III
Syn
“W hich brings us nicely to the point of this meeting,” I tell her, not bothering to hide my smirk.
I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t sure if I was more surprised about her being here, or her being able to walk. Even though she’s trying hard to hide it, I saw her adjust herself in the chair and it’s clear that there does seem to be some lingering pain from what we did to her.
What she doesn’t know is that last night was for the cameras.
While the tapes are just insurance, to make sure she keeps to her side of the deal. To date, we have only ever had to release a tape once before but I’m not taking any chances with her. I never expected her to come to my university, let alone expected her to ask to join my Elite…
But with her, I’ll make an exception.
Once I’ve worked out why she’s really here—and not that bullshit excuse that her brother is innocent—I plan on having that tape uploaded everywhere .
Last night had to show debauchery, but it also had to show willingness.
And she was more than willing.
I even had her begging me to fuck her.
She’d taken everything, and I have a suspicion she’d have taken more.
“You signed the contract.” I continue. “And that stipulates that you are willing to perform any task we ask of you.”
She rolls her eyes, but not before I see a glimmer of fear in them.
Good .
“Oh yay, more mediocre sex.”
If she thinks there’s only more sex on the cards for her, she’s going to get a rude awakening, very quickly.
Instead, I rest my elbows on the table and temple my fingers as I nod. “Anytime, anyhow, any where .”
Her lips part a fraction, then she straightens her back and turns a wince into a shrug. “Fine.”
“So you’re okay with waking up with my dick in you?” Gemini asks.
I hear it in his voice, excitement mixed with curiosity.
Although I can’t say that idea hadn’t ever occurred to me, imagining the look on her face as she wakes up, choking on my dick—probably not unlike the expression she has now—which has me growing hard beneath the table.
And then she leans forward and gives Gemini a smile that almost seems genuine . “It wasn’t you with the ‘no need for round two’ tag.”
On the other side of me, Royal snorts, and I have to refrain from rolling my eyes at that. He’s allowed himself to be poisoned by her cunt.
“As of last night…” I say, before she attempts to turn on the charm and I lose my appetite. “We own you.”
The smile falls from her face, and she sits back in her chair. “Yes. I got that impression when I read and signed your contract.”
I’m not sure why, but she’s acting differently. Before now, she’d barely spoken to me, yet now she seems to think there’ll be no consequences?
The NDA protects us, not her.
“That means you will do what we say, when we say, how we say. You will wear what we choose, eat what we tell you to—”
Gemini turns his head to look at me, but I ignore him. I understand his issue with this, and it’s the only thing I’m willing to compromise on—which he already knows—but she doesn’t.
I don’t miss how her shoulders slump.
“—Sleep where we say and follow every instruction we give you. And the only words out of your mouth will be, yes, sir . Do you understand?”
She meets my glare head on, but she surprises me with her response. “Yes, sir .”
“Because dogs that don’t behave are not allowed off their leash, and they sleep outside.”
She doesn’t say anything to that.
“Which is why we’re giving you one last chance to walk away, Tori,” Royal tells her. “Your bags are already packed, and there’s a car waiting to take you back home. Leave and that’s the end of it.”
Royal’s tone is softer than I’d like, as if he almost wants her to leave.
I don’t.
Not anymore.
She shakes her head. “I’m not going anywhere unless you break your agreement.” She looks at me. “Sir.”
“My agreement?” I repeat, amused.
Last night she handed back the signed NDA and contract, only, on the contract, she’d added in a single stipulation:
No harm, whether intentional or through vague implications, will come to Penny Bergmann, including, but not limited to, physical, emotional, or psychological behavior.
“I’m already wasting enough of my precious time and effort on your futile attempt of an initiation. I couldn’t give a single fuck about Penny Bergmann, so long as you remember you’ve signed that NDA.”
Penny Bergmann had only ever been on my radar because of her. Now that I had a literal collar around Tori’s neck, she belonged to me.
“I’m surprised you didn’t think to try to add in any restrictions or a safe word.”
She frowns. “A safe word?”
“A word that’s used in sex by the submissive party to show a line has been crossed and for all activities to stop.”
“I know what a safe word is,” she says, looking at me like I’ve just told her the sky is blue.
“Color me surprised,” I say with fake shock. I wonder how many of those diary entries needed using a safe word.
She narrows her eyes. “You expect me to believe you’d have been willing to have some exceptions added to that contract?”
“I already did, did I not?”
She’s right, of course. But a thrill ripples through me at the sight of her dismay.
“Would you like a safe word to use? How about pineapple?” I tilt my head and smile.
“No,” Gemini says. “A safe word is supposed to be something that’s unlikely to be used in that context to avoid confusion…”
Her mouth drops open, and I’m unable to stop the bark of laughter from escaping me.
“Nothing like waking up to some fresh fruit,” I say. What she doesn’t realize is Gemini is more unpredictable than she is, but now that he has an idea firmly printed in his brain, he’s probably not going to stop until he sees it come to fruit ion.
Laughing harder, I turn to Gemini, only to find him looking at me like I’m the crazy one.
But he’s not the one who’ll let his intrusive thoughts take life, and now he has a person—a nobody— to take those thoughts out on.
Still smiling, I turn back to her. “If you want a safe word, you can have one. A one-time only safe word. You can even choose it, although, as Gemini says, you need to make sure it’s not something that will come up in context.”
“You’re really going to let me have a safe word and be able to use it?” she asks in disbelief.
“Yes.” It’s Royal who answers.
I turn to find him glaring at me like he’s daring me to say otherwise.
“Unless you don’t—”
“Dinosaur,” she blurts out.
I raise my eyebrows at that one.
“And you’re going to honor that?” There’s hope in her voice.
What is supposed to come out of my mouth is, ‘I guess we’ll have to find out when the time comes,’ but that isn’t even close to what I say.
“Yes.”