Conviction (24 page)

Chapter 34 – James

James worked the submissives through their paces. The new group that he had begun training were eager and overly ambitious. Out of the six of them, he could see only two natural submissives, three would take some training and one he was sure was a closet domme.

“Master James?” James watched as a larger girl in her mid-twenties called to him as the group gathered their belongings. She wore a leather skirt so short that he could see the cheeks of her amble ass peeking from underneath. Her top was non-existent and her nipples had beaded into tiny hard nubs.

“Yes, Claudette?”

“I just wanted to say…I wanted to thank you, Sir.”

“What for?” He turned her chin up so that she was forced to meet his eyes, watching her pupils dilate so large there was only the smallest amount of green around the edges.

“For taking me on…I know I need some work, but you didn’t have to take me on and you did. So, thank you.”

“Don’t thank me just yet, gorgeous. You’re only in the beginning stages of training. We’re yet to cover the things that will turn you inside out.” Tenderly he cupped her face in his hands, maintaining eye contact. Her pupils retracted at the reminder of her past and tears welled in her eyes. “You can’t force this, you have a long way to go in your recovery and I won’t let you proceed if I think that this is causing more harm than good. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir, I understand.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself, Claudette. You are strong and wilful, full of live and have a lot to give others. Not just a dom, friends…family.”

Claudette tensed at the mention of friends and family. She hadn’t spoken to anyone from her past since James and Xander had rescued her from Devlin’s compound. She only left her tiny apartment to come to the club or go to counselling. Mostly she just ate. Which is why she had put on a huge amount of weight. Her self-confidence was already shattered from her time at the compound and the extra weight made her feel worse. But it also made her feel protected. What man would want her this way? None. And that was perfectly fine with her.

“Someone will be at the door to drive you home, you did very well tonight, you should be proud of yourself.” The only acknowledgement that she had heard him was the slightest closing of her eyes. He knew she didn’t believe him, she wanted to, but she was tuned for distrust. “Now, off you go and put some clothes on, although I do like looking at that ass of yours.”

Claudette blushed, James wasn’t sure if it was from horror or embarrassment. He liked the extra weight on her frame. When she had been rescued from the compound she had been malnourished and underweight. He knew that she was having issues with her new body. But her curves were attractive and appealing to nearly all the men, and some of the women, at the club. But Claudette couldn’t see it yet, how beautiful she was, how her now full lips turned up only slightly at the edges when she was praised, how her breasts had the most delicious bounce when she walked in the stilettos the club provided or her curves filled out her body, turning her from beautiful to goddess.

“Rough night?” Xander asked as James plopped into the leather couch opposite his large desk. James grunted in response making Xander lift up an eyebrow but he said nothing else, knowing that his friend and partner would tell him what was bothering him in his own time.

Xander tapped away at his keyboard sending emails and paying some of the clubs bills.

“Is she back yet?”

“Yes.”

“Dammit Xander! When did she get back?” James jumped up from the couch and stalked to Xander’s over bearing dark wood desk. His chest heaved and his fists balled at his sides as he fought to control his anger.

“She didn’t want you to know. I’m sorry, but she doesn’t want to see you.”

James opened and closed his mouth, but nothing came out. A year he had waited patiently for his fiery little redhead to return. She’d spent six weeks in hospital after being rescued. She was in a coma for three of those weeks, nobody had known why, or if she would even wake up. One of the doctors had called it a self-imposed state of peace. Where her mind wasn’t able to deal with what had happened to her. When she had finally woken up, he hadn’t been there. Xander had convinced him to go home, get some sleep and shower after the nurses had complained about his smell. He hadn’t realised that he had worn the same clothes since the night they he and Xander had stolen into the compound.

He still had nightmares about the women, what they looked like huddling together in that damn dungeon. Their battered bodies and their destroyed souls. He still visited the grave of Grace Conlan, the one woman they had been unable to save. She had died from severe internal bleeding. If only they had gone in sooner.
Before
Devlin had the chance to get his claws into Kelly.

Anna had called once a month to update him on Kelly’s progress. She was being treated in a private facility for victims of abuse. Most stays lasted from a few weeks to six months. Kelly had needed ten and a half months before her counsellors and doctors agreed that she was able to leave.

The police had retrieved the bodies of Anna’s daughter, Kelly-Ann, and Kelly’s infant son, who she had called Angel. He’d been born with wings and James couldn’t have thought of a better name for him. James hadn’t gone to the funeral. He hadn’t even known about it until over a month later when Anna let it slip. Kelly had come back to the city and left again without a word. He was hurt and confused. He
needed
to see her, to protect her and tell her…tell her something he never thought he would.

James turned and walked out of Xander’s office before he did something he would regret. He knew it wasn’t Xander’s fault, but he needed someone to blame. Xander was it. James had known that he had been hiding things about Kelly from him. He never blatantly lied, but he also dodged questions about Kelly and her progress.

Anna had been his only link to Kelly and she had gone off the radar two weeks ago, refusing to answer his calls and not retuning them. He stalked out to his motorbike, a new purchase that he had bought when Kelly had gone to the treatment facility. He revved the engine to life and kicked it into gear, tearing out of the lane behind the club without looking at the traffic first. Horns blared but he was lucky. It was four o’clock in the morning and not many people were out and about yet.

James rode and rode, before returning to his house at seven in the morning. He had no idea where he had been, or how he had even gotten home. Parking the bike in front of his barn style garage he didn’t bother donning gloves or wraps before laying into the bag in front of him. The one that he would swear he could still smell her scent on. He punched until he threw up, then punched until his legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor in a sweaty heap, no longer able to hold back the emotions of the last twelve months. Tears and snot poured down his face in a messy cry. He was glad that nobody was around to witness him falling apart. He had
never
cried like this before.
Never
broken down to the point where he was out of control. He was
always
in control.

Always.

Except with her.

Kelly.

His fiery little redhead.

His.

Chapter 35 – Kelly

Kelly hit the bag with confidence, it bounced on its metal chain with each strike. Nobody in the gym had approached her when she had walked in to Sarge’s gym an hour ago. No doubt Sarge had worded them up to give her some space. Damn that man. He was going to make her cry.

She’d learnt a lot about herself in the past few months. Worked through the worst of her pain and healed physically from her injuries. She had buried her son and had grieved for her niece who she had one time believed to be her own daughter.

The funerals were brief but burying Angel had alleviated some of her grief and she had somehow found some resemblance of peace as she had stood alone with tears streaming down her face, staring at the tiny pastel blue coffin as it descended into its final resting place. Angel was finally at peace and Kelly was able to understand that his still birth had meant that Devlin hadn't been able to hurt him or turn him into some miniature version of himself.

Anna had also attended Angel's burial, being one of only a handful of people that had even known about the baby. Kelly had requested that neither Xander nor James attend the funeral, wanting to keep her grief private. Even Anna had nearly had to beg to be allowed to attend. Kelly had relented when Anna had bluntly reminded her that she had been the one to bury him the first time. Anna had made a blanket out of soft velvety material. In the centre she had hand embroided large white angel wings and added his name underneath. When Anna had presented the blanket to Kelly the day of the funeral, she had broken down and collapsed to the floor. Her grief at having to bury her child that she had never been able to hold, never heard cry but had felt moving within in her for months, surfacing. Kelly had allowed Anna to hold her and they had sat on the floor of Kelly's kitchen for hours before either one had wanted to move.

Anna's own grief had caused a multitude of problems. Her emotional well-being was constantly on the verge of a melt-down. On the day of Kelly-Anne's funeral, Anna hadn't been able to attend. Kelly had been the only one to throw in a single white rose onto the pale pink coffin adorned with tiny wooden roses.

Kelly-Anne's autopsy had revealed that she had suffered from multiple physical assaults from beatings to whippings. The only saving grace was that she hadn't been sexually assaulted. The autopsy concluding that Kelly-Anne had been a virgin at her death. She had died from internal bleeding as a result of a beating from one of Devlin's men. Because of lack of evidence, nobody had been charged with her death. None of the Devlin's men who had survived the assault on the compound had confessed to murdering the child. Anna's own guilt had left her broken and without the ability to move on with her life.

Kelly had managed to reach out to her cousin on the day that she had planned to kill herself. The day of her little girl's funeral. Kelly had found Anna sobbing and nearly comatose due to the amount of sleeping tablets that she had taken. A photo of her daughter and the autopsy report were clutched in her hands. Kelly had managed to get help before it had been too late and Anna had spent another two months in the treatment facility on suicide watch.

Kelly had reconnected with Anna once she had been released and they had grown quite close. It had become easier when Xander had offered Anna an apartment in the same building as Kelly, giving both women the chance at friendship they so desperately needed.

The treatment facility had also housed all the other woman who had been rescued from Devlin's compound. The media had called it
Devlin's Dungeon of Death
. What they didn't know was how many of them had wished for death when they had been there.

“What did that bag ever do to you, Shorty?” Sarge loomed off to the side and held her bag steady so she could punch faster and harder. “You getting something out of your system?”

“Nice to see you too, Sarge.” She punched the bag with a quick one-two-knee combo enjoying the grunt that came from her mentor and friend. “I take it you called off the dogs for me today?”

“Yeah, I figured you could use the space. Get back into the swing of things before they all start asking you out again. Got a couple of newbies that might take a crack though. Go easy on them, hey?” Sarge stepped back and headed to his office, leaving the door open as an invitation to her.

Kelly did some weights and ran on the treadmill to finish up before heading for the showers and changing into jeans and t-shirt. Grabbing her gym bag Kelly headed for Sarge’s office.

“Thought you were going to give me a miss.” Sarge said as he looked up from his paperwork. The man still did his accounting in old school ledgers, Kelly filled in the electronic information once a month. Or at least she used to.

“Want me to start doing your books again?”

“You looking for a job?”

“Why not, I mean. I’ve got all this time on my hands and I can only work out so much.”

Sarge nodded but didn’t say anything. Kelly could see a question forming on his lips, but he still didn’t say anything.

“You got something to say, Sarge? Why are you holding back? You’ve never done that with me before.” Kelly sighed and sat back in her chair. “I’m not going to break, Sarge, so spit it out already.”

“Are you going back to work at Momentum?” Kelly couldn’t figure out his tone. He was neither happy nor angry making her suspicious of it being a loaded question. Neither of them spoke for a full minute, Kelly broke their staring contest first.

“Not to work, no.”

“Then why are you going back? You don’t have to do this, you know. You don’t know how you’re going to react to that…scene.”

“Sarge, I know you mean well, and I love that you care about me so much. I just…this is something I
need
to do. You might not like it, you might not even understand it, hell,
I
don’t completely understand it. But…it’s just…right. I need this and its take me a lot of soul searching and therapy to get there.”

“Okay, Shorty.” Sarge stood up from behind his desk and walked towards Kelly with his hand out. As soon as she took it he pulled her to her feet and enveloped her into the biggest, most emotional hug she had ever experienced. After a few moments of shock, she let herself close her eyes and enjoy being held by the giant of a man she likened to a father. After a full minute Sarge pulled back and Kelly saw wetness in his eyes.

“Now, get the hell out of my gym before I start charging you rent.” Sarge turned away and went back behind his cluttered desk, shuffling papers and ledgers from one place to another. Kelly smiled at his awkwardness with affection and left the gym. She needed to change and get her head straight. Master Xander wanted to see her. Tonight. She put any thought of James out of her head. She wasn’t ready for him. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be.

When Kelly arrived at her new apartment there was a large parcel sitting at the front door, she scooped it up, looking around in case there was someone watching. The parcel wasn’t marked and it was eight o’clock at night. This had been delivered personally.

The large red bow around plain brown craft paper made it look a little Christmassy. But Kelly laid it reverently on her new kitchen table.

The apartment was one of Xander’s investment properties and he was letting her stay there, rent and bill free, until she was working full time again. She hadn’t argued with him, knowing that his offer also included a security system that was monitored and also doorman. She was sure he had been placed there when she had arrived because she’d overheard one of the neighbours asking why they had suddenly put on a doorman when there hadn’t been one for the three years she had been there.

Kelly had learnt not to look a gift horse in the mouth while in counselling, and that her stubbornness wasn’t always in her own best interest. Kelly was still fiercely independent but she also knew when people were offering to help because they cared. Not because they wanted something from her.

Kelly grabbed a large glass of cold water from the filter and slugged it down before wiping her wet chin with her arm.

“Oh yeah, that’s ladylike,” she said to the empty room before erupting into a fit of giggles. The one thing she had never believed herself to be was ladylike. Most of the time she still felt like she was a teenager. Until her body or her mind reminded her of everything that she had been through.

She had so many scars that she couldn’t even count them. Even after twelve months, some of them were still to fade. The ones that had reopened thanks to Devlin and his men, were always angry and red, a constant reminder of what had happened to her. She didn’t wear shorts, dresses or shirts because she didn’t want people to stare or ask questions. The only time she allowed herself to be naked was in bed at night. It was feeling of control. That she had control over what she wore to bed. Over her body. And it reminded her…of…

Kelly closed her eyes tightly before walking over to the table where the perfect red bowed box sat. She couldn’t think of him, not yet. He was the one person that could pull her apart at the seams.

When she lifted the lid a small silver note sat on top of some red tissue paper, covering the remaining contents. She pulled the note out and immediately recognised Xander’s writing.
Master Xander
she reminded herself.

Hello Little One,

I’m looking forward to seeing you tonight. I’m sorry that I cannot come to you, but as I have sent Master James on errands for the night, as per your request, I am short staffed so I need to be onsite.

Wear this. Be on time. Ten p.m. sharp.

We will discuss consequences for disobedience then.

Master X.

Kelly closed the card and placed it on the table next to the box. The red tissue paper almost seemed like an alarm of some sort. Did she really want to go down this path? Could she? Or would she fall apart like last time she had tried to go into a club.

She closed her eyes and remembered it like it was yesterday. At the six month mark in therapy, she had decided she wanted to go to a club, one of
those
clubs, and try and take back some control of the feelings she had about the BDSM lifestyle. She knew that not all doms were like Devlin King, but her head kept setting off alarm bells every time she thought about James and what they did together. What they had been trying to achieve.

“Dammit all to hell, I’m stronger than this!” She tore at the red paper ripping it from the box. “What’s the worst thing he could have me wear?”