Chapter Nine
I like to think I’m a reasonable man.
Until I’m not.
~ Ethan
“HELLOOO!” CHLOé BANGED on the front door of The Office and stared up at the camera overhead. “Ethan? Zayne? I know you’re in there! We need to talk.”
Talk was putting it mildly. With the way she was feeling right now, they’d be lucky if they got two calm words out of her.
How dare they? She couldn’t decide if she was hurt, angry, or embarrassed. But as she stood outside the club and stared at the black door, she was definitely feeling something, and the minute they opened the damn thing—
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“Helloooo!”
—she planned to tell them just that.
Now, she didn’t want to jump to conclusions, and maybe she’d misunderstood her conversation with Ethan yesterday. But from what she could recall, they’d agreed that it would be okay for her to go to work today as long as she kept a low profile.
But if that were the case, why had he gone behind her back today and had her père send her home? It made no sense.
The door was pulled open, saving her from any more self-doubt, and Lillian, their front desk manager, stood inside.
“Miss Chloé. Good afternoon. Can I help you?”
Not about to be sidelined by the fact that Lillian now knew her name, which was pretty awesome, Chloé walked inside and scanned the foyer in search of her two scheming doms.
“Are they here?”
Lillian arched a brow. “Ethan and Zayne, I presume?”
It was on the tip of Chloé’s tongue to be flippant, but at the last second, she caught herself. “Yes. I need to speak to them.”
“So I gathered.” Lillian walked around the counter, back to her computer. “Zayne is upstairs, and Ethan is—”
“Right here.”
Chloé whirled around to see Ethan stepping out from the doorway that led to the club downstairs.
As always, he was impeccably put together in a casual grey suit and white open-collar shirt.
His hands were in his pockets, projecting a relaxed demeanor, but the intensity in his eyes told an entirely different story.
That wasn’t about to stop her, though. Her anger and humiliation had joined forces now, and as she stood there thinking about Ethan and her fathers having a nice little chat about how to keep her out of trouble, her blood began to boil.
Talk about mortifying. She felt as though she’d just been grounded not only by her fathers but her boyfriends too.
There was the distinct mechanical sound of a door sliding open, and she glanced over her shoulder to see Zayne stepping out of the hidden hallway that led to their residence upstairs. But she was more focused on getting answers right now, and they lay with Ethan.
“Did you go and see my fathers this afternoon?”
Very calmly, he took a step toward her. “Yes. I did.”
Chloé waited for him to elaborate or maybe apologize. But when it was clear that was all she was going to get, she told herself to breathe.
Breathe in… Breathe out…
But unlike her yoga-loving père , that didn’t do shit for her. After everything that had happened this week, this was like the cherry on top of her humiliation sundae.
What was it with overprotective men in her life thinking they knew what was best for her?
“Are you out of your mind?”
“No. I actually like to think I’m rather sane.”
She scoffed.
“You disagree?”
“ Yes, ” she snapped, surprised steam wasn’t shooting out of her ears. “We were supposed to do that together. This weekend. You weren’t supposed to show up where I work and just introduce yourself.”
“I didn’t go there to introduce my—”
“No, you went there to tell them they needed to send me home and lock me in my room like I’m some fragile little flower.”
“Chloé, you need to calm down.”
“Je suis calme!” Chloé’s chest heaved with how worked up she was, and it wasn’t until several seconds of silence passed that she noticed Ethan’s bunched jaw as he stared her down.
“Lillian?” Ethan’s voice was that of a complete professional as he kept his eyes locked on Chloé’s. “Leave us, would you? Don’t come back until you’re called.”
“Yes, boss.” There was no hesitation in Lillian’s response, and she vanished, leaving the three of them in the foyer alone.
Chloé swallowed and angled her chin up, refusing to back down. This week had been like a whirlwind. She felt out of control, caught up in a vortex she couldn’t seem to get out of, and now this?
“Okay.” Ethan eyed her like one would a wild animal. “Now that we have some privacy, what seems to be the problem here?”
“I told you.” She walked forward and jabbed a finger into the air. “The problem is that you went behind my back to my parents, and as a result I was sent home like a child sent to her room.”
“Something you clearly didn’t do.”
“Seriously?” Chloé’s mouth fell open in disbelief. “ That’s all you’ve got to say?”
Quick as a whip, Ethan grabbed her wrist and tugged her forward until their toes touched. “I’ve barely started to say what I’ve got to say. But I will not speak until you are ready to listen.”
What the hell did that mean?
Before she could ask, he began to walk forward, giving her no choice but to back up or fall, and her back met a solid wall of muscle—Zayne.
“Oh yes.” Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “Remember him? That would be your other dom, who you just disrespected in public. Now, we know you have been going through quite the ordeal lately. However, did you or did you not express during our dinner at Exquisite that you wished to remain our submissive?”
Oh shit. She’d never seen Ethan like this. He was cool, calm, and slightly terrifying—and it was in that moment she realized that she’d stepped over a line.
She’d always had a temper—she knew that. However, arguing with her doms in front of their employee probably hadn’t been the smartest move. Talk about worst sub ever. They were probably wondering what the hell they’d gotten themselves into.
When she didn’t immediately answer, Ethan’s eyes swept down over her in a way that made Chloé shift on her feet, and suddenly she felt like she was standing in the principal’s office.
“Well?” he prompted.
“I did say that, yes.”
“Yes what ?”
Chloé swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“Good girl. I was starting to think you’d forgotten that phrase. I’m pleased to see that’s not the case.”
“Of course not, and I’m sorry.” She shook her head, trying to backtrack now. “I shouldn’t have come in here so fired up, but I—”
“Stop. Talking.”
Ethan’s biting tone made Chloé clamp her mouth shut as his eyes shifted to Zayne. She didn’t dare turn, though, knowing somehow that Ethan was the one she needed to pay attention to.
“We understand why you’re here, even why you’re fired up.” Ethan reached out and took hold of her chin. “Which is why I allowed your initial outburst when you first arrived. But the continued backtalk in front of Lillian? I cannot let that slide. Do you understand?”
He stared her down, waiting for her response, and Chloé’s body answered the call first. Her thighs tightened and her core clenched, and her will to rebel began to crack. “Yes, sir.”
“We are your doms. You are our sub. This isn’t some game that we play—it’s our relationship, and it demands a certain amount of respect. Something you clearly forgot this afternoon. Would you agree?”
Ethan was right. She’d let everything that had recently happened get to her, and it had surfaced in this bratty reaction.
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry.”
“That may be. But it still doesn’t excuse your behavior, and it’s time for you to understand the consequences of your actions. Zayne?”
Zayne’s fingers flexed on her shoulders.
“Kneel, petite fille .”
Chloé blinked, not quite believing what she’d heard until Zayne added a gentle pressure.
Oh shit. It seemed whatever they were about to do to her, they were about to do right here. She moved down to her knees in the middle of the foyer.
“Eyes on me.”
She looked up at Ethan. He had removed his jacket, and as he looked down at her, he unbuttoned his sleeves and began to roll them up his forearms.
“We don’t take pleasure in this.” He reached for the button of his pants and unfastened them. “And if it had only been once, I might’ve let it slide.”
Zayne smoothed his hand over the back of her hair as Ethan reached out and drew his thumb along on her lower lip.
“But you couldn’t control yourself, and for that, you’ve earned everything we’re about to do to you.”
* * *
ZAYNE LOOKED AT the delicious picture Chloé made as she knelt on the floor between him and Ethan.
This was the last thing he’d expected to be doing this afternoon, but when he’d seen their security feed and noticed the mood she was in, he wasn’t surprised this was where they’d ended up.
He’d told Ethan she wasn’t going to be happy with their interfering with her job, but talk about an understatement.
Chloé had been fuming mad. So much so she’d forgotten her place in the dynamics of their relationship. But if ever there was a time to teach her how to go about discussing any issues she might have with her doms, this was it.
They had no problem taking an argument behind closed doors—like Ethan had said, they’d given her a pass at first—but to show such disrespect in front of their employees? They weren’t about to let that fly, and it was time to discipline her.
First her mouth. Then her body. And Zayne was more than happy to set the stage for her punishment. He crouched down until he knelt behind Chloé, and twirled her hair gently down the center of her back.
“Put your palms flat on your thighs,” he whispered by her ear.
Chloé did as she was told, placing her hands on the soft material of her skirt where it flowed over her legs.
The white floral dress was something he’d admired when he first stepped into the foyer.
Now, it was a flirty tease as it brushed over her thighs—and judging by the outline of Ethan’s hard-on straining against his pants, he agreed.
Fuck, Zayne really hoped Chloé held out until the end of this, because he wanted to watch Ethan shove that monster between her naughty little lips—both sets of them.