by Ivy Nelson
She swallowed. “I’m sorry. But the United States does not negotiate with terrorists.”
“If that is your answer then I will leave you for now. But we will speak again, and you will regret it if you do not help me.” With that, he opened the door and stepped out. She was frozen in place, her phone still in her hand.
“Adara, you ready to head back to the office?” Bradley startled her. “Jesus, you’re white as a ghost. What did James want?”
“Just some volunteer stuff. Sorry. Just tired I think.” Why wasn’t she telling him? She shook her head, this wasn’t right.
“Fuck. No. I’m not OK. Get Peter. We need to call the cops.”
Bradley’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t say anything to her. He just hollered for Peter.
“What the fuck, Adara?” Peter snapped when she outlined what happened. “Why didn’t you scream for help? You just stood there in a room alone with a terrorist and didn’t say a god damned word? What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t thinking. Can we just call the police? Not Michael though. Please. I don’t want him knowing about this yet. I’ll tell him myself later.”
Peter scowled but pulled out his phone and dialed a number. It didn’t sound like 9-1-1 he was talking to. Turns out, it was Homeland Security. He walked away ordering Bradley not to let her out of his site. Bossy fucker, Adara thought.
Bradley just frowned at her.
“What?” she asked after a minute of awkward silence.
“Why were you going to lie to me, Adara?”
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t. I was scared.”
“If Darci did that, I would blister her ass,” he said in a tone she hadn’t heard from him before.
She held up her hand. “Stop. Please. I don’t need that image in my head. I know I’m kind of hanging out in your world now, but it’s still weird for me. I know you’ve always been protective of me, but Michael’s dominance is about all I can handle right now.”
“Sorry. It’s a habit. You have to keep in mind that Peter, Michael and I are all very protective of the submissives in our lives. Granted, Michael usually only has a submissive for a night, so this is a first for him. But sometimes our protectiveness bleeds over into protecting each other’s girls, and not just our own.”
It made sense and was sweet in a way, but she still found it weird. She told him exactly that.
The backstage door burst open and Michael walked in.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Peter called me, and I happened to be in the area. Jesus, Adara. Why didn’t you scream for help?” She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.
“First of all, Peter is a dirty rat. I asked him not to call you. Second, I was kind of shocked and not exactly sure what to do in the moment. My terrorist half-brother magically appeared and asked me to save my terrorist father’s life. You’ll have to forgive me for not making the exact right decision about how to handle that.”
Bradley took a step back as Michael moved closer. “I’m gonna let you two talk. I’ll be over there talking to Peter.”
“Uh huh. Where’s your protective streak now, mister? And tell Peter he’s a god damned asshole.”
“Nope. He did the right thing.” Bradley walked away before she could respond.
“Your friends are assholes,” she said when she turned her glare on Michael.
“First of all, Bradley was your friend before he was mine and second, they made the right call. One of them should have blistered your ass. I have half a mind to do it myself.”
“Fuck. What was I supposed to do? I didn’t know if he had a weapon. He was being calm. I thought just listening to him was my best option at the time.” She chose to ignore his comments about spanking her.
“You’re probably right, Angel. I’m just disappointed you didn’t say something the minute he left.”
“So is Bradley. Who, by the way, did threaten to spank me in not so many words. Which is fucked up. This whole situation is fucked up. I’m running for office and my campaign manager is telling me if his wife had lied to him, he would blister her ass. You guys even use the same phrases. How is this not the most fucked up thing you’ve ever heard of?”
Michael grinned and Adara fought the urge to smack him. “I’m a cop, sweetheart. I’ve heard a lot of fucked up things. This doesn’t even land in the top one hundred. Bradley just cares. And now that you’re in our circle at the club, presumably as my submissive, his protective streak is going to come out. We protect each other’s girls as if they were our own at Exposure. Sometimes that comes out in the form of a threat of punishment for doing something we know your Dom wouldn’t like.”
“Are you my Dom?”
“Do you really want to have this conversation here?”
She shook her head as Peter approached with a man she recognized and had hoped she would never have to see again.
“I hope you don’t mind. I called him instead of the cops. I felt like it might be better not to drag your campaign into the media with this if we can help it.”
“Agent Miller. I won’t say it’s good to see you again, but thank you for coming out,” Adara said.
The agent didn’t bother with pleasantries. He simply launched into a series of questions. After the third one, Bradley interrupted him.
“Can we take this back to Miss Kent’s office? We need to vacate this building before people start asking questions.”
The agent agreed and everyone made their way back to the small office space she was calling campaign headquarters. Once there, Agent Miller asked questions for over an hour, asking her to recount every detail of what her brother had said to her.
“This is really good intel, Miss Kent. We’re going to want to interview Leslie Hanover since you say that’s where you first got introduced to James. We’ll take this info and use it to track him and your father. Hopefully we can prevent a terrorist attack. I would ask that you don’t speak to the media or anyone else about this. We don’t want to cause a national panic.”
Adara agreed. Not that it was something she wanted to discuss with the media anyway. If word got out that she was the blood relative of an international terrorist, her campaign would be toast.
When the agent left, Adara sank further into her office chair, closing her eyes. Peter had stepped out to talk with Bradley about new security protocols, but Michael was still there.
“I’m sorry this put a damper on your first day of campaigning, Angel. It sounds like it went well otherwise.”
She tried to smile. “It really did. I’m glad Peter called you.” Pointing a finger at him she sat straight in her chair. “Don’t you dare tell him I said that.”
Michael laughed. “Your secret is safe with me. Where do we stand, Angel?”
“I’m not sure. I’m confused about everything, and obviously we need a longer conversation. But right now, I just want to go home.”
“We can go to your place. That’s fine.”
“Not we. Me.”
He scowled. “I don’t think so. We can go to my place or yours but I’m definitely coming with you either way. You’re not staying alone right now.”
“Please don’t do this, Michael. I don’t need someone staying with me.”
Peter stepped in just in time to hear her say that.
“I’m afraid I agree with Michael on this one, Adara. As your head of security, I would feel better if you weren’t staying alone right now.”
She closed her eyes. “Michael, can you give us the room for a minute?”
Michael stepped out, though he didn’t look too happy about it. When he was gone, Peter lifted one of the folding metal chairs leaning against her office wall and placed it near her chair. Sitting, he picked up her hands.
“Adara, listen. I know you’re pissed about me calling Michael. I would say I’m sorry, but I’m not. I know something happened last night at the club and that’s not my business, but you have to understand something.”
She withdrew one of her hands and held it up, palm out. “Stop. If you’re going to give me the ‘we’re big bad dominants and we’re protective of each other’s submissives’ speech you can save it. I’ve already heard it twice today.”
Peter grinned. “Duly noted.”
“First of all,” she continued. “I don’t even know if I am his submissive. And second, I don’t need protecting. I’m a big girl.”
“I’ll give you the first point, but your second is bullshit. They nearly got you deported when you didn’t comply with their threats. You’re dealing with a full-blown terrorist organization, Adara. Big girl or not, you need protecting.”
“No need to go being all logical on me,” she muttered with a scowl. “I get that you have a protective streak. And you’re right, I need protecting right now. But I swear on all that is holy, if you ever threaten me with any kind of kinky ass punishment, I reserve the right to hit you. Only Michael can get away with that.”
He laughed. “Fair enough. It’s a protective habit. And the speech you’ve already heard twice today is more than just a speech. It’s a fact, honey. You’ve gotten mixed up with probably the most protective group of men on the planet. You’re gonna have to learn to live with a little bit of dominance from us. Just know, we would never actually lay a finger on you without permission from you AND Michael. Mostly, our threats are given out of care and meant to make you think. We’ll leave the actual punishment to Michael. Because believe me, if you and Michael had clear roles set up and you had pulled a stunt like you did with Bradley and lied about what had happened, your ass would already be red right now.”
“Jesus, Peter. I’m a candidate for D.C. council. This conversation is not appropriate for my office.”
He roared with laughter. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Just giving you the facts.”
“Well save it for later.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said with a salute. “We should get out of here anyway. This building isn’t as secure as I want it to be. I’ll have my people on that tomorrow. Until then, I would feel better if you stayed with Michael. His place is more secure than yours.”
“Fine,” she said with a scowl.
Everyone agreed to go back to Michael’s house for the evening, with Peter and Bradley calling their spouses to have them meet there. Darci and Carrie showed up not long after Adara and the others did. The two women immediately took over Michael’s kitchen to make dinner, while Peter, Bradley, and Michael ganged up on Adara. To get them off her back, Adara begrudgingly agreed to having personal security outside her office and with her at campaign events at all times. Adara was amused at the banter between Darci and Michael. She knew they had been friends for a very long time, but they acted like siblings sometimes. The six adults enjoyed a dinner filled with laughter and a lot of inappropriate jokes. When the dishes were cleared, Peter and Carrie were the first to leave. Bradley and Darci weren’t far behind them.
Bradley hugged Adara at the door while Michael and Darci were finishing some childish argument that had started at dinner. “A piece of advice, friend to friend?” Bradley asked when he released her. “Talk to him. Be honest. Set some clear roles. Kink and D/s make any relationship harder, but it’s especially complicated if you don’t define the roles you’re both going to play. Think of it as a game you’re both playing. You’re on the same team but you have different roles to fulfill in order to play the game effectively. You need to decide what those roles will be. That doesn’t mean your roles can’t ever change, but things are a lot more fun when you know what your roles are.”
“You’re right. I know you are. I appreciate the advice. I’ll talk to him. I promise.”
“Good choice.” He turned to the still bickering Darci and Michael. “Alright children. Clearly, I need to separate you two. Darci, let’s go home and let these two have some alone time.”
At that, the redhead clapped her hands. “Good idea, Sir.” She winked at Adara. Michael just shook his head and kissed her on the cheek. When they were finally out the door, Michael locked it and leaned against the wooden panel.
“That was interesting,” he said.
“That’s one word for it.”
They stood in awkward silence for a moment. It was the first time they had been alone since the club last night. Was that really just last night? It felt like a lifetime ago after the day she’d had. Bradley’s words came rushing back to her and she knew what she needed to do, so she inhaled deeply. “Can we talk?”
• • •
Michael eyed her carefully. He hadn’t been able to hear what Bradley was saying to her before he left, but he knew they weren’t talking politics.
“Of course, Angel. Do we have to do it standing here though?”
She shook her head.
“Where do you want to talk?” he prodded.
“Living room is fine. Can we have some wine or something?” Her voice was trembling.
“I think I have some beer left.”
“Beer is fine.”
He laughed. “What kind of conversation are we about to have, Angel?”
“I don’t know yet. We’ll see what happens.”
“That’s either really good or really bad. Go get comfortable in the living room. I’ll grab the beers. Take a deep breath. It’s me, baby. We can talk about anything.”
Turning on her heel, she walked to the couch. He watched her sit. She was stiff. Jesus, was she trying to break up with him? What the fuck had Bradley said to her? He was going to kick his ass if she dumped him. In the kitchen, he grabbed two beers and popped them open.
After he handed her one of the beers, he straddled the ottoman in front of the couch and took a long pull from his own bottle. “Let’s talk,” he said. “What’s going on? You seem nervous.”
“I am. I don’t really know how to do this, but I’m taking a friend’s advice.”
“I’m listening.”
“I know I kind of freaked out on you about the whole no strings thing, so let me apologize for that first. I don’t know what happened in my brain.”
“To be fair, I didn’t help any. I was feeling insecure and did not handle that conversation well at all,” he admitted.
Her shoulders relaxed. “OK. That makes this easier. I’m sorry you were feeling insecure. That wasn’t my intention. I just really was unclear about our relationship. That’s what I want to talk about.”
He motioned for her to continue.
“I like what we’re doing, and I love being with you. But Bradley brought up a good point about the need to define what we are and set some boundaries. I’m not sure where this is going, Michael. I do know it’s going somewhere though. I also know I’m not ready for a collar because that’s some engagement ring level shit.”
He chuckled. She wasn’t wrong. “Fair enough. So, how do we define us then?”
“I want more boundaries like when we settled on when I would call you Sir.”
“So, what you’re saying is you want to be my submissive, but you don’t want a collar.”
“I think I’m saying I want to be your girlfriend. And if that also means being your submissive sometimes, then yes.”
“So, some strings then.” He pretended to be thoughtful, considering what she was saying.
A slow smile spread across her face. “Yes, Michael. Some strings.”
“Deal. Wasn’t that easy?”
“I mean, is that it? I still don’t feel like I completely know what you want from me as a submissive.”
He set his beer aside and slid the ottoman closer to her so he could pick up her hands. “That’s easy, Angel. I want your trust that I’m going to take the power you give me and use it to enhance our lives together. I want a submissive who aims to please without the insecurity that you can’t please me. I’ll never set you up for failure. But I will challenge you. You’re free to question the challenge, but I expect you to meet it with the same tenacity that you approach life with in general.”
“Why do you
like a woman to be submissive to you? Is it a control freak thing? I don’t want to wake up one day and find that I’ve suddenly wound up in a relationship where I have to ask permission to use the bathroom.”
“Have I ever acted like that kind of control freak?” he questioned, still holding her hands.
“Not yet. I just want to know the appeal of a submissive for you.”
“Submissive, not doormat, sweetheart. Someone strong enough to meet the challenges I give her. Someone who can have this conversation with me, question me when needed, and still beg to come when I have you stripped and bound to my bed. Is it about control? Absolutely. But it’s also about a give and take that makes us both better people. Not to mention that some things are just hot as fuck, and there doesn’t need to be any other reason for it. The challenges I’ll set for you are about empowering you, not just controlling you.”
“So…what now?” she asked, pulling her hands from his.
“Now, we keep talking but we take it to the bedroom.”
“You’re not going to like… make me move in with you, are you?” If her face hadn’t held an expression of sheer terror, he might have laughed. Instead, he stood and pulled her from the couch.
“That’s not something I can make you do. Not even as my submissive. What I am going to do is ask that we spend every night together until this situation with your brother is resolved. I will not sleep at night if you’re not next to me. Is that fair? We can secure your place a little more if you want to stay there sometimes. I understand the need to be in your own space sometimes.”
“OK. I can agree to that.”
“I like it when you agree with me, Angel,” he said with a wink before kissing her forehead. “Can we take this conversation to the bedroom now?”
“Yes, Sir. I would love that.”
He grinned. She was catching on quickly.
With his hand in hers, they walked down the hall to his bedroom. Time to test her resolve. Once they were in the bedroom, he released her hand.