My brother was here to bid on a submissive. Who was the woman with him? Was that his present sub? Jesus.
I tried keeping out of sight. This was uncomfortable and I didn’t want to make eye contact with Jackson, yet I kept turning back to watch. He looked happy. The beautiful woman smiled as he spoke to her, her head leaning back slightly as she appeared to be laughing at whatever he’d just said.
I turned toward Justin, trying to erase what I was seeing from my head. He raised up, winking, then quickly looked right back down at whatever he was reading, jotting down something on the document.
My brother was a Dome was here for one reason. To purchase a new sub.
Holy shit!
The shock in that was boundless. Yet, everything was beginning to make sense. No steady girlfriends. Controlling attitude. It all added up. And honestly, I was good with that. Whatever made my brother happy made me the same.
“Are you watching your brother?” My gaze latched on a perfectly beautiful Sam walking away, Justin leaned into my ear, teasing me with his tongue as his hand brushed my thigh. I shifted just a little at the twinge of discomfort in my lower body, still evident from earlier.
“You okay, baby?” His eyes twinkled, knowing why I was having a hard time sitting completely still.
“I’m good.” My cheeks heated at thoughts of what we’d been doing just minutes ago.
“I thought Jacks might be a member, but I wasn’t sure. You never really said anything. This is a little awkward.”
This was going to take some time to sink in. I couldn’t exactly picture my big brother buying a woman or making a sub drop to her knees and call him Sir or Master. But then really, maybe I could. Jacks had always been a controller. Always the one in charge of every scenario. I never remembered it being any other way.
Shit.
“Just breathe, Hartley.” His hand caressed my thighs, running up and down my nervous legs as I tried relaxing, realizing I had in fact been holding my breath.
“He’s a long-time member, baby,” he whispered. “His contract ends in a week. That’s why he’s here. Would you rather leave? If you’re uncomfortable with this, you don’t have to watch.”
“How long?” I whispered. “How long has he been a member?”
My nerves jumped. Justin’s head rubbed against mine as I felt his amazing smile brush my skin.
“He’s an original member, baby.”
I tried letting that sink in as I eyed several men who looked like armed guards step up onto the stage. They needed security? I glanced back at Jackson, watching him talk with another masked man. He still hadn’t seen me.
Thank God for small miracles.
Sam walked out on stage. The lights slowly dimmed and I held my hand out to Justin’s.
A gentleman approached our table, nodding. His perfectly white teeth formed a strange-looking grin, his dark brown eyes nearly black as they glowed through the holes of his mask. He made the hair on my neck stand up. What a creep fest.
“The brochure looks good, Wisely. Looks like you and Sam put together a good one this year.” He held out his hand to Justin and they shook.
“Good to see you Lincoln.” He didn’t introduce me, his face displaying nothing but a blank expression.
“I remember the first auction here,” he said firmly. “When you, Master J, purchased young Sam for your own. It’s astonishing how she’s grown into one of the strongest subs around and can still be your club manager after what you went through with her. You trained her well, Wisely.”
He smiled, his grin ugly and unwelcome as he walked away.
Master J? What? Sam?
I dropped his hand, my stomach filling with knots.
“Sam? You bought Sam for yourself? And why did that creepy guy call you Master J?”
My heart raced. It felt like someone just told me I had pie smeared all over my face. I had no idea she was this close to Justin, or Master J, but the signs had been right there.
Secrets. How many more were there?
He turned to me with narrowed eyes, his gaze worried, but also gleaming with warning to end this conversation for now. I wanted to say something anyway, but I bit my tongue.
“Welcome to Venture’s bi-yearly auction.” Sam’s voice filled the room before Justin had a chance to answer what I already knew. He fucked Sam. Wanted her so badly, he paid for her. He’d been Sam’s Master What I’d stored away in the back of my mind for weeks was coming to the surface. I felt sick at thoughts of Justin with Sam. Anybody … but her.
“We’re especially excited about our fifteen applicants this year. Justin and I have worked very hard at setting up what we think will be our best auction yet.”
She pointed toward our table. Just looking at her made my insides clench.
“To the man that’s responsible for all of us. And this. Justin Wisely, everyone.”
Justin stood, bowing his head just slightly. I eased back just a little, hoping to keep out of sight. Yet Jackson seeing me seemed secondary at the moment. Even though it was a given that Justin had been in Dom/sub relationships before, my stomach sickened with thoughts of him with Sam. She was so incredibly beautiful. When her hair was its natural dark color, she reminded me of a young Cindy Crawford. Stunning, Justin had given her everything he’d given me. What we’d done less than an hour ago … had he shared that same intimacy with her? Somehow the small discomfort I felt every time I moved wasn’t quite the turn-on it had been just minutes ago. Suddenly it was just sex. Dirty sex.
She’d given him things I never had. Done things he wasn’t interested in doing with me. Did he have real feelings for her at one time? Did he still?
Justin spoke a few words and sat back down, his hand securely draping across the back of my neck as he stared ahead, his body stiff and tight. Sam introduced the first girl up for bid. A spotlight covered the young woman as I watched Sam’s mouth moving, even though I didn’t hear a word she said.
“Don’t overthink this, Hartley. It was years ago. We both have a past.”
Overthink? Right!
His tone was hard, his words not a request. He wasn’t asking. He was ordering. Caution coated his gaze as his focus snapped back toward the stage. I fought the sting building behind my eyes. How fucking dare he insist I was overthinking a damn thing. He should have told me about Sam. He should have been honest, but I wouldn’t let this break me. He loved me. And I loved him too much not to get over this bump in the road. So why did it bother me so much? I knew he’d been with lots of other women and I wasn’t a jealous person, but I hated the way I felt right now. Deceived. Betrayed. Slapped.
“Does anyone want to open? Starting bid is two hundred-fifty thousand dollars.”
Holy shit! That much? I knew it was a lot, but crap. I looked at Justin with what I was pretty sure a look of total surprise. He nodded, his lips forming just a small quick smile as he turned back toward the stage.
A gentleman stood, raising his hand.
“Two hundred and fifty-thousand dollars.” Holy moly!
The young girl was beautiful and didn’t look a day over twenty. Probably right around the same age as Sam was when Justin bid on her. The brooch on her shoulder was one bar. I knew that meant she was a virgin sub. A small speck of sweat rested above her lip, her breathing tense.
Did Sam feel that way her first night? Nervous? Scared?
Did Justin ease her insecurities?
Did he fuck her with his flawless dick on auction night?
“Three hundred fifty-thousand dollars,” another gentleman said. The bidder looked toward the first man, nodding with a wide ugly smile. It was Lincoln, the eerie man Justin failed to introduce me to. Justin looked down, shaking his head. The two men went back and forth, the first gentleman winning the bid at four hundred thousand dollars.
Quiet, Justin was totally engrossed in the auction. Three more women walked the stage, both selling quickly for the same four hundred thousand. It was so much money. Did the women get part of t
he sale or did it all go to Venture?
Nearly half a million freaking dollars. Holy crap.
An hour later, Sam introduced the final sub as Presley. An entirely different ambiance filled the room as she walked on stage. Impossible not to notice were the three shiny bars on her brooch that was attached to the sparkling, skin-hugging silver dress she wore. She enjoyed sadism.
She was stunning. With hair nearly black, the thick waves came close to touching her hips and her lips were full, filled in with a deep red matte lipstick. Fair and flawless skin made her look even more charismatic and sophisticated. Men shifted and stood, raising their hands to bid. Justin looked straight ahead. Although the women had all been beautiful, this one made the others almost lackluster by comparison.
“Seven hundred thousand,” one man called out. The woman’s eyes darted out into the audience, sure and self-confident. She’d done this before.
“Seven hundred fifty.” It was Lincoln again. I shuddered. Something about that man creeped me the hell out.
The previous man raised his hand, immediately bidding eight hundred fifty thousand dollars. Holy Christ. That was almost a million freaking bucks.
Justin’s hand snaked down my back, his palm calming me, even though I couldn’t stop my running imagination at how much he’d paid for Sam. And all his others.
“One million.” I looked up as Sam glanced to her left.
“One million dollars.” Jackson stood, glaring at Lincoln, who nodded and returned to his chair.
“Oh, my God,” I whispered. My brother was shelling out a million dollars for a submissive with three bars on her dress. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Where did a District Attorney get this kind of money?
My brother was a sadist.
Holy shit. Holy shit.
“Sold for one million dollars.” Sam’s voice lingered.
Jackson nodded at the woman, her smile laced with seduction before leaving the stage. He stood and quickly exited the room with his present sub, while my chest pounded at what I’d just seen. I felt sicker than ever, though not really in a bad way. Just astonished.
My brother buying sex from a woman for one million dollars.
A punishment-seeking submissive.
Holy hell in a handbag!
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Justin
The truth always comes out.
11:00 AM, and I was facing the wall of the shower in the exact spot I’d stood a hundred times, currents of water hitting the very middle of my scalp, running in a perfect line down my back. More than familiar with that one tile, I knew the exact one to stand on to get that perfect stream of hot water.
More profitable than past auctions, Sam and Bull had both earned a special bonus for the extra hours of work they’d put in. I’d damn sure honor that.
And Hartley—Christ, I owed her a conversation. Guilt stabbed at my chest, recalling the touch of upset in her eyes. Within minutes after watching her brother bid on the most experienced sub we had to offer, she claimed she didn’t feel well, but I knew she was calling bullshit. She was pissed and surprised as hell at what I should have already told her. Only hours earlier, we’d grown closer and shared out most intimate moment. None of that mattered now. Purely my doing, this was a huge step in reverse. I should have told her about Sam. Lincoln and his goddamn bag of wind. He knew exactly what he was doing.
Now, if only I did.
I stared at her response to the text I’d sent after finishing up with the auction.
It’s okay, JT. It’s all good. I’m just tired. I need to sleep in my own bed.
Fuck that. She was anything but okay.
Lincoln got his rocks off by spouting off his fucking trash mouth and causing trouble. Born with a silver spoon hanging out his ass, the hotel giant had never been anything more than a miserable spoiled brat with more money than he knew what to do with.
Nevertheless, the truth was that firstly, I should have warned Hartley about Jackson. With him, it was always the same. Only experienced subs who got off on punishment submission caught his eye. Safewording wasn’t an option with Jackson. He was also a common visitor to the Mystery Room, which his sister didn’t need to know.
Most importantly was the issue with Sam. I definitely should have been upfront about her. That was another major fuckup on my part. They just kept on coming.
Sam being a virgin sub when I purchased her, I offered $300,000. Training her was easy and we stayed a couple for four months. But now we were nothing more than business acquaintances. And good friends, even though I knew she’d like it to be more. That had to be hard for Hartley to swallow. I understood that. Just the thought of her ex, the dick-faced football jock, shooting off his wad inside her, or his lips between her legs, made me want to slam a fist through his muscled-up neck.
Never getting the chance to show Hartley Venture’s toy shop, I planned on picking up something special anyway. Ben-Wa balls got her worked up once before. Conceivably, they would again. The particular set I had in mind had three tiers of intensity and were big sellers, popular for their intense internal stimulation. Something about that gave me a quick thrill. Thoughts of taking that trip to the grocery store together she’d been hounding me to do, with the balls lodged deep inside her tight pussy, was an amusing thought. If she’d give me the chance, I felt pretty positive that a few quick pushes on the battery-operated control would get that grin back that I loved. Fuck, I missed her. I wanted her beside me where she belonged. I shot off a quick text.
Morning sweet thing. We still good?
Fuck. No response from Hartley five minutes later, I pressed her number, my call eventually going to voicemail. I needed my sweet thing’s voice. She deserved an apology. I needed to tell her I loved her face. I dialed a second time.
“Well, fuck!” I slammed down my phone.
Not answering caused a major upset behind my chest. In the past, a sub would have been punished for ignoring my call under any circumstance. Lengthy orgasm denial, or worse, would have been unavoidable. That small feeling hit me … rendering discipline for not being there. Yet it was me who fucked up by keeping things from her. Jesus Christ, I didn’t know how to do this relationship bullshit, but I knew in my gut we had to be stronger than this. Surely something this small wouldn’t bring on a major case of shit.
“Jesus,” I whispered, grabbing at my hair. She was probably in the shower for Christ’s sake. Plus, I couldn’t take my worries or frustrations out on her. I wasn’t that man any longer.
And … she wasn’t my submissive.
She would never be anyone’s sub.
She was my girl, my sweet thing.
And I needed her. Right now. I burned for her body. Her riding me. Coming with me.
I picked up my cell and called again, getting her fucking voicemail … again.
“I miss you sweet thing. Thought maybe you could show me the ropes on grocery shopping tonight.”
My phone dinged with a text. It was from Tyler. Goddammit, where was she?
Thanksgiving dinner at Mom’s. Bring Hartley.
Shit, Thanksgiving was next week. I’d entirely forgotten.
I’ll check with Hartley. Crystal’s cooking always sounds good.
Chapter Thirty
Hartley
1:00 PM on my computer, I logged off, yawning. The amount of time I’d spent at work on a weekend was twice as long as I planned, but I was behind. Plus, I couldn’t sleep worth shit. I hated the way things ended last night. Justin and Sam. God, the entire concept of that illusion made me ill. The good thing was, at least now I could start fresh with no piles of late work on Monday. Shit. Was it time for my Depo shot? Hit. Double shit. I made a mental note to call for an appointment.
Still a little heavy-eyed, I headed out the door to the parking garage, reaching inside my bag for my phone to give Justin a quick call. See what plans he had for the evening. That’s when I realized I’d left it at home on the charger. Justin wouldn’t like not being able to re
ach me. He’d be worried. But in all reality, that was okay. Let him worry. Let him wonder. I sure had the last twelve hours. The fact he’d kept his relationship with Sam a secret proved he didn’t have enough faith in us to be completely truthful. He also let me walk away last night. Maybe he didn’t give a shit where I was.
All of the sudden, I was at war with myself. I didn’t want distance between us. My heart hurt. I needed to see him. Instead of going back for my phone, I headed for his place, the thought of seeing the witch at the concierge desk making me frown, but only for a quick second. Bite me, bitch!
****
Seconds after I reached the tenth floor, wondering where Miss Perky Tits was today, I gathered my poise just a little, hoping my thoughts were correct in that Justin had tried reaching me and couldn’t. One thing I knew for certain was that he wouldn’t like that one little bit. Before I could knock, he was opening the door. He was mad. Great!
“Where the fuck have you been?” He was standing in the doorway glaring at me just the way I hoped he wouldn’t—with angry eyes.
“I left my phone at home. Were you trying to reach me?”
He didn’t answer, only pulling my hand between his and leading us to the bedroom. Jesus, talk about being a jerk for no reason.
“What’s going on, Justin? Surely you aren’t this upset because I left my phone at home.”
“Then again, maybe I am, Hartley. Turn around,” he ordered. I started to turn. Began doing exactly as he said, but before I could, he was reaching for the button on my jeans and yanking them down, along with my panties.
“Get on the bed. On all fours.”
I drew in a sharp breath. I wasn’t sure if I was pissed, or turned on by what he was doing. Either way, I did what he demanded, leaning over the bed on all fours as he quickly pulled off my shoes and clothes, tossing them aside.
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