Page 75 of Callback
“Yes, Sir.”
More footsteps. Only now, I was more turned on than before. My breathing increased, in short sharp pants.A recording. That must be how he’s doing this. I smiled wider and my eyes cinched from beneath the blindfold.Yes!He must have recorded the footsteps and this dialogue earlier and all these voices were just some prearranged prank to teach me about trust.
That’s why I wasn’t being addressed directly. Why no one was talking to me.
“Jude,” it was Ash’s voice this time and he sounded startled.
“Hi, Ash,” Jude said, plunging his fingers inside of me. He hit the Ben Wa balls and the pressure mounted, pushing against the inner walls of my pussy. A moan escaped my lips at the welcomed intrusion and Jude rolled my nipple harder between his fingers, pinching, then whispering in my ear, “Do not make a noise of pleasure. Or pain. You only speak if spoken to.”
“Um… Hi, Marly,” Ash said, hesitancy in his voice. No doubt part of the recording.
“Hi, Ash,” I said, almost giggling at the absurdity of it all.
Smack!Jude’s palm connected hard with my ass. “That’s not how you address another Dominant at LnS, Poppy.”
“Hello… Sir,” I tried again.
“Eve, say hello,” Ash demanded. I froze, my knees locking. Eve? Pixie was here?
“Well, hello again,” Eve said, her voice smooth and calculating.
“Eve,” Jude said, his voice was tight and his hands paused over my body.
No way. There was no way Jude would have asked Eve to be a part of that recording. Not with how he reacted to seeing her the other night. His fingers had slowed against my clit, but he quickly resumed. Only now, my arousal was once again being replaced with the fear. The mistrust.
“I like your choker,” Eve said, “I mean, I’m surprised Jude went with an antique cameo, rather than leather—”
“Ash,” Jude growled a warning.
“Come on, Eve,” Ash snarled. “You’re going to pay for that one.”
My hand flew to my throat and my fingers brushed over the choker.It wasn’t a recording.There was no way that was prearranged. Which meant… oh, God. Did Eve and Ash just see me naked? Here with Jude’s fingers inside of me. My throat closed and my mind raced as tears rose from deep in my chest. “Planner,” I said. “Planner… I-I need to know that this isn’t real—”
“Okay,” Jude said quietly. “Breathe, Poppy. Good girl.” And with the soft, crooning praise, he tugged the blindfold off. My body was shaking violently and I blinked as light flooded my vision.
In front of me was a divider… an old dressing room divider with blacked out sections, blocking us from the hallway. My chest collapsed with the heavy exhale and a single relieved tear sprung from my eye. “I knew it was something,” I said, exhaling a long, low breath. “I knew you wouldn’t have let me be just… out here. Like this.” I gestured down at my body and Jude slipped a robe over my shoulders. Sliding my arms inside, I hugged it tightly around myself as Jude slid the divider open, allowing us to walk around the other side.
“I was setting this all up while you were inside the room, kneeling on the floor,” Jude said, taking my hand and guiding me. We stopped on the other side of the divider and Jude curled his arms around me, cradling my body with his. On the other side, facing the hallway were large signs, instructing passersby on what they could say to us, including complimenting me on the antique Victorian Cameo choker.That’show Eve knew. “It’s what we call a mind phuque,” Jude explained. “A way of playing a game that’s like a trust fall—only more intense.”
“And I failed.” I clenched my fists until my short nails dug into the palms of my hands.
“You didn’t fail,” Jude said, taking my shoulders and looking in my eyes. “This isn’t a clear win-lose scenario. It’s all to continue building our relationship. You didgreat,Poppy. You were calm and collected and… tell me the truth… it was a little fun, right?”
My smile twitched. “A little. Until Eve came.”
Jude’s expression soured and he sighed. “Yeah. Ash will handle her for that. But technically, she didn’t do anything wrong. She read what I put on the cue cards.” He laced his hand into mine and gently tugged me back into our room, then folded up the dividers and dragged them inside as well.
I watched him carefully. What the hell was up with Eve? Was she his rebound after Layla?
“Why is Eve so interested in you?”And me.
Jude’s gaze jerked up from the dividers. “She isn’t.”
Yeah, right. “Okay…” I said, trying again. “You can’t possibly think that I don’t see the weirdness between you two?”
He shut the door behind him and sighed. “Look… I was a really bad Dom to her.”
I swallowed the lump forming at the apex of my throat and it went down hard to my stomach. “What do you mean?” Jude was so responsible. So calmly in control at all times. It was hard to imagine him as anything but responsible. He didn’t answer—he simply leaned forward, placing his palm against the wall. “Did you hurt her?” I pressed.
