Nick nudged her chin up and pulled until she looked at him. “Are you going to be okay if I leave you with…Ian?”
His hesitation sucked but it was what it was. “Yes. I’ll be fine.” He kissed her mouth, pegged Ian with a hard stare as they passed each other to switch places and then was gone.
Ian walked toward her, his attention on her with laser-sharp focus.
He wanted to talk and all she wanted to do was run.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Why’d you call it off? Did Nick say something when I walked away?” He wanted to keep quiet but just couldn’t do it. Yeah he and Nick talked about working her over together but if that dick did anything to hurt—
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
He stood beside her, wanting to take her hand, stroke her hair, lick every inch of her. She couldn’t handle them together but… “I grabbed this.” He tossed a cuff on the table. He’d used it as a stress ball of sorts as he’d tried to get his temper under control.
“Oh. Right. Uh, no. He didn’t say anything. Nothing you couldn’t have heard from over there.” She glanced toward the closet and didn’t look back.
“You were supposed to leave the lifestyle.” That sure as hell jacked her head back around. “You were supposed to find a vanilla to marry. Make your aunt and uncle happy. They were good people, even if they never liked me.”
“Are you mental? They adored you. And I couldn’t ever leave this lifestyle. It’s a part of me, just as it’s a part of you.”
“They hated me.” He didn’t want to process the rest of what she’d said, especially when it made his somewhat altruistic choice to leave her so long ago moot. Anger bubbled up inside even before she spoke about her family again.
“They pushed you to be better than you thought you were capable of. That’s what people do when they love someone.”
He had nothing to say to that so he changed the subject.
“I’m sorry you lost them. They were pretty cool.” He’d never been all that good with death so he didn’t really have anything else to offer.
“Thanks. I miss them. I lost them so quickly, it was quite a blow after…well. You know. They did love you though. A lot.”
“Who did you learn to self-tie from? You had some knowledge before we started but now…” He knew a fair amount of awe was in his voice and he couldn’t help it. “You seriously rock it in rope, Jenna. Good…job.”
Her eyes warmed for a moment and then went cold again. Surely his praise didn’t mean that much to her, with everything she’d said the past hour.
“Nawa Goshujin-sama.”
“What?”
She jumped with his shouted question. “You introduced me to him.”
“No shit, Sherlock. He’s one of the best, if not the best Japanese rigger out there. He’s insane when it comes to jute and only trains the best. I’ve only heard of him training one woman before. Surely… Surely that couldn’t have been you. There’s no way you’re his nakayoshi. Is there?”
His disbelief clearly pissed her the fuck off. She climbed off the table, tossing the comforter back on it so she could stand there with her fists on her hips. It would have looked fierce if she hadn’t looked so adorable in her corset and panties.
She opened her mouth a couple times and nothing came out but she threw her hands up and stalked to the door, wrenching it open.
“Of course not. There’s no way I could possibly be worthy of his time. You asshat.” She stormed out of the room and then another voice filtered through as the door started to close.
“You okay, Jenna?”
“Fine.” Which, of course, was female speak for “No I’m not, but if you ask again I’ll cut your baby maker off.”
“Good to know,” came a deep voice and Chris caught the door and stood there as Ian walked toward him.
“Are you the asshat today? I thought it was Nick’s turn.” Chris’ sense of humor left him a bit flat.
“Did you know she trained under Goshujin?”
“Several years, off and on. He’s the one that recommended her to Jared and I when we were looking for someone to wear a lot of hats around here. Best recommendation he’s ever made. Nick and you were the other two.”
“Other two what?”
“Recommendations he made for the people we were looking for. Swear he’s going to start charging me like some kind of fucking head-hunter.”
Ian could do nothing but stare. “He recommended Nick and me?”
“Yep. Small world, huh?” Chris clapped him on the back when he was close enough, then walked away, letting the door shut in his face.
A few minutes later Nick headed to the bar to talk to Oscar. Jenna wouldn’t respond to his texts and now he couldn’t find her. And with how many cameras he had access to, that was saying something.
Before he could ask Oscar anything, Ian walked up.
“You’re like a staph infection. Every time I think I’m rid of you, you just show up in a different place.”
Oscar slammed two glasses on the bar in front of two stools that Nick and Ian were squaring off in front of. “Sit down and shut up.”
“What the fuck, dude?”
Oscar glanced at them, more than a tiny bit pissed off. He took a deep breath while they sat down and filled their glasses with alcohol. What kind? Didn’t matter.
Nick tossed it back and Ian did the same.
It burned all the way down and he clenched his jaw, worrying about Jenna.
Oscar’s palms slapped against the bar and he glared at them, apparently forgoing the “make nice” phase of the discussion. “Jenna’s one of my best friends. I trust her judgment. But when it comes to you two, I think she’s totally fucked in the head.”
Nick narrowed his eyes in Ian’s general direction.
“Not just him, Casanova. You’ve being a raging asshole, too.” Oscar poured two more shots, put the bottle back on the counter and then stared at Nick. “You, I at least know well enough to expect better.” He looked over at Ian and curled his lip. “You. Hurting one of our own isn’t the way to make friends around here, especially people you have to work with. Trust is a two-way street and boy, are you chewing up that road right and left.”
Ian swiveled in his seat, staring Nick down. “Shouldn’t someone with the last name of Love, Nick, have a clue in that department?”
Nick knocked his shot back, slapping it down again harder than the first time. His free hand tightened into a fist and he barely contained the urge to leave.
He got good and comfortable, unwilling to give Ian or Oscar the satisfaction of getting to him.
“Shove it, Bryan. It’s amazing how misleading names can be, don’t you think?”
Ian opened his mouth and Oscar snapped his fingers between their faces.
“Both of you need to lose the attitude that the universe owes you anything, especially something as precious as Jenna. She’s amazing and you’re killing her.”
“We haven’t hurt her. Not like what you’re suggesting.”
“Her heart is involved.” He glanced between them. “With both of you. I don’t know the whole story but I know enough that if you two wreck this, she’s not going to be the same. So fix it.”
He stormed down to the other end of the bar, making the mistake of leaving the bottle of Scotch between them.
Nick grabbed it, helped himself to another shot.
Ian did the same.
It didn’t take long for the effects of the alcohol to hit his system. Nick’s temper mellowed to something less than volcanic. He filled the shot glass one more time and then held it. He knew he didn’t need another one, but a bit more liquid courage to talk to the fucker sitting beside him sounded like a good plan.
He opened his mouth to tell him to get the fuck out. “How did you meet her?” Huh? Where the hell had that come from?
Ian cast him a suspicious glance but finally spoke. “Five years ago we met at Shibaricon, big bondage convention in Chicago.”<
br />
“I’m familiar.”
He nodded and continued in his clipped tone. “We both lived there but hadn’t met before that kink con. Chemistry. Immediately. Jenna was with a guy, I was with another girl but quickly both of those relationships fizzled. When we were both free we met at a local dungeon. We hit it off. Negotiated a scene.” He closed his eyes, remembering something pleasant from the look of ease that changed his normally broody expression. “The first time I tied her, man. It was…”
“Like the entire world just stopped.”
“Yeah. That was it for me. She was it for me. We were together every day, until…”
“Until? Come on man. Give me something to work with here. I’m trying to understand. Just give me a clue why I shouldn’t kick your ass for hurting her.”
Ian glared at him, clutching his shot glass tight, as if he were going to use it as a bludgeoning device. “Why should I tell you shit when you’re not willing to level with me on anything? I’m sure as hell not going to be the only one with everything hanging out swinging in the breeze.”
“Fair enough.” Nick took a deep breath and his last shot. “My mother left when I was barely old enough to remember her. My Dad? He was wrecked. Not just mad but he checked out. From a shitty-ass broken heart. So I fended for myself. I vowed then and there I’d never let a female in like that. That close.”
“And then Jenna.”
“Yeah. Jenna.”
Ian nodded, thankfully not asking for any more details. He poured another shot, tossed it back, then placed the shot glass upside-down on the wood surface.
“The last night. I asked her what her ultimate fantasy was. When she told me she wanted a ménage, and the look of longing that lit up her face… Fuck. I was a self-serving asshole then. I freaked out and decided leaving was the best option. I’d like to think I’m different now. Changed. I want her. I’ve always wanted her. Never stopped. Knowing she was here, I uprooted everything to move my entire company. I relocated to have her again.”
“I’m not giving her up.”
Oscar stepped up again holding out his hand. “Can I see both of your Library cards?”
Nick lifted an eyebrow but Oscar didn’t look away. Didn’t act as if he were going anywhere.
They pulled them out, handed them over.
He stared at them for a second. “Oh yeah, see right here it says, ‘Master’ on both of them. So act like it.” He slapped them back on the bar and spoke low and menacing. “Being a Dom doesn’t mean it’s all about you. It’s about your sub and her needs. If you two both go FUBAR on this, someone else will swoop in and pick her up right from under your noses.”
He said it as if he knew something they didn’t and Nick eyed him.
Oscar was gay, at least he thought he was. Hadn’t ever seen him with a guy though. Or a female, but—
“Grow a pair—both of you—and it’ll all work out. If she decides to forgive your sorry asses and give either of you a chance.”
He walked away again and Nick knew he’d said his piece.
Oscar left the bar entirely and Douglas walked up.
Seeing him and thinking about what Oscar has just said, a plan formed in Nick’s mind. He caught Douglas’ eye and then turned to Ian. “What are you doing next Wednesday?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“We’re supposed to wear what?” Jenna stared at the scrap of fabric in her hand as if it were some venom-infused breath mint. Looked unassuming but it hid something sinister.
“What does yours look like?” Haleigh bounced across the prep room. The large open room was full of women getting dressed. She took the triangles and dental floss out of Jenna’s hand. “Oooh… It looks like something Princess Leia would wear.”
“Sure. If she were a stripper.” Jenna added, glaring at it when Haleigh handed it back. Then she glanced at her corset, leather pants and heels.
There was no way she could wear the outfit Nick had given to her without taking off her corset. He knew that was a hard limit, yet when she reminded him of the fact he’d leaned in close and whispered, “Not tonight.”
What the hell had that meant?
He’d stalked off before she could tell him exactly what she thought of his highhanded attitude. For the rest of the evening, he’d given her heated glances but so had Ian. They’d been doing it for several days even though it seemed as if they were giving her a few to cool down.
Or something.
Those looks. Those men. They heated her core until she couldn’t concentrate on anything but wanting them.
They weren’t good for her though. She wished the rest of her would get on board with her ability to reason.
She shook herself. Haleigh had said something but she didn’t have a clue what. “What about you?” she asked, nodding to the see-through fabric she clutched in her hand.
Haleigh held hers up, cocking her head to the side with a serious look on her face. “Jasmine, maybe. From Aladdin. You know. A naughty Jasmine.”
Jenna couldn’t help but smile at the gleam in her eye. Her enthusiasm was contagious even if she felt anything but excited.
“Come on. It’s supposed to be fun.”
Jenna looked up at Haleigh, who was giving her puppy-dog eyes. She decided to distract her. “Go get dressed and I’ll do your hair and makeup.” Another sub, Kellee, who was unattached, had been playing with another couple at the club. Davis and Angel were part of whatever was going on downstairs, and Kellee couldn’t have looked more exited as she walked out of the bathroom. Her geisha outfit set off her pretty eyes. “I’ll have the rest of the girls finished in around fifteen minutes. I’ll snag you when I’m done and we’ll get you ready to go down to whatever the men have planned.”
“Kay.” Haleigh kissed Jenna’s cheek and moved back toward Cyn and Skye, who were getting ready across the room.
None of them knew what was going on.
Each of their men had given them a costume—not provided by Jenna, which rubbed her the wrong way on many fronts. The bottoms were told to be downstairs at the main stage at exactly nine thirty. With no additional information, no matter how many times or how many of them asked what was happening.
Not even Haleigh batting her pretty lashes at Kyle and Scott had gotten them any info.
Jenna opened a drawer to grab a pretty hair clip and shoved her costume in the back corner. She had every intention of working on the girls until it was too late for her to get ready. She didn’t know what the men had planned since they’d told her she couldn’t help downstairs.
She gave up her Wednesday girls’ night out for this.
Not that she had a choice. Chris and Jared told her she had to be here. And when her bosses said things like that, she listened.
Her curiosity was piqued but it would just have to live with disappointment.
She moved behind Kellee as she sat on the stool in front of the makeup counter. “Okay, let’s turn you into a geisha.”
An hour later, she held open the door to the prep room, ushering her three best friends out the door. “Go on, girlies. You’re going to be late if you don’t go now and I don’t want to be responsible for you getting punished. So move it.”
“But it’s gonna be awesome.” Cyn, dressed as Pocahontas, grabbed her hand and squeezed it, trying to pull her along.
“You have no more of a clue what’s happening than any of the rest of us, so don’t try that convincing on me, missy.”
“If my guys have anything to do with it, then it’s going to be amazing.”
Her faith in her men lit a giant spark of longing in Jenna’s chest.
“I’ll come down in just a few. Go show off my skills and make me proud.”
“Hurry. Okay?” Skye looked up at her. She wore nothing but a black bra and panties, with metal chains around her stomach and throat.
“I will. Now go.” Jenna shooed them down the hall, breathing a sigh of relief when the doors on the elevator closed. When she stepped back inside the pre
p room the lights cut out and a hand closed around her throat, yanking her inside the rest of the way.
“Fucker.” She struck out with her elbow, trying to throat-punch the person manhandling her as her heart pounded away in her chest.
He easily evaded her, taking her down to the floor, putting almost all his weight on her. Her hands were cuffed behind her back in two seconds flat, followed quickly by cold metal cuffs of some kind circling her ankles.
She lifted a leg, digging her knee into the ground to try to get away and she was surprised that one wouldn’t rise by itself.
Shackles.
The dude—who weighed as much as a tank—yanked her leg flat and then sat on her knees so she couldn’t move, shoving a meaty hand between her shoulder blades and pinning her quite effectively. The urge to scream bubbled up, but couldn’t get past the pressure on her chest.
“They figured you wouldn’t come easily tonight.”
She knew that voice.
Douglas, from CJ’s.
“What are you talking about?”
“A pretty girl like you will fetch quite a price at auction.”
“Auction?” She breathed out the question, pieces falling into place with what the men had planned for the women tonight.
But not her.
“No, I—”
His hand came down on her ass so fast she couldn’t process what happened. Then the burn lit beneath her skin, stealing the rest of her breath.
“No isn’t a word a proper slave uses.”
“Slave?” She squeaked as he rubbed the sting away on her rear.
“Whoever purchases you tonight will own you. No questions. No limits.” He let the last two words float between them. Almost as if they were one of those flash-bang fireworks. It shot into the air, almost silent and then it exploded, shaking everyone in a mile radius.
“But—”
Whhoooosh. His hand rained down rapid-fire on the flesh of her backside until adrenaline flooded her system.
JennasConsent Page 33
