Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Jackson’s mind had been reeling since he’d seen Paula at Josh’s adoption party. He couldn’t describe the anger and possessiveness he’d felt when Chris had been touching her.
For days he had been torturing himself with what-ifs, and it had brought him nothing. Now, his shift on door duty over for the night, he was sitting at Club Indigo’s bar, staring into a glass of sparkling water.
Someone slapped him on the back. “You look like shit.”
He turned around to see Captain Connor.
The Scot grinned at him. “Just returning the favor.”
Jackson gave a cynical laugh as he remembered the funk Connor had been in almost a year ago, and how he’d used the exact same words.
“I won’t fight you, Connor,” Jackson said as he thought back on that moment.
The bulky man shrugged. “Paula?” Connor was a man of few words.
Jackson nodded. “I came on too strong, too fast, and too soon. She isn’t used to being a submissive.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “But damn, she walked in on a robbery, without her bulletproof vest, without calling for backup, in a place she had no business being.”
Connor settled on a barstool next to Jackson. “So?”
“I punished her by taking my belt to her ass.”
“Did she safeword?”
Jackson shook his head.
“Did you break the skin?”
“No, never! She let me take care of her after, rub in arnica. I thought everything was fine, and then she took off her collar and walked out. Fuck me, if I understand women.”
Connor chuckled at that. “What man ever does?”
“Speaking of women”—Jackson gestured to Suzie, who was waiting on the ground near the play area—“you’d better go and grab your woman before she gets more agitated.”
Connor’s grin widened, and he waggled his eyebrows.
“Let her act up. Gives me more reason to beat her little ass.” His gray-green eyes sparkled.
“Of course, I don’t need a reason, and I promised her a whipping tonight.
” He rose and placed his big palm on Jackson’s shoulder.
“Take care, man.” Connor accompanied his parting words with a squeeze that had him wincing and the sadist grinning.
Jackson gulped from his water, but the fizz was gone, and it had lost its flavor.
Although he was not into severe pain himself, he decided to watch Connor anyway. The man put on a great show with the three-foot, single-tail whip. Connor once told him he’d had his whip for more than ten years and felt as one with it.
Jackson waited for Scott to replace his drink then turned around to see who else was at the club. Henry and Lincoln were nearby, and Henry claimed Lincoln’s mouth in a possessive kiss while he fisted the older man’s short hair at the base of his neck.
How Jackson longed for his Melda.
The pain of not having her with him blinded him for a heartbeat, and he closed his eyes. When he reopened them, Scott had wordlessly replaced his drink, and Henry was approaching, with Lincoln following close behind.
“Good evening, Jackson,” the Black man greeted him gently as he settled on the barstool and Lincoln knelt on the ground.
“Evening.”
“Thinking about a certain detective?” Henry inquired, a tad too casually.
“Am I that obvious?”
“Nope, I’ve asked Connor to beat a bit on Lincoln later”—Henry rubbed Lincoln’s head affectionately—“and he told me we should talk with you first.”
“Meddling and gossiping. You’re worse than women,” Jackson accused.
“Yup”—Henry grinned—“but not as bad as the PD.”
Yeah, Henry was right about that. His workplace was a real gossip mill. Jackson didn’t know what to say, but the lawyer continued.
“Paula got scared by the lifestyle?”
“I don’t know. Could be the BDSM, could be me or could be relationships in general. She told me at the beginning she didn’t do relationships. Preferred one-night stands over commitment,” Jackson answered.
Henry hummed and tapped his bottom lip. “Is that what she said? Because from where I stand it looked like she was blossoming under your wing.”
“Permission, Master?” Lincoln’s question surprised Jackson, and he caught a raised eyebrow from Henry.
Henry looked down on his slave with tenderness. “You have some insights for us?” He tugged on the leash. “Permission granted. Take a seat, Lincoln.”
The man rose to his feet and, after accepting a towel from Scott, perched his naked butt on a vacant barstool. If Lincoln found it strange or uncomfortable to have a serious conversation in his birthday suit, he didn’t show it.
“Paula’s reputation in the police department is cool, competent, and laser-focused on the job.
She’s someone who won’t let anyone or anything get between her and what she wants.
Many of the men are convinced she’s gay because she won’t date any of them.
Maybe she doesn’t want a relationship, but I’m certain it’s what she needs,” Lincoln said.
Henry was nodding, and evidently he, too, agreed with Lincoln’s assessment.
“Of course, there’s also the age difference.” Lincoln glanced over to Henry, and one corner of his mouth pulled up in a rueful smile before he returned his attention to Jackson. “I had a bit of a problem with that myself, you know?”
“No, I didn’t,” Jackson replied. “You and Henry were already a couple when I joined the club.”
“That’s right.” Lincoln nodded. “Henry and I met in an official capacity, one could say.”
Henry laughed. “Lincoln freed me from metal police handcuffs, and I thanked him by cuffing him with leather instead.”
“Sounds intriguing.” Jackson perked up.
Lincoln didn’t need any prompting. “As a criminal defense lawyer, I was called to defend a young guy who had been arrested after a protest got out of hand. There was a white power march, and my Master here was part of the counter group. His parents called my firm to represent him. The police had him in an interrogation room, and I walked in, expecting a troublemaker.”
“Oh boy, if you’d known half the trouble you’d be in,” Henry interjected with a cocky grin.
Lincoln flashed him a smile. “So, I walked into this bare room, with this hideous olive drab paint on the walls, and a metal table and chairs bolted to the floor, and in one of those chairs, sat the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen.
” Lincoln blew out a low whistle. “I had to lower my briefcase to hide the instant boner I had. Of course, at that moment, I thought Henry was too young for me, and for all I knew, he could be straight. Anyhow, I suffered through the interview with a painful hard-on, and I’m still amazed that my brains had enough blood flow to function. ”
“How did the case end?” Jackson asked.
“Since nobody was seriously injured, and the white supremacists caused all the damage, we counter-protesters got off with a warning,” Henry answered. “That made it easier to pursue a relationship with a very reluctant Lincoln.”
“How so?” Could this information help him with his relationship with Paula?
Again, Lincoln answered. “As you know I’m a dozen years older than Henry. It felt wrong, and society frowns on May-December relationships, especially when the dominant partner is the younger one.”
Jackson frowned but nodded. “I know, but I don’t agree, because age has nothing to do with love.”
“True, but our society isn’t as tolerant. We had our age difference and us being gay. Of course, the whole BDSM element held a strong appeal to me, but I was ashamed of it.”
“Why?” Jackson didn’t understand. From the moment he’d learned about the lifestyle, he’d taken to it like Eowyn of Rohan took to the sword.
“Mostly preconceptions, I think. Some real fear for what I was getting into and the concern I was in over my head. I also had the problem of separating my love for Henry and my wish to pursue the lifestyle.”
“Were you in a Master–slave dynamic right away?” Jackson asked.
“No, oh no, we started simply. Spiced things up in the bedroom, you know.”
“Do you think it was wrong to try a Master–slave-contract with Paula? Should I have courted her vanilla-style and eased her into BDSM?”
Henry answered, “I don’t think a vanilla relationship would suit your needs, and I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t suit Paula either. I think you need to talk to her and find out where she stands. I saw her watching you at Josh’s adoption party. The woman isn’t over you.”
On that note Henry tugged the leash, which elicited a groan from Lincoln, since it was attached to a silver cock ring.
“It’s time to go and find Connor. I want some nice bruises on that pretty ass of yours when I pound into you tonight, my sweet slave,” Henry told his partner.
Jackson watched as Lincoln morphed into his submissive persona then followed the couple to the room where Connor would do the whipping.
Connor had roped off an area around the St. Andrew’s cross on the third floor, so he could safely wield his whip.
If the swing were hindered, it could be dangerous for both bystanders and participants, and Connor wasn’t one to take chances.
He was warming up, and the cracking of the whip sounded ominous, although from the color of Suzie’s cheeks, she was highly aroused.
Connor halted his whip swinging, rolled his shoulders, and moved his head from side to side.
He went over to Suzie and took her mouth in a long kiss, before taking a nipple in his mouth.
Meanwhile, Henry led Lincoln to the cross and attached him with practiced efficiency.
A squeak from Suzie pulled Jackson’s attention to the other pair in the room.
Connor had attached a nipple clamp to her right breast and was now preparing her left nipple.
From the sounds she made he wasn’t delicate about it, and the clamps looked vicious.
How would Paula react to clamps, and would he ever discover the answer to that question?
She seemed to enjoy breast play, and her nipples would look beautiful, either clamped or pierced.
Jackson had to adjust himself in his leathers at that thought.