by Sophie Oak
Gretchen sniffled a little. “It can be hard to share, to give and give to a person and to know they still want someone else.”
Nat turned. “What are you talking about?”
Gretchen shook her head, standing up straight. “I’m just making a point. Jealousy will always happen. But you know better than the rest of us, don’t you? You always have.”
“I never said I was smarter than anyone else.”
Gretchen held out her hands palms up. “I’m screwing this up. I’m sorry, Nat. It’s been a stressful couple of days.”
“Yeah, I know.” She was the one under scrutiny for murder.
Gretchen was the one who huffed. “You know this isn’t easy on anyone. This has been hard on me. You’re important to me. I need you.”
Nat took a deep breath because Gretchen was self-centered, not selfish. She had to remember the difference. Gretchen had been through a lot. “I know. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you where I was going.”
“I understand. I do think I like them, Nat. They seem nice. Well, one of them seems nice. The other one seems like a Dom.” Gretchen smiled a little. “I guess you know which one I would prefer.”
Nat toweled off her face and thought about what Tate had said when they had talked by the pool a couple of days back. “Are you looking for a Dom?”
A smug smile lit Gretchen’s lips. “I kind of have one.”
Nat sighed inwardly. “Tate?”
A little smile lit up her face. “He wants me, but I haven’t taken a collar yet. I have to be sure. I think he’s going to test me before he asks, but I’m ready for it. I have to admit something, Nat. I was very lonely until he got here. The last seven months have been so nice. He’s really brought me back to life. He’s very commanding, very domineering.”
“Are we talking about the same Tate?” Nat asked. Tate was laid back. He was kind of known as the Surfer Dom. He played and he was obviously well trained, but he hadn’t struck Nat as a twenty-four-seven kind of guy.
“You don’t know him the way I do. He’s what I need. He’s very dominant in the bedroom.”
“You’ve slept with him?” Damn. How had she not seen that?
Gretchen shrugged. “I’m not as damaged as you. I can handle it. I know what I want, Nat.”
“But do you really know what Tate wants?” Because according to Tate himself, it wasn’t Gretchen.
“I know what he thinks he wants, but sometimes men can be stupid. He’ll come around. I’ll give him what he really needs, and he’ll see that we belong together.” Gretchen’s eyes went oddly cold. “Stay away from him, Nat.”
“I didn’t try to get close to him.”
“Just see that you do. He’s mine.”
“I thought a Dom didn’t belong to a sub.” Frustration welled as she realized that she might not be able to put up with Gretchen’s shit much longer. Years had gone by and this was what she got from Gretchen?
“I’m a good sub. I know how to treat my Dom. And I know how to protect him, too.” Gretchen ran a hand through her hair. “Sorry. I just really like him.”
Gretchen gave her that same smile she always used, but for the first time Nat could see it didn’t really reach her eyes. Maybe Nat had been so mired in her own misery that she hadn’t seen Gretchen’s.
“I don’t want him to hurt you,” Nat said. Gretchen had been hurt before, so fucking hurt.
“He’s not the one who can hurt me,” Gretchen replied. “Anyway, I’m going back out to tell Gaby you’re okay. I think I’ll skip the makeover. I have some things to do. See you tomorrow, I hope.” Gretchen walked out, taking her dark cloud with her.
“I don’t like the way she talked to you, Nat.” Kitten slid into the bathroom, a robe belted around her body.
“She’s still in a bad place.”
“You’ve made excuses for her for a long time,” Kitten pointed out. “I know you made them for me, too, but the only person I lashed out at was myself. I worry about her.”
“I worry about her, too.”
“Not the way I do. I think she could hurt you, Nat. I think she’s always hated how strong you are. I think she’s used your generous nature to get ahead, but when you’re no longer useful, she’ll turn on you.” Kitten took a long breath. “I hate talking like this. I hate dealing with problems. They should just go away or a Dom should take care of them for you, but I love you too much to ignore this. She’s toxic, Nat.”
“She’s just closed off.” But Nat wasn’t so sure. Habit forced her to defend her friend. “You’re not around her as much as I am.”
“Yes, which is why I can easily see the problem.” Kitten took her hand. “Come on. Let’s have fun and forget about her. Abigail is explaining D/s to Georgia and though Georgia is using a lot of words like ‘ewww’ and ‘gross,’ her pupils are dilated. Master Logan is going to have so much fun taming her. I hope I get to watch.”
Nat snorted a little. She had to stop doing that. “I don’t know about that. Logan seems pretty hands-offish when it comes to her.”
Kitten smiled. “Oh no. I know a good couple when I see them. Though now that I think of it, Master Logan might need a partner. I’ve heard about the town he comes from. I’ll think on it a bit. Hurry up. I want to make sure you’re perfectly gorgeous for the Masters when they return.” She turned back in the doorway. “Though you should know, I always think you’re beautiful, Natalie. You can’t help it. It’s just who you are.”
Nat felt it again, that pricking at her eyes.
She sniffled a little, washed her face, and joined the girls. If Kitten was going to play matchmaker that was a show Nat intended to watch.
Chapter Fourteen
The front door opened, and Nat couldn’t help the way her heart thudded in her chest. They were here. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about them all day. They were clouding her damn mind.
“You look gorgeous, hon,” Abby told her, winking her way. “They’re going to love it. Trust me. My Jack loves a little role-play. I know this is all about your case, but I think the playroom might get some use tonight.”
God, Nat hoped so. She’d fallen asleep. She couldn’t think of anything less sexy. They had aroused her and played with her pussy and spanked her and she’d fallen asleep on them.
“I like your pink hair better.” Josh frowned up at her, his dark head shaking. His emerald-green eyes studied her critically. “And how did they make your skin look like that? It’s prettier the other way. I want you to look like my Nat.”
Nat glanced at herself in the mirror. She looked exotic. Georgia had done an amazing job with the bronzer. Her skin looked darker than normal, like she was a girl with a great tan. The pitch-black bob she had on came from something Abby called her Roaring Twenties Flapper Girl kit.
Only her face was bronze, though. Georgia had explained if they wanted to do the rest of her body, they would have to use a self-tanner. Abby had nixed the idea of heading into town to buy some until Chase and Ben approved.
Joshua Barnes-Fleetwood did not approve at all.
“Well, I think you look lovely.” Sam Fleetwood gave Nat a wink. “I can only think of one woman who looked better in that wig. Damn, darlin’, good times. We should really play BDSM speakeasy again. Abby and I owned the underground club, you see. We were just trying to bring some fun to the people. Jack just had to raid us. You wouldn’t believe what the FBI required in its searches back in the twenties.”
Nat could imagine that it included some seriously pleasurable body cavity searches.
“That sounds like a fun game, Master Logan.” Kitten sat with her head on Logan’s lap. “We should play.”
Logan just stared at Georgia.
“Well, I think you look like pop-star hot. I totally would take a bunch of pictures and put them on Facebook if Logan over there wasn’t being such a jerkface about it,” Georgia said, pouting a little.
“Uhm, should we go over the meaning of undercover?” Logan’s hand found Kitten’s hai
r, but every bit of that boy’s attention was on the blonde in the room. “I don’t think it’s smart to change Nat’s Facebook page to ‘Natalie is going undercover to catch a killer. Please comment on which look is best.’”
“I don’t even have a Facebook page,” Nat admitted. She could hear Ben and Chase talking to Jack Barnes, saying something about a package they had bought and that they’d gotten rid of it. What kind of package? Where had they been?
“OMG! Seriously, Nat? We’re going to hook you up. I’m the queen of social media.” Georgia squealed a little.
Logan growled. They seemed to have a whole language of their own going on. “It’s been hard on you not to have a phone, hasn’t it?”
Georgia turned, her pretty face furious. “And who do I have to blame for that?”
“Watch the fighting around the kids.” Sam’s voice had gone dark, proving he could alpha up when he needed to.
“It’s okay, Daddy.” Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood piped up from her place beside her father. “Josh and I don’t mind the fighting. It’s funny.”
Josh frowned. “As long as the fighting don’t lead to kissing. So many times it leads to kissing and that’s just gross.”
Abby got to one knee and started explaining grammar to her son, but Chase walked in, his big body filling the doorway, and Nat couldn’t think of anything else.
“Hi.” The greeting came out way breathier than she’d meant it to. It had come out sounding like an invitation. She’d fallen asleep on the poor man. She’d backed off from him. She’d slept with his brother. Tonight she wanted to make up for all that.
But he didn’t look interested. His eyes scanned her from her head down to her toes, and she could tell so easily that he didn’t like what he saw.
“I don’t like it. Take it off.”
She took a step back. “What?”
Chase followed her. He didn’t seem to care that they had an audience. “I don’t like it. Go back to the guesthouse and take it off. I want you properly dressed without all that makeup on before we have dinner. Do you understand?”
“You told Georgia to experiment.” Hurt burned at her gut. Maybe she didn’t look as nice as she thought she did. She’d thought she looked exotic and mysterious, but underneath it all she was still just plain old Nat. She’d known all along that she wasn’t in their league.
“I don’t like the experiment. Take it off.” He was in full-on Dom-prick mode, and Nat wondered briefly what had happened to turn him back into the remote, cold man she’d seen that first time. She’d thought they’d connected. She’d thought she’d gotten past his barriers.
“She looks awesome.” Georgia stepped up.
Logan put a hand on her elbow, pulling her back. “Not now, Georgia.”
The whole room had gone silent, every face watching them. Everyone was watching Chase completely humiliate her.
“Come on, kids. Let’s go make sure Benita doesn’t need help.” Sam reached out for his daughter but simply picked Josh up.
“I think I should stay with Nat. I don’t like how that man’s talking to her, though I didn’t like all that stuff on her face either. I was more polite.” Josh kept pleading his case as his dad carried him out.
Nice that the four-year-old knew how to be polite, but Chase Dawson hadn’t figured it out. “I think I’ll just have dinner first. I can take all this off before I go to bed.”
Alone. She didn’t have to do what he told her. She could stand on her own.
Chase crowded her. “You’re flunking the test, Natalie. You’re behaving like a disobedient little brat, and I won’t stand for it.”
Test? He was testing her? “You take your test and shove it right up your ass, Dawson.”
Arctic blue eyes stared down at her. “Get to the room now. Take off the shit on your face and get rid of that wig. Clean yourself up then come back downstairs. I haven’t decided if I’m going to allow you a place to sit or if you can sit at my feet and take what I choose to feed you. I think it will all depend on how nicely you choose to apologize.”
Anger flooded her senses. He thought he could pull this shit on her? She’d completely misjudged him. She’d thought there was a soul under all that Alpha-Dom BS, but he was just like the rest of them. The minute she did something he didn’t like, he turned on her.
She looked back, and Ben stood in the doorway with Jack Barnes at his back. Ben’s eyes were somber, but he didn’t move forward to defend her.
“You in on this little runaround, Ben?” Nat asked.
His mouth tightened. “I think you should do as he says, Nat. We can talk about this in private. Right now, you’re making a spectacle of yourself.”
“Fuck you, too, Ben.” They wanted to treat her like dirt, and she wasn’t about to put up with it. “How about you, Barnes? You want to heap a little shit on me, too?”
If she thought Chase was cold, Jack Barnes could freeze the world with the look he gave her. “I think I would like for you to remember that you’re in my home, and I deserve a little courtesy.”
She laughed, a bitter huff coming out of her mouth. She’d spent the afternoon trying to make herself prettier and this was what she got. Sure, maybe she’d failed, but she didn’t deserve this. “Sure, Barnes. Hey, how about I get the fuck out of your house and then you don’t have to worry about the brat.”
She pulled the wig off her head and handed it back to Abby. It wasn’t Abby’s fault her husband was being a prick. “Sorry. I don’t think he’ll want me to babysit anymore. Please tell Josh and Olivia good-bye for me.”
Abby sighed. “Oh, hon, please think this through. Something is going on here.”
“Bye, Abby.” She started for the door. She could walk back to the freaking spa. Sure, it was fifteen miles away, but she wasn’t about to let one of them drive her home. She could call Gretchen. Gretchen would be thrilled to know she’d fucked up.
“Stop right there, Natalie.” The command in Chase’s voice actually stopped her for a moment.
“Fuck off, Dawson.” She wasn’t going to allow any man to tell her what to do ever again. Not ever. They could all fuck off.
His hand came out, grabbing for her elbow, pulling her back. “You’re not going anywhere, sweetness. We need to talk.”
She barely registered his softer tone. All she knew was that he was grabbing her. Grabbing her to put her someplace where she didn’t want to be. A cage? Did he think he could put her in a fucking cage and she would just go quietly? She kicked out, every instinct in her body screaming at her to get the fuck away and do it now. She wasn’t thinking. She was reacting. Pure fear coursed through her. It was like she was right back in the moment.
She hauled off with her free arm, punching at the man trying to hold her down.
“Natalie! Natalie!”
In her mind, she could hear another voice. The one that ordered her to stay still while he beat her, raped her, used her like she was nothing. She couldn’t be nothing again. Not ever again.
“Please, sweetness.” Two sets of big arms wound around her, pressing her in and catching her between them.
“Calm down. Calm down. It’s over, baby.”
Ben was behind her, one arm around her waist. Her vision started to clear. Chase had a scratch on his neck from her nails. She’d hit him over and over, kicked him and scratched. And he hadn’t fought back. Not once.
He stared down at her, his eyes cloudy with some unnamed emotion. “You have to understand we can’t take you with us.”
“Abby, why don’t we take everyone to the dining room and let our guests sort this out.” Jack Barnes put an arm around his wife’s waist and touched his head to hers, an intimate gesture. “It’s all right, baby. She’s going to be safe.” He turned back. “I asked them to test you. This whole thing is moving too fast. You can’t go in with them.”
Chase had said something about a test. They were testing her? By being cruel?
The crowd fled, Logan pulling Georgia out with him. Finally the
y were alone, but it was far too late.
“Let me go.” She pushed at them.
“Please, Natalie.” Chase’s arms tightened. “Don’t be mad. I couldn’t let you come with us without knowing. Don’t be mad. I’m trying to protect you. God, I need to protect you, sweetness.”
He kept trying to get close to her, but she couldn’t stand it.
“Let me go, Chase. Let me go now or are you as bad as the rest of them?” She just wanted to get away. Her heart was thundering, blood pounding. All the ugliness she’d survived was right there at the surface. It boiled and bubbled, threatening to scald her.
Chase’s hands dropped immediately and a blank look settled onto his face. “Of course. If you want to go get your things, I’ll drive you back to the spa now.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere with you.” She didn’t want to see him again. Her hands were shaking. It was all right there under the surface. How had she thought for an instant she could trust them?
“All right then.” He turned. “Benjamin, I believe I’ll skip dinner this evening. Let me know when you put the call in. It doesn’t matter who it is. This op is still on.”
Chase walked out without another word.
And she looked up at the reasonable one. Ben Dawson, nice guy, had a look of rage on his face that made her take a step back.
“You just ripped his fucking heart out, and I don’t know if it can be repaired.”
“Well, maybe he should think about that the next time he acts like an unconscionable prick.” She took a deep breath. What the hell had just happened? One minute she was trying to flirt and the next she’d been fighting for her life. Just like that. She’d been back there. She’d attacked them.
What had she done?
Ben stepped back, his hands up as though he didn’t dare to touch her. “Natalie, he got scared today. We went out to the strip club where we think all the contacts happen for the underground club. We were able to buy drugs and make contacts, but when we left, someone put a tail on us. A man already died and probably because someone at that club killed him. Someone who doesn’t have a problem with hurting you.”
