by Katee Robert
Chapter 8
Hercules
This isn’t going at all how I expected.
I spend the rest of the day looking at this mess from a thousand different angles, and there’s no getting around the truth: I fucked up. I’m just as much a fucking idiot as Meg accused me of being. I let my desire to protect her get the best of me. After what happened in Olympus, I should know better. Protecting other people only leads to trouble, and in the end I don’t make a single goddamn difference. I can’t seem to help myself, though.
Not before, with Leda.
Not now, with Meg.
The path seemed so clear before, but by the time someone knocks at my door, I’m a bundle of nerves. I have no idea what I really signed on for. Fucking Hades, sure. Something that I shouldn’t want, but there’s no denying the anticipation that zings through my veins. He’s nothing like the guys I messed around with in high school and college. He’s got an edge about him that says he wants to hurt me. I’m afraid I’m going to like it.
I open the door to find a cute, curvy blonde standing there. She’s wearing a short skirt and a cropped lace top thing, and I blush at the sight of her pale pink nipples showing through. In the second it takes to pull my gaze to her face, she’s started laughing at me. She props a hand on her generous hip and smirks. “God, you’re precious. They’re going to eat you up with a spoon.” She turns and starts away, which leaves me scrambling to shut my door behind me and keep up.
I finally catch her right before she hits the elevator. She’s fast for such a little thing. “I’m Hercules.”
“I’m aware.” She punches the button and gives me another look, finally settling on my jeans. “First up is wardrobe. That will not do.”
I follow her into the elevator, feeling like a kid tagging behind an adult. “What’s your name?”
She sighs like it’s an intrusive question. “Tink. I’m handling your training, because obviously I’ve pissed off the big guy in recent weeks.”
“You mean Hades.”
“I mean Hades.” The elevator slides to a stop, and she leads the way down the hall and through a door into another, smaller hall. Tink doesn’t wait for me to gawk. She just opens yet another door and strides through. Inside is the largest closet I’ve ever seen. Or maybe it’s a store? I honestly can’t tell as she moves to the right side and starts sifting through the racks. She shoots me another look and frowns. “Take off your clothes.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I can usually eyeball measurements, but the baggy T-shirt is throwing me off.” She made a vague motion. “Strip. We don’t have a ton of time, so save the bashful virgin act for the customers.”
Customers?
Somehow, in all this, it never occurred to me that I’d be dealing with customers. I’d braced for Hades. Had prepared myself as much as was reasonably possible. Nothing could prepare me for this. “I’m not sleeping with people.”
Tink pauses and gives me a long look. Whatever she must see on my face makes her sigh. “Wow, you really are a baby. Look, Hades isn’t a pimp. I mean, I guess technically he could qualify since some of us like to fuck the customers. But it’s not part of the contract. Submission or domination, depending on our terms, but not fucking.”
It’s like she’s speaking a different language. “I don’t understand.”
She mutters something about hazard pay and comes to stand before me. She’s so short, she barely hits my chest, but that doesn’t make her presence any less intense. Tink taps my chest. “Strip.”
There’s enough snap in her voice that I obey without thinking, pulling my shirt over my head with one hand. She snatches the fabric from my hands and tosses it to the side. “That thing you just did, how you felt so right in obeying me? That’s submission.”
“I know what submission is.” I’m not an idiot, no matter what she obviously thinks. “I know what Hades is, too.” King of the Underworld. Someone with his hands in all the right pockets, because from what I could glean in my rudimentary research of this place, the clientele is the elite of Carver City. They’re what the Thirteen are back in Olympus. Powerful and rich beyond measure, with a total lack of morality.
“Then why are we having this conversation?”
I try to articulate the strange feeling inside me. “When I made the deal, he acted like he now owns me.”
“If you made a deal with him, then he does own you.”
That’s what I thought. “Then why…” I motion at the room.
Understanding flares and she rolls her eyes. “Hades doesn’t fuck anyone but Meg. I mean, he does scenes with others sometimes and he enjoys watching, but just because you sold yourself to him doesn’t mean he’s going to like make you his sex slave or something.”
Except that’s exactly what Hades implied when we sealed our deal with a kiss. I barely manage to keep myself from asking how Tink sealed her deal. It’s none of my business, and she obviously doesn’t like me that much already. “So we all just work in the club?”
“Pretty much.” She moves back to the racks and pulls out a pair of shorts. “These should work. Put them on.”
This time, I don’t bother to argue. I’m obviously not going to get much in the way of explanation, and I gave my word to Hades. I won’t let something as mundane as modesty get in the way of keeping it. I strip out of my jeans and pull on the shorts. They’re smaller than I expected, barely covering my ass in the back and hugging my cock and balls so snugly that they create an obscene bulge in the front.
And, except for the front panel, they’re made of see-through mesh.
“Hades can be something of a traditionalist, so he likes us barefoot.” She considers me a full second longer and shakes her head. “I can’t really blame him for taking the deal now that I see what I’m working with. You’re pretty.”
The way she says it makes it sound like it’s a bad thing. “Thanks?”
“This way.” Tink leads me deeper into the room and through another door that takes us into what I recognize as an employee dressing room. She stops in front of an empty locker. “This will be yours. We don’t use locks because nobody is dumb enough to steal from one of Hades’s people.” She opens the locker and pulls out a thick black leather collar. “We wear these while on shift.” She dips back into the locker and pulls out a thick green circular ring and I have a horrified moment of wondering if she’s going to demand I wedge it onto my cock, but she just snaps it into the hook at the front of the collar.
The one that looks like it attaches itself to a leash.
Just like that, I can picture it. Kneeling at his feet in this ridiculous fucking outfit with a chain attached to the collar, its leather handle dangling from his graceful fingers. My gut goes tight and I have to fight not to physically respond. It doesn’t seem to matter. Tink sees it. She gives me a sad little smile. “Welcome to the Underworld.”
Then she drags me along to training. In the next few hours, I get a crash course in BDSM, submissives, safe words, and what exactly is expected of me working here. The first couple of weeks will be observing and basically acting in a role similar to what I did back at my old job—serving drinks, working the front lounge. I’ll also be doing more hands-on training… with Hades.
I don’t know if I look forward to it or dread it, but I’m too nervous right now to know the difference.
Tink glances at her watch. “It’s time.” She surveys me. “No one will touch you without permission, but that won’t stop some of those assholes from messing with you verbally. Don’t play into it, because if you snap, Hades will punish you and he’ll do it publicly. Just keep your eyes down and mouth shut. And listen. We do a recap at the end of each night with the information gathered, so pay attention, even if you don’t recognize the players.”
It’s too much and too little all at the same time. I don’t know what I expected when I said yes to him, but this isn’t it. He’s throwing me in the deep end, and there isn’t a single person who will help me if
I drown. Tink might feel a little bad, but honestly, I can’t get a good enough read on her to know for sure. She might just as easily shrug and move on to the next new recruit with the same amount of crankiness.
But as I fall into the familiar rhythms of taking drinks orders and moving through the tables and bar, things start to unwind for me. This is familiar. I know how to do this, even if it’s a relatively new skill. The rest of it will figure itself out, but I can get through tonight.
Or so I think, right up until I catch a familiar profile out of the corner of my eye.
I turn to find Meg standing near the bar. She’s wearing a pair of tailored slacks and a deep purple bra-like top that I can almost see through. Why is she here? She should be well on her way to freedom. Not haunting this place where I’m currently trapped.
Unless…
Unless she came for me?
My chest feels tight as she strides toward me on wickedly high heels. There’s no familiarity on her face, nothing to indicate her thoughts. The warmth she showed me in that apartment above the restaurant remains nowhere in evidence. This woman could be a stranger for the cold way she studies my body, lingering on my chest and cock before trailing down my legs.
“What are you doing here?” I don’t mean to speak. I really don’t. My intentions don’t seem to make a difference. “If he broke his word…”
“Hades never breaks his word,” she says absently. “I’m here because I want to be.” Meg tilts her head to the side, causing her hair to cascade over her shoulder. I want to run my fingers through it, to tug her face up to meet mine, but I know better. I still have to clench my fists at my side to keep myself from doing it.
“He wants to see you.” She turns and walks away, leaving me to follow in her footsteps.
As I do, my confusion hardens to something significantly uglier. I’m here because I want to be. She does whatever she wants to do. No one is forcing her into anything. That’s what her words translate to, before in my new suite and here on the floor. Several truths settle over me, each a jagged shard in my throat.
Hades isn’t forcing Meg to do anything. He didn’t force her to fuck me. He didn’t force her to her knees. He isn’t keeping her like some princess trapped in a tower. She consented to the entire thing. If she didn’t, then my deal would have set her free and she wouldn’t be walking through the lounge like a queen moving through her subjects.
He played me.
Meg played me.
By the time she leads me through a tall set of doors into a monochromatic gray office, I’m furious. I stop just inside the door. “You screwed me over.”
“I didn’t even know you were here until you’d already made the deal.” She keeps walking, moving to stand at the shoulder of the man sitting at the desk.
Hades steeples his fingers and watches me with deep, dark eyes behind the black frames of his glasses. He’s wearing his customary black-on-black suit, and I hate that I respond to him. To them. He leans forward as if only casually interested in this conversation. “Are you going back on your word?”
“Why shouldn’t I? You went back on yours.”
“Did I?” He still sounds so fucking distant, I can’t stand it. He glances at Meg. “I gave my word that you wouldn’t do anything you didn’t want to, love.”
Her mouth twists, but she smooths out her expression almost immediately. “I have my safe word for a reason.”
“I don’t respect many rules, but that one is sacred.” Now Hades focuses all his indomitable will on me. “Time for you to pick a safe word, little Hercules.”
Little Hercules. As if I’m not several inches taller and significantly heavier than his slim frame. Somehow, it doesn’t matter. Even across the room, even so furious and betrayed that I can barely draw a breath, I have to fight not to hit my knees for him.
I want to tell him to fuck off. That I didn’t sign up for this. That I never would have given him this power over me if I wasn’t stupidly playing the hero for a woman who wasn’t interested in being saved. In the end, all my assumptions don’t matter.
I gave my word.
I’ll keep it.
My honor is the only thing I have left, and I can’t let something as stupid as my own mistake get in the way of it. If that were an option, I’d still be enjoying my pampered life back in Olympus. I’ve already turned my back on so much. Why not turn my back on my fucking freedom too?
“Olympus,” I grind out. It’s as good a safe word as anything.
“Good boy.” He pushes slowly to his feet. “Then we can begin.”
“What?” That shakes me out of my anger. “But I’m in the middle of my shift and—”
“Tink can manage without you.” He moves around the desk and toward the couch situated on the left side of the room. “Meg.”
She follows him, and with each step, she loses some of the dominance that drew me to her in the first place, shedding it like a second skin until she’s a single step behind him with her eyes downcast. It’s the exact same transformation I witnessed in that apartment after Hades showed up, but I have a term for it now.
Switch.
Both Dominant and submissive, all wrapped up in a package I still desire even though I know better by now.
“You’re overdressed, love.”
That’s all it takes, and she kicks off her heels and slips out of her pants, leaving her in only the cropped bustier and a lace thong. Hades merely raises his brows, and Meg rolls her eyes and strips the rest of the way down. Not a hint of shyness in the fact that she’s standing naked before us, but did I really expect there to be?
“Show him how it’s done.”
She sinks gracefully to her knees, her back perfectly straight, and lowers her eyes. She’s so beautiful, it takes my breath away. I don’t get much time to enjoy the view, because Hades steps in front of her and gives me a look like he can divine my thoughts right out of my head. “Your turn.”
I hesitantly reach for my shorts, but he shakes his head. “Keep them on for now. Consider this your first lesson.”
I’m nowhere near as graceful as Meg. My body feels strange inside my skin as I lower myself to my knees and reluctantly bow my head.
I don’t expect his gentle touch at the back of my neck, and I can’t stop my flinch. Hades chuckles as if he enjoys my response. “This won’t work if you don’t watch, little Hercules. The show is just for you.”
I know it’s a trap. I’m not a fucking idiot, though at this point all evidence of my actions say otherwise. I still lift my head and watch him circle Meg.
She doesn’t look up, doesn’t flinch when he bestows the same touch along the back of her neck that he did to me. She simply sits there, the very picture of a perfect submissive. I have the strangest desire to see her with a whip in her hand and cruelty in those blue eyes.
Hades pulls a necklace from his pocket. No, not a necklace, a collar. It’s a gorgeous piece of work, weathered black leather with diamonds sewn into it to look like the night sky. An oversized buckle rests at the back of her neck to keep it in place. “Do you know how to keep a woman like Meg happy, little Hercules?”
Yes, this is definitely a trap.
I swallow past my suddenly dry throat. “I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“Smart boy.” The words don’t sound like praise coming out of his mouth, and heat rises to my cheeks in response. Hades reaches down to run a finger along her collar. “You give her everything she could possibly need.”
There it is again. That flash in Meg’s eyes that betrays her. She might be here of her own volition, but there’s something else going on. Something deeper. It might be as mundane as dissatisfaction, but I honestly can’t be sure.
“Submission,” he continues, moving his touch to her jaw. His touch still seems light, but he guides her head back, arching her spine. “Spread, love.”
She does as he commands, spreading her thighs wide. I can see…all of her. Her breasts that I palmed less than a week ago.
Her stomach that I bracketed with my hands as I fucked her exactly like she commanded. Her pussy where I buried my face and licked her until she came. She’s pink and wet, and somehow I didn’t expect that. No matter what lurks in her eyes, she likes what Hades is doing to her, though it seems precious little at the moment. He’s putting her on display, all but tattooing his name on her ass.
Claiming her.
He releases her and walks to the couch to resume his position. “Come here, little Hercules.” When I start to rise, he shakes his head slowly, his lips quirking into a small smile. “Crawl.” The instruction is gentle and no less cruel for it.
My whole body goes hot and tight as I move onto my hands and knees and crawl across the distance between me and the couch. There, I hesitate. Am I supposed to join him there? Kneel here? Something akin to panic wells inside me, but it doesn’t get a chance to gain momentum because Hades catches the back of my neck in the unbreakable grip and guides me to kneel at his feet facing away from him.
“Don’t move. That is a command, by the way.” He sifts his fingers through my hair and it feels like he’s touching me in a thousand different places. “What happens if you break my command?”
I lick my lips. “You punish me.” My cock is so hard, it’s creating a gap in the top of my shorts, like it can punch its way to freedom.
“That’s right.” He moves behind me, and my breath catches in my throat as his legs come down on either side of my body. His thighs brush my arms, and even though he hasn’t bound me, I feel like I’m locked in place. He squeezes my shoulders, and I jump as he whispers in my ear. “Tell me your safe word.”
“Olympus,” I breathe.
“Good boy.” He lifts his voice. “Meg, you may begin.”
Chapter 9
Hades
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as watching the son of my enemy submit. He’s beautiful at it, even when he’s fighting his basest impulse. Hercules wants to kneel at my feet, to obey my commands, but he thinks he shouldn’t so he fights me. He won’t win. I could tell him that now, but spoiling the ending takes the fun out of the game.
