by Marla Monroe
“Go take a shower. I’m going to fix breakfast this morning.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Marx frowned.
“Go on and shower, Marx. I’ll help her with breakfast.” Jackson grabbed Kelly around the waist and pulled her toward the closet. “Let’s get you dressed, little lady.”
Minutes later, Kelly stood in the kitchen in a green pant suit that made her feel feminine while still allowing her plenty of movement. She watched as Jackson prepared breakfast. He refused to let her help despite his earlier statement that he was going to help her. Instead, he’d set her at the counter to watch him.
As soon as they finished breakfast, the men hurried her out to the truck and carried her to town to see the doctor. Dr. Greer was pleased with her progress and pronounced her well enough to return to work. Kelly felt like the last brick that had been holding her down had been lifted. She insisted the men drive her to the store so she could talk to Steve about returning to work. As soon as they pulled up in front of the store, Steve and Tessa were at the door waiting on them to come in.
Steve hugged her. “It’s so good to see you. How are you feeling?”
“I’m ready to come back to work. The doctor just gave me his okay.”
Steve looked up at Jackson and Marx as if for permission. Kelly scowled at him. He had the good sense to look chagrined but didn’t apologize for doing it.
“How about you start back on Thursday. That way you’ll only be working a few days before you have some time off to recoup. Easing back into it is probably the best thing to do. I don’t want you to overdo it first thing.”
“That’s an excellent idea.” Marx was nodding when she glanced over at him.
Jackson merely grinned. She knew they were pleased with Steve’s schedule. If the truth were known, Kelly was secretly glad as well. It gave her a few more days with her men before getting back into work mode.
Once they returned home, Kelly realized that she had come to regard their house as her home. Since they hadn’t exactly said that they wanted her to live with them, she remained uneasy about accepting it that way. Yes, they had told her they loved her and would always honor her need for independence, but did it mean that they loved her as someone they wanted in their lives permanently? She didn’t have those answers yet. Until she did, Kelly planned to take things one day at a time.
* * * *
Over the next two weeks the men treated her like a fragile, precious gift that they were afraid of breaking. While she enjoyed the attention and special treatment, Kelly wanted to be treated like she had been before the fire. She missed the hard loving and how they took care of her needs. She missed the spankings and the way they tied her up so that she was helpless and dependent on them to take care of her for those few hours.
Finally, she’d had enough of their tiptoeing around and planned to have it out with them after dinner that night. Tomorrow was Saturday, and she wanted to go to the club. She planned to tell them that she would be going with or without them. No doubt they would explode, but it was what she wanted.
While Jackson coddled her some anyway, Marx never had, and she missed that hard edge that had always been a part of him. His constantly asking her how she was and patting her head wasn’t the real Marx.
As soon as she made it home that night, Kelly started dinner. She enjoyed cooking occasionally, and the men had taken away her kitchen time believing they were taking care of her by cooking and feeding her. Instead, they were driving her crazy. It would stop tonight. She had everything planned.
Jackson walked into the kitchen with a frown marring his handsome face. Kelly ignored him until he spoke.
“Aren’t you home early? Is something wrong, baby?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I was caught up so I left a few minutes early is all.” She continued mixing the meatloaf she had planned.
“You don’t have to cook, Kelly. It’s my turn.” He stepped into the kitchen and washed his hands.
“No, it’s past my turn. You’ve been keeping me out of the kitchen lately. Are you trying to tell me you don’t like how I cook?” She molded the mixture into a loaf and plopped it in the pan.
“Of course not. We love your cooking. We just thought you needed some time to recover from everything.”
“Thank you for that, but I’m fine. The doctor released me several weeks ago. I want to get back to normal.”
Kelly watched him struggle with that for a few minutes. Finally he nodded. He was about to say something more when the back door opened and Marx walked in. It was obvious by his expression on finding her in the kitchen cooking that he wasn’t going to give in as easily.
“What’s going on? Jackson?” He pulled off his boots and dropped them by the backdoor.
“Nothing, Marx. Dinner will be ready in two hours. You have time for a shower if you want one.”
He scowled and glanced from Jackson back to her again. “It’s Jackson’s turn to cook.”
“Um, Marx. Kelly wanted to cook tonight.” Jackson seemed to be trying to warn his brother not to push it.
Kelly almost burst out laughing at the lifted eyebrows between the two men. Instead, she started washing the potatoes to peel.
“Kelly, there’s no need for you to cook. We can handle that.”
She didn’t bother turning around. She didn’t want to fight with them over cooking. She had a much more serious argument to start after dinner.
“I know you can, but I like to cook sometimes, Marx. Don’t you like my cooking?”
“Of course we like your cooking. We just think that you shouldn’t overdo it. You already work so much.”
“Well, so do you two. In fact, you both work a lot more than I do.”
“Kelly, we don’t want you to spend all your time working and doing stuff around the house. We want you to enjoy yourself some.”
“I am enjoying myself, so back off. We’re having that conversation after dinner.”
“What?” Marx sounded genuinely confused.
“Go take your shower, Marx. We’ll talk after we eat.” Kelly listened as the two men walked out of the kitchen, murmuring as they went.
No doubt they would be trying to figure out what was going on. She smothered a smile. They didn’t have a clue what she was going to spring on them, she was sure. She concentrated on finishing up dinner then while it cooked, she set the table and enjoyed a glass of wine.
When she called them in to eat, both men appeared quiet and thoughtful. She drew them out into conversation about how the ranch was going and told them about things that had happened at work over the last few days. They were polite and quick to refill her glass when it was empty. Then they insisted on cleaning up afterwards. She gladly let them and hurried to the living room to relax before the upcoming battle.
Thirty minutes later, Marx and Jackson sat on either side of her on the couch, giving her kisses and telling her how much they had enjoyed dinner. She decided it was time to start. Kelly reached over and pulled Marx down for a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and licked over his bottom lip.
To his credit, he kissed her back, but without the single-minded passion that he’d always treated her to before. Kelly sighed and pulled back.
“What’s wrong, kitten?” Marx frowned when she stood up.
“I’m not sure. You tell me. You don’t treat me the same anymore. Are you tired of me?”
“Of course not!” Jackson’s eyebrows furrowed together. “Why do you think that?”
“You treat me like I’m made of glass and might break. I miss the way it used to be. I miss being tied to the bed and the spankings. I want to go back to the club. We haven’t gone since the fire.”
“Kelly, you were nearly killed, baby. It’s too soon.” Marx stood up and tried to pull her into his arms.
“No, it’s not too soon. I was released from the doctor over two weeks ago. Don’t you want me to be your submissive anymore? Or is that it? You don’t want me anymore and plan to find someone else
at the club to play with. Because if you think I will stand by and let you play with another woman, you’ve got a lot to learn.”
Kelly knew she was getting to them now because Marx was flexing his hands and Jackson had run his hands through his hair. It was obvious to her that they weren’t planning to take her back to the club anytime soon, if ever.
“Kelly, you know there is no one but you in our lives. We would never cheat on you.” Jackson hadn’t really addressed her accusation. He had skirted around it. That told her even more than what she had feared.
“So you do plan on finding another submissive to play with. Forget it! If you won’t take care of my needs, I’ll find someone who will. If you won’t take me to the club tomorrow night, I’ll go on my own. I’m sure I can find a Dom or two who will take care of me.” She stomped off toward the bedroom.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Marx saw red. He couldn’t believe that Kelly would seek out someone else to take care of her. The idea of another man’s hands touching her just about drove him insane. He hurried after her and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back against his chest. Without thinking about it, he started telling her that she belonged to them and wasn’t going anywhere without them.
“You’re our submissive, and I’ll break any man who dares lay a hand on you. Don’t even think about going to that club by yourself.”
“Let me go!” She struggled against him.
“Not until you admit that you are ours.”
“You don’t have any hold on me. Why should I agree when you don’t take care of my needs?”
“We’ve been taking care of you ever since you got home from the hospital.” He couldn’t figure out how they were failing her.
She stopped struggling and sighed. “You’ve been great, Marx. You and Jackson have treated me so nice, and I appreciate it. But I’m well now and I want to go back to the way things were before. If you don’t see me that way, we’ve got a problem.”
Kelly sounded sad, and that worried him. He didn’t want her upset like that. He wanted her happy so she would stay with them. Jackson touched his shoulder. He looked over at his brother and saw something in his eyes.
“She’s right, Marx. We haven’t been treating her like a submissive these last few weeks. We’ve been treating her like a possession that we wanted to keep safe.”
“Of course. We do want to keep her safe.” He still didn’t get it.
Kelly turned around in his arms and looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. “But I don’t want to just be an object that you take out to look at and then put away again. I want to be a toy you play with and enjoy. I want to mean something to you, be a part of you.”
Now Marx understood. He and his brother had been keeping her wrapped in cotton wool, treating her exactly like she had said she didn’t want to be treated. In trying to show their love for her, they had hurt her. Remembering when she’d said that they had no hold on her, he decided right then what they needed to do to prove that she was the love of their lives and their forever submissive.
“You’re right, baby. We’ve backed off on our part as your Doms. That will change beginning tonight. Go get ready for bed. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
The excitement in her eyes tore through him. By coddling her they had made her feel like they didn’t want her the same way as before. He kissed her softly on the lips before lightly spanking her ass when he turned her around toward the bedroom. She ran down the hall.
“We’ve been fools, Jackson.”
“Yeah, but we thought we were doing what was best for her. Neither one of us could stand the pain she had been in while she was in the hospital. We weren’t separating that pain from the type that we give her during play.”
“The type we use always changes to pleasure and enhances her experience. I feel like a fool that I forgot that.” Marx shook his head.
“We love her and wanted to make sure she was happy and cared for. We weren’t thinking straight after nearly losing her.”
“I think I know what we need to do. We’re taking her to the club tomorrow night. I need you to take care of some things to get ready.”
Jackson smiled and nodded. He would make sure that Kelly never doubted their love or their intent to keep her as their submissive forever.
* * * *
Kelly hurried through her errands Saturday afternoon after work so she could get home. The men had promised to take her to the club that night, and she wanted to look her best. They would have dinner out before heading to the club at nine.
She picked out her outfit for the club then a cute sundress that would fit over it nicely. Since she didn’t know what time the guys would come in to get ready, she decided on an early bath so she could pamper herself before finishing with a shower and washing her hair. She wanted her body to be smooth and soft for them. Plus, soft skin would better handle whatever implement they might choose to use on her.
By the time the men showed up, Kelly was nearly dressed. They had no idea what she was wearing beneath her clothes, and the added surprise gave her the confidence she needed to tease them while they got ready and all through dinner at the steak house.
By the time they arrived at Golden Shackles, Kelly was almost vibrating with excitement. Jackson and Marx escorted her inside and over to the women’s dressing room. They told her to join them in the lounge area when she was ready. She hurried into the dressing room to remove her dress and shoes. To her surprise, both Dixie and Stacey were changing as well.
“It sure is good to have you back.” Dixie hugged her.
“I’m more than happy to be back. You have no idea what I had to do to get them to bring me. They’ve been treating me like glass since the fire.” Kelly pulled off her sundress and hanged it up in her locker.
“Oh, I can imagine.” Stacey smiled. “Men around here seem to think they know what’s best for the women.”
“We’ve got to stick up for each other and make sure they don’t forget that we know what we need more than they do sometimes.” Dixie laughed.
“Don’t let the men hear you say that. They think they know everything.” Stacey just shook her head.
Kelly wondered yet again what was going on with Stacey, Steve, and Ben. She hoped they could work it out. It hurt to see them all miserable.
“We better get out there before they find someone else to play with.” Dixie grabbed their hands and pulled them toward the door.
She couldn’t wait for the men to see her in the baby doll nighty she’d worn. It was in a soft pink with a matching thong. The material itself was basically see-through. She felt a little exposed after having been away from the club for so long, but she reminded herself of what the other women were wearing, or not wearing, and she felt better.
She spotted Jackson and Marx talking with Steve, Ben, Zander, and Tag in the lounge. She hurried over to where they were sitting and knelt on the floor between them. Everyone grew quiet for a few seconds then they resumed talking once again. She settled into her position and waited for the men to decide it was time to play. She had no idea what their plans were for the scene. She had always allowed them to set it up and then tell her about it before they started.
Jackson bent down and pulled her hair aside before kissing her cheek and whispering in her ear.
“You look good enough to eat, baby. I love seeing your pretty nipples all hard and waiting for me.”
Kelly smiled, but didn’t say anything. She continued to focus on a spot on the floor in front of her. After another fifteen or twenty minutes of talking, Marx stood up and told the others they had a sub to take care of and they would see them later. At Jackson’s touch, she rose and waited on them to direct her.
Tonight, they were using the cross in the middle of the room. Though she didn’t mind public displays that much, she had hoped their first time back at the club would be in one of the private rooms. Still, she couldn’t have everything her way. She quickly removed her teddy but left the thong in pl
ace at Marx’s orders. They strapped her to the cross with the soft leather cuffs and after checking multiple times that the restraints weren’t too tight, they blindfolded her. Although not unusual, it still seemed a little strange for her first night back.
“Kelly, we are going to warm you up with the flogger and then give you ten licks of the leather paddle before I give you ten counts of the single tail.” Marx’s voice was deep and carried over the sound of the music.
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
She couldn’t wait to feel the flogger against her skin. She’d missed the way it caressed then stung as Jackson worked it over her body. The first few licks were more like a hundred feathers striking her skin. Slowly they became heavier until her skin quivered with a thousand tiny tingles that made her feel more alive than she had in weeks. She knew she was moaning as the tassels spread out over her back, hips, ass, thighs, and then her breasts. She whimpered when they stopped. They ran their hands up and down her back in a soothing motion for several seconds.
“How are you doing?” Jackson’s voice was near her ear, but she spoke out so that if anyone was listening they would know she was fine.
“I’m good, sir.”
They checked her restraints to make sure they were still okay before moving away from her once again. She wondered what they were doing. It seemed like a long time passed after that. Then the two men stood on either side of her to administer the ten licks of the leather paddles. She knew this from previous scenes though she wouldn’t know who stood where this time.
The first strike on her left buttock stung, and she couldn’t stop the small yelp that erupted from her mouth. The next one a few seconds later felt almost identical though it was on her right buttock. She had no way of determining when or where they would fall over the next eight pops. Her upper thighs and the crease between ass and thigh all felt the weight of the paddles until she felt as if she were on fire from the licks.
Calloused hands smoothed over her tender skin as she floated in the beginnings of subspace. She was still aware of what was going on, but the pain had long sense turned into pleasure.