Chapter 23

“What?!” Collie blurted. “What happened?!!?”

I sighed and sincerely hoped I wouldn’t have to tell this story again. “She told everyone she was ready for us to make love last night and that turned out not to be true. She told me it was perfect after the fact, but this morning, she compared Lana and Beck coming into the room while we were having sex to the same feeling she had that weekend with people watching. Over the course of the day, she got worse and worse, shutting me out and then deciding to move back in with her parents. I’m told by the girls that she was more and more direct in comparing me to her rapists. She won’t be back.”

There was a moment of silence around the room and I decided to close the door on the idea of forgiving her. “I offered her the letter she wrote to me. I told her that if those words were no longer true that there was no reason for me to hold onto them any more. She took the letter, telling me that she doesn’t love me, at least not any more. Maybe she never did and fooled herself into thinking she did. Either way, she’s gone and she’s not coming back. She can get in line behind Zoe if she wants a reprieve.”

“That bad, huh?” Hanna winced in sympathy.

“They both compared what we were doing to rape. Zoe said you were raping me, Cheryl was comparing me to her treatment at the hands of the Watermans. Of the two, I have more sympathy for Zoe. She was at least speaking from a standpoint of laws that she wasn’t comfortable breaking, not accusing one of us of traumatizing the other. Cheryl took an act of love that she asked me directly for and warped into something filthy and vile. It still twists my stomach.”

Hanna nodded and sighed. “Well, at least we won’t have to change diapers now, right?” she said, trying to look on the bright side.

I frowned and put my head down. “The baby is actually the part of this that bothers me the most. I was looking forward to having the chance to teach her about the world.”

That lowered the mood in the room greatly. “You’ll get your chance again,” Tricia said certainly. “It’ll be when we’re all ready to face it.”

I nodded and sighed. “I’m sorry to bring everyone down with such shitty news,” I said finally. “I just don’t have it in me to explain it more often than I have to.”

“Do you need me to come home early?” Hanna asked, concerned. “I can cut things short here and be back first thing in the morning,” she offered.

“No, Love,” I told her, smiling tenderly at her. “You take your time and come back when you’re bored and your sister starts getting on your nerves. I’ve got plenty of support here and Emma’s going to be home on Monday. You’re greatly missed, but I want you to enjoy the time with your folks.”

She nodded finally. “Okay. Call me if you change your mind. I can be packed and on the road in an hour and it’s only a three hour drive. I can be there in a hurry.”

“You just work on how you’re gonna get me that steak dinner. I want a three-inch thick T-bone. Grilled would be nice with potatoes. Pan fried would be okay, but it needs mushrooms with it if it’s done that way.”

She smirked. “Keep dreaming. You still need to make Chloe squeal for mercy.”

“Name the time,” I told her with a smirk. “Does she even suspect what you’re putting her through?”

Hanna gave me an evil look and then picked up her laptop. “CHLOE!” she yelled. “Matt wants you.”

We could hear her running upstairs. “Matt’s already spending his steak dinner,” she told her sister before handing her the computer.

Chloe peered at us and grinned. “Are they the medical team that’s gonna do CPR on you when I run you into the ground?” she said sweetly. “You know you have to buy Hanna AND me a steak dinner when I make you tap out.”

“I hope going hungry was part of your plan then,” I told her. “I rode your sister until she ran out of gas and she does cardio for a living. You don’t stand a chance.”

“Yeah. She told me she passed out. Pussy,” she giggled as Hanna threw something at her.

“Oh, that’s not gonna stop the train, Chloe,” I told her. “We keep smelling salts by the bed. You’ll howl for mercy before I’m done with you.”

“Care to make a side wager on that?” she said with an evil grin.

“What did you have in mind?” I asked, curious what she’d come up with.

“Hanna told me about her collar,” she said. “Loser has to be the winner’s slave for a year.”

“That’s a sucker bet,” I told her. “We live in different cities. There’s no way either of us can live up to the obligations of a collar at this distance.”

“Loser has to move to be with the winner,” she said simply.

“Hanna said you own your dance school. You’d lose your business if you moved. There’s no way I’m doing that to you.”

“Well, I’m gonna make you move when I win,” she goaded me.

“Big talk from someone who’s already lost,” I told her. “You could just ask me to collar you. You might as well be betting that all Boston sports teams will win all their respective championships this year. Let’s say I do agree to this, what’s really in it for me? I have five people under collar right now. What do I need a sixth for? What do you bring to the table for us?”

She blinked. “Seriously? You’d pass up a ballet dancer as your personal fuck-toy for a year?”

“None of my other collars come with a countdown,” I pointed out. “If the rest of my girls think you’d be fun to bounce around between us, we’ll consider your side-bet. Hanna gets first vote. If she thinks you’re worth hanging onto then we’ll discuss it and let you know.”

She smirked like I’d given her ammunition. “Big man needs permission from his owners? Sounds like you’re pretty whipped. This is gonna be easier than I thought.”

“Oh, I’m easy,” I confirmed, “but I’m not cheap. You’re gonna pay a steep price once the bell rings.” I smiled. “My girls look out for me. If they don’t like you, then they won’t put up with your shit. Play nice or they might tell me to collar you just to give them something to kick when they’re angry about something.”

She laughed. “We’ll see. I’m willing to back up my bet. Some of us don’t have to answer to anyone.”

I shrugged. “We’ll let you know. Have Hanna measure your neck though, just in case.”

She laughed and handed me back to Hanna. “I’ll enjoy making him lick my feet clean after a long day dancing,” she told her playfully. “Maybe that’s not all I’ll make him lick clean.”

“You should be careful,” Hanna said. “He could damage you to get what he wants. My hips didn’t feel right for two days afterwards.” She looked at the camera. “She’s serious,” she warned. “She’s making a list of all the disgusting things she intends to make you do if she puts a collar on you. She’s been talking about making this side-bet for a few days. Licking her feet clean after dance isn’t near the worst.”

I paused, considering that and shrugged. “Well, she’s got NO hope in Hell of making me give up and you know I can short-circuit her. She might make me break a sweat to do it, but I’ll break her. Once I do, that list might come in handy. Get us a copy of it.”

Her eyes lit up and she grinned. “Your wish is my command,” she said and signed off.

The girls had been quiet while I’d bantered with Chloe and when I turned around, they were all watching intently.

“We’re seriously gonna punish her when she gets here,” Beck said with a grin of anticipation on her face.

“Beck votes for me to collar her then,” I announced, taking her enthusiasm as agreement. She nodded in confirmation.

“I want to see her take on Bad Matt and see what condition she leaves in,” she said with an evil chuckle.

“Do it,” Lana agreed. “We all know you’re gonna leave her half dead. Might as well make it worth the effort. Besides, after today, you could use the laugh.”

Collie nodded her vote too. Tabby chewed on her lip for a moment and then nodded. “You’re sure you’re gonna be able to put her down?”

“I ran Hanna until she dropped of exhaustion,” I told her. “A hundred and four minutes. I think I can make two hours. I don’t think she can.”

“You can seriously go for nearly two hours?!!?” Jessie blurted out in shock. “No one’s that good!”

I shrugged. “I did once. Afterwards, I felt like I was dying, but I made it.”

She flicked Lana on the arm. “You’ve been holding out on me, girl.”

“Lana wasn’t there for that. Emma, Hanna and Zoe were,” I told her. “That’s a tale for another day though. Talking with Hanna and Chloe managed to put me in a better mood. For that, I’m grateful to both of them.”

They all nodded. “Well, I think we should chat about Cheryl a little bit before we let the topic die,” Tricia said gently. “Are you gonna be okay seeing her at school?”

I nodded. “I think so. I don’t have any classes with her so I only really see her in the halls occasionally and I’ll see her at lunch. I somehow don’t think she’s gonna want to sit with me now. I’ll still keep an eye out for anyone bothering her, but I don’t want her back in my life.”

She nodded. “That’s what I figured,” she admitted.

“Sweetness, if you want to sit with her at lunch, I’ll understand. I really won’t mind,” I told her. It wasn’t precisely true, but Cheryl was her best friend. I didn’t want to take that from either of them.

She smiled and came to kiss me sweetly. “Maybe sometimes,” she said in a tone that told me that she wasn’t planning on sitting anywhere but with me.

“I think I’m talked out about Cheryl for now,” I said softly. “Her situation gives me something to think about when it comes to other girls who were there that weekend, but no two people recover the same way, so it’s just something I’m keeping in the back of my head.”

“What do you mean?” Gina asked, her brow furrowing.

“Well, Cheryl was convinced she was ready,” I said softly. “She was SO convinced that she asked all of you AND my mother and sister to leave us alone in the house so she could have me all to herself for the evening. We all believed her when she said she was ready. It turned out that she wasn’t. I have to be careful we’re all sure when the time comes. I don’t want to lose any of you like we just lost her.”

“You’re not gonna lose any of us,” Gina said certainly. “You’ve already told me that you’re fine waiting until I’m sure. Knowing how much Cheryl hurt you, I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t absolutely sure.”

Beck spoke up next. “Lana and I are both in counseling to make sure we’re dealing with it like we need to,” she said. “Honestly, once my test results come back, you’re not getting out of this bed except to shower, use the bathroom or eat and we might just have meals brought in for the weekend.”

We all laughed about that. When we calmed down some, Lana added her thoughts. “Beck and I know what it’s like to be loved by you,” she explained. “We know what it’s like to be used like we were at that party. We know the difference. Physically, the motion is the same, but you care. You want us to have the best time of our lives every time you make love to us. That’s what we want. I’d take you right now if my tests were done. We want you to love us completely,” she said and then glanced at Beck. “Even if Beck’s gonna ask you to put it in her ass and pull her hair,” she added with a giggle.