by Kitty Thomas
Brian looked confused a moment. “Me and Shannon?”
Lindsay rolled his eyes. “You and Mina.”
Something went dark and cold inside Brian's stare. Darker and colder than usual. “Don't you dare threaten her again,” he growled.
“Then don't touch Shannon.”
“I already said I wouldn't.”
“Well, now I know you won't.”
“What makes you think I won't just kill you right now and then take this little conversation out on Shannon until I get bored playing with her?”
Lindsay just stood there, lost for words for a moment.
“I see the light has finally dawned,” Brian said. “But nice speech. Real scary.”
Lindsay started to reply but Brian interrupted him before he could speak.
“I always knew I was right about you. You're a dangerous dog that needs to be put down. But I won't. For her,” Brian said.
“Mina?”
“No, Shannon,” he ground out. “After tonight I realize that I actually like that girl. She's on my list now.”
“Your list?”
“The protect list. The no touching list. The very very short list of people that I'm not going to snap and go rabid on. The list. Besides, she's Mina's friend.” He sighed. “It would hurt Mina, and I promised her years ago I would try to avoid hurting her even indirectly. If I killed Shannon, it would probably hurt my relationship with Mina.”
Lindsay laughed at that. A cold laugh. “He finally learns cause and effect and consequences.”
“Look, I'm not a fucking idiot, Doc. I can do long term planning and thinking just as well as you.”
“So it would seem we're at a stalemate,” Lindsay said, not liking the direction this conversation had turned or that Brian would consider him in a class that was more dangerous than himself. And not as a compliment.
“You don't touch Mina. I don't touch Shannon, and everybody gets to live another day. Seems pretty clear to me,” Brian said.
He spit on the ground barely missing the Italian leather of Lindsay's shoes. Then he turned on his heel and disappeared down the hallway.
Lindsay sighed again and went down to his office to call Damian. He'd be wanting his car back and an explanation.
***
When Damian woke, she was gone. The space on the bed was cold beside him so she'd been gone for a long time. Probably hours. He hadn't felt her get out of bed or heard her leave. He let out a long sigh. At least there weren't any cops busting down his door, and no blue lights.
The thing about his house was: nothing could happen outside that he couldn't see—if he was awake, anyway. But the police didn't tend to leave and come back later if they wanted to arrest you. So that was that? This was over, then?
He had no idea how the alarm hadn't woken him. Had she actually figured out the code? Had she seen the numbers he punched in? He thought he'd been too quick for that, and she'd been too disoriented from the sedative still wearing off to see the code.
But he'd left the keys very visibly on the counter. She probably thought he'd been too cocky or too tired, but he'd left those keys for her. The truth was he did want to own her. Absolutely and truly. But he didn't think he had it in him to break her down piece-by-piece.
So he'd let her go. Actually, he'd be lying to himself if he said he hadn't wanted to wake and find her still in bed with him. He had wanted that. He'd hoped she'd come to see this was the best thing. Damian could take care of her. He could give her everything she wanted and needed. She could be his, and she could be happy. If she'd just let herself forget the doctor.
But he didn't want to keep her if all she wanted was to be with someone else.
She wouldn't go back to the house. Not after what had happened. Lindsay's decision had been very final, and Brian was too dangerous. She might want to, but she wouldn't. Damian was sure she wouldn't have gone to the police, either. But if she had, she'd decided not to implicate him.
He swallowed hard. Would she have implicated Lindsay and the house? Damian knew if she told anyone about the house, he was a dead man.
Fuck. What had he been thinking? He'd just wanted to give her one out. Because he wasn't a monster. He was sure she'd get halfway down the road and turn around and come back, realizing the futility, that there was nowhere for her to go and he was her best option. He wanted her to choose him. Then he would close off her options and never let her go.
He turned on the news. There was no story.
His phone rang. “Yes,” he said.
“You couldn't manage to keep one girl locked up?” Lindsay's tone was harsh.
Before Damian could figure out how to play this, Lindsay said, “She's here. Get your ass over here so we can figure out what to do with her.” The call disconnected.
Fuck.
Damian went downstairs and made some breakfast and some very strong coffee and ate and thought. The truth was, he thought she'd stay. He wanted her to feel it was the safe choice because of how loosely she was kept. Lindsay had warned him though. He'd said she needed to feel secure, and that much freedom wouldn't make her feel secure.
On the drive home with her, Damian had run through every possible scenario in his head. She couldn't and wouldn't go back to the house. That was madness. She may have once made an attempt on her own life but that was out of hopelessness, not some embedded death wish.
He'd also thought she wouldn't go to the police because what would she do after that? Where would she go? How would she take care of herself after having just disappeared from the face of the planet for eight years? The idea was absurd.
Damian was sure he was the only choice. She might be upset and sad for a while but they'd find that easy way between them again just like they had a couple of days before. Within a few weeks everything would be fine and she'd be firmly his. And it wouldn't involve breaking her or making her hate or fear him.
And that plan had gone off splendidly. Lindsay was going to fucking kill him. In fact, maybe he shouldn't go to the house at all. Damian hesitated in the garage next to one of his cars.
Fuck it. Lindsay knew where he lived, and Damian was not going to live his life on the run from a man he'd considered a friend. He got into the car, plugged the address into the GPS, and drove.
Chapter Nineteen
Shannon waited in the private dungeon Lindsay had set up on the far end of the house. She was naked, on her knees, legs spread, waiting for him. For them. Damian was on his way. Actually Damian had been at the house for a while now, Mina had come down to the dungeon and given her the heads up that they were discussing things, but she wouldn't give details. Maybe she didn't have them to give.
Shannon didn't know the specifics, but when Lindsay had come back to their room earlier he'd been absolutely sure she was safe with Brian now. She hadn't questioned that because she'd felt something shift in him when they'd had that encounter in Lindsay's office and he'd given her the key to the desk drawer.
The cell door opened. She heard two pairs of footsteps. She didn't look up. She was too afraid to look up. It had been a long time since Mina had come down here. She'd said there had been yelling and a long standoff of some sort as Damian and Lindsay worked out whatever issues they had between them. And now here the two men were, with whatever decree they'd decided upon. Whatever punishment. Whatever final outcome.
She held her breath, willing herself not to cry.
“Kitten, look at me.”
Her gaze rose to Lindsay, avoiding Damian's eyes.
“From this point onward you will call both of us master, whether you are alone with one of us or we are all together, do you understand?”
“Yes, Master,” she said softly.
He was keeping her? They were both keeping her? She could barely believe any of this was happening. They both wanted her? That seemed the most impossible of all the realizations. She'd been certain after Brian had damaged her all those years ago that no one would ever truly want her again, that she would be alone f
or the rest of her life. And now she was getting both of these beautiful men along with all the promises Lindsay had made to her so many years ago before bringing her to the house. Was this real?
Lindsay continued, “This is how it will be, kitten. You will live with me and go to work with me during the week. On Fridays, the three of us will have dinner. Sometimes at Damian's, sometimes at a nice restaurant. Occasionally we may all attend parties or other functions together. The three of us will play together on Friday nights, after which, I'll return to the house for the rest of weekend when Damian will get you to himself.
“He'll return you to me at the office each Monday morning. He may show up during the week for lunch. At some point in the distant future, this balance will shift in the other direction, and you'll spend most of your time with him and see me on the weekends. This is not a debate or discussion. It's what Damian and I have decided. Is this all clear?”
“Yes, Master.” Was that why he'd introduced Damian? So she wouldn't end up alone again? Silent tears started to fall down her face. The thought had crossed her mind that the age difference could leave her even more alone down the road, but she hadn't cared. She'd wanted to grab onto this one good thing and not worry about what happened a decade or two from now.
“Good girl,” he said. “Now, crawl over to Damian. We both get the full protocol.”
Shannon swallowed around the lump in her throat. She still hadn't looked at Damian. She crawled over to him and pressed her lips against his shoes then moved back into her kneeling position, this time next to Damian and said, “Master.”
She heard the breath that tumbled out of him when she used that word for him. She didn't know how she knew it, but that sound was satisfaction.
“Look at me, baby,” Damian said.
She looked up. She wasn't sure what she'd expected to see in his eyes. Anger, disappointment, betrayal for running. But what she found in his gaze instead was pure raw animal desire. She'd been wrong. She wasn't a do-a-friend-a-favor fuck. He wanted her. She didn't understand how, but he wanted her.
“I am the only one who will fuck your ass, do you understand me?” he asked.
She started to turn to Lindsay to get his reaction to this but Damian's hand rested on the side of her face, blocking her from turning.
“Don't look at him. Answer me.”
“Y-yes, Master,” she said.
“If there is any conflict, Lindsay and I will work it out between us and then we will bring our decision to you. You will not play us off each other, and we won't put you in a position to betray one of us with contradictory demands you can't obey.”
Damian reached around behind her throat and removed the collar. Then he passed it to Lindsay. She couldn't stop the tears spilling out at the loss.
“Why can't I keep it?” she asked.
Lindsay spoke then. “It isn't appropriate for you to wear my collar when you belong to both of us.”
“So I'm not going to have one?” she asked, trying to hold back the tears in her voice.
“I didn't say that. For now you won't have one. Let Damian and I handle it.”
She nodded.
Damian's hand was in her hair then, stroking. “I'm going to punish you, not because you ran from me but because you put yourself in danger by coming back here. But I won't do it until your back heals. For now, we're just going to spend some time together.”
Some silent communication passed between Lindsay and Damian, then Damian took her hands in his and helped her to her feet. He led her to one corner of the room.
Lindsay brought a coil of black rope and tied her wrists together in front of her.
“Grab the ring,” Damian said.
Shannon reached up and gripped the metal ring that came down out of the ceiling at just the right height so she could hold it without going onto her toes.
“Don't let go or you'll only add to your future punishment.”
Lindsay blindfolded her with one of his dark ties. She heard the footsteps as they prowled around her like a couple of hungry wolves planning the take-down of their dinner. She lost track of who was who as they circled her.
“We're going to play a game,” Lindsay said. “It's called, which master. One of us will do something to you and you'll tell us which one it is. If you're right, we'll reward you. If you're wrong, we'll punish you.”
“I-I thought Damian said no punishment until I heal.”
Lindsay laughed. “That's because Damian wants to be able to punish you however he likes without limitations. And I'm just fine with caning your ass or thighs. So for this game... you're at risk. Guess wisely.”
Footsteps receded, and she knew that one or both of them had gone to the box of whipping implements and toys. She hated the cane. He knew she hated the cane. Which was exactly why he used it for punishment. It was Lindsay's favored tool.
Shannon had no idea why he kept a paddle hanging on his office wall when he liked the cane so much.
“Here are the rules,” Damian said, his voice echoing in a circle around her which made it feel as though he were everywhere all at once. “One of us will do something. When we stop you have five seconds to guess correctly. You can't change your answer. The first name you say is the answer we're taking. Do you understand the rules, baby?”
“Yes, Master,” she said.
“Good girl.”
There was silence for several seconds and then a tongue swept over her nipple before a mouth closed fully over her breast.
“D-Damian?”
A buzzing toy was pressed between her legs. “Good girl,” Damian whispered in her ear.
She arched toward the pleasure, but it was withdrawn a few seconds later.
A hand moved to the back of her neck, gripping her possessively, then a mouth kissed and sucked at her throat.
“Lindsay,” she said.
The toy was between her legs again. She moved against it. The moment she began to moan it was taken away.
A hand stroked her ass, rubbing and kneading, slipping between her cheeks but not penetrating. That was an easy one. “Damian.”
The cane struck the back of her thighs with punishing swiftness, and she shrieked, gripping the ring over her head harder. “B-But Damian said only he could...”
Damian's voice was in her ear then, and she wondered if he was the one who'd just delivered the blow with the cane. “Nobody penetrates your ass but me. He didn't put his fingers inside you.”
Several moments later, a tongue stroked over the place where the cane had landed. She stopped to think, wondering which one of them would have soothed that pain away. She was confused now. She had no idea who'd licked the cane mark. And was it the same tongue that was now seeking the wetness between her thighs?
“I don't know,” she whimpered. “I can't tell.”
A hard smack came down on her ass. “Really, kitten? I've gone down on you for months and you can't tell my mouth on your sex from Damian's?”
Damian chuckled. “She's got plenty of time to learn.”
“Let go of the ring,” Lindsay said.
Shannon let go, and one of them dragged her across the room and threw her down on her stomach on the bed.
“One of us is going to fuck your mouth, and one of us is going to fuck your cunt. When we pull out of you, you better guess right which was which. And you will not come until we tell you to,” Lindsay said.
Strong hands pulled her up onto her knees before a thick hard erection slipped inside her. She was already wet, excited from the mingled fear and pleasure of their game. She whimpered as she adjusted to him. Who was it?
A moment later, before she could decide which one of them was fucking her, a second cock prodded her lips. She licked, tasting him. She'd fucked and sucked them both, why couldn't she remember which was which? They were distinctly different. The way they felt. The way they tasted. The way they fucked. This shouldn't be so difficult.
But the threat of the cane made it so hard to think clearly. A hand gri
pped the back of her neck. That was a Lindsay move. Right?
But the way the other one moved inside her pussy... that felt kind of like Lindsay's rhythm, too. The pleasure began to build between her legs, and she bucked against the one, while sucking the other, taking him far down her throat as he guided her, stroking her... preparing to make her swallow.
They made different sounds. She would figure it out then. But they came almost simultaneously, one driving hard inside her cunt, the other thrusting into her mouth. Neither of them made a sound when they came. The one at her mouth, massaged her throat, helping her swallow.
Nobody gave an order. No one so much as grunted or groaned. They both pulled out of her. That swallow move was a Lindsay thing. It had to be Lindsay at her mouth. But then... the cock in her pussy had sort of felt like Lindsay, too.
Now she couldn't remember what Damian felt like. He'd only spent the entire weekend fucking her.
“Poor thing,” Damian said. “She looks really confused and frustrated.”
“At least she didn't come yet. That might buy her a little mercy if she's wrong,” Lindsay said.
“Well? Who was who? Which one of us fucked your mouth?”
“Lindsay?” she said, more of a question than an answer.
“Hold her down,” Lindsay said. Hands gripped her wrists and held her while the cane came down across her ass in three quick strikes. But they weren't hard. It was just a game.
Still, the tears flowed down her cheeks at the pain. Then Lindsay's tongue was soothing the sting of the welts. She only knew it was Lindsay because Damian held her bound wrists in a firm grip to keep her from struggling away. They flipped her onto her back and laid her bound arms over her head.
“You'll learn,” Lindsay said. “No more game, just feel. You don't need to know who is doing what. The interrogation portion of the day is over.”
Then the two of them went to work on her together. One mouth was at her throat, kissing and biting her, while the other's mouth was on one of her breasts. A hand—she didn't know whose—stroked between her legs. The two of them caressed and fondled and licked every exposed inch of her while she squirmed and begged them for more.
