Day 5: Part 5

The Dungeon

Thirty minutes later and we were all sitting in Jasper's Mercedes, driving at a speed that did little to soothe my nauseated stomach. Tanya was wearing a thick, heavy collar and one of those ridiculous all-leather outfits that squeaked when she walked. Her eyeliner was dark and thick and in the half-light of the car, she sort of looked like a demon.

An awkward struggled had occurred as Tanya and I fought for the backseat. I didn't really want to spend any period of time sitting next to Master of the Night Jasper, regardless of his surprisingly good mood, and Tanya was having a weird sort of sub fit about sitting in the front seat when there was a guest on board. But after she threw a few panicked glances at Jasper, I took the front.

Jasper had some soft piano and violin montage playing in the car, and I was angry with myself for a pang of sadness I felt after remembering Edward's playback song on his cell phone. The pang tightened my chest for a second and I fought the urge to hurdle myself out of the car and scramble towards his house.

Tanya provided most of the entertainment for the ride to the dungeon party, babbling on about who might be there and who might now and, wow, how long had it been since they'd gone to one, exactly? A few weeks, surely. Maybe more. When had she last gotten her highlights done? It was around then.

I kept mostly quiet. Mumbling a few times when Tanya's voice reached an excited pitch. But mostly, I pressed myself as far into the passenger side door as I could, trying to put as much space between Jasper and myself as at all possible. I was sure, that with my leg pushed so far into the door handle that it hurt, and my arm falling asleep from being pinned between my body and the window, I wasn't being subtle. But the guy still made me nervous. He wasn't interacting with Tanya at all; only letting her babble on about what a phenomenal time we'd all have. I guess I wasn't interacting with her either, though.

Then Tanya said something about a line of whipping benches and taking turns and my nerves began to fray.

"Ugh," I groaned, pressing my check harder against the cold glass. There was absolutely no way I was ready for this. I hadn't even shown any excitement after Jasper had asked me to come along. I thought about those fucking House Rules and how I had already broke one by not offering to take the bench in his playroom, and my throat began to tighten. I opened my mouth in an attempt to speak, but groaned quietly when the words wouldn't move past my lips.

With that quiet sound, Jasper pulled the car over to the side of the road and slammed it into park.

"Lean over," he said at the same time the first wave of nausea turned my stomach. I pressed my face into my knees, squeezing my eyes shut. My body trembled just a little as he lifted my shirt off of my back. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," I said, gripping the underside of my thighs. "I'm going to throw up."

I reflexively tightened the muscles in my lower back only a moment before Jasper's hand smacked it in one quick, painful motion. I shuddered a little, disliking the pain, but after a moment of assessment, found that my panic had subsided.

"Where are we?" Jasper asked.

I swallowed. "Green."

He merged back onto the road and I kept my head on my knees. He kept his hand on my back.

Tanya had run out of things to say.

The second Jasper parked in front of building, he got out. I sat up in my seat, stretching my back taut as I rose. We had been driving for quite a while, and I was now stiff. I stopped moving halfway into a sitting position, and leaned towards the window to look up at the sigh outside the building. Oshiri Sushi and Fish Mart. Figures, I thought gloomily.

I turned my head to look at Tanya when I saw her door open. Jasper bowed into the car and gave her what I can only assume was the first genuine smile I'd seen. He extended his hand for her and she bowed her head in response, and graciously took it. He pulled her out of the car and shut the door. They rounded the front of the car and stood in between it and the building. He picked her up and spun her around in a little circle and though I couldn't hear them through what I was sure was straight up bulletproof glass, the way her mouth opened let me know she was probably squealing. He put her down and bent her backwards, following the lean curve of her body with his, until he could reach her and place a chaste kiss on her lips. She threw her head back and laughed and that sincere smile was back, opening his mouth wide and gently bearing his teeth. He was happy.

Sitting in his car, wrapped in a dress shirt that was not my own, but one Tanya had found for me in the depths of my closet, and peaking into a couple's (sort of) private exaltation, I felt heartbreakingly alone. What the fuck was I doing here? I had Edward, only a ten minutes' drive from Jasper's, who was probably weeping over the fact that I wasn't with him, and instead I was sitting outside of a fucking sushi restaurant, pretending not to stare at Jasper and Tanya as they flounced about?

Why are you doing this again?

Because you have a panic disorder?

Why was that a question?

Why are you asking such a stupid thing? You know why you're here.

This panic thing isn't so bad.

Yeah. It is.

I had definitely zoned out for a moment. And I must have kept my eyes fixed on Tanya and Jasper when I had, because when I came back to earth, the first thing I saw was Jasper staring at me.

He was facing me and Tanya had her arms wrapped around his neck, her body flush against his. She was kissing a small, delicate pattern up the side of his neck and his head was cocked to the side, allowing her full access to his skin. He was doing that looking thing he often did while looking at me, but his expression wasn't really one of interest, or amusement, or disgust. He just looked curious. His calm demeanor was back, set in place by the realization that he was being watched. I smiled. Surely he knew he had been watched. Jasper always knew. Jasper probably put on a show for Bella, just to be a prick.

But his carefree expression was gone. Instead, he had a fierce sort of penetrating gaze that simultaneously shot goosebumps along my arms as it made my inner thighs tingle. Tanya's whimsical parade of kisses reached upward and, as she pressed her lips under his ear, he closed his eyes and leaned into her kiss. A soft spot. I looked away.

But only for a moment. And when I look back, he winked at me.

I frowned. Still, the gesture was not lewd, only a humored response to my apparent inability to look away, but it was enough. The loneliness was back, further spurred when he bowed his head towards Tanya as she whispered something in his ear. He nodded, his eyes still on me.

Games, games, games. It was always fucking games with Jasper; what did his smiles mean? Was that really a sweet statement or just pure condescension? Did he actually enjoy my company or was he just performing a duty for Emmett? Did I say the right thing or the wrong thing? Half the fucking time I talked with the guy, I was never sure if I just said something that offended or amused him.

Games, games, games.

So I winked back, knowing perfectly well that whatever his response, I would have no clue why it happened.

Both his eyebrows shot up in surprise and I sent a silent thanks to the powers that be that he couldn't see my blush in the dim interior of the car. Then his eyebrows lowered and his eyelids came together and he glared at me.

All right, well, you winked. You don't know why you did it, and he doesn't. So he's pissed.

Then, I watched in muted exasperation as his eye relaxed and a slow, large smile formed across his face. He was pretty close to beaming and as the corners of his lips reached his eyes, I actually sighed.

The shark smiles. Why is he smiling? I don't know. Because he only smiles at himself.

Congrats, Bella. You made clear what you've known all along: Jasper Whitlock is a sexy, confusing mess.

Games, games, games.

I let out an annoyed huff and got out of the car.

Jasper watched me as I approached them. Tanya was still splattering the side of his neck with kisses but his hands were resting too loosely on her hips for him to really be interested. When the staring didn't subside, I cocked and eyebrow and put my hands on my hips.

"Leave your purse in the car," Jasper said. I looked down at both of my arms.

"What?" I asked. "I'm not carrying a purse."

Tanya slowly untangled herself from Jasper. The gesture was painful to watch, mostly because it looked like she was de-suctioning herself from him and all I could think about was the feeling of a leather car seat being suctioned away from sweaty legs.

Jasper, now disengaged from Tanya, walked back to the car and grabbed a duffle bag from the backseat before gesturing for me to follow them. I walked quickly, irritated by the way their fast gait made me have to almost run to keep up. We approached the entrance to the fish mart and Jasper opened the door for Tanya and ushered her inside, before following and keeping the door open for me behind his back.

I guessed I wasn't sure what I had expected. Truthfully, it just looked like a restaurant. Dark tables and dark chairs spread across the room. A run-of-the-mill sushi bar was propped against the far wall. Statues of geisha women and, surely, various other important Japanese men stood imperiously from every corner. It was dark, really dark, and, to my astounded horror, I groped for Tanya's hand. She took it willingly and squeezed gently. It did nothing to calm the irrational thrumming of my heart in my throat.

We rounded the last set of tables and proceeded towards a similarly dark-lit staircase. An enormously tall man, made more enormous by the sheer size of his gut, stood with a clipboard at the top of the flight. He nodded curtly at Jasper who smiled tolerantly and the three of us went down the stairs.

About halfway down, I began to hear – well, feel is perhaps more apt – the steady thump of a bass of a stereo and the static noise of many people chatting all at once. The last sound put me at ease. This was going to be all right. There were people here, people like me and Tanya, who were relatively normal and just wanting to experience an evening away from home. People who . . .

And then I heard it. The distinct, split-second crack of a whip. I was sure the sound wasn't as loud as it seemed to be, but I swore I could feel the vibration of it rock my head. My stomach churned immediately

"Bella?" Tanya had been trying to pull me forward, but I was so sure I was going to vomit that I didn't dare take another step forward. In fact, I had actually managed to turn around in a subconscious act to bolt up the stairs. I was also bent forward by the waist, almost completely in half. One of my hands was palm flat against the wall and if Tanya wasn't vice-gripping my other one, it too would have pressed up against the other wall.

Jasper's scent. That weird combination of mint, cologne, and fruit, permeated the small stairway. Tanya let go of my hand and I collapsed forward, resting on my hands and knees on the steps, an awkward position that left me feeling vulnerable. Especially with Jasper's predatory scent, something that both made me want to curl into him and run, screaming, enveloped me in the mostly darkness.

"Breathe, Bella," he said. I could feel the heat of his breath on the back of my neck and though it was warm in this makeshift dungeon, the familiar goosebumps ran a pattern across my arms. I watched them come to life, angry with myself for allowing the sound of my name leaving his mouth to cause such an innate reaction.

"I'm fine," I spat, but though my voice was strong, a long trail of spit rolled down my bottom lip. I wiped it away.

"Be careful, darlin'," he said in a clipped but gentle tone. At least I though it was gentle. But then he said, "I would hate for you to embarrass me so completely that this remains your only experience in a real dungeon."

The subtle barb at Emmett and the thick threat hardened my resolve.

Games? I could play games.

"I'm fine," I said. And to prove it, I straightened myself up as quickly as I could. But I hadn't taken into consideration exactly where Jasper was positioned behind me. I distinctly felt his large, Texas-inspired belt buckle pressed against my lower back. To steady himself, or me, or whatever, he wrapped his arms across my chest until his hands reached my opposite shoulders. We both rocked backwards once and he let out a whoosh of breath as he steadied us.

Games. Before he had the opportunity to let go of me, I leaned forward a bit and pressed my ass into his groin with enough force to leave him wondering whether it was purposeful, but not enough to cause the possible, inner cat bitch in Tanya to rear its head.

Well, that had been my intention. But before Jasper let go, he leaned forward so closely that when he spoke, I could feel the soft tingle of his lips graze my ear.

"This is a dangerous game you're playing, Bella."

I almost screamed the word "contraction!" before his sentiment took hold of my consciousness and instead I nodded. He let go and I turned and followed him down the stairs.

As it goes, all I could think was Jasper: 1, Bella: 0.

Tanya was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, chatting with an imposing looking man wearing all black and holding a clipboard. And Jasper turned her face upward and kissed her, hard, for a long moment before looking at the man.

"Sam," he said, smiling and holding out his hand.

"Jasper," Sam said, taking Jasper's hand and clapping him on the shoulder. "It's been too long, my friend."

"Yes, it has." Jasper look towards the far wall and I followed his gaze to see a long row of different piece of furniture; benches, tables, and odd cross-looking apparatuses. He bowed his head towards it. "How's things going here?"

I frowned at his language. Jasper, so poised and so awkwardly formal was throwing contractions all over the goddamn place. Games, games, games. With no small level of restraint, I kept myself from rolling my eyes.

"Ah, man, sorry to say, but there's a bit of a wait," Sam said, not at all sounding sorry. "Weirdly busy for a Thursday night."

"No problem, I have all night."

They shook hands again and Sam walked away, jotting something down on his clipboard as he moved. Jasper turned back to Tanya.

"Tanya, it is time to behave."

She flashed him an enigmatic smiled before bowing her head. "Yes, Master."

"Bella," Jasper said. "While we are here, Tanya is allowed to do only what is asked of her. No more, no less. She is not to speak unless directly spoken to. Even to you." I nodded, the embarrassment of losing still raw and my annoyance at Jasper's newfound street talk made me feel suddenly exhausted. Tanya's head remained bowed, but the side of her mouth twitched upward. "Good. Tanya, do you have to use the restroom?"

"Yes, Master."

"Please do so. And wash your hands well afterwards. Bella and I will be at the bar."

She scampered off and I watched her go. When I turned back to Jasper, he had a small smile and was extending his hand towards me. I balked a little and his smile vanished.

"As you wish," he said.

We walked towards the bar and he seated himself on a barstool, throwing his duffle bag on the seat next to him. I took his other side and was immediately met with the foulest mixed scent of cologne and body odor. The man next to me, clearly drenched in both cologne and copious amounts of sweat, was nursing a drink and staring idly around the room.

"Bella, would you like a beverage?" Jasper said.

"Um, sure. A beer?"

For a moment, his eyes flashed and a cold expression made his eyes squint. "There is absolutely no alcohol consumption here, nor should there ever be during playtime."

I stared blankly at him for a second. "Because I've been to one of these before and I totally know the rules." I paused so he could properly absorb my sarcasm. "Cola."

He got me my drink and we sat in silence. Me, sneaking peaks towards him out of the corner of my eye and him pointedly ignoring me. Soon, someone began chatting with him and left. Then another person, then a third. I expected, at some point, for Jasper to introduce me, but when it didn't happen I began to feel spiteful.

So I turned to the man next to me. I extended my hand. "Bella."

The man's gaze flitted to my throat and he smiled. "Well, hello there."

I raised my drink in acknowledgment. "So what do you do?"

The man began to speak and I cursed myself for being so childish.

". . . but whether the Colts actually win is another story," he said and I laughed loudly. Too loudly, but I saw Jasper turn in his chair in my periphery.

I squared my shoulders towards the nasty man. "I've never really watched sports, but if I had to choose, I'd say I was a Seahawks fan."

The man scoffed. "Don't get me started on the Seahawks."

"I guess I'm just partial to Washington," I said and he laughed.

"You're not from around here?"

"No," I said. "Grew up in Arizona and Washington. Moved here a few years ago."

"You get into a nasty fight or something?"

I touched the sheath on my nose. "Angry ex," I said and he frowned. "But it's all good."

He nodded slowly and opened his mouth to say something, but shut it quickly.

At the same moment, I felt hot breath and smelled ripened fruit from behind me. "Hello, Bella," Jasper said, breathing in my ear. His torso was pressed against my back so closely he was able to extend his hand around me towards the man. "I don't think we've met."

The man took his hand and frowned. "Are you here with her?"

"No," I said quickly. "He's here with someone else. He's just a friend."

The man's smile returned. "Well, Bella and I were just talking about sports."

"Scintillating," Jasper said in a voice thick with boredom. "How are you, Bella?"

I waved him away but the gesture caused my shoulder to rock back and the moment I touched him, a swarm of angry goose bumps trailed over my arm. In a gesture not completely void of petulance, I crossed both over my chest. I turned back to the man.

"So, what else do you like?"

The man leaned in further towards me and even went so far as to swivel around in his barstool. His knees brushed the side of my thigh and I shuddered. The shudder was violent and with Jasper as intimately close to me as he was, I was sure he felt it.

He bowed his head until I could feel the edges of his lips on my ear. "This is not a vanilla bar, Bella. And if he has not come with someone, I suggest you bid him farewell."

A warm bubbling feeling started in my stomach, like warm pop fizzling right after opening. I turned my head towards him, enough to let his lips actually touch my ear and said in an equally serious and angry voice, "Thank you, Jasper, but I'm fine."

Vaguely, I wondered how my breath smelled.

Jasper chuckled and pulled away and just like that I felt exposed and irrational. Well, for fuck's sake, of course I should heed Jasper's obnoxious warning. This wasn't exactly my element.

I turned to allow Jasper the grace of my apology, but he was already speaking with someone else. When I turned back to the man, he was gone.

I huffed and took a long sip of my drink.

It was weird, being so close to Jasper. With Edward, with him I had this weird, electrical pulse that vibrated and moved in response to our emotions. But with Jasper, I just felt like my body was on fire. Prickling and hot with inaction and something a little more malevolent.

I kind of wanted to cry.

And just like that, I felt Jasper move closer to me before I saw him. I turned to him and he was staring intently across the bar, so I followed his gaze. Tanya was weaving her way through the crowd, hunching her torso over to make herself as small as possible. She didn't really have an expression on her face, but I felt Jasper tense besides me.

For a reason I couldn't articulate, I grinded my teeth together.

Tanya was panting when she reached us and she stopped between Jasper's open legs and bowed her head.

"Please, Tanya," he said. "Sit with me."

She did and curled herself into his chest. I knew my eyes should be misting with the sight, of two sweet lovers embraced in such an unholy way. But really, I just wanted to tip them off the barstool.

"Please tell me if something is the matter," Jasper said.

"Rosalie is in the bathroom."

"Ooh," I said, perking up immediately. "I should say 'hi' or something."

Tanya turned to me and gave me a pleading look.

"Um," I said, "uh, is there something you want to tell me?"

"Well, she was talking about you."

"Oh," I said.

"She's . . . well, she's really upset with you."

I looked at Tanya's face. Her eyes were wide and turned down at the outer edges, clearly in acknowledgment of the sadness of Rosalie's behavior. But for as sad as her words and eyes looked, the rest of her face was calm.

"What?" I said. "Why? What the hell did I do?"

"Well, she said that she hates that you took Jasper away from her."

"Took Jasper . . . ?" I looked imploringly at Jasper, expecting my own confused expression to be reflected back to me. But there was no widening of the eyes or furrowing brow or small frown to suggest he didn't understand. He was giving me an . . . expectant look. The one Rosalie and Emmett give to me when they expected a certain reaction from me about something they already knew.

I narrowed my eyes.

Now his expression did change and it was surprise.

"You're a coward," I said quietly when he looked at my face again. So quietly, I pretty much mouthed it.

He considered my statement for a moment before a self-defacing smile crossing his face. He hunched his shoulders forward and back, the smallest sort of shrug. Probably so he didn't disturb Tanya.

I waited for the anger. For the furious derision and annoyed contempt to make my chest bubble. But instead I felt that exhaustion. That endless, shoulder-slumping exhaustion. The exhaustion that comes with finally accepting that your little child is a fucking brat and no matter what you do, he will always be a brat. That no amounts of yelling or cursing or pleading will change his behavior. Because you had let him do it for too long now. There wasn't really any going back.

I looked at Jasper.

It was official, I had lost.

The next thing I knew, I was standing next to a shirt-less Jasper. Tanya was strapped, naked, to one of the benches along the wall in the dungeon under the most complex and intricate contraption of purple and black ropes.

A small crowd had gathered around the three of us as Jasper had stripped Tanya and brought the ropes out of his duffle bag. He also produced a ball gag, but put it away when Tanya shook her head a little.

I had tried on two occasions to slip away from them. The first time, I decided just to make a run for it, but found a solid wall of people behind me and my endeavors fell short when someone (jokingly) said, "Whoa lady, watch yourself." Of course, it caught Jasper's attention instantly and I was shamed into returning to stand next to the duffle bag.

Tanya was lying on her stomach, he knees bent and pulled underneath her so her ass was tucked up far into the air. For a moment, I was embarrassed to look at her, but was then enthralled by the sort of bored, sort of excited look on everyone else's face and felt it was probably appropriate to share. I even managed to surreptitiously check out the front of some of the guys' pants, but no one seemed to be rocking a hard on. I shrugged and continued to stare at Tanya's ass, my expression blank.

The second time I had tried to sneak away, Jasper seemed to have gained a sixth sense of some kind and foiled my plan by whipping his head to look at me before I had even attempted a maneuver in any direction. My skin burned.

"Bella," Jasper said and I looked at him without moving my head. "Would you like to count?"

"Um, sure."

He pulled a whip out of the duffle bag and unclasped the top from the base before waving it in slight circles to unravel it. I watched the tail of the whip uncoil, moving my eyes with each successive rotation. Instead of a thin shred of leather, a small feather was attached to the rope, held in place by a small, black bead. My heart rate picked up but at the same time I was met with a sense of ease.

Emmett's words pounded into my brain. Let him do what he does best: fix people.

"Tanya."

"Yes, Master?"

"Where are we?"

"Green."

"How are your fingers and toes?"

She wiggled them accordingly. "Good, Master."

"If you are uncomfortable at any time, you may speak."

"Yes, Master."

"Fifteen lashes, Tanya."

Jasper hunched his shoulders together, as though preparing himself to flex his muscles, before rolling them back. He made long, circling gestures with his arm, stretching the muscles. Everything about him screamed sexy. His compact, lithe muscles; his long, lean neck, his fucking blonde ringlets. And it wasn't just sexiness his body screamed, it was regal-ness, too. And a little arrogance.

He raised the whip up once and brought it down with sharp crack that didn't echo as loudly here as it did in his playroom. I still jumped, but that was hardly the point.

The first crack landed.

"One," I said.

Then the second. And then the third. The fourth, the fifth, the sixth.

And then my mind began to wander.

I was fascinated. Not only because Jasper was a fucking demon brandishing that whip, but because of his focus. He wasn't punishing Tanya; there weren't any red spots on her cheeks like there had been in his playroom. No. Instead, he was flicking the rip somewhere below her ass. Somewhere between her legs. Somewhere . . .

Oh my fucking god.

I blushed red hot. And then I looked at Tanya's face. She had a controlled expression, but there was a definite upward curve of her lips.

Holy mother of Jesus, he was getting her off.

I expected to feel dirty and disgusted, but instead I had to force myself not to rub my thighs together in response. Jasper had begun to sweat a little and the thin sheen of liquid made the muscles in his throat expand and contract more obviously in the glare of the overhead lights.

Yep, I thought after a moment of assessment. I'm about to cum in my panties.

"Bella?"

I blinked and swallowed, hard. "Y-Yes?"

"Are you all right?"

Jasper had stopped whipping Tanya and was looking at me, with his whipping arm poised up and behind his head. He had a slightly pained expression.

"Ten?" I hedged.

He chuckled softly, condescendingly, and shook his head. "Thirteen."

He cracked the whip again.

"Fourteen." I felt like all saliva had been drained from my mouth.

And again.

"Fifteen."

The spectators clapped appreciatively and they receded back into the depths of the club as quickly as they had come. Jasper untied Tanya and rested against the edge of the bench, holding her curled in his arms. He was whispering something to her and she had a lazy, sloppy smile on her pretty face as she listened to him speak. Then her smiled faded, and she looked over at me, before turning her head back and burrowing it into Jasper's body.

I remained by the duffle bag, my hands tapping the outsides of my thighs in a mottled beat.

I wondered absently if Tanya thought Jasper smelled like fruit, too.