Bonds of Desire

by Lynda Aicher

  “And what about the club?” They were standing so close that Deklan’s hot breath blew over Seth’s face. “Did you even think about that?”

  The hypocrisy of the situation almost made Seth laugh, but the mirth curdled in his stomach, right along with the belief that his two oldest friends would stand beside him. “What? So it’s okay for you to go on a personal vendetta for Kendra, but it’s not right for me to get an abusive Dom off the scene?”

  The tendons on Deklan’s neck stood out as the man’s jaw drew impossible tight. “That was different.”

  “How?”

  “I love her.” Deklan’s words seemed to bounce around the small office before smacking each of them in the face. Deklan eased back as the empty silence lingered too long. He turned away, his soft curse saying everything.

  Seth couldn’t look at them. The exposure left him achingly vulnerable. He didn’t need to spell it out to the other men.

  He dug his fingers into his hips, wishing like hell for an easy exit. But all the escape pods had left long ago. “I didn’t think he’d do something like this,” he mumbled, his failure weighing heavy on his shoulders.

  “He’s a politician,” Jake said. “No one could’ve seen this coming.”

  Seth couldn’t stop his gaze from tracking to the three security screens that showcased just how much he’d misjudged the city councilman. The protesters formed a solid line of signs and bodies on the sidewalk across from the entrance to The Den. Angry slurs of degradation and moral righteousness were displayed across the signs and could be picked out in the unheard movements of their mouths.

  Remington Harcourt was up for reelection and had decided to put a full-court press on cleaning out the adult-related businesses from the city. His political campaign included strip clubs and adult video and toy stores, but he was leveraging the recent media hype around BDSM to make the leather clubs his primary target.

  With his number-one focus being The Den.

  Seth cringed as he watched a white van roll up to the curb, a local news station’s logo displayed on its side.

  They were so fucked. And he’d caused it.

  “Is Tyler okay?”

  He turned back to Deklan. The man was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest in a position that tried to look casual but wasn’t. But the tension was gone from his shoulders and his concern appeared genuine. “I think so. He hasn’t spoken to me since he left.”

  “What about Allie?”

  “What’d you mean?”

  “Jesus, Mathews.” He stared at the ceiling and took a breath. “We’re not stupid. We know she’s involved.”

  “She’s not,” Seth denied. “At least not with this mess.”

  “Right. Tell yourself that if it makes you feel better.”

  It didn’t. Not even close.

  “That all happened two months ago,” Jake said, his brows drawn down in thought. “Why’d you wait ’til now to go after Harcourt?”

  “I told you.” Seth tried to quell the impatience in his voice, but it still leaked through. “I caught the fucker doing the same thing to another sub. The bastard taunted me. He thought he walked on fucking water.” Shit. He thrust his hair out of his eyes with an agitated jerk. “I sent the video out weeks ago. I didn’t think he’d retaliate and risk exposure. Not with his profile.”

  “No.” Deklan’s laugh was filled with scorn. “He one-upped you.”

  “Can we anonymously share the tape with the press?” Jake asked.

  If it’d been that easy, Seth would’ve done it to begin with. “It won’t do any good. His face is covered the whole time.”

  “It’d also destroy our credibility,” Deklan added. “We guarantee secrecy. That’d kill the club for sure.”

  “Like this won’t?” Seth waved his arm toward the screens. “No one’s going to come here with that mob outside. Even our employees are calling in sick to avoid being seen.” It didn’t matter that there was a back entrance for them to use. He didn’t blame them or hold it against anyone. None of them signed up to be publicly ridiculed or exposed.

  A sharp knock pierced the room before the door opened and Rock poked his head in. “Noah’s here.”

  “Let him in.”

  Rock stepped back to let a tall, imposing man into the room. The Den’s lawyer, Noah Bakker, had been referred to them through Deklan’s military connections. A Dom himself, he had both the legal skills and needed knowledge of the BDSM world to provide excellent council.

  Deklan shook Noah’s hand. “Thanks for coming. Did you find anything?”

  Noah set his leather briefcase on the desk. “There’s nothing you can do.” His seemingly lax pose was countered by the brief thinning of his lips. “The protesters aren’t on your property and are legally within their rights.”

  “What about hitting Harcourt with slander or something?” It was a long shot, but Seth would take anything.

  “Technically, the councilman has said nothing specific on record about any one establishment. He’s smart. He’s camouflaging his vendetta against The Den behind his political campaign.”

  Seth’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he couldn’t stop the wince. He didn’t want to look at it, but he pulled it out anyway and confirmed his assumption. It was another club owner, calling to cuss him out. No one wanted the attention Harcourt was focusing on all of them, and everyone knew it was Seth with his email and video that had brought this on.

  “What’s your advice then?” Deklan asked.

  The lawyer’s lips drew thin once again. “I’d close down the club until this blows over.”

  “What?” Jake shot up from his perch on the counter. “And let that bastard win?”

  Noah glared at Jake. “And if you lose all of your members because one, just one, of their pictures is flashed through the media, then what? You’ll be out of business for good.”

  “Shit.” Jake spun away to lean on the counter. His back rose and fell with each deep breath he took.

  “Close down for a few weeks. Let it all blow over and offer a promotion or incentive to bring people back once the protesters are gone.” Noah looked to Seth. “Can you handle a shutdown financially?”

  Everyone stared at him, and once again he felt the weight of it all resting solely on his shoulders. But the business side was his responsibility. Mentally, he calculated the costs—rent, utilities, salaries, vendors. “It’ll be tight. Especially if we still cover salaries and comp members for days lost.”

  “Bullshit.” Deklan didn’t even try to hide his doubt. “I know our balance. We don’t have enough to cover costs like that. Not for an extend time.”

  He was right. The Den didn’t have that kind of extra cash. Not to that extent. They ran in the black, but were nowhere profitable enough to handle a prolonged closure. “I’ll take care of it,” Seth mumbled.

  “How?” Jake had turned back around and resumed his position, propped against the counter. “Like you took care of Master Rex?”

  Ouch. The dig was a direct hit, and Seth felt it sear through his chest. “I have some cash I can use. I’ll cover it.”

  Noah cleared his throat. “The club is set up as an equal partnership. If one of you puts in more cash, it could change the balance.” The implication being that Seth would own a bigger share than the other men.

  Seth glared at the lawyer. “I’m not trying to take away the club.” He looked to Deklan and Jake. “I’d never do something like that.”

  “Where’d you get that kind of cash?” Deklan’s question was delivered with a smooth tone of challenge.

  It was a fair question. And the one Seth had avoided for so long that he couldn’t give a direct answer. “All your security snooping skills haven’t turned up anything? Or are you just baiting me to be a dick?”

  “Just answer the question.” Deklan flicked his chin up. “Why is that so hard?”

  The threat of losing everything was suddenly right there before him. Fear made his voice lower to a dea
thly calm as he went on the offensive. “You want to know where I got the money? My crazy mother offed herself eight months back. Turns out Christmas wasn’t so merry for her.” Jake’s low curse registered in Seth’s peripheral, but his eyes didn’t waver from Deklan. “So tell me, Deklan, how much do you know about my background?”

  “Your sharing skills suck.” Deklan’s nostrils flare as he inhaled, the muscle along his jawline twitching. “I could never figure out why you hung out with us when you were clearly a cut above Jake and I.”

  “You’re bringing this up now? Twenty fucking years later?”

  “I care about you, okay? So yeah, I dug into your background when I knew enough to do it.”

  On some level, Seth had always known that was probably true. “And still you question the money.”

  Deklan finally ducked his head and looked away. “I didn’t know about your mother passing. Sorry.”

  “Oh come on, Deklan. Don’t you want the whole story?” Seth couldn’t stop now. The angry words seemed to pour from his mouth in a stream of purging freedom. “About my not-so-privileged life growing up with a mother who was either rushing around madly trying to do everything or locked in her bedroom for weeks on end? I’m sure you found all of the hospital records. Saw the number of times she’d been committed to the psych ward. And if you found that, then I’m positive the bank information was easy to get.”

  “Look.” Deklan held up his hands in a gesture of truce. “I said I’m sorry. We all have fucked-up pasts.”

  “Yeah,” Seth snapped. “But I never held yours against you.”

  “I don’t either,” Deklan insisted. “But then you never trusted us enough to find that out.”

  Seth inhaled against the barb, but there was no countering the statement. None of his reasoning or justification changed the fact that Deklan was right.

  “Just back off. Both of you.” Jake stepped between them. “This isn’t helping.”

  Another true statement. Seth wasn’t helping anything. Not like this. He spun around and swung open the door.

  “Where you going?”

  He debated ignoring Deklan’s question. “Does it matter?” He shook his head. What was he doing? “Sorry.” The long-forgotten chill of defeat settled through him with that word. “It’s my fault. I screwed up. The club will be better off without my name attached to it. I’ll cover the damage then Noah can split the club between you two.”

  Jake sighed. “That’s not what we want.”

  “Yeah?” Seth eyed them both, gauging the damage he’d done to their friendship. The club had always been for them. A means to keep Jake and Deklan close. They’d all gone different ways after high school and it’d taken him over fifteen years to find a way to get them back together.

  Now it was falling apart and it was all on him. His secrets had killed another relationship.

  He stepped out the door. “Maybe it’s what I want.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Hey, Allie.” Fingers snapped in front of her face. “Where’d you go?”

  Allie jerked back, her eyes refocusing on Kendra, who laughed. “What? Sorry. Did I miss something?”

  “Are you okay?” Cali leaned in, her elbows propped on the table. “You’ve been out of it since you got here.”

  Allie forced a smile. “Yeah. I’m fine.” She’d told the lie enough lately that she was almost starting to believe it herself. She took a sip of her coffee and grimaced. When had it gone cold?

  “Really?” Kendra arched a brow. “Then why have you been avoiding us since you confessed about Seth and Tyler?”

  “I haven’t been avoiding anyone.” She dismissed Kendra’s accusation and got up to dump her cold coffee down the sink. “I’ve been swamped at work.” It was the truth. She had a ton of new responsibilities, including a crop of junior associates to manage.

  She ignored their doubting looks and rinsed out the mug before setting it in the sink. The thought of more coffee made her throat tighten in rejection. She turned back to Cali. “Do you mind if I grab a glass of water?”

  Cali waved a hand. “Help yourself.”

  Allie wiped her hands on her jean skirt then grabbed a glass from the cupboard. The grind of the ice dispenser on the refrigerator door muted the jingle of a cell phone ringing. Out of habit, she dug in her pocket for her phone, even as Cali answered hers.

  “Hey, Jake. What’s up?” Cali got up and moved into the living room, but her conversation could still be heard. “What? No!” She spun around, her eyes wide and mouth open.

  “Cali, what’s wrong?” Kendra rose from her chair as Allie set her glass down.

  Cali held up her hand and shook her head before turning away to listen to Jake. Kendra glanced at Allie, the worry marked on her brow.

  “When?” Cali tucked her sleek blond hair behind her ear before her fingers dropped to rub over the gold chain that circled her neck. Allie was smart enough now to know what the chain represented. The true term for the beautiful piece of jewelry was a collar. “Are you okay? What about Deklan and Seth?”

  Allie stilled at hearing Seth’s name. Was he hurt? Her heart seemed to pound in her head as everything focused on Cali’s conversation.

  “No. He didn’t!” Cali turned wide eyes at Kendra before rushing to a side table and swiping up a remote. “What channel?” She turned on the television and flicked through the channels until she came to a local news station.

  Allie came into the living room to stare at the TV screen with the other two. A spiral of anxiety coursed through her as she watched the news reporter cover what appeared to be a protest. A mass of people were grouped behind the prim reporter, waving signs proclaiming a variety of conservative statements all around the theme that adult entertainment clubs were sinful and corrupted society.

  Oh, God. No. She hugged her arms around her waist, the chill of the air-conditioning reaching through her thin blouse despite the sickening flush that heated her blood. Instinctively, she knew this was what Seth had been worried about last week.

  “Remington Harcourt, Ward 1 City Council Member, is making a hard press on cleaning up the adult trade industry as part of his reelection campaign,” the news reporter said over the shouts in the background. “These protesters are picketing outside of an adult entertainment club called The Den. You couldn’t tell from its nondescript front.” The camera cut to a picture of the building. “But this is the location of a private, members-only club that caters to people who like a little kink in their lives.” The reporter flashed a knowing smile. “If you’ve heard or read about Fifty Shades of Grey, then you know what I’m talking about.”

  Cali muted the volume. There was no need to hear more. “What happened?” she asked Jake.

  Allie knew what happened without being told. At last, the pieces fell into place. Of the thirteen council members, Remington Harcourt was the most prominent and vocal. His family had a long history in the city and his connections were as extensive as his bank account. If Harcourt was going after the club, then she’d bet money that he was Master Rex.

  This was bad. Her stomach did a flip that threatened to toss her coffee back up. She swallowed back the sour taste in her mouth and eased down the hallway as Kendra called Deklan.

  Allie dug out her phone, found Seth’s number then paced before the front door, silently begging him to pick up. The call rolled over to voice mail. Cursing, she hung up and redialed. The second attempt netted the same results.

  “Damn.” She glared at the phone before switching over to text and firing off a message, telling Seth to call. She doubted he would, not after the way he’d left her office. She’d been worried about him since then and the need to verify that he was all right was a clawing necessity within her.

  Her hand was trembling, and clenching the phone tighter didn’t help. She flicked over to her contacts and called Tyler’s number. Pick up, pick up, pick up. The call went to voice mail, and she let her curse go when the beep sounded to leave a message. “Damn it,
Tyler. Pick up your damn phone and call me. Seth needs us.”

  And they had to be there for him. Master Rex deserved what he’d gotten, but Seth didn’t deserve this. And she was positive he would take all of the blame.

  “Allie?” She whipped around, the questioning tone in Kendra’s voice putting her on edge. “What’s going on?”

  Allie licked her lips. “What do you mean?”

  Kendra stood at the end of the hallway, hands propped on her hips. “‘Seth needs us,’” she quoted. “Who were you talking to?”

  The accusation in Kendra’s voice hit Allie completely wrong. She’d done nothing to deserve it. “It’s none of your business.”

  “Stop it.” Cali stepped between then, her flowered sundress swirling around her knees. “This is stupid.” Her sharp glare held a firm command that reminded Allie too much of her mother.

  Her phone went off, the musical tone dancing down the hallway like a saving bell. She jerked her hand up, automatically checking the call display as she turned around and opened the front door. She escaped outside, the heat slamming her to chase the chill from her skin.

  She shut the door behind her as she answered the call. “Tyler.”

  “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

  The low, smooth vibration of his voice stroked over her and for a second, she couldn’t respond. God, she’d missed him. The concern she heard in his question told she’d that calling him had been right. He still cared.

  “Allie!”

  She snapped out of her frozen state. “Tyler,” she breathed in relief. “Thank you for calling me back.”

  “What happened to Seth?” Was that panic she heard?

  She pressed her fingers in her temples and squeezed. Focus. “Look. I don’t know if anything’s wrong, but I think he needs us.”

  A deep breath followed by a long exhale came through the phone. “Tell me what’s going on. Why does he need us?”

  His cool logic reached her. Calmed her. She stepped off the porch and hurried down the walkway toward her condo next door. Keeping her sentences short, she told Tyler what Seth had done and the fallout from his actions.