Jake was about to say it probably wasn’t a good idea, but he spotted Nick out of the corner of his eye. The kid had evidently overheard some of their conversation and, if his frown was any indication, he was down-right pissed off. Not giving any hint he knew Nick was there, Jake answered, “Yeah, Drew, that sounds good. Give me a call and we’ll make plans.”
The elated grin on the cop’s face almost made Jake wince. He really didn’t want to hook up with Drew again, but if going on a date put Nick in his place, then it was worth it.
“Great. I’ve gotta run. One of the guys from the station is waiting to give me a lift. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Sure.” After his ex turned and walked out of the terminal, Jake pretended to scan the crowd again before his gaze fell on Nick and…fuck…he was smoking hot. The kid was in faded jeans and a snug navy-blue T-shirt, and Jake had to mentally strip down his sniper rifle to its individual parts to prevent himself from getting hard. Their eyes met and he could see Nick wanted to ask who Drew was, but Jake didn’t give him the chance. “Hey. About time you got here. Ian had a last-minute meeting. What carousel is your luggage on?”
Ten minutes later, Jake led the way to his Chevy Suburban in the short-term parking lot. He popped the trunk for the luggage. Nick had barely said a dozen words to him and he hoped things would stay that way until he dropped the guy off at Trident.
He wasn’t so lucky. As soon as he started the SUV, Nick pinned him with an angry stare. “Who the fuck was that?”
Jake let out a heavy sigh and backed the vehicle out of its spot. “An old friend.”
“Old friend or old boyfriend?”
He shifted gears and steered toward the exit. “Not that it’s any of your business, but, yeah, Drew and I dated last year.”
Nick stared at him with narrowed eyes as an unbearable silence filled the air. Shit, this conversation was about to go downhill faster than an avalanche.
“What, Nick? You thought one night made us exclusive? It was a fucking roll in the sack. Nothing more. And it’s not going to happen again. I was horny and your ass was available. There were plenty of guys before you and plenty since.” Jake almost choked on the lie. There had been no one since that night in the hotel two months ago. Any offers he’d had, either in or out of the club since then, he turned down, because none of them had compared to his boy. Yeah, although he didn’t want to, he still thought of Nick as his.
“Fuck you, Jake.”
“No, thanks. We already did that and it wasn’t anything special.” God, he was a fucking prick.
“You son of a…” His jaw and fists clenching, Nick turned his head toward the passenger window. “Whatever.”
The rest of the ride was made in awkward silence. Not even putting the truck in park, Jake dropped the guy off at Trident, then did a U-turn and drove away without a word. After he hit the highway again, he made a call via the truck’s Blue-tooth feature to Charlotte Roth, a.k.a. Mistress China. Jake and she made up two-thirds of the Whip Masters at The Covenant. They, along with Master Carl, were in high demand by the single masochistic submissives at the club, as well as Doms who weren’t experienced enough to whip their subs. Over three years ago, when the demand for their services had grown, they’d created a rotating schedule with one Whip Master taking appointments per night, giving the others free time to play and socialize. As it stood now, they were hoping to add another two or three Dom/Dommes to the rotation.
The call connected with a click and a sultry voice greeted him. “Hello?”
“Hey, Charlotte. It’s Jake. Can you do me a favor?”
A husky, little laugh came through the vehicle’s speakers. “I thought you weren’t interested in my favors, sweetheart. You decide to try a little pussy for a change?”
He couldn’t help the grin which spread across his face at her teasing. “No. But if I ever do, you’ll be the first woman I call. Actually, I was hoping you and I could switch tonight and tomorrow night. I have some stuff I need to take care of and would like to get it done tonight.” He wasn’t going to tell her he was afraid of hurting a submissive because he wouldn’t be able to concentrate tonight. His thoughts would revolve around Nick until he was able to purge the guy out of his system.
“Sure thing, sweetheart. I owe you from the swap a few weeks ago anyway.”
“Thanks. You’re a doll, as always. I might come by around midnight, but if not, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
After hanging up, he headed home while trying to come up with a solution to his dilemma—how to spend the next four weeks avoiding the man he wanted more than he wanted to breathe.
* * *
Nick paced back and forth in Devon’s office as Trident’s canine, Beau, watched him in what appeared to be entertained amusement. The protection-trained, lab/pit mix was lying on the leather couch and his big head swiveled from side to side as he followed the human’s aggravated movements. Nick’s blood was just now coming down from a full boil. He didn’t know what he’d anticipated when he saw Jake again, but what happened in reality hadn’t been it. And he definitely hadn’t expected to see him hooking up with some guy in the airport. Then the man had been intentionally antagonizing him and it’d worked. If they hadn’t been doing sixty-five miles per hour down the highway, he would have taken a swing at him when Jake said their night together had been a meaningless fuck. Instead Nick had gritted his teeth, turned away, and stared at nothing in particular outside his window.
Now, still frustrated, he ran a hand through the jet-black hair all the Sawyer boys had inherited from their father. While Ian was still on a conference call, their other brother, Devon, was on a mission in Ecuador with the rest of the Trident team. Nick wasn’t sure what the assignment was, but he could guess since their secretary, Colleen, told him it was a government contract. Trident had many federal government connections and, since the team consisted of six former Navy SEALs, their expertise was in high demand for black-op missions.
The four-man team was due back in three days, so for now, Jake and Ian were the only ones in the states holding down the fort. And damn it, just thinking of his one-time lover made him hard. When he’d spotted him in the airport, Jake had been wearing a pair of camo-cargo pants and a white wife-beater which had shown off his incredible physique. Nick hadn’t missed how men and women alike were checking out the hunk as if he’d just walked off a Fitness Magazine photo shoot. His chocolate brown hair had grown a little longer and been pulled back into a ponytail which landed an inch or so past the collar of his shirt. A two or three-day growth covered his jaw and upper lip, and Nick wondered what the rough whiskers would feel like on his bare ass as Jake’s tongue rimmed his hole.
Fuck! He quickly adjusted himself when he heard Ian’s office door fly open, and finished untucking his T-shirt just as his brother walked into Dev’s office.
“Hey, little bro. How was the flight?”
Nick gave Ian a hand-clasp and back-slapping. “Not bad. The only thing better than traveling first class would’ve been if you sent the company jet to get me.”
“Yeah, sorry about that, but it’s down in Ecuador with the team. You hungry? I haven’t eaten lunch yet.”
He grinned. “When have you ever known me to pass up food?”
His brother put his arm around him and squeezed his shoulder before pushing him out the door. “Only the time Devon convinced you hotdogs were made out of real dogs.”
“Hey, I was six, and it wasn’t just any dogs, it was those wiener ones.”
Ian laughed. “You mean dachshunds?”
Rolling his eyes, he led the way to the parking lot. “Whatever. Feed me.”
Within fifteen minutes they were sitting at the bar in Donovan’s. Jake’s brother had taken over the family business after their father died almost five years ago. Mike Donovan was tending bar while Ian’s god-daughter, Jennifer Mullins, was waitressing for the lunch crowd. When she had a free moment, she walked up behind Nick and gave him a big bear hug. “Hey, Ni
cky. We missed you.”
While she called Ian and his teammates ‘uncle’, Nick was only five years older than her, so she didn’t use the title with him. He knew she’d had a crush on him for a few weeks when she was in junior high, but that’d changed after some kid named Ryan had transferred into her school and caught her eye. He squeezed her hands where they lay clasped on his chest. “Hey Baby-girl. How’s my favorite blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl?”
In the mirror behind the bar, he saw her eyes roll. “Yeah, right. I’m sure you have blue-eyed blondes throwing themselves at you left and right.”
He chuckled. “I’m not denying it, but none of them can hold a candle to you.”
“You’re so sweet.” Grinning, she ruffled his hair before stepping away and heading toward the kitchen.
“Today’s burger looks good.” Ian handed him a ‘Daily Specials’ menu. “So, where did Jake run off to? I figured he would’ve come to lunch with us.”
Instead of looking at him, Nick lifted his gaze to the basketball game on the TV above the bottles of booze behind the bar. Who was playing, he had no idea as he shrugged. “Didn’t ask. He just dropped me off and said he had things to do.” Hell, the fucking bastard hadn’t even told him that much.
Mike approached them from the other end of the bar. “Hey, Nick. I forgot you were coming in for a visit. What can I get you?” Not needing to know Ian’s order, he slid a bottle of Bud Light in the man’s direction and then grabbed another when Nick said he’d have the same. “How long you in for this time? I only got to see you the night of the bachelor party and at the wedding last time.”
He took a much needed swig from the ice-cold bottle and swallowed. Damn, it tastes good. “I’ve got a month’s leave before I have to report back for some new equipment training. I’ll be here for most of it, but might be heading up to Mom and Dad’s for a few days after Thanksgiving. Playing it by ear.”
Chuck and Marie Sawyer still lived in the boys’ hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, but had several residences up and down the east coast, and one in San Diego near Nick’s condo. Their dad was a self-made, real estate mogul, but did a lot of traveling and charity work with their mom, a plastic surgeon, while the company board ran things during his absence. While the boys had plenty of luxuries most kids their age didn’t have while growing up, their parents made sure they worked to earn everything they got. Each one of them had a trust fund in their names which they gained full access to at age thirty, but received a small monthly dividend from the fund to help with bare-bones expenses until then. Anything they wanted beyond that had to come from a paycheck. They’d all been earning their own money since they were old enough to work. And each one of them had gone into the Navy, with the exception of John. The second youngest of four boys, John had plans to enter the military almost nineteen years ago, but it never happened. A closet alcoholic, he’d died at the age of eighteen after several hours of binge drinking.
While Mike took their lunch orders and entered them into the computer behind the bar, the two brothers settled in to watch the game. Nick did his best to force Jake from his mind. He’d deal with him later. And he wasn’t letting the bastard run next time.
CHAPTER 3
Jake strode into The Covenant’s luxurious bar area, feeling a little better after spending a few hours working out in his condo complex’s gym, instead of the one at the compound. It was smaller with less equipment choices but there was no worry about Nick walking in to confront him again. An intense cardio session, coupled with some weights, had helped him force a few demons from his mind, as well as a certain boy-toy. After his longer than normal workout, he’d gone back to his unit, grabbed some dinner, and then showered. Dressing in his favorite black leather pants and boots, he’d forgone his usual T-shirt. Instead, he was wearing a button-down leather vest which he knew would draw the gay and bisexual submissives like moths to a flame. He wasn’t being egotistical—he just knew the attention his sculpted arms and shoulders got from past experience. And tonight he planned on using that attention to forget Nick completely.
The club’s manager greeted him as he approached the bar. Mitch Sawyer was also the bosses’ cousin and part owner of the club. As he shook Jake’s hand, his eyebrow raised in curiosity.
Unsure what the problem was, Jake asked, “What?”
Frowning, Mitch shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit. What?”
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “It’s just been a while since I’ve seen you in your vest.”
Jake glanced down at the sleeveless leather top, and then his eyes narrowed at the other man. “Yeah…” He waved his hand, gesturing for Mitch to continue. “And?”
“The last time I remember seeing you wear it was after you broke up with the cop last year. Seems to me, it’s your ‘purging’ vest. You know, when you want to get over someone.” He paused and tilted his head to the side. “Is that why you traded nights with China? I know you won’t use the whip when you’ve got something distracting you.”
Sighing, Jake ran his hand through his hair which was now down from its earlier ponytail. There was one thing he wouldn’t lie to Mitch about and this was it. But…he could stretch the truth a little. “Yeah, I’ve got some shit on my mind, but it’s not because I broke up with anyone. I haven’t been seeing anyone lately. It’s just work and some other shit, and I didn’t want to take a chance with the subs tonight.”
Mitch nodded and his voice filled with empathy. “You know, if you ever want to talk…”
Barking out a short laugh, Jake brought one hand to his eight-pack abs and shook his head in disbelief. “Are you fucking kidding me? Since when did you become Mister Sensitive and offer an ear?”
With a broad grin, Mitch scoffed, “I wasn’t offering my ear, you dumb fuck. I was going to tell you to call Doc Dunbar for an appointment.” Dr. Trudy Dunbar was a one of the psychologists whom The Covenant referred its members to, if needed. While she wasn’t in the lifestyle herself, she had done her dissertation on the BDSM society and understood it better than most. She had also become Jake’s good friend over the past few years.
“Yeah, well, I don’t need the ear or Trudy. Just need to blow off a little steam.” He scanned the bar and surrounding areas, not seeing who he was looking for. “Have you seen Tyler tonight?” Tyler Ellis was a bisexual switch Jake hooked up with every so often. The stockbroker and operative had a mutual attraction, but it didn’t go beyond the club. Personality-wise, they were too much alike, with the major differences being Jake was a gay Dom and Tyler preferred to submit to men, but top women. When he was stressed out, giving up sexual control to another man was something he benefited from.
“Yeah, and I think he was looking for you, too. I saw him head down into the pit.” Mitch clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll catch you later.”
Jake headed for the stairs leading down into the pit. In some sex clubs it would probably be called the dungeon, but The Covenant members had dubbed the recreational area ‘the pit’ when the club had first opened up and the name stuck. The main entrance to the club was on the second floor, which consisted of a lobby, bar, sitting areas overlooking the first floor, and at the far end, a fetish store and the offices. In addition to the pit, there were also locker rooms and private playrooms downstairs.
After having his alcohol consumption/ID card swiped by a security guard—there was a two drink maximum if a member intended to play—he descended the grand staircase, searching the crowd for Tyler. But…fuck…his eyes found Nick, standing with his brother, Ian’s fiancée, Angie, and another couple. The huge room was congested enough—about one hundred and twenty members in attendance—so he was able to pretend he hadn’t spotted them on the left side of the room. Veering to his right, he was stopped by several people who either just wanted to say hello or had something more to chat about. He managed to put as many people as he could between Nick and him, but the tingling on his neck said his body was still aware the other man was in the roo
m.
His eyes continued to search the crowd as he talked to a few members and forced himself to concentrate on looking for Tyler and not Nick. Damn it. He knew he shouldn’t have come tonight. There’d been a good chance Nick would be here, but Jake had planned on making it obvious to the kid that there was no future between them. Nick wouldn’t make a scene here because it would mean he’d have to come out of the closet to Ian and everyone else, and he was still refusing to do it. Why, Jake didn’t know, but it wasn’t his place to out the guy. And that was another reason why a relationship with Nick wouldn’t work. Since the night Jake’s father had beaten the crap out of him sixteen years ago for being gay, he vowed never again to feign he was straight. It’d been his ‘fuck you’ to his father from then on and he refused to be in a relationship with anyone who was hiding his sexual orientation.
As he was about to excuse himself from a conversation he was only half listening to, he noticed Tyler walking towards him and his anxiety eased a little. He deepened his voice to let the other man know he was in full Dom mode and wanted to play. “Tyler.”
The relief in the switch’s eyes was evident before he lowered his gaze to the ground in respect. “Master Jake. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t see you tonight. May we please negotiate a scene?”
“This way.” Jake gestured with a side nod of his head for Tyler to follow him to an empty table a few feet away. Instead of taking a seat, he leaned an elbow on the pub-height table. Some other Doms may have ordered the switch to his knees, but Jake rarely issued the command in the open recreation area. And public humiliation was one of Tyler’s hard limits. For someone who was a Dominant part of the time, it would be humiliating to kneel in front of another Dom unless they were somewhere private. The switch would still be respectful and it’s all Jake would require of him until they were alone. “Bad day?”
Topping the Alpha: Trident Security Series Page 2
