Queen (Mistress & Master of Restraint) (2 page)
Read Queen (Mistress & Master of Restraint) Online
Authors: Erica Chilson
Titles by Erica Chilson
Erotica:
Mistress and Master of Restraint
series order
Restraint
Unleashed
Dexter
Dalton
Queen Omnibus*
Jaded*
Queened*
Checkmate*
King
The Playroom
Good Girl
Coming soon:
Shattered (Atticus Fox)
Fantasy/Paranormal:
Chrysalis (The Lilies)
Coming early 2013
Acknowledgments
My parents for their support as my life shattered around me. They allowed me to the pick up the pieces and put myself back together again in the warmth of their unconditional love. No words could express the depths of my gratitude. Thank you both for allowing me to chase my dream of bringing my imagination into reality.
Thanks to my lovely sister for her contribution of the cover art.
My Wicked Readers, I want to thank you for enriching my daily life. You bring entertainment, joy, and a ton of laughs. I want to thank all of my betas! Kris, Amber, Sass, and Cassie, I couldn’t do this without all of your help. You keep me sane when the muse is in overdrive. Thanks for all the advice and a shoulder to
cry
vent on!
I thank the readers for sending me encouraging emails and comments. Writing is my passion, but entertaining even one person with my imagination is a massive rush.
Please contact me via email:
[email protected]
Dedication
Jaded is dedicated to all the females who have yet to find their true voice
, and the ones who have felt the power of exceeding their own self-perceived limits. Don’t bother reaching for the sky when your fingertips already touch the stars.
A note to readers before you begin
Jaded:
Jaded is one the hardest things I’ve ever written. Tears flowed just as heavily as the words from my imagination to my fingertips.
I want Queen to show true empowerment, especially female empowerment. She isn’t a Domme because she thought it made her tough or because it’s the “it” thing. She is a dominant because she was born to be one. She earned the right through hardship as she struggled to survive. Dominant behavior doesn’t just mean during sex or hanging out at a dungeon- it’s your core personality, and how you react to the world around you.
Yes, I am the creator of Queen. I could have gone easy on her. I used Regina as an example to show to my readers that you will never feel real pride in yourself until you’ve been knocked to the ground by someone you’ve trusted. How you find your real strength while their hands press your face into the mud. While you suffocate on their hatred, bitterness, and jealousy you drag your ass out of the mud and find your inner-strength. Next time you stand before them and look them in the eye they will forever know that no one and nothing can push you back down again. In my case, they cowardly refuse to meet my eyes. It is a potent feeling.
Regina loses everything over and over until she can appreciate what she has, before she can contribute to those around her. I make her earn her happy ending.
I apologize in advance for the raw ride that is Jaded. I promise that you will feel my theme of resilience, hope, and empowerment during Queened. Checkmate is the beginning of Queen’s HEA. She has a choice to make at books end- will she chose the correct path after all the lessons I’ve made her learn? Who will earn the right to be her King?
~Erica
Table of Contents:
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Jaded
Book One of
Queen
Mistress of Restraint
Jaded
Seventeen Years prior to the present
Chapter One
“Do you want to study tonight? We could go to my house and it would give you a break from your mom.” My
best friend asks me helpfully.
“I can’t
. I have to go to Ade’s house tonight.” Fate gives me the usual look and rolls her eyes. She doesn’t understand how I could be friends with someone who acts like Ade does. My best friends aren’t friends at all- more like enemies. It makes it rather uncomfortable to be me. I have to split my time between the two girls.
“
She’s a snooty bitch. I don’t know how you can stand her.” Fate slouches in her chair across the cafeteria table from me. She puts a grumpy look on her face and pouts. I love having two friends at Hillbrook. Where I come from it’s enemy territory and I’m treated like an enemy here.
“We’re studying for the Latin final. You didn’t have to take it, so that is the only reason I’m studying with her instead of you. Ya know you could always study with us. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”
“Oh, but I would mind.” She pulls her long, straight, dirty blonde hair in
to a ponytail and wraps the hair tie around it three times. She gives it a tight yank and I wince. I’m surprised she has any hair left at all by the amount of times she adjusts her hair in a day.
“What kind of freak graduates at sixteen-years-old? Worse is that you hangout with someone two years younger than you. It’s sad really.” She lets some of her pretentiousness infuse her voice and I
recoil. I love my education and my two friends, but I can only take so much of the
I am better than everyone else on the planet
mentality for so long. I deal with these people in short bursts and get back to my side of the city. They may think we’re trash, but we live in reality. They live in their own universe and they’re ignorant to anything that doesn’t outright affect them.
“Lay off, Fate. We’ve been through th
is for the past four years. We’re two weeks from graduating. I think it’s a bit late to change anything. I need to study tonight. You know I will lose my scholarship if I slip with my grades. We all can’t have our daddies pay off admissions and pay our way.” I’m the only scholarship kid at Hillbrook and I’m treated like a leper.
Fate’s blue eyes tear up and instantly I’m sorry for hurting her. It doesn’t make the insult any less true, so I won’t apologize. She didn’t have to worry about grades or scholarships or even financial aid she can’t afford. Her father bought her admission to the university of her choice and is paying her entire way. I’m not even sure I can use the scholarship I was awarded. I have to work my ass off and pray the creditors don’t take my paycheck before I get my hands on it.
“Fate, you know I love you. I love Ade, too. I can love both of you and it doesn’t change either of our friendships. There is more than enough of me to go around.”
“Of course there is,” A syrupy voice says above my head. Fate’s eye
s narrow and fill with hatred.
“I
just lost my appetite. I’ll see you in calculus. Later.” Fate abruptly leaves her seat and walks to another table filled with taunting elitists. She begins to laugh with them and glances my way. No doubt I’m the brunt of some joke. If it weren’t for the fact that we have to wear uniforms I would be bullied more. My clothing comes from second-hand stores, not the pricy stores where you buy a pair of jeans worth no more than twenty bucks for a thousand dollars. The wealthy are the most wasteful people on the planet.
“The fresh-fish-
freshmans are doing their orientation today. They should be here any second. I’ve had my eyes on one of them for awhile. It’s too bad that I was so accelerated. I would’ve loved to stay here a year or two with him.” She licks her thin lips salaciously and I giggle. She’s all talk and no bite- neither am I.
“Here they come,” I say of the thirty or so new students that will grace the halls of Hillbrook next school year. They don’t enter as I did and still do on occasion- head
s down and shrink into themselves.
No, these students walk with their shoulders back and their heads held high. They are the future of our country and
they don’t get intimidated, even by the ninety kids in the cafeteria who are older and smarter. That isn’t the currency they go by- it’s green. They aren’t intimidated because most of the newbies’ families have more money and power than the ones that are seated.
A few students rise up and pull the newbies from their ranks to sit with them.
Fate runs up to her little sister, Faith, and hugs her proudly. The small girl waves to me. I wave back. Faith is a good girl. She hasn’t developed the attitude of her family yet. Even Fate is mild in comparison to her parents. I hope she leaves this city and finds her own way or she will fall into the trap that the rest of these kids are already ensnared in. They’re too blind to see that their fate has been sealed. It’s too late for them to make their own way. Yes, they have money, but at what cost? It’s the cost of their true-selves and their happiness.
“Hi,” a boy with bronze skin, huge gray eyes, and black hair says to me. He pulls the charm out and instantly I feel annoyed by him. Charm is
fake. What kind of kid would hit on me? I just turned eighteen-years-old. The boy is jailbait.
“Hi,” I say strongly back. I’
ve learned over the past four years that meekness is a weakness to these predators. No matter how much they think that they’re better than me it doesn’t mean they are.
“Stop leering at the lady. That’s rude,” Another boy chastises. The charmer shrinks back as if he’s been hit and I feel bad for him. The bossy kid looks similar enough to the charmer
to be brothers except that he’s pale where the other is dark. Their eyes and bodies are almost identical.
“Hi, I’m Ezra and this rude bastard is Cort.” He extends his perfectly manicured hand
for me to shake. I do so and I’m shocked at how soft his hand is- softer than mine. They’ve never seen an honest day’s work in their lives. But then again, they are just kids.
“She’s Regina,” Ade says for me so that she can push her way into the
conversation. I don’t mind. I’m not lusting after boys. I’ve never lusted after anyone. She’s closer to their age- she can have them.
“It’s always a pleasure, Adelaide,” the smooth voice of Ezra rolls over us. It isn’t faked like the charm of Cort. Cort may grow into the charm, but right now he looks like a kid who’s poorly acting.
Cort rolls his eyes at
me when Ezra speaks. Either he’s making fun of the voice or Ade- I don’t know which. I smother my smile by taking a sip of my water.
Ade melts into a puddle when Ezra acknowledges her. He must be the one she has her eye on. Good choice, girlfriend. When he grows up he will be devastating. I’m sure the charmer will be too. I don’t do the rich and no one is worth my time in my neighborhood. I’m biding my time for college to find someone to date.