Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Merchant’s Inn, Freedom
Robyn
Shay’s arm is wound around my shoulders as tightly as ropes, despite being in public.
Ever since my reward and his punishment (definitely a funishment) yesterday, where he was the one in silk ropes, he has been clingier. A couple of hours of being unable to touch me, and now, he appears to be unable to stop touching me.
Last night, Shay slept like a limpet around me. This morning, Eden had to pry him off me with the promise of bacon rolls.
Shay needed the aftercare, however, so I didn’t mind the way that he trailed after me around the house like my shadow, always touching my elbow or hip, seeking out my hand or look.
I understood.
Separation and abandonment have been real to him in the most traumatic way. They’re his fears at the heart of his nightmares.
The twins sometimes didn’t know if the other would be alive in the morning.
Their own parents sold them.
They were torn apart by the couple who they were sold to.
Then Blythe, abuser that she was, would tie him up and then leave him by himself.
She abandoned him as well.
“Are you sure that we should play with this?” I questioned D’Angelo, when he explained the scene to me on Thursday night. “It’s hot as hell to imagine myself on display before Shay, while he can only watch and not touch, but what if it triggers him?”
“I’m there,” Eden replied, simply. “I’ll be watching that my brother is okay.”
D’Angelo’s expression was steely. “He needs to trust us. He does in his mind but in his body, he can’t yet.
That’s why he didn’t tell us about Blythe.
Why he let that bitch hurt him. This isn’t a real punishment.
It’s to help retrain his body in order to make sure that he always feels safe in my bondage, as well as to know that even if he’s separated from us for a short while, he’ll never be abandoned.
No matter what happens, he’ll be part of our family. ”
And it worked.
I watched, exhausted and sated from the bed, as Shay was untied. His eyes were glassy, but he was smiling. He looked like he’d come, when in fact he was the only one who hadn’t.
Shay’s cock was painfully hard, but it was like he was no longer aware of it.
Instead, he fell into D’Angelo’s arms desperately, hugging him close. D’Angelo scooped him up, while Shay wrapped his legs around D’Angelo’s waist, trying to touch him with every part of his skin.
Eden ran his fingers through his brother’s hair.
When D’Angelo laid Shay next to me, he clung to me with the same desperation, while Eden wrapped blankets around us both. We all lay together, while D’Angelo massaged Shay’s wrists and ankles.
Shay fell asleep like he never had sleep problems.
Like he truly did trust that even if he was separated from us, he’d always come back to lying between us again.
That he was safe to believe our relationship was real.
That he knew this was his home.
The rest of us just have to make sure that we can keep the promise we made through ropes, love, and every touch today.
We won’t allow anyone to tear us apart.
I won’t let anyone break what we have, especially someone like Blythe who treated Shay like dirt.
Blythe never understood what she had in him: How special he is.
Now that the rest of the world is praising Shay as the one to watch in the NHL and other people have recognized his worth as a friend, lover, and sub, the bitch wants him back.
She’ll have to get though Eden, D’Angelo, and me.
I hope that we proved that to Shay last night.
Actually, Blythe will also have to get through the entire Bay Rebels team and staff. The way that they have put in tireless practice and worked overtime to ensure that Shay isn’t traded is evidence.
Actually, also Cody and Michael, as well as Neve. They are part of the shield around Shay, which is why we are at Merchant’s Inn for our normal Friday night meetup to plot strategy.
Does Shay understand how many people are now in his corner?
I glance sideways at Shay, who is seated so close to me in the leather booth in Merchant’s Inn that his thigh is stuck to mine in the heat. His arm is slung around my shoulders.
He looks stunning in smoky eye makeup and leather jacket.
I glance around the bar.
My nose scrunches at the scent of smoke and stale beer. Sweat trickles between my shoulder blades.
Friday nights are always crowded.
Merchant’s Inn boasts cheap beer, loud rock, and a couple of rooms for travelers.
The locals love this grungy slice of town with its tacky floors, dance floor, and stained wooden walls that are covered with paintings of Neve’s favorite Emo bands.
Freedom is a town with two sides: the wealthy, including the tourists, and those who are struggling but working hard.
Merchant’s Inn is at the heart of the working side of town.
Neve owns Merchant’s Inn.
I have been best friends with her since high school. She still wears the emerald and silver friendship bracelet that I made for her. She didn’t make one back. On the other hand, I know that if D’Angelo ever broke my heart, she’d be the first to turn up with a shovel in order to bury him.
And something sharp to cut off his dick.
I wrinkle my nose.
Actually, she has sent several graphic hand drawn stickmen pictures of exactly that scenario as a warning for D’Angelo.
Everybody needs a best friend who will go to dick war for them.
I guess that it’s not surprising that D’Angelo and her are still frosty with each other.
I seriously admire her, however, because she’s the type of tough person I only am in my dreams.
Once an outcast from this town and family simply for being bisexual — simply for being Neve — she didn’t run or hide.
She bought Merchant’s Inn and became the town’s fucking success story.
I glance over at the bar, where Neve is having to work tonight rather than being able to join us because her tiny but feisty bartender, Tom, is down with the flu. She is pulling beers like a pro.
Neve is my age with chestnut eyes and spiky midnight hair. She wears large, horn-rimmed glasses. Her rich brown skin glows bronze on her cheeks.
Neve is dressed in skinny jeans with a studded belt. Also, a black t-shirt with the words I LOVE EMO GIRLS written across it in red with a heart that’s dripping with blood.
Is that pretty, curvy blond, who is chatting to Neve at the bar, the nurse who Neve has been dating for months now? The first serious relationship she has had but still hasn’t introduced to us?
Lucy?
I catch Neve’s eye, before pointing at the hot blond questioningly. I give an approving thumbs up.
Neve quirks her brow, before giving me the finger.
I chuckle and give it back.
I can’t wait to meet Lucy, the adrenaline junkie who has managed to drag the least outdoorsy person I have known kayaking, mountain biking, and swimming with sharks.
When you love someone, you want to see the world from their eyes.
Even if that’s falling 120 miles per hour from a plane.
I’m scared that Lucy will give my hot blond adrenaline junkie, Shay, ideas.
Neve has a resilience in everything she does that I admire. She doesn’t give a shit what people think about her or her life choices. I need to be the same with the haters, anti-fans, and everybody who would tear down my relationship with my men and the Bay Rebels.
I’ll out-Neve them.
I grin, trying to look tough.
How do I get my Neve on…?
I run my hand through my hair, pushing it back from my face. I’m dressed in a cotton turquoise dress and black heels.
Cody narrows his eyes at me from across the booth. “Are you constipated, sis?”
Cody is wearing a pastel cashmere sweater and light blue jeans. Michael is seated next to him with his arm possessively around his husband’s shoulders. He looks tired with purple circles underneath his eyes, but his tan suit is immaculate.
Michael has only just finished his twelve hour shift at the hospital but always insists on bringing Cody out to socialize with his friends. Cody only has me for family. Michael pushes himself past his limits sometimes but it is always for Cody’s sake.
My ex-husband, on the other hand, would leave me at home for long evenings. I would be isolated, sitting alone, while I would receive cold texts telling me that practice had gone on for longer than expected or that Wilder had gone out for drinks with the boys and not to wait up.
Later, I learned that most of those times, Wilder was cheating with other women.
I know what it is to be separated and abandoned too.
I am so happy every time that I see my brother has a husband who puts him first.
“I can prescribe something to treat that,” Michael says, dryly.
Shay glances at me, confused. “Or are you trying to lay an egg?”
I stop my attempt to look tough with a sigh. “That was my Neve impression. I thought that it may help if I ever come across Blythe.”
Instantly, Shay’s expression shutters. “I wouldn’t allow her to get that close to you.”
“Nor would I.” D’Angelo takes a long drink of his whiskey. “Sadly, since you look more like a constipated squirrel than a badass—”
“Hey,” I protest weakly.
D’Angelo is sprawling in the booth on my other side. He is dressed in a suit that matches the piercing blue of his eyes.
I hide my smile behind my beer bottle.
It’s my third.
I intend to get nicely tipsy.
Okay, totally wasted.
Security are stationed outside the door of Merchant’s Inn for our protection. I have had weeks of stress and non-stop work. Eden is at home curled in bed with a mug of Earl Grey and a book, waiting for us and ready to catch me if I stumble in drunk.
Tomorrow, D’Angelo and Shay can sleep in, before getting ready for their next game against the New York Islanders. Eden and I intend to do more research on the Misfits and look through the research that Garcia has done on KillaStar.