Siren_Beloved_Google

by Lexi Blake, Sophie Oak

  Why couldn’t she get Aidan out of her head? Maybe it was this Master A person. She wondered what his real name was. Probably Adam or Alan. She wished it was Barney. Then he could be Master B, and he wouldn’t make her think of Aidan at all.

  “Julian’s been having a fun night.” Lucas pointed out the front of the raised stage where Julian held his public punishment scenes.

  There was a St. Andrew’s Cross and various torture devices across the stage. Julian was already deep into his scene. Danielle Lodge-Taylor and Finn Taylor were strapped to side-by-side whipping chairs, their naked asses in the air. Dani’s was a delicate pink, but Finn’s had a red sheen to it.

  “Why is he always harder on Finn?” Lexi asked, shaking her head. Julian could be slightly brutal with his male partner. She turned her face up to see if Lucas was outraged by the treatment of his friend.

  He was staring at the scene almost in rapture. She followed the line of his sight. He wasn’t watching Dani. He was staring at Finn, and it had nothing to do with whether or not he found Finn attractive. He was watching the way Julian struck Finn’s flesh with the flogger. He was watching the way that line of red lashed across Finn’s skin.

  Lucas’s eyes had an almost dreamy quality to them. Her heart clenched. How long had it been since he had gotten what he needed? How long had he suppressed his own needs for hers?

  He came out of his trance and looked down at her. “I’m sorry. Did you ask me something?”

  She managed to not smile at him. “I did, babe, but you got a bit distracted by the show. I asked why Julian is so hard on Finn when he barely spanks Dani.”

  His face softened, and his hands found her hair again. His voice was quiet in deference to the scene. “He needs it. Finn enjoys the pain. It frees something in him. You should understand that.”

  “You are never that hard on me, Lucas.” Lucas had never broken her skin, but she would admit that sometimes the pain allowed her to cry about things she wouldn’t allow herself to release. She always felt unburdened after a session.

  “You don’t need as much pain as Finn. And don’t get pissy at Julian for treating Dani differently. They aren’t the same. Julian might be punishing them, but I assure you they enjoy it, too. The real punishment comes later, when he doesn’t allow her to come. That’s when Dani will feel the burn.” Lucas whispered in her ear, his breath a soft caress. “I’m afraid you might be in for a bit of that, too, baby. The word edging came up in my negotiations with Julian.”

  Lexi groaned. She hated that. Edging. Edge play. It sometimes referred to a variety of play that tested the boundaries—blood play, knife play, wax play. That wasn’t what Lucas meant. He knew her hard boundaries better than she did. He was referring to the practice of keeping a sub right on the edge of orgasm and pulling back every time. It was frustrating, and Lucas could never do it. When she pleaded and begged, he would take out the vibrator or dildo and get her off quickly, as though he couldn’t stand to hear her frustration. More than once Lexi knew the other Doms had taunted him for his lack of control. She had to hope this Master A was a softie.

  Finn was counting out his punishment in a strong voice. The crowd watched in rapt attention, but she couldn’t get her mind off the coming scene. Her heels gave her a little more height, and Lucas hunched over so it was easy to whisper to him.

  “Why didn’t Master A negotiate the contract directly with you?” It was odd. Julian might sit in on contract negotiations, but he rarely butted in. She should have been there, but she preferred to leave it to Lucas. She’d had to work this afternoon despite her hangover. Her boss hadn’t been happy with her, but she’d let it all slide away the minute she entered The Club.

  “I don’t know. I suppose because he doesn’t consider me your permanent Dom because you aren’t wearing my collar. Possibly Julian did it because Master A is new. Julian is such a control freak. He considers you part of his family, and he’s trying to look out for you.”

  And she was fond of the man, too. Over the years, Julian had proven to be an amazing friend to her family. She stopped watching the scene in front of her. A flash of heat sparked across her skin, and she was utterly certain that someone was watching her. She glanced around the crowd.

  “What’s wrong?” Lucas asked.

  “I don’t know. I just…feel like someone’s watching.”

  She heard him chuckle in her ear. “Well, baby, that’s what happens when you’re a gorgeous woman wearing next to no clothing. People tend to watch.”

  But it was more than that. She looked to the left of the stage. Everyone else in the room was watching the punishment scene playing out, but one man faced the opposite direction of the stage. One large, incredibly built hunk of masculinity was staring right at her. His dark eyes were visible under the mask that covered the top half of his face. He looked like a man perfectly capable of all manner of dirty deeds.

  “Oh, god,” she groaned. “I think that’s Master A.”

  Lucas followed her line of sight. Suddenly she felt his hand tighten on hers. “Holy fuck, look at that.”

  He was amazing. He was at least six foot five, maybe six. Lucas was tall, but this man had a couple of inches on him. He was corded with thick muscles, every inch of skin seemed sun-kissed, but something was wrong with it. Not wrong, exactly, but white wispy lines marred his physical perfection. Scars. He was covered in scars.

  “What happened to him?” Lexi heard herself ask. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  “Some sort of accident.” Lucas’s voice was hushed, smaller than it had been before, as though he was worried the man across the room might be able to listen in. “He was in the Army. He was injured in Iraq. The way Leo explains it, he’s lucky to be alive.”

  Something about the huge man called to her. Seeing that man standing and staring so intently in their direction made her feel nervous. She wasn’t scared of him exactly, but she wasn’t calm at the thought of meeting him.

  “Why the mask?” She wanted to see his face. All she could see from here was the hard, unrelenting line of his jaw. His hair was cut so short she couldn’t tell if it was blonde or brown. Everything about him—from his stare to his stance—seemed severe and unmoving. And then the corner of his lip ticked up slightly. It wasn’t much, but that tiny smile caused a dimple to form in one cheek.

  Beside her, Lucas’s breath hitched. She knew why. It was the same reason her own heart had skipped a beat. Aidan had the most perfect dimples. They had teased him about his smile. But Aidan was utterly unlike the man in the mask. Perhaps he’d been as tall, but Aidan had been lean. This man had at least fifty pounds on Aidan, all of it muscle. Aidan had been a slave to his music, not the gym. Aidan had been all-American handsome. This man looked like sin.

  He was a stranger, nothing more. And one she didn’t have to see again after tonight if she chose not to.

  Still, when he smiled, he would be glorious.

  “They’re done,” Lucas whispered in her ear as Julian began taking his loves off the chairs and preparing their aftercare.

  It was time. Master A was already supervising the change of the scene in a deep voice. Nothing at all like Aidan’s musical, lyrical voice.

  She wouldn’t hear that voice again.

  “Are you ready?”

  She turned a smile up to the man who was her future and nodded her assent.

  Chapter Four

  Lucas felt his cock pulsing as he walked Lexi toward the stage.

  What the fuck was he doing?

  He needed to keep it together. He needed to pretend like he wasn’t responding to the man in the mask. He didn’t want to. He wasn’t going to get involved with another man. He was with Lexi. Lexi was the only person who mattered now.

  But god, that fucker reminded him of Aidan. It was the smile that did it. Aidan had the sweetest “aw-shucks-ma’am-weren’t-nothing” smile on the planet. He would look at a person, that one lip would tug up, making the smile all the more perfect for its lopsided natu
re, and Lucas couldn’t help but melt a little. Aidan was masculine perfection, and when he sang, no one could help but stop and listen.

  God, as much as Lucas loved Aidan, he hated him now. Lucas hated him for the coward he was. He hated him for showing Lucas the edge of heaven and walking away. And he hated Aidan for leaving Lexi. So many times, he’d wondered if she wouldn’t have been happier if she’d gone with Aidan.

  She certainly wouldn’t be in this position. Even though Aidan hadn’t acknowledged it, he’d been the dominant partner. Aidan had been indulgent, but when he’d put his foot down, Lexi fell in line. So had Lucas, for that matter. He’d enjoyed having a partner to curb some of Lexi’s more wild tendencies. If Aidan had been around, Lexi wouldn’t have gotten into this trouble.

  Dani winked at Lucas as she was carried off the stage in Julian’s arms. The curvy blonde looked perfect cuddled against her Master’s chest. Finn walked behind them, his body covered in a robe. Lucas remembered a time when all of Julian’s aftercare, including sex, occurred right there on the stage. Not anymore. He jealously guarded both Dani and Finn.

  Lucas shook Finn’s hand. He felt a bit guilty. He was the reason Finn’s ass was red as hell. “Sorry I got you got in trouble, man.”

  Finn’s face was still flushed. “No way. I wouldn’t have missed that for the world. Julian has gotten to be a big old softie since we got married. Now I know how to get him to give it to me good. The next time I need it, I’ll gossip a little. I moaned and cried enough that he won’t even withhold sex. I’m looking forward to the evening.”

  Lucas only half heard what Finn said because Lucas was staring at Master A. Two club employees were moving the whipping chairs off the stage in favor of a padded sawhorse. Finn waved good-bye and jogged after his lover and their shared wife.

  “What are they doing?” Lexi’s voice had the slightest shake to it. She hated the sawhorse. He would never put her over one.

  “I’ll find out.” He gave her hand a squeeze.

  Lexi preferred the comfort of the whipping chair or the St. Andrew’s Cross. When he’d started playing the role of Lexi’s Dom, he’d introduced her to all of the equipment in the dungeon. Some of it hadn’t appealed to her at all, and he’d never pushed her on it. He had the handcuffs he’d had made for her. They were lined with faux fur so her wrists never chaffed. He pulled them out as he approached Master A.

  The enormous mountain of a man picked up a strap and tested it against his own hand. He had a table full of torture implements. None of them were the ones Lucas had brought.

  “There seems to have been a miscommunication, Sir.” He was exceedingly polite. He was suddenly intensely aware that he’d agreed to sub for this man. At the time, it had seemed like an afterthought, something incidental. BDSM scenes required a chain of command. When he’d signed his name to the bottom line of the contract, he’d been thinking more of Lexi than himself. Now, as Master A turned and his dark chocolate eyes pinned him, it seemed pretty damn serious.

  “What’s wrong, Lucas?” His voice was like gravel, as though something had damaged it, but a lyrical quality still held. Up close, his scars were like rivers crossing his powerful chest. Some were thick and wove across his skin, others a mere whisper, but together they made a map of the man. “Why aren’t you waiting with Lexi?”

  Lucas felt that voice deep inside him. It was much more than mere sexual attraction. He could be sexually attracted to any number of people. He’d learned to ignore it entirely. His cock didn’t have the best of taste, but it had stopped ruling his life long ago. This was more. This was the instant, soul-deep recognition of someone he knew could top him. Master A was one hell of a Dom.

  But he wasn’t Lexi’s Dom. He might be for the evening, but that was Lucas’s full-time role. Though he’d signed over control of the punishment to Master A, surely the man would take advice from the sub’s permanent Dom. “We need to move that sawhorse out of here. Lexi prefers a whipping chair. Actually, it would be better if we used a whip. She’s comfortable with a St. Andrew’s Cross.”

  There was a long pause as Master A stared a hole through him. There was no hot dimple in his cheek now. There was only a simple stony silence emanating from the man. Lucas fought not to fidget under his stare. This was how he’d felt when he’d done something stupid at the ranch and Jack wanted him to know he was a dumbass.

  “So, should I set up the whipping chair?” he asked. Master A was obviously not amenable to the cross for some reason. He silently cursed himself. He should have tightened that contract, but he hadn’t been the one negotiating. He placed a lot of trust in Julian, especially when it came to contracts.

  “You should take your place beside Lexi. I’ll let you know when I need your help. We’ll be using a sawhorse. If Lexi has a problem with it, she can use her safe word. Leo is waiting in case she requires assistance off the grounds.”

  Lucas felt his face flush. Bastard wanted to play rough? “So, it’s your way or the highway?”

  Master A took a slow step forward, his boots thudding across the hard floor of the stage. “Yes, it is, sub. Welcome to D/s. I was told you weren’t a tourist, but every word that comes out of your mouth is proving to me that you are.”

  His heart started to pound. He hated someone questioning his seriousness. Years and years he’d spent under his father’s disdain. He’d been compared to his siblings and found lacking in every way possible. Lucas had never been good enough for the great Senator Allen Cameron. Looking down on him was the one button sure to set him off, and Master A had firmly pushed it. “I’ve been in the lifestyle for years, asshole.”

  He’d been in the lifestyle since the day he’d met his half brother, Jack Barnes. Everything about his brother’s life fascinated him, including his D/s relationship with his lovers, Sam Fleetwood and their wife, Abigail Barnes. Lucas had emulated his brother from the day he’d met him.

  Master A’s head shook. “No, you’ve played at it for years. You’re no Dom or you wouldn’t be over here telling me what she will or won’t accept and expecting me to change my plans for her. You agreed to allow me to top both of you, and yet you’re making demands. Here’s the bottom line. She will accept her punishment meted out my way with respect to her hard limits, or she will leave. And you will cease cursing at me, or we’ll have some trouble, you and I.”

  He started to move forward, ready for a little trouble, but before he could make the first move, Master A had a hand in his hair. That big hand pulled back, drawing Lucas close enough that he could feel the heat pouring off the other man’s body. Master A towered over him, and at Lucas’s six foot one, that wasn’t an easy feat. He’d rarely met a man who could utterly overpower him.

  Master A’s voice was a low, gravely growl in his ear. “Don’t test me here, Lucas. I don’t want to start this way. I want it to be easy with us. We should be partners in her pleasure, but I’m the Dom, and I won’t accept being treated like your lackey. I am not some hired hand brought in here for your convenience. I’m here for a reason, and I won’t allow you to disrespect me.”

  Put like that, it did sound bad. He had signed the contract. It was reasonable for Master A to expect that he wouldn’t have to deal with a bratty switch. He was close enough to see that Master A’s hair was a sandy color. It was cut in a close-crop military style that highlighted the Master’s roughhewn bone structure. His face was marked, a long jagged line running from under his mask down to his neck.

  “I’m trying to look out for her.” He didn’t want to start this out on the wrong foot, but he needed the Master to understand what his place was.

  The hand in his hair softened, and the tension ratcheted down. When Master A spoke again, it was in a cajoling tone. “I know you’re doing the best you can, but this isn’t your strong suit. You’re a nurturer. You’re the one to take care of all the small details that make a life run smoothly. You’re smart and strong, and you’ll do anything for someone you love, but not this. You’re too soft for this. I
can give her what she needs. I can give you what you need if you let me.”

  He wanted to take a step back. It seemed this Master had done a lot of homework on him. Master A sounded almost as though he admired Lucas. It wasn’t something he was used to. Lucas had been admired for his money and his connections. He’d been looked up to for being one of the Camerons, even if he was the black sheep of the political family. Only Lexi and his small, cobbled-together family ever admired him for what he could do, for the care he gave to the people around him. The stranger had seen far too much of him.

  “What’s wrong?” Lexi’s voice pulled him out of his panic. He looked down at her, so beautiful and vulnerable.

  Master A’s hand came out of his hair, and he felt strangely cold as the large man stepped back, taking his body heat with him. It had been oddly comforting to be held like that. It had been so, so long since he’d felt like someone else was in control and he could relax.

  “There’s nothing wrong, Lexi,” Master A said. He could see their small encounter wasn’t completely lost on the Dom. The big Dom was sporting an impressive erection in his leathers. Apparently Leo had been right. Master A liked it both ways. “Lucas and I were having a slight disagreement over the equipment we’ll use for this evening’s scene. We’ve settled it now. Go back to your place and get into slave position. I’ll call on you in a minute.”

  He saw the moment they got into serious trouble. Lexi’s eyes flared, and her hands came up on her hips. The world moved in a strange slow motion as her gorgeous, painted red mouth came open.