Five Stars (Desire Island 5)

She blew out a breath and lifted her chin again in that determined way. “For a week or so, I enjoyed it. I mean, there were some aspects I found annoying, like not being allowed to sit on the furniture or feed myself. I know that’s super-hot for some people, but it just never floated my particular boat. But he was really into it, so I went along with it.

“Things started to ratchet up, slowly at first. I was now sleeping in his bed, and he introduced the idea of cuffing me at night to remind me of my place as his slave girl. Then he started making me sleep at the foot of the bed, which I didn’t like, but again, went along with.

“He worked from home as an editor for a large publishing house, so he was always there. He apparently got his money from a family trust, and didn’t really have to work. But he liked to keep busy, he told me, and he was good at taking the crap his writers dished out and turning it into something palatable—his words.

“He discouraged me from looking for a new job, telling me my job was now solely to serve and please him. It was starting to feel less sexy, but it was nice being taken care of financially. And he actually was a very good lover—super attentive and generous in bed, always concerned with my orgasm and with pleasing me sexually.

“Anyway, he started giving me very specific tasks around the house that I was to complete while he was working. Things like clean the master bath until every inch of it was sparkling, but I had to do it while hobbled with a chain between my ankles and armed with only a toothbrush and a wet rag. He would inspect my work and always find something wrong with it.

“What started out as what I thought of as sexy, playful punishments began to turn to something darker. He would really hurt me sometimes, not in a good way. But afterward he was always so solicitous and kind. He would bring me huge bouquets of flowers and big boxes of fancy chocolates. He would massage my feet and put soothing balm over the welts and bruises. He would cook lavish meals and feed me along with himself, always with a bottle or two of fine wine to go with the food.”

She paused again, staring out at the field of flowers, slowly shaking her head.

“I don’t really know how to explain it—how I let things go so far. It’s almost like I was hypnotized, or like those kidnap victims who start identifying with their captors. I was always kept in a state of erotic excitement and fear. He was a very powerful guy—very charismatic and controlling, and he played into my natural submissive tendencies and desire to please him.

“But after a while, I didn’t seem able to please him anymore, no matter how hard I tried. I lost ‘privileges.’ I was no longer permitted to leave the house without him, or to make any decisions about my future or finances. He kept me cuffed and chained when he wasn’t using me. The punishments became more frequent and harsher. I started spending a lot of time in the punishment box under the bed—”

“Jesus, Shani,” Adam blurted in horror, despite his promise to himself to remain quiet. “That fucking asshole.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just want to kill this guy.”

“I know,” she said, managing a small smile. “Me, too. It’s embarrassing to admit this stuff to you. It’s like my spirit left me for a while. I forgot I was Shani, one of the five noble warrior princesses in the sky.”

“You were…what?” Adam asked, not sure he’d heard correctly.

Shani laughed. “It’s a story my mom used to tell us when we were little. She used to make up stories for us all the time, because we didn’t have a TV or a computer or anything. This one she swore was an old Native American folktale, though I never found reference to it when I did some research. But that didn’t really matter. We believed it as kids, and it gave us a sense of empowerment.”

“Tell me,” Adam said, sensing Shani needed a break from relating the awful story of “Sir.”

“It was about these five powerful sisters who fought battles against bad people trying to steal the land and the water their tribe had always lived on. The brave warrior women saved their people with strength and cunning. Of course, in the story, their names were Kaiah, Malia, Shani, Yareli and Chenoa, just like us.

“We loved the story and we made her tell it to us a hundred times. We would play noble warrior princess games and we used to fight over who got to be the most heroic and helpful to her people. In the story, the noble sisters were so loved and admired that even the gods revered them. And when they left this earthly plane, they took their places up in the sky as five stars to shine down and give my people guidance when they’re lost.”