Cuffing Kate Read Online Free Page B

*
    Jules strolled up to the coffee bar as usual. I started
trembling when he approached the counter to order. “Shot in the dark,
right?”
    He reached out and put a hand on top of mine, holding me still,
calming me down. Was he going to ask to see more of my sketches? I had a stack
behind the counter. Was he going to tell me he’d only threatened Sonia with
cuffs as a joke?
    “Everyone knows she’s a lesbian,” Jules said, smiling.
    I couldn’t believe what he was saying.”Break,” I told Dan, “be
right back.” Dan gave me the evil eye before stepping up to the counter. He
liked making money, but he hated having to work. I walked out of the small
structure to find Jules waiting for me at the back.
    “What did you say?”
    He took my hand again. I was extremely aware of his skin
against my skin. I wanted to tell him that usually, I touch myself through a
barrier. Only when the heat arises do I try skin on skin. To mimic this in real
life, we ought to have been wearing gloves. Those were the nervous, crazy
thoughts jangling through my brain. Luckily I was wise enough to keep my lips
sealed as he led me away from the coffee bar, down a little hill, to a concrete
planter. We sat together under a jacaranda tree. All around us were the pale,
purple blossoms, the honeyed scent in the air. Maybe this was a dream. I
couldn’t, for the life of me, understand what was happening.
    “Sonia’s a lesbian. You know that. I know that.”
    “She doesn’t know that,” I said. Then I backtracked. “Well, I
mean, I don’t think she did until last night.”
    “What happened last night, Red?” He stroked my hair out of my
eyes, and a fresh tremor ran through me. He was gazing at me in a way that men
generally admired Sonia. Which reminded me in a heartbeat that he’d asked her
out first.
    “I think she hooked up with Eleanor. But why on earth did you
ask her out if you think she’s into women?”
    He stared at me with the same expression I’d seen on his face
in class, a look that said he knew something more than the instructor did, had a
concept that had yet to be explained.
    “You really can’t guess?”
    I shook my head.
    “You can, but you want me to say the words. That’s fine. I can
say the words. I asked her out because I wanted you…”
    “But…” I wanted to believe him. My heart felt too big in my
chest. He had his hands on my wrists now. I gave a test tug, pulling. He held on
tight. Handcuffs. I saw that word again—this time
written in my mind instead of in Sonia’s notebook.
    “But why didn’t I ask you out from the start?”
    I swallowed hard and nodded.
    “I wanted you to want what I was
going to give you. I wanted you to be consumed with need. There are rules in a
debate,” he said, “but there are always people who cheat.”
    Oh, Christ. He’d played me so well. Knowing how jealous I was
of how men responded to her, knowing somehow that I was kinky. How had he known
that? How had he known I wanted someone to tie me up?
    “But what if she’d said yes?” I needed to know the answer to
this.
    “She wasn’t going to say yes.”
    “What if she had?”
    He shrugged. The lady or the tiger? I would have to choose the
decision for myself. Would he have postponed the encounter, or tied her up and
fucked her? Did either answer make me want to run? No.
    I stopped tugging. His grip did not relax. He squeezed even
tighter, before finally releasing me.
    “Do you know where I live?” he asked.
    I nodded without telling him I’d stood outside his apartment
before, staring up at his windows. Considering begging him to handcuff me.
    “Come to my place after work,” he said.
    He would have no debate from me.
    * * *
    I burned myself twice in the next two hours.
Exasperated, Dan finally told me to call it a day. I must really have been
driving him nuts if he were willing to man the coffee shack by himself. I untied
the apron and grabbed up my battered messenger bag. I knew I ought to go home
and