“Come on,” Maria said when she found Becky in the kitchen making something to eat. “We’re getting out of here.”

Immediately her friend put the knife down and rushed over to Maria. “Wow, girl, are you okay?”

“No. I want to leave.”

“Okay. I’ll get Nathan to drive us home.”

She was stupid to think she was capable of a life like this. It didn’t matter whether she liked Sylvester or not. She didn’t want to be tortured, to be treated like dung on the bottom of a shoe. Sure, she and Becky did something they shouldn’t have, but he didn’t have the right to do what he did.

“Do you want to talk about it before we go?” Becky asked.

“I just had the best and worst orgasm of my life,” cried Maria, shaking her head. “That sounds so stupid doesn’t it.”

Confusion settled on her roomie’s face, but she didn’t question her; rather, Becky held out her arms and Maria rushed into them. “I can’t say I understand that, but it’s okay, hun. You can try and explain it to me later.”

Sylvester came around the corner and Becky held her palm out to him, shaking her head. Maria felt so stupid. She didn’t even really know what was wrong with her. She and Sylvester only just met each other, their oddball relationahip shouldn’t even really have this much of an impact on her yet.

It’s not like they were boyfriend or girlfriend. She was just a sub. One that could easily be replaced. And he would easily replace her with his looks. He still had subs waiting in the wings that wanted to get back together with him. And they were more than able to cover his needs. Whatever the heck those were...but if his needs were what he did tonight, she wanted nothing to do with it.

She liked him. She liked the hot stuff, but not feeling like she was being punished. Someone else was more suited to the position than her. She knew it from the beginning. He was a cat, she was the bird. The two of them were not meant to get along, were not meant to be under the same roof and live in peace with each other.

Maria waited in the kitchen while Becky went to wake Nathan up, Sylvester walked in, sadness and confusion straining his handsome face, causing wrinkles on his forehead. “Honey, please talk to me.”

Wrapping her arms around herself, she situated the island between them. “How could you do that to me?”

“Did I hurt you?”

“No. Yes!” Gah, she didn’t even know how to respond to him. “That,” she said, as she pointed to the hallway. “That was too much.”

“Hence why we have the safe word,” he reminded her calmly.

“I shouldn’t even need a safe word. That isn’t normal,” she snapped.

“It is in my world.”

“Why would you even let a woman get to that point? Aren’t you supposed to know when I’m reaching my limit? If you can’t see it, then how am I supposed to trust you?”

“How am I supposed to know your limit when I can’t trust you to use the safe word? Look, we are just learning about each other. Don’t give up now,” Sylvester said, his eyes pleading with her.

He looked like a little boy about to lose his favorite toy, but she wasn’t going to give in. She needed time to think, time to reflect on her choices. See what she wanted. Sex in general was new to her and she wanted it to be special, not full of uncertainty.

“I need space, Sylvester,” Maria said, her voice calm and collected, forcing herself to reign in her emotions. “Becky has gone to get Nathan. We’re going home.”

“Maria, please.” He took a step towards her, but she backed away from him.

“Book!” she cried with her hands held out in front of her.

Sylvester stopped and gripped the back of his neck, bewildered and annoyed, throwing his hands in the air. “Now you use it.”

They were standing there, facing off against each other when Becky and Nathan enter the room. Nathan looked between the two of them, curiosity shining in his eyes. “Becky said you want to go,” he said to Maria.

“Yes. The sooner the better,” she replied, walking over to Becky who stood behind her boyfriend, effectively turning her back on Sylvester.

***

The men dropped the ladies off at their apartment and when they asked if they could come up, the girls waved them off. Becky seemed to understand that she needed time alone, without anyone else but her roomie in the building.

“Call me later, sweetheart,” Nathan said, kissing Becky long and hard.

“Will do,” she replied.

Taking Maria’s hand, Becky led her inside and over to the elevator.

“No way,” Maria said. “I hate elevators.”

“You were stuck in an elevator once, with a mega hot guy to boot, so come on. Get in.” Her roomie shoved her inside the open door. “You’ve gotta get back on the horse.”

“In this case, I’d rather lose the horse,” Maria replied, but she was too tired to argue and ended up staying inside, watching the doors close. Her heart raced and the walls felt like they were closing in on her. She grabbed onto the railing and closed her eyes as it began its ascent.

“You’ll be fine,” Becky said, squeezing her shoulder.

Finally they reached their floor and the doors opened, and Maria bolted out of the small enclosed space. “There should be laws against elevators being so small,” she muttered.

“Come on, sweetie. Let’s get you inside and make you a rum and coke, then you can tell me what happened.”

“Honestly, I just want a bath with a rum and coke, and then sleep until I can’t sleep anymore. Do you mind?” Maria asked.

“We could go beat him up?” Becky suggested, raising her fists into a fighting position.

Maria laughed. “What am I going to do with you, dear roomie?”

“Promise me that you’ll be my maid of honor.”

Shellshocked, Maria stood there, gaping at Becky. “He didn’t.”

“Well no, but I know he will, now that everything is out in the open.”

Right now, Maria didn’t even want to think about marriage and sex. She just wanted to settle in with a good murder mystery and forget that love even existed, or that her heart may already be falling over in that direction. It was time to cut it off at the pass.

Reaching their apartment door, Maria reached out to put her key in the lock and saw that the lock had been jimmied and their door was open half an inch. Her stomach rolled and her heart leaped into her throat. “Oh, my gosh, not again.”

Becky grabbed her phone out of her pocket and dialed security at the front desk, telling them to call the police. When Maria went to push open the door, her roomie grabbed her arm. “They told us not to touch anything.”

“I need to see if someone is inside.”

Holding her breath, Maria pushed the door open with her index finger and saw a woman crumbled over the back of their sofa. Stepping backwards, her back quickly hit the wall across from their door. “No. No. No. No ”

They couldn’t see her face, but Maria knew she was dead. And she had a feeling it would be another one of his subs. Her stomach churned viciously, acid rising dangerously high in her throat. She swallowed hard, trying to keep herself from puking.

With a shaky hand, she pulled out her phone to call Sylvester. He answered on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Sylvester!”

Fear immediately rushed through Sylvester’s body at the sound of her voice. She was crying hysterically through the phone. “Nathan, we gotta go back.”

“Why?”

“Something’s wrong.”

“Say no more.” The man executed the type of U-turn you only see in the movies and was already zipping back down the road to the girls’ apartment. Whatever the situation, it couldn’t be good.

It didn’t take long for the boys to return to the apartment and this time they both raced up the stairs, figuring it would be quicker than taking the elevator. There was no way he was going to chance getting stuck, not if this had anything to do with what has been happening over the last while.

By the time they reached the fourth floor, security was already standing at the door with the girls. Becky had her arms wrapped around Maria, but as soon as Maria saw him, she bolted into his arms—seemingly forgetting all about their argument.

“A body. A girl,” she cried, pointing inside her apartment.

Nathan took both girls in his arms while Sylvester poked his head inside. The rancid smell of blood and death hit him hard. Covering his mouth and nose with his arm, he stepped inside the room, and step by step, he maneuvered his way to the front of the couch, almost knowing for certain that it would be someone he knew.

As soon as he caught a glimpse of the blond hair, caked in blood, covering a face that he knew intimately well, his face went ashen and he dropped to his knees. “Julie,” he cried, his voice cracking and strained, like someone had clamped down on his vocal cords. It couldn’t be her. He’s known her for years. She helped him through his break-up with Karen.

Doing what shouldn’t be done, he moved to the back of the couch and pulled her down into his arms. “Julie?” he cried, shaking her.

This couldn’t be real. It had to be a dream. “Julie? Babe, please. Open your eyes,” he begged, shaking her. It wasn’t long before the police and paramedics were pulling her away from him, taking her from his arms.

He just sat there on the floor, resting back on his haunches, dazed. Tears burned in his eyes, and he fought to reign them in. He wasn’t going to cry in front of everyone. But the minute Maria wrapped her arms around him from behind, he found himself blubbering like a baby. Turning, he held her tight, tears falling in great waterfalls down his cheeks.

“I’m here,” she said soothingly, her hand resting gently on his cheek as she rocked him back and forth.

“She’s dead,” he said, his body trembling. “I left her and she’s dead.”

Maria hugged him even tighter. He could feel her shivering against him, but still she offered him comfort despite her own fears. “This wasn’t your fault.”

Sylvester gave a hard laugh, mixed with a sob. Everything that has transpired lately has been because of him. Whoever attacked him was now going after the people that he knew, that he cared for. Clamping his hand on her forearm, he said, “You’re moving in with me.”