6. Meg
MEG
“D id you hear about the new guy?”
I look up from the spreadsheet detailing the Underworld’s income last month.
I wasn’t sure what the disruption of Balthazar’s territory would do for our bottom line.
Coups in Carver City make everyone nervous, and nervous people will either drop mad cash or button it up completely.
Judging from the accounts list I have, they went with the former.
Thank fuck.
I drag my attention back to the present to find Tink standing in the doorway to my office.
She’s victim to one of the many deals Hades has made over the years.
I don’t know the terms of this specific one—I rarely know the details unless he feels I need to—but she’s fit right into life here at the club while still running her stylist business during the day.
She’s also a delicious little plus-sized blond with a taste for pain, bondage, and group play. Add in snark and total disrespect for most authority, and she’s my kind of woman.
It takes a moment for her words to penetrate. Even then, I don’t comprehend them. “What did you say?”
“Hades has a new guy starting tonight. From the gossip Tis had, hot from the source, he doesn’t even know he’s a sub and I’m expected to give him a crash course in kink before the club opens.” She crosses her arms under her breasts. “I don’t get paid enough for this shit, Meg. I really don’t.”
“Why does he have you training instead of one of the Dominants?” Instead of me . I don’t handle every new person we hire, but if they’re important enough to be brought in because of a deal, then I should be.
“She said Hades is handling that part of his training personally.”
What? “We can negotiate hazard pay once he’s up to par and working,” I say absently.
A new hire from Hades means one of his deals.
Normally every employee who the Underworld hires goes through me, whether they’re Dominant, submissive, or just looking to bartend.
It’s one of my most important functions as the person who manages this place.
Kink in all its flavors requires an incredible level of trust from all participating parties.
If the wrong person were to become involved…
Well, it hasn’t happened since I’ve been here.
We get assholes sometimes, but no one who actively ignores the rules, both explicitly stated and generally understood.
Anyone who plays here is guaranteed a consensual good time, no matter what they’re looking for.
Which means I need to check this guy out before tonight.
Hades wouldn’t actively undermine our operation, but he often plays deeper games that make my life difficult.
Sending a submissive who doesn’t realize they’re a submissive even out into the lounge without the proper preparation is a recipe for disaster.
Training them himself… He hasn’t been hands-on with training since I was new here.
What the hell is going on? I blink to find Tink still watching me with her pretty green eyes. “Was there something else?” I manage.
“I’m coming up on the end of my contract.
” She props her hands on her hips, drawing my attention to her floral romper and black, strappy heels.
A black cropped jacket pulls the outfit together just like Tink always seems to.
She makes my suits and slinky dresses feel mundane sometimes, but no one can pull off fashion the way she does.
I lean back. “Two months. You’re not quite there yet.”
“Compared to the last four years and change, two months is almost the end.” She considers me. “Is staying on an option?”
I blink. Tink hates Hades. Actively loathes him. I can’t imagine she would be content to work for him unless under duress. “Do you want to stay on?”
“I don’t know yet.” She shrugs. “I’m exploring my options.”
If I were a better person, I’d guide her out the doors and tell her never to look back. Tink was meant for greater things than working as a combination assistant manager, costumer designer, submissive, and general fire-put-outer.
I’m not a better person. She’s worth her weight in gold, and I’d be a fool to let her go. “Of course. You’ll always have a place here.”
“Oh. Okay, then.” She nods a little too fast. “My shift starts at eight, but I’m going to give this dude a run-down at seven.”
“Does he know that?”
“He’s staying in the building.”
I’m not expecting that , though I should. Tink also lives here, courtesy of the terms of her deal. Of course this new toy for Hades will be under our roof. “I’ll talk to him now.”
“Appreciate it.” She turns and disappears through the door.
I stare blindly at my office. I’ve put this room together over the years.
It’s the one place in the Underworld that’s mine, that I earned through actions and time and trust from my employees.
I indulged myself with the pretty teal color on the walls, the one that makes me think of the trip Hades and I took to the Maldives on our first anniversary.
I don’t like clutter overmuch, so all the important information is filed away in the classy cabinets that have locks on each door.
I keep my desk clear, which isn’t a positive right now, because my hands itch to fiddle with something and there’s nothing but my computer marring the smooth mahogany surface.
There’s no help for it. I’m not going to be able to focus until I’ve gotten to the bottom of this particular mystery. I could ask Hades directly, but I can’t guarantee he’ll tell me the truth. Beyond that, I’m curious.
Sure. That’s it. It’s simple curiosity.
As I push to my feet, I take a moment to be honest with myself.
I’m a little jealous too. It doesn’t make sense, and it’s not something I’ll ever admit, but I like there only being Tink and me in here as permanent deal-related employees.
As Tink said, she’s up in two months. I can’t imagine what that will be like.
Mine is a lifetime contract. There’s no end in sight, and I made my peace with that a long time ago.
No use thinking about it now.
I make sure to lock my office door before I head down the back stairs to the employee floor. It houses a dozen apartments, though only five were in use until today. I step through the door to find Allecto leaning against the wall.
She raises a dark brow and pushes her long, black braids over her shoulder.
“That didn’t take you long.” She’s a beauty like all Hades’s Furies? 1 are—me, Allecto, and Tisiphone.
Her dark-brown skin is flawless, and she wears a sports bra and high-waisted workout pants. Obviously she’s on her way to the gym.
I could play it cool, but she and Tis are as close to sisters as I’ve ever had. I lean around her to look down the empty hallway. “Don’t act like you’re not curious too.”
Allecto gives me a sly smile. “You should go introduce yourself. He’s in number six.”
Near-sister or not, I don’t trust that look on her face. “What do you know?”
“Nothing much.” She bypasses me and heads down the stairs to where the gym is located. “More than you.”
I wait a full three seconds and then stalk down the hallway to the door with the stylized six on it. I raise my hand and then reconsider. Something about this whole situation sends warning bells tolling through my mind. It doesn’t make any sense.
Surely I have nothing to be afraid of?
I knock briskly before I can stall longer.
I listen to the heavy footsteps approach from the other side and find myself holding my breath.
And then the door opens and the very last person I expect to see stands there, his blond hair a little messy like he’s been running his fingers through it, his blue eyes going wide at the sight of me, his mouth curving into a smile. “Meg.”
“I… Hercules? ”
He barely seems to register my shock, grabbing my hands and towing me into the apartment.
It’s decorated like all the unoccupied ones are—tasteful neutrals and welcoming furniture that’s just as comfortable as it looks.
Hercules releases me almost instantly, but I can still feel the imprint of his hands on mine.
More than that. I can still feel his tongue rolling over my clit.
His cock filling me. His strong hold keeping me in place as he fucks me just like I commanded him to.
He looks at me like I’m the greatest gift he’s ever been given. “He followed through on his promise. I honestly wasn’t sure he would.”
Surely I’m misunderstanding this. Surely Hades didn’t do what I’m beginning to suspect he did. “His promise?”
“Your freedom.”
I stare. He looks so incredibly proud of himself, a golden retriever expecting to be praised for his good behavior.
Did I really think this guy might be a good one?
I really should know better by now. I take a careful step back and cross my arms over my chest. “Let me see if I have this straight. You decided to bargain yourself away for a woman you just met?—”
“Yes—”
“— without talking to her first and figuring out what she wanted.”
He’s starting to realize he might have misjudged things. Hercules flushes. “I saw the way you were with him. You both admitted what he made you do with me. I had to do the right thing.”
The right thing.
The right thing .
I shake my head slowly. “You are a fool.”
Hercules’s blue eyes go stormy. “Don’t talk to me like I’m a teenager.”
“Then stop acting like one!” I have to turn away to regain control of my tone. Screaming at him might feel good for a few moments, but he truly doesn’t understand. In the end, it’s like kicking a puppy, and I’ll feel worse for doing it. I press the heels of my hands to my eyes. “How long?”
“What?”
“How long did you give him? A year? Three? Five? Seven?”
His silence gains weight. I turn back to find him staring at me as if he’s never seen me before. “I gave him forever, Meg. A full trade. Me for you.”
My breath leaves me in a whoosh. A lifetime .
? 2 Who is this guy that Hades was willing to lay out those terms?
I don’t know. There was a time when he would have told me his plans, would have sketched them out in all their intricacy and filled me with wonder at how devious his mind was.
No longer. The distance between us is too great these days, both of us moving about our lives separately with deliciously painful clashes that hurt more than they help.
Even with that, I thought we were still partners.
Dysfunctional ones, yes, but equals in our own way.
Silly me. I should know better than to trust anyone at this point. Even him. Especially him.
“You should have talked to me first,” I say weakly. “You don’t understand.”
“Help me understand.” He cautiously takes my hand and tugs me toward the couch. As if he is going to comfort me . This man makes absolutely no sense. He’s the one in more trouble than he obviously understands. He’s the one Hades has just conned. I’m the one who should be comforting him .
But I didn’t beg for him to save me. He didn’t ask. He just took one look at us and assumed he knew a single damn thing about how our lives work. He’s a fool, and I don’t suffer fools, even when they’re pretty enough to make me temporarily lose myself.
“Oh, now you’re willing to slow down long enough to actually consider my opinion?” I jerk my hand out of his. “Does my damsel-in-distress role allow for a speaking part?”
“I don’t get why you’re pissed. Shouldn’t you be happy? You wanted out from under Hades, and now you can be.”
I laugh. A broken, sad sound. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
His confusion shifts to anger and his mouth goes tight.
“How would I know what I’m talking about when you didn’t talk to me after we had sex?
You say I didn’t consider what you wanted, but you did the exact same thing to me.
If you’re telling the truth about not wanting to be saved, then stop for a second and think about how that night looked from my perspective.
He said he made you fuck me, Meg. As in forced. ”
I understand what he’s saying, but I’m reeling too hard to sympathize fully.
“If you want to talk, then you come to me and talk! We have a conversation. You don’t jump headfirst into a deal with Hades because you made assumptions and didn’t bother to fact-check them before acting.
” I hold up my hand when he starts to speak.
“I…I can’t do this right now. I have to go. ”
I turn and walk away. I have to. Hercules might have fucked me, but he doesn’t know me. He obviously doesn’t want to know me either. Not the real me. He’s looking for someone to save, and he assumed I fit the bill. It never occurred to him that it might not be true.
I close the door behind me and take a slow breath.
Anger is so much easier than guilt. I knew Hades had something else going on when he sent me after Hercules, and I did it anyway.
I hadn’t realized the misleading conclusions Hercules would draw from the whole situation, but I knew he wasn’t part of our world.
I was just too lost in my own experience to make sure he understood. Part of this is on me.
But not all of it.
It takes fewer than five minutes to climb the stairs to Hades’s office.
He keeps a room that’s vaguely office-like on the club floor itself, but it’s all for show—and play.
As secure as the Underworld is in general, it’s not secure enough to leave vital business information where someone could just walk in, locked doors or no.
Our clientele specializes in being where they shouldn’t.
Hades gives them a decoy office. No one has thought to question it yet.
They see what they want to see, and they leave it at that. Hades is too powerful to fuck with.
For them.? 3
He and I are going to have words, and we’re going to have them right fucking now.
1 ? There are two Megara/Megaeras of note in Greek myth. One is the ill-fated wife of Hercules (who may or may not have been murdered by him alongside their children, depending on the version of the myth). The other is one of three Furies (or Erinyes). I knew which one I wanted my Meg to be.
2 ? Hades is downright evil for this, and I love that for all of us.
3 ? As much as Meg hates where their relationship is right now and is kind of infatuated with this idea of a different life…she loves the power she has. She even loves her life when she gets out of her own way.