by Lexi Blake
“How often does she go out?”
Cole had to think about that. “We’ve gone to The Club several times, and Julian’s for dinner.”
Mason continued to push. “How often does she go out by herself? I’m not talking about The Club. It’s obviously her safe place. I’m talking about going shopping and to the movies with her friends. Does she go out when you’re not with her?”
He went back over the last month in his head. “With the exception of yesterday, no. She insisted on having a car at her disposal, but as far as I know she never used it before yesterday. I’m not trying to keep her a prisoner.”
“I know you’re not, but you’re also not exactly a social butterfly. You prefer to stay in, to be insular.”
“I work all day.”
“And a lot of nights.”
He hated the guilt that was starting to swirl inside him. “The business requires my attention. You know that.”
Mason sat back. “So Kitten’s left here with Ms. Hamilton, who will never accept her. She won’t accept anyone except Emily. She would greatly prefer you were alone, mourning your lost love.”
Guilt washed over him. He was trying to do what was right, but he seemed to be failing again. “What would you do?”
“Spend more time with her. Engage her. She likes to be needed, and not in a wash-the-dishes way. Kitten needs to feel important, but she’d fight it, too. She’s been taught to negate herself. I’m sure therapy has helped but she’ll likely always have to be reminded that you don’t read minds.” Mason stilled for a moment. “I could teach her. I could teach her how to be your sub. If there’s one thing in the world I understand, it’s how to handle you.”
Cole suddenly understood what it meant to be Adam, or perhaps Eve, because that was a juicy apple Mason had offered and one he wasn’t sure he wanted to resist. Sitting across from Mason reminded him of what a hole he’d left in Cole’s life. The years without Mason played through his head. Pure drudgery. Life had become a daily chore. He’d thought signing a contract with Kitten would bring him out of it, and in some ways it had. He looked forward to his time with her, but there was an awkwardness to it. He was worried if something didn’t change that she would walk away and he would regret that for the rest of his life.
He might regret this as well, but it was far better to regret than to stay in this numb state. “It’s a deal.”
Mason grinned and Cole had to wonder if his deal hadn’t been made with a devil. A gorgeous, sexy, love-of-his-life devil.
Chapter Eight
“So Mason’s back and he’s staying here and he’s watching after you.” Tara frowned as she looked at the men sitting out on the balcony of the Dawson family condo. Ben and Chase were talking to Cole and Mason, each man sitting in their chairs like they were kings on thrones. The Dawson home was one floor under Julian Lodge’s, the penthouse suite Kitten had lived in for years. She’d thought nothing could be nicer, but she preferred Cole’s home. There was a certain lived-in feel to many of the rooms. Oh, some of them were kept in museum-like quality, but the rooms like the den, with its big TV and comfy couch, were so nice. They felt like the home she’d never had.
“Actually, I’ve watched after him the last couple of days,” Kitten replied, though she knew what the truth was. Mason would top her when he felt well enough. He would be her Master when the Master was at work.
Why did her nipples get hard at the thought?
Nat leaned forward, catching a glimpse of Mason through the window. “But he’s a switch.”
“Yes.” Kitten gave Nat a grin. “He is.”
Nat’s eyes widened in one of those expressions that let Kitten know she’d been looking for more of a response. Kitten liked to keep things simple.
Nat shook her head. “Come on. There has to be more to that story. You’ve spent months with Cole and this is the first time I’ve really seen you smile. That has to be about the new guy. What is going on between you and Hottie McHotterson?”
Kitten sighed as she looked out on the balcony to make sure her Master couldn’t hear her. She didn’t want to make him feel bad. “Mason is a lot of fun.”
It wasn’t that Cole wasn’t a lot of fun. It was different fun. Cole was quieter, more circumspect. He was serious. Mason made her smile. Constantly. Mason teased her. There were only a few times when she wondered if there was something dark in Mason. Just sometimes, she would find him staring Cole’s way with deep intent.
And then he would turn and catch sight of her and his whole face would change and it was like the sun came out again.
“Mason is a lot of trouble,” Tara said with a frown. “Don’t get me wrong. I like Mason. I always did. You never met him before? He was at The Club while you were there.”
Nat shook her head. “Julian kept us out of the actual club portion of The Club for two and a half years. We worked in his businesses, but mostly we went to therapy and got reintegrated into the world.”
It had been a frustrating time. She’d only met the closest of Julian’s friends, his inner circle. She’d been so curious and he’d forced her to keep her interactions with the lifestyle to a minimum. She’d been allowed to study and had attended a few small play parties, but no Club for her until Julian allowed it. Otherwise, she might have met Cole and Mason before now and she would have known their story.
“Well, Mason’s a sweetheart, but there’s a nasty history there,” Tara explained.
A history that had to do with Emily. She’d tried to be good, but the curiosity was killing her. “They seem to be getting along now.”
Nat’s eyes narrowed. “Are you serious? You’re not going to ask?” She turned to Tara. “Fine, if she won’t ask, I will. Spill.”
A small smile curved up Tara’s lips. “That wasn’t exactly asking, but you know I love to help out. Don’t tell Darin. I’m not allowed to gossip, but this is something I think you need to know, Kitten. And you won’t ever ask.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to know. It’s that my Master would probably like to be the one to tell me.” Her mind swirled with ideas. There was always a way around orders. And he hadn’t actually ordered her to not talk about this. “Nat needs to know though. I think you should tell Nat. I will simply sit here because I find myself tired.”
Tara laughed. “You do that, hon. So Mason and Cole were an item forever. Like they got together as teens. They joined The Club when they were in their early twenties. They almost immediately found a girl.”
“They?” Kitten sat up straight because that was a bit of gossip she hadn’t thought she’d hear.
Tara stared at her. “Should I answer you directly or will that get you in trouble?”
Nat sat forward. “I’ll take this one. They?”
Tara nodded. “Yes. The rumors are they got together as kids but by the time they were in college, they were finding girlfriends, so to speak.”
What did “so to speak” mean? Why couldn’t she speak without the so? Frustration welled, but she had to stay somewhat close to the letter of her contract and that included no gossip. She couldn’t fool herself. This was definitely gossip. But the contract didn’t state that she couldn’t be in the room with gossipers.
“So they found their first permanent girl in Colorado,” Tara continued. “Cole spends about half the year there. They brought her back to Texas and she served as their sub for a year or so.”
Their sub? Mason was supposed to top her when Cole wasn’t around, but there was something about the way Tara said that word that made her think it was more than topping.
“Is she all right?” Tara asked.
Nat waved her off. “That’s her ‘I want to do or say something I shouldn’t, but I’m too subby to do it’ face.”
“I have one of those?” She’d been utterly unaware. She tried to appear placid at all times.
Nat laughed. “Oh, you so have one of those. So, what happened to the first chick who got between those hunks?”
Kitten felt he
r hands curl into fists. Being quiet was so hard, but she really would be gossiping if she blurted out that Nat was wrong because Mason was gay. Maybe Master Mason didn’t want anyone to know.
“She left after a while and it became apparent to the rest of us that the core of the relationship was the guys. The girls kind of came and went. Until Cole took in Emily.” Emily’s name came out of Tara’s mouth with an ominous tone.
Kitten stilled. She knew so little. Cole didn’t speak of it. Mason hadn’t opened up, and she didn’t feel it was her place to ask.
“I’ve heard Chase talk about her in an unfriendly way, though he’s kind of a misanthropic bastard, so I discount most of what he says,” Nat allowed. “Now, Ben on the other hand, hated her as well. I have to wonder what she was like.”
Tara snorted. “She was a righteous bitch. The other subs they brought to the club were all right, but Emily had issues. I think that’s why Cole picked her. Somewhere along the way he got it in his head that he could help subs with their problems. It’s like he needs to be needed.”
She could certainly see that. She had a million questions about Emily. How had she met them? Had they loved her? Did they still mourn her?
Damn it, she hated being good.
“Was she in therapy?” Nat asked, not going to the place Kitten wanted to go.
Tara shook her head. “Oh, no. That was where Cole was plain wrong. He seemed to think that her problems could be cured with discipline and firmly placed boundaries, but she was a crazy bitch. She was the type who would smile and simper around the men most of the time and the minute they turned their backs she would be a raging bitch to the women. The queen bee of the subs. She was also reckless. She had several car accidents during their time together. She would always say she drove like she lived—fast and with no consideration for others. And yes, she would say the last part. That’s the kind of woman she was.”
She sounded quite dreadful.
“And Cole put up with it?” Nat asked.
“Cole disciplined her, of course. The trouble was Emily was a pain slut. Oh, she cried at all the right times. She was a phenomenal actress, but she liked even the non-erotic discipline and Cole would never withhold affection. The only time he seemed to actually get her behavior to change was when he withheld the credit cards. Then she acted sweet as pie until she got them back. She had Cole fooled.” Tara took a sip of her water. “Mason, on the other hand, saw right through her.”
“But he slept with her?” Nat asked.
Kitten couldn’t help but squirm. She wanted to know the answer to that question.
Tara shrugged. “I have no idea how it worked. They were very circumspect on the dungeon floor. I know that at the end, Cole and Mason fought a lot about her. Mason wanted her gone. Which is why some people worried that he let her get drunk at that party.”
Master Mason wouldn’t do such a thing. Would he?
Nat leaned in, her voice going low. “Are you serious? They think he killed her?”
Tara shrugged. “There was a rumor. I don’t believe it and neither does Darin. Darin’s seen the worst of humanity, trust me. He can’t buy that Mason would purposefully do it. What I can buy is that Mason was so miserable at the end that he got drunk himself and Emily took advantage of it.”
It was killing her not to talk. She had so many questions and not enough answers. Was the relationship between Cole and Mason and Emily similar to the one Cole had laid out for her? Was Mason supposed to be Emily’s second Master? Was he supposed to be her playmate? How had Mason handled sharing his lover with someone he hadn’t even liked?
“So let me get this straight,” Nat began. “Emily died in a car accident and Cole blamed Mason?”
“I believe so,” Tara replied. “Again, Cole isn’t one to talk. All I know is he returned from Colorado utterly broken. Julian flew up for the funeral and brought him back down and Mason wasn’t with him. He holed up in his house for a year or so before he came back to The Club. I know everyone was worried about him.”
But they weren’t worried about Mason?
“They were worried about Cole and not Mason?” Thank god for Nat.
Tara’s expression turned grim. “Not at all. We were all worried about Mason, but he pushed us away. I tried calling him many times and he wouldn’t answer. I finally stopped after he disconnected his phone.”
Kitten wasn’t sure he’d disconnected it. She would bet turning off his phone service hadn’t been Mason’s idea. As far as she could tell, Master Mason didn’t have much money. If he’d lived with Cole, he’d likely gotten used to it, and to be poor again had to have hurt his pride.
He’d likely not talked to anyone because of a wounded ego.
“Do you think he felt guilty?” Nat asked.
Tara sighed. “All I know is Mason seemed unhappy at the end. He was always the type who could light up a room, but fighting with Cole about Emily seemed to dim him somehow. When he walked in this afternoon and he smiled, that was the first time I’ve seen Mason be Mason in years. I worried he was gone forever. I guess I thought he’d probably moved out of the city.”
Nat turned to her. “Come on, Kitten. It’s your turn. It’s not gossip. It’s facts. Did Mason leave?”
It wasn’t gossip. She was merely answering a question for a friend. She was supposed to be helpful, right? “I think he’s been here in Dallas the whole time.”
“But he hasn’t been to The Club. He hasn’t seen any of his old friends,” Tara said. “Marcy and Mason and I used to be close.”
This was gossip because she wasn’t sure it was true. But Tara seemed upset. Gossip or let a friend hurt? Sometimes being a submissive was difficult, but then she was the one who had to live with herself. “I think he was ashamed. I don’t know everything certainly, but I do know he lost his job when he and the Master split up.”
Nat gave her a smile of encouragement. “See, I knew you could do it. It’s easy.”
“I’m only speaking about it because Tara seemed sad,” she explained. “I don’t think he wanted to lose you as a friend. I believe he thought everything had fallen apart and he likely didn’t want to bring you in.”
Tara nodded and her eyes drifted to the balcony. “Well, I would have helped him. I loved Mason. He was a sweetheart. I never agreed with what Cole did to him. It was cruel no matter what he thought Mason had done.”
Oh, she wanted to know about that, too.
Nat sighed. “What did Cole do? She won’t ask.”
Tara let her eyes drift back. “Don’t judge her too harshly, Nat. We’re both comfortable in our relationships. Hers is new. She can’t be sure if she’ll be spanked or shown the door, and I think that’s what she’s really afraid of.”
If she wasn’t good, she wouldn’t be allowed to stay. That was how it had always been. It was why she had to be careful. She didn’t want to fail again. She wouldn’t have anywhere to go.
Was that how Mason had felt?
“Cole was very angry. He got Mason fired and then made sure he couldn’t find another job,” Tara explained.
“Master Cole wouldn’t do that.” She said it with certainty. Maybe she hadn’t known him for long, but she couldn’t see him taking revenge in that way. He could ask Mason to leave, but he wouldn’t throw him to the street with nothing to live on.
A single brow arched over Tara’s eyes. “I heard all about it. I work for a law firm, and every firm in town was warned away from him. From what I understand there was a letter and it came from Cole’s address.”
She didn’t like that thought, but Tara wouldn’t lie. “From his home address?”
“No, it was an e-mail,” Tara replied. “But it was from Cole’s private e-mail address.”
She still wasn’t sure. Master Cole didn’t strike her as vindictive. He’d been patient with her. He had rules, of course, and if she broke too many, he would end the relationship, but she doubted he would try to ruin her. She’d met truly horrible people in her time, and Cole didn�
�t strike her as one of them.
“Why would he let Mason back in?” Kitten heard herself saying.
She was only thinking out loud. It wasn’t her fault if someone actually answered her.
“I don’t know. I would have bet Cole would never have spoken to him again,” Tara mused. “But then there was always crazy heat between those two. Maybe Cole’s calmed down and figured out it was a mistake. What surprises me is that Mason forgave him.”
Had he? There was something in the way Mason looked at Cole from time to time. When he thought no one was looking, Mason seemed almost predatory. He scared her a bit in those moments, but he intrigued her far more. And she’d caught him looking longingly at Cole as well. He seemed almost embarrassed at those times. She’d watched him walk through the house the afternoon before. He would stop and touch things and a soft smile would hit his face as though the memory warmed him.
They had such history between them. Could she ever compete with that?
And why did she even think of the word compete? She wasn’t competing. She was their sub. She didn’t have to compete. She merely had to serve her Masters and then she would belong.
Nat belonged to her husbands even when she misbehaved. She’d seen Master Chase roll his eyes and call Nat a brat and let her get away with next to murder.
But Cole and Mason weren’t her husbands and never would be. She wasn’t meant to be a wife. She was meant to be a sub and she’d found her place.
She would be happy with it.
She would. It was just another choice to be made. Kitten was happy. She was. I am.
And happiness meant accepting things the way they were.
Didn’t it?
“What’s she doing?” Tara whispered.
Nat held out a hand. “That’s her ‘I’m reasoning my way through a problem but will likely still come to the wrong decision’ face.”
She frowned. “I know I don’t have one of those, Nat.”
“Oh, you so do.” Nat slipped a hand in hers. “What were you thinking about?”