Her Secret Betrayal Read online

  When the door shut, Marcus knelt in front of me, lifted me from my position and almost as soon as he touched me, I lashed out and started hitting him, struggling to beat him with my fists, my nails, with all the strength I had left in me.

  “Bastard! You promised he wouldn’t know! You promised me it would be a secret! You betrayed me! You betrayed me!”

  “Sweetheart, oh Kara I didn’t tell him. I didn’t tell him. Stop, now, stop.” His eyes were full of remorse, and he grasped my hands, took control of them and pulled me into his arms. I buried my face into his shoulder, surrendered, and sobbed uncontrollably.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered into my hair and held my shaking fingers. “I don’t know how he found out, but it wasn’t from me. I swear to you. I would never break your heart like this. I was such a fool. I should never have brought you here. Should never…I’m so sorry, Kara. I’m so sorry.”

  12

  ____________

  The cab pulled up in front of my apartment and I was so empty and tired inside I could barely peel my cheek from the cold window pane. Marcus had wanted to bring me home, but I couldn’t stand to look at him. I wanted to be alone with my broken heart. It was my own fault. I should have known he’d find out. Someone was out to hurt me personally, Marcus or Taylor or someone else I didn’t even know. It didn’t matter. I should have known they’d tip him off.

  The door open and a small figure on my front stoop clamored to their feet. It took me a moment of climbing painfully out of the cab, my body as sore as my heart, to realize it was Maris. She looked so much smaller than I remember her.

  She ran for me, her expression worried, but seeing mine, the tears came freely into her eyes as easily as they came into mine.

  “What are you doing here?” My voice came out horse and raw. She wrapped her arms around me and I held her and she held me and we stood that way for a long time.

  “Sean called me. He said…he said you needed me.”

  The cab driver honked impatiently. Maris called him a motherfucker then threw cash bills into the passenger seat. He roared off and she returned to my side. We clasped hands and made our way up to the front door slowly.

  “Is that all he said?”

  “He said I shouldn’t pry. He said something had happened between you and Marcus. Sean said he was pretty sure he had broken your heart again and he said, Maris get to her apartment. She’s going to need you tonight.”

  Somehow we made it up the stairs to my apartment.

  I really wasn’t all that surprised to find the invitation to the opening and the receipt for the costume taped to my front door. Beneath the black marked words Wear this, were new ones.

  You’ll be there.

  I ripped the tape off my door and silently fumed. The door didn’t look messed with, the lock gave way when I unlocked it. Nothing in my apartment had been touched except the invitation that had been on my counter and now wasn’t.

  “Kara?” Maris watched from my side, confused, worried, maybe a little afraid. I shook my head and dropped my bag and my invitation on the counter. The bag contained my flimsy dress. I wore a light nightshirt and pants, something I could have worn to bed, new out of the package Conrad had brought in when Marcus was calling me a cab.

  “There are things I have to tell you Maris. I don’t know if you’ll be able to look at me the same afterwards.” I didn’t look at her, couldn’t, but she stalked right into my face and took my hands in hers.

  “Not normal is normal, sweetheart. I wouldn’t judge you for anything.”

  I nodded. I told her everything.

  ###

  The bathwater trailed along my bent knee to make ripples in the still water. I rested my cheek against the porcelain side and tried to make myself as small as possible. I’d never felt so disconnected in my life, but Maris hadn’t left my side and that was more than I could say about the men in my life.

  If I had to do this alone, I didn’t think I’d make it.

  Maris slipped into the bathroom and lowered herself to sit on the toilet with the seat down. She clicked off the portable phone and cradled it between her knees.

  “The shop owner said the ticket is for a dress. A ball gown, actually. And a masquerade mask. It’s your size.”

  “The opening is a masquerade party,” I murmured.

  “The invitation is for a plus one. I want you to take me.” She turned the purple card over to show me. I lifted my head to look, my brow furrowing.

  “Maris. I’m not going.”

  “I hate myself for even saying this,” she shook her head. “But I think you need to go. Whoever this is has been pretty tame until now, but has shown the can get to you when they want to. If you don’t go, who knows what they’ll do?”

  “He doesn’t want to see me. If I show up…he could make a scene…I don’t want to do that to him. Not at his opening.”

  Maris tapped the card with her nail and considered this for a moment. “Maybe that’s what they want, for Sean to make a scene. To humiliate him in front of all the most important people in the city.”

  “It would ruin the restaurant.” I sat up, waves crashing along the chipped porcelain. “It would sink it before it even got off the ground.”

  “We’ll figure it out, Kara. You and me. If you can’t count on your best friend for support against criminal saboteurs, who can you count on?”

  Foreboding creeped in where my broken heart lay in tatters. I stared at the purple invitation, the swirls of tree limbs circling the words, the shadows of monsters hiding between the trees.

  Like my mural. Stray from the path. Get eaten by wolves.

  Continued in the finale, Part 3, Her Secret Power

  ***

  Thank you for reading part two of my erotic romance series SECRETS. Look for the dramatic finale Her Secret Power in late December, 2012. The people stalking Kara and threatening Sean and Zach Castle’s restaurant are finally revealed at the opening masquerade ball where no one is who they seem. Sean will have to make a choice between Kara and his dreams. There’s a kidnapping, a murder, another trip to the private club Abrasion, and an ending you’ll never see coming.

  ***

  About the Author

  My name is Jordan Bell and I am an author of erotic short stories and novellas. And oh would I like the chance to turn you on! I love writing stories about strong women exploring their sexual fantasies, shy girls discovering their inner sex kitten, and absolutely everything in between.

  Read for pleasure. It's like sex for the imagination.

  Connect With Me Online

  Join my mailing list! All new subscribers receive a coupon code for one free copy of a current bestselling title as well as sneak peeks on new releases and discounts available only to current subscribers.

  My blog: http://jordabell.com/

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorJordanBell

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/Jordan_Bells

  ***

  Loved Her Secret Betrayal?

  Then don’t miss my two part erotic romance The Submissive Behind the Mask #1: Bondage & Curiosity. Kat Koile has known Josh her whole life. He’s her older brother’s best friend. When Kat attends a private adult Halloween party, she discovers Josh, a dominant, is giving a demonstration on rope bondage play. Josh can’t take his eyes off her, but she’s been like a kid sister to him all his life. And yet, he can’t bear to let another man dominate her instead…

  One party will change everything.

  Short excerpt from The Submissive Behind the Mask #1: Bondage & Curiosity :

  What I knew was that I felt deeply, inconsolably vulnerable in this position and the only solace I found came from the heat of Josh's body standing protectively behind mine. At least, that's what I imagined he was doing, protecting me as it bound me to him literally as well as emotionally.

  I closed my eyes and concentrated on my heartbeats. At first, and especially when he touched my body with his full, strong hands, my heart had raced out
of control until I thought I might pass out. Twice I considered safe wording when I thought I was going to pass out from panic, but both times he'd sensed my unraveling control and reassured me. I could still feel his mouth against my skin and the husky, growly voice that had praised me for my submission. The panic eased both times until I could breathe and now that I knelt at his side, his rope holding me still, the sense of adrenaline soaked excitement and terror eased away and left behind a strange sense of comfort.

  The ropes did not hurt and, in fact, weren't uncomfortable in the slightest. I felt a deep stretch between my shoulder blades through my biceps down to my tail bone. I let out a breath and sank forward into the stretch, allowing my body to relax against the binds. They constricted, tight enough to hold me together even when I felt at my wildest.

  "I'm..." The words fled from me. I couldn't articulate what I was feeling if I tried and to my relief Josh seemed to understand. His hands, long familiar to me, stroked the length of my arms over the bumps of rope pressing and stretching my skin, down to my elbows and back up. He captured my hair in his hands, wound it around his fingers and pulled until my head tilted back at his control, the pressure very lightly painful.

  "Shhh, it's alright Kitty Kat, take your time. You're doing so well, sweetheart." I recognized Josh's deep timbre, but it wasn't the voice I heard him use day in and day out at the bar. This one vibrated along my spine, deepened to the core of me. His praise warmed the blossom of pleasure I'd felt earlier between my legs when he told me he liked to dominate young women and I understood. I understood the vibration in his voice was desire, barely restrained, extremely private, and wholly my doing.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10