Bound Temptations: Stories of Temptation and Submission (28 page)

“
You need to. Because it’s
bad.” He looked down at the picture, then back up at her. “It’s
really bad, baby. But if you’d rather not know, tell me, and I’ll
take care of it, all of it.”

Staring at his face, into
his blue eyes, she knew he would. Whatever hideous, awful knowledge
had put that look on his face, he’d deal with it, handle it,
protect her from it. She wanted so badly to let him do that. She
swallowed, then whispered, “Is this something I need to
know?”

“
As much as I hate to say
it, yeah.” He blew out a sigh and added, “It’s possible it may come
back to haunt you, so…”

She closed her eyes and held
out her hand.

He tucked the picture into
her hand but kept his fist curled over it for a few more seconds,
stroked her hand before he let go.

Tania lowered her eyes and
stared at it.

It was her.

She didn’t have to look for
even a second to recognize that, although it hurt her belly to look
at the picture—there had never been a time when Kyle had touched
her without love, but this picture…it looked obscene. She was on
her knees with him behind her, sodomizing her. He was staring down,
watching her. Tania had her head lifted, mouth open and parted on a
gasp.

It looked like something
lifted from a fucking porn movie.

“
Where did this come from?”
she whispered, her voice thready.

She recognized her bedroom
in the background, but where had the picture come from?

She stumbled backward and
looked up, staring at Drake.

He reached out and gently
tugged the picture away. She watched as he tore it into shreds,
letting them fall to the floor. “It was in Kent’s room,
sweetheart,” he said gruffly. His shoulders rose and fell on a
ragged breath. “He… Shit.”

He spun away and started to
pace the kitchen, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. After
about thirty seconds, he stopped and stared at her from across the
room. “He had cameras, Tawny. Setup all over in your house, the
feed going back to the place he stayed with his mom. And she knew
about it. She…”

Now a different look came
over his face, anger and discomfort and embarrassment, setting red
flags of color high on his cheekbones as he stared at
her.

“
She’d seen video of us,
baby. She watched us.”

“
Watched…video…” Tania spun
around, slamming her drink down. “No.” Her voice shook, wavered.
Covering her face with her hands, she whispered, “No, Drake. Stop
it.”

He came to stand behind her,
covering her shoulders with his hands. “I’m so sorry.”

“
How…how long?”

He buried his face in her
hair. “Kent watched you for years, it looks like. At least since
Cancun.”

“
Cancun? But…” She shook her
head. This didn’t make sense. Turning around, she stared at him.
“No. This isn’t right.”

He cupped her cheek. “I’m
sorry, baby. But there are too many pictures.” He rubbed his thumb
over her lower lip. “I don’t think Kyle told him, though. Kent knew
because he’d been watching.”

Tania jerked, liked he’d
punched her. “Watched… Oh, God.” Shoving past him, she ran for the
bathroom. She barely made it before she started to puke.

He was right behind her,
holding her hair, murmuring to her, whispering and stroking her
back.

When the spasms past, he
wiped her face with a rag, gave her a glass of water. When she
started to shake, he scooped her into his arms, carried her into
the living room and rocked her. “He watched us… Why…why would he do
that?”

He didn’t
answer and she fisted her hand in his shirt, shook him, half
desperate. “
Why
?”

“
Because he wanted something
he couldn’t have,” Drake said starkly. “And finally he snapped,
decided to take it.”

“
Me.
Not
something
—
me
.” She
shook her head, resting her head on his shoulder. “Did…you said
this was all at Gail’s house. Did she
know
?”

Drake was silent.

Lifting her head, she stared
at him. And the answer was on his grim, unyielding face. “She did,
didn’t she?”

“
I think she did.” He
stroked his hand down her back.

“
And she could have said
something—maybe warned me, maybe we would have known…”

That was when the tears
started.

She broke his
heart.

Fury and grief mingled
inside him, tearing him in two.

Gripping the back of her
shirt, Drake rocked her as she sobbed, pressed his lips to her brow
and wished he could take this from her. But he couldn’t.

God, did I
even do the right thing by telling her
?

But what
would he have done if he was
wrong
and Gail
did
try to go to the police? If they did think maybe
they should investigate Kent’s death? He knew it wasn’t likely, but
how could he let her get blindsided like that?

And
damn it
, she had a right
to know.

There was no telling what
all Kent had done with those videos he’d taken, the
pictures.

But with each deep, racking
sob, he made himself question, made himself wonder.

It was almost an hour before
the storm started to ease. When she tipped her head back and stared
at him, he brushed her hair back from her face and whispered,
“Tawny, I’m so sorry. If I could have…”

She shook
her head. In a hoarse voice, she said, “You couldn’t have kept this
from me.” She cleared her throat and then continued. “I know Gail—I
can imagine how she thinks what she has is proof that I’m nothing
but a slut anyway and she’s got
proof
.”

Drake looked
away.

“
I’m right, aren’t
I?”

“
Yeah.”

She swallowed and nodded. “I
figured as much.” She sniffled.

He snagged a tissue from the
bedside table and handed it to her. She blew her nose and looked
around. “How long have we been in here?”

“
Nearly an hour. I thought
you might cry yourself to sleep…wanted you to be
comfortable.”

“
You’re a sweet guy, Drake,”
she whispered softly, absently stroking his tattoo. She closed her
eyes. “My head hurts. My heart…everything. I don’t know what to
do.”

“
You don’t need to do
anything right now.”

“
I feel like I should do
something,” she muttered. There was an edge creeping into her
voice, harsh and hot. Abruptly she squirmed away from him, moving
to sit on the edge of the bed. “What all is on the video feeds he
had?”

Drake looked away. “Hell if
I know. I sure as hell wasn’t going to watch. I deleted everything
I could find, cleared out the recycle bin—then…ah, well, I crashed
her computer. She’ll have to reformat it just to get it up and
going. But the CDs and DVDs that were in there, I took them. I
don’t know what’s on them, though.”

She clenched her jaw. “I
want to look.”

As she stood, he shot up off
the bed and blocked her. “No.”

“
Why not? I think I can
handle seeing myself have sex with you or my husband.” She glared
at him.

He stared at her,
swallowing. “No, Tawny.”

“
Why the hell not? If Kent
can jack off to it, I sure as hell…oh.” She went white and
stumbled, falling onto the bed. She bent over, her arms wrapped
around her middle. “Is…is it on there?”

He went to wrap her in his
arms and she shrank away.

“
Is it, damn it?”

Backing away, he nodded.
“Yeah. I think so. Everything’s labeled, by month or date. There’s
just one for that January—only that date.”

She lifted her hands to her
head and screamed.

“
That
bastard,” she sobbed out. “That son of a
bitch
. And her…” She swore, snarling.
She shook from head to toe. “Damn them,” she muttered. “Damn them
to hell.”

Staring at her, Drake
wondered once more if he’d done the right thing…or if he’d totally
broken her.

Tania stared into the
glass.

It was whiskey. Straight
whiskey. No ice, no water, no Coke. Just whiskey.

She’d indulged in the tears,
and now she was indulging in alcohol while Drake burned those damn
pictures. She wasn’t quite drunk. She wished she was, but she
couldn’t seem to get there. It was like the anger and misery was
burning through the alcohol too fast. All she could manage was a
faint buzz.

It wasn’t enough.

She wasn’t sure drunk would
help all that much anyway. Drake had helped, his strength, the way
he’d held her as she cried. That had helped. And knowing what he
was doing now. Burning those damn pictures. Standing in the
kitchen, if she turned her head just a little, she could see the
flames from the fire pit in his backyard. But she didn’t want to
see them burning. Not really.

She just wanted the whiskey.
Lifting it, she took a sip, hissed as the warmth ran down her
throat, spread through her belly.

Kent had been stalking her.
Recording her. Taking photographs.

And his mother had known.
She took another drink, deeper. She wasn’t over the shock, but
she’d pushed it aside for now. Now it was easier to focus on the
anger.

Hearing Drake’s footsteps
behind her, she turned her head and watched as he slid into the
room. His shoulders were slumped, his eyes grim.

“
Did you burn them?” she
asked.

“
Yeah. Nothing but ashes
left of the pictures,” he said, his voice hoarse. He glanced at her
face, then away. “I’ve locked away the CDs and DVDs for now—I’ll
get a safe deposit box on Monday, take care of them in case
something ever happens.”

“
I want to see—”

“
Don’t.”
Drake crossed the room to stand in front of her, cupping her face
in his hands. “Damn it, this is killing you, and don’t act like
it’s not. I’m sorry, baby, but I’m
not
going to let you see something
that’s going to give you more nightmares. The other shit, if you
have to see it, fine—but I’m checking it first to… Shit, I have to
make sure he’s not on there. Make sure nothing was
mislabeled.”

She took
another drink, staring at him. Her gut clenched as she thought
about even the chance of seeing
that
night
. Maybe he was right…
“Okay.”

As the
whiskey hit her belly, reckless anger and something else began to
whirl through her. Anger. And a need to strike out…to
control
something
…

Drake stood there, staring
at her, hands jammed in his pockets, legs spread. Black hair
tumbled into his face, and his mouth, that beautiful mouth was a
tight, harsh line. He was her rock—the one stable presence in her
life, the one safe presence. Damn it, she needed him, in so many
ways. And one way that right now was a driving, screaming demon
inside her head.

Slowly, she took another
drink. “What did you think when you first saw those pictures?” she
asked, her voice shaking, her hand trembling.

He closed his eyes and
looked away. “Shit, Tawny.”

“
Tell me.”

“
I’m the man who’s loved you
and wanted you for years—my first reaction was to get a fucking
hard-on. Then about thirty seconds later, my brain and my dick
caught up with each other and I figured just how Kent must have
gotten those pictures, and I felt sick.” Rage flashed on his face,
in his eyes. “He had no right, taking that from you two—no right. I
wanted to kill him.”

Big hands
curled into fists and he snarled, “I
still
want to kill him, the useless,
perverted fuck, but he’s already dead.”

Tania
tossed the rest of the whiskey back. She’d need it, because she
knew what she going to do, how she was going to deal with that
driving, screaming demon, how she was going to fight the answer
inside. She was taking everything back, everything Kent had stolen
from her. Taking back what she
needed
.

“
Drake…” She moved to him,
reached out and laid her hands on his chest. “I think it’s time we
go all out on things.” Sliding her hands lower, she curled them
into the waistband of his jeans.

He caught her hands and
lifted them, pressed a kiss to each of her wrists. “Tawny, you’re
drunk. I just watched you toss back straight whiskey…and you’ve had
a bad night. This isn’t…”

She closed
her hands around his neck and tugged his mouth down to hers,
kissing him rough and hard, biting his lower lip. “I’m not drunk,
damn it. This is what I
want
, damn it,” she snarled. “What I
need. I want you to chase me down, hold me down and force
me.”