Smoke Read online

  The penultimate swish of the cane had me falling off the chair, and for two seconds I seriously thought about sobbing my heart out right there on the floor, but I didn’t. Taking a deep breath, I fought my way back to the position I had been taught and waited with all-consuming horror for the final whack to fall. When it did, it was the hardest of the lot, and this kind of pain wasn’t able to be contained inside me. Letting forth a low, keening wail, I had to bite my lip to stop the sound from reverberating inside my head endlessly. Although I knew this had been a test, I had no idea whether I’d managed to pass it. All I felt was splintering agony and the need to curl up into a little ball to try and protect myself. What was James trying to prove?

  It didn’t take him long to answer my question. Bending down low to whisper in my ear, he said, “They could subject you to this every fucking day at Carte Blanche, Lois. If you think the pain is bad now, it’s nothing compared to what it will be if you get caned or whipped every day. Think about it, Lois - new marks upon old, over and over again. They’ll torture you in there, sweetheart – so don’t go thinking you’re entering some fancy swingers group. That’s not how it works. It is not Elite Encounters. There’s a reason it’s all underground. Please tell me you finally see sense. I cannot let you go in there with a clear conscience. They will carve you up and spit you out, and they’ll laugh while they’re doing it.”

  Wiping my tears away frantically with shaking hands, I desperately tried to calm myself down so I could fight back with words, but it wasn’t happening. My throat was sore, swollen and scratchy, the after product of sobbing my heart out, and it would take a moment to get that under control. When I did, I tore the blindfold off and stood up on decidedly wobbly legs.

  "I get what you're trying to say, James, but this is something I have to do. You've done everything in your power to make me see sense, and as much as I understand the risks, I am going to take Dumortier down or die trying." The insidious fire inside my body was burning brightly, and it seemed to have reached between my legs because all of a sudden I was a lust-soaked, desire-riddled wreck. All I wanted to do was lay down on the floor and pull James down on top of me. How hideously embarrassing. This was all his fault. After a week of being constantly sexually stimulated, my body was in overdrive. Control it. You’ll need all of this desperation for the auction in a little while.

  “You’re a stubborn, mule-headed female and you’ll regret this – mark my words. Just remember no one is coming for you in there, Lois. If you fuck things up, say your goodbyes and go quietly.” James looked mad. Although he’d been trying to get me to back out of this suicide mission all week, I guessed he now realised that it was happening and there was little he could do about it.

  “Is that my final pep talk for the evening?” I looked up at him, with my eyes red-rimmed and full of tears. I didn’t want us to part like this. I needed my last memory of James Leveritt to be a happy one, something I could cling on to when times got rough. James closed his eyes as if in pain for a moment, and I wondered if he would say anything. Having a sinking feeling that he would just turn away and leave me to my own devices until the van came for me, I felt my heart swell in my chest until it was close to exploding. Don’t let us end like this, I begged silently. Biting my lower lip, I felt it wobbling, and this time I wanted to burst into tears for an entirely different reason.

  "Dammit, Lois. Come here." He opened his arms out, and I gratefully rushed into them. Although I knew he meant well with his warning, this was exactly what I needed right now. Almost running towards the warm embrace waiting for me, I sunk into his arms gracefully and wrapped my hands around his back. Inhaling the wonderful, uplifting smell of his aftershave, I wanted to bury myself in his body and never let go. There was something peculiarly intoxicating about his scent, a heady mixture of clary sage and lime, that made me want to lick him all over from head to toe. Okay, that was weird. I guess what I was trying to say was that the man looked and smelt edible.

  Placing a kiss on the top of my head, he said softly, "I'm worried about you, okay? I'm sorry I was harsh, but I needed to try and make you see sense." His arms squeezed me tightly around my shoulders, and I melted into his embrace. For one small but almost timeless second, I actually felt safe. It was a lovely feeling.

  “You weren’t harsh, you were just giving me a taste of what I can expect in a day or two, should I be successful this evening. I’m glad you did. I need to go in there with my eyes and ears open, and this week has been amazing. You’re a fantastic teacher.” At the close proximity to James’s body, mine responded by going nuts, pulsing and pounding, demanding attention that it wasn’t going to get. I did my best to ignore it.

  In response, he snorted, but he was being hard on himself. James Leveritt was the all-around amazing package, and any woman would be very lucky to have him.

  Breathing in the scent of my hair, he sighed. "Don't let Dumortier get to you, don't lose your sense of humour, stay focused, do your job, and get the hell out. I know you think your life is over, but it isn't. There is life after death, trust me. It's not something you'll ever get over, but it gets easier with time. Oh, and please don't get yourself killed, okay? I have to fill in a lot of paperwork if you do something stupid like that, and it will piss me off. We clear?"

  It was my turn to snort. It didn’t take long for my cunning brain to try and twist his advice into something else, though. “If I agree to do that, will you give me something before you leave?” My request was innocent enough, but it did come out a little whiney.

  “Lois,” he said, in a dark tone. “I am not having sex with you. If that’s what this is all about then you can forget it.” Looking up at him, I could see that he was deadly serious, but it had been worth a try. Still, all was not lost. Maybe I could get something else that I wanted instead.

  “All I’m asking for is a goodbye kiss,” I whispered, lying through my teeth. I knew he’d see through it, but it was worth a shot.

  "You are persistent, Miss Reeves, and a terrible liar." When I looked up at his face, he was smiling, though.

  "Is that a yes or a no?" I asked with a straight face and pleading, soulful eyes. Hell, it was a worth a try. If I thought it would work, I'd have got down on my knees and begged.

  James pursed his lips and gave me an amused look, so I felt sure he would say no, but then suddenly his finger appeared under my chin, gently pulling my face up towards his. “I think I can manage that, Lois. If you promise to be good and keep your hands to yourself.”

  Holy shit. He was going to kiss me? I nearly dissolved into a puddle on the floor there are then, and he hadn’t done anything yet. Don’t get excited, Lois, you’ll probably get a peck on the cheek.

  “Put your hands on my shoulders and keep them there, Miss Reeves. If they move, the kiss ends. We clear?”

  “Crystal.” To be fair, I’d have taken nearly any terms, and this one was pretty minor, in my humble opinion. Placing my hands as requested, I posed for my kiss with bated breath and chubby, pink cherubs exploding in my head. He made me wait, of course. The damn man was infuriating sometimes.

  "What kind of kiss do you want, Lois?" His index finger traced a line around my bottom lip, and I felt my knees go weak. If caning had made me lose my balance, it had nothing on a kiss from James.

  “The best one you’ve got,” I said unashamedly. Well, he asked.

  "I'd better see what I can do then," he replied, with his tongue in his cheek. His eyes were sparkling with laughter, and I knew without a doubt that this was going to be a good memory – something I could treasure for a long time to come.

  His arms snaked around my back as he took my feet out from under me. Falling into him, I felt his lips cover mine with a velvet softness I wasn't expecting. James seemed to be all hard lines and angles, but his lips were anything but. Losing the power to breathe as soon as his tongue entered my mouth, I watched him invade me with fluttering eyelashes, while my body turned to cinders and ashes. It was dark sin, and pure m
agic, all rolled into one, and I could have stayed there forever. If I'd thought that life was over after Kiel, James had just shown me otherwise. Unfortunately, two chimes of the doorbell cut our moment short before it had barely begun and the enchantment disappeared in an instant. Pulling away regretfully, James looked at me, kissed my forehead, and whispered, "Time to go, sweetheart."

  Chapter Six

  A Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van had pulled up outside the front door. Looking rather ominous in black, it matched the state of my mood perfectly. The size of the thing was a bit extravagant just for me, but James assured me that the players at Carte Blanche would expect most of the girls to arrive in something similar. The men in this game had plenty of money, and I would draw undue attention to myself if I arrived in something less… German. It had to be a van, of course, since I was naked and could be arrested for indecent exposure if someone laid eyes on me. Yes, I guess they could have sent a sent a limo with blacked-out windows, but clearly, this was the typical modus operandi, and who was I to argue with the system? If I weren't much mistaken, part of the fun would be the humiliation of crawling in and out of a van with no clothes on.

  Taking a deep breath and pulling my shoulders back, I turned to look up at James. "So, I guess this is goodbye." Hopefully, it wasn't a permanent one, because my body had every intention of seeing this man again, and my brain had already been overruled with a very large sledgehammer.

  “There’s still time to change your mind.” The look on James’s face said he knew he was wasting his time, but his kind words made me smile.

  “I’m a mule-headed female, remember? We don’t change our minds.”

  "I was afraid of that." He pursed his lips together but held out his arms for a hug.

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “For what? Bringing you closer to the date of your funeral? You’re very welcome.” His lips twitched as he said it, and I didn’t miss the irony in his expression.

  “Don’t be like that,” I whined. “I’m now leaving. Let’s keep it upbeat.”

  “As you wish, slave.” He then shocked the hell out of me by smacking my naked ass. Even though the touch was light, it stung like a bastard due to the earlier cane and whip marks. Gasping in pain, I looked up to glare at him. As my mouth opened wide, James decided it was an invitation to eat me. He shamelessly used the opportunity to annihilate me with his mouth, and foolish woman that I was - I let him.

  When he finally pulled away all of my limbs ceased to function, and my bones felt like they had been replaced with marshmallow fluff. "Did you have to do that?" Even that small sentence came out wrong. It was breathy, ragged and raw. Oh God. He'd think I was a lovesick teenager. Perhaps he already did.

  "Yes. You need to be soaking wet and almost clawing the walls down for your first orgasm before you reach CB." He smiled smugly at me, and it took a lot of effort to contain my fury. I have never wanted to pistol whip someone so badly in my entire life, and I have met a lot of nasty creatures in my time. Unfortunately, being naked, no pistol was available, so I settled for a knee to the groin. He blocked that very neatly, and when I spun around to put an elbow in his solar plexus, he was once again ready for me.

  "Can't you let me hit you as a goodbye present?" I said through gritted teeth when his hand snaked around my waist to prevent me from trying to do any further damage to his body.

  “I don’t think so, Lois. Now behave nicely, like the good little submissive woman you are, and get your ass in that truck before I decide to knock you out and lock you up somewhere safe. Besides, I hate long goodbyes.”

  He released me with plenty of momentum, so I went shooting forwards, tumbling down the stone steps with somewhat less grace and decorum than I had planned. Sticking two fingers up at the delightful man, I headed towards the back of the van and waited. After I'd stood there for about a minute, waiting for the driver to come and open the thing, James yelled down at me.

  “For fuck’s sake, Lois, it’s not going to open itself. The driver isn’t coming out because he’s been instructed not to touch you. You’ll be greeted at CB by one of the attendants, who’ll tell you the score as soon as you arrive. Get a move on woman!”

  With my ears ringing and my cheeks scalding hot to the touch, I opened the van door and slammed it closed behind me. James Leveritt had now thankfully been erased from my life, and with any luck, I might never see him again.

  Lots of pink flying pigs then flew straight past me.

  The van was surprisingly luxurious. There were leather seats in the back, a drinks fridge, and a TV screen. Unfortunately, I needed all my wits about me for the next few hours, so I touched nothing.

  It felt decidedly weird to sit in a car naked. My very sore butt stuck to the leather seats, making me squirm all over the place, and the cool air conditioning that surrounded me made my nipples stand up on end. Was that part of the plan? Shivering slightly, I tried my best to put James Leveritt and his amazing mouth out of my head while concentrating on my game plan for tonight. It wasn't an easy thing to do.

  James had told me to get some kind of background story going in my head so I could reel it off quickly when questioned. He'd already briefed me on the names and addresses I could use, so all I needed to do was embellish it with a few little details here and there, and keep my story consistent. Dumortier didn't like chatty girls, so that was a good thing. I wouldn't be required to talk too much, so it should be easy to keep track of my lies. James had stressed that it was imperative I got my story straight because Dumortier was particularly sharp. If I was caught out in a lie, I could probably kiss my future goodbye, or at the very least expect a gruelling caning as punishment. Thankfully, my job had prepared me for this, and I was an excellent liar. It was unlikely to be a problem unless they drugged me. If they drugged me, it was going to be an interesting dance, but James had given me a strategy to cope with this. I would just have to hope it worked. During training, James had played about with a couple of the more ‘tamer' substances Alain was reported to use, but if he used anything stronger, I would have to wing it. The side effects of playing about with hard-core drugs were too much to risk. I'd been told to toe the line and do everything asked of me, and hopefully, I wouldn't have a run in with anyone important, but somehow, I didn't see that happening. If I was to be the feisty female that Alain favoured, I was destined to get myself into trouble - I knew it, James knew it. Crossing your fingers probably wasn't the best defence to hope it wouldn't happen, but it was all I had right now, so I gave it a go.

  The journey was long and dull. With no windows to look out of and nothing bar my own thoughts to keep me entertained, it wasn’t long before my eyes began to droop. Having thought sleep would be impossible with nerves that were wriggling like live wires inside my body, I was proved wrong. Boredom eventually won out, and I succumbed to the land of dreams within an hour or two of the journey. It was probably a blessing in disguise. Tonight was going to be a long and stressful evening and the more sleep I had now, the better.

  When I woke, I had no idea how long I'd been in the van or if we were nearing our destination. Being naked, I wore no watch, and there was no way for me to contact the driver as the cabin I was sitting in was completely sealed. Rubbing an attractive line of sleep-induced spittle from my cheek, I craned my neck around to try and see if there was any light coming in from the back of the van. That should at least indicate whether it was night or day. Spotting a faint chink of light, I decided we must be nearing dusk, but that still gave me no idea of how much longer I needed to be inside this dark hole. Desperately needing to pee, I hoped our arrival would be sooner rather than later, else there was going to be a puddle on the posh, shiny seats. While that was not my problem, it wasn't going to help me make a spectacular entrance smelling of Eau de urine. Wincing as the car shot over a particularly nasty pothole, I crossed my legs tightly and whistled through my teeth.

  Thankfully, less than ten minutes later we drew to a stop and I heard the driver’s door slam
. Praying that this was not a fuel stop, I tapped my feet anxiously on the floor, and my fingers hovered nervously over the release button of the seatbelt. When the back door to the van began to turn, I placed both hands in victory fists and set myself free.

  “Get your ass over here, quick sharp, and get cleaned up. We ain’t got no room for time wasters here, so if you're not out in three seconds, you can be on your way." The gruff voice that greeted me did not sound friendly.

  Wow, what a welcome, but it just so happened I needed to be out of that van pretty darn quick, so the asshole was in luck.

  As I made my way out, I got a good look at the goon with the east London accent. The man's head was a shiny as a newly minted coin, and while he was covered from top to toe in the same stuff as the car seats, his impressive belly protruded over his trousers in a white T-shirt. There was a gun holster at the side of his waist, and the sneer on his face told me he was someone I did not want to mess with, so I didn't. Standing meekly before him I waited for further instructions.

  This was apparently all that was required because the thug then slammed the van door shut and banged his fist on the roof. My driver shot off without a moment's hesitation, and for the first time in a while, I felt very much alone. Staring at the ground, as I'd been taught, because eye-contact was a big no-no in my new world, I kept quiet and waited to see what would happen.

  “Nice. Very nice. I suspect you'll be quite popular tonight." His hand then snaked out to caress my right breast, and he nearly shocked the life out of me. When I took a faltering step backward, he laughed. "You must be new to this game, sweetheart. Ah yes, the cute little heart confirms it." He then buried two of his fingers in the fluff of my pubic hair, which was so unsettling I nearly fell over. "You're gonna get a lot more where that came from before the night is through. Want me to demonstrate?" He gave me a leering grin, and I had a fight with myself to stay still. As much as I wanted to shake my head and say ‘no,' I knew the response would be pointless. This was what I was here for, and there was no point pissing the staff off before I even began.