34
DAMIAN
“What do you think about this?” I show Adrian the shop mockups. I’ve had a designer come up with three different ideas for him to choose from. There’s not much of a difference between them. One has more gray tones, another deep blues, and the last more blacks. I want him to have some input, but he still needs guidance.
I’ve consulted a marketing agency and had them give me ideas on what would do well in our area. A non-negotiable is that Wolfe is in the business name. It’s what we do.
I watch him flip through the pages. “This one,” Adrian says confidently. Taking the designs back, I look over the one he’s chosen. It’s the one with deep blues with accents of black, gray, and white. It’s a good choice—I’m proud of him. “I have an idea for a name.” This time he drops his head, unsure if it’ll be good enough or if I’ll like it.
“Let’s hear it,” I encourage.
“It’s probably stupid.” I wait patiently for him to get the courage to tell me. “Dark Wolfe Tattoos.”
I nod, mulling over the name in my head. I like it. “Sounds good. Dark Wolfe Tattoos it is.”
Adrian’s face scrunches. “Really? Just like that?”
Smiling, I tell him, “Of course. This is your business. All I wanted was the name Wolfe to be in there.” I pat him on the knee and stand. “Speaking of Wolfe. I think it’s about time we get your name changed and get you a license.”
“D, I don’t have a car. Why do I need a license?”
I open the drawer at my desk, grab a set of keys, and throw them to my brother. “You do now. She’s parked out front, delivered this morning.”
Adrian looks at the set of keys he’s just caught. “What? Why?”
“It’s your birthday. You deserve something special.” I walk over to him and clap him on the back. “Are you sure you don’t want to do anything tonight? Cake, candles, the whole celebration thing?”
Adrian tilts his head, looking up at me from the sofa. “I appreciate it, but I’ve spent ten years going without birthdays. It’s not really on my radar.”
I can tell he’s playing it off. I’m not sure whether to push it or let it be. Maybe next year he’ll feel differently. If I’m going to dig in, it’s going to be about something much more important than a birthday.
I take a seat next to him. “How are you really doing? I know it’s been a big change. You’ve been out for almost a month.”
He exhales. “It’s been an… adjustment. I don’t know.” Adrian leans back and looks up at the ceiling, his dark hair giving me a clear view of his troubled eyes. “I guess I never really thought too much about what life would look like once I got out or how I’d fit in. You all have your own lives and things going on. I just feel useless.”
His words hit me hard. We haven’t done the best job of spending time with him. There’s been so much going on, but that’s not an excuse. Adrian deserves better.
“I’m sorry. Tell me what you need.”
Adrian looks at me and shrugs. “It’s not a big deal, D. You have a lot going on taking care of everyone. And I know my time’s coming with the shop. Before I know it, I’ll be as busy as all of you.”
He’s playing it cool. Maybe he and I can have some bonding time soon, aside from the business stuff. I’ll have to talk to Wes and Sutton too—get them in on this.
“I’ve been back to the house. Well, you know what I mean.” His eyes sharpen at my words. This isn’t a conversation we’ve ever had, so I’m not sure how he’ll take it. But I need to get to the heart of Adrian and the only way to do that is to go back to the night the house burned down. “What was left of it has been cleared away. There’s a new house there and a couple rents it now. They have kids. They look happy.”
I watch my brother closely and see his gaze turn watery. “At least something good came out of it.” His voice is thick as he holds back the emotions rising up. I don’t think he’s ever truly processed everything that happened. He was taken into custody almost immediately. We hardly got to talk to him about it. Not that we would’ve been any help. We were all impulse and rage back then.
“It wasn’t your fault, Adrian. You know that, right? You were the victim and Cole… he got carried away.” I feel the shift in his mood before he speaks.
Adrian leans forward, his eyes tense and his jaw clenched. “It wasn’t Cole’s fault. It was mine.”
“Adri—” He gets up and walks out before I can make things better. Rubbing my temples, I realize that there’s going to be a lot of work to do for him to realize what I know. Cole was the reason we got caught. He’s the reason Adrian went to jail. He might not want to accept it now, but eventually he’ll have to. I’ll make sure of it.
Before I push Adrian’s issues from my mind, I pull out my phone and make a note to take care of his name change so we can get his license. Another issue is that we have far too many cars in our driveway. It’s going to be a parking nightmare. My only solution is going to piss Thea off, but I have no other options. I’m going to have to store her truck somewhere, at least until spring when the weather warms up.
She may not like it, but she’s going to have to be okay with it because there’s something more pressing that needs my immediate attention. I can’t have Thea going to jail for Gavin’s disappearance. I need to put out one fire at a time.
Sitting down at my computer, I minimize the window that has all of Cole’s GPS locations. I’ve been sorting through it, but haven’t found anything yet. Plus, the tedious nature of it has me wanting to explore other options.
For the last few days, I’ve been working on getting access to the hotel security footage from the last time we saw Gavin. I’ve figured out which software they’re using—it’s outdated and this morning I was able to find a weakness in their security measures.
I pull up the window that gives me access to the back end of the security software. Navigating to the archives, I scroll back through each of the days. I fly through November, then October, then September, and finally, the scrolling comes to a halt midway through August. Fuck.
This was a risk, but it was one I needed to take to know for sure. The hotel only keeps footage for a certain amount of time, about ninety days. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. My fist smacks down onto my desk, making my screens rattle.
“What’s wrong?” Thea’s voice cuts through my anger. I quickly make my computers go black. I turn around, she has her hip popped out and her head demurely resting on the wall. My eyes travel down the tight cream-colored knit dress she’s wearing. It’s hugging every curve and stops at the tops of her perfect thighs. There’s a couple inches of bare skin before her knit thigh-high socks start.
Thea doesn’t walk around in outfits like this every day. She wants something. She wants me. My hand instinctively runs over the front of my pants. Thea smiles, then bites her lip, looking down, then back up at me. Those deep blue eyes sparkling with excitement. Of course I want her, but I have shit to do and not getting this camera footage has made me too irritated to want to fuck her at the moment.
“Princess, as amazing as you look, I can’t right now. I’ve got work I need to finish.” A furrow of disappointment creases her brow. Then she saunters toward me, swaying her hips so I can’t focus on anything else.
When she gets to me, she places her hands on the arms of the chair, caging me in. “You can take a little break. I promise I won’t keep you long.” Pressing in closer, her full lips find mine. She’s making it hard to resist.
“Thea.” I growl the warning against her mouth. She doesn’t heed it. Instead, she turns around and sits on my lap, wiggling her ass against me. She rests her head on my shoulder, staring at me through dark lashes.
I can’t help being mesmerized as her perfect pink lips part. Then, she ruins it. “Should I go get what I want from Wes or Sutton?” It sounds innocent the way she says it, but I know she’s challenging me. “I’m sure they’d love to see me in this.” She runs her hands over her breasts, down her torso, until she reaches the hem of her dress. Her fingers hook beneath the material and she teasingly pulls it higher.
Thea’s breaking down my resolve, but it’s doing nothing for my frustration. I wish she would just listen to me for once. “Fine,” I grate out.
Grabbing her by the hips, I push her off of me until she’s on her knees. Then I force her lower until the front of her is pressed to the floor. She glances back over her shoulder, surprised, although a sly smile creeps over her face a second later. Straddling her back, I grip her by her hair, pulling her face up so that I can whisper in her ear.
“Is this what you want? You want me to hurt you?” She nods in my hold. Normally, I’d let my emotions reason with my desire, but not now. She’s caught me at a bad time. “Don’t move a fucking muscle.”
First, I lock my door. I don’t want Adrian walking in. Then I go to my closet and open two of the drawers in the large custom accessory display at the center of the room. I grab three things, smiling as I imagine the shock on Thea’s face when I show her.
Walking back into my room, I see that Thea’s listened. She’s still lying on the ground, her forehead to the floor. I straddle her again. On either side of her head, I place an item. She turns just slightly to the right to find the rope. Then, she turns her head to the left to see the crop. The third item I’ve kept hidden.
“I said not to fucking move a muscle,” I grate out harshly. Part of me is glad she didn’t listen. Now I have a reason to punish her. Leaning down, I whisper, “Not only am I going to tie you up, but I’m going to take away your ability to speak. Your bratty, taunting mouth has gotten you into trouble once again. I told you not to move and you couldn’t help your curiosity. So, you’re in for some punishment. Hands behind your back. Now,” I add impatiently.
Thea obeys, crossing her wrists. I create two circles in the rope, looping them through one another. Yanking tightly, I’m left with identical cuffs. I slip them over Thea’s hands and pull the ends to secure her. She tugs against them instinctively. I grin, knowing she isn’t getting loose
“Thea, I need you to understand that for this next part, you will lose all ability to speak.” She glances back at me, confused. “You will need to use your fingers to signal to me if you need me to stop. One finger is green. Two fingers are yellow. Three fingers are red. Do you understand?”
I wait for her to nod or say yes. She doesn’t. “Damian.” I can hear the protest in her voice.
“This is what you wanted. Do you understand?” She huffs, then nods. “Good girl.” Thea rolls her eyes at my praise.
Grabbing the ball gag, I reach around her to pop it into her mouth. Her eyes go wide at the unexpected intrusion. I’m threading the strap as her muffled sounds try to escape. For the eye roll, I secure it a little tighter than I normally would.
Standing, I look down at her with satisfaction. Completely submissive. Entirely dependent on me reading the signs of her body and her hands to know when to stop if it’s too much. I’m going to give her exactly what she’s been seeking out from Adrian. The need to have her rely on me for this has been gnawing at me. I want to give this to her, even if I don’t understand why she needs it. Even if it hurts me to see her struggling.
I lift Thea by her arms, resting the upper half of her body on the bench at the foot of my bed. Pushing her legs apart, I kneel between them and run my hands over her thigh-high socks, then under her dress. She’s not wearing anything underneath.
My cock throbs at the feel of her bare skin beneath my palms. Pushing her dress up, I admire the sight of her round ass and her pussy peeking out between her thighs. I pull my sweat pants down, grip myself and tease her entrance. She’s dripping and I bet it’s from the fear of not knowing where this is going. I push my tip into her, then pull out and slide my dick over the length of her, teasing her clit thoroughly before pulling away.
Thea’s body pushes back, seeking me out, needing more. I’m going to give it to her, but first I want her ass red and decorated with my marks. Standing, I retrieve the crop from the floor. Gently, I run it over the backs of her thighs and then over her ass before snapping it against her skin.
She lets out a squeak as her body jerks at the pain. “Too much?” I wait to see if she’ll remember her hand signals. “Answer me, princess.” That seems to jumpstart her memory. One finger pops up. Good. I give her other ass cheek a matching mark. Thea only flinches this time.
My cock twitches as red blossoms where I’ve struck her. My gaze travels the length of her back, which rises and falls quickly. Then my eyes glide over her shoulder to her face. Her cheek is pressed to the bench’s cushion as she stares across the room under lust heavy lids. Thea’s face is flushed pink and wetness gathers around the ball that her lips are around.
My crop comes across the flesh just beneath her ass, making her cry out and her body go rigid. Her fingers curl inwards, forming fists. My crop comes across the same spot on the other side. Thea’s chest rises and falls in quick breaths.
I can’t wait any longer. Positioning between her legs, I slide in. She feels so fucking good. I watch her eyes fall closed as she takes all of me.
I start slowly, giving her body time to adjust. Finally, her fingers relax and splay across her back. Keeping my eyes on them, I remind myself that I need to pay close attention no matter how good she feels and how much I want to lose myself in the moment.
“You’re doing so good, princess. Do you need more of this?” I extend the crop out so that she can see. Thea nods. I oblige, thrusting into her hard and fast while slapping her thighs with it. I watch her hands closely, but look at her face every so often to make sure I’m reading all of her.
Her fingers tell me to keep going. I’m so close. The pressure builds and my skin grows hotter each time I push into her. Looking down, I send myself over the edge as I watch my cock sink deep into her. I bring the crop down onto her ass one last time as the tightness in my balls releases and I explode. Darkness and stars dance over my vision. My body slumps over hers, spent physically and emotionally.
That’s when I feel it. Her breath’s ragged and her body’s shaking violently. Pulling away, I look at her face, black mascara tears mark their path down her crimson cheeks.
Panic grips me and I work as fast as I can, loosening the rope to free her hands. It takes me far too long to remove her gag, my fingers trembling as her muffled cries slip over the ball. As soon as it pops free of her mouth, the sobs spill out loud and raw. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This is wrong. Something’s very wrong. This isn’t her normal sub drop.
“Thea!” I put my face close to hers. My hands shake as I brush her tear soaked hair aside. “Did I take it too far? Are you okay? Please, tell me what’s wrong,” I beg. She doesn’t answer me.
Scooping her up, I place her in my bed and curl myself around her body. I wrap my arm around her chest, letting her wet cheek rest in my open palm. My heart’s beating unbearably fast as anxiety clutches my chest. I messed up.
As much as she was tempting me, I shouldn’t have given in. I’ll never do it again. I knew better. I know she’s going through something and I’m a selfish bastard for not putting her wellbeing above my own. I’m a bastard. I’m an asshole. I’m better than this.
I’m not sure how long we’re lying there. Someone knocks at my door at some point, but I don’t care. I’ll stay here for hours. I’ll stay however long until Thea can talk to me, until she’s better.
Thea’s crying quiets eventually and I feel her breathing return to an even rhythm. “Sorry,” she murmurs.
“Don’t apologize. I just want to know that you’re alright. Tell me what happened, please.” I pull her in closer. “Please tell me what I can do to make this better. Please.”
She doesn’t answer right away. That’s all the confirmation I need to know that she isn’t okay. When she does speak, I can tell she’s lying or withholding at the very least. “Yeah, it was just a lot.”
I don’t want to be angry with her, but I can’t help that it bubbles up. Our dynamic relies on trust. We have to be able to trust each other and she broke that. And now, she won’t even open up fully. I have no idea what’s going through her head. I have no way of making this better. “Why didn’t you use your finger signals?”
Again, she takes a while to answer. “I don’t know. I thought I could handle it. It wasn’t even the pain, it was something else inside of me. I don’t know,” she repeats.
Taking a deep breath, I try to push back my anger as I remind her, “Thea, I have to be able to trust that you’ll use your colors or signals. This isn’t about pushing yourself to the limit. This is about pleasure and enjoyment. If you’re getting to the point where you aren’t enjoying it, you need to let me know.” I hate lecturing her, especially because all I want to do is console her and dig deeper to find out what’s going on inside of her head.
“I know. I’m sorry, Damian.” I hate that she says it like she’s defeated—like she’s a puppy I’ve kicked. I don’t want her to feel bad. I just want to trust her.
I kiss the back of her neck. “Don’t be sorry. Just promise you’ll use your colors next time.” My tone is softer now, although I don’t think it matters much. The damage is done. One thing I know for sure is that I won’t be using that ball gag again.
“Okay. I promise.” Thea lies there a little while longer before excusing herself into the bathroom. I want to ask her if she wants my help, but I get the feeling that she needs a minute alone. I do, too.
My chest aches, not just from worrying about her, but also because I’m worried about myself. There’s a feeling of hopelessness and loneliness that’s sinking in now that the adrenaline’s settled. A thought creeps in and I push it away almost immediately. When does someone care about me? It’s a stupid thought. I’m cared about. I am. So, why is it so hard to believe? Why do I feel the need to be comforted just as I’ve comforted Thea? Why does it matter so much when she’s the one in distress?
Closing my eyes, I shut all the thoughts out. I don’t have the time or energy to explore or understand them. I have too much on my plate to deal with that right now. Thea needs my attention.
The fear that she’s going through something and using pain as an outlet is a growing concern. Is this all because of the detective? Is all of this still about Cole? I can’t think of any other reasons for her unusual behavior. I need to find Gavin. And soon. That’ll solve at least one possible problem. The damage Cole caused may not be as easy to resolve.