.

Kris glares at her as Roman looks back and forth between the three of us.

“Oh, I’m sorry if you thought it was me. Regina is
Empowerment
, I just work for her,” Kris spits out in Fate’s direction.

“Oh,” Roman looks like he’s seeing Kris for the first time.

I love her, but she is a pathological liar when it comes to getting what she wants. It should hurt that she’s lying about something I’ve built from the ether and turned into a billion-dollar corporation, but sadly, I expect it from her. What hurts is that she’s playing Roman for a fool. He’s a grown man, who’s older than me, and his history is just as difficult as my own, he can make up his own mind of who he wants to believe.

“Kris, will you help me pick up the mess in the kitchen?” Fate stands
and holds her hand out to her.

“Sure,” she says snidely.

Roman and I stare at each other for several long moments. It’s a shock to be in his presence.

“Would you like to take a walk with me? The tension from the kitchen is stifling.” Kristal’s jealous gaze is burning a hole into my back
from the window over the sink.

“Yeah, I would.” He grins at me and tucks his hair behind his ear in a gesture that’s totally him and it reminds me of a time long ago in a different place
.

“I want your story, Roman.” I say to him as we walk down the street.

It’s mid-October, but the air’s warm and moist. We’re walking shoulder-to-shoulder, arms grazing once and a while as we swing our arms. It’s companionable, like we haven’t spent the last decade apart. We’d shared a brief kiss, but he will always be my friend, my protector when I couldn’t protect myself.

The ache of Kristal’s betrayal is nagging me, but I won’t tell on Kris. I won’t talk of her with him. If it were an investment, or a friend that could potentially harm him, I’d let my words flow. When it comes to matters of the heart, we have to walk our own path.  She may have bent the sister-code, but I won’t
break it- not even for Roman.

“There isn’t a real big story to tell. I was shot when a buyer wanted my stock. It took months to recover and then I had to go to a rehab hospital. The blood loss affected my nerves. I met Jami
e and we became fast friends.”