“So, I’m just to forget about what they all did to my sister?” Jeanette aimed the question at Susie’s departing back, and the other woman tensed. “I’ve seen the pictures of her body, they’re—”
“So have I.” Susie’s curt statement interrupted Jeanette. “I’m guessing it was Detective Wonsan who showed them to you.”
“How do you…”
Susie turned slightly so that she could fix her expressive gaze on Jeanette.
“I know, because he did the same to me. Tried to use me to turn in Sir and the rest of the Cleaners. Needless to say it didn’t work. Even if I hadn’t already fallen hopelessly in love with Sir by then, I never would have ratted on them. It’s not conducive for one’s health for starters, and, besides, Huntly helped me out of a bind. Say what you will about him, he looks after the people working for him.”
Jeanette snorted her disbelief.
“Like he looked after my sister.”
Susie swung fully round and shook her head.
“Yes, because he did, right up until she betrayed him. Do I think she deserved to die for that? Yes, actually, I do.” She nodded grimly at Jeanette’s sharp intake of breath. “She knew what she was signing up for, just like I did, when I sought Huntly’s protection, just like you did when you applied for the dancing job.” She paused to study Jeanette. “Ty says, you didn’t really know what you were letting yourself in for, and maybe that’s true, but Huntly made his terms perfectly clear, and you were given a choice. Just like I was. I chose to be just a waitress, and that’s still what I am. Huntly is a man of his word, which is more than can be said for others. Detective Wonsan being a point in question. For Christ’s sake the man is married with a sick kid, yet he’s looking to score. Did you know he’s been sniffing around the club? Not in his official capacity. Oh no, this is for his personal entertainment.” Susie pulled a face as she said that. “That man gives me the creeps. My friend Kim danced for him the other night, and Josh had to tell him to back off. Had he been any other punter, he’d have been thrown off the premises there and then, I tell you. Kim doesn’t do extras.” Susie added the last bit, clearly interpreting Jeanette’s surprised expression correctly.
“Anyway, like I said Huntly looks after us all.”
“He’s still a criminal,” Jeanette said more to convince herself than anything else, and Susie laughed.
“You’ve got a lot to learn. Life isn’t black and white, you know.”
Jeanette struggled to her feet, glaring at the clinking chains.
“Can you honestly say it doesn’t bother you? All the violence? Your lover killed my sister, damn it.”
She swallowed down the hot, angry tears burning in the back of her throat, but if she’d expected Susie to show remorse for that then she was disappointed.
“Yes, he did. It’s what they all do.” Susie said. “They’re the Cleaners. Someone has to do it. Do I sometimes wish things were different? Yes, sure I do, but wishing for something doesn’t make it happen, and besides I love Ren, all of him. You see him as nothing but a monster, but there is so much more to him than that. To them all, and if you just let go of your preconceived notions, open your heart, and follow your instincts, you’ll see that I’m right.”
Jeanette laughed. It was a slightly hysterical laugh to be sure, but, really, this had to be the most bizarre conversation she’d ever had.
“And if my instincts tell me to kill your precious Ren next time I see him, what then?”
Susie paled and took a step back. When she spoke the frost behind her words could have turned the Sahara into a glacier.
“Then you’d be dead faster than I can say deluded cow.”
With that, Susie swept out of the room, leaving Jeanette to her thoughts.
That surreal conversation set the pace of things to come over the next few days. Ty turned up for the next meal, as promised, but he seemed preoccupied, and once he had reassured himself that she was indeed eating, he left. Not before he’d unchained her to enable her to get dressed in the clothes provided by Susie. The simple jogging bottoms and t-shirts were nothing special, but the fact that Ty took the time to enable her to get dressed, meant the world to Jeanette.
“Thank you, Sir.”
His harsh features had lit up in a dazzling, toe-curling smile, which had shot straight to her clit.
“You’re welcome, titch. You remain cooperative and I’ll get you out of here soon enough.”
He’d dropped a kiss on her nose and left, leaving Jeanette to feel strangely empty inside. The only interaction she had with the outside world, if you could call it that, was through Susie, and as the days wore on she looked forward to seeing the redhead. Not that the other woman spoke to her much, if at all, but she was courteous, and without her help, Jeanette would be stuck in the same clothes day in and out. As it was Susie unchained her morning and night to enable Jeanette to wash and change her clothes.
After a week of this, and no sign of Ty or any of the other cleaners, Jeanette had had enough. When Susie came down with her breakfast things, Jeanette held out her wrists.
“What do I have to do to get rid of these for good?”
Susie smiled and looked up toward the top of the stairs.
“You had to ask, titch.”
****
Jeanette’s reaction to his words was truly priceless, and Ty suppressed a grin as he made his way down the stairs. In the week since he’d kept away, his titch had lost the gaunt look. She looked ready to take on the world, but far more importantly she had lost some of her antagonistic stance. He wouldn’t go as far as to say she’d mellowed. The fire sparking in her dark gaze as she glared at him was certainly proof of that, but she’d had plenty of time to think, and to adjust to her situation. Even a few days ago, she wouldn’t have asked that question. She’d have demanded to have the chains removed, had, in fact, done so on numerous occasions.
Susie had ignored her every time, as instructed. Jeanette hadn’t known it, but one of the Cleaners, more often than not Ren, had kept watch behind the open door, lest Myrtle’s sister try anything when Susie took the chains off to enable Jeanette to change her clothes.
It had been a hard-won concession, Ty knew, and he’d breathed a sigh of relief that Jeanette had always just disappeared into the wetroom to get changed in private, rather than trying to overpower Susie. That wouldn’t have ended well for Myrtle’s sister.
“Just keep her fucking naked, that’ll solve the issue.” Josh’s suggestion had been met with a chorus of approval when Ty had first brought up the subject. It had been Susie who had volunteered to fulfill the task, taking everyone by surprise.
“What? I don’t like the woman much, but I bring the cow her meals, and I really don’t need to see all that flesh on display.” She’d pouted when the men had laughed, and continued under her breath. “No one should be allowed to have such a stunning figure. Damn it.”
That outburst and the inherent self-criticism had earned her a hard spanking from Ren, which had meant she had winced every time she sat down for days.
Fun times. Such treatment was long overdue for his own unruly woman. And fuck it, Jeanette was his, whether she realized that yet or not. Ace had declared him healed enough, so Ty wasn’t going to waste one more minute. Especially as all the background checks the Synn brothers and resident tech gurus had carried out on her had proven what Ty had instinctively known. Jeanette was exactly who she’d said she was. Myrtle’s half-sister whose connection to the Priestlys started and ended with living on that estate. While she had clearly sought employment at the club with a view to get revenge for her sister, it had been her own personal demons driving her, not a Priestly engineered attack.
Jeanette seemed an outstanding citizen, in fact, and thus far too good to be getting involved with him, which of course made him more determined to claim her. His titch was what he’d been looking for, and he wouldn’t let her slip through his fingers, even if he had to keep her tied up forever.
It wouldn’t be the best solution, because she would be missed. Not by her one remaining relative, mind you. No, her mother was a hard-nosed crack addict, too involved in getting her next fix to worry over her daughter. No wonder Myrtle had turned out to be the way she was. Jeanette seemed the total opposite.
She volunteered at the local community center teaching underprivileged kids to dance for a minimal fee, and she’d left behind a steady job at dance studio in Leeds, when she’d come to London in search of her sister six months ago. Apart from a couple of ex-boyfriends, where both times she had ended the relationship pretty quickly, she hadn’t even been very active in the sex department. A delightfully open book with kinky edges, as Ty had found out when a laughing James had called him over, after he’d hacked into her Amazon account. Her Kindle held an interesting collection of dark erotica, and BDSM stories.
“You’re gonna have fun with this, right?” James had laughingly slapped Ty’s back. “And, you know, if you need help breaking her in, Alex and I are always happy to oblige.”
“Fuck off.” James had laughed even harder at Ty’s curt response.
Fun times ahead indeed.
“You what?” Jeanette spat that question out at him now, as he reached the bottom of the stairs, and Susie hastily stepped out of the way.
Ren’s sub rolled her eyes at him and threw her hands in the air, as though she was exasperated with the other woman, and Ty nodded toward her.
“Thank you, my sweet, I’ll take it from here.”
Susie’s eyes widened as she recognized his slipping into Dom mode, and dropping her gaze, she made a hasty exit.
Ty took his time answering the bristling woman in front of him, who held her arms out in a silent bid for him to remove the chains.
“No, I don’t think I will. I don’t like your attitude much, girl,” he said, and Jeanette groaned and stamped her foot.
He wouldn’t have been surprised had she stuck her tongue out at him, too, but one look at his expression stopped her in her tracks.
Uncertainty flitted across her expressive features, and she threw a longing glance at the pancakes Susie had brought down.
Liberally smothered in golden syrup, they confirmed not only Jeanette’s sweet tooth, but also Susie’s innate generosity. She’d made savory pancakes for the men this morning, so this must have been a batch specially made for Jeanette. Susie had made no qualms about the fact that she didn’t like Jeanette, yet she still looked after her.
Ty crossed his arms over his chest and quirked an eyebrow at his unruly submissive.
“Acting like a spoiled brat will simply earn you yet more punishment, so I suggest you ask me nicely.”
Jeanette opened her mouth to no doubt give him another verbal dressing down, but whatever she read in his expression stopped her. He could almost see the two sides of her warring with each other. There was the fiercely independent, sassy woman, used to making her own way in life, the one who never relied on anyone, and kept men at arm’s length.
And then there was the submissive streak, which ran much deeper than she no doubt realized herself. That hidden part of her which automatically responded to his dominance, the very part which meant that this whole situation fed into her deepest, darkest fantasies, and judging by the sheer number of capture books on her Kindle, that particular need was strong.
Ty was only too glad to give her what she needed, but they had to establish the ground rules first. Not least, because they would keep her safe in his world.
At long last she hung her head with a sigh.
“Please, I’ve had enough of these. Please take them off.”
Ty wrapped the chain leading to her cuffed wrists around his hand and yanked her to him. Her soft curves collided with the hard planes of his body, and damn him, if she didn’t fit against him as though she was made for him.
A gasp escaped her lips, and when he brought his other hand down to her ass, and squeezing the luscious globes pulled her hips further against him, her breathing sped up. Rapid puffs of air ghosted across his jaw, and her hard nipples poked into his chest, almost as much as his hard-on was digging into her abdomen. Dipping his head just slightly, he bit the soft lobe of her ear, earning himself another gasp from the woman in his arms.
“Take them off, what?” he asked.
Jeanette tensed, and he tightened his hold on her, as he rubbed his jaw along the rapidly beating pulse point in her neck. Her sensitive skin reddened under his heavier than usual morning stubble, taking on a much darker hue than its original mocha skin tone. It simply begged for him to mark that soft flesh, and giving into that instinct Ty bit her neck.
A needy groan came from her, and she sank into his body as he licked the half-moon imprint of his teeth left behind. The inherent caveman in him strutted in triumph, seeing her thus marked, and his fingers itched to strip her naked and to further mark her as his.
He pulled back slightly to see her expression, and her dark eyes held a desperation that tore at his heart strings. Now was not a time for tenderness, however. That would come later, when he’d put his point across, and she’d accepted her fate.
Ty wanted, needed her submission, and he would damn well have it, before she left this room.
It took a while, but eventually Jeanette dropped her gaze to his collarbone and murmured the words he needed to hear.
“Please, Sir, will you take these chains off me?”
“No, I won’t. Not yet.”
Chapter Nine
Jeanette’s head whipped up, and she opened her mouth to give the bastard what for, but stopped the angry tirade ready to spew from her lips at the last minute. That was what he expected her to do, after all, judging by the amused twinkle in his eyes. They darkened further as she continued to look up at him, and when she very deliberately bit her lip, the hot hard cock digging into her belly jumped. It meant she had to swallow her groan, because another surge of arousal dampened her knickers.
This close to him, his raw masculinity was overwhelming. The faint shadows left over on his face from his previous injuries were a far too visible reminder of how dangerous and deadly this man was, which should have turned her arousal dead, but it had the opposite effect on her.
Susie’s words bounced in her brain.
It isn’t wrong … just let go…
It was so very tempting to do just that, if she didn’t fear that she would lose herself completely in the darkness contained in Ty’s soul. A darkness which she ought to run from, not be drawn to like the moth to the flame. Instead she had that burning desire to taste said flame, to let it set her alight, until she knew she would never be the same again.
“As you wish, Sir. May I eat my breakfast?” Lord knew how she managed to get those words out. They certainly didn’t sound like her. It wasn’t just what she’d said, either, it was the breathy, shaky quality of her voice she didn’t recognize.
She’d surprised him, because he blinked and released her.
“As you ask so nicely.”
It took an extraordinary amount of willpower to step away from him. Somehow she managed it, and pulling deep on her years of dance training, she took a surreptitious breath and slid to the floor in a sinuous move, or as gracefully as she could manage with her chains hindering her movement. She might well look like a stranded whale. Joggers and an oversized t-shirt were hardly seduction material, after all. Still, as she spread her legs out, to bring the plates of pancakes right up between her splayed legs, she risked a quick glance up at him, while pushing her rack out. Unfettered as her boobs were, her hard nipples were clearly visible through the thin fabric covering of her top, and she made sure to give them a little shake, while she stretched her arms above her head.
“Ah, that’s better,” she said, not even trying to disguise the sexual purr in her voice, which would have done any porn star proud.
Ty’s eyes narrowed, and she swallowed hard as he tensed. She’d forgotten how quickly he could switch from easygoing to super intense, but at least
she knew she had his attention now. Forcing herself to continue in this silly game of one-upmanship she had initiated, she ran a finger over the back of one of the sticky pancakes, gathered the syrup, and brought it to her lips.
Ty’s gaze never once wavered from her actions, and he stepped closer as she made a big show of licking her finger clean.
A growl erupted from his chest, the sound so animalistic that her hormones sighed in submission. Hands fisted by his sides, Ty came closer still, until his groin made up her view. Her pussy clenched in helpless need, seeing the long, solid imprint of his cock challenging the denim of his jeans. He looked enormous, far bigger than her previous boyfriends, and her breathing sped up, imagining his taking her.
“If you want your breakfast I suggest you fucking eat it, before I give you a different breakfast entirely.” Ty’s voice had dropped an octave, and the delicious deep growl settled straight in her clit. If she got any wetter, she would disgrace herself, that was for sure. It was utterly insane, this hold he had on her, the sexual energy coursing around and through them. It was small comfort to see him as much in thrall of what was happening between them as she was, because when she picked up a pancake and bit into it, Ty groaned. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see him stroke his erection through his jeans, and she could swear she could feel his hot gaze follow the trail of syrup, down her chin and into the V-neck of her shirt.
When she made no move to swipe it away, Ty swore under his breath, and in the next instant she was on her feet.
Hand fisted in her hair, he angled her head, so that he could lick that sticky trail away, and all pretense went out of the window. The remains of the pancake fell to the floor, creating a sticky mess on her bare feet, and the world narrowed to the feel of his tongue on her overheated skin. It sent shivers along her spine and a fierce longing into her pussy, which meant her next words came out far too husky.
“I thought I had to beg to get your cock, Sir.”
His to Punish (The Cleaners Book 2) Page 9