Authors: Natasha Rostova
The Naked Truth (34 page)
A hint of dread suddenly flashed in Callie’s eyes, as if she knew that his next words would be nothing good. She edged closer to him. ‘What job was that?’ Callie whispered.
‘Elenore Lawrence was one of my father’s clients,’ Logan said, fighting to keep his voice from wavering. ‘She heard about our financial troubles and knew of a way I could make a lot of money fast. She suggested that I moonlight as an escort.’
‘An escort?’
‘Nice way of saying a male prostitute,’ Logan explained. If she was going to know the truth, then she’d better know all the ugliness of it. ‘I fucked for money.’
Callie stared at him in shock. ‘Wh . . . how l-long did this go on?’ she stammered.
‘Over a year. I started with an agency, and then Elenore and her husband paid me to come to live with them.’
‘And you did?’
‘They offered me more than enough money to get my father and the firm out of the hole. I could never have made that much in another job.’
Callie still looked stunned, but she began to appear vaguely intrigued in spite of herself. ‘What did they want you to do?’
He shot her a wary look, steeling himself against the look in her eyes. ‘You name it, I did it. I fucked them both, I let them fuck me, I played all their games. Elenore had a thing for rough sex. She loved being tied up and whipped. Her husband often got off on watching, but he was also a sadist. One of his favourite games was to tie her to a saddle horse and whip her until she nearly bled. Then he’d make her frig herself against the saddle.’
Callie gasped. ‘And she agreed to that?’
‘Agreed? She loved it. After that, it was usually my turn.’ An ugly sensation twisted in Logan’s gut as the unbidden and unwanted images started appearing. A tall, grey-haired man with a set mouth and a penchant for humiliation, sinking to his knees in front of a rigid prick, Elenore lashed to the wall like a sacrificial lamb, Logan tied to a rack while Gerald toyed with them both to the edge.
‘You mean they whipped you?’ Callie asked.
‘Like I said, Gerald Lawrence was a sadist. That was the reason he kept me around. He liked trying to break me because he knew that I could satisfy his wife, which made him jealous.’
‘And he tried to break you by whipping you?’
Logan gave her a faint smile. She didn’t know the half of it. He realised then that part of the reason he’d shut her out was because he had wanted to protect her innocence. So much for that idea.
‘Believe me, calla lily. There was a lot more involved than whipping. I wasn’t allowed to wear clothes for that whole year unless they were for role-playing games. The old bastard buggered and gagged me or he’d make me do the same thing to him. He’d tie me up anywhere he could. His masochistic tendencies came out when his wife wasn’t around. He liked to be impaled on the prick of a statue of the Greek god Priapus, then he’d want me to lash him. Or sometimes he’d want me to be on the receiving end. And then there were times when other people were involved.’
‘But why didn’t you leave?’
Logan shrugged. How many times had he asked himself the same question? ‘I’d signed a contract, and I needed the money desperately. If I couldn’t pay off my father’s debts, the firm would go under and the partners would sue my father for everything he had. The worst part is, he knew what I was doing.’
Callie drew in a breath. ‘Your father knew?’
‘He didn’t know the details, but he knew I was fucking for money. You’d think that would have changed him.’
‘It didn’t?’
‘No.’ A familiar streak of resentment coursed through Logan.
‘Logan, I’m so sorry. That must have been horrible for you.’
Logan glanced at her. She was watching him with a mixture of sadness and pain, but he saw none of the disgust he’d expected.
‘I consented to it,’ he admitted. ‘But that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it.’
Callie eyed him curiously. ‘Not any of it?’
Logan shrugged, unwilling to tell her just how deeply he’d become involved in the whole drama. There had been times when he’d actually begged for a lashing. ‘There was sexual satisfaction. Actually, that was usually part of the deal. I had to get off, too, because then they could say that I was enjoying what they were doing. It was a way for them to remind me that they were controlling me.’
‘Why didn’t you ever tell me this?’ Callie asked.
She sounded so hurt that he couldn’t help feeling guilty. Logan approached her almost warily, as if afraid she might break. She didn’t back away, only looked at him with a hundred questions in her eyes.
‘Oh, Callie.’ Logan shook his head and sighed. ‘It’s such an ugly episode of my life. It’s obviously not something I’m proud of.’
‘Did you think I wouldn’t understand?’
Logan reached out to brush a lock of hair away from Callie’s neck as an excuse to touch her. ‘I didn’t know,’ he admitted. ‘Hell, I don’t even understand it myself.’
‘So this is what Elenore is threatening you with?’ Callie asked.
Logan nodded. ‘She knows it could ruin me.’
A flash of anger appeared in Callie’s eyes. ‘She can’t do that. There has to be something we can do.’
‘We?’
‘Well, we’re still married,’ Callie reminded him. ‘I want to help you if I can.’
Logan shook his head, unable to believe that this incredible woman was his wife. After all he’d done, she still wanted to help him. ‘There’s nothing you can do. This is my problem.’
‘Your problems are also mine,’ Callie said. ‘Can’t you just give her the money?’
‘No. I’m not giving in to her again. And I’m not risking my financial situation or my reputation for this.’
Logan turned back to look at the river. He realised then with startling clarity why he’d married Callie. After over ten years of dealing with coiffured, calculating society women, he’d recognised something honest and genuine in Callie. He may not have consciously married her for that reason, but he knew now that he’d wanted someone good in his life for a change. And then he’d proceeded to stifle her with his uptight need to retain a certain image – and for what? To impress the very people he disliked? To try to pretend that he’d always lived an untainted, moral life?
He looked at Callie. Now, more than ever, he didn’t want to let her go. At the same time, he knew he had to. He couldn’t force her into doing what she didn’t want to do, nor make her into a person that she wasn’t. And he didn’t want her to be anyone else.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
‘Well, I’m glad you finally told me,’ Callie replied. ‘I’m shocked, of course, but if you’d told me three years ago, it wouldn’t have made me change my mind about marrying you.’
‘So what changed your mind about staying married to me?’
‘The fact that you’ve kept so much from me,’ Callie said. ‘Are there any other secrets that I should know about?’
‘None of that magnitude.’ Logan guided the boat back to the marina entrance and through the lighted buoys that marked the layout of the basin. The wake slapped against the breakwater almost inaudibly, the sound of the water like a whisper. ‘I’m leaving you on land. I want to stay out here for a while.’
‘So what happens to us now?’ Callie asked.
‘You know I want you back at home,’ Logan said, taking the bowline and fastening it over a cleat on the dock. ‘But I don’t want this shit with Elenore to hurt you.’
Callie turned towards the cabin. ‘I need some time to think about this. I’m not willing to give up on us so easily, Logan, but I want to know that you understand why I left you.’
‘I’m beginning to.’ For the first time, a faint hope rose in him.
Callie placed her hand on his arm and nodded. ‘I’m beginning to understand you, too. And that was all I ever wanted.’
Chapter Sixteen
‘
C
allie, did you ever return that batch of seaweed soap?’ Tess called from the loft. ‘The stuff that smelled like rotten potatoes soaked in iodine?’
C
allie, did you ever return that batch of seaweed soap?’ Tess called from the loft. ‘The stuff that smelled like rotten potatoes soaked in iodine?’
Callie looked up from her book and scratched her head. ‘I think so.’
Tess peered over the railing. ‘You know, you have been acting very strangely today. Are you feeling all right?’
‘I’m fine. I just have a bit of headache.’
‘Kava root is good for headaches,’ Adam remarked. He finished cleaning the front of the jewellery cabinet and came around the counter. ‘Hey, Tess, we should start selling herbs.’
‘Not a bad idea, handsome.’
Callie had to smile at the pleased look on Adam’s face. Tess had hired him to work at Nebula Arcana after he’d been fired from the law firm, and Callie thought that Adam seemed much happier in jeans and T-shirts rather than business suits, anyway. He was even sporting a pierced ear and a pierced lip, thanks to Tess’s body-modification expertise.
‘So, have you heard from Logan lately?’ Adam asked.
Callie shook her head. She was reluctant to talk about what had occurred between her and Logan but, at the same time, she had no idea what to do about it. If Logan with all his resources and courage couldn’t even figure out how to banish Elenore Lawrence from his life, then what could Callie do? She’d been unable to stop thinking of Logan and what had happened to him. She couldn’t imagine her upstanding husband lowering himself to such depths.
At the same time, she was also beginning to understand more about Logan’s personality than she ever had before. If he’d been in a humiliating situation for an entire year and forced into degrading sexual acts, then it was no wonder he’d shut down emotionally. One would have to in order to survive. But once Logan shut down, he’d been unable to open up again. At least, not until the other day on the boat.
‘Yes, we’ve talked,’ Callie finally admitted to Adam. ‘But things are still pretty complicated.’
‘So, um, how is he?’
Callie remembered Tess telling her about Adam’s crush on Logan. She smiled again. ‘He’s fine. Arrogant, of course, but fine.’
‘Yes, he was always arrogant,’ Adam said wistfully.
The telephone next to the cash register rang. Callie picked the receiver.
‘Nebula Arcana. Callie speaking.’
‘Callie, it’s Gloria. I just got your message that you wanted to talk to me.’
‘Gloria.’ Callie closed her eyes and wondered if she was about to make a huge mistake. At the same time, she knew of no one else who could help her right now. ‘Yes, I really need to talk to you. Can we meet for lunch somewhere?’
‘Sure, sugar. I’ll meet you in an hour at that café near your shop.’
‘Great. Thanks.’ Callie hung up the phone and pressed her fingers against her temples. She was still trying to sort out everything that had happened over the past two days. She’d considered going to see Abiona again, but she knew that spells and rituals weren’t the route to take any longer. They needed something a great deal more concrete at this point.
After an hour, Callie walked to the café next door to meet Gloria. Her sister was already waiting, seated at a table by the window with a glass of iced tea in front of her. Callie eyed Gloria carefully as she approached, relieved to see that her sister was clear-eyed and sober. For now, at least.
Gloria wriggled her fingers at Callie. ‘Hi, sugar. Have you moved back in with Logan yet?’
Callie shook her head and sat down. ‘No, but please don’t lecture me. We have a problem.’
Gloria’s plucked eyebrows rose as she leaned forward slightly. ‘What kind of problem?’
‘I can’t give you the details, but suffice it to say that Logan is being blackmailed,’ Callie explained.
‘Blackmailed? Logan?’ Gloria reached for her tea.
‘Yes. This woman wants money from him, and he’s not willing to give it to her. She’s threatened to ruin him if he doesn’t.’
‘How on earth can anyone ruin Logan?’
‘Well, she knows some things about him,’ Callie said carefully.
Interest sparked in Gloria’s eyes. ‘Really? You mean Logan has secrets?’
‘Apparently so,’ Callie muttered. ‘I don’t know what to do, Gloria. He only told me about this yesterday, but it’s been going on for the past week. He knew this woman fifteen years ago, and now she’s come back to town.’
‘Who is she?’
‘Her name is Elenore Lawrence.’ Callie felt another rush of fury towards this woman she didn’t even know. And, alongside that, a surprising streak of jealousy that Elenore Lawrence had known all about such a cryptic part of Logan while she, Callie, had known nothing. ‘She apparently married a wealthy husband who left her with a number of debts after he died. Now she wants Logan’s money.’
Gloria pursed her lips and reached for a breadstick. ‘Hmm. And he can’t do anything about this?’
‘I don’t think so. He has someone investigating her, but it looks like she holds all the cards.’
‘How fascinating. This must be the first time in that man’s life that he lacks control.’
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