BEYOND THE PALE: ( The Outlander ) Read online

  River had had enough and he got up ready to leave, but before he left he made a point of circling the table so that he could whisper into Audrina’s ear. He bent down and leaned in aggressively in between Stannis and Audrina making sure that his shoulder knocked Stannis to whom he turned his back.

  “Please come home NOW with me,” appealed River but in an assertive tone.

  “You are boring me,” Audrina replied as she now also turned her back to River. By the time she turned back around, he was gone.

  River exited the first floor club and bounded down the marble stairs past the doormen and then out through the main doors. He groped around in his pockets to find his glasses. Putting them on, he opened up a travel app on the overlay display so that he could get some information on the best way home. He was still making a choice when he felt someone rip the glasses off his face. In a confrontational mood, he turned around quickly to find it was Audrina who was standing there holding them in her hand.

  “I don’t want you to leave,” she said demurely like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

  “I am tired. I am hungry, and I am angry with you,” River declared as if each reason trumped any reason of hers to stay.

  “I know sweetheart. Lets go and get something to eat over at that fried chicken shop, and hopefully you will stop being angry with me.”

  River glanced at the fast food takeaway across the road and considered that the food maybe unclean, but Audrina was once again leading him by the hand and now smiling sweetly at him. He followed her as usual and allowed her to choose from the menu. She bought two chicken boxes which contained a mixture of different cuts of fried chicken with fries. River probed through his box picking only what pieces he felt looked edible. He decided not to eat the fries as they looked very processed. Audrina on the other hand picked at a couple of her fries and then discreetly discarded her box of fried chicken on the pavement. She didn’t have any particular reservation about the food. She just wasn’t hungry. River watched her and figured that this was another effect of the narcotics she had taken.

  “Give me back my glasses,” appealed River. “I want to find out how to get home.”

  Audrina ignored his request and placed his glasses on her face activating the communicator device. River didn’t want to forcibly seize them from her and he waited patiently while her hand movements indicated her to be making selections on the display menu.

  “Hello Mum. It’s Audrina. Yes I have borrowed River’s communicator. He is with me right now. I just wanted to call you and tell you that we are having a great time at a club and we are about to head on to a party. It’s going to be an all-nighter at some rich guy’s apartment. So we won’t be home tonight,” Audrina was listening to Valerie but smiling at River like a Cheshire cat. “No don’t worry about me mum. You know River will protect me and make sure that I am safe.” Again Audrina fell silent as she listened to her mum, and then she removed and handed the glasses to River, “It’s Mum, she wants to talk to you.” River put on the glasses and saw Valerie appear on his display.

  “I want you to take good care of my daughter. Make sure she behaves herself and doesn’t do anything stupid.”

  “Yes Valerie,” River replied obligingly, and the call was ended.

  River pulled off the glasses to lecture Audrina, “That was dishonest of you. You are acting manic and I know it is those drugs. You think you can force me to do what I don’t want to do. Well I won’t be going back in there, and I am not going to any party. You can phone your mother back.”

  “Don’t fret so much. I am not taking you back in there. I am going to take you somewhere else so you can rest up a little and feel better. Then we might go to the party but only if you want to. Come on honey.” Audrina leaned forward to sweetly kiss River on the lips and her hand interlinked his so that she could lead him by the hand to the taxi rank.

  After boarding the first available taxi, Audrina tapped out the next location on the taxis console. River noted that the verified address was not home but came up as a local Box Hotel in the same district. Hence the ride was very brief, and Audrina still holding on to River’s hand pulled him out of the cab and led him through the entrance of a local branch of the ‘Rest Assured Box Hotel’. As they found the self service reception point in the hotels small foyer, Audrina scrolled through a menu selecting choices. She appeared to be familiar with this company, and must have used these Box Hotels before. She swiped the readout with her wrist one time and then asked River to do the same.

  “Do you want me to pay?” he asked.

  “No stupid. It wants your details,” she replied.

  They took the lift to the sixth floor and walked down a narrow corridor looking for room 610. When they passed it, Audrina told River to swipe his bracelet on the door sensor and it opened revealing a bright red sparsely furnished room. They both entered and examined the room. There was no carpet just a hard red plastic floor. There was one king size crimson bed in the middle of the room and four posts at every corner each with a selection of buckles and small chains attached. There was dispenser vending machine in one corner that offered a bizarre mix of refreshments, sweets, narcotics, and all sorted sex toys. In another corner there was an open shower and a slight well in the floor for drainage. There was no furniture, except for the pull out drawers that were in the bed frame. River opened one of them and pulled out a selection of whips, canes, restraining bars and shackles asking “What the hell is this all about,” As if in reply, Audrina pushed the door shut which made the sign on the back of the door visible. It read ‘SEXual Suite’.

  “It comes with the room,” she said

  River was now certain that this was some familiar haunt of hers, “You said we were coming here so that I could get some rest. I don’t know what you had planned, but I am tired.”

  “No I said that I knew what you needed, and I do. You can get some shut eye after we play a little,” she said suggestively.

  “What, with all this stuff?” River gestured to the whips and canes.

  “No; that’s not necessary. As I said, it comes with the room. Don’t you want to sleep with me tonight?” she enquired innocently.

  “I do, of course I do. I’m sorry, it is just that I am tired and little grumpy,” River felt that he had misjudged the situation. “And you have been acting strange all evening; I don’t like you taking those drugs.” River hoped to get a reaction from her, but his comments didn’t even register. She had walked over to investigate the vending machine and was checking out what was on offer. She swiped the reader and tapped out a selection and two energy drinks rolled out.

  “Try this,” she said throwing him one of the cans. River scrutinized the label wondering if it was healthy to drink. He took a chance because he was so thirsty. Audrina was still busying herself tapping out other selections, and other items were dropping into the tray.

  River wondered when the energy burst from the drink would kick in. Feeling no change in his tiredness, he assumed it was another case of false advertising and lay face down on top of the bedspread to shut out the light and to close his eyes. Audrina joined him on the bed and began removing his shoes, and then tugging at his trousers to remove them. “Don’t sleep in your clothes,” she reprimanded him, picking up on his irritation as she continued undressing him; pulling his top over his head. River didn’t complain now as she removed his underwear and left him lying naked. She had also dressed down to her lingerie, but River saw nothing of this as he continued to lay face down and was drifting off to sleep. He did enjoy the feeling of her warm body pressing down on top of his as she lay fully on top of him. She kissed his neck and shoulders and ran her fingers through his hair. River moaned in comfort. She began to massage his back with long slow movements all the way down to his thighs and then slowly up his body feeling every curve up to his shoulders and then his arms which he stretched out to accommodate her gentle movements. Once again he moaned partly in pleasure and partly in comfort. As he felt her massage his
right hand and caress between fingers he stretched them out too. It also felt relaxing as the padded cuff slipped over his fingers and was pulled tight over his right wrist. But as she attempted to slip a cuff over his left hand, he jerked it free of hers and then tried to do the same with his right. That hand was bound tight and despite pulling again harder, he couldn’t free it. Audrina at first sat on his back applying her whole weight to immobile him as she tried to force his left hand back in its cuff. However, River was too strong for her and easily broke her grip. Like a captured animal, he was getting more alert as adrenalin woke him up, and he was clawing at the restraint on his right wrist with his free left hand. He felt Audrina climb off him which allowed him more mobility but as he tried to turn around he felt the first of five quick successive strikes to his body with one of the short whips.

  “Stop it” he yelled at her.

  “Leave that restraint alone and lie still and I will” she countered as she continued to strike any vulnerable areas of his body with more lashes. River had little choice but to comply and lay face down and still. The whipping stopped but Audrina now insisted that he place his left hand back in the open cuff.

  “NO! I want you to release me, and I won’t get angry with you,” River was lying still as instructed, although his left hand stayed firmly at his side, and he began to pull harder on the right restraint. He continued pulling as he started once again to feel the strike of a cane on his bare buttocks. Audrina swung the cane down mercilessly again and again until his spirit began to falter and he stopped trying to free himself.

  “Put your left hand back in the cuff. I won’t tell you again,” she said as she relentlessly reined the cane down on his backside. River had no course other than to comply and as he slipped his fingers through the left cuff, Audrina quickly pulled it on to his wrist and yanked it tighter. Without any warning she slipped a gag in his mouth and fastened the strap behind his head. Although she had started in the spirit of fun, she was now getting carried away, as she was got more excited by the power exchange between them.

  “You can shut up now and just listen to me,” she said with clipped anger. “I am going to make you learn how to obey me. When I tell you to do something you will do it without arguing with me.” Audrina had switched to using a riding crop as a milder instrument of coercion and had struck him a few times to emphasize her instructions. “If you fight me, I am going to hurt you,” she said striking him across his thighs, knowing it would hurt. “And if you are a good boy, I will make it pleasant for you.” To illustrate this point she had reached between his thighs and started to rub and caress him. “But first, I am afraid that I am going to have to hurt you some more because I like doing it, and you will need to beg me to stop … and then I may let you pleasure me before I let you come with me to the party.” Audrina was talking in a slow and pronounced way in between delivering strikes of her crop. She was lost in some sadistic head space. The narcotic high that she was experiencing was acting like a rush to the head, and her sexual lust and erotic thoughts were now dominating her emotions and impelling her actions.

  In her preoccupied state she did not notice the great strain that River was applying to the chain that secured his right wrist. Neither did she notice that he had dislocated the thumb on his left hand and was working his way out of that loose restraint.

  Audrina had left him for a minute or so and was tightening the straps on a strap-on harness that she had just put on. She had also picked up a long whip to practice with. She had only managed to wield it once across his back, and as she excitedly watched his body contort in pain, she witnessed the chain break that secured his right hand. She had not yet noticed that his left arm was already free as he spun around and jumped up from the bed. She felt herself being violently pushed to the ground as River held one hand to her throat; he held the other in reserve seemingly wanting to punch her. It surprised her how quickly she had accepted this turnabout of dominance. She was still feeling highly sexually aroused, and this only served as a new erotic disposition for her. “Hit me, go on hit me. What are you waiting for?” she snarled, and then beseeched him, “I want you to hurt me, and I want you to rape me.”

  River found himself disgusted by her words and her actions as well as his own. He removed his hand from her neck, and dropped and unclenched his other hand whilst getting off her. Staring down at her he said, “You are sick in the head. Get up and get dressed. I am taking you home.”

  Audrina looked up at him showing an expression which was part frustration, part shame and part anger. She stood up, making a point not to look at him, nor say anything. Instead she busily searched for her clothes, and hurriedly put them on. River did the same, quickly getting dressed and getting ready to leave. Audrina however was ready first and already heading towards the door.

  “Hold on Audrina. I am taking you home.”

  “You!” she spat out the word. “You are not taking me anywhere. I am going back to Style Seekers to find Stannis. He can take me to the party,” she sought a reaction from River. “Or back here. He is probably more of a man than you are, and a better lover.”

  River constrained his emotion and stared blankly at her. Audrina did not return his stare but simply walked out the door.

  She left River behind and feeling very sorry for himself. He considered going after her but chose not to. He also considered going home but didn’t want to arrive home so late without Audrina. He was so angry with her right now. But he didn’t hate her; in fact he knew he loved her. However the part of her character that he loved was hidden under too many complex layers of dysfunction that he could not fathom. He decided that sleep was the best option, although he could not find out how to turn the light off or where a duvet was stored. It was a miserable night to follow a bad date and a dreadful day.

  Chapter Nineteen

  River made sure not to return home before everyone had left for work the next day. Emotionally he was feeling delicate, and he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to talk with anyone. The sanctuary of his own room was what he needed, and apart from conducting his exercises out on the roof terrace, he stayed there until Valerie came home. He had to consider what he was going to say to her when and if challenged about the other night. He assumed Audrina would have gone straight into work, based on her reliance upon amphetamines to counter lack of sleep. It was usual for her to burn the candle at both ends, but he was unsure as to what state of mind she would be in when she arrived home.

  River chose to tell Valerie a half truth. When she asked about the all night party, he told Valerie that Audrina had got upset with him and that they had spent the night separately. He said that he assumed Audrina had gone to work early and he had not yet had the chance to clear the air and make up. He didn’t mention the box hotel or Audrina’s bizarre behaviour. He didn’t want to alarm her or embarrass Audrina or himself. Valerie expressed some sympathy for River telling him that Audrina had always been temperamental. She said that she believed Audrina would soon get over being upset, as was her bipolar nature.

  However things were not going to be that easily resolved here. When Audrina came home, she made a point of ignoring River and didn’t speak to anyone before disappearing to her room. She seemed to want to keep to herself and didn’t come out to join the family when Valerie announced that Dinner was served. For Valerie, who ruled the dining table with an iron rod, this was unacceptable behaviour. She went to Audrina’s room, and ignoring her pleas to be left alone went inside to talk with her.

  Nathan, Anton and River waited on Valerie to return before eating their meals. But when she finally sat back down at the table with Audrina still noticeably absent, she remained sullen for the rest of the meal which set the mood for everyone else. River felt guilty and responsible in some way. It was an awkward feeling. After excusing himself, he went out on the roof terrace and remained in deep consternation out there.

  Later on, Nathan joined him there. River’s gut reaction wanted to retreat to his room because it was ob
vious that Nathan was troubled and wanted to discuss the situation with Audrina. He stayed though out of respect.

  “Valerie tells me that Audrina and you have fallen out.”

  “She is still upset with me over yesterday.”

  “It seems more than that River. Audrina has told Valerie that she will not eat or socialise with the family if you are there,” said Nathan looking concerned.

  “So that is simple, I will stay out of her way until she feels differently.”

  Nathan wanted the truth, “You can do that if you want, but that is not the answer I am looking for. I want to know what is going on with you two.”

  River looked troubled as he weighed up the consequences of telling his friend the truth, against offending him as her father. “There is nothing going on, We are just friends, and we were fond of each other, until I upset her in some way the other evening.”

  “Well I can understand that. I appreciate how easy it is to annoy or upset her. However Valerie doesn’t feel quite the same way as I do. She seems to think that there is something deeper going on here and that this is more than a tiff between friends.” Nathan rested his hand on River’s arm to reassure him, but also to stress a point, “She’s still my little girl, River. And I don’t want to find out that you have acted inappropriately with her. Remember you are my guest, and you will always remain welcome as such as long as you do not hurt my family.”

  River fully appreciated this. He nodded in complete agreement, and in his heart he felt that he had acted treacherously to his host and benefactor. He had broken the code of acceptable behaviour for a guest as unbrokenly practised by his community.