Chapter 83.

Both my shoulders felt heavy. I slowly opened my eyes. I glanced down. A blonde head and a red one. I faintly smelled the clean scent of their shampoo. I could feel their gentle breathing against my bare chest. Sheila's handcuffed hands lying easily between us. I could feel the light pressure of both of their bodies next to mine.

I feared that my arms were asleep. They felt odd. Thick and heavy. I stirred, not wanting to wake the sleeping women. Elizabeth muttered something in her sleep. Sounded like "Not yet." Her unconscious mind interpreted the stirring of her pillow as a sign to turn over. She muttered something else and rolled over her bound hands, curling up on her right side, turned away from me. I flexed my freed right hand, beginning to feel the blood return. I winced as the pins and needles began. My mind briefly realized that the girls had to go through this everytime I released them from tight rope work. Elizabeth's head must have been pressing on a nerve or something. I didn't mind; I patiently waited for feeling to return to the limb.

I gently moved my right hand over and touched Sheila's shoulder once the pins and needles had receded. She mumbled something incoherent but wasn't quite as cooperative as Elizabeth. She burrowed herself further into my shoulder and refused to wake.

I slipped my hand under her head and gently lifted her. I was careful of the bruises I knew were still there. I extricated my left arm from below her head and lowered her back to the pillow. She unconsciously reached for me with her hands, but settled down into a fetal position. Her bound ankles drawn up. I crawled over Elizabeth and dropped to the floor. I carefully covered the still slumbering women back up. Sheila sighed in her sleep as the covers were tucked around her.

I picked up a bathrobe off the back of the bedroom door and slipped it around me. Probably Evan's. A bright blue terry cloth.

I carefully closed the door behind me, letting Elizabeth and Sheila sleep.

I padded down the stairs and wandered into the kitchen. I flipped on the coffee pot. The women were going to want coffee when they finally got up. Soon the smell of fresh coffee filled the kitchen. I was ravenous. We'd skipped a meal last evening. No dinner for anyone. I guess everyone was too tired. None of the girls had complained that they were hungry.

I found some orange juice in the refrigerator and poured a big gla.s.s for myself. I drank it in one long swallow. Tasted like real orange juice. Not that from concentrate stuff. In this house, it wouldn't have surprised me.

I padded out into the living room.

"Good morning," Amy was sitting up on the sofa. Awake as I walked in. "I wondered how long I was going to have to sit here twiddling my thumbs."

I flipped on the lights and wandered over to the window, pulling the shades open. I yawned and turned to the bare girl just swinging her legs. She still had sleep in her eyes. Her hair was a bit of a mess, but it looked like she had at least run her fingers through it.

"Good morning. Been up long?"

"Not too long. When did you put this on me?" She raised her right leg and rattled the ankle chain.

"Last night. You were kind of asleep at the time. I didn't want to wake you."

"You didn't have to do it. I wouldn't have moved or tried to run."

"I know. Call me suspicious."

"You still don't trust me."

"Would you?"

"I guess not. But I would have started breakfast if I had been able to move."

I smiled. "You can cook?"

"Not very well. Not like Christi." Her stomach growled. "G.o.d I'm hungry. Can a slave beg to have something more than cereal this morning?"

"What do you have in mind? Since you and I are the only two awake, I guess you get your choice this morning."

"Oh G.o.d. I'd love some of those pancakes that Christi made the other day. But, I can't make them like that. I'm not that great in the kitchen."

While she was talking I knelt down and released her bare ankle from the ankle restraints. She instinctively raised her right leg, bending her knee and placing her bare foot up on the sofa cushion. She idly rubbed her ankle. The steel had left a slight mark on the back of her leg, near the Achilles tendon. Probably just slept on it there. I hadn't tightened it into her skin.

I gathered the cuffs into my hands, moving to drop them back in the equipment pack.

"What can you cook?"

She didn't even suggest that I cook something. She just accepted the fact that I could force her to do anything, may as well just do it. Making breakfast was far more pleasant than getting whipped. She understood that it was going to be her job to make breakfast this morning. It didn't look like she minded.

"Mmmmm. I can cook scrambled eggs. And bacon. And toast. Hard to screw that up." He stomach rumbled again as she thought of the food.

"That would do just fine. Hope they have enough eggs."

Amy stood up. "You'll let us eat them too?"

"Yeah. You all missed dinner last night. I'm sure you are all as hungry as I am. Hungry girls can't perform."

"I noticed the lack of a meal last night. But you were a bit busy. I was afraid to mention it. I thought maybe you were punishing us." She spoke as we both walked barefoot into the kitchen. "What were you doing up there, anyway? Mmmmmmm. Coffee. Can a slave beg for a cup. Please. Please. Please."

"I wasn't punishing you. I just forgot. And I was taking care of a pest last night. And I'll get you a cup."

Confusion crossed her face, but she didn't ask for more details. Her face brightened when she realized that I was going to allow her the coffee. I'd turned on the coffee maker and I certainly didn't drink the stuff. It was for the girls. I opened the refrigerator and picked up a dozen eggs. "This be enough for you?" Amy nodded. I picked up a package of maple flavoured bacon as well. "Can you cook with your hands cuffed?"

"I guess I'll have to learn."

I walked to the bare beauty. "Wrists."

"You have to be kidding. I can't cook with them behind my back. Honestly." She thought I was going to recuff her. She was so used to being bound.

"Relax. I'm taking them off you." And I did.

Again, confusion crossed her face. But she just rubbed her wrists once and picked up the carton of eggs. I walked over to the coffee maker, dug out a mug and poured her a cup of coffee. "Cream and sugar?"

"Just cream if you are allowing me."

I smiled. She did know what to say this morning. I was in a good mood. I found some cream and poured a drop from the carton into the steaming mug. I stirred it and delivered the poison. She smiled like the Cheshire cat. She raised the cup to her lips and took a sip. Savouring the taste. I didn't allow them these pleasures all that often. Didn't want to spoil them.

"Oh G.o.d. That's good. Your slave, she thanks you. You said that there was another girl?"

"Yeah. Sheila."

"When do I get to meet her?"

"At breakfast." I settled into a kitchen chair. There were only four chairs around the small kitchen table.

"Hmmm. Two eggs each. That should be enough. Unless you want more for yourself." She knew that the girls would have to split whatever I allowed them to have.

"Two's fine." I watched as she struggled with the package of bacon. Finally cutting it open with kitchen shears and dumping the contents into a pan. It immediately began to hiss. She began to break eggs into a bowl, mixing them up with a whisk. Soon the captivating smell of bacon permeated the kitchen.

"She happy about being here? I guess not," Amy returned to the subject of Sheila.

"Actually, I think she's happier about being here than where she was in real life."

"She hasn't disobeyed yet then." Amy didn't realize the h.e.l.l I'd taken the girl from. She'd find out eventually.

"You can handle this?"

"I guess. It will be ready in about fifteen minutes. You want me to call you?"

"Sounds good."

I took one last glance at Amy carefully turning the bacon. Trying to avoid the grease spitting on her bare skin. I smiled. She seemed happy this morning. Rested. She didn't even seem to mind her nudity.

I slipped out of the kitchen and slowly made my way upstairs. I poked my head into the bedroom. Sheila and Elizabeth were both still asleep under the covers. I left the door slightly ajar and moved around to the locked room.

I took a deep breath. I was surprised that I was apprehensive. Not sure what I'd find behind door number five. I wasn't concerned about Mayer. I didn't much care what h.e.l.l they'd put him through. Whatever it was, it wasn't enough to make up for what he'd done to Sheila. I was actually concerned that the girls had let him go. Maybe for a second to retie him in another position. Maybe he managed to break free. Visions of Jane and Christi, screaming as he used his hammer on their hands and feet. Being raped by him. Finally lying in a pool of their own blood. I supposed that I could return them to an earlier time. I had marked the timeline before I left them as a precaution. It wouldn't cost much to return to the earlier time when they'd been alive and kicking. But then I'd have to kill Evan. And much as he deserved it, I didn't much want to do it. I hadn't had to kill anyone yet, and I didn't want to find out how it worked.

I unlocked the door in front of me. I held my breath.

The door squeaked open. Mayer was in the same bonds, hanging where I left him. His head was rocked forward on his chest. He was completely naked. I was looking at his back. His back and a.s.s were crisscrossed with red welts. I could have sworn some of them were bleeding, or had bled. I moved towards him until I was close enough to see if he was still breathing. I closed my eyes. I would have to punish the girls if they'd managed to kill him.

But as I approached I could see his ribs expanding shallowly. He hung there either stunned, unconscious, or merely sleeping.

I took my eyes off him. I found the girls huddled together on the floor in front of the leather sofa. I idly wondered why they hadn't slept on it. It would have been much more comfortable than the floor. At least one of them could have slept there. If they'd each taken an end and curled up, they both would have fit. A little less comfortably, but it would have worked.

Christi was lying on her back. Her bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s gently rising and falling with her breathing. Jane's head was pillowed on Christi's left breast. Her brunette hair spilled over Christi's shoulder and her own. Jane's left arm was thrown casually over Christi, just under her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She too was fast asleep. Her head rising and falling with each of Christi's shallow breaths. Christi's arms were loosely encircling Jane's body. Holding her. Her right hand tangled loosely in Jane's brown hair. The position looked odd to me. Almost intimate. But as I'd noted before, women often weren't as afraid of same gender contact. Jane and Christi had gotten along well since the beginning of this. In fact, all of the girls had supported one another. As if they were old friends. Whatever was most comfortable. They'd been nude around each other for long enough to feel comfortable with it, I supposed.

I knelt by their outstretched feet. I gently traced Jane's instep. She sleepily moved her foot, but didn't quite wake. I thought I saw traces of blood along her back. She didn't look injured. Didn't make sense.

I reached out and traced her bare instep again. This time she murmured, "Stop it, Darren. You b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Let me sleep." She tightened her arm across Christi in her sleep. My eyebrows raised. Who the heck was Darren?

I smiled to myself and did it to her again. This time she kicked out at my hand. I s.n.a.t.c.hed my fingers from her bare foot. Her eyes fluttered open and she gave a startled little shout.

"Where the h.e.l.l am I?" Still groggy. Her startled voice waking Christi. Jane's eyes scanned around the room and she uttered an understated, "Oh."

Christi awakened and squirmed around. Jane stretched and rolled off Christi and sat up.

"Not enough sleep."

"Long night?"

"Yeah."

"What was that all about?" Meaning the position they were sleeping in.

They both flushed and pressed their lips together.

"Never mind. You can tell me about it later. It's almost breakfast time."

Christi glanced up at Evan who still hadn't stirred. "We put him through the wringer."

"I can see that." The girls were stumbling to their bare feet. It honestly looked like they'd been through a marathon. They looked far more tired than Amy did. I wondered how much sleep they had gotten.

"Can I take a shower?" Christi asked, running her hands through her blonde hair and grimacing. It no longer looked clean and shiny like last night.

I shook my head. "After breakfast. It's almost ready and you don't want it cold, do you?"

Jane spoke up. "We get more than cereal then? Who's cooking?" Our usual cook, Christi was right here in front of us. "G.o.d, I'm so hungry."

"We going to feed Evan, here?" Christi asked.

"Are you joking?" The pig could starve for all I cared.

I grasped the girls' arms and propelled them out of the room. They moved as quickly as they could. Still trying to work out the kinks of sleeping on the floor. Jane stumbled a bit.

"You sure we don't have time for a shower?" Jane asked this time. She was feeling her hair. "We really need one."

"Right after breakfast."

"Don't blame us if the others complain about us." I leaned towards Jane and smelled her. There was a faint trace of female musk about her. And that wonderful smell that always seems to be a part of being female. But she was hardly offensive.

"Don't worry about it. You're fine. Your hair is a mess, but you can fix that after breakfast. I don't mind."

She shrugged. Not much she could do about it if I wouldn't let her shower.

"Go help Amy. I don't really trust her cooking. I have to wake the last two sleepy heads."

"Tell Sheila that she did good last night," Christi said over her shoulder as she walked down the hall. "Tell her that the b.a.s.t.a.r.d suffered."

I watched as the nude girls padded down the stairs and, by the sound of their footfalls sounded like they raced for the kitchen.

I walked into the master bedroom. Sheila's eyes opened as I entered.

"I woke up and you were gone," she spoke softly.

"Yeah. Couldn't sleep."

"I woke up in the middle of the night. I was so cold. Shivering. I. I moved over to you and shared. She won't mind will she?" Sheila glanced at Elizabeth's sleeping form on the other side of the bed.

I just about laughed. I was surprised that Elizabeth had stayed close to me all night, herself. For some reason it was cooler in this room.

"h.e.l.l no. Don't worry about that. How are you feeling?"

"A lot better. I really needed that sleep. How'd things work out? You know. I can't believe I fell asleep on you in there. One minute I'm taking out my revenge on that a.s.shole, the next minute I'm shivering in this bed. And. Having to snuggle up with you for warmth. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it sounds. You are my Master now."

"I understand. I didn't want to be in there anyway. Male domination. Not really my thing. I left him to Jane and Christi right after you pa.s.sed out. So I really don't know what they did to him after I left. Honestly."

She nodded. "They didn't kill him, did they?" Almost a spark of hope back there in her eyes. I couldn't see very well in just the light streaming in from the hallway. She might actually wish him dead though.