COLE
IT TOOK TWENTY MINUTES TO drive on to The Birdhouse. Karina sat next to me with her legs crossed at the ankles, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. “She was beautiful,” she said after we’d set off. When she’d first climbed in she hadn’t said anything at all. She hadn’t even looked at me. But as she said that, she turned to face me, a smile on her face, a smile that looked forced.
“Who? Zoe? Yes, I suppose she is.”
“Who was she?”
“My ex. She was selfish, she was neurotic, she was unfaithful, and she was the past and I don’t want to talk about her anymore.”
“Why did you break up with her?”
I leaned towards her, narrowing my eyes. “I said I don’t want to talk about her anymore.”
“Okay,” she said, shrinking backwards. “I’m sorry. It’s just, I can’t get over how beautiful she was, like a film star or something.”
“You’re beautiful too,” I said, watching her reaction. It was clear she didn’t believe me. She wanted to but she didn’t. I wasn’t lying either. She looked damned good. She was also frightened of me, not frightened enough to refuse to join me in the limo but just enough to make things exciting. I thought about how frightened she might be if she saw my play room. The thought brought a smile to my face, picturing her chained up, that dress on the floor next to her, that body on display for me. I had to shift in my seat as I felt uncomfortable all of a sudden.
“Where are we going?” she asked, changing the subject as I continued to look at her.
“You’ll see,” I replied. “Tell me something, what made you climb in just now?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You’re braver than you think you are,” I said, leaning back on my seat and rubbing my eyes with my hand. “A lot braver. You’ll need to be too for what I have in mind for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?” I said.
We lapsed into a silence that lasted until the car pulled up at the side of the road. “We’re here,” I said as my door was opened. “Coming in?”
I stepped out, knowing she’d follow me. She wouldn’t stop now. I’d hooked her in. She was mine. One last test, just to be sure, then I’d bring her to mine and show her the play room.
I walked into The Birdhouse, listening to the door close behind me. The doorman would stop her from coming in. She wasn’t a member. If she wanted to join me, she’d have to be bold. Could she do it? I counted to five. No sign of her. Maybe I was wrong. No, I was never wrong. Another few seconds and she’d…
“Are we going in then?” her voice said from nowhere as she appeared next to me.
“What did you say to the doorman?” I asked as I began to walk again.
“Nothing much,” she replied. “Just told him I was your daughter and you’d be furious if he didn’t let me in.”
I looked at her in time to see the grin forming on her lips. “You’re kidding,” I said, smiling back at her. “I didn’t know you had it in you. Come on, let’s get a decent seat.”
We headed along a brightly lit corridor and then through a set of double doors into an auditorium. It was similar to the club we’d left but distinctly different. The place was much older, the people far stranger. I loved it here. I watched her reaction as she looked about her at the topless women talking to men in sunglasses and swimming trunks, the togas, the dancers in cages, the bizarre mixture that made the place so unique. “Why’s it called The Birdhouse?” she asked as we reached a table marked Reserved. I sat down but she didn’t. “We can’t sit here, it’s reserved,” she hissed at me.
“Sit down,” I said in a firm voice. She went pale but did as I said, her hands shaking as she pulled out her chair. “It’s called the Birdhouse because you don’t walk out of here, you fly. And they only serve worms for food.”
She stared wide eyed at me as I kept a straight face for as long as I could. “You’re not the only one who can joke,” I said as a waitress came over and took our drinks order.
“I’m just going to the bathroom,” Karina said, getting to her feet. “Where is it?”
“Over through that door,” I said, pointing past her. “Don’t be long. The show will be starting soon.”
I watched her go, staring at her ass, the dress hiding nothing. She looked so good, it was getting increasingly difficult to keep my hands off her.
I was getting dangerously close to breaking my own rules. The whole point of the game was to have fun but it wasn’t to manipulate some innocent girl into my bedroom. I tried to take stock of what I was doing. I was on the verge of taking her back to my place, to show her my playroom. But what then? Could I tell her I wasn’t playing anymore? That I was interested in Karina, not Melissa. I wasn’t even acting anymore. I was just being me. No doubt, she thought I was just being nice to her as part of the game. I wondered how she’d feel if she knew the truth about what I wanted to do.
Because there was no doubt I was going to do it, not really. Rules or no rules. I was going to make her mine. I had known from the start, even if I hadn’t been able to admit it to myself. There was something about her that I’d never seen in anyone before. Maybe it was because she didn’t seem interested in me for my money. She didn’t know that I really was a billionaire. She thought it was part of my character. She was just happy to spend time with me for me. How long had it been since someone had done that? And she was so submissive, always saying sorry, averting her eyes, desperate to please.
She was here because I’d told her to follow me, I’d told her what to do. I just had to tell her to come home with me and she would. I already wanted to leave and the show hadn’t even started. I glanced across to the toilets, waiting for her to return. She’d only been gone a couple of minutes and already I missed her, I missed looking at her.
I spent the time waiting by deciding exactly what I was going to do to her when I got her back to mine. I was going to make her scream my name with desire, I was going to make use of every one of my toys, I was going to play with her until she couldn’t move. I was going to tie her down and teach her all about submission. I was going to give her the night of her life.