The Dom With a Safeword (20 page)

Carefully, she made her way down the narrow passage, tripping a bit on the uneven floor. Only a few yards along, she hit a dead end. Pushing at the wall blocking the passage over and over did nothing. Hopeless.

Tired and sweaty, she banged on the hard surface. “Q! Help me!” While she paused to listen for footsteps, she caught her breath but all she heard was the harsh sound of her own panting. “Jude!
Heeeelp
!”

No one answered. No one came. Alone in here. Unless the ghost returned.

Beating the wall and screaming exhausted her, made her throat ache, and her fists throb with small pains. She slumped to the floor, tears streaming down her face. The ground was grimy under her bare legs. She hugged her knees and cried.

When they found her –
if
they found her – she was turning in her paranormal investigating badge for good.

Chapter 10

Jude

The shift of the bed woke him. Jude blinked open his eyes to see Q sitting on the edge, her white back standing out in the darkness. The moonlight cast in through the gap in the curtains bathed her in creams and subtle grays, enticing his eye with curves and shadows and the fall of raven hair tumbling down her back – her tattoo barely visible. Q, the voluptuous siren. Where had his wrestling champion gone? Or the mouthy woman who’d twisted and moaned in his ropes a few hours ago?

“Fuck.” she said, so softly it might not have woken him if he wasn’t already yawning.

Ah. A grin pulled at his mouth
. There it was – Miss Attitude.

Q turned her head, her hair swishing across her back. “Jude, you awake?”

“Yes.” He reached out to her and smoothed his palm over her hip. “What is it?”

“Sabrina’s been gone a few minutes, and I think I heard a weird noise. My heart’s still pounding.”

If anything could upset Q it would be something happening to Sabrina. Funny, but he felt a twinge of envy. He sat up next to her. “Come on. Let’s take a look. She probably got lost on the way to the bathroom.”

“Yeah, maybe. Or she’s
pranking
us.”

“She’d better not be or I’ll make her stand in the corner for the rest of the night with her pants down around her ankles.” He tweaked a curl of Q’s hair then slipped from the bed.

The night had cooled but not enough to make Q pull on more clothes. He adjusted the waistband of his boxers. The timber underfoot echoed a little as they walked. This house was big enough to fee
l like an empty world at night.

This was so distracting – following along behind her when she only wore her black underwear. Like all her clothes, Q’s underwear was functional. Maybe he could get her into something a bit prettier, or
sluttier
? He smiled at the thought of Q in a breast-baring corset and stiletto heels.

“Sabrina, you in there?” No answer. He pushed open the bathroom door and switched on the light. The room was empty. He stepped back out into the hallway and listened, but heard only
crickets and creaking timber as the house settled with the change of temperature. “Where’d you hear this noise?”

“I don’t know. It woke me. But it wasn’t that loud, I think.”

“If she was
pranking
, she’d be making more noises.”

Q shrugged. “Maybe.”

Then he heard something. A sob? “
Shh
. You hear that?”

She paused then shook her head. “
Mmm
. No.”

He filled his lungs. “Sabrina! Where are you, sweetheart?”

The yells were distant but definitely from Sabrina. The desperation in her voice chilled him. For some reason, the poor girl was terrified. “Did you get what she said?”

“Not really. I think she said something like stuck, maybe? Sabrina! I’m coming!” Q turned to him, her eyes wide and dark. “How do we find her? Where is she?”

“Tell us, Sabrina! Where exactly are you?”

Loud bangs rattled timber somewhere, and kept going, punctuated by more sobs and cri
es. Was she doing that, or… No.

He wrenched his thoughts together, ran back to the bedroom with Q following, grabbed the flashlight from the draw
er and thrust it into Q’s hand.

“Okay. If she’s stuck, there are three places I can think of. The passage up here dead ends after a few feet. Can’t be that. There’s another passage on the first floor. I’ll take that. The attic – the door sticks sometimes. Go all the way to the end here.” He pointed. “Door at the end opens onto the stairs. There’s heaps of junk up there, and you need to lift the attic door up a bit to open it. Don’t let it slam shut on you. Go!”

Though why in hell would she have gone up there, or downstairs?

Didn’t matter. From the continued banging, he could tell she was hysterical. Despite calling to her, she didn’t reply in any coherent way. The sobbing tore at his heart.

He found his way downstairs by moonlight and memory. He switched on the room light. After turning the hidden switch, the passage entrance opened with a faint creak. The loud shriek from up ahead told him he’d found her.

“It’s me, Sabrina. It’s me.” Very little light penetrated to the end but he shuffled along until he found her, his foot bumping into her shuddering flesh.

“
Shh
.
Shh
. It’s me. Jude. Come here.”

“Jude?” Her voice quavered. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I got lost.” Her small hands patted at him and he pressed them then crouched and took her face in his palms. The wetness of tears made him ache so much to comfort her.

“Yeah, we figured that. But I’m here now.”

“There was a ghost…or, or something, in here with me! Please. Get me out! Did you leave the door open? It didn’t close?”

“It’s open. Nothing here. Just me. Come on.” He carefully tugged her upright and led her back to the entrance.

“Let’s sit a while.” But when he went to pull out a chair from the dining table to sit and comfort her, she hissed at him.

“No!” He felt a shudder run through her. “Not here, Jude. I’m too scared.”

“Okay. Come back to bed then.”

When he stepped on her camera with his bare foot and swore, Sabrina didn’t even make a single snarky comment. Not once. Damn, she needed some TLC. He picked it up and put it in Sabrina’s hand. She absentmindedly clutched the camera as if barely aware she held anything. Before they went up the stairs he was careful to show
her the emptiness of the room.

“Nothing. Right? You just got panicked in there. It’s not hard to do. I understand.” He swept her tousled hair from before her eyes and kissed her softly on the lips. “Come on. We have to tell Q. She’s looking for you in the attic.”

When he turned off the room light, they plunged into darkness. Carefully, they made their way to the bottom of the stairs. He hadn’t fixed the blown stairway chandelier light yet – hard to get to way up on the ceiling without a super long ladder.

“Oh.” In the dark he saw her hand go to her mouth. “She’ll be worried.” She inhaled deeply. “Q! It’s okay! I’m okay. Come back to bed!”

He added his own, much louder, shout, then felt more tremors rock Sabrina’s body. So he crouched and lifted her into his arms. “I’ll carry you. Snuggle in.”

“Can you see?” she asked tentatively, as he took the first step. “Can you carry me that far?”

“Sure. You’re light as a feather and I’ve got excellent night vision, my little ghost hunter.  I’m not that old.”

That made her giggle and he felt her stroke his back. “That’s good. I wouldn’t want to have to negotiate a trade-in.”

He mock growled at her. “I think I already proved I don’t need senior vitamins.” More giggles made him grin. She was recovering. The fragrance of her hair and the soft feel of her body in his arms seemed to flow in and fill a hollowness inside him. This was so good. He’d not been this
right
, despite the scare, for ages, maybe even forever.

“How’d you get in there anyway? There’s a secret switch.”

“It just opened. I fell in, sort of.”

He grunted. The catch must not be clicking back in place. Half this house was falling apart in some way.

“But there was a ghost,” she whispered. “A real one. Like a floating lady type apparition thingy. I swear it.” Sabrina trembled. “Where were you both? I
frickin
yelled and yelled and yelled! I could’ve built the pyramids waiting! There I was with a genuine apparition and you two were snoring! Freaked me out. I may have white hair now,
ya
know.”

He frowned, took a few more steps. “Harsh, and a little ungrateful, brat.”

“I
am
grateful. I am.” She kissed his chest. “But… Oh! And I have pictures! I took some with this.” Her hand waved the thing madly and faint light reflected off the screen. “Put me down. I have to look.”

“Not now.”

“Please? Please, please, please?”

He ignored her and took the last steps with big strides.

Q met them at the bedroom. The lights were on and the relief on her face was clear. “Are you okay, beautiful?” Her gaze met his. “Is she?”

“Sure.” He walked to the bed and dropped Sabrina onto the sheets from a foot above, so she bounced a little, then rolled her over into the center. “Pile in everyone. We’re cuddling.”

To his delight, that drew a chuckle from Sabrina.

By the time they’d gotten comfy he had an armful of Sabrina on one side with Q on the other. The women’s heads bumped his chin now and then as they whispered to each other. Seeing them care for each other like this, letting him be a part of it… He watched as Q played with Sabrina’s hair. Damn if he didn’t want to keep this go
ing. Summer only? What a waste.

“You scared the fucking shit out of me, little girl.” The sternness in Q’s voice made him jiggle her.

“Hey. Q. Be nice. I just spent five minutes gluing her back together.”

“Yeah.
Shh
, Miss
Dommy
Pants. Besides…” Sabrina shifted where she nestled and reached over to prod at Q’s side. Only Q grabbed her hand first.

“Besides?” Q’s tone made him feel like an emperor peering down at two sparring gladiators.

“Besides…I can’t help that I had to pee. I didn’t check bathroom control on my questionnaire so my bladder only works on my schedule.”

He smiled. The return of the feistiness. Brat One versus Brat Two.

“You weren’t just going to the bathroom, little girl. You were off downstairs, doing something else.”

“I was…” She cleared her throat, pulled her hand out of Q’s hold. “I was looking for a ghost. My detectors went off. I thought I saw something, and when I got trapped, I just was so terrified.” Her breath hitched and he wondered if she was about to cry. “I’m sorry I worried you both. But look...”

She squirmed a bit and he felt her fiddle at his side before her hand popped back up with the damn camera, again. “This! I took pictures of the ghost.”

“Uh-huh.” Q sounded skeptical. “So you went off gallivanting and got yourself in trouble. In all the time you’ve been ghost hunting, what have I said? Go with a chaperone or not at all. You get hyper focused on your gadgets and don’t look at your surroundings, Sabrina. You could have fallen down some hole in this house.”  Q’s hands stroked over Sabrina, as though to reassure herself that she was okay.

“A hole? Like a bottomless pit to hell?” She snorted. “Let me guess, Jude is Satan’s evil demon sidekick? Seriously, Q? I have a fucking picture of a fucking ghost!
And you’re talking about
home repairs?”

“Enough with the pictures. Put the camera away. Check in the morning.” Jude squeezed them both to him for a second. The ache in his chest had just multiplied by a thousand. “What am I going to do? You two are going to give me several heart attacks before this summer is over.”

Sabrina stiffened and sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry. So…I was bad? You want us to go then? I don’t want to go,” she said wistfully.

“Hell! No.” He lifted his head off the pillow and peered down at her. “I never said that.”

“Jude,” Q murmured, toying with his chest hair.

“Yes?”

“Thank you for not bitching out Sabrina. Some guys would have lost their shit instead of being nice.”

He couldn’t help frowning. “I didn’t do anything special. Besides, it was a pleasure. I got to carry Sabrina up the stairs.”

Q, seemingly without realizing it, had wound her fingers into some of his hair so tightly she was tweaking it at the roots. He resisted protesting. Something bothered her. He waited.

“I’ve met some men who’d have been pissed.”

“Assholes then. There’s no reason for a man to be like that. Boyfriend?”

Her shoulder moved as if she shrugged. “Yes.”

“Well, forget him. I’ve got you both now.”

She stayed quiet but exhaled slowly then her muscles relaxed and Q snuggled closer.

“Her last boyfriend was awful. But you’re good, so far.” The smugness in Sabrina’s voice made him wonder where she was going.