by Abby Blake
“So what works for you?” The question was out of her mouth before she truly gave a lot of thought to what the answer might be, but in a way she was glad to have it out there. Maybe knowing that Malcolm had a bevy of beautiful subs lined up to do what he ordered would help her to squash the love that not only hadn’t gone away but was busily rekindling. Considering the confused emotions she still had for Adrian and Alex, it was becoming very crowded inside her head.
“I’m not really sure yet,” he said with a lopsided smile. “I know what I want”—he turned his full attention on her, his eyes bright with emotion—“and I know who I want. I just don’t know where the limits lie for any of us.”
“Any?” she asked. It seemed a strange way to describe a relationship of two.
He searched her eyes again, almost hesitantly, but she couldn’t quite figure out what might come out of his mouth next.
“You, me, Alex, and Adrian.”
“Huh?”
He seemed to ignore her confusion. “We’ve arranged to have dinner with some friends tomorrow night and were hoping you would come and maybe meet a couple of the subs and their partners from Viper’s Dungeon. I promise we won’t keep you out too late.”
She glanced down at the batch of dough she’d been making. Thank heavens she’d done this so often that she really didn’t need to think about the ingredients or she could have had an amazing disaster on her hands.
“Just dinner,” she said, trying to remind herself why this was such a bad idea. Sleeping with Adrian and Alex at the same time had been kinky fun, but starting a relationship with three dominant men—one of whom was her ex-husband—seemed like a step in a dangerous direction. She’d left Malcolm for fear of losing her independence. Was she strong enough to have a relationship with all three of them without losing herself entirely?
Chapter Six
“You’re insane. You know that, right?”
Adrian’s reflection didn’t answer—which considering the subject was probably a good thing—but it didn’t settle any of the endless thoughts going through his head. Only a few weeks ago he’d joked about there being many subs in the dungeon. Why was he even considering trying to build a relationship with a woman who would also be involved with his brother and another man she’d known for years and had once been married to?
Yet even that thought couldn’t quell the rush of excitement that curled through him at the thought of seeing her again.
He’d stayed away the past two mornings, giving her space but also happy to know that Malcolm was there in the wee hours of the night to make certain she was safe. She’d probably be pissed at them for worrying so much but with the dungeon closing each night around the same time they were all still awake anyway so it wasn’t exactly an inconvenience.
“Are you ready to pick up Sophie?” Adrian asked his brother as he passed through the kitchen area in search of his keys. He was surprised to find Alex wearing the leather pants and chains he usually wore in the Dungeon.
“Malcolm and I will have to meet you at the restaurant,” he said with a worried frown. “Remember the sub who pissed off Zack a couple of weeks ago?” Adrian nodded, very clearly remembering the skinny young woman that Cooper had been speaking to after The Enforcer had canceled her scene. “She agreed to Shibari as a form of therapy, a chance to maybe think clearly without any distractions. We were hoping to get to the bottom of why she seemed to want such harsh punishments, but unfortunately, it might have worked a little too well. Viper, Bianca, Malcolm, and Cooper are with her at the moment, but I’ve put a call in to an old friend of mine who specializes in PTSD. I’m waiting for him to call back so I can get his opinion on how to handle this before Gina ends up catatonic.”
“Is she still in the rope?”
Cooper was very experienced at Shibari rope tying. The subs were usually completely immobilized by the time he was finished, and for many of them it was a chance to truly relax and not worry about anything at all. But if Gina was having an emotional breakdown, not being able to move could add to her distress—especially if it had something to do with why she was so upset. It could even set off breathing difficulties, vomiting, and panic attacks.
“We cut her down the moment she started to react,” Alex said quietly, “but she was completely hysterical by the time we’d finished.”
It wouldn’t have taken long to get her down—mere moments thanks to Cooper’s experience and forward planning—but when a sub was panicking it would likely seem very much longer.
Alex rubbed a hand down his face, obviously distressed by everything that had happened. “She keeps screaming for her father and now she won’t let anyone touch her. No one can get through to her. It’s like she’s in a different world, having a full-blown delusion. Whatever memories being bound have brought up, they’re clearly traumatic.”
“Has Viper seen this type of thing before?” Adrian asked.
“Yes,” Alex said, sounding conflicted in his relief. “Apparently it’s the same sort of thing Bianca went through after her parents were murdered in front of her.”
“Fuck,” Adrian whispered as he thought about the sweet, beautiful woman who was Viper’s sub going through something so horrible. But at least it gave them hope that they could help the woman battle her way through whatever demons she’d been living with for so long.
“I have my cell phone if you need anything. What should I tell Sophie?”
Alex shook his head, apparently as worried about how Sophie would react to a situation like this as Adrian was. Gina’s experience was very unusual but likely tapped into every fear that Sophie had ever held about the lifestyle.
“I think we need to be honest. It’s damn poor timing, but if we try to gloss over what’s happening with Gina, it’s liable to bite us in the ass later.”
Adrian nodded in agreement. “At least Sophie will get to meet Maya and Emma at dinner.”
Alex smiled. “I have no doubt that between them they’ll be able to answer any of Sophie’s concerns.”
“Okay, we’ll meet you at the restaurant.”
Adrian found his keys, headed to his car, and prayed that Sophie would understand the change in plans and that Gina would finally get the help she needed.
* * * *
Sophie nearly leapt out of her skin when the doorbell rang. Despite the fact that she’d been expecting them, the whole “going to dinner with three dates” part had left her feeling jumpy and anxious. Would people stare at them?
A terrified little part of her wanted to go hide in her bedroom, but the woman who was making a conscious decision to face her fears and learn more about the lifestyle her ex-husband and new lovers wanted to pursue walked straight over and opened the door.
She was a little disconcerted to find only one man on her doorstep.
That thought alone should have sent her into a fit of giggles—poor little Sophie only has one gorgeous man to date—but it was the two who were missing that worried her. Had they changed their minds?
“Something came up that they need to deal with. They’ll meet us at the restaurant as soon as they can.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling more than a little embarrassed. She hadn’t even said hello to Adrian. Considering the last time she’d spoken to him it had been to order him out of her bed, she probably should be more concerned for Adrian than by Alex and Malcolm not being there to pick her up.
Unfortunately Adrian seemed to be warily waiting for her reaction to him being here alone.
“I’m sorry,” she said, getting annoyed with herself when she realized the way he could take that. “I mean, I’m sorry for what I said the other day. I let fear rule my behavior and I hurt you and Alex without even considering the fact that nothing we’d done together had frightened me.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he said with a sad smile. “A lot of people react to BDSM the same way.”
“No, it’s not okay,” she said, shaking her head as tears misted her vision. “We weren’t talking
about BDSM. We were talking about you and Alex and I had no reason to be so closed-minded. I’m really sorry I hurt you.”
He reached for her and she practically leapt into his embrace. The kiss was long, deep, and toe-curling, and a very clear reminder of the passion they’d shared only a few days ago.
“Apology accepted,” he said with a much brighter smile.
He held her hand all the way to the car, helped her into the passenger seat, and then settled himself behind the steering wheel.
After driving a few minutes in silence he stopped at a red light and then looked over at her.
“You okay?”
“Just nervous,” she said, trying to be honest and not hide her emotions. It may have been her biggest failing during her marriage and the last thing she wanted to do was repeat the mistakes of her past.
Adrian reached over and grabbed her hand. He held it until the light changed and then placed it on his thigh, the warmth of his skin easily seeping through the material of his pants.
“There’s no need to be nervous, beautiful. We’re just a group of friends having dinner.”
“And Alex and Malcolm will meet us there?”
As soon as she blurted out the nervous question, she wanted to take it back. Adrian had already told her that back at her apartment.
“They’re dealing with a sub who’s having a bad reaction to a scene. Hopefully they won’t be far behind us, but they can’t just leave the woman in so much distress.”
“Can I ask what happened?” Again she cringed at her question. It wasn’t any of her business. But then again, the whole idea of Viper’s Dungeon was to have sex in “public.” Maybe privacy issues weren’t that big a factor.
“They’re not really sure. We’ve been worried for Gina for a while now. She always seems to want severe beatings and no pleasure. But instead of talking to someone and working through whatever is bothering her, she tries to manipulate the Doms into really hurting her.”
Sophie tried to smile sympathetically, but it just seemed too weird. Why would anyone want to deliberately get hurt?
“I know it’s not easy to understand, Sophie. Our world is different, but I can assure you everything that happens at Viper’s Dungeon is consensual.” He pulled the car up out front of the restaurant and then turned in his seat so that she could see his face very clearly. “Every sub has a safe word. All a sub has to do is use her safe word and everything stops. Unfortunately, Gina doesn’t use it at all—even when something goes wrong—so many of the Doms are refusing to play with her.”
“What happened this afternoon?”
“Cooper is a Shibari expert—it’s a type of erotic rope tying that often leaves a sub completely immobilized. A lot of subs say it feels like a type of meditation. Gina agreed to try it as an alternative to beatings.”
Sophie couldn’t quite stop the unpleasant shiver. Adrian noticed.
“Is it the word ‘beatings’ or the idea of subs being hurt that upsets you?”
“I’m not really sure,” she said slowly, trying to work it out in her own head. “I don’t think I’ve ever considered that there might be women out there who actually want to be smacked around.” Considering the statistics on domestic violence and women who continually returned to abusive partners perhaps that shouldn’t have been so surprising to her, but it did make it hard to think of Viper’s Dungeon as a place where subs had “fun.”
“‘Smacked around’ really isn’t an accurate term for what happens at Viper’s Dungeon. Like I said, everything is consensual and often meticulously planned. The pain is used to enhance the pleasure, but Gina wasn’t deriving any pleasure from it at all. She just wanted the pain.”
“But being tied up terrified her?”
Adrian nodded and reached out a hand to touch her face. “Gina seems to have something very traumatic in her past—something she hasn’t told any of us about. Alex, Malcolm, Cooper, Viper, and Bianca need to stay with her until they’re sure she’s going to be all right.”
“Thank you for telling me,” she said, trying to accept that she might never truly understand how different people dealt with different situations. “I suspect after everything that’s happened your first instinct might have been to hide this from me.”
He gave her a warm smile and then laughed softly. “It’s a natural instinct to want to protect someone you care for, but the line between protecting and overprotecting isn’t always clear—especially for Doms when we’re dealing with subs.”
“But I’m not a sub,” she said inanely. Considering the fact that she was willingly having dinner with three men who wanted to dominate her, it seemed like a rather silly thing to say.
Adrian gave her a speculative look. “I suppose that’s true in most situations, but can you honestly say you didn’t enjoy the way Alex bossed you around in your bedroom?”
She shivered slightly as she remembered the way he’d gripped her hair, urging her to do what he wanted, or the way he’d smacked her playfully when she’d grouched about her weight. At the time she hadn’t even acquainted that experience with Dom-sub interaction.
But now…
Adrian was watching her closely as she tried desperately to hide her reaction to those memories.
“Don’t,” he said in a tone of voice similar to the one he and Alex had used in her bedroom. “Don’t hide your emotions from me.” He smiled knowingly when she shook her head, denying that she was hiding, even though technically she was trying. “Memories of that night make you hot.”
Slowly she nodded even though it wasn’t actually a question. She was still reeling at the idea that what they’d shared, and she’d so thoroughly enjoyed, had been a small part of a lifestyle she’d thought she would hate.
“Imagine how much more amazing it will be when Malcolm joins us. You’d have three men focused on your pleasure. Three men wanting nothing more than to make sure you enjoy every single moment.”
She giggled nervously at the images that flashed through her head. She squirmed in her seat and he leaned over her, trapping her between his big body and the car door beside her.
His voice dropped to a low, deep throb that resounded through every cell in her body. “If I pushed my hand into your panties right now, I know what I would find.”
Just the thought of him doing that here in the parking lot surrounded by unsuspecting pedestrians going about their business had her pussy throbbing painfully. She bit her lip, nodding, uncertain whether she was agreeing with him or asking him to follow through. Her pussy muscles clenched as his eyes darkened and his smile widened.
“You definitely have a naughty streak, beautiful, but if I start touching you here, I doubt I’ll be able to stop. Maya and Bianca both married police officers. I doubt they’d be impressed if they had to arrest us in front of Maya’s restaurant.”
Sophie laughed nervously again, the reality of where they were cooling her overheated imagination just a little.
“Come on, beautiful,” Adrian said as he undid the buckle on Sophie’s seat belt. “I know Maya and Emma are anxious to meet you.”
She finally looked around as she stepped out of the car and nearly fainted with relief when she realized this was one of the restaurants she sold her baked goods to. She hadn’t spoken to Maya for quite a long time but her memories were of a woman very much in charge of her restaurant. If Maya was a sub, then perhaps there really was more pleasure than pain to be found in this type of lifestyle.
“Sophie Richards?” Maya asked as soon as they stepped into the otherwise empty restaurant. It was still quite early for the dinner crowd and Sophie felt a little bit embarrassed that they would be eating early simply because of her schedule.
“Hi, Maya,” she said, trying to overcome the unnecessary embarrassment she still felt.
“Do you have any idea the treasure you’ve found in this woman?” Maya asked Adrian with a wide smile. Adrian nodded and pulled Sophie into his arms, her back against his front, the embrace somehow as familiar as
Malcolm’s and just as comforting. “Sophie makes the best breads and bread rolls I’ve ever tasted. From the moment I first tasted her baking I knew it had to be part of my menu.”
Sophie blushed at Maya’s compliments. She’d spent years working on some of her recipes so it was very nice to have her efforts appreciated.
After a quick explanation to Maya for the rest of their friends’ absence, Adrian introduced her to Maya’s husbands, Cam and Derek, and Emma and one of her husbands, Jace.
“Logan just left on assignment. He should be home in a few weeks,” Emma said as she explained the absence of her other husband. “Hopefully I’ll be able to introduce you to him then.” She waved to a man who came through the door with a baby in his arms and he immediately headed to their table. “This is Brick. He’s one of Bianca’s husbands.”
“Technically,” Brick said with a smile on his face as he relinquished his daughter to an enthusiastic Emma, “I’m Bianca’s only husband. Viper is her Dom.”
“Details, details,” Emma said in a happy voice as she rocked the baby gently. “You both love her. The rest is just paperwork.”
“True enough,” he said as he shook Adrian’s hand in greeting. “Have we heard any more on Gina?”
“Not that I know. When I left home, Alex was waiting for a call from a friend who specializes in PTSD.”
Brick nodded. “At least she’s surrounded by people who care. Too many times Derek and I have had to arrest people suffering post traumatic stress disorders. There simply aren’t enough resources to help people like Gina.”
Sophie nodded slowly as she realized just how lucky Gina was in that regard. She had people willing to help her simply because she needed the help.
And for Sophie it was seriously humbling to realize how wrong she’d been. She’d judged an entire lifestyle on a few of her own baseless fears and had failed to see the true nature of the people involved—her men especially.
Her men.
She cuddled into Adrian, needing to hold on to at least one of the men she’d judged so unfairly.