Her tongue traced the soft fullness of hisbottom lip. With her eyes closed, she responded, “I’m not doinganything with anyone except you.”

When she finally pried her eyes open, hisgreen irises reflected glimmers of light and he nodded. “I knowthat, too.” Fisting her hair at the nape of her neck, his looksuddenly turned ferocious. “Let’s keep it that way.”

“Then don’t deny me again.”

His response was quick and harsh. He clutchedher vagina, digging his fingers into her and making her squeal out.“I make the fucking rules in this game and if I want to deny you,then I’ll deny you and you’ll accept it.”

Elsa’s eyes rounded and her bottom liptrembled, the pain between her legs throbbing.

“I’m breaking protocol by being here.Interacting with you outside our designated meeting place is so farout of my routine it’s not even funny, so don’t make me regretcoming here and don’t fucking threaten me.”

“I wasn’t…” she whimpered, scarcely aware ofher own voice as she twisted in his arms, seeking to get free allthe while his strong hands holding her tight as his fingerscontinued to explore her depths.

The song ended and Oblivion byBastille came on. The mellow tune seemed to speak to Mr. Black andthe tense lines around his eyes softened.

“When I didn’t hear back from you on Monday…”he paused as he gazed at her speculatively. “I thought maybe youwere having second thoughts about our agreement.”

“I was,” she answered honestly. Though hedidn’t respond, his face spoke for him. When his eyes narrowed andhis mouth parted, she cut him off before his temper flared again.“But I signed a contract and I’m a woman of my word. I’ll acceptwhatever you have planned for me, Victor.”

His jaw tensed but his eyes became glassy.“Don’t call me that,” he whispered hoarsely.

“I know you didn’t come here to talk allnight, Mr. Black,” Elsa accentuated his preferred title asshe pulled her robe open and pressed into his body.

“No, I didn’t. I came here to…”

She put a finger to his mouth. “Don’t tellme. Show me.”

Sweeping her up into his arms, his mouthcaptured hers as he carried her to the bedroom as if he alreadyknew the way. It wasn’t lost on Elsa that he probably did know theway. She also wondered why he hadn’t asked if she had masturbatedin their time apart. Maybe he knew that, too. It wouldn’t havesurprised her if he had already been in her apartment unbeknownstto her. She might have cared about that little fact more if histongue wasn’t planted firmly in her mouth and his arms wrapped sotightly around her body.

Expecting the same kind of roughness from theprevious weekend, she was comforted when he gently eased her downonto the bed. His hands roamed over her body in search of hererogenous zones and found them quickly. He planted small kisses theentire length of her torso, concentrating on each petal of hercherry blossom. He sucked only briefly on each of her nipplesbefore lapping his way up to her neck and mouth. She wrapped herarms around his neck as he kissed her slowly and thoughtfully, histongue exploring the recesses of her mouth. Rising up, he undressedentirely and stood before her, exposed. He was a sight to behold inall his dark ruggedness and austerity. His hair was a fantasticmess with his long bangs hanging over his eyes, hooding hisexpression as he crawled between her legs.

Just then soft notes of Overjoyed byBastille floated into the bedroom. Tugging on her robe, he freedher of it and hovered over her, his hands caressing the sleek linesof her waist. She pushed the hair off his forehead to see his eyesand smiled up at him. When he nervously returned her smile, she wasstaggered by the sheer honesty of the fear glittering in his eyes.This man had been hurt. It was clear to see, but his outward calmdid little to disguise the hunger in his eyes and Elsa tried todeny the hopeful feeling that was swirling in the pit of herstomach. As he guided his shaft to her entrance, she remindedherself that everything he was doing was all part of his game andthat she was probably another player in a long list ofparticipants.

She closed her eyes and gave herself to himas his pulsing manliness eased in and out of her unhurriedly, hissoft panting and primal grunts making the fire in her belly burnout of control.

“Open your eyes, My Sweet Peach. I want youto see me; really see me. I want you to see the man who ownsyou,” she heard from above in a voice that was hushed, deep, lustyand ethereal.

Her lashes fluttered as she opened her eyesand focused on the beautiful man above her; the man whom she hadsigned her freedom away to all too willingly. She looked as deeplyas she could into his soul, past the cruel game maker and creatorof rules, trying to see the real man behind his vindictive eyes –the man who was begging to be seen for who he really was. She couldalmost see him, hiding just out of sight and behind the fringe ofhis long, black lashes. She closed her eyes once more, overcomewith raw passion. Why couldn’t he be this man? The one now kissingeach of her eyelids like his lips were meant to be there?

Yes, he owned her, alright. Right here, inthis moment… he truly owned her.

***

Seated in his car outside of Eight’sapartment, Victor lit a cigarette and took a long, slow, deep dragoff of it. He felt satisfied and his hunger satiated, even if onlymomentarily. The white smoke billowed out of his mouth and swirledaround the interior of his vehicle, but he didn’t dare open hiswindow. Her fragrance was permeating every piece of his clothingand the sweet scent of her pussy was all around him mingling withthe smoke, and he didn’t want any of it to go to waste.

On his phone he accessed iTunes to purchasethe Bastille Bad Blood album. It had played in full while hewas with her and the alternating mellow and thumping notes had onlyenhanced their erotic experience. Wanting to relive the moment, hesynced the Bluetooth to his stereo, allowing the music to filterthrough his speakers. He turned up the volume and glanced up at herdarkened window to see her nude silhouette behind the curtain,watching him from above. None of the other Chapters had known abouthis stalking and surveillance. Even if they did, none of themwould’ve dared to blatantly call him out on it. Maybe he wasgetting lax in his old age and losing his discreet touch. Orpossibly he just didn’t give a fuck if she knew he was watchingher. He laughed. No. He liked that she knew.

Taking another drag, he leaned his head backand closed his eyes. He hadn’t intended to go inside, but when heheard her humming in the shower and envisioned her svelte wet body,he was unable to resist the temptation.

She had fallen off his radar for most ofSunday night until the early morning hours, making him wonder ifshe was with someone else; a male coworker perhaps. After he hadn’tgotten any response from her after reminding her of her GYNappointment, he began to think he had scared her off. He waspleased to discover she had kept the appointment and that she wasnow on an appropriate form of birth control. He waited the allottedtime for it to take effect before seeing her, but barely and it wasa long, excruciating forty-eight hours he had forced himself towait.

He had kept his mind off of her by submerginghimself in the Cambridge case files and it was proving a dauntingtask to go over all the gory details yet again. His sleep wastortured with the images of the young women who had been mutilatedin atrocious ways and the families’ heartrending pleas. A horriblethought had started to creep into his psyche that he would nevercatch the killer and it was making his days and nights almostunbearable. Elsa would never know how grateful he was for thedistraction she was providing by playing his game. He was hoping tohave heard back from Anthony by now, but the son-of-a-bitch hadn’tcontacted him yet with any help. Undoubtedly he was too busyenjoying the chronicles of Seven to give a shit about the livesstill in danger from the Cambridge Killer.