A Real Page Turner (5 page)

“Upstairs, I believe. Should I let him know you’re looking for him?”

“Yes,” Titan said.

The sub left after she nodded in his direction. April wasn’t sure what Tom could tell them about Virginia, but she supposed it was worth a shot.

“You want me to book a room?” Titan asked her after the waitress had left.

“No.” She toyed with the straw in her drink.

“Hurts my feelings,” he said, although she could tell by the tone of his voice that he was just joking. “Didn’t my last spanking leave you wanting more?”

“Oh yes, it did,” she said. “But it’s not really a priority right now.

“I’ll ask again after we talk to Tom.” Titan was looking at her as if she were lunch. Once again, it made her feel things she’d never felt with Tom. Not having physical contact with Tom, other than a spanking, had been tough, but it wasn’t impossible. Right now, she wanted Titan to bend her over the table, spank her and then…

“I know what you’re thinking,” Titan said.

April glanced at him. Was it that obvious? It was time to deny things; if she couldn’t convince him, maybe she could convince herself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He chuckled. “I spank women for lying to me, just so you know. And spanking can be a perfect warm up to that other thing we were discussing earlier.”

She certainly hoped so. “I don’t do the physical contact thing, remember?”

He drummed his fingers on the table. “Let’s define physical contact, shall we?”

Damn you, she wanted to scream. First you want to dicker between fun and funny, and now this?

“You know what I mean. No sex.”

“But that’s not what you said. You said physical contact. Spanking is physical contact, and usually it brings the need for more contact.” He stilled his fingers, which was a bad thing, because April had been staring at them, trying to keep her gaze from straying to his face and the sexy grin that she knew was there, one that made her want him, even before he’d spanked her.

“Having your ass spanked makes you hot.”

April fought back the ‘We know that,’ remark that formed in her mind. “Yes.” She finally looked at him. “But I’m able to control those feelings.”

“Why?”

“Practice,” she replied, knowing he was asking her why she did it, and not how.

“Don’t be obtuse,” he said. “Tell me why you do it.”

Before she could answer, Tom was at the table. He and Titan shook hands, and then he rubbed April’s shoulder before he sat in the empty chair.

“Been a little busy around here tonight,” he said as he waved his hand to attract the waitress’ attention. He ordered a soft drink when she arrived. “The cops were here, asking questions of all the staff. I hear that’s what you’re interested in, too.”

“Virginia was a friend of mine,” April said. “Well, more like a customer who I was friendly with. I saw her the night that… the last night…”

“I spanked you?” Tom finished for her.

“Yes. She was meeting with a blond man.”

Tom nodded. “The police were asking about him. I have no clue who it was.”

April sighed. It was a dead end.

Or it seemed that way, until Titan spoke up. “Did she tell you how she met this guy?” He was drumming his fingers again. “If she was seeing him here as a get to know you meeting, there is every chance someone introduced them. Did she say who?”

April searched her brain, trying to remember the conversation she’d had with Virginia that evening.  Had she met this guy on the computer, or… “She met him through a mutual friend, although she didn’t say who it was. They had met before, but this time they’d decided to meet on neutral ground.”

“But she didn’t say who the friend was?” Titan asked.

“No.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard to find out,” Tom said. “I know a few people who knew Virginia. I can ask around and see if they introduced her to someone new.”

It wasn’t much, but maybe it could get them somewhere. Before she could say anything, Tom continued, “A few of the Doms here tonight might provide some answers. Titan, why don’t you take April up to the green room and redden her ass while I ask some questions?”

“Works for me,” Titan responded.

April held up a hand. “Do I have a say in this?”

“Nope,” the men said in unison.

“Use a crop on her,” Tom said. “It makes her really wet.”

He was gone before she could respond.

“Which brings us full circle on our conversation,” Titan said. “Why don’t you do something about that wetness? Sex is a great way to keep your body in tune. It burns calories and makes you smile afterward. Mix it with spanking, and you’ll be smiling for days afterward, I can guarantee you.”

“Sex complicates things,” she said. “It might be nice for a while, but after a few months, things can go sour.”

“Your negative attitude bugs me.” Titan frowned at her. “Let’s go work on it.”

There was no sense arguing with him, and truthfully, a spanking would be nice. So when Titan stood, and then started moving through the crowd, April fell into step behind him.

She hated to admit that she was excited about the thought of him slapping a riding crop against her ass. She and Tom had used the green room some, but it wasn’t her favorite. There was a chair in there she could bend over, or Titan could take her over his knee while he sat in that chair.

But if he were going to use the crop, she would probably be doing the former. She watched Titan speak to the man guarding the entrance to the rooms. The man nodded, then pulled out his phone as he waved them back.

At the room, Titan opened the door and indicated she should go in before him.

Once inside, April could see the room hadn’t changed since the last time she’d been there. There was the one chair and—there was something new. She stared at a new contraption: two sawhorses welded together with what she guessed to be a three-foot space between them. There were shackles on them, top and bottom. She imagined a sub being chained between them while a Dom took a crop to her ass.

She didn’t enjoy being bound, or at least she hadn’t liked it before. Somehow the thought of Titan doing it made her wet, and he hadn’t even touched her yet.

“I’m not going to tie you down,” he said, as if he could read her mind. “There has to be a lot more trust between us before that happens. But I look forward to the day I tell you I want to tie you down, and you say, ‘Yes, Sir, I would like that.’ ”

So many different denials could come out of her mouth right now, but April didn’t say anything. She continued to look at the sawhorses, wondering what it would feel like to be between them while Titan whipped her.

April waited for his instructions, and when nothing came, she glanced at him. He was watching her, his expression unreadable.

“Where do you want me?”

“That’s a loaded question,” he answered, just as the door opened. Two men appeared, carrying a spanking bench between them. “And there’s your answer.”

They deposited the furniture in the center of the room. When they were done, they left.

“Get undressed and kneel on it.”

Her eyes widened. “Undressed, as in naked.”

“As in completely naked.”

“But I—”

“This is not up for negotiation.”

Now would be the time for her to remind him that she wasn’t his
sub, that she didn’t belong to anyone. But that would ruin the mood, she knew. She did need a spanking. But she’d only expected to take down her pants, not to totally disrobe. Being naked in front of him wasn’t what she objected to… it was what happened when you didn’t have clothes on that bothered her. It went right back to his remark earlier tonight about how he wanted to have sex with her. “I—”

“Take off your clothes, or we go back downstairs and wait for Tom. Those are you choices.”

She didn’t like either of them. But if she proposed one of her own, she was pretty sure Titan would choose for her, and she wouldn’t get the spanking. It surprised her that she’d decided she needed one as quickly as she did, considering her feelings earlier in the evening.

Before she could change her mind, April took her clothes off. She did it slowly. Titan stood in the middle of the room and watched her. She folded her clothes carefully and put them in the corner.

“The only thing missing now is a collar around your neck,” he said. “We’re going to have to work on that. Kneel on the bench.”

She hated this position. It left her feeling very vulnerable, and those feelings reminded her that she wasn’t at Charlie’s to get spanked. She was there to try and find some answers about Virginia.

The fact that she was naked, and ready to have her ass paddled, meant that she was weak. Or did it mean that she denied herself too much? Was it time to open up a little? That also made her think of Virginia. The young woman hadn’t expected to have her life cut short, April was sure. Nobody expected it to be their last day, even when it was.

‘Live your life to the fullest,’ her parents had always told her. She wasn’t sure they meant she should open herself up for the sort of activity she was about to take part in, but she was doing it.

Right now, she needed to let go, to allow herself to enjoy the moment. She moaned softly when Titan caressed her ass.

“Shall I use the crop?”

“Yes, Sir,” she said before she could reconsider her answer. She wanted the sting of the crop, the hard feel of the leather-clad fiberglass against her ass. And she wanted Titan to apply it liberally.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Let me make sure I understand. You want a spanking with the crop, even though this is only our second time together. Is that right?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Glad we got that straight. Let’s begin.”

April knew he hadn’t picked up a crop yet, so she wasn’t exactly sure why she was so tense, as if the first swat was about to happen at any second. Something told her Titan wasn’t the type to rush a spanking. He would make her wait, probably thinking the anticipation would add to the pleasure.

He would be right, because the longer she waited, the more April wanted to taste the crop, even though it was only the second time he’d spanked her. Even with her ex, things hadn’t progressed this fast. Hand spankings, or maybe brush spankings, were best at first, until you knew more about the person spanking you.

Yet here she was, her ass high in the air waiting for him to give her what she wanted.

She waited.

And she waited.

And she waited.

Finally, she turned around to see him sitting in the chair. He was stretched out, his legs crossed at the ankles, his hands hooked together behind his head.

“I wondered how long it would take you.”

“I thought…”

“Stand up.” April was only too happy to get out of the position that left her on display. The only time she wanted to be there was when the spanking was about to start.

“You know where the crops are in this room?”

“I do.”

“Go and pick one out, and bring it to me.”

She started across the room, stopping when he called out her name. “Be careful in your selection. It will determine how hard you’re cropped, both in number and intensity.”

This was something new. She’d been prepared to just grab one of the crops, hand it to him and mount the table again. The need to be spanked was growing, and this game was prolonging it.

When she was at the wall, she studied the implements, and she remembered his words. Which crop would she rather use?
The long one, with the fat tip at the end? The medium sized one that would keep his hand closer to her body? Or maybe the riding bat, which was the shortest of them all, and would sting worse than the other two.

She wasn’t prepared for this decision.

“Do you want to talk about each one?” He sounded amused, and it made her want to shoot him the finger. Instead, she continued to study the crops.

There were things she needed to take into consideration before she made her selection, and she’d already thought them out as she studied each one. So what did she go for, length, or pain?

Considering the news she was still processing, the way she needed to forget, she decided to go for the length. She reached for the longer crop, but at the last second she changed her mind and picked up the bat. Tom would be up here sometime soon, hopefully with information about who might have introduced Virginia to her new friend and potential Dom. It would be better to have the spanking over with before he came into the room. It would be awkward if Titan slapped her ass with the crop while Tom watched.

She took the smaller implement and carried it to where Titan sat. He watched her, his face expressionless. It struck her then that she could usually tell exactly what he was thinking by looking at him. Most of the men she’d known in her life were able to hide their feelings.

But not Titan. He smiled, he frowned, and then, at times, he did what he was doing now. She wondered if he approved of her choice, and she asked him that as she handed it to him.

“I would have been good with any of them,” he said as he swished the bat toward the side of the chair. “But this one will do very nicely.”

He looked at her. “Assume the position again.”

April climbed back onto the spanking bench. She pushed her legs wide until they brushed against the side. Then she took several deep breaths, trying to steady her nerves.

A part of her questioned her decision making; not about the choice of crop, but that she was here at all. She should be with Tom right now, asking Doms if they knew the man Virginia was hooking up with before her death. But then again, maybe those Doms would clam up in front of her. They might not want to say anything in front of a sub. Some Doms were like that.

What about the Dom Virginia had been involved with, she wondered. What was he like? April questioned her decision not to go over to the table that night and introduce herself to Virginia’s potential Dom. If she’d done that, she would have a name now. She’d be able to ask him questions.

“I’d really appreciate it if you’d clear your mind of everything except what’s about to happen,” Titan said. “If you can’t do that, we’ll postpone this until another time.”

“What?” She jerked her head in his direction. He still sat in the chair. Hadn’t he gotten up? She was pretty sure that he had. Or maybe she just thought it. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you need to concentrate on what we’re doing. Your mind is a million miles away, figuratively speaking.”

April caught herself right before she started to argue with him. She knew from past experience with other Doms that arguing could affect things two different ways: either the Dom would think she was a brat that needed to be punished, or the Dom would get pissed and the scene would end.

There was no doubt in her mind that was what would happen with Titan if she voiced an opinion other than what he’d already said.

“I’m sorry, Sir.”

“So am I. Maybe this needs to be postponed.”

“But we’re here, and I’m ready.”

This time she watched him stand. “We’ll see about that. If I think you’re distracted, this will be over very quickly.”

April closed her eyes and tried to blot out recent events. She shoved away the images of Virginia that haunted her, of the police asking her when she’d last seen her friend. There would be time for that tomorrow. Right now, all she needed was to relax and try to concentrate on the spanking.

She gasped as the hard leather bat pressed against her ass. “Who needs a spanking?”

“I do, Sir.”

He tapped the bat on her butt. “You don’t sound like you’re convinced of that.”

“I do, please.” April put force behind her words, tried to make it sound like she wanted nothing more in the world than to feel the spanking. But she didn’t want to sound whiney, or needy, so she kept her voice deep and even.

“One more time.”

“Please spank me, Titan.” April grasped the handles of the bench and gasped as the bat came down, hard. A second swat swiftly followed the first one, and then a third.

The sweet sting seeped into her body as Titan laid down swat after swat. It drove away all the sorrow she’d felt earlier in the day when she’d heard about Virginia’s death. She didn’t count the swats, either mentally or out loud. Instead she closed her eyes and allowed herself to feel.

The twinge was incredible, even when it turned into flat out pain. Titan was an expert at wielding a riding bat. With her eyes closed, April allowed her mind to center on nothing but the sensations taking over her body. It burned and she savored every moment of it, wishing it would go on forever. April had no idea how long the spanking lasted, all she knew was that, when it finally stopped and she felt the sweet, cool touch of something cold and silky against her burning skin, she gasped.

“Easy,” Titan said. It took her a minute to realize the sensation she felt now was Titan rubbing lotion into her ass. “Just stay where you are and let me tend to the beautiful welts on your ass.”

She sniffled, tears burning her cheeks. She hadn’t realized she’d been crying. Was it from the pain, or was it letting go of everything she’d felt today? Or maybe a little bit of both.

“I didn’t want to see you cry,” Titan said as he stepped in front of her. He stroked her hair, letting his fingers linger longer as he touched the nape of her neck.

“I sort of…” she sniffled louder, “lost track of time.”

“Maybe in your mind,” he said. “But here, in this room, you were shaking your ass and telling me how much it hurt and asking me to keep it up.”

April felt as if he’d punched her in the stomach. “I did?” She didn’t remember doing anything like that.

“You did.” He crouched in front of her so that his face was right next to hers. He gazed into her eyes, and she felt as if she should say something, anything. Thank him for letting her soar that night, when she’d felt nothing but emptiness earlier.

Before she could say anything, though, Titan opened his mouth, and April thought he might elaborate. But he shut it when there was a knock on the door.

The next thing she knew, she heard Tom say, “Somebody’s got a nice, red ass.”

April turned to watch as he crossed to the chair. Once he was seated, he exhaled in disgust and said, “While you two were having fun, I questioned some of the Doms, and a few subs, and I hate to say it, but I got nothing.”

***

April felt pain the next day, in more than one way. She was upset with herself for letting Titan spank her. She should have focused on what was important, and that was finding out information about Virginia. The other pain, of course, came from the spanking itself.

When she’d woken up, she realized Titan had been right. She might have allowed her mind to wander while he was using the bat on her, but her body had been there, her ass taking the full force of the spanking. From the sting that still lingered, she’d taken as many as Titan had said she had. Her ass throbbed every time she sat down, every time she bent over to pick up a book, every time she leaned against the counter.

The worst part was, she loved that feeling, and she hated herself for loving it. When she’d called Misty to complain about her lack of discipline, her friend had chuckled, and reminded her that, “You’re not the cop, you’re not the one who is supposed to find out who did it.”

“But I…” there was no argument for it, really. Misty was right. April wasn’t supposed to investigate and try to figure out who killed Virginia. But still, April had argued, being spanked after learning of her friend’s death seemed disrespectful.

“Nonsense,” Misty had responded. “You know what they say about disasters, that the birth rate goes up and—”

April had interrupted her. She knew the statistics, about how human contact made people feel like they were alive.

“Quit beating yourself up for being human,” Misty admonished her. “Until you can go into a phone booth and come out in tights and a cape, you’re just like the rest of us.”

That had brought a smile to April’s face. “Are there even phone booths anymore?”

“Thanks for the smart comeback,” Misty said. “Lets me know you’re still you. Call me later.”

So April had gone about her business, recommending books, taking in used ones and sending out old favorites. It was close to closing time when the chime over the door sounded. She’d half expected to see Titan come inside. Instead, she turned to see Det. Threadway standing near the counter.

She glanced around him. “No partner today?”

“Nope.” He looked around, and she wondered if he were assessing who else was in the store. Finally, he sat in one of the wingback chairs she kept for people who liked to read a little of a book before they bought it. He indicated she should sit down next to him.

“Let me check and see if the store’s empty,” she said, partly as an excuse so she could get her thoughts together. What was he doing here by himself? She made a quick circuit of the stacks. When she found no one there, she went to the front, locked the door and flipped the open sign to
closed.

When she was finally seated next to him, Threadway cleared his throat. “I wanted to see if you remembered anything about the night you saw Virginia at Charlie’s.”

“No.” She wished she could.

“Your visit last night didn’t jog any hidden memory?”

A surge of anger shot through her. “Are you following me?”

“People tend to tell me when someone comes behind me asking the same questions I asked just hours before.” He was admonishing her. But he didn’t directly tell her to butt out. She wondered who had tattled on her.

“Am I supposed to say I’m sorry?”

“Are you?”

“No.”

A smirk crossed his face. “Then don’t say it. It’s best not to tell a lie.”

“I’ll remember that.”

There was an awkward silence, and April did the thing her mother taught her to do when you weren’t sure what to say next. “Can I get you something to drink? Water or a soda?”

“No, thanks.” He crossed his legs. “You were with Titan last night.” Not a question, simply a statement of fact.

“Yes.” He might not want something to drink, but she did. April got up and started across the room. There was a mini fridge in her office. “You sure you don’t want something?”

“I’m sure.”

She returned with a bottle of water for herself. Her butt had barely hit the chair and once again she felt the sting of last night’s spanking, when Threadway asked her how long she’d been with Titan.

“I’m not with him, really,” she said. “We’re just…”

“Spanking buddies? Tom told me
that’s your thing. Spanking.”

Damn Tom. Did he talk about her with everybody he met? “What a little gossip he is.”

“He didn’t offer the information,” Threadway defended him. “I asked. The badge tends to make people talk.”