by Lexi Blake
“Well, maybe you should switch to the cheap stuff, darling,” he said, venom dripping from his tongue. “Because if I end up in jail, you won’t have a dime to your name.”
“Daddy’s company pays me well,” she said with a sigh. “Still, I wouldn’t like to think about what this scandal would do to the family name. We have children, you know.”
They had two piece-of-shit boys who could barely spell their own names, much less keep out of trouble. They were utterly worthless, but they were somewhat attractive and looked good on the yearly Christmas photo. He had his family-friendly photo op with them once a year and then he was able to happily send their asses back to boarding school.
Which he also wouldn’t be able to pay for if this decorator bitch decided to milk him for cash he didn’t have.
“I’m taking care of it.” Brenda’s words dropped like a ticking bomb.
“What have you done?” Cross asked, considering for the first time if he wouldn’t be better off without her. Sometimes accidents happened, after all. Sometimes a poor woman with a hidden addiction got some bad coke and overdosed. A grieving husband made for good news.
“I handled it,” she repeated.
Fuck a god damn duck. He stood and took her by both shoulders, shaking her. Even through the Botox, he was able to see some small amount of fear in her eyes. “You tell me what you did.”
She pulled away, trying to straighten her designer dress. “I hired someone to take care of it. That bitch is going to meet a few nice men tonight. I’ve had them tracking her for a couple of days. The minute she leaves that building she works in, she’s not going to be a problem anymore.”
She was going to fuck everything up. “I already put someone on this.”
“And he’s taking too long. You talked to that asshole days ago and she’s still out there. My guys are going to move fast. They are being paid to go through her apartment and find what we need, then they’re going to kill her and the problem will be solved and we don’t have to worry about it ever again.” She reached for a cigarette, lighting it with some designer lighter that had probably cost him more than a fucking car. “Now run along, Mitchell. I’ve handled it. I think if you hurry, you can catch Stephanie before she finishes for the day.”
He stared at her. God, he hated her. She’d taken his balls long ago, and he couldn’t fucking look at himself in the mirror because all he could see was the man she’d made of him.
And yet, if Shelley McNamara Hughes really was dead, maybe it would be the end of the problem and then he wouldn’t need Steve Holder anymore.
He turned away from his wife with a sigh. Maybe sweet twenty-one-year-old Stephanie could take his mind off his troubles.
Chapter Eight
Wolf felt magnificent despite the fact that his dick was languishing in hell. He walked into the men’s locker room with a huge grin on his face. He’d kissed Shelley, those gorgeous, sensual lips pressing against his, and dropped her off at the women’s dressing room with strict instructions on how to dress and where to wait for him.
She’d smiled and called him bossy and agreed.
She was fucking perfect.
He glanced around the locker room. It wasn’t some cruddy, poorly lit gym locker room. Oh, no. Everything at The Club was first-rate. Gleaming hardwood floor at his feet, and the lockers were engraved with the name of the member. Locker wasn’t the word for it. His storage space was more like a small closet.
This place was unlike any club he’d been in before, and he got to work here. He’d spent months trying to get back on the Teams, and he’d worked on a ranch, but when he’d walked into this club, he’d had the oddest feeling that he was coming home.
“You high-fived her? What? Are you still in fifth grade?”
He grinned as Leo marched into the locker room followed by Logan. Yes, his brother was bitching at him. It truly did feel like home. “Hey, I thought Shelley and I made a great team. And she totally deserved that high five. I would have patted her on the ass, but I’d already spanked it earlier.”
Leo kicked off his boots. Naturally, he’d been given the locker right next to his brother’s.
“Yeah. I’m not sure you should be spanking her when she doesn’t have a collar on yet, but that’s beside the point. Nowhere in all of the clubs I have been in have I ever seen a Dom high-five his sub after a scene,” Leo complained.
Wolf wasn’t stupid. Shelley might never have slept with Leo, but they’d had something serious going on. He’d spent the whole afternoon thinking about the problem. The minute he’d figured out that Shelley had something to do with Leo’s yearlong crappy mood, he’d wondered if he hadn’t made an enormous mistake.
And then he’d realized he had a choice. He could walk away and hope that Shelley and Leo found what they needed. Or he could be what they needed and bring them together. And all the while he could make a place for himself.
A family. That was what he wanted, and he couldn’t think of anyone he’d trust more to share a family with than his brother.
It worked for his friends. Hell, he’d seen men who hated each other bond over a shared woman. Why couldn’t it work for him?
“Hey, she was hot, man. I would have high-fived her, too,” Logan said, giving Wolf a thumbs-up.
Leo turned back to his charge. “I told you to watch Julian’s form. You were supposed to be studying the scene.”
Logan shrugged. “When some hot chick has her cootch on display, I’m not going to be capable of studying two dudes. It ain’t happening.”
“I am surrounded by twelve-year-olds,” Leo said.
Leo had never been huggy, but god, he hadn’t been this dried-up prune. Leo’s sarcastic, snarky self seemed to have been replaced with someone Wolf didn’t understand.
“Well, it worked. It took her mind off what happened this afternoon.” But his brain was working overtime. He couldn’t help but follow his instincts. And he didn’t like the fact that Steve Holder had been in the exact right place at the right time to rescue Shelley. It felt wrong. “I don’t want her in that apartment alone.”
Leo untied his leathers. “You know about the trouble she had during her marriage?”
Wolf shoved his leathers into his gym bag and pulled out a pair of jeans. He would need to buy another couple of pairs of leathers if he was going to be in The Club every night. And he needed to find a dry cleaner who wouldn’t mind some unsavory stain removal. “I read the file Julian sent me. Her husband seems like he was an asshole.”
“He put her through hell.”
Yes, he understood that. If he could, he would love to have a long talk with Bryce Hughes. A single bullet to the head hadn’t been painful enough. “You’re worried that someone’s going to try to take revenge on her?”
“I don’t know.” Leo shoved his legs into a pair of boxers and sat down on the bench in front of his locker. “The feds cleared her, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of people out there who would love to get some revenge on someone, and Bryce is no longer available. It won’t work. She doesn’t know anything.”
“I believe you. You were around this guy. Why the hell did she marry him?” It surprised him that she would stay in a bad marriage. Shelley seemed so smart, so capable. Yes, she was submissive, but she knew what she wanted. He couldn’t see her wanting this Bryce guy.
Leo sighed and leaned back against his locker. “Go away, Logan.”
Logan’s eyes lit up like a prisoner who’d realized he might get parole.
Leo frowned. “I find you in the bar and we’re going to have trouble. Go join Ben and Chase. Follow them around for a while.”
“Cool. That Kitten chick seems like a trip.” Logan was out of the locker room in a flash.
Leo looked up at him, his eyes narrowing. “He doesn’t seem as broken as you said he was. I actually thought he would be unsettled by the scene, but he simply watched you get your sub off, paying no attention at all to the intense punishment going on onstage. I though
t I would use it as a talking point, but I guess I’ll have to find another way.”
Wolf shook his head. Leo was barking up the wrong tree. “Logan isn’t going to be disturbed by a lot of this stuff. He grew up in Bliss. I’ve heard that most of the men of the town have visited Stef Talbot’s playroom. I spent the last summer with Logan and his best friend, James. Logan’s into some kinky shit, but don’t think for a minute that he’s not troubled. You haven’t found his pressure point yet. Now, tell me about my sub.”
He was satisfied with the way Leo’s eyes tightened at the word “my.” Leo wasn’t as remote as he liked to pretend. “I met her when I started treating Trev.”
“Yeah, I knew who her brother was. I probably should have put two and two together, but math was never my strong suit.”
Leo’s eyes rolled. “God, I wish you would stop the ‘I’m dumb’ shit. Anyway, I liked her. It was obvious that she loved her brother and that her marriage sucked. You know me. I like to flirt.”
Wolf liked to flirt, too. Though unlike his brother, he preferred to flirt with women who he could actually have a relationship with. But then Leo wasn’t big on relationships. He’d had a few girlfriends in high school, and he’d married Janine, but other than that, as far as Wolf knew, he hadn’t even had a permanent sub. Having spent the day talking to the other Doms and some of the subs who worked at The Club, he knew that Leo was a bit of an enigma. The Doms respected him, and the subs fought for his attention, each one desperate to be the one sub who finally caught him. But Leo was a hard case. “So you fell for her?”
Leo closed his eyes, his head against the door. “I guess so. I only know that I felt more for her than I’ve felt for anyone in a long time. I might flirt with my friends’ wives, but I wouldn’t touch them. They’re safe. So are the subs I work with.”
Yes, Leo had been running from the whole idea of commitment for a long time. “So after years of anonymous sex and flirting with no real intent, you meet Shelley and suddenly you can’t help yourself. I can see it. She’s amazing. She’s gorgeous. She’s funny. So why didn’t you try to get her away from that asshole?”
Leo’s eyes flew open, and his face hardened. “You think I didn’t? Goddamn it, Wolf, I offered to take her away. I told her I loved her. She told me to stay out of her marriage.”
He could guess what had happened next. Leo would have stepped back and walked away. “Why did she do that?”
“Because she didn’t want me,” Leo replied stubbornly.
“Bullshit. Why did she do it? I’ve known her a month and I would bet my life she did it because she thought she was protecting you. But your pride got hurt and you walked away when you should have tied her ass up and shoved her in your truck.”
Leo leaned forward. “It’s nice to know you would have done it differently. It’s over now.”
“Is it? Does it have to be? Do you want it to be?”
Leo laughed, but there wasn’t a damn thing humorous about it. “You’re going to give her up?”
“Why should I have to?” There, he’d put it out as flatly as he could.
Leo stood and slammed open his locker. “You’ve spent too much time in Bliss. It wouldn’t work. I’m too possessive. I can’t share.”
“Bullshit. You aren’t possessive enough.” Maybe it had been too soon to bring that up. Wolf grabbed his jeans and started to get dressed. “You can use a word like possessive all day long, brother, but you let Janine walk out on you. Now you’re letting Shelley walk away.” He shoved his feet into his boots. “But I’m not going to make the same mistake. She’s the one. I’m crazy about her, and I think I can get her to love me.”
Leo sighed, the sound making him feel like he was five years old again. “You’ve known her for a fucking month. You just met her in person. You have always jumped in with both feet, never bothering to look and see what you’re jumping into.”
He wasn’t about to argue with that assessment. “I go with my gut. My gut tells me she’s special. My gut tells me to go for what I want. And my gut tells me to share her with you because we could give her what she needs. But I’ll handle it by myself if I have to. She has ménage fantasies. I thought you could help with that. But I have friends who won’t mind.”
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
That was what he wanted to hear. His brother was actually quite possessive, though he had spent the last several years hiding it well. Or he simply hadn’t cared enough about anyone to be possessive. Wolf knew the feeling well. “It’s my job to give her what she needs. If I decide that she needs a ménage, then I’ll make it happen.”
He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t share her with anyone except Leo, but Leo didn’t have to know it. Wolf had known the minute he’d laid eyes on Shelley that he wouldn’t share her. He’d enjoyed the temporary ménages he’d been a part of, but she was serious and only a seriously committed ménage would work. If Leo wouldn’t go along with it, then she would have to be satisfied with toys and fantasy.
Wolf had needs, too, and in this case, they trumped hers. He needed her for himself—and his brother.
Leo’s fists tightened at his sides. “I swear to god if you hurt her, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Yeah, that should be a pleasant conversation with Ma.” He felt unaccountably better. If Leo had shrugged and said go for it, he would have known it was all over. But he hadn’t, and seeing that Wolf intended to put his sub on display as often as possible, Leo wouldn’t stand a chance. He would come after Shelley.
The only question was, would Leo accept him as his partner?
It was a dangerous game he was playing, but he didn’t have another choice. The minute he’d figured out Shelley and Leo’s deep connection, he’d known it was only a matter of time. He was crazy about Shelley. He loved his brother. He wanted the best for both of them.
And he wanted the best for himself.
“I’ll stay at Shelley’s tonight. I don’t like the idea of her being alone until we figure out if the robbery was random.” He glanced at himself in the mirror. He didn’t look terrible, but he could use a good night’s sleep. He probably wouldn’t get it on Shelley’s couch, but he also wasn’t going to press his luck.
She was probably in some serious sub drop. She’d been caught up in the adrenaline of the scene, and now she would be thinking about the fact that she’d been naked. He would have to calm her fears by taking it slow.
But he didn’t want to. He wanted to take her back to her place and shove his cock deep inside her.
“Dear god, Wolf, can’t you control that thing?” Leo asked, his eyes rolling.
Yep, he had an erection again. “Nope. Little Wolf is very upset, but there ain’t a damn thing happening to you tonight, buddy.”
A smile finally broke over Leo’s face. “It’s good to know you still talk to your cock.”
“Hey, sometimes it’s been my best friend.” It was an old joke between them. One they had started when Wolf was twelve and had gotten caught in the middle of math class with an erection because Penny Wells had worn a V-neck for the first time and she’d magically grown breasts over the Christmas break.
“Go and take care of her.” Leo looked weary. “Call me if you need me.”
Wolf started out the door.
“And Wolf?”
He turned. His brother’s eyes opened and a sad smile crossed his face. “I’m glad you’re here. We’ll work this out. And god, don’t bring Ma down on me.”
“I promise nothing.” He walked out the door, pleased with the way the evening had gone.
* * * *
Shelley stood right outside the women’s dressing room. She practically cringed every time someone walked in or out and gave her a smile.
Were they smiling because they were friendly or laughing because they’d seen her ass? It had seemed so hot at the time, but now she was thinking about the fact that her ass wasn’t as perky as it had been. And she’d never actually gotten a mirror out and looked at her pussy. It cou
ld be hideous.
And Leo had seen her. God. She’d spread her legs in front of Leo Meyer and writhed on his brother’s lap. When she went wild, she really went wild.
“Hi, Shelley. Great scene. Very hot.” Marcy, a sub who also worked at the bar, said as she walked up. “My Master was impressed. He shoved me onto a sawhorse and, wow. That was some of the best quickie sex I’ve ever had.”
She felt her cheeks go up in flames. “Glad I could help.”
Marcy had a pixie-like bob that shook slightly as she spoke. “I always thought you would end up breaking Leo’s self-imposed exile, but, hey, his brother is even hotter. Although he’s a little informal for my tastes.”
Yeah, high-fiving her after a scene wouldn’t make people take Wolf seriously. “He’s different.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll say.” Tara, a regular who attended with her husband, agreed. She was a cute redhead who had patiently answered many of Shelley’s questions when she’d first been interested in the lifestyle. “I just wish he’d managed to get his leathers off.”
“I heard that, sub. That’s ten,” her husband called out. But he was wearing a grin on his face as he slapped her ass. “Come on, baby, give me another ten.”
“Wolf Meyer is hot.”
“Oh, yeah. Now I’m getting the crop out.” Tara’s husband kissed her cheek and strode into the men’s locker room.
It was that sort of easy relationship she wanted. Tara didn’t look like she would be sitting around terrified someone was making fun of her cellulite. Tara seemed secure in her relationship, and Marcy looked perfectly happy to have had some amazing sex.
“I hear you’re getting all the subs in trouble, love.”
God, he was so damn sexy. Wolf stood in the entryway to the locker room wearing a perfectly respectable pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a light leather jacket that he somehow turned into something ultra sexy. His broad shoulders filled the entryway, but she was caught on his male-model-worthy smile. She sighed.
