Mistress of Redemption

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica

Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Mistress of Redemption

ISBN # 1-4199-0682-8

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Mistress of Redemption Copyright©

2006 Joey W. Hill

Edited by Briana St. James.

Cover art by Syneca & Willo.

Electronic book Publication:

September 2006

This book may not be reproduced or

used in whole or in part by any

means existing without written

permission from the publisher,

Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.®

1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH

44310-3502.

This book is a work of fiction and

any resemblance to persons, living or

dead, or places, events or locales is

purely coincidental. The characters

are productions of the authors’

imagination and used fictitiously.

Warning:

The following material contains

graphic sexual content meant for

mature readers. This story has been

rated X-treme by a minimum of three

independent reviewers.

Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three

levels of Romantica™ reading

entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E

(Erotic), and X (X-treme).

S-
ensuous
love scenes are explicit

and leave nothing to the imagination.

E-
rotic
love scenes are explicit,

leave nothing to the imagination, and

are high in volume per the overall

word count. In addition, some E-

rated titles might contain fantasy

material that some readers find

objectionable, such as bondage,

submission, same sex encounters,

forced seductions, and so forth. E-

rated titles are the most graphic titles

we carry; it is common, for instance,

for an author to use words such as

“fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such

within their work of literature.

X-
treme
titles differ from E-rated

titles only in plot premise and

storyline execution. Unlike E-rated

titles, stories designated with the

letter X tend to contain controversial

subject matter not for the faint of

heart.

MISTRESS OF REDEMPTION

Joey W. Hill

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the

trademarked status and trademark

owners of the following wordmarks

mentioned in this work of fiction:

Aerosmith: Rag Doll Merchandising,

Inc.

Band-Aids: Johnson & Johnson

Corporation

GQ
: Conde Nast Publications Inc.

Kahlua: The Kahlua Company

Mercedes: DaimlerChrysler AG

Corporation

Monopoly: Hasbro, Inc.

Play-Doh: General Mills Fun Group,

Inc.

Superman: National Comics

Publications, Inc.

Preface—A Word About Jonathan

(or Nathan)…

For those of you familiar with my

earlier works,
Holding the Cards

and
Natural Law
, the idea that

Jonathan is getting his own story

might be shocking. Make a hero out

of the “bad guy” who nearly

destroyed Lauren’s soul? Who almost

got Mac killed? Joey, have you lost

your mind?!

Jonathan was the worst kind of

bottom. A twisted sub, a sexual

predator who enjoyed manipulative

games with his chosen Mistresses

until he destroyed them emotionally

and moved on to his next prey. The

only person who stopped him was a

Mistress who was more of a

sociopath than he was, who used him

to try to kill Mac Nighthorse. If she

had succeeded, of course my fans

would have wanted to consign

Jonathan to Hell forever, for no male

hero of mine to date has been as

widely beloved as Mac Nighthorse

of
Natural Law
.

Truth be told, it never occurred to me

that Jonathan should have his own

story. Not until a fan (who is a

Domme) started pushing me in that

direction with questions like

“Why does he continually have to

prove his manhood by submitting and

then manipulating others? How does

it serve him better than being a

regular Dom or a bottom? Why

choose to masquerade as a sub?

Deep down, is he a real sub? What

does he get out of it? What would it

take to stop him in his tracks and

make him see what he’s missing by

never surrendering himself to real

intimacy? What would force the

issue, breach those walls?”

Just like that, Mistress Dona

appeared in my imagination and I

knew that Jonathan needed her. What

cinched it was finding out how much

she needed
him
. When two people

are bound the way these two were, I

have to write their story. So here’s

Mistress
of Redemption
. I won’t say enjoy the journey, because it’s not

that kind of trip, but I hope you find

something here that feeds your heart

and soul.

This book is dedicated to “Maven”,

who believed enough in Jonathan that

she convinced me and my Muse to

look deeper. To believe that even the

worst among us might be redeemed,

if the love and justice applied is

strong and balanced enough to heal

the soul. It makes me wish there were

more Donas in the world, people

able to drive evil away and help the

soul find its way back to the gift of

unconditional love freely offered by

another.

Joey W. Hill

Joey W. Hill

Chapter One

The duffel bag hit the edge of the

road, sending up a puff of gravel dust

that lingered, seemingly reluctant to

settle in the still, humid air. The day

he’d been brought to Wentworth

Prison it had been hot and sticky, for

Florida summers knew no other way

to be, but it had not been like this.

The light of the sun was harsh,

painful to the eyes as it reflected on a

ribbon of asphalt flanked by expanses

of sand and scrub that stretched out

from one horizon to another. He

hadn’t remembered the prison being

the only feature of this desolate

wasteland, but five years was a long

time to remember a detail that had

been so insignificant at the time.

He could have moved back into the

shadow of the guard tower to wait

for the bus, but he rejected the idea.

He wasn’t planning on turning around

or looking at the prison ever again.

Prisoners about to be released had

two choices for transport. He could

catch a bus ride back to the county in

which he was arrested, compliments

of the state, or he could make his own

pickup arrangements. Call a friend, a

family member.

So he waited for the bus, not because

he had any interest in going back to

Tampa, but because there was no one

to call. The life he’d built for himself

—Jonathan Powell, successful

stockbroker, upwardly mobile

twenty-something—was over. Gone

and ill-fitting on him now, like a

costume the day after Halloween. He

had enough to live on for a while, but

his old employer wouldn’t be

begging to have him back. Not the

accomplice to the S&M Killer, the

woman who’d tried to off two cops

as her final coup.

He wouldn’t find a career in finance,

where corporations regularly did

criminal background checks as part

of the hiring process.

It didn’t matter. He’d find a hotel, a

shower and plan to be across the

country in a week. Maybe Oregon.

Mountains. Cool, green. He could

hire himself out as a subcontractor in

places where new construction was

booming. Once, in another life, he’d

been a better-than-decent roofer.

Fearless no matter the pitch, always

keeping his balance. Sometimes he’d

taken his lunch break up there. Sitting

shirtless in loose jeans, his knees

drawn up to anchor himself on the

slope as he ate his sandwich, he’d

almost felt at peace. Clean despite

the filth that had dried in a film on his

sun-browned skin from the hot, dirty

work.

A loser, he reminded himself. He’d

been a no-money, nobody loser then.

And here he was again.

When a wavering line appeared on

the horizon, he squinted. Sweat

rolled down the center of his back

and dampened the waistband of his

jeans. Damn bus probably wouldn’t

be air-conditioned, just a fan up front

for the driver.

6

Mistress of Redemption

It wasn’t a bus. It was a car. A red

Mercedes convertible, the top down,

the driver flying along at what looked

to be a smooth ninety. The exhaust

turned the air around the car into a

mirage, wavy lines confusing the

eyes so reality vied with illusion.

Then the car drew closer, became

more defined. As did the driver.

A woman. A woman with dark

sunglasses, red lips and dark hair

whipping and tangling around her

face. He could almost feel the

pleasure of the wind as he stood in

stagnant heat. The idea of seeing a

real woman, even if it was just a

flash as she passed him on this

godforsaken highway, curled its way

around his cock and stroked it like

the touch of her fingers. With long,