I WATCH LONDON SAUNTER CONFIDENTLY out of her room in nothing more than a skimpy pair of underwear and a leather collar.
There is so much fire in that redhead she leaves a trail of embers wherever she goes. Wearing her past like a pair of stilettos—regardless of how much it hurts, the only thing you ever see is the beauty in her stride.
Her strength leaves me in awe.
It’s what drew me to her that very first day and keeps me coming back.
She may wear the collar, but I’m the trained dog, pining for my owner once she’s gone.
To kill time, I check on the girls, Javier, and Jenna. Everything is calm for the time being, but every day Javier is here is another day of veiled tension. I’m beginning to think this whole situation is just a ruse. A cat and mouse chase with no foreseeable ending in sight.
A shitty waste of time.
I shut myself in my room and pull out a long piece of soft rope from the nightstand. It has become mine and London’s personal toy box. I keep everything I love to play with her within here.
I lounge on my bed threading the white rope through my fingers over and over as the anticipation builds.
Her words replay like a tune in my head. “You’ve always given me a choice, and that makes me freer than any bird.”
I haven’t even begun to set her free. Oppressed in this environment, I can’t crack open our relationship the way I truly want. Secrets will always divide us, and the truth could potentially destroy us.
All four of us—me, Kayne, Ellie, London—are navigating a similar path. Our hearts are at stake. Our relationships are hanging in the balance, and no one has the foresight to predict if we’ll make it out alive.
I would gladly trade my life for any of theirs. That’s who I am. It’s who I’ve always been. My career may have taken a turn for the worse, but my character remained the same.
The door creaks open, catching me off guard. An hourglass figure sways in the shadows before crouching to the floor. Her curves hit me like a drug. My cock stands at attention as the naked redhead crawls across the room on all fours like a pampered house cat.
I watch as she makes her way around the bed, coming to sit by the edge like a pet. My whole body throbs from her willing submission. Every valve in my heart pumping faster from the emotions she elicits. I leave her be. Appreciating the placidity and the expectation of what’s to come.
London just sits, patiently waiting, handing over complete control. I wait as long as I can. As long as my need will allow before sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. She’s positioned perfectly between my thighs, a self-possessed anticipation radiating off her body.
“Hands,” I demand.
Without delay, London raises her arms and places her hands on my lap. Slowly and meticulously, I begin to wrap the rope around her wrists in layers, binding them tighter with an intricate knot. Bondage is so much more than whips and chains and submission. It’s a soldering of souls. An exchange of trust. London has never trusted anyone in her life, yet here she is handing herself over freely to me. She doesn’t know half the truth of what’s really happening under this roof, or who I really am. Relying only on blind faith and my word as I begged her to do. If that’s not strength, I don’t know what is.
“Look at me.” London lifts only her eyes. “Were you a good girl for Kayne?”
“Yes, Jett.” Her reply is sultry. I tug on the rope, drawing her onto the bed.
“Tell me everything that happened.” I manipulate her body like a marionette, rolling her onto her side and positioning her bound hands over her head so I can secure the remainder of the rope to one of the iron posts of my bed. In this position, I have an unobstructed view of her bare body in the mirrored wall and access to every single erogenous zone.
Stripping out of my clothes, I lay behind her, pressing my bare body flush against hers. Her skin is hot and smells like sex. I inhale, the scent sending my senses into a frenzy. “Tell me,” I urge again, massaging one of her breasts. “Did she like you?”
“I think so.” London sighs rapturously.
“Did she touch you?” I pluck at her nipple.
“Yes. She was shy at first.” London arches. “But Kayne encouraged her. When he was domineering, she listened.”
“She’s a good little kitten, just like you’re a good little bird.” My hand travels south. “What else happened?” I open her legs, draping her right one over my thigh.
“Kayne made me pleasure her.”
“Like this?” I stroke her clit, watching her reaction in the mirror.
“No.”
“How then?”
“I rubbed her breasts, sucked on her nipples, then licked her pussy.” God, the images.
I sink one finger into her entrance, and we both expel a moan. She’s still so fucking wet.
“Did she taste good?” I finger her slowly, watching my knuckle disappear then reappear in the reflection.
“Yes. She was so sweet.” London flexes her hips, her ass rubbing against my aching cock while she languidly rides my finger.
“Like sugar?” I question seductively.
“Sweeter than sugar.”
“There’s no such thing.” I swirl my tongue against her shoulder as I spread her wetness around her clit and over the outside of each bare fold. My fingertips gliding easily over her slick skin as she squirms in her restraint.
“Did she like you licking her?” I continue.
“Yes. She was moaning.”
“Did you make her come?” I sink two fingers deep inside her.
“No,” London gasps.
“Why not?”
“Kayne stopped me.”
“What happened after that?” I continue my assault on her body, compulsively watching her through the mirror as I suck on her skin right beneath her collar.
“I laid on the floor and spread my legs.” Oh fuck, my cock stiffens as precome leaks from the head. I smear it across her lower back as I ask, “Then what?”
“She ate me out. Right on the carpet, while Kayne watched.”
The thought of Ellie with her head between London’s legs has me panting. Has me salivating with lust and starving for pussy.
“Did her tongue feel good all over your clit?” I withdraw my hand and suck the honey right off my fingers.
“It was so good.” London mewls, empty and frustrated. “I wish you were there.”
“Why?”
“So you could fuck me while she licked me all up.”
Game over.
“I’ll fuck you right now.” I hook my arm over her thigh and surge my cock into her sopping wet entrance. We both strain from the force. The feeling of ecstasy so potent we both become eclipsed in a tail spin.
“Watch me.” I seize her collar. “Watch me take you.” Helpless and bound, London cracks opens her eyes and watches the reflection of my glistening shaft rapidly pounding into her body. “You belong to me,” I snarl, our bare, sweaty skin slapping together as I stake my claim.
“Say it.” I spank her, leaving an angry red handprint on her ass cheek.
“I belong to you.” The words come out in a rush as her pussy clamps down excruciatingly on my cock.
“You like that, don’t you? You like being owned.” I clench my jaw as she squeezes the shit out me.
“I like that you own me,” she fights breathlessly to answer.
“I do fucking own you. You’re mine for life.” An empowering tidal wave of possession crashes over me as my pulsating erection amplifies. I toss London onto her stomach, the rope twisting as I pull her ass into the air. In this position she’s completely helpless, completely vulnerable, and completely mine.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I put a punishing on both our bodies as her pussy contracts tighter than a boa constrictor.
“Jett, please, please,” she begs for permission.
“Who’s the only man who makes you come?”
“You! You! Only you!” Her back bows as her climax threatens.
“Tell me to come inside you. Tell me you want it.”
“I want it! I want you! I want to feel it . . . everywhere.” She pulls on her restraints and the rope creaks. I know exactly what she’s pleading for. To feel the razor-sharp peak in her head, in her heart, and between her legs. Because that’s where I govern. That’s where I’ve finally seeped into.
Her obedience sends me over the edge. “Come, now. With me.” I slam into her, and her whole body jerks forward.
London screams in ecstasy, and it’s a beautiful sound. It’s a sound that belongs only to me.
I collapse forward as my cock jerks inside her. As our fluids mix and her pulsating pussy cripples me as I come.
I’m left as nothing more than an overstimulated mass of sensation as I lay on top of her, listening to her accelerated heartbeat, secretly cherishing the sound.
I’m the cause of the chaos in her chest, and she’s the cause of mine.
I roll us onto our sides, while still buried snugly inside her.
“It’s a good thing you don’t sleep.” I grope her breast and run my tongue along her spine.
“Why is that?”
“Because it’s going to be a very long night. I’m going to use this body. Take it anyway, anyhow, in any hole I want. And the only thing you’re allowed to say is ‘more, Jett. Please, Jett. I want to feel you . . . everywhere, Jett.’ And you will feel me. Taking control. Dominating you. Slithering my way into your subconscious until there’s only us. Until it’s me and you, and then everything fucking else.” I pinch her nipple until she’s writhing. Until it’s a straining little point sharp enough to cut glass.
“Jett,” she sighs my name insufferably and I snap. That will always be my undoing. The supplication in her tone.
She’s obsessively mine, and I’m obsessively hers.
An ear piercing shriek has me sprinting through the house. I follow the sounds of the cries until they are so close it severs me in two. I barrel through Javier’s door to find Jenna, naked and flailing on the bed.
“What the fuck?” I don’t know who to rush to first.
“Your whore is too fragile.” Javier pulls on a pair of khaki pants, as if it’s a breezy Sunday afternoon. Like there isn’t a broken girl thrashing on his bed. My blood pressure skyrockets as I suppress the urge to kill him. Just one quick move. A snap of his neck and the world would have one less scumbag to deal with.
“You should find some better sluts.” He zips his fly and then grabs a shirt. “Necesito una cerveza.” I need a beer.
I reel as murderous thoughts play on repeat as he walks out of the room, leaving me shaking with rage. “Espero que el estrangulador en él,” I hiss lethally. I hope you choke on it.
As soon as he’s gone, I assess Jenna. She’s blubbering and pleading and turning red. “My arm.”
Yeah, I see. He pulled it right out of the goddamn socket.
“Shhhh.” I pet her head. “We’re going to fix it.”
“Jett,” she begs.
“I need you to relax. Can you do that for me?” I stare into her waterlogged green eyes.
“No,” she whimpers.
“Yes, breathe. Just relax and breathe. I need to get Kayne.”
She’s in so much pain she can barely speak.
I leave her shivering on the bed as I tear through the house. “London!” I bellow until she appears.
“What?” She storms up the stairs and collides into my chest.
“Find the girls. Send them all to their rooms. No one leaves until I say.” Her sparkly blue eyes grow wide.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t explain now, just do it. Then go to my room and stay there. Bring a big bag of ice.”
The fear in her gaze takes on a life of its own.
“Jenna? He hurt her again, didn’t he?” Her instincts are spot on.
“Just go.” I don’t have time for details right now. We split off, me going one direction, her the other. Once I reach Ellie’s door I don’t hold back. “KAYNE!” I bang on the wood. “Kayne!”
“Jett, the fucking house better be on fire,” he growls back at me viciously.
“There’s a situation that needs your immediate attention.” I grit my teeth, trying my best not to alarm Ellie.
“What kind of situation?”
Fuck the twenty questions!
“A delicate one,” I relay direly.
“Motherfucker,” I hear him grumble. “Give me a sec,” he barks.
“Hurry up,” I fume on the opposite side of the door.
“What the fuck?” Kayne demands as he exits the room.
“Just follow me.” I haul ass down the hall. Kayne follows with the same quickness as we fly down one flight of stairs toward Javier’s room.
“That motherfucker dislocated her shoulder,” I explode. “I need help popping it back into place.”
“Son of a bitch,” Kayne spits as we both climb onto the bed. Kayne on Spice’s injured side, me on the other. She looks up at us in distress.
“Okay, baby, we’re going to fix it.” Kayne talks to her serenely as tension radiates off my whole body. I’m glad one of us can keep a level head. Because I’m on the verge of a homicide. “Spice, take a deep breath.” Kayne glances at me. My stare is removed, and my face feels flushed. “Stay with me, brother.” He calls me back.
“I’m here,” I attest, containing the wrath that’s slowly eating away at me.
“Kayne, please,” Spice begs; her voice is so pathetic and small.
“Okay, on the count of three I’m going to pop it back in.” He stares into her eyes. The dark green ones that look exactly like Ellie’s. “One.” He stands and pulls her arm over the edge of the bed. Spice screams and the sound sends serrating chills right down my spine. Kayne waits a few seconds for her muscles to relax before he nods. “Two.” He pulls slow and steady, catching her off guard. She shrieks again as I hold her down and he rolls her arm until we hear her shoulder pop back into place.
As soon as he’s finished she passes out. “It’s okay now. You’re okay.” I kiss her head and caress her hair.
“Where is he?” Kayne asks lividly.
“Gone,” I reply, not even bothering to look at him. I can’t drag my attention away from Spice.
“Gone where?”
“Who cares?” My anger is boiling over.
“I do, and you better, too,” he fumes.
“I heard him say something about wanting a cerveza,” I toss out.
“Great, at the local bar, just what we need. A drunk, belligerent, abusive Mexican.” Kayne runs his hands down his face.
Right now, I couldn’t give a fuck where Javier is. If he’s drunk, dead—or if we’re all lucky—falling off a jagged-edged cliff.
I lift Spice off the bed. He’s never getting within an arm’s length of her again.
“I’m taking her to my room. She needs ice. And rest. I’m putting all the other girls on lockdown for the night.”
Kayne nods in agreement. “Is there anyone here?”
“One room is occupied. As soon as Spice is comfortable, they’re getting kicked the fuck out.”
“That should be good for business,” Kayne comments back-handedly.
I shoot him a dangerous look. Now is not the fucking time for sarcasm.
“I need to get back to Ellie,” he pops off. The mere mention of her name chills me out. It reminds me all our girls need extra special attention tonight.
“Fine, go.” I walk toward the door with Jenna limp in my arms.
“Hey.” Kayne yanks me by my shirt. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
I curl my lip in warning. “If you can handle it, I can handle it.”
Jenna isn’t the only girl Javier has abused. Three weeks ago, he weaseled his way into Ellie’s room and orally raped her. If Kayne hadn’t walked in when he did, who knows what else could have happened. What a fucking backfire that was. Kayne took her to prevent that very thing from happening, and he got to her anyway. If Kayne didn’t kill him for that, I won’t kill him for this. Yet.
Javier’s number will come up. And we’ll be ready and waiting when it does—with incredibly sharp and rusty objects.
London is perched worriedly on my bed when I enter the room.
“What the fuck happened?” She rushes to me to help with Jenna.
“Javier,” I seethe. “Where’s the ice?”
London flies around the bed as I lay Jenna on the cool satin sheets. She moans uncomfortably as she comes around.
“Relax.” I try to keep her calm her as I apply the ice pack to her shoulder.
Jenna winces. “That hurts.”
“It will. For a little while.”
“What happened?” London presses, brushing some damp hair away from Jenna’s forehead.
Jenna withdraws, recoiling away from London’s touch. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Jenna shut her out. The devastated look on London’s angelic face shatters my heart. It seems that more than just Jenna’s arm is injured. Her pride and fortitude is damaged too.
“Jenna?” London tries to reach her, but Jenna just cuts her off.
“I’m really tired.” Tears roll down her cheeks. “I just want to sleep.” She closes her eyes and presses her head into the pillow.
London frowns, the sting of rejection pinching her features. I swipe my thumb lovingly over her lips.
“Rest with her,” I encourage London. “I don’t want either of you to be alone.”
“Where are you going?” London questions, distraught.
“To shut the house down. I want everyone gone.”
“Okay.” She slides onto her side, spooning Jenna.
The two lie together motionless. Their stress palpable.
Mine, too.
I kiss each of their cheeks softly before I slip out into the hallway. Once alone, I keel over, panting violently as the fury chokes me tighter than a training collar.
Few things set me off in this world. My girls being hurt is number one on the list.
We will fucking kill that bastard. Take down El Rey, and burn their entire empire to the ground.
I pledge my life to seeing it happen.
I pace Kayne’s office like a fucking madman.
“Something’s wrong,” I vent as Kayne sits behind his huge oak desk daydreaming. “Hello.” I wave my hand in front of his face. “Earth to Kayne.”
He snaps back to reality. “It hasn’t gone unnoticed.” His tone is perturbed. At the moment, it should be a little more than that. It should be venomous. Like mine.
“We should have heard from El Rey by now. There should be meetings set up. A drop point. Accounts established. None of that has happened. It’s been a month.” I go back to pacing. “Javier has us by the balls, and he knows it. He’s jerking us around, and we’re letting him.”
“We can’t do anything rash, and you know it,” Kayne argues his position.
“I’m not saying rash, but we need to press him. If he has no intention of setting up the meet and greet, we need to know now. Endeavor is breathing down my neck. They want a delivery date, or they want us out.”
Kayne broods behind his desk, his fingers steepled in front of his mouth. “I’ll try to get some momentum going. Even though out doesn’t sound so bad right now.”
I sigh. “No, it doesn’t.” We’ve been at this for a long time. We’re both changing. Growing. Ready to evolve. I see how Ellie is affecting him. And I know he sees how London has affected me.
They both make us want more, and that’s a dangerous thing for men like us. Men who can’t offer them anything beyond the present day, because we never know if we’ll live to see tomorrow.
“How’s Spice?” he asks.
“Better.” I clench my fists compulsively. “But she still wants to go. There was no talking her out of it.”
“How does London feel about that?”
I rub the back of my neck. “She doesn’t know yet. Jenna’s pulled away from everyone, including her.”
“That sucks.”
“Big time,” I agree. Especially for London. She’s going to be crushed when she finds out.
“I’ll have a word with Javier. See if I can grease the wheels.” Kayne cracks his knuckles, irked.
“I think that’s smart.” I glance at my watch. “I need to check on Ellie.”
“Dress her. I want to take her for a walk,” he tells me pointedly.
I pause to stare at him.
“What?” Kayne insists.
“You know you can’t keep her,” I promptly point out. The two have slipped into this whole Master/slave bond a little too easily. They’re both a little too comfortable.
Kayne growls at me. Like it or not, the reality is she isn’t really his slave. Their relationship is a farce, and I’m here to remind him of that. When this is all over, and Ellie finds out the truth, they can play house all they want. Collars, leashes, sex toys, the whole nine yards. But in the meantime, he has to keep his eye on the prize and his head out of the clouds.
“What’s going to happen when she finds out the truth?” I tread lightly.
“It will be over.” He shrugs reflexively.
“Are you going to be able to live with that?” I ask delicately.
Kayne and his emotions are a lethal combination. Like hydrogen and oxygen.
“I’ll have no other choice,” he responds passively.
I don’t buy his indifference one bit.