Chapter 43 Mila The rhythmic thud of music marked my slow stroll down the sex club's corridor. I'd been escorted to the wardrobe by Tyler, who'd played bodyguard for the short walk through the warehouse. He'd handed me over to Clem, a woman who ran the bar staff and who'd promised to stick with me until I was safely in Convict's clutches. Clem guided me with a light touch until the music swelled and the room opened up, a vast space, dense with bodies and heat. With a blindfold on, I couldn't see anything, but my other senses worked overtime. The scent of perfume and sex mixed with expensive alcohol and leather. The pulse between my thighs was impossible to ignore. Convict's presence closed in behind me. Heat at my back. A familiar, grounding scent that had become an addiction. A cool, small object pressed under the blindfold and into my ear. A headphone. His voice poured in, low and rough. "You'll hear me now. Even when I'm not touching you." I swayed towards him, the only solid thing in this overwhelming sea of sound and sensation. He directed me through the room then stopped me. Metal creaked. "Kneel on the platform." Bars pressed against my outstretched hands, and I ducked my head and crawled onto a lightly padded, raised stage. No. My brain filled in the picture. A cage. My pulse thudded faster. It had to be one of the gilded ones I'd seen women suspended in, people touching and even fucking them through the gold bars. Desperately, I tried to work out where I was in the room. In the centre or off to the side? How many people watched me right now? "Hands up." I flinched at the soft clang of chains but obeyed, raising my arms. Leather cuffs snapped around my wrists, binding them to opposite sides of the gilded frame. I was spread open, exposed and vulnerable in a way that sent another wave of heat pooling low in my belly. The room buzzed around us. Footsteps nearby. Laughter. Moans. Then hands slid up my thighs, taking my borrowed dress with them. I'd chosen skimpy black lace to match the underwear beneath it. Underwear that was in danger of being revealed when the dress inched higher. "What are you doing?" I whispered. His voice came low through the earpiece. "The game starts off as an obedience test. The better you do, the more I reward you." I shivered, automatically on board with whatever this game was. My emotions needed burning up, and doing something dirty and public would push me to an extreme. One rewarded by orgasms. "Widen your knees." I obeyed. "Good girl. Now stay very still." Something touched me between the legs, and I jumped. Convict shifted my underwear aside and eased a cool and slick toy into my wet centre. He seated the curved end perfectly against my already swollen clit so it cupped me on the outside as it filled me inside. Shocked at the sudden fullness, I gritted my teeth and adjusted my position. My pussy fluttered around the intrusion. Being on display was so strange. Particularly when I wasn't sure he'd be part of the show. I stifled my reaction, though my skin had to be mottled and flushed. Convict placed my underwear back over the toy. "You're beautiful like this." A hum started, soft and teasing and right there inside me. Maddening. He retreated. I couldn't see or hear him but I sensed him moving away. I swallowed hard, tugging uselessly at the cuffs. I rode a wave of pleasure from the vibrations, exhaling when they died back. God. It was remote controlled. I pictured him through the crowd, leaning back against a pillar, eyes on me and my every reaction. Another boost of the toy had me drop my head back and flex my thighs. It made me want to perform for him. To drive him so wild he climbed in with me or even just dragged me to the bars to fuck me. My nervous system zinged wide awake, and my skin begged for touch, my nipples hard and desperate for his mouth. Then a new sound reached me. Deep male voices, too close. Heavy boots on the floor. "Check out that one. Fuck, she's fit." My pulse spiked in panic. "Convict, there's people." "I know." His voice was a soothing caress. "They're all around you, admiring what they can't have. Anyone can look. No one touches." The vibrator surged, the pressure stronger. I bit my lip. At least he could hear me like I could him. "Can they tell what you've done to me?" I didn't know how obvious the toy inside me was or whether my clothes hid it. "Yes, baby. They can see." I whimpered. It was so exposing to be on display like this, caged, and with a sex toy inside me and my dress rucked up. Yet at the same time, the bandanna hid my identity, and I knew Convict would tear into anyone who got too close. "You're going to make me come in front of them?" The torment eased, the sensation dying back. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Findnøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. I hung from my restraints, sweating under the lace and the tension. It rose again with the vibrator activating, speeding up, then right when I caught the edge of a spiralling pleasure I couldn't stop, he slowed it. "You'll come when I'm ready. Until then, fuck the floor." I wanted to snarl at him but I had no idea where he was in the room, and worse, with the toy activating, my body was primed to obey him. My hips worked the air, my suspended arms holding me an inch away from being able to apply pressure myself. If only I could touch the cage floor, I could grind on it to make myself come, but he had all the power. Frustration rose in a jagged arc. "This is infuriating." "You're doing so well, little gangster. You should know how perfectly fuckable you look in that black dress flirting with your ass and the glimpse of the toy through the lace. I like you with your hands tied up. In fact, you passed the obedience level. We're moving on to a loyalty test." His voice darkened. "You can crawl to the edge of the cage, beg someone else to finish you. There are men and women who will happily put you out of your misery. Or..." The vibration cut out entirely. I whimpered at the sudden loss. "Or you can give me the three little words you know I want. Then I'll come in and finish you myself." "W-what?" "You heard. I'll play with your ass then fuck you there with the vibrator in place." Tears pricked beneath the blindfold. "Why would you do that?" I meant the words. He knew. "Because I need them." My voice shook. "You arranged this deal. We're temporary." Silence. Then the vibrator resumed, stronger than before. My hips jerked involuntarily. "We never were. Not from the first time I saw you." My body shook. Need blurred my thoughts. "Convict..." "Say it." His voice held a plea. "Or anyone here will see how desperate you are for me. I'll make you scream for as long as it takes." A sob caught in my throat. "Love is earned. Not demanded." "Not for me. Not now. I need it." My mind raced, my emotions spilling over themselves. In a flurry, the events of the past few weeks battered me with a barrage of hits. Of suddenly being alone, no job, no grandparents. Of being at a loss of how to fix a terrible situation and at the centre of everyone's blame. Of slowly realising all was not as it seemed in the life I'd been swept up in then abandoned to. "I asked you not to lie to me," I bit out, focusing on that last point above all others. Others had lied to me repeatedly. Convict had, too. "On the night of your big confession, I asked it and you said you wouldn't anymore. Have you kept that promise?" He hesitated. "I think so. Fuck. I'm not sure. Lying comes as easily to me as breathing. Same as stealing, hurting, and every other crime there is. It's second fucking nature." Tears spilled hot down my cheeks, soaked up by the skeleton crew bandanna. "Then how am I supposed to trust you? I need that from you. I need you to be honest. Never to lie to me." A ragged breath sounded through the earpiece. "I'm trying, Mila. I'm trying to be what you need. You keep putting barriers between us." "By making demands like this? Do you know how messed up that is?" "Yes, because I'm messed up. I'm the king of red flags. Yet still you want me." I opened my mouth to answer. A harsh crackle cut through the earpiece. "Convict. Salter's in play. We're mobilising. Five minutes." Convict swore a bitter stream. The vibrator stopped abruptly. Rushed footsteps followed. Hands on my wrists, undoing the cuffs. The toy removed and discarded. I sagged forward, only for his arms to catch me. His tone was harsh. "I have to go. You'll be guarded all night. Unless you ask me to stay." I wasn't going to ask it. I needed the space. But his mouth was on mine, hot, desperate, unfinished. Then he was gone. I knelt alone in the cage entrance, my blindfold slipping askew. Around me, the club throbbed with life. Strangers' eyes burned across my skin, but a quiet enquiry from Clem told me he hadn't left me unprotected. I wiped my face, my chest rising and falling. I'd nearly said words I couldn't take back. And now, I wasn't sure if he'd return.