by Nicola Jane
“Why do you give a fuck what they think? She likes you, it’s all that matters.”
“I don’t care. I don’t even know why I’m in here, talking to you.”
“Me either,” he says, relief flooding his face. “Goodbye.”
“But you were like, yah know . . . as a kid,” I push on, and he groans. “Things happened to you, growing up,” I say. The women talk and rumours have circulated about Cree’s childhood and things that happened to him when he was younger.
“Brother, make your point,” he snaps.
The door opens and Eva storms in, glaring at Cree. I watch as he slowly rises to his feet, smirking. “It was a joke,” he explains.
“You don’t make jokes,” she hisses.
“You’ve been so . . .” he begins.
She moves a step towards him, and he laughs, edging around the desk. “Put things right, Elijah,” she whispers, her tone threatening. He moves so fast, he almost floats as he sweeps her up in his arms.
“You won’t walk for a week,” he promises, carrying her from the office. I stare at the open door and sigh heavily. I guess that’s the end of that conversation.
Blade is sitting at the bar in the main room, so I join him. “Things good with you, brother?” he asks.
“What do women want?” I ask, and he laughs.
“Man, if I knew that, Tillie would be one happy woman. As it is, I have no clue. One minute, she likes bacon, the next, she screams at me for not knowing what she likes and tells me she’s gone off bacon. Are we meant to know that shit? Like, do we tap into their brain and I just wasn’t given that skill?”
“Maybe it’s hormones,” I say. Tillie is a few weeks behind Sara in pregnancy. “Sure as shit hope that’s the case with Sara.”
“You’ve seen her?” asks Blade.
“I’ve been spending time with her. I tried to make things official, but she got all weird on me.”
“She’s moving out of that big house in Knightsbridge,” says Blade.
“I saw her this morning, and she never mentioned it.”
“Apparently, she saw her parents today, and they’ve pretty much withdrawn their financial help. Tillie asked Pres if Sara could stay here for a few days until she finds a smaller place.”
My heart rate speeds up at the thought of having Sara here at the club. I glance over at Maisy, who’s watching the kids for the ol’ ladies. Most club girls earn their keep by doing shit like that. She catches me watching and smiles. “What did Pres say?” I ask.
The door opens, and Tillie enters followed by Sara. “I guess he said yes,” says Blade, heading over to Tillie and taking some bags from her.
Charlotte marches over to me. “Who the hell is Connor?” she snaps, and I groan. Fuck if life doesn’t come crashing down around you in one dramatic end.
Chapter Six
Sara
I try not to eavesdrop, but it’s pretty impossible when the conversation is going on right near me. Charlotte waits for Lake to respond and when he doesn’t, she places her hands on her hips. “He’s been trying to contact you and just found me on social media. Did you know he was trying to reach out?”
“Not now, Lottie,” Lake mutters.
“Yes, now. I want to talk about our pasts, and you’re avoiding me. Now this kid comes in my DMs and tells me I’m his aunt?” I suck in a breath and it’s clear that Lake heard it when he side-eyes me. He heads my way, almost pushing past me to exit the clubhouse.
Tillie grimaces when she looks at me. “That was awkward.”
Blade kisses her on the head. “I gotta go after him,” he says.
Tillie shows me to one of the guest rooms. It’s nice and cosy and only for a few days until I can find a cheaper place to live. Everyone is really welcoming and friendly when Tillie takes me around the bar area and tells people I’ll be staying for a few nights. I think most of the guys know me because of Tillie and some even make reference to the fact I’m pregnant with Lake’s baby. Pity he doesn’t accept the kid is his.
It’s almost ten in the evening when Lake crashes into the club blind drunk. I’ve never seen him like that, and I can’t take my eyes off him as he stumbles towards the bar with that same girl stuck to his side. “Do you wanna go up to your room?” whispers Tillie. I shake my head. I’m not hiding.
He takes a bottle of whiskey from behind the bar and grabs the girl’s hand, dragging her over to the nearest free couch. He pulls her down on top of him and they both laugh before eating each other’s face off. “Yah know, there’s a great film on, maybe we can go and watch it upstairs,” suggests Tillie.
“Good idea,” says Anna. “I fancy a film.”
“Ladies,” I say, smiling, “it’s fine. I’m fine.”
“Really?” asks Leia. “Because that’s some serious heat coming from them.”
“Leia,” hisses Anna.
“I’m stating a fact,” she argues. “He told the other guys they couldn’t fuck Maisy.”
“I really don’t think Sara needs to hear this,” mutters Tillie.
“Agreed,” snaps Anna, glaring at Leia.
“I really do,” I say. “I have to, so I don’t fall back into his bed. Not that we have recently,” I add. “He looked after me for three nights and was the perfect gentleman, not laying a finger on me.”
“He isn’t claiming Maisy. Blade asked him straight,” says Tillie.
“But he warned the brothers off her. Usually how it starts,” says Leia. “And why would he keep fucking her if he wasn’t planning on claiming her? The brothers never fuck the same club girls over and over.”
“Maybe you need to shut the fuck up now,” Tillie suggests.
Maisy sits up, straddling Lake and riding him fully clothed. His hands reach for her neck, and I look away. “She’s always in his room,” adds Leia.
“Leia,” comes Chains’ voice, his tone warning.
“I’m just telling Sara, so she knows what kind of man he is,” she argues.
“It ain’t your business,” Chains snaps.
“Piss off,” she almost whispers, and he raises an eyebrow. When she realises he’s heard, she grins wider. “I was joking,” she adds quickly.
“Two seconds to run,” he says, and she giggles, rising from her seat. “One,” he adds, rushing after her. Leia’s screams fill the room as she races for the stairs. I smile sadly, wishing I had that right now. My day went from having a man try to claim me to being homeless and losing said man to a club girl.
Maisy has her top pushed up and is still rubbing against Lake like some wild animal. “Can you take that to your room,” barks Anna. “We don’t all need a show.”
Lake glances up over the back of the couch. “You don’t wanna watch, go upstairs,” he snaps.
Anna stands, her hands on her hips. “I know you didn’t just disrespect me like that,” she says.
Lake sighs, gripping Maisy by the waist and standing. She wraps her legs around his hips and buries her nose into his neck. “You could have had this,” he says to me, and I scoff at his brazen attitude.
“I’m so gutted I missed out,” I say sarcastically, and Tillie sniggers.
“I’d have treated you good,” he snaps.
“Letting me rub against your leg like some horny animal?” I ask, screwing my face up in disgust. “Please, I have some class.”
Lake sneers. “Not what Master Dom told me when I spoke to him.” My blood runs cold and horror shows on my face. He went to see him and never told me? Lake drops Maisy to her feet and makes his way over to where I’m sitting. He braces his hands on the table and narrows his eyes. “He told me you begged to be beaten like that. That you enjoyed it.”
“Fuck you,” I whisper, feeling exposed in front of the girls.
“When I pulled that whip around his neck, I realised I’d do anything for you, even kill a man for laying his hands on what’s mine.” His hand suddenly grasps my neck gently, and I tip my head back when he pushes his face to mine. “You make me feel
,” he accuses, “and I fucking hate that about you.” He releases me, and I suck in a breath as he stomps towards the stairs with Maisy hot on his heels.
“Shit, are you okay?” asks Tillie, grabbing my hand.
I nod, blinking away the tears. “I think I might want to go to bed now,” I respond, getting to my feet.
“Do you want me to come?” she asks, and I shake my head. I need to be alone.
LAKE
Fuck knows how I managed to get Maisy into the ropes in the state I’m in. I never do this shit when I’ve had a drink, but I need it. I need Sara. I shake my head. I shouldn’t be doing this. Maisy moans as I insert the dildo. “Please, Sir,” she begs, wanting her release. When I’m here with Maisy, the noise stops. I don’t have to think about Sara, the kid, Charlotte, my childhood, or the fucking kid who claims to be mine.
I sheath my cock with a condom and line myself up. She squirms away when she realises where I’m trying to enter. “You don’t want me to fuck you?” I ask.
“Yes, Sir,” she whispers.
“And you think you choose how I do that?”
“No, Sir.”
“Then keep fucking still.” I push forward, and she cries out when I fill her ass with my cock.
I wake with a start. My head pounds and I feel sick. I glance next to me, and find Maisy is lying naked, deep in sleep. Fuck, I let her sleep with me. I cover my face and try to rub the hangover away. There’re four empty condom packets on the bedside table. Thank fuck, I remembered that part. No wonder I ache. Maisy has little bruises forming on her wrists and hips where I gripped her too tight. Guilt swamps me. What was I thinking, fucking like that when I was drunk?
She stirs, stretching out beside me and groaning. She opens her eyes and smiles. “Morning,” she whispers.
“Why are you in my bed?” I ask. “You know the rules.”
“Because you asked me to stay,” she answers innocently.
I sigh. Sounds like something drunk me would do. “Stay here. I’ll get you breakfast and take care of you.”
Tillie glares at me when I enter the kitchen. The table is busy, but I don’t miss the empty look on Sara’s face. Fuzzy memories filter into my brain and I wince. Shit, I was so out of order towards her.
Chains passes me, whacking me on the back in greeting and laughs. “Sore head?”
“Judging by the noises coming from his room all night, and I mean all night, his head ain’t the only thing feeling sore today.” Blu grins, rocking his baby son. “Gia is after your blood this morning, she hardly slept.”
“Sorry,” I mutter, grabbing two plates and piling them up with pancakes and bacon.
“You worked up an appetite, that’s for sure,” adds Cree.
“Fuck, did you all listen in?” I snap.
“Hard not to hear the cries of ecstasy,” snaps Tillie coldly.
Sara pushes up from her chair and heads for the door. I slam the plates on the table and rush after her. Taking the stairs two at a time, I catch her just as she’s unlocking her bedroom door. I wrap my arms around her waist and push her inside. “I messed up,” I say.
“Get the fuck off me,” she snaps, shrugging out my arms.
“Maisy is my sub. We’re not together,” I say. “Not for real.”
“Well, that’s okay then,” she says sarcastically. “Please, don’t flatter yourself and think I give two shits about you and her.”
“It’s a mess. I’m telling you one thing and doing another. My head’s all over the place.” I try to explain, but she turns her back on me.
“I have a scan in an hour. Please leave, so I can change.”
“A scan? You didn’t say.”
“Why would I?” she yells. She spins to face me again and her eyes are narrowed and cold. “Go and feed your sub her breakfast, sort her aftercare, and spend the day fucking. You’ve relieved yourself of this responsibility, remember.”
“That’s not fair,” I mutter. “You made that choice, not me.”
“Well, one of us had to step up.”
My hand wraps in her hair and I tug her head back gently. My other hand goes around her neck and I place my mouth at her ear. “You think it’s easy for me?” I ask. “Seeing you around here with my kid in your belly and knowing you don’t want me involved?”
“Don’t pretend you’re staying away because I asked you to. You’re not doing me a favour,” she snaps. I glare at her reflection through the mirror. I want her, even now, while we argue. She smirks back at me. “Don’t even think about it,” she hisses. “You’ll never put that thing anywhere near me again. Now, get the fuck off me and get out.”
“You need it just as much as me, so stop kidding yourself. If you didn’t crave it, you wouldn’t have gone to Six and gotten yourself beaten the way you did,” I growl.
She narrows her eyes. “Why do you think I didn’t come to you that night?” she asks. “I’ll never come to you.” I shove her away from me, and she grins. “Maybe Master Dom was right in some ways. Maybe I needed someone to beat the shit outta me so I’d stop thinking about you. It worked because I don’t. Not like that. Not anymore.”
I nod. “Good. That cleared that up then. One less complication in my life.”
As I pull the door open, she asks, “What happened to him? Dom?” I continue out the door. She’ll never know the extent of what I did for her.
Chapter Seven
Sara
On Monday morning, I arrive at the office at exactly six-thirty. Making a good impression is important when your dad is the CEO at a property development firm. Dad’s secretary, Aliyah, looks up from her desk with her glasses perched on the edge of her nose. I never quite know if I should be nice or not. My mum’s always polite, but I have issues when I know she’s fucking over my dad. She stands, her expression cold. “You’re early,” she comments.
“Isn’t that a good thing on my first day?” I ask.
“Start by making your father’s coffee. He arrives at six forty-five.” She walks elegantly to a small kitchenette next to her office. “He likes it—”
“Black, no sugar,” I snap. “I know how my dad takes his coffee.” She saunters back to her desk and leaves me to make the coffee. Cow.
Dad arrives on time. I smile brightly and follow him to his office with the coffee in hand. “Good morning,” I say.
“Ready for a tough day?” he asks.
“Tough?” I repeat.
“You’ll be in the office downstairs. Seeing as I paid for those years at university, I thought you could join our marketing team.”
I smile wide. At least he’s giving me a real position. I was beginning to think I’d end up as Aliyah’s bitch, making coffee all day. Dad picks up his office phone and presses a button. “Aliyah, please send Alaric up to my office.”
A few minutes later, the office door opens, and Aliyah shows in a tall man with tattoos up his neck and a smirk tugging at his fine mouth. He’s the sort of guy I’d chat with in a bar, and my interest is immediately piqued. “Sara, this is Alaric Clements. Alaric, this is my daughter.”
He holds out a tattoo-covered hand, and I shake it. “Welcome to Falcon’s,” he says. “Shall we head over to the office, and I’ll introduce you to everyone?”
Since meeting Lake, I’ve got a thing for tattoos, and although Alaric is missing the beard, he’s still a fine specimen of a man. I inwardly curse, reminding myself that I have to stop this horny bitch behaviour. I wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for that.
We get into the lift, and I immediately think of the scene from Fifty Shades, the one where he shoves her up against the lift wall and kisses the shit outta her. I smirk. “Don’t think for one second you’ll get an easy ride because of who you are,” he mutters.
I have to stare at him to check he really said that out loud. His mouth hardly moved and he didn’t even look at me. “What?”
“You heard me just fine. Daddy’s name means shit around here. You work the same as the rest of us.”
I’m taken aback by his attitude. “I plan to,” I say. “I have a degree in marketing and—”
“Of course, you do,” he mutters as the lift doors open and he steps out.
Alaric introduces me to the rest of his team. Some eye me with contempt, while others seem friendly enough. It’s an open plan office with dividers between desks. I’m shown to a desk space beside another girl, who smiles nervously. “I’m Hayley,” she says, poking her head around the divider.
“Sorry, Alaric must have missed you out when he showed me round,” I say. “I’m Sara.”
“He didn’t miss me out,” she mutters. “Well, he did, but intentionally.”
She disappears back behind her divider just as Alaric reappears with a thick file. “This is what we’re working on. We have a meeting in ten minutes. Get yourself acquainted with the details and we’ll look forward to hearing from you in the meeting.” I arch a brow. He expects me to throw ideas in already? “Is that a problem?” he asks, smirking. I shake my head and place the file on my desk, turning my back to him so I can get on.
Ten minutes later, we’re all summoned to a meeting room. We gather around the large table, and Alaric stands at the front with his marker pen poised over a large piece of paper. “Go,” he says, and everyone begins shouting ideas. I glance at Hayley, who sits staring just as blankly as me. Alaric writes some ideas down—how he can hear them over the shouting is beyond me—then he puts his hand up and everyone stops. His eyes narrow in on me. “New girl, go.”
My mouth opens and closes a few times. Everyone stares at me, and I feel my face turn a deep shade of red. “Well, come on, didn’t you say you had a degree?”
“Erm,” I mutter, glancing down at the file in front of me. “It seems our target audience is—”
“Yes, young families,” he snaps. “We know that already.”
“Or single parents. The properties are small, so our audience should be small families, single working parents looking for a forever home, or couples stepping onto the property ladder.”
