The Game (21 page)

“I want you to cancel anything else planned for Chastity.”

Monty jerked his hands out of his pockets, palms outstretched. “Whoa, no can do, buddy. My hands are tied. Unless you can get her to willingly agree to quit, accept the loss.”

Something in the man’s tone troubled Seth. Whatever it was, it made the skin crawl across his arms.

Seth pinched the bridge of his nose. Something was driving Chastity. She wouldn’t willingly concede, especially since she had come so far. He laughed inwardly. She had been run through the wringer. She deserved the money. Still, he wished she would confide in him, let him help her.

“Not a possibility in hell, Monty.”

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“Remember, anything you do to stop what Ecstasy Island has planned for her will jeopardize her chances for the money. If she truly needs the money, she’ll hate you for interfering.” A friendly arm snaked around Seth’s shoulders. “Be tough, bro. No matter what happens in the next couple days, you can forget everything that happened here. And then you and Chastity can pick up where you left off two years ago.” A hefty pat on the back and Monty continued, “Unless, of course, she’s playing you like a fiddle.”

The man shook his head. “Wouldn’t want to see you go through that again.”

Monty had voiced what Seth had been struggling with the last few days. He hated that his friend was cultivating the tiny seed of distrust that still lingered. After they said their goodbyes, Seth wandered around the complex grounds. Chastity awaited him in their bungalow. He had left her behind to call Monty, only to find his friend heading toward the transport. Suspicion crept into his mind. Monty had been leaving, not arriving.

What was Monty up to?

From the corner of his eye, Seth caught a glimpse of Chastity and the dark-haired slave he had heard called Tatiana. Their stealthy movements made him wary. He decided to follow.

Through the halls of the citadel they glided on featherlight feet. Peering around corners, they made their way past one door and then the next until they disappeared into a conference room. Hidden behind a door, Seth watched. Within seconds Tatiana slipped from the room.

Seth moved closer so that he could see inside. Chastity moved nervously around the room. She stretched, long and lean, as if her muscles ached. She had good reason for them to, he thought, recalling their exotic aerobics the night before. She fidgeted with the chairs. Her eyes glanced restlessly toward the door and then to the telecommunicator centered on the large oak table. No matter what emotion flowed through her body she was beautiful. He breathed in the sight.

When the tele-communicator rang Chastity lunged for the phone. Tears welled and streamed down her cheeks as she listened and spoke to the unknown caller. Seth held his hand over the motion detector, allowing the door to slide open an inch at time until he could hear what was being said.

“I know—I know, I love you, too. We’re almost there. I’ll have the money in three days.”

Her words and the passion behind them hit Seth like a sledgehammer. Stunned disbelief and savage pain warred within him. He should have kept his heart locked up tight. His need for revenge, to understand
why
she’d left, moved him beyond obsession.
Man
, the biggest mistake he’d ever made was letting her walk out that door two years ago without explaining why.

Or was it when he’d let her walk back into his life?

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Chapter Eleven

Chastity was bursting with happiness as she slipped from the complex. The sky seemed bluer, the sun brighter, as she made her way back to the bungalow. Her mother was well. The money was within Chastity’s reach. And Seth was hers once again. Thankfully, Seth had just left to contact a friend when Tatiana had arrived. She had placed the call to Chastity’s mother, directing it to a tele-communicator in a conference room that allowed such inter-planet calls.

Chastity had barely made it back before Seth entered the room. He walked straight up to her and commanded, “Kneel.”

She drifted to her knees, willing to play the game. But there was something different in his eyes when he looked at her. A vein ticked in his neck. His teeth were clenched, occasionally sawing back and forth.

“You’re here for my pleasure, wench,” he murmured. His hand trembled as he grabbed her hair and pulled back on it until she was staring up at him. “
My
pleasure,”

he repeated, pushing her from him. “Now get onto the bed and spread your legs.”

Chastity scrambled to her feet. As she undressed, her pussy roared to life. The dampness between her legs renewed. God, she wanted this man. But something was wrong. She sensed it in the grate of his voice, the edginess of his movements.

Naked, she slid under the covers, the cool, crisp sheets rasping against her heated skin. Her body ached to feel his cock buried within her. Her nipples tingled with anticipation.

He yanked back the bedding, tearing it from its corners and tossing it to the floor. She smiled. He wanted it rough. Quickly, she inched her legs further apart.

“More.” His hands capture her thighs and drew her open wide. A burning pain raced up her leg from the awkward position. For a moment he stared quietly. Then he released a growl from somewhere deep in his throat. His body covered hers. Chastity felt the head of his erection part her pussy and then he thrust his hips, burying deep inside her. She moaned her satisfaction.

But it wasn’t the gentle loving, or the rough play, she had anticipated. His body pounded hers as if he sought to punish her with his cock. Cruel fingers dug into her thighs as he spread her wider, beyond the limits of her muscles. His groans were guttural as he plunged deeper, harder.

His climax came fast and hard. He threw back his head and roared like a wounded animal. The sound was gut-wrenching, as if it tore from his very soul. 115

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He was hurting.

Sometime between this morning and this moment something had happen. Chastity had no doubt that it involved her. His need to punish her was obvious. Little by little, the barrier between them went up again, one brick at a time. Seth lay silently atop her. His breathing ragged, heartbeat rapid. She wanted to hold him. Explain to him why she had left him, but fear of rejection, fear of alienating him, kept her from speaking.

“Seth,” she whispered.

He rose, took one look at her and climbed off the mattress. “Get dressed. You’re going home.”

Chastity scrambled from the bed. Caught in the sheets she tripped, her knees hitting the floor as she struggled to reach him. “No, Seth. Please, I can’t.”

He turned toward her, his eyes shadowed and empty. “After today I don’t want to ever see you again.” The cold words hit her like a right to the cheek. She could almost hear the crack of bones, or was that the breaking of her heart?

Tears welled. “Seth, you can’t mean it. Please…tell me you don’t mean it.”

A statue of indifference, he glared at her. “I do.”

“Then please let me finish the game. I’ll disappear out of your life and never return.” She fell to her knees, her world crashing down around her. “Do to me whatever you wish. But please, please, don’t ruin this for me. I
need
the money.” Her sobs were humiliating, but she couldn’t hold them back.

One moment she’d had everything, the next, nothing. How could things change so quickly?

This time she wouldn’t just let him go. In a last ditch plea she cried, “Seth, tell me what changed. I thought that we… I-I love you.”

Without a single word, he walked to the door, slid it open and was gone. An hour passed. A knock at the door brought Chastity to her feet. “Seth!” But instead Passion Flower entered.

She bowed. “Slave Chastity, your presence is requested at the Temple of Worship.”

Numb, she couldn’t comprehend the woman’s request. “What?”

She pressed a long, white toga in Chastity’s hands. “You will dress in the gown of innocence and follow me.” When Chastity made no effort to dress, the woman said,

“Quickly, you mustn’t keep them waiting.”

“Them?”

“Your Master and the others.”

Knowing that Seth would be there, that she would have another opportunity to talk to him, Chastity snatched the robe from the woman’s hands. Dressed and walking at a steady pace, Chastity followed Passion Flower through the gardens, past the citadel and into an area that she had never been to before. 116

The Game

A mountain of lush green rose majestically against an aquamarine sky. Glistening water sprung from multiple crevices to cascade into a surrounding moat. The imposing channel gave the illusion that it guarded secrets and hidden treasures within. A swing bridge stretching across its width swayed with the light breeze. Crawling ivy intertwined with the rope handrails. A cobblestone walkway zigzagged up the steep face of the mountain and then vanished, as if it simply disappeared into the precipice. The vista held an enchanting charm, a natural, almost spiritual feeling of vitality, of life.

Chastity took one look at the shifting overpass, the churning water, and hesitated.

“Hold tight to the handrails,” Passion Flower instructed as she stepped upon the wooden walkway.

Chastity dared to place one foot upon the gently swaying bridge, quickly withdrawing. “Surely there’s another way? Maybe a transport that can beam us up to the top?” she asked.

The dark-haired woman glanced over her shoulder. “The ruggedness gives it a natural quality, does it not?” She slid across the bridge like it was nothing.

“Natural is not the word I’d use… Maybe unsafe, perhaps treacherous.” Chastity frowned and took a step, and then another. “Where are we going?”

“All will be known in good time. Now we must make haste.”

It was slow going, but Chastity finally made it across the bridge. Seeing Seth was her motivation. Although she wondered if, after today, she’d ever see him again. Was he, as well as the money, lost to her?

Passion Flower pushed open a rugged oak door hidden behind layers and layers of ivy. No way would Chastity have found this entrance, if not for her guide. A floor of gold and silver led the way. The hall was illuminated by sparkling gems, diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. The colors ricocheted off the walls, a kaleidoscope, forming rainbows everywhere she looked.

In awe, Chastity stared at her surroundings. “What is this place?”

“A temple of worship.”

Chastity ran a hand along the cool wall. Then she stopped. How could she have forgotten about the night’s scheduled activity? “Is this where the slave auction is to be held?”

“No, it has been rescheduled for tomorrow night.”

The woman evasiveness made Chastity’s brows dip. “Then what are you worshiping?”

Passion Flower stopped. “Today,
you
are to be worshipped.” Then she picked up the pace, continuing on.

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Passion Flower opened a door that seemed carved right into the stone and ushered Chastity in. Halfway into the room she became aware of the unnatural quiet. Slowly, she turned.

From behind a partition, Tor, Terrance and Shawn appeared. All three men were naked. Their erect cocks were rock-hard and growing larger by the minute. A sight to behold, if she didn’t hold so much animosity toward them. But all she could think about was Seth.

From behind the barrier, he appeared. If ever eyes were as cold as ice, his were. Empty of emotion, he stared through her as if she didn’t exist. Quietly, he took a place inside an alcove that was designed as a sitting room with several chairs, a couch for lounging and a coffee table.

Tor approached her. “Chastity, do you want to suck my cock?”

“Huh?” Surely she’d heard the man wrong. She pivoted on the balls of her feet and stared in disbelief at Tor, and then glanced at Seth.

Seth turned away, closing himself off from her.

Chastity’s heart plummeted.

Tor grasped her by the arm. “For your hesitation, you have earned a punishment.”

Bewildered, she looked at the hand restraining her. Slowly her gaze moved from the hand, up the arm, to the face of her captor. “Punishment?” Chastity could hear the confusion in her tone.

“Have you not been instructed not to speak unless requested?” Tor didn’t wait for her response. “You have earned a second punishment.” He waved to the two men that followed him around like shadows.

Each of Tor’s brothers took one of her arms and led her to a glacier formation with golden ivy growing out of deep fissures. Delicate purple flowers with red pollenbearing stamens unfolding around a bright yellow pistil were scattered throughout the tawny leaves.

The iridescent crystal glimmered, creating an array of colors similar to the aurora borealis. In fact, the entire room was a luminous phenomenon. The air, water and land was alive with atomic particles striking and exciting atoms, to create an almost fairytale effect—as if fireworks continued to explode throughout the atmosphere.

“Disrobe,” Tor commanded.

And wouldn’t you know it, Chastity earned herself another punishment for not responding quickly enough to the beast’s liking.

“For your three punishments I wish for you to suck Shawn’s cock while Terrance fucks your ass, and I your pussy. Do you remember your safe word?”

Ohmygod
! Somehow Chastity had fallen into an erotic version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears—er, Barbarians.

Afraid of Tor’s retribution, and the fact that her infractions seem to be skyrocketing by the minute, she swiftly nodded.

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Surely, Seth would not allow this violation. She looked at him, expecting to see outrage. Instead, his eyes were dark, hollow shells. Desperately, she held on to a thread of hope that Seth cared about her enough to stop this travesty. Tor approached. “Do you agree to your punishment?”

A pregnant moment passed, and when Seth made no attempts to intervene, Chastity surrendered to her fate. As Seth had said previously, it was a just a game. Yielding, she nodded.