An Angel Exposed [Safeword LLC 3] (Siren Publishing Sensations) Page 14

  His arms tightened around her waist a little more, which Amy knew would happen because that was always his way of expressing himself. Ty placed a kiss on her forehead and then slowly released her, making his way over to where Chad and Alec stood.

  “I’m a better shot than Josh. Just remember that.”

  “Duly noted.”

  Amy wrapped her arms around her waist, looking back over to James. He winked at her and she couldn’t help but return his smile. She felt giddy inside that things had gone as well as they had. She loved her brothers dearly and wanted nothing more than their support. They had given it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Amy tried to breathe as she waited for Amanda to finish getting the stage ready. Chad had yet to open the door, allowing the buyers and viewers to enter the gallery. Alec was still standing behind her, adding little touches to the paint on her shoulder blades. She’d seen herself in the mirror, before leaving the apartment, and had never felt more sensual and erotic in all her life. Alec had made her into exactly what he’d wanted.

  The original showing never happened. Josh and Tyler had left that night, although not without her promise to call them daily to tell them that she was okay, when Chad had gotten the call that Ruby had been rushed back to the hospital. With tests having been run throughout the next day and finding that Ruby was just experiencing gas pains, Alec hadn’t had time to paint her body. Chad spent the rest of the evening, along with Amanda, explaining to their customers that Alec’s showing would be postponed for another month.

  Now, the doors were about to open.

  “You are stunning,” Chad murmured, walking up to stand in front of her.

  Amy stared up into the eyes of her Master. Yesterday had been the day they were supposed to meet with Kennedy regarding their two-month contract and decide if they wanted to continue. With the showing and everything it entailed to get ready, they’d decided to postpone their discussion until Monday. Amy still didn’t know exactly what would happen once that meeting commenced.

  “She’s ready,” Alec murmured, stepping back. “Turn toward me.”

  Amy pivoted, hearing Chad gasp. He’d seen what Alec had painted on her shoulder blades, and she hoped it signified something. It did to her. These past two months had shown her that it was possible to have a friendship turn into something so much more by adding a depth of trust that was needed for this kind of lifestyle. Every night, she took her discipline from Chad’s cane with acceptance. They gave her what she craved during their scenes and Amy couldn’t imagine going back to a life where they weren’t in it.

  Alec held out his hand. “Let’s get you settled. If at any time, you need a break or a drink of water, you just let me know. I’ll be watching you the entire time.”

  Amy felt a shiver run through her, knowing that it wasn’t only going to be Alec looking at her. Immediately, her pussy leaked moisture just the way Alec had intended. He wanted them to see her arousal. Men and women alike would be walking through the door shortly, wondering what shocking piece of art Alec had created that Chad had been promoting so heavily. She took pride that it was her.

  “Yes, Sir,” Amy answered, taking his hand. “I’m ready.”

  * * * *

  Alec led Amy to the stage, which contained a fine white mist from the machine situated on the side. The mist only spanned around six inches with two white marble columns situated in the middle of the circle, cut into roman style pedestals. One was taller than the other, with the shorter being where Amy was to sit.

  “Arrange yourself with your left knee being lifted and your right leg extended to the floor. The light should hit your pussy so that your juices are glistening. I want your left arm to drape across the higher pedestal while your right is behind you supporting you while causing you to arch slightly to display your breasts.”

  As Amy situated herself to his liking, Alec stepped off the stage and stood back to admire his masterpiece. The front of her was painted with a white toga covering one shoulder and trailing down over one breast, leaving the other one exposed. The painted fabric opened above her abdomen to reveal her stomach and ran down in curves on either leg, exposing her pussy. The dyed flesh draped around her ankles to reveal tiny white wings. Looking back up to her face, the only color beside white that was on her skin was the gold glitter that surrounded her eyes in a false mask. He even made sure her lips were pale pink so as not to detract from her blue eyes.

  “You’re perfect,” Alec whispered, and although she could hear him, he’d been talking to himself.

  He walked slowly around the stage, taking her in from every angle. As Alec went halfway around, he stopped to admire her back. White wings adorned her shoulder blades, making her literally their angel. Her toga draped across below the crevice of her ass, displaying just a hint of her hidden treasures. His cock stirred, wanting the evening to be over so that they could get to more enjoyable things.

  “You’ve made her our—”

  “I know what I did,” Alec replied, not wanting to get into a deep discussion about this now. “Go let the people in. I need to fuck her soon.”

  He was glad when Chad didn’t berate him for his language or the fact that he spoke of his virile urges. She belonged to them—not the people walking through the door. If he shared his past with her, would she leave when the patrons did? Alec didn’t want to think about it now, so he shut that part of his brain off. It was time to get this show on the road.

  * * * *

  Two hours into the evening, with one break for a bit of water, and Amy was ready for Chad and Alec to send everyone home. Would they mind making love on this pedestal? The more people observed and commented on her body, the more aroused she became. Amy was afraid she was going to leave a pool of liquid on the stage similar to that of the bar when she’d been punished. Her nipples had yet to relinquish their pinch, creating a fullness that made them feel bigger than she actually was. Her clit hadn’t been touched in so long, she was relatively sure the minute either Alec or Chad brushed against it with their fingers, she’d faint dead away. Amy knew it would be worth one strike of Chad’s cane.

  “She’s striking,” a masculine voice carried through the crowd. “Look at the way the white of the robe curves around her breast and then reveals her pussy.”

  “Alec has outdone himself. Look at her pussy. She’s obviously made to be his model.”

  “I’m just glad that it worked out.” Those words caught Amy’s attention, although she didn’t move from her position. The light feminine voice sounded familiar and it didn’t take long for Amy to realize where she’d heard it before. “Alec had wanted me to mention Safeword LLC to her and talk up their success rate. He was hoping she’d join, although how he and Chad managed to get her placed with them is beyond me. I heard through the grapevine that Ms. Van Camp is not a woman to be trifled with.”

  Whatever was said after that, Amy didn’t hear. A mantra ran through her mind. She’d been set up. A part of her wanted to hear more of what they were saying, as she hoped that she’d misunderstood them. She trusted Chad and Alec. Yet it didn’t change the fact that this woman came to her in a deceitful manner at their bidding. They’d made it so that she would go to Safeword LLC and she would be their submissive. This hadn’t been fate or destiny. It had all been contrived and she fell for it. Amy closed her legs and wrapped her arms around her abdomen. She wasn’t meant to be their angel after all.

  “Amy?”

  She heard Alec call her name, but didn’t look his way. Suddenly, Amy felt like she couldn’t breathe. She needed to get out of here. As if he’d known he’d be needed, Amy looked toward the door to see James walking in. Quickly standing, Amy practically jumped off of the pedestal, heedless of the fact that she was naked. All she could think of was that she needed James to take her away from here—away from all of the prying eyes. While being physically exposed in a sexual way aroused her, the exposure of her intimate pain was hers and hers alone.

  Alec reached her befor
e she could get to James, taking a hold of her arm and spinning her around. His green eyes held worry, but she ignored him as she pulled away. She could see Chad making his way over, his expression holding the same concern. Amy almost laughed out loud at the audacity, considering that neither one took her feelings into consideration at the start of this.

  “Let me go,” Amy whispered, trying to remember what her safe words were. They weren’t coming to mind, which only further frustrated her. “I’m done. James is taking me home.”

  “What’s gotten into you? Did something happen?”

  “Yes, something happened,” Amy replied, unable to keep the hurt out of her voice. “You and Chad arranged all of it. You made sure I would be your submissive. Why didn’t you just come to me?”

  “Angel, what’s going on?” Chad asked, finally reaching them.

  “Ask your friend,” Amy responded, taking a step back. “You know, for the life of me, what I can’t figure out is for you to have gone to so much trouble to have me, why is it that you can’t love me, Alec?”

  Amy spun around and ran for James, who was holding his coat open for her. He seemed to have a habit of doing that, but for now, she was grateful. She stepped out into the chilly evening, not really caring how cold it was. It wasn’t as cold as she was feeling inside.

  “My car is around the side. Why don’t you wait here and I’ll bring it around.”

  “Why?” Amy asked, just now realizing that a tear had escaped her eye. “So that gives Alec and Chad a chance to come out here? And do what, James? Explain how they made a deal with Kennedy? I don’t want to hear how they went around my back, making deals regarding my submissiveness.”

  “You need to hear them out, Amaryl.” James kept walking, much to her amazement. She followed him to his car, although she kept glancing over her shoulder. Had James said something to Chad and Alec to not follow them? A part of her was relieved, yet another part wanted them to come after her. She felt a sob rise up in her chest. She didn’t really know what she wanted. “But I’ll take you back to their apartment. You can get changed and if you want some time alone, I’ll see to it that you get it.”

  James made sure Amy was seated in the back of his town car, before walking around to the driver’s side door. He settled himself behind the wheel and started the ignition. She was wary of the fact that he seemed to have that kind of power over Chad and Alec, but realized it must still have to do with the contract. She really didn’t care how James was able to do the things he did, as long as he got her to the apartment. She would handle things from there.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Amy had told James that she would be okay at the apartment and that she would wait for Chad and Alec. She’d lied. By the time she’d changed clothes and grabbed her purse and cell phone, Amy had decided she needed to stay at a hotel until her mind cleared. It was just her luck that when her hand went on the doorknob, it twisted and the door opened to reveal Alec.

  She’d only ever seen such a look of dismay cross his face when they were waiting for news about Ruby after her heart attack. Amy wasn’t about to be pulled in again. They had purposefully set out to rig this entire two-month contract, when she’d thought it had been fate. She thought she was meant to be theirs.

  “I’m leaving,” Amy declared, trying to make her way around him. Where was Chad? It didn’t matter. She needed to get out of here. “Move.”

  “Just hear me out.” Alec stepped in and closed the door behind him, leaning up against the wood. He looked a mess, but then he always looked like this with the exception of dread appearing in his eyes. “You don’t have to say a word and if you want to leave after I’ve told you about my past, I won’t stop you.”

  Amy didn’t trust her voice, so she ended up vaguely nodding and taking a step back. She kept her purse slung across her shoulders and her fingers tightened on the strap. The quickest outfit she could step into was the same zippered sweater dress she wore when Ruby had been in the hospital. She ran her free hand down the side, trying to wipe away the perspiration. She would have given anything to hear about his past earlier today, but right now, Amy wasn’t seeing how it pertained to the fact that she’d been used.

  “I was sixteen when my parents died. I was a city kid, involved in things I had no business being involved in. All I wanted was my next score.” Alec looked off over her shoulder, as if his past were playing on a movie screen behind her. She didn’t like where this was going. There was such a vulnerability in his eyes that she felt as if a little boy was standing in front of her. “I got it, but at the cost of my family.”

  “What do you mean?” Amy asked, caught up in his tale and pushing aside her hurt and anger for the moment.

  “I got my hands on my drug of choice. I passed out. Never even realized that the house caught fire from my old man’s cigarette.” Alec shifted and then moved away from the door, walking around her. He was fidgeting, like he had at the hospital. “The window in my room happened to be the one adjoining the fire escape. When I opened my eyes, all I saw was the brilliant orange of the flames.”

  “Alec, that wasn’t your fault,” Amy said, knowing he’d probably heard that phrase too many times to count. She hoped that he did realize it wasn’t his fault, and yet, she could sympathize and understand the survivor guilt that he must feel. “And look at how you’ve changed your life.”

  “Do you want to know why?” Alec got to the middle of the living room and faced her, past anger rising up in his eyes. “Because I told my ten-year-old sister that I would look after her. Even at that age, Cara knew our parents were irresponsible. She looked up to me like I could make everything better. I promised her that I would make sure she had a better life than me, but it was my fault she died in that fire, because I was too high to realize the fucking apartment was on fire!”

  Amy knew there were times in life when a person didn’t know what to say for fear of saying the wrong thing and this was one of those moments for her. Imagining what her brothers would have gone through if she’d been in that car the night her parents died was unimaginable. They had needed her just as much as she needed them to get through the grief of losing their parents. And she knew, no matter that Alec’s parents weren’t perfect, that losing his sister after promising he’d take care of her was the worst thing that his sixteen-year-old self could have gone through.

  “She loved you,” Amy whispered, dropping her purse on the floor. “No matter your flaws and regardless of your poor decisions, your sister loved you unconditionally. I know, as a sister, how much we love our brothers.”

  “Don’t.” Alec put up his hand as she went to take a step forward. “I was telling the truth before, about me needing to own you and make you into something that is solely mine. It makes me feel as if I can’t lose you, like I lost them.”

  Alec’s eyes simmered with tears, although he didn’t allow them to fall. Amy felt his pain as if it were her own. No wonder he thought they were flip sides of a coin. She wanted to feel like she belonged, whereas he wanted to own her. Chad was the glue that held them together.

  “Why me?” Amy asked, closing the distance between them even though he was shaking his head. “Why would you go to the length you did to make sure I contacted Safeword LLC?”

  “Because it’s always been you,” Alec whispered. “The first time Chad saw you, he came home and claimed he’d seen our angel.”

  “But you don’t believe in angels.”

  “I do now.” Alec reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear, before stroking her cheek. “Seeing you up there on that pedestal made me realize I hadn’t created you. You were a gift that I never should have taken for granted. I don’t apologize for doing what I did and neither will Chad. If you hadn’t have been ready, you would never have contacted Kennedy.”

  “So, you are saying it was destiny,” Amy murmured, nuzzling his palm before looking up at him. She needed to know. “I’m not an angel, Alec. I’m anything but. The question is, can you love me for me? Can
you allow yourself to be open to the fact that one day you could lose me, just as I could lose you? There are no guarantees in this life, but if it’s one lesson I took from my parents’ death, is that life is too short to waste it on what-ifs.”

  “Yes.”

  Amy felt a sob rise up at his simple answer. It was so like Alec to respond in such a one-dimensional way. The door opened behind them and Amy knew that Chad had walked into the apartment. She looked over her shoulder, drinking in the sight of him. Alec must have asked for time with her, for which she was grateful. The closeness she had only ever felt with Chad was now shared with Alec. She turned back to face him and for the first time, Amy felt like she had truly found her place. She’d found her own home.

  Knock-knock.

  Amy swiped away the tears that were running down her face. She turned in Alec’s arms and leaned up against him, needing his strength. Chad had yet to say anything, and she could tell that he wasn’t happy with the interruption, but he turned toward the door anyway. Amy figured it was James, but when Chad opened the door, Kennedy stood there in a black, form-fitted suit and white button-down blouse. As usual, her hair was pulled back into a severe bun and her red lipstick looked perfectly applied.

  “James informs me there was a problem at the gallery this evening.”

  “Kennedy, come on in,” Chad said, taking a step back. “You certainly have impeccable timing.”

  “Is that sarcasm I hear?” Kennedy asked, with a wry smile. “You do realize that she is still under contract?”

  “Yes, which is why you are now standing in our apartment and not in the hallway,” Chad replied, shutting the door after Kennedy had entered the room. He swiftly made his way over to Alec and Amy, smiling and giving Amy a wink as he turned to stand next to them. “A phone call would have sufficed.”