Vandal (Ashes & Embers 2)

“Get out, are you serious? I love me a tatted up man.”

“Wait ’til you see the tattoo he did on me! He put angel wings on my back.”

“What? You? I can’t believe it.”

“It hurt like crazy, but now that it’s healing up it’s beautiful. The detail is incredible. I’ll ask him to take a picture so I can text it to you. Oh, and he plays guitar. Or maybe it was a bass? I can’t remember, but he’s wicked talented. He’s just yum, on so many levels. And he’s romantic.”

“Well fuck. Does he have a brother?”

I laugh and pet Sterling who’s just jumped up on my lap. “He does, but I haven’t met him yet. I think he has a girlfriend, though. What about Steve? Aren’t you still dating him?”

“Ugh. I guess. He’s kinda getting on my nerves.”

I roll my eyes. Right around the three-month mark she always starts to get the itch for a new man.

“I’m not gonna say anything …” I tease.

“Good! I just want you to be happy, Tab. I’m sorry that I probably wasn’t the best friend to you I could have been with everything that happened … I just really didn’t know what to do to help you. I feel like I let you down.”

“No, Lara. Please don’t think that. I love you, and you’re the best. No one could help me; trust me. I didn’t want anyone near me—you know that. I just needed to get through this in my own way. And I’m getting better, I promise. Being here has been good for me, as crazy as that sounds. I’m in a beautiful house in the mountains with a lake, a hot guy, and an adorable blind kitten sitting on my lap.”

“Blind kitten?” she repeats. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, he’s got this cute little blind kitten that is just a total ball of love. Every day, I lie on the couch and read, and he curls up on me. I want to take him with me when I go home.”

“Speaking of, when are you coming home?”

I sigh and flop back onto the couch. “I don’t know. He said he’s going back to his other house and back to his shop to work in two weeks. This was like a little vacation for him. I think I’ll be going back home then, and then I’ll have to figure out what I want to do next.”

“So what happens to you then? Are you going to keep seeing him, or was this like a thirty-night stand?”

Eep. My heart pounds a little faster, thinking about this. I want to keep seeing him. “I’m not really sure. I’m going to cross that bridge when I get to it. I’m hoping we will still see each other, but I don’t know.”

“Scandalous. I hope you figure it out.” I hear Lara’s other line ringing. “I gotta run; my break is over. You better call me in a few days. And send me some pictures.”

“I will. Love ya.”

“Love ya too.”

***

Staring at myself in the full-length mirror, I wonder where the pole is that should have come with this outfit. The dress is so short that it barely covers my lady bits, and it’s tighter than any dress I would ever buy. Oh, and no panties were included. The shoes are like mini, slutty stilts. I don’t know if we are doing stripper or hooker role-play or what. The requested dark makeup is just adding to the whorish look, which apparently is what he wants tonight.

I teeter out to the dining room at a quarter to five and wait. I’m not sure how he always comes home exactly when he says he will, but at five o’clock, his motorcycle idles in the driveway. He comes through the door wearing an old, beat-up leather jacket, his hair tied back, and dark sunglasses. My body immediately reacts to how sexy he looks, my heartbeat speeding up and dampness forming between my thighs. He washes his hands at the kitchen sink before approaching me in the dim dining room.

“Stand up,” he says abruptly, his face still hard.

Standing, I try to balance myself on the shoes. “These shoes are insane, I never wear heels—”

He touches my lips with his finger. “I’ll tell you when to talk,” he growls.

Uh-oh. The bad mood is still very much here, and I have no idea why. What did I do? Should I use the safe word and end this now? No, that wouldn’t be good. He hasn’t done anything to hurt me or scare me. He’s just in a mood. I can’t use the safe word the first time I feel a tiny bit apprehensive.

He pulls the dining room chair I had been sitting on away from the table and sits on it, leaning back, legs spread, so he’s facing down the hallway towards the bedroom.

“Crawl down to the bedroom on your hands and knees. Slowly. There’s an envelope in the nightstand. Crawl back to me with it in your teeth.”

Crawl? In this dress? I stare at him for a moment, trying to decipher what’s going on here. He didn’t shower, as he normally does before he engages in a scene with me. He had dinner without me. Where? With whom? Maybe he saw the girl he used to fuck but then didn’t fuck, and fucked her?

My stomach turns with nerves. His eyes are locked onto mine, but they’re dark and unreadable. Usually I can read them, but not tonight.

He breaks the silence. “Are we waiting for something? I could put a leash on you and walk you down there myself, if you prefer.”

A leash?

“No,” I reply, my voice shaking. I’m not scared of him, but I’m scared of what he’s thinking. I’m ninety-nine percent sure he would never hurt me, but that single, tiny percentage point is enough to make the hair on my neck stand up. I get down on my hands and knees and crawl slowly down the hardwood floor of the hall. The short dress has ridden up, completely exposing half of my naked ass and my pussy. When I get to the bedroom, I kneel at the nightstand and retrieve the plain white envelope from the drawer, then crawl back to him with it in my mouth, stopping to kneel between his jean-clad legs. Sitting like a dog with the envelope in my mouth, I wait for him to take it. Finally he does, and removes a folded white piece of paper.

He hands it to me and says, “Read this aloud to me.”

Fear grips me as I take the piece of paper from him, and I see a familiar picture on it. My picture. It’s my social media page. I stare at it, utterly confused, and look back to him.

“Just read the first post to me and the replies to it,” he instructs.

I swallow and begin reading.

“Jason posted yesterday, ‘Hey Tabitha, what’s up? I’ve been thinking about you a lot. I miss you.’

Then I replied, ‘Hi Jason, I’m doing okay. I miss you too.’

Then Jason wrote, ‘We should have dinner and catch up. When will you be back in town?’

And I wrote, ‘That sounds great. I’m staying with a friend right now, but I’ll be back home in two weeks and would love to have dinner. I’ll call you as soon as I get back.’

And then he wrote, ‘Awesome, baby girl. See ya soon.’

And then I wrote, ‘Can’t wait.’”

Vandal snatches the paper out of my hand, glaring at me with a cold, menacing look. Holy shit, is he jealous?

“Who’s Jason?” he demands.

“He’s an old friend. I’ve known him since grade school.”

He nods slowly. “I see. And here you are, staying with a friend. Is that what we are?”

“No,” I reply without much conviction. I don’t know the right answer. “I don’t know.”

He raises an eyebrow at me. “Really? Do you fuck your friends? Do they tie you to the bed and lick every delicious inch of you until you scream?”

“No.”

“Do you suck your friends?”

“No, of course not.” Heat rises to my cheeks.

“Okay. I’m glad we have that clarified. Tell me, Tabitha, have you ever fucked Jason?”

My jaw clenches, and my chest tightens. “That’s rude …”

“Referring to me as a friend to your friend was rude, Tabitha. I’ve given you expensive gifts, I’ve crawled inside every orifice of your body, you’ve swallowed gallons of my come, you sleep in my arms, in my bed, every night. I’ve invited you to live in my home indefinitely, all expenses paid, yet you think of me as a friend? How the fuck am I suppos

ed to feel about that?”

My body trembles. I’ve never seen him mad before, and he is clearly beyond pissed right now. “I didn’t mean it, Vandal. Not like you’re thinking.”

“Then why did you say it?”

“Because he’s my friend and it’s a public page and my husband just died and it just seemed … easier. I didn’t even think about it.”

His jaw clenches, and I continue. “It’s no one’s business. What was I supposed to say? That I’m hanging out with my Dom? My boyfriend? My fuck-master?”

His eyes fly to meet mine, and now he’s surpassed pissed. “Fuck-master?” he repeats. “Now that’s a good one, Tabi. Actually, that’s the first I’ve ever heard that term, so bravo.”

“Vandal, I—”

“Answer me. Have you ever fucked Jason?”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Don’t make me repeat myself. You know I hate it, and I will spank you if you play stupid.”

I let out a deep sigh and prepare myself. “Yes, I have had sex with Jason. Many years ago, in high school, we dated.”

“Outstanding.”