“So where does this leave us?” Landon took the lead.
Eyes on Dominick, Shawn piped up. “Warren, Dominick, and Natalie all need to be addressed. On the first, I’m going to say right now that I don’t think Warren should be punished with too much severity. We all know he’s a good guy, with a good heart, and he just made a bad choice here.” Assenting murmurs rose up.
“Fine, you aren’t fired, Warren. But I’ll be docking your pay or something as probation.” Angelique’s face softened, and her voice quieted. “Don’t ever do this again. You’re the perfect dungeon master here because of your conscience, I get that. Next time you feel the need to play martyr, come see me and we’ll figure it out together.”
“Yes, Miss. Thank you, and I’m sorry.” Warren looked properly abashed.
“Hmph.” Angelique tried to keep the smile off her face but couldn’t when Warren turned his puppy dog eyes on her. She turned to their offender. “My initial reaction is to tear up your application and have a restraining order filed against you with regards to these premises. I could have you arrested for trespassing . . .” her words tapered off while she pondered.
Sheila took up the discussion. “Natalie doesn’t want to press charges, and I think she’s been through enough. We shouldn’t try to force her. So what to do with Nicki is our issue. The boy is not ready to be a Dominant yet, as we can all see, but I see potential in him with proper training. So what I propose is this,” her voice carried to all in the room, but her focus was on Dominick, “I will take responsibility for you, boy. You will learn to serve at my feet so that you can understand what it means to be on the receiving end of such a treasure. In time, either your hidden submissive will come forth, or you’ll transform, through knowledge and experience, into a respectable Dominant. One who has earned the right to have a submissive kneel at his side.”
“Go on,” Dominick mumbled.
Jayden about fell out of his seat when Dominick showed interest. That was the last reaction he’d expected. Catherine’s strengthening grasp on his palm told him she was surprised, too.
“As it stands now, you’re not fit to be a Dom. First, you need to decide if you can become the kind of man that the Dom you think you are needs to be. Be warned, boy, you’re going to work for it. You’re going to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt by submitting to me, and if at the end I think you’re good enough, the first thing you’ll be doing is getting on your knees and begging Natalie’s forgiveness.”
“Fuck you, psycho. I’m man enough already. Why don’t you stop being a tease? Let me bend you over and prove it.”
Jayden closed his eyes and shook his head. Stupid, foolish man. Things had been taking a turn for the better, and then the kid had to go and open his mouth.
“You’ll submit to me, or you’ll go to jail.” All playfulness had evaporated from Sheila’s voice. She was dead serious, and every person in that room knew it.
“You aren’t touching my asshole.”
Sheila threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, pet. You are going to be so much fun. We have to do some paperwork, checklists and the like, before I touch any part of you. But I’ll wager you’ll be begging me to touch your nasty arsehole before you know it.”
An hour later, following the completion of a contract and a limits checklist, Sheila escorted Nicki from the building.
He didn’t look back or offer any parting words to Natalie, but Jayden didn’t miss how her eyes lost some of their vibrancy when she watched him walk out of her life.
CHAPTER 13
Erin waited until their exhausted guest had drifted to sleep before making her way out of the room. When she found Jayden waiting outside the door, it didn’t surprise her. His back to the wall, he sat with knees drawn up to his chest to support his head.
She took the spot on his right and leaned against him.
“How is she?” Though whispered, his words were loud in the dark hallway and sounded tired.
At Erin’s suggestion, they’d invited Natalie to come back to the house with them. The girl couldn’t stay at the club, and she had no place else to go.
“Finally asleep, but worn out. Thank goodness we found out now. Sp—” She dragged in a breath and tried again. “Spencer took months to work up to the point where Dominick was.” Damn her trembling hands. “If he’s this bad now . . .”
“Shh, A rúnsearc, it’s okay.” Jayden’s arms engulfed her, and she was being lifted, carried away.
When had the tears slipped from her eyes? With each step he took, her head thumped against his chest, each little rise of her skull allowing enough air in to chill the damp spot on his shirt.
“Where do you want to go, sweet girl?”
His words didn’t make sense. She was where she wanted to be, safe in his arms. Jayden—her Master, her lover, her life. There was no place better. “You,” she mumbled into his pectoral muscles.
The answering rumble from within his chest brought a soft grin to her lips. After pressing a warm kiss to her forehead, he elaborated.
“I want us to talk about how you’re doing. Before we go to bed tonight.”
She swallowed before choking out, “Aye, okay.”
“I just want . . . I need to be sure that you’re okay, Erin. The calmness, I guess is the best way to describe it, with which you handled today was impressive.”
Erin looked at him with a lazy blink. Had she been calm? Funny, she could’ve sworn she’d been functioning in a fog most of the day.
In the past, Landon had likened her instinct for going on autopilot whenever faced with a difficult situation to setting up a triage unit. It was easier for her to deal with the most pressing matter while her brain blocked the rest, saving it to be handled later.
This morning, that pressing matter had been making sure Natalie didn’t get hit again. Once that was handled, she’d then been able to cast her senses out further. Taking a bit more in, a little at a time; baby steps.
Goddammit, why did a dead man still have power over her? How was it fair that he could still devastate her from the grave like that? Thanks to Spencer, she was afraid of a damn stick, and it pissed her off. To hand over control willingly was freeing, for her mind and body, and she longed for it. However, there was no pleasure in it for her when that control had been taken by force.
“Please take your girl to the playroom, Master.”
Jayden’s step faltered, his body going rigid at her request.
She didn’t regret it. He’d asked where she wanted to go, and she knew what she needed. To escape. For her, that meant a session with her Dom. After a pregnant pause, their movement resumed, and they descended to the lower floor—to her sanctuary.
Even when they crossed into the room, he kept Catherine in his arms, cradling her close to his body. She loved the warmth of him, the familiar scent of his musky cologne, but she didn’t want to be coddled right then. Wriggling from his grasp, she fixed her gaze on the floor and disrobed before going to kneel in her usual spot.
At once, her chest felt lighter.
Breathing in through her nose, Catherine held for a count of five, then exhaled for another five. Each time she repeated the technique, another section of her body relaxed until her mind reached a state of peaceful blankness. The submissive welcomed the cocooning comfort of her mental destination.
*~*~*
While caught off guard by her request, Jayden understood it. It also proved his hunch that she was frazzled. What he had to figure out now was what she needed from him.
She moved with an eerie meticulousness and presented herself to his worried gaze. With some restraint, the Dom refrained from pacing. His jewel didn’t need to worry what his actions might be.
Witnessing her seeking, and then finding, that safe place she went to inside never failed to mesmerize him. The process was beautiful to watch, the tension fading from her body before his eyes.
Did she realize, or would she be embarrassed to know, that he always knew when to begin with her because she’d make
an adorable noise of contentment in her throat? Probably not. That was his little secret, because Jayden was pretty damn sure no other man had ever drawn that from her. No one else had ever loved her like him, so it wasn’t possible.
What to do? he wondered, looking from her passive form over to the wall that housed his assorted impact toys and bindings. His eyes settled on the cane section.
Over the last year, Jayden had been able to return his various rods back to their places of honor on the wall. He added one back every couple of months, and it wasn’t touched again once hung. The hope had been for Catherine to adjust to having them in her sight so they’d become commonplace. Then, and only then, would he begin taking them down and moving the toys closer to her.
Catherine’s creamy skin had taken on the slightest glow in her time with him. Much like the palest honey, it was sun-kissed from her use of the pool. When she colored beneath his toys, it was art. How he longed to complete the picture by adding carefully placed red stripes after a thorough flogging.
He shook his head. They were in this whole mess because of a cane. Why would he even be considering it? Her soft sigh brought his attention back to her.
She wasn’t ready.
Not even close.
In a rapid shift of his body, Jayden pulled off his t-shirt then removed the belt from his pants, dropping both to the floor. Catherine’s puckering nipples were the lone indication that she’d heard the loud clatter of the buckle on the hardwood. Otherwise, she didn’t flinch.
The bare soles of his feet padded across the floor while he closed the distance between them and moved behind her. Tempted by her hair, he reached out and wrapped his hand until it disappeared in the strands of soft, crimson silk, and he sighed.
He tugged, and she emitted a gentle moan.
“You are so lush, my pet.” Guiding her head back to rest on his thigh, Jayden slid his free hand down over her shoulder, across her heaving chest, and up to cup her throat and jaw as he released the grip on her hair. “So brave and strong.” He leaned over his submissive to take possession of her mouth. Firm and demanding, he pressed into her, teasing the cavern of her mouth with his tongue.
A shudder ripped through his body at the thought of replacing his tongue with his hardening cock. Yet he resisted, catching her lower lip between his teeth and tugging with a gentle bite instead. Jayden paired the bite with an unexpected pinch to her nipple.
With her surprised sharp intake of air, her breast pressed into his hovering hand, and he squeezed rougher than first intended. Her responding moan was more guttural. She wanted to be manhandled, to endure endorphin-creating pain.
“Please . . .” She whispered the plea so low he almost missed it and would have if he hadn’t still been leaning over her.
“For you, cailin maith, anything.” Bringing both of his large hands to her breasts, he began kneading and squeezing with harsh motions. The hours he’d spent gaining intimate knowledge of Catherine’s body had trained him. Jayden knew just how to manipulate her body for maximum pleasure and was soon including her reactive peaks in the enthusiastic massage.
His back was beginning to ache from leaning over her, so Jayden sat down and pulled her back to his chest. He moved the attentions of his mouth to her neck and clavicle, laving and marking her while the breast massage continued.
The change in position made his erection obvious to both of them, and he ground his crotch against the small of her back. Her squirming increased while the minutes ticked by. Unable to resist expanding the scope of his touch any longer, Jayden pulled his jewel up onto his lap, spreading her legs across his thighs to give him access to the heated space that awaited.
She was gooey to the touch and he wanted to taste, but he would wait. There was a twinge in his back because there was nothing supporting their weight but him. Despite this, Jayden focused on sliding his fingers over her slick labia. His abdominal muscles began to burn.
The Dom was thankful he still worked out every morning. Without it, his aging body wouldn’t have been able to maintain the precarious position they were in. Jayden was determined they weren’t going to move from that spot until she’d coated his digits with her come—muscle cramps be damned. Her orgasm, when he granted it with very little begging from his pet, was glorious.
“Thank you, Master,” she panted out, then added. “Please, may this girl have more?”
Horny little thing, he thought with amusement, but then a warning flag fluttered in the back of his head. He hadn’t come yet and she was asking for more? That wasn’t like her, at all.
“More what, Catherine?”
Her body began to shake in his lap, and alarm bloomed. The noises she was making were unclear. Was she crying? Laughing?
All at once, she was out of his lap and pacing the room. The old saying of ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ came to him at the sight of her. Her back was ramrod straight, her nipples were puffy and erect, and her short legs somehow looked longer due to the distance her steps were carrying her, but her hair took the cake. Fiery and wild, it cascaded behind her, swishing and moving with her manic motions while she mumbled to herself, shaking her head.
“Catherine?”
The desperation in her eyes scared him when she paused and looked to him. “Master?”
Then she did the last thing he expected, leaving him speechless and in the dark as to how to proceed. Shoulders back, his submissive marched over to the wall, and in one fell swoop managed to pull all of his canes down into her arms.
“It’s time, Jayden. I won’t be controlled by them any longer.” Pieces of Lexan, bamboo, rattan, and other materials clunked and rattled against the floor when she dropped the whole lot.
“Jesus, Erin!” He was on his feet in a heartbeat. “Have you lost your mind?”
Maybe it wasn’t the best reaction he could’ve had, but hell, what was he supposed to do with that? He wanted to call Landon for help, but this needed to be settled between the two of them, alone. Low self-esteem, sexual timidity, tears, and sorrow—he’d helped her through them all. Jayden had never witnessed her angry over what had happened to her, though.
So, is this a good thing? he wondered. Why can’t things be plain and simple anymore?
Before Catherine, before Erin, his life had been black and white . . . routine, easy. Jayden let out a defeated sigh while admitting to himself it has also been boring. Erin had brought color and vibrancy to his dull existence. Being challenged by his jewel was exciting. Engaging with her, no matter what role they were in, was intoxicating.
Should he encourage her venting or put a stop to it? Per their contract, her current outburst warranted him putting her over his bench or on his table post haste to go at her ass with his aerated paddle. Fuck.
Rattan was being pressed into his hands, but Jayden still hadn’t shown a visible reaction to her tirade.
“Show me, Jayden.” His beautiful girl was openly weeping in front of him now. “You promised me all those months ago that you would help me not to fear. I don’t want to live like this anymore . . .” She shoved at him once again, pressing the cane against his torso, her voice cracking with the force of her wail, and with it, his trance broke. “You . . . promised.”
“I know, sweet girl.” He twisted his upper body away from her to lay the cane on the table behind him. Then he had her in his arms, holding her close while memories of their first night together hit him hard.
Erin had come so far since then, yet she was still so fragile. He realized now that she might not ever get over what that bastard had done to her, nor should she be expected to. Awful as the experience had been, it had strengthened and shaped her into the woman she was now, the exquisite creature who owned his heart.
“Please . . . please . . .” Erin repeated the words, mumbling into his chest. “Make it go away.”
“I will, Erin, I promise. But not tonight, not like this, A rúnsearc.”
Her will seemed to evaporate from her body altogether when he lif
ted Erin into his arms and took her back to their room. No words were spoken—they weren’t needed. What the lovers did need was to just be.
Jayden managed to fall asleep about two a.m., according to the bedside clock. Erin had cried herself to sleep within minutes of getting settled on the bed. In his arms, she’d rested, safe, while he plotted.
By the time he let sleep take him, he’d come up with a plan, as long as Landon was game to help.
Jayden woke up alone, cold, and stiff—and not in that way. Though morning wood had returned around the same time Erin had become part of his life, he was usually safe from the problem if she weren’t right next to him.
Since they’d fallen asleep on top of the covers, the bed didn’t need more than a quick straightening, and he was soon hurrying through a shower. Opting to pull on a pair of heavy black sweats and an old hoodie from his alma mater, Rice University, he appraised himself in the mirror. Jillian would have to deal with him showing up casual, and he was going to insist Erin do the same. The next two weeks were going to be stress-free and all about comfort, if he had anything to say about it.
Arriving in the kitchen, he spotted the girls out on the back patio. Though they each held a coffee cup, there was no evidence breakfast had been prepared. Jayden poured himself a cup of rich, brown coffee, and seeing it was the last in the pot, flipped the machine off. The kettle on the stove top surprised him—he hadn’t known he even owned one. On the counter near the tea pot sat a container of some over-priced gourmet cocoa mix—another thing he hadn’t realized they had on hand. On a whim, he decided to add a scoop to his coffee.
Enjoying his first taste, he pondered the pair outside. They appeared deep in conversation, and with Natalie’s condition, Jayden knew food was in order. Dried and canned goods were all they had left in the house, since they’d made sure to clean out the perishables before leaving on their trip. Scribbling a quick note, he left it leaning against the coffee pot in case Erin came back inside before his return.
While he drove to the nearest bakery, Jayden’s mind ran about a mile a minute. When they’d invited Natalie back to the house, it had been his intention to let her stay at the Villa in their absence. Micah could do a grocery run to make sure she had supplies, and she’d have him nearby if she needed anything. Yet he couldn’t get the image of the two girls on the patio out of his head.
Surreal (Divine Trilogy #3) Page 9
