To Love and Obey [The Doms of Club Mystique] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Mardi Maxwell

  Deciding it was time to have some fun, Addison asked Valerie, “Really, she has to do everything he tells her? Gosh, what if he tells her to shave her head and paint it purple?” Looking at Marcy, she said, “Do you think I’d look good in purple?”

  “Yes. It’s definitely your color, Addison,” Marcy said.

  Turning back to Valerie, Addison smiled.

  Valerie gaped at Addison, and Delia had to nudge her again to get her attention. “Tell her, Valerie.”

  Jamie Sue giggled and nodded her bleached-blonde head.

  “Yes, Valerie, why don’t you tell me before I lose interest?” Addison leaned her elbows on the glass counter, yawned, and then assessed the three spiteful bitches. To her they appeared older than their thirty-two years. Their eyes held a cynical look as if they had been manhandled a little too often by a few too many men.

  Addison’s casual behavior wound Valerie up and her voice grew louder. “What Cade can do to a woman shouldn’t be wasted on a goody two-shoes like you, Addison Matthews!” Valerie’s voice was resentful. “You’ll never even come close to being the kind of woman he needs.”

  Addison picked up a pen, twirled it in her fingers, and focused on Valerie’s face as the three-carat diamond on her left ring finger sent a rainbow of colors across Valerie’s sallow cheeks.

  Blinking her eyes, Valerie’s face darkened to an unbecoming shade of red and her voice became a shrill screech, and Addison swore she heard the glass counter cracking.

  “Everyone in town knows Cade needs a woman like me. You don’t even know the real Cade Ramsey because you’re not woman enough to give him what he needs. You don’t even know what he does to a woman when she makes him angry, do you?”

  Addison laughed, remembering all the times she had pissed him off and he had chased after her and caught her. “I can hardly wait to hear this,” she told Marcy with a wink. Marcy looked stunned, her mouth hanging open in amazement as she listened to Valerie spew her poison.

  Valerie put her hands on her bony hips and glared at Marcy, then Addison. “Cade spanks his sub. He puts her over his lap, pulls down her panties—”

  “If he lets her wear any panties,” Jamie Sue interrupted with a giggle.

  “And he spanks her. Sometimes he uses his hand and sometimes he uses a paddle and sometimes he uses a flogger. That’s right, Addison, a flogger.”

  “Don’t forget to tell her about the sharing,” Delia reminded her.

  “I’m getting there,” Valerie snapped at Delia. “The Ramsey brothers share their women. That’s what you interrupted the night you showed up unexpected at the Ramsey ranch. Logan and Luc were sharing Linda with Cade!”

  “Don’t forget to tell her about Club Mystique,” Jamie Sue reminded her.

  Valerie glared at Jamie Sue then she turned back to Addison. “Take a drive to the south side of the Ramsey ranch. You’ll see a private driveway and next to it is a mailbox with the name ‘Club Mystique’ on it. That’s the Ramsey’s private BDSM club. They own it and they all play there because they’re all masters at giving a woman the most spectacular orgasms she’s ever had in her life. But, you wouldn’t know anything about that, because even though Cade is absolutely insatiable he’s never fucked you. Everyone knows he’s only marrying you because he’s expected to marry the right kind of woman. But, you’re not the kind of woman he needs, or even wants, and you never will be.”

  “Are you finished?” Addison’s expensively shod feet landed on the carpet. “Because let me tell you three things I know about Cade Ramsey. He hasn’t touched you, Valerie, since high school. He’s never touched Delia or Jamie Sue. And, I’m not as stupid as you think.” She held up her left hand and showed them the ring. “He may be insatiable but he’s not stupid enough to marry a mean-spirited gold digger like you whose only purpose in life is to marry a rich man.

  For the first time since Valerie and her friends had entered the shop, the three of them noticed the blue sparks of rage in Addison’s eyes and they took a step back. Another time Addison would have found their reaction amusing but now, feeling savaged by the things Valerie had told her, she wanted to go after them. And then she wanted to go after Cade. Marcy stepped into her path, blocking her and keeping her from moving to Valerie’s side of the counter.

  “I suggest you all run along now before Cade catches you in here bothering Addison,” Marcy told them.

  Valerie’s face paled, leaving behind blotchy red patches while Jamie Sue’s and Delia’s eyes widened in surprise then fear. Apparently they had forgotten that anyone who hurt Addison was bound to have to deal with Cade. “We’re going,” Valerie snapped out as she swiveled on her heels and quickly walked toward the door. Over her shoulder she said, “Take that drive, Addison. You’ll see everything I just told you is the truth.”

  When the door shut behind the three women, Addison slumped onto the stool, her shoulders hunched and her arms wrapped around her waist. Feeling her stomach heave she took several deep breaths then swallowed, trying to ward off the sick feeling rushing through her.

  “Addison—”

  “Is it true? What she said about Cade?”

  Marcy nodded her head. “I’m so sorry, Addison. I wanted to tell you a couple weeks ago but I didn’t want to make everyone mad at me.”

  “So, the whole town knows?”

  “It’s mostly just rumors,” Marcy told her reluctantly. “I don’t think there are any people in town who can afford a membership out there, including Valerie and her friends. But I think they get themselves invited to go out there and, well, do whatever it is they do out there, if you know what I mean?” Marcy hesitated then added, “We were all just trying to protect you, Addison.”

  “No. You were protecting yourselves because you were afraid of what Cade would do if any of you told me what’s been going on.” Addison pulled her purse from beneath the counter then dug her car keys out of the side pocket. “I want you to keep what just happened to yourself.”

  “Okay, I will, but Valerie and her friends will tell ever—”

  “No, they won’t. They’re too scared of Cade.” Addison grabbed her laptop then walked toward the back of the shop. “Close the shop for me.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going for a drive. Then I’m going to Dallas.” She turned back for a moment and saw Marcy take her hand off the phone. “And Marcy, do not call any of Cade’s brothers. I don’t want them to know about this. Understand?”

  “All right, Addison.”

  * * * *

  Huddled into the corner of her best friend Jenna Parnelle’s sofa, Addison scrubbed the tears from her face then rested her cheek on her drawn-up knees. Jenna perched on the other end of the sofa, holding a box of tissues out to her.

  “I could just kill Cade,” she hiccupped. “How could he lie to me for so long?”

  “Well, he didn’t really lie to you,” Jenna reasoned, trying to calm Addison down before she did something she would regret. “He just didn’t bother to tell you about his life as a Dom.”

  “Keeping this from me is the same as lying to me, Jenna. He cheated on me when we were dating and he’s probably still cheating on me even now!” Blue eyes red and puffy, she admitted a truth she had been avoiding. “I’ve always told myself he loves me even though he’s never said it. Every time I told him I loved him, he would just say I want you, baby. You belong to me,” she mocked in Cade’s deep, gravelly pitch. “I was stupid to think he belonged to me, too.” Twisting the ring on her finger, she cleared her throat. “He’s never made love to me, Jenna. Not even when I threw myself at him practically naked. It’s time I faced the truth. Cade proposed because I’m the kind of woman everyone expects him to marry.”

  Alarmed, Jenna tossed the tissues onto the coffee table then grabbed Addison’s arm and tugged, forcing her to look at her. “If there’s one thing I’m sure of it’s that Cade Ramsey has loved you as much as he’s wanted you ever since you were a teenager. You just haven’t ever seen
the way he looks at you when you’re not looking.”

  Shaking her head and no longer able to sit still, Addison slid off the couch and began wandering around the room, avoiding Jenna’s eyes. “He could have told me about this part of his life the night I caught him with Linda.” Feeling her anger returning, she planted her hands on her hips and glared. The image of him with Linda was burned into her memory, and she wondered how many other women he’d been with in the past year. “Finding out the truth from Valerie is just the last straw!” Hands clenched, feeling overwhelmed and out of control with rage and humiliation she turned toward Jenna. “I was a fool to let him talk me into seeing him after I caught him cheating and an even bigger fool to keep this stupid ring.”

  “Addison, Cade has always treated you differently than he treats other women. I’ve always been puzzled by that, but now, knowing he’s a Dom, his behavior makes a lot more sense to me. I’ve read a lot of erotic romances about BDSM, and I think if you read some of them you’ll understand how Cade thinks and why he didn’t tell you the truth. You’ve always been so sheltered from things like this. Maybe he was afraid telling you the truth would scare you off.”

  Addison snorted. “Cade Ramsey has never been afraid a day in his life.”

  “You didn’t see him the day you wrecked that sports car Cooper bought you for your eighteenth birthday,” Jenna told her. “Cade forced his way into the emergency room and demanded that Doc Roberts call in specialists from Dallas to take care of you.”

  “I barely had a scratch on me,” Addison reminded her, disbelieving that Cade had done that. “Doc only kept me in the hospital overnight because Cooper made him.”

  “Cooper didn’t make them, Addison. Cade did. After he ordered doc to bring in specialists, he started in on Cooper. I’ll never forget the way he stood over your dad, demanding to know what he was thinking giving you a sports car like that without consulting him first. He was so mad Cooper couldn’t get a word out in his own defense.”

  “Well, you have to admit the Porsche was a little too much car for me.” She settled onto the couch then turned toward Jenna, her eyes dark. “Do you think he screwed all those other women, Jenna?”

  “I don’t know, Addison. What I do know is that right now you’re so hurt and angry you’re not thinking right. You’ve got to remember what a lying bitch Valerie has always been.”

  Addison sat up, sniffled, and refused to let another tear fall. “You’re right. Valerie has always been good at mixing just enough of the truth in with her lies that people believed her. Even when Cade stopped seeing her, Valerie told everyone she had decided not to see him anymore. Everybody in town knew she’d been seeing Jimmy Burrows the whole time though.”

  “Seems like every time we walked into a room all the whispering would stop and we both knew they were talking about Cade’s younger brothers. Even we heard rumors about Jackson, Luc, Logan or Zane. But we never heard anything about Cade. The only thing we’ve both known about him is that he’s too protective when it comes to you.”

  Addison’s mind was on the night she had caught Cade with Linda. “You know Valerie was partially right, though. Seems there’s a lot I don’t know about Cade.” She looked at Jenna, her eyes wide with amazement as a new truth occurred to her. “What I’ve always thought was his way of taking care of me has actually been his way of managing me. Dominating me,” she told Jenna then added softly, “I didn’t even realize it until now.” Narrowing her eyes, Addison stared at the picture on the wall across from her, not really seeing it as she began reanalyzing everything she knew about Cade from a different point of view.

  Recognizing the “staring into the distance” look on Addison’s face, Jenna knew she was plotting some scheme that would get them both into trouble. As usual. “Addison Victoria Matthews, whatever you’re thinking about doing, don’t.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Addison fibbed as her mind ran a mile a minute coming up with and rejecting ideas.

  “Oh, yes you do! That’s the same look you had in your eyes the night you snuck into Cade’s room and filled his boots with horse manure.”

  “Well, he was being a horse’s ass,” Addison grumbled. “I just wanted to make sure he knew it.”

  Hiding a smile, Jenna added, “It’s also the look you had our senior year when you found out Cade had been warning off all the guys who had been chasing after you. You just happened to find his cell phone and you called all of the women listed in it.”

  “Was it my fault he lost it?” she asked innocently. “I was just trying to be helpful when I called all those numbers so I could find him and return it.”

  “Return it, really? Then why did all those women think he had died and you were calling to notify them of his passing?”

  “They just misunderstood what I said?” A quick grin curved her lips as she remembered their reactions. “Besides, I was thinking about killing him at the time so I was partly right.”

  “I’ll never forget the look on your face when he tracked you down at Joe’s Café. You took off out the back door so quick I didn’t know what was happening.”

  “He was really angry that time,” she muttered, glancing away and avoiding Jenna’s eyes.

  “All we heard from inside the café was your scream when he caught you going out the back door and then silence.” Jenna gave Addison a questioning glance. “You never did tell me what he said to you.”

  Addison blushed. “Let’s just say my bottom got a lot better acquainted with his hand.”

  “You’re kidding!” Jenna squealed. “He spanked you and you never told me?”

  “It was…personal,” Addison mumbled, remembering the feel of Cade’s huge hand on her back, holding her over his lap, as he had flipped her dress up and swatted her thong-covered ass. When he finally stopped smacking her, he had caressed her bare butt cheeks, his huge hand almost covering her entire bottom. So turned on by the spanking and the touch of his hands on her body, she had jerked upright, straddled his lap, and had thrown herself against him, covering his mouth with hers.

  At first, he hadn’t reacted but then he had pulled her up tight against him and his mouth had devoured hers. His tongue had swept the inside of her mouth and stroked over her tongue, encouraging her to do the same thing to him. His teeth had given her bottom lip a stinging nip before he had swept his tongue over it, soothing it. She could still feel the way his hand had wrapped around her shoulder while the other one had slid under her dress and cupped her bare butt as he had pulled her tight against him, forcing her legs to part and wrap around him. A shiver of arousal raised the hair on her arms as she remembered how huge his cock had felt against her pussy. She still fantasized about that moment.

  She had chanted his name as he had nibbled a path down her neck to the curve of her shoulder. His teeth nipped her then suddenly he had growled a curse and set her on her feet away from him. They had both been panting and flushed with arousal, but when she had reached for him he had stepped back away from her then stormed off. After that he had avoided her as much as possible until a year ago when he had called her out of the blue and asked her to dinner.

  Jenna nudged her thigh with her foot to get her attention. “That’s the second time Cade has spanked you.”

  “Yeah,” Addison mumbled, knowing it had actually been the third time. “But that one was nothing like the first one,” Addison mumbled, beginning to understand a few things about the Dom and sub dynamic. “You know I love Cade, and I want to be his wife, but I’m going to have to find out if he’s been cheating on me since our agreement on Valentine’s Day, because if he has I won’t be able to forgive him. And, I think I need to find out about this Dom and sub stuff.” Blue eyes narrowed with determination, for a moment Addison wore the grim smile of an executioner who had just handed a condemned man a final cigarette. “But, first, I’m going to have to teach his brothers, especially Luc and Logan, a lesson for helping him make a fool of me.”

  “Ah, oh, here it comes,” Jen
na groaned.

  Ignoring her Addison went on. “Come on, Jenna. We can do some research on the computer, and as big as Dallas is there’s got to be a few BDSM clubs we could check out. It’ll be fun.”

  “The things I let you talk me into,” Jenna griped then hesitantly added, “I may know someone who can help you.”

  Addison leaned toward her. “You’re kidding, who?”

  “You remember my friend Sherry Carlisle from work? Well, a couple months ago she said if she didn’t get home on time her husband Mark was going to spank her. Then she got all red in the face and tried to laugh it off, but I’ve read those books about BDSM and I don’t think she was kidding. And, once I overheard her talking on the phone to her husband and she called him ‘Master.’ Then a few weeks ago when I told her you had opened a shop in Rendezvous, she said that she and her husband had spent the weekend there. But when I asked her where they had stayed she got all flustered and mumbled she didn’t remember.”

  “I bet they stayed at Club Mystique,” Addison told her. “When I drove by it I could see two large buildings in an L shape. Both of them were at least two stories. Maybe one of them is a hotel.” Addison picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. “Do you think Sherry would be willing to talk to me about something so personal?”

  “I can ask her in the morning. She and I are working the same shift at the hospital. If she agrees to talk to you I’ll see if she’ll come over tomorrow night and the two of you can talk over a pizza and some wine.”

  “Thanks, Jenna. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “You’d figure out a way to make this work.”

  “Maybe, but it wouldn’t be as much fun without you. While you’re at work tomorrow I’m going to do a lot of research on my laptop so I’ll have an idea of what I need to ask Sherry if she agrees to talk to me.”