The Bathhouse: Part 6

“Yes,” I tell the girl in the mirror, pleased to see that she agrees. “We’re going back.”

Continued from The Bathhouse: Part 5

Created by author with Midjourney

---

I swirl the spoon around in my mug of tea, watching the shimmering oily splotches shift and combine, then separate again.

“I’m sorry it didn’t go like you wanted,” Dan murmurs from across the table. I had forgotten he was there.

Understatement of the century, I think, but I can’t fault him. He doesn’t know the extent of my disappointment. Or my violation. If he did, he would insist on reporting the…what? Rape? I had wanted it, at least a little. I know how it would seem to everybody else, though, and maybe they would be right. Still, I can’t bring myself to involve the police in this matter. Any investigation would lead, inevitably, to Vlad and I. And what are we, after all?

“Well, you see, officer, I actually kind of wanted to be raped, because I thought it’s what this other guy wanted after I’d decided to bestow upon him my entire being.”

My guts feel like they’re being vacuumed.

“Yeah, well…” I say, forcing a smile. “It’s probably for the best.”

Dan nods slowly, forehead still creased in concern.

“Now I have all the time in the world for you,” I continue, pushing my chair away from the table and moving to his side. I straddle him and take his face between my palms, kissing him deeply. His beard is soft against my skin and our tongues play together like curious puppies. I catch his lower lip between my teeth and pull it gently as I grind my hips into his, feeling him harden between my thighs.

---

The shower is scalding, barely within the realm of tolerability, but I like it. Dan’s seed slides down the inside of my leg in a slippery stream and I watch its journey to the drain, feeling something symbolic in it. I rub my hand over my slit, more of Dan flowing out of me. Nikolai had left me tender and although the soreness is mostly gone now, I still feel it with penetration. Another thing I’ve been hiding from Dan. I haven’t orgasmed with penetration in longer than I care to recall. Not since before Vlad first laid his hands on me. I probe myself, wincing. My throat aches and I have a moment to wonder why before a sob is yanked out of my chest. I slide to the floor, hot water pummeling my face, suffocating in a savagely pleasing way. I asked for this. What the fuck did I have to cry about? This was my fault. My fault for not telling Dan everything to begin with. My fault for concealing Nikolai’s transgressions. My fault for giving myself to Vlad, then to Nikolai.

“Fucking slut,” I spit, and this time The Courtesan doesn’t correct me. She looks heartbroken as well, staring into her pool with an empty expression.

I curl into a ball and let the water beat me until it turns cold.

‘At least you resisted in the end,’ The Courtesan says softly, plucking at her pillow as I step out of the shower and wrap a towel around myself. I snort.

‘Yeah. Well. I suppose that’s something,’ I reply.

‘And Vlad didn’t seem too pleased himself,’ she offers tentatively. True. Although I had fled as soon as that simpering fuck, Nikolai, was out of me, I had seen the two of them against the wall, Vlad’s arm across Nikolai’s throat, looking like he might kill the smaller man right there. His reaction had pleased me. And it begged certain questions.

‘Yeah, which means I let that asshole fuck me for literally no reason,’ I say, aggressively toweling my hair. ‘And I kind of liked it.’

The Courtesan gives me a sympathetic look and shrugs.

‘What can you do?’ she asks.