Carnal Slave (2 page)

The ice in her drink had mostly melted but doing anything about it was too much work.

It was a lot easier to sprawl on the couch while trying to summon up the energy to change the channel.

She had to get another job. Once she was again employed, she’d move from this down-at-the-heels place and into a newer, upscale complex complete with security cameras and decent locks. Yeah, that’s what she’d do. Pack up her belongings and—The doorbell rang. Pissed at the intrusion, she stared at the door. The bell chimed again.

“Who is it?” she yelled and muted the TV.

“Mitch.”

The voice didn’t sound like Mitch’s but maybe the liquor had gotten to her hearing.

“What do you want?”

“Are you going to let me in?”

That sounded more like him, didn’t it? Maybe he’d learned what had happened to her today and knew she shouldn’t be alone. He’d hold her while she cried and ranted. They’d fuck until the top of her head exploded.

As she stood, her robe gaped. She pulled the halves together, then made her less than steady way to the door and twisted the lock. Stepping back a little, she pulled the door toward her.

A stranger stood in the space she’d created. “What—“

He shoved her backward across the room, kicking the door shut as he did. Following her, he jammed the back of her legs against the couch and twisted her around. She landed face down on the couch. He straddled her, grabbed her hair, and pulled her head back so she could barely breathe. Her right arm was jammed between her and the back of the couch, and he knelt on her left. No matter how frantically she bucked and squirmed, she couldn’t stop him from jamming a ball gag in her mouth. He pushed her face back into the couch, then buckled the gag in place.

Terror lanced through her. Her attacker’s strength was much greater than hers. Even more frightening was the realization of how easily he’d silenced her. She managed to turn her head to the side, but his weight still made breathing difficult. He scooted back until he straddled her thighs then grabbed her arms and forced them behind her. A leather strip bit into her arms just above her elbows. Her terror grew as he cinched her elbows within inches of each other.

In contrast to her strained breathing, he didn’t seem to be short of breath as he climbed off her and stood.

Staring at what she could see of him, she cursed her half-drunk mind. She was vaguely aware that she should be even more afraid, yet there was something comforting about not really caring.

“You don’t remember me, Willow?” He jerked his head at her drink. “How much of the bottle’s left?”

How did you know I bought—
The question died as she stared up at the face of the man who’d rescued her earlier today. He’d exchanged his dress shirt and tie for jeans and a T-shirt.

“Get up.”

He sounded so calm and reasonable she relaxed a little. Then she acknowledged that he’d issued a command and again felt overwhelmed.

“I said, get up.”

There was something fierce and cruel in the not-so-simple sentence. Her shoulders already ached from being pulled back, and she’d started to drool. The way he stood on widespread legs left her with no doubt of which of them was in charge. Trembling as she hadn’t done since childhood, she squirmed around on the couch until she was sitting up and her feet were on the carpet. Her robe had come untied. One breast was exposed as was much of her belly and mons.

Leaving her, he walked over to the opening between the living room and kitchen and turned on the overhead light. He studied her as she fought to free her arms. When he reached into his back pocket, she feared he was reaching for a knife. “No, please,” she tried to beg but only muffled sounds came out. She was barely restrained so why did she feel so helpless?

He pulled out a digital camera and began taking pictures of her. Every time the flash went off, she jumped and frantically looked for somewhere, anywhere to run. The closed front door seemed to be mocking her. Not only would she be hard-pressed to open it with her arms the way they were, her captor would surely stop her.

Damek!
That’s what he’d said his name was.

“I’ve been watching you for several days.” He placed the camera on the coffee table. “As a result, I know a lot about your housing situation. I made gagging you my first order of business because there’s a remote chance someone might hear a scream. Having neighbors who work nights made things easier for me. Otherwise, I might have had to grab you elsewhere.”

He hadn’t told her she couldn’t move. Even if he had, she couldn’t stand still. Shaking even more, she paced from one end of the couch to the other and back again. Was this what a caged animal felt like?

“Remote capture appeared to be problematic,” he continued, “because you avoid isolated places. What is it? You’re afraid of being where there aren’t crowds?” He frowned.

“No, that’s not it because you wouldn’t be living here. This really is a dump, hardly where I’d expect an accountant to be living.”

How did he know what she did—or used to do—for a living?

He jerked his head at the space between her legs. “I’ll be shaving that pussy.”

What was he saying? That he intended to keep her with him? The possibility brought bile to her throat. She frantically swallowed as best she could.

“I’m going to check out your living conditions before we leave,” he said as calmly as if they were discussing the weather. “Which means I’ll be leaving you to your own devices for a few minutes. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? It’d give you a chance to try to escape.”

He hadn’t touched her since gagging and restraining her. Whatever his intentions, he wasn’t going to kill her—at least not now. He didn’t seem interested in her exposed breast, not that that comforted her.

“One thing about having worked for Carnal Incorporated as long as I have.” He reached into another pocket and pulled out a black sleep mask. “I come well-prepared.”

As he started toward her, she whirled and sprinted for the kitchen. She had no idea what, if anything she had in mind, but she couldn’t stand there like a sheep being led to slaughter. She got as far as the doorway when he hit her from behind and slammed her into a wall. Moving quicker than she thought possible, he yanked the mask over her head and against her eyes. Her world disappeared.

Taking hold of her hair, he straightened her. His breath heated and dampened the top of her head.

“You don’t smell bad, like you recently took a shower. I guess that explains the robe, either that or you were getting ready to play with yourself.”

She’d known his words would turn sexual but hearing them knotted her stomach. Being unable to yell for help had taken a huge chunk of her self-confidence, but that was nothing compared to not seeing.

“Sensory deprivation,” he whispered. “It’s an incredibly effective technique in the training process. Take now for example. I’ve robbed you of what is probably your most vital sense. Consequently, you’re dependent on me, the man responsible for putting you in this fix.”

As he talked, she tried to determine where he was standing. Maybe he was moving about to further confuse her. It occurred to her that he might be playing with her much as a cat toys with a crippled mouse before killing it.

I don’t want to die. Anything but that.

“Hopefully you recall what I said just before you made that damn fool move of yours. I intended to check out your apartment and needed you to behave yourself. My plans haven’t changed, but first I’ll make sure you understand what a serious mistake you made by upsetting my plans.”

Serious mistake?
Before she could decide what was behind his ominous tone, he slapped her bare breast. Pain radiated throughout her chest, and she screamed into the mouth-stretching gag. He struck her a second time, harder than the first. Overwhelmed, she tried to twist away.

He grabbed her upper right arm and held her in place. “Settle down, filly. You aren’t going anywhere except where I want you to.”

When he pulled on her arm, she had no choice but to try to keep up, stumbling as she did. She guessed he was taking her back into the living room but he yanked her one way and then the other so she wasn’t sure. Her lower arms flopped as if challenging her to do more with them.

She was thoroughly disoriented when he let go of her. Cocking her head, she listened or rather she tried to. Her pounding heart and wheezing lungs made that difficult.

This wasn’t happening! It couldn’t be. Her life was safe and ordered, not a nightmare.

Something clamped around her right ankle. Squealing, she tried to shake it off only to stop, horrified, when her captor seized her sex lips. She guessed he was kneeling before her, totally in control.

“If you want to remain intact—“ He tightened his hold. “I suggest you hold still. Got it?”

Pain radiated through her from the waist down. Desperate to have it end, she nodded.

“Smart decision. Hopefully you’ll make other intelligent ones, but if you don’t, it’ll mean more fun for me.”

Did he really expect her to concentrate? Sick with pain, she clenched her fists. After what felt like forever, he let go. Blood flowed through her labia, making her gasp. The longer she waited for him to do something, the more her fear of being hurt again increased. She was almost grateful when what she suspected was leather closed around her left ankle.

“There you go.” He patted her thighs as if they were old friends. “No more discomfort, for now.”

She heard a faint grunt that made her think he’d just stood up. Silence crushed around her. Agitated as she was, she couldn’t be sure whether he was nearby or had left her alone. She tried to take a step only to discover he’d hobbled her.

Suddenly nothing mattered. She was as good as dead and completely under Damek’s control. He could and would do whatever he wanted to her. How long before anyone realized she was missing? Even more devastating to think about, would anyone care?

Time seemed to start and stop, to speed up followed by a slog she couldn’t make sense of. Positioning her feet to minimize the risk of falling took so much concentration that she occasionally dismissed her burning shoulders and upper arms. However that didn’t last long, and the pain seemed worse every time she thought about it. She tried to determine whether her breast still stung from being slapped but with everything else she was feeling, she couldn’t tell.

She needed to cry, yet tears were no cure. Damek had made her his prisoner. He couldn’t keep her here indefinitely which meant he had a safe-to-him place to take her to. If he knew as much about her as she suspected he did, his intention wasn’t to hold her for ransom.

His. To do what he wanted with.

Beaten down with fear, she slumped forward. Any minute her legs would give way.

Damek would undoubtedly haul her back to her feet, but what if her falling angered him?

Would he slap her breast or pinch her pussy lips again? Or worse?

Moaning into the hard ball in her mouth, she rocked back and forth what little she dared.

Why had she let him in? If she’d refused to open—

He’d said he was Mitch. Oh God, he knew who her former boyfriend was!

“Getting tired of waiting for me? You’ll be glad to know I’m done.”

Damek’s voice sounded disembodied. He could be anywhere in the room and getting ready to do anything.

Metal closed around her wrists. She who’d never been stopped by a police officer was now handcuffed.

She was trying to wrap her mind around the latest restraint when he loosened the leather above her elbows. Fierce burning had her screaming into the gag. Nearly a minute passed before the pain stopped being all-consuming.

Damek rearranged her robe and tied it in place. “Can’t let you getting cold on your way to my chariot.” He chuckled. “Oh, for the record, because I work for a company that knows what it’s doing, shortly after we leave there’ll be no sign I was ever in your apartment. It’ll also look as if you intended to be gone for a while.”

What was it he’d said, something about working for something called Carnal Incorporated. Did they employ housekeepers? No, nothing so ordinary.

She was wondering how he expected her to walk hobbled the way she was when he hoisted her over his shoulder. An arm looped over her back held her in place. Afraid he’d drop her, she didn’t struggle. Her violent shakes continued. The sound of her front apartment door closing behind them was like a knife slicing through her will, and she sagged over his strength.

It wasn’t fair! Her restrictive childhood was behind her. She was supposed to be hitting her stride, taking the world by storm and living it to the hilt.

Instead she’d been fired, dropped by her boyfriend, and most horrible of all, captured.

Tears drenched the sleep mask as the stranger who called himself Damek walked with her into the night. His shoes made no sound, leading her to believe he was walking on the weed-invaded lawn. Instead of stopping which would tell her they’d reached the tenant carport, he kept moving.

After what seemed like forever, he stopped. She heard a clicking sound she guessed meant he’d remotely unlocked his vehicle. He’d been driving an SUV earlier so maybe—Oh God, where was he taking her?

Should she be past absolute terror by now? No matter, she couldn’t get on top of the all-consuming emotion. Despite her blindness, she lifted her head and strained to see.

“I’ve sometimes wondered what being disoriented is like for the subjects,” he said and let her slide off his shoulder. He held her until she’d gotten her feet under her, then let her go.

“All I know for sure is how effective the technique is for us trainers.”

Trainers? What was he talking about?

She couldn’t run. All she could do was stand there like a chained dog and listen to the sound of a vehicle door being opened. Grabbing her upper arms, he half lifted and half shoved her into a small carpeted space on her side. He’d placed her in the back of a vehicle, probably the SUV.

Don’t do this! Oh please, let this be a nightmare!

“We’ve got a long ride ahead of us,” he told her as he rolled her onto her back with her arms under her. “Fortunately, you’re not going to be bored because I have something to entertain you with.”