There’d been many strangers in the house that day, and he’d spent most of it locked in his room listening to loud music. He hadn’t been there for Church. Couldn’t be. She’d died, and Severin had tried never to speak of her again. She’d betrayed them both by leaving. She’d fucking promised. It had been a pretty lie.
As for the Leducs – he didn’t know how to feel. He’d given up his stipend years ago, paying Sutton, himself. The money that transferred into Miss Korsgaard’s account every two weeks came from his personal account. He monitored each transaction to make sure she was adequately compensated for her work. He’d told Rodrigo to double it because she’d taken over Sutton’s work in her absence. Miss Korsgaard had objected, but her reaction had been fleeting, guarded, until he’d explained his reasoning. Their sexual dynamic wasn’t what she was being paid for, even though her nipples, which poked impudently at her blouse, distracted him through the entire conversation.
But enough about Korsgaard and her perfect body and lovely face. Enough of how he caught her giving him looks of longing, and how he could hear her squirming in frustration in her bed at night.
Focus, man.
The house.
The house and the property were his last tie to his fucked-up family. Once he signed the paperwork – that was it. Done.
“As you can see, it’s a fair price. More than fair.”
Yes. The number they’d set was almost a gift – to finally be rid of him, he assumed. The house had been bought specifically to store him. A mansion for a child. They’d never lived there as a family. Never slept in it overnight. It was a pretty cage for the animal they hadn’t wanted to keep.
Miss Korsgaard set out the coffee she’d made them then lingered on the threshold of the room. None of this had to be a secret from her. There were things he’d pieced together that he didn’t want her to know, but then Rodrigo didn’t know those things either. Sutton knew, and Church, but there was no reason to cheapen harsh memories with too much retelling. His childhood wasn’t a sideshow.
“Join us if you’d like, Miss Korsgaard.”
Gingerly, she sat.
He scanned the document in front of him. The pen in his hand bent and almost snapped as he stared at the name of the other signatory.
“Who is Loïc Leduc?”
Rodrigo cocked his head. “I’m not sure. We know Martine, Aurelie and Camille. Loïc is a new one.”
His mother, Martine. His sisters, Aurelie and Camille – if he was even remembering their names right – had been born before they sent him away. Who was this Loïc? They’d tried to find out his father’s name, but that man was elusive. Maybe this was an uncle or something?
“Like I’ve said before, Sev – if you want answers, we can hire another private investigator. They don’t have much online though, and the last two investigators came up empty for some reason.”
Severin nodded, but he didn’t want to know. Not really. If they didn’t give a shit about him, why would he go out of his way to find out more? They were strangers to him because they’d chosen to be strangers. He’d harbored a small hope that his sisters would initiate contact with him when they became adults, but the years had passed with nothing. They would be twenty-five and twenty-eight now. Did they even remember he existed?
“They don’t deserve you, Severin.” Rodrigo’s tone was harsh.
Severin smiled automatically. Well-meaning people had been saying that to him for years, but it didn’t erase the feelings that came with knowing he wasn’t worth keeping. Not even worth giving to a new family. He’d been mothballed and forgotten, like the cars he kept at the back of the garage.
“Stop it,” Rodrigo snapped.
Severin narrowed his eyes. “Stop what?”
“Even after all these years, you still think you were the problem. They’re either idiots or monsters, Sev.” Rodrigo jabbed a finger at the paperwork. “Just sign. Get them out of your life and forget about them.”
“Like they forgot about me?” He sighed. “If they hadn’t kept my sisters maybe I could feel differently, but if they’re not here with me, I’m guessing they kept them. Maybe my issues made me difficult to parent.”
“Your issues are all the direct result of what they did to you!” Rodrigo snapped, shoving his chair back and lurching to his feet, his dark eyes ablaze with fury. “For fuck’s sakes, Severin, no matter what you were like as a child – even if you were the most terrible little shit on the planet – you didn’t deserve this. You remember the big house and the horses and the fancy cars. The servants. They bought you a fucking mansion. There was no reason to send you away like they did, even if you were emotionally disturbed, which I don’t think you ever were. They had the resources to keep you close and to get you help. To have nannies raise you nearby, if not in their house. Something happened. I wish you’d tell me. I wish you’d let me go there so I could punch every last one of them in the face.”
Severin didn’t know what else to do except laugh at Ro’s strong feelings on the subject. “How would that help anything?”
“It would make me feel better,” Rodrigo said, sitting back in his chair, as if he’d just realized he’d made a scene. It wasn’t like him to lose his temper. That was more Severin’s forte.
Rodrigo smoothed his hair and straightened his jacket. So debonair. He and Miss Korsgaard were a perfect match. As usual, Severin was the one who didn’t fit.
“I think you’re afraid to find out why,” Rodrigo went on. “The truth will change the story you pieced together in your head when you were a kid. You’re too comfortable playing the villain.”
“You can say that again,” Miss Korsgaard said with a bitterness that was probably a reflection of the second plug he’d worked into her ass before the meeting.
Rodrigo arched a brow and turned his gaze to the girl, as though her statement had been in reference to him and he planned to correct her.
“I could have opted for a larger plug, Miss Korsgaard.”
Her calm façade dissolved and she groaned. “Please, Mister Leduc.” She eyed Rodrigo uneasily then turned her attention back to Severin.
“Please a bigger plug?”
“No!”
“Go remove the one in now, Miss Korsgaard, then come back.”
“Yes, Master.” She covered her mouth with her hand and glanced from him to Rodrigo, then away, her face glowing a charming red.
Rodrigo chuckled as he watched her go. “Master? You’ve taken her well in hand.”
“You think her submitting to me is funny, Rodrigo?” He let his words and eyes convey cold menace.
“No, I...I didn’t mean to start a fight with you. She’s just so prim that you’d never suspect.”
“Like you,” Severin pointed out.
Rodrigo gave him a sharp look.
“No one would suspect the wolf that hides so quietly in that suit,” he clarified.
The other man inclined his head.
Although Rodrigo wasn’t all wolf when it came to his kinks, no one but Severin knew that.
“You’re attracted to her.”
“I don’t know a dominant that wouldn’t be, but I’ll never touch what’s yours without your permission.”
Severin turned his coffee cup with his fingertips. “I’m training her.”
“For?”
“Me.” He shrugged. “I’m enjoying it, but I’m not sure how far it’s safe to go before I break her.”
“You’re in a position I’ve never been in, Sev, having her live under your roof and being alone together so much. If you start feeling like you’ve gone too far, that’s probably a good indication to stop.”
“Is five days of edging too much?”
“Five days?” Rodrigo asked, incredulous. “If you were only seeing her once in a while, that would be one thing, but you’re together twenty-four seven.”
“So should I stop waking her up in the middle of the night?”
Rodrigo whistled, sounding impressed. “Bastard.”
“She fascinates me,” Severin admitted. “I’m a little obsessed.”
“That’s how you’re supposed to feel about your submissive. Minnow’s a very beautiful woman. If she’s managed to get you out of the self-made prison you’re in, I’ll love her forever.”
Severin frowned.
“In a completely platonic way.”
“Well...”
“What?”
“I have a favor to ask.”
“Anything.”
“I want you to hold her down while I fuck her.”
Rodrigo slipped a finger into the collar of his shirt, tugging on it as if it was too tight, even though he wore no tie and his top two buttons were undone.
“Why?”
“Because I think it’ll blow her mind, and I also think she’ll hurt herself.”
“Hurt herself?”
“I’m not going to let her come, and she’s probably going to lose it.”
Rodrigo sighed, sounding pained. “Asking me to do this isn’t fair. You know how much I like to watch, but I don’t want you getting angry at me again.”
“Like you give that much of a damn, Ro? You have a million friends and business associates. Even if something makes me angry, it’s not like I’m your only friend.”
Rodrigo rubbed a hand over his face in frustration. “Do you still think I’m so attentive to your portfolio because of your money? It was never about the money. I’ve never enjoyed someone’s company as much as I enjoy yours – even when you’re being a fucking jerk. I don’t have to act civilized around you.”
“So quit acting like you don’t want to hold her down for me.”
“You know I do. I just want to know what the rules are, and I want a guarantee that you’re not going to change those rules without telling me.”
The fire in the hearth made the room uncomfortably warm.
Rodrigo averted his gaze to one of his metal cuff links. “And what will Minnow think of this?”
“Does it matter? She can always safeword. I doubt she will.” They assessed each other for a moment. “What did you say to each other after I left?”
Rodrigo coughed, his expression neutral. “Her feelings were hurt but she spent her time trying to calm me down.”
“That’s all?”
“Pretty much.”
The conversation Severin had imagined taking place between them about how pathetic he was hadn’t happened? He’d imagined them laughing at his flight response all the way back to the house, where he’d drunk himself into a stupor. After that, he’d sat in the same chair in which he was now sitting, and imagined them having sex on Ro’s living room floor.
“You didn’t fuck her?”
Rodrigo grimaced at him. “No! For fuck’s sake, why would I do that to you? And why do you think she’d want me? It’s you she’s obsessed with. I can hardly argue with her taste in men.”
“You think you’d like to trade places with her, but I don’t think you’re enough of a switch to handle submitting to me.”
A heavy silence ensued. Rodrigo didn’t bother arguing, but Severin knew what he was thinking.
“You are attracted to her?” Severin asked, shuffling papers on his desk, trying to look like he didn’t care.
“I won’t take her from you.”
As if on cue, the click of Miss Korsgaard’s shoes neared.
She paused in the doorway.
“Kneel there, Miss Korsgaard.”
She knelt quickly, either out of fear or eagerness. If she wasn’t more careful she’d ruin her hose and he’d need to spend hours buying her another million replacements for them on the internet. This dominance business was hard work.
He gazed at the papers from his family and pushed them aside for now. “Mr. Solis will be spending time with us this evening,” he said, meaningfully.
Her brows knitted. “Oh?”
“Are you going to refuse?”
She pressed her lips together. “What are you going to do to me?”
“You have a safeword.” He got to his feet and went to her, then nudged her knees wider with the toe of his boot. She couldn’t spread them very wide because of the sleekness of her pencil skirt.
She gave a bemused shrug. “Okay.”
“Good girl. This will be fun.”
“Fun for me, Mister Leduc?”
“Hmm...” He looked over at Rodrigo. “Probably not.”
Chapter Nine
Severin held out his hand, and Minnow took it, even though it was probably a bad idea. After the past few days she was ready to do anything to please him – to get relief. She’d never felt so out of control before. The edging was making her...edgy. Reckless. The unrelenting ache in her lower belly flared and dulled in a series of waves that didn’t let her rest. She’d barely slept in days, between his hands and mouth on her, and the hooks he was inserting into her mind.
“First things first,” Severin said as he began to unbutton her blouse. The impatient tug of his fingers as he worked rekindled her need in the span of a heartbeat.
He slid his hand into her blouse, cupping her bare breast and running a thumb absently over her nipple. “No bra. Good girl.” He pinched her nipple lightly and a tight pull ran from her breast to her pussy. She gasped, wanting to rub against him like a cat, but remembering not to touch him.
She wanted his cock immediately – any way she could get it – but how much would he expect her to play with Rodrigo?
Without fanfare, he unzipped her skirt and let it fall to the floor. In only her stockings and panties, she felt far too naked and vulnerable in front of the two men. They were so damned big. And dressed. And they were both staring at her with a hunger that made her shiver.
As easily as if she was a toy, Severin lifted her to the edge of his desk, the wood surface warm under her because of the nearby fireplace. Her ass still felt achy and uncomfortable from the plug she’d taken out.
Severin took off his own shirt, baring his disconcerting muscle, then went to Rodrigo.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Severin asked him, voice low.
“Yes.”
The two of them clasped hands, as though this were a business deal, but the heat in their gazes as they turned back to her belied the civil gesture.
Button by button, Rodrigo opened his shirt, revealing his toned chest and a surprising wealth of tattoos. He tossed his impeccable, well-tailored shirt on the couch.
“This one is new,” Severin said, pointing at Rodrigo’s chest.
“I got it a few months ago.”
Where Severin’s skin was covered in demons, Rodrigo’s was covered in monsters. The two of them almost matched in tattoo styles and coverage, except that clothing could cover Rodrigo’s.
The sight of them approaching her together made Minnow dig her fingernails into her palms, as she tried to calm down. What was Severin planning?
More torture? Probably.
She wanted to cry in frustration – maybe to bite him and yell and be a brat – but didn’t want to break down or misbehave in front of Rodrigo and embarrass Severin. If she’d figured anything out about the man she served, it was that his mind moved in unexpected ways. Whatever he intended to do, he’d probably make her love it even as she hated it.
Severin grabbed a condom from his desk drawer and tossed it to Rodrigo.
“What’s this for?” Rodrigo asked as Minnow looked from one to the other in panic. “You said I was just watching and holding her down.”
“Watching in an active sense.”
“Have you fucked her yet?”
“No. You’re going to give me a demo.”
“What?” Minnow blurted. Her outburst was covered by Rodrigo’s own.
“No. You got so jealous last time you took off. I’m not going to fuck your girlfriend. You’re not even a voyeur.”
“Please no, Mister Leduc!” Was he serious?
“I’m sorry, Miss Korsgaard. You know how things are with me. I’ve been stall
ing for two days because I can’t get past the fact that I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I need to see the real thing. Porn isn’t trustworthy.”
“It’s intuitive, Sev. Just start and she’ll help you.”
“I don’t want her help. When I take her for the first time, I want to know what I’m doing.”
“But Mister Leduc,” she said plaintively, crawling closer to him on the desk, “It’s you I want, not Mr. Solis.” She leaned toward him, mouth hovering over his corrugated stomach, wanting to lick her way down to his cock and coax him to change his mind.
He stroked her hair affectionately. “Oh, and don’t let her come, Rodrigo.”
“No, no!” Minnow cried. She grabbed Severin’s hand then let go of it so fast she wasn’t sure it hadn’t burned her. “Please, Mister Leduc! Can’t you just practice on me when I’m asleep or something? I’ll sign consent forms. I don’t even care!”
“Miss Korsgaard,” he said coldly, “you’re insulting my guest. You may choose to safeword, and I’ll respect that, but at this point all I’m seeing are theatrics like the ones you had last night.”
Shit.
“Sorry, Mr. Solis. I just...”
Rodrigo chuckled. “You want him. Believe me, I get it. It’s no offense to me.”
“Yes!” she cried, kneeling on the desk and clasping her hands in her lap. “I want him so bad I feel like I’m going to die.”
“You can’t die from sexual frustration,” Severin grumbled. “Trust me.”
She wanted to argue with him, but she had the feeling undermining his authority would be end in punishment, and not a light one. Rightly so.
“If I let you do this,” she said to Severin, gazing up at him earnestly, “I’m afraid it will make you think I lust after him, which I don’t. I have...feelings.”
“Feelings?” Severin asked, as though not familiar with the word.
She groaned, knowing saying her next words aloud were going to be a mistake. “I have feelings for you. I don’t want to jeopardize what we have by obeying your order in this.”
Real smooth, Minnow. This is where he freaks out and bolts again.
He blinked at her as though she was speaking a language he didn’t really understand. Maybe she was.
Feral King (The Dominant Bastard Book 1) Page 13
