Chapter 13
Thirteen
Rory had been home from the gym for a couple of hours when Shay texted, asking if he could come by for a drink. Rory who was on his second Scotch welcomed him to come over.
When he got there, Shay’s brows rose when he saw the scuff marks on Rory’s skin.
“What happened?”
“No, nothing. There’s a gym I go to to spar. Those guys are legit.”
Shay smirked. “I guess that’s one way to blow off steam.”
Rory nodded, tossing some ice in a glass and pouring Lagavulin over it for Shay.
“D and J got a little taste of the mean streets of Baltimore today.”
Rory grinned. “Yeah, Princeton would’ve been proud.”
Shay, who’d seen both sides of Rory before, just shrugged his brows and sat down.
They drank and talked about foreign politics and its affect on the financial markets. Then they took shots at each other’s favorite basketball teams until they’d laughed themselves out.
“So Kate’s all right?”
“She’s fine.”
“About J’s office, what did she say happened?”
“Aw, man, come on.”
“Don’t act like you’re surprised,” Shay said. “You knew I’d ask. If a Dom goes rogue, that has to be—”
“It was nothing like that. Do you think I’d have waited for an excuse like him calling me names if things had gone seriously sideways in that office? Get real. I’d have come to the club as soon as I found out, and you’d still be mopping up the blood.”
“So then?”
“J and I got into a pissing contest, and Kate got caught in the middle. It was no big thing.”
“Seemed like it was in the office.”
Rory finished what was left in his glass. “Let’s put it this way. She felt like she was mine and was looking for me to come get her. I was standing around with my dick in my hand, giving the system the benefit of the doubt.”
“The system usually works.”
“It does.”
“I didn’t think you knew her before.”
“I didn’t. Met her when you did.”
“So why would she think—?”
“Because people feel what they feel, especially nineteen-year-old girls who feel everything. And in her defense, she wasn’t wrong. She does belong to me, and I did come for her.”
“So why were you looking to feed J his teeth?”
“All kinds of reasons. You want a list?” Rory joked, pouring them each another glass.
“Yeah, give me the list.”
“Seriously?”
Shay nodded.
Rory laughed. “J’s a smug son-of-a-bitch. I was pissed at both him and at D for not giving her to me when I told them to. I knew she would be better off with me, and I was right. What number am I on?”
“Four,” Shay said without missing a beat, which made Rory laugh again.
“I don’t like that he had his hands on her, especially since she looks back on what happened in the office with mixed feelings.
And when I’m pissed, I fight. I straight-up go for confrontation.
Always have. When I was a little kid, I’d get into an argument with my parents and I’d follow them around the house until my dad took off his belt and settled things or they conceded the point.
They were sure I was gonna be a lawyer.”
“A smart mouth didn’t work on the street though?”
“No. In my neighborhood people got jumped over anything. From twelve to fourteen, I was fighting all the time. Had to. It was that or get beaten down. I learned quickly there was no need to talk at all, other than to say, ‘Let’s get to it.’” Rory smiled for a moment.
“Too fast though kids graduated to guns and that didn’t interest me.
Had to learn how to leverage other kinds of power, so I did. ”
“Never a banger?”
“No. That life owns you. When it comes to ownership, I want to do the owning. I knew by the time I was fourteen that I wanted to spank a girl’s ass and tie her to my bed. You?”
“Younger. I found BDSM porn on the net when I was thirteen. I didn’t stumble onto it. I was searching for it.”
Rory nodded. “That’s the big reason I was going to give J’s nose a stripe.”
“A stripe?”
“A scar. Lotta times when a broken nose heals it gets that white line on the bridge.”
“You had a plan to break his nose?”
“Yeah, a jaw would’ve been taking it too far. That’s gotta be wired for weeks. Sometimes surgery. A nose, it’s one quick pop, blood and pain for a few days, then life goes back to normal while it heals.”
“That you know that and took it into consideration says a lot about you,” Shay said, laughing. “You were about to say what the main reason was.”
Rory’s phone rang, and he sat forward. Kate’s face lit the screen and Rory smiled. “Let me check,” he said, swiping the screen. “‘Lo.”
“Hi,” she said. “Is this a bad time?”
“No, I can talk for a minute. You all right?”
“Yes, except I miss you.”
He smiled, but said nothing.
“That’s not the only reason I called though. I did a semester project that my professor submitted to a design contest, and it won.”
“That’s great, kitten. Is it on your laptop?”
“Yes.”
“Make sure you bring it with you. I wanna see it.”
“I will. When? Tonight?”
“No, tomorrow.”
“I could come tonight. My bag’s all packed,” she said softly.
“Tomorrow,” he repeated. “Listen, I’ve gotta go. I’ve got someone here.”
She was silent, and he could feel the question. She wasn’t his girlfriend; she was his pet. She didn’t have a right to ask, and it seemed like she knew not to. If she had, he probably wouldn’t have told her. But she didn’t ask.
“It’s Shay. You met him?”
“Yes. Did you talk to anyone else from there?”
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow. But everything’s all right.”
“Were people mad at me?”
“No, no one was mad. Go to bed now, kitten. If you’re tired tomorrow, you’ll be in trouble.”
“Okay, sweet dreams.”
“You, too.” Rory ended the call and dropped his phone on the couch.
Shay gave him an assessing look.
Rory returned it.
“No one was mad?”
“Girls worry, especially that one.” He had an ache in his shoulder that was making itself known. He’d need to get on that, so it didn’t interfere with the things he wanted to do to Kate.
“So she’s the main reason. She was upset about something that happened in the office?”
“No, she was upset that J wasn’t me.”
“What did she expect you to do? Bust into the office like a jealous boyfriend? It’s a BDSM club, and he was training her to be a club submissive.”
“I know,” Rory said, stretching. “If you judge the thing based on rationality, it’s never gonna score very high.”
“You’re the last guy I would’ve expected to get worked up over some little sub’s ruffled feathers. You barely talk to any of them outside a scene.”
“True statement.”
“I’m surprised you collared her so fast. Did you think—?”
“No, man,” Rory said with a laugh. “No analysis. Not much thinking on it at all. I wanted her under my control, and I made it so. That’s it.” He stood. “Stay as long as you want and make yourself at home. I gotta ice this shoulder before I go to bed.”