Void (21 page)

“Andris?” I breathed into the air as Link continued to slide in and out of me. The action made every single nerve ending come to life. My mind couldn’t adjust to just one sensation as it tried to filter through all the tiny ones that riddled my body and my mind. I felt Link’s hands caress my arms that were held by the cuffs and soon his fingers were linked into mine. I stiffened momentarily at the intimacy of the gesture.

What the hell was he doing? This wasn’t fucking. This was slow, sensual and almost like what a man would do if he was making love to a woman, wanting the feeling to last because it was greater than any other that they had ever experienced.

Panic began to rise in my throat, but the pleasure Link was creating in my body took precedence over the panic.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

It was like he had a perfect rhythm set. Each inward thrust matched the length of him pulling out of me causing me to feel each ridge, each hard line of his cock as it entered and exited my pussy.

My mind began to be overwhelmed by a foggy haze as my body began to climb once again. My eyes stung, the pleasure too much. His actions too much. I wanted Link, but at that moment, I had a desperate
need
to hear Andris’s voice. I needed him to tell me that the sensations I was feeling at that exact moment were normal, and that I wasn’t losing my mind.

“Andris, please. I…I…” I couldn’t say what my heart wanted me to say. To admit to needing someone felt almost too vulnerable and I didn’t want to upset Link at the same time. There was a difference in the two men that I couldn’t describe. Link was the man I wanted. The man who made my body come to life. But Andris was the man I needed. The one who gave me reassurance when I started traveling down this dark road of awakening feelings. He was my light at the end of a long traveled, dark tunnel. He was also blinding though. Something that I felt that if I got too close to, I would get burned.

My second orgasm hit me just a fiercely as the first, but the waves took longer to subside. My body continued up a ridged mountain until it reached a cliff and took a nosedive off the edge. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe as I fell rapidly towards the ground below, and just before I hit, Link kissed me. There was something familiar in the way he explored my mouth, soothing me and the after effects of what he just did to my body.

Pulling back from our kiss he gently undid the cuffs at my wrists, taking the time to massage my flesh there before moving to my feet and completing the same task. Then he was gone. I felt his presence leave the room. I was desperate to take off the blindfold, not wanting to see where I was but, desperate to seek the navy eyes of Andris. I needed him to tell me that I was okay. I needed the reassurance from him that whatever the hell it was I just experienced with Link was real.

I needed him to tell me I wasn’t crazy because I was clearly falling for two different men.

MY SESSIONS WITH NICOLA continued both in the clinic and at the apartment almost in a comfortable schedule over the next three weeks. On Mondays and Wednesdays, we had sessions where we discussed her newfound abilities to experience emotions she had never had before. We discussed strategies on how to deal with them when they became overwhelming or too much for her to be able to handle. Our interactions away from the apartment were professional, but her eyes told me otherwise. She never brought up the subject of Barbie again, and I never did either, instead hoping it would pass. Barbie had come to me twice more since the day I fucked her on my desk, and each time, I sent her packing and out the door with her required prescriptions.

I had combed my mind over and over trying to find a solution to get away from the Cardinelli family. Each week, there were more and more “patients” coming in, and my associates and I were writing more and more prescriptions. We were probably weeks away from having the Feds come down on us. I had no doubt in my mind that the pharmacists were keeping track of the amount of medication that was coming out of my clinic and I had hit my limit. What was the worst thing that the Cardinelli family could do to me? They could threaten me all they wanted, but if I continued complying with their demands, then the clinic would be shut down anyway and I would be hauled off to jail.

The contract was my excuse to have Nicola. My clinic was my excuse to keep seeing her even after the terms of the contract ended.

I didn’t want it to end.

I felt dread and sick to my stomach at the thought of not having her. Each passing day, the strength of my feelings grew for her to the point that I was daydreaming about her while with other patients. I thought about her when I was at the store, or especially when I sat alone in my apartment at night wondering what she was doing.

I knew eventually the truth would come out. I knew eventually that the comfort of my relationship with her would come to an end, but something told me that I needed to keep a hold of her. I wasn’t ready to let her go, and even though we still had several weeks remaining in our contract, I needed to start doing something to solidify things so that she continued to come back.

First, I needed to get rid of Cardinelli.

I made an appointment for him to come see me, choosing my office as a safe place for him to come. If I needed to call security, I could, and a police station was right down the road. I gathered evidence. Copies of all the prescriptions I had written to him as well as family members and a majority of his staff members. I needed to be able to present the evidence to the authorities if need be, and also prove that the people who weren’t family were employed by him.

Cardinelli came into my office, basking in an air of authority. Scrunching his nose, he made his way over towards my desk, two of his goons flanking at his side.

“You certainly have filled your Uncle’s office well, Gunn.”

“Don’t come in here trying to exchange pleasantries, Antonio. Sit down,” I gestured toward the chairs in front of me. The smell of strong cologne and cigars filled the room to the point I wanted to gag. I hated the look of his face, the over-tanned leather of his skin made him look far older than he really was. I had done a lot of research up to this point about the Cardinelli family. They were rumored to be involved in drug rings, money laundering, and a vast number of other law breaking activities. There had been arrests made on some of the crimes, but the case was usually thrown out in court on some technicality.

I knew the move I was about to make could potentially be a fatal move on my part, however, I couldn’t continue to run this clinic under his thumb. Regardless of the shit that went on in my personal life, I
would
run this clinic with integrity.

“You called me here, Doctor. What can I do for you?” Cardinelli asked as he placed his elbow on the chair arm and held his chin in his hand. His Italian accent more prominent as agitation was clearly evident.

“I’m done, Antonio.”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow, Doctor.”

“I mean I’m done with you using
my
clinic to run your business. I’m finished with you trying to drag the reputation and integrity of my business into the ground. I don’t give a shit what the contract or negotiations you had with my uncle were, this is
my
clinic now.”

The two men standing next to Cardinelli stepped forward, pushing back the sides of their jackets to reveal the handguns nestled at their sides. With just the wave of his hand, the two men stepped back as Cardinelli silently signaled for them to do so.

“You have balls of brass, young man. I’ll give you that. There aren’t many people that will stand up to me or tell me no.”

“I’m serious, Antonio. You will not get another prescription from me unless it is medically necessary to do so.”

He nodded his head, sitting up straighter in the chair and raking his two index fingers over his lips, all the while never taking his eyes off of me.”

“Carl, Pedro. Leave us.” He demanded to his side hands.

“Are you sure about that, boss? What if we need to stand in?”

Cardinelli didn’t say anything in return, only turned and looked at the men. It was all it took for both of the sidekicks to tuck their tails between their legs and leave my office. When the door shut behind them, he turned back around to face me with a small smile on his face.

“I’m glad you find the situation amusing. I do not.”

“I’m sure you don’t, Andris. I’m a man of business, plain and simple. You should understand that being one yourself. Here you are telling me that I can no longer run my business and that presents a small problem to me.”

“That isn’t my problem.”

“No, it’s not. But like I said, I’m a business man, and I’m willing to cut a deal with you.”

“I’m not cutting any deals. I’m just cutting you off.”

The sardonic chuckle that came from his lips was bone chilling. If I said that I wasn’t a little scared by standing up to a man like Antonio Cardinelli, I would be lying. My legs trembled slightly under the armor of my desk in front of me. In the blink of an eye, Cardinelli was standing and had a fistful of my shirt and tie as he pulled me closer to him from across the desk. The stealth move was shocking, especially coming from a man who was clearly pushing seventy years old.

“Listen you little dick head, if you think that I need you, you are mistaken. I have plenty of resources, so your involvement in my dealings isn’t even a blip on the radar. My wife has taken a liking to you and it keeps her out of my fucking hair. You fuck her and I don’t have to. Fucking bag of bones. But if you think for one minute I am going to let you think you have power over me, you are in for a world of hurt.”

He pushed me away, causing me to stumble as I held my hand out to grab my chair to keep from planting on my ass. He sat back down in the chair in front of me, smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles in his suit. I stood there staring at him, thinking that standing while he sat gave me back a little bit of my dignity and power.

“Sit down,
Andris”

Slowly, I retreated into my chair and I kept my trembling hands underneath the desk. Yes he scared me, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. After taking a deep breath, he continued.

“As I was saying, I am a businessman. I’m willing to work something out with you. There has been something that has caught my fancy and I haven’t gotten it out of my thoughts since. You have connections and I want to put them to use.”

“I don’t have anything that you want, Cardinelli.”

He pulled back the lapel of his jacket and retrieved an envelope from inside and threw it down on the desk in front of me. It was thick, the contents clearly enough to fill up the envelope.

“What is that?”

“Why don’t you look for yourself?”

I picked up the envelope, not knowing what to expect on the inside. Pulling back the flap I retrieved a stack of pictures from inside.

I froze.

Heat and fire spun through my body as my breathing increased.

Picture after picture of Nicola and me. Some were on the streets. Some were in my very office. But the ones that were most disturbing were the ones of Nicola blindfolded as I drove my body into hers. Her eyes not able to see me but the camera was clearly capturing the erotic contortions of her face as her climax hit her. Her body, clearly on display for the camera. Pictures of me handing her the brown envelope that contained her fee.