Chapter 7: The Rooftop Surrender
The scent of jasmine was a lie.
It hung in the air of Kate’s penthouse, a delicate veil over something sharper, more clinical. Selina knew the difference. She moved through the vast, dark space like the namesake she’d long since outgrown, a shadow among the sharper shadows cast by Gotham’s neon bloodstream thirty stories below. The floor was cold polished concrete under her bare feet. She’d ditched the torn suit in a dumpster two blocks over, now wearing only black leggings and a tight tank top, the night air clinging to her skin.
She found the bedroom.
It was exactly as she’d imagined: a study in controlled severity. A platform bed draped in black silk. Chrome and glass surfaces. The entire west wall was window, a sweeping, dizzying view of the city’s electrical chaos. It felt less like a sanctuary and more like a command post with a very expensive mattress.
Selina slipped inside. Her target wasn’t a thing, but a person. And that person was in the ensuite shower, the sound of water a distant roar.
She waited. Leaned against the chrome frame of the window, feeling the city’s pulse through the glass. The encounter in the evidence locker was a ghost in her muscles, a dull ache between her legs, a fingerprint on her mind. You always bite.
The water shut off.
Time slowed. Selina heard the swipe of a towel, the soft pad of feet on tile. Kate appeared in the doorway, a towel wrapped around her hips, another scrubbing at her short red hair. Droplets gleamed on the hard planes of her shoulders, the scar tissue laddering her ribs. She froze when she saw Selina, but only for a heartbeat. Her blue eyes narrowed, then flattened into acceptance.
“Breaking and entering is beneath you,” Kate said, her voice rough from the steam.
“You left the window open.”
“It’s thirty floors up.”
“You left it open,” Selina repeated, a quiet challenge. “A thread on the west stair. An unlocked window. You’re setting trails, Kate. Like you want to be found.”
Kate didn’t deny it. She walked to a dresser, her back to Selina, the muscles in her shoulders tense. “What do you want?”
“You took something from me.”
A dry, humorless laugh. “I took nothing. You came. You lost.”
“You took the win,” Selina corrected, pushing off the window. “You humiliated me. You fucked me on a police table and walked away. That’s a debt.”
Kate turned. The towel around her hair slipped to the floor. Her expression was stripped bare, and in it, Selina saw the same lonely fury that had been in the locker. “So what’s your play? Steal my toothbrush? Poison my whiskey?”
“I’m here to collect.”
Selina closed the distance. She didn’t touch Kate, just stood within her space, smelling the clean, soapy scent on her skin, seeing the faint bruise on her own throat mirrored in Kate’s gaze. “You want to play control? Let’s play.”
She reached behind her own back, to the small of her spine, and pulled out a coil of sleek, black rope. It wasn’t her usual gear. It was something else, bought from a discreet shop in the Bowery, silken and strong.
Kate’s eyes tracked it. Her breath hitched, just once. “No.”
“Yes.”
“I could put you through that window.”
“You won’t.”
Their stare held, a current of understanding crackling between them. This was the game, distilled. A test of boundaries, of trust that didn’t exist, of desire that was a open wound.
Slowly, deliberately, Selina took Kate’s wrist. Her skin was still warm from the shower. She didn’t resist. Selina looped the rope around, creating a complex, sliding knot she’d practiced for hours. She led Kate, silent and pliant, to the bedpost. Another loop, another secure knot. She tied her other wrist, leaving Kate standing at the foot of the bed, arms slightly spread, bound to the cool chrome.
Selina stepped back to look. Kate Kane, ex-military, Batwoman, the city’s stern protector, tethered. Her chest rose and fell with steady, deep breaths. The towel around her hips was the only shield.
“Say it,” Selina whispered.
Kate’s jaw tightened. “Fuck you.”
Selina’s hand snaked out and yanked the towel away. It pooled at Kate’s feet. She was entirely bare, powerful and exposed in the city’s electric glow. Selina let her eyes wander, a slow, deliberate catalog. The firm muscles of her thighs, the neat thatch of auburn hair at her junction, the strong line of her torso.
“Say you wanted me to come here,” Selina pressed, her voice low. She stepped close again, her lips almost brushing Kate’s ear. “Say you thought about my mouth on you after you left me in that locker. Say you got off on the power and then hated yourself for wanting more.”
Kate turned her head, her nose grazing Selina’s cheek. “Go to hell.”
Selina’s hand dipped between Kate’s legs. She wasn’t gentle. Her fingers pushed through the folds, finding her already wet, hot, and slick. Kate hissed, her body jerking against the bonds.
“Your body’s talking for you,” Selina murmured, circling her clit with a merciless thumb. “It’s saying please. It’s saying finally.”
She dropped to her knees. The view from here was obscenely intimate. She didn’t tease. She leaned forward and licked a broad, flat stripe up Kate’s slit, tasting soap and salt and pure, undiluted arousal. Kate groaned, a sound that seemed torn from a deep, locked place.
Selina devoured her. This wasn’t affection; it was reclamation. She sucked Kate’s clit into her mouth, flicking her tongue over the hard bud with ruthless precision. She speared her tongue inside, fucking her with it, mimicking the brutal pace Kate had set in the locker. She used her lips, her teeth, her hands gripping Kate’s powerful thighs to hold her still as she bucked against her mouth.
“Selina… god…” Kate’s voice was broken, a plea and a curse.
Selina pushed two fingers inside her, crooking them up, pumping in time with her mouth. She could feel Kate’s inner muscles fluttering, tightening. She was close. Selina redoubled her efforts, sucking harder, fucking her fingers deeper, a relentless rhythm designed to shatter.
Kate came with a choked, guttural cry. Her body arched, straining against the ropes, her thighs trembling around Selina’s head. Selina drank her down, the taste of her climax bitter and sweet, until the last shudder passed.
She stayed on her knees, her forehead resting against Kate’s stomach, listening to her ragged breaths. She unknotted the ropes, one wrist, then the other. Kate didn’t move, her freed hands hanging limply at her sides.
Then, like a sprung trap, Kate moved. She grabbed Selina by the shoulders and threw her onto the black silk of the bed. She was on her in an instant, her weight crushing, her mouth claiming Selina’s in a kiss that was all teeth and tongue and shared taste. It was a battle again, but different—a desperate, equal combat.
Kate’s hand shoved Selina’s leggings and underwear down her thighs. She didn’t bother removing them fully. She just pushed Selina’s legs apart and settled between them. She was still wet from Selina’s mouth. She used that wetness, grinding her bare cunt against Selina’s, a hot, sliding friction that made them both gasp into the kiss.
“You want to collect?” Kate panted against her lips. “This is what you’re owed. This mess. This fucking… need.”
The coarse hair, the slick folds, the hard pressure of Kate’s clit against her own—it was raw, primitive, and devastatingly intimate. Kate rocked against her, setting a slow, deep rhythm that built an inferno in Selina’s core. There was no toy, no harness, just skin on skin, heat on heat. The slick, wet sounds were lewd, honest. Kate’s hands gripped Selina’s hips, holding her tight as she ground down, over and over, her eyes locked on Selina’s, refusing to let her look away.
Selina felt her own orgasm rising, a swell of pressure that had nothing to do with theft or victory. It was simpler, more terrifying. Her fingers dug into Kate’s back, nails scoring the skin. She came with a sob, her body convulsing under Kate’s, waves of pleasure melting her bones.
Kate followed seconds later, her rhythm faltering into a shuddering, helpless stutter. A low, broken moan escaped her throat, and she collapsed onto Selina, her head buried in the crook of her neck. They lay there, tangled, sweating, breathing in ragged unison.
The city glittered, indifferent, beyond the glass.
After a long time, Kate spoke, her voice muffled against Selina’s skin. “The footage wasn’t a bluff. I destroyed it. The key was real.”
Selina stared at the ceiling. “I know.”
“Then why did you come?”
Selina didn’t answer. She just turned her head, her lips brushing the scar on Kate’s shoulder. The question hung in the scented air, another debt unpaid, another thread left dangling for the other to find.
The question hung in the scented air, another debt unpaid, another thread left dangling for the other to find.
Selina’s silence was answer enough.
Kate pushed herself up, a fluid movement of muscle and regret. She looked down at Selina, at the sweat drying on her collarbones, the smudged eyeliner, the proud defiance still clinging to her like a scent. Without a word, Kate swung her legs off the bed and walked, naked and unselfconscious, to a low cabinet. She pulled out a bottle of amber liquor and two glasses. The liquid splashed, sharp and medicinal.
She handed one to Selina. “You’re a complication.”
“I know.” Selina took the glass, sipped. Fire traced down her throat. “You prefer simple things. Right and wrong. Badge and thief.”
“It’s cleaner.”
“It’s a lie.” Selina sat up, the silk sheet pooling at her waist. “You haven’t been clean since you put on that cape. Since before that.”
Kate’s knuckles whitened on her glass. She stared out at the city, her profile a cutout against the glare. “The key you stole unlocks a file on a private server. It’s evidence against a city councilman. He’s dirty. He’s also protected.”
“And you were just going to sit on it?”
“I was building a case that wouldn’t get dismissed. That wouldn’t get me brought up on charges. You planting that key on the black market would have blown the whole thing apart.” Kate turned, her eyes glacial. “For what? A payoff? A thrill?”
Selina laughed, a low, unpleasant sound. “You think so small, soldier. I wasn’t going to sell it. I was going to mail it to the Gazette. Anonymous. Let the system eat its own.”
The revelation hung between them. Kate blinked, the first crack in her stoic armor. She hadn’t considered that. She’d assumed greed, not a perverse sense of justice. It unnerved her more than the theft.
“Why?”
“Because sometimes the game needs new rules.” Selina set her glass down with a definitive click. “And because I wanted to see what you’d do. You didn’t disappoint.”
The admission was a weapon. Kate crossed the room in three swift strides. She loomed over the bed, a tower of pale skin and simmering anger. The warmth from their bodies still clung to the sheets, but the air between them chilled.
“You used my city. My work. As a test.”
“I used you,” Selina corrected, not looking away. “And you used me right back. On a steel table. Remember? So don’t paint your virtue all over me now.”
Kate’s hand shot out, not to strike, but to grasp Selina’s chin. Her grip was firm, forcing eye contact. “You’re right. Virtue’s got nothing to do with this.”
Then Kate dominated.
She shoved Selina backward onto the mattress, following her down. She didn’t kiss her. She maneuvered Selina’s body with a brutal, practiced efficiency, flipping her onto her stomach. Selina tried to rise, but Kate planted a knee in the center of her back, pinning her. The air left Selina’s lungs in a rush.
“Kate—”
“Shut up.” Kate’s voice was flat, cold. She snatched the coil of black rope from where it lay discarded on the floor. She pulled Selina’s wrists behind her back and began to bind them. The silken cord bit into Selina’s skin, each loop tighter than the last, the knots complex and unyielding. It was the work of ten seconds. Professional. Inescapable.
Selina struggled, a helpless writhing that only made the silk burn. “Get the fuck off me.”
Kate leaned down, her mouth at Selina’s ear. Her breath was hot. “No. You wanted to see what I’d do. This is it. You don’t get to orchestrate this. You don’t get to win. You take what I give you.”
She moved off Selina’s back, but only to yank her hips upward, leaving her on her knees, ass in the air, face pressed into the rumpled silk. Selina was completely exposed, completely vulnerable. The city’s lights painted her skin in blues and whites.
Kate’s hand came down on Selina’s ass in a sharp, stinging slap. The sound cracked through the quiet room. A red handprint bloomed. Selina jerked, a gasp caught in her throat.
“You like that?” Kate’s voice was a rough whisper. She delivered another slap, on the other cheek, harder. “You like pushing until someone pushes back?”
Selina’s answer was a choked sound. Not pain. Arousal, thick and humiliating. She could feel her own wetness. Kate saw it. She dragged a thumb through Selina’s slick folds from behind, a crude, claiming gesture.
“Fucking dripping,” Kate muttered, almost to herself. She coated her fingers in it, then brought them to Selina’s mouth, smearing the wetness across her lips. “Taste it. Taste what your games do.”
Selina’s tongue darted out, obeying before she could think, tasting herself mixed with the ghost of Kate’s earlier climax. It was filthy. It was perfect.
Kate positioned herself behind her. She wasn’t gentle. She guided the thick head of the silicone cock, still attached to the harness she’d never fully removed, to Selina’s entrance. She paused, applying pressure. “You want this?”
“Yes.” The word was torn from Selina.
“Say it like you mean it.”
“Fuck me, Kate. Please. Just fuck me.”
Kate slammed home in one brutal, inward stroke. Selina screamed, the fullness a shocking invasion. There was no warm-up, no tenderness. Kate set a punishing pace from the first thrust, her hips hammering forward, the leather of the harness slapping against Selina’s bruised skin.
Each drive punched a sound from Selina’s lungs—grunts, broken moans, ragged pleas. The rope cut into her wrists. The bedframe rattled against the wall. Kate’s hands gripped Selina’s hips like vices, holding her in place to be used, her own breathing a harsh grate in the quiet room.
“This what you wanted?” Kate snarled, pounding into her. “This raw, ugly fuck? No games. No winners. Just this.”
Selina could only nod, her vision blurring, every nerve ending alight. The pleasure was a knot of unbearable tension, wound tighter with every deep, graceless thrust. Kate’s hand snaked around her hip, fingers finding her clit, rubbing it in rough, chaotic circles.
It was too much. The dual assault, the helplessness, the sheer physical intensity. Selina’s orgasm ripped through her, a convulsive, blinding wave that made her back arch and her bound fists clench. She cried out, a sound without language, as she shuddered around the cock fucking her.
Kate didn’t stop. She fucked Selina through the climax, her rhythm growing more erratic, more frantic. Her own control was slipping. With a raw, guttural shout, she came, her body locking, hips stuttering as she drove in one last, deep time. She collapsed forward over Selina’s bound back, her weight heavy, her face buried in Selina’s shoulder.
They stayed there, welded together by sweat and come and exhaustion. The only sound was their struggling breath.
Slowly, Kate shifted. She withdrew, the movement making Selina whimper. She unfastened the harness, letting it drop to the floor with a soft thud. Then, with careful, precise motions, she began to work at the knots binding Selina’s wrists. The silk fell away. Blood rushed back into Selina’s hands, a painful prickle.
Kate rolled her onto her back. She didn’t look triumphant. She looked hollowed out. She cupped Selina’s cheek, her thumb stroking over the smudged makeup. The gesture was unbearably gentle after the violence.
“The councilman’s name is Carlton Hastings,” Kate said, her voice ragged. “His file’s on a drive in my safe. The combination is 10-24-18.”
Selina stared at her, comprehension dawning. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I’m not giving it to you.” Kate stood, walking back to the window, a silhouette against the dawn now bleeding at the city’s edge. “I’m daring you to take it. On my terms. In my space. No more evidence lockers. Right here.”
She turned, her expression unreadable.
“Come and steal it from me, Selina. If you can.”