The wine had worked its magic, their presence startling her awake as a rough hand was clamped over her mouth, silencing any cries of alarm she might l...t loose. They’d been rough, too; just like she’d imagined it, pulling her arms behind her back and binding them tightly, grasping her hair, yanking her head back, gagging her so that, even if she’d wanted to, she couldn’t protest. It had been so real, real enough that she’d panicked and fought them at first until, finally, one of them had. But I guess no better time than the present. Enjoy! Jerome swirled the champagne in his glass in a relaxed twirl of his hands…. watching the woman across the room toss back her sheen of black hair as she laughed at something her companion said. He could tell it wasn’t anything truly amusing, he had always been able to read her that way. Besides, her companion didn’t look like the sort who could really make her laugh. ‘Self-absorbed prick’, Jerome thought with more than a little distaste. But. You were going more than twice that.”“I’m so sorry,” she replied.He looked at her car, a shiny red Corvette.“Nice car you have here,” he said. “I see you’re from Los Angeles. Faster speed limits there, I take it?”“A bit,” she said. “The city traffic just whizzes by. I’ve actually heard of people getting tickets for going the speed limit and going too slow for not keeping up with the pace of traffic.”The officer chuckled.“Well, that’s certainly not how we do things around here. We obey. The rice was sticky. And I didn't even recognize most of the vegetables. But wow, was it ever good.And Gary kept pouring me wine, and nobody made a big deal about my being there, but they didn't talk around me either, and Moira sat beside me explaining anything that was being talked about that I wouldn't understand, almost like she was my translator or something.When everybody was finished, Michelle ran back to the galley and brought out some dessert. Gary had me try some dark, red wine he.