Third Chance (12 page)

“And what if none of them last long enough to please her?” Justan asked while staring at Moira so hard, Emma was surprised her friend didn’t burst into lustful flames.

“Then she moves onto the girls.”

Both men groaned and she laughed. “Hmmm, I haven’t given her my gift yet. Justan, do you want to be up there? The guys that didn’t make the cut are being released right now and there will be space soon.”

Emma expected Justan to make some smart-ass remark about never doing anything like this, but there was only silence from him. When she studied his face, she saw a dizzying mixture of jealousy, lust, anger, and a longing so strong it practically choked her. Oh man, Justan was all fucked in the head over Moira. What the hell had been going on between them when Emma’d been wrapped up in her own drama?

Someone tapped her shoulder and she turned to find Krystal, one of the Dommes that worked at the dungeon, smiling at her. “Hey, gorgeous!”

“Hi, honey.” She hugged the tall brunette woman, stepping away from Ryan a little bit to make space in the crowded room. “How have you been?”

“Great. Since you quit, I’ve gotten a couple of your clients, including that hot-as-fuck baseball player. Holy cow.”

Ryan frowned and Emma gave him a small smile before turning her attention back to Krystal. “I upgraded. Krystal, this is my boyfriend, Ryan.”

“Serious boyfriend,” Ryan added and gave Emma a look that screamed “hands off, mine.”

Krystal grinned at Emma, then flipped her dark hair over her shoulder. “Nice to meet you, Ryan. Hey, the reason I came over here is I’ve got your phone. You must have left it here because someone turned it in a few days ago.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Emma made a mock gesture of wiping sweat from her forehead. “I was wondering where they hell I’d left it.”

“It’s back in the dressing room. Want to come grab it with me? I need to get back to my man. He’s waiting for me in the suspension room.”

“Mind if I go grab it?”

Ryan shook his head. “No, go ahead. I’ll hang out here with Justan.”

She leaned up and kissed Ryan’s cheek. “I’ll be right back. Try to keep Justan from throwing himself on the stage.”

The kiss Ryan gave her in return was hot, wet, and right on her lips. “Moira would eat him alive right now. I’ll keep him out of trouble.”

Chatting with Krystal, Emma smiled as they made their way through the dungeon, pausing to talk to people. As Emma accepted hug after hug she realized how the people who worked here, even the customers were so much more than just a job. They were genuinely good people who were kind, generous, and in touch with their kinky side. She was glad they all had a safe place to go and indulge their desires.

“So you’re living with him now?” Krystal asked while adjusting her gold corset.

“Just temporarily.” Emma sat on one of the red velvet fainting couches on the other side of the lockers.

“Hmm. I’ll be surprised if he ever lets you move out. That boy is smitten with a capital S.”

After digging through her bag, Krystal pulled Emma’s familiar and somewhat-battered cell phone out. “Here you go.”

Emma stood and took it from the other woman, smiling when the phone turned on. “And it still has a charge. Awesome.”

Krystal left soon after, but Emma remained in the dressing room, going through two weeks’ worth of missed calls and texts. When she saw two calls from a good school district that she’d applied to teach at, a zing of excitement went through her. Sure enough, both calls were about coming in for a fourth and final round of interviews, and she leapt from the couch and did a little happy dance. After three years, it looked as if she might finally catch a break.

Happiness filled her heart and she couldn’t help but smile and quickly text her family to let them know she had her phone back and they could call her directly instead of going through Ryan.

A moment later her good mood fled and in its place a nightmare began.

It all started when she opened an innocent looking text with an attachment from “abbyjoe.”

Emma,

You must leave Ryan and never see him again. If you don’t, I will send out the videos below to your friends, your family, and put it up on the Internet. We both know what will happen to your clients’ lives if these videos go public. I’m watching you. I know your every move and thought, my lovely Emma. He doesn’t deserve you, and he can’t protect you from me. No one can. You belong to me and the sooner you realize that, the better. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you continue to let that man defile you with his touch.

No signature, but by this point Emma’d stumbled over to one of the chairs and had collapsed into it.

The file below was labeled ‘Best of Emma’ and when she touched her screen, her hand shook so much she had trouble swiping it at first.

It was a video, and in the moments it took to load Emma’s mind remained frozen, fear nothing but a roaring beast obliterating her ability to function. What she saw next had spots hovering around the edges of her vision as she struggled for a breath. No,
no,
this couldn’t be happening.

There, in what was obviously footage from the security camera, was Emma with around a dozen of her clients, indulging their kinky desires and playing with them. Disgust and shame filled her along with panic at the thought of her mother, her father — hell, everyone — seeing her doing these things. Private things. When the clip ended, it was with her fucking one of her male clients in the ass, a savage smile on her face as she commanded him to come for her. If anyone who knew this man saw the video, he would never live it down.

Ever.

When the video ended, Emma just sat there, her heart shattering into a million pieces. If it had just been a threat to expose her, she could have dealt with it, but her clients…she couldn’t let that happen to them. Their lives would be destroyed, and she knew that once something was on the Internet, there was no way to get it down. She was trapped, utterly and completely trapped by someone who seemed determined to tear her world apart.

A knock came from the door. “Emma? You in there?”

Her heart racing, she looked up at the video camera in the corner. He could be watching her right now. The thought made her skin crawl as Ryan called her name again.

A chime sounded from her phone letting her know she had a new text. All of Emma’s suspicions were confirmed by the message, and she had to choke back a cry.

You know what to do.

The door to the dressing room opened and a concerned Ryan came in with Justan at his back. One look at her face had him rushing over, but Emma jumped back with a scream. The hurt and confused look in his eyes destroyed her.

“Don’t touch me!”

His face and hand fell, making her already-bleeding heart ache. “Emma, what’s wrong?”

“I-I can’t see you anymore.”

Justan made a startled noise but she ignored him, trying her damndest to put on her cold bitch face. “This isn’t working out. I can’t be with you.”

“What? Why?” Panic etched his handsome face and she wanted to reach out to him so badly, but she couldn’t sacrifice the happiness of all those people for the relief of touching him.

Unable to think of a solid reason, she wimped out and went with, “You know why.”

He paled and sank to his knees. “Emma, it’s not what you think. I was just trying to help.”

She stared at him, battling back tears, trying to summon the strength to be cruel. “Fuck you.”

“Please, don’t be mad I gave your parents that money. It was nothing to me, but everything to them. Please don’t tell them it was me. Let them have this.”

Her knees went so weak she probably would have hit the ground if Justan hadn’t caught her. The words Ryan was saying just got caught up in the whirlwind of emotions slicing her soul to shreds.
He
gave her parents that money?

“Why did you do that?”

An agonized groan ripped from him before he said, “Because you love them. I’d do anything for you, Emma. Anything, and that includes taking care of the people you love. I’m sorry I lied to you, to them, but I swear I never meant to hurt you.”

It was all too much and she wanted to scream when her phone chimed again with an incoming text.

Get his hands off you.

Feeling as if she were going to throw up, she shoved Justan away. “Don’t touch me!”

With a confused frown, Justan held up his hands. “What the hell, Emma? Why are you doing this to him? Ryan loves you, so what if he’s a dumbass and went behind your back to do it? The point is he did that for you out of love and never wanted you to find out because he’s a good fuckin’ man like that. He didn’t want you to feel as if you owed him anything, he just wanted you to be happy.”

A distant part of Emma’s mind realized that she was now crying hysterically, but she didn’t care. The look of loss and profound hurt suffusing Ryan’s face hit her like physical blows. Agony tore through her as she stumbled to the door, only pausing long enough to say, “I never want to see you again, Ryan. Ever. We’re over.”

As she shoved her way through the door she tried to ignore Ryan screaming her name as she fled from the only man she’d ever loved, dying a little bit inside with every step.

Coming Spring 2015- The last book in Emma and Ryan’s story…then onto Justan and Moira’s tale.

About the Author

With over forty published books, Ann is Queen of the Castle to her husband and three sons in the mountains of West Virginia. In her past lives she's been an Import Broker, a Communications Specialist, a US Navy Civilian Contractor, a Bartender/Waitress, and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. She also spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead-though she will deny to her children that it ever happened.

From a young Ann has had a love affair with books would read everything she could get her hands on. As Ann grew older, and her hormones kicked in, she discovered bodice ripping Fabio-esque romance novels. They were great at first, but she soon grew tired of the endless stories with a big wonderful emotional buildup to really short and crappy sex. Never a big fan of purple prose, throbbing spears of fleshy pleasure and wet honey pots make her giggle, she sought out books that gave the sex scenes in the story just as much detail and plot as everything else-without using cringe worthy euphemisms. This led her to the wonderful world of Erotic Romance, and she's never looked back.

Now Ann spends her days trying to tune out cartoons playing in the background to get into her 'sexy space' and has accepted that her Muse has a severe case of ADD.

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.annmayburn.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ann.mayburn.5

https://twitter.com/AnnMayburn

Other BDSM Romance by Ann Mayburn

Club Wicked Series

(Male Dom)

My Wicked Valentine

My Wicked Nanny

My Wicked Devil

My Wicked Trainers

My Wicked Masters

Virtual Seduction Series

Sodom and Detroit

Sodom and the Phoenix

Submissive’s Wish Series

(Male Dom)

Ivan’s Captive Submissive

Dimitri’s Forbidden Submissive

Long Slow Tease Series

(FemDom)

Still

Penance 

Stand Alone Books

Blushing Violet

Bound for Pleasure (FemDom)

Sensation Play

Peppermint Passion

The Breaker’s Concubine

Out Now-Still(Long Slow Tease, #1)

FemDom Military Romance

Prologue

Present Day

Michelle Sapphire closed her eyes and counted to ten, straining with every ounce of her formidable self-control not to launch herself at the asshole secured in the restraint chair in front of her.

Grinning at her.

“Yes, Officer, I know this man.”

Oh, she knew this man all right. Wyatt Maverick Callahan. Also known as Marine Gunnery Sergeant Callahan, “Gunny” to the men and women in his unit, and darling boy to his doting mother. A decorated war hero with six tours of the Middle East under his belt. During the last tour, he'd been part of the security detachment assigned to her regiment. She'd been sitting next to him in the M-ATV when the mortar ripped through his troop transport and inflicted the wound that sent him home, essentially ending his military career and winning him another Purple Heart.

Now, here he sat wearing a vintage Pink Floyd tee shirt probably older than he was, faded, grass-stained blue jeans that fit like they'd been painted on, and scuffed boots desperately in need of a polish. He had a good two to three days growth of beard that accentuated his knife-sharp cheekbones. And he still, somehow, managed to look hotter than fucking sin.

“Ms. Sapphire,” the older policeman standing next to Callahan started to say before Wyatt lunged forward as much as he could while strapped down to the chair.

“That’s
Doctor
Sapphire to you,” Callahan snarled and Michelle’s right fist ached with the need to beat his ass.