“Isn’t that what this place is for? Making bad decisions?” she countered.
His arms lifted. His touch, gone. “That’s what you want?” His voice grew tender and something in its depths tinged with regret. “Your first time? This is really how you want it?”
The shell of her heart crusted over.
Shows what you know
. She hadn’t been a virgin since high school. Any chance at normalcy had been stolen the moment she stepped into that frat house. The doctor classified it as an “attempted sexual assault” because although she had been bruised and swollen, her perpetrator hadn’t managed to “seal the deal” before the flames took him.
But he had stolen her life. Her chance to be normal.
Shauna tried to mask the anger boiling at her surface. She’d fight to get
normal
back by any tactic necessary. She pulled in a tight breath and forced it down.
Look dumb, flaunt the package. It’s not that hard.
But in a blink, the anger won and overtook her mouth.
“I want more than that. I want you.” She lifted the button between them. She stuck out her bottom lip in what she hoped was a porn-star worthy pout. “If you can’t help me, I’m afraid I just won’t be able to help myself.”
Shauna marched for the railing. A heavy sigh of what must have been annoyance rushed from his lungs.
“You’re not settling. I’m going with you.”
Well, that’s just great.
Shauna’s pride-filled chest deflated a bit. Adrian knew the crowd enough to let her into his playground. Now he had the upper hand, the knowledge, and the new kid parading in front of him down the stairs. All of the fun seemed to be deflating from her naughtiness balloon. She clomped down the spiral staircase, feeling more gangly and awkward with every step.
Shauna’s attention fell to the barrel-chested brunette woman who perched on a bench at the bottom of the stairs. The woman’s critical gaze drew lines of age near her eyes and red-painted lips. And not just any gaze, this was the kind that snared and sunk its teeth in. Whether eyeing Shauna up for battle or breakfast she wasn’t sure.
When Shauna handed over her button, the woman’s attention finally broke and lunged for Adrian. The verge-of-liver-failure hue that bronzed her cheeks pinkened. Her lips pulled back to reveal a wry, smoker’s smile. “Surprise, surprise. It’s my ole pal, Adrian.”
“Evening, Darla,” Adrian muttered, a reply that seemed more chore than friendly salutation.
The bottom floor opened to a ten-by-ten stone room. For the number of people crowding in, it seemed pretty quiet.
Shauna expected to find a carnival of outrageous sexual activity by now. Whip-cracking, chain-rattling, swinging-from-the-chandelier type stuff. She paused, still gripping the railing. Apart from the man-eating button collector continuing to stare Adrian down, there wasn’t any of that sideshow business.
She panned the crowd of nearly thirty people. How long had they all been waiting here? Shauna hadn’t seen any of them upstairs. Some unspoken order to behave seemed to be wearing thin. A squirmy vibe of sensual tension seemed to filter through the room. It touched and bounced from person to person, as one woman crossed and uncrossed her shapely legs, a tee-and-denim man paced back and forth along the nine-foot iron bars, and Shauna took a retreating step backward.
Her nerves flipped to panic mode.
The muggy warmth of body heat and perspiration saturated this place. The tiny hairs on her arms stood on end, and the sickening churn of her stomach went cold.
The heat would come soon.
Shauna swallowed. She’d been lucky to get this far, but now she teetered on the edge of an invisible threshold. She searched the room for open space. There wasn’t much, not enough to get away from the hormones thickening the air.
She took another step back.
The closest ventilation took the form of an enormous black gate, but that seemed to be what everyone waited on. Not the place for Shauna. In mere moments, she’d become a flaming doormat trampled by a lust-driven stampede.
Adrian pressed his lips to the back of her head. The moisture of his breath seeped into her hair. A cunning smile curled through his voice. “Problem?”
Shauna jumped forward, abandoning her subconscious disappearing act. Pretty lame, trying the squeeze herself into the crevice of his abs. “No. No problem,” she rushed to assure.
“Uh huh.”
She took an extra step away for good measure. Her gaze fell to where her arms squeezed protectively around her abdomen. She pushed out a slow breath, thankful no visible cloud of heat rolled from her lips. “So…what happens now?”
Adrian’s stormy-blue gaze lifted, and he offered a faint nod at the large gate.
A man, six foot tall and about that wide, had appeared on the other side. His grin stretched between the bars and his fidgety gaze danced eagerly through the crowd. A ring of keys jingled near the gate’s opening, but the man didn’t look down. He seemed to fumble in greedy haste at gaining access to his new patrons.
The hinges squawked in rust-eaten protest when the man swung the gate wide. He stepped back, but no one moved.
Shauna caught herself staring, too. That’s where they were headed?
Hydrangea and white moonflower blooms glowed amid the pillars of candle light. Waxy vines clung to the darkened hallways running in both directions. They draped over a massive iron gazebo that centered the largest indoor garden Shauna had ever seen.
She nodded to herself. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Come on, come on,” urged the man. His grin widened, and he made a jumpy, coaxing motion as if drawing an entire herd of Hansels and Gretels into his kitchen.
Inside, the cement walls and cobblestone floor radiated with the sun-beaten warmth of July.
A little strange for October.
Tiny firefly lights pinpricked throughout the foliage, and mirrored the star-painted ceiling above. It seemed difficult to find any beginning or end.
Finding pain seemed no problem at all.
Shauna tried to ease her stomach’s rollercoaster drop. This Garden of Eden had been tended by Jack the Ripper.
Manacles dangled empty from each of the gazebo’s five arches. A chandelier of chains drooped from the center. Along one wall, a medieval fence of stainless, metal chairs were interspersed among the foliage. The chair backs made of what appeared to be sharpened pikes.
Adrian’s voice rumbled low near her left ear. “Seen enough?”
She shrugged away from him. “Are you kidding? This is incredible.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my fine privilege to welcome you to the garden.”
Shauna turned to the voice behind them just as the gate slammed shut. The foreboding
clang
of metal-on-metal seemed to stop everyone in their tracks.
The large man chuckled, a soundless laughter that could only be detected in the faint giggle from under his multicolored sweater. “For those of you who do not know me, I am your host. Your Orchestrator. You may call me O.”
He lifted his hand in offering to the new world around them. “I’m sure you’ve noticed this is no ordinary dungeon. We pride ourselves on secrecy, discretion, and trust.” His belly jumped again in a silent snort. “On some level.” He cleared his throat and sped his words as if racing back to the task at hand. “As you can see, our garden has many secret pleasures and toys.
“The tool shed.” O pointed northeast, to where a primitive stone structure had been fitted with what looked like a steel refrigerator door. Inside, shelved racks of surgical trays were draped with blue paper cloths. A large assortment of gleaming knives, scissors, and gloves hung from the structure’s inner walls.
“The koi pond.” To the right, fattened, orange and yellow fish lapped at the water’s surface. Their white, gossamer fins floated eerily through the ten-by-ten-foot blackened pond. Attached, a wrought iron bridge led to a cement island pad. In the middle, a coffin-sized, metal fire pit. The jumping flames, which seemed more blue than yellow, danced in a silent reflection from the mirror-like, metallic pokers, irons, and shovels that lined the wall.
Shauna bounced up and down in her best attempt at schoolgirl excitement. “Oh, oh. Fireplay. I can do that one!” She nudged him with her elbow. “Or the pond. We
like ponds
, don’t we?”
Adrian rounded on her with a scowl that would send most grown men scurrying.
“What?” she asked, biting back her grin of impending triumph. He’d give in. Any second now she’d cross one line too many and end up over his shoulder and out the door.
Or over his knee.
Maybe his bed?
She closed her eyes. Umm…. Or with a
cure?
“Many titillating opportunities for you to try. To enjoy,” O continued. His tone hardened to reclaim the crowd’s wandering attention and titters of delight. “But make no mistake. Just because you’ve gained passage this far, doesn’t mean you’ve earned the privilege to play in my garden.”
He lifted his arms akimbo, pointing in opposite directions, airline attendant style. The dark, rounded alcoves that lined the halls were fitted with black metal bars. “To either side of the garden you will find a chance to earn that privilege.” O’s tone lightened. He closed his eyes and swayed a bit, as though entranced in a song all his own. “So make friends, my little love birds. Play nice. Sing pretty enough to please me, and you shall earn your key.”
Shauna hesitated. “We have to sing?”
“Cry, moan, scream. It varies. But you won’t leave until you give him what he wants. He’ll know if you’re faking.” Adrian tipped his head. “Are we through now?”
Shauna ignored the question. The irritated edge in Adrian’s voice seemed sharper—and more in her favor—by the second. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t leave. She might be on to a golden opportunity. A cure. “How do I know what he wants—”
“
You
don’t.” An unyielding command flashed in his eyes. “Don’t even try. I’m coming for you, and you’re staying put.”
She snorted. “Like hell.”
O paused. He issued Shauna a warning look. Seemingly satisfied with her apologetic smile, he continued. “Once you earn your key, you will be released into the garden.”
The cogs in Shauna’s brain picked up speed as she scanned her surroundings. If the hard-core stuff stayed in the garden, and Adrian wanted her out, guess who had the upper hand now? To sit in her cage and simply wait for jailbreak, where would that get her at the end of the night?
If she were lucky? A couch.
Not happening.
“But of course, this is a game of chance.” O looked knowingly at Adrian. “We have many ways to make you sing.”
Adrian’s posture stiffened. A tiny muscle near his jaw jumped to attention.
Shauna stared. The look of defiance and mistrust that played on Adrian’s face was like nothing she’d ever seen in him. Did he know about this?
Then she heard it. A soldier’s march trailing down the stairs. Four men and four women proceeded down the staircase from where Shauna had come. Their gladiator physiques completely exposed, except for the wingspan of a large bird tattooed across their chests, and a black, mesh bag with a silver drawstring tightly synched around their heads.
A wave of alcohol and menace followed their purposeful stride until they fell into rank behind O. They turned their full attention to the crowd.
One woman made a slight pivot, back and forth, as if consoling the ten-inch, pink dildo that she held in both hands. Another looked transfixed on the crowd with her fists planted on her hips, and a leather riding crop dangling from her wrist. The final man, who seemed somehow paler than the others, stroked the hard length of his greased-up penis in a slow, foreboding rhythm.
“These, my love birds, will be your hawks for the evening.” O ambled down the line of behemoths with his chest puffed in imminent victory. “Before you ask, there is no limit to their mobility and your cage will not save you.”
Great. The cages weren’t safe either? Shauna glanced at the hawks and then at Adrian, but her self-appointed babysitter didn’t move. His eyes were still fixed on O.
She knew that look. Adrian was calculating again. This game of chance must have introduced a new element even Adrian hadn’t anticipated.
“If you catch a hawk, he or she is yours for the evening. But if a hawk catches you, you become their prey. Their hoods remain in place at all times for the ultimate in anonymity. Our predators are the cleanest and safest of specimens, but you are by no means safe from their wrath.”
The courage inside Shauna went from apple to sauce. What the hell had she gotten herself into? They’d be separated. Calling Adrian’s bluff and acting exactly as he said—a spoiled brat—wouldn’t get her anywhere now. They were trapped, both of them, and it was her fault.
O pointed to the ceiling and lifted his sandy brows in innocence. “You have all signed a consent. But if any of you wish to back out, speak.”
Adrian turned to face her.
Swallow your pride. Choke on it if you have to.
Shauna opened her mouth and then closed it again, her tongue caught in a net of uncertainty. After tonight, and the mess she’d made, Adrian would disappear just as he had before. Then she would never find help.
What could she offer him beyond the threat to her safety? How could she become more than the troublesome neighbor kid he’d dolefully watched out for all those years ago.
She shrugged in defeat. “How else can I do to convince you?”
The stoked anger and frustration rushed to Adrian’s surface. His cheeks turned red, and his lips twisted into a sneer. “Not putting yourself here. That’s for damn sure.”
“All right, birds,” O called. “Choose your cages.”
Chapter Ten
One gate slammed shut and then another as the remaining crowd galloped down the hall amid nervous laughter, and cat calls.
The first cell on the block hadn’t been picked yet. With any luck, the others would pass over it in their haste. Shauna rushed ahead, not running away, strategizing. She nodded to herself. After all, who in their right mind would barrel headfirst down a path of certain destruction? She had a plan…somewhere.
Stepping inside, the heels of her boots plunged into the black, gymnasium-style pad that took up most of the floor.