Beyond Eden (26 page)

Danny pulled the door closed and then leaned back against it. He reached behind him, clicking the lock as his eyes rested on Paul, who was still standing there rubbing his forehead, his bare foot tapping rhythmically against the wooden floor.

“I never hurt Eve,” Danny said slowly, his voice punctuating each word. “You are creating this enormous drama for all of us over something that never happened.”

“What were the cuffs for then?” Paul asked, looking everywhere but where Eve still stood frozen to her spot watching a scene unfold that was hurting her mind for so many different reasons. “I wanna know what you do to her when you tie her down.”

“I was going to show you,” Danny said in a taunting voice and Eve couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She wasn’t as stupid as they thought she was, because she saw the way Paul’s head had snapped around. His eyes grew wide and she saw the smug smile tugging at Danny’s lips when he said, “When did I give you the impression that I don’t know how to make a bed or pick up after myself? You asked me if I got your voice mail and I said yes. Game on.”

“If you think—” Eve started, her face flushing in fury when she realized what the two of them were talking about. “There is no way I am going to let you tie me down for Paul. No, no, no—you’re both fucked!”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Danny said sadly, turning to look at Eve with an expression of genuine sadness. “Because you think I ruined your trust.”

“You did,” Eve growled at him furiously. “You said you’d only stick around for as long as I wanted you. Well, I don’t want you anymore and I most certainly am not going to let you tie me down for Paul Guy’s amusement.”

“He didn’t tell me about the collar,” Paul suddenly broke in, his voice cracking with emotion and something darker. There was a breathless catch that seemed misplaced. “I guessed.”

“There is no way you could have guessed what it looked like,” Eve said furiously, knowing what boyhood friends would do to protect each other. “You’re covering for him. I am not even going to pretend to know what you two are fighting about, but don’t think I’m going to just do whatever you want to stop a fight that obviously has nothing to do with me. I don’t know what vanilla ice cream really means and I don’t care.”

“You don’t know what vanilla means?” Paul asked her curiously. “You’ve never heard that term?”

“No, I’ve never heard that term,” Eve said in a sharp voice as she glared at Paul. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“No, I don’t have a problem with that.” Paul folded his arms over his chest and gave her a sidelong glance. “But quite honestly, Evie, it takes real balls for you to call me a boy scout when you don’t even know what vanilla means.”

“What does vanilla mean?” Eve asked in a high-and-mighty voice. “That seems like the real important topic at hand, so let’s talk about it. We’ll just skip past you giving yourself whiplash over the suggestion that Danny was going to show you what he does to me when he ties me down.”

“Vanilla means normal,” Danny broke in, ignoring the other issues as if he had missed the sarcasm in Eve’s voice. “It’s a term people who are into BDSM and other kinks use to refer to normal, boring sex. For example, before you were sweet enough to trust me to be your Master, we had only vanilla sex. Now what we do is much more flavorful. Do you get it?”

Eve looked back and forth between Danny and Paul. “So, you two were talking in code because you’re into the same stuff? You’re friends. It would make sense that you had the same interests. Do you have girls who kneel at your feet, Paul Guy? Is that what you’re afraid he’s going to tell your father?”

Paul glanced away from her. “Not exactly.”

“You might as well get it all out now,” Danny said, his voice suddenly icy. “Because you know I’m going to have to make you pay for what you did. You made Eve think I had betrayed her trust. That’s unforgivable. It’s only because of her that I’m not dealing with the issue right this minute.”

Paul gasped and Eve saw his eyes roll back before he put a palm to his eyes and rested his face there as he took sharp, hard breaths of air as if he were trying to gain his composure.

“You know Eve’s secrets now. You forced her into revealing things about her sex life that were none of your business and you did it in a way that made her think I was the one who had told you those things,” Danny said in a steely voice that rumbled with fury so potent it made the hair at the back of Eve’s neck stand on end. “Do you want me to tell you what you owe her for that?”

“W-what do I owe her?” Paul choked, his breathing still irregular, his palm still over his eyes as he leaned heavily into his hand. “Please tell me what I owe her.”

“First, you’re going to take your shirt off for her.”

“No, really, you don’t have to do that,” Eve put in frantically, because the ripple in the air was making her skin tingle and she firmly believed Paul taking his shirt off would be a very bad thing. “I’ve seen what’s under that shirt and I don’t—”

“Shut up, Evie Girl!” Danny growled at her, focusing his attention and anger on her instead, which actually caused her to shrink back in fear as he glared at her. “Be silent and kneel right where you’re standing.”

Eve wavered where she stood, staring at Danny defiantly. She wasn’t even certain she wanted to still be in a relationship with him, let alone kneel for him. But she realized, with a stab of lust, she was actually conditioned now because she wanted to kneel for him. Her knees were practically jerking her down on their own accord.

“Someone is going to get punished here tonight,” Danny said sharply. “If you don’t kneel right now it’s going to be you. Do you want Paul to watch me punishing you?”

Eve dropped to her knees, because the risk wasn’t worth taking. She had too much on the line. She didn’t want to lose Danny, not until she understood more of what was happening, but she couldn’t chance being forced into being tied down and punished in front of Paul. She would die if he knew what happened to her body when she was in that situation. He could never know how much it turned her on to be tied up.

“There you go, Paul Guy,” Danny said in a smooth, taunting voice. “Doesn’t she look pretty on her knees?”

Eve sucked in a sharp gasp of embarrassment and squeezed her eyes shut when she realized Paul seeing her drop to her knees for him was every bit as bad as him watching her being punished.

“Don’t play the game with her,” Paul said in a soft voice that shook violently. “Don’t do it if she doesn’t understand the rules yet. Play it with me. At least I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you?” Danny asked darkly. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“I probably shouldn’t have left you a voice mail. That’s always a bad plan. Shit.” “Surprise,” Danny said in a voice so darkly evil Eve lifted her head to stare at him

in shock. “You really think red lipstick and corsets can do what I do? Don’t you think

you owe me an apology for that?”

“I’m sorry,” Paul whispered in a breathless rush of panic. “I’m really sorry, Danny Boy. I wouldn’t have really done it.”

“I think you would have,” Danny said in that same dark, evil voice. “I think you like red lipstick and corsets a lot. Do you?”

“All men like red lipstick and corsets.”

“Yes, but you more than most. You know Eve’s secrets but she doesn’t know yours.

I want you to tell her them right now—full disclosure.”

“Is there anything—” Paul started, choking on the words as if they were sheer anguish to him. “There’s nothing, is there? You’re not going to let me do something else to get out of it.”

“Nope,” Danny said simply. “Either you start this game on your terms or I’m going to start it on mine—you really don’t want that.”

“They’re your secrets too.” Paul dropped his hand to stare at Danny imploringly with eyes that glowed with wild, desperate panic. “She’s your girlfriend. Are you really sure about this?”

“Would I have started the game if I wasn’t sure?” Danny asked as if it were obvious, making Paul’s shoulders slump in profound defeat. “I’m not the one with issues about everything.”

“Evie,” Paul whispered as he fell back against the wall as if he needed it to stay on his feet. His breath was still ragged but he looked down at her with soft, anguished eyes as his cheeks burned red under his tan. “I am into BDSM and I am most certainly not a boy scout. I’ve been playing in the scene since just after you left for New York. Danny got involved because I was involved, but I found it first. The reason you’re there kneeling on the floor is because I’m kind of a fetish whore and I’m
really
sorry about that.”

“Kind of?” Danny repeated in amazement. “What part of full disclosure are you missing?”

“Fine.” Paul shrugged his shoulders, looking away from Eve. “I’m a
hardcore
fetish whore.”

“Lots of emphasis on hardcore,” Danny said slowly to Eve, raising his eyebrows as if trying to prepare her. “In comparison to Paul, everything you and I have done, all that Master and slave play, that was all very soft play.”

Eve sucked in a sharp breath and turned to Paul. “What is it? It can’t be that bad.” “It’s pretty bad,” Paul said miserably, his eyes wide and unfocused. “Especially to a

girl who doesn’t know what vanilla means. What were you doing with her? If I’m

gonna bare my soul, I wanna know details.”

“Bondage, obviously,” Danny said with a shrug. “Basic obedience, which she’s not very good at—she’s horrible at it, actually. She likes to be tied down but she hates being dominated with anything other than pleasure. It is a miracle I got her to kneel for you. I’m actually really impressed with myself over that.”

“I’m right here,” Eve growled at both of them. “And I’m about to get up if I don’t hear something really interesting.”

Danny snorted. “There you go.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Paul sighed out of the blue, his voice wispy as he stared down at Eve with a hot gaze she hadn’t felt from him in a very long time. It sent shivers over her body and the hairs on her arms stood on end as Paul sucked in a sharp gasp that was clearly caused by sexual desire. “You don’t wanna be Danny’s pet. You want someone

to boss around, someone you can force to pleasure you all day without stopping. That’s what you want, Evie Girl, right? Please tell me that’s what you want.”

Eve had to admit that idea sounded like a good one to her. “Sure, that sounds great. Who wouldn’t want that? Anyone would want someone they could boss around and force to pleasure them all day.”

“This is the best wedding present ever,” Paul whispered, still staring at Eve with an enthralled gaze that had her neck feeling warm and her body throbbing.

“Not everyone wants the same things,” Danny said softly with a sidelong glance at Paul. “The BDSM world is sort of a playground for people who have unique tastes. If someone had a fetish others thought wasn’t quite normal, they could probably make friends in BDSM. Paul has a fetish that has allowed him to make many friends in the BDSM world. He’s extremely popular, actually. The sadists of the world will cry in unison when he gets married.”

“Sadists?” Eve repeated in horror. “Paul doesn’t hurt people, I don’t believe that.” “No, he doesn’t, you’re right. He’s actually very nice,” Danny said, casting another

look at Paul, traces of guilt showing on his face before he turned back to Eve and met

her eyes evenly. “Paul is a submissive. If you asked him to, he would get on his knees and lick you for five hours and he would love it. I mean, seriously, he would love you for it. If you hit him for not doing it well enough, he would love you even more. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Oh,” Eve said, cupping her hands to her mouth as she stared at Paul. “Oh, no.” Paul closed his eyes and looked away from her as he rubbed at the back of his neck.

“Don’t get too depressed, Evie. I’m going to be having nice, plain, vanilla sex for the

rest of my life once I get married. All the fun will be done. Game over.” “You don’t like regular sex?” Eve asked sadly. “Not at all?”

“I like it sometimes. I liked it with you,” Paul put in as he looked at her softly. “But I dunno, if two kinky people have vanilla sex, is it still vanilla? If you’re wearing dog collars for Danny, then you’re not any more different than I am. I’ve got leather cuffs too. Only I don’t do fleece.”

“Yeah, that’s putting it mildly,” Danny said with a laugh. “Some submissives have pain fetishes. They like their Masters to hurt them.”

“Like spanking?”

“What do you think about spanking, Paul Guy?” Danny asked him. “I think it’s for pussies. I would fire any Master who tried that.” “What about fleece-lined cuffs?”

“For pussies.”

“How about whipping? Do you enjoy being whipped?”

“If it’s done right,” Paul said with a small gasp of longing, which shocked Eve because he was obviously being serious. “But I don’t think you do it right.”

“I’ll have to do it right tonight. You just screamed to the world that we hate vanilla ice cream. That was unbelievable. You know how intensely I’m going to have to hurt you for what you did to Evie?”

“Yeah, I know,” Paul whispered, his eyes wide as if he were hypnotized with desire. “Are you really gonna do it right? A real edge game?”

“You bet your ass I’m going to rip you to shreds,” Danny said, looking down at Eve and giving her a pointed look. “I’m going to whip you until you bleed and Eve’s going to watch. How does that make you feel?”

“Hot,” Paul rasped as he looked away from Eve, his eyes dazed and unfocused. “It’s hot, really hot.”

“You’re his Master,” Eve said accusingly as she stared at Paul and felt her heart wrench inside her chest over what he was saying. She thought back to growing up with him, the fact that he would never cry, no matter how badly he had hurt himself and Danny was taking advantage of that. “You’re hurting him.”

Danny looked to Paul, his gaze softening as his eyes ran over him. He turned back to Eve, his stance stiff and defiant as if daring her to complain as he said, “Yes, I hurt him, and I dominate him, and I do just about anything in between to get him off because I love him and I don’t want him to be in the hands of someone who doesn’t absolutely adore him. You’ll see why when I have to punish him for his little fit.”