Chapter 27
27
M y ass feels like a bruised peach.
Every time I think the lingering burn of last night has gone, I move to stand up or sit down, and the sting blooms immediately, reminding me of every single smack rained down on my bare backside.
Also… Hawke Calliano might be a dick, but even though I’m honestly trying my hardest to loathe him for eternity, there is something intensely captivating about him. A realization I somewhat hate.
Nor am I acknowledging the almost certainty that I’ve fallen head over heels for Angel. In amongst the bubble bath and the gentle way he took care of me, is the fact we can somehow have an entire conversation without him saying a word.
Well, shit. That man treated me like I was the most precious thing on the entire planet, and I ate up every second of being looked after, like the greedy little emotionally starved gremlin I am.
Grey brought coffee in bed this morning, and I swear to god, it looked like he hadn’t slept a wink. Yet, he made it his business to find the time to come and deliver me not only caffeine but mischievous eyes, too. Along with a determination to tease me until my cheeks set themselves on fire about having a bruised ass, before taking Angel with him for whatever business they need to handle today.
All in all, I’m entirely fucked.
Three men, who each call to a part of me I didn’t even know existed before all this. The evidence is clear… I’m sinking deeper into quicksand the longer I’m in their presence.
So, what do I do? I decide to follow after them today.
The world outside is a moody gray, with clouds hanging low, yet it’s warm enough to walk the short distance to Noire House. Something in me feels the urge to find out more about the mansion and what goes on within those walls, to ask more questions about the club, and see what information I might be able to seek out about the future I’m supposedly bound for.
A girl cannot sit around, languishing in self-pity, waiting for the day whoever has decided they own her life to descend like a bloodthirsty horde. No. Fuck that. Somehow, I need to take matters into my own hands carefully and subtly, and I can’t help but feel like at least some of the answers lie within those ornately decorated rooms and the secrets kept locked away under a guise of pleasure and hedonism.
I’m right in the heart of this secretive world, and there’s got to be a way I can use that to my advantage.
Besides, no one has outright told me I’m not allowed to set foot in Noire House on my own. If anything, they damn well keep trying to prod and poke me to be amongst their dark exploits, so I’m going to take that and run with it.
When I was left on my own this morning, I kept thinking back to the night before, and how the entire evening was supposedly a test of how well I held myself when surrounded by such an unfamiliar world. Which leads me to believe my temporary situation here in this house, with these men, is going to draw to a close anytime soon .
Perhaps I still have some more of my lessons with Hawke, but there’s no guarantee those will continue. For all I know, there might be more masked individuals lurking, readying to swoop in and steal me from my bed during the night.
Maybe that’s partly why I’m so content to spend time wrapped up in Angel’s bedsheets, with him holding me pressed to his broad chest. At least I feel like I can’t simply vanish if he’s there. Or at worst, I hope to god he might put up some kind of a fight on my behalf if the unimaginable was to happen.
While walking and thinking and taking stock of this entire goddamn mess, I come to a painful conclusion. Most likely, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to intervene or alter the trajectory of what’s to come at all. No matter how much I wish for the fairytale ending where he or the others might have the power to change our fated course.
As I pass through the doors of Noire House, I’m not exactly anticipating quite the same level of overt sexual energy to be on display at this time of day. It’s only early afternoon. However, there are certainly enough vehicles in the parking area to indicate that there are guests here at the mansion.
Of course, sexual appetites aren’t confined to after dark, and I imagine there must be more than a few members who might prefer to come and go when there are less eyes watching their every move. Although, I’m sure there are plenty who get off on the public nature of being seen at an occasion such as last night.
Having been here enough times now under the watch of my usual silent mountainous escort, I make my way through the passageways that lead down to the underworld Grey inhabits.
The man who I allowed to spank my ass in front of a room full of people is ever present in my mind as the jersey fabric of my dress slides across each sensitive curve, and I almost feel like there’s a giant handprint there.
I certainly checked in the mirror this morning because, holy shit, when I woke up, I could have sworn there would be a purple bruised outline of all five digits and a large palm across both cheeks. Alas, there was maybe a little mottling at best.
Heat tinges my skin when I realize that maybe there’s an even sluttier level to my brain after all. One who actually wanted to wake up with a bruise or two from being manhandled by Hawke.
Which, again, is at complete odds with the fact that I want to avoid him and should, by all rights, hate his guts.
Except, I can’t seem to hate him enough to not be curious about this world that he inhabits.
When I reach Grey’s workshop, I’m a little hesitant to approach at first. I didn’t tell him I was coming, and suddenly, the worry of intruding upon something I’m not meant to bear witness to is a distinct possibility.
Torture? Sex? Who fucking knows what goes on in this place. I don’t know what it says about me that I’d be relieved to walk through the doorway looming up ahead and find him with bloodied victims strung up, rather than discover that he’s servicing clients seeking out orgasms in this dungeon he commands.
Fortunately for my teeny-tiny feelings of possessive rage over these men—feelings that I’ve also shoved in yet another box in the corner and slammed the lid closed on, along with trying to get my head around why I’m so readily falling into bed with them—I wander in and find the workshop empty.
There’s no sign of life. No half-finished coffee in amongst the jars of floating body parts. Certainly no interrogation subjects missing teeth or fingernails. From the looks of the space, he might not have been here today at all.
I twist my lips and pull out my phone. Should I text him? My thumb hovers over our ongoing message thread, and then I decide against it. It seems like today I’ve been given space and time to do as I please, so I carry on upstairs in search of some answers I might be able to pry loose from these ancient walls as to my fate.
When I reach the floor that houses the main entrance to the club—the area I passed through the evening prior when it was consumed with chatter and flirtation—there’s only the somewhat familiar sight of a man behind the bar.
William glances up and waves me over.
“Um, hi.” I flash him a small smile and do my utmost to bite down the wince that rockets through me when I perch on one of the bar stools.
God… Hawke really has left me a lasting memento of every single one of those twenty palm-prints. A wicked reminder that all it took was my first spanking, in public no less, and I fell apart in an earth-shattering orgasm.
“You’re Poe.” The man smiles at me as he rearranges glassware in racks below the counter.
“And you’re William?” I neatly rearrange my face into an expression that doesn’t scream your boss turned me into a puddle simply by palming my ass cheeks raw.
“Please, call me Will. Can I get you something? Sparkling water, wasn’t it?”
“If you’ve got a bottle, that would be perfect.” As I smooth my dress over my knees, I tilt my head to one side. “Do you ever sleep?”
With the precision of someone who has done the move a hundred thousand times, he fetches a bottle from the fridge behind him, hardly needing to look at what he’s reaching for.
“Not if I can help it.” He slides the sealed beverage my way with a wink.
“Is Keisha here by any chance?” Opening the cap and gulping back a few sips, I watch him over the lip of the bottle.
“She won’t be in ‘til tonight.” He grabs a cloth and polishes wine glasses with one hip propped against the back bar area. “How did you enjoy your first formal Noire House experience? ”
“You knew I was here?”
“Let’s just say my job is pouring drinks, and knowing secrets.” He grins at me.
“Ohhh… I bet you know all the secrets around here.”
“More than I wish to on occasion.” There’s a slight grimace and shudder, and I can’t help but laugh.
“I bet you’ve seen plenty.” Would someone like Will be able to divulge information I might be able to use in some way?
“I’ve learned to pick my moments carefully if I ever have to check on the private rooms upstairs.”
“Copped an eyeful or two?”
“Nothing I wasn’t already familiar with back where I come from, but it’s still always an experience when you walk in on something a little extra kinky at eleven a.m. on a sleepy Monday morning, ya know.”
He’s got an energy about him that immediately lets me feel comfortable to sit here a while, although I’m not quite sure how idle chat works in this place. “I’m not holding you up, am I?”
“That seat is yours as long as you want it, Poe.”
“Can I say, I still find it odd how everyone seems to know who I am, and everything about me, and yet I know fuck all.” Shaking my head, I tilt back another drink.
Will sets the polished glasses aside and starts work on cutting lemons with the precision of a heart surgeon.
“That’s the thing about this world. You get used to living within an entirely different set of rules.”
“Has this always been your life? I don’t even know how it works, do people get born into a secret society, or what?”
“Sure. Some of us are. For me, I grew up in one of the other Households, until I met Hawke, and he brought me here.” Will gives me a look that I can’t decipher. “I’d fucking lay down my life for that guy. No question.”
Is he telling me this on purpose? Or is it just me trying to look at everything for hidden meaning ?
“There are other Households than Noire House?”
He dips his chin. “Four others are connected within the Anguis. Some are close enough, within driving distance of Port Macabre, while others are scattered elsewhere. You really only know about them if you have cause to be invited, initiated, or are permitted to live within another Household.”
“You have to get permission?”
“Absolutely. It isn’t a rivalry as such, but more of a power game always being played out between the heads of the Households. Andreas Noire oversees all here, and there are others with similar standing within the council who are his counterparts, I guess you could call them.”
Hearing that name again pricks my attention. “Oh, I met Andreas briefly last night.”
Will’s shoulders stiffen, and his eyes dart to mine with an intensity that wasn’t there before.
“Like I was saying, the Households are the ones to grant permission. They will make allowances for their individual members to leave. However, it’s less of a freedom when it’s done, and more of a bargaining tool.”
I swallow some more water, recalling Hawke’s reaction to Andreas’ presence, and suddenly wonder if there’s something here that I’m missing.
“Take Angel for example…” Will carries on, and at the mention of my giant protector, every ounce of my attention is on the man in front of me. “His life here is one that has been carefully bartered by Hawke.”
My chest tightens.
“What do you mean?”
Will’s eyes flicker around the room, and he shakes his head just a fraction. He either can’t tell me, or is choosing not to, and either way, I’m frustrated as hell because this world is cryptic and confusing, and here I thought things were going smoothly for a brief moment .
Chatter behind me signals the arrival of a group of people, and Will gives me an apologetic smile.
“Lovely to meet you properly, Poe. My bar stools are yours anytime you want to come keep me company.”
“Thanks, Will.” Although I don’t know if I’m actually thankful. In fact, he’s left me with more questions than I arrived with.
He turns to move to the other end of the bar, then pauses and drops his voice low. “Hawke Calliano is a man I’d gladly give anything for in return for what he’s done for so many of us. Just keep that in mind when you’re around him, ok?”