by Eden Summers
Great. Now, he not only felt like shit, he felt like an asshole too. “Shay, wait.” He jogged after her. “I appreciate your concern, but I’m good. Promise.”
She raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. “I was only trying to help.”
The door from the entry creaked open, burying the conversation. At least he hoped so. The sound of heavy footsteps reached them moments before Leo and Brute strode into the main Vault of Sin room.
“Is this a bad time?” Leo asked, his jaw tight, his gaze locked on Shay.
“We’re all good.” Her tone said otherwise as she sidled up to Leo and placed a kiss on his lips. “I’ll go upstairs so the three of you can talk.” Without another word, she sauntered from the room, closing the door behind her with a harsh clunk.
“Why did she look pissed off?” Leo asked.
“Doesn’t she always look like that?” T.J. rested his hip against the side of the tan leather sofa in the middle of the room.
Brute gave a halfhearted snicker. “Yep. She’s either pissed or up to something. Neither look is comforting.”
“Maybe if you quit giving her hell, she’d quit sharpening her claws.” Leo leaned against the back of the sofa. “Just admit you love riling her.”
“You know what I’d love?” Brute flashed his teeth in a vicious smile. “I’d love to see you and Shay interact without your dick involved. Get a room. Go on vacation. Just keep your lily-white ass outta my face.”
“Jealous much?”
“Fuck y—”
“Come on, guys.” T.J. was too tired for this. “Shay said you have something to speak to me about.”
Leo smirked, claiming victory over the argument.
“Don’t preen like a peacock,” Brute demanded. “Now you’ve gotta explain your crazy girlfriend’s fucked-up ideas for our damn sex club.”
T.J. closed his eyes, letting exhaustion take hold. He didn’t have the strength to participate in shenanigans tonight. He didn’t even have the will to smile.
“Relax.” Leo nudged his shoulder. “It’s not that bad.”
Brute cleared his throat. “Depends on your perspective.”
“Just spit it out.” T.J. scrubbed a hand along his jaw, across the harsh stubble that reminded him he hadn’t shaved in two days. “What is Shay up to?”
“She had a few ideas to increase attendance in the Vault.”
“The main idea being a dress-up party,” Brute drawled.
“What?” T.J. loved Shay, but people dressing up as Fred Flintstone or Superman was not the type of professional image he wanted for their club. Having girlfriends or lovers involved in the decision-making process of their business wasn’t something he approved of either. That’s why Cassie had always been a silent partner.
“It’s a fucking masquerade party, you idiot.” Leo shot Brute the bird. “It’ll give those who are interested in playing but reluctant to be seen in this type of environment a chance to remain anonymous.”
“I’m listening.” T.J.’s tiredness abated somewhat. The idea could have merit. Maybe. He jerked his chin in Brute’s direction and was immediately pinned by his friend’s scowl. “I gather you’re against the idea.”
“The club has never been about games or playing to me. It’s a lifestyle choice. Either own up to your proclivities, or fuck off and go to another club—one that doesn’t pride itself on integrity and the privacy of all our members.”
The reminder of other clubs made cement solidify in T.J.’s gut. He’d been there, done that. It hadn’t been pretty. “Just because you’re out and proud doesn’t mean everyone else has to be. Some of the people interested in the lifestyle aren’t willing to risk losing family or friends if they’re caught.” He knew that all too well. “And others have their religion and employment to think about.”
“Don’t get me started on religion.”
“Or anything else that doesn’t gain your approval,” Leo muttered.
“So you are against the idea?” T.J. asked. Brute wasn’t pro anything. He was the glass-half-empty kind of guy. The one who took pleasure in making others fail. He was brutal, thus the nickname.
“He’s fucking fine with it.” Leo spoke through a laugh. “He already gave the go-ahead. He’s just being his typical moody self.”
Brute shrugged. “Your girlfriend is a hard woman to deny.”
“My girlfriend being the operative words.”
It was Brute’s turn to chuckle. “Yes, currently, she is.”
Leo growled and straightened, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Come on, guys.” T.J. was going to have to crash on one of the Vault beds if they didn’t get this conversation done with. He didn’t want to drive to his apartment when he couldn’t keep his eyes open. “I guess we all agree about the masquerade party. So where do we go from here?”
Brute laughed. “I’ll let Leo answer that one too.”
“Actually…” Leo drew the word out. “Shay’s arranged for the first trial run to take place next Thursday night.”
T.J. struggled to ignore the nudge of betrayal filling his chest. “Right…” They’d planned it without him.
“We weren’t sure when you were going to return to work.” Leo held up his hands in surrender. “You’ve—”
“Doesn’t take much to pick up the phone. Or text.” He’d never felt more alone. Cassie was gone. The club was moving on without him, evolving, when every part of his soul was crumpling to shit.
“Yeah, well, that’s a two-way street.” Brute raised an accusatory brow. “You could’ve given us a heads-up about when you were returning. Or that you planned to bail on us in the first place. This is a business. We rely on you.”
Ouch. It wouldn’t hurt so much if they weren’t right.
“I couldn’t deal,” he admitted. With work. With the world. With life in general. He’d had no choice. Finding the strength to hand over the divorce papers hadn’t been easy. Reflection and determination had taken time.
“We know.” Leo nudged his shoulder. “It’s no big deal. So about this masquerade thing…”
“I guess I’ll just sit back and let you guys run the show, seeing as you’ve already started the project.” He kept the resentment from his voice the best he could.
Brute smirked. “Don’t look at me. This is all on Lothario. He couldn’t say no because Shay has his balls in the palm of her hand.”
“Shay prefers my balls in her mouth, asshole,” Leo snarled. “And to be honest, I always thought it was a good idea. I would’ve shut her down otherwise.”
Brute snorted and received a middle-finger salute in return.
“The entry and dress codes will all remain the same,” Leo continued. “We’re still obtaining non-disclosures before they arrive, proof of identification and photos. The only difference is that patrons can maintain their anonymity from other guests once they arrive. Brute will know who they are from the online registration.”
“Okay.” He shrugged. He didn’t have the energy to protest even if he did disagree. “Has there been much interest?”
An arrogant smile brightened Leo’s features. “We’re almost at full capacity.”
Chapter Three
Cassie increased the volume on her earphones, trying to drown out her thoughts. It didn’t help that she was sitting at the dining room table, her gaze glued to the website causing the pain in her veins to increase.
Vault of Sin.
She was on their mailing list. Had been since the club opened a year ago. Today, she’d finally had the strength to enter back into the real world—showering, cooking, cleaning the house, and lastly, checking her email.
It was a sign. A blatant nudge from fate. The Vault was holding its first masquerade party. A private, anonymous event. Cassie’s heart was racing over the notification. Something churned in her bel
ly, telling her she had to be there. Yeah, it could be indigestion, but she chose to ignore that train of thought.
It was the perfect opportunity to insert herself back into T.J.’s life. Gradually. Without him even knowing. Without anyone knowing.
This email acknowledged all her fears and set them at ease. With a disguise, she could attend the event at the Vault and see if T.J. was already moving on. Determine his mindset about the divorce. And hopefully gain a better plan to reconnect. All she had to do was overcome all the obstacles stopping her from getting through the front doors.
She’d never stepped foot in the private part of the business. No matter how intrigued she was by the mere thought of her husband’s sex club, there hadn’t been time to visit. Not since her relationship with T.J. had hit rocky ground around the same time the establishment had opened. Beforehand, he’d spoken to her at length about his involvement, obtaining her understanding over the duties he would be required to perform. She’d trusted him. Unequivocally. The only unmanageable emotion she had felt had been excitement, knowing the club would eventually become a part of their sexual journey.
That part of their future had never eventuated.
Now, the place readily available for sex and seduction was constantly on her mind. Not only because it was a significant threat to losing her husband to another woman, it was also the perfect location to try and win him back.
“Cassie,” a female voice called behind her, followed by a loud knock that startled her to her feet, the earplugs painfully yanking from her ears as her chair fell to the floor.
“It’s just me.” Jan, her friend from across the street, held up her hands from the other side of the glass sliding door. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Well, you failed miserably.” Cassie breathed deeply, working hard to calm the rapid beat of her heart. Six months hadn’t been enough time to get used to living without a man in the house. She still found it hard sleeping alone, without T.J. to protect her.
Obviously, Bear wasn’t the best guard dog either. He currently sat at Jan’s side, his large tail wagging, his eyes bright with playfulness.
Cassie unlocked the door and slid it open. “What are you doing here?” Again.
Jan shrugged. “Just dropping by before I hit the sack.”
“I’ve told you—” a hundred times, “—that isn’t necessary. I swear, I’m fine.” Or she would be. One day. In the unforeseeable future. Depending on the outcome of her marriage.
“Sweetie, you lost your husband.”
“I didn’t lose him.” She knew exactly where he was. “He’s just stubborn, that’s all. He’ll be back before you know it.”
Jan gave her a placating smile. “Are you sure? He doesn’t seem the type of man to make mistakes. Especially big ones.”
There was a first for everything. T.J. was a man that owned everything he did—his attitude, his strength, his determination. Most importantly, his love for her. He just hid his confidence under a gentlemanly façade, not needing to prove himself to anyone. It was only a matter of time before she convinced him to return. But there was no point arguing with Jan. She would never understand. Nobody would.
Jan’s gaze drifted to Cassie’s laptop screen, her brow furrowing. “What are you looking at?”
Oh, Christ. Cassie lunged toward the laptop and slammed the screen closed to cut off the sordid images that set the scene on the Vault’s website. “Nothing.”
Jan’s lip twitched. “Did I interrupt something?”
“No. Of course not.”
“You sure you weren’t watching porn?” Jan raised a brow. “Did I fuck with your motion of the ocean?”
“Oh my God.” Heat burned in her cheeks. “No.” The last thing her body was capable of was arousal.
“So what were you looking at?”
“Nothing.”
Jan cocked her hip, settling into a comfortable position that wordlessly announced she wasn’t going anywhere without an answer.
“Fine.” Cassie huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m working out a plan to get T.J. back.”
“With the help of porn?” Jan’s expression turned bleak.
“It’s not goddamn porn.”
“Okay, okay.” Jan balked. “Then explain.”
Cassie didn’t want to. There were things in life that should be kept between husband and wife. Their reason for divorce was one of them. So was the plan for trying to get him back. Even though Jan was older and more open-minded than the friends Cassie had grown up with, it still didn’t seem like a conversation they should be having. “I can’t. It would feel like I was betraying him.”
“Cass…” Jan pulled out a chair and took a seat. “You don’t owe him anything. He already wants to move on.”
Damn. The truth stung. “There’s other reasons too.”
“Like?”
“Like I don’t want you to judge him. Or us as a couple. Our relationship wasn’t normal by society’s standards.”
“Right…” Jan raised a haughty brow. “I’m going to pretend I’m not offended by your assumption, and remind you I’m a single forty-two-year-old that has never had a prudish bone in my body.”
Although Jan had become her closest confidant in the months since T.J. had moved out, Cassie hadn’t shared private information. Only heartache and fear for the future. The secrets she kept with her husband were a gift only the two of them shared. They’d never been the type to crave attention. T.J. guarded the intimate parts of his life. They both did. He’d learned through the mistakes of his friends that people were too quick to judge decisions that were none of their business.
“If you can’t tell me—” Jan reached for the laptop, “—show me what you were looking at.”
Cassie warred with herself, caught between needing to talk and having to remain true to her husband. She still didn’t believe T.J. wanted to move on. She could change his mind. She knew she could. It was loneliness that pushed her to share her pain.
“Please keep an open mind.” She spared her friend a brief glance before she lifted the laptop screen and swiped her fingers over the mouse pad. The Vault website burst to life as Jan scooted closer in her chair.
“What am I looking at?”
The inside of Cassie’s wildest fantasies. “An invitation to a sex club.”
Jan’s eyes widened as she began to nod, slowly, not taking her focus from the page before her.
“T.J. is going to be there.” At least she thought he would be. His name adorned the bottom of the invitation after all.
“He’s been cheating on you?” Jan screeched. She glanced over her shoulder, her face a mask of fury. “He told you that?”
“No.” Cassie shook her head, clutching the back of the wooden chair in front of her. “It’s not like that. He’s not there to have sex.” As far as she knew. “This club is part of the business he owns with his friends. Very few people know of its existence.”
“Right.” Jan chuckled, the sound almost delirious. “I guess it’s true—the quiet ones are always the freakiest in the sack.”
Cassie gave a halfhearted smile. “He was definitely talented in that department.”
“So how does this club work in with winning him back? Or can’t you tell me that either?”
Cassie sagged under the weight of hopelessness. She hadn’t told anyone the real reason T.J. had asked for a divorce. Not even the blatant lie of incompatibility stated on the legal documentation. It was too private. Being vague was her only option.
“T.J. isn’t like most guys. He cherished me. He was a protector. A provider—in every sense of the word. He continuously worked at maintaining our perfect marriage and prided himself on his dedication to me.”
“He placed you on a pedestal.”
Exactly. “Yes. He did that too. His love was infallible.”
“But?”
Cassie sighed. “He placed too much onus on his responsibility in our relationship. It was almost an obsession to keep me happy, and I completely adored the attention. If I was sick, he nurtured me to health. If I was sad, he figured out a way to brighten my mood. My contentment was everything to him.”
“Until?”
Cassie shrugged. “Everything went to hell a year ago. I placed myself in a bad position. A really bad position. I was hurt, and he blames himself. He always blames himself.”
Jan shook her head with a disbelieving furrow of her brow. “How come you never told me any of this?”
“The circumstances aren’t…” Socially acceptable? Morally adequate? “Favorable.”
“Okay, I get that you want to keep the details close to your chest. So let’s return the convo to the fuck club. What’s that got to do with getting him back?”
Fuck club? Cassie smiled. “We’ve been emotionally disconnected for twelve months. I want to get to know him again—his strengths and weaknesses. I need to be close to him, maybe then things will be clearer.”
“Then go. Do it. Get your kink on, you naughty little girl.”
Cassie couldn’t contain her laugh. “It’s not that easy. Although the night in question will be their first masquerade party, there’s a line of hoops I need to jump through to gain entry. One of them being proof of identification.”
“And…”
“And I know the person who handles applications. If he sees my name, he won’t let me in.” Brute was a hard-ass. A man who couldn’t be swayed or easily fooled.
“So what you’re saying is that you need a new identity?”
“What I need is a new name, face, body—everything.” It was useless. Cassie leaned over the back of the chair and scrolled to the page on the Vault of Sin website, which listed entry requirements. “There.” She pointed to the screen. “I need a recent photo, plus a copy of my driver’s license.”
“Is that all?” Jan focused on the website, her eyes squinted.
Is that all? “I don’t think you understand. I can’t get in with my current license. They’ll recognize me straightaway.”
