by Linzi Basset
Bruce and Rhone turned to face their friends. He glanced at each of them, not surprised to see they all wore similar expressions of anger and violence. Every single one of them wanted to get their hands on Reece Talbot.
“I’m going to give him what he wants,” Bruce said without blinking.
“Like hell you are! No one else is going to die to satisfy that bastard’s desire for power,” Jack snarled. He had insisted on being discharged, claiming he knew his body better than any doctor and was ready to go back to work. He was chomping at the bit to get his hands-on Reece and search for Jaden. Until he’d found his decaying body, he wouldn't believe he was dead.
“It’s the only chance we have, Jack. If not for you opening the door for us, we’d still be floundering in the dark. This is the first time we have a foot in the door to get to Reece. He might appear all high and mighty, all powerful and unbeatable to someone like Morgan, but believe me, he’s at his most vulnerable now.”
“What makes you think that?” Lance said quietly. “Reece managed to fool me, his own flesh and blood, who has known him his entire life. Why would he show any vulnerability now?”
“Because he’s alone.” Bruce sat down on the sofa and picked up his bottle of beer. He took a swig as he sorted through his thoughts.
“We might have shut down his second operation’s hub and Jaden is out of the picture, but he has many supporters out there to fall back on, make no mistake about that, mate,” Max said as he handed out bottles of water. They only allowed themselves one drink before scening at the Club.
“I’m sure he does but it’s not the same.” Bruce sat forward. “Reece is a parasite. He seeks out those weaker than him, using their misguided loyalty for his power fix. It’s how he bolsters his ego, at the expense of others, feeding off them like an aphid on new spring growth, leaving energized and buzzing, not giving a shit about destroying them in the process.” He gestured around the room. “That’s why he hates us; because we’re not in awe of him. He has always felt threatened by us, in every way possible. Jaden was his crutch, his plugged-in booster, so to speak. The one man who always looked to him for guidance. Losing someone like that to a man like Reece is like walking around with an inner ear infection. Living in a vertiginous drop, grasping at a web of insecurity that will eventually spiral out of control.”
“What are you saying?” Lance straightened. “That he’s incapable of operating on his own?”
Bruce got up. “Believe me, Lance, your cousin is lost without his sidekick. They might not agree on strategies and hell, Reece most probably always wins and does what he chooses anyway. Point of the matter is, without Jaden to give him that boost of confidence that he’s making the right decisions, that he’s the one with the power, he’s going to start doubting himself, if he doesn’t already.”
“I’d say you’re right, mate,” Keon said with a contemplative glimmer in his eyes. “Bringing Morgan to him was his first mistake. He knows she fears him, that she’s disgusted by him and what he did to her …” he growled low in his throat as anger flushed afresh through him, “was to seek a power surge.”
“What are you planning, Bruce?” Ethan asked as he sat back, stretching his legs. He was tired, but since Jaxon’s fever broke two days ago and he was out of the semi-coma, he was recuperating at the amazing speed only young people had. For the first time in over a week, he and Paige had left the hospital. She more than him, needed a little relaxation.
“He wants Morgan to bring me to him. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out what he intends to do.”
“So predictable,” Jack sneered. “I have no doubt that in his demented mind, he’s conjured up raping her while you’re helpless to save her. Motherfucker!”
Rhone stared at Bruce speculatively. “You’re right, mate. It’s the best opportunity we have to get close to Reece. We’ll kit you up with a micro tracker listening device and—”
“Which he will expect us to do and have a signal scrambler on hand,” Max interjected. “You forget, Rhone. He knows how we operate. This time, we’ll have to think out of the box.”
“We can use Nano trackers. The one I installed in the MOKV server worked even with the sweep and scramblers installed at the bunker,” Jack said. “It’s new technology that we have never used. The bastard won’t know how to bypass it or suspect we have access to any.”
A sharp rap on the door interrupted further discussion. Lance opened it, surprised when Wade pushed inside without preamble.
“Going to be much longer, Rhone?”
Rhone didn’t miss the calculating look Bruce slanted at the blatant intrusion. His eyes narrowed on the Club Manager, still fuming at his deceit and he had to restrain himself from battering him into the ground. The cocky way in which he stood with his hands on his hips, staring around with a mocking smile on his lips, grated at him.
“Is there a problem, Wade?”
“No, it’s just that the ladies are becoming a little restless.”
“You don’t need to concern yourself with our subs,” Rhone’s retort snapped in the air. His eyes narrowed on Wade when he took another step closer, trying to peek unobtrusively at Max’s iPad screen. “Anything else?”
This time Wade paid heed to the dark warning in Rhone’s voice. He shrugged negligently and turned to the door. “No, just thought to find out.”
Lance watched him strut away until he disappeared down the stairs. “I still can’t believe he managed to fool us.”
Bruce and Rhone stared at him through the window. Bruce’s body was strung up tight in preparation should he aim toward the women, where Morgan waited. “If he so much as looks at Morgan, he’ll end up with his head up his ass.”
“I for one am fed up. It’s reached a stage where I wonder if the face I’m looking at is real or hidden behind a prosthetic mask.” Alex said, watching him as he settled back behind the bar.
“Morgan is shit scared of him.” Bruce briefed them quickly on her reaction a few days ago. “She never mentioned anyone other than her brother being involved with Reece and Jaden.” A deep frown drew his eyebrows together as a thought stirred. “Richard, have you found anything new on Morgan’s background?”
“To confirm what we did know. Her father died when she was ten from a heart condition. Her mother inherited quite a lofty sum, which she invested very wisely. She remarried a man by the name of Gavin Lovett when Morgan was fifteen. He passed away when she was nineteen.” Richard scrolled through the information on his iPad. “What we missed the first time around was that she has a stepbrother, who by my calculation would now be thirty-seven years old, Will Lovett.”
"So, she lied. She does have family," Bruce said with a heavy heart.
"Yes and no. I managed to get hold of a couple of the neighbors who still live on the street they used to. Will didn’t live with them. He was under his mother’s custody. His visits to them were far apart. He made no secret that he hated his father and by default, his new family. There was no love lost between Morgan and Will. In fact, they were openly hostile toward each other. He was quite vindictive from what they told me. What made it worse was that Senior Lovett left his entire fortune to Morgan’s mother. When she died ten years ago, Morgan inherited everything. Will was furious, claiming that her mother had done him in, that half of it was his. It turned ugly. He took the matter to court and lost. After that, he took off to lick his wounds. I can't find any trace of him anywhere. He has disappeared off the face of the earth."
"Or morphed into another persona," Bruce speculated. "Did you find any photographs of him?"
"Yes, one but it's ten years old."
Bruce leaned forward and studied the picture intently.
"Same stature, although less burly, same facial features," he murmured. "Can you use your facial comparison program and match that photo with the one of Wade we have on file?"
"Damn, you could be right," Max said and leaned over Richard's shoulder as he entered the instructions. He linked it to th
e large monitor on the wall. They watched in silence as the filters compared the facial features from the two photos.
“Fucking hell! You were right, mate. It’s him. Wade Moore is none other than Morgan’s estranged stepbrother, Will Lovett.”
Bruce’s eyes turned as cold as ice. “Which is why she was so scared when she heard his voice. Will Lovett was the one who all but forced her on that date with Reece. Will, we already know is known as Gun and none other than Wade Moore.” Bruce couldn’t help but wonder when Morgan and he had reunited and why she would ever have agreed to anything he’d wanted, especially in light of the information just disclosed.
“Let’s leave the discussion for tomorrow at the office. The walls have ears here,” Keon cautioned as he sauntered toward the window. His searching gaze fell on Lauren. His eyes softened as he watched her shift around uncomfortably on the chair.
Alex watched him with a smile. “Keon Junior still not ready to meet the world?”
“No, I guess he already inherited his mother’s stubborn streak. I told her we should stay at home but no … Mrs. LeLuc needs some female therapy.” He snorted and turned back to face them. “Whatever that means.”
“Well, I for one am ready for a very intimate scene with my sub,” Alex said, heading toward the door. “Anyone joining me?”
Everyone trailed after Alex, intending to do their best to forget their troubles for a short time.
Bruce got up slowly, watching Rhone where he once again stood staring down into the Entertainment Area.
“We’re close, Rhone. This time, we’re going to end it. Reece Talbot won’t know what hit him. He hurt the wrong woman this time.”
Rhone nodded, his brooding gaze glued on Samantha. His heart skipped a beat as she eagerly searched the faces of the men approaching them. The disappointment was visible even over the distance. It soothed his soul, allowed him to finally accept that fate had handed him an Ace this time, literally and figuratively. She was his winning hand, his future.
He smiled at Bruce as he headed toward the door. “Yes, we will. Together we’ll finally end this. For now, let’s make our women forget about all the ugliness they had to face these past couple of months.”
“Tonight, I want to give you an experience that will lift you to the clouds, Delilah.”
Morgan offered Bruce a flash of a smile. Somehow, she’d always found it hard to associate floating on a cloud while in the dungeon. She glanced around. The same excitement and slither of arousal she’d felt the first time she’d been down there, fluttered deep inside her loins. She wondered briefly why she’d never felt that way at the BDSM clubs she’d frequented, looking for a connection. Her eyes strayed to Bruce where he was busy with a pulley against the wall. Maybe it was because of him. She fisted her hands as he turned and their eyes met.
God, how I love this man.
His eyes strolled leisurely over her body. With him, she never cringed when he looked at her. Instead, she reveled in the admiration in his eyes. Tonight, she’d opted for a leather and lace corset mini dress, one she’d purchased herself. It barely covered her ass. The lacy thong didn’t do much to hide her attributes. The heated flash in his eyes pleased her to no end. She shifted her weight. The heels of her black, open toe stilettos scraped against the wooden floor.
The loud clanking of chains drew her attention to the roof. She watched warily as Bruce lowered a set to hang in front of her. She heaved in a battered breath.
“What are those for?”
“Those, my luscious Delilah, are to tie you up, and these,” he kneeled and flipped open two steel flaps in the floor, “are for your feet.”
It didn’t take much deduction to know she was going to be standing spread eagle in the middle of the floor.
She blinked as he stood in front of her. He tapped her nose. “Relax, my pet. I have no intention of hurting you.” He shrugged. “Well, not much, anyway.” His eyes did another intimate foray up and down her body. “Although, for you to achieve the best experience, you should ideally be naked.”
He took her arm and led her to a spot under the chains. “Come, I wish to introduce you to my floggers.”
Morgan’s hands automatically covered her buttocks. “Your floggers? As in two simultaneously?” Her eyes jumped to a couple in the corner. The Dom was flogging the sub, using a similar one and she was screaming like a banshee!
Bruce brought her face back around. “No, squirt. All your attention is on me during a scene. At all times. Remember that.” He pinched her chin. “Relax, baby, this is going to be an erotic flogging.”
Like that was supposed to help!
“Hand.”
Morgan didn’t move, staring at the floor indecisively.
“The control is in your hands, Delilah. At any time if it becomes too much or hurts, use your safeword.” His voice lowered. “Even now, if you don’t feel up to it.”
“No, I … want to, but you said it’ll be a better experience naked.” She bore her toe into the floor.
Bruce went still. “So, I did. The feeling of leather against naked skin is more than a shock to your nerve endings. It’s the conduit that escalates your arousal, the sound alone takes you higher with every strike. For me, it brings excitement, lust and a desire to give you as much pleasure as I can.”
She frowned at him. “It arouses you? Because I’m in pain?”
“Partly, but mostly watching your body react to my attention, steadily turning rosier with the impact. What excites me the most, baby, is driving your lust, knowing I hold it within my hands … to release it just at the right moment.”
“I think I’m ready,” she said as if in a daze, the vision he was painting too enticing to withhold such pleasures from herself and more so, from him.
“Ready for what, my pet?”
“To be … naked,” she whispered the last word.
Bruce bit back his laughter. She looked like a little girl who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. In the short time she’d been part of the club, she’d noticed that there, no one leered at naked subs, rather they appreciated the beauty of the human body.
“You are so brave, love,” Bruce praised, watching her intently. “I don’t want you to do this to compensate for what happened with Reece.”
She smiled wryly. “I’m not. If there’s one thing you taught me, it’s to embrace my needs, my desires and living life with passion.” She nodded decisively. “And that’s what I’m going to do. Saudi Arabia is behind me. All of that is in the past. It’s time I look to the future.”
“That’s the redhead I remember,” he murmured as he watched her undress. There was no slow seduction, she removed her clothes with quick, economical movements. He suspected it was to get naked before she changed her mind.
“Over here, Delilah,” Bruce directed her to the spot, making a point of brushing his hand over her back, keeping gentle contact while he clipped the ankle and wrist cuffs in place. It was her first time naked, he wasn’t going to draw attention to it, no matter how seeing all that glowing and satiny skin caused his cock to twitch uncontrollably in his leathers.
“I love your hair but for now, let’s get it out of the way.” Once again, he amazed her as he tied her hair in a knot on top of her head with quick, efficient movements. “Perfect,” he murmured, kissing her nape with warm lips before he took back a step.
Morgan’s eyes widened as he selected two long, black floggers from his toy bag. He swung them in his hand, snapping the strips together in the air. She jerked at the sharp sound echoing in her ears.
Her loins clenched, and her clitoris tingled like it was connected to the main switch.
Bruce had decided on a double flogging to ease himself out of having sex with her. This experience was for her, to show her the pleasure a whipping could bring, as opposed to the cruelty she’d lived through.
“Just relax into the strikes, my pet, just like with my belt.” H
is fluid arm movements weaved a form of the number eight in the air as he allowed the tips of the leather strips to kiss her skin, introducing her gently. He watched her, taking note of every gasp as he followed with slow circles using only a slight twist of his wrists.
Morgan felt the first lick of lust inside her pussy as he flung the floggers over his shoulders and approached her.
“Hmm,” she moaned at the sensual caress as he brushed his hands over her buttocks, the planes of her stomach to end with a teasing fondling of her breasts.
“Your skin is nicely heated, baby. Are you ready to begin?” Bruce asked as he stepped back to stand with spread legs behind her.
“Uhm, y-yes, Master Goliath,” Morgan gulped as the first strands feathered against her skin with light caresses, bringing the heat back to her skin. She was hypnotized by the beautiful seamless motion of the floggers as he circled her, continuous, smooth as it connected with her back, her buttocks, then her stomach, abs and thighs. Her gasps grew louder as the strikes began to sting.
Then he was there, pressing his hard chest lightly against her back. “Have I told you how much I love your tits, Delilah? Just the perfect size for my hands.” He squeezed her breasts, moving his other hand downwards to find her clit, rubbing and patting it gently. She thrashed against his hand. “Just what I was looking for,” he said into her ear. “I knew you’d love my floggers, baby.” With a final pinch of her nipple and clit, he warned in a lowered voice, “Now, little one, are you ready to scream?”
Morgan was still trying to decipher his words when the first strike fell. Her breath hissed from her throat from the smarting sting on her ass. Every hit was harder, aimed at achieving the desired impact he wanted as he circled her faster; the strips of leather raining down on her back, thighs, hips and stomach.
“Oh my god. Oh lord,” she moaned and whimpered as the force of the hits intensified. So too, did the incessant throbbing in her loins. Every burning strike felt like it singed through her skin to set her core on fire. She jerked as the strikes continued to fall, curling around the bottom of her breasts, the sting morphing into a flashing burn.