You, Me, and the Crazy Ex: A Club Stigmata Novella

by Luckett, Elle

  I had a feeling that wasn’t the only other reason but didn’t want to push for more if he wasn’t willing to offer it freely. When I said nothing more, Denton sighed and stepped closer, his rough hands framing my jaw. He opened his mouth to say more, but Brees let out a small disgruntled grumble seconds before there was a knock at the door.

  Whatever heat Denton had been feeling from our flirtation evaporated, his glance moving to the door and back to me again. He looked torn, unsure, and a little nervous about what was about to come.

  “Will you do me a favor?”

  I nodded, not thinking about it.

  “Accept my apology for what’s about to happen, and stick around to let me explain?”

  “I’m not sure I understand.”

  His thumb stroked my cheek, his beautiful blue eyes holding mine as he tried to put words together to explain what was about to come. His discomfort was obvious.

  “That can only be one person: my ex-wife. I was hoping you and I could get to know one another a little better before I had to explain my situation with her, but I should have known better. Will you please stay and let me explain?”

  I nodded in agreement, even though I had a bad feeling about this preemptive foresight. The look in Denton’s eyes held an apology as he dropped his hands from my face and glanced over his shoulder at the door after another set of pounding knocks came. Denton was about to turn when he changed his mind and stepped closer to me, his lips brushing against mine and sending little bursts of energy through my bloodstream.

  Then he was gone, backing away before turning and heading to the door, his back suddenly rigid with discomfort. The moment the door opened, I understood why.

  The woman who stepped into the workshop was stunning. She was petite with sharp features and eyes such a pale green they looked almost gray. She would have looked more beautiful still if her lips hadn’t been pinched as she glanced up at Denton.

  “What are you doing here, Kara?” Denton asked, staring down at her with a coldness that made me sober from my arousal completely. He didn’t look like the same man I’d spent the last twenty-four hours daydreaming about. This was someone completely detached and unemotional.

  “What’s the matter, Denny? Not happy to see me?”

  “I just don’t have time for your bullshit.”

  Brees inched closer to the woman, his body low to the ground, and his snout stretched out to sniff her. My spine stiffened when she kicked at him, and he scampered away, hiding behind Denton’s legs.

  “Don’t touch my dog, Kara.”

  “My lawyer would be so not surprised to hear that mutt bit me.”

  An exhausted growl came from Denton as he pulled off his cap and ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

  “That’s what I thought, asshole. I’m here because you didn’t pay my light bill this month.”

  “It’s not part of the alimony.”

  She mocked him, mimicking his voice like a petulant child. Crossing her arms, she glanced up at him, her mouth a twisted line of sarcastic humor. “You started this company while we were married. You know, I never considered that entitled me to half of it before.”

  “Damn you, Kara. You got everything you wanted already. Walk away.”

  “You’d love that, wouldn’t you? I heard you went to that fucking dive of a club last night. Did you get your dick sucked? Did some whore ride you like you meant something? Did you need your ego stroked, babe?” Kara glanced around the workshop, her eyes coasting over me completely before she backtracked. Hatred poured from her as she tried to murder me with a single glance. This woman was a piece of work, all right. “Who the fuck is that?”

  “None of your goddamn business is who that is.”

  Kara started toward me, but Denton had her around the waist before she’d managed to take two steps. His touch to her was like poking a bear with a stick, and she swung wildly in his grip, her hands clawing at him as she tried to break free. I appreciated his attempt to protect me from the woman, but I grew up with a kid sister. I wasn’t afraid of what she’d do. She could threaten me and throw her words as much as she liked as far as I was concerned. I didn’t know her. I didn’t care about her, and there was nothing she could do to scare me.

  “Leave, or I will call the cops.” Denton’s order cut through the bullshit like a knife, the power of it enough to bring my eyes directly to him. I didn’t think he was aware he’d done it. Kara was absolutely unaffected. She didn’t respect him enough to heed his warning. She was here to get something else.

  More money, no doubt.

  “Call the cops,” she spat coldly. “I’ll tell them you manhandled me again.”

  This volatile little bitch was a liar, an abuser, and she was using that to get what she wanted from Denton, creating lies about him that I knew weren’t true after twenty-four hours in his presence. You didn’t have to be a genius to see what she was doing, but the defeat in his eyes was almost painful to witness, especially when I knew what this man was capable of in terms of dominance. He’d conceded to her because of her threats, and his control had kept his anger at bay even when it would have been easy for him to let go.

  The two stared at one another for the longest time, facing off. Kara was issuing silent threats, and I could tell that Denton was torn between begging her to just stop and telling her to get the fuck out. I was in favor of the latter.

  “Did he tell you about his domestic abuse charges, whore?” she spat at me, a satisfied smirk curling her lips.

  “Don’t start, Kara,” Denton began, but I’d seen enough.

  “Let her tell her lies. I know you didn’t touch a hair on her head in anger.” I wasn’t aware I’d made the decision to speak until I did, and the two at the door turned to me in surprise.

  Denton’s expression seemed unsure but hopeful, while Kara’s was seething. I knew her type. She didn’t necessarily want Denton anymore, and it didn’t take much to see their relationship had been a toxic one, but she also didn’t want anyone else to have him, either. Kara knew he was a good guy, and he was still a meal ticket that she continued to milk under the pretense of being an abused spouse. When he said no, she issued another threat forcing him to be at her mercy. I would have bet she had photos from some of their scenes together that she was using as blackmail.

  No wonder he’d been so dormant for so long.

  I couldn’t let this go on.

  Turning my gaze to Kara, I lifted my mouth into a sweet smile.

  “I think you should leave now,” I offered almost too politely.

  “Denny!”

  “Goodbye, Kara,” Denton barked it like an order.

  “You’re going to regret this.” She was verbally fighting the order, but her body obeyed his command, stepping back until she was outside. “I swear to God, you will regret this. I will show everyone. I will ruin you.” She kept throwing out threats until the door was shut behind her.

  Denton stared at the door for a moment before lifting his face and turning those light blue eyes on me.

  “How long has she been blackmailing you?” I asked calmly.

  Denton pulled his hat back down over his head and turned slowly, his eyes meeting mine and studying them. Standing there, I let him examine me. I wanted him to see that I believed him—that I was on his side. It took a moment, but it registered, as we held gazes the tension finally bled from him, and he nodded.

  “Come on. I cooked for us. I’ll explain while we eat.”

  Chapter Seven

  When Denton had said he’d made us dinner, I’d assumed it had been in the loosest of terms. In my experience, men who said they’d cooked had either grilled or made sandwiches—my father being the exception.

  Denton hadn't exaggerated. He’d made us some crazy cajun-inspired alfredo that had held my attention for a while before his quiet cough pulled my attention back to him.

  As uncomfortable as it clearly made him, Denton started the conversation about his ex-wife Kara. They’d met
when they were both twenty-one at a party that someone had organized because they had been curious about the BDSM scene. The two of them had connected by accident. They had experimented together, which had brought them closer, and eventually they became a couple, venturing into Stigmata and becoming members.

  Denton had fit right in. When Kara couldn’t make it, Denton would go to Stigmata alone and just watch, constantly learning, which inevitably caught the eye of Thomas. Thomas, forever the teacher, was able to fill in so many of the blanks that Denton had in his limited experience. He’d given Denton an education, including the important parts that people outside of safe spaces like the club were inclined to overlook. Things such as aftercare, tending to the subs mentally and physically, and the psychology that came with all of that. This sounded like something Thomas would do. The man was a perpetual teacher, and he never missed an opportunity to learn from someone more experienced. I’d heard from the rumor mill that Mistress Kayla herself had spent time with him, and she was at the top of her game.

  Denton and Kara were good for a few years, and they got married when they were twenty-five, even briefly talking about kids. This was where things had started changing for the two of them, though. Kara seemed less interested in Stigmata and participating in scenes with her husband. Not because she’d lost interest in the lifestyle, as she’d claimed, but because Kara was cheating on Denton with any Dom she could get close to, only doing so outside of the club’s safety net so she wouldn’t get caught.

  “You were the one who broke it off?” I asked, sipping from the glass of white wine he’d supplied with the meal.

  “You’re damn right I did. We’d only been married for two years. I was about to hit twenty-eight, and I wasn’t going to live the rest of my life sharing a bed with someone I didn’t respect while being made a fool of in front of people I actually admired. She took that as you’d expect her to. She cried, promised to change, swore that she loved me, and then she dropped the first of many emotional blackmails.”

  I put up my hand to stop him, already knowing where he was going. “She was ready to start a family?”

  Denton gave me a half-smile. “And I was the idiot that bought right into it. She convinced me to give up my Stigmata membership, so we could focus on having a baby.”

  “How long did you try?”

  “Less than a year. I found a positive pregnancy test in the trash after ten months of trying. I was ecstatic. I’d prepared myself to be a father, looked into the books and facts of what we would be facing. I gave up my business to find a good job so I could support us all. I bought a house we couldn’t really afford, a car that we could fit a baby seat into, all in preparation for that one moment…” He trailed off and looked down at his plate, abandoning his fork before looking up at me with eyes filled with regret. “And that night when I asked her about it, she told me she’d had a miscarriage.”

  “Oh no.” I covered my mouth with my hand, unsure I wanted to know where this was headed.

  “She hadn’t.” Denton blinked up at me and gave a sardonic smile. “I’m not proud of how I discovered the truth. It’s not who I am, and not who I wanted to be.”

  I didn’t ask him how he’d found out. It was probably naive of me, but this guy had been through hell, and though I wasn’t willing to make excuses for anyone snooping, I couldn’t imagine living through what had taken him to that point.

  “She didn’t take it well?”

  “Kara told me it was my own fault for snooping, and that the baby hadn’t been mine anyway.”

  My eyes widened, and he leaned back in his chair, pushing it to the two back feet as he shrugged at me.

  “I think it could have been mine. I can’t confirm my suspicions, but we were actively trying to conceive. I honestly think Kara would have terminated any pregnancy regardless of who’d fathered the child. I packed a bag that night. She begged me to stay, promised it had been a one-time thing, hadn’t meant anything to her, but she missed the BDSM life.”

  The life she’d made him give up.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “I should have walked that first time I caught her cheating. I got a lawyer I could barely afford and started divorce proceedings. She tried to contest in the beginning. She thought I was going to try and take her car and the house. More than that, she thought she would have to work, so I stupidly agreed to give her the house, the car, and pay her a small alimony until she was able to sell the house or get remarried.”

  “Who the hell was your lawyer?”

  “Some hack.” He chuckled without humor. “Needless to say, she never sold the house, and I can’t rush her into doing it, her lawyer made sure of that. I don’t think anyone would be stupid enough to marry her. I stayed away from the club for almost two years after my divorce. She kept threatening me with the videos we’d made early in our marriage. Bondage, spanking, the usual pleasurable stuff, but if you looked at it any other way, it could be sold as abuse. I figured going back would just open up a further risk and offer more blackmail material. So, I continued building the furniture, Kara continued staking her percentage, and I was miserable.”

  The chair made a thud as the front legs landed back on the floor. Dropping his elbows to the table, Denton leaned over and took my hand in his. He looked almost pained for a moment before lifting my hand with a gentle grip to my wrist and pressing his lips to my palm.

  “Has Kara done this before?” I asked, reaching to run my fingers down his jawline. I watched as the muscles tensed, and the skin stretched. Denton closed his eyes for a moment, leaving his lips against my palm before he eventually nodded.

  “About a year after the divorce was final. I hadn’t ventured back into the lifestyle, so the girl I was seeing was even more shocked by her claims of abuse, even after I tried to explain about BDSM. Kara knew what she was doing. She’s stopped by while clients are here, only realizing her mistake when she’s face-to-face with people we both knew at Stigmata. She makes an excuse and leaves quickly, but her intent is clear. She wants to ruin me.”

  “She also has tabs on you.”

  “Not sure how.”

  “Doesn’t take much,” I said quietly.

  Denton growled in frustration and looked up, meeting my eyes. His hair was a mess, his blue eyes burning, and his jaw was set in a resigned way. I held his gaze, my heart slowly fluttering in my chest when his thumb made slow circles over the heel of my hand. He didn’t even have to try to get my heart slamming against my chest. He blinked at me for a moment, unsure before nodding his head.

  “Thing is, now she knows about you, she won’t back off until she’s satisfied you’ve abandoned whatever this is. If her efforts to get to me won’t work, she will start on you, and I don’t and can’t expect you to deal with that.”

  “You don’t think you’re worth the hassle?”

  Denton’s smirk warmed his face for a moment, eclipsing the odd resignation that had settled there.

  “I never said that, beautiful.”

  “Good, because I’m going to have to agree with you on that,” I said, giving his ego a little stroke as my lips curled into a smile of my own. I pulled back and cupped my own chin as he brushed his lips over the palm of my other hand. “I like being on my knees and at your mercy. I like being submissive, but I’m not fragile, and when I want something, I’m willing to fight for it.” I paused again. “If it wants to be fought for.”

  “And what would you be fighting for?” There was a slightly authoritative tone to his voice that had slipped in without his realizing it. It was sexy as hell and just a part of his natural charm.

  “I’m trying to figure that out, but I think I would fight for you, even if just your friendship were on offer.”

  Denton searched my face again, looking for any sign of a lie. The intense scrutiny of his eyes made my stomach flip with excitement, and my heart patter wildly in my chest.

  “Does this mean you’d agree to a second date?” he finally asked, tugging on my hand. It
was a silent command to come to him, and I obeyed, rising to my feet and circling the table. He turned with me, parting his legs as I slowly lowered myself to my knees between them. “You’d trust me enough to scene with me again?”

  “I would be honored.”

  Denton searched my face again, still unsure if he was hearing me right. This time, the intensity was ramped up with the hunger that burned behind those gorgeous eyes of his.

  “Where the hell did you come from?” he asked, I just held my silence and let him figure out his own thoughts. When he smiled, intense arousal stirred inside of me. “Whatever this is, beautiful, I want it, but if any of this gets too much, you have to tell me. I want full disclosure.”

  “Agreed.” It was all I could manage to articulate when he was looking at me like that.

  Denton smiled for just a second before swooping in, his arm around my waist as he dragged me to him, our lips crashing together somewhere in the middle. My gasp of surprise was used as an open invitation, his tongue taking the opportunity, exploring and teasing as I groaned with need. Denton stood, his arm pulling me up with him, so our lips never parted. My feet limply found the floor beneath me, but my legs felt useless, as all of my focus was on this man, his mouth, and those strong hands. He wasted no time in getting to what he wanted. He had already found the button of my shorts, making easy work of them. I only realized they were gone when they trapped my ankles below me, something Denton didn’t seem inclined to fix just yet as my hands found the button to his jeans and worked their own magic on them.

  “Jesus, Em,” he said on a grunt as my hands brushed his erection. Our eyes met only briefly. Electricity passed between us with a sudden sense of urgency, and the only thing I was capable of was begging for what I needed from him.

  “Fuck me,” I grunted against his lips as my hands rushed to push his jeans farther down his muscular legs. I blinked, breaking the lock of our gazes for a second before finding the drowning pools of pale blue again. “Sir,” I added quietly.