Slave To Love (40 page)

“Excellent choice.” Macabre bowed her head. “Lord No and Bubbles, you both have immunity. You two are also the last ones who can earn immunity in this contest.”

“Congratulations on making top three.” Bruiser nudged Lord No against his shoulder.

“That’s right. After tonight’s elimination, we’ll be down to four. Since you can’t eliminate Lord No, technically, he’s made top three,” Macabre said.

Damn. Taren hadn’t thought about it that way. Who would she bring in to the top three with him? Bruiser and Jace? It couldn’t be Fear. No way.

“Who are you putting in the bottom two?” Macabre brought her hand up like a game show model.

“Fear.” Taren didn’t have to think twice about that decision. He used the wrong type of cane on Solo and didn’t know it. Plus she didn’t like the guy. “The second one is Mistress Night.” That decision came hard for her.

Mistress Night didn’t do anything to warrant being placed in the bottom two. She promised the woman she would do the right thing.

Mistress Night moved closer to Taren. She held onto Beauty’s hand.

“Fear, I wasn’t impressed with your caning skills tonight.” Taren took a deep breath before she continued.

“I held back for TV. I can be rougher when I want.” Fear sneered at her.

Taren turned to Mistress Night. “Mistress Night, it felt like you were holding back in your technique. Although Fear didn’t seem to know what he was doing, at least he went all out in his discipline. For that reason, I’m eliminating you tonight.” She swallowed. “I’m so sorry you couldn’t have gone further.”

“Wait. Night won the last challenge.” Bruiser stepped forward. “Doesn’t that mean that she has immunity?”

Macabre put her hand to her head. “That’s right. She can’t be up for elimination.”

“Macabre, at the end of the taping the last time, you never said that Night had immunity.” Taren had Soneni show her the raw footage from the previous taping to be sure she remembered the whole situation.

Macabre named Mistress Night as the winner, talked about the prize, and wished them luck. She never mentioned anything about immunity. It seemed like a shady way to eliminate Night, but Taren had figured out a way to get rid of her.

“I did say it.” Macabre put her fist to her hip.

Taren shook her head. “You didn’t. I watched it.”

“And I remembered.” Mistress Night came to Taren’s aid. “You never mentioned immunity.”

“Then that was my error. She shouldn’t be eliminated now. If no other contestants here have a problem with that, we can reshoot the elimination portion, right, Kitty?” Macabre looked over at the director, who paced in her spot.

“I have a big fucking problem with that.” Fear stomped his foot. “She’s been eliminated. She needs to go.”

“You’re just pissed because I knew more about caning than you.” Night squared off against the man without a trace of fear in her actions.

“Hey, calm down.” Macabre held her hands up. “Don’t make me get security in here.” She turned to Taren. “You don’t have to eliminate Mistress Night if you don’t want to.”

Taren glanced at Mistress Night and Beauty. Night winked at her.

“I’d like to stick to my original decision.” The more she thought about it, the more guilt plagued her decision. “I’m sorry.”

Taren felt her throat tightening. Damn it. She couldn’t be getting upset on a reality TV show. Who does that? 

Mistress Night beamed. “I understand. Thank you for this opportunity.” She reached her hand out and shook Taren.

Not content with a handshake, she pulled Mistress Night in for a hug. Then Taren hugged Beauty.

“Thank you for giving us this opportunity.” Beauty kissed Taren’s cheek and hugged her harder. “Thank you for everything.”

Beauty pulled back from Taren and started to take off her collar, the necklace Night had given to her the first night of the show.

“No, no. Keep it.” Mistress Night held the necklace against Beauty’s chest. “I hope you’ll hold onto it for a while…Belle.” She removed her glasses and took off her mask.

Underneath hid a handsome woman with strong facial features. She carried full, expressive brown eyes and a slender face. Taren had seen her cornrows through the mask. Seeing the look all together made for a great picture.

Night adjusted the strap on Beauty’s shoulder and pushed her hair from Beauty’s face. “When we’re not playing, you can call me by my real name. Sonji.”

Taren couldn’t help but notice how great Mistress Night and Beauty looked together. Beauty held Mistress Night’s hand and followed her out of the dungeon.

“And cut!” Kitty consulted with her crew before she went into the dungeon. “Wow. What the hell kind of shit is that? You looked over the previous taping before you made your decision tonight? Why is that?”

Taren nodded, then wiped her eyes. “I’m picking the best person for me. Why can’t I review their previous performances?” She watched as Jace took care of Sweetheart, even walking her back to her room.

“Okay, whatever.” Kitty faced the group. “So we’ll let the house slaves rest up for a few days before we get down to the last four Doms. Remember, now that we’re down to them, you have to play with at least one of them during the next show. Since Lord No won tonight, it should be him for the next show, okay?”

No
, Taren wanted to scream. Not okay. Despite being mute, he scared her. She started to head up to her bedroom when she felt a hand on her arm. She turned and had to blink a few times when she saw Bruiser holding onto her.

She removed her arm from his grasp. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah. I’d like for us to go talk somewhere.” He pulled off his microphone, then nodded to her to do the same.

Taren had a couple of the sound guys remove her microphone.

“Let’s go out to the backyard.” He nodded toward the door.

Taren didn’t feel uncomfortable about the idea until she realized that they had left the curtain down. Bruiser opened the door for her and followed her to the table that sat next to the pool.

“Yes?” She didn’t want to be short with him, but it had been a long day. She wanted to go to bed. She wanted to talk to Jace. His complete dismissal of her had her thrown.

“I was kind of surprised that you didn’t put me in the bottom two tonight.” He scratched his chin under the mask.

“You were a little rough but no rougher than Master.” She crossed her legs under the table. The summer night still held some warmth, but a cool breeze kept her comfortable.

“But I drew blood.”

Taren studied his eyes through the mask for a moment. “You wanted to be eliminated?”

Bruiser looked toward the house before he answered. “Breeze and I made a connection. I didn’t expect it. Neither did she. I know we’re supposed to be fighting for you. But my heart is not in it. It’s in it for her. Do you understand?”

Taren understood. In a show where Dominants should be fighting for her, no one wanted her.

“Could you see it in your heart to let me go during the next show?”

Damn.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Jace wasted no time in escaping from his bedroom as soon as he heard the last of the crew leaving for the night. He went through the back door and climbed the stairs up to his office. He had to get to Taren. She looked a little distraught after the taping. As much as he didn’t want to care, he had to agree with Taren. He needed to stop fighting his urges.

He unlocked the outside door to the office, then walked into the main bedroom. Even though she had the room cloaked in darkness, he heard some telltale sniffling. His heart pounded as he made his way to the bed.

“Taren?” Jace waved his hands in the air to get to her.

“Go away.” Her voice broke.

He found the bed then slid his hands over the top to find her. He’d almost given up the search when he finally touched her foot near the head of the bed. As he moved his hands up her body, he discovered that she’d curled herself up with her knees under her chin, like a little ball.

“What’s wrong? Did someone touch you?” Jace didn’t think his protective nature would kick in that quickly.

She snickered. “Not going to happen anytime soon.”

Jace stood and went to the bathroom. He turned on that light to give him some illumination in the room. He saw Taren curled up with pillows around her like a little fort. She covered her eyes with her hand.

When he returned to her, he brought her hand down from her face. “Talk to me.”

Taren took a deep breath and looked at Jace. “Another contestant asked me to eliminate him next.” Her chin quivered. “He found a connection with a house slave. What’s so wrong with me? No one wants to fight for me. You wouldn’t even look at me tonight.”

“Wait. Stop. Let me answer that part first before I get into everything else.” He held her hands and waited until she looked at him before he spoke. Seeing her puffy eyes, he wanted to kiss her right there and then. “When I’m playing with someone, no matter who it is, I put my full concentration on her. Besides, the way you looked for the taping, I would have grabbed you and done some ungodly things to you in front of everyone.”

She pulled her hands out of his grasp. “You’re just saying that because you feel sorry for me. It’s okay. I thought this whole experience would be so different.” She scooted toward the edge of the bed away from Jace. “I thought I would have all of these men fighting over me, wanting to be my Dom. I never imagined that one by one these men and women that I picked would end up falling for other people.”

“Don’t think any of that has to do with you.” Jace jumped up and went after her. He grabbed her arms and made her look at him. “For one thing, you have Doms and Dommes here who are used to owning
slaves
. They aren’t used to submissives, and they aren’t used to untrained submissives.”

Taren broke down. Jace held her next to his chest.

“I knew it. It is me.” Taren tried pulling back from Jace. “I thought the Dominants would find that attractive, being able to train someone to do what they would like.” She snickered. “Shows you how much I know about the lifestyle and what a Dominant would want, hell, what a
man
would want for that fact.”

“I’m still here. I haven’t asked you to eliminate me. Fear thinks he’s a shoo-in to win. Since the threat, I haven’t talked to Lord No to know how he’s feeling, other than he doesn’t want me to win. That leaves…”

Taren turned away from Jace.

“Bruiser wants Breeze.”

“He said they connected. He thought I would have put him in the bottom two because he drew blood when he played with her. I wasn’t bothered by that. I was more turned off by Fear and knowing he used the wrong type of cane than seeing blood.” Taren wiped under her eyes. “It’s okay. I’m probably not the kind of woman or submissive anyone would want.”

He didn’t like this Taren. He wanted that woman who danced around in her panties. He wanted the person who sat on her bed in a blindfold waiting for the possibilities. “What do you mean by that?”

She sat on the bed. “Might as well tell you. You aren’t going to win either.”

“Only if you eliminate me.” He crouched down in front of her. “What did you mean earlier?”

Taren took a deep breath and smiled. “I have epilepsy. I haven’t had a seizure in a while. I’m on medication that seems to be helping.” She gazed at Jace, who had been quiet since the revelation. “And now you’re looking at me differently.” She shook her head. “My parents have always babied me because of it. I don’t blame them. It was hard for them to be out in public with me and have to take care of me when I had seizures. At first I wanted to do this show to show them and myself that I could be strong enough to endure anything.”

Jace shook his head. “That’s the wrong reason to go into a lifestyle like this.”

“I know. When you took me to Club 4400, my perception changed. I wanted it. I saw myself on the cross or on a hoist or simply serving.” She stared into his eyes. “I want this.”

He framed her small face in his hands. “Then fight for it. Show them you want this. Now that you’re at the top four, you will get to play and serve. Do it. Show me and other guys you want to be a submissive.”

She nodded and took a deep breath. “I needed that.”

He wiped a tear away from under her eye using his thumbs. “Good.”

“By the way, why did you come in here?”

Jace had to choose his words carefully. “It looked like you could have used a friend.”

She smiled. “So you have a room all by yourself now, huh?”

He shook his head. “Lord No moved in with me as soon as Mistress Night packed up and left. He wanted to get away from Fear and keep an eye on me.”

Taren started to open her mouth to comment on that situation when Jace stopped her.

“I can handle myself with him. You still follow your heart when it comes who you pick to win and who gets eliminated.”

“Even if you don’t win?” She chewed on her lower lip.

“Even if I don’t win.” He moved in closer to her. “I’m going to make it extremely difficult for you to eliminate me, though.”

“How are you going to do that?”

Jace removed his mask. He lowered his face to hers and gave her a soft kiss, one where he brushed his lips against hers first before capturing her mouth. He slipped his tongue in and touched hers.

Taren moaned and put her hands on his bare back. Her hands seared his skin. He couldn’t wait to touch her body. Before he got the chance, she pushed him back.

Jace stared at her as she backed away from him. She said nothing. The smile on her face said it all. He stalked her across the room. When her back pressed against the wall, she looked both trapped and eager.

He approached her and stood directly in front of her. She started to move away from him when he grabbed her hips and kept her in her spot. Jace took a hold of her flimsy tank top she’d planned on sleeping in and he ripped it apart to get it off her body.

Taren put her hands to his chest and pushed him back, yet she stared at him under a heavy-lidded gaze and licked her lips. As much as he hated to admit it, he loved her cat and mouse game.