THE SUNLIGHT WAKES ME UP.
I’m still in the same position I was lying in when I fell asleep. On my side, hugging the pillow, chained to the bed.
My emotions feel like they’ve been put in a mixing glass and shaken up. I don’t know what to feel, so I choose nothing at all.
I hear the door click, but I don’t move. Kayne said I was supposed to kneel every time he came into the room. Well fuck him, my subconscious screams. My body, on the other hand, trembles knowing I’ll be subjected to punishment if I disobey.
“Morning, sweet thing.” I see Jett hovering over me in my peripheral vision.
“Go away,” I say petulantly, squeezing the pillow tighter.
“Feeling a little used and abused this morning?”
“Yes!” I yell distraught. I’m not doing a very good job at reining my emotions in. So much for not feeling anything.
“I heard you tried to make a great escape.”
“Tried being the operative word,” I talk into the pillow.
“Didn’t go so well, did it?” he mocks.
“Ask my ass, it’ll tell you. I hate him.”
“Rough night,” he muses. I groan in response. I want to punch him in his patronizing mouth.
Jett pulls on my shoulder, rolling me over onto my back. I wince as my tender behind makes contact with the mattress. “It wasn’t all bad, was it?” His aqua eyes are wide and sparkling.
I look at him like he’s a loon. “He spanked me, hit me with a newspaper, and made me crawl around on all fours. Then he handcuffed me ...” I stop right there.
“Handcuffed you and did what?” Jett probes salaciously.
I stay silent with tears welling in my eyes.
“Made you feel good?” he questions. “Made you come?”
“Made. That is exactly the word,” I growl.
“And feeling good is a problem because?”
“It’s not the fact he made me feel good. It’s the fact he treats me less than human. That he forced me!”
“Maybe he’s trying to liberate you.”
“Maybe that’s utter and total horse shit!”
“We can argue the maybes all day. Bottom line, you came and you liked it.”
“It’s empty,” I dispute furiously.
“Sex slave,” Jett reiterates. “Power, ownership, pleasure.”
I nearly burst into tears.
“Keep your eye on the prize sweetheart. Please him, and he’ll please you. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.”
“It goes against everything I know.”
“Then maybe you need to learn a few new things.” Jett shrugs.
“And I should let Kayne teach me?” I sneer.
“You said it, I didn’t.”
I curl my lip at him.
“Come on. Get up. A shower will make you feel better. Then I’m going to pretty you up.” He hits my leg good-naturedly.
“Pretty me up?”
“Yes.” He pulls the key ring that holds my freedom out of his pocket and unlocks the collar. Once off, I immediately rub my neck. That thing is restrictive as fuck. “This manicure has died and gone to hell.” He lifts my hands, pointing out my chipped pink polish.
I begrudgingly roll off the bed. My ass is so sore. I curse Kayne with each step I take—fucking bastard, asshole, shithead, douchebag. As Jett turns on the shower, I catch a glimpse of my battered behind in the mirror, and gasp. It’s beet red with flesh-colored hearts all over my butt cheeks. “Oh my God.”
Jett looks at me through the mirror and smirks. “Kayne spanked you with love.”
“I don’t think he’s capable of love,” I bitterly retort.
“Of course he is. Everyone is capable of love.”
“He’s a monster.”
“Maybe, but even beauty loved the beast.”
“I’m not living a fairy tale. I’m living an American horror story.”
Jett shrugs. “It’s whatever kind of literature you make it. If you believe it’s a horror story, it is. If you believe it’s a dark erotic romance, it is. The choice is yours. The mind is a powerful thing.”
I look at him like he’s crazy.
“Just trying to help,” he states.
“It’s not working,” I respond flatly.
He rolls his eyes. “No more chitchat. In you go.” Jett ushers me into the steaming shower, and as soon as I step under stream, I jump. “It hurts,” I whine as the running water hits my abused bottom. It feels like tiny needles stabbing me.
“It’s supposed to. It’s a reminder of who you belong to and what happens when you disobey. Makes you think twice about running again, huh?”
I stick my tongue out at him. It’s the only rebellion I have left.
“Wash, Ellie,” Jett instructs curtly.
I do as I’m told. Delicately. Every movement hurts. Once I’m done with the most torturous shower of my life, I dry off carefully. Jett tries to have me sit on the folding table, but that’s just not happening. My butt is way too sore. Instead, I stand as he blow dries my hair with a round brush making it smooth. Good thing he’s a foot taller than me. After that, he opens a drawer and retrieves two bottles of nail polish. A light peach colored one and a red.
“Which?” he asks.
“You’re giving me a choice?”
“Yes. I’m not your owner. I have no interest in dominating you.”
I survey the bottles, debating carefully. “Which do you think he’ll like?”
Jett cocks an eyebrow at me.
I purse my lips. “I don’t want to pick the wrong color and displease him. My ass would like to avoid another beating,” I clarify.
Jett shakes the peach color. The bottle jingles. “He won’t care. Trust me. He likes anything when it comes to you.”
I stare at Jett quizzically. He just smiles and starts removing my chipped polish.
“How long have you known Kayne?” I inquire tactfully as he carefully paints my nails. I don’t pretend to believe I have a friend or ally in Jett. But he doesn’t come off as threatening as long as I behave. He’s shown compassion, and even though I don’t trust him completely, it doesn’t mean I can’t pump him for information.
Jett flicks his eyes up at me. Then starts on a second coat. “A while.”
“What’s a while?”
“Years.”
“How did you meet?” I ask, my gaze jumping between his face and my hand.
“Mutual friends,” he says flatly.
“How did you start working here?” I don’t really even know where here is. I just know Kayne has ‘clients’ and ‘women’ who he keeps captive and strings up for their pleasure.
Jett scoffs. “I don’t work for him. I work with him. Don’t confuse my duties. I may not be the face of the company, but I do my fair share. Actually, I do more.”
“What’s the ‘company’ specifically?” It’s obviously more than just tequila. “What is this place exactly?”
“The less you know the better.” He sidesteps my question.
“Jett, please,” I beg with big puppy dog eyes. Hey, if I am going to be compared to a pet, I might as well use the goods. “Tell me something.”
He groans under his breath, hesitant to talk. Once he finishes painting my pinky finger with the shimmery peach, he looks up at me with an entertained expression.
“I have a feeling you are going to give Kayne a run for his money in more ways than one.” He shoves the brush back into the bottle, and then huffs. “It’s a whore house, Ellie. An upscale brothel. We keep women here for pleasure.”
“How many women?” My eyes widen.
“A good amount. And I’m responsible for their well-being. All of them.”
“Are they all locked up like me?” My voice strains at the image of dozens of women chained to a bed.
Jett looks at me like he’s trying to dance around words. “No. They aren’t locked up like you.”
“They’re not? It’s just me then?”
Jett nods.
“Why?”
“Because you’re special and that’s all you need to know.”
“Because I’m Kayne’s?” I speculate.
“Now you’re learning.”
I frown. This shit’s fucked-up.
Jett rests his hands gently on my shoulders. “I will tell you this one thing about me. I care about each and every one of them. Including you.”