“I want to get her a collar.”
Maddox looks up. “Am I hearing right? Is Kai Two-Week Bowen actually making a commitment?”
“Nobody has ever called me that.”
“Sure thing, buddy,” he laughs. “Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night.” His expression turns serious. “A collar is a commitment.”
“I know. It’s not an impulse. I’ve given it a lot of thought. Is it too soon for you?”
A smile spreads across his face. “No,” he says. “It’s not too soon at all. As I learned tonight, I’m more than ready for this.”
34
Avery
I wake up when the mattress shifts underneath me. “Hey,” I whisper softly, opening my eyes to see Kai and Maddox standing at the foot of the bed, illuminated by a shaft of moonlight. “What time is it?”
“Three.”
That’s late. “You just got back?” I ask Maddox. “How were things?” My voice trails off. I don’t want to call Damon Ettenberg Maddox’s father. I think that would bother him. “In Mount Pleasant?” I finish lamely.
“It was fine. As expected.” He takes his clothes off, and gets into bed, wrapping his arm around my waist and tugging me closer. He kisses me gently. My lips part, letting him in, and his tongue strokes mine, light and teasing, before he nips my lower lip. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”
The mattress dips, and Kai settles behind me. He runs a fingertip over my nipples, tracing soft circles around my hardening nubs. “You sleepy?”
“Is it possible to be sleepy and horny?”
Kai’s hands trace a path from my neck to the base of my spine, his touch sending tingles through me. “You want us to leave you alone?”
“Now that you’ve got me all wet and ready?” I can’t help the pout in my voice. “You wouldn’t be that cruel, would you?”
Maddox tweaks my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, and a sharp burst of pleasure-pain shoots through me. “I’m perfectly capable of being that cruel,” he says mildly.
I shiver at the tone in his voice. I’ve learned from experience that the milder Maddox sounds, the more devious he’s going to be.
“But,” he adds. “You’re right. It would be cruel to touch you…” He moves his hand between my legs, his fingers parting my folds and touching me, light and teasing. “Just like this…” His finger brushes my clitoris, and I whimper and move closer to him. “Getting you all keyed up…” He slides his finger inside me, and my muscles clamp around him. “If I didn’t mean to do anything about it.”
I feel the drizzle of lube between my crack, and then Kai’s fingers slick the gel into me. I hear the sound of a condom wrapper tear, and then his cock is there, his head pressing into my tight hole.
God, I love anal sex.
My muscles yield to Kai’s insistent cock, and then he’s in past the ring. He waits for me to get adjusted to his girth, then pushes in until he’s fully in me.
“She’s so wet,” Maddox groans, reaching for a condom of his own. “So ready. You love anal, don’t you, Avery? Such a naughty girl.”
“Yes,” I whisper, unashamed. They’ve taught me this. To admit to what I crave, to openly acknowledge my desires.
Maddox’s lips are on mine again, sweet and possessive and claiming. He slides into me, slow and intent, and the delicious friction makes me groan. Being filled completely by the two of them, sandwiched between their bodies—I’m never going to get enough of this.
Some days, the sex is hard and fast and furious. Some days, they bark orders at me, making it very clear that I’m supposed to obey. Some days, they tell me I belong to them, punctuating each word with a hard smack, until I’m a writhing, flailing ball of need, waiting for their permission to detonate.
Today, they don’t tell me that I belong to them. Sweet and slow, they show me. Each thrust seems to pierce my heart. In the darkness, pressed between their hard bodies, feeling them rock into me, I’ve never felt as connected to Kai and Maddox.
Something has shifted between us again. The walls we’ve placed around our hearts have cracks in it. It won’t take much for them to crumble away entirely.
There’s a text message waiting for me when I wake up on Saturday morning. It’s from Victor.
Blue Duck Tavern. Friday at seven.
Friday. It’s all going to happen next week.
35
Kai
Time’s a funny thing. Sometimes, the days stretch out, slow and languorous. Other times, they whiz past.
Before I know it, it’s Friday.
We’ve all been tense this week. Maddox is keyed up about Gage’s engagement party. I’m worried about my surgery. Avery’s nervous about something too, but she won’t tell us what it is.
“Break a leg,” Maddox says, slapping my back.
Avery rolls her eyes. “Good luck,” she says, wrapping her arms around me and kissing me deep and slow. “You’re going to be amazing.”
I drive to the hospital and start to scrub in preparation for the OR. I’m early, but adrenaline is prickling through my body, and I’m eager to get going.
Rajesh washes up next to me. “My wife’s very irritated with you,” he remarks. “I told her I was going to be your standby, and she wanted to know what the point was.”
I’ve told him about the hand tremors, so he knows perfectly well why he’s scrubbing up too. He’s just trying to lighten the tension.
“Sorry about that. Did you have plans this evening?”
He laughs. “She wanted to go to the symphony,” he says. “I loathe classical music. I’m thrilled to get out of it, and she can take her sister instead. Win-win.”
The rest of the team files in. Lina Fen, my surgical assistant, flashes me a thumbs-up sign. Mark Woods, the anesthesiologist, is telling a knock-knock joke, as he does before every single surgery. Emily Arnal, Tony Tenorio, and Dustina Baker, the nursing team, who’ve heard this joke a thousand times before, still manage to crack a smile. Penelope Tassi, the perfusionist who operates the heart-lung bypass machine, has headphones on, which she will keep on until the last possible minute.
Gotta be honest. I’ve missed these guys.
“Ready?”
Three hours in the OR. First time I’ve been back after Melody Simon died on the table.
I take a deep breath. I don’t know what will happen today, but whatever it is, I’m ready.
36
Maddox
“How quickly do you think we can get out of here?” I’d assumed that Gage’s engagement party would be held in a restaurant, but it’s at the Kalorama home of a family friend of Sampson and Rosie Lee. I’d also assumed that it would be a large party. It’s not. There are fewer than fifty guests in attendance, which makes it a lot more difficult to escape notice.
Not that that’s really an option anyway. From the moment my mother and I walked into the house, everyone’s been discreetly, but avidly, staring at us.
I expect Kiki Wake to tell me to behave, but to my surprise, she gives me a close-lipped smile. “I’m quite furious with Gage,” she murmurs. “I’ve had two weeks to calm down, but I’m afraid that doesn’t seem to be enough time.” She takes a sip of her white wine. “He went through my belongings, found my private diaries, read about one of the most painful periods of my life and exploited it for money. Despite that, had he apologized even once for what he did, I would have forgiven him.”
“You’re a better person than me. It’s been two years, and I’m still angry.” I give her a sidelong glance. “We don’t have to stay. I’m only here for you. If the damn gossip doesn’t bother you, let’s get the hell out of here.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t want to make a scene,” she murmurs. “Not because I’m afraid of people talking, but because Melissa Lee seems like such a nice young woman. It’s her engagement party; she deserves to have a good time.”
“Even if she has painfully bad taste in men,” I bite out. “Fine, I’ll be Gage’s puppet t
his evening. After tonight, though, he’s on his own.” I smile cheerfully at a man who’s staring at us and lift my glass in his direction. He grimaces and pretends he hasn’t been trying to eavesdrop on our conversation. Vultures, all of them.
Not Avery.
All week, I’ve been struggling with Brody’s news. Neither Kai nor I can bring ourselves to tell her about what her parents did, but we should. Yesterday, we’d collected the collar from Mena Imdorf. It’s exactly what we wanted. Three strands of thin gold intertwine together, and the clasp forms an infinity symbol.
I’ve never given a woman a collar before. Neither Kai or I really want or expect Avery to wear it all the time. But I want Avery wearing it to the club, openly declaring that she’s ours and ours alone. Something about it feels far more significant than an engagement ring. When we put it around her neck, she’ll belong to us, and we’ll belong to her.
We are moving fast. But I’ve lost ten years. I don’t want to lose any more time.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
“I went to the glass show last week.”
She gives me a small smile. “I wondered. How was it?”
“The glass or the man?”
She chuckles. “I went to see the art,” she replies. “Not during the opening, of course. If you’d told him you were his son, I thought it best that I avoid Damon.”
I chuckle. “But you were curious enough about the work that you went anyway?”
“I’m always curious about people’s work, you know that. I found the art rather stagnant. The work Damon’s doing today isn’t any different from what he was doing thirty years ago. Where’s the growth? The artistic journey?”
“You are such a snob.” I bump my mother’s shoulder fondly. “I thought the glass was pretty.”
“Pretty.” She makes a dismissive noise in her throat. “Art should never be pretty.”
I roll my eyes. “For the first five years of my career, ‘pretty’ paid my bills.”
A passing waiter walks by with a tray of finger food, and we both shake our heads. It’s probably silly and immature of me, but I’ll be damned if I’m eating at this party. I don’t like Gage enough.
“I remember that phase of yours,” she reminisces. “There was that one year when you wouldn’t come back home for Christmas because you didn’t have enough money. Stuart was so annoyed with you.”
It had been the first Christmas after Dublin. There’d been a lot of reasons I hadn’t wanted to go home, but money wasn’t one of them.
“But he was also so proud. He’s stubborn, he said to me. Takes after his old man.”
“He did?” There’s a lump in my throat.
“Of course he did. You’re more like him than you think.”
“Really? I was the photographer who wandered around the world. Gage was the one who went to work at the family firm.”
“Yet Stuart would have never done what Gage did.”
She’s got a sheen of tears in her eyes. She’s still recovering from my dad’s death, from Gage’s betrayal. We both are.
But I have Avery.
“I met someone.”
Her eyes fly to my face. “You did? Who is she? Tell me everything.”
“Her name is Avery Welch.” Today’s not the day to break it to my mother that our relationship isn’t exactly the most conventional thing. Then again, knowing her as well as I do, I doubt Kiki Wake would care too much about that. “I’ll bring her to your opening.” My eyes narrow as Gage walks toward us, his shoulders tense. “Trouble.”
“Can I talk to the two of you alone?” His smile is expansive, and his voice is low. Gage has no desire to create a scene either.
“Sure,” I reply mildly.
He leads the way to a small side room. The moment we’re in, he whirls toward me, his hands clenched into fists. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snaps.
“What are you talking about, Gage?”
“I told you to show up. To mix and mingle. To pretend that everything’s okay between us. Instead, the two of you stand in a corner and talk only to yourselves. It’s not good enough, damn it.” He takes a threatening step toward me. I hold my ground and stare back at him. I’m not going to create a scene, but if Gage thinks I’m going to sit back and take whatever he’s dishing out, he’s sadly mistaken.
Gage could never control his temper, even as a child. He’s working himself up into a towering rage.
“You’ve already taken my inheritance from me,” he barks. “An inheritance that a bastard like you should have never been able to get your greedy paws on. And now you’re fucking this up for me too? I’ve worked too hard to hook Melissa to let you take this from me. Do you understand?”
I open my mouth to tell him exactly what I think of him and his blustering threats, but before I do, a small, hurt, voice speaks up. Melissa Lee is standing in the doorway of the room, and judging from the shattered look in her eyes, she appears to have heard most of what Gage said. My fucking brother. “You’ve worked too hard to hook me?” She swallows convulsively. “Is that all I am to you? A fish to be reeled in?”
Gage swears under his breath. “It’s not how it sounded.”
She straightens her spine. “I think it’s exactly as it sounds.” Her smile is strained and stilted, and she turns around and walks out of the room. Gage mutters something under his breath and chases after her.
If I’m not mistaken, Gage’s engagement just imploded.
“Well.” I turn to my mother with a grim smile. “That was a fucking disaster.”
Kiki Wakes suddenly looks very tired. “Let’s leave.”
I don’t head to Avery’s condo right away. I have one stop to make first. I head to a studio in Georgetown to which I have twenty-four-seven access.
For ten years, three rolls of film have stayed at the bottom of my equipment bag, with me wherever I go. I’ve never been able to throw them away, but I’ve never been able to develop the rolls either. I’ve stayed tethered to them for a decade of my life, waiting for something.
Now we have a collar for Avery.
I’m finally ready to look at the photos I took of the three of us, ten years ago. Now that the future looks bright and promising, I’m finally ready to face the past.
37
Avery
The restaurant that Victor has picked is in the heart of Georgetown. I get there exactly at seven and then spend fifteen minutes waiting for him to show up.
Another power play. It might have worked when I was nineteen, but it won’t work anymore.
I’ve talked to Nadya; we have a strategy. It’s very cloak-and-dagger. Just like the detective shows that Kai likes to watch on TV, I’m wearing a wire. Umm, that’s what I think it is, anyway. It’s recording our conversation. Nadya, whose after-hours rate is three-thousand-dollars, is not sitting in an unmarked van outside, listening to every word we say. “Because we’re not in a TV show, Avery,” she says. “The tape won’t be admissible in a court of law either. But,” she adds, her eyes turning feral, “It will give us leverage.”
Strangely, as I wait for Victor to show up, I’m not nervous, and I’m not worried. Whatever happens today, I’m going to tell Maddox and Kai everything tonight.
Both men have let me into their lives. Maddox asked me to come with him to the gallery opening where he was meeting his biological father for the first time. Kai, who is always so strong and in control of everything, had voiced his fears to me. Shown me his vulnerability.
I need to let them in too, let them be a part of my life, both the good and the bad. Whatever happens, we’ll face it together.
My ex-husband arrives at last. He sits down and proceeds to survey the wine list. When he’s finally found a bottle to his satisfaction, he turns to me. “Hello, Avery.”
“Victor. It’s been a long week, and I’m too tired for social niceties.” I smile tightly at him. “Let’s get right to the point. What’s it going to take for this to go away?”
; He raises an eyebrow. “Wasn’t that always clear? I want you back in Surrey. You’re almost thirty. You’re getting almost too old for children, and I need heirs.”
“What about Lady Patrice and Lady Sarah?” Nadya’s done her research. Victor’s been engaged twice in the last ten years. Both engagements have been broken off by the women. Having lived with him for two years, I’m not too surprised.
His lips tighten. “That is not your concern,” he snaps.
I take a deep breath. “Let’s cut to the chase. You don’t care about me. You’ve never even been particularly attracted to me. What is this really about?”
“You’re mine,” he replies coldly. “You don’t get to walk away and make a laughing stock out of me, Avery. I won’t tolerate that.”
Ice trickles down my spine. He’s crazy. He’s lost any grip on reality.
I try one more time. “I’m not your possession, Victor. We’re divorced. There’s nothing between us anymore. I’m seeing someone else.”
He sneers. “Yes, Bowen and Wake, in your perverted sex club. You filthy slut.” He takes a deep breath and evens his voice. “I’ve been very tolerant with you, Avery, but my patience is running out. Break it off with them.”
I’ve heard enough. I get to my feet just as the sommelier shows up with the bottle of wine. “I’m not ever returning to Sussex,” I say through gritted teeth. “And I’m certainly not breaking it off with Kai and Maddox. Drop the matter entirely.” I place my hands on the table and stare into his cold eyes, my tone as frosty as his. “No more conversations, Victor. Anything else you have to say, you can say to my lawyer.”
If he wants a fight, I’m ready for one.
Taming Avery (A MFM Menage Romance) (Club Menage Book 2) Page 17