Chapter Twelve
Merrick
“I’m not happy, Merrick.”
Sitting in the chair across from the exam table, one boot propped on his knee, Merrick just raised his eyebrow at Linnie. “Could’ve guessed that, Doc, judging by the scowl on your face. Might want to remove that before Tamsyn gets the gumption to walk in here, else she’s gonna be heading straight back out.”
Muttering under her breath, Linnie yanked a stretch of disposable paper down the table before skewering him with a glare. “What happened to not touching the virgin? It was a stupidly simple assignment; you admitted it yourself, you’re not the man for her. All I’ve heard the past couple weeks is how sweet a couple you are, what a good little submissive you’ve got. Jesus Christ, Merrick.”
Unperturbed, he stroked his thumb along his lips. “She’s a consenting adult, same as me. I didn’t pressure her into doing anything she didn’t want—quite the opposite, in fact. Truth is, Tamsyn knows what she wants and I’ll be damned if I don’t make sure she gets it, even if I put up a fight at first.”
Stomping silently over to one of the cupboards, she wrenched the doors open and selected several pieces of equipment. “You’re twice her age.”
He took offence to that. “That would make me fifty-two, Linnie. I’m forty. Careful.”
“The difference is the same—you’ve lived, you’ve fucked, and now you’ve corrupted a young woman who’s just beginning her own journey. Do you have any idea of the heartbreak you’ll cause when you get bored and dump her? When she sees you move on with another woman?”
Merrick narrowed his eyes. “Got a pretty low opinion of me, Doc. Tell me, is it me personally you’re pissed at or whatever asshole did the dirty on you when puberty was still visible in the rearview mirror?”
The cupboard door slammed shut violently. “Grasping the wrong end of the stick.”
“No, I think I’ve got my fingers curled tight around the issue, Linnie, and I can’t say I’m pleased with you casting your aspersions on me when I’ve done nothing to deserve them.” Tapping the fingers of his other hand on his thigh, he gave her a baleful stare. “Maybe you think I’m a fucking player, but that’s far out of the realm. Levi’s probably had more pussy since his divorce than I have in my entire sexual history.”
“Levi’s a manwhore who hates women as much as he loves fucking them,” she shot back, spinning around to jab a cast saw in his direction. “Correction: fucking them over.”
Well, this was an interesting turn of events. Merrick wondered if Elias and Evander were aware they’d hired a misandrist as the club doctor. The level of bitterness she exuded came from personal experience—he’d bet money on it—yet there was a savage undertone of hatred that didn’t target the man who’d hurt her, but encompassed every living, breathing man on the planet.
A hatred she was seemingly adept at hiding.
Levi had definitely developed player tendencies since his wife cheated on him in his own bed with a college student—a female college student, no less—but to Merrick’s knowledge, he’d never encouraged a woman to stray from her marriage to break it up, deliberately led a submissive on just to get his dick wet, or utilized his position to fuck anyone over in the way Linnie suggested.
If she hated men, that wasn’t his problem. The issue was her proximity to a large pool of women who were accustomed to listening to authority figures. Obeying commands. Relying on honest communication.
While many submissives were secure in their relationships with their Doms or happy with flitting from one to the next, there were a great deal of subs who were new to the lifestyle, still finding their way and deciding if BDSM was the right choice for them and what they needed. Some, like his little owl, had trauma scarring their souls.
A woman protecting and defending women against abusive men, he was all for—hell, he’d prefer she called for backup in case of violence, but he’d stand back and let her kick ass all day long.
This was a different story. This was a woman who was so angry with one man in her life, she’d let that anger twist and writhe until it consumed her. Worse, she knew her reach as a healthcare professional, and she’d taken a job in a primarily male-dominated club.
Handling the matter required diplomacy, which meant speaking to the bosses as soon as he could manage it. Maybe they’d have an alternative take on her behavior, but from the glint in her eyes, he was pretty sure Elias and Evander would come to same conclusion.
“Levi deals with shit in his own way, same as any of us,” Merrick replied easily, lifting a hip to get his phone from his back pocket. “Did he fuck you over, Linnie? Is that why you’re mad at him?”
Snorting in disgust, she shook her head and stalked over to the tray beside the exam table, dropping the saw with a crash that probably sent Tamsyn bolting for the nearest dark nook. “Like I’d waste my time with that manwhore. Men like him should wear a chastity belt, I swear to God.”
There it was again.
“So who is it you’re really angry with if not him?”
“You!” she shouted. “You took a sweet, traumatized young woman who needed to be left alone to find herself, and turned her into yet another numb, passive submissive with no will of her own. In less than two months! You must be really fucking proud of yourself.”
Just like that, Merrick decided the conversation was over. Not only was the room filled with hostility Tamsyn would immediately pick up on, the vibe emanating off Linnie was ominous. He wasn’t going to subject his girl to this bitter vitriol.
Rising, he stretched subtly, feeling several muscles twang. Rutting Tamsyn into oblivion the night before was the best sex he’d had in a long time, and the most energetic. “We’re done, Linnie. I don’t know what the hell is going on with you today, but I’m not gonna entertain your dramatics.”
She scoffed. “Just like the rest of them. Can’t handle the shit you give out when it’s thrown back at you. Stand up and take responsibility for your actions, Merrick.”
As his temper began to prickle, he folded his arms across his chest. The phone in his hand crunched slightly when his hands fisted. “Knock it down a notch, Linnie. If you’re having a bad day, that’s fine; we all have them. Attacking my character, however, is a whole other ballgame you’re not ready to play.”
“Everything’s a game to you assholes. Tamsyn’s probably the best one of all, right? Defenseless virgin, so needy and pathetically in love. What are you waiting for, Merrick? Where’s the point when the fun’s over and you break her into pieces?” Eyes manic, breathing as though she’d run up several flights of stairs, Linnie looked unhinged. Beneath the fury, there was a tragically brutal source of pain. “Bet she’s sucked you off already, and you’ve fucked her cunt—”
“Linnie,” he said in a warning tone. “Stop. Now.”
A slim, shaking finger jabbed in his direction. Her voice rose to an unmistakable pitch—he’d be surprised if someone downstairs didn’t hear her. “I know, you’re going after the holy grail, right? Once she lets you fuck her ass like a whore, you’ll drop her faster than a white-hot branding iron.”
The door to the room cracked open; Tamsyn’s sweet voice drifted through the gap. “Merrick?”
“Darlin’, I need you to go find one of the other Masters or Mistresses.” Keeping his eyes on Linnie, he kept his voice calm. If he let his anger loose, this could escalate into something bad, and there were too many sharp objects at Linnie’s disposal. “Now, please, Tamsyn.”
“No, Tamsyn,” Linnie snarled. “Come on in and join the party. Find out what kind of man you’ve fallen for.”
When the doctor lunged for the door, probably intending to rip it open and yank his little owl into the middle of a conflict that had nothing to do with her, Merrick acted faster. He barreled forward, bellowing for Tamsyn to run, and prayed she was out of the way when his shoulder rammed into the door, smashing it closed.
Keeping his back to it, he fended off the furious fists pelting his chest. Unwilling to lay his hands on Linnie, he knocked the blows aside as gently as he could because, evidently, there was something causing this.
Manhater or not, Linnie was hurting and lashing out at the nearest appropriate person she could find; he fit the bill for whatever she needed to lose her shit—being a man with a dick was likely the main requirement. He got the feeling being a Dom was a big red target on his forehead, just for good measure.
“Don’t want to hurt you, Linnie. Step back and calm down. Calm down ,” he ordered in a strict tone, infusing dominance into the words. His suspicions were proved correct when she didn’t rein in her emotions, but erupted as though he’d lit a barrel of gasoline under her ass.
The doctor was half his size, nowhere near him in weight, yet the blows she managed to land were going to leave bruises. At least she wasn’t clawing at his face, he thought, or trying to gouge his eyeballs from their sockets.
“Calm down,” he said again more gently. “Tell me what’s wrong, Linnie. I’ve never seen you like this before, so something must’ve happened. Let me help.”
“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Her breath hitched, yet her eyes blazed with hatred, not tears. “She’ll see right through you, y’know. One day, she’ll see through this kind, benevolent act and know you’re not the savior, but the fucking villain in her story.”
There was no point arguing with her. None. Whatever set this breakdown in motion, Linnie was merging her personal demons with Tamsyn’s, and that didn’t bode well for anyone.
It was the knee to his groin, perilously close to his prize jewels, that forced Merrick to switch from defense to offence—he wasn’t entirely sure she wouldn’t kill him if she got him on his knees. He meant it when he said he didn’t want to hurt her, only she wasn’t leaving much room to avoid it.
When her fist clipped the underside of his jaw, he pushed her back a step. She came in harder, breath panting now, giving him no option but to tackle her. His arms banded around her, trapping hers against her sides. The momentum sent them down, and he twisted so it was his back that took the impact first before he rolled and pinned her beneath him.
Linnie screamed and thrashed, calling him every name under the sun—including a few he hadn’t heard before. When her teeth snicked sharply together, a hair’s breadth from his throat, he knew she was well beyond any help he or anyone else here could give.
The door crashed open as he was trying to flip her onto her stomach, keeping those snapping teeth from sinking into his vulnerable flesh.
Tamsyn had been a very good girl.
Elias, Fordham, Violet, Ericka, and Grit piled into the room, staring with various shades of incredulity at the chaos they’d barged in on.
Grunting, Merrick glowered up at them. “Give me a fucking hand before she rips my throat out, will you? See if you can find some restraints.”
“What the hell?” Elias demanded, stepping forward only to come to a halt when his presence inflamed Linnie’s fury.
“Been asking myself the same damn question,” Merrick snapped. “Doc’s got a few troubles, Eli. Got herself a bad case of misandry, but something triggered her today. She doesn’t respond well to orders, and she sure as shit ain’t in the mood for men.”
Concerned, Violet stepped forward. “Let me—”
“No. Not until she has herself under control.” Merrick met her eyes, then slid his gaze to the open doorway. “Where’s Tamsyn?”
“Downstairs with Liam, Sierra, and Anarchy. She’s shaken up, but she’s okay.” Drifting closer despite his warning glare, Violet hitched up the material of her pants legs before crouching down, balancing impressively on her heels as she laid her hand on Linnie’s forehead. “Honey, you’re worrying me. Do you remember who I am?”
Linnie bared her teeth. “Get this asshole off me, Vi.”
“I don’t think he wants to be on you, Lin, but you’re not really giving him a choice. Take a breath, settle down, and Merrick will move. You know we can’t tolerate this kind of behavior here,” she added softly in her southern drawl. “Not to mention it’s not good to be all riled up like this.”
Grit slipped out of the room while Elias and Fordham stepped to the side, obviously reading the situation accurately enough to let Violet lead. Ericka inched closer, mimicking her, kneeling on the other side of Linnie’s head.
“Linnie, we were just talking an hour ago. Everything was fine—what happened between then and now?”
The manic edge in her eyes lost some of its insanity.
Merrick stayed perfectly still, understanding the precarious position he was in. The bruises she’d already given him were the only things he wanted to take away from this; he didn’t need a broken nose or a punch to the throat.
“ Him . He happened.”
“Merrick? What did Merrick do, honey?” Vi asked quietly.
“He… he’s using that girl. She was pure and innocent, and he’s ruined her.”
“Oh, Linnie. Ruining her is the last thing on his mind. Merrick worships the ground she walks on. He loves her, and Tamsyn loves him right back. You’ve only got to see them together to know what they’ve found in each other.” Smiling sadly, Violet stroked the sweat away from Linnie’s hairline. “Maybe I’m pulling on the wrong string, honey, but I’m thinking it’s not Merrick and Tamsyn’s relationship sending you off the deep end. Something about it, though, that’s hitting you all kinds of wrong, isn’t it?”
Ericka made a shocked noise of understanding. “Ewan.”
Merrick felt the angry vibration of Linnie’s body beneath his change to rigid denial.
“Ericka, don’t.” Linnie’s eyes pleaded with her.
“No, Lin. If he’s affecting you this badly, they need to know. Fuck, if I’d known he’d cause this, I wouldn’t have kept quiet.” Shaking her head, Ericka’s expression was full of regret. “Are you going to tell them or am I?”
Okay, so there was a reason behind all this drama, which was reassuring. Having a starting point meant there was a path to follow, and a road to healing if she wanted to take it.
Sensing a shift in the tide, Merrick eased himself up and away, careful not to touch her in any way that might set the whole damn thing off a second time. As he climbed stiffly to his feet, he took his first full breath in twenty minutes, just as Grit returned with a pair of utilitarian cuffs.
“You got the situation deescalated,” he murmured, stepping beside Merrick.
“Not me. Those two.” Merrick lifted his chin at the Mistresses.
“What the hell went on in here?”
“Don’t ask me. I think Ericka’s about to divulge some secrets though, so keep those cuffs to hand.”
“We have a guest, Ewan McGrady, who comes once a month and stays for a weekend. He has some serious perversions,” Ericka said, glancing up at Elias, then Grit. “Red flag perversions. Several of the staff have made comments about him.”
“I haven’t seen any reports,” Grit commented. “Did they report him to security?”
She shook her head as Violet groaned under her breath. “No. I don’t think they spoke to Evander either, although that was mentioned. He hasn’t crossed a line yet, but his behavior is escalating each time he visits, as though he’s testing the waters. He’s been flirting with Linnie—”
A sob burst from the doctor as she curled into a ball on the floor.
“The thing is, they’re from the same county in Nevada. Ewan’s older, considerably.” Misery etched around her mouth, Ericka stroked Linnie’s hair. “He likes his women younger; a predilection that stems back to his teen years.”
A growl rumbled from Elias. “Are you telling me we have a pedophile in my club?”
“He was never convicted of rape, statutory or otherwise. As far as I know, he doesn’t have a criminal record.” Ericka paled at the sound of barely leashed rage in the sadist’s voice.
“If he did, he wouldn’t have been eligible for membership.” Grit lifted his eyebrow at Elias. “Want me to do some digging into this asshole?”
Blue eyes blazing, Eli shook his head. “Don’t bother. Revoke his membership immediately and have him escorted off the property within the hour. I want a meeting with any and all staff who’ve had contact with him, particularly anyone he’s played with. Screen the guests as well.”
“Yes, sir.” Passing the cuffs to Merrick, Grit made a hasty exit.
Crossing over to Linnie, Elias hunkered down on his haunches and took control. “Linnie, I need to hear this from you, no matter how hard it is. I promise you, you are not in trouble. We’ll do everything we can to support you through this, but we need to know what we’re dealing with.”
“Eli, she’s in no state—”
“Quiet, Ericka. Keeping silent hasn’t done anything but bring trouble. She physically and verbally attacked a club Master, which is a termination offence.” When Linnie whimpered, Eli’s hard expression didn’t soften. “I’m willing to be lenient if Merrick is.”
Crap, now all eyes were on him, including Linnie’s. Hating being put on the spot, he just lifted his shoulders. “Be a shame to lose a good doctor over something like this. If she’s gonna get help, I guess we can put this behind us.”
Ericka shot him a grateful look; Violet offered a pleased smile.
Elias just nodded as though he expected nothing less. “Sit up and dry your eyes. Tell me about this Ewan.”
Sniffling, Linnie did as she was told without a single heated glare or snipped word. She was pale, although embarrassment brought color to her cheeks when she met Merrick’s eyes apologetically. Swiping her fingers under her eyes to get rid of the tears, she snuffled a few times but seemed blessedly calmer. “I’m sorry, Merrick. Truly. This whole mess has been building to a head and today… well, I suppose it all just got too much.”
“Why?” he asked gruffly.
“You and Tamsyn… there are similarities between your relationship and what happened with Ewan. I didn’t have anyone to protect me from him, and she… she reminds me of who I was back then.” With a shaky sigh, she ran her hands through her hair, then dropped them into her lap. “I was fifteen when I met Ewan. A group of high school girls hanging out with the boys in the parking lot of a convenience store, making out and daring each other to go inside with fake IDs for beer and smokes. Stupid kid shit, a kind of rite of passage, growing up.”
He'd been there, done that. He sure as hell didn’t miss the constant battle for popularity, the ever-changing hierarchy and sudden plummet from popular to unworthy, and back again on the whims of teenagers who thought they ruled the goddamn world.
“Ewan was twenty-eight, which of course meant he was super cool in our eyes, even though he literally spent every night goofing around with us. He was the big brother of the school football team’s fullback—one of the guys in our group, so it didn’t send up warning flares. When he started working his way through my friends, fucking a different one every week or two, it was just…” Linnie’s jaw tightened. “At first, it was a thrill, you know? Sex was the great unknown, and suddenly one of our own had firsthand knowledge. Then another, and another, but no one was saying any names. We just assumed the boyfriends were putting pressure on, because they were randy as hell.”
A sexual predator let loose among a gaggle of high school girls— underaged high school girls. Yeah, that was enough to stir up a frenzied case of misandry, Merrick thought as disgust curdled his gut.
“But the guys were getting annoyed. Their girlfriends were losing their cherries left, right, and center, but not to them. Tempers were starting to fray, relationships fell apart, and eventually it came out that Ewan was the one destroying the group. I was the fourth one,” she admitted softly. “The fourth out of seven. He was good at what he did—he had using the lure of his age and experience down pat, flashing charm and wit like cash. Even when I said no, told him I wasn’t sure I wanted my first time to be something casual and meaningless, the charm was still there, only it was… ruthless. Merciless. He had a way of turning a no into a reluctant maybe, then used cajolery and persuasion like weapons until it was just easier to say yes.”
Violet closed her eyes and leaned forward to press her cheek against Linnie’s. “You know that’s rape, Linnie. Coercion, no matter how it’s applied, is still rape. Given your age, it was statutory rape. Did you report him?”
A soft, bitter laugh. “We were all too embarrassed, especially once we realized he’d duped all of us into fucking him. He bagged all seven of us in one summer, and it broke the entire group apart. I don’t think his brother, Chris, spoke to him again after he found out—Chris had his eye on me,” she said mournfully. “The feeling was mutual, but Ewan… he knew how to make teenaged girls dance to his tune. We weren’t his first dalliances, and we sure as hell won’t have been his last.”
Fordham set his boot against the wall he leaned against and pushed himself forward into the conversation. Eyes dark and thoughtful, he cocked his head. “Are you still in contact with any of the girls from back then?”
“No. There was a lot of heartbreak involved, a whole heap of jealousy dumped into what were close friendships. A couple of the girls were convinced they loved him, that he was their future. The weeks after he broke up with them, they wouldn’t talk about anything but how to get him back, how they were going to marry him, raise a family, blow off college to have the perfect life.” She shook her head ruefully. “I was on that precipice, until I understood he was a user. It took me a month to realize I’d been good for one thing and one thing only—a bloodstain to add to the collection already on his dick.”
Merrick grimaced at the imagery.
“The statute of limitations for statutory rape in Nevada is twenty years. I’m betting you’re not thirty-five yet.”
“Thirty-one.”
“You have time to find justice for what he did to you,” Fordham stated matter-of-factly, keeping his eyes on her face even when she lowered her gaze to her hands. “Grit can delay kicking the asshole out for a day while things get set in motion. Go to the cops, make a statement. Get the ball rolling. Not only will it be closure for you, I’m sure there are other women—at least another six—who want to see him pay for taking advantage of them at an age where they were vulnerable to predators like him.”
“I’m one woman, Fordham. Who’s to say they’ll even believe me over him?”
“Any cop deserving of their badge will take you seriously. Once an investigation starts, it won’t matter how charming he is, there will be evidence to support your claim. Not just that, more will come, Linnie. It takes one crack in the wall to break the dam; you can be that crack and bring him down.”
“He doesn’t even recognize me,” she mumbled.
“The fucker won’t see it coming then, will he? He started off as a monster preying on young girls,” Ford continued with determined reason. “He’s older now, obviously heavily involved with BDSM if he’s paying membership fees as hefty as Serenity’s for the privilege of playing here. Tastes change, Linnie, and they evolve.”
All three women shuddered in unison at the unspoken implication.
“I’ll go with you to the police,” Ericka said without hesitation.
“Me too, if you need me.” This from Violet.
When Linnie broke down again and the Mistresses wrapped her up in a supportive embrace, Merrick exchanged a glance with Fordham and Elias. This was his cue to leave; Linnie needed time to process everything and make a difficult, incredibly personal decision that was going to affect her future.
Besides, he had a sub waiting for him downstairs who was probably imagining him being stabbed with a needle or strangled by a crazed doctor. After all the shouting and him slamming the door in her face, Tamsyn would never go near another doctor again.
Problematic, considering that cast needed to come off.
As he headed for the door, he paused when Linnie said his name in a choked voice.
Looking at her over his shoulder, he waited expectantly.
“I’m sorry, again. But… thank you.” Some of the torment on her face was easing, quietly stroked away by comforting, familiar hands. “Tamsyn… she’s lucky to have you, even if you break her heart. You’re not an asshole. Not even a little bit.”
Merrick lifted an eyebrow, then allowed a smile to curve the lefthand side of his mouth. “Appreciate that, Doc. I’ll tell her to put that in her vows when I marry her next week.”
Watching a trio of mouths drop open in surprise was remarkably satisfying, but Violet’s exclamation was the frosting on a very sweet cake. “You’re getting married? ”
Tapping a finger on the side of his nose, he made a swift exit, chuckling as he closed the door behind him. The chuckle transformed into a robust laugh as he bounded down the stairs to the lower level and headed for the bar.
Damn straight, he was getting married.
*