NERTHUS
“Two Sambuca shots, please!” Danny grins at the bartender, who proceeds to fill two small shot glasses quickly.
“Thank God, I’m not your mother.” I mock, and he laughs, passing me my shot.
“You are the coolest sister, instead!”
“Aaaaw!” I giggle, and with a cheer, we pour the liquor down our throats.
“This is ugly as hell!” I manage to say, gagging, while he grins even broader.
“Let’s hit the dance floor, shall we?”
“Yes!” Squealing happily, I follow him into the crowd where we start dancing silly to the upbeat music.
“But I have to go see Arawn afterward.” He nods as I yell at him and taps his jacket where I guess my contract is.
“I have to give him that anyway.”
I giggle as I turn around. “I’ll have a talk with him about you going clubbing with me instead of playing video games.”
“Play with me one time, will you?” Despite his age, I have to look up to see his smile.
“Sure! I’d love to see my old neighborhood.”
“Awesome!”
Just as he has uttered his words, he nods at someone stepping up behind me, and my heart beats faster immediately. I can’t even turn around in time as I feel his strong arms wrapping around me.
“Didn’t I tell you to wait for me?” He says into my ear, making goose bumps rise on my skin.
Shrugging, I lay my arms on his, turning my head slightly. “Thought I would pick you up.”
Arawn lets go of me and spins me around, pulling me flash against his body. My heart swells in my chest at seeing his sly smirk.
“Don’t you have something for me, beautiful?”
I nod, my smile growing and gesture to Danny who is still standing behind me. “He has it.”
Arawn holds his hand up to Danny, letting me go slightly. As soon as he gets ahold of Danny, he pulls him into a bear hug. I can’t hear what they are saying to each other before they part with a tap on their backs.
“Aren’t bromances beautiful?” I grin up at the men, and while Danny grins happily, Arawn shakes his head.
He drags me off the dance floor and into a hallway in the back of the club. At the end of it, we descend a set of stairs, and I guess that I would feel a lot more uncomfortable if my hand wasn’t wrapped into Arawn’s strong one.
“What is this here?” I ask lowly as we pass a few rooms lighted with shady lights.
“No questions, Amber.” He growls without looking at me.
I spot Danny stopping behind me and walking into a room we just passed. I gulp as I would like to drag him with us. But as my next gaze falls onto a woman in the next room just having her shot dose kicking in, my head snaps back forward automatically, and I keep my eyes glued to the ground.
Watching my glittery high heels as we walk down the hallway, I try to keep my eyes from wandering around.
As we reach the last room, Arawn stops in front of it and pushes me into it.
“He forgot to give me the bloody thing.” I hear him barely grumbling to himself before he disappears back into the hallway.
Stepping into the middle of the room, I stare at the wall of screens amazed until a rasping sound gets my attention.
“Do you need a hard candy?” I ask as I turn to the man with the receding hairline sitting in the corner.
His loud laugh has his belly tingling, his shiny tailored suit looking uncomfortably tight.
“Beautiful and sassy! No wonder he wants you all for himself.”
“Don’t mind him.” Arawn’s voice rumbles through the room as he closes the door behind him. “He is so full of himself that if he moves too much, he risks bursting.”
The sleazy man laughs again, its thundering tone bouncing from the walls.
“This is Bernhard, Amber.” Arawn states and sits down at the table behind me.
“The minister of entertainment.” Bernhard laughs, spreading his arms wide.
“Ah, OK.” I snicker, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Taking a step closer to Arawn, I hug myself. “I’m honored, then.”
Just as his grin starts creeping me out, I feel the warmth of Arawn’s palms as he pulls me into his lap. I press my hand against his chest to keep me from crashing into him, and he looks up at me.
“You signed it?” He asks, waving our contract in front of my face.
“Yes,” I answer right away, flashing him a smile.
“Amazing.” He murmurs, unfolding it on the table.
“Are you happy?” I ask him, wanting to tease him and get a low hum in response.
As he is signing it, I lean in, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. “Don’t we have something to discuss?” I get closer to his ear as I tap on my punishment clause. “It’s incomplete.”
He meets my gaze and holds it for a second without uttering any sound. My body heat rises drastically while I feel myself wanting to scoop myself closer to feel his growing bulge between my legs.
“Bernie?” He says, his eyes still glued on me.
“Room 5 is free, Boss.” Bernhard says amused.
I have to keep myself from squealing as Arawn gets up with me still on his lap. As soon as my feet have touched the ground, he pulls me out of the room and down the hallway again.
As we step into the shabby room, Arawn closes the door behind us and hands me our contract.
“It’s official then.” He says as I take it with a smile. “Is it how you wanted it to be?”
I nod as I reopen the folded pages. “I absolutely love it.”
“I’m glad you like it, but I told you it would be too good for you to decline it.”
I chuckle and scan the document under the dimmed red light. “Yes, you did.”
“But Arawn,” I sit down on the glass table in the room. I feel the cold material against my thighs as my tight skirt must have ridden up. “My punishment…”
“What about it?” He asks, obviously amused.
“The punishment for Arawn Rodberg will be carried out at the apartment of Nerthus Hendricks, situated in New York. It consists of Arawn Rodberg having to read passages out of Pride and Prejudice while Nerthus Hendricks also gets to choose what he will be wearing or where they will be staying for it.”
I let my arms slump, laughing, the rustling papers hitting my leg. “Like… What?”
“You always want me to talk, and I’m not a great discourser, so I guess that is something I could give you.” He shrugs, taking a few steps to stand before me.
“And it would make you feel so uncomfortable.”
“Yeah,” he answers, his fingers gracing my cheek. “Like my head between your legs does. Even if I’m sure that you would change your mind after your first punishment.”
Chuckling, I lower my head to the papers to hide my blush. I have to fight the itching to open his pants as I want to address something else. “What if for your punishment I would want to tie you down and blindfold you to do whatever I want with you as well?”
He lets go of me and walks around the small table to sit down on a worn-out couch. “That wouldn’t be a punishment, beautiful.”
I look at him over my shoulders, watching him light a cigarette and I wrinkle my nose. “It wouldn’t?”
“If you asked me a week ago, I would have told you that I’m not into it.” He puffs out smoke slowly as he leans back into the couch. “But after what I experienced in that cabin bathroom…”
Turning around fully, I swing my legs over the table and cross them between his. “You were blinded by a bear spray!”
I slide the cigarette from his fingers, taking a pull while he leans forward, laying his hands on my hip.
“I was.” He pulls me closer, having me sitting on the table’s border, and I shake my head.
“Such a psycho.”
He takes his cigarette back with a smirk.
“Why Pride and Prejudice?”
“Don’t you like it?”
I feel stupid as I answer him, “I’m obsessed, actually.”
“See,” he smirks, handing me the cigarette again. “But it doesn’t matter. I will read anything you fancy.”
I flash him a big grin and take another pull. “Can’t wait.”
As I put out the cigarette under my shoe, I see him taking the documents from the table and freeing them from whatever residue was transferred on them from the table. My heart stops as I see the white powder settle back on the table.
“Is that…?” I say lowly, getting a nonchalant answer in return.
“Yes. They use these rooms to deal with and take this stuff. They hardly get cleaned during the evening as so many go in and out.”
“OMG!” I spring to my feet, trying not to seem maniac as I wipe the stuff from my clothes.
“Are you OK?” His glare burns its way into my skin, as I do everything to avoid looking at him.
“Uh-huh,” I answer, taking a deep breath. “I just don’t want that stuff on my clothes.”
After having spent what felt like an eternity trying to get the residues off my clothes, I risk having a small panic attack. “Good, we have talked it out. Can we please leave now?”
“Not if you don’t look at me first.”
Taking a deep breath, I meet his gaze and fight hard not to crumble. “Can we?”
He keeps staring at me without even moving, making me plead again.
“Please,” I whisper, lifting my gaze shortly to the ceiling.