Chapter 1
Emma
'Excellent,' chimed Alex, his joy sending another wave of terror down her spine. 'Then we have much to do to get you settled in.'
Walking to another darkened edge of the room, Emma watched as Alex retrieved a shiny object from a cupboard she hadn't noticed was hiding in the shadows. As the little draw of the dresser slid shut she heard the jingle of something solid and metal shaking in his palm. Glancing quickly at Val, Emma watched him step back towards her trembling figure. Although he kept his back to her at all times she could imagine the stoic look dressing his face, his body rippling with contained muscle as he watched Alex move into the middle of the room.
'Here.' Alex handed Val the shiny object and nodded towards Emma with a smile. 'It's your turn to play the bad guy this time. You know what I want you to do Val, come on don't be shy.'
Emma hunched further into the stale mattress as Val took the item and turned for the first time in what had felt like forever back to Emma.
'Come.' He demanded holding out his hand, a blank look in his eyes. 'I need to put these on you and get you ready for Alex's next punishment.'
The blood flowing through Emma's veins ran cold. Didn't she get a reprieve? A moment to think about her decision before they went on to the next game! Staring tearfully at the two men locked tightly with her inside the dark room, Emma knew she had no choice. If she refused one of them would just make her do it anyway, Alex with joy and Val because he would be forced to comply.
Delicately Emma placed her hand in Val's and felt herself dragged from the false safety of the mattress into the middle of the floor. Her heart melted with terror every step she took further into the thin shard of light that penetrated the centre of the room from the small window she could just make out overhead.
Without offering her a look, Val demanded she hold out her hands. As she splayed her trembling fingers in front of her naked body and looked to the floor to hide herself from their watchful eyes, she felt Val press a pair of shiny silver cuffs around her wrists and click them down tight. A fresh wave of panic seized her body and without considering her next actions Emma began to scream and fight. She kicked wildly at Val's poised form and shrieking into the small space, prising at the tough metal with her fingers. Oh my God. Panic assailed her lungs... no no no.
She could handle anything but physically being restrained right now. She had been vaguely prepared to take a punishment, suffer pain in this new task that Alex had decided to start but the moment Val had clicked a pair of cuffs and restrained her arms even one tiny bit, Emma couldn't help but freak out. 'No...no' She cried, struggling to free herself from Val as he grabbed her arms and swing her to pull her into his body tight.
'Stop...calm down,' he almost begged, pinning her arms to her side so she couldn't damage her or himself while she screamed and lost her shit.
'No Val please... I can take whatever you want me to without these holding me down. Please I don't want to be cuffed. Please Val' Emma screamed. As much as Emma could sense him wince behind her as he tried to steady her flailing body, he kept her hands firmly in chains, even reaching around to grasp both her wrists in one hand and dragging them above her head.
'I'm so sorry sweetheart,' he whispered, careful to keep his voice low enough to avoid Alex's ears. 'I have no choice.' With his broken explanation he drew her arms into the air and caught the chain between the cuffs with the palm of his hand. Looking up to follow his movements Emma noticed with a tremor that hanging from the ceiling was a thick metal chain, a sinister looking hook hung from the last link waiting to grasp hold of something, anything and never let it go. It reminded Emma horrifyingly of the hooks they used to hang dead carcasses in freezers, the meat just swinging lifelessly in the air pierced by the vicious point that dangled below the strong metal cord. As Val reached to loop the cuff link bound to her arms over it, Emma let out another ear piercing scream. She knew it was helpless to struggle, helpless to do anything at all but take whatever her next punishment would be for choosing to stay with Val in this hell but she couldn't bring herself not to fight.
She had had only seconds to consider her fate before she had been forced to choose between a life of abject terror or death and although losing her virginity on a mattress upon a cold dark floor had been horrifying, humiliating and painful at best, somehow it hadn't extinguished her hope of someday finding a way to escape.
To go on and live a normal life in the sun surrounded by all the things she wanted, needed. A loving husband who would touch her gently and lovingly in the night, children too cuddle and play with each day. Yes the constant ringing of Alex's and Val's voices telling her she wouldn't survive their prison buzzed in her head but she had managed to ignore the words long enough to clear her mind, drag herself from despair and agree to stay in their gloomy jail for a time only because she knew eventually she would get free. But now as they continued with her torture without any reprieve and Alex watched Val hang her from the ceiling like a piece of useless meat, the uncertainty in her future came flooding back, pouncing on her mind with a ferocity that screamed she would die chained to this prison, swinging on a hook like a pig and once Alex had had his fun he would throw her out or bury her somewhere underground for no one to find.