Chapter 19
“Why did you do it?” Jared asked as North walked into the office.
North tilted his head to the side, but he knew he wasn’t fooling Jared who kept glaring at him.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Jared growled. “Why did you kidnap her? Was it to test me?”
That wasn’t what he’d expected Jared to say.
“No. Why would you ask that?” he asked.
“Because that’s all I can think of. That it’s a test to see if I would choose you.
” Jared got up and prowled toward him, pushing North into the wall and crowding against him.
He placed his hands on the wall on either side of North’s head.
“Are you testing me, North? Do you need to know that it’s you that I want to be with?
Is that it? Am I not paying enough attention to you? ”
“That’s not it at all.”
“Then what the fuck is it? Why kidnap her? Why bring her here? Do you know what sort of headaches you’ve created? Not to mention the trauma to her.”
North hadn’t actually considered the trauma it might cause Angie. He hadn’t thought much about her feelings at all. Empathy was something North struggled with.
Jared sighed and shook his head. “For fuck’s sake, just tell me. Why did you kidnap her?”
“For you. I did it for you. I knew you wanted her and so I took her. To give her to you.”
Jared just stared down at North.
He didn’t know what he’d expected the other man to say. But it wasn’t that.
“For me? Why would you think I’d want this? Want her?”
“You keep her photo in a drawer. Sometimes you say her name in your sleep. Her stuffed toy was in your closet. You want her and I want you to have what you want. So I took her. For you.”
Fuck.
He knew all of that? Jared hadn’t done that good a job of hiding his feelings, then.
Guilt filled him but he pushed it down.
“Fine. I’ll be honest. I think about her sometimes. I wonder. But that didn’t mean I wanted you to kidnap her for me. Do you realize what you’ve done? I’m going to have to call Zander and tell him where she is.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” North said hastily. “She’s still unwell.”
She was doing better, though. Her fever had broken and she could keep water down.
“And it wasn’t like he was taking care of her properly. That’s the other reason I took her. I went to check in on her and when I saw the way she was living . . . well, I thought it was unsafe.”
Jared didn’t know whether to believe him. It wasn’t like North to care about something like that.
“I thought that you would care,” North said. “If I was wrong, I apologize.”
“I can’t have her, North. She can’t be mine. I’m with you and it’s unsafe for her to even be here.”
“But I know you want her as well. My feelings aren’t hurt. I’d have to have some feelings for them to be hurt.”
Jared wasn’t convinced that he didn’t have feelings, but he remained quiet.
“And I know I can’t give you everything you desire. Like a Little. Someone to coddle and protect. Think about it . . . you could have us both.”
“You want me to have you both?” Jared asked.
This didn’t make much sense. Who would go out and find a girlfriend for their Dom?
“Yes. You need someone like Angie. A Little. Someone you can be affectionate with. I can’t be that.”
Jared knew that.
But he’d always known who North was.
Jared cupped the side of North’s face, even knowing that the other man wouldn’t like that.
But screw it.
He didn’t fucking like that North had kidnapped Angie without his permission.
“You are important, North. You are not replaceable.”
Something flared in North’s eyes. A rare display of emotion. But it was gone almost as quickly as it appeared.
“I know I’m not,” he said. “I’m not replacing me. I’m adding to the dynamic.”
“Do you want her as well?”
“No,” North said quickly. Almost too quickly. “She’s for you.”
“So why now? Why not earlier?”
North shrugged. “The time seemed right. Like I said, I went to check on her, found her in an unsafe situation, and extracted her from that situation.”
“Without my permission.”
North nodded. “I figured you’d punish me for that.”
“Oh, I will. We can take care of that now.” Jared knew he should go check on Angie. But he had to get this done now. He took a step back and slowly took off his belt.
“Bare your ass and lean over the back of the sofa,” he ordered coldly.
He couldn’t have North disobeying him. Not just because he was his Dom and partner. But because Jared was “the Boss.” Things went badly when people disobeyed him.
North got into position.
Jared swung the belt without warning. This wasn’t pleasure. It was punishment. But after a few swipes, North was shifting around. And Jared knew he’d probably be hard if he checked.
But he wasn’t going to give him any release.
He let the belt fly until North’s ass was red. Then he slid it back on.
“Turn around.”
North didn’t like aftercare. Didn’t want it. But sometimes Jared needed something.
As he turned, Jared saw that the other man’s cock was rock hard. Stepping forward, he put his hand around the back of North’s neck and kissed him. Hard.
“You are important to me, North. You are mine. Understand me? Irreplaceable. But you must not ever do shit like this again or I will hurt you. Long and hard. Get me?”
“Yes, I understand.”
He bit the other man’s lower lip, then stepped back. “Now, get dressed. We need to go check on Angie and decide what to do about her.”
Because she couldn’t stay.
But she also couldn’t leave.
Things were fucked up.
Jared waited for North to right his clothes, then they headed upstairs to the room that they’d put her in. He unlocked the door and stepped inside.
Too late, he realized that he shouldn’t have let his guard down. There was a scream to his left and then something hit the back of his head.
The world grew dark and he slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Angie stared down at the man slumped on the floor in shock.
“You’re not North.”
North rushed into the room and crouched down next to Jared. “Fuck, what did you hit him with? Why did you hit him?”
“Um, the rail from the closet,” she said. “I took it out. It’s wooden.” She glanced at the door. It was still open.
Run.
Run fast.
But that would mean leaving Jared who was lying unconscious on the floor.
Memories drifted back to her. Jared, talking soothingly to her. Jared, bossing her into drinking and taking pills.
Shit.
North rolled him into the recovery position.
Oh hell.
Had she really hurt him? Now she felt ill. And it wasn’t due to the stomach bug she’d just had.
“I was expecting you to walk through the door!” she cried.
“And I was expecting to find you sick in bed,” North countered as he took Jared’s pulse.
“What? So this is my fault?” she exclaimed.
“You hit him. So yes, I do consider this to be your fault.”
So rude.
That was it. She was going. She leaped for the door, only for North to get there first, shutting and locking it. The key went into his pocket.
Well.
Fuck.
She glared at North. “What the hell?”
“Did you really believe that I would let you make a run for it? Especially after you knocked Jared unconscious.”
“Well, obviously I didn’t mean to.” Guilt filled her
“If he is permanently injured . . .” North warned.
Her stomach rolled. Christ. “What?”
He just shot her a look. One that spelled out her own death. And it wasn’t going to be pretty.
Hell.
“If he is permanently injured it’s your fault not mine!”
“How do you figure that?” North asked.
“Because you kidnapped me! And it’s my duty to try and escape!”
“Will the two of you just shut up.”
“No!” she cried before she realized who had spoken. “Jared, you’re awake.”
Then she threw herself at him, pushing him onto his back and ignoring his groan of pain.
“You’re okay! You’re alive!”
Jared’s head thumped as he tried to make sense of what had just happened.
Also, why was Angie was lying on top of him?
“What happened? Who hit me?” Jared asked, confused.
“I did. But it was North’s fault!”
“How was it my fault?” North asked.
“Because you were meant to walk in first!” Angie cried as Jared sat up and held her in his lap.
If his head didn’t hurt so badly, he might have enjoyed holding her like this.
“If you’d walked in first, then you’d be lying on the floor with a sore head and I’d be halfway across the city,” Angie told North.
“You overestimate your abilities,” North informed her coolly. “You probably wouldn’t have found your way out of this building.”
She gasped. “You are such a pig-butt-ass-face.”
A pig-butt-ass-face?
What kind of insult was that?
Well, he couldn’t deny that it worked. And there was the slightest bit of tension in North’s voice as he replied. Which meant that she was getting to him.
Very, very surprising.
“Very colorful. But not very mature.”
“Are you saying I have no sense of direction?” she exclaimed.
“Yes, I am,” North replied.
“That’s rude.”
The room spun and for a moment Jared thought he might vomit but after a few deep breaths, he brought the room back into focus.
Just as Angie attempted to leap for North who stood there, staring at her intently.
Jared wasn’t sure he’d ever seen a look like that on North’s face. And it surprised him. But he didn’t have time to figure that all out. He was too busy trying to prevent her from getting herself murdered. Jared held her tight against his chest.
“Let me at him! Let me at the poo stain!”
Okay. They needed to work on her insults. They sounded like something a naughty toddler might say.
Mind you, she had been acting a bit like a toddler while she was ill.
Jared had always wanted a Little. There was a part of him that longed to take care of one. But he’d also resigned himself to the fact that he’d never have that.
And not just because of North.
But because a Little would be too delicate and innocent for this life. He couldn’t bring someone else into it. It was bad enough that North lived it with him.
And what if something happened to her . . . like what had happened to the others.
No. It couldn’t happen.
“Angie, calm down. Right now.”