Moving On (Cape Falls) (2 page)

“Daisy made this for me today. She’s determined to be a good mother, but that has extended into everything. Everyone at the club feels like they’re being mothered.”

Rose
smiled. Daisy sounded nice.

“How is it at the club?” Rose asked.

“You’re way too young to be told about a BDSM club, Rose. Maybe when you’re older I’ll consider it,” he said, taking a bite of what looked like a grape.

“I’m nineteen. I’m grown up.”

He stared at her for several seconds. “Have you lost your virginity yet? Been with a guy, multiple guys?”

Heat filled her cheeks
, and Rose looked down at her spread sandwich. It was low fat spread, and the bread was granary. Everything was healthy, even if she did make it herself. She was only allowed two slices of bread a day. Her lunch consisted of an apple, banana, and two slices of bread.

Tears filled her eyes thinking about the extreme way she’d been living. She was nineteen and worked in a library but still felt extremely dependant on her family.

She shook her head. “No, I’ve never been with a guy or multiple guys.”

Peter reached out and touched her chin. “I shouldn’t have said those things. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s all right. We’re friends, right?” The simple touch of his fingers on her chin was doing crazy things to her insides.

“Of course we’re friends. I love spending time with you, Rose.” He looked like he wanted to say something else
, but he didn’t.

“I love spending time with you as well.”

She took a small bite of her sandwich. Rose didn’t know what she’d get for dinner tonight, and just recently her parents had been keeping a diary of everything she was eating and doing.

There were times she wished she could confide in someone about what was happening. She never wanted Peter to know about her parents
, let alone her eating problems.

Chapter Two

Peter knew he shouldn’t be encouraging her
, but he couldn’t stop himself. When he was around Rose, she made him feel alive. The feeling was entirely different from how he felt around Laura. For ten years he’d loved the same woman and watched her fall deeper and deeper in love with another man. Watching a woman he could never have had finally take its toll. He’d been eating lunch with Rose for the last six months. She was his pleasure zone. Whenever he was in the library and around her, he got the chance to forget all about Laura and his connection to her.

Glancing down at her sandwich, he’d also recognized her lunch getting smaller, much smaller. He didn’t want to say anything as he got the feeling she was very self-conscious about her curves. Peter wasn’t. The curvier the woman the better
she was for him. He didn’t like playing with very slender women. Some of the Doms only loved a slender woman, but he always opted for the fuller women. There was something about holding onto a woman’s hips as you drove into her. Not only that, he loved to stroke their rounded tits and spank their full asses.

Shaking his head, Peter pulled himself out of his thoughts and concentrated on the woman in front of him. Rose was a submissive woman. He recognized it
in her and had spotted it the first time he walked into the library. Her head would bow down until he spoke to her. She also waited for him to open doors. It could be part of her upbringing in Cape Falls, but he doubted it.

Since he’d started his training, he’
d become adept at spotting a sub and knowing how to work with one. Many subs had left him more than satisfied. He’d taken great pride in becoming a Dom, and William made sure of it as well.

She’s nineteen and has no business being in the club
.

He would never be with a woman who was too young. Rose was only nineteen
, and even though she clearly had a maturity about her, she was still young and she hadn’t been with a man.

She needed to know what it was like to be with a man sexually before he’d consider touching her.

Yet the thought of another man revealing her curvy body to his viewing pleasure made him so mad.

“Would you like to try some of my salad?” he asked, offering some to her.

Her gaze drifted down to his plastic tub, but she shook her head. “No, thank you. I’ve got my lunch.”

He didn’t pry even though he wanted to.

“So, do you see yourself working in the library for the rest of your life?” he asked.

She gazed at him
, her blue depths watering as she stared at him. “I doubt I’ll be working here much longer.”

“Why?”

Rose licked her lips looking past his shoulder. “My family are old-fashioned. I think they’re trying to marry me off. They’re plotting something, but I don’t know what.” The smile she gave him was empty.

“They have no idea you’re talking to me, do they?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I never want to tell them because if I do then they’d take it away from me.”

Peter hurt for her. He knew she was suffering
, and there was nothing he could do to help. Her family were the ones in control. It was how Cape Falls worked. The parents made the decisions, and the children did as they were told. Their town had survived like this for many generations.

He, Laura, Anna
, and Daisy had been the few people to make it out of Cape Falls with their own kind of family. They were a unit, and they always went into town together.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why? You can’t do anything about it. It’s the way it is.” She dropped her gaze to eat more of her sandwich.

Peter wished he could take her troubles away
, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t offer her anything. His love was for Laura and would always be for her. Loving Laura was something he was used to. Reaching out, he held Rose’s hand, pulling her hand close to his chest. “I really wish there was something I could do to help you.”

“There’s nothing you can do. I’m sorry for bringing it up to you.”

He shushed her, staring into her face. “We’re friends, Rose. We talk to each other about our troubles.”

Silence met his words
, and they stayed still for several seconds.

“Rose, is that you?”

Peter turned to the noise to see a young man, a little older than Rose, approach them. He was with three other men, who were looking at Rose as if she was something to eat.

He didn’t like their attention
, and his hands fisted at his side.

“Shit.” Peter heard her whisper.

“I’m guessing they’re some of the people who you don’t want to know?” Peter asked.

“They’ll tell my parents and ruin everything.” She pulled her hand away and started to eat her sandwich.

“I thought it was you. What are you doing?” The mystery man came to stand beside Rose. Peter stared at him, seeing the possessive glint written in his eyes. He wanted to know who the man was so he could put him in his place.

“Hi, Brad, I’m just eating lunch with Peter.”

Brad, the mystery man now had a name, turned his attention. Peter saw the assessment because he was doing his own. What he saw in Brad was lacking. The man was cruel. Peter didn’t know how he knew it, only that he did.

What he also didn’t like was the way he knelt down beside Rose and started playing with a strand of her long hair. Her blonde hair was long enough to cover her full ass. She kept it in a ponytail
, so the strands lifted up a little and rested above the curve of her ass.

“Peter Miller, right?” Brad asked, offering his hand.

“The very one, and you are?” Peter didn’t take the offered hand and continued eating his lunch.

“
I’m a friend of Rose’s.”

Rose was shaking. Peter wanted to make her shaking disappear.

“I’ve got to get back to work,” Rose said.

When she made to pass him, Peter grabbed her hand. “Lunch was lovely, Rose. Thank you.”

She glanced at the other men, nodded and turned away.

Peter returned his attention back to the men. They were all stood watching her leave. He got to his feet and pocketed his empty lunch box.

“You shouldn’t be around her. What’s the matter? Not enough sluts visiting your club that you’ve got to pry women out of town,” Brad said.

Staring at the man, Peter knew Rose would be in trouble if
Brad got near her. His gut was telling him to protect her.

He stepped up close to Brad and found he had to look down at the man. “Don’t talk about the club like that.”

Walking past them, he felt all four men follow him. Cutting through the path he saw it was secluded, and he sensed they’d make a move. None of them was a match for him no matter what they thought.

Peter spun around to face them, taking them by surprise.

“You shouldn’t come near Rose again,” Brad said.

“And you’re going to stop me?” Peter folded his arms.

Brad’s three friends held back.

“Yeah, I am.” Brad lunged at him
, and Peter grabbed the man, pushing him up against the hard brick wall.

“
I don’t know, and I don’t really give a shit, who you are. Don’t threaten me, and don’t go telling Rose’s parents. I may be a lot of things, Brad, but I know how to fuck you up and your friends.” He leaned in close to the guy’s ear. “And guess what? I’ve got friends, too.”

He shoved the little prick back to his friends. “Back off.”

Leaving the scene, Peter didn’t feel better. He was worried about Rose. The town of Cape Falls may be having changes, but the people were still stuck in the past.

****

Rose saw Brad and his friends enter the library. They were not good men, but Brad came from a good, wealthy family and everyone put up with him. He scared her, as did the others in his group. Licking her lips, she grabbed the cart of books and made her way around the library putting more books on shelves. Her job was not exciting, and she knew Laura, Dean’s wife, had once been in her position.

They were two women who were going to end up very differently. She made her way into one of the rooms and started putting books back into the medical section. After a few minutes she started to relax. She loved her lunch with Peter, even if he had broken her heart. He’d pretty much made it clear there was no chance for him and her to ever be together. It was incredibly stupid of her to think anything could change.

Peter was totally out of her league, and she’d never have a shot with him. She jumped at the sound of the door to the room closed and locked. Turning to face the door she saw Brad with his three friends. The blinds in the room were closed. No one could enter or see what was going on.

“What’s the matter?” she asked. Her pulse jumped like crazy inside her chest. She’d heard many rumours about these four men. A lot of gossip surrounded them with
no proof to back it up.

The three men stood separate from one another as Brad moved in closer. She watched him, terrified. Rose had noticed his gaze on her whenever she was in town. He made her skin crawl
, and it took every ounce of willpower not to flinch away from him.

“Your parents don’t know Peter visits here, do they?”

She glanced at him and then at the three men. Their arms were folded, and smirks were on their face. Her heart raced. Cape Falls was a shitty town, but the rumours about these men were the worst. She heard they preyed on women, raped them, but they always had an alibi. The women left Cape Falls or ended up in some accident. She hated it and hated them.

“No, he sits in a room and reads. There’s nothing else to it. He has a right to visit the library as well.”

Brad laughed. “He’s fucking scum, Rose. You shouldn’t allow him near you or to touch you.”

He reached out to stroke her face
, and she flinched away. Brad paused with his hand mid-air.

His friends laughed. She stayed still as Brad stroked her cheek. “I don’t want you eating with him again. I’ll be here from now on. You stay away from him.”

“Why?” she asked.

Rose bit her lip as he grabbed both her arms and hauled her up close to his body.

“Because I’ll tell your parents and then there will be nowhere for you to turn.” Brad lowered his head, and Rose turned her face in time. His lips brushed against her cheek.

“Remember, I’ll be around, Rose.”

She didn’t like the sound of his voice. He scared her so much.

Brad held her in his arms
, and she kept her gaze on his chest not wanting to look into his eyes.

Please leave. Please leave. Please leave.

She repeated the words to stop herself from screaming them out. Soon they left the room. Rose watched them leave and took a deep breath. They were scary men, and she didn’t want to have to be alone with them ever again.

After her shift at the library she made her way home. Her parents were not home yet
, but it would only be a matter of time. She entered their home and went straight to the kitchen. Rose was starving, and she really needed to eat.

Glancing at the cupboards she saw them all locked and bolted. Turning to the fridge she looked inside. Her mother had marked where the milk was when she left
, and everything was put in place. If she ate anything her parents would know. They were controlling everything. She left the kitchen and made her way toward the laundry closet. There was where she found the scales and the measuring tape, along with the notebook her mother kept at her father’s insistence.

Every morning without fail she was forced to stand on the scales,
and then she was measured around the waist, hips, arms and breasts. Her father would check the numbers and decide what to do.

Growing up she
’d never suffered with this. Her parents fed her without concern at all. They’d given her chocolate, sweets, and healthy meals. It was only recently her food ban had come into force, along with the regular checks on her weight and measurements.

Closing the door, she headed upstairs to her room. She wasn’t allowed a lock
, and her mother cleaned her room every day. There was no chance of privacy. Her mother believed privacy was overrated and she needed to do what her parents requested of her.

I’m nineteen and nothing but a prisoner.

She walked to her window and looked out over the horizon. Her bedroom had a clear view of the outskirts of town. Many times she’d wondered what it would be like to simply empty her bank account and leave without looking back. Once she left she’d be in charge of her future. There would be no more weighing scales or locked cupboards. She’d be free to do what she wanted when she wanted to do it.

Letting out a sigh, she rid her mind of the thoughts.

Her mother’s words came back to her.

“You leave this house and this town and you’ll never survive. You’ll be at the mercy of some pimp who’ll use you and your body. Can you hack having a new man between your thighs every minute?”