Going onward to kill the patron would be eminently doable and fucking amazing, but if I did… if I did that, I doubted I would ever find peace with Red. I would use her up until she was a husk.
“Though it would be the most awesome fucking using,” I muttered to myself.
“What?” Red looked up at me. Her mouth wobbled. Then she looked back to the tower and whispered. “Make it go away.”
I wasn’t a wizard. Her sadness though, strangely it tore at me inside my chest. I came up behind her and pulled her back into my body, then rearranged her hair where it fell over her shoulders. “I am never letting you go, Red, but I don’t want to see you like this.”
She sniffled, wiped at her tears with her uninjured hand. “I figured it was so.”
“I can make this memory go away. All the bad ones. Just give me permission, and I can.”
“Permission?” She had blurted that, with disbelief in every syllable.
Still, I waited, stroking her hair.
“I can never ever forgive this. Jesus. Never…” She shook, then said in a hoarse whisper with her voice cracking, “Yes, I give you permission. I want to forget this, but you have to promise you’ll keep taking the drug. You must.”
I turned her around, threw the pill into my mouth and swallowed. “There. I meant to anyway.” Then I drew her to me again and wrapped my arms about her with a sigh. “I will, and it will be done. I’ll make you forget this, soon.”
It would be a while before the drug affected me.
“I saw a meme the other day on the ’net. It said: If Beauty and the Beast teaches us one thing, it’s that looks don’t matter if you keep her locked up long enough.”
She grumbled something, and I bent my neck to hear. “Was that meant to cheer me up? Because you get a Z minus.”
“Damn. It was. Let’s walk.”
The sea was close by, off to the right, so I took us in that direction, strolling as if nothing much had happened.
But inside, I was thrilled.
I had it. She’d given me permission. And it counted. I was sure it did.
The excitement her gift of trust had blessed me with me had lifted me so high I was almost floating. I could do what I wanted to, within certain boundaries. Red had said yes.
I must think this through. It would have to be perfect before I tried messing about with her head this much, because I was not going to stop at today. I would erase all those other things I had done and give her a happy past, with me.
After a long, peaceful walk on a seaside path where sand crunched underfoot, I turned us away, and with Red’s unwounded hand clasped in mine, we headed toward the main streets. There I would find someone to drive us away.
Before we went where I wanted to go, I had to figure out how to collect Banjo. I wasn’t sure where our final destination would be, yet.
CHAPTER 22
ISAK
“Hark what light through yonder window breaks.” I struck what I judged to be a dramatic Shakespearian pose, and Red laughed at me and threw the dish cloth at my face.
She carried on locking up the front doors to the Red Posy, our boutique winery in the best part of Tasmania. The light through the stained-glass upper door panels was indeed beautiful and coated the timber floor in specks of gold, scarlet, and blue.
I walked forward and hugged her and received one from Red. When she leaned over, I delivered a pinch to her butt. “This little black dress… is way too little.”
“Shoo. If you want us to get going before it rains…”
The last patron had left. There remained only us, Bethany the cook, and Annabelle who doubled as cashier, function manager, and person of all trades.
“I’m off!” came from the back in the kitchen. That was Bethany. “Annabelle carpooled with me, so she is leaving, too.”
“See you both, Tuesday!” Red sang as she shot the floor bolts to do the final locking.
We pulled out of the graveled car park with the BMW smoothly purring like the beast it was, and the gravel cracking under the tires. The cows grazing on the paddocks to either side of the road brought back fond memories – though Tasmania was generally greener than a child’s green crayon. Kermit the Frog would blend in instantly.
“We will get showered and change and head for the kink party at Jeremy’s house. You have, ohhh…” I mock-checked my watch. “Thirty minutes tops or I put you in the suitcase and roll you up that awful driveway of his.”
“No! You promised not to use that. You know it’s a hard limit.”
I only grinned. “Thirty.”
I wouldn’t, though my dick told me to do it anyway. She would have been both terrified and turned on, I would have made sure of it.
And then – with Jeremy’s kink parties being as loose and carefree as they were – I’d have fucked her while she was inside the suitcase and pretended I’d invited a stranger to do it. I would have kept her guessing: did he or did he not tell the truth?
I sighed and sent her a glancing smile. “You know I will honor that.”
“Good.” Her swallow was one of relief.
Maybe I should retire the suitcase?
As we merged onto the small highway, I added, “I will however take it out on your ass later.”
“Hmmm.”
One aroused woman. Perfect. Though it lacked that zing of true fear I remembered and often pined after.
I have a hobby now, I reminded my hard cock. But… however… Things could be done. Nasty, depraved, violating things that Red loved, and
