Hiding

See disclaimers from previous chapters, I can’t think of anything cute to add to it. Except that Magnus still rules, of course.


The next morning, Roisin got up at about 9:30, took a quick bath, kissed a sleeping Kurt and went down to the shop. She had a lot to do if she was going to be able to go on the run. She thought of Logan’s emotions last night as he’d finally agreed to let them wait 24 hours before leaving. It was unlike him, he was usually an act first think later kind of guy. She still got a little twist in her stomach when she thought of him. Stupid bad boy fixation.
ghinghing, running her fingers through her hair, she looked out into the street. It was still almost empty, only the bank and the post office across the way were open. Some shoppers walked along, glancing in the windows of the shops along the street which, like hers had yet to open. She was used to people staring at her shop- considering that the store to the left of hers was a Hallmark store that did a brisk business of selling Precious Moments figurines and the store to the right was a GNC, she had to agree that it was sort of peculiar that her shop was here at all. Luckily the person in charge of business permits and zoning had been a regular customer of hers back in the day and was happy to help her out.

The first order of business had been talking to suppliers, and Roisin called and placed a call to her friends in Provincetown. She was unable to get them on the phone, and there seemed to be an awfully long beep on the voice mail. Still, she left a message and looked around the shop, trying to figure out the best way to prepare to get out of town for awhile. She called Ron, knowing it wasn’t his normal day to drop stuff off, but hoping she’d get in touch with him anyway. She was thinking they could bring most of her inventory over to one of those self-storage places that popped up all over, almost as often as nail salons seemed to.

Sandy answered the phone when she called and after spending fifteen minutes gushing about meeting Kurt- Sandy had been dropping hints about meeting some model she knew- Roisin spoke to Ron and explained, briefly, the situation. He agreed to come by at 2 o’clock and she thanked him gratefully, knowing how hard it still was for him to come out during the day. She drew up a little sign explaining that the shop would be closed for a few weeks due to a “family emergency” and called her bank to make sure that all her payments were up to date. She was actually kind of glad she didn’t have any employees she’d have to pay to not work for…however long it would be that she would be gone.

She worked at packing up all her clothing first, carefully laying everything in gift boxes with tissue paper. That took about two hours. She was packing the stock into boxes, going back and forth from the alley to ghe bhe boxes she’d unpacked two days earlier, thankful for once that the garbage collectors were totally incompetent when Kurt straggled into the shop. His fur and hair were damp, and it made his blue a slightly darker color. He was wearing a white t shirt and a pair of grey pants that Roisin had thrown together for him this morning. She couldn’t bear the thought of him wearing those sad jeans with the awful little rip for his tail. He walked over and kissed her good morning.

“What are we doing? Packing up?” he asked, surveying the boxes. She nodded and Kurt grabbed a box, getting ready to help.

“Can you clear out the cases?” she asked glancing over at one of the well stocked vibrator/dildo/god knew what else cases. He nodded and swallowed. Some of these things were really creepy, he thought.

He was busy placing the packaged toys in the box when he realized he didn’t know what to do with the ones that didn’t come in boxes. He asked Roisin and she tossed him a roll of bubble wrap.

“Are they fragile?” he asked, immediately thinking what a stupid question it was. She laughed.

“No, they’re quite tough. I have one of each upstairs. I like to test my products before selling them to the public.” She winked at him. He looked from her to the one he now held in his hand, at least a foot and a half long and easily 3 1/2 inches around.

“You’ve used one of all of these?” he asked. Who the hell couompaompare with this? It looked like something off of a horse for fuck’s sake. If this is what she was used to, he thought, sex with him would be quite a let down.

“No…not all. I have to admit that the one you’re holding now is not one of my Roisin tried and approved line. Yeah. Little too scary. I’d never be able to walk again, I mean look at that! Ok, so I don’t have one of each. Why don’t you look around and find me the one that’s the most like you. Since it was dark the other night and Logan just showed up without calling first…I didn’t really get a chance to get a good look. “ She smiled sweetly at him as she picked up a box labeled “Equestrian Gear”. She saw his jaw dropped open and laughed again.

“No, not actually horses. Some people do something called pony play. There’s bridles, bits, saddles, of course riding crops. Oh and some people like to have tails. They’re butt plugs with horse tails on the end.” She smiled brightly as if she were describing a new kind of toothpaste.

“Do you like that?” He asked, still dumbfounded. She shook her head.

“Nah, I’m more into the bondage. Like this, come over here and look at this.” She pointed to a binder on top of the case that was filled with collars, cuffs, hoods, masks, blindfolds, and what looked frighteningly to Kurt like medical supplies. Roisin opened the binder and pointed to what looked almost exactly like a church pew.

“This is all special order. Too big to keep in stock and it’s usually pretty expensive so I don’t sell too many of them. This one, it’s called a prayer bench. See the padding? This was you can have your Sub lean over or bend back or whatever. It puts them in an uncomfortable position without unnecessary cruelty. Then there’s this one- I love this thing, I think it’s great- I used to have one I used all the time back in the dungeon, it’s a free standing cross.” Kurt looked at what was apparently two black 2x4s nailed together with a whole lot of straps. He looked up at her, seeing the way she ran her finger lovingly over the picture.

“This was great for whipping people. Anyway, I can see by the look of abject terror on your face that you’re seriously considering making a run for the door. It’s locked. But Kurt, relax. The bondage that I like for me personally isn’t the same thing I liked professionally. Just some silk ties for the headboard, a nice silky blindfold, that kind of thing. When you work all day with leather and rubber, it’s nice to come home to something soft and silky.”

“When you weren’t working, were you still in charge?” He asked, his interest undeniably piqued by the mental image he now had of Roisin lying spread eagled on a bed, her wrists and ankles bound with silk ribbon, dressed in nothing but a garter belt and stockings. Roisin smiled, unable to ignore the increase in his breathing and the glint in his eyes.

“Nope. That’s my big secret. When it’s me and someone else, off the clock- I want them to dominate me. I love being tied up, blindfolded- not knowing what’s going to come next. The trust is a huge turn on. As is the anticipation.” She was whispering in his ear now, her hand cupping his crotch, rubbing slightly. Kurt gulped. She laughed softly, biting the pointed tip of his ear, loving the sound of stifled ecstasy that came from his lips at her gesture. She closed the binder and walked away, resuming her packing.

“Roisin?” he asked, his voice sounding a little unnatural to him.

“Yeah, babe?” she replied, taping a box shut.

“Can I see what toys you have upstairs?” he asked. She looked up at him and grinned.

“Sure. Here.” She got up and walked over to the wall, grabbing a pile of velvety bags.
“My suitcase is in the closet. If you can get it out without getting killed, pack the ones you like best. Also any lingerie you like. It's with the toys are in the drawer next to the bed. Don’t forget to bring any that bear any resemblance to yourself.” Kurt immediately Bamfed from the room.

Roisin sat back on the floor and smiled, hugging her knees to her chest. This was awesome. He was great. She was glad to see his acceptance of all things kink coming along so quickly. She stood up and stretched, glancing out the window and seeing a man in a white shirt and khakis across the street who appeared to be staring directly at her. A little chill ran down her spine, but she ignored it. Working in her business, she got used to disapproving stares. She walked over to the case Kurt had been standing at before and held up the giant dildo that had scared him so. Of course she had mentally compared every guy she’d ever been with to the various sizes and shaped toys she had. She guessed the one that was the most like Logan- again- why was she thinking about him? was probably this Ultra Skin UR3 Cock. She picked it up, cringing at the awful packaging on the front. Ick. No, not the 6" length with a 1-3/4" diameter, probably closer to the 8" length with a 2" diameter. She hated this brand and decided that for reasons likely to be related to unresolved Logan issues she wasn’t going to carry it any more. Hmph. There. She tossed it into the trash.

She tried to call her contacts in Cape Cod again, but still didn’t get an answer. That was strange, as Mirari and Greta were usually in the shop by now. She thought about what Logan had said earlier about the attacks that had already been perpetrated. No. It couldn’t be. They were probably just having a late breakfast in bed. The feeling of someone watching her returned, and she glanced out the window across the road. The man was still there. Feeling slightly nauseous, Roisin backed out of the shop, grabbing her cigarettes of the counter and lighting one as she sat on the couch in the living room. She’d pack up the pyrex phalluses later.

Kurt bamfed back downstairs and smiled broadly.

“Think I found one.” He said, winking and bowing to her. He reached for her hand and kissed it when she presented it to him. He made a big show of plopping down onto the couch next to her and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. She felt herself relaxing again and wondered if she should mention anything to Kurt about the man outside, then decided she was just being paranoid. The phone rang as they sat there and neither moved at first.

“I should get that.” She whispered, getting up and walking out to the shop. Kurt heard her gasp and cry out. In a moment he was standing next to her, peering at her as she held the phone away from her, shaking her head, saying ‘no, no’ over and over. Kurt took the phone from her.

“Hello? I’m a friend of Roisin’s. What is going on?” he asked, knowing he was going to hear something unpleasant. A sobbing female voice on the other end stopped crying long enough to tell him that she was calling from Cape Cod and that Roisin’s friends Mirari and Greta had been killed the day before when their shop had been burned to the ground. It was definitely arson, but the police had no leads. The woman said she’d call when she knew more about funeral arrangements for the women and hung up. Kurt placed the receiver back on the phone and reached for Roisin, wrapping his arms around her. He looked out the window and saw the same man that Roisin had seen now sitting on the bench in front of the post office. His eyes met Kurt’s and Kurt instinctively backed away. He held Roisin to him and reached for the phone. Dialing the Mansion, Kurt told Angel, who answered the phone, that he and Roisin needed Logan to come and get them immediately.

“Roisin. Here, darling, come lie down for a moment. Let me help you.” Roisin was crying uncontrollably now, and Kurt was very anxious. If her friends had been killed, this was only going to bring the reality of their situation closer to home. They were in real danger and something about that man out front gave him the creeps.

Kurt placed Roisin on the couch and ran out to the front of the shop, trying to throw as many things into boxes as quickly as he could. He wanted to get as much of this stuff packed up before they had to leave because he knew there was no way they were waiting another five hours to get out of there. He went back to the living room and stroked Roisin’s hair while mentally beggin Logan to arrive at the shop NOW.

A few moments later, he heard the sound of banging on the front gate. He stood up gingerly, not wanting to disturb Roisin who seemed to be almost catatonic with grief, and looked out into the shop. It was starting to snow outside and he could see Logan standing outside with a distinctly not pleased look on his face. Kurt quickly teleported out and back with him.

Logan looked down at Roisin on the couch and then back to Kurt.

“What happened, Elf?” he asked. “Did you do something to her?” He asked, feeling anger starting to grow within him. Kurt sighed, exasperated.

“No dammit. Of course not. It’s her friends. They’re dead. Killed when their shop was burned down. She just heard.” He said, pulling Logan out into the hallway.

Logan nodded. “Yeah. I know about that already. I didn’t know how to tell her. You can see why I wanted you guys out last night? Good. Tell her to pack. We’re leaving now. “ Logan walked out into the front of the shop and surveyed all the boxes. His eyes glanced over to the trash where he saw the UltraSkin UR3 and immediately thought it looked familiar. The day he had modeled for that thing was a day he’d never forget. Stupid San Francisco. Anyway, he turned back to Kurt and pointed to the boxes.

“Are these all gonna fit in her car?” Logan asked. Kurt shrugged.

“I don’t know. I didn’t know she had a car. I think she was expecting her friend Ron to come pick some stuff up and bring it to one of those storage places. I don’t know when he was supposed to come. I’ll go ask her. Logan- are we going to be all right?”

“Yeah Elf.” He said, walking back into the living room where Roisin had now sat up on the couch, her cat eyes all red and bloodshot. He looked at Kurt and then back at Roisin.

“No problem" he lied.