The Contract (Nightlong #1) (22 page)

“So what can Teddy do to us, hmm? What can he do?”

He still looked frightened when he said, “Take you away from me.”

I smiled. “How could he possibly do that?”

“He’s not stupid. He’ll try to wriggle inside your mind and get to you. I know him.”

“But you said,” I shook my head, “you two are great friends.”

“We were. Past tense.” He shrugged, not seeming to have a solid answer for me on that one. “The only thing is, he still sees the obnoxious wanker I was and he doesn’t see how you’ve changed me.”

“He called you deceitful… to my face.”

Dante pretended to be insulted, holding a hand at his temple in haughty derision. He burst into laughter, chortling, “Quite frankly, he’s right!”

“What do you mean he’s fucking right!” I snapped, slapping the hand down he couldn’t stop flailing around.

“Fixer, remember? You can’t do that without conning a couple of people.”

“I never… conning, you say?”

“I never said my name was Angel Gabriel. It’s Dante, remember? My mother named me after the writer who created
The Divine Comedy
. I started out life in hell… I’m edging towards heaven, and now I think I’m pretty close.”

“Let me guess… she named you, and your father named your brother after Roger Daltrey.”

He snapped his eyes to mine, his laughter ceasing instantaneously. “Just like that, she brings me back down to earth. God, I love you.”

I kissed his lips and whispered, “This beauty needs her beast, and right now he’s here with me, where he is in all my waking thoughts and all my dreams. I’m never thinking about anyone but you, even when you’re not here.”

He stroked his fingers along my cheek. “I don’t deserve you.”

“I love you anyway,” I whispered, and he brought my mouth to his lips and licked his way inside. He drew my tongue out and sucked on it and it brought to mind times I made him suck my black strap-on dildo. Those days seemed long gone… or maybe not.

Kissing my neck, he asked, “What’s in your head?”

“You… sucking on my black cock. I loved making you do that. It was one of my favourites.”

He chuckled and played with my breasts in his hands. “We haven’t done any of that for a while, not in the same way anyway.”

“I guess I enjoyed it really. We should do it again.”

He purred as he buried his face in my stomach, caressing my soft curves with his lips. I loved watching his big strong body in submission to mine.

“What else did you like doing to me, Ciara?”

“Ohhhh…” I groaned, as a finger slipped inside me, “I loved it when you came in your pants, when your scent filled the air… when your back straightened and your shoulders wriggled… all the little signals that told me you loved what I was doing to you.”

“Oh yeah,” he moaned, massaging my clit with his thumb at the same time. He stopped and then sped up, edging me all the time. Kissing my hip, he asked, “What else?”

“When I first saw your shoulders bare and I wanted them around me, cuddling me, holding me close. I wanted your softness, your hardness, I hated you so much… I didn’t realise it was always love. I wanted you. I loved to see you shackled and subservient… servile even though totally male. Sometimes I wanted you to smash open your cuffs and throw me to the ground, ravage me and make me scream your name. Everything with you… it makes sense. All of it… whatever it is… it all makes sense now.”

He crawled over me and kissed my mouth. “It’s about trust… and if I leave you again, I have to know you’ll take care of yourself as well as I would take care of you. I can’t leave you alone in this house if you don’t give me that assurance.”

I reached between us for his cock and held him at my entrance. Slowly, so slowly, he sank back inside me and we watched one another the whole time. I always felt inhumanely full every time he filled me so wide, and so deep.

“I’ll do it,” I muttered, and he lowered himself to my body and lazily made love to me, holding me close, so tight.

He kissed my mouth until he caught my cries of ecstasy on his lips, smothering the pain of another shattering orgasm with the smooth flow of his semen inside me, and the soft caress of his fingers on my body as he smiled down into my eyes.

“She’s still in love with you, you know?” I mumbled, my face squished in between his arms as he held me afterwards.

“I know,” he sighed.

“Maybe Teddy wanted her, right?”

“Yes… I guess he did. He missed the boat, though. She never wanted him back. It’s too late now… he’s got a wife and kids.”

“I see. Now it all makes sense.”

“I don’t think Shay could have massacred my team. She doesn’t have the means… she barely leaves this place.”

“I wouldn’t put anything past her; she’s intelligent and as fit as a fiddle. She looks like she fucks horses for a living.”

“You’re right, Ciara,” he spoke in a tired voice, not even slightly amused, more sad.

“Which leaves Teddy. Dear, wanker, Teddy.”

I got a rise from him with a slight chuckle, but then he pulled me really tight to him and whispered, “Whoever did this, I will have to have Sexton kill them, you know that?”

“Don’t–”

“Twelve souls,” he reminded me, and then I was the one pulling on his arms, begging him to cover my ears so he couldn’t tell me how this world of his really worked.

BEING IN LOVE WITH DANTE made me feel insane in some respects; constantly horny for him, needing him inside me. I wrestled with constant thoughts of him, such as his mouth or hands touching me, my daydreams producing hot flushed cheeks at some inappropriate moments while at the Pussy Palace. Sometimes as I lay on a sun lounger in the orangery, with no privacy to bring myself to orgasm, I decided life was cruel to have given me that man – then taken him away. Being promised to him had given me a sense of entitlement. His ownership of me was empowering, knowing that someone would always want to fuck me, take care of me… hold me. I was a long way from the girl he met years before, but I was still vulnerable because I was so in love with my Dante. I didn’t think anyone else on earth had loved him as much or as intimately as I had.

One evening, a few nights after Dante’s auspicious night-time visit, I sat propped up on my bed writing more about our time together. Birds cheeped outside, the roof windows were wide open, and with late spring warming the earth more every day, I only wore a thin white cotton dress, one of the provided garments I’d found in the closet.

A knock on the door preceded Shay’s presence in the room.

“I hope I’m not interrupting?” she asked, wearing her usual garb. Who knew what her real taste in clothes was, or maybe this was it? Maybe it wasn’t really a uniform…

“You are… but I’ll permit you,” I said, smiling in good humour.

She sat on the edge of the bed and I wondered if she could smell the sex still lingering on my sheets, a scent I was loathe to wash away since Dante told me it was too dangerous to visit the house again anytime soon.

Closing my notebook, I looked up when she said, “Teddy is due to pay us another visit tonight. I thought you’d like to know.”

“Does he call beforehand, or is this his regular night?”

She shrugged. “It is his regular night, but the landing house also receives a list of expected arrivals and he called to let them know.”

“Landing house?”

“The house they come from to get here.”

“I get that, but the
landing house
… bit of a dumb name, really.”

She smiled but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “They fool themselves that these rituals enrich their lives, I guess.”

“How long has this place been open?”

“A century at least, I’m not certain though.”

I couldn’t help but snicker. “Men don’t change, do they?”

She raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know…”

She stood and made to leave but I asked, “Shay, has he given you a number, or… something? I… want to speak with him.”

She swallowed before admitting, “He calls… but never leaves contact details.”

“I’m sorry if this is difficult for you.”

Shaking her head, she insisted, “Oh god. Please. Dante does what he wants, he always has done and always will do. You’re just a thing he’s doing right now. That’s who he is.”

I saved her from a reality check by biting back my response to that, instead offering, “Maybe we could be friends?”

A slight uneasiness rippled over her features before she smiled. “Perhaps.”

“You know… this place isn’t really very secret at all, is it? I bet Teddy knows about Dante’s visit here. People talk, don’t they?”

She raised one eyebrow coquettishly. “Perhaps knowing you belong to someone else makes the pursuit even more alluring, hmm?”

I laughed loudly. “And what about you, Shay? Who would you pursue?”

She chuckled. “Why you, of course. I’d like to know more about the woman who made Dante heel.”

“I’m just a farmer’s daughter from Ireland.”

“No you’re not.” It was said so adamantly, I thought she almost sounded angry.

I stared at her soft grey eyes. “What do you mean?”

“In life, people aren’t defined by where they’ve come from, but where they’re going. I can tell you always knew your destination, whether you’d admit it or not.”

She abruptly left the room, closing the door swiftly behind her. Maybe she was right. I came to London hoping to find love, hoping to find work… and I’d found both of those things within a mere six months of landing in the capital.

***

LATER that evening, I used cash to barter a few more items necessary to my performance. The mansion’s ‘shop’ stocked everything you could possibly imagine. Any professional dominatrix would term it a paradise of leather, latex, plastic, metal and gadgetry. Butt plugs. Ropes. So many styles of rope. I had only a few purchases to make for myself, however.

I got my hands on a skin-tight red latex dress with crossover straps which I could pull on over some rather exotic underwear, including a leather thong and matching bondage bra featuring two thin straps which covered my nipples. I already had my boots of course but the shop had so many shoes, I had to buy some six-inchers. Then I needed some hold-ups and as luck would have it, they had my favourite wet-look ones with a zip up the back. Lace-up leather wrist gauntlets would also show Teddy I was more interested in slaying than in accepting defeat. My weapon of choice was an extra-long bullwhip. Dante always loved the bullwhip, but his favourite was the long nine tails. I’d just leave Teddy panting for more with the bullwhip.

WHEN Shay came to collect me from my room at around midnight, she gasped in excitement. “Wow, Cleo. Just… wow.”

“I got some of the other girls to do my make-up.”

“I don’t mean… I mean. Wow. I wish I had your tits.”

“You don’t. Not with the backache I get,” I said, shaking my head.

“Sure you don’t want a tussle in the hay before we go down?”

I smiled. “Pardon?”

“You know…”

“You’re sweet, Shay. I don’t belong to you, however.”

Looking at my clothes, she pointed at my attire, gesturing up and down my body. “You don’t belong to anyone. Look at you.”

I gulped and put a hand on my hip. “This is just a part of my performance. It’s not me.”

“Oh, I beg to differ.”

She made a come hither signal with her index finger and we left the room, heading downstairs in silence. I held the handle of the whip in the palm of my hand, my fingers wrapped around the bottom end, the leather tail wrapped outside of my gauntlets to make it not immediately obvious what it was I was carrying as I held my arm tight alongside my body.

Before taking the stairs downwards, she turned and looked at me. “You blow everyone else out of the water, you know that?”

“No. I don’t know that.”

“Well, you do. I see why he chose you.”

Shaking my head, I told her, “I chose him. It’s the way he wanted it to be.”

“Then things really do change, dear Cleo.”

She held my hand as we took the stone steps downwards and my heart started beating hard, as it always did when I felt on the cusp of theatre.

“We should get a drink before anything else,” I told her, and secretly I remembered Paris fondly, and how at Cohésion a drink was always the very first port of call and once they had your order, you never had to relay it again.

I wondered if Shay knew about Paris… and whether Dante had ever taken Shay there, to the same club. I felt shocked I didn’t care emotionally about that; the only reason I had for wanting to know was that if she knew the logistics of how he operated, might it mean Shay was a threat, too? I’d not ruled anyone out as a potential enemy. Not yet. Not fully.

Barely noticing the private rooms as we passed them on our way to the main room where the bar was, I was startled when she asked, “Vodka martini, isn’t it?”

Shay winked and I wondered…

How did she know my tipple?

“Yes, stirred any way you like,” I snickered.

“Okay,” she said, ordering for me at the bar.

Handed my drink, I threw it straight back. Another was placed on the bar right after and I tossed that one back, too, warning the barman, “I only ever have the two, at least until I get home…”

“Certainly, Mistress.”

We chitchatted with the barman, a gorgeous Scotsman wearing just tiny latex pants and gladiator adornments about his torso.

“Excuse me, Mistress Cleo?”

I turned and saw Teddy.

“Good evening,” I greeted him, “and where’s Clem, tonight? I like her.”

My eyes darted as I looked behind him at other guests.

“Clem’s got a new slave, now,” Shay answered for him.

“Oh, I see,” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“I wonder…” he began, biting his lip, “…could we chat, in private? I have a little proposition to run by you.”

I looked to Shay at my right and she nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Sure,” I replied, still carrying the partially concealed bullwhip. “What about, a room?”

“First one on the right is vacant,” Shay suggested.

“Thanks, Shay.”

We headed there and he walked two paces behind me, the custom of the house to never walk ahead of a Mistress.

In the room, it was just a concrete bed and a wooden bench, which we sat on together. The rooms were never set up for playtime unless a domme set it up herself, otherwise they were left bare. All the dommes (I had come to understand) were au fait with their partner’s needs and wants and kept their particular fancies catered to.

“Is it okay to call you Ciara?”

Shocked by him using my real name, I had to work quickly to cover up my surprise.

“It’s not okay, no.”

“Oh, but it does so suit you better.”

I lifted my eyes to his and snarled, “It doesn’t suit your lips, slave. Don’t forget whose house you’re in.”

His jaw slackened and he licked his lips. “Okay…”

“Let’s get this over with, whatever this is,” I demanded.

He stood up and I remained seated. Funny how these men came to be dominated but still had the desire to be on top, or above everyone else, when it came to business.

“If you agree to become Clem’s replacement, I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

“Ha!” I burst into a long, singsong rhythm of laughter and he laughed along with me.

I stood and walked towards him, finding myself eye level with him in my heels.

“You’re almost as funny as him, you know that?”

Shaking his head, he said angrily, “Funnier, if you can believe it.”

“Why should I agree to anything?”

“Why else are you here, in this desiccated bog of hell?”

I covered my mouth, unable to stop myself giggling. He was actually funny.

I unwound the bullwhip from my arm and let it hang over my forearm as I folded my hands, one over the other, in front of me. He noted the whip and I gave him a moment to absorb the prospect of me whipping him silly with this instrument of mine.

“He said you’d try to get inside my head… and fuck with me,” I warned Teddy, whose name quite frankly made me want to puke, every time I heard it or even thought it.

“Maybe I will… maybe I don’t need to try.”

“What do you mean?” I sneered, looking down my nose at him.

He circled the ground around me, eyeing up every square inch of me. “I don’t need to put doubts in your mind, you already have some.”

“You know nothing about Dante and I.”

“Yeah? Well I know he’s put you in here.”

“Yeah, well I know there’s someone out there who murdered his entire fucking team–” I checked myself, realising I was slightly out of breath with both angst and fear.

“What?”

“We found them all, dead.”

“Wait a fucking minute. I had nothing to do with that.”

I looked at him, stood so close by, I could see the low lights flickering in his brown eyes. “How do I know that?”

“If I was guilty, why would I be here? It’s his fucking house, Ciara.”

I stepped closer, so close the front of my shoes touched the front of his slippers. Playing ignorant, I exclaimed, “What?”

“His house,” he said clearly, “he owns this place. So why would I come here if I was guilty, knowing who the owner is? How the hell do you think he buys people, eh? This place is legendary. All kinds of secrets pour from the men who frequent this place.”

Dante never told me he used the place to peel secrets from people and Teddy spotted the disconnect in my eyes.

So this was how Dante started fixing… he inherited Pernox, realised there was a game in buying, selling or sealing secrets… and he mastered it.

“What else does he own?” I asked, chewing my lip.

“The clothes company… the agency, though if that’s done with, I doubt any assets remain. Oh… and he owns a club in Chelsea. Just an ordinary club he’s a silent partner in.”

“Nothing else?”

“Not as far as I know.”

“What else do I need to know? What wouldn’t he tell me, ever? If he could help it?”