Pinch Me

Chapter Eight

Friday morning, Laura again awoke early, this time just as the sun was breaking its sleep over the eastern horizon. She’d spent a restless night having vivid dreams she wondered might actually be memories, between waking up when nurses came to check her vital signs.

Several of those dreams she spent on a boat, heading out on the open water with the sun rising at her back and the greyish-purple horizon ahead of her to the west.

She managed to take a shower without help, that little victory raising her spirits somewhat until she got another look at her battered face in the mirror.

Who are you?

She desperately wanted to know.

Needed to know.

Fuzzy little bits of stray memories had started filtering back, but still nothing concrete she could hold on to. And nothing recent. She had no active memories of any substance concerning Rob, or Shayla, for that matter. Just her emotions about them.

Trying to avoid the mirror, Laura dressed and returned to her bed in time for the doctors to arrive for morning rounds. The neurologist in charge of her treatment, now that she was awake and otherwise healing, ran her through a brief series of questions and movements while talking with a gaggle of residents tagging along.

“Any idea when my memory might come back?” She knew it couldn’t hurt to ask even if she already suspected the answer.

He offered her a smile. “Unfortunately, no. I want to run at least one more MRI before we discharge you, though. I’m thinking we’ll shoot for letting you go home on Monday, as long as everything else seems okay.”

She nodded but didn’t reply. Part of her wanted to get out of there.

Part of her felt terrified to leave the safely guarded confines of the hospital. Other than Rob and Shayla, the outside world was still full of strangers she had no clue how to identify, much less whether they were friend or foe.

She didn’t even know where she lived.

A few minutes after the doctor left, her bedside phone rang, startling her out of her thoughts. She stared at it for a moment before tentatively reaching out to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hi, sweetheart. It’s me. Um, Rob.”

Her fingers curled around the receiver. He sounded a little tentative himself. “Hi.”

“I just wanted to check in this morning and see how you’re doing.”

She felt a wistful pang she hoped boded well for rebuilding her relationship with him. “Thanks. Are you still coming by tonight?”

“Yes,” he quickly said. “Absolutely. And if anything happens, I already put the captain on notice that I might have to cut out.”

“I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“I won’t.” She got the feeling he wanted to say something else. After a moment, he did. “No more memories?”

She thought about the dreams she’d had. “No. Nothing yet.”

“Okay.”

She couldn’t bear his sad tone. “I miss you.”

He suddenly sounded choked up. “I miss you, too, sweetheart. I’ll be there tonight as soon as I get off work. Carol’s walking Doogie for me, so he’ll be okay.”

“The doctor said this morning they want to do another MRI on me. They might release me Monday.”

That seemed to buoy his spirits. “That’s great! I’ll make sure I tell the captain so I can be there Monday for you.”

After they said their good-byes she stared at the phone. She’d need to ask Rob about her cell phone, what happened to it, or if he could bring it to her. Maybe something on it might help trigger some memories.

At this point, she’d willingly try anything.

Pastor Ben stopped by a few minutes later.

“So how are you today?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Still no memories. Nothing that really matters, anyway.”

“I’m not one to harp on a subject, but I would be professionally remiss if I didn’t mention again that I think you should consult with a psychiatrist. It might help.” He watched her when she didn’t object. “I can call my friend, Dr. Simpson. She has privileges here. Have her come here to see you for a consult. Her office is only two blocks away.”

With not just the pastor, but the doctors also pressing the issue, Laura finally caved. “Fine,” she quietly said.

“It doesn’t mean you’re ‘crazy,’” he firmly insisted.

She let out a frustrated sigh as she pulled her hair away from her face. “That’s what you people keep telling me.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“I don’t know what I am at this point. But I guess if it’s possible it’ll help me get my memory back I should try it no matter what my feelings are on the subject.”

“No idea why you feel the way you do about it?”

“No.” She let out a ragged laugh. “Maybe I was already seeing one.”

“Did you ask your fiancé?”

She hadn’t thought about asking Rob. “No,” she admitted.

I should ask Shayla. If anyone would know, it would be her.

“Well, I’ll call her as soon as I leave and see if she can stop by to see you today.”

They were still talking twenty minutes later when Laura’s breakfast arrived, almost immediately followed by Shayla.

Laura got up and hugged the woman, nearly making her drop the plastic food containers she was carrying.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Shayla said after getting the containers safely stacked on the bed tray.

Pastor Ben stood. “It’s quite all right. Laura, I’ll call Dr. Simpson for you and notify the nurses about it.”

“Thank you.” After he left, Laura eyed the containers. “What is all this?”

Shayla smiled. “I’m glad I got here when I did. I brought you breakfast.” She peeled the lid off one of the containers. “Spinach, swiss, and mushroom omelet. One of your favorites.” She handed Laura a fork. “Who was that guy?”

Laura climbed back into bed and took a bite of the omelet. It tasted as good as it looked and smelled. “Pastor Ben. He’s also a pastoral counselor. He’s going to call a psychiatrist for me.” She looked at Shayla. “Did I see a counselor or psychiatrist? Or have anything against them?”

Shayla took the chair the pastor had occupied. “No. Why?”

She shrugged as she forked another bite into her mouth. “I just have this…I don’t know. Visceral reaction to the idea of seeing someone. A psychiatrist. I mean the doctors talked about it, too. Said it might help, so I guess I should.”

Shayla looked thoughtful. “You’ve never said anything about it to me. I would think if you were going to tell anyone, it’d be me or Rob.”

“Hey, am I religious?” She studied her friend.

Shayla let out a snort. “No. Definitely not. You’re not anti-religious, or an atheist, or anything like that. You’re just…not.”

“Oh.”

“Why? Did Pastor Ben make you want to take it up?”

“No, not that. Just didn’t know if there was something I was missing out on. Or if I should be asking some higher power for help.”

Shayla wore a smirk.

“What?”

The other woman shook her head. “No, the only pleas to a deity I ever heard come out of your mouth had nothing to do with religion.” Then Shayla’s eyes widened as a sudden look Laura could only describe as horror crossed the woman’s face.

“What is it?”

A deep red filled Shayla’s cheeks. “Sorry. Nothing.” She stood and rushed into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

What the hell?

She set the food container on the bed tray and pulled herself back out of bed. It was getting a little easier to move around the more she did it. Walking over to the bathroom door, she knocked. “Shayla?”

Inside, she heard the toilet flush. “Just a minute.”

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

She was waiting by the door when Shayla emerged. “What did you mean?”

Laura didn’t need to have her memories to know the smile now pasted on the woman’s face was forced. “Just…you know. Girl talk. Sorry. I shouldn’t have said it like that. Is the omelet all right?”

Laura’s stomach growled in protest at being interrupted. “It’s delicious. Thank you.”

Whatever had hit Shayla seemed to be receding as she noticeably relaxed. “Let’s get you back into bed.” Laura let her gently take her arm and help her.

Their eyes met. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Shayla pressed her lips together until they formed a thin line. “You and Rob love each other,” she eventually said. “And you had a great relationship before…before this. I don’t want you hearing the things I have to say and it influences you one way or another about Rob.”

“Why? Are there things I shouldn’t know about him?”

“No, it’s nothing like that.” She studied her fingernails for a moment. “I started thinking about it last night. You and I told each other everything.” A little laugh escaped her. “Everything. And Rob and Tony both know that. And they don’t have a problem with it. But knowing it and suddenly having another woman telling your fiancée stuff you did, it might not make him very comfortable.”

She finally raised her gaze to Laura’s. “I’d feel better if you and Rob try to find your more…private memories together. Does that make sense?”

Oddly enough, it did. Laura nodded. “I just want to know everything. I want it all back. I want my life back. I want my memories back.”

Shayla gently gripped Laura’s hands. “I promise, if they don’t come back after a while, well, then I will. And meanwhile, I’ll tell you anything I know that happened that you told me that’s not…well…”

“Sexual?”

Shayla smiled as she nodded. “Right. Or stuff that I was there for.” Her smile faded. “I promise you,” she softly said, “there’s nothing bad. Not that I know of, and we were close enough that if there was bad stuff, I’d know about it.”

A thought occurred to her. “Did I have any exes? Anyone who might want to do this to me?”

“No. No one that I know of. You dated a couple of guys before you met Rob.”

Suddenly, this felt very important. “Why did I break up with them?”

“Well, one guy cheated on you. Another took a job in New York and you didn’t want a long-distance relationship. And another guy, you only dated him a few weeks before you realized you just didn’t have a lot in common with him. But I knew him. He met someone else and ended up marrying her over a year ago. They’re expecting a baby.”

Laura’s hope faded. “Amicable break-ups?”

“Yes. Well, except for Cheater McSleazy. You were ready to kill him, but he left without a peep. And that was years ago. Why?”

She reached for her omelet. “It was just a hope that maybe there might be a clue to who did this.”

“I don’t know anyone who’d want to do this to you.”

Laura stared at her omelet and made herself take another bite even though her appetite faded with her hope. “I wish I did. I wish I could remember if I did.”

At 8:55 a.m., Det. Thomas’ desk phone rang. He’d been in the middle of going through several reports he’d been emailed overnight from other law enforcement agencies about unsolved cases with striking similarities to Laura Spaulding’s attack.

“Thomas.”

“Detective, this is Tony Daniels. We spoke briefly last night.”

His full attention shifted from the reports to the caller. “Rob Carlton’s friend?”

“Yes. Everyone will be available to meet with you at nine o’clock tonight at my house.”

He rifled through a pile of papers on his desk for a pen. “Address?”

It was off Bee Ridge in Sarasota, east of I-75.

“No need for court orders, then, I take it?” Daniels asked.

Thomas closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d awoken with a migraine threatening, with no signs of it going away anytime soon. “Look, as long as everyone cooperates with me, I don’t have any desire to drag anyone through the mud.”

“Believe me, we want the asshole who did this to her caught as badly as you do. Unfortunately, none of us know anything that will be of help. You don’t think one of the first thoughts we had was maybe someone from the lifestyle had it out for her?”

He leaned back in his chair. “You let me be the judge of the value of the information, Mr. Daniels.”

“We will. The only person who might not be there right on time is my wife, Shayla, and that’s because she’s at the hospital with Laura while Rob’s at work.”

Maybe he’d have to pay Laura another visit that morning or afternoon. “I take it she’s close to Laura?” He already knew that much from the text messages.

“They’re best friends. But if you do go talk to her at the hospital, keep in mind Rob isn’t telling Laura anything about their BDSM dynamic, or about any of us being into it, either. So please do everyone a favor and not mention that in front of Laura.”

He didn’t want to lose his patience with the guy, but between stress and the migraine, he was heading in that direction. “I’ll respect your intelligence, Mr. Daniels, if you’ll respect mine. If you’ll drop the adversarial attitude we’ll all get along just fine. I’ll be there at nine.” He hung up before the other man could respond, his head throbbing.

Despite putting a rush on it, they still hadn’t received the DNA results back from the FDLE labs yet. He glanced at the email he’d been reading, the PDF copy of a file about a case in Georgia. Seven months earlier, a college coed home for the weekend had been viciously beaten, raped, and strangled.

And the knot on the rope looked like the knot on the rope put around Laura’s neck by her attacker. Not that it was a concrete clue, just one of many. That victim, twenty-year-old Alicia Smith, hadn’t merely been beaten, but kicked, bitten, and brutalized so badly that her parents had been unable to identify her by her face.

It had been a small butterfly tattoo on the inside of her right ankle, a memorial to a friend killed in a car accident the year before, that had provided their positive ID.

No suspects. No sign of forced entry. Her parents discovered her body when they returned home from an overnight trip to Savannah the next morning.

Nothing stolen from the home, but a bracelet she normally wore was missing. Unfortunately, neither parent could positively remember if she’d been wearing it when she arrived home from her dorm, and it hadn’t been found among her possessions there, either. Her roommate remembered seeing her wearing it earlier in the week, but had left for her home Friday afternoon before Alicia and didn’t know if she’d been wearing it.

The case was at a standstill. No history of drug use on the part of the victim, she wasn’t in a relationship, and the roommate and the roommate’s boyfriend had concrete alibis and no motive.

DNA results hadn’t matched up with any samples currently on file from inmates in any criminal database. It was, however, linked to three other unsolved crimes scattered across the US with similar patterns.

As Thomas rubbed at the bridge of his nose and stared at the crime scene photos included with the report, he suspected he was about to become far better acquainted with Alicia Smith’s case, and the others.

Rob hated that he couldn’t spend the day with Laura, but knew Shayla would call him immediately if any issues cropped up.

The morning started out busy, with an accident and then a call about a heart attack.

Unfortunately for him, the rest of the morning slowed down, leaving plenty of time for thinking while doing busy work like inventory and cleaning the rig.

He’d looked through some old pictures last night, one standing out in his mind. For Tony and Shayla’s private “Kinkmas” party that past December, Rob had turned Laura into his own Christmas tree. Complete with decorations hung from nipple clamps, wrist cuffs, collar, and hip harness, and a strand of battery-operated lights wrapped around her while she struggled not to climax from the vibrating egg held inside her by the harness. The picture showed her decked out with a playful, sexy grin on her face.

Fun times.

He closed his eyes and relived the night. They’d arrived early so they could help Tony and Shayla get things ready. Once it was time for the others to arrive, he’d ordered Laura to strip.

And the fun began.

She’d spent the evening in a perpetual state of horniness, the vibrating egg tormenting her but not strong enough to get her off. He’d taken great sadistic pleasure in periodically removing the nipple clamps, to let the blood flow back into them. Then he’d play with them, rolling them between his fingers and driving up her need even more before reapplying the clamps.

Two hours later, she’d been begging him for a scene, knowing full well pleasure would come at a cost.

He’d started out by undecorating her, except for her cuffs and play collar, and removing the egg before strapping her down to a bench. Next came the bare-handed spanking, warming her ass and making his cock ache with desire. He’d spent the evening hard, and this made him throb even more.

Others were already playing but Rob’s full attention totally focused on Laura. As if the entire world faded away, he watched every breath she took, listened to every sound she made. He caressed her flesh, tracing her sweet curves and enjoying the way she arched against his hand.

He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head up. “Tell me what you want, baby.”

“I want Sir to play with me and make me come.”

He leaned in closer. “That means you take the pain to get the pleasure.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Do you want to take it?”

“Yes, Sir.” It came out a happy sigh.

He tenderly kissed her forehead. “Such a good girl,” he murmured in her ear.

He went to his implement bag and pulled out a leather slapper that he knew she liked. It delivered just enough sting to give the desired effect.

With his left hand on her ass and the implement in his right, he gave her a light slap as a warning. Then he started in earnest, working up and down her ass and thighs, across her shoulders and the back of her arms, even between her legs, lightly slapping her pussy.

When he reached between her legs he found her juices practically dripping from her. After slowly fucking her with his fingers, he walked around and pulled her head up again by her hair.

“Open.”

She did, sucking his fingers without hesitation. He judged from her glazed expression that she’d already gone deep into subspace.

“Such a good girl.”

He blindfolded her and buckled her favorite rubber ball gag around her head before delving into the implement bag again. This time, he pulled out several items. The first, an etched acrylic paddle that he used with a little more force than he had the slapper. By the time he finished with it a couple of minutes later, Laura’s ass and thighs were pink and she’d started squirming against her bonds.

Next, the riding crop. This drew muffled yelps from her as welts began appearing across her flesh. Followed by a wooden paddle that had her sobbing after just a few strokes.

He gave her a little bit of a respite and switched to a braided leather flogger. More harsh than one of his suede mop floggers, it was still a breather for her, as well as a build up to the finale.

He readied the Hitachi vibrator. Holding it in his left hand, he pressed it to her clit as he laid a cane across her ass with the right. “Time for fun, baby girl.” He switched on the vibrator as he took a stroke with the cane.

She screamed from pain as much as she did pleasure, the climax drawing her body into an arcing flex of muscles. He spaced out the cane strokes, never pulling the vibrator away as he did. Her moans drilled through him, amplifying the way his cock throbbed inside his jeans, wanting nothing more than to be buried inside her.

After the tenth stroke, he put down the cane and switched off the vibrator. Laura collapsed, limp and panting, onto the bench.

“Oh, you think you’re done, do you?”

Even through the ball gag he heard her laugh as she shook her head.

“You know what it means, right?” This was something he’d learned from Tony, something that cracked him up every time he watched his friend do it to Shayla.

Laura nodded, her body now heaving with laughter.

“What’s it mean, baby girl?”

Although muffled by the gag, he heard her say, “Just one more.”

“Very good.” He unzipped, pulled out his cock, and then grabbed the Hitachi. He sank his cock deep inside her cunt, pausing and letting out a sigh of pleasure.

Then he switched on the Hitachi again and reached around her, pressing it to her clit once more.

The effect, as always, felt electrifying. Laura had once joked he’d succeeded in rewiring her brain to respond to the sound of the vibrator. She came almost immediately, her body once again arching against her restraints, the walls of her pussy squeezing his cock.

Only through sheer force of will did he hold back and not start fucking her, waiting while she undulated against the vibrator, thrusting herself deep onto his cock. He took his time, enjoyed watching her lost in the depths of her orgasm. Once he sensed her growing close to the end of her endurance he began thrusting, hard, knowing he’d come fast.

She matched him thrust for thrust. As he felt his balls draw up, his climax close, Laura came one more time. He fucked her harder, faster, feeling her pussy quivering around his cock just as he exploded and filled her with his cum.

He shut the vibrator off and braced himself on the bench to catch his breath. Laura lay there, a happy smile on her face even with the ball gag in her mouth.

“One more?” he teased.

She laughed and shook her head. “No thank you, Sir. I’m good.”

He startled at the sound of the station’s alarm going off, signaling an incoming call and yanking him out of his memory.

Springing into action, he tried to push the thoughts from his mind and get into work mode. Still, he took a moment to reach into his pocket and finger Laura’s play collar.