You may want to come back to reality now, you idiot. You’re standing naked in a room in front of Parker AND Drake.
“Parker — what are you … ?” She left one arm across her disturbingly erect nipples, dropping a hand down to cover her naked sex. Her face burned so hot it felt as if the roots of her hair might burst into flames. She dropped her eyes, unable to meet their gazes. It was just too much for her.
But that tingle she’d felt in her pussy earlier had gone into throbbing overdrive, a traitorous uncoiling stirring deep in her belly.
Parker’s laughing smile fell, his eyes growing cold. “Get those hands back up, or I’m going to have Drake help me get you tied into your little harness.”
Ashley’s mouth dropped open, and she chanced a glance up at both men. Drake’s arms were crossed over his massive barrel chest, the tanned, heavily muscled forearms flexing. He looked like he could break her in half with hardly a thought.
She knew she should’ve been disturbed at such imagery.
“She’s even better than you led on, Parker,” Drake’s deep voice murmured. “Holding out on me, asshole.” His dark eyes evaluated her, roving up and down her exposed flesh.
Parker shrugged, leaning against the doorjamb, perfectly at ease. “Hey, you should be glad I said anything. I wanted to keep her all to myself.”
“What a crime that would be.” Drake’s eyes met hers, and she saw warmth in them, kindness even. Then as a cloud passes across the sun, they darkened, his full lips flattening to a thin line. “He gave you an order, Ashley. You should listen to your Sir.”
Her eyes flashed to Parker. “You told him that? What the fu—”
In two steps, Parker loomed over her, his hand clenching her chin firmly, a thumb tapping a warning against her lips. “If you say it, I’m going to spank you. Right here, right now — Drake or no Drake.”
She shook his finger away. “Since when did I tell you it was okay for Drake to know what goes on between you and me? Jesus Christ, Parker. I trusted you.”
His jaw clenched, a crystalline mote of light caught in his eye. “Last warning, Ashley. I meant it when I said you needed to be sure this is what you wanted. When you came back after Friday, you chose this.”
Drake stepped closer. “Just listen to him, Ashley. You’ll be fine. I won’t touch you, not yet. But I will look at you. Nothing you can do about that now.”
Tearing her gaze away from the dark, compelling handsomeness of Drake’s face, Ashley turned her face up to Parker. “I didn’t choose this.”
Incredibly, he smiled at her. “Of course you didn’t, silly girl. When you came back after Friday all choice was taken away from you. That’s what this is all about. Are you going to stand here and tell me you’re confused about that?”
Shit.
“Parker, that’s not what I meant—”
His finger pressed to her lips, silencing her. “Stop talking now. I don’t want to hear it.”
Drake moved to stand next to Parker, crowding her back against the glass, hemming her in with a veritable wall of virile men. She wanted to whimper even as she felt giddy at it. Hadn’t this been what she’d dreamt of? Hadn’t this been the last, fast-fading thought on her mind as lucidity chased away the fevered dream, her hand under her panties, fingers buried in her cunt? How often had she cried out in bed, the shadows of the night pale compared to the darkness of her fantasies?
“Ashley, Parker gave you an order.” The timbre of Drake’s voice was so low it rattled in her chest. “Time to start listening — and obeying.”
She swallowed, feeling sure her hair might actually burst into flames, and dropped her hands to her sides.
Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck.
“Jesus Christ, Park.” Drake’s dark eyes scanned Ashley’s revealed nudity. Her heart hammered so hard in her chest, she thought it might shake her apart. She looked down, unable to bear looking at those two pairs of eyes boring into her, evaluating her, judging her attributes. Like livestock at an auction. Of course, her pussy, with a mind of its own seemed to have no problem whatsoever with the turn of events, the surge of moisture between the lips of her sex so strong, she feared it would actually start dripping from between her thighs.
Then it got worse.
“Put your arms up, girl,” Parker growled. “I told you to reach up and grab the top. I won’t tell you again.”
Swallowing, Ashley did as instructed, clasping the glass at the top of the shower wall with trembling hands. She felt the way the position lifted her breasts, her mortification at the feeling of helpless exposure acute. She knew she was safe here, but with Drake here too … it almost felt like it was just too much.
Almost.
“She hides them from everyone, from us.” Drake edged a half step closer, Ashley’s supercharged senses feeling the very air pressure in the room change. “It’s those suits and coats she wears.”
“She won’t anymore, I guarantee you that.” Parker’s knuckles touched under her chin, raising her face to them. “Is that what you’ve been doing, Ashley? Hiding?”
She tried to look over their broad shoulders, the combined intensity of their gazes overwhelming.
“Stop that. Look at me when I’m speaking to you.” Parker tapped her cheek lightly with his hand, snapping her eyes to him. Part of her flared at the childishness of it, smacking her as if she were a recalcitrant little girl. Another part of her pictured him smacking her much harder, telling her to open wider, the broad head of his cock tapping impatiently at her swollen lips.
Get it together, slut. Who are you?
Did she even know the answer to that question anymore? Who would have thought she’d find herself here, like this, exposing herself, exposing her heart, to these men? One of which whom, for all practical purposes, was a mere acquaintance.
Wrong, you idiot. You’ve thought of him as a lot more than an acquaintance since just about the first second you laid eyes on him.
“Answer him, Ashley.” She shivered at the lowering of Drake’s already deep voice. She imagined that voice could probably command a woman to do just about anything. Anything he wanted.
“I don’t hide anything. It’s what I have to wear.”
“Bullshit.” Parker’s big hand smoothed over her cheek, the tips of his fingers pushing back a strand of hair that had clung to her jaw line. “Try again. This time, tell us the truth. There’s no lying here, Ashley. We’re going to learn everything there is to know about you. Even things you didn’t know about yourself.”
She dared a glance up into those gray fathomless eyes, the absence of kindness she found there strangely comforting. She needed that implacability in her life, someone who wouldn’t put up with her shit, her evasiveness. Someone who would hold her to account, force her to own up to deception — even her self-deception. Those eyes wanted only one thing.
Surrender.
“I — I don’t know, Parker. Sir.” She gulped, the lump in her throat almost painful. “I’ve always been … embarrassed.”
Why in God’s name was she telling them this? She didn’t have to; she could just do what she’d always done. Protection mode. Go along to get along, Ashley. Always afraid of showing who she really was. Fearing any revealing of real weakness, true vulnerability.
Hiding.
“What are you embarrassed about?” Parker’s gaze softened, and his hand cupped her breast. “These?”
Ashley nodded, dropping her head again. She knew there was no point in running anymore. What worse could they do to her than she’d already suffered with Terry? Maybe even something good might come out of this fix she’d backed herself into.
This isn’t a ‘fix’, Ash. This is what you’ve wanted. All along.
“Can you believe that, Drake?” Parker’s voice held a note of incredulity that both made her blush even more, and had her inwardly soaring. “Embarrassed by tits like these?”
Ashley sighed as he squeezed her breast firmly, not enough to hurt, but more than enough to send
a surge of electricity straight to her clit.
“Look at me.” Drake’s voice snapped her head up, and she met those dark eyes, the neutral expression of that handsome face giving nothing away. “You’re one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen, Ashley. Women pay thousands of dollars, go through hours of torment to get the kind of beauty you’re blessed with.”
“I’m … not that great. Really.”
The surreal nature of this conversation was not lost on Ashley. This felt like almost an out of body experience. It had to be some other girl, plastered up against the glass, a tall, alluringly threatening man squeezing her breast as if it were produce at a market. Debating the quality of her physical attributes with another dark, hulk of a man. Life was truly stranger than fiction.
“I want you to stop that.”
Ashley met Drake’s gaze again. “Stop what?”
“Putting yourself down,” Parker said. “We don’t like it.”
“Now I can’t tell you the truth about how I feel about my body? What am I, some kind of puppet for you guys? Tell you whatever the fu—”
The slap rang through the bathroom like a pistol shot, the heat from it radiating out across her cheek. It wasn’t a hard blow, but it was unmistakably a slap.
“You will not curse anymore around me,” Parker said. He glanced at Drake, who nodded almost imperceptibly. “Around either of us.”
She dropped her arms and pushed at Parker’s hand, smacking it away from her face. “Don’t tell me what I can say about myself. You don’t control that.”
Ashley tried to process what had just happened. Was she angry because he’d slapped her face? She knew she should be, that she should march out of that fucking place and never look back.
But she knew she was kidding herself again. Her aching nipples, the boiling heat of her pussy, told the tale. Part of her, that deep seated core that needed to be overcome, conquered responded the way her body had. That part of her needed this. Needed to struggle, to fight … and to lose.
Dear God, you’re hopeless, Ashley. You really are.
Parker’s hand caught her wrist, squeezing it just past the point of pain. “If you really believe I — we — don’t control what you say, then obviously I haven’t been getting my point across successfully.”
“Oh, you got it across alright.” She brushed the heat of her face with her free hand. “Across my cheek. Loud and clear.”
His eyes dropped pointedly to her chest, then lower, before meeting hers again. “Your body isn’t getting with the program here, girl. Care to tell us what you really mean?”
Parker’s eyes flashed at her, the challenge in them plain.
“Who do you think you are? Slapping me?”
Stop this, Ashley. Just stop!
She had to. Just had to. They couldn’t think they could just do whatever they wanted to her. Ashley wondered though, deep down, if maybe that’s all she’d ever wanted, all she’d ever needed. No choice in the matter.
Surrender.
“Who do I think I am?” Parker’s brow lifted, his lips hinting at a smile. “I’m the one who won’t let you hide anymore. The one who’ll make you accept who you really are.” His hand touched her cheek, a caress of the tingling skin. “And the man who’ll take you where you need to go.”
“That’s not what I want, Parker.”
He stepped close to her, his warm breath against her ear. “But it’s what you’re looking for.”
Parker’s soft lips brushed her ear, then he stepped back once more, hands on his hips. Ashley looked up into his eyes, the gray depths bright with anticipation. What the fuck was she looking for? She knew what she was fleeing from, but did she have any idea what she was fleeing toward?
A hand cupped one of her breasts, taking its weight, making her catch her breath. “Now, I want you to step into that shower, Ashley. You’re going to reach up and slip your hands through those cuffs.” He squeezed her breast, heat flashing down to her sex. “Then you’re going to let me lock them.”
Stop being so weak. If he wants it, make him fight for it.
Did she even know what it was?
“And if I don’t, Parker? What if I just decide to walk out that door?” She flashed her defiance to Drake. “Neither of you will stop me.”
Drake leaned a massive shoulder against the wall, shaking his head. “Don’t try it, Ashley.”
“Why?” She practically yelled it now. “Not used to a woman fighting back? Used to doormats?”
She felt the absurdity of her position, displayed for both set of eyes that, even now, still roamed over her body, appreciatively, possessively. But her instinct for rolling over, for enduring to survive — it was done.
No more.
If Parker wanted her surrender, he was damn sure going to earn it.
Parker glanced at Drake, something passing between them, then looked back at her. The hard, pitiless gaze sent a chill down her spine, even as it made her hard nipples ache. “Unless you give the word, you aren’t leaving this fucking room unless we allow it. If you don’t do as you’re told I — we — will do it for you. Either way, you’re going to be bound to that harness. The choice as to how, remains with you. For now.”
Her arms moved much slower than she’d hoped, but she did manage to surprise Parker, slipping by him in an instant, her mind shutting down higher thought, running on instinct only now.
Get out. Hide.
Then she hit Drake’s chest so hard her head bounced off of it, dazing her for a moment.
It was more time than they needed.
Steel-hard fingers closed around her arms, lifting her off the ground as if she weighed nothing, Drake’s big arm wrapping up her kicking thighs. There was a deep male curse as one of her flailing feet made contact with a shin, sending bright pain up her leg at the clash of bone on bone.
“Let me go, goddammit!” She craned her head down at Drake. “What happened to not touching me?”
“You ran into me,” he muttered, his expression as hard and impassive as a mountainside.
“Grab her feet, Drake. She’s liable to kick one of us in the nuts.” Parker’s half smile, challenging, just angered her more, but there was no way she was going to say it. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.
Still kidding yourself, Ash.
The cold rubber of the cuffs shocked her, feeling like ice against her heated skin. Drake held her legs together while Parker clapped her ankles in heavy leather cuffs, a tiny chain linking them close together. Drake rose, his deep chuckle making her want to slap him even as the timbre of his voice made her clit vibrate like a tuning fork.
“What the fuck!” She twisted her ankles against the cuffs, and her legs came up short. She looked down to find the cuffs chained to a ring in the tiled flooring. “Are you kidding with this?”
Parker glared at her, rubbing his shin. “Kicking me means you’re not particularly interested in keeping the use of your legs. So we took care of that for you.”
“Wait, wait,” she grunted, as Parker pushed a button on the wall of the enclosure. The hum of the winch motor sounded overhead, only stopping when her body was stretched, taut, the balls of her feet barely touching the tile. Her arms reached straight up, the cuffs just beginning to pull at her wrists.
Drake pointed up. “Grab the bar, Ashley. Those cuffs aren’t going to feel very good if you leave your weight on your wrists.”
“Then let me down!” She looked at Parker. “I don’t want this. Please.”
Parker’s eyes glinted. “Then say it.” Another glance at Drake. “But I don’t think you will. You want this. You don’t even want a choice.” He stepped back, standing next to Drake, is hands at his hips again. “Well, you’ve come to the right place, Ashley. Because very soon, if I’m right about all this, you won’t have a choice.”
“Fuck you.” The defeat in her voice attenuated any impact the words might have had. Was he right? Could she handle what might come next if he was? Why didn’t she just f
ucking say it?
Parker ignored her now, tipping his head toward Drake, his eyes not leaving her. “Much better all stretched out and displayed like that, don’t you think? Finally we can get a good look at what we’re working with.”
“You were right about her. She does need to eat more.” Drake's eyes tried to meet Ashley's, but she slid hers away, feeling her cheeks heat. “But her tits … god damn.”
“Can you imagine what they’ll look like once we get her eating enough again?” Parker raised her chin with a finger, his gaze meeting hers. “The way I’ll order her to?”
“What about the nipples?” Drake’s tone was casual, off-hand, as if the two men were discussing the weather forecast, but the rapacious gleam in their dark depths said something else entirely.
Parker stroked his chin, scratching through the dark stubble just beginning to shadow his features. “I don’t know. Been thinking twelve gauge.” He turned his head to Drake. “Gold?”
Oh FUCK.
Were they talking … no, no way.
“I like gold. Simple. But I’d go something thicker.” A rare smile lit up the taciturn Drake’s face. “I want her to feel the weight of them.”
“Good point. Hadn’t thought of that.” Parker’s stern gaze turned back to Ashley. “Have you ever been pierced before?”
She swallowed, her throat suddenly resembling the texture of a burlap sack. “My ears.”
“That doesn’t count. So, that’s a ‘no’, Drake. This should be fun!”
If Ashley thought she felt exposed against that shower glass before, she felt like nothing so much as livestock up for auction now. She squeezed the bar overhead, and closed her eyes. She wanted this — Parker had seen it — but she still fought. She couldn’t not fight.
Parker stepped right up to her, his clothing whispering against her naked flesh, the throbbing, exposed points of her nipples. He looked up. “How are your wrists? Tingling? Numb?”
“Better … if I grab the bar.”
He stared into her eyes a moment, then caught one of her nipples between his fingers. The pain when he squeezed brought her up on her toes.
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