Kings of Hearts (An M/M/M Romance Novel)

by Candice Blake

“Sorry, your...phone was ringing downstairs, and I thought I’d come up to give it to you,” Harold said.

  He quickly closed the door before either of us could say anything. We heard him treading back downstairs.

  I felt blood rush to my cheeks. My ass was throbbing in pain.

  “Fuck!” Dominic finally blurted.

  I could practically hear his heart beat out of his chest. Dominic was always great at keeping his composure at the poker table, it was shocking to see him lose his cool like that.

  “How much do you think he saw?” I whispered.

  “I was mid-slap when he walked in. He probably saw everything,” Dominic said.

  “Should I go down to talk to him?” I asked.

  “And say what?”

  “I don’t know…tell him it was a misunderstanding.”

  “He’s not dumb, he knows exactly what was happening.”

  The shame I felt earlier amplified now that we were exposed.

  “You think he’ll tell the other guys?” I asked.

  “I hope not. It’ll ruin the status of this club if everyone finds out what we’re doing. I’ve vowed to myself to never sleep with my recruits.”

  I ran my hand over his shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s not your fault.”

  “Then whose fault is it?”

  “No one’s fault. What’s happened has happened. Let’s just try to solve it accordingly. I learned that from you. Play one hand at a time.”

  Dominic glanced over at me. “Maybe you’re right. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

  I leaned over to kiss Dominic on the lips. He turned off the lamp, and I closed my eyes to try to sleep. But my mind was racing with thoughts.

  The pain in my ass, which was slowly diminishing was a constant reminder of how good it had felt to be dominated by Dominic.

  I ran my fingers over my ass cheeks and felt the tender spots where he left his handprints.

  I’d been branded by Dominic.

  I thought of Harold walking in on us. I knew I had to talk to him tomorrow, hopefully before he told any of the other guys. But what the hell would I say?

  I got up from the bed and went towards the door where Harold had dropped the phone. I saw that Sawyer had called me a few times followed by a text message.

  “How are things?” He asked.

  I wanted to tell him what happened with Harold walking in on us, but I didn’t want him to worry about me.

  “Things are good, excited to see you tomorrow,” I replied to his message.

  I thought about his tender touch that was the complete opposite of Dominic’s roughness.

  More than anything, I longed to have them together at the same time again. But I knew that it would be unlikely because neither of them cared to be around each other. I was the only thing that tied them together.

  I wondered what had happened in the past that had driven them so far apart. I wondered if they had once been close, or if they had always disliked each other.

  I climbed back into bed, and closed my eyes, taking in Dominic’s familiar scent as he snored beside me.

  I crawled into his arms and he closed them around me. His deep snores rumbled and echoed in the room, lulling me to sleep.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Dominic

  I woke up with Adrian already out of my bed.

  Immediately, I thought about Harold who had seen me on top of Adrian last night. I was worried that my reputation in this club would be tarnished because of what he saw.

  After all the years of hard work to build these boys up, I felt like I failed because I couldn’t control my urges around Adrian.

  After being in my head for a long time, I finally went downstairs.

  The first person I saw was Adrian, who was at the desk by the window in the living room. He was already playing some poker games. He turned around when he heard me coming downstairs.

  I winked at him. His blonde disheveled hair was almost white in the sunlight. He looked like an angel. I noticed he was sitting on a cushion, probably because I had spanked him so hard the night before.

  “Good morning,” I greeted.

  Adrian returned my greeting with a friendly smile of his own and a head nod. Then, he focused back onto the computer screens, concentrating on the poker game he was playing.

  “Are the other boys around?” I asked.

  “No, they went out to grab some lunch because we’re out of food,” Adrian said.

  I looked in the fridge to see that it was nearly empty. I had forgotten to order more food since Adrian had moved in and there was one more mouth to feed.

  It was different to be alone in the house with just Adrian around.

  “Did you talk to Harold this morning?” I asked.

  “Kind of,” Adrian said, eyes still glued to the computer screen. “I asked him what he saw when he walked in last night.”

  “What did he see?” I asked.

  “Well, at first he kept insisting that he didn’t see anything. But I hung out in his room until he finally said that he saw you on top of me.”

  I closed my eyes and brought my hand to them.

  “I bet he’s telling the other guys right now,” I said.

  “I tried to tell him that we were just messing around, but he didn’t seem convinced,” Adrian said, after finally finishing the game he was playing.

  He swiveled his chair to look up at me.

  “Why didn’t you go with them to get lunch?” I asked. “It wouldn’t give him a chance to talk about it to the other guys.”

  “I wanted to, but I was in the middle of a tournament, and I was winning.”

  I shook my head and took a seat on the couch.

  Adrian came towards me, limping and clutching his ass before he sat down next to me.

  “Is…your ass okay?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah, just a bit sore.”

  “Let me see,” I said.

  I leaned him to the side and pulled down his sweatpants to see that my red handprints were still on them. They weren’t bruised, just a bit tender.

  “Did…I hurt you?” I asked.

  “No, it was hot. I could barely concentrate this morning because I felt my ass burning when I was sitting down,” Adrian said, with a smirk on his face.

  I looked at his innocent green eyes. I was slowly corrupting him with poker and my dirty sexual desires. A part of me hated myself for it.

  “Why do you…enjoy being spanked?” I asked.

  Adrian looked down, then back up at me. “It makes me feel something when most of the time I feel numb in this world.”

  I reached for his hand and pulled him close to me. His head resting on my chest, and I stroked his forearm gently, running my fingers through his hair.

  “Why do you enjoy spanking me?” He asked, tilting his face up towards me.

  It was a personal question and had anyone else asked, I would have shut down.

  “When I was younger, it was how my stepdad disciplined me,” I said, so quietly that I was hoping Adrian wouldn’t hear me. “Now I do it to regain my control.”

  “Disciplined you for what?” He asked.

  “Anything and everything. I would do things that I knew would piss him off. He would bend me over in the kitchen and pull my pants down and hit my bare ass. I started to disobey even more to see how far he’d go, to see him in an angry rage.”

  “Why would you want that? Sounds awful to me,” Adrian said.

  “Probably the same reason why you enjoy it. It let me feel something. I wanted to see how far he’d go to punish me. I wanted to see if he’d hate me so much that he finally kicked me out of the house.”

  “What did Sawyer do?” He asked.

  “My stepdad, which was Sawyer’s dad, would make sure Sawyer was home whenever he spanked me so that he’d witness it. One time, Sawyer was in the kitchen making a sandwich when it happened. I remembered feeling so embarrassed and ashamed when he walked in to see me bent over his dad’
s leg with my bare ass in the air.”

  “Did Sawyer do or say anything?”

  “He couldn’t. His dad was six-foot-five, taller than both of us at the time, before we grew to be just as tall. My stepdad was a police officer and a mixed martial artist, so he could take both of us at the same time if he wanted to.”

  “Did he ever spank Sawyer the way he spanked you?”

  “He never spanked Sawyer. He was the golden child, untouchable and perfect in everything he did. Even my own mother liked him more than me.”

  “Did they ever kick you out?” Adrian asked.

  “No, never. My stepdad would spank me harder, sometimes leaving bruises on my ass the next day. But he’d never kick me out no matter how hard I tried.”

  “But you kicked me out of your club,” he said, looking back down to his lap.

  “I know. You reminded me so much of myself and I didn’t want you to become just like me. So I did it, thinking that maybe I’d finally set you free from this environment. I knew that your potential was so much bigger than poker, and I wanted you to find something that was worthwhile.”

  “What are you saying? I’d be so happy to be even half the man you are. You are so generous and successful.”

  “I don’t see myself that way,” I said, shaking my head. “You’re much better off just being with Sawyer. He’s a better influence.”

  Adrian shook his head. “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but all I know is that I wish you guys would work out whatever issue you had in the past.”

  I gave Adrian a kiss on the temple. He smelled of his sweet and clean scent.

  Suddenly, we heard the door open and the other boys came inside. Adrian got up from me and sat on the opposite end of the couch before any of them saw how close we were.

  They walked in holding greasy brown paper bags with fast food inside. I felt my heart race, wondering if Harold had told the others about what happened last night.

  They walked in and gave us head nods before retreating back into their rooms to play more poker games.

  Harold came up to us.

  “I bought you guys fries and burgers if you’re hungry,” Harold said, handing his bag to Adrian.

  Adrian looked up at him, then back at me. I could see how confused Adrian looked.

  “Thanks,” Adrian said.

  “That’s very nice of you, Harold,” I said.

  Harold shrugged and gave a tight smile, then retreated back to his room.

  Adrian and I both looked at each other.

  “Maybe he didn’t say anything after all,” Adrian whispered.

  I bit my lower lip, trying to process the situation. Maybe Adrian was right.

  Harold was close with the other boys but he had always looked up to Adrian. Both Adrian and I had helped him a lot since he joined the club. Maybe it was his way of returning his loyalty.

  Adrian opened up the bag and pulled out the two burgers and handed one to me, and we ate them on the couch.

  It was always funny watching Adrian eat, the way he’d take bites that were way bigger than he could handle. He reminded me of a puppy who was constantly hungry.

  I thought about what Adrian said, about reconnecting with my former stepbrother, Sawyer.

  Maybe it would be for the better. Rather than fighting over Adrian, we could share him.

  I realized how ridiculous it was that after so many years apart, we were still fighting over something. But if anyone was worth fighting for, it was Adrian.

  Thinking about that day in the motel room made my cock hard again. It was something that I never would’ve imagined happening in a million years, but it had always been a fantasy of mine.

  Maybe Sawyer wasn’t as straight as I thought he was, or maybe Adrian’s seductiveness was too much even for him.

  I knew Sawyer and I had to hash it out. It was about time that we figured out this situation between us. He was, after all, the only real family I had left, even though we weren’t blood.

  It was time to drive Adrian back to Sawyer’s place. After dinner, when all the boys were back in their rooms, Adrian and I left my condo and I drove to Sawyer’s.

  It was weird to feel nervous because I had always been great at controlling my emotions. I felt my heartbeat in my throat, and my muscles felt tense.

  A part of me also felt a bit jealous that Sawyer was going to spend the next little while with him. I wanted Adrian all to myself, but I knew the rules of our arrangement.

  As we pulled up to his neighborhood, I was reminded of how our lives had veered away from each other in such different directions.

  Our parents would be proud to see that one of their sons was successful and holding down a job that they’d be proud of. It would make up for what I turned out to be, a college dropout who could never become the man they had in mind.

  We pulled into the driveway of his mansion and I turned the ignition off. The light was on in a room upstairs in an otherwise dark house.

  “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” Adrian said.

  “It’s okay, I want to talk to him,” I said.

  We got out and headed to the front door. Adrian knocked and we waited for Sawyer to let us in. The winter air was frigid that evening, the coldest it had ever been. I held Adrian in my arms when I noticed that he was shivering and it warmed me up a bit as well.

  We heard footsteps coming down the staircase, and finally, Sawyer opened the door. He was in a white v-neck that dipped low on his chest, and he was wearing boxer briefs that were tight and showing off his hairy legs and his bulge.

  “Hey,” he said, first looking at Adrian with a smile, obviously happy to see him.

  He barely acknowledged my presence.

  “Thanks for driving Adrian here, he’ll be alright with me,” Sawyer finally said when he noticed that I wasn’t leaving.

  Adrian gave me a hug, burrowing his face into my chest before he stepped inside. The feeling of losing him, even if it was for a short period of time, felt awful.

  “I was wondering if you had a bit of time to chat,” I said to Sawyer.

  Sawyer held the door open halfway, trying to use it as a shield for the cold wind. He adjusted his glasses, and I could tell he was thinking.

  “Sure, we can have a drink,” Sawyer said.

  I pulled a tight smile on my face and I stepped inside.

  The sudden warmth in his house stung my skin, and I noticed that it was a lot bigger inside than it looked outside.

  Everything was picture perfect, without a single thing that was out of place. I couldn’t help but compare everything he had to what I had as if I was trying to prove to myself my own worth.

  “I’m going to take a shower and bring my things up,” Adrian said.

  We both nodded and watched his perky ass bounce upstairs.

  I could feel the awkwardness and the tension between us as we stood in the foyer.

  “Do you still drink gin?” He asked.

  I nodded, and I followed him inside to the kitchen.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sawyer

  It was weird having my former stepbrother in my home. I questioned his motives and his intentions for being there.

  Adrian had given us some privacy by going upstairs to shower.

  I looked into Dominic’s eyes to try and read his facial expression. He looked less aggressive than what I was used to and he avoided my eyes as if he didn’t want any confrontation.

  Neither of us spoke as I pulled out two glasses from my cabinet and rested them on the granite counters, then I put some ice in the glasses. I poured the gin and slid the glass across the kitchen island towards him.

  “I thought you wanted to talk,” I said, in a tone that was more serious than I intended.

  I still had walls up, and reasonably so after what had happened between us in the past.

  “I do,” he said.

  Dominic was a man of few words, and he hadn’t been much of a talker, even when we were grow
ing up.

  “Listen,” Dominic said. “I know how much Adrian means to the both of us. I want to see if we can get along and try to not be so hostile towards each other.”

  “Hostile?” I echoed. “That has never been my style.”

  Dominic shook his head.

  Even I knew that I wasn’t helping by being defensive if we were going to try to resolve the conflict between us.

  I was too headstrong. I felt the need to protect Adrian from him.

  I was too selfish. I wanted Adrian all to myself. He was simply too irresistible. And because Dominic wanted him, I wanted him more.

  I knew Dominic wasn’t just here to ask for peace. He wanted me to win the young man we both sought after.

  “I know you never liked me growing up, and I never knew why,” Dominic said.

  I took a sip of the gin that tasted as bitter as the memories we had together.

  “That’s not true,” I said. “I was jealous of you.”

  “Jealous?” He echoed. “Of what?”

  I met his surprised gaze. “You really don’t know?”

  He shook his head.

  “I was jealous that you were never given any responsibility,” I said. “Our parents just let you roam free and explore when I always had to carry all the weight. I was under a lot of pressure to maintain my grades, while you went out drinking underage. I had to go to family gatherings and act as if I wanted to be there while you were exploring your wonderful teenage years.”

  “I always thought that you enjoyed that. I didn’t know that it was a chore for you.”

  “Of course it was a chore. No teenager wants to do those things. I did it because I had to.”

  “But our parents respected you. Your dad and my mom loved you more than they ever loved me,” he said.

  I sensed a softness in his voice that I’d never heard before. His low grizzly voice was surprisingly vulnerable. He was looking for some answers that neither of us wanted to dig up.

  “If they didn’t love you, they’d never have let you spend all that time living your life and be the free spirit you are,” I said. “They’d never have let you be whoever you wanted to be while they put me in a mold of what they wanted me to be.”