Winter's Beast: A Beauty and the Beast Novel Read online

  The elevator doors open and I walk her to the back. The side of the stage is dark, and we’re fully ensconced in shadows.

  I know I shouldn’t, but I reach up and caress the side of her face. “It will be okay.”

  Winter presses her cheek into my hand.

  She takes a deep breath and then turns. Her steps echo across the stage as she walks towards the awaiting cage.

  ~~~

  Once again, I’m hanging from the rafters in the giant birdcage. I take deep breaths to prepare myself. I know what to expect this time.

  The announcer comes out and introduces me like the night before. They begin to lower me as the curtain starts to rise. The music to Habanera starts softly from the speakers as the cage comes closer to the stage. I take a deep breath and begin to sing. At the sound of my voice and being fully revealed on stage, parts of the audience who aren’t in the throes of passion clap enthusiastically.

  Before the spotlight hits me, I can see that the lovemaking is barely getting started and most eyes are on me. They’re probably hoping for a repeat performance from yesterday. Once I’m fully bathed in the light, I can no longer see them and internally thank the heavens. It is not easy to sing while watching people in the middle of some sexual act, let alone a room full.

  As I sing my way through the musical set Ivan has provided me, I pretend as if I’m singing at any other concert. I pretend everyone is dressed in their finest and seated in rows of theater chairs.

  This helps with blocking them out in some ways, but not in others. I can still smell the scent of sex in the air. I can hear the occasional moan and cry as they fuck to my voice. My heart pounds between my legs as I sit on the swing. I squeeze my legs together and try to concentrate on the songs.

  I’ve been aroused all day, and this is not helping.

  I sing the last notes of I’m Feeling Good. My last song. I love Nina Simone, yet Ivan’s precious club is ruining one of my favorite songs from her. He’s ruining all of the songs I’ve sung tonight.

  I breathe a sigh of relief. The bright lights fade away. My relief dies with it.

  Ivan.

  He struts towards me like a peacock. His smile is wide and bright.

  “Winter, you were phenomenal.” He says as he opens the cage for me.

  “Thank you.”

  “My members love you. I knew you’d be perfect for my club.”

  I don’t respond. I mean, how else should I respond to being forced to sing in the devil’s den of iniquity?

  Every time I’m here I feel shameful. Shameful because every time I become aroused. My ex used to call me vanilla. I’m beginning to wonder if he was the one who was vanilla. That maybe I needed something…else. Something…more. Something that he wasn’t giving me. Maybe I need an audience. To see them and for them to see me. A voyeur and an exhibitionist all wrapped into one. Or even a masochist. The mixture of pain and pleasure making me tremble with anticipation. Maybe I’m so opposite of vanilla my ex couldn’t even find the key to unlock my arousal.

  My mother would be so proud. She practically beat purity and the virtues of being ladylike into me. She would be scandalized by the desire flowing through me now.

  I’m afraid if I stay here much longer, I’ll find out just how twisted and impure I am.

  “Come, let me show you around.” Ivan offers his hand, and I reluctantly take it.

  I’d rather go back up to my room. I don’t want to see any more than I already have. And I certainly don’t want to meet any of the members. Looking them in the eyes after what they witnessed last night.

  Ivan looks back and gestures with his head for Yury to follow. I silently pray that Ivan doesn’t force me to do anything in front of Yury just for spite.

  He takes me around the main room. Introducing me to members of his club, but also to his staff. He takes me to the large bar in the back of the room, orders me a glass of champagne and introduces me to the bartenders. I ignore the hungry looks they give me. It was obvious that they watched my shame the night before.

  That is the main thing I notice as Ivan leads me around. Almost everyone looks at me as if they’d strip me bare and screw me where I’m standing. From his members, to the wait staff, to the guards placed around the room.

  The most shocking part is… Something inside me wants them to.

  “Let me show you Voyeur’s Alley.” Ivan gestures towards a darkened doorway.

  I swallow hard. I don’t think I can take much more.

  We walk through, and there are several doors down a dimly lit hallway.

  “Some members like their privacy and are free to fuck in the rooms I have designed on the floors upstairs.” Ivan begins to explain. And I realize the whole building is his. “While others like to be watched, but not out in the open like in the main room. They like the idea of being spied on through a peephole or two-way mirrors. Come on, I’ll show you.”

  I can hear screams and groans of pleasure through the doors we pass. Each door has either small round peepholes or those slider things like on prison doors to look through to the other side. A handful of people were doing just that. Watching.

  We walk towards a small group of people staring through a pane of glass. They smile and make room for us.

  Built in the wall is a large window, which I assume is the two-way mirror Ivan was talking about. Like they show in all those crime dramas on TV.

  On the other side, the room is painted a deep red with dark wood furniture on a hardwood floor. There are two men and a woman. They have her stretched out on a tall, cushioned bench. She is completely naked. Her body, long and slender with enviable tan skin. She’s on her back, and her head is hanging over the edge of the bench and one man is pumping his long penis into her open mouth. He’s dressed in a suit with only his erection jutting from his unzipped slacks.

  “It’s easier for her to take all of him with her head back like that. It opens the throat so that she can take him deeper,” Ivan whispers against my ear.

  I can’t stop the tremble that runs through me as I watch her throat move with every thrust and feel Ivan’s breath against my sensitive skin.

  On the other end, the man is naked like her. His body is a work of art. Like Michelangelo’s David come to life. Her legs are up and resting against his chiseled chest and abs. His penis is shorter than the other man’s, but a lot fatter. Stretching her wide as he strokes into her. With every pump, her breasts bounce and pushes her mouth further down the length of the other man.

  The man taking her bottom half reaches over to a table with several toys nearby. He selects a vibrator. He turns it on and places it on her clit. Her back immediately rises off of the bench. She reaches back and grips the hips of the man at her mouth. Her hips buck out of control against the man with the gorgeous body.

  She’s climaxing. It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen it up close and personal before.

  I hear the smack of flesh nearby. I turn my head and see the couple that has been watching the threesome since we first walked up has apparently been quite affected by the show. The woman’s dress is pulled up around her waist, her panties are halfway down her thighs, and the man his pounding into her from behind. His pants are undone just enough to release his penis.

  I know my mouth must be hanging down to the floor, but I can’t help myself. I swear I’m so turned on that I could hump a lamp post. I’m not used to this level of arousal. And I have no idea what to do with it.

  I obviously know that all I have to do is give Ivan the okay and we’d be screwing like the couple standing right next to us. I don’t want Ivan, though.

  After last night and that dream, I now know I want the man that I can sense right behind us. The man who is observing everything. The man who is watching my every move. The man who I know is just as turned on as me but won’t admit it.

  I don’t know where to look anymore. At the threesome through the glass or the couple next to us.

  “I know you want it. You want to be her. Filled up fr
om both ends. Or her. Taken roughly in a dark corner with strangers next to you.” Ivan breathes, stepping closer to me. “I can give you all that and more. Just say the word. Just say yes.”

  I feel his erection on my back. It feels big. I can’t help but wonder if Yury’s would feel as big or bigger.

  “I-I can’t,” I stutter.

  I feel his forehead press against the back of my head as if he is fighting to control himself.

  “I’ll wait. I know you’re close. I can smell your excitement. Soon, Winter.”

  He clears his throat and straightens. I hear him speak to Yury as I watch the two men in the room cum on the limp, sated woman on the bench. One sprays her tummy and the other on her lips and outstretched tongue.

  “Skotina, you can take her to her room.”

  Moments later I hear footsteps retreating.

  I look back at Yury. His puppy dog brown eyes smolder. I’m surprised I don’t go up in flames at the heated look he gives me.

  He lifts his arm in the direction of the exit. We leave the couples basking in their afterglow and step back out into the somewhat brighter main room. My eyes find Ivan, and I see him in a booth with a plump blonde woman bouncing up and down on his lap. Only a hint of his condom-covered shaft peeking out with every upward stroke. He found my replacement. That was quick.

  His eyes find mine, and he stares at me with a confident smirk as he fucks a random woman. I swear the look says, “This could’ve been you. Soon.”

  I need to get out of here before I go crazy.

  As if Yury can read my mind, he picks up the pace leading us out into the main lobby quickly. He hits the call button on the elevator with more force than needed. It’s like all of his frustration went into that push.

  The doors open and we step inside. When the doors close we stand side by side. An insane amount of tension threatens to buckle the four walls of the elevator. Never in my life have I been so aware of someone, the way I am with Yury at this moment.

  I look into the polished almost mirrored doors of the elevator, and I can see Yury’s hands are fisted tightly at his sides.

  Does he feel it too?

  He’d said last night that he has feelings for me. After my dream, I knew that I had similar feelings for him. So standing there watching two different sexual encounters happen right before our eyes, being incredibly aroused, finding no relief and now standing next to each other, pretending there’s nothing there between us feels like I might go mad.

  We stand only centimeters apart and stare at the numbers on the elevator as they count up. It’s like torture. Everything in me wants to touch him. The doors finally open and we walk sedately to up to my room. Though I want to sprint. Yury opens the door for me to walk through.

  I stand in the middle of my room. My eyes on him. I’m sure they’re burning, reflecting the heat radiating from my insides. Yury just stands there staring back at me. Unable to step forward nor to close the door.

  My heart tattoos against my ribcage. I convey with my eyes how badly I want him to come in. My teeth find my bottom lip, and I bite down.

  “Yury,” I whisper in invitation.

  His jaw ticks rhythmically. Finally, he breaks eye contact, looking away abruptly. Then he quickly shuts the door, leaving me alone.

  The heat that had passed between us is sucked out of the room. I shiver at its absence.

  My body is still keyed up. It thrums like a guitar string. The pulsing is centered in my clit, and my panties feel warm and damp.

  I can’t even masturbate to alleviate my need. Even the word makes me cringe inwardly. I’ve never been able to do it. Every time I’ve tried, it feels like hell and damnation are waiting for me. Nothing kills the mood faster than envisioning white Jesus tsking and wagging his finger at you.

  So instead I head into the bathroom to take a cold shower.

  It’s gonna be a long night.

  Chapter 14

  It's morning and I lie in bed looking up at the ceiling thinking about the last thing Ivan said to me. “I’ll wait. I know you’re close. I can smell your excitement. Soon, Winter.”

  During my imprisonment, I’ve realized, Ivan likes to collect things. And people. To own them. Material items aren’t enough for him. He has everything he could ever want. Homes, cars, boats, and all the toys a person could imagine all over the world. Now, it seems like he’s become bored with owning things and has moved on to the next best thing.

  I know he wants to own me. My obedience. My body. My life.

  He already has my obedience. I know that if I don’t find a way out soon, he’ll wear me down and take what he can of my body. But he will never own my life. He’ll have to kill me first. I will always look for a way out.

  I turn on my side angrily. Something white catches my eye on my nightstand. I rise up on my elbow and see a piece of paper that looks an awful lot like Yury’s notepad paper sitting on top of the book I’ve been reading. I reach over and grab it. A smile spreads across my lips, and I fall back into my pillows. I read his bold, precise print once more.

  White lashes flutter against soft cheeks,

  Kisses, the Beast dreams to break Beauty’s sleep.

  A love note. A poem. From the most unlikely of people. His way of apologizing for turning down my silent request the night before. He must have written it and left it there sometime last night or early this morning.

  Did he watch me sleep?

  His note suggests that he did. Yet instead of creeping me out, it warmed my heart.

  Speak of the devil, Yury’s signature knock taps on the other side of the door. He must be here with breakfast. He comes at the same time every day.

  “Come in,” I call out as I sit up eagerly.

  The door swings open and Yury walks inside. There’s no tray in his hands, and he has a worried look on his face. My smile fades.

  The love poem is forgotten.

  This can’t be good.

  He gestures out into the hallway.

  I hold up a finger, “Give me just a sec to get dressed and brush my teeth.”

  He nods and goes back out into the hallway.

  I quickly brush my teeth, pull on a pair of linen pants with a bra and tank, and throw my hair up into two big afro puffs on top of my head like a little girl.

  A small part of me hopes that looking too young will deter Ivan. Knowing my luck, though, it will probably turn him on.

  I make my way to the door and twist the knob. Yury didn’t lock it this time. I open the door to his wide back. The man is a walking brick wall.

  “I’m ready.”

  Yury turns, and a warm smile stretches across his face. Apparently, he approves of my look. He stares at my lips for a moment. I wish he’d kiss me, but instead, he turns and leads me down to the dining room.

  I walk inside behind Yury. My steps falter as he steps to the side, unblocking my view. Ivan is sitting at the table in his usual spot at the head. But he’s not alone.

  The blonde woman from last night is sitting in the chair across from my usual place. She looks up and smiles at me with a Cheshire cat grin. Obviously, their night extended from the club to the bedroom.

  Ivan winks and gestures to my chair. “Come and have breakfast with us.”

  I hesitantly walk over to my chair as Ivan stands. He pulls the chair back for me and pushes it in as I sit.

  “Winter, this is Gabrielle. Gabrielle, this is Winter.”

  “Bonjour,” she says happily.

  “Bonjour,” I say politely, though I feel on edge.

  I could be wrong, but it might be because Ivan’s little friend is sitting at the table in what appears to be one of his white dress shirts. Unbuttoned. With nothing on underneath. At least not that I can see.

  Whenever she moves, I catch a hint of side boob.

  I look away and focus on filling my plate with eggs, fresh fruit, and a buttery croissant. I try my best to eat and ignore my breakfast companions, but they quickly begin to make that impossible.
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br />   Ivan speaks fluent French to Gabrielle, and they laugh and chatter as he feeds her bits of food. I can’t help but to roll my eyes. Unfortunately, I do it right as Ivan looks at me.

  “I think it’s time to have my fresh fruit this morning,” Ivan says offhandedly, which lets me know it’s anything but. “I can’t forget one of the major food groups. Besides, I do love peaches in the morning.”

  He reaches over and grasps Gabrielle’s arm and pulls her onto his lap. She giggles joyfully. Ivan pulls her closer to capture her lips. I turn away when I see his tongue dip into her mouth.

  Of course, my eyes can’t help but to look again as he lifts her up onto the table.

  At this point, I’m pretty sure I could catch flies, my mouth is so wide open.

  Gabrielle pushes the plates and other dishes out of the way as she lies back on the table. Ivan reaches out to stroke a hand down her skin between the open shirt. I was right. She isn’t wearing anything underneath.

  My heart is now pounding.

  He isn’t really going to… Oh my God, he is!

  Ivan spreads her legs wide, exposing her vagina to the world. Well, only to the room. But still. He leans down and slowly licks up her lady flower with a flat, fat tongue. His eyes on me the entire time.

  “Mmm…peaches,” he moans.

  I shoot up from my chair, nearly knocking it over. I’m ready to flee from the room.

  “Sit. Down.” Ivan orders distinctly.

  I frown and slowly sit as Yury pushes my chair back under my butt.

  “Since you have chosen to deny me what I want, you will watch as I do to others what I’d rather do to you.”

  I’m assuming that either the woman doesn’t understand much English or she doesn’t give a flying fig that she’s being used as a sex toy to torment another woman.

  Ivan dips his head back down between her legs.

  “Oooh, Ivan!” Gabrielle cries as he licks up her lips again.

  He keeps her legs down and flush against the table as he spreads them wide so that I can see everything. His tongue flicks, swirls, and circles over her clit. Her hands squeeze her breasts. Her fingers play with her nipples. Ivan slurps and hums against her.