Crave (9 page)

“No.” Linnet shook her head. “Please. I’d really like it if you would stay.” She took a deep breath, her gaze traveling from Ryder to him. “Both of you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Ummm. Let me see if I can explain.” She got up off the bed and began to remove her corset.

“Linnet,” he started, his voice strangled even to his own ears.

She met his censorious stare with a measured one of her own. “You asked me to clarify.” With a thump the corset fell away. “Ryder, would you please help me with this?”

The skirt fastening was in the back. The other man kept his eyes on Gage but did as Linnet asked. He heard the sound of snaps and the skirt fell to the floor. Ryder held her hand as she stepped out of the circle of fabric, clad now only in panties and thigh high stockings.

“Thank you, Ryder.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Can you please take your position after removing your clothes?”

“If Mistress wishes it.” He began to disrobe, his clothing on the floor in moments. He then knelt down at the foot of the bed awaiting Linnet’s instruction.

Gage blinked. What the fuck was she doing? He started for the door. “I’m not going to watch this.” His erection pressed against his leathers and he knew she saw it.

“No. You’re going to help me.”

She stepped in front of him, her breasts swaying with each step. They were fuller now. Her middle slightly thicker but it was just more for him to hold onto.

“Are you
trying
to kill me?”

“No.” She pressed in close, her breasts mashing against his chest. Her hand snaked underneath him, cupping his bulging erection. “I’m trying to be alive.”

“What?”

She unzipped him, his cock springing free. Her fingers wrapped around him, and she turned her gaze up to his eyes. “Be with me. Both of you.”

***

Her heart was in her throat. Ryder waited at the foot of the bed, but it wouldn’t take much for him to bolt. She understood he wanted her but with Gage here, the ghost of her past was now just a little too real. Especially standing in the middle of the room with his cock hanging out of his leathers, a confused expression on his face.

“I want you. The two of you. There. Simple terms. Does that work?”

Ryder glanced up in surprise, completely breaking his submissive posture. “I accept.”

“Thank you. I know how hard that was.” She turned her eyes to Gage. “I can’t have a future without you in it. I’ve hovered around your flame for as long as I can remember. Now I need you to consume me.”

“Linnet.” He crushed her to him, his cock sliding between her thighs.

“Not yet. I need something from the two of you.” She disengaged herself and went to the large wooden cabinet toward the back of the room. Opening it up, she withdrew a rattan cane and a small tube of antibiotic ointment.

“No…”

“Yes.” She padded back across the carpet and handed Gage the cane. Long and thin, it made her shiver when she thought of him using it on her like he used to. Some of her fondest memories of the club were beneath his tender mercies. To Ryder she handed the tube. “Please remove my panties and rub this over my back.”

“Mistress,” Ryder’s gaze met Gage’s, “are you certain this is what you wish?”

The sting of tears made an unexpected presence in her eyes. “I will wipe this,” she held up her wrists, “from me. You both hold parts of me and I need you to make me whole. If he comes, we’ll deal with him, but right now it’s about us.”

Gage took the cane. “All right then. Over to the bed. Arms up and hands in the stirrups.”

Linnet complied, the forcefulness of his voice settling over her like a warm blanket. This was the Gage she remembered. She walked to the bed, the frame heavy with straps built into the posts. She slipped her hands inside and waited.

The sound of a zipper filled her ears, and she smiled against the wooden post.

“Mistress.” Ryder slid the panties over her ass, and she kicked them away. Now the only thing she wore were the thigh high stockings. He squirted some of the ointment on her back and buttocks, smoothing it over her flesh in even strokes.

“Stand back.”

“I need your safe word, Linnet.”

She twisted her head to look in his direction. What she saw made the breath catch in her throat. A nude Ryder stood next to Gage, now clad only in his leathers. Bare-chested, his muscles rippling and holding the cane, the sight made her weak in the knees.

“Marshmallow.”

“It hasn’t changed then.”

“No.”

“Seven strikes. One for every year you’ve hidden from me.”

“Do it.” She spread her legs, ass in the air, and braced herself for the pain. It was the only way. “Cover them. Take. Them. All.”

The whistle through the air was the only warning she had before the first cut. The impact was agonizing as it scorched the flesh of her upper back. All of her nerve endings were on fire and then the pain changed into something much more manageable. Desire.

“Color.”

“Green.” Tears slid down her cheeks. One year gone. “Another.” She would see the vile markings erased from her skin. There was only one man to take them from her. The only man strong enough to force her back through to the other side of the past so she could embrace the present. And the other strong enough to allow the past to live within her. How could she choose between them?

Another sharp sound rent the air as another cut, directly below the last one, bit into her flesh, numbing her mind to everything but the sensations running along her skin.

“More.” Linnet grit her teeth, the mind boggling sting melding into a hum between her legs.

Ryder moved beneath her, his mouth lifting up to capture her pussy. The sting of the cane and the liquid rush of heat spiraling through her lower body made her knees weak.

“God…”

Each stroke took another piece of her, scarifying her from the defilement at the hands of a madman. Every lash of Ryder’s tongue brought ecstasy, the two sensations melding together until she cried out, her pussy clenching, as her release rolled through her.

“Color.”

“Green,” she gasped. “Gage… Ryder…”

He was there. Ryder climbed from beneath her and, between the two of them, they lifted her up onto the bed so she was resting on her stomach. Gage reached for the night stand and pulled open the drawer. He reached for two condoms, one for him and one for Ryder.

“I need you. Inside me.” Linnet reached for Gage and tugged Ryder toward her so his cock was close to her lips. She patted the bed. “Ryder, I want you to fuck my mouth.”

It felt good saying what she really wanted. The pain radiating from her back, it gave her arousal even more power. She climbed to her knees, and tossed Ryder’s condom to the side. “Later.”

Ryder climbed onto the bed in front of her. “Are you ready?” His cock bobbed in front of her, already dripping with pre-cum. She reached out and licked the tip and grinned as his eyes rolled back in his head.

“Yes. Really, really fuck me.”

“I won’t last long if you do that.”

“Mmm. You wouldn’t disappoint me now, would you?”

He chuckled. “No, Ma’am. Not if that’s what I’d have to look forward to tonight.” He edged his chin up toward the cabinet where the implements for impact play were housed.

She heard the sound of a foil wrapper, and the bed bounced as Gage joined them. His hand slid over her sore ass, his fingers delving between her legs.

“Mmm. So wet. I want to bury myself inside of you.” The tip of his cock edged her opening. “You both ready?”

Ryder grunted. “Yes. You first.”

Gage didn’t argue. He drove inside of Linnet, his thick cock stretching her wide. Ryder slipped inside of her mouth, the sweet and salty taste of him sending her taste buds into overdrive. His musk was heady and natural.

His fingers dove into her hair, holding her in place as the thrusting motion of his hips increased in tempo.

“Linnet…”

Fierce and greedy, Gage fucked her hard, his hands gripping her hips in a display of ownership and downright possession. He withdrew and surged back inside of her channel, reaching beneath her to tease and torment her erect clit. The pain from the welts on her back blended with the pleasure unspooling throughout her body, sending a crescendo of sensation through her.

Soon the three fell into a rhythm, Ryder the first to experience his release. He bucked against her lips and jerked, his hot seed filling her mouth. She swallowed his gift, licking him and sucking him until he was clean and he slid out of her, shaking and spent.

Linnet groaned as Gage maneuvered inside of her, the length of him laying claim to every part of her pussy. She was so close. A whimper escaped her lips and she hung her head trying to keep the telltale tremors from taking her over the edge.

“Not yet, Linnet.” Gage warned, picking up the pace. He kept going for a few more minutes, finally succumbing to his own body’s urges. “Now. Come now.”

Her body seized, relieved at last to let her release fly. She cried out, a wave of warmth rushing through her lower body as she soared. It was bliss. Gage wrapped himself around her and even through the pain, she smiled. Ryder held her hand, and she pressed her lips against his skin.

Then time blurred. The door from the hallway opened and out of the corner of her eye, a man in black burst inside of the room.

Gunfire filled the small space, and Gage was gone. His withdrawal was sudden, leaving her exposed and shivering. The sound of something heavy falling to the floor made her cry out.

“Gage…” She turned her face toward Ryder. He shook his head.

“Mistress, be still.”

“You shut up.”

That voice.
She knew it. He was here.

Motherfucker.

“I’m getting up.”

“Go ahead. Then you can watch your other pretty boy die.”

Panic threatened to seize her but she fought it down. She had to be calm.

“Ryder. Please climb off the bed and go sit on the floor.”

“But…”

She shot him a warning look. “Please. Do as I say.”

He started to climb off the bed, deftly reaching beneath the pillow and removing his phone. It took one press of the phone’s emergency button and they would be on the radar. Only he never got that chance. The shot fired out, knocking Ryder from his perch, sending him tumbling over the side of the bed. He landed on the floor next to Gage, the phone falling from his hand.

“Ryder!”

Shit.

She’d anticipated this when she’s chosen this room. Her partner Jonesy was out in the parking lot, ready with backup. She had to get to the silent alarm. It was her only other chance. If she could manage that, the Dungeon Monitors would be alerted faster. She edged toward the side of the bed on her hands and knees, deliberately slow, and she used the night stand to steady herself. Her finger brushed across the silent alarm as she gripped the small table in a show of her discomfort.

Linnet stood, her body screaming from the kiss of the cane. From this vantage point, she couldn’t see the men. But that also meant he couldn’t, either. Naked, she faced their intruder.

“So you found me.” She turned to the perpetrator, cold dread churning in her insides. It was up to her to protect Ryder and Gage. Too many people had died at the hands of this asshole. Now it was time to make things right. He was more tanned than she remembered, and he’d dyed his hair black. “Nice dye job.”

He leveled the gun at her, a sneer spreading across his features. “I could say the same. But I won’t. It merely cheapens you more.”

She pressed her body along the bed for support, her fingers brushing the rattan cane.

If she was fast enough she could use it. If she wasn’t they’d all be dead soon enough.

No.

She was the strong one. She’d survived. They were under her protection now. Linnet took a deep breath and stared down the demon who had stolen her life. “I won’t let you do this.”

“You don’t have any say in the matter.”

“I’m afraid I don’t agree.” All the images of the girls swam behind her eyes. The feel of his hands on her skin and the foul whisper of his voice every night when she closed her eyes. The terror thrummed underneath her skin and vibrated through her body. Then the Domme part of her took hold, and her fingers wrapped around the cane.

She thought of Gage and of Ryder. Of the possibilities. Of the future.

He was expecting someone weak. But he was a fool.

“You destroyed my life, bitch.” He stood glaring at her with dead eyes, the tiny scratches covering his face adding fuel to her quiet rage.

Niggles.

A bitter laugh exploded from her lips. “
I
destroyed
your
life?”

She swung the cane up, keeping it level with the inside of her arm and let the end of the rattan fly against the side of his head. “You killed my fucking cat, you asshole.”

The Ripper screamed, the gun discharging into the wall.

Linnet moved fast in her stocking feet, her mind visualizing the movement of the Shibari artist. Firm footing would make or break her. She much preferred it would break him. Linnet angled the cane again, letting it fly. She aimed for the bridge of his nose, and following immediately with another attack to the other side of his head. She repeated the motion, knowing full well the repercussions should she strike too hard.

He cried out, sinking to his knees.

She twisted on her feet to strike again, and a hand reached out from behind, holding her hand over the cane. Linnet yelped in surprise and turned to find a wounded Gage at her back. Pale, he took the cane from her trembling hands and enveloped her in his arms.

“You don’t have to do it by yourself anymore.”

Linnet hugged him tight and he winced. “Hey. Careful. I think one of them might be broken.”

“Oh, Gage.”

The Ripper laid still, the only sound in the room the rasping rattle of his breathing. The door to the room opened and Jonesy charged inside, a unit of swat officers at his back.

He saw Linnet and scowled. “Damn, woman. Not that I don’t appreciate a good show, but if you knew we were coming why didn’t you put on some clothes?”