Safeword: Rainbow Read online

  "Umm, dad, you like Tyler, right?"

  "Of course I do, Viv. He's been a good friend to your brother. And he's been around more than you have since you've grown up. I understand you were busy, but there were a few Christmases that Tyler made it when you didn't."

  "I'm sorry dad, but I was lucky to get invited in on some of the research projects I've been able to take part in. I really couldn't turn them down. Plus, they were great opportunities.

  "I know Viv, and I'm sorry. There's no room here for a guilt trip. I want you to fully live your life. Speaking of which, have you figured out what you're going to do next? You told me you thought you were through with academia now."

  "Yeah, if I could get on with a zoo or an aquarium somewhere as part of their conservation program, I think that would be perfect. And, as odd as it seems, a smaller one that has a good budget might be better than one of the big famous ones. I could probably be in charge at a smaller aquarium or zoo, which means I'd get to set the agenda. I've got some feelers out, trying to see if there is anything out there that might be a good fit for me. I've gained enough of a reputation that if there are places with openings, many of them would hire me just for my reputation at this point."

  Tyler spoke up. "Speaking of your traveling daughter, it seems that Viv and I managed to meet each other, even though we've missed seeing each other here at the house for the past fourteen years that I've been coming around."

  "Oh?"

  "Yes, three years ago, in New Hampshire. We had a very quick fling and then lost track of each other. I had no idea she was Mac's sister, of course. And now that we seem to have found each other again, we've been trying to figure out the best way to handle it. I don't think that Mac's going to appreciate it much, but Viv and I have kind of decided to maybe try to pick up where we left off and see how things go."

  "I don't know son. Mac thinks a lot of you, he might be happy to know that his sister will have someone who can take such good care of her. And, seems to me, since you're both job hunting, you might see if you can find jobs in the same city."

  Viv couldn't believe her ears. Was her dad actually giving his blessing to this? He'd never liked anyone she'd ever dated. Ever.

  "Gee dad, maybe we should get you to talk to David for us."

  "Speaking of David, have we heard from him to find out how things are going?"

  "No Sir, I'll check the box again at nightfall, I will expect to have heard something from him by then. In the meanwhile, I'm going to take a nap when we get through eating since I'll be staying up all night tonight. While I'm down for my nap Viv, I'll need for you to step across the hall to my room and wake me if anything, anything at all, seems out of the ordinary. I'll give you a button to keep in your pocket. If it vibrates that means that a door or window somewhere in the house has moved. I have one too, and it will wake me up and I'll get to the two of you as quickly as possible." He looked back at Mr. MacNeill. "I will want the two of you to camp out in your room, Sir, while I sleep. There are chairs in there as well as the bed, you can watch TV or play games or something, but only leave to go to the bathroom. That's why you have the master suite, so you can go to the bathroom without really leaving the room. Also, to both of you, don't close the door all the way when you are in the bathroom, leave it cracked a half inch or so, please. I'm going to turn a TV on in several rooms of the house so it won't be obvious which room is occupied. Please move around as little as possible."

  Viv was starting to get a bit scared with the way he was talking. "But, we don't think he knows we are here, right? He didn't follow us; there should be no way to find us. Right?"

  "Never underestimate your opponent. We don't think he can find us, but we don't know that for a fact. I have to be on guard that he could show up at any moment. My guess is the biggest danger will start at nightfall, which is why I'm going to nap this afternoon so I can stay awake tonight. If nothing gives by tomorrow Mac will likely have to call in some help."

  "Well then, I will help you with the dishes while dad sits here and talks to us, and when we are done dad and I will go to his room while you nap."

  Chapter Six

  Tyler got them settled in and went across the hall to take a nap. He was capable of waking up and taking action quickly, so it was a good plan. He would sit in Viv's room tonight and keep an eye on her. Nothing was going to happen to her on his watch. He could have daydreamed about Viv all day, but instead he did his breathing technique that would put him to sleep, and he was out within a few minutes.

  When his watch vibrated to wake him, Viv was reading a book and her dad was watching baseball. The doors were open so they could see him sleeping and he could look up and see them quickly if need be, so they saw him get out of bed. He carried his laptop into the room and booted it up and checked the box.

  Boring here. Pete and my sister just arrived. Go if better. Behave.

  "Nothing has happened there yet,” Tyler told Viv. “He's got two people that just arrived, both of them in our line of work, one of them a female that will have a similar build to you. They'll try to flush him out with her. He says to move somewhere else if we need to, and to behave."

  "I thought you said you had to keep it short and not give details?"

  "He did. I gave you the translation."

  He told her what it actually said and she rolled her eyes. "I'm glad you can get that much out of it. I couldn't have."

  "Stay put, I made sandwiches earlier and put them in the fridge. I'll go get them and some drinks and chips and bring them back. Bottled water okay with everyone?"

  As they ate Tyler said, "If nothing happens tonight I'm going to move us tomorrow. We'll head across to Naples and put the truck into long term parking at the airport and then take a cab to a hotel and check in under another name. I've got a credit card under another name that can't be traced back to me. This house is not ideal for security, a fancy hotel room high up off of the ground and facing the ocean would be much better. Mr. MacNeill, do you have any doctor's appointments coming up?"

  "His next one is in two weeks,” Viv answered, “so we're good with that."

  "I'm going to go online and make reservations then, for three nights. And then we'll figure out what to do if the situation isn't resolved by then."

  The three of them talked comfortably for a while. When the ballgame was over Viv went to bed and her dad turned off the TV and turned over to go to sleep. Viv went to her room and stood behind the door to change into looser shorts and a different t-shirt. Once she was in bed Tyler followed her in and sat in the chair. He'd brought his laptop so he wasn't staring at her while she tried to go to sleep. But then, once she was asleep he turned the laptop off and sat and watched the girl of his dreams sleep. He was used to staying awake at night for surveillance, listening for the smallest sound that meant there might be danger. And he did that as he watched her, remembering their time together three years ago. He had known exactly how far he could take her, exactly how much she could take, and he'd given her every bit of it. And she'd loved it. She'd absorbed every bit of the pain he gave her and turned it into orgasms, and when they had finally had sex on the second night, after almost two hours of the giving and receiving of pain and pleasure, it was more like making love than it had ever been for him, even though she was tied up and in pain and he was quite literally fucking her, it still felt like making love. And then, later that night, they'd had totally vanilla sex and made love again and his heart became hers. Well, sort of vanilla sex, he was still in control, but she wasn't tied up and he let all of the rules go. He hadn't enjoyed vanilla sex since high school, or maybe his first year of college. But it had been wonderful with her, because it wasn't just sex, they were connected somehow.

  He startled out of his memories as his cell phone rang. It was a little after three in the morning and it was Mac.

  "Yeah."

  "It's over, we took him out."

  "He alone?"

  "Yeah."

  "You injured?"


  "Couple cuts, nothing major. How's my sister?"

  Tyler knew he was asking about more than her health. "Viv and I have just talked, so far. Nothing else. I told her we couldn't figure out where to go with things until this situation was resolved, because I needed to be able to concentrate on our surroundings in order to keep them alive. But, if the threat is over... I was going to take them to Naples tomorrow since I could protect them better in a high-rise suite pointing at the ocean than I could in this rambling rental house. I've already got the reservations. With your blessing I'd like to bring your dad back to you and then take Viv to Naples for the three days I've got the hotel room booked."

  "Why didn't you recognize her at the house? How did you figure out it was her?"

  "She recognized me from the get-go, apparently. I didn't recognize her because she had a disguise she wore in the clubs so her students wouldn't recognize her. I told her yesterday when we got here that the discussion of us going out was closed and she wasn't to bring it up again, but she told me she wanted to tell me a story of where she was three years ago. She said if I'd listen to her story that she'd drop it and wouldn't bring it up again. I agreed to her deal. Turns out I only needed to hear the very beginning of the story, since I knew how it ended."

  "So, the two of you hooked up without knowing... without knowing you had me in common."

  "Yeah. And now, I'm sorry Mac, but she's the girl of my dreams, you know that. You've heard me talk about her and bitch and moan because I lost her. I have to see where this goes. It may not go anywhere, we may not be able to take those three days and make it translate into real life. But if we can... I've got to try. I hope you understand."

  "This would be easier if I didn't know what you do to your girlfriends, Tyler."

  "Mac, it's the way she's wired. If it's not me doing it to her it will be someone else. You've heard the stories of what happened between us in New Hampshire, she's way past experimenting with the lifestyle Mac."

  "Bastard."

  "Yeah."

  Mac sighed. "Okay, I won't fight you on this. You don't exactly have my blessing, but I won't try to stop you, either. You may as well get some sleep now that the threat is over. When everyone wakes up tomorrow have breakfast and then bring dad home and then you and Viv can go off and figure out if you can make this work. By the time you eat breakfast and get here we should have the mess cleaned up. Actually, if you could stop and buy a sheet of plywood and have it cut that would be helpful. I'll text you the measurements in a little bit, the big window in the living room got shot out."

  "Will do. See you tomorrow morning. And, thanks."

  As he hung up he saw Viv turn over, "You heard that?"

  "Yes, David got him?"

  "Yeah, you're safe now. And I have permission from your brother to take you to Naples tomorrow so that you and I can figure out where we go from here. That is, if you'd like to go with me."

  "You don't have to sit in that chair anymore?"

  Tyler smiled. "No, but I've kind of enjoyed watching you sleep."

  "Do you think you could get in bed with me? Not to fool around, not with my dad in the other room. But maybe just to hold me?"

  "If you don't mind me holding you while I've got a hard on, sure."

  "Oh come on, I'm sleeping in shorts and a tee shirt and you've got on shorts and a tee shirt. Just take your shoes off and crawl in bed so we can snuggle. I want to touch you."

  Tyler bent over and took his boots and socks off, removing the ankle holster from one ankle and knife sheath from the other and sitting them on the nightstand. He stood and took his cellphone and keys out of his pocket and set them on the nightstand as well, before taking his gun out of his hip holster and removing the holster. He also removed a knife from the sheath inside his shorts and those items joined the pile as well. He kept his pocket knife and the button that would vibrate if there were problems in his pocket. Just in case. And then he slid into bed beside her and held her.

  "I had no idea you were wearing all of that. I thought you just had the one gun that I could see. If you can hide all of that with just shorts and a t-shirt on, what can you hide with a bunch of clothes on?"

  He smoothed her hair back and said, "Get some sleep; you have a big day coming up tomorrow."

  "Tyler, I - " but he interrupted her. "That was an order Viv, no more talking, close your eyes and get some sleep. You'll need your rest for tomorrow."

  She sighed as she tucked up against him and closed her eyes, and they drifted off to sleep.

  * * * *

  A few hours later Tyler heard Mr. MacNeill getting out of bed and he stood up and walked in to talk to him.

  "Good morning Sir, I got a phone call from Mac a few hours ago, the threat has been handled. I'll be taking you home once we've all had breakfast."

  "Glad to hear it. Did you talk to David about you and Viv?"

  "Yes, after I take you home Viv and I will be driving to Naples to make use of the room I'd already reserved. And, we'll see where we go from here. I don't think we completely have Mac's blessing, but he's not going to stand in our way, either."

  "I won't do anything to stand in your way, you're both adults and either you'll make it work or you won't. The two of you must have had quite some fling for you to risk your friendship with my David."

  "Yes Sir, we did. I'm going to go get breakfast started."

  They had a pretty uneventful breakfast with normal conversation then they packed up the groceries and the rest of their things, took the tarp off of the truck, and headed to the rental office to settle their bill. They made a side trip to one of the big box stores to get some plywood cut to the measurements Mac had sent and then at last they were headed to the house. Tyler really wanted to get rid of Viv's dad so he and Viv could finally start talking.

  Viv wanted to pack again, she said she needed different things for this trip than she'd needed for the other, but thankfully she didn't take too long. While she was doing that Tyler accessed Mac's printer and printed out a blank BDSM checklist along with the one he kept filled out with his own answers. He already knew a lot of what she liked, of course, but if they were going to go forward they'd need to do the whole thing at some point, and no time like the present. He borrowed a clipboard and a few pens from Mac's desk and stuck them in the bag he'd have up front with them. He also mapped out an adult store that should carry some supplies he'd need, he didn't have his toy bag with him so he'd need to buy some things. They'd be driving Viv's car this time, and her Altima would be a nicer ride than the truck.

  Chapter Seven

  When they were finally ready to go Viv walked to the driver's side of the Altima and got in. That caught Tyler off guard, he realized he had expected her to let him drive. But they hadn't started any formal power exchange yet, so he managed to not show any surprise as he slid into the passenger side. He was a bit put out by it, but then thought that she must know that soon she'd be under his control, his little sex slave, and she must want to exert a little bit of her own power while she still could.

  He told her they'd be making a few stops in Miami first and handed her the maps of where they'd be going. She raised her eyebrows and looked at him, so he said, "Hey, I had no reason to bring a toy bag on this trip, it's with my other things that are being shipped. I need to pick up a few things."

  "So this isn't just a ‘get to know you’ trip, it's a ‘really get to know you’ trip?"

  "That was my assumption. I mean, if you want to keep things platonic for a while, we can. But I've got to be honest that I can't wait to get you bound and at my mercy. It's been too long, and..."

  "You're right. Even if we started out trying to be platonic, I doubt we'd manage it for very long. I know a better place than this, kind of a kinky superstore. I'll take us there, and if you can't find what you want then we'll try your place."

  "You grew up here, not me. I'll take your word for it."

  As she started driving something sounded different, felt different. He looked
over the dash and realized this was a hybrid. "I had no idea Nissan was making the Altima in a hybrid now."

  "Yes, but they are only available in a few states. Lucky for me I could buy one while I was in New England."

  "You're really serious about the whole ecology thing, aren't you?"

  "Yes, I've seen firsthand that we are quite literally killing entire species of animals. Once they are gone, that's it. But I don't know what the answers are. I don't know how to go about fixing it on a grand scale. Not yet, anyway."

  * * * *

  Viv's insides were all aflutter as she pulled into the parking space at the adult store. To go in here with him and buy things meant for her pain and torture both horrified her and titillated her. He must have realized it because he touched her cheek and said, "It's okay Viv, sit tight and I'll come around and open your door for you."

  Once they were inside Tyler put one basket in Viv's hand and he took one for himself. And they started going down aisles. He got two butt plugs, a medium one and a large one. The large one vibrated. He got a bag of plastic clothes pins and some clover clamps, three different floggers, a slapper, a Lexan cane, wrist and ankle cuffs, three different packages of rope, thigh bands with attachments for the wrist cuffs, a spreader bar, a ball gag, a butterfly gag, lube, a box of nylon medical gloves, a large box of condoms, and about a dozen quick release connectors. He tossed the lightweight items in her basket and the heavy items in his. And, somehow, he managed to keep her at ease at the same time he scared her senseless. When they left the store he put their purchases in the trunk and headed back to the passenger side and took his seat. Once they were on the interstate he pulled the BDSM checklist out and started asking her questions and filling out the form for her as she answered.

  Viv had done these before of course, so it wasn't too hard to answer the questions. She knew what she liked and disliked so when he mentioned something she'd give it the appropriate number: one if she hated it, five if she could take it or leave it, and ten if she loved it and couldn't survive a relationship without it. Or, one of the numbers in between if that were the case. If she hadn't done something she told him so, and if it was a hard or soft limit then she told him that as well. They made it through the entire checklist before they reached Naples and he pulled another one out of his bag and told her it was his, already filled out. He talked to her about what was the same and what was different. It seemed he was bigger on humiliation than she was, so they talked that through and realized they weren't so far off after all. She viewed humiliation as degradation, and he'd never do that on purpose. Once she realized his definition of humiliation was more about reinforcing the idea that she was at his mercy, she said that turned her on as well. Their hard limits, the things they wouldn't even consider, almost all matched up: asphyxiation, water sports, scat, blood, public display of power exchange in front of non BDSM people. The only one that didn't match was that enemas were a hard limit for her and not him, but once she explained that she'd once had to have surgery on her bowels and enemas just triggered memories of being sick, he said he could live with that as well.