Page 12 of Mask & Strap
Jax pressed her lips to mine and murmured. “I caught you, Little Birdie, now come on my strap like the good girl I know you are.”
Her words, the feel of her skin, the overwhelming pull of the dildo, sent me tumbling over the edge of bliss. My screams echoed through the park, and in that moment, I was another girl caught. Prey being devoured, a bird in the claws of a wolf — and I fucking loved it.
We stayed there for several moments, Jax surprising me with tenderness as she stroked my sweat-soaked hair. “I don’t just know you because I stole your file.”
“What?”
“I work with Lu-Lu. Casually, we aren’t friends, and she doesn’t know that I’m a ringleader here. She was loudly talking in the break room one day about how she hoped to get the text… and if she did, she’d be bringing her clueless friend, Birdie.” Jax lied on her side in the grass and ran a hand through her hair. “I thought that was pretty fucked up, so I found you on social media. I guess you can say I stalked you a bit. At least, I knew what you looked like, knew you were a book nerd, knew you were really fucking pretty.”
My chest constricted. My friend had really set me up for a night of terror, hadn’t she? “So, you knew this whole time? And you…”
“I knew I had to look after you, yeah. Everything else, all this… was just a nice bonus. It was for me, at least.”
There was a hint of vulnerability in her tone, like she wondered if I had a good time, if I wanted her back. Ignoring the betrayal I felt from Lu-Lu, I rubbed Jax’s arm. I wanted nothing more than to take off my mask, take off hers, and… continue our night elsewhere. “Do you want to go… I don’t know… get something to eat after this or —“
Out of nowhere, a screech pierced my ears as the loudspeaker buzzed to life. “Change of plans, players. It seems we’reallclose to being caught. Park security is on its way. Make your way to the finish line now or risk being had in a way none of you asked for. It’s been a delight, players. Until next year.”
“Shit, we’ve got to go.” Jax jumped up, adjusting her strap back into her waistband and buckling her belt again. She extended her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
Together? Me and you? Us lasting past… this?Is what I wanted to ask, but there was no time. People in masks flew past us. Everyone running, shoulders knocking into us, all of us equal in our fleeing. A runner with giant horns cut through my hold on Jax’s hand — and when I looked up — my green masked savior was nowhere to be seen.
I had to keep running, though doubt and disappointment and loss hit me harder than the bodies bustling around me. The colorful lights disappeared as all in the park went dark. Folks were scrambling as we raced to the finish, all of us squeezing through breaks in a chain link fence, as security in the distance shouted at us to stop.
My feet finally hit gravel, and someone grabbed my arm. Hope sprang within me until I looked over. No green mask, no broad shoulders and tender voice — no, it was justher.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Lu-Lu shouted over the commotion. “I’m glad you’re okay?—“
I pulled away. “You abandoned me. You have some nerve to just walk up to me now like everything’s going to be normal between us.”
“I had to bring somebody, Birdie. Those are the rules. I put you in a predator mask so no one would chase you. Did you…” She scanned my bloodied knees and the dirt that caked my body from over-sized boots to muddy tank top. “Did you get chased… did you get… caught?”
“Get away from me,” I pushed past her.
“Birdie,” she called after me, but it didn’t matter, I was done. And I was alone.
I HAD BEEN CHASED. AND NOW I WAS ALONE AGAIN.
BIRDIE
A week later,I sat on my sofa, with an episode ofGilmore GirlsI’d seen a hundred times playing on my television screen. I idly thumbed through a book on my e-reader, nothing capturing my attention. The events of the prior week had felt like nothing more than a dream.
I hadn’t spoken to Lu-Lu. Though I wanted to. I wanted to ask for her workplace directory so I could scan the pages of her corporate job for someone who looked like Jax… but I decided against it.
Jax knew who I was, had all of my information, and hadn’t reached out. The sting of rejection welled tears in my eyes more often than I wanted to admit. So, instead of doing anything at all… I did nothing. I worked, I came back to my apartment, and I mindlessly watched old shows and scanned smut books I couldn’t wholly focus on. My own adventure was over… and I was right back where I started.
Just as I was about to drift to sleep, my phone vibrated on my coffee table.
Unknown Sender
Hello, player. Meet tonight at midnight. Come masked and ready to be caught.
My pulse quickened as I held my phone in my palm — frozen. Would Jax be there? I thought these parties, these games, only happened on Halloween? It was eleven o’clock at night, and I was in footie pajamas with a moisturizing mask on. A far cry from the cat eared, fishnet wearing vixen I’d disguised myself as a week earlier.
Should I risk going and Jax not being there? Would it be worth it to be rejected twice? What if she were there and didn’t want me? Maybe the game was just that to her… maybe we only existed within the confines of predator and prey and nothing more.
Despite the risk… all I wanted to do was find out for certain. I quickly washed my face and pulled on jeans, a corset I’d tried on once and never wore out, and flats. Waiting anxiously in the backseat of my ride, the drive let me out into a gravel parking lot. I secured my mask and looked around. No lines, no shoulder to shoulder mask-wearers, it was only me in an empty gravel lot.
Fear set in.
