by Kitty Thomas
“Aric Dalgaard,” Marcus said.
“Aric?” Claire said, confused when Ari took her hand.
“My kid sister couldn't pronounce her consonants on the end of words. She kept calling me Ari. The family thought it was cute. It stuck.”
It was cute. It was kind of charming that this large adult male had edited his entire identity to accommodate a small child's speech impediment.
Ari guided her to the front, leaving her just a few short feet from the leather table Saskia panted on, waiting to be touched or fondled or fucked again. He gave Marcus his card and began to undress. He took a one-hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and left the clothes in a pile on the floor.
“Hey, Doll,” he said gently when he approached Saskia. “Are you doing okay?”
As if he needed to ask. The woman's eyes were glazed with lust. But Claire found she liked that he did ask. That he cared about Saskia's comfort and mental state. It made Claire trust him more.
“Yes, Sir,” Saskia said, licking her lips.
He tossed the hundred-dollar bill at her. “Buy yourself something pretty.”
She pouted. “You paid ten thousand last time. Now I'm just worth a hundred?”
Ari laughed. “I paid a hundred thousand this time. The hundred is just a tip because you're so cute.”
Marcus started the timer. Ari climbed on the table with her and flipped her over onto her hands and knees. A moment later he was inside her, slowly fucking her, cupping and stroking her breasts.
Claire was captivated. Nothing she thought she should feel with Ari had manifested. When she'd kept him prisoner she hadn't felt the relief she expected. When he took her captive and began to train her body to his own desires, she didn't feel the revulsion or terror she expected, and in this moment she didn't feel the expected jealousy.
Instead, watching him fuck Saskia, she felt aroused. It was the most erotic thing she'd ever watched. Seeing Ari from an angle she could never see him when he was inside her, watching the sleek animal way he moved, his body gliding with ease inside another.
She felt a hand in hers, pulling her back to the circle of moonlight. It was Kane, she realized suddenly, as he stood behind her, leaning in, kissing the side of her neck. His fingers strayed under the slit in her dress, between her legs.
Claire moaned and sagged against him as he pressed two fingers inside her.
“Already so wet,” Kane growled in her ear. “Does it excite you to watch him fucking my pet?”
“Yes, Sir,” she said, her hips thrusting against his fingers.
“Good. I'm so glad Ari has a pet I like now. The four of us are going to fuck together many times in the future. You can count on it. He's going to be inside you. I'm going to be inside you. He's going to be inside her. I'm going to be inside her. And we'll both watch you and Saskia together.”
“Yes, Sir,” Claire gasped.
“I'm not using the cream on you tonight. You're going to own the fact that you want this. You're going to come without anything dropping your inhibitions.”
Kane unzipped her dress, and pushed the gown down over her hips and to the floor, much like he had with Saskia. “Turn,” he whispered in her ear.
Claire turned to face him, her heart thundering in her chest. This should terrify her. But in this moment there was no fear, no flashbacks, nothing but the smell of sex and the desire that kept climbing higher and higher.
His gaze roved hungrily over her, then his hands followed behind, trailing over every inch of her as if he planned to paint her again right here, right now. But instead he bent down, taking one of her nipples into his mouth, sucking until he wrenched a whimper from her.
“Please,” she begged.
Instead of giving her the pleasure she needed, he turned her back around to face Ari and Saskia and held her in place. “Watch them,” he said in her ear. “Watch your master fuck my dirty little whore.”
He rubbed her clit with the fingers of one hand, while the other stroked between her ass cheeks, one finger pressing inside. Claire let out a gasp as his finger slid in and out of her ass. She rocked back against him.
Her eyes met Saskia's as the other woman writhed beneath Ari.
35
Ari bit back a groan as Saskia's cunt gripped his cock. He felt her come as she shuddered beneath him. “Yes, Doll. Good girl. Come for me.” He stroked her clit to help her along without allowing himself to join her.
The buzzer sounded. Ari kissed Saskia's shoulder and pulled out of her.
He was painfully hard, his dick protesting against being taken from such a warm, welcoming cave before he'd found his own release, but he wanted that release to happen inside Claire. He turned to see Kane fingering his pet. Her eyes were glazed with lust as she watched Ari stalk her. When he reached her, he wrenched her roughly from Kane's arms.
“On your hands and knees, now!” he commanded.
She scrambled to obey him. Relief flooded him as he thrust into her dripping pussy. “No jealousy, little one?”
“No, Master,” she whimpered, fucking him as much as he was fucking her.
“Good girl.” He couldn't hold on long, not long enough for her to come with him. After being inside Saskia, it only took a few hard thrusts then he was spilling inside her.
When he finished, he pulled out and sat in the circle of moonlight. He took her into his arms. She still trembled from need.
“Please, Master... please please...”
“You're going to leave her in this condition?” Kane asked.
“No. You're going to finish her. You're going to fuck her, here in the middle of the gallery with all these people while I watch you do it. You're going to rub her swollen clit and make her come while you pound into her.”
Ari had just lost his fucking mind. He knew it. He'd had all these noble plans. He wasn't going to share her with Kane. He was going to grow up and put aside my slut is your slut. For Claire's sake. But he'd forgotten how much he loved being inside of Saskia while Kane watched and how much he loved watching Kane fuck whoever he'd happened to be with.
He hadn't been sure he'd be so thrilled about it if it was a woman he loved, but right now, he wanted to share this woman with Kane so obviously it didn't matter.
Kane smiled. “Yeah. You're not sharing her. Message received.”
“Only with you, asshole,” Ari replied.
He stroked Claire's hair. She was still trying to find a way to grind against him. Still desperate to get off. “Do you want Kane inside you? Will you let him fuck you so I can watch you come?”
“Yes, Master... please...” She was so desperate now he would say anything to come.
Ari handed her off to Kane and watched as his friend laid her gently on her back on the floor and slowly started to undress. Everyone else in the gallery but Marcus was fully nude now, fucking with abandon. Even the tourists had given in to the animal instinct.
Kane covered her body with his, cradling her into himself. It was the sweetest Ari had ever seen Kane be with anyone, as if he were still apologizing for the intimidation tactics in the studio and reassuring Ari he could be trusted with her, that this thing they were starting wasn't a mistake.
Kane kissed her and she whimpered against his mouth, grinding her body against him, straining for his cock. Finally he pushed himself inside her and began to move.
“Fuck, she's exquisite,” Kane said as if he were sampling a new smooth whiskey.
After he'd had enough slow fucking, he pulled out of her and flipped her to her hands and knees and took her from behind, his hand moving to the front to rub her clit at the same feverish pace he was fucking her.
“Come for me,” he growled in her ear. She bucked wildly against him and soon after, screamed out the release that had been building in her for so long. She slumped boneless, her cheek against the floor as he fucked her until he came, filling her with his own release.
Kane pulled out of her and the three of them laid back against the cool floor.
/> “I knew you'd see things my way,” Kane said finally.
“Shut up,” Ari said.
Kane just laughed.
The buzzer went off again, and Marcus called another name. “Logan Blair.”
Kane sat up, suddenly alert. He stood and started to dress.
“What is it?” Ari asked. But he knew. He just wanted to hear the bastard say it. He just wanted to hear it out loud, that Kane had a soft feeling for someone inside that hard exterior he'd erected for the rest of the world.
“She's never been with Logan. Never even met him. I need to watch and make sure she's okay.”
Ari nodded. “After that, we need to talk.”
Kane finished dressing and moved closer to the leather table to watch. Ari got dressed as well, then helped Claire back into her evening gown. He held her in his arms for a while, slow dancing with her to the cello music, the wild orgy still carrying on around them at the edges of their vision.
As he spun Claire around the floor, he kept an eye on Saskia as well. But Logan was slow, and gentle, careful. He didn't treat her like a whore. He treated her like it was her first time with soft kisses and caresses, and Saskia was practically eating out of his hand.
Ari's gaze shifted over to Marcus who also watched intently. If someone actually hurt Saskia, at least three men, and possibly more would be descending on him like rabid beasts. Ari knew there were other men here with a special fondness for her. Phillip and Nolan among them.
Kane seemed to be thinking the same thing he was thinking because he finally turned and said. “I think she's fine with Logan. I was sure she would be, but he's new to her.”
Ari stopped dancing with Claire. “Give us a minute,” he said to Kane.
“Sure.”
Ari led Claire up to the front where Marcus was.
“Kneel beside him,” Ari said.
She looked uncertain, as if he were just randomly passing her to someone else. “It's okay, no men but Kane and I will ever touch you.”
She knelt beside Marcus who had taken his gaze from Saskia for a moment.
“Keep an eye on her for me for a few minutes? And don't let anyone touch her.”
“Of course,” Marcus said. “I'll keep her safe.”
“Thank you.”
Ari looked up to find Kane waiting. The two men left the gallery and went back to the quiet of the studio.
“Were you still planning to brand Saskia?” Ari asked as soon as the door closed.
Kane looked surprised. He obviously hadn't expected this to be the topic of conversation.
“Yes,” Kane said, “Why?”
“Does she know yet?”
“No. Again, why?”
“I thought we could do it together. Have a party. You brand Saskia, I'll brand Claire.”
Kane's eyes widened. “You're branding Claire? Don't you think that's a little much, considering...”
Ari began to pace. This whole night had unsettled him in ways he hadn't expected. Claire had gotten inside him. He needed to lay a permanent mark on her. He needed... well, he probably needed a therapist if he were being honest with himself.
He'd never felt so out-of-control as he did tonight. Never had he felt so consumed by a wildness he couldn't explain or define. The absolute need to put a claim upon a woman that was permanent, physical, visible, that would mark her flesh for the rest of her life.
“Let me ask you something,” Ari said, still pacing. “Why are you branding Saskia?”
“Because she's mine. And I think it will make her feel secure. I took a long time to let her in. You saw that terrified deer-in-headlights look she got when I mentioned her paying her debt off within a year. Like I was just going to get rid of her after that. As if this thing with her ever had anything to do with money. As if I cared about the fucking money. Money was an excuse to take what I'd wanted from the first day I laid eyes on her. I just needed a justification.”
Ari could relate. Claire keeping him in that cell was a justification, but the cell didn't matter. If he'd met her in some other way he wouldn't have had the reason to take her, and he probably wouldn't have done it. But he would have wanted to. It would have haunted his dreams for months.
“Okay, well that's basically the same reason I want to brand Claire. So let's do it together. Let's make it a formal thing.”
Kane smiled. “Okay, I'm in. Who are we inviting to this ceremony?”
36
Ari paced the hallway wearing a pair of faded jeans and nothing else. Saskia, Kane, and Marcus would be arriving in fifteen minutes. And Kane was nothing if not punctual. Usually he was irritatingly early.
Ari had presented his blueprints for the private kink club earlier in the week. The plans were enthusiastically accepted with no changes requested, and a healthy sum had been wired to his bank account. He'd gotten another design offer almost immediately—a referral. But the work didn't start for another month—not that he needed any of the work by this point. Like many of his socio-economic class, he worked because he liked it, not because he needed it. Still, the break was nice.
The only thing he had to worry about right now was tonight. After much discussion, Ari and Kane had decided against a party with guests. It was one thing to make Saskia the kinky sexual centerpiece of a large crowd. She was used to it and got off on it. It was quite another to do it to Claire. Claire had a different history that didn't exactly lend itself to giant amounts of public sex.
Ari had reasoned that she'd been okay at the art show. But all eyes had not been on her. It was Kane of all people in the end who had suggested it should be a private affair with the four of them. If the man wasn't careful, people might think he had a heart in there.
But then even that had been compromised when Marcus had strongly vetoed the arrangement. He didn't want to be left out. While his thing with Kane and Saskia was a different thing than Ari's friendship with Kane and their commitment to my slut is your slut, Marcus wanted to be included in something as important as a branding. He wanted to watch. Ari hadn't objected, and neither had Kane.
So it was to be the five of them. And somehow Ari felt as though he were involved in some weird initiation ritual. He really had always thought this thing with Kane was temporary. It had started as a joke, a lark.
But then the one-time ice breaker joke became a long-standing inside joke. And at some point, both of them had stopped laughing. At some point both of them had started to take having sexual access to whoever the other was with as some sort of fucked-up sacred right. And though Ari wasn't attracted to men and was sure he would never fuck Kane, he'd fucked with Kane for years now.
The two of them had enjoyed many women together. And now both of them had a woman they wouldn't release even if she wanted out. That's how far both of them had lost their minds and moral reasoning faculties. Kane had his thing with Saskia. Ari had his thing with Claire. But there was also this potential for this other thing with all of them. And apparently Marcus watching—at least for tonight.
The doorbell rang. Ari went to the front door, nervous energy still buzzing off him. He pressed his thumb against the keypad, and the locks slid back. He opened the door and Kane, Saskia, and Marcus walked in. All of them were dressed casually in jeans and T-shirts, a high contrast from the last time he'd seen them.
“Is everything ready?” Kane asked.
“It's all set up in the dungeon. The branding irons are heating. Once it reaches the right temperature, it should hold steady, but there's a digital read-out to be sure.”
“Where's Claire?” Kane asked.
“She's in my room.”
“Does she understand what tonight is about? Is she all right?”
Ari wasn't entirely sure what the answer to either of those questions was.
“I could talk to her,” Saskia offered.
Ari nodded. That seemed like a good idea.
Claire paced back and forth in front of the fireplace in Ari's room. Every few minutes she looked up at the paintin
g Kane had done of her as if looking at that painting was going to make any of this better. Ari had explained things carefully and patiently to her. She was Ari's, but sometimes he wanted to share her with Kane. And sometimes he wanted her to play with Saskia.
How was she supposed to respond to that? Anything but “Yes, Master” would displease him. But didn't “Yes, Master” make her the biggest slut in the world? Especially since it was no tormented hardship to say yes to that.
Her fantasies had somehow become real and the real version was even better than all the things she'd imagined. So when would she wake up? When would something terrible happen to break it all apart? She felt like something horrible loomed just ahead to mess everything up. She'd been convinced for years that happiness just wasn't a thing that she'd been allotted in life. Happiness was for other people.
She jumped at the knock on the door.
“Hey, it's Saskia. Can I come in?”
She let out the breath she found herself holding. “Of course.”
The door opened and the dark-haired artist walked in, except she sort of glided when she moved. Even in jeans, a T-shirt, and wedge sandals, there was something unbearably sophisticated about her. Maybe it was her long exposure to an artist like Quill.
She smiled as she looked around. “I've always loved this room.” Then she spotted the painting over the fireplace. “Oh! He painted you. Did you get the full artist-process treatment?”
Claire felt herself blush.
Saskia laughed. “That's a yes. Quill is... intense.”
“You call him Quill?”
“No, I call him Master, or it's my ass,” Saskia said with a wink. “But yeah, I think of him that way. And he told me you knew about the art thing, so I can say it in front of you. Are you okay? About what's happening tonight?”
“Are you?” Claire asked.
Saskia smiled. It was an easy smile. A conspiratorial smile. Claire hadn't really gotten to talk to Saskia at her art show, but she already liked this woman. “Yes. I'm good with it. Excited. I think this will be good.”
