Ann Mayburn - Sodom and the Phoenix

A handsome and rather muscular Hispanic man in a dark suit with a shaved head pushed his way past the onlookers and crouched down next to them. “My name is Angel, and I’m the owner of Sodom. Paramedics are on their way and should be here soon.” His gaze flickered between Tanwen and Julia before returning to Saul. “Do you wish to press charges against that woman?”

The young man protested. “No, it’s not my mistress’s fault. I did it. I’m the clumsy one. Please.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Please, it will be so much worse if you make her mad. She won’t love me anymore.”

The women exchanged a glance, and Tanwen could see her own rage reflected in Julia’s eyes. To her surprise, Julia gave Saul a gentle smile and smoothed her hand down the side of his face. “Relax, little sub. I will speak to your mistress. What’s her name?”

He swallowed and leaned his head back on Tanwen’s chest. She placed her fingers against his neck, checking his pulse while trying to avoid the bruised and scarred skin from the chain. “Winter, Mistress Winter.”

Julia continued to hold his gaze. “Did you come here with her?”

He darted a glance at Angel, then nodded and sighed. “I met her on the Internet through her Web site. I—She… I paid for the privilege of being her boi. I’ve been her submissive for a year now, but this is the first time we’ve met in person. We spent our first night together last night and—” He closed his eyes and swallowed. “She was so different online. I thought she cared about me, valued me.” His dark gaze became disturbingly direct. “I know you think I’m stupid, but she made me feel good during our sessions. So wanted. So loved. I gave her everything she asked for, even a new car.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “No matter how much she hurt me last night, I never felt loved.”

Angel started to say something, but Annie whispered into his ear, and he nodded with a grim expression. “Saul, after you’re comfortably settled in the hospital, I would like to speak with you, if that’s all right.”

Looking even more miserable, Saul nodded. “I’m sorry about…all of this.”

Angel patted his shoulder in the universal guy version of a hug. “Shit happens, mi amigo . It’s how we learn from our mistakes that make us who we are.” He then stood and moved a few steps away to talk with the hotel security.

The paramedics made their way through the crowd, and Tanwen let them take over. The three women moved over to the side as a stretcher was brought in. Tanwen took a deep breath and let it out to try and dispel the adrenaline still surging through her system. She was angry—no, she was more than angry; she was furious.

Julia ran a hand over her face and sighed. “I’m a corpsman, so I’ve seen injuries a lot worse than this, but I’ll be damned if this one isn’t going to haunt me. He wasn’t hurt in battle. He was hurt by the one person who was supposed to honor his trust more than anyone else. Instead she abused and hurt him for her own selfish needs.”

Saul gave a small shout as they unwrapped his hand to examine it, and Julia flinched.

Annie made a sound of agreement. “She needs to be in jail right now.”

Tanwen sighed and watched the stretcher roll past. The young man had his eyes closed, and tears wet his cheeks. “Do you think he’d press charges? ”

Julia rubbed her face. “I don’t know. She obviously doesn’t give a shit about him, but who knows what kind of mind games she’s played with him.”

Annie worked the sticks back into her hair. “I’ll be damned if she thinks she’s going to stay here.” She folded her arms over her chest, and Tanwen noticed the slight tremor that shook her body. “I know the owners pretty well, and I’ll make sure that bitch is out of here.”

Tanwen gave Annie a one-armed hug. “Thanks for getting that collar off him.”

Julia gave the hunk of metal and chain that had been kicked off to the side a venomous glare. “What kind of idiot makes a newbie wear a chain that heavy? He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t end up with permanent scars.” Her gaze softened, and she sighed. “Poor guy. You could see the need to please radiating off him like heat off the pavement in summertime.”

Tanwen exchanged a glance with Annie. “He should be back here in a couple of hours. Maybe someone who is experienced with…all of this should talk with him.”

Julia nodded, a distant look in her eyes. “Maybe.”

The next morning Tanwen nervously drummed her fingers on the edge of the VR bed as the very good-looking blond man who stood behind Michelle at the computer terminal crossed his arms and stared at her. So far he hadn’t said anything, but Michelle had greeted her as if nothing was amiss.

Finally the blond man spoke. “Hello, Tanwen. My name is Luke.”

“Nice to meet you, Luke.” She clasped her hands together after he glanced at her tapping fingers. Why did she feel like a kid sitting in the principal’s office? Though goodness knows none of her principals had looked like the Greek god examining her with his bright blue eyes.

“I’m sorry for the delay, but because of the last-minute nature of your request, there are some adjustments to the simulation I need to make so you can become part of the VR zoo. I need to put your information into the simulation and adjust the variables in the program to recognize your requests as an authorized user and not a hacker.”

Guilt twisted her stomach. Bryan must have pulled some strings to get her here and had thrown everyone off schedule. She was probably creating all kinds of chaos with their workday. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know this would be a problem. If it’s okay with you, I can leave right now, and we can just forget it.”

The chair creaked as Michelle shook her head. “No, you stay right there.” She shot Tanwen a smile. “While I know enough to not crash the system, I’m afraid the advanced stuff has to be done by a Jedi Master. It’s really no trouble.”

Luke snickered, but he continued to look at Tanwen with an almost puzzled expression. “Tanwen, you’re here of your own free will, right?” Now Michelle turned in her chair to stare at Luke, but he ignored her. “No one is forcing their unwanted attention on you, are they?”

Tanwen scrunched her brows. “No, not at all.”

“I know Bryan can be a bit…demanding. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t feeling pressured into doing anything.”

Understanding dawned on her, and she adamantly shook her head. “No, he has been a perfect gentleman with me.” She flushed as she recalled some of the rather uncivilized things they had done together in VR, but it was the truth. “How do you know Bryan?”

“We were in the service together. He was my sergeant in the Army, and we’ve kept in touch since we both left the military. He is fond of you.”

The heat that flooded her face must have made her bright red, because Luke’s lips twitched in amusement. Michelle cleared her throat and turned back to the keyboard. “Now that we’ve established Tanwen isn’t under some evil dom spell, let’s get her in the simulation before she misses out.” Michelle gently elbowed Luke’s hip. “And aren’t your husband and wife waiting for you inside?”

Tanwen started and noticed Luke wore a wedding band on each ring finger. She tried not to stare, but she’d never met anyone who’d been married to more than one person at the same time. As she examined Luke, she couldn’t help but wonder what lucky woman got him and another man at the same time.

“Yeah. I don’t want to miss the sight of Maeve and Angel in their lion avatars.” A sensual smile curled his lips, and Tanwen’s blood heated when he gave her a rather naughty wink. “I get to be the lion tamer.”