by Sophie Oak
She faltered as she tried to stop. She fell, her ass hitting the ground. She tried to get back up, managed to get to her knees, but got hit by a Mack truck from behind. She fell forward, her chest hitting the carpet and the breath whooshing out of her lungs.
“Not on your life,” Leo whispered in her ear. She could feel the heat of his body holding her down. “You try to run again and you will regret it. I swear to god I won’t hold back and no safe word in the world will be able to fucking save you. Do you understand me? If you move one inch that I don’t tell you to, I will give up all my rights in the club, all my rights as a Dom, for the simple joy of beating your ass until I’m satisfied you can’t run again.”
“Maybe we should find out why she ran in the first place, brother,” Wolf said.
Shelley could see his boots in front of her face. She struggled to breathe, but there was a part of her that was happy to be on the floor. If she was here, she didn’t have to look into Leo’s eyes and see the rage there. She put her face down on the floor, submitting completely. Tears leaked out of her eyes. She couldn’t fight them.
She couldn’t fight anyone.
Leo cursed, the sound a low growl in her ear. “Don’t you fucking cry. You don’t get to cry.”
“Leo, come on,” Wolf said. “Can we figure out what the hell is going on?”
Leo pushed off her, his weight leaving, and she could finally catch a real breath. She was shaking. Her time was up. It had to be. She’d failed. Leo turned her over, and her own anger bubbled to the surface.
“You have no right to do that, Leo. Let me up and let me go.” At the very least she could distance herself. It probably wouldn’t work, but she could try. Maybe if she could get to the restaurant, whoever this asshole was would at least see she’d tried.
She started to roll up, but Leo straddled her hips, pinning her arms with his hands. His chest hovered over hers. “No.”
“Leo, you can’t tell me no. You have to let me go.” She tried to fight, but he was too strong. He was so strong. She struggled, but it was a weak, ineffectual thing.
Leo’s icy-cold eyes stared down at her. She could feel his cock. His eyes might be cool, but there was a part of him that was heating up. His cock thickened against her pussy, but there wasn’t a lick of desire in those eyes. “I don’t have to do anything. It’s been recently pointed out to me that I have allowed you to manipulate me over and over again. I’m done with allowing you to do that.”
“Manipulate you? Are you kidding me?” What the hell was he talking about?
“Leo, I think we should go back to the condo and sit down and talk this out.” Wolf was the calm voice of reason. “We have no idea that she was planning on doing anything dangerous.”
Thank god one of them had patience.
“Really, brother,” Leo said. “Can you think of a good reason for her to have run away from the men we asked to watch out for her?”
Wolf shrugged, those big shoulders moving up and down. “Maybe she was scared. Maybe she was looking for one of us.”
Leo laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “She ran the minute she saw me.”
“Dude, you looked kind of psychotic. You still do. Maybe you should try a sympathetic smile,” Wolf offered. He looked down at her. His handsome face was upside down, but she found comfort in it. His lips had curved slightly, his eyes warm. “Want to explain this whole thing, baby? We weren’t trying to scare you. We just need to tighten up security when it comes to you. We were going to come up to explain it to you. Finn and Lucas were just watching out for you until we could do it ourselves.”
Leo got up, his muscular body moving with grace. He ran a hand through his hair, shoving it back. “She wasn’t looking for us, Wolf. And she wasn’t hungry and trying to find a goddamn vending machine. If she had been doing either of those things, she wouldn’t have felt the need to steal your extra gun.”
“What?”
Wolf didn’t look quite so reasonable when he reached down and hauled her up.
“It’s in her right-hand pocket. At least I assume she stole it from you. Maybe she has a whole bunch of guns I don’t know about. I wouldn’t put anything past her at this point,” Leo said. His fists were clenched as he pulled his cell out. “We have her. Tell the others they can stand down. No. We can handle it. We’ll be back down in my office in five minutes. Yeah, she’ll be with us. No. She’ll be in one piece, boss.” There was a long pause as Julian obviously made a request. Leo shook his head before replying. “I told you she’ll be in one piece. I promise nothing more than that.”
Wolf had her up and on her feet. His hands ran down her torso, stopping when he got to the gun.
“Wolf,” Shelley began. She couldn’t quite find the words. She thought she could handle Leo’s anger more than Wolf’s disappointment.
Wolf reached under the cotton front of the jacket and pulled the gun free. His eyes closed briefly, and his mouth firmed into a grim line. “The safety isn’t on. I left the fucking safety on. I know I did.”
Shelley looked down at the gun. It was a foreign, dangerous thing, and now she was starting to realize she didn’t know much about it. “I might have fumbled with it a little. I might have hit it. I don’t know. I didn’t really know it had a safety.”
She’d never worked with handguns. Her father and brother had used shotguns and rifles on the ranch. How was she supposed to know?
There was a loud crack. Shelley started. Wolf wrapped an arm around her middle and hauled her back.
Leo had put his fist through the wall.
“What are you doing?” Shelley asked, shocked. Leo was always calm.
“Hush or I’ll start your punishment here and now,” Wolf promised. “I’m only calm because my brother isn’t. You’re going to keep your mouth shut unless you want to apologize sweetly and beg for some forgiveness.”
“I am sorry, but you don’t understand what you’ve done,” Shelley said, trying to wiggle away. Tears coursed freely now. There was a huge part of her that wanted to do exactly what Wolf had said. She wanted to get down on her knees and ask them to forgive her. She wanted to calm Leo down. She didn’t like seeing him on the edge of his control.
Leo pulled his fist free of the wall. Miraculously, he hadn’t broken anything but the wall. There were scrapes, but he managed to flex his hand.
“Are you done taking it out on the walls or should we move on to other inanimate objects?” Wolf asked. He didn’t let up on his hold.
Leo’s face was a blank as he turned back to them. “Better the wall than her ass. I can’t touch her right now. Set the punishment for later. Neither one of us is in any headspace to lay a hand on her.” Leo took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he seemed to have more control. “Why?”
“It’s none of your business. I would really like to go now.” They couldn’t hold her. They couldn’t force her to stay here. She would get her things and leave. She would try to text this guy back and figure out another meeting. She would find another gun.
“Try her phone, Wolf.”
Sneaky, too-smart-for-his-own-good son of a bitch. “Hey, that’s mine.”
Leo was too smart, and Wolf was too fast. He had the phone out of her pocket and tossed it to his brother.
“Damn it,” Shelley cursed.
Wolf’s arm tightened around her waist. “I have a very good memory, love. Every time you curse me or Leo, you’re doing nothing but adding to your punishment. And it’s bad right now, Shelley. I can’t begin to tell you how bad it is. Do you see how that vein over his right eye is throbbing?”
Sure enough, Leo’s eye twitched. He didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t look up, merely began going over the contents of her phone. His mouth tightened.
“That’s his tell. You think you’ve seen him mad before, but you haven’t until you’ve seen that little tic. You pushed him too far.”
“I was only trying to protect you.” There was nothing left to do. Leo had read the te
xt.
“Mother fucker.” Leo read the text out loud. “Bring her along, Wolf. I don’t dare lay a hand on her. We’ll deal with her when we get her down to my office. I want to see if Ben and Chase can do anything with this. And I want a full workup on Holder, man. I don’t like the fact that he showed up just as someone is after Shelley.”
Shelley dug her heels in. “No. You guys have to let me go.”
Wolf simply lifted her up, and in a show of pure power, turned her in the air until she was over his shoulder and her stomach was flattened against him.
“Damn it, Wolf, you do not have to obey him.”
Wolf started to follow Leo back to the elevator. “That’s not what our momma said.”
He was frustrating. And it was very difficult to talk to his ass. Even though it was a spectacular ass.
“Besides, if I hadn’t listened to Leo, you probably would have gotten away. I was going to take the main elevator,” Wolf admitted. “But Leo said that you would probably run either down or up and try to get to the service elevator because you would think we would go up to the condo.”
Leo pressed the button to the very service elevator in question. “And I had men in the garage and at all the exits. The minute Finn called me, there was no way out of this building, Shelley. I had everyone in place before you could even make it to the elevator. Remember that the next time you decide to take things into your own hands.”
The only thing she could take into her own hands now was Wolf’s ass, and she thought that might be pushing things. “Please let me take care of this. It’s my problem. Did you not read that text? Don’t you get it?”
The elevator doors closed behind her, and Leo gently lifted her head up. “Do you know what they would call you in writing circles? I know a little about this. I’ve thought often of writing a novel of my own. You wouldn’t be the heroine because anyone who read it would say you’re too stupid to live.”
She felt herself flush. “Screw you, Leo. I was trying to protect you.”
Wolf put her down, her feet hitting the floor as the elevator shuddered to a stop. Wolf stared down at her. She barely reached the top of his shoulders. He outweighed her by a hundred pounds. He knew that guns had safeties.
Yeah, maybe she was too stupid to live, but she’d only been trying to make sure they didn’t die.
“I’m sorry.” She couldn’t look at him. “I didn’t want to drag you into this.”
Leo put a hand on his brother’s arm. “Don’t. The elevator will be infinitely harder to fix than the wall.”
“You got to punch something,” Wolf said with a frown.
“I’ll let you punch the hell out of the condo later. Or maybe Chase. He annoys me at times. Yes, punch Chase.” Leo actually smiled a little at his brother. “It’s all right. This is what she does. I let her get away with it once. Don’t make the same mistake I did.”
The doors opened.
“Guys, I know you’re mad. I know you think I’m stupid, but I had my reasons. This isn’t your fight.”
Wolf’s fists clenched. “She’s pushing me, Leo.”
“Yep,” Leo agreed. “It’s what she does. Of course, you’re her Dom. You know she’s going to require a bit of training. Come on, Shelley. Don’t give me any more trouble. You’ve already made us both look like idiots.”
She found herself following Leo down the hall, Wolf hard on her heels. “I didn’t mean to. And I don’t see how me trying to handle a situation makes the two of you look bad.”
Frustration was starting to crowd out her panic. There was nothing left to do now except convince them to let her go. Except they didn’t seem to want to listen to her.
Leo stopped, turning on his heels. It threw Shelley off balance and sent her stepping back, where she ran straight into Wolf. Wolf didn’t seem to feel the same need for personal space that she did. He was a brick wall.
“Wolf is your Dom,” Leo pointed out. “You signed a contract to obey him. Everyone in this club knows we slept together last night.”
“Everyone?”
Leo’s eyes rolled. “Yes, everyone. It’s a small club, and I have a housekeeper. She comes in early on Saturdays. She caught me coming out of Wolf’s room this morning. If Kristina knows, then everyone knows. And if everyone knows that I slept with you, then everyone will know that you’re a disobedient little brat who can’t mind her Dom or her lover. Every goddamn Dom in this place is questioning us right now. You reflect on your Master.”
Wolf’s voice was a low rumble. “And if I hear one more time that this isn’t my fight, I won’t care about the damage, Shelley. I’ll punch my way through something.”
She felt her fists clench. “I don’t understand.”
“Then let me explain it to you. I enjoyed your body last night. I took it over and over. I take that seriously, Shelley. We have a contract. You aren’t letting me do my job. I don’t have anything else. I can’t be a SEAL anymore. There wasn’t a place left for me in Bliss. For the last month, all I’ve thought about is you. I got that tat two days after we talked for the first time. You told me about growing up with Trev and how you weren’t sure of your place in the world anymore. I was in the same boat. I thought maybe we could find it together, and I made a choice. I gave up trying to fight my way back in. I was done because I had something else I wanted. You. So I want you to tell me here and now if you’re just using me for sex or fun or whatever the hell a woman like you wants from a man like me.”
Oh, god, what had she done to Wolf? Her heart ached. He stood there, a big, glorious piece of masculinity. She’d been so stupid. She hadn’t really seen past his good looks and grace. He was a man, a man who could be hurt. She gave up fighting. She walked up to him and put her arms around his waist, placing her head over his heart. “A woman like me is crazy about a man like you. A woman like me can’t stand the thought of a man like you getting hurt.”
His hands came up, stroking her hair. “I would rather take a bullet than have you rip my heart out, baby. Leo made a huge mistake when he let you kick him out of your life. He won’t make it again. And I won’t make it at all. I don’t care how mad you get at me. I’m not allowing you to make this decision. I’m never going to let you walk into a dangerous situation alone. If that means that you won’t be with me anymore, then that’s what happens. But I won’t let you go until this situation is settled.”
She’d thought she was doing the right thing, but as she stood there hearing the beat of Wolf’s heart, she realized that maybe she’d been wrong. She’d spent so much time in a relationship that didn’t work that she no longer really knew what did work. Her parents had been in love and not once during their years together had one of them pushed the other away in the name of protection. They had been bound together, their troubles and their joys shared. The risk was shared, too.
It was what people in love did. Good. Bad. Life. Death. All shared.
She’d done this to Leo.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. If the positions had been reversed, she wouldn’t have wanted Leo to push her away. She would have wanted to stand by him. She would have demanded her place, as Wolf had. “I won’t do it again. I am sorry.”
Wolf’s arms tightened around her. “I’m glad to hear it, sweetheart. I don’t want to go through this again. We’re either in this together or we’re not.”
“Together.” She wanted them all together, but she might have burned that bridge with Leo. He was proud, and he might never again open his heart. Time. She needed a bit of time to show him that she understood now. Wolf had opened that door. It was up to her to make sure it didn’t shut. She sniffled and turned out of Wolf’s arms, looking to Leo. He stood, staring at her, his expression closed. She wanted to turn back to Wolf. He was safe and warm and secure, but she was done playing it safe. “I’m sorry, Sir.”
One of Leo’s brows lifted. “Are you? You might be more than sorry when you realize what Wolf is going to do to you.”
She’d known this wa
s coming. “Only Wolf? I lied to you, too. I’ll take my punishment.”
“Both of us, Shelley. I think a breach of trust this big requires more than one Master’s hands. If you’re up for it,” Wolf offered.
Leo nodded slowly. “I will help you. I think she won’t like some of my suggestions, however. She’s going to get a rapid-fire education in what happens when a sub breaks her word.”
She took a deep breath, dread coming from more than one side now. She was absolutely certain that neither man would really hurt her, but Leo had a diabolical mind. She was in for some extreme discomfort.
And she would handle it. “I’ll be good.”
“Excellent,” Leo said. “And you’ll start in just a moment. You will be polite and obedient while we’re in my office. You will accept your bindings.”
“Bindings?” Was her punishment starting early?
“Yes.” Wolf put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to show you what happens to little subs who run from their Masters.” His lips cracked a bit, a little smile appearing. “But I will say that I’m surprised you managed to run as fast as you did. A lot of subs struggle with the plug in the beginning.”
Leo sighed. “You’re kidding right?”
Shelley chewed on her bottom lip, trying to look as sweet and vulnerable as possible because Wolf was going to be upset.
Wolf’s eyes narrowed. “You took out my plug?”
“I couldn’t run with it. I could barely walk with it. I’m so sorry.”
“Now you’ve done it,” Leo murmured. “He doesn’t explode when you nearly get yourself killed, but watch what happens when you take that plug out.”
Wolf’s face flushed, even white teeth flashing. “Move, Shelley. Leo’s office—now. Go into the bathroom and pull those pants down and spread you cheeks. I’ll make sure you remember to leave my plug where I put it.”
“Wolf, let’s talk about this,” Shelley stuttered.
Wolf wasn’t in the mood to talk. He picked her up, flipping her over his shoulder again.
“Damn it, Wolf, you have to stop treating me like a sack of flour.” Shelley squealed as he slapped her ass. It wasn’t a pansy-ass slap. It stung.
