“Chill, Preston. Jeez, nothing’s going on,” she tried to reassure him again. “How come you’re calling me at this time? Did something happen to you?”
Preston saw straight through her bullshit. “You’re not fine. And no, nothing happened. Abigail’s brother, Mike, is doing something at his club to celebrate his upcoming wedding. Abigail and I are going. We’d like you to go with us. It’s a gay club. Not sure if that will make you more comfortable but Abigail wanted me to point that out. If you aren’t well or if you need me to spend time with you, I’ll do so.”
“I’m fine, Preston. I’m not your submissive anymore. You can stop checking in on me.”
No, Lauren wasn’t his submissive anymore, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about her well-being. Together, they’d been through so much. No amount of time apart could ever erase their history. He’d never forget what she’d done for him. He might not be in love with her, but he loved her very much.
“So,” Lauren shifted the conversation, “about this gay club, will Elliot be there?”
And that’s when the pieces clicked.
“Elliott isn’t going. We’ll be at your place in fifteen minutes. Get ready.” Not taking no for an answer, he hung up.
Preston gripped the railing of the balcony until his knuckles turned ghostly white.
Elliott was such a fucking moron.
What the fuck could he have possibly done to Lauren now?
Hadn’t she gone through enough?
He cursed the day he shared her with him. Their relationship always had its tumultuous moments and although Preston had half the mind to wring Elliott’s neck in all those moments, he’d never meddle. He’d support Lauren throughout all her personal decisions, even romantic ones. But they were so wrong for each other. Preston held onto the hope she would one day realize as much on her own and move on.
Abigail knocked on the glass door and mouthed, “Ready.”
Preston stepped back inside. Placing his phone back into his pocket, he admired his wife. Her brown tresses flowed down the back of her lace dress.
Lace.
How she managed to sneak that dreadful fabric back into her wardrobe, he hadn’t a clue. Abigail always held rebellion within her and made it known she was more than capable of holding her own.
“Is she going?”
He paused for a moment and clenched his eyes shut to refrain from rolling them. His thumbs found their way back to that damned spot on his temples. Abigail hadn’t allowed him a moment to breathe ever since she’d woken.
“Yes, Abigail she is going. We’ll pick her up on our way to The Blue Oyster.” Goosebumps grazed the thin layer of skin on his arms. “Couldn’t Mike have come up with a better name?”
Abigail giggled. “No. That’s a classic.” She pressed her palm onto his chest and whispered as she cupped his balls, “It’s the head of a very aroused penis.”
“Careful,” Preston warned, wrapping her hair around his wrist, and pulling hard enough to extract a moan. “You’re still wearing your collar.”
“After your reaction the last time we were at The Blue Oyster, I’m not taking any chances. I want every man there to know I’m owned.” She lowered her gaze after finishing the sentence.
He’d trained her well. For that alone, he’d cane her later.
The couple took the elevator to the basement parking lot where Kenneth waited for them with a cooling car.
“Did something happen with Lauren?” Abigail asked, adjusting the small air vent to flow behind her sweaty neck.
“Elliott happened. He always happens where Lauren’s concerned.”
“Ahh, so Lauren’s the girl who’d had him all riled up that night he came home drunk. Are they together, together?”
“On and off. Who the fuck knows?”
Abigail scooted closer to him. Heat radiated from her body and all Preston wanted to do was hold her tight to his frigid bones. She ran her nails through his head and pushed his hair back. “Hey, it’ll be okay. Don’t stress out, you’ll get a migraine.”
“A migraine is the least of my concerns right now.”
“I can help with that.” She turned her attention to Kenneth. “How much longer, Ken?”
“Eh, about ten minutes.”
Abigail gave him a small nod as she snaked a hand on Preston’s thigh. She kissed the right side of his neck and pressed her breasts against his arm. He’d never come like this, but he closed his eyes and savored the touch of her soft fingers massaging his balls. He felt his heart calm to a reasonable beat as she moved his shaft with languid strokes.
She was his siren, and she didn’t even need to sing for him to be caught in her trance. The warmth of her breath traveling down the nape of his neck was all it took for him to turn his head and kiss her passionately.
This was just what he needed to distract his mind from the Lauren and Elliott situation.
“We’re here, Sir,” Kenneth announced as the car came to a complete stop.
Abigail removed her hand from inside his boxers. She zipped his jeans and kissed him on the cheek.
Preston sent a quick message, letting Lauren know they had arrived. The words felt foreign under his thumbs.
No one who knew Preston would require an alert of his arrival. When he was on his way, it was up to the person to be outside. His time was gold, and it wasn’t meant to be used waiting. Lauren was different and he hadn’t set those expectations for her.
Minutes later, the door eased opened, and Lauren stood on the other side. She wore dark jeans and a silver shirt that glittered in the darkness of the night. Her blue eyes were red and puffy but brightened the moment she saw Abigail.
“Hey!”
Abigail shrieked with immense enthusiasm. She scooted aside to give Lauren space and patted the empty seat next to hers. “Come sit next to me!”
Her arms reached around Lauren’s shoulders as Abigail gave her a tight but comforting hug. “It’s been so long. How have you been?”
“I’m good. I’ve missed you, Abby.” Lauren raised Abigail’s chin and kissed her softly on the lips.
Abigail was hesitant at first but then opened her lips to Lauren. Preston watched on, visually seeing his wife relax as her shoulders sagged. When she leaned back and opened her eyes, they connected with Preston’s. She blushed pink but he gave her a soft nod not to worry.
He wasn’t bothered by the affectionate greeting between the women. Lauren could play with Abigail all she wanted. After all, it’d been she who’d brought them together.
“Hi,” Lauren breathed the words, directing her attention to Preston.
“Hello, Lauren,” he replied, not sure how to greet her.
Should he hug her?
Kiss her on the cheek?
Wave from a distance?
He stayed where he was and opted for a nod of acknowledgment.
“How was Greece, Abby?” Lauren asked as she settled in the leather seat and buckled her seatbelt.
Preston made himself comfortable in his seat. When their honeymoon was the topic of conversation, Abigail could go on and on. Her brown eyes lit up as she described the clear water in Santorini. As she spoke about the hospitable citizens in Athens, Preston noticed Lauren’s eyes lingering over the collar around Abigail’s neck.
Although Lauren had been a guest at their wedding, she hadn’t had the chance to examine Abigail’s collar this close. She had always wanted one, but at the time, Preston hadn’t been ready to give one to her or any other submissive that came around. In those five, almost six years they were together, he never once mentioned the word. He never gave Lauren so much as an inkling that he’d one day collar her.
“I don’t think you’ve met Mike,” Abigail said to Lauren as they jumped out of the car. “He’s my brother. He’s the one who owns the club. His fiancé is Niall. They’re having a small get-together tonight for their wedding. They’d do it on a Saturday but wanted it to be a little more intimate without shutting down the whole club
, so they decided to do it today instead.”
Skipping ahead of the line that was forming in front of the club, Abigail showed the bouncer their private tickets. He immediately opened the door for them.
The threesome was met by an abundance of flashing lights, booming music, and overly excited dancers. People yelled over the loudspeakers and swayed their sweaty bodies together. This was not the scene Preston needed when a small headache harbored over his eyebrows. He swiped a finger across his forehead and turned to Lauren.
Her blue eyes scanned the place up and down, looking everywhere around her as if searching for something or someone. With her shoulders raised high to either side of her face, she moved her body close to Preston. When his arm wrapped around her waist, Lauren jumped at the contact.
“It’s okay. I’m here,” he assured her. He wouldn’t leave her alone.
Meanwhile, Abigail stood on her toes and gazed out into the crowd. Her eyes darted across the main floor, stopping as soon as she spotted a bright collared silk blouse. When she found Mike, she waved her hand high in the air.
“Mike!” she shouted over the obdurate music.
Mike turned at the shout. He called for Niall to join him as he ran to his sister with genuine enthusiasm.
“Hey,” Mike and Niall greeted the threesome.
As Lauren had done earlier, their eyes hovered over Abigail’s collar. Mike held her gaze and gave her a nod almost as if understanding something that was solely between them.
“This is Lauren, my girlfriend.” Abigail turned her neck and gave Lauren a wink. “Preston, you already know.”
“Hey,” Lauren said, straightening her spine. With her heels, she was almost Preston’s height. “If this is what your club looks like on a weekday, I can only imagine how crowded it must be on a Saturday night.”
“I can barely get my foot on the dance floor! Come on, I reserved the second floor for us.”
Mike and Niall led the group up the stairs to the private lounge. There was a private bar with a wall of drinks cascading behind it. Leather sofas accented the pattern of the vinyl floor and LED lights stretched across every crevice and corner. Mike introduced them to a couple of friends before escorting them over to the bar.
“What would you like to drink?” Niall asked. “Let me guess.”
“Oh, Niall’s great at this,” Mike bellowed.
Niall pointed a finger at Abigail, then Preston, finally Lauren. “Cosmo, bourbon, martini.”
“How did you know?” Lauren asked, amazed.
Niall shrugged smugly.
“It’s water for me today,” Preston said.
“For me too.” Everyone turned to Abigail. She never turned down a drink, especially if said drink was a cosmo. “What?”
“No cosmo?” Mike raised a brow and watched her intently.
Abigail shook her head. “I’m trying to get back to work tomorrow. Don’t need a hangover to be the excuse my husband uses to get me to stay home.”
As soon as the words left her lips, she turned to Lauren with an apologetic smile. Lauren simply smiled back, not bothered by the statement.
Preston pressed his lips to Abigail’s ear and whispered, “I like the choices you’re making tonight. An approvement to past ones.”
She giggled nervously and scooted to the side. When he attempted to kiss her, she leaned back. Not giving Preston a chance to reprimand her, she grabbed Mike by the wrist and jogged down the stairs. What the ever-loving fuck was going on with her?
“You should tell her not to mind me,” Lauren said as she sipped on her martini glass. “I’m not in love with you anymore.”
“She knows.”
“I don’t think she does.”
Abigail had a selflessness about her that required her soul to put other’s needs ahead of her own. She made sure everyone around her was comfortable, even if she wasn’t. She made sure everyone was heard, even when she wasn’t. She’d been selfless her entire life until the day she decided to put herself first. It was on that day she met Preston. Although her selflessness irritated him sometimes, he couldn’t deny it was one of the many things he loved about her.
“What happened with Elliott?” Preston shifted the conversation to a topic far from Abigail and his marriage.
“Straight to the point, huh?” Lauren raised a blonde brow. She sighed when she figured Preston wouldn’t budge. “He’s a real asshole that friend of yours.”
“Yet you always play with him.”
She shrugged unapologetically. “I get lonely and horny.”
“You don’t have to call him. I’m sure there are plenty of men and women in the city who’d be happy to receive a beating from you.”
“He knows me. He’s my favorite…pet, when he isn’t talking that is. That man can ruin everything with a simple utter. How does he always manage to say the wrong thing?”
“Stop seeing him, then. You both deserve better.”
Lauren’s silence said it all.
She didn’t deserve anything.
She didn’t deserve anyone.
Bullshit.
He’d never let her believe such lies, much less when they were directed toward her.
She was strong and independent. Everyone saw it. Now it was her turn to see it for herself.
Preston took a gulp of his water. “How are things at the firm now that Mr. Davis is gone?”
“Rocky, I mean…they’re stable but I’m sure things will change soon. No one knows what’s going to happen or if our jobs are even secure.” She gazed out into the distance as she said, “I visited him almost every day at the hospital and gave him briefings on meetings I attended on his behalf. Then the next day, he was gone. He was family. Like a father. I miss him terribly.” Lauren wiped a tear with her thumb. “What do you think will happen with the firm now that he’s gone?”
“His son will take over. He’ll probably sell the company.”
She almost choked on an olive. “What?”
“Dai wasn’t as close to Mr. Davis as he always made it seem.”
“He wasn’t? Mr. Davis said he always visited him every summer.”
Preston scoffed. “That’s a lie. Don’t get me wrong, I like Mr. Davis. He helped me when I first started my business. All I’m saying is he could’ve been a better father to Dai. The only good thing he did was bring him to New York for school.”
“Mr. Davis was a great man.”
“Just because someone’s nice to you, doesn’t mean they’re a good person or a good father. You saw a different side of him. Be thankful for that. Don’t get into your head, Lauren, please.” He took a swig of his drink. His tastebuds ached for the charred oak taste of bourbon.
Preston turned away. He couldn’t bear to see Lauren like this. She’d been broken too many times. But a man like Mr. Davis didn’t deserve her grief.
He leaned across the bar as his eyes searched for Abigail. He found her on the dance floor, dancing her hips away. He watched as they rotated around stranger’s groins. Watched as her breasts moved along to the pulsing rhythm of the music. Watched the bead of sweat that streamed down the back of her legs. He licked his lips thirstily, feeling parched all of the sudden.
He cursed himself for leaving the leash at home. How he wished to tug on it and have her sit by his side like a good little pet.
“Go to her,” Lauren encouraged.
“I won’t leave you alone. I know this isn’t your kind of scene.”
“Then why did you ask me to come?”
“Why did you come?”
“Niall, can I get another drink?” Lauren asked, her eyes not straining from Preston.
While Niall and Lauren engaged in conversation, Preston turned his eyes back to his whore. Abigail swung her hair from side to side, twirled her hips to circle the crowd, and winked at the DJ who had not stopped staring.
It was his mistake.
Master Trice should’ve known better than to let his whore loose.
Slowly, he placed hi
s glass down. He excused himself and sprinted down the stairs.
Shuffling through the crowd, he shoved men this way and that way until they parted on his command like the Red Sea. And there, in the middle of the dance floor, was his whore.
Preston pressed his body against hers, circled his waist, and rubbed his cock on her ass.
Abigail stopped breathing.
Her entire body stiffened.
She cursed under her breath, “Oh shit. Not again.”
“It’s me,” Preston whispered in her ear. He felt her body relax in his arms as she pushed back. “You’re mine, Angel.”
“I am,” she moaned.
“And I’m yours.”
“I know.”
Preston twisted her around to face him. “Do you?”
Abigail nodded and sighed. “I’m sorry about pushing you away earlier. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I also didn’t want to make Lauren feel bad. She isn’t over you. I can tell.”
“She is.”
“You’re delusional.” She rolled her eyes.
“So why did you ask me to bring her tonight?”
“Because Lauren and I made a promise not to forget about each other. I want to keep that promise. We haven’t hung out in months, and I missed her. I like her, Prest, a lot. I just wish she wasn’t in love with you.”
He joked, “Do you want me to leave and give you two some alone time?”
“Will you?” She smiled and stuck out her tongue.
Although the music was booming a disco electric sound, Abigail wound her arms around Preston’s neck. He held onto her hips as they slow danced to their own beat. Abigail’s eyes slowly turned heavy with tiredness. She rested her head in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes for a minute.
“Are you falling asleep on me?”
“I’m really tired,” she said with a yawn. “Can we go home, now?”
“I thought this was Mike’s night.”
“He owns this fucking club. It’s Mike’s night every night.” Abigail pointed to the private lounge upstairs where Niall, Mike, Lauren, and a couple of their friends laughed and drank. “He’s having fun without me. It looks like Lauren’s having fun, too.”
That pleased Preston. “It looks like she is. Come on. Let’s say goodbye.”
Leashed (Masters of Desires Book 2) Page 11