Mastered: Ten Tales of Sensual Surrender (76 page)

When Burton was done, he spoke quietly into her ear again.

“Do you need another one?”

Yes she did. Really, really needed this. Needed the impact to release the tears that welled up in her chest. But they weren’t tears of physical pain. They were tears of anguish from the emotional shredding she’d endured at Marcais’ hands, both in and after their relationship. Tears of healing. Even tears of joy that it was over and she’d survived.

“Yes, please,” she whispered.

After a few more smacks, Burton gently pulled down her dress and helped her up off the spanking bench.

“You did good, Sol,” Mac said.

She threw her arms around Burt’s waist, buried her head against his chest and sobbed her heart out.

“That’s it,” Burt said. “Let it out. Release it. Holding it inside isn’t good for you.”

After a few moments, he asked, “So, tell me why you’re crying.”

Her words were muffled against the damp fabric of his shirt. “I feel like such an idiot. I can’t believe I was so stupid. I fell for a charmer who could give two shits about me, and then I go and look to see what he’s up to and he’s busy writing about me to impress someone else. Several someone else’s. And he didn’t love me, Burt!” She sobbed. “He said that the person in the writing was his sub and he loved her. But he didn’t love me. Before he moved out he said he loved me, but he didn’t.” She knew she was practically screeching but now that the dam had burst, she couldn’t plug it up again.

“He didn’t love me, Burt. He didn’t. He didn’t! God, he was so mean to me. He yelled and screamed at me when all I did was give and give and give. He treated me like shit. And he cheated with the very types of women he swore he didn’t want. Were they so much better than me? Did they have something that I didn’t? Why? Why would he do that to me?”

And she cried until she was exhausted and in need a German chocolate cake. And perhaps a new pair of shoes.

And after she got herself together, Solie’s two best friends took her to go get both.

* * * * *

Solie took the leash off her shepherd and the both of them hopped back into the SUV and were home in less than five minutes. “This is becoming a habit, Burton. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying the summer sun and trail walking, but the circumstances suck ass.”

“Well, I’m not happy that you’re still in contact with him, Solie.”

She stomped to a halt just inside her front door. Wait. Had she left it unlocked? Must have. Whatever. She was too pissed to care right now.

“No. Just no. I am not going to let you accuse me of something I did not do. I am
not
in communication with him, damn it. I reached out to this latest chick in hopes that she’d seen some of my jewelry. Actually, it’s my niece Tooty’s jewelry. It’s all Native American beadwork. Handmade stuff that can’t be replaced. We’ve been collecting it for twenty years.”

“Why do you think he took it?”

“Other than the fact that it was in the same garage as his stuff, and it disappeared when he moved out? Or maybe the fact that he’s a pathological liar and a thief? He thinks I don’t know that he once gave his ex-wife some jewelry that belonged to someone else. Or that I don’t know that the motorcycle jacket he gave me, you know, the one that he tried to take with him when he moved out, actually belonged to his ex-wife. It’s her fucking coat. And he gave it to me as if he’d bought it for me. There’s so much he thinks I don’t know. In fact, I know enough to write a fucking horror novel. He’d have a mutated cow if he knew that because of his foolishness, his ex-wife and I—”

“What’s her name again?”

“His ex-wife? Her name’s Whitney. And she and I have become fast friends. In fact, she’s as cool as I don’t know what.”

“Okay, then who’s this latest girl on Kinkfest?” Burt asked.

“Her name is Karen. I sent her a note because she was a friend of a friend of a friend. I swear I didn’t know she was literally fucking Marcais. After I found out, I sent her another note telling her that I was his ex because I didn’t want her to feel as if I’d been trying to play her.”

“That’s fair. Thoughtful, actually,” Burt said.

“Well I agree, or I did agree until she told me that she thought I looked familiar. She’d seen pictures of me on Marcais’ Facebook page.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Whitney told me that he was probably still on Facebook doing dirty, but was hiding it from me, but I didn’t want to believe it in spite of all the other crap I knew he’d done. Marcais swore from the moment we got together that Facebook was off limits for him. So why would he let this Karen chick be friends with him there, but hide it from me?”

“Let me guess, because he had a bunch of other chicks on there, too, right?”

“Right.” More than right. In fact, Karen had told her that she’d been seeing Marcais for quite a while and how wonderful he was and how sad she was about the fact that the military was sending him overseas and how she’d miss him and blah, blah, blah.

“Damn it, Burt, I swear it seems every time I think I’m progressing, healing and moving on, I get some new piece of information that keeps this man as front and center in my life. He’s like a wet booger…just stuck on me and I can’t wipe him off! Why can’t it be over already?”

To hear Karen talk of how they’d fallen so deeply for each other while he’d been living in Solie’s house had cut her anew. Never mind the fact that they were supposed to be a monogamous couple. It made the acid churn in her stomach to know that a woman Marcais was cheating with had fallen in love with his monkey ass. Just like Solie had fallen in love with him.

“You know what’s going to happen, Sol. Marcais is going to drop this Karen girl like a hot rock as soon as he finds out the two of you had a conversation. Why? Because she was supposed to be a secret. The only one who didn’t know it was her. If he doesn’t dump her now, he’ll dump her as soon as the next one is in place. That’s the MO. It’s what sociopaths do.”

“Doesn’t make me feel any better, Burton.”

“Just remember that to a man, pussy is very different from love. She was just a lay.”

Solie knew Burton was right and she almost felt sorry for Karen. Almost.

But her compassion for the other woman was damn near on empty because Karen admitted that she’d
known
Marcais was in a relationship with someone else…with Solie. But she hadn’t given a rat’s ass. Instead, she’d spent time with Marcais anyway. Slept with him anyway. Got hooked on him anyway. Took pictures of her having sex with him anyway.

“Mac bring you lunch today, Sols?”

“Yep. It’s homemade clam chowder.” She spooned up a big bowl while talking to Burton. Now, sat down at her desk, took a bite and moaned in appreciation. Fog had rolled in and it had gone from sunny to chilly. The thick creamy soup, made hearty with a ton of seafood, potatoes, savory spices and herbs, warmed her tummy.

“Good to hear you’re not skipping meals. It’s a bad habit and it’s something you do way too often.”

“I’m working on it, Burt. Seriously.”

“Work harder. I’d hate to have to dole out more punishment.”

She giggled when he said, “Then again, you have such a perfect ass I may have to make up something to get you in trouble just to get my hands on you again.”

Burton. Was. Flirting!

And she had no idea what to do with it, other than acknowledge the wiggle in her tummy that signaled an impending bout of giddiness.

Then she remembered what they’d been talking about.

“You know what, Burt? I wonder if Karen knows that Marcais posted pics of them on the internet having unprotected anal sex.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head trying to dislodge the image—Marcais’ thick cock disappearing into Karen’s willing body. The woman had held herself open for him, little pools of sweat gathered at the base of her spine. Her own fingers dug into her flesh. One of her fake fingernails had been broken, while the others were coated with glittery-blue polish. Marcais’ cock had been slick with her juices. And no condom.

It was forever branded into Solie’s brain.

A brain she wished she could just pluck from her head, sit down somewhere else and let it cool off for a while. Because in addition to the hurt, Solie was mad as hell.

Her dude—correction,
former
dude—had had unprotected sex with another woman, taken a picture of it, and was stupid enough to post it online. And yes, the date on the photo was
before
Solie had broken it off for good.

“It doesn’t matter, Sols. As soon as he finds out that Karen spoke to you, she’s history.”

The next day, Burton was proven right.

After her typical early-morning wake-up ritual of showering, throwing on whatever she felt like, then practically dunking her head in a pot of coffee, Solie walked into her office. Karen’s note was the first one in her email inbox. The woman had sent her a message telling her that Marcais was angry because the two women had spoken with one another. He was livid that Karen had told Solie the truth. And after he’d told the woman off as if she were some two-bit crack whore, he’d blocked her on Kinkfest and all the other social media sites.

Poor thing. Solie almost felt bad.

Until her phone rang just before lunch.

It was her doctor.

Marcais was the gift that just kept on giving…which unfortunately included a sexually transmitted disease.

An angry and hurt Solie transformed into a nuclear-hot Solie. The doctor had to report her condition to the state and the state would report it to the Center for Disease Control. After firing off a note to inform Marcais that he’d infected her, Solie headed to the pharmacy. One hour and a massive dose of antibiotics later, Solie pondered an issue that had been tapping at her brain since the doctor had called earlier.

She knew that Marcais was
not
going to return her calls or her texts. How could she make sure he got tested and treated? There had to be a way to keep him from pretending that none of this was happening.

Mind made up she made a few calls to some friends who happened to be stationed at the same Army base as him. Shortly after, Solie was voice-to-voice with Marcais’ First Sergeant. And she didn’t hesitate to lay out all the dirt, down to the last detail.

Thankfully, the sergeant was willing to help Solie out. The man wasn’t happy that one of his soldiers was smack dab in the middle of such foolishness, had passed her cooties and played her dirty. Not to mention that particular soldier was soon headed out of the country to get away with it all.

But not anymore. He was going to have to face the music now that his command was aware of what he’d been up to.

Yep. Karma was one saucy bitch…and today she was Solie’s best friend.

Sitting in her office like a zombie, Solie stared at a blank computer screen with the events of the day playing over in her mind like a bad B-movie. She picked up the phone and called Mac, who was quickly angry on her behalf.

And though she felt a bit better after Mac threatened to slip a castration pill into Marcais’ food somehow, it didn’t make the tight knot in the middle of her chest go away.

She needed something, someone else.

An hour later her doorbell rang.

She opened the door and her mouth dropped wide open.

It was Burton, who promptly informed her that dinner was on its way before shooing her into the living room.

Mac came in right behind him with her arms full of said dinner. She pecked Solie on the cheek and disappeared into the kitchen

Solie’s eyes were instantly filled with tears. “You guys are too much.”

“We care about you, woman. Now sit.” Burton pointed to the couch and gave her the I-dare-you-to-argue look.

Burton turned on a movie that they’d all seen a million times so they could talk if they wanted to. Fifteen minutes later, Mac shoved a plate into her hands. The last thing she wanted was food, but she didn’t fuss. Besides, she just didn’t have the bandwidth for a fight. At all.

With dinner done and some blow-’em-up action movie exploding in the background Solie broke down and the tears poured out of her.

Pulled into Burt’s lap, Solie found herself wrapped in strong arms as he whispered his care and concern into her ear.

The anger melted away, leaving a pool of bubbling pain in its place. And for the second time in as many days, Solie bawled her eyes out and soaked the front of Burton’s shirt.

God, she was so damn tired of crying over someone who wasn’t worthy to sniff her farts. Someone who was currently pretending as if she’d never existed. Someone who was a total douche canoe.

This was it. The last time she would give the memory of Sir Hell the power to level her. As of now, she was done.

Would she hurt awhile longer? Probably so. Denial would get her nowhere. But would she allow all her thoughts and emotions to be focused on the searing pain of betrayal? Hell no.

So Solie let it out and cried until she had no tears left. Cried until she was so worn out she fell asleep in Burt’s lap. The last thing she remembered was hearing Mac say that Landon had come to pick her up. She’d sweetly pecked Solie on the cheek as Burton tucked her into bed.

And Solie passed into a world of dreams filled with darkness, lava and fire with
he who should not be named
at the receiving end of a red hot poker up the ass.

Ah, justice.

Chapter Three

The bedroom was always chilly this early in the morning. Today, Solie didn’t feel any of it. Soothing energy rolled off of the man next to her—a man who’d tucked her in last night and stayed with her to make sure she was okay.

And Burton’s presence warmed her from the inside out while his solid body warmed her from the outside in.

Yep, best of both worlds.

Solie ducked her head under the covers, mashed her face into his chest and wrapped her arms around him.

She took a deep breath. Fabric softener from her blankets and the natural masculine scent of her best friend filled her until she was drunk-n-drowsy. This wasn’t the first time one of her friends had slept over, however this particular buddy had never slept in her bed. Especially not with her in it.