Buttons and Shame (Buttons 4)

My phone rang, and Tristan’s name appeared on the screen. I walked into my office to take the call, aware I had someone who could eavesdrop on my conversations—for better or worse. “Hello, Tristan.” I put my feet on the desk and crossed my ankles. My t-shirt was warm from my sweat and stuck to my skin.

“Cane, it’s been too long,” he said with a sarcastic chuckle. “How’s my little slave working out for you?”

I didn’t like to discuss my personal life so openly. It was strange. Crow didn’t even know half the things I did. “I think you overpaid.”

When he chuckled into the phone, it was a real laugh. “You have no idea how much I miss her. The whores…they’re all the same. They’re desensitized to everything. Don’t even flinch when they’re spanked.”

I looked out the window to the garden outside. The pink roses were in full bloom. They shifted in the gentle breeze, and one petal came loose and drifted to the earth.

“I miss her tears. I miss listening to her cry. You’re a lucky man, Cane. Come to think of it…it really wasn’t a fair trade.”

I thought he was a psychopath for being obsessed with her tears, but when I remembered how hard I was when tears streaked down her cheeks when she was sucking me off, I knew we weren’t that different.

We were both monsters. “I put a tracker in her. Hope you don’t mind. I moved into the country, so I didn’t want her to take off.”

“That bitch won’t run,” he said with certainty. “Not unless she wants blood on her hands.”

This woman didn’t mean anything to me. I hadn’t even bothered to ask for her name. But when he referred to her as a bitch, I didn’t care for it. She was just a woman who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was demoralized on a daily basis. Even when he wasn’t with her, he insulted her.

It annoyed me.

“Why are you sure?” So far, it didn’t seem like escape was on her mind at all. But that didn’t make any sense because she had some serious spunk.

“She was taken with a friend of hers. I threatened to kill her friend, or worse, if she tried anything. It’s worked pretty well.”

“Where is her friend?”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” he said coldly. “She’s not nearly as attractive, so no one wants her. I’ve kept her around just to get Adelina to cooperate. She’ll do anything for that ugly friend of hers.”

Adelina.

That’s her name.

I liked it.

“Good to know, I suppose.” Her hands were tied, and there was nothing she could do. She had to submit to daily torture. Otherwise, her friend would be beheaded.

I actually felt bad for her.

“Did you call for any other reason?”

“Where’s my shipment?”

“It’s on the way.” It was ignorant of him to assume transportation of this magnitude would happen instantly. Moving weapons through different channels and avoiding government involvement was no easy task. “Don’t worry about it. Barsettis always deliver.”

“I have no doubt of that. But can I get an ETA?”

I eyed my calendar on my phone. “Probably tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good.” He gave me a cold dismissal. “Enjoy her while you can. That bitch will be mine soon enough.”

It annoyed me again. “Make sure you have the money.”

“Don’t you worry about that.” He hung up.

I tossed my phone on the table and looked outside again. The rose petal that fell had disappeared, swept off with the breeze like it’d never fallen in the first place.

13

Adelina

What the hell am I doing?

I sat on the floor of the shower and let the warm water run down my body. Like I’d never been captured in the first place, I’d gotten used to having access to showers, food, and a warm bed. I forgot how it felt to have that chain wrapped around my ankle. Tristan knew I couldn’t run, but yet he subjected me to the indignity anyway.

Now I treasured every moment under that warm water.

I treasured every moment of feeling clean.

I tried to block out what happened the night before, but the image was still stained in my mind. Cane sat on the couch like a king, his knees spread and his enormous cock lying against his stomach. He stared at me with eyes that were both beautiful and terrifying. He never asked me to suck his dick.

I did that all on my own.

I didn’t want to sleep with him. I would do whatever was necessary to stay away from Tristan, but I didn’t want to cross that bridge just yet. I loved having the freedom to say no. I loved having the ability to control the outcome of my evening with Cane.

I wasn’t ready to give that up yet.

But when I kissed him, I felt something. It didn’t happen right away. It was a slow burn. First, my lips were infected. Then the warmth moved to my extremities, heating me from the inside out. It migrated to my core, my heart, and my lungs. Then it plummeted deep between my legs, right where the ache thudded.