Their Temporary Sub [The Doms of Club Mystique 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Mardi Maxwell

  Jane pushed a cart loaded with covered dishes into the room and began setting them on the table. She looked around, shook her head, then quickly set the last dish on the table and pushed the cart back to the kitchen.

  Luc and Logan loaded food onto their plates and Cassie’s then passed the dishes around the table. When everyone was served and had begun eating, Addison said, “Jenna and I are going to the spa at Club Mystique this afternoon, Cassie. We’d like you to join us.”

  “What time?” Logan asked.

  “Our appointments begin at two-thirty but we were going to go to town and shop first,” Addison said.

  Cassie could feel her fear growing at just the thought of going to town and being out in the open. “I need to stay here and make some calls.”

  “You only have to make one call and you can do that in the morning,” Jackson said.

  “Logan wants to talk to me after lunch,” Cassie said.

  “We’ll talk this evening after dinner, sugar.”

  “I don’t want to go,” Cassie said. It’s not safe.

  Logan leaned over and she leaned back in the chair and tried to keep some distance between them. He nuzzled her neck then said, “Sugar, you can go to Club Mystique with me and Luc where we’ll definitely end up playing our version of spa day, or you can go shopping then to the spa with Addison and Jenna. Either way, your body, including your sweet little pussy, is going to be smooth as silk by bedtime.”

  Blushing, Cassie swallowed then said, “I’ll go with Addison and Jenna.”

  Logan smiled then said, “Rosy Red Love.”

  “What?” Cassie asked.

  “Nail polish,” Logan said, lifting her hand and looking at her nicely shaped nails. “You have beautiful hands, sugar.”

  “Thank you, Logan,” Cassie said, smiling. “I’ll remember the color you suggested.”

  Luc snorted then sighed. “He wasn’t making a suggestion. He’s telling you what polish he wants on your nails. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Sir,” Cassie said, confused and wondering why Luc would care either way as he had already made it clear he didn’t want anything to do with her.

  Luc looked at his watch then Cassie’s plate. “You haven’t eaten your vegetables.”

  “I’m full, Sir.”

  “If we’re going to have time to shop we need to leave in a few minutes,” Addison said.

  Cade stood and pulled Addison’s chair back then helped her to her feet. “Be good and no gossiping.”

  “Yes, Master,” Addison said, lowering her bright blue eyes.

  Jenna snorted, then laughed when Jackson pulled her from her chair and swatted her bottom. “That goes for you, too, angel.”

  “Sir, yes, Sir,” Jenna said, then smiled. “I will do my best to not listen to any idle chatter at the spa.”

  “Damn,” Cade said. “That spa is probably the biggest hotbed of rumors in Texas.” He pulled Addison into his arms and whispered something that made her laugh before he released her.

  “I need to get my tote bag,” Cassie said. “I’ll meet you on the front porch.”

  “You don’t need your purse, Cassie. We have accounts at all the businesses in town,” Logan said.

  Cassie leaned down and brushed an imagery spot from her skirt, letting her hair hide her frown. If Logan thought she was going to let him or Luc pay for anything for her, including the spa, he was nuts. She wasn’t one of the women who chased after them as if they were some sort of exotic animal she wanted to own. “I pay my own way or I don’t go.”

  “Again, not a suggestion, Cassandra,” Luc said.

  Jenna and Addison stepped back then froze, focusing on the situation going on in front of them. “Damn, I wish we had some popcorn,” Jenna said and Addison nodded.

  “I said I pay my own way or I don’t go, Sir.”

  Logan stepped between Cassie and Luc. “It’s no big deal, sugar. Whatever you want we’re happy to provide it for you, aren’t we, Luc?” Logan smiled at her encouragingly and ignored Luc’s deepening frown.

  Cassandra turned and had made it up two steps when Luc stopped her.

  “Logan and I are driving you to town,” Luc said. “You don’t need your tote.”

  “I need to change my shoes.”

  Logan pointed to her feet. “I like those sandals.”

  “We’re shopping, Logan, for hours. I need shoes like Addison and Jenna are wearing.”

  Addison nodded and pointed to her own comfortable trainers.

  Jenna stepped forward. “We don’t want you to have to follow us around and then hang around waiting for us while we’re at the spa, Luc. We can drive ourselves.”

  “We don’t mind,” Logan said, looking up at Cassie. “Hurry up, sugar. We’ll wait for you here.”

  Luc leaned back, and softly banged his head against the wall as Cassie disappeared at the top of the stairs. He tipped his head back, and growled. “Logan, at lunch you didn’t even notice Cassandra hadn’t eaten and just now you let her manipulate you into getting her own way.”

  “She’s fragile right now,” Logan said.

  “Yeah, and everybody’s been tiptoeing around her and look where that’s gotten them—nowhere,” Luc said. “You’ve got to get tough before she ends up dead.”

  “I’ll talk to her this evening and maybe she’ll tell me what’s making her so unhappy,” Logan said, smiling. “I’m sure she just needs some tender, loving care.”

  Luc growled, then banged his head against the wall again.

  “Is Cassie in danger?” Addison asked.

  “You don’t need to worry, Addison. I have it under control,” Logan said.

  “No, you don’t,” Luc said, “and, yes, Cassie is in danger and so are you and Jenna. All three of you need to be on your guard and stick close to home or make sure one of us is with you if you leave the ranch.”

  Jackson and Cade had been going toward the den when Jackson stopped, said something to Cade, then moved to Jenna. “I think I’ll tag along today. There’s some things I need to get in town.”

  “I think the talk with Cassie needs to be done now,” Luc said, “and the trip to town needs to be cancelled.”

  Cassie heard the last part of Luc’s statement as she came down the stairs and breathed a silent sigh of relief until she saw the disappointment on Addison’s and Jenna’s faces.

  “What’s going on?” Cassie asked as she stopped on the bottom step and leaned against the newel post.

  Luc took her arm. “We’re going to have a little talk.” He glanced at Cade, and Cade opened the den door and waved his hand, indicating they would talk there.

  “Why?” Cassie asked. “What’s going on?”

  “Let’s get comfortable and then I’ll talk and you’ll listen.” Luc led her into the den and seated her in the middle of the couch. He pointed to Addison and Jenna, indicating they should sit on either side of Cassie. Cade sat behind his desk while Logan and Jackson took the two chairs across the desk from him, and swiveled them around so they could see the three women.

  “Bro, you never do the talking,” Logan said. “Maybe I should do it.”

  Luc sent him a silent message then scooted an ottoman over with his foot until it was directly in front of Cassie. He sat down then reached out and took her hands. He gently chafed her hands. “Cassandra, look at me.”

  Cassie shook her head, then felt Luc squeeze her hands, encouraging her to be brave. She raised her amber eyes to his face.

  “I’m going to tell you what Logan and I have figured out and I just want you to listen. Okay?”

  “Do we have to?” Cassie asked, her voice soft and shaking with nerves.

  “Yes, we do.” He rubbed his thumbs on her wrists. “First, I want you to know that we’re all here to help you.” When she tried to jerk her hands out of his, he tightened his hands and held onto her. “When you were seventeen, two, maybe three, men broke into the home you shared with your aunt Velma and they took you.”

  Cassie s
hook her head as panic flared inside her and her trembling increased.

  “They held you for at least two days. They kept you blindfolded and tied up but they talked in front of you. You know their voices. Am I right, so far?”

  Cassie nodded, then shook her head, her face pale. Her eyes were stark and glazed with tears.

  “What did I say wrong, Cassandra?” Luc asked.

  “Sometimes they drugged me and then they would remove the blindfold.”

  “Is that when they raped you?”

  Cassie nodded as silent tears began sliding down her cheeks.

  “How many were there, sugar?”

  Cassie looked into Luc’s hazel eyes. It was the first time he had called her by anything other than her name and she could see that he was madder than hell about what those men had done to her. She cleared her throat, swallowed, and then whispered, “Four. The fourth one was in charge. He had a whip. He—” She was shaking so hard she couldn’t go on.

  Luc lifted her from the couch and set her on his lap. He held her and ran his hand over her lower back where there were three scars that only a whip could have made. “He used the whip on your back.”

  Cassie nodded. “He raped me.” Grimacing with pain, she rubbed her temples. “I don’t remember all of it. Only parts.”

  Luc nuzzled her neck then kissed her cheek. “How did you get away, sugar?”

  “Two of the other men wanted to kill me but the third one argued with them. When they left the house, he put me in the trunk of a car and took me home. He dumped me in the back yard. I crawled to the door and my Aunt Velma heard me banging on it.”

  “She had reported you missing but the police said you were a runaway. When you were returned, she called them and said you had returned and the police case was closed.”

  “Yes.”

  “Damn,” Jackson said. “We never thought to check the juvenile runaway reports.”

  “Why didn’t she take you to the hospital?” Luc asked Cassie.

  “The man who took me home said they would kill me and anyone I told. The hospital would have called the police. Velma was a nurse so she took care of me.”

  “When your dad got home you told him.”

  “They killed him.” She started sobbing. “It’s my fault they killed my dad. They’ll kill you, too.”

  Luc tightened his arms around her, sheltering her as her tears ran down his neck. He kissed her cheek and cupped the back of her head with his hand. He looked up as Logan crouched down next to them and wrapped his arms around Cassie.

  “Nobody’s going to kill us, sugar,” Logan said.

  Next to them Jackson sat down and pulled a crying Jenna into his arms as Cade slid Addison onto his lap and dried her tears.

  Luc rocked Cassie as he held her. The entire time he and Logan sent each other silent messages. Jackson nudged Logan’s shoulder then handed him a handful of tissues. Logan gently dried Cassie’s cheeks even as more tears fell.

  “Tell me about the car wreck, Cassie,” Luc said.

  Cassie shook her head. “I don’t remember the wreck. There’s other things I don’t remember. I remember my dad’s funeral.”

  Luc heard the truth in her voice. “Is that how you decided to lie about remembering being abducted?”

  “Sort of. The neurosurgeon knew the marks on my back were made by a whip. He asked me about them. He said while I was under the anesthesia I talked a lot about what happened. He told me what to say about the amnesia and he made sure several people heard him talking about it at the nurse’s station. I think that’s why they’ve left me alone all these years.”

  “But, then you went to see Dr. Carson and two men attacked you outside your apartment?”

  Cassie looked surprised then nodded. “They had on masks. They called me a bitch and said they were going to kill me. I know it wasn’t the same men from eight years ago because I didn’t recognize their voices.” She waited for a moment while Logan stroked a tissue over her cheek. “I think I heard the voice of one of the men from eight years ago in the hallway outside of my office several weeks ago. By the time I worked up the nerve to open my door and look into the hallway he was gone.”

  The sound of Thor cursing startled her when it came from the phone on Cade’s desk and then he asked, “Is that why you started locking your office door, baby girl?”

  Cassie stiffened on Luc’s lap.

  Luc patted her back. “It’s okay, sugar. Thor’s not mad at you. He’s as worried about you as the rest of us. You’re not alone anymore, Cassie.”

  “I’m afraid they’re going to hurt you. All of you.” Cassie looked around and tears began falling again.

  Luc laughed, but it wasn’t a joyful sound. “Sugar, you don’t ever have to worry about them ever again.”

  Thor said, “I’ll be at the ranch by this evening. I’m bringing Ben Harrington and Mac Malone with me as well as Marisol. She and I will stay at the hotel at Club Mystique but I want Ben and Mac to stay at the ranch with Cassie.”

  “We have plenty of room,” Addison said. “You and Marisol are welcome to stay, too, Thor.”

  “Thanks, Addison, but we’ll stay at the club,” Thor said.

  “Okay, but I expect you and Marisol to have dinner with us this evening.”

  “That’s one invitation I’ll accept, especially if Jane is making apple pie.”

  “I’ll make sure she does.”

  Cade placed a finger beneath Addison’s chin and tipped her face up to his. “We’re going to have a talk, baby.”

  “Why? What did I do?” Addison asked.

  Cade hugged her then said, “Later.” He looked at Cassie and asked, “When you were taken home, were you still blindfolded and tied up?”

  Cassie leaned her head against Luc’s chest and he tipped his head down as Logan leaned closer and comforted her. “Yes. He took the blindfold and duct tape off of me just before he dropped me over the fence at Velma’s house. It was dark and I couldn’t see him but I felt a scar on his neck. It was V shaped and right here,” she said, touching the side of Luc’s neck where it met his shoulder.

  “Sugar, was he really tall and sort of lean?” Logan asked.

  Cassie nodded. “Really tall. He barely had to lift me to get me over the fence.”

  Logan cursed then stood up, took a couple steps, and cursed again. “That fucker Tyson. If he wasn’t already dead, I’d rip his heart out and feed it to him.”

  Cassie whimpered and her face lost what little color it had as she swayed. Luc tightened his arms then wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. “Sugar, you doing okay?”

  Cassie trembled then leaned against him. “Did they kill him because he freed me?”

  Luc kissed her temple then looked at Jackson. “Give me that blanket, Jackson.”

  Jackson pulled the cover from the back of the couch and handed it to Luc. He took it and wrapped it around Cassie. “Better?”

  Cassie huddled into Luc and asked, “Can we stop now? I want to stop now.”

  Luc surrounded her with his arms and rubbed his cheek over the top of her head. “Soon, sugar.”

  “Who the hell is Tyson?” Thor asked.

  “Leroy Tyson was a mercenary. When I knew him he worked for a guy named Larry Taylor,” Logan said. “Neither one of them was around very long before they were caught doing some illegal shit in South America. Last I heard Leroy Tyson was hiding out from the law.”

  “What kind of illegal shit?” Cade asked.

  “You name it, he and Taylor did it. Mostly drugs and artifacts but there were rumors about other stuff.” Logan sent a warning glance toward Cade and Jackson.

  A rumbling sound came from the phone then Thor said, “I understand, Logan. Cassie?”

  “Yes, Thor.”

  “After dinner tonight we’re going to have a talk.”

  “No,” Logan said. “Cassie belongs to me and Luc. We’re going to take care of this.”

  “You’ve both been out of the game too long,” Tho
r said. “I’m handling this.”

  Logan laughed. “You do that. In the meantime Luc and I will go hunting.”

  Luc almost smiled when Thor cursed and Cade glared at him and Logan.

  “How long?” Cade asked.

  “We never stopped,” Luc said quietly. Cassie relaxed in his arms as the stress of the past hour caught up to her. He pulled her closer to his chest as she fell asleep. “If they needed a special job done, they’d call us. We’d decide if we went or not.”

  “Contractors,” Cade said.

  “Specialists,” Logan answered. “We only took jobs that we believed would make a difference.”

  “How?” Jackson asked. “Luc doesn’t even carry a gun.”

  Logan smiled and lines appeared beside Luc’s eyes.

  “Shit,” Jackson said. “I heard rumors about a shooter who had broken my record. You?”

  Luc gave one nod. “Inherited it from dad.”

  “Logan?” Jackson asked.

  “As good as you,” Logan said. “But, mostly I was Luc’s spotter.”

  “Partner,” Luc said.

  “Well, isn’t that nice,” Thor said, his voice ringing with sarcasm. “We could have used you two jokers in Columbia last month.”

  “We went hunting for three days while you were out of the country,” Logan said, then laughed.

  Luc stood up and carried Cassie toward the door. “I’m putting Cassandra to bed for a nap then Logan and I have things to do.”

  “Wait a minute,” Thor said. “I still have a couple questions. Why did they target Cassie, and how did you know what happened to her?”

  “We worked on a similar case nine years ago,” Logan said.

  “No more questions,” Luc said as Logan opened the door to the hallway. “You can talk to her later with us present.”

  Chapter Three

  That evening at dinner, Cassie sat between Luc and Logan again with Zane on Luc’s left. Marisol sat directly across from her with Thor on her left and Mac and Ben on her right. Cade and Addison shared the head of the table while Jackson and Jenna sat at the foot of the table.