Switched (8 page)

***

      Being Victor Kolknov’s right hand
guy was probably one of the worst positions he could have ever found himself
in. Richard Vogt didn’t like Victor, but he tolerated the guy for a paycheck.
Having a previous felony on his record made it hard to get a good job, and
Victor, who didn’t care if his employees had a past or not, paid well. It was
after Victor and some of his other cronies started killing people that Richard
knew he was in too deep.  The final nail that sealed his fate happened when
Victor made him plant a car bomb and set it off. At that point there was no
turning back. Victor owned him and Richard, a Dom to the core of his being,
didn’t like feeling owned. A few times he thought about going to the cops, but
Victor’s reach was far. Richard knew he would be dead within days, even in
prison. Somehow everyone loved Victor at first, until he seduced them and
trapped them. Laura, sweet Laura who’d started working at the club around the
same time Richard did, had also fallen under Victor’s spell. At least Richard
didn’t have to hurt her. No, Victor would do it, but it didn’t make his task
any easier. Quite frankly he hated the fact that he had to go after her. His
underlings didn’t care. They never knew the kind, gentle sub who trusted Victor
with every ounce of her being. They didn’t know the abuse Victor’s subs endured
at his hand. Richard had, many times, scolded himself for not helping the girls
under Victor’s charge, but again, what could he do? If he did anything, Victor
would surely have him killed. That’s how Victor usually rewarded disobedience
from his male entourage. The women at least had a chance.

     He decided then that maybe, just
maybe, he wouldn’t be able to find her. Or, if he did see her, maybe he’d
pretend he hadn’t seen her. Deep down, however, he knew he would find her and
that one of his men, who had already seen the current photo of her courtesy the
private investigator, would recognize her and he would have no choice but to
agree that it was, in fact her. Before he began packing he sent a text to Misha
to a phone Victor didn’t know about. The text read:
“When I find that piece
of jewelry, I’ll send you the #; you can call about it and give jeweler a heads
up.”

     He hoped she was smart enough to
get the message and call Laura with the warning. Maybe that’s how he could save
Laura.

     Just as he sent the text he received
another. It was from Agent Brocco with the FBI. Brocco had approached Richard
once, asking him to become an informant and while Richard hadn’t agreed, he
had
taken the man’s card. He’d fed the agent a tip here and there. But it was
unusual that the agent contacted him.

     The text read:
“How did a
private investigator from MA piss off Victor Kolknov?”

     Richard didn’t reply, but not two
minutes later he got another text.
“Come on, Rich. That car bomb had Kolknov
written all over it.”

     With a sigh, Richard stopped
packing his bag for Massachusetts. He texted back,
“Laura Stanton.”

    
“Victor’s Ex?”
came the
reply.

    
“Yes.”

    
“I’m not following.”

     Richard rolled his eyes and thought
about the quickest way to text it. His thick fingers moved across the on-screen
keyboard with as much grace as an elephant.
“PI came to club asking about
Laura Stanton. Her current boyfriend hired PI.”

    
“Why did Victor kill PI?”

     Richard shrugged at the phone then
said to the empty room, “Because Victor’s an asshole? I don’t know.” Then he
typed,
“Liability. He knew too much. Kolknov sending me to MA to kidnap and
return Laura Stanton.”

    
It took less than a few seconds
for him to get a text back from Brocco.
“You ready to talk now?”

     His reaction was almost automatic.
It made him feel sick, but then having to live with all the things Victor
blackmailed him into was worse. He quickly texted back,
“Yes.”

    
Brocco wasn’t finished.
“Where
in MA?”

     “Just outside Boston, near
Somerville in Medford. That’s where PI was from and we think he was local to
where she is.”

     “Stay in contact. We’ll meet in
Massachusetts. I’ll make sure you don’t have any charges brought against you if
we can get Victor.”

    
Richard wasn’t sure he believed
him. Cops, FBI, they were all the same. They said one thing and did another.
The only one with the authority to make deals was the DA or the Feds, but he’d
already decided he was done with this life. He couldn’t do it anymore. He
texted back,
“We’re supposed to hit the PI’s office first, then the bdsm
clubs. Will probably start in the morning.”

   
 After he pressed send, he went
back and erased the text message thread just in case. Brocco didn’t text him
back right away.

Chapter
Six

     "So my mom tells me she wants
me and Eric to come to dinner, but she doesn't want us to talk about our kinky
stuff. I tell her, like when have we ever discussed that with you? Besides, the
only thing you know about me and Eric is what Paul told you and Paul is a
moronic jackass. Not to mention you and dad always told me you wanted me to
hook up with a guy who is responsible and able to earn a living and Eric does
earn an honest living in co-owning and running the bookstore with Brad. Then
she's like, yeah, but what about that club? I, of course, roll my eyes, and I
tell her the club isn't the only thing he's invested in. He has his shares in
the brewery and has his own house and everything. Then my mom has the nerve to
tell me that she wants me to make sure I don't become a kept woman. Like she
thought I was going to just drop out of school and just completely not have a
life outside of Eric!"

     Kali smiled at the Amy who was
almost ten years her junior. "She cares about you. That's all. I mean,
imagine being in your mom's shoes. Her ordinary, vanilla life is turned upside
down when she learns her daughter has a boyfriend who has a vested interest in
a bdsm club, the implication being her daughter is into some kinky stuff. And
to a lot of uneducated prudes they really do think bdsm is about misogyny and
men beating up their partners or vice versa. You can't really blame her for
worrying about you."

     Amy shrugged. "I suppose. It's
just annoying because I always feel like I have to defend Eric to her. It's
really aggravating."

     "Well they know you're still
in school, right?"

     "Yeah, but then Eric bought me
the car and immediately my mom thinks I'm in too deep. Like he's going to toss
me to the curb any moment and I'll be left with the clothes on my back."

     Kali gave her an earnest look.
"That is a valid concern, Ames. Not that I'm saying Eric would do that to
you because I don't think he's the type, but I have met couples where the
woman, or the guy, became so dependent on the other one that when the
relationship went south, one of them was left without anything except the
clothes on their back.  It does happen."

     Amy gave her that
you-sound-like-my-mother
look.

     "Look, I'm not saying Eric
would ever do that. I hope you guys' relationship really is forever and
happily-ever-after and all that, but it's important for every woman to know how
to be self-sufficient just in case something happens. It might not even be a
breakup," Kali told her, matter-of-fact. "What if Eric was killed in
an accident and you suddenly found yourself alone?"

     A thoughtful look passed over Amy's
face. Obviously that wasn’t something she’d considered.

     With a deep sigh, Kali grabbed the
bill sitting at the edge of the booth table they sat at in the small diner.
"I'll get lunch today."

     "That was a little too
sobering for a girl's day out lunch ending," Amy remarked with a scowl.

     Kali laughed. "Sorry, don't
mean to be a downer. I just don't want to see anything bad happen. Eric is a
good guy. It’s just that when I was your age I was dependent on a guy and it
was the stupidest thing I ever did."

     Amy gave her a surprised look.
"You were dependent on a guy?"

     She shrugged, not wanting to go
into more detail than that. "We all have things in our past we aren't
proud of. I didn't come out of the womb the independent, strong woman I am
today. I had a few hard knocks."

     "Well aren't we full of
surprises?" Amy smiled. “Did you ever have to worry about your parents
finding out?”

     She shook her head and then paused,
sharply aware that Amy’s eyes were bearing into her skull. Giving a tight smile
she explained, “My parents passed away when I was in high school. Senior year.”

     A horrified look passed over Amy’s
face. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry. I had no idea…”

     “It’s not something I usually share
with people,” she admitted. “My life before my parents passed was pretty
normal. Good. It was a good life. But after they passed I finished school and I
was lost for a lot of years.”

     Amy looked down at her coffee cup.
“Makes me feel stupid for telling you about my dumb problems with my parents.”

     “Nah,” Kali shrugged it off. “We
all have problems, Amy. You don’t think me and Brad’s relationship is perfect,
do you?”

     Shrugging, Amy leaned forward.
“What kinds of things do you guys fight about?”

     “We don’t really fight, there are
just some things about him that annoy me,” she admitted, wondering if she
should be telling Amy this.

     “Like?”

     “If I’m doing something and he does
it a different way he corrects me. It’s annoying, but we all have stuff like
this. Speaking of annoying habits, has Eric stopped being an ass in taking
liberties without giving you a safe word? In that I mean, is everything you’re
both doing consensual?”

     She knew she was probably going
where she wasn’t wanted, but she really didn’t want Amy to find herself in an
abusive relationship. She cared about Amy too deeply as both a friend and
lover.  Silently scolding herself she bit her tongue. After all, she’d never
known Eric to be mean, just presumptuous and perhaps too brazen for his own
good.

     Her friend fixed her newly blonde
pigtails. “What ever do you mean? Of course I have a safe word and it’s all
consensual.”

     “Brad and I always laugh when we
talk about the time Eric stuck you in the cage as punishment for sneaking
around. Didn’t you think
warning, crazy person
, when he did that?” Kali
laughed and took a sip of her iced tea.

     With her cheeks turning crimson,
Amy smiled. “You’re right. It’s a good thing Eric isn’t a mass murderer because
I’d be dead. That was very gullible and naive of me to just go along like
that.”

     Kali giggled, remembering the look
on Brad’s face when he first told her the story. He wore a mask of disbelief
and expressed, quite emphatically, how he was sure he and Eric were going to
end up in jail after that. “You know that Brad really was worried you were
going to sue them or turn them in to the police after that.”

     Amy let out a laugh. “If I didn’t
find it so titillating I might have,” she said with a sly grin.

     “I can’t do cages,” Kali said
thoughtfully.

     “Why not? There’s something so…”
Amy paused to find the right word. “That makes you feel so… powerless and
vulnerable. I love it when Eric puts me in the cage. Maybe because he did do it
without my permission that first time. There’s something really hot about that.
I get turned on just thinking about it.”

     Shaking her head, Kali reached into
her purse to grab her wallet. “Yeah, I’m a bit claustrophobic. That’s on my
limits list.”

     “Remember how we were talking about
shoe fetishes the other night?”

     Looking up, Kali wondered where Amy
was going with this. “Yeah…”

     “Well, last night Eric bound me
with silk rope, took of one of my five inch heels, and rubbed my clit with the
toe of it. He put a dab of lube on it to make sure in glided into the right
places. God damn it felt so good. I came so hard,” she shuddered and bit her
lip. “I think maybe I could get into the shoe fetish thing.”

     Kali giggled, leaned forward and
put her hand on Amy’s knee under the table. Ever since she seduced Amy in
Eric’s dungeon several months earlier, they had been not-so-secret lovers and
Eric didn’t mind occasionally sharing with Kali. She lowered her voice. “That
actually does sound hot. Maybe we could go back to my apartment and we could
rub you off on the pair of black heels I’m wearing.”

     She smiled, noting that Amy’s
reaction was to draw her thighs together. The reaction made her remember the
first time she put nipple clamps on Amy’s ample bosom and how she’d tied Amy up
on Eric’s dungeon exam table then fucked her with the strap-on. She wondered
how hot Amy was at that moment and then regretted sitting on the other side of
the table. Had she been next to Amy she would have slipped a few fingers up her
dress and through her slit to see how wet she was.