by Lexi Blake
What the fuck was going on?
If Shelley noticed, she didn’t give it away. She was chattering happily about the fact that she’d forced Leo to sit through two hours of HGTV while Wolf had been gone.
Wolf’s eyes grew round as he looked at Leo. “Dude, why were you getting punished?”
“Next time it’s your turn,” he said with a shake of his head.
Shelley’s nose wrinkled sweetly. “It wasn’t so bad. And I’m going to completely redo the condo. I have swatches coming on Monday.”
“Don’t ask. I think it’s the decorating equivalent of a crop. It’s meant to beat us into submission.” Leo watched Wolf carefully. Something was going on. He hadn’t suspected anything when Wolf had called earlier and told him he would be longer than he’d expected. He’d claimed traffic and that he was putting together a surprise for tonight. He’d expected that his brother was buying toys for their sub.
Now he was wondering.
He put a hand on Shelley’s gloriously round backside that was going to be horrifically abused in oh so many ways in a mere half an hour. “Baby, give me a minute with Wolf, okay?”
“So you two can talk about how to torture me?” she asked. Both he and Wolf stared at her. She finally sighed. “Fine. But only because you gave me Dom eyes.”
Wolf glanced at Logan, who he seemed to have some sort of silent shorthand with.
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t get in trouble.” Logan walked after her.
Leo wasted no time. “Is there something you need to tell me?”
Wolf’s normally open face was a closed and locked book. “No. Everything is fine. Look, I got you and Shelley a gift is all. I think you’ll both like it a lot.”
“Do you want to tell me what it is?” He wasn’t convinced.
Wolf shook his head. “It’s a surprise, but one I’ve been planning for a while. Just go with it, brother. Now, there is something else I need to talk to you about. It’s about Logan. He’s planning on leaving for New York.”
“I know.” Responsibility weighed on him. He owed it to his brother. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep him here. I have a few days.”
He wasn’t sure what he would do if Logan couldn’t see he had a problem, but he was going to try.
“I set something up for tonight. Look, I know you’re the shrink, but I know Logan. He thinks because he’s out of the situation that he’s fine, but he’s wrong. Jack Barnes and his partner are setting up a scene that is similar to what happened to Logan. If he can stand there and be fine, then I’ll eat my words, but I don’t think so.”
Leo took a long breath. Wolf was playing a dangerous game.
“You know this could blow up in your face.”
Wolf’s shoulders moved up and down in a negligent shrug. “I know. But it’s important. Sometimes we do things simply because they’re the right things to do. I think you should be with him, though.” He glanced down at his watch. “I think Jack and Sam are going to start in a couple of minutes. I thought it was best to get this out of the way early in the night. I know you and Shelley will want some time after her punishment.”
“Yes, I’m sure Shelley will need some attention after what we do to her. I would rather not have to play shrink when I could be playing Dom.” He glanced over to where Shelley was talking to Logan. She kept her backside to the wall as though trying to make sure no one could see it. He was going to have to work on that. He was proud of that ass. He wanted to show it off.
“Come on then,” Wolf said.
Leo put a hand out to stop him. He still didn’t like the look on his brother’s face. “Is there something else? Talk to me. You know Big Tag has a whole team working late all weekend looking into this. The big bastard is working around the clock, and his sister-in-law is calling in favors to dig up whatever she can. If you found out something about this situation with Holder, I want to know. They need to know.”
“I told you what I was doing,” Wolf replied. He put a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “We will figure this out. Tomorrow I’m going to help install the security system and I’ll work with the team all week. You have to know that whatever happens, I’ll protect her. I’ll help you in any way I can.” Wolf stared over at her. “I’ll be here for you.”
Leo stopped, his brother’s words snagging him. “You better fucking help. You got me in this situation. Do you have any idea how much trouble she’s going to be?”
He meant it as a friendly jab, a way to point out their camaraderie. He’d thought about nothing else during the whole torturous time Shelley had forced him to sit through endless shows about people buying homes and installing toilets. And they said he was a sadist. But while he’d sat there, he’d thought about what it meant to be in this sort of relationship. It meant he was never alone. It meant no matter what happened, his brother would be around to take care of Shelley. It meant there was another human being in the world who knew what it meant to love her. It suddenly didn’t sound so terrible.
“You can handle her, brother.” Wolf glanced down at his phone. “Jack’s ready. Let’s move.”
Leo put a hand out. “I don’t think we’re done here. Do you want to explain why you keep using singular nouns? For two days, all I’ve heard is how we’re going to take care of her and now you keep using the word ‘you.’ I’m not an idiot, Wolf. If you have something to say, say it.”
“I will. And you aren’t going to be upset. It’s fine. It’s all part of the plan, but if we don’t get moving, we’ll miss this scene and then Logan is going to have to wait until I can set up another one.”
Leo wasn’t anywhere close to satisfied with that, but Wolf was right. He was interested to see what his brother had cooked up. He walked behind Wolf, noting that while Wolf smiled down at Shelley and acknowledged her, he didn’t reach for her hand. He said something to Logan and then moved forward with his friend.
Shelley stared at his back. “What’s wrong? Did I do something?”
“No, baby. He’s in his Dom space. He’s getting ready for the scene, and he has something he needs to do with Logan.” He kissed her, trying to reassure her. It was all a lie. He was pretty sure his brother was twelve kinds of fucked up, but now wasn’t the time to push him. They would get through Logan’s shit, punish their sub, and then he would kick Wolf’s ass if he needed to.
“I don’t like his Dom space.” Shelley held his hand as she walked along beside him.
“We’ll work on him.” He squeezed her hand as they began to walk up the stairs that would take them to the playroom. What was this scene Wolf had planned out with Jack and Sam?
He had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as they rounded the corner. They walked past the gyno lab where Kitten was being rewarded for her earlier good deeds by having a TENS unit attached to her pink parts. Chase worked over the sub. Ben was nowhere to be seen.
“Eight o’clock tomorrow?” Chase asked as he dialed the unit up to a place that had Kitten purring.
Leo stopped briefly. “Yes. In the conference room. Did Holder send the files he has?”
Chase nodded. “Ben is poring over them now. He wasn’t in a place to be here tonight.”
“I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know he had real feelings for her.” That guilt weighed heavily. Shelley leaned into him as though offering him support. Sweet sub. He put an arm around her to let her know he would take whatever comfort she had to give.
Chase’s face was grave even as he attached electrodes to Kitten’s nipples. A Dom’s work was never done. “He didn’t want you to know. He didn’t tell you. He knew you would have walked away from her, but he also knew she was more into you. This is why I stay free of the whole commitment thing. But I would appreciate your help with him. This has stirred the whole mess up, and Ben needs some fucking closure.”
“I promise,” Leo said. “We’ll find out what happened. It’s past time.”
Ada had been a shadow over his life for far too long. But now, with Shelley here, he f
elt ready to face the situation. Chase gave him a salute, and Leo turned to the crowd that was gathering at the office space.
Damn it. Of course. Logan had been taken into his boss’s office and held there for hours. He’d been beaten to a bloody pulp, tied down, and forced to endure anything they gave him. He’d been made to feel small and helpless, and it had changed his worldview.
And Wolf was going to force him to watch it happen to someone else.
This was possibly going to be a huge mistake.
But Jack was already at work. His male sub, Sam, was tied down to the top of the desk. They used the office play space to enact fantasies about bosses and secretaries, but this was something different. Though the crowd didn’t find anything wrong with it, Logan Green would think of it as his own personal nightmare.
Sam was dressed in khaki pants and no shirt. Jack was in black. He had a crop in his hand and, at first glance, it appeared he was brutally beating his sub. Anyone with a skilled eye could see that Jack was pulling his strikes, and some of them actually landed on the desk behind Sam. Sam covered the sound of the crop hitting wood by screaming. Another tell. Sam never screamed. Sam was a bit of a pain slut. He genuinely enjoyed being spanked and whipped by an experienced hand. But now Sam seemed to be in agony.
“Tell me what I want to know!” Jack screamed at the blond man on the desk.
“I don’t know anything,” Sam cried. “Please. Please. I don’t know anything.”
“Are they doing some sort of spy torture scene?” Shelley asked.
Leo looked over the tops of the heads in front of him, searching for Logan. One of two things was going to happen, both of them potentially harmful. Logan would crack or his protective shell would harden further. His brother needed to leave the fucking therapy to him. Janine slid in behind Shelley.
“Do you know what’s going on, Leo? This is an odd scene. There should have been an announcement that an intense scene was being played out. I would ask Julian to stop it, but Jack isn’t actually hitting him most of the time. Is this for Sam’s benefit?” Janine asked.
And then he heard it. A roar filled the playroom. It was a sound of primal rage that nearly shook the walls. Logan charged the small play area, ignoring the boundaries, pushing past everyone in front of him.
“Leave him alone!” Logan screamed, his face a mottled red. He leapt, trying to get his hands on Jack, but at least Wolf had done one thing right. He’d stayed close enough to catch Logan before he killed someone. Wolf’s arm went around Logan’s waist, and he hauled him back. Jack dropped the crop and held his hands up.
“It’s all right, Deputy. My sub is fine. It was nothing more than a scene.” Jack’s hands worked on the bindings that held Sam down.
“You’re a fucking asshole. Let him go!” Logan didn’t seem to know where he was.
Leo pressed through the crowd, pulling Shelley in his wake. He wasn’t about to leave his own uncollared sub walking around unattended, but he had a job to do. When they reached the front of the crowd, he ordered her to stay right there and climbed up on the slightly raised area.
Sam was sitting up. “It didn’t hurt. Jack was playing. We were playing. I wasn’t even thinking my safe word.”
But Logan was far gone. Wolf had a brutal hold on him, but he was still fighting, still trying to get at some assailant who now only existed in his mind.
“Logan!” Leo stood right in front of the deputy. His tone was calm but loud and firm. “Logan, you’re in Dallas, Texas, in a club called…The Club.” Why had Julian been so lazy when naming his freaking club? “You’re safe. Sam is safe. This was a scene. This has nothing to do with what happened to you.”
Logan stopped and seemed to focus on Leo. He stilled. “What?”
“You’re in Texas.” He kept his tone calm and cool. “Not Bliss. This is a scene, not reality. Jack barely hit his sub. What you saw was a bunch of smoke and mirrors.”
Logan looked over to where Sam stood holding up his hands. “He barely hit me, man. And he would never hit me enough to do anything more than redden up my skin. The one time he cut me when he was using a whip, he felt so guilty I had to force him back into play. I trust that man with my everything. He’s goddamn half of my soul.”
Logan went still, and then he slumped forward. If it hadn’t been for Wolf’s arms around him, he would have fallen to the ground. A low wail came from the young man’s throat, and he wept openly.
Wolf went to the ground with him. “It’s okay, man. It’s okay. You’re safe.”
“Janine? Please?” Leo looked to his ex-wife.
Janine started moving the crowd away. “Please, follow me to the doctor’s office. I hear a very naughty kitten might finally be forced to use her safe word.”
The crowd shuffled off, and Leo was left with Wolf and Logan and Shelley, who was crying, too, now. He knew her heart wouldn’t allow her anything less. And she could help.
“Come here, baby.” Despite Logan’s happy-go-lucky demeanor, Leo felt the young man had the core of a Dom. He’d tried to protect the people around him. He’d looked out for those weaker than him. And he’d been surrounded by women growing up. When he needed comfort, he would look for a female. He nodded toward Logan, and Shelley seemed to understand. She dropped to her knees and offered the crying man a hug.
Logan pulled away from Wolf as fast as he could. What he couldn’t take from Wolf, he had no problem accepting from someone soft and sweet. Logan held her, but the way he would hold a mother or a sister. He buried his face in her shoulder and sobbed. Shelley played her part beautifully because it was natural for her to reach out and comfort someone in pain, even someone she didn’t know well. She smoothed back Logan’s hair and promised him it would all be okay.
Wolf got to his feet. Leo pulled him out of hearing reach.
“That could have gone very badly,” Leo scolded.
Wolf’s eyes turned down. “I didn’t know what else to do. He was leaving for New York in a few days.”
“And he still might. He might not trust anyone in this club ever again.”
Wolf turned to Logan, who was starting to calm. “Logan, I did this. I set it up. I knew what it would do to you. I did it. I did it behind Leo’s back because I knew he wouldn’t agree with me. And I timed it so Leo couldn’t stop it. Leo didn’t do this. I did this. So if you hate someone, hate me.”
Logan looked up, his head still resting on Shelley’s breasts. “How about I hate that fucker who did this to me instead? I’m not stupid. And I may be stubborn, but I’m not an asshole. You wouldn’t have done this if you didn’t care. And it wouldn’t have worked if I wasn’t in trouble.”
“You need to stay here. You need to work this out,” Wolf said, practically pleading.
Logan nodded. “I know I do. I wanted to kill that man. I don’t really know him, but I was going to kill him. I could feel my hands wrapping around his throat. I wanted to watch as I squeezed the life out of him. God, Leo, can you fix me? Can you make the images go away? I can’t not think about it. I can’t meet a new person and not wonder if they would hurt me if they could. I don’t want to live like this. Can you fix me?”
“He fixed me.” A quiet, deeply authoritative voice broke through the quiet. Julian Lodge was still in his business suit. He hadn’t changed for the evening, which told Leo that he’d had a busy Saturday. Julian got to one knee in front of Logan. “I know where you are. I’ve been held down and tortured against my will. I was forced to watch as someone hurt the woman I loved. It was only through my partner’s quick thinking that Danielle and I survived. And for almost a year after, I sat in Leo’s office once a week and we talked. And eventually it went away. I still think about it, but I’m in control now. Leo can help you take back that power if you allow him to. It’s your choice.”
Julian stood back up and held a hand out. Logan couldn’t possibly know how far Julian had come that he would reach out, telling his own story. The deeply guarded man now knew when to open the gates to h
is soul.
Logan took his hand, and Julian helped him up. “I want to stay, Mr. Lodge.”
“Then you are welcome. Men like you are always welcome at The Club. Shelley, dear, thank you for being the sweet soul you are. Perhaps your Masters will take that into account this evening. Logan, let’s have a drink. One or two should do. We can talk a bit.”
Logan nodded back at Wolf. “I’ll see you later, man. Guess we won’t be headed to New York.”
Julian turned back. “Everything is set for your scene with Shelley. Hurry along, you two. You don’t want to keep that crowd waiting.”
Wolf helped Shelley to her feet. He seemed to be ready to take a step back, but he suddenly hauled her into his arms and wrapped himself around her.
“You were great with him. Thank you.” Wolf breathed her in, seeming to try to lose himself in her scent.
“You’re welcome, but all I did was hold him.” She held Wolf, too. She went on her tiptoes and pressed kisses along his shoulder.
“Sometimes that’s all you need, love.” Wolf stepped back with an audible breath. He calmed himself and looked to Leo. “Shall we begin?”
Leo eyed his brother. He had the worst feeling that Wolf wasn’t done with pulling crazy stunts. “Sure.”
He took Shelley’s hand and followed his brother out of the playroom and down to the dungeon.
* * * *
Shelley took a deep breath as Leo helped her on to the dungeon’s raised stage. She loved the heels. They were gorgeous. They were also torture devices. They were part of her punishment, and like everything in BDSM, there were good and bad points. Good point—they were stunning and designer and she kind of wanted to kiss them. Bad point—they made her never want to walk again.
She rather thought her men were about to make her never want to sit again.
There was a spanking bench in the center of the stage and a plethora of devices meant to beat on a poor, did-it-all-for-love sub’s ass. All of it would have been perfectly doable, except for one thing.
