“I’m not drowning. I’m okay.”
Severin wasn’t okay. Had never been okay. He couldn’t possibly take care of Loïc’s shit too, without it costing him.
“Just because you’re in charge doesn’t mean you have to have all the answers. You’re allowed to lean on people. You’re allowed to be overwhelmed.”
He snorted, arching a brow at Rodrigo. “Yeah, yeah. You take care of Minnow – keep her safe and happy – and I’ll take care of my brother.”
“I’m trying, but she’s unhappy because you sent her away. I can’t fix that.”
Severin scrubbed a hand over his face. “I know. I just need to get Loïc sorted out and things will go back to the way they were. I’m trying to figure out what to do.”
“So we’re going to have this wedding and keep living apart like this?”
“We’ll be back under the same roof before then. That’s months away.”
“You think he’ll be gone by then?”
“Yes. He’ll be gone in a few weeks, tops. Then things will go back to normal.”
Rodrigo grimaced. “Normal?”
“As normal as we get.” Severin pushed to his feet, the denim of his jeans scraping Rodrigo’s cheek before he could lean back out of the way. On his knees with Severin standing over him, Rodrigo suddenly didn’t care if one of his family members caught him with Severin’s cock in his mouth. He eyed the bulge in Severin’s jeans and knew they were thinking of the same thing.
“Get up, puppy. We’re going back downstairs before this stops being a family friendly conversation.”
“We could close the door,” Rodrigo blurted.
Severin gave him the hand command for up. He got to his feet even though he didn’t want to.
“Stop sulking. I’ll use this pretty mouth later.” Severin ran the tip of his finger over Rodrigo’s lips, and Ro flicked out his tongue to tease it. “Behave.”
They smiled at each other, and Rodrigo led his dominant back down the stairs, not sure which of them was more reluctant to leave his old bedroom.
*
“What the fuck is this?” A deep voice boomed.
Grade eleven. Staring down the barrel of Mr. Ashland’s 357 Magnum.
Rodrigo was up before he was even awake, standing on the bed and ready to launch himself at the bastard and wrestle him for the gun all over again. The small scar behind his ear throbbed.
Severin was standing at the end of his bed, his face wrathful as he glared up at Rodrigo.
No gun.
Severin, not his high school English teacher’s angry husband.
He hadn’t thought of that night in years.
Ro glanced down at Minnow who’d blearily yanked the sheets up to cover herself, looking equally confused. The dogs were up, tails wagging frantically as they tried to greet Sev. He threw a stack of paper at Rodrigo’s feet.
“Explain this, you son of a bitch.”
Rodrigo sank down to sit on the mattress. His heart had gone from sleep to high alert so fast he was shaking.
“You know, Severin, we could discuss this like normal people –” He glanced out the window. Absolute darkness. “– at a normal time of the day. Get in bed and we’ll talk about it in the morning.”
Minnow scooched over into the middle of the mattress and pulled a pillow over her head. He’d taken her out dancing at a club, and they hadn’t gone to bed long ago, judging by the lack of light coming in through the window.
“I told you what I wanted in the prenup. This isn’t it.”
Of course they’d have to discuss legal shit at...four in the morning, the clock said. God forbid Severin do things reasonably.
“What part do you object to?”
“The division of assets. You thought I wouldn’t read it, you little fuck,” he accused. Wow, was he pissed.
“I... No.” Rodrigo ran his fingers through his hair, still half expecting a gun because of the way he’d woken up, even though that wasn’t Severin’s style. “I didn’t think you would.”
“This isn’t what we discussed. Not at all.”
Rodrigo sighed. “No, Severin.”
“Explain.”
“You’re coming into this with exponentially more wealth than either of us,” Rodrigo explained, not for the first time. He pulled his end of the sheet over his lap feeling weird about the fact that he was naked while they were talking money. “It makes sense that you get half if we split. You should be getting far more than that. As for us splitting the other half, it’s a lot more money than I have now, and Minnow probably won’t even be able to think of ways to spend it all.”
Minnow yanked the pillow off her head and raised her hand as though asking for permission to speak. “Actually, I’d get a little house somewhere so I could sleep through the night without grumpy men yelling at each other.”
Rodrigo raised a brow at the tousled girl, wishing Severin would stop being difficult and do something fun, like hold Minnow down for him since he was actually there for once. “You wouldn’t want to sleep at your own place. Who would spoon with you and grind against your ass?”
“Hmm. Good point.”
Severin was growling at them both now. “I don’t give a shit about what you want, puppy. Equal thirds, like I said. Fix it.”
“A fucking third?” Minnow muttered. “Why are you two always trying to give me money? Cut it out!”
As usual, they ignored Minnow’s protest. There’d be no ignoring Severin, though. Sneaking that division of assets into the document had been Rodrigo’s only hope of getting his way.
“The lawyer is asleep. She won’t get up to fix our contract at this time of night. It’s not an emergency.”
“You deliberately went against my wishes.”
“Because you wouldn’t listen to reason.”
Severin grunted. “How am I supposed to trust you if you start lying to me. Or do you always lie to me?”
“I didn’t lie. We disagreed, remember? I never said I’d do what you wanted.”
“When you accepted a fucking collar from me, that was you saying you’d do what I wanted. You don’t go around doing sneaky shit behind my back. You do what you’re told.”
“I was protecting your interests.”
“You were being a sneaky little bitch, and you know it.”
Ugh.
“Yes, Severin.”
“You are so, so fucked.”
A shiver of sick anticipation slid through him and his damned cock started getting hard.
Minnow chuckled, eyeing Rodrigo’s lap. “Thank god I don’t have a dick, let alone a big dick. There’s no pretending punishments don’t make you hot.”
“You shut up,” Rodrigo grumbled, feeling far too warm all of a sudden.
“The last thing you need is a dick, Miss Korsgaard. I think there are already enough dicks in this room.”
“Excellent point, Mister Leduc. Two dicks, each with a dick.”
“Are you also requesting punishment?”
“No, Master!”
“Because I could probably spare the time after I’m through punishing Mr. Hard-on, here.”
“No, I’m all good. No need to overexert yourself, Master.” She smiled winningly.
“You’re just thinking of my convenience.”
“Yes, and how tired your hand is going to be after you put Rodrigo over your knee and spank him. He’s been a bad, bad boy.”
Rodrigo growled at her.
“Do you really want to be pissing off Mr. Solis? You do realize he won’t hesitate to get even later.”
“The mental image of you spanking him like a naughty child is totally worth it. Oh, and you should give him corner time too. With his underwear pulled down. Although I guess he’d have to put some on first.”
Rodrigo dragged her over his lap and gave her three hard swats on the ass that only made her squeak. “You fucking behave.”
“Oh, I have something entirely different in mind for Rodrigo,” Severin assured her. “You e
ven get to help.”
Even over his lap, the girl dared to clap her hands together in glee. Rodrigo mentally recorded her every treacherous reaction. And here he’d thought they’d gotten past the worst of her brattiness. Apparently it just went dormant when Severin wasn’t around to torment him.
Severin ducked into the hallway and came back with a wood and wicker chair he’d brought up with him from the storage room. He snapped his fingers at Rodrigo and gestured for him to approach. Self-consciously, Ro set Minnow aside and stripped the bed sheet off his still quasi-hard dick, then went to Severin.
“Sit.”
“Can I put on pants first?”
“Absolutely not.”
Rodrigo winced, remembering the scene in one of the James Bond movies where the villain tied Daniel Craig to a chair and beat his balls.
Not hot. Go away, hard-on.
Besides, Severin wasn’t that pissed, was he?
“Sit.” Severin pointed at the chair. Rodrigo sat, and immediately winced at how the wicker felt against his bare ass. “Miss Korsgaard, some rope?”
Minnow bit her bottom lip, and her gaze met Rodrigo’s. For a moment Ro thought she might argue.
Don’t be bratty, Min. Now is not the time.
She must have gotten Rodrigo’s mental message, because she nodded and went to get some from the wardrobe that held the bedroom kink supplies. When she came back, she seemed hesitant, but Severin slid Rodrigo forward until his ass was almost hanging off the chair, then tied his ankles to the chair legs, and his wrists to the lower back. The edge of the chair seat was digging into his ass cheeks, but he was pretty sure his comfort was pretty low on Severin’s priority list.
“You’re not going to like this, but you need to learn what being sneaky will get you with me. We both know you’re smarter than I am, but you need to remember who’s bigger, and who’s meaner.”
Shame flooded through Rodrigo. His heart had been in the right place, but it was no excuse to try to trick Severin into doing things his way – especially not when he loved Severin and respected him.
“I know you only meant to protect me from myself, but we need honesty between us,” Severin said, glowering.
“I shouldn’t have done it.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. When I’m done with you, you won’t be pulling something like this again.”
It would have been nice if the threat had struck enough fear into Rodrigo to make his hard-on abate, but no such luck. Anticipation, and being bound and at Severin’s mercy, was making his body respond no matter how much he tried thinking about columns of numbers and dealing with investment and banking bullshit.
“What the fuck? What’s your problem, puppy?” Severin grabbed Rodrigo’s errant cock and squeezed hard enough to for the pain to steal a grunt from him.
“I’m sorry, Severin. I can’t help it.”
Severin let go, but slapped his balls hard enough that for a moment all Rodrigo could do was sit in a haze of red and try not to breathe.
“I was only planning to hurt you a little, but now I have a better idea.” Severin went to the closet, leaving Rodrigo and Minnow staring at each other, then after him.
“Don’t be mad at me,” Min whispered.
“For what?”
Her gaze darted to Severin’s back. “If he makes me help with whatever he’s planning. It wouldn’t be fair for you to take it out on me later.”
“Then you’d better not look like you’re enjoying yourself too much. I might be the one tied down right now, preciosa, but eventually you and I will be alone together and he won’t be able to stop me from retaliating.”
Her mouth fell open in feigned indignance. “How is that fair? If he makes me do things...”
“Making you do things is one thing. Enjoying them or making it worse on purpose will land you in a world of shit. I’m his submissive, but I’m still your fucking dominant. If you disrespect me, you’ll pay.”
She whimpered, looking from Rodrigo, to Severin, who was coming back with a bit of cord or something in his hand.
“Master, may I take the dogs out for a walk? They look antsy.”
Severin’s gaze lingered on the pile of snoring dogs.
“Are you trying to avoid something, Miss Korsgaard?”
“I don’t want to do this, Master.”
“Are you safewording?”
“Well...no.”
He kissed her and palmed her breast, as though he couldn’t help himself. “Then shut the fuck up. Don’t do anything other than what I order you to do. I’m sure he won’t blame you for following orders.” Severin grabbed the back of his T-shirt collar and yanked it off, leaving Rodrigo to admire the glorious body he’d been decorating for years. Muscle and art and piercings. The man wasn’t making it easy for Rodrigo to talk down his erection.
It was hard to believe he was the only person who’d seen adult Severin naked back before he’d inked him up and laced him with stainless steel. He’d been ridiculously hot then too – a hulking, brooding brute, but he was even hotter now.
Severin trailed his coarse fingers over the length of Rodrigo’s cock, making him hiss as his dick jerked in surprise.
“You’re not supposed to be looking forward to this,” Severin growled.
Horrified at his inability to control his responses, Rodrigo winced as his cock bobbed expectantly.
“I’m sorry, Severin.”
With a flick, the lace in Severin’s hand sliced through the air, connecting with his belly, not far above the head of his dick. He swore at the sting of it, always amazed at what such a small implement could do. The next strike was closer, the third closer still, burning a stinging path down to a cock that wasn’t really big on pain.
He tensed, knowing he shouldn’t, but not being able to stop himself. In the pattern, the next blow would land on the head of his cock.
It landed beside it.
Rodrigo almost laughed in relief, but then Severin kept going, hitting him on either side of his still straining dick, then down to his balls. He brushed the cord against his testicles, and a humiliating whimper of anticipation sounded low in his throat.
“What’s wrong, little bitch?” Severin wrapped a hand around Rodrigo’s throat and forced Ro’s gaze up to meet his own. “Am I making you nervous?”
Rodrigo felt his face heating. “Yes.”
“Good.” He brushed his fingertips over Rodrigo’s balls.
It was hard to get past the novelty and disproportionate arousal of having Severin touch him sexually after wanting him for so many years. Then, just as he relaxed into what Severin was doing, a lick of fire traced a line across his balls. He yelped, flinching back hard enough that Severin put a steadying hand on the back of the chair.
“Ffffuck!”
He landed a second blow. The third was white-hot streak.
“I won’t tolerate you lying.”
Thwack.
Fire licked through him. Dread grew in his stomach as he wished men had never been designed with such a terrible vulnerability.
“I won’t tolerate you trying to trick me.”
Snap.
He hissed, trying not to fight his bindings. Rope burn on his wrists would be a bitch to hide.
“I’m sorry, Severin!” He hated the way his voice broke.
Thwack.
Mother. Fucker. He hadn’t wanted kids right? As soon as this ended he was having his balls surgically removed.
“Don’t fucking interrupt me.”
Smack.
A high-pitched whine slipped. How did some guys get off on this? Fuck, fuck he hated it.
Eventually it stopped – a long, long time after it had started. Possibly two whole minutes.
“Miss Korsgaard, kiss it better.”
No. Fuck.
He didn’t want anyone touching him as he relearned how to process oxygen. His legs tried to draw up, but couldn’t. He just wanted the fetal position, for fuck’s sake. Was that too much to ask? His skin was cover
ed in raised red welts. It felt as if there should be blood, and he felt like a wuss because there wasn’t any.
Min’s mouth hovered, her breath hurting him even before her mouth touched his skin. He was amazed his balls hadn’t migrated up into his body but he wished they had.
“Fuck. Stop.” He groaned.
She hesitated, trying to pull back, but Severin grabbed her hair and forced her back to her task.
“Did I tell you to fucking stop, Miss Korsgaard?” he snarled. “If you’re getting conflicting orders, guess whose you follow?”
She licked Rodrigo gently, her tongue flicking over him with the least contact she could probably manage. Although he would have thought it impossible, his now wilted cock twitched back to life. If Severin was making her do this just so he could start beating his balls again...
Fuck. What the hell was his safeword?
As soon as he stopped feeling as if he was going to die, his fucking dick got rock hard. Of course. There was no resisting Minnow’s sweet little mouth. Severin grabbed Rodrigo’s cock and squeezed it, giving it a few pumps with one of those sandpaper hands of his before letting it smack him in the belly.
“Suck his cock, Miss Korsgaard, but gently. The poor guy’s been through hell.”
Minnow’s hot mouth closed over the head of his cock, and she sucked. Rodrigo groaned with pleasure, and her tongue circled the head. Severin pulled her back.
“Gently, I said. And touch him. Make sure he can barely feel it.”
The fucking bastard.
Minnow’s eyes widened as she realized what Severin wanted her to do.
He buried his hand in Rodrigo’s hair then bent his head back at an odd angle, staring down into his eyes. “You fucked up, puppy.”
“Yes, Severin.”
The way Severin had his neck bent, he had no choice but to arch his spine to alleviate the discomfort, but that brought his hips and cock up harder against Minnow’s feather-soft touches and kisses before she could react to the change and withdraw slightly. It wasn’t too bad yet, but he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to hold out before she’d have him twisting in frustration.
Severin’s mouth came down on his, and he kissed him tenderly. Suddenly being tied to a chair wasn’t so bad.
They kissed for a few minutes, Severin’s facial hair rough against his lips, and his tongue like heaven in Rodrigo’s mouth. His hips thrust impatiently at Minnow’s teasing mouth, but she was getting better at evading his attempts to get more sensation.
Tragic King (The Dominant Bastard Duology Book 2) Page 19