Captive (Social Experiments #1) (13 page)

Cassie indulged me in occasional bouts of harmless conversation during the course of the flick. She became quieter during the gritty action scenes than the numerous moments of tit and ass. My shy tenant even made awkward conversation with me whenever one of the leading ladies stripped on the screen, as if compelled to fill the silence.

God forbid a man and woman watch a few seconds of choreographed breast jiggling together without it turning into a blushfest. Still, her embarrassment was a little endearing. Yvonne would have grabbed her boobs and compared tit sizes.

At the conclusion of the movie, Cassie rose to her feet and appreciatively smiled. “Thanks for dinner and the company, Jake. Maybe we can do it again sometime.”

“Sure thing.”

She surprised me. Her arms became a warm presence around me, an impulsive embrace that pressed her body close and enveloped me in the subtle scent of sweet almond and lavender. I returned it, filled with a sudden sense of affection for my new friend. Hugging her made me regret all the times I ducked out of some invitation to join her and Sam for dinner.

“Don’t be a stranger. I know you run things around here but if you ever need anything, feel free to knock.” She gestured toward the Chinese takeout. “Or whenever you’re dead on your feet and not in the mood to cook. We always have leftovers.”

“Thanks… I’d like that a lot actually.”

I fetched her coat from the dryer and saw her out the door. Once Cassie was gone from sight, I locked up, retrieved the leftovers from upstairs and headed down into the basement.

Yvonne and I kept a small wine rack downstairs. I often teased, calling her a lush for her fascination with collecting gimmicky vintages. I took a bottle of chocolate wine and ducked into the secret entrance.

“I bought Chinese,” I announced, stepping into the room.

I allowed Yvonne more freedom these days, using a cuff, chain, and a pole cemented into the floor to guarantee she remained my captive. She sat in the middle of the floor with enough length to travel to and from the small fridge, toilet, shower, portable dvd player, and pile of books. The cage remained as a disciplinary tool for her rare moments of disobedience. Those were mostly staged, I think.

“You’re late,” Yvonne pouted, ignoring the mention of food. I had confiscated her clothes two days ago on some bullshit excuse, so she sat naked amidst her nest of blankets. “You left me down here all alone all day.”

“I’m sorry.” I crouched beside her and set down our bounty of Chinese leftovers. “I ordered your favorite. You like the sushi with the smoked salmon, right?” Cassie hadn’t thought strangely about the untouched extra boxes once I explained my bachelor lifestyle thrived on fast food. She didn’t believe it and poked me in the abs, citing my good health implied otherwise. She’d blushed again, too.

Yvonne leaned in the way she always did, brushing her stiff nipples against my shirt. I was torn between letting her eat and ordering her to suck me off. Her hot breath steamed over my throat. Instead of sucking my ear the way she liked, she pulled back. Part of me was glad. Yvonne’s idea of ear suckles were overly wet, but I was working with her on it.

“You smell like a woman,” she accused sharply.

“So? I watched a movie with the neighbor.”

Yvonne’s brow furrowed. “What neighbor?”

“Cassie.”

“Who the fuck is Cassie?”

I sighed. “She lives one floor above us.”

“Samuel’s mom?”

Of course she’d know Sam’s name but not his mom. Yvonne liked kids but she tended to ignore women she didn’t classify as a threat and watch the ones who were like a hawk.

“Yes, Sam’s mom. Cassie James.”

“The stick?” Yvonne gaped at me. Color flooded her face and she leapt toward me with both of her fists. I’d like to pretend that she hit like a feather. But she didn’t. She caught me in the jaw with her left, but I snatched her right fist and yanked her in close. “You put me in this fucking hole then decided to screw another woman?”

“No!” She struggled against me, shimmied and squirmed from left to right for freedom, a wildcat possessed by her own fury. For the first time in all our friendship, I wanted to slap her. I didn’t. To my credit, I waited out her frustration and settled both hands over her shoulders after she calmed. “You’re the only woman I’ve made love to in weeks, Yvonne. I swear it.”

“But she wants you. I know she does. You could always see it on her face when she dropped by with her bake sale shit.”

“I hardly think that’s the case,” I said mildly.

“She does,” Yvonne insisted.

I shook my head again and soothed a hand over her hair. It needed a washing again. “You’re blowing it out of proportion, baby. She only drops by with extra food on occasion when she has too much.”

“Please. Everyone knows the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach or his
dick
and I won you over with both.”

Could it be true? I analyzed a history of visits between us and let my mind turn over the evening’s events. It had been nice. Her company was easy and her laugh warming. And she’d been checking me out.

Her hug had been enjoyable, too. Yvonne described her as a stick but I’d felt curves beneath her knit sweater.

I shook my head and denied it easily. “I’m not interested in her. Look. I fell asleep and woke up to her knocking on the door. She seemed lonely so I invited her in for cheap takeout.”

Her pouted lips drove thoughts of Cassie from my mind and filled my thoughts with all the things I wanted Yvonne’s mouth to do. The jealous display was cute and stroked my ego, despite its absurdity.

“I ordered your favorite things. But I think you need a quick lesson, Yvonne. I don’t strike you, and you shouldn’t hit me either.”

Where there should have been trepidation at the idea of punishment, Yvonne’s eyes gleamed with passion. She
wanted
my lessons.

“Strip and get over here.”

Yvonne’s seductive crawl convinced me that I was forgiven. She tugged at my sweats and coaxed me to lay upon the mat lining the floor.

“I’ve been a bad girl,
Master
. I’m sorry.”

She spoke it like a dirty word, inciting my anger but not ruining my mood. I didn’t own her, and as much as I’d treated her like a dog, she sure wasn’t my slave either. My sub, but not my slave.

Yvonne’s lips whispered over my stiffening cock and her flicking tongue left a wet trail until she reached the tip. I groaned and pushed my hips upward, seeking her hot mouth. Once her lips cradled my dick, nothing else mattered.

“All of it, baby, come on. Suck it. Suck all of it,” I urged. “All of it, Yvonne. Show me how sorry you are.”

She deep throated like a dream, so I couldn’t imagine why Greg ever let anyone else on his dick. I threaded my fingers through her hair and groaned, my pleasure hastened by her quickening rhythm. She wanted my forgiveness, and more than anything, I wanted to give it.

Yvonne’s dark hair tickled my hip and dragged over the top of my thighs. I smoothed it back from her face and watched the rapid descent of her mouth up and down my erection. She sucked it in expertly, never hesitating, choking on me until my balls touched her chin the way I liked.

I didn’t warn her of my impending orgasm, nor did I need to. In two weeks, Yvonne had come to know me well. She drew back until the flared tip rested over her tongue. Her lips sealed around my veiny shaft and her fist eagerly pumped until my toes curled.

I exploded in her mouth, and she swallowed every salty bit. My fingers tightened in her hair as I held her there until the throbbing pulse in my dick eased. She came off of me with a wet slurp, like a kid sucking a lollipop. I didn’t move; I lay there, completely weak and at her mercy.

When my breaths returned and my head stopped spinning, I sat up and smiled at the woman knelt between my legs. God how I liked seeing her that way.

“Do you forgive me?”

“I forgave you before your lips touched me, baby. Come here.”

I coaxed her close, until her nubile body lay stretched upon me. I discarded my t-shirt and kicked free of my sweats so that we could press skin to skin. Explore and touch while I recuperated from climax. I wanted to have her again and I needed to make up for my tardiness.

“There’s never a need to hit, Yvonne. I have my life and you’ll have yours when you’re ready, but this…?” I stroked my palm down her body and delved two fingers into her wet clench. She moaned and gyrated her hips, encouraging me to finger fuck her. “This is mine. Do you understand me? Do you understand what I risked to have you? I don’t want anyone else. I want
you
.”

“I should be punished.”

I flipped her over and jerked her back by her hips.

Generous amounts of lubricant and an ultra-thin condom eased my passage into her ass. It was new for me, but Yvonne had begged me to try. I reamed her, thrusting hard and fast. My pelvis clapped against her cheeks, the skin to skin contact pleasing me as much as her tight grip on my dick. I could never get enough of Yvonne. I craved her, like an addict needing a fix. Her tits swung and bounced with the frenetic rhythm of my strokes.

Opposite us, a mirror hung on the wall, portraying a perfect view of our wild coupling. Her elated expression and screams for more turned me into an insatiable animal.

She came so hard that she collapsed flat on her belly and lay there, trembling and weak. After I disposed of the condom, we met beneath the warm shower spray. We held each other close and didn’t dare to speak. Neither kissing nor exploring with our touches. Genuinely repentant for my failure to arrive on time, I kissed her brow and offered to wash her hair. She loved that. And to be absolutely truthful, I loved to pamper her, too.

Afterward, we dried and sprawled together upon a few thick blankets. Yvonne crawled over me, gazed into my eyes, and ran her fingers through my damp hair to smooth a few strands from my forehead. Her pensive look told me something was wrong.

“What is it?”

“I should have let you fuck me that night instead of playing games.” Yvonne’s soft voice filled with remorse. “Leaving you like that wasn’t fair. And I would have discovered all of this.”

I wish that I knew she’d wanted me to chase her. That she was testing me. “You can’t imagine how long I had to stand under a cold shower.” The memory inspired me to run my hand along my own dick. The semi-flaccid length stirred but ultimately remained limp. I was sated and exhausted.

The conversation continued for a few minutes more until my eyelids grew heavy and my limbs became as lead weights. I’d never slept in the basement with her before, but the idea appealed to me. I’d wake up to her choking me with her chain or…

“Jake? Wake up.”

I stirred and drowsily opened my eyes, too defeated by my own vigorous lovemaking to rouse easily from sleep. “What?”

“Shouldn’t you go upstairs to sleep in your bed?”

“Don’t wanna… comfortable right here.”

Yvonne shook me again. “You’ll miss your alarm and be late for work.

“Fuck work,” I grumbled.

“I might escape.”

“Then I’ll go to prison.” It crossed my mind that she might be speaking the truth and that her words weren’t some playful tease meant to chase me from the basement. If she escaped, she’d call the police. They’d no doubt examine the sublevel, discover the fresh layer of cement, exhume Greg’s corpse, and then I’d be spending a long while behind bars before I ever saw the light of day. The courts had declared capital punishment unconstitutional in Massachusetts a few decades ago.

Despite the risk to
my
personal freedom, I wanted to have faith in her. Whether it was foolish or not, I gave my trust to Yvonne and shut my eyes. “I want to sleep with you.”

Yvonne stilled. “But… I said…”

“The key to your cuff is in my pants. If you want out, you know where to find it.”

It was time for the ultimate test of her loyalty.

I awakened six hours later to her morning kisses, with more than an hour to spare before I was due at work. Even now, Yvonne guaranteed I made it to work on time.

Chapter 10

I returned home in the evening to a wrapped parcel waiting for me outside of the door. Cassie had graduated from bringing me excess cookies and meatloaf in person, to leaving them on the welcome mat when our overlapping shifts prevented a meeting in person. I shook my head and read the note.

Last night was fun. I meant what I said about doing it again sometime soon. I always put Sam to bed at 8:30 every night, so I wondered if you’d like to come up. Call me if you’re free. I should be in from work by 5 today.

C.

She signed her name with a single letter, enough to divulge her identity. I took the tray of sweets inside and shut the door behind me.

Yvonne was bound to respond with jealousy, but I wasn’t going to blow off a friendship. While I knew that her shitty upbringing had a lot to do with her insecurities and perpetual need for reassurance, I couldn’t enable her by giving in either. The best way to treat it, was with patience, support, and a firm hand.