The Gift She Gives Ch. 08

Vesper had long since lost track of the time she had spent in the box. She knew that Mr. Hughes had at one point left the room for she had heard the door closed quite soundly behind him. The vibrator had continued to buzz intermittently ever since, so she knew the range of the instrument was quite far. In truth, she was inside the locked box in the corner of Mr. Hughes' office for about five hours total. When she finally felt someone unlock it, Vesper made a somewhat desperate whimper and felt herself begin to shudder all over again. The first streams of light from the bulbs on the ceiling drifted inside the box as the lid was lifted and she slowly opened her eyes, wincing a little as she was not used to the light.

After a few moments, Vesper looked up and saw that it was Deandra who was in the room with her, and it was the young French woman who had opened the box. Deandra wasn't alone in the room, she had brought Marc, her boyfriend, with her. Vesper had met him several times and really liked the man who was a businessman from Boston. He had dark blond hair and had recently grown a goatee. The two had met through his cousin, Shi, and he had been spending a great deal of time visiting Deandra. Vesper knew that it would only be a few more weeks before Deandra finally turned in her resignation to Mr. Hughes and left the spa. She wanted to move to the States and be with him on a permanent basis.

When she saw Vesper lying on her stomach tied at her arms and legs, Deandra had a little frown on her face. She hadn't quite known what to expect when Mr. Hughes had sent her to fetch their newest guest, and it was apparent that she hadn't expected to find Vesper in quite this situation. Regardless, Deandra quietly stepped aside and allowed Mark to reach in and pick up Vesper and remove her from the box, before finally resting her on the soft rug that lined the hardwood floor beneath. He made quick work of the ties that bound her together and Vesper moaned softly as her legs and arms were able to stretch to a more normal position. Her body had grown somewhat numb and at the increase in circulation, tingles worked up and down from her fingers to her toes. Once she was free of the ropes, Vesper moved herself to her knees on the floor and reached below her waist and carefully took hold of the clamp over her clit. Squeezing the rubber ends of the device she removed it and felt the swollen nub beneath throb at the sensation of being released.

Vesper held onto the clamp as she shifted her body slightly to get a better angle so that she could slowly remove the vibrator from her asshole. As it slipped from the tight muscle, Vesper let out a moan and felt her body shake with a soft orgasm and she refused to look up from the floor at the two people who were patiently waiting for her to finish. She knew her face would be red as the couple that she had grown steadily closer to watched and assisted her from the hold the Gregory had placed upon her earlier. She wondered where the wolf was but figured that he had already left the mansion and that she probably wouldn't see him again anytime soon. Mr. Hughes had not been amused at his arrival at the spa. Next, she unbuckled the strap behind her and removed the ball gag from her mouth. It felt good to finally be able to close her jaw into a more natural position.

Finally, she stood up and thanked the two of them for helping her get free, and accepted the robe that Deandra placed around her shoulders backwards, and allowed the woman to tie it in place. Deandra had just finished the bow when Vesper heard the door open, and her violet eyes raised to see Mr. Hughes standing just within it, an anxious look in his stormy gray eyes. Biting her lip, Vesper put her hands together in front of her waist and gave him a little smile.

"Thank you for allowing him to leave without further hurting him, Mr. Hughes." She said softly, nodding at Marc and Deandra as they quickly left the room at the arrival of the owner.

"He won't be back, and you are not to try to contact him." Mr. Hughes' voice was full of irritation and ultimatums and she bristled slightly.

"I didn't contact him this time." She reminded him, watching as he walked inside and moved around his desk from the side opposite of where she was now standing.

"Nonetheless, I have removed the wolf pack's contact information from the phone Zheng gave you. You may still update the dragon on how you feel, but it is better if you do not keep in touch with Sergei's pack right now."

"You got in my phone?" Vesper frowned, she wasn't sure how she felt about this new, immensely jealous Mr. Hughes. Angry Mr. Hughes she was used to, but jealous Mr. Hughes seemed able to kick angry Mr. Hughes' ass.

"Vesper, this hold you-he needs to separate from you. I need you to let him, them. Please. Do not be angry with me." He said in a voice that was suddenly much more impassioned.

"What am I to you?" Vesper asked suddenly as she moved away from him, towards the chair closest to the door. Sitting down, she waited expectantly for him to answer.

"You're an ayperi, How can you not see that you are everything to me?" His voice sounded tortured, and that made her sigh, how could she be everything to him if she made him so miserable, if the act of being near him, and the act of trying to get away from him, was all so very painful for her?

"We don't know each other. We can't even touch. We can never have a relationship, a sexual one, not a proper one, at least. I don't understand the feelings that I have for you, I don't know why my body gravitates towards you as my mind would like nothing better than to berate you for being so hateful towards me."

"It is a paradox, I know." He frowned, the gray cat was already climbing up his leg again.

"What you did to me, I know why you did it, you had to make Grigory understand that I was yours, I get that. Though I don't know when it was decided between us that I belonged to you. But I can't have that kind of a relationship with you, either. I know that's what you want. I can see it on your face." She told him and watched as he tensed slightly and sat up a little at his desk.

"It pleases me to bring you pleasure." He muttered, his eyes moving to the top of the desk.

"I am not denying that I find it, that I find you, erotic. But I can't let you do that again, not right now. I wasn't raised-I don't know you, I don't always know what you're feeling." She shook her head, none of this was easy to explain, or understand.

"Vesper," He breathed in deeply and pushed the orange kitten away when it jumped onto his desk from the arm of a nearby chair, "Get to know me."

"That's what I want to do, but I don't want to do that and have you putting me in sexual situations at the same time. I need to trust you-I do trust you, but I need you to respect the fact that despite my being nonhuman...being an ayperi, that I am not really comfortable with this. I don't like this idea that I'm being forced to be with you. Which is even more frustrating because we can't even get within four feet of each other without my whole body exploding in pain." She bit her lip again and wiped at a tear that had fallen from her eyes.

Mr. Hughes sat quietly for a moment before he slowly nodded, "I won't ever force you. That, I can promise. I need to know that you will take the time to get to know me, that you won't be with anyone else, that you won't allow another man, or woman, to touch you sexually. I can't handle it, it's painful, I knew Grigory was touching you and I wasn't even anywhere close by."

Vesper felt her eyes widen as she looked at him, "It was never my intention to touch Grigory, Mr. Hughes, I am very sorry." She told him, she knew pain, knew it well, and the thought that she was causing him pain, well, it hurt her more than it should. After all, he was responsible for all the pain she'd experienced as of late.

"Do not ever apologize to me for anything, Vesper. You have not done anything intentionally wrong." He told her, then gave her that crooked smile of his, "So we get to know each other."

Vesper nodded, "Yes, we get to know each other."

"How do you suppose we do this? It's not like I can take you to the movies." He actually opened his mouth in a wide smile at that point and Vesper felt her body grow warm and her mind swam with all sorts of scenarios that were nowhere near as chaste as what he had suggested the do.

"You have lunch in your office every day." Vesper bit her lower lip, she'd found him there several times since she'd come to the spa, "There's a picnic table in the back that nobody uses, we could move it towards the trees on the west side for some more privacy and eat there together everyday. And just talk."

"Talk." Mr. Hughes was looking at her intently, and his head tilted a little to his left.

She sucked the lip in a little farther and ran her tongue over it. "It's a start."

Mr. Hughes nodded, "All right. So, noon? I'll have the table moved."

Vesper smiled at him before getting up and walking towards the door.

"Just you and I, Mr. Hughes, no one else, and no business talk." She told him before leaving his office. Vesper had no desire whatsoever to hear about the kind of work he did, she was still extremely uneasy with the workings of the spa. This life was so unlike the life she had left behind at the death of her mother.

~*~*~*~

The picnic table was moved into the somewhat more shaded area of the yard, away from the patio where people were more likely to be from time to time. The dining room was just inside, and there were almost always clients eating there during midday. Vesper had sat at one end, a basket of food with her that she'd requested from the kitchen, and when Mr. Hughes had shown up that first time, looking dapper as ever, she'd been surprised to see that he had shaved. It wasn't something she had expected and it brought a soft smile to her face as his vanilla scented aftershave wafted under her nose. She kind of liked scruffy Mr. Hughes, but she wouldn't tell him that and disappoint him. This was obviously very important to him.

He'd sat a little past halfway down the table across from her and and slowly scooted towards her until Vesper had told him where the limit was for him, it would do no good to try to get to know this man if she was constantly reminded that he caused her pain. She'd watched quietly as Mr. Hughes had taken a pocket knife out and made a visible notch in the bench he sat on so that he wouldn't accidentally cross over it while eating with her.

That first day, he had asked that she tell him about her childhood and how she'd started helping the injured soldiers with her mother. He'd asked questions about her feelings and about how she'd felt when her mother had told her she was different. He'd looked genuinely displeased when she'd told him the rules that she had lived by. Mr. Hughes had promised her that while he had a tendency to want her to act a certain way, and do certain things, he would never make rules without her, and they would never be made to make her feel ashamed of herself.

Vesper, in turn, had asked him about his childhood, which had made his eyes darken a bit as he stared at the half eaten sandwich on his plate and he was lost in his thoughts for several moments before continuing their conversation.

"My kind were never given a childhood. We are not born, nor do we die. We were created solely to service our God in any way he saw fit." His words had been laced with centuries long anguish and Vesper had felt herself shiver, and she slowly nodded at him.

"I do not want you to think that I have complaints about my childhood, Mr. Hughes, I was cared for, in the way my mother knew how. I was kept safe, we always had a roof of sorts over our heads, and enough food on the table to sustain ourselves. A non-perfect childhood is still better than no childhood at all. It's the time in our lives that we're allowed to look upon the world in innocence, before the dirtiness in life takes over." She had replied gently, her eyes on his right hand as it rested on the table by his plate, it was a strong hand, large, long fingered, there had been several times in their conversation that he had used it to animate what he was saying, and several more when she wouldn't have minded it cupping around hers.

"Maybe that's why we were not allowed one. We only saw the...vulgarities of existence, we were instruments of death, for a great deal of time, it's only been in the last few centuries that we were allowed to rest, to look upon the earth and focus on the good." His voice was low, hoarse, and she had to strain to hear him a little.

"Still," Vesper sighed as she picked up a slice of orange from her plate, "I wonder about what type of child you would have been. A troublemaker, that's for sure. But you would have been quiet, bookish, I think."

His eyes never left her face as she spoke, but he was back to hiding his emotions from her so she eventually stopped talking and concentrated on the rest of the orange on her plate.

"You are very beautiful." He said suddenly and she looked over at him, the color rising slowly up her neck.

"Thank you, Mr. Hughes." She nodded at him.

"Between the two of us, I think people would assume that you're the more ethereal one, the angelic one." He said gutturally and she shook her head.

"You're the angel, not me."

"I'm apparently not a very good one." He told her.

"But you can be." She moved her eyes to his face and watched as the faintest of sparkles shined in his stone depths. Did she believe that? Did she believe that Mr. Hughes could be a good man? A good man that owned a sex spa?

The next few weeks were somewhat like that first day, more questions and more detailed answers. Vesper found herself being fully honest with Mr. Hughes about her life experiences and what she wanted for her future, which seemed pretty far out of touch considering that she was completely unable to leave her current situation. She wanted a home of her own, and not an apartment that she rented. She wanted a yard, and a fence. A dishwasher. That had made him chuckle. She wanted a family, someone who loved her, who could make her happy. And, if it was possible, she wanted to be a mother. She very much wanted that. But when she'd said it, she'd seen the way his face had fallen slightly, the way his eyes had moved to the glass of water in his hand, which he'd been about to take a drink from, but set it down on the table, instead.

That's when he had told her that he didn't have the proper equipment to make that happen for her. Angels were asexual, born without male or female genitalia. He could never make her pregnant. Vesper had felt somewhat gutted at his revelation, but what did it matter? They couldn't even touch, what did it matter that he couldn't ever give her a baby? But wasn't a relationship with him what these lunches were all about? Weren't they getting to know each other better so that they could decide whether or not they wanted to be together? But how could they be if they couldn't even touch? It was the thought that kept her up at night, and while her dreams before that conversation had often included Mr. Hughes making love to her, quite fierce love, the ones after had turned somewhat sadder, distant. She had almost wished he'd never told her.

It hadn't ruined things, however, and she had seen the look of relief that had come to his eyes when she'd walked out of the mansion through the dining room the next day, a small cheesecake in hand as she made her way to the table. He'd mentioned that he preferred this particular dessert, so she'd spent the morning making it. Mr. Hughes had given her a wide, handsome smile and told her again that he thought she was beautiful.

A week later, Vesper sat at the table in her usual spot on the end. She'd made lunch today, a roast chicken, salad, and a cauliflower puree. She had made chocolate chip cookies, this time, and hoped he liked them, she'd tried desperately not to burn them. Usually, he would be outside shortly after her, or even before. But always by noon, and now it was 12:10 pm and he had yet to show up. She was nervous, worried that something was wrong, that there was some sort of problem that had kept him, or that he was not coming because he had finally decided that all of this was not worth the work.

Vesper knew the wall she had tried to construct around her heart concerning Mr. Hughes had been cracked and more than one large piece had fallen free. She liked him, despite the way he had treated her when she first came here, despite the fact that she was an ayperi and had been created as an angel's concubine. He was a good man, even if he couldn't see it, and when they were together, she felt warmed by him, and not just the physical reaction she got in her pussy, or the sensations that would tighten her nipples and make her shift uncomfortably on her bench, but warm in a way that felt like love. It felt a lot like love.

"I apologize for my tardiness." A slightly out of breath Mr. Hughes said fifteen minutes later as he walked somewhat quickly towards the table and sat down in his usual spot.

She bit her lip, "The chicken is cold."

"Oh," Mr. Hughes waved at someone near the door, handing the man his plate, he explained that they would like their food heated back up, and once both plates were on their way back to the kitchen, he looked at her with wide, gray eyes, eyes that were searching to establish what her mood was, "I am sorry, Vesper."

"I understand," Vesper looked at him and tried to smile, "this place is time consuming. I shouldn't expect you to be on time every day. It's a little selfish of me if I were to be upset."

"I do not like being late, I won't make a habit of this." He said soothingly and watched as she ran a hand through her long, white hair, she'd left it down today.

Vesper nodded softly and took a deep breath in. She furrowed a brow after and moved her gaze to the glass of lemonade that she'd already taken several sips from. He didn't smell like vanilla aftershave today. He had made a habit of washing up and shaving before he'd come down to lunch with her, but he hadn't done that today. She wasn't too concerned, she liked his stubble and had been working up the courage to tell him so, but there was a scent on him that made her feel uneasy. Something not quite...normal for her to smell on the angel.

"It is supposed to rain tomorrow, maybe we can take lunch under the canopy on the roof, or in the conservatory." He said gently, feeling the need for a conversation to start to fill what was beginning to feel like uncomfortable silence.

"You smell like a vagina." Her words were barely even a whisper, but her eyes burned with her sudden hurt as she sent them to his face.

Mr. Hughes frowned, "I-I was with a client and running late, I did not change first, Vesper. I apologize, I thought that my suit jacket would dull any fluid smell from my shirt."

"Why would you have fluid from a vagina on your shirt, Mr. Hughes? You said you didn't have sex with the clients."

He cocked his head slightly and his eyes seemed to lighten to almost a white, which was something that she'd never seen, they usually went darker, "I don't have sex with the clients that come to the spa, Vesper. I did not lie. I told you that I prep them for their appointments. The majority of nonhumans have quite larger...girths than humans and the men and women need stretched in order to accommodate them."

"And you do the stretching?" Vesper shivered, why hadn't she realized that when he had told her, why hadn't she realized that he was performing sex acts, if not sex itself, with the clients at the spa? She felt nauseous as she stood up, a hand on the table to steady herself.

"Vesper. This is my job. I've never hidden what goes on here, not from you. I've been completely honest."