“What did they take?” Ethan asked.
“They tried to break into the computer,” Randy said. “Shawn said he doesn’t think they made it through, but they busted the lock on the door, and they poured liquid into the keyboard. I guess they were pissed that they didn’t find what they were looking for. Anyway, the computer’s fried. It’s a good thing we had backups of our files on our laptops.”
Ethan ran his free hand through his hair. “It was either a guest, or an employee. Nobody’s getting through the front gate, and unless they’re flying in, or hiking about twenty miles, they’re not getting in the back way.”
The three of them were silent for a few moments. “Are you going to call the local cops?”
“No,” Randy said. “And we won’t replace the computer, either, or at least not right away. We each have our laptops. I’m thinking about calling Dawson to see if he can figure out what they were trying to see.”
“Don’t think that will work, since they didn’t get in,” Ethan said. “But call your friend anyway.”
“Maybe they did get in and trashed the computer to cover their tracks,” Shawn said. “I agree we call in Dawson. We’ll keep you posted.”
“We can come back now if need be,” Ethan said. He gave them a quick rundown on their club visit last night.
“You know, the more I think about this club idea the more I like it,” Shawn said. “Scout some areas and see if you can come up with a location that might work. Come back in a couple of days and we’ll go over it then.”
Ethan nodded. “I like that idea.”
“Me too,” Randy said.
“Go back to your sub, Ethan,” Shawn said. “Unless you’ve lost your hard-on.”
Shawn and Randy laughed, and Ethan flipped them off before he ended the chat. He went back to the table and gently rubbed Cee’s tortured nipples.
“Open your mouth, babe,” he said. “I think your nipples have had enough for the day.”
He pinched and rubbed her hard nubs as she sucked him. When he got close, he took her head in his hands and held her in place as he flooded her mouth. Her gagging noise made him tighten his hold.
When he’d emptied as much as he could he withdrew, then leaned over and pulled on her slave ring. “Come for me, Cee,” he said as he continued to pull and rub. It didn’t take her long to shoot off.
It was submitting to him that fueled her, he knew. They’d discussed it before.
“Now, watch your mouth from now on, Cee. Your next punishment might be going without sex for a week.”
“Yes, Master Ethan,” she said.
“And don’t think I’m done with your nipples.” He liked the shocked look on her face. “We were interrupted, and I’m not finished with them. We’ll continue tonight when we’re back home.”
Chapter 9
Cecily’s nipples ached like there was no tomorrow. It had hurt to put on her bra, but she’d worked to keep from whining about it like a child. She would take whatever punishments Master Ethan meted out because she was a big girl, and because she knew she’d been wrong last night to speak out like she had.
Ethan knew what she liked and didn’t. She wasn’t much on pain, except for spankings. But with that it was more the psychological aspect of it. She liked being treated like a bad girl. She savored being taken over his knee and feeling the slap of his hand, or a belt, against her ass.
But he’d never punished her as he had today, with nipple and clit torture, and then making her suck him off and leaving him hanging. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to be bad again and see if he did the same thing next time.
And he’d said he wasn’t done. Her nipples ached with the thought. She wondered what else he would do to her.
Was it different because they were away from home? Would it be different when they were living together, away from Silver Creek? There would be a lot of changes for them, and she was looking forward to the future.
They were making their way across the lawn now; Marcus had texted earlier that he and Murphy would be at the house soon with Chinese takeout for lunch.
“Where has Gregory disappeared to?” Cecily asked.
“I asked the same thing the other night,” Ethan said. “Gregory is on vacation. He and his wife have taken their kids on some sort of cruise. He’s going to be gone for another week.”
“I’d like to go on a cruise,” she said.
“That’s an idea for our honeymoon,” he said. “Want to go to Hawaii? Or the Caribbean?”
“I’ve never been to the Caribbean,” she said. “That sounds like fun.”
“We can do a vanilla cruise, or a BDSM one,” he said. “Which would you prefer?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “Let’s think about it and talk it over later.” They were at the deck now. Before they made it to the front door, Amanda was there, holding it open.
“We hope you slept well,” she said.
“That is a fantastic guest suite,” Ethan said.
Dylan stepped up behind his wife. “We like it. Did you explore the dungeon? We can make anything you liked in there. I’ll make you a sweet deal.”
“We might be moving to Vegas, and I’ll have to stock a new dungeon, so I might take you up on that,” Ethan said. The men shook hands. “Marcus and Chase are on their way over with food.”
“Chase texted they were a few minutes out,” Dylan answered. “Amanda has already set the table on the side deck. I’ve got beer on ice in the cooler out there. It’s the perfect afternoon for a picnic.”
“Anything new?” Dylan asked.
“Yes,” Ethan answered. “But I think we should wait for the other two so we’re all on the same page.”
They opened beers, and Amanda poured herself a glass of iced tea and offered one to Cecily.
“I think I need the beer,” she said. Amanda took a sip of her tea, and Cecily smiled at her. “You look flushed, and happy. Are you…” she looked down at Amanda’s belly and left the sentence unfinished.
“Don’t tell Hero yet,” Amanda said. “I want her to hear it from me.”
“How exciting!” Cecily pulled Amanda into a hug. “How far along are you?”
“Barely two months,” Amanda said. “The only bad part is Dylan is too easy on me now. I share his concerns, true, but he barely spanked me last night.”
Cecily wasn’t sure what to say so she just nodded.
“The doctor says I’m okay to have sex, but he doesn’t know about our activities,” she said. “Or at least I don’t think he does. He might have noticed the bruises on my ass one time, but he never said anything.”
“Maybe he’s a Dom,” Cecily said.
“Could be,” Amanda answered. They both giggled, just as the doorbell rang.
“Delivery!” Marcus called out. “That’ll be seventy-five dollars plus tip.”
“The tip is we let you eat with us,” Cecily yelled back. “No tip means you eat in the kitchen by yourself.”
“Watch it, woman,” Marcus said as he came into the kitchen with a brown bag filled to the brim. Chase was behind him, his arms also full.
“All that for seventy-five?” Cecily asked. “It seems a little cheap.”
“He’s shaving off the bill,” Chase said as he stepped around him. “We split it, and it’s on us.”
“You’re no fun,” Marcus said. “I like to tease my sister. She’s very easily swayed by jokes.”
“Take the food out back,” Amanda said. “I think we have important things to discuss.”
They settled around the table, filled plates and started to eat. For a while they were all silent. Finally, Chase said, “What’s new?”
Ethan told them about the break-in at the office, and the destruction of the computer.”
“I wonder what they were looking for?” Marcus asked right before he stuffed half an egg roll into his mouth.
“It has to be either an employee or a guest,” Ethan said. “We have four new employees, and we check
ed each of them out, very carefully. Nothing flagged on them. And it’s a weekday so there aren’t that many guests. Randy has a friend named Dawson who is working to find out what happened.”
“Dawson Burke?” Chase asked.
Cecily put down her fork. “Do you know him?”
“The infamous hacker?” Chase put down his own fork. “Yeah, I’ve heard the name. You never know if he’s on the good side, or the bad side.”
Cecily glanced over at Ethan, who put down his fork and picked up his beer. “Randy trusts him, so that means I do, too. We all have things in our past that are not exactly good.”
“True,” Chase said. “But his almost got him thrown in prison for hacking into a gaming system in an attempt to win money illegally. You’re lucky Gregory’s not here. He worked the case, and he’s not a Dawson fan. He’d give you an earful, I’m sure.”
They ate in silence for a few moments, and then Chase said, “I didn’t mean to put a damper on things.”
“We’re talking about someone who might have murdered Leah, and might be after Cecily,” Ethan said. “I think there was already a damper on things.” Ethan leaned forward. “But if Dawson can find the information we need to figure out who is doing this, then I’m going to use him, whether or not you like him.”
Chase held up his hands. “I understand. What is our next move, while we’re waiting on him to do his—thing?”
“I want to go to Tate’s,” Ethan said. “I want to revisit the murder site.”
Cecily felt as if she’d just been punched in the stomach. They’d been at Tate’s as part of their plan to escape whoever was stalking her. But she didn’t like the idea of going there to see the murder site, although she was sure she’d walked over it many times, since it was in front of the casino.
“Do you think you’re going to find a clue after all these years?” Chase asked. “If you want to go back to it, you should talk with witnesses.” Chase paused and Cecily could tell something had just hit him. “Did you say you’d hired four people in the last year?”
“Yes, after the problem with Hero,” Ethan said. “We needed more security. But like I said, they were all checked out.”
“Can you get pictures of them?” Chase asked.
“I wish I’d thought of it,” Cecily said.
“Me, too,” Ethan said. “We show the photos to the people who witnessed Leah’s murder.”
“Exactly,” Chase said. “That’s my job, though. You leave it to me. Please don’t try to investigate. You said you’re thinking about opening a club here, right? What you need to do is find a real estate agent and look at buildings that could be used for it. Look at houses. Stay away from Tate’s, please.”
There was an awkward silence. After what seemed like forever, Ethan picked up his egg roll and wolfed it down.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Chase said. “Listen, I can’t imagine what you’re going through, with your first wife dead, and someone targeting your future wife. But it’s not going to do you any good to put yourselves into a dangerous situation. If someone is watching you, then they might think there is something poetic about hurting Cecily at Tate’s.”
“Yeah, I hear you,” Ethan said. “As I’ve told Cee, I’m determined to keep her safe. I wouldn’t put her in danger.”
The two men glared at each other, and finally Chase said, “Lawyers,” and everyone chuckled. Ethan continued to glare at Chase, though. Even Cecily read that silent stare. She might not be going to Tate’s, but Ethan would be going. At least according to him. She would be damned if she would sit on the sidelines when someone had scared her in the road incident, and then painted obscenities on her door.
“I’m stuffed,” Ethan said as he pushed his plate, which was still half full, away from him. “I’m going out to the tree house. Babe, meet me out there when you’re done.”
He glared at her and Cecily focused on her plate.
“Randy told me Ethan has a temper, and can be moody,” Dylan said. “He said it really comes to light around the anniversary of his wife’s death.”
“Like I said, I can’t imagine,” Chase said.
Everyone started to eat again. Cecily stared at her plate, after a few moments she stood. “I’m going to check on Ethan. Marcus, Chase, thank you for lunch.” She hurried out, then stopped when Marcus called her name.
“I brought your rental here,” he said. He held out the key ring and she took it. “Look, let me go with you, because I know the minute Ethan’s gone to Tate’s you’re leaving, too. I would feel better if you let me go with you.”
“You should be working today,” she said.
“I’ve called in Maggie. We can go and check it out, and hopefully we’ll make it back here before Ethan does.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Ethan has already left,” she said. “He knows I would argue with him about going.”
“We didn’t see him drive by,” Marcus said.
“There is a road that goes around the back of the warehouse,” Cecily said. “Dylan told us about it last night, so that we could park away from the front of the house, so no one saw the car, even if it was a rental.”
Marcus put his hand on her shoulder. “Do you really think this has something to do with Leah?”
“I don’t know what else it would be,” she said. “I don’t have any enemies, that I know of.”
“Go see if he’s there. If not, text me and we’ll leave as soon as Chase is gone.”
“Thanks, big brother,” she said. “I owe you.”
“You can let me take part in that club you guys are talking about opening,” he said. “They turned down my money to invest in Silver Creek. I’d love to have the chance to invest in this one.”
“I’ll talk to him,” she said. “You dated a real estate agent once, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, her name is Nicki Hormsby. She’s sweet.”
“You ended it well?” Cecily cocked her head. “I don’t want to call her and have her scream at me about what a bastard you are.”
“We just didn’t mesh,” he said. “I wanted a lover; she wanted a husband.”
“Does she have one now?”
“She’s had one, yes, but from what I understand she’s divorced. She’s what you and your friends call high maintenance.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said. “And I’ll text you after I talk to Ethan.”
He kissed her forehead, and then turned back toward the house.
Cecily didn’t have to enter the tree house to see that Ethan was gone. Their rental was gone. She went inside anyway and called his name. As expected, she didn’t receive an answer. Cecily went to the bedroom and opened the door.
There was a piece of paper on the bed.
‘Cee, don’t be mad. Please stay here and when I get back we’ll find a real estate agent and see if she has time to meet with us today. I love you. Ethan.’
“Don’t be mad my Aunt Fanny,” she said. She took out her cell phone and dialed his number. As expected, he didn’t answer, and it went to voice mail.
“One time you told me you wanted a strong woman as your wife, who only submitted in the bedroom. This may make you mad but get your ass back here and pick me up.” She clicked off the phone and sat down on the bed. As she counted the minutes her anger grew. After all, it was her house that was vandalized. She was the one who stared at a car in her rearview mirror. The driver might have wished her harm.
“I’m not going to sit on my ass and let this unfold around me,” she said. She clicked her phone on and sent Marcus a text: Pick me up ASAP.
* * *
When they pulled into the parking garage at Tate’s, Marcus put the car into gear and turned to her. “My future brother-in-law is going to be so pissed.”
“Let him,” Cecily said. She got out of the car before Marcus could object any further.
She heard the car door slam as she started toward the casino.
“Wait, wait,” Marcus called out. She stopped
and turned toward him. “Sis, this isn’t a spanking type infraction. He’s going to be royally pissed that you disobeyed him.”
“I didn’t,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. The part I read said I could go to Tate’s.” She knew it was a lie, but she would deal with the consequences later.
“So I’ve put you in danger,” Marcus said. “He may beat the crap out of me or challenge me to a duel. I hope Jake will be my second.”
“Cut the dramatic crap,” Cecily said. “If you don’t want to come with me, stay here and be a baby, I don’t care. I’m going.”
She went to the door and entered the casino. There was the usual bells and whistles, the sound of people laughing, and some yelling at machines, or dealers. She wasn’t halfway through the main floor when Marcus came up behind her. He was breathing heavily, and when she heard it she realized she was too. She stopped and turned to him.
“I’m probably doing something really stupid,” she said. “Do you know Chase gave us a copy of the police report on Leah’s death and we never even opened it. We should have read it. I should have read it. It’s back at the tree house, unless Ethan took it with him.”
“Then let’s go back to the house and read it,” Marcus said. “Ethan doesn’t even have to know we came here.”
Cecily glanced at the people moving about, all of them seemed happy, laughing and enjoying their drinks as they perused the machines that could, hopefully, provide them with a fortune.
“What was Leah doing here?” she asked. “If I understand it right, she’d just had lunch with a friend. Tate’s is out of the way. They have good food, but it seems like a long way to go for lunch.”
“You’ve come here for lunch.” She didn’t like the fact that Marcus pointed that out when she’d just questioned someone else coming here.
“Not on a weekday,” she said. “Assuming she had an hour for lunch, she’d spend half her time getting here, and making it back to the office on time.”
“Unless it was a business meeting,” Marcus said. “Those have been known to happen, even in Sin City.”
Ethan’s NaughtySubmissive: Silver Creek Resort Book Three Page 11