The scene before her shifted into a new perspective, and Tanwen blinked at the raw masculine carnality. “Wow, you’re totally right. How did you get so good at reading people?”
“I’m a police officer. Reading people is part of my job. Wanna see my handcuffs, little girl?”
Tanwen snickered and flushed, remembering what Bryan had done to her with his handcuffs earlier today. Annie licked some powdered sugar off her fingers before gesturing back toward the redhead with her plate. “Here comes that sweet geek sub she came in with. She’s been totally ignoring him all night no matter how much he tries to please her or get her attention. It’s not like that master ignoring his sub but still paying attention to him. It’s more like she just couldn’t give a shit about her sub. Like, I don’t know, like he was her date for the dance but she wants to ditch him at the first opportunity for someone else.”
The skinny man with the extremely large chain and padlock around his neck who had been with the redhead when she threw her fit at the registration desk approached his mistress. He held a wineglass and a bottle of wine, but the expression of sorrow on his face made Tanwen look closer at him. His gaze went from the redhead to the sub at her feet, and his shoulders slumped. He paused, then took a deep breath and approached them.
“I see what you mean.”
Tanwen had no idea who they were or what their arrangement was, but she felt bad for the young man as he knelt next to the man in the gladiator outfit. Hope filled his face as he looked up at his mistress and offered her the wineglass and the bottle of wine. Instead of taking the glass, the redhead said something and backhanded the young man with the padlock around his neck with all her might. He fell to the ground, and the redhead kicked him.
Tanwen was moving before she was even aware of it, ready to give the redhead a piece of her mind. By the time she reached that area of the garden, two very angry doms had the screeching redhead held between them. From the murderous looks on their faces, they planned on doing a lot more than yell at her. As Tanwen came closer, she could see why.
The wineglass the young man had been holding shattered on the pavement, either when he fell or when she kicked him. Blood coated his hand like a dark red glove, and some people hovered around him while Julia, the lady in the cream leather outfit Tanwen had met at dinner, tried to calm him. He shook as he stared at his hand, and blood began to rapidly pool as it poured from the deep cut on his palm.
She elbowed her way through the growing crowd, ignoring complaints as she shoved people out of the way to get the man. By the time she reached his side, she heard him say in a weak voice with a New York accent, “I’m clean. No diseases or anything like that.”
Kneeling next to Julia, she met his dark eyes and said, “My name is Tanwen. I’m a nurse.” She looked over at Julia. “Is help on the way?”
Julia gave her a brisk nod. “Tanwen, we just need to get him stabilized until the paramedics get here. He sliced himself up pretty good, multiple cuts to his palm, and he may have some tendon damage.” Someone handed Julia a wad of napkins, and she grunted her thanks before yelling, “All right, folks. Let’s back the fuck up and give this guy some space.” With efficient but gentle movements, Julia applied direct pressure to his hand and elevated it.
The man began to sway as his face turned a cheesy yellow color, and Tanwen quickly moved behind him, supporting his weight with her body. She tried to make him as comfortable as she could and grimaced in distaste at the chain around his neck. “Can someone get this thing off him?”
The redhead tried to shake off the men holding her. “Let go of me. He’s my slave. I didn’t give you permission to take his collar off!”
The crowd made an angry rumble, and the redhead’s struggles lessened as she took in the unfriendly faces. Even the young man dressed like a gladiator glared at her. Changing tactics, she gave a pitiful sniff. “My poor Saul, someone help him!” One of the doms whispered something in her ear, and she paled. “I-I don’t have the key. I lost it.”
“Here.” Annie knelt next to them. Pulling out the two thin metal rods that held her hair up, she inserted them into the lock and began to twist one of them around. The lock snapped, and Tanwen helped to remove the collar from his neck. The skin around his throat was bruised and abraded in some places. Both Julia and Annie swore under their breath.
Saul took a deep breath and hissed as Julia carefully wrapped his hand up in what looked to be one of the black cloth napkins from dinner. Saul managed a weak smile. “I’m so sorry to have caused you all this trouble. Please let me pay for your dry-cleaning bill. I’d be happy to buy you a new outfit as well.” He tried to look back at Tanwen and Annie. “I’m so sorry about this. It’s all my fault. I’m so clumsy. Please forgive me. You all were having such a great time, and I ruined it.”
Footsteps gritted on the concrete, and they looked up to see the redhead reaching for Saul before one of the doms jerked her back. The woman started to say something, but Julia growled at her. Even Tanwen shrank back from the contained violence in her voice. “Get that bitch out of here.”
The burly dom on her left nodded and picked her up, slamming his hand over her mouth as she squirmed and tried to yell. A group of hotel security guards pushed through the crowd with grim faces and gestured for the doms to follow them. The woman between them looked honestly scared for the first time since this whole fiasco began as she dug in her heels and tried to resist being moved when they dragged her through the doors and into the hotel.
A handsome and rather muscular Hispanic man in a dark suit with a shaved head pushed his way past the onlookers and crouched down next to them. “My name is Angel, and I’m the owner of Sodom. Paramedics are on their way and should be here soon.” His gaze flickered between Tanwen and Julia before returning to Saul. “Do you wish to press charges against that woman?”
The young man protested. “No, it’s not my mistress’s fault. I did it. I’m the clumsy one. Please.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Please, it will be so much worse if you make her mad. She won’t love me anymore.”
The women exchanged a glance, and Tanwen could see her own rage reflected in Julia’s eyes. To her surprise, Julia gave Saul a gentle smile and smoothed her hand down the side of his face. “Relax, little sub. I will speak to your mistress. What’s her name?”
He swallowed and leaned his head back on Tanwen’s chest. She placed her fingers against his neck, checking his pulse while trying to avoid the bruised and scarred skin from the chain. “Winter, Mistress Winter.”
Julia continued to hold his gaze. “Did you come here with her?”
He darted a glance at Angel, then nodded and sighed. “I met her on the Internet through her Web site. I—She… I paid for the privilege of being her boi. I’ve been her submissive for a year now, but this is the first time we’ve met in person. We spent our first night together last night and—” He closed his eyes and swallowed. “She was so different online. I thought she cared about me, valued me.” His dark gaze became disturbingly direct. “I know you think I’m stupid, but she made me feel good during our sessions. So wanted. So loved. I gave her everything she asked for, even a new car.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “No matter how much she hurt me last night, I never felt loved.”
Angel started to say something, but Annie whispered into his ear, and he nodded with a grim expression. “Saul, after you’re comfortably settled in the hospital, I would like to speak with you, if that’s all right.”
Looking even more miserable, Saul nodded. “I’m sorry about…all of this.”