Unmasked Read online

  “You are a cocky one, you know that,” he chuckled, prancing his way slowly around the island towards me.

  “And you’re drunk,” I responded, taking a few steps back, hoping I wasn’t angering him, but curious as to what he would do.

  “Don’t walk away from me, little bird. I’m not done talking to you.”

  I stood my ground and waited for him to approach.

  “You know. All I wanted was a submissive little thing who knew her place and would follow my orders, how did I get stuck with someone like you?” he said, looking into my eyes and taking the food and the forks out of my hand and placing them on the counter. He wasn’t being accusatory, or bitter about it, but he seemed most amused.

  “I don’t know,” I mumbled, half out of fear, and half out of curiosity for what he might do next.

  “There’s the fear I anticipated from my new slave. Tell me Phoenix, are you scared of me?” He whispered, tucking a strand of loose hair behind my ear and leaning in. His breath smelled of vodka and seduction.

  “No,” I stammered, trying not to give into his little drunk game.

  “No?” He questioned. “Then why do I smell the fear on you, little bird?”

  I took a step back and raised my hands to halt his approach.

  “What did I say about pushing me away, Phoenix?” He said, grabbing me by the wrists and pulling me into him.

  “Let go of me,” I weakly struggled.

  “I don’t think so,” he bellowed, pulling me into his body, his nose going into my hair. “You’re mine, Phoenix. Bought and paid for. I own you. I own every one of these hairs,” he murmured into them. “I own this neck, these tits, this flat belly, and this cunt.” His hands travelled to each destination.

  “And soon, little bird, you will wrap these legs, that I own, around my waist as I fuck you long and hard. How does that sound?”

  I couldn’t answer. I could barely stand. My legs had turned to jello and my mouth was so dried out they couldn’t form a single word.

  “Don’t make me ask you again, little bird. How does that sound?”

  “G--good,” I sputtered, unsure how to even answer.

  “Good,” he repeated, “but for now, I do believe you have earned a punishment for disobeying your Master.”

  I looked up at him and saw nothing but humor lurking behind his eyes.

  “Bend over the counter,” he said, pointing at it.

  “What?” I said, obviously oblivious to the seriousness of his words.

  “Bend. Over. Phoenix,” he stated, punctuating his words.

  Slowly, I turned towards the island counter and bent over slightly.

  “More,” he said.

  Backing up, I bent a bit more, my short nightgown raising enough to expose my ass.

  “Very good. Now you’re going to look behind you and you’re going to count out loud, and after each one, you’re going to say, ‘Thank you, Master. May I please have another?’ Is that understood?”

  I nodded at him, fear and lust coursing through me.

  Opening a drawer behind him, I watched him pull out a wooden ladle and smacked it on his hands a few times.

  “Have you ever been spanked, little bird?” He asked me, to which I shook my head. “Then I guess I shall be your first. Remember to count and repeat what I said.”

  The first hit was minor, a light smack on my left cheek.

  “One. Thank you, Master. May I please have another?”

  “Good girl, yes you may,” he smiled, pulling his swing back a little farther and delivering another painless slap to my right cheek.

  “Two. Thank you, Master. May I please have another?”

  Each time he hit me, it was a little bit harder, and after each one he answered the same way, “Good girl, yes you may.”

  At ten hits to each cheek, I could feel and see my ass turn a pretty shade of pink. At fifteen, it had darkened to a deeper red, and at thirty hits to each, I could feel my knees buckling and my ass was on fire.

  “Sixty. Thank you, Master. May I please have another?” I cried out, unsure if I could take anymore.

  “Good girl, and no you may not. You are done.”

  I exhaled a sigh of relief, but it was short lived as Zanders fingers probed at my exposed pussy revealing the wetness I had tried and failed to contain.

  “Oh,” he mused. “I think your father was right. You are a little slut aren’t you? You’re all wet.”

  I didn’t want to think about my father right now. I didn’t want to think about him ever again.

  “Do you want another sixty hits, Phoenix? I went easy on you just now but you’ll find I can be much worse. When I ask you a question, I expect an answer.”

  The way he turned from playful and fun to harsh and demanding in a split second was dizzying to say the least.

  “I’m not a slut,” I responded, looking him dead in the eyes as I did so.

  “You cunt tells a different story,” he murmured, his finger gently teasing my slick entrance.

  I couldn’t stop the moan from exiting my throat when he slid his digit fully inside of me. His other hand went to the nape of my neck and he pulled my hair up to meet him.

  “Who owns this cunt?” He asked me, blatantly challenging me not to respond, to defy him. I considered it, but I acquiesced.

  “You do,” I whimpered, pushing against his hand, trying to get his finger deeper.

  “That’s right,” he growled, pulling out his finger and taking a few giant steps away from me. “Take your food and go. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  With that, he turned around and marched out of the kitchen as I crumbled to the floor and put my head in my lap.

  What in the fuck was this man doing to me?

  I couldn’t sleep. After the night I had had, I thought sleep would claim me swiftly and harshly, but what happened in the kitchen played in my head over and over again. After several moments of crying into my nightgown, I picked myself up and grabbed the food and quietly hightailed it up the stairs to my new room.

  When I entered, Gwen gave me a prying look, but I shook my head and handed her the food and the one fork I brought.

  “Aren’t you going to have any?” She asked, digging into the container.

  “No, Gwen. I find I’m not very hungry,” I said sitting down next to her and wincing at the slight soreness present on my ass.

  “You ok?” she asked.

  “Yes. I’m just tired,” I lied to her.

  She nodded. She didn’t need any explanation. She may not have been in the room when the wedding and consummation took place, but she saw the aftermath, and she was a smart girl. She put two and two together. Although I hated seeing her in the position she was in, I was grateful she didn’t know her father and wouldn’t have to deal with what me and countless hundreds before me had.

  When she finished, she offered to take it back downstairs, but I shook my head. “I’ll take it down in the morning, Gwen. Try and get some sleep.”

  She nodded at me, and climbed into the large bed next to me and was almost immediately asleep. We had been given separate rooms across the hall from each other, but she didn’t want to sleep alone. As soon as I offered to let her sleep in my bed with me, she jumped at the chance. I had a feeling this wasn’t the first time she had shared a bed with a stranger.

  All too soon, the sun came creeping along the horizon to shine right into my face. I had managed to doze off for a few moments, but unlike Gwen, I had never had anyone in my bed except for me, and she was a kicker. If we were going to continue this arrangement, I might need to tie her down.

  “Good morning, Gwen,” I whispered to her as her eyes fluttered open. “Did you sleep ok?”

  She nodded at me and yawned, rolling over. “You?” She asked.

  “I did. Thank you,” I lied.

  “So what now?” She asked and I shrugged. I truly had no idea what we were supposed to do. I didn’t imagine it would be appropriate to waltz my sore ass down to the kitchen and sc
ramble us up some eggs, but I had no intentions of staying locked in this room all day. We could wait until we heard something from someone or we could make our presence known in the house.

  “I’m going to take a shower,” I told her. “Stay here and try and get some more sleep if you can. I have a feeling today might be a long day.”

  She nodded at me and laid back down, her eyes watching me head into the ensuite bathroom.

  As was everything in the house, the bathroom was opulent. Skylights lit up the room from every angle and a mini chandelier hung from the dead center of the ceiling. Who needed a chandelier in a bathroom, I thought, stripping off my nightgown? I couldn’t stop myself from looking at my bare ass in the wide mirror. Although I was still feeling the effects from my impromptu punishment in the kitchen last night, there was nothing to prove it had even occurred. My ass was back to its normal pale white complexion.

  On one side of the bathroom were multiple sinks and across from me was a large shower, enough for half a dozen people and an even bigger jacuzzi style type tub. I considered taking a bath, but I would save that for a time when I didn’t have a roommate, and I knew I wouldn’t be disturbed.

  I walked over to the shower and turned on the multiple shower heads, letting it heat up to a near burning temperature. I should have showered last night and washed the horror of the evening down the drain, but taking care of Gwen had been my focus, and by the time my rendezvous with Zander had occurred, a shower had completely slipped my mind.

  The water felt like the devil’s kiss on my naked skin. Every drop was like a bead of clarity to my mind. The predicament I found myself in was not going to be easy to handle, and escaping it would be even harder still, but I was determined. Gwen and I deserved a better life than this, and I would fight until my dying breath to get that for us.

  All too soon, the water temperature grew cold, and I knew I had been hiding from the inevitable long enough. It was time to face whatever challenges came before me and I didn’t intend on doing that butt naked.

  I stepped out of the shower and dried my body, wrapping the towel around me. All of my clothes were in the bedroom so I strolled out of the bathroom the steam keeping me company.

  The bed was empty.

  “Gwen?” I called out, panic lacing the one word. “Where are you?”

  I dropped the towel and opened my suitcase of clothes. Finding a fitted t-shirt and jeans, I wriggled them on and bolted out of the door. When I found no trace of her in her own designated room, I flew down the stairs, looking for any form of life around me.

  Giggles sounded from the kitchen and I felt my heart lurch back into place in my chest. She was safe.

  “Gwen,” I stated as I entered, to find her sitting at the island with Mildred. “I thought you were going to try and sleep more?”

  “I tried, but I couldn’t fall back to sleep, Miss Phoenix, so I figured I would bring the tupperware back down to the kitchen,” she shrugged.

  I looked up at Mildred who smiled and offered me the seat next to Gwen. “Would you like some breakfast?” She asked turning towards the stove.

  “Um, sure?”

  “There’s no reason to be weary, child,” the old woman snapped. “We are going to be in each other’s lives for a very long time. We may as well make the best of it, don’t you think?”

  I smiled at her turned back and nodded. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

  “Good. Now that that’s settled, how does scrambled eggs and bacon sound to the both of you?”

  Gwen gave her approval and I remained silent. I still wasn’t very hungry, but I knew I needed to eat.

  “Where is Zander?” I asked Mildred.

  “Master Zander,” she said, enunciating the first word, “Went out for some business this morning. He should return around lunch.”

  “And what are we expected to do until then?” I questioned.

  “I’ll be showing you around the house, and we will start working on your role as Master Zander’s new wife,” she responded plainly, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

  “And what if I object to all of this?”

  Mildred turned to face me, empathy shining brightly from her crystal blue eyes. “Master Zander is a good man, and you should feel lucky he chose you. Many others are not as nice as he is. Do your duty to him and he will make sure you want for nothing. I know this isn’t the life any of us dreamed of, but this is the hand we were dealt and we just need to make the most of it.”

  Her words were kind, as was the smile she gave me, but I was vehemently against this plan. These may have been the cards I was originally dealt, but they wouldn’t be the ones I held forever. I intended on taking my life back into my own hands, and no one was going to stop me. Not Gwen, not Zander, not even the sweet old woman in front of me. Things were going to change, and I would be the one to deal the new hand.

  Chapter 11

  Zander

  For the first time in my life, I really didn’t want to go home. I had always found sanctuary in that house even when my father was alive and well, but now, knowing what I was going back to was just too much for me to process.

  I had told Mildred early this morning I would be going out to get some business done. What I was really doing was much less glamorous. I needed to run. I had a home gym, but knowing Phoenix’s supple ass was somewhere near me, I couldn’t risk it. Even now just thinking about her was enough to give me a semi.

  Last night had been unexpected. I had never really been sure what might happen when I found myself with a slave in my home, but what went down in the kitchen wasn’t in my wildest dreams. I had been drunk and I knew I should have stayed away from her, but when I held her in my arms after she almost tripped and then the way she unknowingly bit her bottom lip, my insides raged to follow her.

  Her nightgown was sheer and short and watching her rummage around the fridge had done nothing to cool my flaming libido. Her rolling those pretty gray eyes was just the invitation I needed to touch her again, and my alcohol infused brain agreed. What I didn’t expect was her response to the spanking. She had been dripping wet. Even now I imagined she probably would have let me fuck her right up against that island, but I knew it would have been bad for us in the long run.

  My mission in life was still simple. Get my inheritance and get out, and fucking her wouldn’t help that plan along. I needed to stay away from her as much as possible, or else we would both be lost.

  I turned off the treadmill at the gym outside of town and used a towel to dry my face and then the machine. I had been running for over an hour like the hounds of hell were chasing me, and I still didn’t feel any calmer than when I had walked in. Maybe I needed to jerk off? Or maybe a quickie with a whore at the community center?

  I knew I had to go home. Phoenix and I had a great deal to discuss in regards to our future, but I didn’t know where to start. It was obvious that her asshole father had not clued her in into anything that was happening, although I assumed most fathers didn’t. She thought it ended with the happenings of last night, but unfortunately for her, she couldn’t be more wrong. As her husband and Master, it was my duty to tell her, I only hoped it didn’t make her hate me all the more.

  After my shower, I exited the men's locker room and headed for the front door where Claire was waiting for me. She was still sour about what had happened last night and refused to talk to me the entire ride over to the gym.

  “Your chariot awaits, Zander,” she smiled, opening the car door for me.

  “Talking to me again, I see?” I asked, eyebrows raised.

  She sighed. “I know you’re just as lost and miserable as those girls are, and I know you didn’t want this. I just need to cut you some slack, but you know you can’t run from your destiny. Phoenix has a big challenge in front of her, and she’s going to need you to be strong if she’s going to make it through it.”

  “I know,” I replied, climbing inside and shutting the door.

  “Where did you wa
nt me to take you now, Zander?” Claire asked when she joined me inside the limo.

  “Take me to The Ainsworth residence. Wayne and I need to have some words,” I instructed.

  “Yes, Sir,” she said, not bothering to question my decision. This was probably a terrible idea, but it needed to be done.

  We pulled up in front of the house a few minutes later and I saw myself out of the car on my own.

  “Wait here for me Claire. I don’t expect I will be long.”

  Without another word, I waltzed up to the front door and knocked, waiting for someone to answer.

  “Mrs. Ainsworth,” I greeted Phoenix’s mother, “How are you doing this fine, Sunday?”

  “Master Zander,” she bowed, not expecting my presence. “I apologize for my appearance. I was not aware you would be dropping by.”

  “That’s my fault,” I told her as she ushered me into the foyer. “I didn’t let anyone know I was coming. I was hoping to speak to Wayne if he is around?”

  “I’m so sorry, Master Zander. Master Wayne didn’t come home from the auction last night. I assumed he stayed over.”

  The jealousy and irritation at her husband’s proclivities were not lost on me.

  “It’s no matter,” I replied, waving my hand. “Can you direct me to Phoenix’s room?” I asked.

  “What for?” She asked, immediately covering her mouth for her transgression. “I’m so sorry, Master Zander. It is not my place to question you.”

  “You’re correct, it isn’t, but I shall let that slide. Please show me to her room.” I didn’t really care that she had asked me the question, it was only natural, but I had to keep up with appearances.

  “Yes, Sir, right away.”

  She led me up the winding stairs to the second floor and directed me to the second room on the right. “Her room is just behind this door. Would you like me to get you a drink or anything, Sir?” She asked, her slave duties kicking in.

  “Yes that would be wonderful. I will be out as soon as I can.”

  She nodded at me and scurried off back down the stairs. I opened the wooden door and stepped into Phoenix’s childhood bedroom. It was exactly what I expected.