Roxy bit her lip so as not to make a single sound, she could hear slow heavy footsteps coming closer, and they made her nervous but strangely heightened her excitement. She could sense Him standing behind her now, eyes burning holes in her form, tracing and recording every detail to his memory, a dripping tap in the sink the only noise in the silence that surrounded her. Anticipation filled the room, making her feet want to shuffle, and her nails want to dig grooves in the hardwood under her palms. She pursed her lips and stared ahead, keeping focus on a half empty Jack Daniels bottle hanging upside down over the ice bucket. When would she feel His touch on her skin again? He had left the bar to go to the cellar some 30 minutes ago, and returned a while later, simply watching her, occasionally pacing about the bar, not uttering a single word.
On His instruction she'd kept silent, waiting as she was put for His return, she couldn't quite understand why she must stay silent while He wasn't there, but she didn't want to disappoint Him, and certainly wasn't about to quit. She'd sealed her fate half an hour ago by uttering what she believed to be the most important 7 words of her life, and the one meaning the biggest change from here on in. She jumped and gasped silently as she felt Him touch her softly, fingers tickling the raised hairs at the back of her neck, soft electricity buzzing through her entire body, the wait was worth it.
Jael caressed her hair with His hand, pulling the bobbles and releasing it from its high buns, watching with a smile as it tumbled free down her back in purple waves. Lifting and placing the hair over her left shoulder, He started to trace her throat with his fingers tips, making little circles over her lower neck, down to her shoulders and slowly back up again. He watched a slight blush rise in her cheeks along with a fresh wave of goose bumps over her pale skin; He resisted the urge of licking and biting her skin, and returned to slowly teasing her neck instead. How perfectly still she had been, though he could feel her mind racing, contemplating moving, wondering what he would do next.
She'd surprised Him, when He had moved to behind the bar, to watch her eyes; he had expected the usual doe eyes of a woman more than willing to submit to Him, or anyone willing to teach them, He always found an abundance of people that wanted to be trained for someone, but had never found anyone close to what He Himself was searching for. Roxys eyes had seemed to flame in front of Him, in an almost challenging way, a quiet determination, and real concentration. It had made His heart rise and almost burst in delight, letting Him believe that He had at last found someone He would want for his own, and that she might just want Him too. He leaned in close to her ear, breath warm on her cheek, voice soft but commanding.
"Good girl...you've done very well to stay perfectly still"
His eyes wandered, over her hips, her taught thighs, beautifully bent at the waist, leaning with palms flat on the bar, skirt hiked up around her hips. He had been very tempted to push her quicker, toying with the idea of taking her knickers down to her knees as well, but all in good time, He wanted to take it slowly with Roxy, so He could enjoy every single minute of it.
"Roxy, I want to gain your trust, and your respect, but you must earn mine also. We can only do that by being honest with each other, completely. When I ask you a question I want you to answer as best you can, I will never tell you off for getting something wrong as you are learning, but I will punish you for misdeeds, and if you decide to lie to me. Never be afraid to ask questions, and never be afraid to say stop at any point, even if you feel that you are disappointing me by doing so."
Roxy lifted her head, listening intently.
"Though I will be testing your limits, I can only do that with your help, and you must trust my experience to help you push more than you might think you can handle. You have already proven I can trust you in part, as you did so very well with your first task of not moving until I asked you to." He paused, and turned her face over her shoulder to meet Him, deliberately slowly.
"Now, Roxy, are you ready to continue?"
Roxy nodded and Jael laughed silently, seeing a slight flicker of a grin cross her face, gone as quickly as it appeared, like a private joke reserved for a chosen few. He took her hands from the bar turning her round to face Him, and without warning she got onto her tiptoes and kissed the crease of his smile.
Her forwardness brought a quizzical look to his face, having never had this kind of behaviour before He was a little taken back as to what his reaction should be. Placing His hands around her waist, He did the only thing his mind was screaming at Him to do, he pulled her up off her feet and kissed her deeply, lips pushing wantonly against hers, tasting and exploring her, tongue darting and fighting.
A quickly as He had swooped her up, He put her down again, and stood two paces back, an eyebrow arched in a triumphant manner. Regaining His composure, he took her hands once more and lead her to the back stairs of the bar, leading up to a locked flat, He felt Roxy pull back a little on his grasp.
"We can't go up there...the owner of the bar lives there, all the barmaids tell me he is very secretive, none of us have ever seen him..."
Roxy trailed off as she gazed at His smiling face, watching Him reach into the dark recesses of His black coat, and pull out a set of heavy silver keys around a large steel ring, she noticed it was attached to the long chain around His neck. Pulling her onwards up the stairs He stood just outside the door, and looked down at her, eyes watching her through His raffish and raven like curtain of hair, now falling forward over His face. Moving one hand behind Him, Jael ran his palm over the perfectly polished wood and grooves of the door, around large carvings of vines, deep set leaves twisting in a carnival of flora, and darker pieces of inlaid wooden grapes.
"Oh? Is that so pet...?" He breathed into her ear, placing the keys in her hand and leaning back against the doorframe.
"Well I can tell you, he has seen you, and is very much taken with you, I have no doubt he wouldn't mind your presence in his home..."
Jael took her hand, wrapping her fingers tightly around the largest of the keys, and guiding it to an ornate silver lock just below the scrolled handle, turning it smoothly to the left, then all the way back round to the right, hearing a mechanism snap loudly inside. The door slowly and soundlessly opened a crack, letting a small bar of soft orange light fall on the wall beside them, travelling like the dawn until it landed between their bodies, now a warming glow, obscuring their view but welcoming them home.
Jael guided her into the hallway, and shut the door behind them; lifting the chain from his neck and placing the keys into a deep white bowl filled with midnight blue rose petals, making the room smell vaguely sweet. Looking down Roxy could see a soft white rug beneath their feet, parting the apple wood flooring and leading all the way into a soft-lit room at the back of the flat.
She watched Jael from the corner of her eye, gracefully bending down to lift her feet, and unlace her boots while she took everything in. He took His time lifting her bare feet from her boots, placing her onto the softness of the rug beneath; she couldn't help but giggle when she noticed her red painted toenails sinking into its depths.
Large paintings adorned the walls, dark landscapes with raging lightening storms, huge mountain ranges and seas, moving onto portraits of young women lying on chez lounges being fed grapes, or sitting by the feet of a dark haired man, looking up in a seeming serenity and love. She ran a finger over the contours of the painting nearest, a smiling young woman, lying on her stomach, feet in the air, head in her hands, blanket draped over her shoulders and back. Roxy stopped when her fingers reached a signature mark in the very bottom corner, the letters J.B standing clear in red scribe. She felt Jaels hand again on her shoulder, comforting and warm against her skin.
"You own Jacobs bar don't you."
It was a statement rather than a question, and she didn't know how she hadn't seen it before. She lifted her gaze to meet His, and found she couldn't help but smile when she saw His own lip curled into a delighted smirk.
"Yes, I bought it a few years back, but I've still been silently in control of the place, managing stock, keeping the place running, hiring staff..."
His heavy eyebrow arched as if to accent the statement. He cupped her cheek with His palm when He noticed her face drop.
"I meant I hired Craig, he is surprisingly good for business, people like nice pretty bar staff and landlords they can feel better than. We both know he is a complete berk, but he does his job. He hired you, I simply allowed him to."
In one swift motion, Jael leaned down and lifted Roxy into His arms, cradled with her arms around His neck. He stepped off of the carpet and strode towards the back room, heavy leather boots echoing with each step onto the apple wood.
Slowly, the light got brighter, and Roxy could see what was obviously a study; a large high desk made from wood that appeared impossibly black, with a red leather covered high backed chair, with no arm rests, placed in front of it. Deep bookshelves adorned the walls with titles she recognized and loved, epics by Aeschylus, Greek tragedies and modern plays, poets from all over the world and all across time, horror writers like Poppy Z Brite in pride of place within reach of the chair.
He carried her into the study, and sat her onto the leather chair. She noticed straight away there were no doors in the frames, just an archway leading in, and one at the other side of the room leading out.
