King of Slaves (Jenna's Story) (The Slave Series Book 5) (11 page)

“Not exactly…” Hannah started. “Monique and I belong to Zurry, but if the king wants us, we happily serve him too.”

“You serve him? Are you being paid for these services?” Jenna asked in a harder tone than she intended.

“Of course not, we aren’t whores,” Mona said, slightly offended.

“Then what exactly are you?”

“Pleasers. Handpicked to share the bed of the most powerful men in the kingdom and envied by women throughout the entire nation.”

“Really?” Jenna was perplexed by the pride that radiated from them all.

“Yes.” They nodded.

“What is so desirable about it?” Jenna asked, trying hard to hide her indignation.

Hannah made a small giggle. “Well, have you seen them?”

“Of course I have.”

“Then you know how attractive they are,” Uras pointed out. “We might not be untouched when we leave the palace, but we have been deemed worthy of a king and that will make other men lust for us.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, the king’s pleasers always receive good offers of marriage.”

“Also, he’s a really great lover,” Monique said quietly. “He’s way gentler than Zurry.”

“Have you all been with both men?”

They nodded. “I sometimes service Prince Kalen too.” Mona said.

Jenna couldn’t stop her voice rising to a high pitch. “Kalen, the piano man?”

“Uh-huh. He’s very sweet and innocent, and he doesn’t need it daily like his brother,” Mona said.

Jenna stood up.
So Kalen is the king’s brother
, she thought and tried to organize her thoughts. She wanted to stay open-minded and not judge a culture she didn’t understand, but how could these beauties not see that they were being exploited?

“And can you say no if you don’t feel like having sex?”

Mona answered, “I suppose we could, but why would we? We are here to please.”

“What are you guys talking about?” a voice asked from the doorway.

All five heads turned. 

“Nini, come meet Jenna.” Mona called out.

“Oh, so
this
is what you look like.” Nini looked Jenna over and wrinkled her forehead a bit. “I suppose I should thank you.”

Jenna didn’t like Nini’s tone, nor did she appreciate the way Nini glanced at her.

“Thank me for what?”

Nini went to throw herself on the couch in a sassy teen kind of way. She wasn’t in any way as warm and welcoming as the others. “For all the amazing sex I’ve been getting lately,” she said provocatively.

“Nini, honestly,” Mona reprimanded, but Jenna took the bait.

“What is that supposed to mean? I don’t see what I have to do with your sex life.”

Nini rolled her eyes. “Look, lady, I don’t know what it is about you that provokes them so much, but both Zurry and Kioni have been doing to me what they want to do to you. I’ve taken a lot of spankings this week.”

Mona exclaimed loudly. “You can’t call His Majesty by his first name.” 

Jenna gasped. “Screw his first name… how dare either of them spank you – you are just a young girl.”

Five sets of wide eyes were looking at her in disbelief. Nini blinked a few times and then looked to the other pleasers and back to Jenna. “Are you for real?”

“Of course. No woman should stay in an abusive relationship.”

“Who said anything about abuse?” Nini asked with confusion written on her face. “I just told you I was getting the best sex ever… don’t you like a good spanking?”

“I don’t like to be spanked,” Hannah said in a flat tone. “It hurts.”

Jenna watched fascinated as the girls discussed whether or not they enjoyed being smacked. No man had ever raised his hand to her inside or outside the bedroom, but she was convinced she would find it both degrading and abusive. “Well, this has been an interesting cultural experience, but I think it’s time for me to go now,” she said.

“What? Are we embarrassing you with our talk about sex?” Nini asked and turned to the others.  “See, I told you all Americans are puritans and shy about sex.”

God, that girl was a menace. “I’m neither shy nor a puritan,” Jenna exclaimed. “I just think you are a bit confused.”

“Confused how?” Nini asked.

“Well, for thinking I’m somehow responsible for anything that is happening between you, Zurry, and the king.”

“Huh… so when Kioni called your name when he came, and when Zurry growled it when he spanked me, you think it was a coincidence?”

Jenna was shocked. Simply shocked.

Nini folded her arms and smirked. “If you ask me, I would say that you’re the one looking confused, lady.”

Jenna didn’t like Nini. She exuded an erotic confidence that none of the others had.

Taking a deep breath, Jenna concluded she’d been right to reject Kioni; he was a douche who would take any woman, and when he couldn’t have her, he had just taken Nini instead.

Yes, but he was thinking of me or he wouldn’t have called my name,
Jenna’s female pride whispered.

“I’m not confused, just tired,” Jenna said with an overbearing glance at Nini. “It’s been a long day and I think I should find my bed now. “

“It’s only ten o’clock,” Hannah pointed out disappointedly. “We could play a game or something. Please don’t go.”

“Some other night perhaps.”

A sound from the door made Jenna turn to see Zurry leaning against the doorframe, quietly observing them.

“Oh, hey,” she said and wondered how much he’d heard.

He straightened up and walked into the room, oozing masculine dominance.

“Did you enjoy your time here?” he asked and locked gazes with Jenna.

Jenna’s eyes skated over the five girls, and she was flabbergasted by the change in them. Again they looked down, and even the sassy Nini was radiating absolute obedience.

“Now say goodbye to Ms. Davis,” Zurry said and waited while they hugged her and made her promise to come back soon.

“Monique, take Jenna back to her room and Nini, you’re coming with me.”

“Yes, Coun,” both Monique and Nini answered.

Jenna noticed Uras sending long pained glances after Zurry as he walked out the door with a hand placed on the small of Nini’s back. Nini glanced over her shoulder and shot them all a victorious smile.

“I think I can find my own way,” Jenna said to Monique.

“That’s okay, I really don’t mind,” the slim girl assured her. She took Jenna back to the elevator. “Don’t worry about Nini; I know she can seem a bit cold, but she’s actually really nice. She’s just completely in love with the king and desperate for him to pick her. Her family is putting a lot of pressure on her to satisfy him.”

“Then why does she sleep with Zurry too?”

“Because it pleases the king.”

As an afterthought she added, “And because Zurry is an amazing lover.”

“But does she honestly think the king would share his future queen with his friend?”

Monique shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“I’ll see you soon,” Jenna promised and received a hug from Monique.

“It’s good to have an older woman with us who isn’t competing for our men.”

Jenna swallowed a chuckle. “Thank you… I think.”

It was the first time she’d been called old to her face but coming from Monique, who couldn’t be more than half her age, it didn’t bother her.

CHAPTER 9

Obsession

Kioni

“What do you mean Zurry isn’t here? Where is he?” Kioni asked Meme.

“He is escorting Ms. Davis out to see some of the building sites. She wanted to go by herself, but Zurry didn’t feel that would be safe.”

“Thank you, now leave me.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Meme bowed his head and backed toward the door.

“Just walk normally, will you…” Kioni reminded him for the umpteenth time. Meme had served his father and old habits were hard to break.

With annoyance, Kioni picked up his phone and called Zurry, who answered on the second ring.

“Yes.”

“Where the hell are you?” The irritation he felt made Kioni get up from his chair and pace the floor. He had asked Zurry to help Jenna, but the thought of them alone bothered him.

“Is something wrong?”

“I needed to talk to you before the council meeting, and then you go on a bloody picnic with
her
.”

“I didn’t know you needed to talk to me, Can’t we do it when I’m back?” Zurry asked.

“And when is that?” Kioni snapped back at him.

“Hang on.” Kioni could hear Zurry switch to English, asking Jenna how much longer she needed.

Her response was loud enough for Kioni to hear: “Why? I thought we were going to see the other two sites as well. If you need to go, just go – we can find our way back to the palace.”

We, she said we… meaning she’s not alone with Zurry,
he registered, a bit relieved.

Zurry returned to the phone. “How urgent is it? Can we talk over the phone, or do I need to return to the palace?”

“Why the hell are you with her in the first place? When I asked you to help her, I meant by breaking down cultural barriers that could threaten the project. I didn’t ask you to be her fucking tour guide.”

“But I didn’t like the idea of their going by themselves.”

“Don’t be so paranoid. You see danger everywhere.”

“Can you blame me?” Zurry said defensively, and no, Kioni couldn’t blame him. Not after all they had been through, and the times Zurry’s paranoia had saved their asses – but he was angry at Zurry for reasons he didn’t fully understand himself.

“You should have just assigned a guard to her, then.”

It was uncommon for Kioni to raise his voice at Zurry, and he feared that his friend would see right through him and know he was jealous of his spending time with Jenna.

“It won’t happen again,” Zurry said. “Do you want me to leave them here, or stay with them?”

“Who is ‘them’?”

“Jenna and another female architect named Erin. They are looking at the suggested sites for the shopping mall.”

“Stay with them,” Kioni growled. “But it’s the last time you babysit… do you understand?”

“Yes.”

Kioni threw his phone harshly on his desk, and slumped into his chair with his head in his hands.

He wished he could scream out his frustration, and make the pain in his heart go away. Whatever python had wrapped itself around his chest, slowly constricting him, he wanted to rip it out and kill it.

Kioni didn’t like the man he was becoming. Lately he was getting into conflicts with everyone around him, and now even with his best friend. He was moody and frustrated, and it was all
her
fault.

He didn’t want to be the kind of man who listened in on her private conversations, but he had.

He didn’t want to be the kind of pathetic man who jerked off to the thought of a woman he couldn’t have, but he was.

He didn’t want to feel jealous of other men, but it felt out of his control – he physically ached, just thinking of Jenna with someone else. He had been looking at surveillance video of her and her team, just to see if he could spot any romantic gestures between her and her colleagues. It was twisted and so far from his normal character, and now the thought of Zurry snaking his way into Jenna’s bed made Kioni want to beat up his oldest friend.

It makes no sense… I’ve never been jealous and I’ve always happily shared my women with Zurry. What is so different about her?

Like an addict he pulled up the daily report on Jenna Davis and went over the phone calls she had made yesterday. The only one he was interested in was the call to her sister last night. He remembered how the last time they talked, the sister, Alex, had asked questions about him. It was too tempting not to press play.

“Hey, sis,”

“Hey, Alex, am I disturbing you…?” Kioni thought he heard the sound of running water.”

“No, no, I was just taking a shower, hang on… let me get a towel.”

“Or I could just call you back in ten minutes?” Jenna said.

“No, I’m good… I’ve been thinking of you all day… how are you holding up?”

“I’m all right… you sure you don’t need to rinse out your shampoo or something…?”

“Nope, I’m all good.”

“Okay… and how are you?”

“Same-same: writing, running, working – no need to talk about me when I have an adventurous sister who lives in a palace.”

Jenna chuckled and the sweet sound made Kioni relax a bit. “Well, actually, I just had a very interesting cultural experience tonight.”

“Do tell.”

“I met the king’s harem.”

Kioni sat up straight, his heart pounding like he was running a sprint. This couldn’t be good. 

“No way,” Alex exclaimed loudly.

“No, it’s true.”

“He actually has a harem?”

“He does, Zurry caught me going out with all the men on my team and he advised against it, so while the men went out, he introduced me to some of the women living in the palace, and it turned out they were all the king’s ‘pleasers’.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope. True story.”

“And were they beautiful like in the movies?”

“Oh, yeah… and young. The youngest was only fifteen or sixteen and the oldest, Mona, was eighteen, I think.”

Alex broke into a warm laugh… “You seriously need to write a book at some point. People don’t experience things like that in real life. Did you talk to them?”

“Sure, and you know what the crazy thing is?”

“What?”

“First of all, several of them have this weird fascination with the US and think our lives are all about proms, romance, and gorgeous men.”

“I wish,” Alex said dreamily.

“And second of all, they actually
like
the king.”

“Sooo?”

“So, the guy is completely exploiting them and stealing their youth… I mean, they all think he’s going to marry them or something, but he only keeps them for a year before he throws them out.”

“How many does he have… and does he have like one of each race for the sake of diversity?”

“He has three.”

“Only three? I thought you said it was a harem, I was imagining dozens of girls… three isn’t that many.”

“Well, Zurry has two pleasers, so there’s really five of them and one of them also occasionally services the king’s brother, whom I think is autistic like Spencer.”

“Who?”

“Our neighbor Spencer. You know.”

“Yeah… so wait… five girls are servicing three guys.”

“Yes.”

“At the same time… like in orgies or just one on one?”

The excitement in Alex’s voice had Kioni’s lips purse in a smile; he was starting to like Jenna’s sister.

“Don’t be such a pervert… I don’t know, but they told me that one of them is the ‘preferred pleaser’ and apparently both Zurry and the king use her for rough stuff.”

“Really?” Alex had a playful tone. “What kind of rough stuff?”

“How would I know?”

“You never answered me… are they different races?”

“No… make five clones of Princess Jasmine and that should give you the picture. Small, fragile, young, naïve, pretty, dark eyes, and long black hair.”

“Hmm, I thought most guys preferred variation. I mean, if I could have five guys, I would…”

“Alex, don’t even go there; you couldn’t handle five guys anyway.”

“How would you know?” she said, sounding mildly offended.

“Are you serious? I know you, Alex, it’s all talk, you haven’t even been with five guys in your entire life and then you think you could handle them in a gang bang.”

“Who said anything about a gang bang…? Eww.”

“Oh, so you would have me believe you could handle having five lovers simultaneously.”

“I’m just saying that
if
I did have five men in my life I wouldn’t want them to be copies.”

“With your nesting syndrome you wouldn’t even look at the second guy once you had kissed the first. You are the most monogamous person I know.”

“All right, you’ve got a point… but a girl can fantasize, can’t she?”

“Sure, but despite there not being dozens, it was still kind of disturbing to see how brainwashed they all were.”

“What do you mean?”

“I only saw them around Zurry, but I’m telling you they looked like he was a freaking Dom, and they were all his obedient submissive slaves. You know, bowed heads and all.”

“Gosh, that sounds kinky… wait, how do you even know about things like Doms and Subs?”

Alex and Jenna both laughed. “Jennaaa, did you have sex with a Dom and not tell me?”

The python squeezed Kioni’s heart and he couldn’t breathe.

“Don’t be stupid, of course not…” Jenna laughed. “But I can read. Besides, I don’t want to talk about sex, I wanted to share my very disturbing cultural experience with you.”

“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t sound very traumatizing to me, and I’m starting to get jealous of you. Why do you get to have all the fun?”

“Fun? What fun? I’m surrounded by people who doesn’t share my values, whose very way of living would be considered illegal in our country, and I’m constantly forcing myself to keep an open mind and not judge.”

“Hey, hey… are you crying?”

“No, I just wished you were here and we could curl up like we used to and watch a movie or something. It’s been a long day.”

“Don’t worry, I’m coming right over and I’m bringing a big bucket of ice cream. Just close your eyes and pretend I’m there.”

“Okay,” Jenna said softly.

“Now pretend that I’m rubbing your back like you always ask me to.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Remember what you used to ask me whenever I was having a bad day.”

“What?”

“You always asked me to tell about one good thing that happened,”

Jenna was quiet for a while. “There was one thing, but I can’t tell you.”

“Hon, you can tell me anything.”

“Promise not to judge?”

“You have my word.”

“Well, I did get one kind of guilty satisfaction today.”

“Those are my favorite kinds,” Alex said softly. “What was it?”

“The king’s favorite mistress, Nini, told me he spoke my name when he came.”

Kioni closed his eyes and fisted his hands.
Why the hell did Nini tell her that?

“Wow, she just told you straight up?”

“Yep, you wouldn’t believe how blunt people in Spirima are. It’s a bit much, to be honest.”

“But still, it must have made you a bit proud that he’s thinking of you while having sex with her.”

“Mostly I felt guilty for allowing myself to even think of him sexually, when I know what an ass he is.”

“So you basically just wished you could have his body without his personality.”

“Exactly.”

“Makes sense.”

Kioni smiled…
Jenna has sexual thoughts of me.
The idea alone was a major turn-on.

“Still, it’s kind of crazy that the girl told you about their sex life. I bet he wouldn’t like her sharing details like that… good thing he doesn’t know, or she would probably be in trouble.”

“Ha,” Jenna snorted. “The girl told me to my face that she likes to be spanked, so honestly I think I would be doing her a favor by letting him know.”

“Could you imagine if anyone heard us talking like this and they told him?”

“God, that would be awkward,” Jenna moaned.

“Are you sure they aren’t listening in on our conversations?”

Both women were quiet. “Nahhh,” Jenna said, “That only happens in movies, right?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Alex sounded serious.

“You’re freaking me out, Alex.”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to upset you, but honestly it wouldn’t surprise me.”

“I don’t want to think about it. You know what, I’m going to close my eyes and dream of Chicago.”

“You do that, sis, and remember that I love you.”