by Nicole Snow
“Go to hell.”
I couldn't take the tension anymore. When the voices stopped, I went for my clothes. I pulled up my panties and then worked on the dress. Part of me hoped he'd just forget about me behind the curtain, leaving me to slip out unseen.
But the other part was painfully curious. And afraid.
What just went down may have been half spoken in Greek. Hell, did I want to know why these two were at each other's throats?
Now, a woman was next to them, coughing her lungs out. I stood still, next to the curtain, curiosity taking over my better instincts.
“What's wrong with her? My God.” Garrett sounded shocked. “You fucking animal...you're never supposed to leave marks like this on a sub's neck. You could've crushed her windpipe. If you were any lesser man, I'd have you tossed out on your ass and banned from this club.”
“This is on you, ” Michael insisted, his voice a rough and ragged whine. “You can't protect anybody, Garrett. Just like big bad biker daddy's ghost can't protect you.”
“Enough. I'm seeing her to the elevator, and then you're going. And if you ever lay a hand on a sub –
any sub – like this again...”
I imagined Garrett's hard fist rising in my mind. I held my breath.
There were loud footsteps, multiple pairs of shoes clambering on the marble floor. Then a steely silence, followed by fewer steps, closing in on our nook.
I was just edging my other heel on after the shock, sitting on a dry spot near the front of the table, when the curtain flapped open. Garrett stepped inside, a sullen look on his face.
His tattoos seemed a little darker. All his muscles were in flex, winding up to fight, even though the other man must've left the floor by now. If he hadn't, surely they would've been exchanging blows by now.
“I suppose you heard everything,” he said darkly.
“Uh...it's really none of my business.” I squirmed uncomfortable, struggling to reach behind me for the dress' zipper. “Dunno what that was all about. I don't like to get in anybody's private disagreements.
Are you okay?”
He nodded, going straight for the small hook near the wall where he'd hung his shirt. Garrett didn't say a word. He kept his back to me the entire time as he pulled on the shirt and buttoned it.
“I apologize for such an abrupt end to the evening.”
I lifted my eyebrows at his words. How formal. Was this because the other man had accused him of –
what was it? – being uncivilized?
“You really want to cut it off here?” I had to ask.
Damn. I was so close to losing it, and I was really ready for it. Double damn.
He nodded and crept up behind me, reaching to help me zip up my dress without my asking. Nice.
Very weird too. Nothing about him said womanizing creep. Garrett and the other man had talked about that Eliza girl more like she was a piece of property than someone either of them loved.
Confusion pounded in my temples. I stood after he zipped me up and reached for his hand, unsure what the hell was coming over me.
“Whatever that was all about...it didn't ruin anything. I had a great time. Hope I satisfied the dare.” I held my breath.
A slow, powerful smile slowly formed on his face. “You outdid yourself, Princess. You suffered for that orgasm. And it rocked your world apart, didn't it?”
I blushed. There was no denying the truth in his words. I just wondered how I was going to sit for the next week, without being reminded of that wicked, frothing pleasure each time I felt the lingering sting on my ass.
“Let's go. I'll drive you home.”
He took my hand and led me out through the curtains. We took the elevator down and exited the club.
When the valet came around with his car, his fingers tightened on mine, as if he was reluctant to let go of my hand.
Garrett didn't say a word. We just shared a look – a sultry, secretive, ten second stare – that said, you're marked. Owned. Mine.
You'll get over your doubts, Princess. And when you do, I'll be between your legs, savaging your sweet body the same way I tanned you into stark submission.
We drove to my apartment in thick silence. Halfway there, I looked at him, trying to steady the twisting contrasts rolling around in my head.
Part of me hoped he'd pull over, drop the seats, and throw himself at me all over again. The other part just wanted him to let me out so I could run. His past – his present? – with strange women and stranger men sent terror curling through my veins.
Before I knew it, the car jerked to a stop in front of my building. I slowly unbuckled my seat belt and turned, ready to pop the door and escape.
“Wait.” Garrett clamped his fist around my small wrist. “Before you go up there to have a goodnight, know this: I'm not done with you yet. I don't care what you thought you heard back there. Don't over-think it. I'll be seeing you again, Jessie. Real soon.”
My mouth froze in a firm circle. My lips twitched, searching for words. Would he ever stop nailing me with this possessive shock and awe?
“We'll see about that. I need some time to think all of this over.” My cheeks reddened for the thousandth time.
“Take all the time you need. And keep watching your phone. As soon as I take care of business elsewhere, I'm coming back for you. And then you're gonna have all my attention. No more distractions to suck the wind from my sails.”
I'd like to suck something else, a stupid voice in my head chimed. If only I can be a hundred percent sure this isn't some crazy game first.
“Goodnight, Garrett.” I said.
“Sir.” He paused, glaring at the quirky smile twirling my lips. “You're a natural submissive, Jessie.
My submissive. And the only thing you call me in private is Sir. Capital S. No sarcasm allowed.”
Holy shit. He really means it.
“Goodnight, Sir. ” It was easier to say it without feeling weird or laughing than I expected.
He nodded and finally released my wrist. I watched him grip the wheel as he moved his head over toward me.
Kissing him was the last thing in the world I should've been doing just now. I did it anyway.
Those firm, searching, unshakable lips smoldered. His fire, steam, and power rolled through me, drawn to that baser part of my brain that wanted to forget all the complicated issues and just enjoy him.
I wanted the world to fade until there was nothing. Only him and I.
Preferably naked, wet, and screaming underneath his feral thrusts.
I sucked in sorely needed air when he finally relinquished my lips. Shaking, I grabbed for the door handle, inhaling the cool autumn night oxygen when it opened.
“Goodnight, Jessie. Thanks for whetting my appetite. It's been forever since anyone managed to do that.”
Before I could say anything else, he slammed the door shut and took off, leaving me bewildered and stupidly aroused on the curb. The apartment felt a million miles away, even though it was just a few more feet to the door and a staircase up to the second floor.
I tried to understand what kind of mad, merciless world he'd pulled me into. I tried, and completely failed, unable to make sense of it with any normal rules.
No, he's more of a barbarian after all. A sexy beast because he's uncivilized.
And if I'm waiting on eggshells when he calls, ready and ripe for conquest, what does that make me?
III: Losing It
“Well?” Ava looked up from her bagel and the game on her phone the next morning.
I brewed my coffee and sat across from her in silence. The moment I'd been dreading since I cracked my eyes open had arrived.
“Well yourself.”
“Come on, Jessie. At least throw me a frickin' bone. You can't stay out half the night with a man like that and keep it all to yourself. Are you still...?”
“Yes. I didn't give up anything I wasn't ready for. Thanks for asking.”
Ava glowered. She clucked her tongue,
tapped a button on the phone, and pushed it off to the side, folding her hands. My roommate always tried to do her best interrogator impression when she really wanted something out of me.
“Where did you guys go?”
The second I mentioned the club's name, she squealed, blood draining from her face. “The Red Widow! Jesus! He must really like you.”
“Bet you didn't know he's a co-owner there. And there are things about that place you wouldn't believe.”
“Tell,” she commanded, raking her nails across the table.
“It's a gorgeous place. Beautiful, but kinky. Just like Garrett.”
“No!” She whined in disbelief. “Wait...how kinky are we talking about? Rough? Nasty?”
“Very. I wish I could tell you more, but I don't think you'd like to hear me dish the details. I know you, Ava, and you don't like to suffer for anything except your art.”
She twisted her face. “I've never been a pain slut unless I'm the one on top. But wait...are you telling me that's an interest you two share?”
I nodded slowly, letting my flush come red and deep. It was really for my benefit, the first step to admitting what I wanted, what he'd shown me I wanted.
I wasn't going to say anymore. Maybe if I dropped enough hints, and gave her no way to know who was spanking who, she'd lay off.
Ava was a promiscuous little flirt, but I knew she liked things pretty plain and vanilla. She wasn't the most adventurous woman in the bedroom.
Probably why she couldn't pin down a more permanent boyfriend.
“Jessica Anne Casey! I always knew there was a reason you held back on the guys...I just didn't know it was that! ”
“Yeah, I know.” I put my hands up like shields. “You told me not to let him get underneath my skin.
Well, he did all that and more. Everything except stamping my V-card.”
“Wow.” Ava had that wild, starry look in her eyes, swooning as she lived a whirlwind romance in her own imagination.
“What are you gonna do next? Don't tell me it was just a one time fling!”
“Nope. He said he'd be back when he dropped me off...something about taking care of business, or something, and then focusing on me.” That much was true.
Too bad I still don't have a clue what the hell he means.
Ava's phone bleeted. We both jumped.
“Ah, it's that time. Workee calls. Don't go anywhere this evening, Jessie. We're gonna hash out everything and make sure we reel him in. Oh my God, maybe we can finally double date! Aren't you glad I got this tattoo?”
In a flash, she rolled up her shirt, showing off the heart scrawled with family names. I smiled and laughed.
“I didn't know you were seeing anyone,” I said.
Ava rolled her eyes and gave me a knowing look. How could I forget? This was the girl who always had half a dozen prospects lined up, and six more on the shortlist behind her hottest suitors.
Ava wasn't even close to qualified to be handing out relationship advice. But bless her if I didn't love her anyway.
I relaxed as she grabbed her things and headed out the door – the same thing I'd need to do shortly. I almost wished it weren't a Saturday so I'd have the welcome distraction of work.
The slow errands weren't going to be easy. Not with Garrett running through my mind, and a gossip hungry Ava waiting for me at home.
Layer by layer, I knew I'd be subconsciously unraveling my true feelings, forcing me to give him an answer whenever he dropped in.
Post office, bank, dry cleaners, coffeehouse.
I sat at the last place a good long time, adding dabs of sugar to my chai latte. It was like a sickeningly sweet version of “he loves me, he loves me not,” played with sugar packets instead of flower petals.
For twenty-two years, I'd lived my life chaste and frustrated. Now I had a chance to make myself a woman with a man who seemed perfect.
Well, physically, anyway.
Emotionally? Mentally? Jury's out. At least nothing suggested crazy about him.
It's not like I expected life to change the instant I got my V-card punched. But deep down, there had been a part of me missing – a jealous, quietly seething girl who'd watched her friends become adults and mothers while she was on pause, an idealistic wallflower forever waiting.
I tore the sugar packet clean open. Even these tiny granules weren't perfect if you viewed them under a microscope.
Do you see it, Jessie? A little voices said in the back of my head. World's turned upside down. You're the one who's making your roommate jealous by going with him.
And if there's a Mister Right more Right than Garrett Foster, you won't find him until you hit menopause.
Whenever I thought about Garrett, the whole manly package made me glow. Not just the one
between his legs. I wanted to possess him, savor every inch of his hard body, pull him into my flesh and my heart.
This man was a huge, tattooed, fire eyed storm.
Another dab of sugar swirling in my latte. Another tilting of Lady Justice's scales. This time, all in Garrett's favor, the man I couldn't run away from even if I wanted to.
I'd have him, damn it. Lover, Dom, boyfriend...none of those words scared me anymore.
I sipped my latte. Ick.
I stuck my tongue out and reached for the water bottle in my purse. The stuff was so sweet it made my mouth itch, all thanks to my lazy, wandering mind.
I was still taking a long drag of cool water when the men came inside. They were bald, dressed in neat suits.
At first I figured they were just Vice Presidents of something or other who'd taken to shaving their heads to look tough. Then they spread out around the doors – a lot like Secret Service agents clearing the way for the President.
An older man with curly dark hair and broad shoulders ready to burst through his suit leaned to one of the baldies. When I heard his voice, everything tightened up inside me.
“Order me a coffee. Black. Double espresso shots. Wait here while I have a little talk with her.”
His eyes were on me an instant later. I punched my heels into the ground, wanting to get up and beat a retreat, but it was too late.
The man moved swiftly through the tables like a panther, dead set on his target. He moved with the same dedicated swagger as Garrett, a similar intensity raging in his eyes. Except his energy was all hatred, an unmistakable omen that I was in for some real shit.
“So,” he said, sliding his bulk into the chair across from me. “You're his new plaything.”
And you're a pompous, strange asshole, I wanted to say. Only the uncertainty about this stranger held me back.
He folded his hands, pushing them just across the table's center, stopping an inch from my sickly sweet latte.
“Give me something I can use on him, Jessica.”
“How the hell do you know my name?” I snapped.
He smiled. “No difficult task when you own one of the most exclusive clubs in the city.”
“Isn't that co-own?” A triumphant flicker ran through me as his smile wilted.
“Careful, Miss. I'm doing you a favor by giving you this chance. Don't make me turn my sights on you. I'm holding back – I really am – especially when you're the quickest and easiest way to cracking that fucker wide open.”
Coming from anyone else, that would've been a compliment. Of course, the stranger chose good timing to flex his power, motioning to both his bodyguards as one of them handed him his coffee.
He took a long, hot sip from the white cup.
“I don't understand. What is it you want from me?”
He snorted, slamming the cup onto the table. I jerked my hand back in time just as a stray jet steamed out.
“You have to know things about him. I understand he's had his eye on you for some time. Come on, girl. I know how these things work. When a man finds a sub he likes, she starts to know all his secrets.
Did he say anything to you about the deal with the tattoo shop?”
; I tightened my eyebrows, thinking hard. Even if I knew something, there's no way in hell I would've ratted on the man I called Garrett, Sir, Lover.
“No fucking clue what you're talking about. Now, I don't see a badge on any of you guys, so I think I'll be on my way.”
Before I could even reach for my purse and push away from the table, one of the goons had his hand on my shoulder. I opened my mouth to scream. Their boss had one strong finger laid across my lips in an instant.
“Don't scream. You might get away with it here, but it's what we'll do to you later that will make you regret every shrill octave. The same way you'll regret ignoring my offer if you don't give me something I can use. Garrett's going to pay up, and pay big time, for what he did.”
“What? Sleeping with your woman, Michael?” I remembered his name. Every muscle in my body was winding up to run, or else claw at their eyes if I had to.
His face showed surprise, and then a bitter crimson rage. “You stupid bitch. You don't know what he's capable of. It's just a matter of time until you're on the receiving end of his sloppy, disloyal antics.
You know that, don't you?”
I held my ground, staring straight into his predatory eyes.
“All I know is Garrett was right to confront you. You're a fucking creep. Not even man enough to keep your own sub in line.”
I watched his shoulders twitch. For a second, it looked like he was winding up to hit me. Just what I wanted him to do so this whole horrible thing would end with my uninvited guest in handcuffs.
“He's trained you well,” Michael said, settling his fists on the table.
A moment later, he rose, kicking the chair toward the nearby window. The small security detail looked at him like curious Dobermans.
“Let's go,” he whispered to them, before turning to me. “Just remember, Jessica – you chose this.
You don't realize even the best trained subs can be broken, but you'll find out. So can Doms who think they're hot shit, immune to the world's cruelty. Watch your back.”
Several people were staring. Mostly at me as I stared after the men long after they'd gone.
I really wished I hadn't had that latte. My heart smacked my ribs like a startled hummingbird.