After a long, measuring look, Rodrigo turned and put his hands on the wall, the muscles in his back and ass tightening as Severin unbuckled his belt and pulled it free of his belt loops.
“I thought you weren’t going to punish me today.”
“I said I wasn’t going to fuck you today. I wouldn’t be punishing you if you’d behaved. Just because you’re usually a dominant, that doesn’t mean you can pull this dragging-your-fucking-feet crap with me. When I give you an order, you comply. Understand me?”
“Yes, Severin,” Rodrigo said tightly.
He wrapped the buckle end around his hand.
“Fuck,” Ro whispered.
“Do you like pain?”
“No.”
The excitement that thrummed through him threatened to take over his muscles, but he forced himself to pretend he was composed. How did other dominant sadists stay calm when it was time to punish their submissives? It was like taking one delicious bite of dessert then pushing away the plate.
He laid into Rodrigo, hard and fast, the way he’d done to Minnow the first time, adrenaline screwing through him. Ro made no sound, stubbornly clenching his teeth while Severin painted his back and ass and the back of his thighs with red welts. Under the onslaught, Rodrigo eventually lost composure, grunting with each blow.
“Shit,” Ro gasped. “Shit, shit, shit.”
The snap of leather was violent on Rodrigo’s skin, but it was civilized compared to the violence in Severin’s mind. Rodrigo wasn’t soft and dainty like Minnow. Rodrigo could take anything he dished out.
So many fucking years of frustration, being unhappily attracted to his best friend and not knowing how to interpret his feelings or deal with them. He knew it was his own fault, but he also blamed Rodrigo for being so fucking tempting all the time, for flirting with him – for forcing his hand and putting their entire friendship at risk.
If being together this way didn’t work out, it would probably ruin the only friendship he really had. It had been hard enough not to fantasize about Ro in the first place, but after having been together he doubted things would ever go back to how they were, no matter how badly he wanted that escape clause.
The rapid succession of blows was now accompanied by cries of pain, and Severin’s dick throbbed so hard he was gasping with his own brand of agony.
“Mercy.” It was a whisper, barely audible.
No. No. Fuck.
Did he have to listen? He could pretend he hadn’t heard. If he was serious, he’d have said it louder.
Stop, you fucking monster.
He threw the belt away from him before he gave into his baser urges. The buckle smashed something glass he didn’t bother to look at. All he could see was haze, lust. Blood. Rubies of it adorned Rodrigo’s beautiful back. Severin gasped, shaking, wishing he was sorry but too fucking turned on to be sorry.
Was he supposed to regret making Rodrigo safeword?
Was he supposed to apologize?
He closed the two steps between them, watching Ro shudder and his muscles glide like water under his tattooed, welted, and bleeding skin. He pushed Rodrigo forward until his forehead met the wall, then propped a hand on the wall to either side of him leaning in to examine the blood.
Unable to stop himself, he leaned closer, breathing against skin that rose in goose bumps under his breath. The copper scent of the damage he’d done made him groan. He dipped a tongue against a bead of red, tasting what he’d wrought.
Rodrigo sobbed, choked, swore. There was the sound of drops hitting the floor, and Severin pulled back to watch Rodrigo’s dick pulse, dripping thick and white without so much as a touch, despite the elastic to stop it from happening and the angry red of his unflagging erection.
“Fucking pervert,” Severin mocked. “I could slit your throat and you’d fucking come for me.”
“I hate you.”
“Good.”
So much adrenaline still coursed through him that his hands shook. He wasn’t sure what to do with them. There was no hiding how weak Rodrigo made him.
“You want out yet?”
“No.”
“This was just a taste, Mr. Solis. Something to think about before you decide you really want more.”
“Yes, Severin.”
“You may remove the elastic, but you’ll stay naked while you tattoo me. If you’re a good boy, I’ll let you finish masturbating when you’re done.”
Rodrigo nodded, meeting his gaze with burning intensity as he carefully pulled the hair elastic off. As soon as that was done, Severin grabbed Rodrigo’s dick and wiped come away with his hand, loving the gasp of surprise and arousal it won him. He smeared the errant come across Ro’s face to give him a taste of humiliation for losing control. Rodrigo didn’t look ashamed, though. His gaze dipped to Severin’s mouth, lingering on a spot he could feel was still damp with a smear of blood.
When Severin settled back in the chair, Rodrigo lowered his worktable, then put on gloves and sank slowly to his knees in front of Severin. He looked good there. Right.
“You’re a pretty little bitch, Rodrigo. I think I’m going to enjoy owning you – especially since you probably won’t enjoy it much at all.”
Fury flashed in Rodrigo’s eyes, but it tamed slowly down to a burn that looked a lot more like desire than anger.
“What am I tattooing on you, Master?”
Severin shrugged, giving Rodrigo an arrogant smirk. “Surprise me.”
In beautiful script, Rodrigo tattooed the word “bastard” down his shin.
*
“Look at you, here without your service human,” Churchill mocked with affection, rising from the ocean view table to greet Severin. Church hugged him. Even when they were children his brother had never followed any of Severin’s rules, but it was probably good he hadn’t treated him like a hothouse flower. Severin allowed the hug, but pushed him away as it dragged into the fifth second or so. There was familial affection and then there was just being ridiculous.
Church reclaimed his seat and waved Sev down into the chair opposite him.
“I can’t believe you agreed to meet me for lunch – in public no less.”
“My schedule was surprisingly open today.”
Church barked a laugh. Severin’s time was entirely his own, and always had been. Even when he had commissions for bikes, he didn’t always meet his deadlines. He didn’t fucking care if things were late, and if buyers did care, they could shove their cash up their asses.
“It’s a long way to come just for a work meeting,” Severin observed. He’d practiced small talk on the way, but it sounded weird to his own ears.
His brother shrugged. “Hey, if they want to pay me to sit in the airport for hours just to come to a one-hour meeting, that’s fine. I’m still not sure what was gained from me actually being here rather than just video conferencing.”
“Their loss, my gain.”
Church raised his brows, his grimace of confusion kind of hilarious. “This new you is kind of freaky.”
The server came to take their drink order, and Severin stared at Church and pointedly ignored the woman until Church ordered for him and she went away.
“Still not ordering for yourself?”
“We don’t go out to eat. Plates of food are put in front of me when I sit down at the table. Who has time to figure out what they want for dinner?”
“Um...most people?”
“I have staff for that.”
Church crowed. “You didn’t just call your fiancée ‘staff.’ She’s going to cut you off if she hears you talking like that.”
“Like she would,” Severin said, feeling weirdly smug. It was the first time he could brag with Church about a woman. So what if she was going to be his wife – she counted, right? “Besides, she’s not the only game in town.”
One of Church’s eyebrows lifted in fierce disapproval. “If you tell me you’re fucking around on her, I’ll take you to the parking lot and kick your ass.”
&nb
sp; Severin lifted a hand and let one corner of his mouth lift in the facsimile of a smile. “She knows. She’s involved. It’s complicated. I just wanted you to know before you found out by accident.”
The server came back with their drinks. Church fired both of their orders at her then waving her off with a completely uncharacteristic rudeness.
“And you call me a jerk?” Severin snorted.
“I’ll leave her a nice fucking tip. Now tell me what the fuck you’re talking about.” He closed his mouth, looking as if he was ready to actually drag Severin to the parking lot, then started talking again before Severin could explain. “If you fuck things up with Min on purpose, you’re an even bigger idiot than I thought.”
Severin shifted in his chair then leaned back, trying to look as if he didn’t care about Church’s opinion of him. He did though, and always had. It was nice to know Church loved Minnow, considering he planned to marry her, but it sort of annoyed him that Church thought he’d be that callous with her. Well, maybe he had been, but he was pretty sure he’d fixed it. Hadn’t he?
“It’s not like that,” Severin finally muttered. “There’s always been a third person in our relationship, and we’ve recently decided to make that part of things less secret.”
Church’s mouth dropped open, then he snapped it closed again, his eyes incredulous. “Fuck. It’s Rodrigo.”
He felt heat crawling up his neck to stain his cheeks, more embarrassed at being caught blushing than he was about Church knowing.
“How did you guess?” Severin eventually asked.
At first Church didn’t reply, just gave a low whistle and looked lost in thought. “There is no one else, doorknob.” He rolled his eyes. “So is it like, you’re sharing Minnow, or are you all involved with each other?”
“The latter.” Was it possible for a man’s ears to burn off from mortification? He was pretty sure his were working on it.
A broad smile spread across Church’s face. “I never thought it was going to happen. He’s been carrying a torch for you for such a long time – you never gave any indication you were interested.”
“I tried not to think about it.”
“What changed your mind?”
“Loïc.”
“Ah,” Church’s jaw tightened. “So he’s turning out to be a decent guy?”
Severin shrugged. “He’s fine, I guess.”
“You guess?” he pressed, seeming weirdly focused on hearing more.
“He’s...” Severin shrugged again. What the hell was he supposed to say? “He’s a stranger, man. It’s not like we had a fucking heart to heart about Rodrigo. He started flirting with Ro and I – sort of lost my shit.”
“You? Lose your shit? Nah. I’m not buying it.” He smacked the table, laughing.
“I’m the poster boy for fucking lorazepam.”
“Prince Valium?”
“If you start quoting Space Balls at me, I’m leaving.”
It felt good to steer the topic away from Loïc. Church seemed odd about him for some reason.
Church sighed. “You always hated watching movies that made me laugh.”
“No, I always hated watching movies that almost made me laugh.”
“Well, fuck.” Church gazed at him with unabashed amazement. “You’re so in touch with your feelings now you just tell me shit instead of making me guess? You going to start writing Hallmark cards next?”
“Right. If the billionaire thing doesn’t work out I’ll be hitting you up for a reference letter.”
“Oh, hey... Speaking of money, stop putting money in my bank account.”
“I haven’t been.”
“Bullshit.”
“Why would I send you money? I don’t even fucking like you.”
“I love you too, asshole, and I don’t need your money.”
“It’s not my money. It’s just numbers on a computer screen. Loïc sent me a bunch and I told Ro to spread it around. Your girls will never need to work, if they don’t want to, by the way.”
“For fuck’s sake, there was already enough money in their accounts for that.”
“Well, there’s more now.”
Church leaned back in his chair and flicked his hand, as though he was finished arguing about it for now. He should have known better than to think Severin would stop sending money.
“So how is this going to work? You’re marrying Minnow, so Rodrigo’s your what? Friend with benefits? I mean, it’s not really my business, but...”
“...but it’s Rodrigo, and he’s been your best friend for ages,” Severin finished for him.
“And he’s been in love with you for years. If things go south, he’s going to be completely fucking destroyed. I just don’t want you getting involved with him if this is a joke to you.”
“It’s not a joke.”
“Do you love him?”
Severin gritted his teeth and looked out at the ocean, hoping like hell the blush he could feel heating his ears wasn’t visible to his brother.
“The details of our relationship are private. I won’t disrespect him or Minnow by discussing our relationship with other people – even if they’re family.”
“So it is a relationship?”
“I – I don’t know. Yes...maybe. We’re working things out.”
Church shook his head, then laughed and shrugged. “You still can’t do anything halfway, huh? I can’t imagine having a poly relationship. One person trying to boss me around is more than enough.”
Severin opened his mouth to say no one was going to be bossing him around about anything then realized he almost fell into the trap of giving too much information. His brother was sneaky like that and knew him far too well.
“But if you and Minnow are still getting married in a few months?” he persisted. “What about him?”
That was a good question. One he didn’t have an answer for yet.
Before he could think of an appropriate response, the server came by with their food. The steak was good, but Severin’s appetite was gone.
*
They converged on her, Severin dragging her away from the kitchen counter while Rodrigo put ingredients back in the fridge.
“No Viking raids in the kitchen!” she grumbled, trying to pull her arm away. “I’m trying to get things done!”
“What the fuck are you doing, Miss Korsgaard?” Severin growled quietly in her ear. Her whimper made his body hum with approval.
“I was going to start making dinner, Mister Leduc. I won’t have dinner ready on time if you don’t let me get to work.” She wriggled in his grasp, trying to get away.
Rodrigo stalked to them, his hungry gaze on Minnow’s heaving breasts. “You don’t want to make dinner right now, Min. Loïc will only be gone for so long.”
“No!” She tried to kick at Rodrigo, but he caught her ankle, then the second when she tried again. “You two can’t just change the schedule because your dicks are hard! You’re going to make dinner late then punish me for it.”
Severin held her while Rodrigo stripped off her cute checkered dress, baring her braless breasts and exposing her white cotton panties that screamed ‘good girl’ yet showed a tantalizing amount of ass cheek.
“Would we honestly do such a thing?” Severin asked. “Again?”
Rodrigo shrugged, then dodged when she attempted to knee his groin. “Wow, she really holds a grudge. We haven’t done that to her in at least a week.”
They ran their hands over her body, kissing her mouth and neck until the fight left her.
“Did you really think we’d let you get away? Especially since you keep wearing these sweet little thigh-high socks you know drive us crazy.” Rodrigo purred, tracing the top of one then sliding a hand between her legs. Whatever he did made her go up on her toes, squeaking in dismay and forcing her back against Severin. She was so short compared to him that her ass didn’t reach his groin, but he grabbed her hips and held her tightly against him. “And they show the fucking brand we put on you,
which leaves me constantly rock hard.”
“Please...” She gasped. “You’re the ones who keep buying them for me. My dress covers everything too. It’s not my fault you know what’s under my dress! No...”
“No what?” Rodrigo moved his hand from between her legs to cup her breasts, grabbing her nipples roughly and tugging on the rings in them, drawing a moan of pain from her pretty mouth. When she didn’t reply, he kissed her, hard and deep.
Severin reached between them, sliding her panties aside to plunge a finger into her slick heat. Rodrigo’s jean-restrained erection brushed against Severin’s arm, but he was too distracted by Minnow’s efforts to fuck his fingers deeper to worry about that. Hot. Wet. As much as she’d protested, this was exactly what she wanted.
She laid her head back against his chest and Ro followed her down, meaning Severin was up close for the twining of their tongues and the girl’s small sounds of desperation. Not breaking their kiss, Rodrigo looked up at Severin, the lust in his eyes making him look half mad. Their gazes locked and he felt Minnow’s hands fumble with the button and zipper of his own jeans, then disappear to do the same to Rodrigo.
Their jeans fell into a heap on the floor, then one of her small hands wrapped around his rigid length, stroking him. He braced himself, gritting his teeth at the unexpected contact, but the pleasure quickly distracted him from his discomfort. From the way Rodrigo grunted in surprise, she’d done the same to him. Apparently their shy little submissive was feeling pushy today. Well, more grabby than pushy.
She lured Severin into their kiss then left him kissing Rodrigo as she sank to the floor between them. He ached, but was having trouble focusing on directing her with Rodrigo’s short, sharp breaths mingling with his own, their mouths hungry for each other. Reaching down, he tangled his fingers in her hair and tugged her closer to where he wanted her. Like a good girl she complied, her clever tongue exploring the head of his cock before she enveloped it in her hot little mouth. She sucked, the pleasure making him brace his free hand against the countertop behind him. Her lips moved off him and Rodrigo grunted into Severin’s mouth, then he swore eloquently in Spanish before offering Severin another kiss.
Severin stripped off Rodrigo’s shirt, running his hands over the lean muscle of his chest, down to his abs. He had a beautiful body, refined, and now he could touch him everywhere he’d always wanted to. His fingers explored the ridges and dips in muscle he hadn’t been able to ignore in their years of friendship.
Tragic King (The Dominant Bastard Duology Book 2) Page 8