Chapter 20

I had been feeling sick since morning, and Rover had come to check on me. Unfortunately, all I wore was a towel that wrapped my lady parts. Water trickled down my wet hair to my shoulders, back, and chest.

"Hey, gorgeous." He called, and I walked past him to the bed.

"We might have a problem." Announced Millie. I swallowed hard, focusing on the floor since I had no idea how he'd react.

"Yesterday, I felt lumps on her breast, so I got the doctor to check her. There is a possibility that she might have breast cancer." Millie broke away, and I heard Rover shout, "Whaaat!?"

He walked over, grabbed me by my upper arms, and strangled me.

"What the fuck did you do when you ran away? I had the medical examination done on you when you got here, and you were perfectly fine. Now what's happened? Tell me! Tell me!" He yelled.

"Rover! Rover! She is sick." Millie said, and he dropped me on the bed. "It is not certain yet. The reports will come by 9 p.m. today." She said.

Stomping his feet, Rover stormed out of the room.

Millie hugged me.

I stayed in for lunch too.

Later, in the evening, around 8, Millie set to her work, making me a She-Devil in a bright blood slutty dress.

I waited when Millie came running into my room with papers.

Reports.

She opened the envelope and Rover entered the room. He snatched the reports from Millie and opened them, sighed.

He came and hugged me tightly. So much so that he almost choked me.

"Thank god you are okay, my little devil." He whispered, and I wanted to puke right on him.

I wasn't his anything!

Millie had tears of happiness, and she patted me on the shoulder.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Roy's face gleamed in the light, bringing my drumming heart to ease.

"I think it's my time now with Feisty." He said, nodding towards me.

"Sure, sure, sir." Rover smiled broadly. Then he smacked me on my ass, and shivers ran all through my body. Roy's jaw tightened, and his muscles clenched as he made a fist.

"All yours," Rover said and went out of the room, followed by Millie, who closed the door behind her.

Roy ran towards me, and I collapsed in his arms.

"You sure about that revenge thing? Because I want to beat the shit outta him right now." He said.

"Shh. I don't want to talk about him." I replied.

"Does he always treat you that way?" He frowned.

I inhaled, closing my eyes. And then kissed him, as deeply as it is humanly possible.

He wrapped me in his arms, and I felt right at home.

"How do I look?" I breathed between the kisses.

"I meant it when I said, 'It's my time with Feisty,'" he said and, smacking me naughtily on my butt cheek, dropped me on the bed. I wrapped my legs around him.

*****

When Rover was moving towards his room, he saw a silhouette of someone at the end of the hall.

He jogged towards the stairs and saw two girls dressed in lingerie giggling to each other with vodka bottles in their hands. They were Firecrackers.

"Hey!" Roy shouted and ran after them. Terrified, the girls mounted the steps and ran across the corridor, and hastily getting into the elevator.

Rover swore under his breath and watched the elevator stop at the top floor.

He took the other lift and reached the top floor. Then he looked around and saw a girl dropped on the floor and the other helping her to get up.

It was Kareena and her blonde friend.

Kareena was the one on the floor, and as she saw Rover marching towards him, she dragged herself up and limped inside the nearby room.

Before her blonde friend could close the room behind them, Rover was already there, pushing the door open.

The girls found themselves in a small dark auditorium, created for small parties and gatherings but often used as a strip room.

The room was only lit by the light that entered with them through the corridor, and Roy could easily see their terrified faces.

"What the hell you two bitches think you are doing?" He thundered.

"Let me explain," Laila said from behind him, and before he could turn, she hit him on his head with a rod and knocked him unconscious.

******

Rover opened his eyes. He found himself sitting with his hands and legs handcuffed. His clothes were gone, every piece.

Suddenly the room lit up a little brighter, and he could see all the Firecrackers, in lingerie, circling around him beyond the white ring, holding whips.

All the Firecrackers, except for one.

He swallowed.

Yes, darling! You are in your worst nightmare.

One of them called, "Beauties, let the Fireworks begin!"

Laila walked in the ring and placed her heel over his knee, and he cried in a rushing pain.

She raised the whip and brought it down sharply, to devour the soothing music of Rover's screams.

Nights after night, she had screamed in pain as men had pushed themselves into her. She wished she could inflict the exact pain on him.

So she struck him hard, again.

"This is for bringing me here forcibly, for making those men rape me. For blackmailing me that you'd bring my ten-year-old daughter into this!" She yelled with glistening eyes, and many Firecrackers covered their mouths in surprise.

Next came Kareena.

She struck him hard twice before saying, "This is for not letting me go."

Then came Karen, who was among those who enjoyed being a part of hotel Magnificent. She agreed to take part in Fireworks, all five did!

She struck him once, saying, "This is for lying and hurting my friends." She spat.

And one by one, they forwarded to take their turns.

"Girls, girls, I am sorry. You all can go, you all can do whatever you want! Please, forgive me." Rover whimpered.

But the Firecrackers continued whatsoever.

"Help! Help! Somebody help me!" He yelled at the top of his voice, but no one came to his aid, and no one would.

When all the Firecrackers were done, Rover lay on the floor crying. His body was red with whip marks.

And when he anticipated, the sufferings were over, two figures revealed themselves from the dark corner of the room.

His mom and Roy.

"Mom! Roy! Please help me. Please help me." He begged.

Roy ran towards his brother, and Rover tried to get up expectantly.

Roy punched him hard, and Rover dropped on the floor. He picked him again to blow a punch right at his stomach.

"Enough! Enough child!" His mom said, grabbing his arm and pulling him away.

Roy obeyed reluctantly.

"Mamma," Rover cried, and his mom stood in front of him. Cold.

She slapped him hard on the face. "Consent." She spat. "Consent. And freedom. If a grown-up educated man can't remember these two fucking small words, he deserves no mother!" And she walked away.

Then when Rover thought that his suffering was over, and this couldn't get any worse, the door flew open, and I stepped in.

I walked towards him in a blue slip dress, the one he gifted me on my birthday, the one he got me out of before he fucked me, metaphorically and literally.

"Scarlet, Scarlet, please forgive me. I have had my punishment. Please." He cried as Laila handed me a whip.

"I suffered worse," I said, touching his cheek with the whip before I slid it down his torso.

"You made me suffer worse. You made all of us suffer worse. And for what crime were you punishing us, Rover?" I asked.

And the ring that ran around us blazed with fire, and Rover shifted in the middle, trying to get as small as he could.

"Burns, isn't it?" I said. "This was how your touch felt. You gave burns in my soul Rover. You burned all our souls." I shouted over the crackling of the fire.

"And they almost killed me today. But I loved you, Scarlet. I still love you." He said, and that was the last nail.

"Liar!" I roared and flapped my whip hard between his legs, over that thing with which he punched holes in my life, in my soul. He gave out the most horrendous cry I had ever heard, and everything came rushing back to me.

"What you have is evil! Tainted! Nothing even close to humanity!" I cried and hit him again on the waist. He cried aloud.

"You cheated! You took away my virginity to make me a sex toy! You almost destroyed my entire life!" I cried and hit him again repeatedly.

Then I threw away the whip and watched him cry facing the ground.

I caught him by his hair and pulled his bloody and wet face up.

I pulled my hand behind me and jerked it with all the force I could muster, slapping him hard.

"This is for trying to kill Rosa, you asshole!" I yelled and watched him drop hard on the ground and go unconscious.

I collapsed on the ground, crying, letting it all out.

Rover came into the ring and wrapped a shawl around me, letting me cry as I clung to him. Then the police barged in.

******

"Are you okay?" Roy asked, massaging my arms.

"Yes," I replied softly.

Mrs. Malhotra approached us with a smiling face.

"Thank you." She said, looking at me with glistening eyes.

"For?" I asked, looking at Roy.

"For bringing both of my boys to the right track."

I could feel the adrenaline rushing to my cheeks to turn them bright red. She then whispered something to Roy, and he had the biggest smile hearing it. Then he kept looking at me admiringly.

I frowned as his mother left.

"What is it?" The curiosity nudged me hard.

"My mom said she is proud of me."

"Wow!"

"Because of you." He said, tucking a hair behind my ear.

*****

"Honestly, I wouldn't have believed you at first with that whole revenge thing. But when I received that letter and job offer, I wanted to believe you like I never did. It would be nice to earn, to do something decent." Kareena confessed.

"I too think I'll give this decent job thing a try. See what's all the fuss about. And if that thing fails, well! I always have this offer from a real nice brothel. Thank you very much, Scarlet and Roy." Karen said.

"I narrate fairy tales for bonds of love and bravery and heroes to my daughter. Now I'll have something real too." Laila said, looking at both of us.

Listening to them and others, I felt so overwhelmed that I had tears till the end and turned to Roy to add to my peace and satisfaction by his soothing embrace.

*******

"Scarlet!" Rosa tried to sit up as she saw me. She was bandaged over her head, her hands, and legs. She had a hand and a leg fractured.

The doctor had said she was lucky to be alive.

"Rosa!" I called and ran towards my sister to hug her. Her cheeks too were wet, matching mine.

"I am so sorry, Scarlet, I shouldn't have done that. God, you have no idea how much I hated myself for doing that. How much I loathed myself for doing this to you. I am so so so sorry." She cried, and I made my grip stronger around her.

"No. It turned out good. If I had never returned there, I wouldn't have been able to rescue others out of there." I said.

"Yes, Singh told me about it all. It was kick-ass awesome." She said, and I looked at Singh, who blushed standing near the corner.

"You know Singh likes you, don't you?" I whispered in her ear.

"And he'll learn that I began to like him too, soon." She blushed. "He was here with me all the time. He was there for me even at Roy's house. And when that truck hit me and I laid there conscious for just a second, I thought of you and him, not Roy, you and Singh. And now I realize I was obsessed with Roy, but I never loved him. I envied you for having a guy who was so much devoted to you. I feel that from Singh. By the way, his first name is Aarav." She whispered back.

Roy coughed theatrically and said, "Happy reunion ladies. But there are two gentlemen here as well."

"I am seeing my sister after so long, I don't care about the gentlemen!" She made a face and hugged me.

"I think we do." I giggled.

"Yeah, we do." She chuckled in my hair.

"And those Stamp Men, they found you because of me. Rover contacted me, I talked to him on a call, and they tracked my device." She said aloud and cried. "I am so sorry, Scarlet."

"Sh. It's okay."

After some time, Roy and I decided to leave, and I asked Singh to stay here with Rosa, to take care of her.

He nodded, yet he couldn't conceal the shine his face just got, and Rosa's cheeks were red with blush.

"Is this goodbye?" She asked us as she watched us leave.

"There can never be one between us."

"Somethings going between them, isn't it? Rosa and Singh?" Roy asked when we were out in the lobby.

"Definitely!"

*******

"Where are we going?" Roy asked as I took him by his hand, with a blindfold over his eyes.

Then I took him slowly into the pool and got his blindfold off.

His eyes twinkled, watching the swimming pool decorated with close petals and candles.

I got him by the edge of the pool.

"Now stay still," I commanded, and he took the statue pose.

Then I kissed him once and got his shirt off, kissing his beautiful abs as I did, and he gave away a melodious sigh.

Then I got off his pants and underpants, kissing all the way.

Then standing up, pushed him into the pool.

"Remember, when we first met and you said I couldn't even imagine what your idea of foreplay is?" I said, taking off my bathrobe and my underwear.

"Guess what? I found out!" I said, stepping to the edge of the pool.

"Clearly." He said, flashing his sexy smile and looking around. "But how?"

"Rusty Scar told me," I said, stepping into the water.

"That asshole ratted me out!" He said, grabbed my waist and gave me a mind-numbing kiss.

I let my hands wander around his body, anywhere, everywhere, and he did the same.

"Before we touch the clouds, I have something for you." He said.

"What?" I whispered, getting eager to fly.

"Job offer. As a CEO of Red Page Publications." He said, and my heart lept with surprise.

"Whaaat?" I couldn't believe it.

"Yes," he smiled.

"But I can't take this. I don't want it on a silver platter, I want to earn it." I said.

"I guess I knew that," he replied, sighing, "that's why I had another offer handy. Assistant editor." He grinned and I hugged him.

"I can work with that," I whispered.

"You know I am afraid of the dark," I said and he frowned.

"Yeah." He said hesitantly. I turned around to get the blindfold and tied it around my eyes.

"Whenever you touch me, you knock me out. Make me enjoy this dark. Kiss me. Fuck me hard. Like you mean it. Like you never did."

He picked me up and swirled so that my back was against the wall of the pool. He kissed me deeply, then bit my lip, and I could feel how turned on I was between my legs.

He kissed and bit at my ear, my neck, my breast, my stomach, hitting each of my erogenous zones I barely think anyone ever did, and then he got in.

He was into me, and I could imagine his beautiful golden eyes settled on me. Our bodies moved in rhythm, his lips teased the skin around my mouth, and his breath tickled my neck and chest.

Every touch, every feeling was so heightened by the dark. And he did it! He made me crave the dark, to be in this sense of ignorance, and feel surprised every time his body touched mine.

I smacked his ass, and he went faster, wilder.

He smirked on my shoulder and said, "And then you were worried you might not satisfy me. Baby, you are beyond my satisfaction. You are a fantasy, and god knows I am a lucky bastard to live my fantasy."

"Then I guess there's no word for my fortune," I said between my moans.

He touched me within, again and again, and every time he went deeper and deeper with me, my soul felt loved.

I traced my hands over his back and locked my hands behind his neck.

Suddenly, he went beyond my limits. The sweet torture, the incessant pleasure, was making me go crazy. Panting, he got my hands from behind his neck and pinned them on the wall.

"Scarlet Gill," he panted, giving me the little death of pleasures.

"Yes," I said and heard how louder I was moaning now.

"I love you."

And I could swear my heart raced like it never did. The adrenaline hit every inch of my body with pleasure and ecstasy as he went inside me, again and again, and again, wilder and wilder.

Don't stop. Don't stop. Don't stop.

Never stop.

"I love you too."