Love Lies Dying (50 page)

Last…

He gave the slat one final slap with the palm of his hand.

Chance…

The slat jumped into the groove with a snap.

John let go of the railing.

And Zoe walked through the door.

Forty-nine

Luckily for John, Zoe entered the church backwards, carrying an armful of grocery bags.

“I’m back!” she called over her shoulder.

It gave him the time he needed to straighten himself out on the bed and try to calm down.

But the sweat continued rolling from his forehead and his breathing was deep and hard.

“You miss me?” she asked as she turned around to face him.

“That was quick,” he replied.

“Quick?” she said as she used her back to push closed the door. “I was gone nearly an hour.”

An hour!

You wasted it!

An hour?

You could’ve been away from here. So far away from this place! You wasted a whole hour!

“They had so much stuff,” she said as she walked down the step and to the kitchenette. “I didn’t know where to start. Or stop.”

She giggled as she used her arm to sweep some of the cutlery to one side of the counter.

John bent his neck to watch her through the wooden railing.

“I’m a bit of a shop-aholic,” she smiled as she placed the bags on the counter. “You probably know that by now. And there was some interesting stuff to buy.”

She opened a drawer and picked up the cutlery, dropping it into the drawer with a loud crash, handful by handful.

“Maybe I should shop around here more often,” she giggled.

She started pulling food from the plastic bags and placing it on the counter.

John used the time to get his breathing under control and to wipe the sweat from his forehead using the sides of his arms.

“You hungry?” she asked.

“I think you know the answer to that.”

She giggled again.

“You were really gone almost an hour?” he asked.

“Yes,” she nodded. “Why?”

A whole hour!

“It didn’t seem that long,” he replied. “I must’ve fallen asleep.”

She smiled at him, “A short rest will do you good. You’ll need your strength.”

“Will I?”

“You will.”

In a couple of minutes, all the food had been removed from the bags and the bags were empty, except one. Zoe pushed that bag to the side.

She crunched up all the other bags and threw them into a cupboard.

John couldn’t clearly see what she had bought, but he could make out the greens of vegetables and the bright colours of fruit. There were some large packets too, but he couldn’t read the writing from where he was.

Zoe scanned the counter, then turned to the sink where she picked up the glass.

John froze.

My God, I left the glass in the sink!

Stupid!

I didn’t put it back on the counter!

You’ve blown it! She’ll know.

My God!

Zoe lifted the glass to the tap and poured herself a glass of water.

She drank quickly, gulping it down in a matter of seconds.

She turned to him.

“You want one?” she asked

John nodded, not daring to speak.

She hasn’t noticed.

She must have!

She hasn’t!

But I moved it.

Maybe she doesn’t remember where it was. Maybe she’s forgotten it was on the counter.

Maybe…

She poured another glass of water, turned and started walking towards him.

It was then he heard the jangling.

His eyes searched for the source of the noise, trying to pinpoint it.

The noise got closer as Zoe did.

His eyes traced her body.

And he found it.

Hanging from her left hip was his key ring. The red key bouncing against his other keys and her hip, making the noise as she walked.

My key to freedom.

And she’s got it.

Damn her!

She walked closer, smiling at him, holding out the glass of water.

Keep calm,
he reminded himself.
Play it her way.

Still?

Yes!

When are you going to play the game your way? Or don’t you want to?

He smiled back at her.

She walked around the railing and stopped at the end of the bed. She let her eyes linger over his body, especially his groin, before she continued towards him.

“You’re all hot and sweaty,” she said. “You getting ready for our next scene?”

He laughed, but he knew it sounded false.

“I won’t even have to oil you,” she smiled as she leaned forward and placed a hand behind his head.

She lifted him forward to drink from the glass.

John gulped it down. He wasn’t really thirsty, but he didn’t want to refuse the glass of water. She might get suspicious.

Or deny him future drinks when he may need them.

Suspicious? As if the sweat and the glass weren’t enough to make her think something happened while she was gone.

He finished the water and she laid his head back down on the bed.

“Thanks,” he smiled up at her.

“It’s the least I can do,” she replied.

She swung around in front of him, the key ring on her left hip flying out to the side, the red key whizzing past his eyes.

So close!

She walked slowly back to the foot of the bed, her eyes tracing along his body.

She stopped for a few seconds when she reached the end of the bed. Her back was to him. He couldn’t see her face.

He realised he’d give anything to know what she was thinking right then.

But there was nothing he could do.

“They had some interesting things at the general store,” she said to him without turning around.

“Really?” he replied.

“I was quite impressed.”

“Well, I imagine that’s their job,” John said.

“Things you’d never think they’d have.”

“Well, that’s why it’s a general store.”

“The man was
very
helpful.”

“Was he?”

“Would you like to see what I bought?”

“Yes,” John said slowly, unsure of where the conversation was leading.

She turned around to smile at him.

“Okay, I’ll show you.”

She went to turn away but changed her mind, turning back to him instead.

“The question is,” she said as she tapped the rim of the glass on her chin. “Should I feed you now, or later?”

John nodded, “Zoe, I
am
hungry. I haven’t had a thing to eat since Saturday night.”

Zoe nodded and her face fell, “I know, that’s my fault and I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, but I would like something. Even just a sandwich?”

She nodded. “I know, but that would reward you.”

John stared at her.

“And I don’t know if I want to do that,” she said in a soft voice.

“Huh?”

She smiled at him a wicked smile.

“Seeing you all wet and sticky has put me in a punishing mood,” she said as she leaned forward and grabbed the leash between his legs.

“And I think you should be punished, Johnny.”

She pulled hard on the leash. His cock pulled forward, the ring bit into his skin.

“And I’ve got just the equipment to do it.”

Fifty

Zoe placed the egg scissors around his erect cock. The sharp teeth closed around him and bit into the skin just below his cock ring. Her little finger slipped inside the ring and pulled hard.

John was past screaming. He knew it wouldn’t do him any good, it just exhausted him more. His eyes were tightly closed, his teeth clenched.

“Crack for me,” she ordered. “I want to see your egg white. Cum for me, spill your creamy white. I want to lick it.”

She twisted the egg scissors to one side. Its teeth tore across his skin.

John’s back arched with the pain. His hands pulled at the handcuffs, but he was powerless to stop her.

The quilt below him was doused in his sweat. He could feel the cool wetness as he fell back to the bed.

The latest round of pain faded.

Too far,
he thought over and over again.
She’s gone too far. Too far.

His mind went blank and he found himself floating back.

He didn’t know how long the torture had been in progress, he had no idea. It seemed like forever.

He had looked out the window at one stage, looking for the sunlight, hoping that would give him an idea of the time that had lapsed.

But there was no sunlight, no shadows. Just a grey miasma. The clouds had filled the sky completely, blocking out all rays of sunshine.

All rays of hope…

He knew he had no chance to stop her when she had pulled on his leash after saying she planned to punish him.

He didn’t know whether it was because she had noticed the glass in the sink, or whether she thought he had been trying to escape. Or maybe this was just the next level of the game. Either way, it didn’t matter now…

Zoe had gone back to the kitchenette, grabbed the extra plastic bag she hadn’t unpacked and returned to the bed with it.

“Trust me, Johnny,” she had said. “You’re going to love what I bought for you.”

She then sat on the edge of the bed, placing the bag on her knee.

“Ready?” she smiled at him.

He didn’t want to, but he nodded.

And she’d shown him everything she had bought at the general store.

First was the wooden rolling pin.

Then came the egg scissors.

And then the branding iron.

He was surprised to find that fear and panic didn’t overwhelm him as she brought each of the items out of the bag.

He had watched them with passionless eyes. He looked at all three items, taking them in, logging them in his mind, but he felt nothing.

She had smiled at him then.

“Tell me what you’re really hungry for,” she had asked.

He said nothing.

“Tell me you want me, that you hunger for me,” her eyes sliced into his very soul.

“I want you,” he heard himself whisper.

“Tell me you want me to hurt you.”

“Hurt me,” he repeated. He heard his voice, but it sounded detached from him.

She leaned forward and kissed him hard; her wet lips on his, her tongue forcing forward, touching his. Her breathing was heavy and as she pulled away from him she streaked her tongue along his cheek and up over his forehead.

“Yum,” she said as she pulled away. “You’re sweaty.”

She licked him some more, letting her tongue trace down his nose, across his other cheek and down to his earlobe. She bit the lobe hard, tugging on it with her teeth.

That was the first time John didn’t cry out.

There was no point.

She’s won. The game is over.

“I’ll be right back,” she had said.

She ran across the church to the spiral staircase and climbed the stairs, disappearing behind the lectern. He heard a key scrape into the lock and the hatch open.

He’d been so close.

Was she using the red key from the key ring? If only she hadn’t taken it with her when she had gone to the store! I would’ve been free by now.

The hatch slammed shut and the noise echoed around the church.

Her head then reappeared above the lectern.

She turned around, leaned forward for a moment and then smiled at him.

Within seconds she had climbed back down the stairs, run across the church and was back by his side. She was carrying the leather outfit she had been wearing the day before, and also the King James Bible. John’s eyes flashed down to the key ring on her hip once more.

So close.

She got undressed in front of him. Slowly, she unbuttoned her checked shirt. Her belly button appeared once more, this time near his face; the diamond dancing before him as she moved. He tried not to look at the half-heart pendant still hanging around her neck, but it was hard not to. She turned around and unzipped her jeans, pulling them down as she bent forward, her arse moving towards him, so close to him he could smell her. He could see her wet vagina, and as she stepped out of the jeans, she moved her legs further apart, giving him a better view of her moist folds.

And despite everything, he began to grow again.

And the pain returned.

She saw his erection pulsing and she turned around to face him, a smile on her face.

“I turn you on so easily,” she said. “That makes me so happy.”

She leaned forward and kissed him.

“I tell you what,” she said. “If my naked body can do that to you so fast, I won’t even bother with the leather. I’ll stay totally naked. Would you like that?”

He nodded.

Her smile stretched wider and she looked so happy.

And then she’d reached down and undid the knot holding the leash on his cock ring.

The pain was intense as she undid the knot, but it soon passed once he was free from the leash.

“There,” she said once it was untied. “That should free you up.”

“Thank you,” he’d replied.

“If you’re a good boy, I’ll untie you even further.”

“I’d like that.”

“I know you would.”

He had closed his eyes, willing the pain to go away.

She climbed onto the bed and ran a hand down his side, across his stomach and over his shaved groin.

“So smooth,” she whispered. “So nice. You like being shaved?”

He nodded automatically.

“Me too. We’re so alike, you and me.”

She grabbed his pulsing cock and kissed the tip.

“I want you so badly,” she said.

Her hands went underneath his arse and she lifted him upwards. The ropes around his ankles bit deeper. The handcuffs pulled harder.

He didn’t try to fight it. He didn’t have the strength.

After a few seconds, she lowered him again, but his buttocks didn’t return to the quilt. They stopped six inches in the air as they rested on something hard. He opened his eyes and looked down his body. His hips were tilted, pushed upwards into the air, as was his groin and ass.

“Who would’ve thought an old Bible would come in so handy?” she said as she looked at him from between his legs.

She was kneeling between his open legs now, one hand massaging his cock, the other straightening the Bible underneath him.

“It’s a perfect height,” she said.

“For what?” he asked.

“You’ll see,” she had said with a wicked grin.

And then she’d reached for the rolling pin.

John thought back to that now as he remembered her oiling the wooden handle, pushing it deep inside herself while she knelt on the bed.

“It’s got to be just right for you, Johnny” she had replied as she pushed it into her vagina with both hands, rotating her hips to help it slide in and licking her lips as she did so. “I’ll make it just right.”

She had pulled it out after a short while. The wooden handle of the pin was stained a darker colour, wet from her juices.

She’d then bent over between his legs, pushed his arse cheeks open, and inserted the handle into his anus.

The handle slipped right in – right up to the hilt – and he gasped loudly.

“You like that, huh?” she asked as she slowly pushed and pulled on the pin.

John braced himself as she did so. It felt as if his whole insides were moving, being dragged back and forth with the force of the pin.

His hands clenched and pulled hard on the handcuffs, but he was powerless. There was nothing he could do.

His eyes were closed tight. He was trying to will her to stop.

No, stop it, please. Stop it, please.

But it was no use.

As one hand pumped the rolling pin into his ass, the other rhythmically massaged his cock.

John had no idea how long it all went on. His brain wasn’t working properly. It was almost as if his thoughts were running through molasses. Time meant nothing to him now. He was nothing.

Nothing.

And he was powerless.

Through all the pain and terror, John found himself rising to a climax. He didn’t want to, he wanted to deny her the satisfaction and so he tried to stop it, tried to hang on. He concentrated on holding back.

But just as he thought it was too late and he was going to lose it all, Zoe stopped massaging his cock. It pulsed automatically, wanting to explode, but her hand didn’t return.

She then pulled the rolling pin out. The pin popped out with a slurp and his anus closed tightly. But to John, it still felt as if it were open wide, his insides torn from him.

“A true sign of perfect lovers,” Zoe had said to him from between his legs. “Is that they can tell when an orgasm is near. You were about to cum, weren’t you?”

John had nodded and opened his eyes, looking down his body to her.

She smiled.

“I knew it,” she replied. “I know you so well, Johnny.”

She crawled from the bed, taking the rolling pin with her.

“And the truest sign of love,” she continued as she picked up the egg scissors. “Is denying your lover the release he so dearly wants until the time is just right.”

John had shut his eyes tight, and readied himself for the pain. But nothing could quite prepare him for the agony as the egg scissors tightened around his pulsing cock and the teeth tore into the skin.

“These are good for cracking open eggs,” she had muttered. “I wonder if they’ll crack you.”

And then she had begun the next round of slow torture.

John opened his eyes now and looked towards the windows. It was darker outside, almost night.

It can’t be! Has it been that long? Has this been going on for hours?

From what he could see of the sky on the horizon, the clouds were dark and heavy. Maybe it wasn’t as late as he thought. But he had no way of telling.

Zoe moved on the bed, rocking it slightly as she pulled on the egg scissors, their teeth cutting into the skin of John’s cock once more.

She was bent over him now, the cock ring between her teeth. She pulled on the scissors and yanked the ring with her teeth. As she did so, she let out a low guttural growl.

But he was numb to it all now, he couldn’t feel it anymore and he didn’t want to.

Thoughts slid on the surface of his mind.

She’s mad, totally mad.

But you need her!

Need her? What the fuck for?

To get at Fox.

I don’t care anymore.

Yes, you do. For Helen.

Helen. Poor Helen. I’m so sorry.

It’s not your fault.

Yes, it is.

Don’t blame yourself.

There’s no one else to blame!

“We’re almost there, my love.”

John heard the voice, and for a moment thought it was Helen. But then it filtered through the fog in his brain and he realised it was Zoe.

John looked down between his legs. But she wasn’t there. She had moved.

When? How?

Why?

She was standing by the side of the bed. Her hands and arms all bloody. She looked down at them, and at the blood-stained egg scissors in her hands.

John’s eyes moved across to his slowly deflating penis. It was a mound of broken skin and blood and almost looked as if it had been chewed by some ravenous dog. He looked at his cock through unfeeling eyes, as if it weren’t even part of his body anymore. The warm wet stickiness between his legs meant nothing. He felt no pain, no sorrow. Not even anger.

He was just empty.

Empty.

Nothing.

Zoe dropped the egg scissors on the floor. They clattered loudly and echoed around the church.