Page 75 of Disturbed Lucidity

“It was nothing, really. Just a room with a bed in it. Unlike the rest of the rooms in the club, it was rather sedate. But I hated that room.”

“Why?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I just did.”

Looking up at Logic, I questioned where he was going with this. When my brother shook his head, I kept my concerns to myself.

“Tell me about another room. Was there one you liked?”

“My bedroom. I liked my bedroom.”

“Tell me about it.”

“It had a small bed. A soft pillow. There was a pink rug on the floor. It was always cold in the club. It was nice not to step on the cold tiled floor. It was just a room.”

“Something about that room made it special to you. What was it?”

“I don’t know,” she muttered, picking up one of the spreader bars I had displayed in a cabinet. “I guess because it was hers before it was mine.”

“What was? The room?”

Ivy slowly shook her head. “No, the picture.”

“What picture?”

“The only picture I had of her. She lived there before me.”

Sitting up, my head whipped to Logic as my brother slowly held up his hand, stopping me from saying a single word. Never, not once since Ivy showed up at the clubhouse, had I ever heard her mention anyone else.

Ever.

“She was so beautiful. I looked like her. I was about two when he took her from me. I didn’t want her to go. I tried fighting him, but I was too small, too weak. I never stood a chance. I just remember hearing her scream when he ripped her from me.”

Neither Logic nor I said a word, letting Ivy talk at her own pace. Through it all, she continued to move about the room, touching and examining items that captured her fancy. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular, and if I didn’t know any better, she was just doing it to keep moving.

“But I hated the blue room. I used to beg my father not to make me go in there, but he would just laugh. I hated his laugh.”

“Ivy, go back to your bedroom. What else can you tell me about it?”

“It was always clean. He hated things messy. I had a window that faced the ocean once. Sometimes, I sat and listened as birds flew by, wondering what it would be like to be free like them. Sometimes I could smell the rain before a storm hit. Then one day it was gone. Like her.”

“What happened to the window?”

“He boarded it up when I got older. He didn’t want me to leave. He told me the world had too many monsters and it was his job to protect me. He lied because he was the monster. He never allowed anyone in my room. It was mine.”

Holding a red silk rope, her hands shook when she sat down on the bed, uncoiling the rope before she started to tie it in an intricate knot. “Did you know that there are many types of rope that can subdue a submissive? Any rope will actually do. Take this rope, for example. It’s soft. The fibers won’t scratch the skin, but when pulled tight, it can suffocate easily. You told me once that everyone has a hard limit. That you would not stop until you discovered mine? Do you remember, Luc?”

Gulping, I nodded, cautiously replying, “Yes. I remember.”

Standing up, she held out the rope for me to see.

In her hands hung the red silk rope that she’d expertly tied into a noose. “This is my hard limit.”

Dropping the noose on the floor, she walked over to the side of the bed and laid down. “I’m tired. I think I’m going to sleep for a while.”

Walking over to her, I covered her up, then bent down to pick up the noose she’d made, before Logic and I left the room. Closing the door behind me, I made damn sure no one would disturb her.

Logic wasted no time speaking. “We’ve got a problem, Luc. Whatever happened in that blue room is her trigger and my gut is telling me it’s fucking bad. Did you see how easily she made that noose? Those knots she used are difficult to make. Yet she did so effortlessly.”

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