Chapter 97: Chapter Ninety-Seven

Gloria walked through the door with a sway of her hips, thanks to the high heels Nora had given her. The lighting illuminated her room, but the large two-way mirror prevented her from seeing who was on the other side. She glanced around the space, noting the stripper pole, a velvet green chaise lounge, a black shag rug in front of it and a wingback chair whose armrests looked perfect for propping her knees up. Gloria walked forward and spotted the control on the floor which would allow her to switch the lighting from her room to the other or have both on at the same time. She shook her head slowly and decided to try the stripper pole first.

Gloria gently touched the cold metal and walked around it. She noted how the pole seemed to move with her touch and she realized that’s how dancers were able to twirl and move effortlessly. Gloria gripped high up on the pole and lifted her legs, smiling at how she slowly pivoted around the pole. She dropped her head back and ran her free hand through her loose hair. Gloria hopped up higher and wrapped one leg around the pole as she slowly slid down it. She gasped softly as the cold metal rubbed through the lace of her panties. She did a few more spins and experimented with different ways she could hook her legs around the bar. Only a few minutes in, though, and the combination of the pole between her legs and the knowledge that one or more people could be watching had her sweating with arousal.

Gloria bit her lip as she looked at the chaise lounge and how it faced the window. She took the few steps toward it. She lay down on the chaise lounge and ran her hands along the hard planes and soft curves of her body. The lace felt good beneath her fingers, making her moan. While her left hand ran back up her body to touch one of her breasts, she let her right hand stop at the crux of her legs.

When she closed her eyes, she saw a pair of black orbs staring back. Gloria’s fingers glided over her wet heat and her body shivered. She dipped one finger inside and then another. As she often did, she imagined how Frankie would feel on top of her: his weight, his eagerness, his callousness as he chased his own desires. Her fingers worked quickly within her, pumping in and out in a rough rhythm while her thumb stroked across her clit, stimulating her nerve endings. Her left hand traveled along her body, twisting her nipples through the lace lingerie until they were painfully erect. Her nails dug into her shoulder as if they were his teeth, before raking down her arms like they were his hands, leaving bruises and marks so everyone knew who she belonged to.

Her breath was fast and sharp as she chased her release. Despite the quick movements and the image of Frankie fucking her against the wall as if he couldn’t wait the thirty seconds it would take to get her to bed, Gloria couldn’t reach her climax. She lifted her hips, trying to find the angle that would make her see bright lights behind her closed eyelids. She groaned in frustration and removed her fingers from her pussy. She dragged them slowly up her body, over the delicate lace, and sucked them into her mouth with a moan.

The image in her head shifted. What if he didn’t want her quickly? What if he didn’t force her movements like he did Polly? What if he savored her? Craved her? Tasted her skin as if she were much too rich to devour all at once? Her left hand grazed down the flat planes of her stomach and through the swollen lips of her pussy. She bit the fingers of her right hand as she slid her fingers slowly inside her core. Her hips lifted off the chaise lounge and rolled. She inhaled sharply and moaned.

The Frankie she imagined now held her close as he practiced immeasurable patience within her. He kissed along her neck, down the slope of her shoulder, counting till five in his head before he reentered her. Heat crawled along her skin as her fingers glided in, out, in, out. The fingers of her right hand caressed her breast rather than squeeze. Her thumb stroked delicately over her nipple and she moaned. She turned her head toward the two-way mirror and opened her eyes. She bit her lip at the reflected image of what she was doing to herself.

Her skin was red with excitement, her eyes were bright behind her mask, goosebumps covered every inch of her skin as Frankie continued to ravage her in her mind. She gently circled her clit as her fingers picked up their pace. Her hips rocked against her hand and she gripped the velvet lounge with her free one. Gloria looked up at the ceiling. She opened her lips to call out Frankie’s name when she remembered where she was. She clapped her hand against her mouth as she came on her own fingers. Gloria whispered his name into her palm around her muffled cries as she experienced one of the most intense orgasms she’d ever brought herself to.

Gloria closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed as her mind quieted from the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She smiled to herself and swung her legs over the edge of the lounge. She stared at the two-way mirror with a smug grin, knowing whoever was on the other side got quite the show. Feeling bold, she walked over to the mirror and squatted down. She stared at the glass as if she could discern their presence.

“Screw it,” she whispered. She wanted to see who she’d been fucking herself for.

Gloria leaned over to the controls and hit the one that would illuminate both rooms. The light in the viewer’s side flickered on, showing a red-curtained room with a circular couch surrounding a long table. The couch looked large enough to fit ten people, yet there was only one. He sat in the very center, his arms stretched out on the back of the couch while he watched her intently… with black eyes like that of an endless abyss.

Gloria watched, frozen, as Frankie Donati slowly stood up from the couch and walked around the table. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked toward the glass. His shaggy hair hung down over his eyes, obscuring his emotions but doing nothing to hide the lustful smirk pulling at the left corner of his lip. Awareness prickled at the base of her spine. It traveled up through her veins, electrifying her nerve endings, urging her physical body to react. Gloria came out of her daze with a jolt. She fell forward and grappled for the switches. The lights flickered as she fumbled for the right one. By the time she managed to shut the light off in her own room, obscuring his view of her, her breath was coming in short, halting gasps.

He didn’t see her. That was stupid, of course he saw her. He didn’t know who she was, though. There was no way. Her mask covered most of her face. They’d only ever spoken twice. There was no way he…

Frankie’s shoulders moved slightly as he chuckled to himself. He leaned forward and exhaled hot breath along the mirror until a dense fog coated the glass. He lifted his right hand and started to write. Though he was on the other side of a two-way mirror, the letters he wrote appeared in the correct direction for her to read.

Hello…

The fog disappeared, forcing him to blow out another stream. She held her breath as she watched each letter appear one after the other, sealing her fate with each line he drew.

Lilah

Her breathing stopped altogether as he continued to watch her as if he could see every micro-expression on her face. He knew. Frankie Donati had watched her masturbate… while thinking of him. And he knew who she was the entire time.

FUCK!

Gloria ran. She didn’t look back as she shoved through the door of her room. She looked down both sides of the hallway, too overcome to remember which direction the changing room was. A door at the end of the hallway to her left slammed against the wall, making her jump. When she saw the enraged male walking through it, her legs responded to instinct and she ran the opposite direction.

Frankie’s amused chuckle followed her down the hallway as she tried each door, looking for the one that would lead to salvation.

“Running is cute…” Without warning, Frankie clipped her heel. Gloria screamed as she fell forward, only for the scream to be caught in her throat as his fingers gripped her arm, pulled her back up and slammed her into the wall. Then he was crowding her and his eyes were engulfing the color of hers. “Futile, but cute.”

“L-l-look, I don’t know who you are but…”

“Don’t,” Frankie warned, the toes of his combat boots flush with the delicate tips of her heels. In a flash, his hand flung up, grasped the ribbon of her mask and ripped it off. Gloria squeezed her eyes shut as if that would keep her from being identified. She felt his fingers wrap around her throat and tilt her chin up. “What are you doing here, Lilah?” Frankie growled.

His fingers tightened until she reluctantly opened her eyes. When she did, she noticed the pupils of his dilate. “I… wanted to make some extra cash.”

Frankie scoffed. “If you need money, you come to me.”

Gloria actually snickered, making the anger creasing his face smooth around the edges. “And would I have to make you come for that money, Mr. Donati?”

Frankie’s lips pulled up in a smirk and the fingers around her throat loosened further. “Maybe we could eventually get to that, but to start…” His body somehow edged impossibly closer so that she could practically feel his heart thrumming against her ribcage. She inhaled sharply and his eyes dropped to her chest, noting how her nipples were poking through the lace of her lingerie. He bit his lip until it was bleeding. “I’ll give you everything in my wallet if you simply tell me what it was you were thinking about in that room?”

A door opened and a feminine gasp echoed down the hall, but neither of them broke eye contact with each other.

“Frankie! What the fuck are you doing?!” Nora yelled.

Frankie pursed his lips and breathed in sharply. “Dammit.” He turned his head, allowing Gloria to slump back against the wall. “Stay out of this, Nora,” Frankie growled.

“Hah! Fat chance,” Nora hissed, the clack of her heels drawing closer.

“Did you bring her here?” he asked. “Is this what you’ve been doing with your girls? Bringing them straight into a viper’s nest where their abusers can waltz in and…”

“It was not my idea,” Nora answered defensively, now only a few feet away.

“But you didn’t stop it!”

“Let go of her,” Nora warned.

Frankie looked back at Gloria and the hand he still had around her throat. He leaned forward, but Gloria didn’t flinch, which seemed to excite him further. “I’ll take my hands off you, little vixen, but as for letting you go?” His eyes dipped to her lips as she traced her tongue across them. He shook his head, keeping his eyes trained on the path her tongue had just taken. “You shouldn’t have come here tonight.”

Frankie pushed away from her and she gasped as his heat was sucked away from her. He took two dangerous steps toward Nora, who rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, unintimidated.

“Bring her here again and you and I will have issues,” Frankie warned.

“Get the fuck out of my face or we’ll have issues, Frank,” Nora snapped back. “Go take your anger out on someone your own size,” she added with a nod of her head to a man entering the hallway to see what the commotion was.

Frankie smiled, the sort that made the hair along Gloria’s arms stand on end and her instincts warn her she should prepare for a fight. He stalked toward the man at the end of the hallway.

“Is there a problem, Mr. Donati?” the man asked with a heavy Irish accent.

Frankie grabbed him by the lapels and shoved him against the wall in a way that proved just how gentle he’d been with her. “Look at that girl down there,” Frankie ordered. The man looked to Gloria and Nora. “Just her face, you fucker,” Frankie growled. “Memorize it. You see her in here again, you call me, or I burn your precious club to the ground and coat the ashes with your blood.”

Frankie shoved him away and left the hallway without looking back, his anger following in his wake as if it were strong enough to manifest a physical entity.