by Zoey Marcel
“Are you sorry for what you did?”
“No, sir. Boss.”
Her reply shocked even her. Evidently her soaked pussy overrode her flaming rump and sought the pleasure that somehow shone through the blazing pain.
“Jesus,” he breathed when he caressed her left ass cheek with the back of his finger.
His calluses scraped her tenderized flesh in a way that had her reeling and burning with needs she couldn’t explain. The subdued clunk suggested that he put the hairbrush back on his dresser.
She felt a sense of relief when he pulled the underwear out of her crevice and then a warm wash of liquid seeped into her folds when he slowly eased the panties down her sore ass. He left them clinging to her thighs, the insides of which were slick with her moisture.
“That was supposed to be a punishment,” he said in a searing timbre.
Her nipples firmed in her bra and her clit beat frantically with the need to be touched.
“It was,” she insisted, hoping he didn’t notice that she was drenched.
He swiped a finger up her slippery thigh, collecting a streak of her arousal. “Then why are you wet?”
Her face and chest flushed with heat. “I should go.”
He pressed a hand to her shoulder blades to keep her down. She didn’t catch the small moan in time.
“I’m not done spanking you yet. Spread your legs.”
She did as he commanded. Her pussy wept with each harsh strike of his hand on her sensitized buttocks. A few restrained whimpers and strangled breaths were all that got away from her…that was until his hand came down hard on her mons between her spread legs. She cried out at the plethora of sensations that greeted her. It was painful, pleasurable, shocking, and completely unreal. Her cunt spasmed with near orgasm and she almost fainted at the surreal union of suffering and enjoyment.
“You know what I think?” He posed the question in a way that said he wasn’t asking. “I think benevolence is only half the reason you put yourself in dead-end relationships and shitty situations. I think there’s a part of you that enjoys the pain others cause you and the control they exert over you.”
Melanie froze. The words shook her up inside. She hated getting hurt. Why was she afraid that what he was saying might be true to some extent when it wasn’t? Was it?
Flashbacks of her ex went through her mind.
Pain.
Control.
Terror.
She’d hated every minute of it, but continued putting herself through it in hopes of healing him.
However, there was something she’d forgotten or perhaps buried in her past beneath a blanket of denial. There was something in the encounters with her ex that called to her on some dark, primal level. She’d barely been able to detect it through her horror and misery, but it was there….something without a name, something she wanted to discover, avoid.
“You are different. I’ve never had a woman get this wet when I was disciplining her,” Greyson murmured as he caressed her battered ass cheeks slowly. “I think you’re naturally submissive and a masochist.”
“I’m not a masochist.”
“A minute ago you weren’t sure and now that I have you soaking wet from your punishment you think you’re not?”
“Extreme pain scares me.”
“Being in danger terrifies the hell out of me,” he admitted in a murky tone. “But sometimes our greatest fear is also our biggest turn-on.”
Chills of anxiety and excitement raced up and down her spine.
“You’re wondering why you submitted to me, why you let me pull your panties down and spank your bare ass when you don’t even like me.”
His presumption of knowing her was obnoxious and fiercely titillating.
“You like being told what to do, and you’re drawn to me because it’s in my nature to control you and hurt you in ways that make you feel good.”
She peeked in the mirror and saw his eyes close and his head go back a little like he regretted something.
“Christ, I wish I didn’t know that. Why did you have to like it? Diego was right.”
What was Diego right about? They were talking about her?
“You’re confused because of the fucker in your past who abused you,” Greyson said knowingly. “And I don’t mean Danny. I mean the man you haven’t told us about. A sadist no doubt.”
Mellie was astonished at his knowledge. “How did you—”
“I’m good at reading people. You crave pain and being dominated, but you want it with someone you trust.”
“I have to—” She mewled when he pressed her back down into the bed.
“Problem is you don’t know how to trust anyone that much again. You’re afraid you’ll get hurt. My brothers will be good to you. They can give you almost everything you need, but your need for pain and being controlled will be left unfulfilled. That’s a shame.”
“I don’t want a sadist. They’re sick.”
“It’s easy to judge what you don’t understand. For instance I could call your carousing with my brothers promiscuous and vile. But I assume you want everyone to believe you’re in love with all three of them.”
Now she was pissed.
“Let me up,” she ground out.
Greyson stepped back and she pulled her undies and shorts up quickly. He watched her shamelessly as she closed them.
“Melanie.”
She stopped at the door, unwilling to look at him. “What?”
“We won’t speak of this again.”
“Agreed.”
“From now on you’ll put my things away in the right place, and I won’t have to beat your ass until your pussy is dripping.”
Her face flushed with flames of humiliation. She wanted to glare at him, but she hurried out of his room when she caught the devilish smile creeping up his attractive face.
The conceited swine. Never again.
* * * *
Mellie stopped in her tracks when she saw Emmett leaning up against her car as if expecting her.
“How did you know?” she asked, trying not to sound guilty.
“You might be submissive, but I know you’re not one to sit idly by and let a potentially innocent man pay for crimes he didn’t commit,” Emmett replied.
She approached him with ease, but he didn’t move out of the way for her. “Please don’t tell the others. I won’t be gone long.”
He stopped her when she tried to reach around him for the handle on the car door. “You’re not going alone. If Josh is innocent like we’re inclined to believe, that means the real stalker is still out there.”
“Okay. You can come.”
“You’re damned right I’m coming, whether you want me to or not.” He pushed her lightly backward with his hand, making it look effortless to move her. “We’ll take my car. I’ll drive.”
Once they arrived at the police station there were only about five minutes left for visiting hours. Melanie held the receiver of the phone to her ear, hands shaking as Joshua Finch sat on the other side of the glass with his phone poised at his ear.
“I didn’t kill that bitch,” he insisted.
“Hello, Josh,” she said quietly.
It wasn’t easy looking at someone who was the spitting image of Danny. Josh must have dyed his hair blond, but he had the same light green eyes as his brother.
Josh sighed on the other end. “Hi, Melanie. I didn’t kill Rhonda.”
“Her name was Rita.”
“Right. Sorry. I didn’t kill her.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“I put on a condom because she insisted. I hate those stupid things.”
Emmett smirked from next to Mellie.
She shook her head. “I wasn’t asking for a description of your encounter with her. Just tell me what happened afterward.”
Josh seemed impatient and anxious. “I was drunk off my ass and I must have passed out. When I woke up, the cops were in the hotel room and Anita was dead.”
“Rita. Was anyone else there with you?”
“No. Why would there be?”
“Were you the man I ran into at the airport?”
He smirked a little. “Darryl, yeah.”
“Why did you use an alias?”
“He said it would be fun to mess with your head. He had me dye my hair and wear brown contacts so you’d think I was somebody else, but still get mind-fucked that I looked so much like your ex. I’m all for a good prank.”
She stilled. “You mean Danny?”
“Yep. It was his idea to go looking for you. He said he missed you. That’s why he had me bump into you, so I could read your plane ticket and figure out where you were headed.” Josh frowned. “Where is the putz? He should be here bailing me out. I called him, but I couldn’t get through. Dick must not be answering his phone, or maybe he lost it. Figures, my one phone call.”
“Did he seem mad when he mentioned trying to find me?”
“Nah, he seemed horny and mysterious. He’s not really acting like himself.”
She shivered, feeling a morsel of comfort when Emmett placed his hand on her shoulder. “Do you think he killed that woman when you were passed out?”
“Why would he? Danny’s no killer, at least not that I know of. I don’t know. Maybe the coma screwed up his brain.”
“Then if you supposedly didn’t kill her—”
“I didn’t, damn it!”
She flinched. “If you didn’t and he didn’t, then who did?”
“I don’t know. If I did I wouldn’t be sitting here in custody. I’d be out getting high.” Josh cringed when the guard looked down at him with a raised brow. “I mean, I don’t do drugs.”
“Time’s up,” a man informed Mellie.
“Okay.” She refocused on Josh. “I have to go.”
“Yeah, I figured. I know I’m not an upstanding guy and certainly not the smartest. I’m pretty much an idiot.”
She couldn’t argue with that. He’d never been too bright.
“But you know I didn’t kill Alice.”
“Rita. I’ve got to go. Good-bye.”
“Later.”
Mellie left with Emmett, her mind swirling with puzzling questions and disturbing thoughts. Was Josh lying or had he simply been too drunk to remember stabbing the woman?
Did Danny really have it in him to kill someone? Why wasn’t he coming down to the station to help his brother out?
What if the killer was really someone else? Was he still out there? Would he lay low to avoid getting caught, or was he still in town watching her?
Chapter Ten
“Are you all right?” Emmett asked her once they were back in his car.
Mellie nodded. She didn’t know if it would be better to know the killer was Danny so they had something to go on or if she’d rather it was a stranger instead of someone she used to know.
“I know it probably sounds crazy, but I believe him. You probably think I’m in denial because I used to date Josh’s brother, but I really think he’s telling the truth.”
“I don’t think you’re crazy. It will take more than a hunch to prove him innocent, but he doesn’t strike me as killer. Not that I’m acquainted with many murderers.”
“Danny would have come to help his brother out already if he didn’t have anything to hide, but I can’t see him killing anyone either. I guess I could be wrong. I don’t know.”
“Regardless, stay close to the ranch. Don’t leave unless you have one of us with you. I want you safe.” He started the engine and then pulled out of the parking lot.
They rode in silence for a few minutes.
“Emmett?”
“Hmm?”
“Why does Greyson seem like he has it in for you? I mean, I know he’s cranky with everybody else, too, except for Diego, but he seems especially grumpy toward you.”
Emmett was quiet for a moment. “He’s bitter. He has every right to be.”
“What happened?”
She didn’t know if she overstepped her bounds or not, but she really wanted to know his deepest, darkest secrets and get to the core of the man. She was falling hard for Emmett, but she wanted to know more about who he was and what he needed.
He finally spoke. “Her name was Tasha. I’ve been with a lot of women in my time, but she was the only one I ever cared about.”
Melanie felt a sharp stab of pain in her chest. Did he mean that Tasha was the only woman in his past that he loved, or the only woman he had ever loved in his life?
“We had a fling while I was on a trip in New York. It was only about a month, but we spent a lot of time together. She gave me her number and we promised to visit at some point.” It started to rain and Emmett got quiet for a minute. “When I got back to McKenna Downs Greyson went to meet a woman he’d been corresponding with online. He spent time away from the ranch to be with her and after a couple of months he introduced her to us.”
Mellie’s eyes widened. “Tasha?”
He nodded. “She’d been corresponding with my brother online for months before she and I had our fling in New York. Apparently they had an understanding before she and I did. Regardless, she cheated on us both.”
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t know what to do at first so I kept quiet. When I got the chance, I confronted the bitch. I told her to break up with Greyson since he deserved better than her. Instead of breaking up with him she told him about our time in New York, but she put a deceptive spin on the story. She told him she was drunk and we had a one-night stand. She said she didn’t tell him at first because she was so ashamed.”
Mellie felt her blood warming. “What a bitch.”
Emmett smiled a little when he glanced at her and then returned his attention to the road. “I thought so.”
“Did you tell him the truth?”
“I did, but he didn’t believe me…at first. Tasha came on to me one night and Greyson caught on. At first he wanted her gone, but then he had second thoughts and had her move in with us.”
“Why?”
He hesitated. “Well, my brothers think it was because he loved her.”
“What do you think?”
Again he paused before speaking. “I think he was in denial about his feelings for someone else and hadn’t really figured out who he was. Keeping her around was a way of distracting himself without having to admit the truth and accept his alternative tastes and kinks.”
“Why didn’t he pursue the other woman if he liked her so much?”
Emmett’s lips quirked a little before his expression became neutral again. “Feelings are complicated. It can be difficult to accept who you really are.”
“What happened with Tasha?”
“Greyson decided to share her with me. Apparently my sacrificing and letting him have the person I cared about moved him enough to let me have her sometimes as well. It’s either that or he was worried she would cheat on him. She had a wandering eye.”
Mellie refrained from sighing. “So you slept with her even after what she did to you?”
“I was an idiot,” he confirmed. “When the brain is flooded with oxytocin there’s no room for thinking.”
“Did you guys finally come to your senses?”
“Fate stepped in for us.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in fate.”
“I don’t in the traditional sense. I believe fate is carved by a series of choices we make. I caught Tasha cheating and confronted her on it. I ended my relationship with her and told her to pack her things. She wasn’t welcome in our house anymore. I didn’t tell Greyson I was driving Tasha to the airport, but I figured he would approve since he told her that it would be over if she ever cheated on us. She was engaged to him.”
“She flew home?”
Emmett shook his head slowly, watching the windshield wipers do their swaying rain dance on the windshield. “No. It was raining that day. To this day I still don’t fully understand what happened. There was a white bison. It appeare
d out of nowhere. Its eyes glowed.”
“A white buffalo just appeared?”
“It sounds preposterous, I know, but that’s how it happened. I wasn’t drunk or anything. I swerved to miss the animal when it started to charge the vehicle. One minute I was on the road and the next I wasn’t. The car crashed and flipped.” His voice dropped in pitch and his eyes grew hard and dismal. “When I got out of the car, the bison was gone. I tried to pull Tasha from the wreckage, but she was trapped. When I finally got her out the ambulance arrived, but she was already dead.”
Mellie put her hand on his leg. She hurt for him, but more than that she hated Tasha for hurting Emmett and Greyson. She’d be lying if she told herself she felt no jealousy over the other woman.
“I’m so sorry.”
Emmett hardened and his tone became clipped. “The bitch got what she deserved. Greyson deserves better than her. He’s a hard-ass, but he’s loyal, something Tasha knew nothing about.”
“Did you ever tell Greyson that she cheated on the two of you?”
He shook his head. “How could I? His fiancée was dead. I wanted him to have his memories of her even if they were built on lies. To this day he blames me for what happened to her.”
“It’s not your fault, Emmett. I understand he’s upset, but he has no right to blame you.”
“I was the one driving the car that day. It was years ago.”
“It’s the buffalo’s fault, not yours.”
His lips tilted sideways in an easy smile. “It’s rather a cop-out blaming a bison for a car accident, wouldn’t you say?”
“Not if the stupid thing charged you like that. You said it had glowing eyes?”
He nodded.
“Buffalo don’t have glowing eyes. Do you think maybe it was something supernatural?”
“No. There’s always a logical explanation, even if it’s still unknown. It doesn’t mean it was a devil bison or an angelic guardian buffalo.”
Mellie tried not to smile. “I didn’t think it was a spirit from on high. It just doesn’t sound like anything from the natural world.”
“Stranger things have happened.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said quietly.
“I’m not. It was upsetting at the time, but her infidelity and obvious lack of commitment even when given two men made it that much easier to move on. Greyson struggled with it more, but even he found ample diversions.” After a long minute of silent reflection he spoke again. “I’m glad you’re not like her, Mellie.”
