Page 97 of Savage Obsession

“A bird in a gilded cage,” she replies bitterly.

“Hardly,” I scoff. I don’t recall Julia ever having such a flair for the melodramatic. “You can do as you like, just do it our way.”

“I… I need to think.”

“Okay. I get that, it’s a lot to take on board, I guess.” I take two strides towards the door. “I’ll be on deck.”

“No, wait.” She’s on her feet again.

I turn, wait.

“When? When will it happen?”

I don’t pretend to misunderstand. “As quickly as possible. Today.” In my experience, a punishment is best delivered swiftly and decisively.

“Where? Here? Will everyone…?”

“No. At the hacienda, in private.” There’s no need for Lily to witness any of this. I don’t want her traumatised any further. Our closest friends would be aware of what had happened, but I see no need to compound Julia’s humiliation by involving an audience.

“I… I need to say goodbye to Lily.”

More melodrama. “No, you don’t. We’ll be back here by this evening. Janey can tell her we had to slip out for a couple of hours.”

“But, I?—”

“I’ll have a car on the jetty in ten minutes.” I bow my head to her and close the door quietly behind me.

The question now is, will she get in that car?

Julia

What have I agreed to?

I remain where I am, perched on the edge of the bed, my head a riot of conflicting emotions. This is archaic, medieval. What place does this sort of… of… arrangement have in a modern world? This is the twenty-first century, for fuck’s sake, not the Middle Ages.

I draw in a sigh. I’m being a hypocrite. I’ll admit it, to myself, at least. I had no hesitation about calling on Baz when Lily was missing, when I needed his help. I knew he wouldn’t operate according to the usual ‘rules’. He had his own, and they worked.

He’d applied his own rules to Gerek, too, and I have no real argument with that either. He used his contacts to deal with the mess I made there. He got us out of Poland, found someone able to track our daughter down, retrieved her, then relocated all of us to a place of safety.

What do I really have to complain about? I was keen enough to take advantage of what he could offer when I was short of better options.

Yes, I have moments of homesickness. I was happy, more or less. Independent, certainly. I was doing all right. Mostly. But I was lonely, too. Gerek was the last in a long line of poor substitutes for the husband I thought I’d lost.

Over the months since we were reunited, he’s told me often enough that I could stay in Poland if I wanted, take my chances with the police. I didn’t have to come with him. It was a whirlwind, though, and before I knew it, we were on a plane heading for the Canaries.

But when faced with the stark reality of that choice, the prospect of being on my own, the independence I was so proud of seemed suddenly an insipid prospect. Empty. Meaningless. Without Lily, what am I?

But it was more than that. Without Baz, I’m… bereft. Again. And the real irony? I’m not even sure I like him all that much. Right now, I know I don’t.

But liking, loving, needing. These are different things. I doubt if our relationship will ever be calm. We seem to fight all the time. The sparks fly at the slightest provocation. But with Baz, I’m alive. And I want to try. I need to know how this could grow, develop. Maybe we could…

But first things first. I get to my feet and check the time on my phone. Five minutes have passed already, I need to get moving.

What should I wear? Do I even need to get changed? What’s the correct dress for being on the receiving end of a whipping?

Fetish wear, presumably. Janey would have something, but there’s no way! Whatever I wear, I’ll probably have to take it off, so why bother?

I pull on a pair of sliders, stuff my phone in the pocket of my shorts, and head up on deck.

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