Siren Beloved
Texas Sirens Book 4
Lexi Blake
writing as
Sophie Oak
Siren Beloved
Texas Sirens Book 4
Published by DLZ Entertainment LLC
Copyright 2018 DLZ Entertainment LLC
Edited by Chloe Vale
ISBN: 978-1-937608-86-6
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Author’s Note
One to Keep, Coming Soon
Siren in Waiting, Coming Soon
About Lexi Blake
Other Books by Lexi Blake
Dedication
Special thanks to the people who make my writing life happen – Chloe Vale, the best assistant a writer could have, Shayla Black, my cohort and partner in crime, Kris Cook, the person most likely to hold my hand as I jump off the ledge, my kids, and my mom. I love you all.
2018 Dedication
Reading through this book again, I’m struck by how much of my own story is in here. There’s a reason that I chose the name Lexi when I decided to branch out into independent publishing. Lexi is very close to who I was at her age—stubborn, loyal, insecure about some things and positively arrogant about others, afraid, so afraid that the world will take away the things she loves. I had a Lucas back then. From the age of twelve until I stood in front of our family and friends, finally smart enough to say I do, my husband did what he could to stay close to me. He became my friend so he could be there when I was ready to acknowledge what he knew when he stood outside the band hall and asked me to the Hawaiian dance at Hurst Jr. High—that we were meant to be together.
You are my Lucas and my Aidan, my Danny and Dev, always my Big Tag—my Richard. I love you far more now than I did then and will love you even more tomorrow.
Chapter One
“I’m waiting.” Julian Lodge leaned back in his chair. Though he was perfectly still, he gave off an air of irritation that Lexi Moore couldn’t possibly miss. “And you know I don’t like to wait.”
Lexi’s head was pounding as Julian Lodge stared at her across his ridiculously expensive desk. He was giving her “the stare.” She was sure he’d trademarked and maybe put a patent on it, because nothing in the world could be as intimidating as those silvery eyes staring holes through her body. Julian Lodge knew exactly how to intimidate a person. The only person who was worse was her stepfather, Jack Barnes. Unfortunately, he was attending this meeting, too.
“Do you have something to say for yourself?” Jack asked, disapproval dripping from every word. “Maybe an explanation of what you thought you were doing?”
She had lots of things to say for herself and to herself, but in the harsh light of day, she could only manage a weak, “I’m sorry.”
Julian’s fingers drummed along the surface of the mahogany desk where he kept a framed picture of himself and his two loves. Julian and Finn Taylor were resplendent in tuxedoes, and Danielle Lodge-Taylor was a vision in her white wedding dress. She hadn’t been there. She’d given a pitiful excuse to not go to her friends’ wedding.
God, she was running out of excuses.
“I don’t know if an apology is going to work this time, Alexis.” Julian’s words felt like a hammer coming down.
Her stomach dropped. Was he really going to kick her out of The Club? How was she going to explain it to Lucas? Would Lucas even listen to her? Tears pooled in her eyes even as her head pounded. “I don’t know what else to say. The truth is I don’t remember much about last night.”
She remembered starting in on the bottle of chardonnay and then switching to tequila. It had all made perfect sense at the time. She didn’t recall much after a couple of hours with Jose Cuervo. She’d woken up in a suite above The Club to find her stepfather sitting in the living area waiting to give her the lecture of a lifetime.
“Would you like to see the tapes? I have them. Your father has seen them.”
Yep, she was going to throw up. She didn’t argue with Julian about Jack’s title in her life. He truly had been her father for the last couple of years. Her biological dad had died before she’d been born. Her first stepfather had been great, but most of the time he’d been in her life he’d been sick. Jack Barnes was the first male in her life who had expended an enormous amount of his energy to protect her.
Lucas did, too. But she didn’t have anything close to fatherly feelings for him, and she never had. “I’ll pass on the entertainment. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“Well, you showed up drunk at my club for starters.”
Damn, she was in trouble when Julian used that voice. He had a strict policy of never allowing anyone more than two drinks in his bar. Julian Lodge ran the most infamous BDSM club in the south, and he ruled it with an iron fist. Consensual was Julian’s first rule, and consent couldn’t happen in his brain if the participants were drunk.
“How did I get past the bouncer?” There was security in The Club. One couldn’t wander in off the streets and there were rules even about club members coming in.
Jack’s eyebrows rose over his stern face. “You mean Martin?”
Damn it. Martin was always nice to her. He was the front desk guy. “Yes. Why did he let me in? Lucas wasn’t with me.”
Lucas acted as her Dom when they were in The Club. They had started coming in roughly a year and a half before, when her curiosity finally overrode her heartache over the subject. Lucas had been the one to introduce her to the lifestyle. He was happy in The Club. Lucas was a true switch. He was happy playing the Dom and gained a great deal of satisfaction from submitting when the partner was right. Lucas hadn’t bottomed in years, and that was her fault.
“You talked him into it,” Julian explained flatly. “And you talked him out of a job. I fired him this morning.”
“Julian, you can’t do that.” She leaned forward, pleading. She couldn’t have cost that nice man his job.
He simply frowned. “Of course I can. It’s already done. I gave him a nice severance package, but he proved he can’t handle working here. He should have immediately informed me or Leo that you were causing trouble. As it was, you interrupted several scenes, and Leo was forced to pull you out of the Red Room.”
She gasped, pure shock running through her system. The Red Room was an orgy room.
What the hell had she done? She was going to be sick. If she’d allowed herself to be used…
Jack shook his head. “You didn’t have sex, Lexi. That wasn’t at all why you went in there. You aggressively tried to talk the women in the room out of having sex. You went on and on about how they should protect themselves and that the men in the room weren’t worthy of them. I believe they found you highly annoying.”
She let her head find her hands. She rarely drank, but she’d been talked into happy hour the night before. Who was she kidding? She’d been drinking a bit too much lately. Lucas was out of town, and she’d been at loose ends. It had been months since she’d been kidnapped, and she was having horrible dreams again. She’d wanted to find a bit of oblivion, but she’d found a ton of trouble. “Tell me I didn’t drive.”
Lucas would kill her if she’d gotten behind the wheel.
“You took a cab. I tracked down your car and had it brought to The Club,” Jack said.
“Thank you.” Her hands were shaking. Jack sighed and walked out of the room for a moment.
“These people pay enormous amounts of money to belong to this club, Alexis.” Julian’s dark hair was pulled back in a severe queue. He looked like a man who could deal with mobsters and win, which, according to her mother’s stories, Julian had. She felt like a small, fluffy bunny in the presence of a leopard. “They do not expect to have to deal with my family issues.”
Though he didn’t say it, his meaning was plain. She wasn’t allowed into The Club because of who she was, but rather who she knew. Julian considered her family because she was Jack Barnes’s daughter and Lucas Cameron’s…whatever the hell she was to Lucas. Julian carefully vetted the members of his club, but not so much the people he considered family.
Well, she’d shown him…
“Julian, I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say. If I’d been in my right mind, I would never have done anything like that.”
“Yes,” Julian said with an air of finality, as though she’d sealed her own fate. “I realize that, and I’m glad you realize it, too.”
Jack strode back in the room. He had a mug in hand and held it in front of her. “Coffee. It’ll help with the headache.”
She reached out for it. It was warm against her hands. Frustration poured over her. She was stuck, and she wasn’t sure how to get out. “Thanks.”
It was right there on the tip of her tongue. She wanted to say, “Thanks, Dad.” She wanted to, but she couldn’t. Just like she wanted to say, “I love you, Lucas,” and she couldn’t force the words from her lips. All the men she’d ever said it to died or walked away, because in the end, they didn’t want her love. She was trouble. So much fucking trouble.
“You’re welcome.” Jack took up his prior position behind Julian. He loomed over her like a big hawk staring down at something he wanted to protect. She always felt safe with Jack Barnes. It was precisely the reason she felt bad about letting the man down. When would she get her shit straight? She was twenty-five. It was way past time to know what she was doing in life. Most of her friends were getting married and settling down. She was adrift. She was utterly in a state of pause. Like the button on her remote was stuck.
“I’m terminating your rights in this club, Alexis.” Julian pronounced her sentence with what almost seemed like sympathy coming from him. His voice was softer than she ever remembered it sounding.
She’d expected it, but the decision hit her squarely in the gut. This was the place Lucas felt most at home, and now she couldn’t come here anymore. Fuck. She was going to lose Lucas. Her heart seized. She set the coffee back down on the desk untouched. She welcomed the physical pain her headache brought because it took her mind off the devastation Julian’s pronouncement brought her. And yet she knew begging wouldn’t work with Julian.
“All right. I understand.” She managed to stand, though her legs were a bit wobbly. She had one thought in her brain at this point. Get out with some semblance of dignity. “I appreciate the time I had here, Julian. Jack, please say hello to my mother. Tell her I can’t come down this weekend. I…I can’t.”
“Lexi,” her stepfather said with a frown that told her how tired he was. He must have driven here in the middle of the night. “Sit down. I don’t think Julian is done yet.”
“Oh, I think he’s done.” Lucas’s voice rang out through the room.
She turned back, and he was standing there in the doorway looking tired and unkempt. His normally perfect clothes were wrinkled, and his handsome face was marred with worry and no small amount of indignation. She’d seen this look on Lucas’s face when he felt justice wasn’t being served. She wanted more than anything to run to him and fling herself against his strong body. She wanted to bury her head in Lucas’s shoulder and cry her eyes out. Lucas was her protector, her best friend, her whole stinking world, and now, as she sat looking at him, she wondered if she even deserved him.
“Lucas,” Julian said, that single eyebrow arching. “I was told you and Finn would be at least another day in Chicago.”
“Yeah, I bet you were,” Lucas said, stalking into the office. He made a direct line for her. “You want to explain to me why you have my sub in your office without the courtesy of a fucking phone call? I had to find out from Finn who found out from Dani.”
“Both of whom will get a stern talking to from me.” Julian had gone positively glacial. “I didn’t call you, Lucas, because she isn’t wearing your collar. I called her closest male relative. It’s what I do. Call me what you like, but I believe in the traditional ways. Jackson is her father. As she has no permanently contracted Dom, I called him in because she’s in trouble. Would you prefer I simply shoved her on the street? I don’t do that with family. Alexis, would you have preferred I called in your mother?”
Dear god, no. That would be worse. “I don’t suppose you could simply consider me an adult and just talk to me?”
An unamused chuckle came from Julian’s mouth. “Heavens no, dear. After last night, I don’t consider you a functional adult at all.”
Well, she’d brought that one on herself.
Lucas’s hand reached down to grasp her own. “Come on. We’re leaving. If Julian can’t honor my rights, we’ll find someplace else.”
Jack stepped forward. “You are not taking my daughter to another club, is that understood?”
Lucas’s jaw settled in a firm, stubborn line. “She’s mine, and I’ll do what I think is best with her. I’ve taken care of her for years, Jack. Fucking years. So you will back off. She belongs to me. And I quit. You can find another goddamn lawyer, brother.”
Whoa. She pulled away from Lucas. What was wrong with him? He loved Jack. He practically worshipped the ground the man walked on, and he was willing to walk away from him? Lexi shook her head. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She’d already cost a man his job. She couldn’t cost Lucas his relationship with Jack.
She looked at Julian, well aware that she was practically begging. “Please, let me make this up to you. I’ll do anything. Don’t let this happen.”
Jack and Lucas were staring each other down. They looked like the same damn man, but at different stages of life. Jack had ten plus years on Lucas, but they had the same eyes and face, and the same stubborn glare.
“Well, I wasn’t allowed to finish,” Julian said with a sigh. The testosterone flowing around the room didn’t seem to bother him at all. “I was about to map out a plan that would give you access to The Club again.”
“She doesn’t need access to a place that doesn’t appreciate her,” Lucas snarled Julian’s way.
“Nor does she need someone who enables her every self-destructive tendency,” Jack snapped right back. “I love you, Lucas. You’re my blood, my brother. She’s my daughter in every sense but biology, but I’m starting to wonder if the two of you aren’t going to be the death of each other.”
Lucas’s face went red. “You stay out of my relationship with Lexi!”
She moved between the tw
o men. “Stop, please. Can we hear Julian out?”
Lucas looked like he was ready to continue the argument, but Jack took a step back. She put a hand on Lucas’s chest and realized she’d brought him here. She’d brought him here with all the things she wasn’t willing to say to him. She’d never told him she loved him with all her heart. After that terrible day when Aidan had left her, she’d shut down and simply accepted Lucas’s love without giving him much back. The time had come to move past what she’d lost. She needed to decide if she was brave enough to try a real life with Lucas, and that included this club.
“Please sit with me.” She knew how to get to Lucas. She softened against him. She put her arms around him and let herself sag into his strength. Just like that, the fight went out of him, and his hands found her hair.
“All right, baby. I’ll listen, but I reserve the right to pick you up and walk out. We can find somewhere else. I can talk to Taggart. His club is private right now, but I think if I offer him free legal services, maybe he’ll let us in. We all know that’s one man who is going to need a damn lawyer.” His words were soft against her ear, and he settled into the chair next to her. He held her hand as they looked to Julian. As always, Lucas was the strong presence anchoring her. He’d been her best friend for the majority of her adult life. He’d stood beside her when he wasn’t even sure why she needed him. It was way past time to stand up and be brave, and that meant facing the music with Julian Lodge and her stepfather.
She wasn’t so sure about Taggart welcoming them. He ran a security firm that Julian and Jack had funded. The man knew where his bread was buttered.
There wasn’t anywhere else. This was home. She wasn’t going to get kicked out of her home. “What do I need to do?”
Julian Lodge leaned forward and began to speak.
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