by Katee Robert
“Silly them.”
She gives me a sharp smile and then focuses on Jasmine. “Come for me, pretty girl. I have a long night ahead of me, and your pussy clenching around my fingers when you come is going to get me through it.”
I’m blushing again, but it’s not desire. It’s a toxic combination of embarrassment and anger. Meg might not be putting this show on for me—I’m not delusional—but she’s allowing it to be punishment in its own way. I cross my arms over my chest. “By all means, take your fucking time.”
For the first time since I walked up to the table, she lets what she’s really feeling filter into her blue eyes. Anger. Hurt. Desire. “Don’t worry, little Hercules. I will.”
Chapter 17
Meg
The words barely leave my mouth when Jafar intervenes. He catches my wrist and carefully extracts my hand from between Jasmine’s thighs. “That’s about enough of that.” He gives me a long look. “Go deal with your shit, Meg. She’s not your toy to use to prove a point.”
I start to protest that I know that, that Jasmine’s special to me, even if it’s a friendship that occasionally allows for insanely hot fucking. But ultimately, he’s her Dom and he’s right. I might have started this little tease with her at the center of my motivation, but the second Hercules walked up, everything shifted.
Jafar readjusts Jasmine’s dress to cover her breasts. She makes a protesting sound, but he leans down and gives her a quick kiss. “We’ll go to your favorite room in back.”
“The study?” Just like that, she doesn’t seem all that concerned that I left her hanging. She twists to face him fully. “Right now?”
“Yes, baby girl. Right now.”
I scoot out of the booth and move so they can do the same. Something akin to jealousy sours my stomach as Jafar takes Jasmine’s hand and leads her to the door that will take them deeper into the Underworld. They’re headed to the private room designed just like an upscale study, but if I know them—and I do—they’ll allow for an audience. If Jafar is in the mood, maybe even some outside participation. He knows what Jasmine wants, what she needs, and he never hesitates to provide.
“Meg.”
I forget, for half a second, that Hercules stands at my side. A living reminder of how little control I have in my own life, of how little my needs matter. Hades plays his games. Hercules obeys, no matter the cost. Where does that leave me? Scrambling to patch up the heart that Hades keeps shredding, over and over again. Every time he turns away instead of reaching out to me, it’s like Declan abandoning me but a thousand times worse because I was infatuated with Declan. I love Hades. I love him so much I stay despite the tiny cuts he deals out during every conversation, unintentionally or not. I swallow hard, hating the burning in my throat. “Let’s go.”
Another night, another scene with Hades as he draws Hercules deeper. I shouldn’t resent the man walking at my back for holding so much of my lover’s attention, but it’s hard not to feel like they’re leaving me out in the cold. Maybe not physically, but emotionally. I should be used to it by now. Hades and I are too broken. We guard our jagged pieces like junkyard dogs with their dubious treasure. I can’t remember the last time I let myself be truly vulnerable, so I guess I’m as much to blame as he is. That knowledge doesn’t cheer me in the least.
Hercules doesn’t speak until he closes the door to Hades’s public office behind us. “You’re mad at me.”
Mad. Hurt. Too raw to admit to any of it. It’s not fair to be angry with Hercules for being privy to a part of Hades that used to be mine alone. Maybe it’s not even fair to be angry with Hades about it, either. Relationships change. Maybe I’m the one to blame, the one who’s too stubborn and stupid to let go of something that’s no longer working. The one hanging on when it’s pretty damn obvious I’m being replaced.
I sound more tired than angry when I say, “Hardly. You’re being a good little submissive. The best Hades could ask for. Who am I to complain?”
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
He touches my shoulder. Of course he does. Requesting, always polite to the bitter end. Never grabbing, never demanding. I want to rail against him, but it’s just who Hercules is. I allow him to turn me to face him, and then I can’t help but drink in the sight of him. His body is sun-kissed carved stone, and it’s revealed in all its glory by the tiny shorts that barely cover his cock and ass. The collar around his thick neck thrills me even as I tell myself not to feel that way.
He’s not mine, not really.
He belongs to Hades.
I finally get to his blue eyes, and I rock back on my heels at the anger in them. Hercules drops his hand from my shoulder. “What the fuck was that?”
“What the fuck was what?”
“I know you’re pissed about earlier, but shoving Jasmine in my face felt shitty.”
A curious static rolls over my thoughts. I straighten. “What makes you think my finger-fucking Jasmine has anything to do with you whatsoever? I wanted her. End of story.”
“Maybe it started out that way. But the second I showed up, you did it to punish me. To hurt me.”
He’s a little right, but I’m not about to admit it. “I hate to be the one to have to explain this to you, but not everything I do has the slightest thing to do with you.”
But he’s not listening. Hercules leans down, his expression intent. “You’re furious at me.”
Something snaps in my chest. All my years of learning to control my words and expressions and this man cuts through my efforts without even trying. Anyone else in this building would be content to let me have my masks. Hades is content to let me lie when it suits him, to lock away the messy emotions.
Not Hercules. He just keeps poking and prodding until I feel like I’m going mad with it. I drag my fingers through my hair. “Of course I’m furious at you, you asshole! You rejected me, and it hurt.” The truth, stark and startling, colors the air between us.
“There you are.” He doesn’t move back, but some of his anger seems to abate. “I was following orders, Meg.”
Now that I’ve let slip a little transparency, I can’t seem to stop. “That’s bullshit. You chose Hades over me. That’s what you were doing.”
He jerks like I’ve struck him. “Is that what you really think?”
“That’s what really happened, so yes, Hercules, that’s exactly what I think. Because it’s the truth.”
He studies me, suddenly looking steadier than I’ve seen him since we met. Hercules shakes his head. “You’re upset about the rejection, but it’s more than that.”
Damn him. Damn him for seeing me even when I don’t want him to. I take a step back, but I can’t stop the words that are pressing against the inside of my lips. Words not meant for him, but that doesn’t seem to matter. “He’s replacing me.”
“What?”
My damn eyes are burning again, but I won’t let a single tear fall. “Hades told you what his plans are.”
Guilt flares on his expressive face. “Not exactly.”
“But he told you why he picked you.”
“Yes.”
It’s nothing more than I already suspected, nothing more than he’d already confirmed, but each word is a blow to my crumbling walls. I feel like a fool for thinking Hades and I could fix our relationship while Hades was scouring for someone to fill the shoes I used to walk in. “It’s been years since Hades told me even that much. He lets you in when he shuts me out. Hard to misconstrue that.”
He’s already shaking his head before the last word is out of my mouth. “You’re wrong. He loves you.”
“He used to.” I take a step back. “I’m going to go. You and Hades can continue your little love fest without using me as a buffer.”
A buffer. That’s exactly what I am to them. A way for Hades to avoid admitting that he wants Hercules. A way for Hercules to keep his pride even though he wants Hades back just as much. As soon as they get past that particular hur
dle, they won’t need me at all and they’ll discard me just like Declan did.
I. Am. Done.
I manage one step before Hercules’s big hand closes around my upper arm. “Wait.”
“Fuck off.”
He hauls me to a stop. “You’re not a buffer.”
“Sweet of you to say, but that’s bullshit.” The burning in my throat is back, stronger than before. I have to get out of here, and I have to do it now. “Let go, Hercules.”
“What’s your safe word?”
The question shocks me to stillness. I look up into his face, but this man is nothing like the one I’ve dealt with to date. He’s downright forbidding. Something in my stomach flips over in a way that isn’t entirely unpleasant. “Cerberus,” I whisper.
He jerks me to him, the momentum slamming me against his chest. There’s no chance to catch my footing because he takes my mouth as if he has every right to it. There’s no tenderness here, just a special kind of brutality that’s so much better. He bands one arm across my lower back and drags me backward to Hades’s desk. I barely get a second to register his intentions when he lifts me onto the desk. “Hercules, wait.”
He hesitates, but seems to remember that no isn’t really a no. Not when you play like we do. His expression goes wild and almost desperate, and he shoves up my short skirt and pushes my legs wide. “I want you, Meg. I fucking care about you. If you won’t listen to my words, then you will listen to my body as I fuck you senseless.” He steps between my thighs and stops. “Condom.”
Now’s the time to put the brakes on. To stop this before Hades shows up, because this is not explicitly sanctioned.
I can’t remember the last time someone wanted me enough to lose control, to throw caution to the wind and ignore the consequences. It’s a heady feeling, and I don’t want it to stop. I don’t want him to stop. I need this connection more than I can put into words.
I reach up with a shaking hand and cup Hercules’s hard jaw. “Your tests came back today. You’re good. I am too, and I’m on birth control.”
His eyes go dark. “No condom?”
“No condom,” I whisper.
I wrap a fist around his cock and drag him across my pussy. Teasing us both. Spreading my wetness around. I can’t help making a frustrated noise even though I’m the one responsible. I wasn’t sure I wanted to cross this line, but now that we’re dancing across the point of no return, I want it now. Hercules seems to feel the same way. He covers my hand with his and notches his cock at my entrance. He holds my gaze as he pushes into me in a smooth, steady move. Not slow enough for my body to fully adjust, but not harshly either. My breath catches in my throat.
“I should thank Jasmine.”
I blink up at him. “What?”
He pulls out just a little and catches the backs of my thighs. As he thrusts back into me, he jerks me forward to the very edge of the desk, sending his cock impossibly deep. “Playing with her got you ready for me.”
I have no intention of indulging this thread of conversation, but somehow I find myself asking, “Does it bother you? Me with other people?” I don’t want his answer to matter, but it does.
There’s so much raw emotion on his face that I almost look away. It’s too much. Too honest. “Only when you do it intentionally to hurt me.”
My breath whooshes out, and then there’s no more space for words between us. Hercules presses me back onto the deck and begins to move, fucking me in long, sure strokes. We should be all furtive movements and frenzied orgasms, but he seems intent on doing this on his own timeline and somehow that makes it a thousand times hotter. I reach over my head and cling to the edge of the desk, bracing myself so I can rise to meet his thrusts.
I don’t even hear the door open. I don’t realize we’re no longer alone until Hades’s low chuckle coats the space around us, constricting the office and threatening to suffocate me. Hercules freezes mid-thrust. His blue eyes go wide, and we both turn to find Hades leaning against the door with his hands in his pockets.
He raises an eyebrow. “Don’t stop on my account.” There’s no amusement in his tone. It’s cold. So fucking cold. Retribution is coming, and my traitorous heart is thrilled by it. Maybe I shouldn’t love these painful games with Hades, but I can’t seem to help myself. His punishments are just as much proof of his love as his rewards are. No matter how angry I am at him in any given moment, I still crave his attention with all the ferocity of a flower craving the sun. It’s a desperation I don’t know how to banish. In my darkest moments, I can admit that I don’t want to.
Hercules’s hand spasms on my hip. “Hades—”
He pushes off the door, and my heart crashes in my chest at the sight of him stalking toward us. The warning is all in his smooth movements, in the way his dark eyes take in every detail of this scene, of the way we’ve both intentionally broken his command. “Hercules.” He speaks softly. “If you don’t finish fucking her, I’m going to take her out into the public play room and let anyone who’s interested do it for you. Your choice.”
He will. He’s done it before, and I’ve loved every second of it. There’s something so incredibly freeing in Hades choosing for me, in his allowing others to act the part of his will with their hands and mouths and cocks. Even when pleasure becomes too much, when I beg for it to stop, he takes me to the very edge before he brings me down. I know this game.
Hercules doesn’t.
He grips my shoulder and drives into me again. Harder. Deeper. Fucking me just shy of violently. His expression is tormented and yet he watches my face with an intensity that has me sliding closer to orgasm. Punishing me the same way Hades will punish us shortly. I love it. I reach down with one hand and stroke my clit, a light touch that contrasts with his rough thrusts. Pleasure rises in a wave and I turn my head enough to see Hades too. He’s taken a seat on the couch and watches us with a still expression that does nothing to mask the heat in his eyes.
I’m so close…
Hercules pulls out of me and yanks me off the desk. I have a moment of vertigo as he hauls me around the desk and bends me over it. I understand immediately. From this new angle, we can both hold Hades’s gaze. Hercules kicks my feet wide and then he’s inside me again. I moan and thrust back against him, taking him deeper yet. He runs a hand down my spine, hot and possessive, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that he’s glaring at Hades as if he can truly mark his territory on me like this. It doesn’t work that way. Hades owns both of us. But I enjoy being the bone between them, just in this moment, just in this scene.
Hades leans forward and props his elbows on his knees, watching closely. “Are you trying to prove a point, little Hercules?”
Hercules snakes a hand around my hip and strokes my clit, touching me softly there even as he drives into me. “Giving you a show, Sir. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” He sounds like he’s speaking through clenched teeth.
Maybe I was wrong. Hercules didn’t know how to play the game when he arrived a few days ago, but he’s learning fast. My pleasure coils tighter and tighter. I want to hold out, to spin out this moment between the three of us forever so we never have to reach the other side and the pain that awaits us there. An impossible feat. Hercules presses hard on my clit and my orgasm hits me with a strength that leaves me breathless. My mind goes blessedly, perfectly blank. I cry out and slam back into him, determined to take him with me. Apparently he has the same idea. His strokes go short and rougher yet, and then he’s growling my name and grinding into me as he comes.
“Now we can begin.”
I lift my cheek from the desk, not even sure when I dropped my head to the cool wood. “Should I say sorry?”
“You’re not sorry.” Hades pushes to his feet and stalks around the desk to us. “My orders are not complicated, you two. In fact, I laid down exactly one instruction and you managed to disobey it within twelve hours. I would be impressed if I weren’t so disappointed.”
Hercules presses a kiss to the back
of my neck and slides out of me. “It was my fault.”
“Of that, I have my doubts.” Hades snaps his fingers and Hercules moves to kneel at his feet. He barely looks at the man as he continues toward me. “My Meg is quite the troublemaker.”
I force my limbs to move and shift to sit on the desk. “More like I’m just craving your attention.” I don’t mean to say it. Instead of coming out bratty, the words have a ring of truth that bares me to my very soul.
My dress is still up around my hips, and I know I look a mess. I hold Hades’s gaze as he closes the distance between us. He gives me a small smile. “Have fun, love?”
Fun? This little tango I’m doing with the two of them is many things, but I wouldn’t call it fun. A week ago, I would have smiled and made a biting response. I don’t have it in me tonight. I lift my chin. “He gave me what I need.”
Hades goes still at that. His dark eyes take in every bit of me, seeming to dig beneath my skin, though muscle and bone, to my very soul. “Did he?” he says slowly.
Alarms peal through my head, but I’ve gone too far to back down. “You’ve been focused on other things.” Things he’s not including me in. Plans that he no longer details out for me with relish. He’s shut me out and we both know it. I want so desperately for that not to be the case. I can’t quite manage to voice those words, but I tell him with my eyes. Hades reads me better than anyone. He has to see all the things I can’t make myself speak aloud. He has to.
“Ah, Meg.” He smooths my hair back with both hands and lets them linger on my shoulders, caressing my collarbones. Something soft and warm flares in his gaze, there and gone so fast I’m half sure I imagine it. “Who do you think set Hercules on the path that ended up with him here, throwing caution to the wind for you and you alone?”
I expect him to say a lot of things. This doesn’t number among them. “What?”
Hades’s smile is more than a little bittersweet, but it’s real. “I meant it when I said he was a gift, love. Your gift.” He brushes his thumb across my bottom lip. “A peace offering, if you will.”