Page 57 of The Dom with a Safeword

Think. This must be the other side of the secret passageway Jude showed her upstairs. So if she followed it, she should come out in his closet. Yes. That was a good plan.

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 feel 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 cries. Was she doing that, or… No.