Page 31 of Pierced

“Betty. Dave. Come here.”

The two cheetah/leopard/hyena/bears do as they’re told and turn their attention from me to her. They walk over, and she kneels down to pet them. And suddenly they don’t look as scary as they did a moment ago. Neither does she for that matter. She looks happy and giddy in a way that I’ve never seen her. Ever. Not once. And I smile in spite of myself.

She looks up and sees me smiling, and suddenly her demeanor changes. She stands, says, “Go, sit,” to the two animals that were just licking at her cheeks, they do, and then she cracks the whip she’s holding once again, and I know my own smile drops away pretty fuckin’ fast when she says…

“Let’s get started, bitch.”

CHAPTER NINE - MYRTLE

I have never seen Pierce cower. And he doesn’t cower now. But it’s something related to cowering. He steps back, turns his head to the side, looking at me from the corner of his eye, and says, “What the fuck is happening?”

I crack the whip. It’s very long and it has never, ever been used on a lion. But Pierce doesn’t need to know that. The tip snaps one of his expensive shoes and leaves a mark.

I smile. But only because he can’t see me do it. He’s too busy looking at the mark I left on the toe of his shoe. And by the time he looks back up at me, my smile is gone. “Did I give you permission to speak?”

He opens his mouth to say something. Probably something snarky and rude. But then he just runs his fingers through his hair and sighs.

“Good choice,” I say, circling him. He spins with me, half looking over his shoulder where Betty and Dave are both now sitting. Watching.

“So you’re what? A lion tamer? What the hell is up with the cats?”

“Not cats,” I say, slowly stalking toward him. I crack the whip again, and this time it catches the edge of his leg.

He hops back a step. “Jesus! Stop doing that!”

I continue circling, the heels of my thigh-high latex boots clicking on the floor. “We need a safe word before we get started. Because if you tell me to stop again, I’ll stop. And then this will be over and the deal is off.”

“I think the deal is off,” he says, trying to side-eye me, Betty, and Dave at the same time.

“Does it scare you, Pierce? Or just make you uncomfortable?”

“Uh… Yeah. Everything about this is making me uncomfortable. The gate, the house, the… where does one even buy a whip like that?”

I look at the whip in my hand. I have gloves on, so I can’t feel the well-worn leather handle, but I don’t need to feel it to know what it feels like. “This,” I say, “is actually a family heirloom.”

Pierce just looks at me. “Who are you?”

I smile and walk forward. Get close to him, still circling. He stays still now, because I’m pressing my lips up to the back of his neck. I breathe softly on his skin and feel a thrill when it prickles up with chills. “You’re about to find out.”

He shrugs his shoulders up to his ears like he’s trying to make that chill go away, and then steps back. “You’re crazy. I mean, everyone knows you’re weird. Your little act you put on at work—”

I snap the whip again and his words fall away. “Is it an act?” I ask.

He points his finger in my face. “I knew you had a secret fetish side.”

I turn my back to him and walk across the room. “Follow me. Or don’t. Up to you.”

I catch Katherine staring at me from around a corner. She smiles one of those big, fat smiles that are nothing but teeth and then turns away to hide the laughing fit that is surely coming.

Katherine has been the manager out here at the sanctuary since I moved in. We’re not what you’d call friends, or anything. We don’t go out for drinks. We’re more like sisters. She lives here on the property. And when she saw me come down the stairs to wait for Pierce all dressed up like Mistress Myrtle, she made it very clear she wasn’t walking down the hill to her little carriage house until she saw his reaction.

“Shoo,” I whisper in her direction. And she’s just about to protest when we both hear the clicking of Pierce’s shoes as he crosses the living room.

Following, just the way he was meant to.

She ducks away and disappears.

I lead him through the mansion, taking the long way to the basement on purpose, to confuse him. Make him second- and third-guess his decision to come tonight. Make him question everything he thought he knew about me. And when we finally stop in front of the door that leads down into the basement, I can tell he’s breathing hard.