“I hope so, little one. I kinda like you this way.”
“You may climax every time but you won’t be satisfied.”
“Get out of my fucking mind!” Ava shouted as she eased the silver Mini Cooper S R56 Turbo out of the secure underground parking garage that Club Alpha Cove provided at the docking bay for members’ convenience while they were on the island.
She was irritated … furious even, that the bastard Master Tiger had been right. She had climaxed with Dom Mike, twice, but it had been an empty release. She’d waited with glee for the warm glow to rush through her body, to leave her feeling lethargic, relaxed, and satisfied. All in vain. That deep sense of sexual relief never came. She was still as tightly wired and tense as she’d been before Dom Mike had fucked her.
It was inconceivable that just because Master Tiger predicted it, it happened. She frowned. Maybe that was it. It was her mind playing tricks on her. Perhaps because the sex she’d had with him was still too fresh in her mind, her body was slack in catching up.
“Yep, that’s it. Done and dusted. Forget about that silly notion of him being the only one—fucking asshole!”
She slammed on brakes and cursed as the sound of screeching tires and horns blaring alerted her to the fact that she’d almost caused a major pileup.
“Dammit! Sorry!” she waved and shouted in the rearview mirror before she changed gears and quickly pulled off. “Now see what you made me do, you cretin!”
“Until then, hasta la vista ... Dancer."
This time a sense of doom wrapped itself around her as Master Tiger’s amused voice echoed through her mind.
“He knows who I am. How the devil does he know that? No one has ever been able to bridge my cover. No one!”
She stepped on the gas pedal and drove home with increased agitation. A frown sliced a vertical line between her brows as she slapped her hand on the steering wheel.
“Fucking hell! I should’ve asked Dom Mike who Master Tiger is.” She tapped her fingers. He looked familiar but she couldn’t place him. “Wait! Dom Mike will still be at the club.”
She parked the Mini in the locked garage space she owned in the basement of the apartment block on West Street, West Brighton, in Staten Island. Her fingers trembled as she dialed Club Alpha Cove’s number.
“Club Alpha Cove, how can I help you?”
“Dom Mike, it’s Shadow. I’m sorry to bother you but I forgot I wanted to ask you something.”
“I’m listening.” He sounded curious but she refused to back down.
“Master Tiger … the Dom who punished me last night … Do you know who he is?”
A short silence followed. Ava crossed her fingers as she waited.
“I’m surprised you didn’t recognize him. I’ve yet to come across one sub in the club who doesn’t fall over their feet when he walks through the doors. I take it you’re not a movie fan, Shadow?”
“A movie fan? Are you saying he’s a celebrity? An actor?” Her voice thinned. She searched her mind but knew it served no purpose. The only screens that interested her were her computer monitors. She didn’t even own a television and had no time to waste on going to the movies to indulge in make believe.
“Parker Rothman. One of the seven cousins who turned the Marvel movie, Space Riders, into a household name.”
“Oh. Well, then I guess I should feel honored,” she clipped. “Thanks, Sir. I won’t keep you further. Have a nice day.”
She ended the call and stared sightlessly into the darkness that was illuminated only by the green lights of the dash.
“How the hell did an actor find out who I am? Even more worrying … why would he be interested in me?”
Her hoarse voice galvanized her into action. She jumped from the car, activated the alarm, and locked the garage. Within minutes, she was in the private elevator rapidly moving upward to the penthouse.
The luxurious apartment had been more than an indulgence. It had been a personal accolade Ava had rewarded herself with as proof that she had survived the odds of running away from home at fifteen years of age and didn’t end up as a prostitute. It hadn’t been easy, especially in the early years, since she’d left Los Angeles and moved to the Big City of New York. Loneliness had been the biggest enemy during that time. A young girl trying to fend on her own and keep the truth from everyone at school. However, because she’d taught herself computer and hacking skills starting when she was ten years old, she managed to make money online to stay afloat and put herself through school. She wrote software programs for small corporations. She even did the odd highly paid hacking job but hated the guilt that gutted her afterwards, knowing what she was doing was wrong. She’d moved into her own apartment on her sixteenth birthday, supplying fake credentials and documentation, but because it was privately owned, the landlord didn’t bother with proper background checks. As long as he received the rent, he left the young girl alone and chose to believe her story that her mother was sickly and bedridden, which was why she was never seen.
By the time Ava enrolled in college, she had a substantial bank balance. Unfortunately, she was at an age where the attention of the older men boosted her ego and she fell in with the wrong crowd. She became enamored with a man who used her affection to manipulate her and her skills for his own gain. She became a full-time hacker. The money was too good to walk away from. It became like a drug in her system, living for the thrill of being untouchable; she was that good. Until one day … the turning point in her life, when she was almost caught. That same day, she recognized how callously she’d been used. She realized she was destroying the independence and honor she had worked so hard to achieve when she was a teenager. She walked away from temptation and turned legitimate. For a couple of years, she worked as a programmer and developer for one of the most lucrative software companies in the world.
Only, it wasn’t challenging enough. She yearned for the nitty-gritty hunt of information. She found it in the legal system and became a ghost cyber CI for DHS, the FBI, the CIA, and DEA as well as individual agents and reporters.
Her knack to uncover information, be ahead of disasters, and roam the dark and deep web for corruption and criminals, made her a sought after and very reliable source. A service that didn’t come cheap but because she’d proven to be invaluable over the past ten years, no one argued her fee.
It had been a proud day when she signed the purchase contract for the large penthouse loft in the heart of Soho. She had become a very wealthy woman in a relatively short period of time.
“I’ll be damned if a pretty boy actor gets the best of me … or destroys what I’ve worked so hard to achieve.”
Ava threw the torn clothes in the trashcan on her way to the kitchen. The shorts were ruined and it wouldn’t be the same if she tried to fix them.
“Breakfast and coffee. Lots of coffee. I need sustenance and the boost of caffeine, because mark my words, you … you Neanderthal! I’m not sleeping until I find out how the devil you found me.”
It worried her that he hadn’t found only her hacker persona as Dancer but to top it off, he’d obviously uncovered her real identity. He’d found her at an exclusive BDSM club who prided itself on maintaining strict confidentiality about their members. That he knew exactly when she went there, was even more upsetting. It meant he had insight into her habits, her movements, and god forbid … her entire life!