Prima

“That’s enough,” he said, using his hold to pull me to my feet. “We wouldn’t want it to be too easy now, would we? Turn around and press those little titties against the window.”

Even with his shaft glistening with my saliva, I knew easy wasn’t even close to what I’d be experiencing. Turning, I stepped up to the glass, closing my eyes as I pressed my body against the cold pane, my nipples pebbling with the shocking change of temperature. I didn’t think of how someone might see me, knowing it didn’t matter as no one could see me as anything worse than how I saw myself in my mind’s eye.

I saw the woman I’d struggled to become disappear, and the woman I’d thought gone forever returning to step in to take her place. Perhaps that was for the best as I wasn’t sure the new Clara would be capable of surviving whatever happened in the next moment or the hours that would follow.

So, when he kicked my feet apart, I simply shifted my stance. And when he upended his glass to allow the remaining icy drops of his drink to slide down my spine, I only shuddered feeling the liquid slide into the crevice of my buttocks. And when he said to reach back and spread the cheeks of my ass wide… I did.28AlekIt didn’t take a degree in psychology to know something was off with Clara. No, not just off — something was definitely wrong.

It wasn’t the fact she was avoiding me because she wasn’t… not in the sense that she didn’t answer the phone when I called to check on how her grandmother was faring. She answered my questions, assured me everything was fine, politely thanked me for my concern, and hung up. At the theater, she didn’t slip from a room whenever I entered. Yes, she still gave me a smile, though it never reached her eyes. She would return a wave if I called out to her from a distance, yet even that was off.

I used to stand in the shadows and watch her move, the fluidity of each motion like water dancing over smooth river rocks. But now, watching her almost had me wincing. It was as if every movement caused her pain though she never complained nor attempted to take it easy when Yuri snapped at her to jump higher, leap farther, or simply to position her fingers differently. Watching her perform a series of spins and then turn her back to the others and close her eyes, her brow furrowing as her fingers clenched in front of her, I had had enough.

“Clara, I want to see you in my office before you leave,” I said, pushing off the wall and stepping out where she could easily see me. Her slight jerk affirmed she’d not been aware of my presence.

“Oh… I can’t. I mean, I have… um, I have an appointment right after we finish rehearsal,” she said.

It wasn’t the words that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. It wasn’t even the fact her fingers were twisting together and she was looking toward the wings of the stage, or toward the exits… or anywhere other than at me. The thing absolutely killing me was that she looked terrified standing on the same stage where we’d first had sex.

“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, no longer concerned about waiting until we were in the privacy of my office.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she said far too fast to be even slightly convincing.

I hadn’t asked if anything was wrong, but her answer confirmed something was definitely wrong. “Bullshit,” I said, moving swiftly down the aisle toward her and trying not to cringe as she instantly moved backward. Halting, I looked up at her. “Clara, talk to me.”

“I-I have to go,” she said, turning on her heel and running toward the wing.

Shock had me frozen for an instant before I said, “Fuck,” and made my own move… not toward the stage, but to the place I was sure she was fleeing. By the time she pushed out the side door, I was ready and reached out and grabbed her arm. The piercing scream almost had me releasing her, but the pure panic on her face had me tightening my hold.

“Let me go,” she demanded.

“Not happening,” I said, pulling the door open again.

“Please, I… I can’t be late,” she said. “I’ll… I’ll call you later, but you have to let me go.”

Looking down at her, every alarm bell I had was pinging through my body. Something wasn’t wrong, something was bad enough to have one of the strongest women I’d ever met shaking like a leaf and looking as if she was going to either pass out, throw up, or die on the spot.