Maxwell, Mardi - Zane's Choice [The Doms of Club Mystique 4] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Mardi Maxwell

  Behind her, the door opened and her friends trooped in. Addison lowered herself to the bed, then leaned back, sighed, and wiggled her bare toes. “Those shoes were killing me.”

  Jenna walked over, grabbed several pillows, and shoved them beneath Addison’s feet. “Lie down. Your ankles are swelling.” She folded her arms over her ample breasts. “You’ve been sneaking salt.”

  “She’s always eating chips,” Cassie said as she flung herself down on the bed next to Addison, then kicked her shoes off and sighed.

  “Tattletale,” Addison said, then sighed.

  Ravyn watched the interaction from her place at the window seat. Her room overlooked the front drive, so she listened to them argue about chips and salt and water consumption while she watched for the taxi. Marisol sat down next to her as Jenna slid onto the ornate chair and crossed her legs, then ran her hands over her thighs.

  “If Jackson keeps feeding me all the time, I’m going to gain back all the weight I lost,” Jenna said.

  Addison lifted her head and smiled. “You were too thin. You look better now.”

  Before they could say anything more, Ravyn took charge. “I don’t think any of you betrayed me, but Zane was right. I need to go home. I should have gone home yesterday.” She smiled. “I’ve had a good time, though. Well, except for the spanking.” She sent Cassie a sympathetic grimace. “Luc spanks really hard.”

  “I know.” Cassie giggled. “Actually, Logan can be a lot meaner, but I have to really piss him off before he gets serious.”

  “Nobody is worse than Jackson,” Jenna said. “I swear that man’s hands are made of leather. Old, rough leather.”

  Marisol snorted. “Thor’s hands are like great big clubs.” She make a spanking gesture and said, “Thump, thump, thump,” then laughed.

  All eyes turned to Addison, but all she did was lift her head and smile before relaxing again. “I’m so tired I could go to sleep right here. You could spend the night, Ravyn, and we could take you home in the morning.”

  “No thanks, Addison. Besides, my taxi is here now.” Ravyn grabbed her purse and the handle of her suitcase and began rolling it toward the door. They followed her down the hall to the stairway.

  At the bottom, she smiled at Cade and Thor. “I’ll be okay. Don’t send anyone to protect me. I was telling the truth when I said they need me alive.” She hugged her friends, then left the house. She didn’t look back.

  * * * *

  Zane took another long swig of whiskey, then slammed the bottle down on his desk and cursed. “I’m a bastard,” he said to the room. “A big, fucking uncaring bastard.” He threw his head back and laughed, the sound grating. “A big, fucking bastard who’s in love with the wrong woman.” He took another swig, then capped the bottle and threw it at the man who stepped into his den.

  Jackson caught it, then read the label. “Ah, the cheap stuff.” He looked at Cade as he dropped into a chair. “You can always tell when a man’s in love. He always tries to drown his sorrows in cheap whiskey.”

  “Fuck you,” Zane said, his words slurred.

  Cade took the chair next to Jackson, then shook his head when Jackson offered him the bottle. “We thought we’d come and tell you that your woman is at her own home, all alone.”

  Thor sauntered into the room, eating a sandwich while holding a second one is his left hand. He slung himself into a chair, then shrugged. “I’m a big guy. I get hungry.” He took another bite and chewed it.

  Zane stood up, weaved for a moment, and then fell back into his chair. It rocked back and almost tipped over, but he managed to catch the edge of the desk and steady himself. “Where’s Luc and Logan? Where’s Ben and Mac?” He held up a hand. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.” He looked around, then said, “I need a drink.”

  “You’ve had enough,” Cade said.

  “Not yet, I haven’t. I can still see her beautiful ass and smell her and want her.” He ran his hands through his hair, then smelled his fingers. “God.” He rested his head against the back of the chair. “I’m not in love with her. I just want to fuck her. Damned, beautiful temptation.” He snorted, then slumped, and his chin hit his chest. A moment later, a soft snore rumbled from his throat.

  “A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies,” Thor said, then took a bite, and chewed it while looking expectantly at first Cade, then Jackson.

  Cade shook his head. “This one’s yours.”

  “Oh, hell,” Jackson removed his hat, tapped it on his knee, then gave Thor the evil eye. “Nietzsche.”

  Thor swallowed, smiled, and held out his hand. “Alfred Lord Tennyson.”

  Jackson grunted and threw a twenty at him. “I’m going broke because of you and your fucking quotes. Why don’t you just take a check for your youth center like any sane man would?”

  “Where would be the fun for me in that?” Thor took a bite out of the second sandwich. “At the rate everyone’s losing, we’ll have a thousand dollars in the jar to send to the youth center this week. School has started and those kids need supplies.”

  “Oh, hell.” Jackson and Cade reached for their wallets and tossed a couple bundles of cash at Thor. “Just get it over with.”

  Thor smiled. “I never did like being the only kid to show up without paper and pencils on the first day of school.”

  “Cade always made sure we had what we needed.” Jackson glanced at Cade, then laughed. “Do you remember when we first moved to Long Valley and we barely had food to eat? You talked Old Man Muldoon into letting you work for him in exchange for school supplies? Damn, I think you’re the only person in history to ever get that old man to open his wallet.”

  Cade grunted. “He worked my ass off.”

  “I’m rich because I hated being poor,” Thor said.

  Jackson smirked at Cade. “Your turn to guess, bro.”

  Cade showed Thor his empty wallet. “I already gave you all my cash—will you take an I.O.U?”

  Thor laughed, then tossed the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth. “That wasn’t a quote—it was just me talking.” He stood up and hauled Zane over his shoulder. “I’ll put this idiot to bed.”

  The movement woke Zane. “Hey, I’m busy. Don’t you know I’m the fucking A.T? A–A.”

  “A.S.S.” Thor spelled then laughed and carried him out of the room.

  “So, little brother’s in love,” Jackson said. “Think we should torture him?”

  “I think he’s doing enough of that on his own.” Cade ran his hands over the back of his neck. “What a fucking mess.”

  Jackson leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands intertwined between them. “He may be right to worry. Ravyn knows a lot—maybe too much.”

  Cade nodded.

  “You know, Cade, talking to you is like trying to pull teeth.”

  “I talk when I have something to say.”

  “Well, see if you have anything to say about this. How do you think she knows so much?”

  “If she’s like Addison, she might have overheard a lot of things.”

  Jackson rested his ankle on his knee, then tapped his boot. “I don’t believe that’s it. Addison’s one of a kind.”

  “My gut tells me Ravyn’s innocent. It’s never let me down.”

  “So, let’s say she’s innocent, but she knows what been going on. Why wouldn’t she go to the police?”

  “Dolman accused her of having connections with law enforcement.” Cade’s stared at the wall behind Zane’s desk. “Liars always twist the truth with the lie. Sounds to me like he’s the one with the connections.”

  “You’d think she would tell us, then. She opened up to Marisol a little bit.”

  Cade stretched back in his chair and crossed his booted feet. “Those females are thick as thieves. If Thor hadn’t had his Hummer bugged, we wouldn’t have a second witness that knows there’s a connection between Earl Baume and either Benson or Dolman, or both. We also wouldn’t be sure Barbie was in business with Baume.
Chances are she probably is running the drug supply in our area now that he’s dead.”

  “Good thing we put a tail on Barbie, then. We’ll have a better understanding of how they work once Dania finishes matching up the drug deliveries with the money transfers.”

  Thor walked back into the room, smiling. “He’s sleeping like a baby.” He laughed, then sat down in Zane’s desk chair and began flipping through the open file lying on the desk. “Dolman’s pretty confident he can testify against Ravyn and get her sent to prison. So, why’s she willing to let him? That’s the question we need to be asking her.”

  “She’s not going to tell us,” Cade said, “or our women.”

  Thor closed the file. “She might tell Marisol.”

  Jackson shook his head. “I could hear the ‘no’ in her voice when she told Marisol she wouldn’t tell her. That’s one secret Ravyn’s never giving up.”

  Thor dialed his phone, then Cade and Jackson heard him tell whoever was on the other end that he wanted a detailed report on Ravyn Marie Benson Dolman—schools, activities, friends, everything. Thor hung up. “We’ve got a report on Dolman, but maybe what we really need is to take a closer look at Ravyn.”

  “He’s been framing her,” Cade said.

  Thor nodded. “The information on the flash drive is the truth, but the information Dolman’s giving the police is slightly twisted. Once we compare the two, then we can begin untangling his lies and prove her innocence.” Thor stood up and stretched. His back cracked and he groaned with relief. “Damn chairs are too small. I’m going home. You coming?”

  Cade and Jackson followed him into the hallway.

  “I’ll turn on the alarm system.” Jackson waited for Cade and Thor to pass through the front door. “Think Zane will be okay on his own?”

  Cade laughed. “He’ll be okay, but he’s going to have one hell of a hangover. Good thing tomorrow is Sunday.”

  * * * *

  Zane squinted to block the pesky line of sunshine that insisted on stabbing into his eyes, then rolled onto his stomach and groaned. Damn, his head felt like someone had moved into it and was pounding on his skull, demanding to be let out. He pulled the pillow out from beneath his head, then wrapped it around his skull and sighed as the cool linen eased his headache.

  The previous night was beginning to come back to him and he groaned again. Had Cade and Jackson really been here, and that damn Thor? “Fuckers,” he said, then froze when the chair in the corner of his room squeaked. Who the hell was in his room, he wondered, as his feet hit the floor and he opened the nightstand drawer and groped for his gun. Before he could grab it he heard Ravyn say, “It’s just me,” followed by a muffled giggle.

  Zane slammed the drawer shut then followed the direction of her eyes and cursed. “Those fuckers,” he said as he looked down and saw that, instead of his usual boxers, he had on what appeared to be a diaper. Ravyn giggled again, then looked away and bit her lip.

  Zane stalked into the bathroom, slammed the door behind him, and grimaced as the sound echoed through his aching head. He jerked on the knot on his belly where one or all of his late-night visitors had tied some kind of cloth around him. It came loose and he held it up, then cursed again when he saw that they’d cut up one of his favorite T-shirts. He dropped it in the trash, then turned on the shower and stepped in and just stood beneath the spray. What the hell was Ravyn doing in his house, and how had she gotten in? Had those fuckers let her in so she could torture him?

  He gave himself a few moments to recover, then stepped out and dried off, brushed his teeth, decided not to shave, and opened the bathroom door. He expected to find Ravyn waiting for him. Instead, the room was empty, but the scent of frying bacon and coffee filled the air. He grabbed a pair of jeans and slipped into them, then headed toward the kitchen. Ravyn glanced over her shoulder as he entered, then turned back to the stove and moved several strips of bacon to a platter.

  “I see you helped yourself to one of my shirts.” He studied her for a moment, then against his will he asked, “Are you wearing panties?”

  Ravyn flipped the tail of his shirt up, showing him her bare bottom. She expected him to smile. Instead, he looked even more remote. “I needed something to wear after I showered. You were sleeping and I didn’t think you’d mind.” When he didn’t say anything more, she shrugged. “I’m making omelets and toast to go with the bacon.” She glanced at him again, seeking his approval. “The coffee just finished brewing.” She hesitated for a moment, then said, “I could serve you, if you like.”

  Zane grunted, then moved by her and poured himself a cup of coffee. He added a splash of cream, and stirred it as he sat down at the breakfast bar. “What are you doing here, Ravyn?”

  “When I got home last night, my housekeeper was missing and my house had been trashed.” She broke several eggs into a bowl. “I heard men’s voices upstairs, so I took off.” She began stirring the eggs. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

  “There are hotels all over Dallas.”

  “Well, you see, when I went to get some money, I discovered my ATM card no longer works and my credit cards have been cancelled. Would you know anything about that?”

  “I’ll check into it, but you were safe at the ranch. You should have stayed there.”

  “You told me to leave. You said my presence put your family in danger.” Ravyn poured the eggs into the hot skillet.

  “So, what do you want from me? Protection? Money? Or maybe you’re ready to tell me the truth?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, the tears in her throat making her voice husky. “I just couldn’t think of anywhere else to go and I was scared, so I came here. I saw your brothers and Thor arrive, so I snuck in behind them and hid until they left. Nobody knows I’m here, so your job is safe.” She moved the skillet away from the heat and turned around. “I just wanted to see you.”

  “You mean I left you hot and wet and aroused and you need me to fuck you?”

  “Zane,” Ravyn said, not sure if she was asking him to stop or continue.

  Zane pushed his coffee away. “What do you want?”

  “I want you to hold me for a little while until I feel safe again,” Ravyn said. “I want you to make love to me.”

  Zane crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “We don’t make love, princess, we fuck. Now, tell me what you want.”

  Ravyn couldn’t make herself meet his eyes. He was killing her. Killing any hope she had left that they could somehow be together. She wanted to tell him to go to hell, then walk away, but she couldn’t make herself leave him. She wanted one last time with him. One last memory, because no matter what Zane said, even when he fucked her, it somehow felt like he was making love to her. She licked her lips. “I want you to fuck me, Sir.”

  “You know what I want. Show me what they taught you.”

  Ravyn understood he was asking her about the girls’ night in she had spent at Thor’s home. She unbuttoned the shirt she wore and let it fall from her shoulders. She caught it then folded it and left it on the central island before she moved closer to him and dropped to her knees. She spread them, then laid her hands palms-up on her thighs and looked down.

  “Knees a little farther apart.”

  She obeyed him, then waited.

  Zane got up and walked around her. “That must have been some party the five of you had, pet. Did you practice this position?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Zane ran his hand over her head, then grasped her hair and pulled her head back. “Look at me.”

  Ravyn obeyed him.

  “I wanted you to be my slave. Do you understand what that means?”

  “Yes, Sir. I want to serve you. Only you.”

  Zane lifted her to her feet. He clenched his hand at her nape, then pulled her mouth to his. He brushed his lips over hers, once, then again. Slowly, he stroked his tongue over the seam of her lips and when she opened to him, he teasingly slid away, then began again. She loved the way he kissed
her, slowly building up to the moment when he slid his tongue into her mouth and tasted her. She moaned into his mouth and he deepened the kiss as his arms tightened around her and lifted her against him.

  “God, you taste so fucking good.”

  Ravyn slid her arms around his shoulders and held onto him, never wanting to let him go. The kiss went on and on, one moment soft and teasing, then the next deep and devouring. She was panting for breath and her heart was pounding when she felt him reach between them and unbutton his jeans. A moment later, his fingers slid between her legs and he thrust them into her. She gasped into his mouth and he chuckled.

  “I always tell myself I’m going to take you slowly and savor every moment, but we both know this is going to be fast and hard.” Zane picked her up then turned and trapped her against the wall. “Don’t we?”

  She slid her hands down his back and pushed at the waistband of his jeans until they slid off his hips. His cock pressed between her legs. He stopped, then looked at her as he thrust into her. Ravyn saw what he was feeling as he became a part of her. He wasn’t indifferent. He was as lost in her as she was in him. “Zane.” She kissed him, then said his name again, softly, then kissed him again.

  He pressed his forehead against hers as he thrust into her. His chest rose and fell with every breath as he thrust harder and deeper. He kissed her again and slid his hand between them and over her clit.

  “Come for me, Ravyn.”

  “Oh, Zan—Sir,” she breathed, then moaned and flew apart in his arms. She pressed her breasts into his chest and pressed her mouth against his shoulder, then bit him. He grunted, then continued to pump into her, every now and then stopping, then continuing again, and she knew he was holding back his own pleasure.