AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So I have to be gentle with you for a while then.”
Before she could respond, a loud bell rang, flooding into the room from a speaker in the ceiling. A doorbell. It rang incessantly, demandingly.
“Who in the fuck?” Ari growled. He untangled himself from Claire and got up, angrily jerking his jeans on.
The doorbell kept ringing. Aggressively. Endlessly.
“Motherfuck,” Ari cursed. “I'm going to kill whoever the fuck that is for interrupting this.” He stomped across the dungeon and up the stairs.
Kane got up and dressed as well. He picked up the terrycloth robes that had been draped over the St. Andrew's Cross.
He laid one across the bed for Claire. “You probably don't want to wear jeans until the brand heals. I would stick to loose cotton dresses. Did Ari get you any of those?”
She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”
He helped Saskia into the other robe.
“Who do you think it is? The police?” Claire asked.
Kane shook his head. “The police don't ring doorbells like that. I have my own suspicions. If I'm right, he might need backup.”
When all of them were reasonably dressed they went upstairs to find out what was going on. Claire could hear the shrieking well before she reached the front of the house.
“You've already replaced me with some whore?” a woman's voice shouted.
“Already? Holly, it's been going on a year,” Ari said. “We were done. You made that very clear. And I should have kicked your ass out before that if we've decided to settle finally on honesty between us.”
Ari and a woman with dark blonde hair stood in the kitchen.
“You are such a drama queen,” she said. “We weren't done. I told you I got a modeling contract. I had to take it. It was a huge opportunity for me. What? You wanted me to sit around here like a bored housewife and be your little fuck doll with no ambitions of my own?”
Claire winced at that. Wasn't that her life now? And she'd happily gone along with it. For the longest time, her greatest ambition had been just to survive. And now it seemed to be orgasms, which made her feel self-conscious—like she wasn't aiming high enough in life.
“That is not what happened,” Ari said. “Paris obviously gave you a creative memory.”
“Whatever.” She looked up and saw them standing there. “Hey Saskia, still being a good obedient little slave for your pervert master? How many other men does he have to share you with before you realize he's just not that into you?”
“Are you still an insufferable brat?” Kane asked.
Saskia blazed across the floor and slapped Holly across the face. Before the blonde could react, Ari had restrained her. Holly, not Saskia.
“That's ENOUGH!” he said. “All you're doing is reinforcing themutualdecision to end this. Do you want to know what I think happened? I think Paris wasn't all you dreamed it would be. I think you saw the unappealing side of the work involved in modeling and that it isn't just about people catering to your whims all day. I think you realized what you lost and came crawling back. And it's too late. It was too late as soon as you walked out the door.”
Holly rolled her eyes. “Really? That's not what I heard. I heard you spent weeks moping. Drinking away your sorrows. Admit it baby, you missed me.” Her lips turned down into a pout that she'd no doubt used on him to get her way many times in the past.
Ari let go of her, and she spun around to face him. “You know what we had was hot. You like the fire. The struggle. Admit it. No matter what you say, you don't want some perfectly obedient pet who saysYes, MasterandNo, Masterand never ever thinks to defy you. You want the passion of the struggle. What we had was hot and you know it.”
Was that true? Claire wondered. Did this woman present a challenge he liked? Claire couldn't defy him that way. It wasn't in her. All she wanted to do was please him. Was he going to get bored with that? Did he want a woman he had to overpower constantly? Did he need that sort of constant stimulation? Maybe that's all the branding was, not some sign of something permanent and secure, but him trying to raise the stakes.
She remembered that first night, the look of triumph on his face after he'd overpowered her and changed their positions. Did he prefer that to her obedience?
“You've never known the first thing about what I want,” he said.
Holly reached out and grabbed Ari's cock through his jeans. Claire's mouth fell open. Ari pushed her away.
“Get. The fuck. Out.” he said. “And if you ever ring my doorbell like that again, I will file a restraining order.”
But Holly wasn't done. She spun to face the others in the kitchen, giving Claire a long, slow look.
