“What?”
“You’ll find out soon enough. Get back home. Your wife’s waiting.”
The call ended, and Derek swore. He started up the street, walking so fast it was almost a run. And though his head was on fire, and he wanted this done with, he was aware of something else. After months of zero stakes, this was the closest he’d come to the way he’d felt when he was playing footy, and it felt… good. Or, at least, better. Brighter or something.
He imagined Mara watching him, her blue eyes knowing the truth even if he wouldn’t say it.You missed this. You missed taking risks, and you couldn’t give them to yourself, so I did.
She was one fuck of a girl, his wife. Smarter than anyone gave her credit for, including his stupid ass. If the bloke was real, he was someone safe. Mara wouldn’t do anything to put their relationship, family, or reputations in danger. She’d never let him down. Never put him in harm’s way. No, she was asking him to trust her the way she’d always trusted him in the scenes he’d put together.
“Alright, baby,” Derek muttered, rounding the corner of his street. “Wherever you’re going with this, I’m in.”
He half expected to find his front door wide and a stranger in his hallway, but the locks were in place, the security system active. More proof there was nothing to worry about. Only, he was sure Mara wasn’t there. It was quiet, and the house had that flat feeling of emptiness. He wandered through the living room and kitchen, looking for fuck knew what when his phone rang. Another call from Mara. He answered at once.
“Where is she?”
“Somewhere nearby,” the robot said. “But you won’t find her until I want you to. Go upstairs; I’ve got a little surprise.”
Gritting his teeth, Derek headed for his and Mara’s bedroom. Sure enough, the space had been fucked with. The mattress was bare, and one of those tripod ring light things was parked in front of it.
“The fuck’s going on?” he snarled.
“Patience, champion. You’ll never get your wife back like that.”
Derek squinted. No one called him ‘champion’, except… He gripped his phone tighter. He couldn’t fucking remember…
“You gonna film me and Mara fucking or something?”
“Shut up,” the voice growled. “I’ll tell you what’s happening, dickhole.”
Derek grinned. He knew who he was talking to. He’d been so caught up in the idea that the fake kidnapper was a man that he hadn’t remembered Maradidknow a Kiwi. Beth Myers, Byron’s missus. Relief flooded his body. He didn’t want another guy touching Mara, but Beth was a whole other kettle of fish. Considering she and Mara had once made out at a bachelorette party, very much to his and Byron’s approval, he had no problem with her seeing Mara’s tits.
“Happy about something?” the robot, who was almost certainly Beth, asked. Now he was listening closely, Derek couldn’t believe he hadn’t clocked it was a girl. Panic had madean idiot of him. Whatever Beth was using as a pitch shifter, it didn’t disguise the female tenor of her voice. But that didn’t explain how she seemed to be able to see him. He turned on his heels, looking for a secret camera. “Where are you?”
“In your wife’s pussy. So you might wanna do what I say before she comes all over me.”
Derek swore a blue streak. Knowing it was probably Beth didn’t change the mental image that had been conjured in his head of another man inside Mara.
“You done?” the voice on the line asked.
“Fine. What do I have to fuckin’ do?”
“Get your clothes off.”
Derek gritted his teeth. Not since his last grand final had he felt this manic, but despite his rage, he was fully torqued, his dick straining against his jeans. He decided to click fully into the headspace of the fantasy. He stripped off, but when he got down to his underwear, he paused.
The voice laughed. “Shy?”
“Fuck you,” he muttered, pulling off his CKs. His cock bounced up as he kicked his briefs away, hard as it had ever been. “Now what?”
The voice gave a metallic laugh. “Now I’m gonna let you go.”
“Thefuck?”
“Click the link I’ve just sent you, and everything will become clear. Be a good boy, and you might see Mara again.”
The call ended, and Derek opened the new message from Mara’s phone. He clicked as instructed. A video chat opened, and he blinked at his confused face. Then the screen reduced, showing a shadowy figure sitting in a dark room.
“Hello again, Mr Hardiman.”
