Mastering the Virgin Box Set Five: A BDSM Ménage Erotic Romance novel Chapter 16

After everything that’s happened to her…

I don’t know how to react, how to deal with this. I take shelter in barking a laugh, the edges sharp and bitter as aloe.

“What could possibly be funny?” says Michael.

“She’s gone out, against every protest and effort to stop her. She’s achieved what she set out to do; Beth is back with Richard. She’s certainly been beaten, perhaps raped. She gotten home, God alone knows how…. That’s obviously what all her interest in the City plans was about, so she anticipated that too….” Helpless with frustration, I run fingers through my hair. “She’s pulled up out of the sewers…. And now she cries…”

Jade…. How do I help you?

I’m supposed to be your protector….

Michael chews at his knuckles. “Did you ask for a female doctor?”

“Mmm, yes.” Then, at the knock on the door, “Ah, that should be her.”

But it’s not. Instead, Richard, one arm draped around Beth, stands there. Wearing bright smiles, they’re carrying champagne and a brightly wrapped parcel, gay with ribbons and foil. But as they step inside, the smiles vanish. “James? Michael? Is everything alright?”

“She’s been beaten. She’s covered in bruises. And we think she’s been raped.”

Beth blinks, her head drooping a little, then she sweeps by us. “Here, let me talk with her…”

After a few seconds, there is the quiet murmur of voices.

Richard scuffs at the carpet. “Elizabeth did mention something to me about this. I didn’t want to say anything because she wasn’t sure.”

Michael’s eyes raise, violence in his gaze. “You didn’t want to say anything?”

“Would it have helped? When there was nothing to be done?”

Michael takes a step towards Richard, but I hold up a staying hand. “Calm down. We both knew what the possible consequences were if she was captured. So did she.”

Storm clouds behind his eyes, Michael subsides and the three of us settle into a taut silence.

Beth re-emerges and places a hand on Michael’s arm, then mine. “She hasn’t been raped. But she is pretty much at the end of her resources. She’s been running for days. She was beaten while we were held, and she took some more damage while she was running, and…” She fixes a laser stare on me... “She thinks you’re going to punish her. She really isn’t in any state for that right now.”

That’s not for you to fucking interfere with….

Richard meets my eye, cocking a brow, but then looking at Beth askance.

His sub….

The impasse is broken by Michael. “James isn’t going to punish her….”

That’s not for you to say either….

For a moment we face each other, squaring off….

“…. are you?” he finishes.

Ah… Green-Eyes…. You’ve paid your price….

Inside me, the last bubble of anger bursts, and I remember only that I love my Jade and that she’s done and achieved God-only-knows-what to return to us. “No, she’s been through enough. Perhaps it will have taught her a lesson.”

Michael snorts. “That, I doubt. Let me handle it.… when she’s ready.”

Beth taps a foot, arms folded. “Right now, I’d say that what she needs, is the pair of you, and to sleep.”

“We’ll come back later,” says Richard, nodding her to the door, a touch of ice in his eye. “Give me a buzz, James, when you think she’s ready to talk.”