Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 103530 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103530 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“Look, I have to go to work,” she said, glancing off-screen. “Are we cool again? Not breaking it off?”
“We’re cool again.” Technically, I was more selfish than cool, but I couldn’t resist her.
“Wanna do something dirty when I get off work?” She brightened at the prospect.
“Sure thing. Call me.” For her, I would drop whatever I had going on.
We ended the call, and I hung my head. I’d wanted to the right thing. Be the bigger man and a better friend.
But I wasn’t a better man. I was weak, and at the moment, Charlotte was my biggest weakness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
(Charlotte)
From our weird phone call on out, everything about the Ascend Red trip had accelerated at a dizzying pace.
First of all, the email from Matt’s assistant had been…
Eye-opening.
Sure, Matt had warned me that I might be shocked, but I’d had no idea how frank it would be. There was a questionnaire with sections about blood play, water sports—not the kind with boats involved—, various types of bondage, electrical stimulation, even some things I had to look up.
For the most part, I was down for anything not involving bathroom activities. I’d carefully ticked off the correct boxes and sent it back with copies of my driver’s license, passport, most recent STD screening results…
This place was thorough.
Ascend Red had been described both in the email and by Matt as an invitation-only sex island, whereas the other Ascend properties were more like laid-back all-inclusive swingers resorts. I’d taken the exclusivity of Ascend Red with a grain of salt. As a marketing gimmick.
It most certainly was not. The list of “member conduct” had all the things I’d hoped it would have regarding consent, but the privacy policy was serious business. It flat out mentioned blackmail and criminal penalties. In other words, the people who came to Ascend Red were the kind of people who had something to lose.
Getting to the island itself had been an exercise in unbelievable luxury; first-class to Montego Bay, limo to the marina, then a yacht out to the open sea. I'd even been escorted through customs in a priority line.
A speedboat took me from the yacht to the docks at Ascend Red. As soon as I stepped onto the concrete pier, my giddiness at the luxury accommodations plunged into a slap of reality. Matt owned all of this. The dock, the boat, the castle that gleamed on the small island's highest peak. It all belonged to one man, and he was the one who'd sent for me.
Matt very much stopped being my brother's best friend in that moment, and became someone else in my mind, someone mysterious and powerful. Maybe that was the point of the yacht and the boat and even the freaking castle: to flaunt his total control over this tiny kingdom of debauchery and establish himself as an island of his own.
A slender woman in a surprisingly conservative gray suit met me dockside, smiling warmly. "Charlotte?"
"That's me," I said, looking behind me instinctively to pick up my carry-on, but like every other step of the way, someone magically whisked it away for me.
"I'm Miranda," the woman said. Her deep blue lipstick and sleek, slicked down ponytail should have been out of place with the rest of her outfit, but somehow it all worked. She tapped something on the tablet she carried like a clipboard, her eyes darting from mine only briefly to complete the action. "Mr. Ashe has been informed of your arrival."
"Cool, so he's..." I looked past her, as if I would see him stride across the beach toward us. But there wasn't anyone on the beach. The only people currently on the pier were guys moving luggage and tending to boats. Whatever else happened here on this island, it was happening behind the tall, forbidding stone wall ahead of us.
"You'll be taken to his private residence after check-in." Miranda reached into her bag and retrieved a phone. "I'll need any of your devices with recording abilities. While you're here, feel free to take and make calls from this satellite phone, in unrestricted areas, of course. But all recording devices are strictly forbidden inside the compound."
"Right." I'd known about that from the documents I'd received before my trip. I slipped my phone from my back pocket and reluctantly—but only because I was addicted to it—turned it completely off. It was a small price to pay for what I knew was about to be an unforgettable week. And I understood the need for privacy. Not only were some of the island's clients rich and powerful, but even the most anonymous person on the planet wouldn't be able to truly let go if they knew there might be a lasting record of their deeds.
"There is a red icon on the lock screen that will instantly summon resort security to your location. If you press it by accident, don't worry. Sometimes it happens and they're used to it, but they do have to respond in person." She tapped her tablet again. "And we did receive your NDA and signed acknowledgement of receipt and review of the handbook..."