Striking a Balance (Thalia Book 2) (The Thalia Series)

by Jennifer Bene

  “Ye bought a girl from them!” Kalen tackled James and they hit the floor hard. Kalen was a bigger guy, but to Thalia’s surprise James seemed to know what he was doing. There was a quick movement and James wasn’t on his back anymore, but they were both trying to pin the other, delivering brutal sounding body shots that had Thalia panicking.

  “Stop!” She pleaded, too quietly, clenching her fists in her lap.

  They were exchanging grunts and curses, fists and knees. For a moment James had Kalen in a head lock and arched him back, telling Kalen to listen to him, but Kalen broke it and reared back to punch James again – and that was it.

  “FUCKING STOP IT!” Thalia screamed at the top of her lungs. She stood shivering by the table and was surprised when they actually stopped. From their crumpled pile on the floor they both looked at her like she’d lost her mind. Maybe she had. She was shaking violently with the adrenaline flooding her system that came from the anxiety of being openly defiant but she continued to shout anyway, “He saved me, dammit! He asked me -,” she realized she was sobbing as her gasp for air interrupted her shouts, “- he asked to touch me, Master Kalen, he asked permission, he asked if I wanted to go with him, he asked if I wanted to submit to him. And I said yes! That’s what this is all about right? My right to say yes or no? Well I said yes to him, and I’m failing him -”

  “Thalia -” James was pushing away from Kalen, his eyes focused completely on her and his expression illustrated how much her words affected him. She cut him off anyway.

  “No matter what he says, I know it, I know I’m failing him, and -” she sobbed again, “I’ll do anything to stay with him, because he saved me, he fought for me. He took me from Ma- Marcus. And I’m grateful. And he’s wonderful. And whatever I have to do to understand this submissive part of me and still be me, I’ll do it, for him. And for me.”

  “Listen here -” Kalen was standing a step behind James, both of them breathing heavily from their quick tussle, but she cut him off too, her desperation not to lose this last chance fueling her speech.

  “Don’t take away my only chance to show him I’m serious about being better! Please, Master Kalen – I can do this! I can, I just need to know HOW!” She was screaming by the end of it, and as if she had been buoyed up by her passion to defend James, as soon as she was done with her speech the bravery left her. She immediately dropped to her knees, hard, and she suddenly realized that she had just shouted at not one, but two Dominants, including her Master. She covered her mouth and could feel the heat of tears on her cheeks as an awkward silence fell.

  Their eyes were both a little wide as James and Kalen turned and looked at each other without speaking for a moment.

  Kalen broke the silence first, “I thought ye said she was too submissive, James?”

  “She has her moments.” James’ eyes were glinting as he stared across the room at her, and she knew she had likely earned a punishment for speaking to them that way – but it was worth it. His mouth ticked up at the edge like he was fighting a smile though, and it warmed her on the inside. He wasn’t really mad. He continued speaking to Kalen, “What I need your help with is getting the girl you just saw, and the submissive you first met, to balance out. She deserves to be that person regardless of how I met her.”

  Thalia was breathing heavily as they talked about her like she wasn’t there, her skin had broken out in a sheen of sweat as her anger left her and anxiety poured in.

  What would happen if Kalen really did kick them out like he said? Would James give up on her?

  “I see.” Kalen’s voice was stoic.

  At the other end of the room appeared a redhead in an extremely short green dress. She walked across the room confidently, concern etched across her features. “What on Earth is happening in here? I just heard more shouting in here than I did for the last World Cup game!” Her voice was rich, and she actually sounded annoyed as she walked up to them. Kalen looked at her indulgently – it must be Maggie, his wife. She was also his submissive, according to James, but she definitely didn’t act like one, at all. And other than the fact that her dress was so short that Thalia could see the pert curves of her buttocks below the hem, she would have never guessed she was anything other than an irritated wife.

  “Ah, blessing, well...” He smiled bitterly, “It seems James bought Thalia from the Williams brothers.” Kalen said it smoothly, without the rage that had been present just a few moments before. But before anyone could react Maggie turned on her heel and slapped James across the face. Hard.

  “Ye right bastard!” Maggie screamed at him, and Kalen grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

  “Stop!” Thalia jumped back to her feet as James brushed his hand over his cheek and looked first at Thalia to hold up his other hand, pausing her, and then he turned back to Kalen and Maggie.

  Maggie’s eyes went wide and she covered her mouth as if her actions had shocked herself. James didn’t seem bothered at all, despite the red spot on his cheek. “I’m sor-”

  “I know, Maggie. I know. It’s okay. Will you both let me explain? If neither of you forgive me after that, we’ll leave. I swear it.”

  Kalen leaned forward and whispered in Maggie’s ear and she nodded. “That was wrong of me, sir. I should not have struck ye, I’ll accept whatever punishment ye decide.” Maggie smoothly dropped to her knees, and as the fever in the room calmed Thalia slid to her knees as well.

  I am so out of my depth.

  “Kalen, it’s fine. Maggie doesn’t need to be punished, I deserved it.” James spoke in that clear, direct voice that she loved so much. He looked over at her again, and it was almost as reassuring as if he had touched her.

  “Okay, James. I’ll listen, only because I have known ye for years and ye have never been this feking stupid – but Maggie will still be punished. She knows the consequences for breaking rules. How do ye want to handle Thalia’s little outburst? That was some… colorful language.” Kalen looked over at her and she quailed. Anxiety flooded her again and she felt her lungs locking up – what if he hated her now because she had been so disrespectful?

  “I’ll handle it myself tonight.” James spoke evenly, and Thalia couldn’t tell how much trouble she was in.

  “Sir?” Maggie spoke and both of them dropped their eyes to her mop of red hair, bound in a loose bun. “I will, of course, accept whatever punishment ye decide. But dinner is going to burn if I’m not back in the kitchen soon.” Then she looked up at Kalen and smiled brightly – and he smiled back at her, not even a hint of anger left on his face.

  “Then back in the kitchen with ye.” He tugged her to her feet and slapped her on the ass as she walked towards the kitchen with a big grin. Maggie winked at her as she passed by and Thalia was stunned. Why wasn’t Maggie more worried? Why wasn’t Kalen more upset?

  “Thalia, join us in my office.” Kalen pointed through a doorway and he and James walked through it. Thinking that more submission was better than less after her speech, she crawled after them and knelt just inside the doorway. When she lifted her eyes a bit she found Kalen staring at her with his arms folded across his barrel chest. “Is she like this all the time?”

  “Yes, except she knows she has explicit permission to walk around my flat.” James sighed as he dropped into a comfortable looking leather chair, “Baby, come here please.”

  “Yes, Master.” Fumbling to her feet Thalia walked the few steps to James before she knelt down again next to him and immediately rested her head on his thigh. She didn’t care how pathetic it was, after all the shouting, her outburst, the violence – she needed his reassurance, and he gave it to her. His fingers slipped into her hair and he trailed his nails over her scalp in little circles.

  Thalia zoned out under his touch as James outlined the fact that he had caved to his urges to watch the feed after he was blackmailed into maintaining his account, that he had seen her, forced the earlier auction, and since buying her done his best to help her.

  “But I was a bloody idi
ot to think she’d just move past it.” James was looking down at her and when she looked up at the pain in his eyes she wanted to hold him, comfort him.

  “Yes, ye were. Ye were a bloody idiot to try and call them on it as well. Was it just Marcus or did Anthony get his hands on her?”

  “Thalia?” James was asking her. He’d never made her talk about that week – he’d seen enough.

  It wasn’t necessary to be so detailed about the things that had happened when the cameras were off. Her stomach turned just remembering the brothers.

  Her voice sounded hollow when she talked about it, “It was always Marcus, but Anthony ran the chair, and he came for me, but Marcus stopped him before -”

  “It’s alright, lass, I get the picture. When I first heard about the Williams brothers I signed up thinking they were running a training program in the states – feking butchers.” Kalen growled, “They are traffickers, scum, and ye knew that James, I can’t believe ye would ever -”

  “Kalen, I know, and I hate myself for being so weak. It’s just hard to hate myself completely when she’s in my life because of it.” James’ voice was low, and her stomach fluttered.

  “Master, you shouldn’t hate yourself at all, please don’t, please don’t...” Thalia begged and they both looked at her. James was concerned, and Kalen looked skeptical.

  “She can start meeting with Ailsa tomorrow, she comes to Purgatory three days a week.” Kalen said.

  “Purgatory?” For a moment Thalia didn’t realize she’d whispered the question out loud.

  “Ah, I didn’t tell her the name of your school.”

  Kalen grinned, “I called it Purgatory as part joke, and partly to honor Maggie and mine’s Catholic upbringing.”

  “He likes to say the school is just like Purgatory, because after ye attend here yer either in or yer out of the lifestyle. The main difference is we don’t let people stay forever before a decision is made.” Maggie laughed and leaned against the doorway, her eyes twinkling with humor. Kalen grinned when he saw her and stalked across the room towards her. They came together like lovers separated for years instead of minutes. Maggie was pressed hard against the doorframe as Kalen’s body covered hers, and they both moaned as they kissed each other. Thalia found herself kneeling at attention and looked up to see James leaning forward and smiling at them.

  When Thalia looked back again Maggie’s legs were wrapped around his hips. She had never seen such an open display before, and she was instantly wet watching them. James’ hand tightened in her hair and a soft moan escaped her lips.

  “Kalen?” James’ voice was rough with arousal, and she wanted to whisper that she wasn’t really opposed to mimicking Kalen and Maggie at the moment. She’d never finished during Kalen’s inspection after all. But Kalen slid Maggie to the floor and kissed her gently on the forehead.

  She leaned around him, flushed and smiling, “Dinner is on the table, that’s what I came to tell ye, but we can talk about Purgatory as well.”

  They sat down to eat and Kalen spoke first, “Tonight ye are both our guests, so ye will stay in our home, but tomorrow it’s normal procedure, James. That means over to the dormitory.”

  James nodded, “I expected nothing else, and thank you for helping us and letting us stay.”

  “While I offered this originally for ye, James, I’m keeping my offer for Thalia’s sake. She needs Ailsa, and she needs to be deprogrammed. The kind of full time the brothers required -”

  Deprogrammed? That sounded ominous.

  “Enough serious talk, sir.” Maggie interrupted Kalen, took a bite of food, and winked at him.

  “Yer already at two today, my blessing, plus the incident with James. Want to keep pushing it?” Kalen was smiling as he said it.

  “What’s my punishment this evening?” Maggie lifted her eyes to him, she was practically taunting him.

  “I’m still deciding, sweet blessing.” He taunted right back, and Thalia was shocked that he wasn’t upset at Maggie’s belligerent behavior.

  “Ah, then I’ll mind my tongue.” Maggie popped a forkful of green beans in her mouth and sat back smiling to herself.

  “May I ask why you call her ‘blessing’, Master Kalen?” Thalia let her curiosity run her mouth and then she tensed and stared at the table. Stupid, asking intrusive questions was not how to win him over. She was still naked, but that didn’t bother her. Not knowing her limits around James’ friend? Now, that was terrifying.

  There was tense silence for a moment, and Thalia almost asked for forgiveness when she glanced up and saw Kalen holding Maggie’s hand across the corner of the table, his thumb brushing across the pattern of freckles there. “Because she is a blessing. We both grew up in the church, being condemned for our thoughts and feelings at confession. I was sure God hated me, that the Devil had for some reason chosen me for these dark feelings.” Kalen sighed and Maggie got up to grab a bottle of whisky, pouring glasses for each of them as Kalen talked. “Decided if I was doomed to Hell I might as well act on my urges and left. Met up with James while I was in that self-destructive phase, he was doing his own self-destruct under the pressures of being the good boy to keep up his parents’ sterling reputations. That’s when we found the lifestyle, and I found the brother I’d never had. He has been a brother to me for years.”

  “We are still brothers, I’ll fix this. I promise.” James took a long draught of the whisky in front of him, “Kalen here taught me how to fight, and how to let go. I mostly funded our shenanigans and we kept in touch when I went back to university and Kalen went back to... wandering.” They both laughed, and Maggie was grinning to herself, staring into her drink before taking a sip.

  “I came back to Scotland, because I missed it. Missed the people. Didn’t miss the church though. There was a sex club in Edinburgh, would pop up a few nights a week, never in the same place. Had to know someone who had the address to get the invite, and trailing after that party became my life while James was off becoming Master of the Universe.” Kalen paused, his tawny eyes raking over Maggie like he wanted to devour her, “But that’s where I met Maggie. Leather clad, smart mouthed, and begging to be bent over my knee.”

  “Ha!” Maggie laughed loudly and leaned forward, her cleavage on full display. “I was quiet, and demure.”

  Now James laughed, and Maggie glared at him, “Maggie, you’ve been a lot of things, but quiet or demure have never been on the list.”

  She stood up, hands on her hips, her cheeks flushed. “Well, sir,” she made the title sarcastic as she looked down at Kalen who leaned his large body back in his chair, totally relaxed, “I believe I was the one who invited ye to play.”

  “And I liked that quite a bit.” Kalen’s voice growled.

  “Ye’ve always liked my mouth.” She retorted, her lips twitching into a smile despite her best efforts to look angry. Kalen moved fast, grabbing Maggie’s hips and lifting her to straddle him on his lap. She let out a bawdy laugh before grinding against him.

  “Yes, blessing, I have.” He kissed her hard, his hands clutching at the back of her head, and then he twisted in the chair so she no longer blocked his view of Thalia and James. “Maggie here convinced me I wasn’t sinful, that my priest had been misled, and that she was as Catholic as the day she was baptized – and still definitely wanted to be dominated in the bedroom. We were married in the church, we go to Mass every Sunday, and I’m pretty sure we burn the ears of our priest at confession every week. But she’s been with me eight brilliant years, and we accept each other fully… so why wouldn’t I call her my blessing?”

  “Oh Kalen...” This time when Maggie kissed him it was long and slow. James broke Thalia’s blatant voyeurism with a stroke of his hand down her cheek, but he was smiling at her in a bittersweet way.

  “Let’s leave them to it, pet. Time for bed.” James spoke it quietly, but Kalen and Maggie broke apart anyway.

  “Don’t worry about the table, I’ve got it.” Maggie smiled brightly at them both, and surr
eptitiously ground her hips against Kalen. He groaned and grabbed her at the waist.

  “Ah. Take yer usual room, James. Talk in the morning, right?” Kalen’s voice was low and by the end of his question his eyes were fully on his wife - his submissive - and it seemed like he wanted to worship her. For a moment she wondered if James would ever look at her like that.

  James ran out to the car and brought up the overnight bag, leaving the rest in the car since apparently they’d move to the dormitory tomorrow – which must have been the other house.

  When they had both cleaned up in the bathroom, Thalia knelt by the bed and James paused in his adjustment of the covers to stand over her. “Thalia. Do you have something to say?” Dom voice. It sent shivers down her back that exploded into heat between her thighs.

  “I’m sorry for my outburst earlier, Master.”

  “Hmmm.” She heard him adjust the sheets again and a drawer of the armoire slid open and back. “Lay face up on this side - come on. Quick now, we both need sleep.” Thalia hurried to obey and found herself on a comfortable mattress and soft, cool sheets.