Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
The next morning, I text my brothers in our group chat and ask them to meet me in Asher’s office that afternoon. I need to tell them that I’ll be initiating Cinder into the Ritual Room.
When I walk in, they’re already gathered, probably talking shit about me or talking about how they can “protect” me from myself. I steel myself against irritation, just wanting this to go well.
“What’s with the summons, kid?” Kol asks as soon as I enter the room.
I glance around. Anabelle isn’t here, which means Asher must’ve told her to leave us alone since those two are attached at the hip these days.
“It’s not a summons. I just need to fill you in on something.” I sit in the chair across from Sid.
His dark eyes narrow on me, a predator assessing. “He’s bringing Cinder into the Ritual Room.”
Fucking Sid.
Asher arches an eyebrow. “Is that true?”
I’d like to deny it just to prove Sid wrong, but I can’t. “Yes. She’ll go through initiation the next meeting.”
They all look at one another. Asher at Kol. Kol at Sid. Sid at Asher. Each of them share the same question in their head.
“What?” I snipe.
“You know what it means to bring her in,” Asher says in a grave voice.
I do. Cinder’s not like everyone else there. She doesn’t have a fortune and prestige to lose. Embarrassment if her tape ever got out, sure. But that pales in comparison to everyone else. If I bring her in, it means that she means something to me. Something more than just a fling, not just some girl I’m fucking. The same as when Asher brought Anabelle and Kol brought Rapsody. Sid will probably never bring a woman.
We fuck women in the Ritual Room, sure. And we fuck women out of it, but we never bring those women there. Not until Anabelle and Rapsody, anyway. So by bringing Cinder in, it means I plan to keep her around for the future.
Hell, I never even brought Maude. The idea of even telling her about the sex club was a non-starter. She never would’ve been into it and would have judged me for it.
But not Cinder. She’s never judged me. She’s perfect.
“I know what it means. And it’s not a problem.” I look each of them in the eye so they know I’m serious.
“Is your stalking still a problem?” Sid asks. “Is she going to freak out about it when your behavior escalates, and she finds out? Will she go off running for the hills, babbling all our secrets to anyone who will listen?”
“I told her. She knows I was watching her, and she knows what happened with Farrah in high school.”
Sid’s eyebrows hit his hairline in surprise. Finally, I shock the fucker.
“She was cool with it?” Kol asks.
“Yes, and she didn’t balk when I told her about it or the Ritual Room.”
Sid scoffs. “Probably because she’s a fucking stripper. Probably seen more dicks in the VIP room for money than a proctologist.”
I jump over the table, fisting the front of his shirt. “Don’t you fucking dare talk about her like that.”
Sid’s face transforms from smooth and smug to rage. He pushes at my shoulders and stands, making me stumble back. “You’d better watch yourself, kid. Don’t touch me ever.”
“Enough!” Asher shouts.
My hands drop from Sid’s shirt, eyes narrowed. “You of all people shouldn’t be judging anyone. We all know you’re fucked in the head.”
Sid’s hands clench at his sides, and he steps so our chests are brushing, but Kol puts his hands on each of our chests, pushing us back.
“Go walk it off, Sid. Let us deal with this.” Kol pats his chest, and Sid meets his gaze then nods.
Those two have always been thick as thieves.
Sid steps back, and the blank expression, the one that gives away nothing, is back on his face as he fixes his cufflinks. “Consider that your one freebie. You lay hands on me again and you’ll regret it.” He leaves the room.
Asher pinches the bridge of his nose. “You know, I really thought that as I got older, I wouldn’t have to referee fights between my younger brothers.”
I motion in the direction Sid just left. “He shouldn’t have said that shit about Cinder.”
Asher looks at me and nods. Surprisingly, Kol does too, returning to his seat.
“You’re right. If anyone had said anything like that about Anabelle, they’d probably find themselves in an unmarked grave in the family plot. I’m sure Kol agrees.”
“Damn straight,” Kol growls.
“But he has a point, Nero. Are you sure Cinder feels the same as you and is in this for the long haul? I’m not trying to sound like an asshole?—”
“But he will.” Kol laughs.
Asher gives him a scathing look. “But you were sure before with Maude and look how that turned out.”
His words play at my biggest insecurity—that I’ll be set as the fool again. Believe that someone actually cares for me only for it to be a lie.
“Cinder isn’t Maude. I wouldn’t have told her about everything if I thought she was. Not even Maude knew about the Ritual Room.”
Asher nods. “Just make sure we don’t regret it.”
I feel as though someone just took a load of bricks off my chest. “No regrets. I promise.”
I leave his office feeling good. Feeling lighter and better than I have… ever.
The themefor the Ritual Room tonight is medieval fantasy, and I picked Cinder’s outfit knowing it would emphasize her tits, but I hadn’t prepared myself for how fucking stunning she’d be.
She steps out of the bathroom wearing a barmaid outfit with a long brown skirt, a corset around her middle that cinches her waist, and plain cream cotton covering her swelling breasts. The moment I see her, I want to tug down the fabric and tongue her nipples, but it will have to wait. We’re due in the basement for her initiation.
“You look absolutely stunning.” I palm the back of her head, bringing her in for a kiss, but before it can lead anywhere, I pull away.
“I like this look on you.” Cinder runs her hands up and down over my black velvet jacket with a half cape. She fingers one of the many buttons down the front, so I pull her hand away because it feels as though she’s tugging on my dick, and if I don’t stop her, we’ll never make it out of this room.
“Are you ready for this?”
She nods, but I don’t miss the way she chews on her lip. She’s nervous, whether she’ll admit it or not.
“Remember, you don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. If you want to stop at any time, you tell me, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Time for the final touch for my costume then.” I step over to the table where I left my mask and slide it on.
“The raven. I guess I should have known.” She runs her fingers over the long beak of my gold mask.
“And here is yours. You won’t wear yours until next time, but I wanted you to see it.” I hold it out to her.
It’s much smaller than mine, but it’s also gold. And because I want hers to echo my own, it has small feathers and a very small beak.
“I love it. Should I leave it here for tonight?”
I nod. “You won’t be needing it. We should go though. Everyone will be waiting for us.” I lead her by her hand down the dim hallway.
“I’m afraid I won’t do well tonight. I want to please you,” she says.
I tug on her hand and bring her to a stop. “That’s something you don’t have to worry about. You always please me. You just be yourself, okay?”
A long stream of air leaves her mouth. “Okay. Is there anything I should know before we go down there?”
We walk again.
“Just that I’ve already selected the people who will be helping with your initiation this evening.” I squeeze her hand in reassurance. “And I suppose I should explain the mask system to you before we arrive. It won’t matter much this time around, but in the months to come, it will.”
“Okay…”
“You’ll see that there’re three different colored masks down there, beyond the gold ones my brothers and I wear, along with you, Anabelle, and Rapsody. Each color mask denotes something different. White is a watcher—pretty self-explanatory. They just want to observe and might choose to satisfy themselves. You won’t see a lot of those. Red is a waiter—those people haven’t decided what they’re in the mood for. They can be approached and offered any number of things, then they’ll decide what they’re up for. There’re lots of those. And then black. Black is a doer.”
“What’s a doer?”
“Those people are up for whatever. It implies that they’ve given their consent for any and everything. Part of what gets them off is not knowing what might come next. The rest of the guests can do whatever they want with them.”
Her eyes widen. “Are there lots of those?”
I chuckle. “More than you’d think.”
By the time I’m done explaining it, we’ve arrived at the basement door. The same one I found her sleepwalking to.
I pull the skeleton key from my pocket and insert it into the lock. “Last chance to back out.”
Cinder’s hand runs down my back to my ass, which she squeezes. “Not a chance.”
My dick twitches in my pants. God, this woman.
I turn the key and swing open the door. It’s time. Finally.