...Knox was having a nightmare. He’d read the statistics. Long before Atlas became Atlas…when he was plain Brian Jensen, a cool musician with a big dick and a penchant for lots of sex…long before Knox became one half of the hottest Dom/sub couple on the underground circuit, he knew that auto-erotic asphyxiation had a one-hundred-percent death rate. He couldn’t signal since he was tied up in four-point bondage. The pain was excruciating and for the first time in his three-year relationship with Daddy, he felt truly afraid.

It all came flooding back. He remembered the leather mask covering his face, muting his screams as Sir stalked him, punching, kicking, hitting. He slapped Knox’s cock, which was stuffed with two instruments of torture.

The pain transcended his earlier pleasure. The rope around his throat had inexplicably tightened.

Holy fuck…I’m gonna die like this. On stage doing a demo in front of three hundred people. We’re supposed to be educating them on safe sex-play. He’s not supposed to…kill me.

Knox blacked out when he took one very hard shot to the kidneys.

He awoke in panic, Rallus beside him, trying to assure him, but Knox knew. Somehow, someway, Atlas had found him. Daddy was coming.

“Tell me what you dreamed.” Rallus insisted.

Knox stared at his lover. He could still feel the pain. He realized he’d been screaming in his sleep.

Rallus cradled him, Curtis slinking away, the misery on his face when he leaned against the wall and watched Knox. Curtis had seen him take so much. Knox was frightened.

“Tell me,” Rallus said.

“He ignored our pre-arranged signal. My right index finger pointed up. Then…nothing. I remember the crowd screaming. Sir was ready to fuck now, except he realized I was in trouble. I could see through my face mask. He looked stage left. The guys had no idea I was in trouble.

“He yelled, ‘Get an ambulance!’ and the crowd cheered, thinking it was part of the act. His backstage crew grinned at first until they realized he was serious. He’d told them exactly what to do in case of an emergency and now he had one, nobody was moving. One of his baby boys realized and took his cell phone out of his pocket. That’s what I heard, anyway, but the ambulance never came. He took me out of there in somebody’s van and I kept bleeding.”

Rallus looked horrified.

“I’ll kill him!”

“If he doesn’t kill us first,” Knox said.

Rallus opened his mouth, but there was a knock at the door.

He left their bed, Knox following him.

“Adrian’s missing and he’s in Mel’s car…and I think I just saw Sandy driving by,” Penny announced.

“First things first, Penny,” Rallus said. “Calm down, sweetie. Remember, the cops thought she might show up and try and trick you, grab the money and run. If she is here, there’s a lot of undercover power in town. Did you get a look at the license plate number?”

“A few numbers and one letter.”

“Good girl.”

They called Detective Fisk who took note of the information.

“We are in place,” Fisk said. “Looks like Penny’s right. Vehicle matching that description has driven by Sandy’s house three times already. I’ll check back in with you.”