Her reply made him think of a cat spitting. “I want to do something horribly fatal to him!” Then her hand touched his elbow. “Be careful, Jude. Nico is batshit crazy.”
“Got it.” He flicked his gaze upward. At least Q was out of the way, even if her face was dead white. Except, now she was heading down the stairs too. Trying to control this guy without anyone getting hurt would be damn near impossible with two women close by.
Get this over fast.
“You!” Nico jabbed a finger as he stalked. “This is between me and Q and this little cunt. Step back.” He stopped a few feet away and seethed. His jaw worked and his eyes stared madly as if at any minute they’d pop. The collar of his black shirt was askew and one button hung on a thread.
Q had reached the bottom few steps. Jude opened the car door and prayed the man had some sense. While herding Sabrina back behind him, he stepped away to give Nico room. “Go. Get in, and leave. You do not own Q.”
“Get your hands off my car, you fucker!”
The lunge and lash of Nico’s fist was expected. He grabbed the wrist, then yanked Nico forward as he kicked at the man’s ankle and swept it out backward. Momentum, gravity, and luck agreed with what he wanted, for once. A second later Nico was on his knees, screaming with his arm wrenched behind his back.
“Fuck! Let go!” Though he was yelling, Nico’s lack of resistance, after one futile jerk to try free himself, made it clear he’d got the armlock right.
Jude leaned in and growled. “You will get in your car and leave. You won’t come back. You will stay away from the girls. If I catch you near them again, I’ll beat the living fuck out of you. I have many, many friends who will be keeping an eye on you. Got that?” He screwed the arm a little higher.
Nico gasped and bowed forward. “Fuck! Yes! Got it!”
“Up!” He maneuvered Nico to his feet and shoved him into the driver seat then with his hand twisted in the man’s conveniently long hair, he gave a last command while staring down into Nico’s fear-widened eyes. “I know people in the community. Don’t try showing your face at any clubs. The word will be out that you’re a fool who can’t control his temper and assaults women.” He slammed the door shut.
When Nico started the engine and drove off, smoking the tires, but without more fuss than a string of shouted expletives and a finger out the window, the tension drained from Jude. He heaved in a breath and turned to the women.
Red-faced, hair plastered to her forehead, and paint can dangling from her fingers, Sabrina stood there, stunned. Then she whipped her head around. “Q!” She dropped the can to the pavement and sprinted away.
The collision of her body with Q’s was a small hurricane arriving – all noise and flailing arms, then she quieted. Her arms wrapped around Q and she did the same to her while patting Sabrina’s back. All he could hear were whispers.
When he reached them, Q was still saying it. “I’m okay. I am. Sabrina, I’m okay.”
“You’re sure?” After one last sniff and hug, Sabrina let her go, though they still held hands.
“Q?” At his voice, Q raised her gaze. Fear. There was fear in her eyes, of him?
She straightened and the familiar self-assured look took over. “Thank you, Jude. I’m sorry you had to see that.” As if the episode were done with, she straightened her t-shirt. “I’m going to get my stuff back upstairs.”
“No.” He frowned. There it was again – that twitch as if he’d scared her. Was it his voice, or just that he was a man, a Dom? “Come here.”
At the shake of her head, he stepped up and gathered both of them to him. Her protests could go to hell.
“Jude. No,” she croaked. “I’m –”
“Q!” Sabrina piped up. “Give the man a hug. He just saved our lives. Well, mine, anyway. I’m pretty sure Nico was about to strangle me.” She laughed nervously.
Her struggles lessened and, when he kissed her forehead, Q let out a sharp exhale.
Though she didn’t cry, tears lined her eyelids. Q blinked them away. They hugged for a while in silence. When he had both their heads resting on his chest, and their soft breaths warming him, he felt at last that he had everything going the right way.
Maybe now was a good time to shore up the foundations of trust again.
“I’m glad I was here. If I hadn’t been – if Nico had hurt either of you – I don’t know what I would have done. You can’t be alone forever Q. Sometimes you have to let someone else take the load. As your Dom, I consider it my duty, and as a friend and a man too. If you refuse my help, you hurt me.”
Then he turned her face up to him. He brushed a strand of hair from her eye, and kissed her softly on her trembling lips. “Okay?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
“Wasn’t your fault. Forget him. You two are coming to my place. We’ll pack some clothes and stuff, and you can stay until I’ve done all I can to make sure he won’t bother you again.”
Q nodded. Determination surfaced in her eyes. “And Jude. Just so you know, you’ve shown me there’s a difference between being a Dom and being an abusive asshat. I don’t think I really understood that before.”
He grinned. “Thanks. I think.”
Sabrina pursed her lips and examined them both. “You two were so cute kissing.” She stepped toward Q and stroked her hair, the sweetest look on her face. “See, Q? It's not true, what Nico said – that no one will ever love you.”
Nico said that? The guy couldn’t really feel that way about Q, even if he was a psychopath. Who wouldn’t love her?
Shit. Love. Uh oh. But, there was a truth there that rocked him. Falling in love with these two was not on his agenda. Or not on his father’s agenda anyway. And med school was not compatible with moving in with Q and Sabrina.
Or with anything else I want from life.
Q put her hands around Sabrina’s shoulders and tugged her closer. “Thank you for trying to distract Nico.” She lowered her head and kissed Sabrina. Not hard and sexual, just the kiss of a woman appreciating the one who held her heart. As quietly as the sun rising at dawn, he felt peace drift down on them. Magic.
Q cupped Sabrina’s face. “But that was the stupidest thing you could’ve done.”
Sabrina flinched at the sudden change of tone.
“Seriously. He could’ve really hurt you. Or pressed charges. If Jude hadn’t arrived, what would you have done when he reached you?”
“Ran like hell.” Sabrina shrugged.
Q nodded. “That’s the right answer. Don’t you ever, ever, endanger yourself for me again.”
“I can’t promise that. I care about you too much.”
Q opened her mouth to say more but Jude cut her off. “Enough.” They turned to him. “Let’s pack. We’ll forget him and have fun all morning. I’ll take you shopping, swimming at the beach, out to lunch, whatever you want. Then back to my place. That’s an order. Snap to it and run your little asses off getting everything you need.”
With an evil glint in her eye, Sabrina nodded then did an exaggerated salute, with her hand doing a huge circle before she touched her forehead. “Yes, Sir!”
Q dragged Sabrina’s hand down. “My turn to rescue you. Let’s get to it.”
He looked up at the heavens. “God, give me patience.”
Well, he had sort of asked for it. The day was going to be interesting.
Chapter 14
Jude
Jude pushed open the door, smiling inside at the silence of the new hinges. He liked a job done well, and the whole room had turned out the way he wanted. The last of the afternoon sun coming in through the bay window didn’t do the room justice, so he switched on the two head-high lamps, and the muted ceiling lights. A rich color scheme of creams and ochre, with a hint of oxblood red – but it was the broad sweep of arching stems and delicate leaves of the potted plants that impacted on him first. The greenery made it live.
A little sadness crept in. He was going to miss this, fixing up houses – there’d be no
time for this sort of frivolity, as his father used to call it, while studying medicine. Surgeons paid someone else to fix their houses.
This wasn’t the time for moping.
“What do you think, girls? You helped paint this.”
Everything clicked together in his brain. He’d known he’d miss Q and Sabrina for a while, he just hadn’t admitted it to himself. And it wasn’t just that he loved having two gorgeous young women who’d give him a blowjob if he told them to. Part of it, but not all. This was something…more.
“Wow.” Sabrina paced forward, and her short little pink dress sucked him into looking at the woman’s thighs. Thank god her light tan didn’t extend to her ass – marks always showed well. “I love these.” She ran her hand over the red upholstery of the closest of the two Chippendale couches then picked up a pillow and hugged it. “And these. Mmm. I adore big pillows. Makes me want to sleep on them on a rainy day.”
He raised his eyebrows, but shut the door, and followed in behind the more subdued Q. When she stared at the cleared area between the couches and the two ropes dangling down from his O rings, he smoothed his hand down her back. “They’re temporary. I’ll have to take them down soon.”
“I guess they do advertise your kinkiness.” Q put her hand over his where it rested on the lower curve of her back. He stepped in close, trapping her hand there, then wrapped his arm around her waist, and settled her against him. For once she wore a dress, even if it was plain black. Beneath the light fabric, his palm registered the solid warmth and movement of her flesh.
“They do, but it’s not that. The owner of this place is a local Dom. But I don’t think he plans to sell this as the House of Fetishes.” Then he nuzzled her neck while Sabrina looked on, bright of eye and with her bottom lip sucked onto her teeth. “We’re going to play now.”
“Oh, really?” Her voice was already husky and her hips swayed. Leaning her back into his shoulder was easy. Those clear blue pupils of hers broadcast wariness. Her focus darted here and there, and she studied him. Never a dull moment with Q. “Presumptuous of you.”
“I don’t need an appointment. You’re staying with me. It’s Monday night. I’ve seduced you both with my chef-quality food and sat on the beach and fed enough seagulls. Time to pay for your keep.”
“Is that how it is?” Sabrina chuckled.
“Yep. Kneel where you are.” He released Q, and slapped her on the butt. Her yelp and indignant look, he ignored. “Q, strip to your underwear and come here next to me.” This must be a mellow night. Q began to obey without question and Sabrina slipped to her knees. He perched on the couch that held three shopping bags and the crop, and waited as Q pulled the dress over her head. “Good. Come here.”
With his hands lightly holding Q’s hips, he examined her slowly despite her blush. The things bras did to women’s breasts were the eighth wonder of the world…or was that ninth? Matching electric blue bra and panties…and on her curves they were mouthwatering. “Turn.” When her ass was under his hands, he squeezed. “Much better.”
“My doing.” Sabrina smirked and folded her arms. “Told you he’d like them. We found them at a store in…” Then she went on and on.
He stayed silent and waited for her to wind down. Finally, she stopped and sat back on her heels. “What? What are you looking at?”
“You talk too much, Sabrina.” How long would that cheeky attitude hold up with what he had in store? “Q.” He patted the couch next to him and pulled her in close when she sat. Then he turned his full attention on Sabrina, who’d been shifting nervously on her knees.
“Stand up, strip, then kneel again at our feet.”
“Yes, oh Royal One.” When she pouted and rolled her eyes, he hardened his smile. One little submissive had a surprise coming.
“Use this.” He tossed a pillow to the floor for her to kneel on.
The double distractions of Sabrina undressing and a half-naked Q right next to him made his cock stir but he waited patiently.
After folding her sundress and underwear and putting them to one side, Sabrina knelt again. Ample breasts. Plump pink nipples. Cute, with big brown eyes, and she looked as interested as a puppy waiting for breakfast. He was going to enjoy this.
“Comfortable?”
“Yes, Sir.” She nodded.
“Look appetizing, Q?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I think I hear you drooling.” He drew a little circle on her thigh and blew softly in her ear, then smiled at Q’s flinch.
“That’s more than likely.” Her swallow was audible.
“I figured.” He switched back to Sabrina. “You have only been playing at submission. And I’ve been bad. I’ve let you get away with too much.”
“What?” Seemingly dumbstruck, she kept both palms on her thighs, wiggled a little, then stopped. “Um? What do you mean?”
“I’ve allowed you to put off several things, though they’re not in your hard limits. That’s not happening anymore. Tonight, you are going to be my pet, and Q’s pet.” He rummaged in one of the shopping bags and took out a purple collar and leash, a few other things, and picked up the crop.
The crop swished nicely. He stood and circled around behind her. All the while Q watched him as if he’d sprouted horns.
“Pet?” she squeaked. “Umm. No ears. And none of those…ew, butt plug tails.” Sabrina craned her neck back and stared anxiously.
“Shush. Eyes front.”
“I’ve seen those. Yuck. No way. And a collar and leash is not really –”
“I said, quiet! Head on the floor. Now!” And he smacked the couch with the crop.
Startled, she bowed until her head touched the rug and her pretty ass was presented high.
“Five.” Without other warning, he cropped her ass five times, hard enough to make her squeal. Hard enough to make brilliant red stripes on her skin.
“Sit up again. I know anal’s a hard limit of yours and Q’s. Ears aren’t.” Then he bent down and gripped her neck. Slowly, with her tracking him out the side of her widened eyes, he pulled her upper body to him, as if he were a fisherman hauling in a catch. “But this isn’t a pair of ears.” He lifted his other hand and showed her the pink ball gag. A training one only – he didn’t want to freak her out.
“No!” she whispered.
Though his hand was on her neck, he could feel her straining to get away. But no safeword. He waited another moment to be sure. “I need you quieter.” Then he put the ball between her lips and did up the buckle at the back. Though Sabrina shuddered, she let him. “Good girl.” He kissed her cheek. “I know you can still talk, if with less sass. Say ‘ghost.’”
When she gargled it out, he nodded.
With her mouth out of action, she seemed to have dropped straight into submissive mode and only whimpered a little as he put on the collar, then the wrist and ankle cuffs.
“Tonight,” he murmured in her ear, “You will address me as Sir, always. Mistakes will be corrected with the crop. Understood?”
Sabrina nodded quickly.
He clipped her ankle cuffs together and her wrist cuffs with her hands at her back then held her chin. “I might take it off now and then, when I want to. But,” he traced her lips where they formed an O around the ball, “I love the look of it in your mouth. It makes you look…mine.” An urge took him, to push this farther. “Do you like being mine? Do you like me doing what I want to you?”
Though she shut her eyes, she opened them again a moment later, swallowed, and nodded. And that, alone, sent a thrill all the way to his balls.
“Good.” He placed his hands on her breasts and caressed them until she was breathing fast, then slid one hand down to her pussy and played with her clit and her entrance. “Don’t drip too much on the carpet, pet. Though watching you squirm is the most fun I’ve had all day.”
Her whine made him chuckle. “I should have gagged you earlier,” he rumbled.
A few leisurely pumps of his finger, all the way up inside
, had her trying to spread her legs. He slapped her pussy once and she whined again.
He climbed to his feet. Though his pants were uncomfortable with his erection straining against them, he’d leave his clothes on for a while. Both of them had a thing for submitting to a man in a suit who kept them naked. A suit though, was a bitch in summer. Pants and shirt would have to do. He adjusted his boxers to let his cock have some relief. God, already he was quivering. Sabrina on her knees, like this, pressed all his buttons. Making her ass redder would up things to nuclear level, and getting Q doing things to her…the sun might explode. He looked at Q, where she still sat on the couch, mouth slightly open.
“See something you want?”
“Yes, Sir. Very much so. She looks…hot enough to lick all over. To eat.”
“Women do, when on their knees, waiting for their Dom to instruct them.”
“May I touch her?”
Sabrina gargled indignantly and shook her head. He snorted. The woman protested about everything even when gagged. The crop…he found it where he’d left it propped against the arm of the couch, picked it up, and gave Sabrina a slap on the side of each breast.
She silenced.
“Not yet, Q. First…”
Tearing his gaze away from Sabrina was difficult, but he managed. He searched in the bags again and took out the leather body harness, then held it by the collar for Q to see. “Like this?”
Knowing Q, he went closer, stroked her head then slid his hand up to lightly grab a handful of hair at the roots. Gripping her hair tighter would happen in a flash, if he needed to.
After one deep breath, a dreamy look pooled in her eyes.
As if he didn’t already have that checked on his mind list of things that made Q melt.
“Is it a slave harness?” Q smiled. “I like it. She’ll look even sexier in that.”
“Call it a body harness. But it’s not for her, it’s for you.” Smirking, he scrunched his fingers in the roots of her hair.
Her frown arrived a millisecond later. Now, her attempt at escape. She jerked, and took hold of his wrist. Nothing budged, of course.
The Dom with a Safeword (Badass Brats #1) Page 19
