by Abby Blake
But even mild analgesics would take away the pain, and that was the one thing she’d been seeking.
“Thank you, but no,” Bianca said quietly. “I appreciate your help, but I think I just need some sleep.”
Again, Bethany didn’t look happy with the situation but she nodded her understanding.
“Okay, get some rest. I’ll check on you in a little while.”
Sleep was a long time coming, but Bianca woke to find a man standing over her. It was so much like her memories and nightmares of the night her life changed forever that she cried out, begging for mercy before she realized where she was.
“Bianca, it’s okay. It’s just me. It’s Ben.”
Ben? The fog in her brain cleared slightly, and she finally remembered the man who’d intervened at the club.
“S–Sorry,” she said, awkwardly trying to push herself into a sitting position. Fortunately the pain helped clear the remnants of confusion.
“I just came in to check on you. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“It’s okay,” she said shakily. “What time is it?”
“Nearly six,” Ben said in a near whisper.
“I should get going.” Again she tried to lever herself into a sitting position.
“No, baby girl,” Ben said in a tone of voice that had her paying attention, “you will stay right here. Bethany and Adam have offered to take care of you until you’re well enough to take care of yourself.”
“That’s not necessa—”
She cut her words off when she saw the anger on Ben’s face. Hell, she didn’t know this man at all. He could be some sort of serial killer for all she knew.
“Baby girl,” he said, reaching over to touch her face softly with the back of one knuckle, “it’s very necessary. It’s obvious that you’re hurting—and I don’t mean just physically. Let someone help you through whatever it is that’s eating you alive.”
She tried to laugh off Ben’s painfully accurate assessment, but he gave her a sad smile and waited for her to quiet once more.
“What happened to your family, Bianca?”
“What?” she asked as pain lanced through her chest. This time it had nothing to do with the injuries she’d gotten at the club.
“When you woke just now, you asked me spare your family. You said your brother was only a boy, and that they could do anything they wanted to you as long as they let your family live.”
“I said that in English?” Bianca asked on a sharp inhalation of breath.
“No,” Ben said quietly. “I speak several different languages.” Before she could react to the idea that a man who looked like a biker seemed to be highly educated, he asked her the dreaded question again. “What happened to your family, Bianca?”
“They died,” she said belligerently, truly wishing she could get up and leave in a huff. Unfortunately her injuries had swollen and moving, even while embracing the pain, was damn near impossible.
“How?” Ben asked, the concern on his face nearly her undoing.
She blinked back the tears. “They were murdered in some stupid little country, for reasons no one can explain, by a mob of thugs who justified their actions with a bunch of racist propaganda. Happy now? You know the whole fucking pathetic story. I watched them kill my younger brother without an ounce of thought. They tortured and killed my mother and father for no reason other than they could. Dad was a diplomat, not a fucking spy.”
Bianca dragged in a faltering breath, desperately trying to pull back the emotions battering her from all sides. She didn’t want to remember any of this.
“Is that why you seek pain? To forget?”
Bianca locked her jaw and refused to answer. It was such a stupid fucking question, it didn’t deserve a response, but when Ben continued to watch her so closely, she began to squirm. Thankfully the pain such movement caused was enough to steady her equilibrium.
“I need some rest,” she said, trying to dismiss him from her room.
“Yes, you do, baby girl,” Ben said in a strange tone of voice. “And from now on I’m going to make sure that you get it.”
Chapter Two
Present day…
Viper held his little sub close, his arms possessively wrapped around her shoulders, his forearms resting against her collarbone, as they watched their friend Maya writhe in both fear and arousal. She was secured to a St. Andrew’s cross wearing a skin-tight, flesh-colored bodysuit, and it was clear that she was worried that she wouldn’t be able to orgasm in front of a crowd. Viper knew his friend Derek well enough to know he would make certain she did. He grinned when he saw the vibrator in Cam’s hand. It was clear that Maya had been expecting Derek to try and bring her to orgasm with the flogger, so Cam’s tactics took her completely by surprise.
She let out a very satisfying wail as climax shook her violently. Both Cam and Derek looked quite pleased with their sub’s response.
As Cam released Maya from her bonds and carried her into a private room, Bianca stood quietly in Viper’s embrace and waited for his instructions. The calm and quiet woman that he held seemed nothing like the fearful, guilt-riddled survivor she’d been when they’d met eleven years ago. To an outsider it may have seemed like a strange relationship, but Bianca found peace in serving as his full-time submissive, and she filled the need in him to protect and take care of her.
He dropped his hands lower, his palms skimming over her breasts, the nipples peaking, begging for his attention.
“Time to play, little sub.”
He didn’t wait for her response. In their relationship dynamic it wasn’t required. He was the Dom. She was the sub. She did as he told her. Fortunately it fit both their personalities perfectly.
Viper stripped away the lacy, mostly see-through dress he’d chosen for her to wear tonight and then ran his hands all over her soft flesh. She moaned, clinging to him as he pushed two fingers straight into her pussy. She was always wet for him, always ready, and it made him want her even more.
He’d planned a far more intricate scene for them tonight, but a strange urgency was streaking through his veins. He forced himself to slow down, to savor the gift of his sub’s total trust, but even as he secured her facedown over the spanking bench, the urge to slam his cock into her was nearly overwhelming.
Too impatient to reach for his “toy” bag, Viper chose a simple spanking as the best way to get his sub in the right frame of mind. He started with a few hard slaps, Bianca’s reactions to the pain very satisfying. He varied the hits, watching her closely as she relaxed into the blows and embraced the sensations.
Her pussy was dripping wet, her breathing ragged, her orgasm winding closer and closer just from the pain alone. He pushed his fingers back into her pussy, rubbing mercilessly over the slightly rougher skin of her G-spot. He smiled as she moaned, writhing against her bonds as orgasm inched closer.
As tempted as he was to let her orgasm right now, he knew it would be far more satisfying for both of them if he withheld permission. She would do everything she could to hold off her orgasm—they’d had plenty of practice after all—but he couldn’t deny the satisfaction of forcing her beyond it. Coming without his permission always led to the most delicious punishments.
But tonight she held off, managing to keep her need banked as he tormented her with endless sensations—both pain and pleasure.
Finally, unable to hold back his own need, Viper slammed into her from behind, taking her violently, using his sub exactly as she expected. He gave her permission then, wrapping his hand underneath her so that he could rub her clit. She climaxed beautifully, almost taking her with him, her body caressing him so tightly that it challenged his own control.
A little shocked by his own reaction, he pulled out, smacking her ass hard as she whimpered her disapproval. She settled quickly, her instinct to please him overriding all others.
This time he did reach for his toy bag. He grabbed a vibrator, turned it to the highest setting, growled at her not to come, and then
shoved it deep into her pussy. She groaned as she shook in reaction, but she managed to hold off her orgasm once more.
He quickly grabbed the lube, covered his cock, and then pressed it against her anus. The muscles gave easily, her body recognizing its master as thoroughly as his sub knew her Dom. He plowed into her ass over and over, fucking her violently as the vibrations from the toy reverberated through them both.
“Come. Now!” he ordered Bianca as his own body tried to defy him. He ground his teeth, waiting for her ass to grip him rhythmically as her orgasm pounded through her. He almost sighed in relief when it did.
He let himself go, his cum bursting from his cock as she continued to spasm around him, her voice hoarse as she screamed through her orgasm.
Finally, sated and exhausted, Viper pulled his cock from her ass and moved away just enough to be able to remove the vibrator from her pussy. She shook violently, the aftershocks of her orgasms almost as shattering as the orgasms themselves.
He didn’t need to tell her to lie still so he could clean her up. After eleven blissful years together his sub knew exactly what he wanted, when he wanted it. He released her bonds and gathered her exhausted frame into his arms, wrapping a blanket around her as she slowly came out of her trancelike state.
“You okay, baby girl?” he asked softly.
She seemed surprised by his question. Hell, even he was surprised by the question. He knew his sub well enough to know that she was very satisfied. He couldn’t even pinpoint the exact reason that had made him ask.
“I’m okay, Sir,” she said quietly as she closed her eyes. He knew—absolutely knew—that she was just exhausted. She wasn’t hiding her emotions behind those eyelids.
But even as he carried her back to their private quarters behind the club, he couldn’t quite convince himself that everything was fine.
* * * *
Bianca tried to melt into her Dom’s warmth and caring the same way she’d done for the past eleven years, but lately it was getting harder. In some ways she even felt like a fraud.
“Sir,” she asked as he stepped into the shower without putting her down, “would it be okay if I had lunch with Maya tomorrow?”
“Of course, baby girl,” he said absently. He’d never really denied her anything that she wanted, but since meeting him, she’d always felt the need to ask. He laughed softly, perhaps knowing something that she didn’t. “That’s assuming that Maya’s Doms let her out of bed long enough to eat.”
Bianca gave him a smile, but didn’t comment. It had been so obvious to everyone who knew Maya that she was naturally submissive, but it had taken years of avoidance before she’d finally accepted who she was inside. Cam and Derek adored their sub, and Bianca was very happy for her friend to have found such a balanced relationship between her Doms and her independence.
The trouble was that Bianca also felt envious.
Not about the two husbands part. Well, not really. Just the thought of having two men like Viper controlling her life made her stomach feel heavy with dread. These days just having one Dom like that was too much to live with.
The moment the thought slipped through her mind, Bianca ached with guilt. Viper had given her everything—a home, his devotion, a way to cope with her family’s violent deaths. He was the reason she was still sane, or perhaps even still alive. He gave her the pain she’d craved but mixed it with pleasure so divine that some days passed in a haze of blissful ignorance.
She glanced up at Viper and then quickly looked away. As a submissive she was supposed to keep her gaze lowered unless otherwise instructed. Sadly, these days it also served to hide her turbulent emotions.
“I saw Jace and Emma today,” Viper said absently as he lowered her to her feet and then smoothed shower gel all over her back and bottom. “Emma still looks green with the morning sickness.”
A small, silent sob escaped Bianca at the reminder of how her friends’ lives were moving forward. She hated the way wanting more felt like she was betraying Viper, but the small kernel of dissatisfaction that had sparked a few years ago was starting to grow to a point that she could no longer ignore.
“Does Logan know yet?” she asked quietly. As far as Bianca knew, Logan, one of Emma’s Doms, had been out of the country for several months, and as an active Navy SEAL it wasn’t always possible to get a personal message to him. It seemed amazingly ironic that Emma was pretty sure he was the biological father of her baby. The guy wasn’t home very often, but it seemed when he was, he made up for it.
“I didn’t think to ask,” Viper said as he rinsed away the soap and quickly scrubbed himself down.
Irrationally annoyed at Viper’s offhanded comment, Bianca found herself suggesting something she’d resolved years ago not to suggest. “Maybe we could think about having a baby, too.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Viper controlled the direction of their lives. Her place was to do as she was told. She’d been happy in this relationship for years. Why was she upsetting the balance now?
Viper laughed softly, dismissing her suggestion easily. “I’m sure you’d change your mind with the first dirty diaper.”
The words stung. She knew Viper probably didn’t mean them the way they sounded, but the truth was that in the past his words would have been accurate. She’d struggled with the grief and anger for so long that she’d barely been able to look after herself. Looking after a child would have been a very difficult, if not impossible task for her to manage.
But she was better now. She was ready to take back the future a handful of selfish thugs had stolen so long ago. It seemed cosmically unfair that the very man who’d helped her to regain that sense of self was the very person standing in her way right now.
She loved him, and Lord knew she owed him, but a part of her realized she didn’t need him with the same desperation she’d once held.
“You would make a wonderful father, Sir,” she said, trying to approach the issue from a different angle. She was self-aware enough to know that a very big part of the reason she felt ready to start a family, or to at least gain a little more independence was the man currently rinsing the soap away from her skin.
She closed her eyes against the tears that threatened to give away her emotional turmoil. Unfortunately she wasn’t fast enough this time. Viper lifted her chin. “Look at me,” he ordered in that tone of voice she’d never, ever ignored.
“Baby girl, you are the center of my universe. I don’t need children to feel complete.”
“But—” she began, yet he cut off her words with a look.
“Enough, little sub. No children. End of discussion.”
She nodded, trying to hide her disappointment even as she sifted through his words in her mind. It may have been pure paranoia, but it had almost seemed that he was making a choice between keeping her and having children—as if the concepts were mutually exclusive. Would he be more inclined to have a family of his own if he wasn’t lumped with a sub like her?
Viper lifted her straight up and she wrapped her legs around him quickly, reacting to him the same way she’d been doing since they’d met. He thrust his hard cock straight into her pussy, his lovemaking far more gentle than earlier as he whispered words of reassurance. “You are mine, little sub, and I’ll never set you aside.”
She nearly choked on the sob, his gentle words of comfort confirming that he did indeed see her as only his sub, never his wife or the mother of his children.
“Hush,” he said, taking her body slowly, wringing gentle gasps of arousal from her despite the grief she tried to bury. “We have each other. That’s all we need.”
His movements grew more forceful then, his presence overwhelming her as it always did. She sighed as her orgasm bloomed, holding him close as he came inside her.
And a single tear slid down her face at the knowledge that their lovemaking would never make a child.
Chapter Three
“I asked Maya to marry me last night.”
> Brick Darnell briefly turned his attention from the road to his closest friend.
“What does Cam think of that?” He knew Maya and Derek had a very unusual relationship.
“He asked her to marry him, too,” Derek said with a soft chuckle. He knew Brick wasn’t quite as open-minded as he was, and he never missed an opportunity to tease.
“You know that’s illegal in this state, right?”
Derek dismissed his concerns with a shrug and a wide grin. “That’s just paperwork. Maya will commit herself to us both. There are no laws against that.”
Brick nodded. He already knew from experience that the piece of paper wasn’t magical. His ex-wife had very thoroughly taught him that lesson. With such a huge failure in his own past, who was he to say what was right and wrong in a relationship?
“Will you come to the collaring ceremony?”
“At the club?” Brick asked, hoping that the question didn’t telegraph his distaste. They might have worked side by side for years and were close friends, but they tended to avoid each other’s romantic relationships, mostly because of Brick’s aversion to the local fetish club. He knew what happened at Viper’s Dungeon was consensual—and he respected a person’s right to choose such a lifestyle—but it didn’t mean he wanted to be a part of it.
Of course he’d broken all of his own rules by getting to know Maya and Cam through their work at the youth center. They were good people, and he was glad to them call friends. He just tried very hard to forget what Maya, Derek, and Cam got up to when he wasn’t around.
But Derek asking him to the BDSM equivalent of a marriage ceremony was a difficult one to turn down. Brick was truly happy for him and Maya, and even Cam, but refusing to attend something so important to them would suggest the opposite.
“Sure,” he said as Derek confirmed the location. “What day should I mark on my calendar?”
“Next Thursday.”
