Beyond Eden (25 page)

“You need to eat. Your blood sugar’s probably low,” Danny called out as Paul stormed off. “You know what you get like when your blood sugar’s low. You want me to make you something?”

“I don’t want you to make me something. The story of my life is getting everything I don’t want and nothing that I do,” Paul said to himself in the hallway, knowing Danny couldn’t hear him now. He kicked open his door and threw his shoes, sending them sliding across the wooden floor. “I could have gorgeous Dommes who wear leather skirts, red lipstick and high heels but instead I’m fucking Donna Reed with a dick and a God complex.”

Paul wrenched his suit jacket off, tossing it carelessly on the bed, telling himself he’d hang it up later. Then he pulled the knot in his tie loose, tugged it out of his collar and let it drop to the floor just to be rebellious. He sat down heavily on his bed and leaned down to pull off his socks.

“This is not my life,” Paul moaned, resting his forehead in his hands as he sat there on his bed feeling sorry for himself when that had never been his style.

He considered calling Trisha and going to her place for vanilla sex, which seemed better than no sex at all, but he knew that would probably just leave him more frustrated than anything. He wavered then, knowing at least a dozen Dommes who would drop whatever they were doing to play with him, Dommes with a legitimate sadistic kink. They would get off on hurting him as much as he would get off on letting them.

Fuck Danny’s holier-than-thou shit about true Masters only gaining pleasure from seeing their slaves satisfied and happy.

Paul wasn’t satisfied. Game over.

He could find another partner for tonight and deal with Danny’s rage tomorrow.

Right then, it seemed like a two-for-one deal to him.

He got off his bed, walked over to the desk and turned on his computer. He took a shuddering breath and then scrubbed both hands over his face as he listened to the chime of his computer starting up. He took several more deep breaths and the short wait for his computer was enough to have Paul realizing he was probably letting his fetish rule him a little more than it should. It wasn’t supposed to start bleeding into other aspects of his life. It was a lifestyle choice, sure, but it was ultimately just a game. Some people played checkers when they got bored, others played slave and Master.

Calling a Domme would put a lifelong friendship into jeopardy.

Danny was a pain in the ass sometimes but he wasn’t quite ready to throw away his friendship over a little sexual frustration. Paul had a girlfriend too. If Trisha had a piece of shit car, he would make sure it was fixed. Of course, Trisha would never have a car like Eve’s because Trisha was responsible and practical instead of spontaneous and adorable.

Paul felt a smile tug at his lips thinking of Eve lying there in his football jersey and remembering a time, very long ago when she used to lie in
his
arms wearing the same thing.

Paul sighed in defeat, turning away from his computer and running a hand through his hair. He paused, his fingers still tangled in his hair when he spotted a set of leather cuffs on the floor, partially hidden beneath his bed. They were attached, a small lock holding them together as if they had been packed up and then dropped without realizing it.

A rage unlike anything he had ever experienced rushed through him as he walked over and picked them up. These were fleece-lined cuffs, ones that sure as shit weren’t his. Paul would quite literally eat dirt before he would let anyone put fleece-lined cuffs on him.

He turned around slowly, as if caught in a nightmare and stared at his bed. He had made his bed that morning, just as he did every morning. When Paul made a bed, someone could bounce a quarter off it, that’s how well the job was done. He was reared knowing how to make a bed well. If it wasn’t, not only would he get the shit kicked out of him, but his older brothers would too because they were his superiors and were supposed to make sure Paul didn’t do stupid shit like make a lumpy bed similar to the one he was looking at now. There wasn’t a crease in sight, just his comforter draped sloppily over it. The pillows were crooked beneath it and he tilted his head, looking to the bottom of the mattress and finding the sheets weren’t even tucked in.

Paul’s gaze went hazy in fury as he stood there staring at his messy bed and held the most pansy-ass pair of leather cuffs he had ever seen in his shaking hand.

“I’m gonna kick his ass,” he whispered in a low, furious voice he didn’t even recognize as his own. “And then I’m gonna
kill
him.”

Eve was tired.

Since she and Danny had spiced up their sex life Eve had discovered she was usually satisfied enough to want nothing more than sleep when the day came to an end. She hadn’t masturbated in weeks. Danny was more than enough to keep her sated and tonight was no different. She had a long, fun day with Danny and she yawned from the effect of it as she lay sprawled out on the couch, her pillow gone to make dinner for Paul. Eve flexed her feet as she stretched like a cat. Her eyes closed in happy exhaustion as she hummed under her breath.

“Tired?”

“Mmm, much.” Eve smiled, blinking her eyes open to find Paul standing over her. Her smile faltered as she stared up at him. His face was flushed so badly that mottled, rosy splotches marked his cheeks and neck. His eyes were wild, his nostrils flaring angrily. “What’s wrong?” Eve rasped quickly as horrible dread washed over her. He had the look of someone who had just found out their mother had died. “Did something happen?”

Paul laughed manically as he reached up, pushing his hair off his forehead and then leaning heavily into his palm. “Yeah, Evie, something happened—you.”

“What?” Eve gasped, jumping off the couch as she stared at Paul in disbelief. “What did I do?”

“You fucked Danny on my bed,” Paul said, his forehead still resting in his palm as he stared at her unwaveringly. His eyes were a furious storm of blue as he looked at her in hurt. “Call your mother and tell her to come pick you up.”

“I will not,” Eve said sharply, even as her face burned in embarrassment and her heart thundered in fear. She had fucked Danny on Paul’s bed and the guilt had to be written all over her face because it was throbbing through her veins to the rhythm of the horrible dread that came with being caught doing something atrocious. “You can’t just push me away because you’re mad at me. At least let us explain.”

“Okay.” Paul threw up his hand and turned around to stare at Danny who stood in the kitchen with a stoic look on his face as he met Paul’s eyes evenly. “Explain, Danny Boy. Let’s hear this, I’m really curious to know.”

“We fucked on your bed,” Danny said, appearing undisturbed by the fact that Paul was positively shaking in fury. “That’s it.”

“That’s it,” Paul repeated in a low, dangerous voice, his eyes narrowed back at Danny. They stared at each other across the house as the air pulsed with tension so thick it was palatable. “Did she wear the dog collar we talked about when you fucked her on my bed? The one with the rhinestones?”

Eve gasped as dread and fury washed over her. Her hands flew to her mouth as she pivoted on the spot and looked at Danny in horror. She had never felt more betrayed in her life. The idea that he had talked about her, told anyone about what they did was mind-numbingly embarrassing and horrifying, but it was worse than that.

“You told Paul!” Eve screeched at Danny as fury welled up in her so forcefully she wanted to scream and break something. “You told boy scout Paul Guy!”

“It’s just a little collar. It looks just like a necklace,” Paul said tauntingly with a wild, furious glare of disappointment as he stared down at her. “Except for the fact that you can attach a
leash
to it! Do you like being his pet? Do you like calling him Master and kneeling at his feet?”

“Oh…my…God,” Eve panted in wild panic as waves of horror and embarrassment crashed over. Her hands started shaking and she shook her head frantically. “I’m never forgiving him for this. My trust is ruined forever.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel,” Paul growled as he threw Eve’s leather cuffs down to the floor. She stared at them in horror, having not seen them before now and the evidence of what she had done, of what Danny had done to her was horrifying. She was still staring at them as Paul kicked them with his bare foot. “Go fetch, Evie Girl. I’m sure your Master taught you how.”

Eve stood there in shock as her eyes remained glued to the leather cuffs Paul had thrown at her. He could never understand. He was a sweet, beautiful boy scout who always did everything by the book. He was a rule follower, not a rule breaker like Danny and Eve. To Paul, she must seem like a complete whore.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stood there shaking in humiliation next to her first love, her first kiss, her first lover, the boy she had sworn to love forever and every single beautiful memory felt shattered with the knowledge that he saw her as someone to kneel and beg to his best friend.

“I was gonna kick your ass,” Paul said in a low voice that was actually shaking in fury. “But I didn’t think you deserved it. Game over, Danny Boy. It doesn’t work when you’re the only player.”

Eve felt like she needed about a million of her mother’s tranquilizers as Paul turned around and walked out of the living room, heading toward the front door.

“Paul Guy,” Danny growled in a suddenly loud and terrifying voice. It made Eve jump because she had forgotten he was still there. She turned around to watch Danny run out of the kitchen and storm after Paul. Her heartbeat was thundering, because she realized Paul was actually angry enough to fight Danny. She felt as if she were standing witness to a horrible car accident. She was watching it happen, but she could do nothing but stand there and gape in horror as Danny ran past Paul and flattened himself against the door. “You can’t leave,” he said in a low, angry voice. “You know I’ll never let you leave like this.”

“Bite me, motherfucker.” Paul stopped in front of Danny, his body still shaking in fury. Danny may be taller but Paul had at least fifty pounds of pure muscle over him. If

he was so inclined, Paul could kill Danny with his bare hands and he looked like he wanted to as he glowered at him. “There is a woman with a ponytail and a leather skirt ready and willing to write her name all over me. There are several of them, dozens who want me. Fuck your harem. I’m getting one of my own. I got four months of freedom left in this world and I’m not gonna spend one more second of it with you. Now step aside before I crush you.”

“Fine,” Danny said as he reached behind his back and turned the doorknob. “This will be a fun challenge. Let’s see how far you get before I make you come crawling back.”

“Not anymore, you’re fired,” Paul said, pushing Danny aside as he grabbed his car keys off the table by the door and stormed outside. “Have fun with your pet. See if you can get her to fetch now that she knows you’re a shitty Master.”

Eve stood there silently, unable to stop herself from staring at the dark smile on Danny’s face as he looked out into the darkness. It was less than twenty seconds before his voice cut into the night.

“I’m gonna tell,” he called out in a singsongy, childish taunt, leaning against the door and looking out toward the yard with the same evil smile tugging at his lips.

“Go for it!” Paul shouted back, his voice growing distant, making it obvious he was walking barefoot to his car. “You’ve already ruined her. I don’t give a fuck anymore.”

Eve let out another sob at Paul’s words, her hands cupping back to her mouth as more tears pooled in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

“I wasn’t talking about Evie,” Danny said in a low, evil voice that sent ice cubes sliding down Eve’s spine. “I know your secrets are safe with her. Telling her wouldn’t be a threat.”

There was a long, deafening silence and Eve got the impression once again of watching a car accident, as she stood rooted to the spot staring at Danny who was leaning against the door. She forgot her own personal crisis in the wake of what was unfolding. She wasn’t really sure what it was, but there was a ripple of danger in the air that nearly choked her. She actually found herself making a mental check for her cell phone in case she had to call for help.

“You’re breaking the rules, Danny Boy,” Paul said in a shaky voice, splintering the tense silence with fear. “No one breaks the rules. I got friends too. I will tell everyone I know you’re doing this. Your only form of control is blackmail. That’s not even amateur, that’s enough to get you banned from the game forever. This will ruin you. You won’t be able to show your face anywhere even remotely interesting. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Ask me if I give a fuck,” Danny shot back in a low, deadly voice that rang with a taunting danger so overwhelming Eve was scared of him. “I’m retired. Vanilla ice cream tastes fine to me.”

“I hate you,” Paul said, his voice cracking with anger. “You’ve ruined our friendship because you had to hurt her. I told you not to hurt her and you did it

anyway—
on my bed
. You’re fucked up. You couldn’t eat vanilla ice cream if it was the last food on earth!”

“I’m done shouting our issues to the world,” Danny said in a voice that rang with paternal disapproval. “Get in this house right now or I am calling your father and telling him all about your ice cream preferences.”

“Fine, why the hell not,” Paul said as he suddenly walked past Danny and threw his keys on the table by the door.

Eve stared at Paul in anguish because his whole body was shaking, but it wasn’t in anger. It was in something much worse than that as he rubbed at his forehead repeatedly with the pads of his fingers in a nervous, twitchy action that made it obvious he was near tears.

She had never seen Paul cry, not once in all her lifetime and Eve had known him since kindergarten. He had to have been the only child in the whole world who made it through his entire childhood without crying.

If he cried now, Eve felt as if the earth would open up and swallow her whole. Paul crying went against nature. It went against everything she had ever known. Big, perfect boy scouts didn’t cry. It wasn’t possible.