Chapter Six #2
“Better the one you know, right?” She didn’t feel anxious, and her anger was dying.
If he had to describe her emotional state, he’d say she was simply resigned to spending the evening doing something she’d avoided for a while now.
“Give them an hour, Violet. That’s all they’ve been asking for—they miss you. ”
“I’m not in the mood.”
“Seems like you’re never in the mood for anything. What’s got you so depressed?”
“Dangling over your shoulder like a dead deer while you stand here yammering isn’t helping my current mood.”
He laughed, then nipped her thigh. “Dead deer don’t talk, Bennie. On the plus side, just in case you’re wondering, I’ve got the best view in the house. Good enough reason for me not to go anywhere right now.”
“This is not submissive behavior, Boudreaux.”
“I’ll be sure to reprimand my trainer later with a thorough spanking for her lapse in discipline.
Now,” he continued when she groaned, “are you done sulking? Think you can muster up a smile for your friends, some conversation that won’t send those two sweet Littles running when they’ve been begging to see you? ”
Violet squirmed. “Fine. Whatever. Just put me down before I embarrass us both by peeing on you.”
“Can’t say I’m averse to the prospect, Bennie. Kink is my forte, and you are the cherry on top.” When Elias coughed impatiently, Reaux inclined his head in acknowledgement. “If you run, I’ll chase.”
“I’m more inclined to kick your ass.”
“Fight me and I’ll fuck you on your knees in front of the entire bar.
” Reaux slid her down the front of his body, enjoying every moment of contact.
His lips brushed her ear. “Everyone on the goddamn property will find out just how much you like taking my cock, beignet. Every Dom, sub, pony, fucking landscaper will hear you scream, and they’ll know what true jealousy feels like. ”
She glared at him.
“Try me,” he suggested amiably. “Tell me you dare me to do such a thing. That I don’t have the balls to put you on your hands and knees, yank down these sinfully tight pants, and rut into your greedy cunt until cum coats your thighs and drips onto the floor.”
Her eyes darkened with arousal even as her jaw tightened, her lips pressing together so hard they turned white. Somehow she bit back the retort he saw on her tongue and, with a haughty sniff, spun on her heels and marched past Elias into the bar.
He felt pretty smug until he realized three pairs of eyes were weighing him up with interest. Merrick nodded once, approvingly, while Levi’s dimples made an appearance.
Elias was harder to read. “You should be careful, speaking to her that way.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
The Brit’s mouth twisted into a smile; his eyes took on a devilish glint.
“Because if any of the other subs hear you talking in such a manner, there’ll be a riot over who gets to have you first.” He swept his arm toward the door.
“Let me buy you a drink. I think you and I should have a chat about how well you handle Violet.”
“It comes from a decade of experience,” Reaux commented sagely as he walked into the bar. “Technically, I can’t divulge any of her secrets, but I’ll let you buy me that drink and offer you some advice.”
“Why don’t you step into my office?”
Violet
Fully prepared to deck the first man behind her who dared lay a hand on any part of her, Violet stomped into the bar with her emotions running wild and the familiar, frantic itch of sexual frustration throbbing in her belly.
Boudreaux turned dirty talk into an artform, one that rarely failed to get him laid.
A mutually beneficial skill, unless one was disinclined to participate, in which case she was left wet, wanting, and pissed.
Add in the fact she liked being manhandled—but would never admit it—and her mind had been stuck in panic mode for the past few days, she was an unholy mess on the inside while barely holding on to her sanity.
Somehow, she’d managed to keep her public face strictly professional.
Between a delivery error that meant the medical clinic didn’t receive its new order of Plan B and her incessant need to avoid Boudreaux, she’d missed the deadline to take the emergency contraceptive and now had to live with the possibility she’d royally fucked herself.
Worst of all, she couldn’t shake the feeling she’d deliberately sabotaged herself, secretly craving a pregnancy so she could reclaim at least a small part of the dream she’d once built her future around—she’d never have Boudreaux or marriage, the big family or happy ever after, but if this was her one chance of having a baby, her subconscious was desperate to take it.
Nerves fluttered in her stomach when she saw the whole crew was out in force, waiting for her.
Not that she was scared of her friends, never that, but sitting down amongst a handful of strong, intuitive, dominant men who took great enjoyment in ferreting out secrets from their submissives…
she felt like a mouse under a spotlight, surrounded by deadly lions prowling through the shadows around her.
One wrong move, and all attention would be on her.
The group commanded the back section of seating against the far wall—Evander was there with Callie sat on his lap; the Master of Security, Grit, was talking to one of Sierra’s husbands, Mack, while Tabitha leaned against him, keeping a suspicious eye on, well, everyone.
Sierra was helping her other husband, bartender Liam, hand out drinks.
Tamsyn huddled in the corner, her eyes on the door, obviously uncomfortable with the throng of people around her. She was still very much a hermit in the grand scheme of club life, preferring solitude with Merrick over socializing.
Violet didn’t blame her; right now, she wanted nothing more than the privacy of her cabin and a mug of hot chocolate in bed. A glass of wine would’ve suited her mood better, but under the potential circumstances, it was something she couldn’t risk divulging in.
Ericka and Felicity, two of the club Mistresses, were flirting with each other as usual, and extending that courtesy to Fordham, who had the misfortune of sitting beside them.
They weren’t an official couple, that Violet was aware of, and they were both bisexual.
Their flirtations and subsequent casual frolics between the sheets were shared equally with all and sundry.
Wonderful.
She sighed and resisted the urge to rub her nape as it prickled with the wall of power approaching her from the rear. Her hands fisted, prepared to knock someone’s teeth out, but Elias, Reaux, Merrick, and Levi evidently valued their pretty faces too much to trip her bitch switch.
“What can I get you to drink, Mistress?” Reaux crooned from behind her, politely respectful. “I’m going to join Elias at the bar for a few minutes, if that’s okay with you?”
Her lip curled into a sneer. She wasn’t stupid enough to believe this was some random get-together, or that a hyped-up deer took a detour into her living room.
Reaux’s hands were all over this mess, leaving sticky fingerprints on every aspect of it.
“I’m fine. Do what you want—as far as I’m concerned, you’re off the clock. ”
He tsked softly and dared to stroke a fingertip over the exposed skin bared by the cut of her corset, from her hairline to the center of her shoulder blades. “I’m your shadow, remember? From now until the end of forever.”
“For another three weeks,” she corrected coldly. “Not a day more. Go play with your friends from the boys’ club, Boudreaux. They’ve gone to such lengths to get you here.”
A low, angry growl was a warning she was pushing him too far, but she didn’t care.
“They went to great effort to get you here, Bennie. This, them, all for you.” Reaux whipped her around in a distinctly not submissive manner and glared down at her.
His accent thickened dangerously. “Tonight, I will be sleeping in the bed. No arguments, Violet. This attitude needs to be fucked out of you before it lands you in trouble.”
“With whom? You?” She scoffed derisively. “Take the bed. I’ll find somewhere else to sleep.”
“This is not up for discussion. The night is mine.” He cupped her face and kissed her savagely enough to bruise her lips. “So are you.”
She didn’t breathe again until he walked away with his new best buddies to the bar, then sucked in a gasping breath that couldn’t alleviate the fresh pulse of arousal assaulting her system. She wanted to hurl something at that broad back, but nothing was close enough to hand.
“Violet!” Callie’s welcoming screech turned every head in the room.
She tried not to let her shoulders sag in resignation. There went any hope of quietly slipping back out through the doors, going home, and locking the door so Boudreaux could freeze his tight ass off on the porch all night, presumptuous bastard.
Instead, she plastered on a smile, held her head up high, and made her way over to the people who’d become her family. Almost immediately, she was assailed by Callie and Sierra, strangled in a joint hug that brought tears to her eyes.
It was just from missing this connection, she assured herself. It was not any kind of hormones.
Callie was talking so fast, it was hard to understand what she was saying. Her voice, her tone, her mannerisms were all childlike, sweet and innocent. It was like being hugged by an adult-sized toddler.
In comparison, Sierra’s silent clinging wormed into Violet’s heart.
It struck her suddenly how leaving abruptly would devastate these two alone, not to mention the others, and a flood of guilt drowned her as she realized not only how blind she’d been, but how selfish to consider just up and abandoning them.
When she left, it needed to be on the right terms, with no broken friendships in her wake.
“Sierra, let Violet sit down, babygirl.” Mack patted the seat beside him. He smiled at her, understanding in his eyes. “Been a while, Mistress.”