by Dakota Trace
Caelan’s jaw clenched. “Can you do it, pet?” His sarcastic drawl had Jude growling at him.
“Yeah, I can. I’ll call Keith and have him at your place this very afternoon.” Jude turned to leave when Olivia stopped him.
“Where exactly do you think you’re doing, pet?”
Jude barely paused on his way out. “Leaving.”
“Bet me.” Olivia’s tone was frosty. “You aren’t getting out of it that easy.”
“I’ll settle up later. This is a time-critical emergency and we both know it. I’ve got some calls to make after I speak with Kalinda and Nisey.”
“Fine. Your punishment just doubled for making me wait. Do you understand?”
Jude came to a complete stop, looked Olivia straight in the eyes, before giving a brief nod and walking out the door.
When Caelan raised an eyebrow at her easy capitulation, she just smiled. “I know when to pick my battles. He merely has gotten a reprieve, but mark my words, I’m going to tame him yet.” Olivia told Caelan while she watched the man stride down the hall.
“I don’t doubt that, but next time you treat me like a subordinate I’m going to show you who’s the better Dom, Olivia. I won’t be treated like a child.”
Olivia just laughed. “Then quit acting like one - so I won’t have to resort to such tactics in the future.”
A grin tugged at Caelan’s lips when he realized that not only his actions, but that of the other men, could indeed be considered childish. “Touché.”
* * * *
If Kalinda had thought the ride to Olivia’s had been tense, the ride back home was even more so. The men were more on edge, after the private investigator had questioned both Kalinda and Nisey, than they had been earlier in the day.
Jude Larson had seemed to be a likeable enough man when she’d spoken with him. He had an air of confidence about him that had her wondering if he was another Dom, or if it was just a natural part of him due to his line of work. He’d kept his questions brief but his expression sympathetic. The interview had only taken several minutes before the men were hustling them out of the club. Caelan needed to rush home to meet the man Jude was sending over to upgrade the total security system on the house.
When they all exited the car, Kalinda waited to see what Dominic was going to do. She fully expected to be punished for her omission, but was surprised when he took her by the hand to lead her up the stairs. Pressing a kiss against her forehead, he pushed her into the apartment with a soft demand to order take out for the three of them while he and Josh waited with Caelan downstairs.
As he shut the door, she stared helplessly at it. The whole morning seemed surreal. Walking into the kitchen, she pulled out the phone book to call her favorite delicatessen. Ordering three subs with all the trimmings, she paced the apartment. She almost wished she was downstairs with the rest of them. Was Dominic punishing her?
* * * *
Downstairs Dominic wasn’t in any better shape. Sitting on the couch next to Josh, they were discussing what to do with Kalinda.
“I don’t feel comfortable with letting her do this, Josh.”
“Me either, but it’s better than the alternative. We can’t wrap her up in bubble wrap. She won’t stand for it and in the end will take unnecessary risks just to have some freedoms. It’s probably better that we do it this way - at least we can somewhat control the outcome.”
Nisey walked back into the living room carrying cold cans of soda for everyone. “Yeah right! If you think you have any control over this situation you’re bullshitting yourselves. This situation is FUBAR and until the idiots who attacked us try again, there’s not a damn thing that we can do. Kalinda and I never even saw their faces. We might be able to recognize the leader’s voice, but we can’t go around town just listening and hoping we cross paths with him.” Handing each of the men a soda, she propped her hip on the arm of the couch. “And I’m gonna tell you right now that it’s just as fucked up to have her sitting up in her apartment alone, while we’re all down here talking about what SHE is going to have to do.”
“Enough, grá. You’re overstepping your bounds.” Caelan’s voice was sharp. “She’s their sub and if they want her upstairs - that’s where she’s going be.”
Nisey’s eyes flashed before they lowered under Caelan’s disapproval. “No disrespect intended Máister, but last time this slave checked Kalinda hasn’t been collared by either Masters Dominic or Josh.”
The tension climbed in the room until a sharp knock on the door shattered the silence. Caelan finally spoke. “Saved by the bell. Go to the playroom. I will deal with your insolence after I finish with this.”
Nisey nodded. “Yes, Máister.”
She disappeared down the hall. Caelan rose to answer the door.
“She’s right you know.” Josh’s voice was rueful. “We haven’t managed to get our collar on her.” Josh seemed to pause for a moment as what he’d just said sank in. Caelan shook his head ruefully. The other man was starting to come around.
“Yet!” Dominic grinned over at the other man. “…but we’re not done by a long shot.”
“That’s true but Nisey’s wrong… it’s the principle of the thing. She needs to be reminded that she can’t interfere between a sub and a potential Master even if she happens to know them.”
* * * *
Olivia heard the snick of the playroom door opening and closing. Standing with her legs braced apart, she ignored the presence of another person behind her assuming it was one of her employees who’d come to either watch or have her sign something. With all of her staff well trained, she knew that none would interrupt her until the scene was done unless it was an emergency.
When the only sound was of gasps coming from the sweating man strapped to the St Andrews Cross, she assumed the person behind her was just there to observe. She kept her attention firmly focused on the sub in front of her. His dark blond hair was plastered against his head while his bare back and exposed buttocks were streaked with bright red slashes from the four foot single-tail whip she held confidently in one hand.
“What level are you at, slave?” Keeping her voice firm, she waited for him to respond.
Bryan Sterling, the CEO of Sterling Foods lifted his head to respond to her. “Green, Mistress.” His body shook with pain.
“Good.” She stepped close enough to lift his head to examine his dark blue eyes. Staring deep into them, she could still see the pain radiating out of them. “Still not there, are we? You need more.” Even as she kept her voice firm, her heart ached for the man in front of her. If it had been anyone other than Bryan, she would’ve assigned another Dom to him, preferably a man considering Bryan’s sexual preference, but the only two she trusted to handle Bryan’s fragile emotional state, Josh or Caelan, had their hands full with protecting their subs tonight. So that only left her.
“Yes, Mistress. It still hurts so much.” Tears streaked down Bryan’s face.
“I know, slave. We shall continue. I won’t leave you like this.”
Bryan’s head fell forward to rest against the cross beams of the stand. “Thank you, Mistress.”
She was just pulling her arm back to release another throw, when a rough hand caught her arm before she could release it. Anger flared through her at the idea that any person thought they had the right to interrupt her scene.
“Remove your hand this instant.” Her voice was low enough that Bryan wouldn’t be able to hear her, but firm enough to let the interloper know she meant business.
“No. What the hell are you doing? He said he was in pain.”
Olivia scowled up at the man who’d been dominating her fantasies for the past few months. One that she instantly wished was strapped to the cross in front of her. Jude’s dark hair was sticking up on end as if he’d been running his fingers through it.
“Unless you want to replace him, pet, I would suggest you let go.”
He gritted his teeth and she knew that he was struggling to control his
temper. “I can’t in good conscience let you whip an undefended man.”
“You know not what you are interfering with, pet. Go wait in my office until I get done here and I’ll be happy to take care of you.” She pasted her most mocking smile on her lips. She needed to get him out of the room before he ruined what little progress she’d made in relieving a bit of Bryan’s pain. She hadn’t spent the last twenty minutes wearing her arm out on Bryan’s backside to let her naïve little pet undo it with a single interruption, well-intentioned or not.
Glancing behind him, she saw Carlos step out of the shadows. The bouncer was a “god sent” and had been since she’d hired him five years ago. “Take him out of here.”
When Carlos went to escort him out, Jude jerked away. “I don’t need his help and I’m not leaving that poor guy here…” His protest was cut off when Carlos put enough pressure on the muscle running from his neck to his shoulder to stop Jude in his tracks.
“Mistress…please!” The agony in Bryan’s voice had her stiffening as she glanced away from Jude to concentrate on him.
“You signed a contract when I hired you, pet.” Her eyes narrowed before she nodded to Carlos. “Take him to my office. I will deal with him later.” She gave Jude a glare. “You will wait for me or you’ll never set foot on the premises again.” She turned her back on him without waiting for his reply. Behind her she could hear the soft sound of feet as Carlos escorted Jude from the room.
Pushing the object of her desire out of her mind, she sought the inner place in her where her Domme dwelled, before releasing another well placed throw of the single tail. Bryan cried out as it touched his already reddened back.
“You’re supposed to be counting them off, slave!” Her harsh reminder had him quickly responding
“Forty-one, Mistress!”
She nodded her approval as she let the next throw fly. Heaven help Jude Larson if he’d fucked this up for Bryan. If she had to start from the beginning again, she was going to take it out on his hide, and any pleasure she’d planned for him tonight would be a thing of the past.
* * * *
Jerking on the grip the bouncer had on him, Jude cursed as the man tossed him into Olivia’s office. He rounded on the man to give him a piece of his mind, but drew up short when the man slammed the door shut in front of him. The loud sound of the lock engaging had him ready to hit something. He was officially Olivia’s prisoner. Jude sank down in the chair in front of her desk. If what he’d just seen was BDSM - he wanted no part of it. The red stripes on the man’s back looked painful, but what had shocked him to the core was when Olivia had ignored the man’s cries and continued to beat him. How could he have been so wrong about her? He had been attracted to her dominating personality when she’d first hired him, but he could’ve sworn she had a gentle heart under her hard ass exterior. Now all he could do was wait and wonder how he could have been so wrong.
Chapter Twelve
A knock on the office door an hour later had Jude glancing over his shoulder. He’d expected to see Olivia but instead saw Master Gabriel, one of the many Doms he’d met at during his time at Olivia’s.
“Good evening, Jude.” Closing the door behind him, Gabriel walked in as calm as you please. He rounded Olivia’s desk to sink in the chair behind it. Bracing his elbows on the desk, he studied Jude.
“What the hell do you want?” Jude knew he was being rude, but really didn’t care. The longer he’d sat locked in Olivia’s office, the angrier he’d become.
“Carlos came and got me. He told me you interrupted Olivia’s scene.”
Jude nodded. “If that’s what you call her beating the hell out of that man.”
“Did you read the contract you signed when she hired you?”
“Why the hell is everyone asking me that?” Jude started to stand.
“Sit. You’re not going anywhere until Mistress Olivia says so. Because if you’d have read…”
Jude snarled at Gabriel. “I don’t need to be reminded of that “Safe , Sane and Consensual” bullshit. That man wasn’t consenting. I don’t give a fuck about what that paper I signed said. He was crying in pain.”
“So you interrupted her scene because…”
“She was hurting that man. He’d obviously had more than he could take.”
“Why do you assume that? Was he screaming ‘red’? Was he struggling against the cross?”
Jude stopped and tried to remember. He couldn’t recall the man giving the universal safe word which was recognized by all of Olivia’s staff and most of the BDSM world as a signal to cease and desist. But surely the scene had gone too far. The man had been too weak to even lift his head. “He said he was in pain. That’s good enough for me.”
“Jude, if you’re seriously contemplating becoming Olivia’s sub you need to realize that there is more than one kind of pain a sub can experience, and to never - ever interrupt her during a scene.”
He scowled at Gabriel. “What the hell makes you think I want to be her sub?”
Gabriel smirked before he motioned for Jude to come around the desk. Fiddling with the keyboard on the computer in front of him, Gabriel finally said, “I have eyes in my head. Whether you’ve admitted it to yourself or not, she intrigues you. But I’m not here to discuss your dilemma with your own sexual identity. I want to show you several things.”
“I don’t need to see anything.”
Gabriel’s understanding demeanor disappeared behind a scowl. “Get your ass over here now or I’ll throw you on Olivia’s tender mercies - and believe me you don’t want that.”
“Why should I care…?” He shifted nervously in his chair.
“Because if you aren’t prepared to beg her forgiveness when she comes into this office, you’re going to find your ass out on your ear before you find what you came here to find.”
“What the hell do you think I came here for? I was hired to do a job...”
“Which you easily could’ve given over to one of your business subordinates. Instead you chose to personally handle Olivia’s account. You, Jude Larson, are intrigued by submission.”
Jude stiffened. “Like hell.”
“I’m not going to argue the point, pet.”
Jude felt a flush of familiar embarrassment when the other man used what Jude had thought was a cute but demeaning nickname Olivia had hung on him. His eyes locked in a battle of wills with Gabriel’s, which he lost when his eyes finally darted away.
“Now, if you want to understand what was going on in that room, come over here so I can explain.”
Jude reluctantly moved to join the man. Leaning over the desk to get a better look, he paled when on the screen he saw Olivia helping the man down off the cross. The submissive was clinging to her tiny frame as he shook violently.
“Is he having a seizure?” Concern washed over him.
“No. What you are seeing is Bryan having a break thru.”
Jude glanced at Gabriel. He didn’t understand. Gabriel must have sensed his confusion because he continued. “Bryan has been in a committed relationship with the same Master for the past several years.”
“Then why…”
“Quit interrupting me. Our time is limited before Olivia shows up demanding a huge strip of your hide for her wall.” Jude fell silent once more. “As I was saying Master Rai and Bryan have been together for several years. A more devoted couple you’d never met. It’s rather humbling to say the least to watch them together. Two months ago, they were in a nasty car accident. Bryan was driving and walked away without a scratch. Master Rai unfortunately wasn’t so lucky.”
Jude caught his breath. Had the man’s Master died?
“Relax. Master Rai lives. He was in a coma until yesterday. He opened his eyes for the first time to see his slave blaming himself for the accident.”
“So why is…”
Gabriel frowned at him. “I’m getting there. Bryan not only blames himself for the accident - even though the drunk driver that sideswiped them was at
fault, he took his self-reproach as far as neglecting his own health. There was nothing Bryan could’ve done to avoid the accident, but you couldn’t tell him that. In fact he’s been so guilt-ridden about the accident that once Master Rai opened his eyes, he realized by Bryan’s appearance how far his slave had let himself go. Then, after he understood the reasons, he ordered Bryan to present himself to Olivia for punishment.”
Jude’s mouth fell open. “Why! If the accident wasn’t his fault…then why…”
“Which Master Rai knew.” Olivia’s voice was harsh as she entered her office. “If Bryan’s guilt was left to fester it would’ve poisoned his relationship with Master Rai. Not to mention that Rai was upset about how Bryan neglected his own health - a Dom’s main concern is to have a happy but healthy sub. He sent him to me, so I could help exorcise Bryan’s guilt along with reinforcing Rai’s displeasure at Bryan’s lack of self respect.” She walked over to grab Jude by his hair. “Fortunately for you, you’re not my sub yet. In all reality I don’t have to give you the consideration that I offer my newbies. So tell me why I shouldn’t kick your ass to the curb, Jude?” In his bent-over position next to Gabriel, Jude’s head snapped back in surprise.
Jude swallowed roughly as he fought his panic at the idea of being kicked out of Olivia’s life. He’d fucked up. God damn his hot temper! “I...I…you were…”
“I was doing nothing more than offering Bryan an outlet for both his pain and guilt - which you fucked up all to hell by interrupting my first attempt to send him into subspace. It took me over an hour to get him back to where I nearly had him when you pulled your stupid stunt.” She gripped his hair harder. “So what do you have to say for yourself, pet?”
Even as her face was deeply flushed with anger, Jude couldn’t believe how beautiful he found her. In his pants his dick leapt. It left him feeling bewildered and vulnerable.
“Answer me!” She yanked on his hair. Pain radiated from his scalp.