Chapter 1
Sam glanced at her phone. After almost four hours on the train, it wouldn’t be long now. It was summer and blazingly hot, and the broken air conditioning didn’t help. Beads of sweat stood on her forehead, and seeing how her tight T-shirt clung to her skin, she was glad she was wearing a bra.
When the conductor announced the next stop and the train finally hit the brakes, she heaved the heavy suitcase from the overhead luggage rack and dragged it toward the door. It took another five minutes until the train finally screeched to a halt.
Outside, she nervously shifted her weight as she looked around. The station was huge and loud, with hundreds, probably thousands of people rushing to and from its dozens of platforms.
“Hey, Sam!” she heard a bright, familiar voice. “Over here!”
She turned her head and saw her aunt in the crowd, rushing toward her. At twenty-five, Janie was just seven years older – her mother’s youngest sister – and by far the most interesting person in the whole extended family. She had left town for the big city, had started her own business, and a couple of years ago had married a woman. When she came home for Christmas, everyone acted as if an alien from outer space had landed.
“Auntie!” Sam shouted and let go of her suitcase. She pulled Janie into a hug. “I missed you!”
“And I missed you,” Janie said, rubbing her shoulders. “I still can’t believe your parents let you go off on your own.”
“That took some convincing.” Sam rolled her eyes. “I’m supposed to call Mom every day.”
“Well, you’re staying with your crazy aunt. Anything could happen.”
“Oh, you’re definitely the cool aunt.” Sam grabbed her suitcase and followed Janie toward the exit. “How’s Stella?”
“She’s fine. Still at work, but I’m sure she’ll be home by the time you’re out of the shower.”
Sam wiped the sweat from her face. “Jeez, I’m not sure I have enough T-shirts for this heat. Mom said I should pack more.”
“This isn’t the jungle; we have a washing machine. Let’s get you home, sweetie. We’re going to get takeout, and tomorrow we’ll show you around.”
The subway ride home took almost half an hour. Janie’s apartment was located on the thirty-first floor of an upscale apartment building near the river, and the view from her living room was nothing short of breathtaking. The living room itself was tastefully furnished, with a large white couch in front of a huge TV and an adjacent open kitchen.
“How about Chinese for dinner?” Janie asked. “We’ve got a great place around the corner.”
Sam scratched her head. “I’ve never had Chinese, to be honest. The only restaurant in town closed when I was little.”
“Tsao’s, I remember. How about I get a little bit of everything? Unless you wanna play it safe and get pizza.”
“No, no, I want to give it a try. I want to try everything while I’m here.”
Janie laughed. “Got it.”
Sam dropped her suitcase off in the guest room, and when she emerged from the shower, cooled down and refreshed, Stella was already home.
“Hey, Sam,” she said, giving Sam a hug and a kiss. “How was your trip, sweetie?”
“It was okay. Long. Hot.”
“I can imagine. Oh, by the way: your mom called because you weren’t picking up your phone. I told her you got here okay. No need to send a rescue party.”
“Thanks.” Sam snatched her phone from the kitchen counter and winced. Two missed calls and seven increasingly worried messages.
“Janie will be back with dinner in ten minutes, give or take,” Stella said. “Maybe check in with the folks back home? Your mom and dad, your boyfriend…”
Sam scoffed. “Boyfriend? I wish. I’ll send Mom a message.”
“Okay.” Stella pointed toward the couch. “Make yourself comfortable. Not sure where the remote is, but it should be here somewhere.”
As Stella disappeared into the bedroom to get changed, Sam sat down on the couch and glanced around. The size of the TV was impressive, and so was the sound system with its four large speakers in every corner. The remote, however, was nowhere to be found. She looked on the coffee table, under stacks of magazines, lifted the cushions, checked the gaps. No luck.
The bedroom door opened and Stella returned. “Did you find it?”
“No. Maybe it’s on the floor.”
Sam got on her knees, patting blindly under the couch. No remote, but there was something else down there. A rubber ball? Attached to a belt? No, it was too narrow for a belt. She pulled it out and held it up, grinning. “Look what I found! Now, what is that?”
“Oh, I was wondering where that was,” Stella said, taking plates out of the cupboard. “It’s… uh… how do I best explain it?”
Sam giggled. “Even out in the country we do have the Internet. I know what a ball gag is.” She ran her fingers over the buckle. “You play with it?”
“Yeah.”
“And you also have… other stuff?” Sam asked, feeling a flush creeping up her neck. “Like handcuffs? And whips and stuff?”
Stella laughed. “Trust me, we got it all. Why?”
“Huh.” Sam examined the gag. “And that… works?”
“You mean if it silences someone? Not really. But you’ll be extremely hard to understand. Give it a try if you want.”
Sam hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know.”
“Well, if you do, maybe run some water over it. We’re way past the five-second rule.”
Sam walked over to the kitchen island and cleaned the rubber ball in the sink. It was red and heavy, with a black leather strap and a steel buckle. After taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth and pushed the ball in. It didn’t look big, but it propped her mouth surprisingly wide open.
“Don’t catch your hair in the buckle,” Stella said, getting glasses from the cupboard. “Do you need help?”
Sam shook her head. She sat down on the couch and closed the buckle behind her head. When she was still able to push the ball out of her mouth, she tightened the strap by a couple of notches.
“It gets uncomfortable pretty quick if you’re not used to it,” Stella said, shooting her an amused glance. “We do have bigger ones when you’re done with that one.”
Stella was right. Even after just a couple of minutes, her jaw hurt. When she forgot to swallow, saliva dripped down her chin and onto the couch.
“Yep, that’s the thing with ball gags,” Stella said. “You drool a lot.”
“Sorry,” Sam mumbled into the gag, wiping the spit off with her sleeve.
“That’s okay. We have a leather couch for a reason.”
Still wearing the gag, breathing through her nose, Sam helped to set the table. Just as Stella finished laying out napkins, the door opened and Janie walked in, carrying two white plastic bags.
“Whoa,” Janie said. “What’s happening here?”
“Sam found your gag. It was under the couch. But the remote’s still missing.”
“It’ll turn up.” Janie set the bags on the table. ”You weren’t lying about trying out stuff, huh. How do you like it, sweetie?”
Sam quickly unfastened the strap and handed the gag to Stella, who wrapped it in a kitchen towel and tossed it on the kitchen counter.
“Weird. My jaw hurts.”
Janie grinned. “Just wait until you wear it for an hour. Let’s eat, shall we?”