Take My Hand

by P Nelson

  “I know you think you’re not ready to move in with me, but you are, baby girl.” Gaige reasoned with her as he quickly washed himself. “But I think you should keep your apartment, just know that I don’t plan on spending the night anywhere without you. I want to wake up knowing that I can torture the sweet ass that belongs to me.”

  “That sounds nice.” Lilith waited while Gaige turned off the water and grabbed another fluffy robe for her to put on before towelling himself off. He didn’t even bother to wrap the towel around his hips; he just pulled Lilith into the bedroom naked. “And I won’t have to give up my apartment right away.” She pondered while Gaige made her sit down so he could towel dry her hair. “I was thinking how much I’d miss you when you went home.”

  “See we were both thinking the same thing,” Gaige soothed Lilith. “We’ll go back to your place tonight, but tomorrow I want you to pack a bag. You’re going to spend the rest of the week and weekend with me.”

  “What are we going to do, Master?” Lilith asked as she looked up at him innocently as she shrugged her shoulders letting the fuzzy material fall off her breasts.

  “We are going to plan our very own dungeon at home.” Gaige said as he watched her nipples grow hard again and absently licked his lips. “I have an empty attic I always thought would make a nice dungeon, but I never had a permanent sub I was willing to indulge with. Most of my encounters happened here at the club.” Gaige peered down at her. “But I have a growing suspicion that I will need a private play place at home to keep my bratty little sub in line.”

  “Something is certainly growing, Master.” Lilith said as she looked down at Gaige’s cock. Sure enough the thought of torturing Lilith all night long in their exclusive dungeon was making him hard again.

  Getting down to his knees in front of Lilith he bent forward and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth. Lilith jumped and laughed as she cradled his head to her breast. He let go of the first nipple. “The night is still young.” He growled and sucked the other nipple into her mouth.

  Chapter 14

  “I thought we were never going to make it home tonight.” Lilith teased as Gaige pulled his truck up into a spot outside of Lilith’s building. It was late, or early, depending on how she looked at it.

  “Are you complaining, because tomorrow night we can enjoy a short evening of orgasm denial followed by a stint of you sitting at the bar naked while I drink a couple of beers.” Gaige turned the truck off and looked over at her.

  “Not complaining, Master, I just have work tomorrow,” Lilith said as she stifled a yawn.

  “I can send Danvers a note detailing exactly why you’re tired,” Gaige offered with a grin on his face.

  Lilith shook her head and felt heat rise to her face. “I haven’t seen him around the club, I’m not sure what I’ll do when that happens.” Lilith sighed as she reached for the handle of her door.

  “You’ll treat him with the same respect as you do all the other Doms,” Gaige warned in a hard voice. “Remember that privacy is sacred in the lifestyle. There are too many assholes who might try and use people’s kinks against them. It’s sick, really.” Gaige frowned. “I’ll open the door for you, Lilith.”

  “No, it’s fine.” Lilith said as she pushed the heavy door out of the way. She missed whatever Gaige said next, but it probably involved her ass getting red as she slid out of her seat letting her feet hit the pavement. She smiled back at him as she shut the door and turned to look at her building.

  “Lilith!” She turned to peer in the semi-darkness at where her name had been shouted. Maybe Gaige was right, the streetlamps in front of her building were not great and she could barely see the figure coming towards her.

  “Lilith!” The person said it again, and Lilith recognised the voice of Quenton, Kevin’s younger brother. Lilith pursed her lips and wondered what he was doing here. An absurd part of her brain felt guilty for Quenton catching her with Gaige, but Kevin was dead, and he had cheated. Gaige came around the front of the truck with his trusty kit bag in one hand, the look on his face serious as he stared at Kevin’s younger brother.

  “I’ve been waiting for you, like, all night,” Quenton said as he looked from Lilith to Gaige and back again. “Have you been on a date?”

  Deciding not to answer that question and any others regarding her sex life because anonymity was important, Lilith smiled at Quenton. “It’s been a long time, Quenton; what are you doing here?”

  “Mum said she saw you last Saturday, and I thought maybe you were ready to come home.” Quenton shrugged as he looked back up at Gaige, assessing him with an appraising look. “But maybe you just needed to see the old place once again before you moved on.” His voice held a note of sadness that plucked at Lilith’s heart. Kevin was Quenton’s brother, and even though he knew Kevin’s secret, he had still done his best to be friends with her.

  “Quenton, this is Gaige.” She looked up at Gaige’s face as he placed a hand possessively at the small of her back. “My boyfriend. Gaige, this is Quenton, Kevin’s younger brother.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Gaige said but did not offer his hand. He was assessing the other man.

  “Yeah, sure,” Quenton grimaced. “I wanted to say I was sorry, Lilith. I’ve wanted to say it since Kevin’s wake. Yeah, I knew about Merritt and Brody, but I found out by accident not long before Kevin….” His voice trailed away, and he had to clear his throat. “I begged him to tell you about them, but he wouldn’t listen. He had it in his head that he had the perfect life with you, and he didn’t want to ruin it for either of you. Lilith, you can’t know how hard it was not to say anything. Please, forgive me.”

  Lilith looked at the whole sordid affair from his perspective. Lilith knew that Quenton had idolised his older brother. He wouldn’t have understood why Kevin wanted to keep such a terrible secret, but he would have been loyal, because that’s what brothers did. “Of course, I forgive you, Quenton, even though there’s nothing to forgive. You were only being loyal to Quenton.” Her response had made Gaige’s shoulders less tense, and he began to rub his hand on her back in comfort.

  “You were my sister,” Quenton said before looking at Gaige. “She’s still my sister.” He looked back at Lilith. “Mum and dad would really like to see you again; they miss you. You were such a part of Kevin’s life that they feel like they lost him and a daughter.”

  Lilith thought about what she had seen at Kevin’s parents’ house. The boy, Brody, as Quenton had called him. She wasn’t ready to face any of that other stuff yet, and she didn’t want to lie to Quenton. “Listen, I understand that what went down was hard.” Lilith licked her suddenly dry lips. “But none of that is my life anymore. I’ve moved on, and I just want to forget about everything else.”

  Quenton’s hands fisted at his side, and he took an aggressive step forward even though Gaige outweighed him by at least 20 kilos. “No, you want to be selfish and pretend you were never married. Kevin loved you, and he kept his son a secret because he thought he would lose your love if he told you. And he was right. Look how you’re treating the family that loves you, all because he made one mistake.”

  Never in her life had Lilith felt the kind of anger that was bubbling up inside of her. Normally, she would have run for her apartment door, but with Gaige behind her, Lilith felt invincible.

  “No, he made a conscious decision to hide his mistress and his son from me.” Lilith’s voice cracked, and she hated the fact that she might cry in front of Quenton. Somehow it was fine to cry in front of Gaige, but Quenton hadn’t earned her tears. “Kevin lied to me for years.” Lilith could feel the tension of her anger and hurt rolling off her in waves, only Gaige’s hand on the small of her back kept her anchored. “For years, Quenton. How is that supposed to make me feel?”

  “I lost him too, Lilith.” Quenton was not going to back down; instead, he took a couple of aggressive steps forward. “You’re still a part of my family whether you want to acknowledge it or not. Although I’m not
sure why I bothered to come tonight. You obviously are not ready to stop being selfish.” Quenton turned his attention to Gaige who had moved forward when Quenton had. “You’re better off leaving this one now before she abandons you.”

  “How dare you?” Lilith saw red. It was the first time in her life that she had felt such a strong emotion. Adrenaline pumped through her system, and she swung her hand around catching Quenton on the side of his face. Lilith felt like she watched the rest of the scene unfold from somewhere outside her body. She had never hit anyone in her entire life. Quenton’s head snapped to the side, and he stared at her with a look of confusion and shock. Gaige moved swiftly to stand in front of Lilith, protecting Quenton and Lilith from any further physical confrontations.

  “I think you should go up to your apartment, Lilith.” Gaige used his Dom voice on her, and it cut through the haze that had taken up residence in her brain.

  “I’m sorry, Quenton.” Lilith felt remorse pulse through her system. The young man in front of her hadn’t hurt her. Sure, he kept Kevin’s secret, but he had his reasons. “Now is not a good time and I don’t know if that will ever change. Everything is just too raw right now.”

  “I’m sorry too, Lilith.” Quenton’s voice was bitter. “You’ve changed.”

  “Of course, I’ve changed.” Lilith shook her head sadly. “Apparently, people change right before your eyes, and unless you’re really looking, you miss the entire transformation.”

  “Whatever, Lilith.” Quenton turned on his heel. “Maybe I’ll see you around.” He walked back down the semi-dark street, and Lilith listened as she heard a car door open and close. Lilith felt her body begin to shake as an engine started up in the distance.

  “Why did he come here?” Lilith said aloud, more to herself than to Gaige. She felt Gaige’s strong arms wrap around her body. The heat of him pressed against her made her sag into his embrace. She didn’t want to think of Quenton, Kevin, or anything from her past. Gaige let go of her and guided her towards the front door of the apartment. Without a word, he reached for her purse and retrieved her keys. All the feelings of joy and wonder at their evening together had now dissipated. Once they were inside of the apartment, Lilith felt herself deflate even more.

  “I’ve never hit anyone before in my life,” Lilith whispered.

  “Come on, let’s get you into bed. You have to work tomorrow. We can talk about this tomorrow once you’ve had some time to reflect.” Gaige had taken his cowboy boots off and was crossing towards the bedroom. There was something in his manner that made Lilith pause.

  “I hit someone, Gaige.” Lilith hadn’t moved. Gaige turned around, his big body standing in the doorway to her bedroom

  “Lilith, I think you need to get some sleep.” Gaige’s voice was firm.

  “No, I don’t want to sleep.” Lilith knew she sounded like a child, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “How could he come here?” she asked, bewildered again.

  Gaige stepped away from the bedroom and inwardly sighed. He wanted to wait until tomorrow when Lilith had a clear head to speak to her about what had just happened. She had made so much progress over the past week or so, but she hadn’t finished her mourning over her old life. Tonight was a stark reminder for Gaige about how repressed Lilith had been when they first met.

  “He came here to see an old friend,” Gaige said the words slowly and let them sink in as he went to stand in the middle of the small living area. He wanted to make sure that Lilith didn’t feel threatened by his presence. “You have to acknowledge that you had a life before Kevin died. You had a family full of people who care about you.” Lilith’s chin turned up, and Gaige knew this was the wrong time to broach the subject, but he was a Dom, and he wasn’t going to let her try and control him through her emotional issues.

  “I’ve made it perfectly clear that I don’t want to see them. Yes, I went to Ruth’s house because I thought maybe we could talk. But she betrayed me; they all betrayed me.” Lilith’s voice had become hysterical. Gaige knew better than to walk over to her now and try to comfort her. She was a mass of seething emotion and would be more likely to push him away than anything else.

  “I know you feel that way, but Kevin is the only one who betrayed you.” Gaige kept his voice low and calm. “You’re going to have to deal with these feelings of betrayal. Otherwise, incidents like tonight are only going to keep happening.”

  “And you don’t want a sub that has all this baggage?” The tension in Lilith’s body ratcheted up again. “You think I have too many problems. You told me you wanted to keep me, and now you say I have too many issues.” Lilith was screeching by the time she finished.

  “Lilith.” Gaige did his best to outwardly remain calm. At this point, he knew that she was goading him into a fight. “Dealing with your past is something you’re going to have to do at some point. Look at what has happened with just one confrontation. You need to try and look at this from a rational point of view, but you can’t do that right now.”

  “So now I’m not rational.” Lilith stomped over to her bedroom door. “You should go home, Gaige. I don’t need people in my life who don’t think I’m rational.” She looked back at him. “In fact, I think there are plenty of Doms in this city who wouldn’t mind a little baggage if it meant they got to spank my ass.”

  “Don’t threaten me with other Doms, Lilith.” Gaige’s blood pressure spiked. This was his trigger, and he tried to recognise her words for what they were. She was hurt and confused about Quenton showing up on her doorstep and accusing her of abandoning him. She wasn’t Jasmine who could play with all sorts of men just to get her way. Lilith needed the emotional connection she had with him. “Get some sleep, and we’ll talk in the morning.”

  “If you think so.” Lilith spat at him as he walked to the door and fitted his cowboy boots back on.

  “I know so, Lilith.” Gaige opened the door and walked out without looking back. He was pissed that his evening had ended this way, but he knew better than to try and stay and talk things out now. Lilith was keyed up for a fight and by her normal reactions to run and hide; this was something she hadn’t experienced often or ever. She needed to cool down before he could approach her again.

  Stomping out of the front of the apartment complex he walked over to his truck and got in. Gaige sat staring at the wheel of his truck for a long moment. Normally, Gaige would have done exactly what Lilith had said. Subs that were too clingy and emotional had always bothered him, and now he recognised that this was the reason Jasmine had acted out. She wanted more of his attention, more of his time. Unfortunately for her, the opposite had happened. Gaige had been much more willing to cut ties with her instead of helping her with her problems.

  Gaige turned the ignition and listened to his truck start up in the quiet street. Lilith’s problems with her dead husband bothered him but not enough for it to be a hindrance to their relationship. He felt something for her that he had never felt before, but he wasn’t ready to put a name to it. Gaige had been stunned to watch Lilith slap the kid. There would be punishment in her future for the way she had acted, but not the spankings that she obviously enjoyed so much.

  He pulled away from the curb and drove into the night. Gaige would wait for Lilith to contact him. This was the only way he knew she would be ready to move forward with their relationship. It went against Gaige’s Dom instincts to give Lilith control over when their next conversation would happen, but he could be patient. After all, it was a Dom’s job to give subs what they needed and exercise self-control to exact complete submission.

  Lilith watched as Gaige walked out the door with a determined set of his shoulders. She had never seen him angry before, but she suspected that he was mad at her right now. The door clicked shut, and she waited for him to return. She stood staring at the door willing him to come back and hold her as he had outside on the sidewalk. The reality of her situation finally settled in. He wasn’t coming back tonight. What if he never came back? She had been cruel and
mean. She didn’t act this way. Lilith felt a sob bubble up her throat and a keening cry of anguish burst out of her trembling lips.

  Why had she provoked him? Even as the words came out of her mouth, Lilith knew she was being unreasonable. Like an automaton, Lilith went over to the door and flicked the lock. She stared at her purse and eventually looked inside to find her phone. She wanted to call Gaige and ask him to come back. She needed him. His words to her went around in her head a few times, and she knew he wouldn’t come back. He had given her an ultimatum at the beginning of their argument. Get some sleep, and they would talk in morning. Lilith wished she had just crawled into bed with him and clung on to him all night.

  She could call Calla. Lilith knew that her friend would drop everything to come over and comfort her. Her thumb hung over the call button for a full minute before Lilith put the phone down beside her purse on the kitchen counter. Calla was working through her own crap, and Lilith didn’t want to burden her tonight. It was late, and she did have to work tomorrow. The feeling of completion she had enjoyed at the club earlier had dissipated leaving her with the impression of being wrung out. The tears had stopped, but now her nose was running, and her eyes felt tight.

  Lilith walked over to her bedroom, turning the lights off as she went. Without even bothering to get undressed, Lilith crawled onto her bed and burrowed underneath her covers. She lay curled up on her side, in the middle of the bed and tried to calm her breathing. Despite all the terrible things she had said to Gaige, she knew he would talk to her again. If only to make sure she was OK. He was the kind of Dom who cared about the subs he topped. Lilith felt a hole grow in her chest at the thought that he would never scene with her again.