CHAPTER 5
HENDRIX
The last five days have been a test of my control. I knew we could have been doing other things, like our damn jobs. Or, at least, we should have been doing it. If there was some sort of emergency, we would have been there without question and it’s not like we didn’t spend the days using our resources to find out as much about Mikhail Morozov as we could.
But once the night descended? We went to Club Sin.
After Wolfe’s declaration that the woman we rescued ten years ago, the same one I was shocked as fuck to see across the main room of Club Sin sitting proud like a damn queen, is ours, we didn’t talk about it again. We all knew it was true. It’s not like we needed to discuss it further.
Since the only men I could ever share a woman with are my brothers, it made sense the moment Wolfe said it. The truth of it all hit me in the middle of my chest and I couldn’t shake it.
I also couldn’t look away from her.
She looked so different than she did from when I saw her ten years ago, which seems obvious, but really isn’t. To me, in so many ways, she stayed who she was ten years ago—scarred, traumatized, and way too fucking young for this world to have taken so much from her.
But she didn’t stay like that which has become very fucking obvious as I’ve watched her over the last five days.
Now, her outer strength matches her inner strength and the fire I saw in her eyes ten years ago. She carries herself with a bearing that screams not to fuck with her. But there’s something else about her too, something I’ve seen in the women I used to serve with. She’s dangerous and there’s nothing fake about the way she holds herself. It’s not a mask, she can back it up with skill.
It’s sexy as fuck.
Tonight, the moment we walk into Club Sin, I can feel that there’s something different happening immediately. Kirby isn’t sitting at her normal table while she speaks to someone as she interviews them. After watching her for days, that’s the only explanation for what she’s been doing every night. That is enough to have my hackles raised, but then I see her at the bar standing tall next to a man, one I haven’t seen her interview.
Fuck.
This is the first time I’m seeing her in all her damn glory. Even though she’s been dressed nicely the last few evenings, it was clear that she wasn’t dressed to play her role. But tonight? She’s dressed like she’s ready to make the man she’s standing with her bitch.
“Fuck, that leather skirt looks painted on,” Wolfe groans under his breath from his spot next to me, “and those stockings. Do you think they have that lace thing at the top of them?”
Dominic’s grunt of agreement speaks fucking volumes.
Wolfe isn’t wrong. I can almost feel how supple the leather of her skirt and her bustier, not to mention her skin, would feel under my hands. Without realizing it, I clench my fists.
Everything in me is screaming to go over to her and demand her to forget about the guy next to her and give us all her attention. But I know I can’t do that. This is her job; one she’s built for herself in spite of everything that was taken from her ten years ago.
It’s not like I even have a problem with her profession, at least not yet. I have to hand it to her that she’s found a way to provide for herself. I’ve also been around long enough to know that she’s probably not having sex with all her clients. For a man who desires to be dominated, it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with sex.
No, I’m not trying to delude myself. If she did have sex with all her clients, it wouldn’t have been any of my business.
Is it now? You better fucking believe it.
I might be willing to share her with my brothers, because they want her just as much as I do, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be sharing her with anyone else.
“She’s going to fight us about her business,” Dominic growls like he’s reading my damn mind and knows exactly what I’m thinking about.
“Probably,” Wolfe agrees, but there’s amusement in his voice.
When I look at him, he has a feral grin on his face. The thought of how we could convince our woman to give up her job and settle down with us, has my cock thickening in my slacks.
The longer we watch her, the clearer it is that she’s fighting herself about looking at us. Most people probably wouldn’t notice, but I do.
And I’m definitely not the only person watching our woman. She’s attracted a lot of attention. Not that I can blame those who are checking her out because she’s sexy as fuck.
Kirby arches an eyebrow at the man she’s with before nodding toward the elevators that will take them up to one of the rooms. I’m immediately on high alert. Before I can take a step in their direction, Wolfe grabs my arm and stops me.
“You can’t just storm over there and make demands. Not only will you undermine her job, but she’ll shut down and not give you a chance to say anything else,” Wolfe reasons.
I hate that he’s become the reasonable one in this situation, but I also know he’s not wrong. The surprise at him making a well thought out argument about why I can’t go all caveman must show on my face because he scoffs and tries to scowl at me. It would be more believable if his damn eyes weren’t twinkling with amusement.
Before Wolfe can stop him, Dominic is striding over to where the stairs are. They aren’t used as much, but every building is required to have them for safety reasons. By the time we catch up to him, he’s peeking out the door to the next floor up. I don’t need him to say anything to know that he sees Kirby and her client because his shoulders are tense as fuck in a clear warning. Our woman’s client has no idea the danger he’s in right now.
I almost feel bad for the guy. Considering the expectations on men, it’s probably hard enough for him being a sub. The only comfort I have is that places like Club Sin don’t allow anything like judgement or prejudice to occur. He’s a sub and in this space, at the very least, there’s not a damn thing wrong with it.
I hear a door click from down the hall and Dominic is on the move again. Damn, the man is light and silent on his feet when he needs to be. It made him a damn good soldier and man to have at my back, but seeing his skill used for this purpose makes me proud if a whole other way.
Wolfe hisses a chastisement, but it’s lost to me as I follow my brother without a second thought. Yeah, there’s no way I can let this shit go down. Not now after seeing her again after ten years.
Dominic stops in front of Room Seven and I’m right there next to him. Even though we’ve been a member of Club Sin for a while, we don’t have a room that’s considered ours. I know some people do because of whatever kink they’re into. Knowing that whatever we’re about to find on the other side of the door in front of us has been put together for Kirby’s needs has my dick throbbing.
I also want to roar out my displeasure.
“Fuck,” Wolfe grunts, an edge to his voice that makes me think he’s having just as much of an issue as I am with whatever we’re going to find in this room. “It’s going to be locked,” he tries to reason with us.
I scoff. Like a locked door is going to stop us. When has it ever been enough before?
When I glance out of the corner of my eye at Dominic, the smirk on his face says he’s thinking the same thing I am. He’s going through this door, one way or another and he doesn’t give a single fuck which way it has to go down.
Wolfe curses under his breath before pushing us out of his way with a roll of his eyes. “It’s a good thing one of us is prepared for this shit,” he mumbles as he pulls out a lock picking kit.
“I thought you were trying to be the voice of reason,” I challenge him.
“Someone has to be and since I’m the only one who has been keeping track of Kirby, because I knew exactly who she was to us ten years ago even though the timing was complete shit, I’ve been the most levelheaded of the bunch.” When he glances at me to see the dubious look I’m giving him, he shoots me with a narrow-eyed glare and waves his hand toward where he’s working the lock, “Case in point. It’s not like we could break this door down without someone noticing and coming to investigate.”
I grunt in response, because he’s not wrong. Before he can give any more examples of how Kirby has scrambled my brain, and Dominic’s as well, the door swings open. The sight that greets me has me seeing red, but not because it’s scandalous.
Kirby is sitting on the edge of the bed with the man we saw her with earlier kneeling at her feet. Her eyes are locked on us as we fill the doorway. The way her eyebrow is arched has me wondering if she was expecting us and has just been waiting.
Kirby snaps, “That didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would. You should have taken the bet, Charlie,” she shoots the man at her feet a sharp look, “because you would have won.”
“Yes, mistress,” he practically purrs, a blush rising up his neck and toward his cheeks.
I don’t know if he’s embarrassed because of the position that he’s in or because he’s concerned that we’re going to judge him. It’s not going to happen.
Well, as long as he leaves without much fuss.
“Well,” Kirby draws the word out and, effectively, pulls my attention back at her, “are you going to share why you have so rudely interrupted this session? One you have no right to be interrupting, by the way.” Her lips are pursed, her displeasure written clearly on her face. “Not that I should even need to say that because you know you aren’t supposed to be in here.”
“We’re here to talk to you,” I growl the words and take a step closer to her.
I can practically feel the way Wolfe wants to hold me back, but he still steps up right along with me while Dominic does the same. That’s why they’re my brothers. They don’t have to always agree with my play, but they back me and it.
“I don’t see what we could possibly have to talk about. I don’t even know your names,” Kirby waves her hand dismissively, her tone matching the gesture.
It’s a brush off. We all know it. But the thing is that I’m not easily brushed off.
“We’re not going anywhere little Phoenix,” Dominic’s voice holds a hint of steel while still being soft.
It’s clear he’s not going to budge on this, but at the same time he’s not trying to threaten her. Putting her in that kind of position is the last thing any of us want.
Kirby’s glare intensifies to the point that she would peel layers of skin off me if she was within reach and had the right tools to do so. “Charlie, it seems like it was a good idea for me to give you instructions already,” her tone is sultry and enticing while she speaks to the man at her feet even though her eyes never leave us. “Be a good boy and leave us.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Charlie whispers before crawling toward where we still stand in front of the door.
We part for him and only when he’s within reach of the door does he stand. “Oh, and Charlie,” Kirby calls out and the man turns toward her, his eyes on the ground, as she promises, “I’ll be checking up on you. I expect my instructions to be followed.”
“Of course, Mistress.” Then he slips out of the door without looking back.
My curiosity is screaming at me to find out what the fuck she instructed him to do. It takes a lot of effort to not pepper her with questions. How I refrain, I’ll never know.
It might have something to do with the look in her eyes as she sits there on the edge of the bed looking like fucking royalty. Her shoulders are back and there’s nothing relaxed about her posture. Her head is raised, and her chin is jutting out defiantly.
“You,” I start, but she holds up a hand and for some fucking reason my words die on my tongue.
“I’m going to warn you before you start spewing some macho bullshit on me,” she sneers the words. “I’m not some simpering little woman who doesn’t know her worth or understand what she’s doing. I am very aware of what every choice I’ve made in the last ten years means and how it led me right to where I am.”
She arches an eyebrow as her blue-grey eyes stare straight into mine. Her words are a challenge, and they’re directly aimed at me.
I take a deep breath and blow it out slowly, needing to get a little bit of composure back. I’ve never been knocked off my feet by a woman before, but with her it’s like I’m on my back foot with no hope of ever getting ahead. It’s odd, but I can’t say I completely hate it either.
Very fucking odd.
Instead of bringing up what she’s clearly expecting me to bring up, I change tactics. “You remember who we are,” I don’t phrase it like a question because it’s not.
The way she emphasized ten years was a clear indication. My gut is screaming at me that if she didn’t remember, and if that night hadn’t earned us at least a little respect and some of her time, then we wouldn’t even be having this conversation in the first place.
“I remember,” her voice is brittle.
For the first time since I saw her for the first time in ten years, her fragility shines through. For some reason that has hope and warmth spreading through my chest.
She needs me.
She needs us.
Kirby shakes off the fog of the past and crosses her arms under her tits, pressing them up without a hint of shame while the glint in her eyes tells us that she knows exactly what she’s doing. “You have two choices, you can leave so I can go and find a way to occupy my time, or you can stay and fill in for the good boy you chased out of here with all your hulking,” she waves a hand in our direction to encompass our bodies, “that.”
“You want us to sub for you?” Wolfe is the one to float the question, his voice slightly choked and filled with disbelief.
Our woman’s painted red lips curl into a sinister smile. She doesn’t think we’ll take her up on her offer and will be able to call our bluff.
“We’ll fill in and be your good boys, little Phoenix,” my words are firm, leaving no room for questioning whether I’m sure or not.
She has no idea just how far I’m willing to go to make this woman mine. I know my best friends, men I have bled with and trusted with my life, feel the same way.
We’ll play her game for now. Who knows; it might be fun.