“So, there's chemistry between the two of you,” Jasper commented, leaning back and running his fingers through the long blonde locks of his submissive. She tilted her face back, her features serene. Thane experienced a pang of envy. “I'm happy for you, Connie. Kevin and David were excellent subs, but I don’t think I ever saw you react to them the way you do with Thane.”
He lifted his hand, swiped it across his throat to tell Jasper to shut up. Connie didn't need a reminder of who she'd lost or why—she had to look at the present, the future, and focus on that. On him, because he didn't have any plans to walk away from her. He was starting to think he'd found his near-as-damn-it perfect match.
“Start acting like a sulky sub and people are going to notice,” he murmured to her, running his hand down her calf. “I'm assuming none of them have ever seen you behaving like anything other than a Domme, so they're gonna sit up and wonder what's made you change, sugar. If you're tired, I'll take you home. We can deal with your attitude problem there if it's still an issue.”
She didn't flip him the bird again, and she didn't dump the wine on his head—wins on both counts, he mused. But she looked downright miserable, and he stood by his decision to keep an eye on her. Just because she was freezing him out didn't mean he couldn't withstand the chill. Whatever reason she had for giving him the cold shoulder, he'd dig it free and use it to make her ass sing. Secrets were the things that rotted away a good foundation, and he'd seen enough solid relationships go down through lies and deceit—relationships that should have withstood the end of the goddamn world.
His time in the military had built bonds that had lasted beyond the terms of the contract. Being deployed overseas, shot at, mopping up blood and sewing up wounds, created ties between people that were damn hard to break. It could be done, of course, for good reasons or bad, but in the thick of things, completing missions and survival of the team was the priority.
Thane’s brothers-in-arms, first in the standard unit and then in the special project, had been a great source of companionship, entertainment, frustration, and rivalry.
God, he missed those fucking idiots.
But it was that joy, that connection, that Connie needed to rekindle.
Polishing off his bottle of water, Thane braced his hand on the seat and rose. “I'll take these to the bar, then we'll head home.” His bum leg groaned pathetically, threatening to give way. “Someone isn't quite back to her normal self after last night.”
He limped up the stairs, empty bottles and Connie's glass in hand. Using the time to stretch out his leg, he moved slowly, then rubbed the muscle when it ached. Liam took the bottles and the unfinished wine, dutifully shoving them into the dishwater. He gave Thane a slow look over, raising an eyebrow. “Hip or knee?”
Thane smirked and patted his thigh in answer. “The between. Drive carefully, Liam. Accidents hurt like a motherfucker, and cause untold problems for years down the line.” He laughed at himself, then shook off the sense of grief. Maybe he couldn’t tackle an assault course anymore, but he still had the limb. “Ignore me. It's been a long weekend.”
“Tell me about it. I don't know what we'd do without Connie, but I don't think any of us really know how to handle her.” The Viking Master's voice dropped. “She's a force of nature as a Domme but as…the other,” he muttered as someone slipped onto a stool a few feet down, “it's kinda like juggling a bomb covered in triggers and not knowing which one's gonna detonate that sucker.”
“Atticus seemed to manage.”
“Atticus is…Atticus. He literally tackles anything and anyone, no matter what it is. But he doesn't go in and demolish it, you know? He weighs a situation up and uses whatever he thinks best to make it come out the way he wants it. This particular situation was having trouble seeing him as an authority figure.” Liam flipped a towel over his shoulder and started pulling a beer from one of the several taps running along the stretch of bar. “I figure the situation is giving you the same run around?”
“Yes and no. Sometimes it goes the way I want, and sometimes I have to exert undue energy to wrangle it there.” He rubbed his hand over his face, exhausted by the fight yet to come. “We'll get there. It's a slow process, and there are adjustments to make. Every step is a learning one.”
“Well, you've got us at your back.” With the beer pulled, Liam flicked the towel off his shoulder and wiped away the trail of foam running down the side of the glass, then slid it down the bar. “You gonna keep her when this is all over and done?”
“Think she'd have me?” Thane glanced over his shoulder, just to make sure she hadn't made a run for it, and wasn't too pleased to find Atticus had his sub looking decidedly uncomfortable with what appeared to be a few hard words and hand gestures. Well, hell. He tried not to roll his eyes when Jasper looked over and gestured for him to go. “Fuck. Excuse me, Master Liam. I'm being summoned.”
“So you are. Don't let her get the better of you, Thane.” With a sympathetic wink, Liam wandered off.
Gritting his teeth, Thane headed back to the pit. He wanted a hot bath to soak his aches, some tiger balm to rub into the tight muscles, and maybe a good, long, easy fuck with a woman he cared for. That would round the rest of his night off perfectly. “Mistress Connie, is there a problem?” he asked from the top of the stairs, flicking his gaze from Atticus's face to Jasper's, then down to the almost sheltered profile view of Connie.
From the furious expression on Atticus's face, yeah, there was a problem. Goddamn it. Thane limped down the steps and sat beside her, crossing his leg over his opposite knee to take some of the strain off. It would work, for a few minutes. “Something you'd like me to take care of, either of you? You're sitting here looking like you're about to stage a scene from Gladiator in the middle of Avalon.”
Connie just shook her head and lowered her eyes. Probably so he wouldn't see the tears gleaming, Thane thought in exasperation, but she was too late. He'd seen and now he had to coddle. “I think I'm ready to go home now, Thane.”
Tough, sugar. On a heavy breath, he reached over and pulled her onto his lap. When she couldn't even glare at him in admonishment for taking such liberties in public, Thane knew the roots of the trouble ran deep. “Okay, we'll hash this sucker out here and now. Atticus, Connie…who wants to speak first?”
The bearded Master crossed his massive arms over his chest, while the sub on Thane's lap turned her face into his chest. Fantastic. Just what he needed. “Neither of you. That's a good start. Jasper, Anarchy? A little help here would be real nice. A subtle hint perhaps?”
“Master Jasper?” Archie whispered, leaning back to study the sadist's face.
Pale blue eyes flicked to the heavens. “Go ahead, kitten. No one else seems to be forthcoming.”
The little sub shuffled around on her knees to face Thane fully, her heart-shaped face beaming with the need to please. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, making it easy for Jasper to wrap it around his hand like a leash. “Mistress Connie asked Master Atticus if he and Master Braun had reached a decision on what would happen with Alicia. Master Atticus said that Alicia will be attending the care facility for two weeks, to give her and Mistress Connie a chance to breathe. They can tend to Alicia twenty-four-seven and she can socialize with others with her disability.”
And that didn't go down well with the psychologist. “I see. And then?”
Archie's left eye squinted as she tried to recall the conversation. “A permanent decision on Alicia's future will be made after the two weeks. If she is unhappy there, Braun will bring her home. But, ah, given Connie's personal issues at the moment, Atticus might take over guardianship.”
“I think Atticus and Braun should take into consideration everything Connie has already done for that girl, and for them.” Thane pinned Atticus with a glare. “Maybe, it's worth taking the two weeks and letting everyone rest. Mentally, physically, emotionally. The vibes I get off you as a group are turmoiled. Healing now is a good opportunity. We can revis
it our options then. It's only fourteen days, sugar,” he murmured when Connie whimpered a protest. “Let the girl have some time away. I'll chain you to my bed every night and ride you until you can't think anymore.”
“They don't know what she needs.”
“Right now, I'm guessing she doesn't know what she needs, Con. Do this for her. This is part of what's weighing you down, so do it for yourself too.” When his attempts to soothe her failed, Thane closed his eyes and breathed deep. She was proving to be one hard nut to crack. She didn't want to move an inch on anything, just in case it made her seem less than what she was. If she looked hard enough, she'd see she was more than she believed.
“I hope you can get her to open her goddamn ears, because she isn't listening to anyone but herself,” Atticus grumbled.
“She loves Alicia, Atticus. Is that so bad? Every time she gets close to someone, they walk away. Or they reduce her to nothing and dump her to fend for herself.” Thane muttered an apology into her hair when she stiffened. “Or they get forcibly removed. Anyone would start to feel like they had a target on their back, or like something's wrong with them. She only listens to herself, because she's the only one she has to listen to.”
Atticus glowered, but Jasper's head tilted in concern. “Did someone hurt you, sweetheart?”
“No one who matters, J. There's no one for the big oaf to go pound into bloody mush. I doubt if there's more than some bones left in the coffin he was buried in.” Connie sat up straight, shook her hair out, then combed her fingers through it. She had her big girl panties back on. “The past is the past, and he was history the day he left me. I'm not sifting through that shit again.”
Anarchy's big brown eyes narrowed into slits. “The guy who ghosted you? He died?”
Shutters came down in Connie's eyes. “That was the story I told you, yes. Because it was the simplest version of it. He died, painfully, through means made of his own doing, and I refuse to mourn him. He doesn't deserve pity or grief or having his name mentioned again.” And that was, apparently, Mistress Connie putting her foot down firmly on the floor.
Thane looped his arm around her, silently daring her to remove it. Her fingers dug into the muscle, but she didn't push it away. Good. He tightened it a fraction as a reward. “He's not done with yet, sugar.”
She inclined her head. “Yes, he is. Dealing with what he did to me and realigning my thoughts on it is one thing, but he is done. I did some research when I saw his obituary in the paper. He took another untrained submissive from the same club where he found me. The following weekend, actually. Plucked her from a group of friends who'd gone for a night out, against her will, and changed his tactics by holding her hostage. The asshole came close to ruining her in the few short weeks he had her, but he neglected to factor in her Daddy.” Connie's mouth curved into a lush, beautiful smile. “Her Daddy Dom, to be precise. Devin's really not the kind of guy you piss off more than once; he reminds me a lot of Att.”
“Sounds like me,” Atticus agreed. “Is this the he I think it is?”
“Don’t start poking into my past any more than you already have, Atticus. I’ve said it’s done, so it is. And if Thane opens his mouth, I'll shove a ball gag in there for a week. With ginger juice.” She tucked a curl of hair around her ear. “Devin did the exact thing you'd have done,” she told Atticus. “He found his girl in the basement, beat him to a bloody pulp with a steel bar, and left him to die. Quite fitting. I counsel the girl. Part of the reason I took psychology was for her, and for me.”
Thane couldn't blame her for hiding the details of what happened after that night. Hell, he was pleased she'd taken the step—of her own volition—to go into the basics with Atticus and Jasper present. “You wanted to heal.”
“Me, Sadie, whoever needed it. I was on a different path when I met him, but he changed me enough to look at a bigger picture. I owe him that, I guess. I was planning on being an accountant.” She shook her head in disgust. “Can you imagine me crunching numbers day in, day out?”
“No, but I can see you in nothing but a pair of sexy accountant glasses,” he murmured, insanely aroused by the idea of walking into his bedroom to find her sprawled out on his bed with just those damn glasses perched on her nose and her mercurial eyes peeking at him over the rims. “Fuck, time to get you home.”
“No, wait!” Archie was perched upright on her knees, her eyes huge with curiosity. “How did the guy, the Devin guy, get away with murdering the other one? He couldn't exactly hide it, right? There'd be DNA evidence of the kidnappee everywhere, which would lead back to him. Any cop’s logical conclusion would be the boyfriend stepped in to save her and mashed the bad man into bloodied brains and bones.”
“Jasper, you need to get your sub's nose out of those crime journals. You and I will talk about your bloodthirst at a later date, Archie.” Connie shifted on Thane's lap, and his erection threatened to pop out of his pants. “Devin called the police and told them he'd found his missing girlfriend in the basement of a known pedophile. Sadie is tiny, maybe pushing five feet if she stands on her tiptoes. Devin had a few marks on him, and he told the cops he'd gotten them when the asshole attacked him.”
“That’s not their real names, is it?” Thane murmured.
Connie shook her head. “Of course not. Patient confidentiality,” she muttered under her breath. “Plus, if Atticus got hold of their real names, he'd use them to appropriate information I don't want him to have. Not that he doesn’t have it already, but on the off-chance he hasn’t rooted up everything in my past, I’m not giving him directions straight to it.” She cleared her throat. “The perpetrator died on the operating table. The cops were pressing charges, but it so happens several key pieces of evidence were misplaced, and the case ended up being dropped.”
“Ooooh, justice got served,” Anarchy breathed in awe. “It would have sucked if Devin got arrested for saving his little.”
“Indeed, it would. To conclude the story, everything that needed to be attended to, was.” She set her sights on Atticus, then dropped her eyes to her hands. “Atticus, I'm sorry I've been a bitch tonight. Alicia is a sore subject right now, and I hate that I'm reduced to…this. Perhaps two weeks away from the whole damn mess is the right thing, even if I don't like it.”
Good girl, Thane thought proudly. He grunted softly in support.
“I have let things tangle me up and drag me down over the past year. Everything that happened with Bodie, with Archie, and now Alicia…they're chained around my legs. You were right, Att. Don't get a bigger head than you've already got,” she chided when the big Master grinned smugly. “I don't want to spiral anymore. I don't want to lose myself in a bottle or start using drugs as a crutch. It's not me. I've survived worse, and I can survive this. But only because I have you.” She linked her fingers with Thane's. “I have all of you.”
“That's the Connie we know and love.” Atticus rose and stalked over, dropping to one knee in front of her. Even perched on Thane's knee, Connie didn't gain much of a height advantage. “On that note, I think I'm going to go find me a sub and watch her squirm.”
An ugly stab of jealousy jabbed Thane in the belly as he watched Atticus chuck his sub under the chin. Baring his teeth slightly, he warned the bigger man off silently. Amused green eyes met his with what could only be described as a knowing smirk, then Atticus nodded at him. “Keep up the good work, brother.”
“I'm seconding that notion,” Jasper agreed. His fingers collared Archie's throat, tilting her head back. “You know, if you're here on Friday, Thane, I'm doing a fisting demonstration in barn three with my kitten here.” Blue eyes glittering with anticipation, he cut off his sub's sharp squeak of shock. “Ten o'clock.”
Connie's head snapped around so quickly, Thane was impressed it didn't snap off her neck and roll across the floor to glare up at the sadist. “What the hell, J?”
“You can come too,” he invited, a wicked smile exposing his teeth. “Several members have enquired about it. The
y want to try it, but haven't got the faintest idea how to do it correctly, or safely. I've spoken to Braun and he's agreed a demonstration might be beneficial. His hands are too big to fit in Bodie, not that she's in a position to partake, and Archie expressed a curiosity. Two birds, one stone.”
Anarchy, Thane noted dryly, wore the expression of a woman who'd just been told there was an axe murderer standing behind her. A hard shudder made her tremble, but he saw Jasper's thumb stroke soothingly down the side of her throat. “Can't say fisting has ever been a kink I've wanted to try, but could be interesting to watch.” He chuckled as Connie's back went ramrod straight. “Might be something to give some thought to.”
Atticus rose. “It'll be standing room only, so I'd come early if I were you.”
As though drawn around by a string, Connie turned her head to meet Thane's eyes head-on. Their noses almost touched as she whispered. “Are you fucking insane?”
“Not certifiably, no.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I just like learning new things.”
Gray eyes, round as an owl's, blinked slowly. “You're not seriously considering…”
“That's for me to know and you to fantasize about, isn't it? You can spend the next five days wondering whether I'll fuck you with one finger, two…” He kissed her lips as they parted. “Or all five. The more I think about it, the more I'm liking it.”
She hissed under her breath. “Jasper, you sadist, I fucking hate you. You better not be sitting there grinning like the village idiot when I turn around, otherwise you won't have any hands left for your goddamn demonstration.” Heat flashed in her eyes, a dangerous expression she couldn't hide.
“The Mistress has spoken, kitten. Time to abandon ship.”
Thane was vaguely aware of people moving past them, unable to take his gaze off Connie's. She was squirming delightfully on his cock and he was far too tempted to yank her pants down and sink into her snug pussy exactly where they sat. He liked the idea of her straddling him, riding his dick. There was a wealth of control to be had with a firm grip on her curvy hips—speed, depth, movement. She'd feel every inch of him—ah, fuck. He had to stop before he said to hell with the audience around them and made her scream in front of everyone.
Talk For Me: Club Avalon Book 3 Page 20