Echo of Redemption (30 page)

He snorts derisively. “You make her sound schizophrenic.”

I hug his face between my palms, forcing him to meet my gaze. “We are all two halves of one whole, Gar. Light. Dark. Most of us fight to unite ourselves and find balance. She fights to keep hers separate.”

He whispers, “I don’t want you to leave. Not like this. Not knowing when or even if you will be able to come back for short visits or whether you will even be permitted to return for the birth of the babies.”

I push my forehead against his. The emotion he is holding back is palpable. He’s killing me. Sophia crying in the other room I can survive. But this? It’s worse, harder to walk away from. “She will grieve. Mourn my absence with her as I did when you left.”

A tear finally slides down his cheek and the force of need swelling the room breaks. I sigh, relieved, knowing he has accepted the fact that I am leaving and I’m not taking Sophia with me. I kiss him, his mouth warm and pliant beneath my lips.

He whispers against my mouth, “Don’t go.”

“Gar,” I whisper, “I’m no happier about this than you. I’d give anything to make this assignment not so.”

* * * *

Sophia has said nothing and that worries me more than Garrett’s open grief. I think perhaps we should call George, but Garrett convinces me that the three of us should spend a final night in each other’s arms and assures me that after I leave he will call George if it is deemed necessary.

After a quiet dinner, Nikos excuses himself and goes back to the guest bedroom. He feels horrible and I know he blames this mess on himself, but the honest truth is that I wouldn’t even have the relationship I have with these two people I love so much if he hadn’t taken my place a decade ago. I was only able to disappear because of his sacrifice.

Now, it’s my turn.

We go to the bedroom agreeing on no penetration even though Dr. Wang has said he feels that all normal activities could be resumed. I’m not willing to take a chance, neither is Garrett. At this point it is fairly obvious that Kitten will have to be content with mere servitude as both Garrett and I share the agreement that no level of play is safe following the episode of bleeding.

Standing between us, she is almost unresponsive as we both kiss her. Garrett in front of her, kissing her lips, while I stand behind her kissing her nape. I bite softly, eliciting a moan, and she turns between us to kiss my mouth.

I am glad when Garrett takes it in stride and continues to caress her, rubbing her arms and breasts and belly through her clothing. I lose myself in her mouth, enjoying the sweetness of her kisses. She whispers, “I don’t want you to leave.”

“I know, baby, I know.”

I pull her shirt over her head and kiss her skin as it’s revealed. Garrett unsnaps her bra and draws it down her arms. I sit down on the bed and pull her forward to suck her nipples. She gasps and moans, so sensitive due to the pregnancy. I am not sure whether I am causing her pleasure or pain, but I don’t stop.

Behind her Garrett is similarly tormenting her, alternating between biting her neck and sucking her earlobe. She exclaims, “God! Oh God.”

I shimmy down her stretchy pants and help her to step free. Garrett drops to his knees and starts massaging her legs, rubbing his hands and lips over the backs of her thighs. She twists her fingers into my hair and forces me to meet her mouth, kissing me with need verging on desperation.

I drop back onto the bed, pulling her with me. Garrett moves onto the bed as well, helping me pull her into position. Rolling her beneath me, I crawl between her legs. I want her desperately but settle for licking her slick folds. Garrett climbs around so that he can kiss her lips while I worship her labia and clit. She moans softly. “Master, I want to suck you.”

I am not surprised by her request, it is a frequent one asked of both of us. He maneuvers around to straddle her face. She takes his length into her mouth and makes soft happy sounds deep in her throat which makes my erection tighten painfully.

I don’t stop licking her, not even when his mouth joins mine in the task.

Garrett and I share a kiss over her throbbing pussy, both of us smelling of her, before return to the task of helping her find pleasure. Our tongues collide and tangle more than once and I think that the sensation of both of us licking her does it for all of us.

Her orgasm starts, quickly followed by Garrett’s. I take my own cock in hand, the touch barely necessary to find my own release. My orgasm is anticlimactic, one step closer to having to say goodbye.

It takes a moment for us to all rearrange so that we are lined up with our heads again on pillows. I am in the middle, making an immediate escape impossible, not that I want to go. That’s the problem. My mind flies through a dozen different scenarios, all of them ending with me, Garrett, and Sophia lying under a hot sun on a foreign beach with icy frou-frou drinks in hand. I say for what seems like the hundredth time, “You both know I don’t want to go.”

Too soon it is time for me to go. I still have to get Nikos settled in at Lewd Larry’s. I keep an emergency sleeping room there at The Attic and it was agreed by both Garrett and Sophia that they want him there. In part I think they believe that if he is there I will most certainly come back. Silly on their part, I wish I could make them see that they are all the draw I need. They are my family now as much as Nikos.

We are both quiet as Blake drives us to the club. I as lost in my thoughts as he is in his. Both of us worried about what direction our new roles will take us.

“They don’t know that fucking the senator is part of the job description, do they?”

“No, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

The night air is a cool, sensual caress on my face as I step from my car. A bass beat throbs in the air and we haven’t even entered the building yet. It will be Nikos’s first impression of his new place of employment, and what an impression the place is capable of making tonight. The Lewd Larry’s crowd wraps around the block, waiting to get in.

“This is it?” he asks.

“This is it,” I answer, looking up the side of the brick façade, four-story warehouse to a brilliant blue flickering neon sign that says it all:
Lewd Larry’s Fetish Fantasy
.

I use my staff key to get us into a secondary entrance that leads onto the spacious dance floor, the heart of the casual observer’s Lewd Larry’s experience. Multi-level dance stages are outfitted with dance poles and surrounded by brass dance cages that offer eye candy in the form of barely clothed professional dancers. A club DJ on a raised dais is responsible for whipping the dance crowd into a frenzy, playing the hottest dance mixes and filling their minds with naughty ideas for what they might want to do in one of the secluded alcoves, should their partners be willing. A smokey haze fills the dance space and reflects a blaze of alternating colored lights. The overall mood is high class, mysterious, and very sensual.

“Welcome to Lewd Larry’s.”

“I get to work here?” he asks and I nod in answer, biting my tongue. This is actually the last thing I wanted, but at least he’ll be safe here…and happy. I was. If anything, Lewd Larry’s is distracting and entertaining. It’s hard to be sad or melancholy within the closure of its fantasy world.

I find myself already on autopilot, making sure that security posts have everything under control as I gauge the throng for the evening’s mood. The lower level Dominants work the crowd, deeming who is ready for admission into the more private arenas. It isn’t easy to get an invite, but for those who receive invitations to the uppermost levels of Lewd’s it is an eye opening experience. Assured the place has survived without me, I look at Nikos, finding his head tilted. He is close to drooling, something or someone has caught his attention. Not a real surprise
here
.

I follow the direction of his gaze to the descending glass elevator and the woman inside.
Morgana.
She stands close to the glass, watching the floor as she descends; I know it’s because she is terrifyingly claustrophobic. To the casual observer she appears regal, not scared shitless. The red satin gloves that extend past her elbows, hides the fact her knuckles are turning white.

The glass reveals shapely legs encased in thigh-high black leather boots, five-inch heels; the girl has a thing for very expensive, very sexy footwear. Only four feet, nine inches, she’s at a disadvantage as a female Domme, she needs all the height she can get. Flaming red hair cascades past her waist, hiding most of her barely there lace up the front corset and mind-fucking hip hugger hot pants, both in fire engine red. Tonight she is sporting a black leather harness with a flaming red, acrylic strap-on that would make most of the real penises in the room shrink with envy.

I tilt my head, seeing what he sees. Pale skin, very, very pale, I start imagining all the places her liberally sprinkled freckles hide and she’s not even close enough to see the freckles. Having seen her completely naked before, it’s not a forgettable memory, not that any man in their right mind would want to forget. I let out a long breath. It bothers me to think about her naked because we don’t have the kind of relationship that leads to where the thought of her naked would take my brain. For some reason, it bothers me Nikos would think of Morgana in a sexual way, and by the tilt of his head and glazed eyes his brain has already gone on an X-rated journey.

“Your post is over there, bartending.”

We both watch the sashay of her hips and bobbing rubber dildo bring Morgana closer.

“Fraternizing between employees is strictly prohibited.”

He purses his lips, and I see that he’s blowing a kiss to the woman in question.

She glares down her aristocratic nose at him, but because she is glaring means he has managed to catch her eye.

“It’d be worth getting fired to tie her up.”

I laugh at him. “Morgana doesn’t get tied up. Ever. She’s hands off. I mean it. You are here under the good graces of Garrett Lawrence, the owner and my lover. Do not fuck things up by thinking with your dick.”

“I could have her begging me to top her by the end of the night.”

Morgana parts the crowd without even trying. She walks, people get out of her way.

“Oh God, I think I’m in love.”

“Down boy.” I hiss.

She smiles at me, still several feet away, heels clicking on the wooden floor, hot-pink prosthetic bobbing in time with her barely restrained DD-cup cleavage.

“I think I just came in my pants.”

“Nikos.” I growl in warning. Leave it to him to find trouble without even trying. “Morgana is off limits. I mean it.”

“Fyre!” She squeals and jumps into my arms, throwing her arms around my neck and wrapping her legs around my waist, the hard dildo trapped between us.

I smirk, knowing this show is for my brother’s benefit, being way over the top, even for Morgana. I wonder just what kind of impression she’s trying to make on my brother.

“I am so glad you’re here!” Her voice alludes to more going on, that perhaps needs said in private. Over the top drama is not Morgana’s style, something is definitely up. “I thought you’d left forever, and Garrett wasn’t sure when or if you were coming back!”

Nikos takes that particular moment to kick me in the back of my calf, and I set Morgana gently to the ground. He interrupts, “Hello! New guy needs an intro!”

Morgana steps back to inspect the new guy. Half-lowered lids don’t reveal what she’s thinking. She lifts her lip in distaste and snarls, “Tell me this isn’t the new bartender.”

“Oh, yeah! That’s me, baby.
Your
new bartender. Why don’t you tell me your favorite drink so that I can have it and a backrub ready for you at the end of your shift.”

She turns to me with a snarl. “He isn’t going to survive the night.”

My brain snags on the freckle just above her upper lip on the left side, her cupid lips further setting off the paleness of her skin in a high cost, high slick shine of fire engine red lipstick. I manage to choke out, “How about showing the new mutt around?”

“Is he trained?”

I glare at Nikos, hoping he understands the consequences if he fails. “He can sit, heel, stay, and fetch adequately enough.”

“As long as he follows directions.”

“Ooh, baby. I’ll follow you anywhere.” He pants, then barks.

“Watch it, Fido. I have a single-tail with your name on in.” Making a face of total disgust, she lifts her arm, his signal to lift his for her to rest her hand and forearm atop of, while she does the tour. In true Sir Galahad style, he bows regally before sliding his inked forearm beneath hers. Red satin and tattoos collide, then mold with an ease I didn’t expect.

Morgana looks over her shoulder at me as she strides away, my brother lassoed and leashed by her mere magnetism. She winks at me, her darkly kohled and thickly mascaraed eye saying more than any words would have. She is going to eat him alive. God, I’m going to miss this place.

“I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing.”

Anais Nin

Kitten

His text caught me by surprise:
Meet me at Louie’s Barber
s
hop,
Chestnut St
.

My heart is pounding, my palms sweating, and I may throw up at any moment. Despite my promise to Master to the contrary, I do not tell him where I am going or that I am meeting Thomas.
What will I do if he asks me to go with him?
My heart flutters, one or both of the babies kicks. Nervously, I rub my hand over my ever expanding girth and climb from the car. He is waiting for me outside on the curb when I arrive and holds open his arms for me to walk into. He kisses my forehead. “Thank you for coming. I don’t think I could have done this alone.”

He holds my hand and opens the door to the barbershop. Scents of menthol and cologne war on the air, making my nervous stomach roll. Apprehensively, I squeeze his hand.

Fyre leans close to whisper, “It’s a small world. I’ll text you every day. E-mail. Phone calls. You won’t have a chance to miss me.”