“Was it only Evgeni?” I ask. “You had a lot of other hackers on this job.”
“I think only Evgeni, but I’m not sure.”
I’ve gone through the handful of my people who were on this joint effort between me and Andrian. On my side, the one most likely to have betrayed me was Michael, and I doubt he did. He died when Callaghan’s men ambushed our guys and made off with a laptop that would have fetched me and Andrian eight figures easy.
“Might be worth keeping him alive to see if you can get more info out of him,” I suggest, even though there’s a good chance Andrian has already shot the guy dead.
“I am giving him opportunity to speak before we cut his balls out,” Andrian replies.
“Get as much out of him as you can. We can’t afford more fuckups.”
“Da, da.We get laptop back, no more worries.”
After I end my call with Andrian, Athena trots over to me. The stray cat I toyed with naming Maeve leaps onto my desk. She didn’t take long to warm up to her new surroundings. I thought she’d be hiding beneath a sofa for several days. She’s either fearless or lacks a healthy dose of mistrust.
Kind of like Casey Callaghan.
I pick up my cellphone. Casey had asked to see me again. I had texted her no. She had replied that she would be at Club de Sade tonight if I changed my mind.
Guess I’ll be going to the Club de Sade.
Chapter two
Casey
Afterreadinghistextto me last night, I spend almost the entire next morning in my bed thinking about Jack. I don’t know much about him other than his first name, that he’s a businessman of some kind, and that he likes cats. I’d like to have more information, though I already know the most important thing about him: he’s the Dom of my dreams.
Part of me is still stunned by his rejection. I could have sworn he had a good time with me at The Lotus, an uber luxury BDSM club, compared to my regular haunt, Club de Sade. And I thought we connected not just on the BDSM level. I remember how, on our “non-date,” he had put his arm around me to keep me warm while we stood in the alley, in the middle of the night, waiting for the stray cat. Maybe the connection was just on my end.
Was there anything I could have done differently to make him want to see me again? I thought he was intrigued by the idea of playing out our kidnapping fantasy? How delicious would that be?
Closing my eyes, I imagine it’s the middle of the night. I’m asleep. Suddenly, a hand covers my mouth and nose. It’s him.
“Make a sound or move and you’ll regret it,” he warns me.
I might pretend to struggle.
He slams my head back down on my pillow. “I told you not to move, so now you’re going to get punished.”
I wonder how he’ll punish me? Whatever he does, I’m sure I’ll like it. I hope he does something involving rope bondage. I liked the one-legged stand he had tied me in yesterday, though the asymmetry had started to bug me after a while. It’s not every day that you come across someone skilled in shibari, and I desperately want to experience what else he can do.
My hand wanders between my legs as I consider the different ways he can punish me. My pussy lips are still sore from the weighted crotch rope he did on me, but my clit is alive and ready for arousal. I could go for another round of hard fucking. Even though it had been painful at times last night, I’d do it again just to feel his cock pulsing inside me. As I relive the rough sex we had, I finger myself more intensely until I eventually come.
In some ways, my climax is unsatisfying because it’s nothing like what I experienced with Jack. Masturbating is nice, but nothing blows my mind like BDSM. While I can try to do some things solo, it’s not nearly as fun. Why dance by yourself if you can dance with a partner? The only thing I don’t mind doing solo is snowboarding.
With a sigh, I reach for my phone to check for a text or call from Jack. Still nothing, though I had already checked a few times after waking up. I had texted Jack asking what he decided to do with the stray cat, but I haven’t received a response. Is he ghosting me?
“Aaargh,” I groan. “I’m obsessing like a high school girl over her crush.”
Hopping out of bed, I get dressed, deciding I’ll go to the gym and grab a smoothie afterward. I’d drive myself up to Tahoe to hit the slopes, but I really want to see Jack again. Just thinking about him puts knots in my groin.
“Kenton said to me that you don’t have to play hard to get with him,” my cousin, Hannah, says when she joins me at the gym.
“I’m not,” I reply as we head to the elliptical machines.
“So you did go clubbing with this guy Jake?”
“Jack.”