Lucas – 17. chapter FINAL

He felt uncomfortable. As if absolutely everyone knew. Including the irritatingly polite taxi driver. The small piece of plastic was light and didn’t press. It still felt wrong.

The address “Lucia Kováčová” clearly worked. They drove through downtown, Karlova Ves, and Líščie údolie. The taxi finally stopped somewhere Lucas no longer recognized. A tall stone wall. When he pulled out his wallet, the driver smirked.

“First time here, right?”

Lucas nodded.

“You’re not paying for this ride. Today and tomorrow, any trips that start or end at this address are covered.”

“I see. All right.”

He pulled out a smaller bill.

“So… for your trouble…”

The driver smiled again.

“I get double if Ms. Kováčová believes I didn’t take anything from you.”

“…My apologies.”

“That’s perfectly fine, sir. If I may give you some advice. Go this way, along the wall. The gate is on the left, with a bell. A man will open it. He’ll look like he wants to kill you. Don’t panic.”

“…Thank you very much,” Lucas attempted a smile and got out.

He found the gate and the bell. A man opened the gate. A head taller than Lucas. Twice as wide.

“Hi, I’m Lucas Lamarc…”

“I know. We met once with Lucia, at your place.”

Right. Back then I thought he was the guy who had bought her the car.

The wall of muscle extended a hand.

“Andy.”

“…Lucas. Nice to meet you.”

Andy waved him inside. As soon as Lucas stepped through, he heard.

“Arms out. Feet apart.”

At the sight of the handheld metal detector, Lucas immediately thought of the small metal padlock on his plastic prison and briefly considered having a heart attack.

“I don’t know why, but I’m not supposed to scan you for metal,” Andy said calmly, as he lightly ran his hands over Lucas’s clothes.

When Andy checked the inside of his thighs, Lucas held his breath.

“Okay,” Andy said, straightening up. “Rules. You don’t open the front gate. If you need it opened for any reason, find me. You don’t hand Lucia any food or drinks. She can only have what I hand her. Even if you’re sure she drank from that glass earlier. If she left it unattended, she doesn’t touch it again. I don’t recommend using your phone. Unless it’s urgent, one of us will take it and return it when you leave. All clear?”

“Sure,” Lucas nodded.

“Good. What can I pour you?”

“Uh. Give me a minute. I’m not sure yet.”

“Okay. Lucka is by the pool.”

Andy turned and was gone.

Lucas exhaled with relief and headed in the direction the giant had indicated. He walked around the house and saw a massive pool first, then comfortable-looking rattan islands covered with white fabric. In the heat of the summer afternoon, those oases looked tempting. All the fabric rippled gently in the breeze. Before he had even finished wondering where the wind was coming from, he noticed large fans propped up in the distance around the fence line. No people anywhere. Just preparations. Empty tables scattered across the lawn. A grill on the marble terrace. Behind it, a glass refrigerator, and he couldn’t tell whether it merely stood in front of an entire wall of the house or actually formed that wall. It was stocked with what seemed like every kind of alcohol, many of them he didn’t even recognize.

And I thought I made good money, he silently tipped his hat to Lucia’s money and her designers.

“Luciaa!”

He heard an unfamiliar female voice, though he saw no one.

“How much longer?”

The sound seemed to come from behind the house.

“Natália, give me ten more minutes,” Lucia called back. Her voice came from one of the islands. “I need two more pages to finish this. Pour yourself something.”

Lucas moved toward the voice.

“And for you?” the other woman asked.

“No. Leave me alone for a bit.”

He found her. Lying on her stomach in shorts and a tank top, propped up on her elbows.

Pink and yellow? She usually wore more muted colors to work.

She idly kicked her bare feet. A chain was wrapped around one ankle. And on it, of course, a small metal key. Instantly, that treacherous piece of plastic seemed to press harder.

Lucia was reading papers, occasionally writing something or crossing lines out. She hadn’t noticed him.

“What time are the invitations for, anyway?” the girl’s voice called again.

“Four thirty,” Lucia called back. “Only Lucas’s was for four.”

“So he’s coming?”

“I really don’t know.”

She crossed out two lines when her phone rang.

“Hello… okay.” She ended the call.

“Natália?”

“Yes?”

“The catering’s here. Can you find Andy? Or just one of the guys.”

“I’m not fucking climbing onto the roof to look for them.”

Lucia smiled and shifted a sheet of paper. She reached for a glass with a straw and took a sip.

Lucas stepped closer, still silent. Only when she set the glass down on the ground beside her did she notice his shoes.

She slowly smacked her lips, sat up, and looked at him. They both stayed quiet.

She slid back on the oversized lounger and patted it.

“Lie down. On your back.”

He did.

“I think this is what you wanted last time, right?” she said and straddled him, settling right onto the spot that interested her. He sucked in a sharp breath. When she sat down and felt the hard plastic beneath his thin summer pants, she smiled in satisfaction.

“Good. Welcome to the party.”

He placed his palms on her bare thighs and gently stroked them. She pushed them away.

“Hands behind your head,” she ordered. He obeyed immediately.

Lucia shifted in his lap, deliberately finding the worst possible position, and began pressing her pelvis down. The mild pressure rose until it turned into growing pain.

She looked him straight in the eyes and enjoyed him. He started breathing through his mouth, eyes closing. His hands clenched behind his head until he let out a soft, pained whine. She smiled and eased off. Sitting there with her weight relaxed was only a reminder that he was locked, no longer painful. Almost pleasant. He tried not to think about that.

“I didn’t think you’d do it,” she smiled.

“Did I have a choice?”

“Of course you did. You always do. Even now.”

She placed the leg with the chain on his chest, fingers brushing his chin.

“Any time you ask for the key, I’ll give it to you.”

“And I can leave, right?” he added.

Lucia smiled and lowered her leg back onto the mattress.

“Of course.”

“Forget it. If I came all the way here, I’m not leaving voluntarily. You’ve got absolute power. You can have your fun and pile on as much as you want, but I’m not going anywhere.”

She lifted herself and rested her forearms on his. Very slowly, she leaned down and pressed her lips to his mouth. She gently licked his lips, slipped her tongue between them. He whined again and kissed her back. At that moment, the rush of blood would have made him hard if the plastic hadn’t stopped it. And it stopped it firmly and painfully. Lucia smiled and pulled away, shifting lower onto his thighs, for which he was deeply grateful. He tried to calm down and send the blood somewhere else.

“Lucia?” Natália’s voice came from right behind the curtain.

“Yes,” Lucia invited her in calmly.

When the girl stepped in, Lucas flinched and pulled his hands from behind his head. Lucia’s warning look froze him mid-movement. After a moment, he put his hands back.

“Well well,” Natália grinned at him. “Is the super-boss starting to pay off his debts?”

“All right,” Lucia cut in. “Nati, this is Lucas. Lucas, Natália.”

“Nice to meet you,” the girl chirped. Lucas stayed silent, burning with embarrassment.

“Just saying,” Natália turned to Lucia, “people are arriving. So if the young man has a longer lesson ahead of him, you might want to move.”

Lucas was surprised to discover that it really was possible to feel even more awkward.

“No, it’s fine,” Lucia shook her head. “We’ll be with you in a minute.”

The girl nodded and disappeared.

“She… knows everything?” Lucas asked.

Lucia laughed and climbed off him. While finding her sandals on the ground, she said, “No. She just knows me. Come on. Let’s join the others.”

They moved to the fridge on the terrace.

“Andy?”

She spotted him by the entrance, scanning arrivals with a metal detector.

“You didn’t forget to lock the fridge, did you?” she called.

“Bad luck. Nope. Hold on, I’ll pour you both something.”

Lucia made a face and sighed.

“…Okay. Has something ever happened that made you need this much security?” Lucas asked.

She cleared her throat. “About two years ago. At a party like this. Things got a bit… too lively. Someone from the guests opened the door. Apparently someone was waiting.” She didn’t elaborate. “Since then, I’ve had Andy, all this annoying security stuff, and a permit to carry a gun.”

Lucas paused, then realized he’d heard right back at the office.

“…You had a gun in your purse back then?”

“Mhm,” she nodded with a smile.

“And I was worried about a phone.”

She smiled. He glanced around. At her questioning look, he answered.

“I don’t see security.”

“There are only four. Andy’s inside. Two on the roof. One patrolling the fence. They rotate randomly.”

“Uh… I forgot to thank you for not having him do that to me,” Lucas said.

“Metal? You’re welcome. And he wasn’t supposed to touch your fly either. Unless you wanted an audience?” she teased.

He shot her an ugly look. She continued.

“I prefer to keep things private.”

“Yeah. I’m sure the whole marketing department thinks the same,” he said dryly.

She laughed. “You deserved that.”

“I’m not even going to argue.”

Andy finally arrived, and they both got mojitos. Lucia clinked her glass against Lucas’s and murmured.

“To sweet revenge.”

He froze for a second, then drank, eyes fixed on the ground.

They mingled among the guests. Lucia didn’t resist his touch. With a faint smile, he realized what he’d already figured out that night. When Lucia stood in front of him in flats, her ass didn’t quite reach his dick. The memory hurt all over again. And he didn’t like the way Natália occasionally smiled at him. That smile was unmistakably smug. She clearly knew something he didn’t.

Throughout the evening, Lucia drifted between people. She didn’t ignore him, occasionally joining the group he stood with, but she didn’t keep him close at all costs. He realized no one there assumed he was there primarily because of Lucia. A few women openly hit on him. When Lucia noticed a few times, even from across the space, she smiled. Satisfied. Maybe a little conspiratorial.

“Seems like you fit in with this crowd,” she said when he was briefly alone.

“I’m pleasant and entertaining. I fit in with most crowds,” he took a sip. “Most crowds don’t fit me.”

“You uncomfortable?” she looked disappointed.

“No. Actually the opposite. Given the circumstances. These people are fine. Normal,” he reassured her. “Tell me. Which one is your ex?”

It worked. She smiled.

“There isn’t one here.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t date much in college. I worked. And after that… what can I tell you. The last time I had sex was two years ago.”

“I don’t believe that!”

“You know. Once you realize you’re basically paying for it, it stops being fun.” She paused. “…Well. Okay. Probably not for you,” she corrected with a teasing grin.

He smiled sheepishly and shook his head.

“Tell me,” he whispered after a moment of silence, leaning closer.

“Why were you so scared back then?”

She held his gaze for a few seconds, then looked down and hesitated. He tilted his head and waited. And suddenly the impossible answer came to him. He hesitated, and when she looked at him again, he said it out loud.

“That wasn’t the first time, was it?”

“It was.”

Now she looked embarrassed. He watched her silently for several long seconds, then whispered.

“Tell me you liked it. Please.”

She hesitated. Then said.

“It was insanely good. But if you think this talk lowers your punishment for all the rest of it, you’re very wrong.”

She tried to look strict, but she didn’t manage it because he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

“That wasn’t my plan. I’ll endure whatever you think is appropriate.”

“Good.”

She took his glass and set both aside.

“Come on.”

Goosebumps broke out over his skin, but he obeyed. They moved toward the house. On the way, he caught Natália’s eye. She kept watching them long enough to see Lucia extend her open palm toward Lucas. She couldn’t hear them anymore, but she knew exactly what the gesture meant. She snickered.

Lucas hesitated. Lucia said in an icy voice.

“Give me your belt.”