ch24

I listened again to Chloe's recording as I sat on the train, scrolling through the same 2 minute clip where she talked about her grandmother.  If she's a con-artist, she could turn on the waterworks easily, but they felt so genuine.  It also poked at something inside of me... 

If I could've been a con artist to make enough money to send to my parents and make sure they were okay... or to my dad to get proper treatment so he wouldn't have died so soon... fuck the government and the law, I would've done it.  

And revenge.  Another thing I understand.  To be honest, I didn't think innocent little Clo had it in her to do something like this out of revenge.

But Winters shouldn't have to pay for something he didn't do.  Sure he was a pedophile, but 17 is on the verge of consent, and Clo wasn't even actually 17.  And he's slimy, but didn't actually do anything wrong.  Or did he?

I was lost in curious thoughts when I got home, but as soon as I pushed open the door, the negative energy hit me.  I barely flipped on the light when my gaze landed on the immobile, seething figure, sitting up straight.  "Where the hell have you been?"  Gabe shot up from his seat and strode towards me.

"Bro, don't you know to give a warning instead of just sneaking up on me like this?  Gonna give me a fuckin' heartattack..."

"We had a meeting two hours ago!" he shouted, leaning in to intimidate me.

"My bad, I forgot...."

He gave a sarcastic laugh.  "Forgot?  Bullshit.  You blatantly disobeyed my instructions."

I rolled my eyes to be met with a mild slap across the cheek.  "Hey!  What was that for!"

"Whatever smartass comment you were about to say."  Then he popped me again in the same spot, slightly harder, grabbing my wrists when I went to swing back at him.  "And that's for the next one.  What the hell is wrong with you?  Did I throw 15 grand down the garbage believing that you're mature enough to work on this case?"

"Fuck off, I was actually out on a case lead and that's why I missed the meeting," I grunted between struggling to free from the grip he now had on both of my wrists.

"Where were you?"  When I didn't answer quickly enough, Gabe let go of one of my wrists to yank my earlobe, and growl into my ear:  "Did you forget or are you thinking up a lie??"

"No!  Ow!!  Let go!" I shrieked, slapping at his fingers still clamped to my earlobe.  "I was just doing research!"

He shook his head in disbelief, and instead of releasing his grip, dragged me towards my room.  

"I told you before that Winters Corp is sketchy as fuck.  I have to do my own underground research on them... Ayyyy will you fuckin' let go already!"

We'd reached the bedroom and he shoved me inside, finally letting me go.  I got a good look at him for the first time — he'd brought a small duffle bag and was still dressed in work clothes, minus the jacket and tie, sleeves rolled up.  Gabe dropped the duffle bag on the floor and snapped his fingers.  "Strip, now."

I stomped my foot and started protesting, giving every reason in the book that I shouldn't have to comply.  Gabe didn't respond as I tantrumed, just fiddled with the zipper of his bag, forcing it open.  I continued yammering on and on even after he started unpacking.  First he took out restraints, then opened the bag wider where I could see the rubber paddle that he sat to the side.  That made me gulp a bit, speeding up my chatter some as an attempt to convince him not to punish me.  But then I noticed something that left me stunned into silence:  ginger root.

"No way!" I finally said when I found my words again.

Calmly, Gabe looked at me and said, "My instructions were to strip.  You have ten seconds before I start adding extra lashes.....  Nine.... Eight...."

My eyes widened as I realized he wasn't joking, and with half a second to spare, I had my clothes tossed to the side and stood naked in front of him.  "C'mon, there's no need to...."

"Enough!"  It was abrupt enough to get me to shut up (and roll my eyes).  "I've heard enough of your bullshit for one day.  I didn't bring my gag so keep it up, and I'll have to find something else to shove in your mouth."  He grabbed my right wrist and enclosed it in the handcuff.

I huffed loudly, eyes narrowing at him.  "This isn't fair!  I didn't do anything wrong."

With a sigh and no other word to me, he stomped out of the room, then came back with a fresh bar of soap, ripping it out of the box that he tossed to the side.  Before I had the chance to protest, the ivory bar was shoved in my mouth until I bit down, much to my disapproval.  "Enough of your tantrums, Young Lady, unless you want me to repeat this humiliating scene tomorrow during our get-together."

My face flushed at the thought of being gagged and figged in front of all those people, but the rage about how rich powerful white guys get away with murder unfairly suddenly came to the surface and I jerked the bar of soap out of my mouth, throwing it at him.  It ricocheted off his shoulder, smacked the side of his head, then plopped to the floor.  "Bro, fuck you!  I told you I was getting evidence!"

Gabe's eyes danced in flames.  His fists squeezed together in balls as he digested the scene.

The image replayed in my mind and I couldn't hold back my laughter, but he didn't think it was funny and slapped me across the cheek again, this time hard enough to make me stumble.  My reflexes had me swinging back at him, so he grabbed the wrist with the handcuff on it and effortlessly thrust me onto the bed.  It took me so off guard that I didn't have time to react when he already had the chain between the bedpost, and the other cuff wrapped around my left wrist, leaving me with only my legs to fight.

With this new feeling of helplessness came more anger (fucking therapist has me too aware of my moods now), so I kicked at him until he backed out of kicking distance to grab something from his bag.

With my fighting came a faint memory of Andy, reminding me that less than a month ago, I'd been dreaming about this moment with Gabe, which left a taste in my mouth more bitter than the soap.  I'd gotten exactly what I wanted.  And now was about to really fuck it all up...

When he came back, I was trying to stand up, still blabbing obscenities at him.  I was probably a silly sight, wrists bound above my head with my feet half on the floor, jerking to get free even though there's no way I'd break these cuffs.  "Let me fucking go!"

Gabe easily pushed me onto the bed butt first into a sitting position, which gave me the chance to glare up at him.  His jaw was locked in a stern frown, eyes narrowed at me.  It was the only thing I had time to see because he bent down and reached for my knees, tipping me over so I was lying on my back with my feet in the air, most embarrassing position ever.  He grabbed my thighs and pulled me forward, wrapping his left arm around my lower legs to inspect my bottom.  "You've built up a tolerance to the cane," he said, poking at a welt on my sit spot which caused me to squirm and earned me a hearty smack on the thigh with the rubber paddle.  "Quit fighting. You're only making it harder on yourself."

"Oooowwwwwww!!!!  What the fuck!!!  Fuck that piece of shit implement."  It landed again, this time on my other thigh, causing all other sorts of colorful words to erupt from my mouth.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"  Another brutal blow against my left sit spot.  "That little tantrum with the soap will not happen again, Young Lady, do I make myself clear?"  He added two stingy licks.

"Fuck you, nothing's wrong!  I disagree with this stupid punishment!!  Let me go!"  I tried to kick again, heels banging on his back, hoping he'd let go but was kinda useless.  Instead I felt a few more lashes on top of the bruises from yesterday's caning.  "I don't consent to this bullshit!!"

He paused. "You'd rather discuss this tomorrow as a group?"

"YES!"  I was confident that Toby and Molly would both agree that I didn't deserve this torture.  At the very least, Molly would be on my side, since she knows why I can't tell Gabe.

Another lash landed.  "No trying to sway Molly when she gets home from work," Gabe ordered, looking into my rolling eyes.  "I'm serious.  I'll make sure she knows if she does, there will be consequences for her tomorrow, too."

"You're such a dick," I spat.

He smirked and swatted me a couple of more times.  "Tomorrow you'll see just how much of a dick I can be," he assured me as he released my legs.  Before unlocking my hands, he grabbed my chin to look at him.  There was a furrow between his eyebrows, lips firmly pressed together.  "Do NOT use this as an excuse to relapse, or I won't care if you consent, and that's a promise."

I gulped, feeling a lurch in my tummy, suddenly feeling like my dinner was about to come up.  But I kept my poker face, nodding so he would let me go already.  He stared into my eyes for a moment longer, which for some reason made me feel more sick and squirmy.  He didn't say anything else, though, just unlocked me, gave me an air kiss to the cheek, and walked out.  

Awkward and naked, I stood in the middle of the room, absorbed in my feelings.  It was too much, too overwhelming, and the racing thoughts made it worse.  

I mindlessly dressed in pajamas, tidying up my room as echoes of Clo and Toby's conversation bounced through my brain.  

In the other corner of my mind were images of my family.  My parents *some relevant memory*.  Vic *another relevant memory*

And Gabe... memories with him.  *something showing that he would want her to be loyal to chloe*