Surrender Boxed Set (Surrender Series Volume 1 - 7. BDSM romance with man love, bad boys, and billionaires.)

by Anita Lawless

  So everyone has been lying to me, huh? Well it’s time for some answers.

  I march up to Rider and Felicia, who both smile at me as I draw near. Ron says something to me, but I completely ignore him as I send daggers at my best friend and my current employer/ lover.

  “You lied to me,” I slur, pointing my empty champagne glass at Felicia and then at Rider.

  Felicia looks at him and he looks back. I don’t miss the knowing glance they exchange, even if I am tipsy.

  “What’re you talking about, Christy?” Rider gets in between me and the bride.

  I poke a finger into his dress shirt. “You know exactly what I’m talking about, Seth.”

  His eyes go wide and then his face falls. “I was afraid this would happen.” He sighs. “That’s why I didn’t want to come to the wedding with you.”

  “Ha!” I shove a finger in his face, narrowly missing his eye. My head is woozy and my aim is off. “So you admit you lied! Why? Why didn’t you tell me who you really were?”

  He shrugs, looks at his dress shoes. “I thought you’d have figured it out by now, and—”

  Felicia pushes around him, getting between Rider and I. “Christy, you’re drunk, and this is my wedding. How dare you act like this. I’m sorry we lied to you, but this discussion will have to wait for now.”

  The champagne has really gone to my head, and it coaxes along a surge of anger at the almost equally furious blonde who stands before me. “No, we won’t talk about it!” I shout, and half the crowd turns in my direction. “Because I’m through with both of you!”

  And with that, I smack the silver plate Felicia holds in her hand. A huge slab of her wedding cake rests on top of it, and the cake sails into the air, does an impressive twirl, then lands right along the top of Felicia’s ruby bodice. Sweet icing dribbles down her unconventional crimson wedding dress, and she shrieks like a banshee announcing death.

  “I will kill you, Christy Tyler!”

  I jump out of my satin pumps and bolt for the restaurant door. “You’ll have to catch me first!” I yell as I peel out of the place.

  Her voice follows me. “You’re paying my dry cleaning bill!”

  ***

  “Come on, Christy, you have to talk to me eventually.” Jeanie bangs on my bedroom door again. “Open up. Felicia’s going to be here in one hour, and you two will patch things up, or else I’ll hide your share of the beer.”

  “You wouldn’t dare!” I shout back. The first time I’d talked to her in three days.

  It has been a week since the wedding and Felicia and I still haven’t forgiven each other. I haven’t forgiven Rider—or should I say Seth—either. Jeanie is also on my do not talk list, obviously, and it’s made being roommates less than fun. But Jeanie is one determined girl, and she’s kept at me until I’ve mumbled replies at times. She says Felicia and I are both being childish and we need to patch things up. She says I need to talk to Rider, too, but I’m not listening on that one.

  He called to apologize and asked to explain, but I used the opportunity to quit my job with him and tell him I was going back to my job at Your Daily Cup. Jeanie told me I was a dumbass for not hearing his side of the story. She tried to tell me about their scheme, but I shut the door and put my ear phones in. She even threatened to find another roommate, but I reminded her both our names are on the lease agreement and we’re locked in for one more year. Did she really want the fine and to go back to dorm life? I knew I didn’t.

  “You need to grow up!” she’d fumed at me and stomped out the room.

  Rider sent texts apologizing, but I stopped opening them after the first two.

  How could they have deceived me like that? I don’t care how good their intentions were, they should’ve told me the truth.

  Still, I do miss Rider and Felicia, and I hate freezing Jeanie out. Maybe it is time to reconcile things and at least get some closure with Rider then say goodbye.

  I hate admitting how much I miss him, but it’s true. No, I don’t love him. Not yet. I’m not falling hard and fast this time. My trust is already in tatters again after my wedding discovery. But I miss those soft blue eyes, that curly mass of hair and stubbled cheeks and chin.

  My nights are tortured with images of him fleeting through my fantasies and dreams. His warm arms around me. His soft lips kissing mine, grazing over my skin. How he felt when he pressed his strong chest against my back when I was bound to the pillory. How he would tease my ear with teeth, tongue, words, and warm breath.

  And, of course, what haunts me most is that last practice, when we made love—no, screwed. No love talk allowed. It was just sex, pure and simple. But it felt so good, so right. His cock massaging me deep inside is branded into my sex and brain. His hot hands roaming all over my skin. I can almost feel them now as I lie atop my bed and look longingly at my nightstand drawer, where my vibrator waits.

  But they’ll be no getting off for the time being. Felicia will be here soon and I’m ready to bury the hatchet with her and Jeanie. So I throw my legs over the mattress, heave a deep sigh, and pad across the carpet to my door.

  Jeanie is in mid-bend with her magazine, about to sit on the couch, when I walk in the main living area of our apartment. She stares at me and pauses.

  “Friends again?” I say as I blush over my weeklong temper tantrum.

  She gives me a wide smile. “It’s about time!”

  I move toward the couch and wrap her in a big hug. We giggle and cry and promise never to fight this long ever again, then we sit together after I go grab us some beers.

  “Why didn’t you all tell me the truth, though?” I whisper, wanting to know more now my pout marathon is over.

  Jeanie’s face crinkles in a rueful frown. “I’m sorry, Christy. We should’ve, but you’d made that no bad boys pact and basically sworn off all guys, so me and Felicia thought you’d run for miles if we set you up on a date with Rider. Especially if you knew who he really was.”

  I laugh. “I probably would have.”

  “See?” She laughs too and points her beer at me. “There is more to it than that … but I think you should hear the rest from Felicia and Rider.” She pats my hand. “Are you going to talk to him soon?”

  I nod. “I’ll call him tomorrow, after work.”

  Felicia arrives fifteen minutes later. Her and I are both a touch frosty at first, like two lions sniffing each other over, scoping out the possibility of threat, but Jeanie moves in and gets us hugging, apologizing, and talking within no time.

  After she settles in with a beer and we order some pizza, Felicia tells me more about why she, Jeanie, and Rider pulled the ruse on me.

  “Look, you were working so hard at those two jobs,” she says, rolling her beer bottle in her hand as she talks. “And you wouldn’t let me and Ron help you out with bills or tuition, even when you were falling asleep in some classes. Jeanie and I were worried about you.”

  While Felicia goes to answer the door and pay for the pizza, Jeanie continues, “So I met Rider in one of my night classes—business admin. We got to talking cause he recognized me, and he asked about you.”

  “He asked about me?”

  Jeanie nods at me and smiles. “He was really grateful for the tutoring you gave him all those years ago. Hell, he’d have flunked grade 7, 8 and 9 without your help, he told me. I guess he never forgot you.”

  “Wow…”

  I swig my beer, grab a slab of pepperoni pizza, take some time to let this soak in while Felicia finishes the story.

  Back in school, I’d never give Seth Sykes a chance in the romance department. I was a brainy good girl and he was one of the school’s BMX biking outcasts who hung out with the kids smoking spliffs in a secret alcove at the back of the school. We were casual pals, thanks to our tutoring sessions, sure, but when he did ask me out, I nicely turned him down. Sure, I wasn’t interested in him but I tried not to be unnecessarily mean, cause he had been a nice kid, even if he did eat all my erasers during our tutoring se
ssions.

  He hadn’t forgotten me, yet I’d forgotten all about him. And as the rest of the story unfolds, I feel like a huge heel, and just wish the carpet would open up and swallow me.

  “So, Rider and I and Jeanie devised our plan. Rider would hire you and pay you enough that you could quit your jobs and have more time for school. Plus it meant he got to spend time with you, and that made him pretty happy.” Felicia smirks and waggles her eyebrows at me. “We just wanted to help, but I’m really sorry we lied to you.

  “Wow, thanks you two.” I hug them both fiercely again, then I start to tear up and hate myself for getting uber-sappy. “You are the best friends in the world. And I’m sorry about your dress.”

  “You picked up the dry cleaning bill and it’s good as new. No worries.”

  After we finish up the pizza, I try to call Rider, but his cell phone keeps telling me he isn’t available right now, and the guy who answers at the club tells me he isn’t around. I’ll have to try later.

  Then another thought occurs to me. “But where did Rider get the cash to pay me?”

  “Oh, that’s the other thing.” Felicia’s smirk turns into a full on smug grin. “Rider isn’t working at that club he takes you to. He owns it. But that’s his story and I can’t tell it. He’ll have to fill you in.”

  I tell her she’s evil for teasing me with tidbits, then I try getting a hold of Rider again. My head is filled with questions and a need to reconcile.

  ***

  I try to call Rider again the next morning before I leave for my shift at Your Daily Cup, but still no answer and no one at the club can tell me where he is. Now I’m starting to worry, and Jonas asks me what’s wrong when I arrive at work.

  “Is it that gronk you were seeing?” He looks at me over the tech magazine he’s reading. “You’re not getting back together with him, are you?”

  “He’s not a gronk, and I don’t know.”

  He makes a face. “Well if you quit here again, Cassie wants two weeks’ notice this time.”

  I roll my eyes at him. “Don’t worry. I’m not quitting. You’ll have someone to cover your sick days.”

  No sooner does the promise leave my lip and the little bell over the coffee shop door rings.

  “Oh, crap,” Jonas groans. “Don’t you dare quit!”

  I look up from the dishes I’m putting away behind the counter. “What’re you—” My words are cut off by Rider’s hesitant smile as he approaches the front.

  “Hi,” he says, giving Jonas a look that makes it clear he’d like some time alone with me.

  Jonas grumbles, puts down his tech magazine. “Fine, I’ll leave you two alone.” He gives Rider a haughty up and down. “But she has forty-five minutes left in her shift, and I get a lunch break somewhere in there.”

  “I promise not to kidnap her until she’s finished.” Rider sits at one of the stools on the right side of the counter. “How’s that?”

  Jonas nods. “Deal.” Then he steals a poppy seed bagel from one of the baskets we keep near the front and disappears with it into the back room.

  I blink at Rider, twine my fingers into the dish towel I keep tucked in my apron pocket. “I tried to call you last night and this morning.”

  He puts down some change for a cup of coffee. “I was out of town. Sorry I missed you.”

  “No, I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner.” I put my hand on top of his. “I should’ve let you explain.”

  He looks into my eyes and my heart starts to do that jack rabbit thing.

  “Will you let me explain now?” His fingers skim up my hand to my wrist and then back down, raising goose bumps and tickling a little.

  “Felicia and Jeanie told me a lot last night.” His face tenses, as if he thinks I’m blowing him off, so I quickly add, “But, yeah, I’m listening. It’s quiet today.” I look at the front of the shop, which is empty, and only one regular lingers near the back with his newspaper. “Go for it.”

  He tells me Felicia filled him in on most of our conversation about an hour ago. Then he shrugs, looks uncomfortable before he starts to explain, “She told me how worried she was about you working such long hours while going to college. How Jeanie found you sleeping in the bathtub and thought you were gonna drown.”

  I chuckle at that. “Those two always exaggerate.”

  He smiles. “So I wanted to help you out. You helped me out in high school. I figured now I’ve got some spare cash I could return the favor. And Felicia said you’re too proud to just take the money, so we’d have to make it look like a real job and all.”

  “You are a trio of schemers.” I shake my head as I refill his coffee.

  “I promise we really had your best interests in mind,” he says before taking a sip. “Sorry that we lied to you, pissed you off.”

  I reach over the counter to touch his shoulder. “I just tutored you. It’s not like I saved your life. You didn’t owe me anything.”

  He takes my hand and stares deeply into my eyes. “Yes, I did. You saved my ass from flunking, and from my parent’s anger if I had failed. I’d have never gotten into any decent college if it hadn’t been for your help. I mean that.”

  My mouth has gone dry and my face is warm with the blush that creeps into my cheeks. “But I turned you down for dates, wouldn’t hang out with you because I’d labeled you a bad boy…”

  And then it hits me. Shit, I’m doing it again. Labeling people, men, to keep them away. Back in high school, all I wanted was to get out of my small town along with Jeanie and Felicia and make something of myself. I didn’t want to get trapped in a loveless marriage like my mom had, and I didn’t want to get trapped by small town life. So I stayed away from dating much and made getting good grades and into a good college my life. It wasn’t until college I’d started to date what I termed “bad boys,” and I saw how I’d used this to always keep those guys at a distance.

  I realize I looked for guys with traits I could never ultimately live with over the long haul, making sure no relationship had the potential to last so I’d never get in too deep, lose control.

  But with Rider, I didn’t seek him out. He came to me via my two best friends, and he really was the anti-thesis of all those guys I’d chosen. Oh, sure, he had the tats and many would label him as I had on first meeting him, but he was more than some hasty judgment I’d made. He was nice guy who cared about me.

  “We all make judgments,” he said, bringing me back to present and my last words. “I’m just glad I proved you wrong.” His smile is wide and Cheshire-like.

  “So you own the club?” I decide to change the subject.

  He looks sheepish as he takes a swig of coffee. “Yeah, I guess that was another lie, too.” He runs a hand down his face. “My uncle died about a year ago and willed it to me, if you can believe that.” He chuckles. “And that’s true, which I can prove. Anyway, he kind of took me in after my parents died and he left everything to me. So that’s why I was in Jeanie’s business admin class. I was learning how to run my newly inherited business.”

  “Wow. Life is weird, huh?” I put our conversation on hold long enough to serve some customers who wander in then quickly return. “So you’re not a dom?”

  “Like I told you, I’m a switch.” He winks.

  I feel heat creep into my cheeks again and my stomach is doing that dastardly butterfly thing again. But then a sobering though hits me and I can’t meet his eyes as I say, “I-I can’t work for you anymore.”

  He grips my chin with his free hand and forces me to meet his eyes. “You won’t come back, huh? Not even as a bartender? I could train you. It’s what I did before my uncle died. And I’d pay well. You can’t keep working these long hours and going to college. Your education should be top priority.”

  I grin at him. “Now you sound like a dom, or my dad.”

  He laughs. “Confession?”

  I blink at him, momentarily confused as to whether he wants me to confess or do the confessing. Then I nod as he stands and leans
over the counter, gets as close to me as possible and makes the teenagers sitting across from the counter giggle and stare.

  “I thought about you a lot after I left West Haven. In fact, I never forgot you. You remember turning me down for dates. I remember a girl who took the time to help me. One of the only girls in that school who gave me any attention. I love you, Christy, and, if you give me a chance, I think you’ll fall in love with me too.”

  I gulp, nearly choke on my swallowed spit, then hack up a lung. This earns me gentle laughter from Rider and the teens at the front.

  Jonas is just coming back from his lunch break so we have to cut this short, but Rider says he has one last request before he leaves. Will I please hear him out? I say yes and lean even closer while he speaks into my ear.

  “I need a big favor. One of my doms is sick and she and her sub were supposed to do a small performance this weekend in one of the private rooms at the club. I know it’s a lot to ask, but would you fill in with me? Perform with me?”

  I nearly choke again. “Perform sexually in front of other people?” My voice squeaks at the end of my question.

  He chuckles low in his throat. “Sex is optional. What the clients want is to watch a dom do orgasm denial on his sub until the sub is nearly crazy with the need to come.” His words and breath fanning my skin make me unbearably horny. My breath is shallow and my blood pounds in my ears. “You can get yourself off in the end, if you want. I won’t touch you unless you allow it.”

  “I can’t perform that way in front of people!” I hiss. “It would be too embarrassing.”

  “Some subs say that adds to the thrill—the humiliation factor. It’s called humiliation play, actually. I’ve done it, as a sub.” His finger strokes down my cheek and I shiver. “It was wild fun and I’d love to do it with you. As for the people, you could perform in a mask? Less exposure that way.”

  I swallow hard. “Let me think about it.”

  He nods. “I need an answer by tomorrow night, and I’ll pay you, very well.” I go to protest, but he hold up a finger as he leaves his seat. “Don’t say no to the cash either. I’ll just go pay your tuition fees myself if you do.”