Her Master's Reckoning Read online

  Grabbing the shower head from the ground, I turned on the water, adjusted the temperature, and remained in place while letting it run over his body. Clear rivulets ran down his chest and stomach, pooling within the dips of his muscles, spilling over the ridges to wash away what was left of the fresh blood that ran from the scrapes in his skin. Only when I knew my fingers wouldn’t tremble, I placed my palm against his chest. His body flinched beneath the touch, but he made no other move to fight me. Waiting for only a few seconds, I slowly ran my hand down his abdomen, the tips of my fingers trailing against the ridges and valleys of his abs.

  “Has anybody made you feel good in the entire time they’ve kept you?”

  As I suspected, Christopher didn’t attempt to respond, but he didn’t move either. My hand dragged lower until the base of my palm sat just above his cock, my fingertips gentle on the skin beneath his navel.

  On a whisper, “Would you like to feel pleasure?”

  The tension in the room was so thick I could barely draw a full breath. Touching him was like petting a jackal, any wrong move and he could snap forward to attack. My hand dragged lower and I felt his cock jump against my wrist, lengthen as I lifted my palm to take him between my fingers.

  Blue-green eyes met mine, thick dark lashes brushing his skin when he blinked and opened his eyes again.

  With the nail of my thumb, I traced a line down the side of his shaft, smiled when he hardened more. “I won’t ask for your permission,” I told him. “I’ll simply show you that what I hold in my hand is now mine to play with as I please.”

  He flinched when my thumb swept over the sensitive head, his body stilling again as his gaze held mine.

  “Do you want to come?”

  A shake of his head no, so slow that it was barely perceptible.

  Heart thudding heavily, I forced my lips to curl. “Too bad.”

  My fingers tightened over his shaft, and despite his denial of wanting what was to come, he continued to gain size in my grip, his cock a thick weight that felt like soft velvet over steel. One slow pump. Two. I watched his shoulders go taut as he struggled not to react.

  Unable to help it, my thoughts went back to the first night Aiden held me in this tub, to the hatred I felt when my body betrayed me with the forced pleasure of his hand. A piece of my soul stolen on that night, he’d stripped me of the woman I once was and replaced her with the Courtesan I am now. I would do that for the man I was pleasuring, would show him that he wouldn’t regret his becoming. All he had to do was trust me to be strong enough for both of us.

  Steam rose from the warm water, my shirt sticking to my skin as perspiration beaded and ran between my breasts. Christopher’s eyes tracked those drops as they ran down my skin, his cock hard in my pumping hand, the cords in his neck pushing out as his teeth sunk deeper into the ball that gagged him.

  So close, so very near a moment where he would hate me. We sat at the precipice, Christopher and I, within a moment that would forever remain in his mind whispering to him that with obedience comes pleasure.

  “Let go,” I reminded him, “It doesn’t have to hurt all the time.”

  Physically, he remained docile, but I could see the war inside him. He didn’t want to give me this much control, didn’t want to admit to himself that a woman who called herself Master could pull from his body the desire she hadn’t earned. I knew that feeling intimately, found heat pooling between my legs to recall every time I came while hating the man who’d trained me with such callous savagery that I’d learned to enjoy being made a slave.

  My thumb swept down the vein in his shaft, just the tip of my nail scraping the skin.

  He lost the battle just then, his climax spilling over my fingers with a rush of sticky heat. The tension in his body appeared painful, the muscles in his jaw so taut, I worried he’d break his teeth, but then the water beneath him swished softly as his body slowly relaxed, his eyes closing as a tear slipped down his hollow cheek.

  My hand slipped beneath the water, my voice a whisper. “What have they done to you?”

  I’d believed I’d soothed a beast. What I didn’t understand is that I’d tempted a monster.

  One splash was the only warning that Christopher was moving, his body lunging forward his bound arms wrapping over my head with such speed that my mouth was still open on a scream as my body was dragged forward and my face forced beneath the water.

  I couldn’t breathe, the shock of being pulled not giving me time to draw in a breath before I was drowning beneath the warm water of his bath. Above me, I could feel a struggle, but Christopher’s strength was still too much to fight against. Muted voices sounded above my head, the splash of water loud against my ears. His body jerked to the side, a feral roar vibrating through his chest where my head was held. Another heavy jerk and then his arms were pulled away, his body going limp as his fingers wrapped in my hair and my head was pulled up.

  Gasping for breath, I blinked away the water in my eyes, dragging my shocked gaze up to find Anthony with the towel wrapped over Christopher’s neck while Aiden stood above me. Their clothes were soaked, their expressions irate as they both glared down at me with censure.

  “What the fuck was that?”

  Cold vehemence was Aiden’s deep voice.

  Looking at Christopher, I saw that his head lolled to the side, his eyes closed as a new bruise bloomed over his cheek.

  “I -“ My voice trailed off so that all I could hear was the staccato of my drumming heart.

  “You what? Forgot that this guy is a fucking psychopath?” Pulling me to my feet, Aiden walked me back to slam me against a wall. “What were you thinking to get so close?”

  “I-“

  “You weren’t thinking,” he answered for me, his fingers slipping around my throat pinning my head to the wall. Forcing my eyes from the cold anger in his expression, I looked at Christopher and fought to speak past Aiden’s grip over my throat.

  “What happened to him?”

  Anthony pulled the towel away from Christopher’s throat, stood to his feet and used it to make a weak attempt at drying his clothes. “We had no choice but to knock him out. It took several punches and his throat strangled to finally break his hold on you.”

  Pressing his forehead to mine, Aiden closed his eyes, his hand shaking where it gripped me, rage a wave of heat rolling off his body. “Anthony, leave the room.”

  “Aiden-“

  “Now!”

  I jumped in response to his voice, trembled at the fury I recognized in his tone. My pulse was a frantic beat in my throat, my eyes trapped by Aiden’s sapphire blue stare.

  Behind him, Anthony slipped quietly from the room, the moment becoming so silent that all I could hear was the drip of water from the tub to the floor.

  “Did you enjoy it, Pet? Touching him?” His voice was a sleepy purr against my ear, his fingers tightening over my throat just enough to be a warning. Teeth nipped the lobe of my ear. “Don’t lie to me, either. I’ll know.”

  My breasts were tight against Aiden’s chest, his knee driving between my legs to force them apart. Lips parting with the struggle to drag in a breath, I couldn’t ignore the way my body came alive with electric sparks.

  “Answer me.”

  “Yes,” I whispered, the sound harsh with pure need roaring through my body.

  “Did you think of me while leading him into an exquisite release?”

  My eyes clenched shut, my pulse quickening until I felt dizzy within the wet heat of the room. It hadn’t occurred to me during the act, hadn’t crossed my mind that for the first time since I’d become Aiden’s Courtesan, it wasn’t the thought of him alone that turned me on.

  “No,” I confessed.

  His body stilled against me, pure steel beneath the heat of his skin. In that moment, I felt terror for the first time in years, my mind racing to imagine what this man I’d believed I knew well would do to me.

  One second. Two. Three and the tension was a vice gripping my strugglin
g heart.

  There was only malice behind a cultured voice that could horrify the bravest of souls while turning their willpower to mush. “Do not forget to whom you belong, my Pet. You won’t enjoy the ways I’ll remind you.”

  With his free hand, Aiden shoved my skirt up my legs to pool over my hips, his knee forcing my mine further apart until he had unencumbered access to my body. With a tortuous hand he toyed with skin swollen and so sensitive to the touch that my body quaked with every brush of a knuckle and the possessive stroke of his fingers.

  My fingers curled over his shoulders, the nails digging into his wet shirt as my legs wrapped his waist. Still driving me to a point of tormented insanity, he refused to release his punishing grip over my throat while teasing my body. Anger seeped in my veins to combine with frantic desire, the release he’d refused me the previous night front and center in my fractured thoughts.

  Driving a long finger inside me, he flicked his thumb over my clit, a searing bolt of pleasure erupting into a sensual storm.

  I’d woken this morning with the understanding that in this relationship with Aiden (if it could even be called that) I was nothing more than property to be used, a trinket to be flashed much like an expensive watch when he felt the need to remind people of what he had. To him, I was a one of a kind bauble that had lost its luster - at least until there was the slightest chance that someone else could possess me instead.

  It was beyond foolish to believe I saw jealousy in him now, but I gave in to the thought as his hand worked my body.

  Only when he had me moaning, my eyes rolling back as the lids fluttered closed, did he stop the sensual torment to unbuckle his belt, unfasten his pants and pull his cock free. And as he staked his claim on the one of a kind bauble with a renewed luster now that it could be taken away, I wondered if instead of allowing him to play me, I could turn the tide to play him.

  Pushing inside me with one forceful thrust, Aiden dipped his head to clamp his teeth over my nipple from above my shirt and bra. Tears welled in my eyes in response to the pain, my gaze lifting over him to stare at Christopher in the tub.

  Imagine my surprise to find eyes the color of the Caribbean Sea staring back.

  On the outside I was a woman being driven to orgasm against a wall, but on the inside, I was a Master waking.

  Aiden released the bite, his head lifting, his eyes seeking mine. Defiantly, I held my stare to another man who watched silently.

  Hips stopping their sensuous dance, Aiden glanced over his shoulder to follow the direction of my gaze and find that our guest was awake. Slowly, he returned those blue orbs back to me, narrowed and coolly knowing.

  “Is that the game you’re playing?” So soft, his voice drove shivers down my spine.

  My pride swelled to think him jealous, my soul tattered to risk another man’s life to play a cruel and twisted game. Yet, I played it regardless. Consequence be damned.

  Aiden laughed, the sound a mockery, the man I’d met on that first night in a dark room returning so suddenly, it was apparent he’d never left at all.

  Stepping back, he dropped me, my body slamming against the floor as pain shot up my hips and back. Pants loose over his hips, he stared down at me with a smile that promised the sweetest of revenge. How dare I crave anything beyond him?

  Turning only so much that he could study Christopher’s semi-conscious face, Aiden was a picture of ruthless intent and steadfast control. The soft edges I’d believed I’d witnessed in him over the years were once again razor sharp, the Master he’d been all along returning with a vengeance I worried might result in death of my supposed competition.

  But still, I played.

  Aiden wasn’t the only Master in this room any longer and I would use all the tools available to me to reach my ultimate end game.

  I would go to Hell for my damnable pride, for risking a life so I could enjoy watching Aiden falter.

  Jealousy certainly isn’t only a green eyed monster; in this moment its eyes were blue.

  It took every ounce of self control inside me not to smile.

  Sapphire eyes returned to me. “You can’t possibly think that training your own Courtesan has altered my possession of you.” His elegant hands moved to slowly slide his belt from his slate grey slacks. Once free, he looped the leather in his hands, the buckle gleaming beneath the light in the room. “Crawling to me would be a good start in the apology you owe me.”

  Aiden was at his most dangerous when he was calm.

  “Now, Pet, or you won’t like the consequences.”

  I wondered briefly how badly the Hellfire would burn me for my refusal. Still, I played.

  Forgetting how quickly Aiden could move, I flinched when he stepped to his side and swung back, the belt catching the side of Christopher’s face with such force that a welt surfaced instantaneously, the trickle of fresh blood welling in a fissure where the skin had split. Even Christopher’s previous master had refused to damage such a beautiful face. Aiden had no such qualms.

  “Stop!”

  Aiden’s eyes met mine, several seconds ticking by in thick silence. “Crawl and I might.”

  I forced a tear from my eye, playing this part perfectly. “Please, don’t hurt him.”

  He didn’t make his demand again, wouldn’t allow his hand to be forced in that way. Palms meeting the cool tile of the floor, ass bare to the chill air of the room, I crawled until my forehead was pressed against Aiden’s shins.

  “Good girl,” he cooed, satisfied humor in the deep notes of his voice. “Now turn to face your new toy. Let him watch how much you like it.”

  Turning, I faced Christopher, my hair a wet mess glued to my back and sides of my head. His eyes fluttered open and closed, his mind struggling to regain and hold consciousness.

  The slap of leather against bare skin was a gunshot echoing in the room, the edges of that sound punctuated by the unsteady drip of water from the tub to the puddle on the floor. A line of fire blazed across the cheeks of my ass as I bit my lip to swallow the yelp of pain that volleyed up my throat. It was a punishing blow.

  A second strike. A third. The back of my thighs on fire as well. A tear seeped free. Caribbean Sea eyes drifting left to meet mine.

  I stared unblinking.

  We were one in the same, Christopher and I.

  Aiden leaned over me when I couldn’t squelch the cry of pain on the third strike, his hand moving quickly to remove my collar, replacing it with the loop of his belt. The buckle was cool metal against my heated skin, the leather pulled tight until it was a noose threatening to choke me. He pulled back and I lost eye contact with Christopher, my neck held at a painful angle.

  The palm of one hand sliding down the marks he’d left only seconds before. “So beautiful, this canvas.”

  After pushing my knees apart he took me again with one hard thrust, my body rocking as he claimed his possession in clear view of the man I was supposed to be training.

  There was nothing gentle in his dominance.

  How fucked up was I that I wanted to laugh while my body was worked into a cruel, yet sensuous, knot? Heat expanded in my core with the warning of an orgasm that would shake me at the foundations of my soul.

  I got what I wanted though, didn’t I? No matter what it might have cost me.

  It may have seemed like Aiden was topping me in a moment where he’d wrestled away my control, but on that same floor where I had once lay sobbing five long years ago, I came apart on a climax that had been a long time coming.

  On that floor where my soul had once leaked away and puddled, my lips parted on a sensuous moan as a new Master was being born.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  AIDEN

  “So, you’ve made your decision finally?”

  Having just closed the door to the dark room, Christopher’s arms and legs bound to the four corners of a bed that did little to cushion his body, I turned to an old friend at the sound of his inquisitive voice. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

&nb
sp; Our footsteps were a beat against the hardwood floors, our pace slow as we weaved through halls I hadn’t walked in over a year. The wing leading to the dark room was reserved solely for the task of training, each room within it designed with that purpose alone. And to think it was because of Rebecca that these halls had gone unused for so long. Unlike the other rooms in my home, these were left rough, destitute and unfinished, nightmares hidden deep within an opulent mansion. It was simple psychology to have the rooms this way. When a Courtesan is first led into the wings where gleaming wood and soft carpets cover floors, where elegant furniture and crystal chandeliers soothe the weary body and dazzle the eye, those women who had been starved for comfort see the gift of luxury as a privilege for their continued submission.

  “What happened in that bathroom, Aiden?” Hands in pockets, Anthony looked at me with exhaustion bruising his amber eyes.

  Anger edged my response. “He would have killed her if we hadn’t -“

  “You wanted to rush in there long before he dragged her under the water. His violence only gave you an excuse.”

  “She was stupid to get so close-“

  “Rebecca only did what you and I would have done with every woman we train.”

  It drove me insane when there was no arguing against Anthony’s practiced calm, his gentle mannerisms disguising the shrewd intelligence behind eyes that saw everything so clearly.

  “I think I preferred you more when you were a broken shell of a man crying over a dead woman.”

  Laughter rolled over his lips. “Barbs won’t distract me.” Our forward march stopped as he turned to stare me down. “Tell me what happened.”

  Swallowing the urge to walk off without offering any explanation of what I’d done, I leaned against the wall, tucking my hands in my pockets while meeting his knowing gaze. “Only what needed to happen. Rebecca thought to challenge me. She’s forgotten her place and I simply reminded her that while I’ll allow her to play this game you’ve devised, it doesn’t mean her status with me has changed.”