They were all hard-core p**n ography. Turning to the first page, he began to read aloud, but it was so revolting Madeline squeezed her eyes shut and repeated, “This isn’t real…this isn’t real,” over and over inside her head.
“We’ll get back to that,” he said, tossing the magazine aside. “I wouldn’t want to get ahead of myself. The anticipation is half the fun.”
We’ll get back to that? The lust in his voice made the cold knot of fear in her stomach grow bigger. Did he intend to rape her? She couldn’t believe it. This man had been part of her father’s congregation. He still attended church almost every week.
“Ray.” His name was unintelligible when she said it, but he looked up.
“Please. The gag.”
“Hmm…I guess there’s no harm in it,” he said. “Just remember not to say anything I don’t like, or it could go back on again. There might be other consequences, too. Especially if you don’t remember to call me Master. ‘Yes, Master.’ ‘No, Master.’ Okay?”
He was crazy. How could she have missed it? The hard, ugly edge to his weathered face, the gleam in his dark eyes. He’d gone over the edge.
He must’ve noticed the defiance in her attitude because he purposely smashed her mouth into his crotch as he untied the gag. Madeline told herself not to absorb this detail, but she shuddered anyway.
“For what I got for you, you’ll have to wait till later,” he said. But the gag was off. She tried to be grateful for that as she stretched her swollen lips, wet her dry tongue and tried to ease the pain in her jaw.
“So what do you say?” he prompted.
She didn’t know what he meant. When she didn’t respond, he grabbed her hair so she couldn’t move her head and brought his nose right up against hers. “I asked you a question.”
“Why are you doing this?” she croaked.
The blow surprised her, rocked her head back. As the sting radiated through her entire body, she blinked up at him in shock. “Why—” She couldn’t get the rest out.
He smiled, obviously enjoying the violence. “That was the wrong thing to say, ‘Thank you, Master,’ would be correct. Would you like to try again?”
The lift in his voice was deceiving, and she knew it. He wanted her to refuse. And she longed to do so. But in order to escape, she needed to stay as ablebodied as possible.
“Thank you, Master,” she murmured from between gritted teeth.
“That’s better. See? You’ll learn. Pretty soon you’ll be begging me for all kinds of favors. If you’re a good little girl, I might even unchain you now and then.”
Unchain her? Fighting tears of shock, anger and disbelief, she watched him bend over his bag. “Ah, here it is,” he said and pulled out a spiked collar. “No sex slave is complete without one.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“He doesn’t have an address book,” Clay called impatiently.
Hunter knew Madeline’s stepbrother wanted to be out, actively searching for her. Taking the time to go through Ray’s mobile home heightened his anxiety. And Hunter could understand why. With each passing minute, Ray could be taking Madeline farther away from them. But they couldn’t drive aimlessly. They had to track him. It was their only hope.
“Then dig around for scraps of paper, anything with a name or a number on it,” he said. “Classified ads. Receipts.”
“Did he pack?” Clay asked. “Are his clothes gone?”
It was difficult to tell. To Hunter, it looked as if Ray had left in such a rush that he hadn’t taken much with him.
“There’s a receipt on the kitchen floor,” Clay said a moment later. “It’s from the hardware store.”
“What’s the date?”
“Today.”
There was nothing in the master bedroom to indicate where Ray might’ve gone, so Hunter went into the room with the computer. Maybe he hadn’t looked carefully enough when he was here before. It was possible that Ray had exchanged e-mails with someone or visited a site that would tell him something. “What’d he buy?” he asked as he clicked through Ray’s “sent” folder.
“A chain and a spike.”
Containment objects. Hunter paused long enough to rub a hand over his face. Ray was likely seeking privacy, someplace he could take Madeline and—
He wouldn’t even think of the possibilities. But he knew what they were. The screen saver—and the p**n sites on his computer—told him exactly what Ray wanted.
The apathy that had overwhelmed Hunter after his divorce had evaporated, leaving him in a world of feeling, a world of hurt. He was desperate to think more quickly, be smarter, work faster.
As he’d noticed earlier, Ray’s e-mail contained mostly spam. There were a few personal e-mails from other men, offering to sell lewd pictures. But Hunter ignored it all, remaining intent on only one thing—finding any information that might lead him to Madeline.
Where had Ray taken her? There had to be someplace he thought it would be safe…
“Anything?” Clay asked.
“No.” Panic and disappointment collided. Hunter had nowhere else to look. They had to find some clue to Ray’s destination. But Ray’s computer told him nothing. The pervert had visited a long list of p**n sites. That was all. No—
And then he saw it. What he’d been searching for all along.
What to do…what to do…Ray rapped his knuckles nervously on the wobbly kitchen table. He’d put the collar on Madeline, just to show her what she was in for. He liked the fear that entered her eyes when he pulled it so tight she could hardly breathe. It made her close her eyes and concentrate on living. Made her realize just how tenuous the line between life and death really was—and that he was the one who’d decide if and when she crossed it.
That was power. It made him feel invincible…and a little out of control. She was completely vulnerable to him. As vulnerable as Rose Lee had been. He actually felt more excited than he had before, because now he was in charge. Not the reverend.
How would Barker have liked his darling Maddy wearing that collar?
Ray grinned. He would’ve hated it, of course. Hated that what he’d started had eventually consumed Maddy, too. And yet there was a part of the sick bastard that would’ve loved it. Loved it as much as Ray did. Maybe he would even have joined the fun.