by Jasmin Quinn
He frowned. He’d leave it for now. She didn’t resist when he pulled her out of the bed, out of the bedroom, into the living room. “Sit there,” he said, pointing to the couch. He called down to the staff quarters and told them to bring up some food. When the house manager arrived with a tray of sandwiches and cold water, Jack introduced him to Mira as Bennett.
“Mira is a permanent member of my household now. Please check with her about her comings and goings. Make sure she gets what she needs day or night.”
“Of course.” Bennett left, and Jack unwrapped the plates.
“Eat Mira.”
Mira touched the sandwich in front of her, picked at it, stuffing small bits into her mouth.
Jack scowled. “Should I feed you?”
Mira jumped at the aggression in his growl. “I’m eating,” she said irritably.
“You’re pecking away at it like a bird. I’ve seen you eat.” Then he lost his temper. “Look at you!” He waved his arm down her length. “You’ve lost weight, you look like shit, you’re not eating, not sleeping.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Why the hell were you still working when I got home? It’s midnight.”
Mira stared at him, a little shocked. “Fuck, Jack, are you kidding me?”
“Stop swearing, Mira.”
“Fuck off, Jack.” She bit the words out. “I’m not your girlfriend, your lover, your submissive. I’m nothing to you but a means to an end.”
“That’s not true,” Jack’s anger was working its way up from his belly, cording in his shoulders and neck muscles.
“Then what am I? You reprimand me in front of your brother and my colleague over my language, you tell the butler that I’m a permanent member of your household. You come into my bedroom and tell me you’re sorry you hurt me. Now you’re trying to force feed me.”
“Because you’re not fucking looking after yourself!” Jack shouted. “Look at you!”
“What’s wrong with me, Jack? Not pretty enough anymore? Do I embarrass you? Are you worried about what your criminal friends are going to say?”
Jack shot to his feet and paced away a few steps, running his hands through his hair, regaining control of his emotions. Damn Rob and his observations. “You’re beautiful, Mira. All I see when I look at you is your beauty, your spirit.” He came back and sat beside her, took her hands in his, holding them hard, brushed the knuckles of one with his lips, settling his voice. “You’re losing yourself.”
“You did it, Jack. You did this.” Mira’s anger was low, icy as she tried to pull her hands from his.
Jack squeezed them tighter. “No one mistreats you, Mira. Including yourself. Do you understand?”
Mira drew in a deep breath. “That’s bullshit, Jack. You get to hurt me. You get to abuse me, use me, command me.” Mira struggled to pull her hands from his grip, tried to stand up but he yanked her back down. She was right, but she was goading him and he didn’t understand why she would do that. She was so vulnerable, and his self-control was hanging on a thread. How could she not see what she was doing to him.
He let her go and shifted over a foot. “Eat the fucking sandwich!” he bellowed. She startled, it was so unexpected, and the tears started again. But she picked up the sandwich and took a large angry bite, chewed, swallowed and glared at him as she took another bite. After she was done, he marched her to her bedroom and made her gather up her papers and hand them over to him. “Lights out, counsellor.” His voice was even and back in control. “I don’t want to see you again until breakfast tomorrow. And you bloody well better be hungry, because you’re going to clean your plate.”
Mira gave him a curt nod, her arms crossed, her stance defiant as she waited for him to leave.
Jack hovered by the door. It was time to make her fully understand her place in his life. “Nodding’s not good enough, Mira.”
He saw the angry shimmer of tears in her eyes as she choked out, “Okay.”
“10 o’clock. Don’t be late.” He switched the light off and closed the door behind him.
Thirty
Mira wasn’t late. She woke at 6am and spent almost three hours in her office, working on a brief, then showered and slid on a skirt and sleeveless blouse. None of her clothes other than a couple of suits and pairs of pumps had travelled back with Andre. She was at the mercy of Jack’s choices. He had good taste, expensive tastes, and the clothes were somewhat her style, but his selection of sleepwear and underwear left her floundering. She had no options but to wear the bras and revealing thongs, but she could cover them with clothes – skirts and mostly sleeveless tops, but she felt too vulnerable to wear the lingerie, the little satiny slips and chamois. And she didn’t wear the garters and hose he provided her, or the shoes, bloody stilettos that would kill her feet if they didn’t trip her up and break her neck. She went barefoot almost all the time she was indoors.
Jack watched with a critical eye as she slid into her chair. “Good morning, Mira.” he said, somewhat perfunctorily. He seemed edgy.
“Morning,” Mira murmured as she unfolded her napkin and placed it on her lap. Jack poured her a cup of coffee from a silver carafe.
“What time were you up?”
Mira tucked a rogue piece of hair behind her ear and shrugged. “Eight.”
Jack leaned across the table, his forehead knitted. “Nothing’s changed between us, Mira. You’re still my sub, I’m still your owner.”
Mira shook under his words. She’d thought that was just a seduction, his lessons to her about BDSM. She thought that it was over. She swallowed and stared across at him, trying to read his impassive face. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m giving you time, but I’m not a patient man. I’m going to overlook your lie, but going forward, if you lie to me again, I will punish you.”
Mira’s appetite fled as tears seared her eyes. She swiped at them angrily. When she looked into Jack’s face, she saw satisfaction and heat. She had a sudden realization that it turned him on to see her respond this way, vulnerable, reactive to his domination of her. “I’m sorry,” she said as she dropped her eyes.
He shifted and she flinched, thinking he was drawing nearer, but he only reached for his coffee cup. “Let’s start again. What time did you get up?”
“Six.” Mira could not look at him as she defended her actions. “I always rise early and do some work. I don’t know anything else.”
“So you lied and you disobeyed me.”
“I don’t want to do this with you, Jack.”
Jack ignored her. “Let me lay out the rules of our relationship, Mira and my expectations of you.” He reached for a serving spoon and scooped a large serving of scrambled eggs onto her plate, then added fresh fruit and a few spoonfuls of cottage cheese. He passed her the toast basket. “Take two pieces and eat.”
Mira’s hand shook as she took the toast and set it on her plate. She picked up her fork and took a small bite of egg. It tasted like cardboard in her mouth, but she chewed and swallowed it down like a good little obedient slave.
He watched her in silence for a few minutes, then said, “You will not lie to me, Mira. If you do, I’ll punish you. You will not swear at me. You will not swear at all. That’s not who you are and I won’t tolerate it. Do it again and you will be punished. You will answer me when I speak to you. Your answers will be polite and respectful. You will start looking after yourself, no more six o’clock mornings, no more working in bed.”
He stopped, waiting for her to respond.
She pursed her lips. “Jack…”
“There’s only one answer, Mira.”
Mira dropped her hands to her lap, her eyes to her hands. “Yes,” she said, whisper soft.
Jack’s eyes darkened with lust as she said that single word. Mira thought he was going to take her, but instead he inhaled and said, “You will not bring your work into this apartment again. It stays in your office. Your work day starts any time after 8am and ends no later than 6pm. Understand?”
Mira
looked up at him, he expected an answer. “Yes. But…”
“But what?” he demanded.
“Robert’s arraignment will be coming up. I need to be ready for it.”
Jack wore his impatience on his face as he stared her down. “How many cases were on your desk two weeks ago?”
“Fourteen.”
“And how many are on your desk, now?”
Mira bit the corner of her lower lip as she dropped her eyes to her plate, picked up her fork and pushed a piece of scrambled egg away from the cottage cheese. “One,” she whispered.
“You’ll follow the rules and you’ll be ready for the arraignment. You have Shonan’s assistance and all the resources in the world at your fingertips. Rob is pulling together a crew of investigators. By this afternoon, you’ll have their names and contact information. If you need to meet them in person, you can do so at the club, in my office. I don’t want anyone in this house but Shonan and my staff when I’m not here.”
Mira nodded.
“Mira!”
She jumped as he raised his voice, “Yes. I understand.” His anger with her was making her weep. Her reaction to it was making her weep. She should hate him, be seething, be telling him to go fuck himself, but she couldn’t do that. He would punish her. She dreaded the playroom, dreaded a punishment but at the same time, felt the wetness between her thighs, the anticipation in her chest.
She swiped at her tears with her fingers and took a shaky drink of coffee. They finished their breakfast in silence, she, eating like a chastened child, he distracted by a text. He waited until she’d cleaned her plate. Only then did he wipe his mouth with his napkin and drop it on the table, standing up. “Excuse me,” he said. “I have to go.”
He picked up his phone and left without saying goodbye.
As soon as he was gone, Mira let out a long exhale of relief. Something had changed for Jack after Rob was freed and she couldn’t figure out what. Before, it was business. He was unapologetic, threatening, blaming her for her inaction. But at the bar, he was solicitous, watchful, caring. And last night, he was definitely in alpha mode, alternating between dominance and tenderness. Now he was impatient, shifting their relationship again. She was worried that he’d expect more from her than her compliance with his rules, anxious that if she slipped, he would take it further. She closed her eyes. He knew it too. Knew that she would obey him to the letter, because she couldn’t let herself be intimate with him again.
She stood and dropped her napkin on the table, then poured herself another cup of coffee, carrying it to the sofa, sitting down and tucking her feet under her. She should go to her office and get back to work, but she was concerned that Jack had not yet left the house. She didn’t want another encounter. This one left her shaken. As she sipped at the brew, she speculated on what had flipped between last night and this morning. It wasn’t like him to be distracted by his phone. She wondered if something had happened. Something related to his business. She grinned a little as she thought this. Not everything’s about you, Mira.
♦ ♦ ♦
Other than the crazy start, the day was uneventful and as the week wore on, Mira followed Jack’s rules to the letter, but other than sharing breakfast, she never saw him. He left shortly after and came home late. She couldn’t stay up and wait for him or she’d be breaking his rules. Each day, over breakfast, he quizzed her on her progress, where she was at, how things were going with Shonan, whether the investigators were doing what she needed. He gave up so little of his day to her that it was like dining with a stranger. Her mind accused him of sleeping with other women, but she tried to shrug it off. Why should she be jealous of a man she hated? Still it lingered, goading her, feeding her anger, her insecurities.
She and Shonan worked every day and every hour, stopping only for ½ hour coffee and lunch breaks. The breaks were unnecessary, but a Mexican woman with a lined face and greying hair arrived like clockwork part-way through each morning and afternoon, and precisely at lunchtime. She introduced herself as Sophia, provided coffee, cold water, and food, hovered over Mira non-stop. Cleaned the office, emptied waste baskets, shredded confidential documents for a full 30 minutes three times a day. Every single fucking day.
Mira found it disruptive to stop so much, knew Sophia was Jack’s sentinel and told this to Shonan after the 5th day in a row, after she noted his frustration with the constant interruptions.
He was confused. “Why do you need a watchdog?”
Mira shrugged. She and Shonan were growing closer as they worked on Rob’s case. He had an agile mind and was quick to catch up to her thoughts when she expressed them. They discussed every detail, every nuance of the evidence, poking holes in each other’s arguments, debating all possibilities to plug any holes. Mira found herself drawn to Shonan on an intellectual level and wished they’d met before Jack disrupted her life six months ago. She hadn’t appreciated him when he was counsel for the defence, but that was back when he was the enemy. Now they were a team, and they were working together like a well-oiled machine.
Mira shrugged and said carelessly, “I guess I got too scrawny for him. He wants to fatten me up.”
Shonan laughed. “Mira, as far as I’m concerned you’re pretty damned perfect and if Jack can’t see that he doesn’t deserve you.”
They were standing side-by-side, leaning on a tall table, heads together as they went line by line through the DA copy of the plea bargain. Trying to the find the flaws in the very document Mira had authored.
Mira flushed and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Jack doesn’t have me. I’m his lawyer.”
“This is cozy,” Jack’s deadly voice shattered the friendly exchange and Mira and Shonan jumped back from the table and from each other as if they’d been caught necking on the front porch. Jack was standing in the doorway, hands in his pockets, eyes dark and angry, a snarl splitting his face.
“Jack,” Mira released a shaky breath. “We were just working on this… the plea bargain… “
“Mr. Creed –” Shonan started, but Jack stepped into the room and roared at him. “Out. Now. My office and stay there.”
Shonan hesitated and it cost him as Jack stormed him, wrapping one of arms around Shonan’s neck and using the other to yank Shonan’s arm up his back until the lawyer shouted in pain. Jack hauled him to the door and threw him out. Mira saw Shonan stumble then fall as Jack slammed the door and turned to face her. He stalked towards her, his fists at his side, clenching and unclenching. Mira backed away from him, but her ass hit one of the small work-tables and she had nowhere to go. He towered over her.
“Jack,” she tried for soft, pleading. “We were just talking. We’re colleagues.”
“Is that it, Mira. Just colleagues? I thought I was the only that made you flush like that, made you play with your hair.” He tucked a lock of it behind her ear.
She realized he saw. “How much did you hear?”
“He thinks you’re perfect. He thinks I don’t deserve you. And better than that, you think you don’t belong to me.”
“I don’t, Jack. You don’t own me.” But the words were so feeble even she didn’t believe them. Jack laughed harshly as she said them. Then he bent his head to hers, crushed his lips to hers, forced himself into her mouth and took her, until she couldn’t stand, until she couldn’t breath. He sat her on the table and reached to pull her shirt off.
She grabbed his wrists with her hands, “No! I don’t want you touching me!” she shrieked. “I don’t consent to this!”
He gazed at her, his eyes dark. “Why do you think your lack of consent would stop me?” But he steadied himself, waiting for her answer.
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “Please don’t do this to me. I need time, I need space to move past what happened, what you did. I promise, Shonan means nothing to me.” Her words spilled from her lips, fast and breathless, Mira grasping to find the ones that would mollify this madman. “He’s a colleague, a good one. He’s going to keep Rob out of prison as
much as I am. We were just sharing a – “
“Intimacy.” The word came out as a growl.
“No,” Mira protested. “A collegial exchange.”
Jack straightened, a flash of uncertainty in his eyes before he shuttered them. He smoothed Mira’s hair away from her face, pinched her chin and raised her face up so he could kiss her, this time lightly, almost disconnected. “I’ll be chatting to Shonan next, but you need to understand something, Mira. You are mine, you belong to me. It’s dangerous to think otherwise. It’s even more dangerous to express those thoughts to another man. You do understand that, right?”
“Yes,” Mira wanted to drop her eyes, but he was holding her chin, his fingers denting her flesh. He wasn’t going to let her go until he was ready.
“Good. Because if another man touches you, I’ll rip his arms off. If you touch another man, I’ll lock you up and you will never see the light of day again.” He let her chin go and stood over her, staring darkly down at her.
She shifted her eyes to his chest, held her trembling hands in her lap.
He contemplated her for a few minutes and then stepped back. As he approached the door, he turned back to Mira. “Shonan’s here because he’s a fucking good lawyer. I want him working with you because Rob will be best served with both of you on the case. I’ll be chatting to him about what it means to keep a professional distance. He gets one warning. If I have to fire him, it won’t be an easy trip home.”
He stalked out the door and Mira waited until she heard him enter his own office and the door slam shut before she stumbled over to her chair and collapsed into it. She almost had her emotions under control when Jack’s muffled shouts filtered through the walls. Thumps, glass breaking, words blending together like an ink-blot test. Five minutes maybe. Then a door slamming and silence.
Mira held her breath, didn’t know what to do, then Shonan staggered into her office. His eyes were blackening, nose looked broken, lip split. He was holding his stomach as he stumbled to his chair and fell into it. “Oh my god,” Mira cried, jumping to her feet and racing over to him. She dropped to her knees and reached for him, but he flinched away.
