by J Paton
The man in front of me loomed over the desk. He was tall and well-built, terror gripped me by the throat. “I haven’t got all evening.” His voice lowered a couple of octaves and chilled my blood.
At the sight of the stain of red covering Master’s slashing cheekbones, I sat forward to open up the transaction files in order to play for time. There was no excuse for Devon’s fuck-up other than that the guy was a crazy fuck when it came to his possessions. All those who made a purchase were well aware of the rules that came with buying one of our subs.
For several seconds, the tension was suffocating as the seething man continued to loom over me. We may have been business partners for more than two decades, but I was nobody’s fool. I was well aware that I was just as dispensable as others had been to this man if something threatened him or his lifestyle.
“Devon Critchlow has him, yes.” Another bead of sweat slid from my hairline to my cheek.
“Him and his business partner maintain our IT and building security?”
Nodding was easier than trying to speak past dry lips.
The Master brought his face close enough that I could smell the coffee on his breath. Then there was his expensive aftershave, which was cloying as I met the menacing gaze head on. “This isn’t going to be a problem, is it?”
I shook my head. “I’ll speak to them both and make sure they understand the importance of keeping their mouths shut.”
He didn’t move, my reassurance seeming to do very little. “How many times do we need to talk about what happens to anyone who causes me a problem?” His voice was full of deadly intent, the air in the room disappearing at his next words. “This is the last time I want to have to come here and discuss some fuck-up. Cleaning up the mess your fucking Dom’s get themselves into is not part of our agreement. I can’t afford for there to be any connections made between me and you, or this club. Is that understood?”
Rage ran through my veins and heated my blood. My Adam’s apple bobbed as I forcibly lowered my gaze, knowing submission was the only way to appease Master, regardless of the fact that it went against everything I was as a Dom.
Master’s hand moved so swiftly that I didn’t get chance to react or pull away as my neck was gripped in a punishing hold. He tilted my head back, his biceps bulging inside his suit jacket with the force he was exerting.
His eyes glittered with cold intent. “Oh Riley, you forget how good I am at reading people. I can see how much you want to tell me to go to hell.” His lips peeled back in a feral smile. “Your anger and fear smell so sweet to me. Do you want me to strap you to one of those spare St Andrew’s Crosses in the club and show you how good I’ve gotten with a bull whip?” He licked his lips, his eyes full of lust, and something else that caused bile to burn in my throat—want. “I could peel the skin from your bones so slowly that all you’ll remember is pain. Do you want to be my pain slut? Should I show the Dom’s in the club how big, bad Riley is really a sub at heart and only pretending to be a Dom?”
I was paralysed, air sticking in my chest at the all too real threat. The pain increased as Master’s fingers clasped tighter, and for a long moment he stared at me. Terror clawed at me with the need to break free.
He sniffed the air, the same way a large cat might while on the hunt for its prey, before releasing his harsh grip. He stood tall and stepped back to straighten his suit jacket, acting like he hadn’t just threatened me.
The breath that had been trapped in my lungs came out in a rush. I sucked in a deep, ragged breath, resisting the urge to rub my throbbing throat as my chest heaved. Showing weakness now would only make things worse for me, so I met his gaze and held it, remaining silent.
“I take it I’ve made my point?”
“Yes, you’ve made your point,” I ground out through gritted teeth.
“Good. Make sure you get Devon’s lawyer to point out how bad it will be for him if he mentions this club. Now, I believe you have a new batch of applications for me to review. My current slave has lost his spark and we aren’t gelling any more. I think I need a replacement.”
He switched topics so quickly that I blinked several times as I tried to keep up. What the actual fuck! He’d only had this slave for four months.
The blasé way he’d spoken would have had anyone listening thinking that he and his sub had had a mutual parting. Whereas, what he meant was that he’d broken the man’s spirit, and he no longer showed what he craved the most—terror.
“We’ve had four new applicants who meet the criteria for clients on the waiting list. There is one that may be of interest to you. He’s dark haired, slim, about five-foot-four, and has your preferred eye colour of green.”
There was no point mentioning that they might have a paying client for that sub. Business was one thing, but meeting Master’s dark needs was something completely different. In recent years, his needs always came first regardless of the cost.
SSA Headquarters
Nix
“Thanks for coming, Joshua.” Phil indicated the seat in front of the large desk weighed down by far too many computers and gadgets.
“Thanks for shifting the time around again… things have been a little hectic.” That didn’t even come close to describing what had been going on ever since Barb had quite literally left me holding the baby. The love that swamped my chest was still so unexpected that it continued to steal my breath away every time I thought about my three-week-old daughter, Isobel—Issy for short. Her big, blue eyes seemed to follow me everywhere I went.
“Joshua, if I’m honest, after you submitted your application, I’d have moved the appointment as many times as it took to get you here. Your previous work experience, which I’m sure isn’t all fully documented on the form, is exactly what I’m looking for.” The man relaxed back in his large chair, one hand rubbing at his chin.
“I’m flattered.” When I’d applied for the job at the security firm, I’d assumed Barb and I would be taking joint care of our daughter. She’d strung me along to believing that, right up until I’d received the signed documentation from her lawyer which gave me full custody of our daughter. It had changed everything, and at the moment I wasn’t sure how to make all the pieces fit together.
Phil’s brows drew together. “There’s a but coming, isn’t there?”
My chuckle was humourless. “Unfortunately, my circumstances have changed.” I sighed at what I was about to do when I really wanted this job. “I don’t think I can take the job.”
Phil didn’t sit forward, but there was a new tension coming off him.
“What’s changed?”
The research I’d carried out on his company hadn’t thrown up anything that alarmed me. My gut said Phil was someone who could be trusted. So far, I’d kept the fact I had a daughter a secret. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe my past couldn’t come back to bite me on the arse. Given the work I did, it was no surprise that I had a number of enemies who could, and would, use an innocent to make a point.
“I could say, that you can trust me. And you can. But proving it is hard when you don’t really know me. I have a stack of information on both myself and my company that I would be happy to share with you. From my background search on you, I’m sure you have a lot of it already. Although, there will be things you didn’t find.” Phil’s grin was predatory.
His understanding that I would have done my own background check was enough to loosen my tongue. “I have a daughter. She’s three weeks old and I wasn’t planning on being her sole carer, but that’s the way it’s turned out. Right now, she’s with my mother. Therefore, I’ve got a shedload of shit that I need to figure out.”
There was a glimmer of surprise, but then it was gone. Phil sat forward. “I can help if you’re serious about wanting a job with my company?”
My brows arched. “You can?”
A smile spread over his face. “I can. I’ve got trustworthy contacts in many places. What do you need?”
“A nanny, for sure. Someone
who won’t mind living out in the sticks. Someone who will sign a legal agreement restricting discussion about the child’s parentage,” I said, trying to think of every angle I needed to cover.
“Okay, let me see what I can do.” He tapped on the keyboard in front of him, not looking up as he asked, “Is there anything else?”
Was there? “Right now, childcare for Issy is my number one priority. I need someone who knows what they’re doing because I’m fucking clueless.” I let the fear I’d been feeling for the last week out, refusing to see it as weakness.
Phil lifted his gaze to meet mine, his dark eyes showing nothing but compassion. “It’s huge becoming a parent, knowing that person is totally relying on you to get it right.”
I blew out a breath, the weight of responsibility sitting heavily on my shoulders. “Yeah, it’s the fucking scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
He laughed. “That’s saying something, when I bet you’ve encountered some difficult shit.”
I laughed with him and the tension that had been riding me ever since I’d entered his office eased. “Yeah, but I was trained for that. No one can prepare you for a pooping, vomiting little machine, who wails like a banshee and expects you to understand what’s wrong,” I complained, only half-joking.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
I snorted and his lips twitched. “Let’s hope so. Oh, and by the way you can call me Nix.”
“Nix?”
“Yep. I’ve got a strong feeling we’re going to be friends. Nix is what my friends call me.”
A wide smile spread across Phil’s face and he nodded, tapping a few more keys on his computer keyboard. “Let’s start to figure this out.”
A while later, I walked into my childhood home. As the door shut behind me, I called out, “Where are my girls?”
There was the sound of laugher and some strange baby noises before my mum appeared from the living room. I took off my boots and left them on the designated mat. It was more than my life was worth to mark her shiny, hardwood floor.
“You’re back quicker than I anticipated. Did it not go well?” Her blonde hair was streaked with grey, but she still looked so youthful that people sometimes mistakenly thought we were siblings.
“It went better than I expected.” My gaze lowered to Issy, whose lips were moving. She had a look on her face I was coming to recognise as one that meant she either needed winding or was going to fill her nappy. “Have you just fed her?” I asked before offering to take her. I knew it was cowardly, but I still hadn’t got used to having a small, wiggling person to clean with girl bits covered, and I mean covered, in poo.
“I have. We were hungry, weren’t we Issy?”
The voice she used was one people often used when they were talking to babies, and I scowled. “Mum, do you need to put on the childish voice?”
My mum’s grin was infectious, Issy’s mouth curving up as well. I was captivated by it. “She’s smiling, Mum. Look at her.”
“It’s just wind.”
I shook my head as I put my finger next to Issy’s tiny hand so that she could grab hold. It never failed to get me a little teary-eyed when she clung on to me, looking at me with those big eyes of hers. “It’s not wind, is it, sweetheart? You were smiling at Daddy, weren’t you?”
My mum choked out a laugh. “What was it you said about funny voices?”
The heat that spread up my neck was telling, but I ignored the way she’d called me out. “I’ve taken the job. Phil is going to help find a nanny for me.”
There was a huffing noise, Mum nudging my arm. “I said I’d be more than happy to help out.”
“I know, Mum. But you’ve got a life and friends to enjoy. I need someone full-time, a live-in nanny. Do you really want to move out of your nice home and into mine, which you constantly tell me is in the middle of nowhere?”
She sighed, stroking Issy’s head as she fussed a little. “You’re right, but I want to help, and I don’t want to be one of those distant nannas that only sees their grandbaby once in a while.”
I rested my chin on top of my mum’s soft curls as I pulled her into my chest, careful of Issy as I hugged them both. “We can sort out what works. The nanny will need days off, and I know this job isn’t going to be a standard nine-to-five, so there’ll be plenty of time for you to spoil Issy.”
She hugged me. “Wonderful. Now tell me all about your new boss.”
Nix
Everything that had happened had derailed my plans of catching up with my old Navy buddy and good friend since I’d been back in London. We’d messaged and spoken several times before the sudden news of impending fatherhood had taken my life in a different direction, plans to go and see my friend forgotten.
My phone buzzed with a message and I grinned at the screen before calling the number. I’d been watching Isaac’s home, and his boss, Nathan had just pulled out of the drive with a man I hadn’t seen or met in the passenger seat. “Yo, is it clear?”
“Yeah, the front door is open, just come in,” Isaac answered.
Stepping out of my hiding place of the last ten minutes, I wandered over the street to my friend’s house. Very little had changed about the place since my last visit. The word homely sprang to mind as I stepped through the door to the smell of fresh baking. I walked down the hallway and into the first room on my left to find Isaac. The smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes as they met mine.
The mountain of a man stepped forward, his smile warming as it roamed over me. Then his eyes narrowed.
“What?” My brows met in the middle at his chuckled response.
“You got more tattoos, didn’t ya?” Isaac said.
I shrugged. I was more than a little addicted to getting my skin inked. “My body is an artist’s wet dream, what can I say?” I glanced around the room. “You’ve got someone living with you.”
Isaac shook his head and then stared at me. “Why do you say that?”
“The feel of the place is more homely. There’s a book on the table which is not your usual read. There’s a throw blanket on the back of your sofa. There are several new plants and there are candles on the window ledge. You want me to go on?” I waggled my brows at him, a smile lighting up his face.
“Oh, fuck off, arsehole,” he grumbled good-naturedly. “I didn’t ask you to come here to point out the changes in my house.”
“It’s about time you took on a boy.”
His eye roll made my grin widen.
“Thanks.” He sighed. “That’s partly why I rang you. But before we get into it, do you want a drink?”
“Yeah, but don’t go making that weak shit.”
My response garnered a two-fingered salute, Isaac indicating for me to follow him into the kitchen. Mugs of coffee in our hands, we sat at either side of the table.
“Okay, lay it out for me.” I took a sip of my coffee, eyeing Isaac intently over the rim of the mug.
“Ferron is, or was, a sub at The Playroom. He joined about three years ago. About a year ago, he embarrassed himself in The Playroom and had another club recommended to him. He didn’t do any checks on the new place and blindly went off on his own. That’s when things turned to shit. He was given to a Dom as a slave, locked in the fucker’s home and forced to…” He stopped, looking as if he was struggling to suck in a breath.
Fuckers! Anger surged to the surface and I reined it in as I waited for Isaac to carry on, sensing he was far from finished.
“I’m sure you can imagine what happened. He managed to get away, but the Dom caught up with him on New Year’s Eve. Only this time he took the owner of The Playroom’s boyfriend, Lenny, as well. He held them both captive in the cellar at the club.”
“I saw that on the news. Didn’t they catch the guy, and isn’t he in prison now?” I asked, my brow furrowing. Instinct had the nape of my neck tingling.
“Yeah, he is. But a week ago some guy, a Dom, tried to snatch Ferron right off the fucking street. If I hadn’t li
stened to my gut and followed him”—a shudder rippled through Isaac’s body—“fuck knows what could have happened. Anyway, it was only after that that Ferron started to open up about what had happened to him. I’m getting the impression that he was threatened so that he’d keep his mouth shut. Until recently, we’d all been under the impression that Devon was an arsehole ex who just wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Isaac stood, tension rolling off him in waves. “Believing that was bad enough, but this shit takes it to a whole new level.” He stared at me. “This whole thing has my gut telling me that Ferron wasn’t the first, and that there are others suffering the same fate.” Isaac massaged his temples.
“What a fucking mess!” I stood too, my mug rattling on the wooden table. “What do you need from me? Whatever it is, it’s yours.” I meant it. He was a brother in arms and one of my closest friends.
Isaac’s expression was one of relief, and it dawned on me just how much Ferron meant to him. “That’s what I was hoping for. Do you think your security firm would be willing to take on a new client?”
“Yes, I’m sure my boss would agree. What are you after?”
Isaac roamed the room like a caged tiger. “I’m after surveillance on the house.”
“The house? What about Ferron?”
“The only two places Ferron goes, are the club where either I’m with him or one of the other staff, and this house. He doesn’t go out alone because he’s frightened. I can protect him at work, but when he’s here and I’m not, I need to know he’s safe.”
I nodded, the coffee no longer sitting well in my stomach with the knowledge of how afraid someone had to be to want to stay inside. “When are you wanting this to happen?” I had a feeling I already knew the answer.
“As soon as. Now, if possible.”
I sighed. “Listen, I’ll talk to my boss today. I know from the last team meeting we had, that the workload is already pretty heavy, but I’m sure we can sort something out. I’ll help where I can, until things are set up. Which brings me to my news of why I’ve moved back here permanently.”