Beyond Pain

by Kit Rocha

  Bren sat, but his gaze kept tracking back to Six. She was wedged between Lex and Rachel, her eyes bright as the women toasted her. "She did good."

  Ace laughed and nudged most of the cash across the table. "I was gonna point out that she looked good too, but I'm in no mood to get my teeth knocked down my throat. You've got that look, brother."

  "Do I?"

  "Mmm. Maybe it's because you finally got laid. I was starting to worry about your poor dick, all neglected and unused. You haven't exactly been partying hard since your girl showed up."

  As if Ace had any worry left to spare after seeing to his own overtaxed libido. "I didn't before Six got here, either."

  "But you burned through the tension." Ace swept his winnings into a haphazard pile. "If you need an outlet, I'm here. I know you two are punching each other in the face and all that, but just in case it's not enough."

  Ace worked pain with a whip or a flogger the same way he did with his needles--skillfully. "I don't know, maybe. If Six is into it."

  That sent Ace's eyebrows up. "Like, you want her to watch? Or...?"

  "Or whatever she wants."

  A slow nod, and Ace grinned. "Sure thing, brother. Lady's choice."

  They didn't have to take him up on the offer right away. But Six was curious about it, the mingled pleasure and pain, and there was no better way for her to understand than to experience it firsthand.

  "Yeah." He folded her money into his pocket, reached for the nearest bottle, and poured Ace a drink. "Lady's choice."

  By the time Dallas chased the outsiders back into the night, it was clear to Bren that the O'Kane women had claimed Six as one of their own, ink or no.

  They were out on the floor, dancing to the smoky melody pouring from a small set of speakers hung from the cage bars, smooth pre-Flare jazz instead of the usual hardcore bass rhythms. The music was different, and so was the dancing, swaying hips and closed eyes and low laughter.

  Six was swaying too, crushed between Noelle and one of the newer girls--Ace's apprentice, Emma. It made a hell of a picture, Noelle sweet and soft and Six with her stark, hard edges and Emma a mixture of pretty and punk, covered in ink.

  They looked like they came from different worlds, but they laughed like they were family. And when Six twisted around to meet his eyes, the slow smile that curved her lips was drunk on a feeling he recognized all too well.

  Belonging.

  He almost sat to wait for her to finish the dance, but he'd been patient enough, so he held out his hand.

  Noelle whispered something in Six's ear that brought a flush to her cheeks, but she broke free of the giggling dancers and curled her fingers around his. "Hi."

  "Hi." Her knuckles were still red and swollen, and there was a splotchy mark high on her left cheek that would bruise by morning, but otherwise she looked fine. Unscarred. "Congratulations on winning your first fight."

  She glowed. "I kinda thought you'd be pissed I didn't flatten him at the beginning. I had to goad him into fighting back."

  "Chivalry isn't dead. It's just misplaced."

  "Whatever that means." Six shifted closer, until his chin brushed her temple and the tiny strands of hair that had escaped her braid tickled his cheek. "I don't know, maybe it's unfair to be mad at him. If he'd tried to stop Trent, he would've ended up dead."

  Alone, probably--but he hadn't been alone. All it had taken to keep Trent's power base secure was for Elvis and the others to sit back and do nothing. "If that were true, not a damn thing would ever change. It's something he tells himself to sleep at night, sweetness. That's all."

  "I guess." Another step and she was pressed against him, her lips brushing his throat with her next whisper. "Knowing you might get dead hasn't stopped any of you crazy fuckers yet."

  The grazing touch sparked heat in his blood, and he pulled her closer with one hand splayed across her lower back. "Welcome to Sector Four."

  "Are you my prize for winning?"

  Things were heating up on the dance floor. An even sultrier song had rolled over on the radio, and the women had paired off into slow dances. Emma and Noelle were still whispering and laughing, but Lex and Rachel had a whole different vibe going, serious and charged.

  Bren spun Six so that her back nestled against his chest. "If you're ready to leave the party."

  Tension rolled through her body, but it wasn't the usual awkward stiffness. She felt restless underneath his hands, coiled tight. Alive. "I don't know," she whispered, low and husky. "Not--not yet."

  Dallas was in the corner, talking to Jasper as people continued to drift out of the warehouse. But his gaze was on the women. On Lex. He was still high on the success of the evening, on their joint rule and shared, seamless power.

  "There's nothing Dallas wouldn't give her tonight." Bren murmured the words in Six's ear. "If Lex wants Rachel, he'll do it."

  Her breathing hitched. "What would you do if she wanted me?"

  Does she? It didn't matter. His hand clenched in Six's shirt. "She can't have you. Not tonight."

  "Possessive, aren't you?"

  "She can't have you." The words ripped free of him again, rough and raw. "Maybe not ever."

  Six shivered, all teasing gone from her voice. "What about everyone else?"

  She liked to watch, but she'd never given a single hint that she wanted to join in anyone's sexual revelries. "We look," he said finally, "but I'm the only one who touches you."

  She slid her hand over his, pressing his palm tight to her abdomen, and there was something almost soothing in the way she stroked his wrist. "I don't need anyone else."

  Not a concession, but a promise. A vow. "Only me, sweetness."

  She laughed and twined her fingers with his. "I hope that doesn't apply to friendly touching, too. I promised Lex a dance."

  Lex already had her hands in Rachel's back pockets. Bren released Six with a kiss to the shoulder. "Better go make good on it before things get naked over there."

  She squeezed his hand and slipped away, and Rachel and Lex welcomed her with smiles and soft kisses to her cheek.

  As the three of them swayed and whispered, Dallas appeared at Bren's side. "She's as good as in, you know," he said. "If I don't offer her ink after tonight, none of us will ever get our dicks touched again."

  "Sure you would." Bren couldn't stop the grin that curved his lips. "You've got two hands."

  Dallas shuddered. "That's the most depressing thought I've had in a decade."

  "Then we'd better make it official, after all."

  "I'll talk to Lex. You keep your mouth shut on the topic, unless you want to risk a little queenly wrath. The women are her domain."

  Bren watched Six's hand graze the back of Lex's. "Will she make her wait?"

  Dallas shrugged. "If she thinks that's what the girl needs. Lex knows people better than they know themselves."

  Better to wait than offer her something she might not be ready to accept, not just yet. "Trent did a number on her. Lex'll understand."

  "Trent screwed them all up. Her, the men, the whole damn sector. They're like a pack of whipped dogs who don't know when to stop biting."

  Six would have a place here, and ink of her own. "It can't be because of me. You know that, right?"

  "Yeah." Dallas crossed his arms and spent a silent moment watching the three women dance before tilting his head. "Lex is cooking up a little fantasy for Rachel tonight. Am I imagining it, or is your girl into watching? Because Rachel sure seems to get off on having an audience."

  Noelle and Emma had already drifted toward the back door with Jasper in tow. Only the five of them were left, and Bren eyed the couch on the dais. "Here?"

  "Mmm." His gaze fixed on his queen, who'd wrapped one arm around Rachel's waist, her thumb gliding under the denim at the small of the woman's back. "Lex has a filthy imagination. The floor lights'll be off, so Rachel won't be able to see you, but that's kind of the point."

  A fantasy, all right. It shouldn't have worked so well, a perfe
ct chain reaction of lust and need, but it did. Rachel had been exploring her exhibitionist tendencies, Lex got off on joining in that exploration, and Dallas got off on Lex.

  But a show wasn't a show without an audience. Six would say yes--she was hopped up on adrenaline, riding the rush--which left him to decide. And sitting in the shadows, Six's bare skin heating beneath his hands as a fantasy played out before them?

  "Hell, yes."

  Chapter Ten

  Rachel was dancing again...and this time Lex was dancing with her.

  Snuggled against Bren's side in the darkness, Six watched the two of them move together, watched Lex's fingers slide up under Rachel's shirt as the other woman moaned softly. They swayed in front of the couch where Dallas sat, all three illuminated by lights that seemed stark in comparison to the shadows surrounding the dais.

  Not quite a stage, but Lex was turning it into one. For once, Six couldn't look away.

  The hem of Rachel's tank top rucked up, baring pale skin as Lex cupped her shoulder beneath the fabric. "Soft and sweet. You've tried to harden up, but that's not you."

  Rachel swayed and blinked before clearing her throat. "Isn't it?"

  No, it wasn't her. Six could see it a mile off, a gentleness wrapped around her that no one else possessed, not even Noelle, with all her city innocence and open affection. Maybe that was why watching Rachel on the stage was so difficult--something that precious should be cherished, not thrown to the wolves, naked and unprotected.

  She was protected now, with Lex in front of her and Dallas sprawled behind, and Six had no doubt the man was aware of everything. Of Lex and Rachel, of the area beyond their circle of light, of every possible variable. Hell, he probably knew how many breaths Six had taken since she sat down.

  Not enough to keep her head clear. She exhaled gustily and slid her fingers over Bren's leg in search of his hand.

  He wrapped it around hers, leaned closer, and whispered, "Anytime you need to go, say the word."

  Lex smoothed her fingers toward Rachel's breasts, and Six shivered as she imagined the phantom touch on her own skin. Not Lex's hands, though. Bren's, work-roughened and sure, scraping sensation in their wake. "As long as they want us watching--"

  On the dais, Rachel hissed in a breath as Lex stripped off the tank top she wore, exposing her to sight as well as touch. "Is this what you like?" She accompanied the question with a gentle sweep of her thumb over Rachel's nipple. "This?" A quick flick of the hardened peak.

  Even Six could see she wanted more. Dallas apparently agreed. His laughter rolled across the room, low and lazy, as he stretched out his legs. "I think she likes it rougher, darling. Those sweet nipples are aching to be pinched. Make her lick your fingers first."

  "Yes, sir." Lex traced her fingers over Rachel's mouth but pulled them back just a little when she parted her lips. Her tongue darted out, but she still had to chase after Lex's hand.

  She licked Lex's fingertips slowly, leaving them wet and glistening. "Like that?"

  "Mmm, so obedient." Instead of dropping her hand, Lex wound it into Rachel's hair with a wicked grin. "But I like to misbehave." Then she dipped her head and sucked one pink nipple into her mouth.

  Dallas laughed again, watching with no hint of disapproval. Six fidgeted on the couch, as if that would change the fact that her nipples were tight enough to ache.

  And she was starting to ache other places, too.

  She didn't have to imagine Bren's mouth on her nipple. She could summon the sensation from memory--the rough suction, the hint of teeth, the way it shot pleasure straight to her clit. And he was right there beside her, his body warm and hard against her left side. He seemed relaxed, his expression remaining the same even when Lex switched to Rachel's other nipple and yanked at the woman's jeans.

  A moment later, she slipped her hand into the denim and straightened just in time to catch Rachel's ragged moan with her open mouth.

  Bren shifted beside Six, his hand stroking over hers.

  Her focus narrowed to those precious inches of skin. Dallas was talking again, saying something about fingers and making Rachel come, but even the most obscene words tripping out of his mouth couldn't compete with Bren tracing a leisurely path from her knuckles to her nails and back.

  She wet her suddenly dry lips and whispered the first thing that popped into her head, anything that would distract her from how badly she needed him to stroke her everywhere else. "Lex isn't very obedient."

  "No." The side of Bren's hand brushed her thigh. "But Dallas likes it."

  That didn't make sense. Nothing made sense about these men and their indulgent idea of dominance. Dallas had tried to explain it at the first party she'd attended, claiming he didn't need to prove he was the strongest, because his people trusted him to make life good.

  He didn't bully, he seduced.

  Just like Bren. "You said you like being dominant, too."

  "It's what I am," he corrected. "I've tried to submit. It doesn't work."

  Submit. The word still tightened her chest with fear, and not the kind she liked, the kind that heightened an experience. This lodged in her throat like a lump of tears, no matter how hard she fought it down.

  In the darkness, watching Rachel writhe on Lex's fingers, everything seemed a little surreal. Distant enough for Six to whisper her confession. "I don't know what submission means here, but I'm scared I won't be able to give it to you."

  "It doesn't mean one thing to everyone." He nodded to the dais. "Watch."

  Rachel shuddered and made a frustrated noise as Lex slowed the pace of her hand. "Don't stop," she begged. "Let me come--"

  "Shh." Lex licked a delicate line of ink tracking across Rachel's collarbone. "Not this quick, honey. Up and down a couple times first. You'll come so hard you can't see straight. Right, Declan?"

  "Mmm." Dallas and Lex exchanged a look, and he smiled as he stroked his thumb along his belt. "Why don't you get her out of those pants so we can do the first time up right?"

  "Hear that, honey?" Lex bit Rachel's earlobe and shoved the loosened jeans off her hips. "We."

  Another shudder, and she clung to Lex's shoulders as she stepped free of the denim and her white lace panties. "We?"

  "Dallas can't let me have all the fun." Her voice lowered to an inviting whisper as she pushed her still-wet fingers between Rachel's lips. "You have no idea how deep he can fuck a woman."

  Jesus Christ.

  "Slow, I think." Lex spoke lazily, her words matching the rhythm of her fingers. "Until you get off at least once. Then I want to watch him ride you so hard you can't even scream."

  Rachel groaned and twisted one trembling hand in Lex's T-shirt so roughly the thin cotton tore.

  "Uh-uh. I didn't say you could take her clothes off." Dallas patted the arm of the couch. "Darling?"

  Lex steered Rachel to the end of the couch and bent her over it. The position put her face-to-face with Dallas, and she braced one hand on his chest. Six held her breath until her lungs burned, but she couldn't breathe. There was something terrifyingly intense about this moment, about Rachel, naked and vulnerable, bent between two clothed bodies, as open and helpless as she'd ever been on the stage.

  Dallas touched Rachel's cheek, so gentle Six's breath exploded from her in a relieved sigh that almost drowned out his words. "You wanna be a good girl, darling?"

  "I want--" The words cut off in a cry as Lex bent and licked the small of her back. "I want to be good."

  He rewarded Rachel with a smile and slipped his hand into her hair.

  The first time he'd fucked her, Bren had grasped Six's hair the same way. Now, she reached up to the braid coiled around her head, and she half-wished she'd taken it down so she could feel that tingle in her scalp.

  Bren took over, pulling it down easily and without a word. He unraveled the braid the same way, with silent, practiced ease. Twisted locks of hair tumbled around her face and over her shoulders, tickling her throat as he eased his fingers through the strands.
r />   It was hotter than the hand-holding.

  Lex smoothed both hands up Rachel's back and down again, over the swell of her bare ass. "Legs apart, honey," she murmured, rubbing her knuckles over the outer lips of Rachel's pussy.

  She obeyed with a whimper, coming off the floor onto her tiptoes, and Six felt the first stirrings of envy. What would it be like to trust so effortlessly? Even when Dallas guided Rachel's cheek to his thigh, leaving her balanced precariously--her ass in the air, her legs spread wide enough to bare her completely to Lex's touch--she looked so damn unconcerned. Starving to get off, maybe, but not the least bit worried about anything else.

  "She makes it look easy." Six pressed her thigh more firmly against Bren's.

  "Yeah." He took her hand and brought it to his mouth for a slow kiss.

  "She's wet." Lex paused long enough to drag her shirt over her head and let it fall to the floor. "Already wet enough for my fingers, if you want me to fuck her."

  "Bring her up," Dallas ordered, stroking Rachel's spine with his free hand. "But not all the way, not yet. She's putting on a show, after all."

  There was no way Dallas could see them in the darkness, not with the lights glaring down on the dais, but for one moment it felt like he was staring straight at Six as his thumb followed the curve of Rachel's ass. "You want to give everyone a good show, don't you, honey?"

  Her desperate nod turned into a shudder as Lex rocked her hand, sliding her fingers deep. She pulled them free to circle Rachel's clit, then did it all over again. One thrust, followed by a slow, wet tease.

  Rachel fidgeted helplessly, arching her back and trying to move against Lex's hand until Dallas pinned her in place with a palm on the small of her back.

  It was too much for Six. The shamelessness of it all, the intensity, and Bren's lips were still touching her skin, kindling a fire she didn't know how to manage.

  She clenched her thighs together and closed her eyes, but that only made it worse. Rachel was panting and moaning, and Dallas whispered filthy encouragement to Lex, things like is her pussy as sweet as she is? and let me see you lick the taste of her off your fingers.