Chapter 12 Phoenix #2
“The other Titans. You guys have each other. And me.” I hold his gaze. “You have people who are loyal because they love you, not because you pay them. We will beat whatever bullshit he lays at your feet. Together. Now give me a fucking order and let’s get this done.”
“Fuck, she’s even hotter when she gets all feisty,” Mav says from the doorway, and Con shoots him a smirk.
“It won’t stop her punishment,” he says.
I roll my eyes. “Fine. Punish me, spank me, put me back on my knees, or fuck me. I don’t care. But when you’re done, give me something to do. Do you want me to call Margot? I take it she’s the blonde dragon who was always in here guarding your father’s gold?”
“Fuck no,” Con and Mav say together. “And yes, that was her.” Conrad adds.
“Then what?”
Con studies me. Appreciation warms his eyes—then shifts to something darker.
“You’re going to be my secretary for a few hours every day. If you do a good job, I’ll reward you. If not, you’ll be punished. I wonder what you’ll like more, your punishments or your rewards.”
Mav comes up behind me. I can feel him, hot and huge, at my back. “What are you doing?”
“Whatever I want,” he says. “First, we need to do something about your attitude.” Surrounded by the two of them, I feel like my world has shrunk to just this room. This moment.
One hand trails down along my torso, raising goosebumps in the air conditioned room, and when his hands go to my waist I feel the breath leave my lungs in anticipation of what’s coming.
But he stops. “What do you think, Con?”
Con nods. “Yeah. Her attitude definitely needs an adjustment.”
Mav wraps an arm around my waist, pulling my back to his front. His lips press against the side of my throat while one hand cups my breast and the other spreads me, his middle finger tapping my clit.
I watch Con watching us until my eyes slide shut, and I let myself feel everything Mav is giving.
“You were a good girl today,” he growls in my ear. “I saw you swallow his cock like a thirsty little slut. Made me harder than I thought possible, watching you take everything he gave you.”
A thread of pleasure shivers through me.
“Was she as good as she looked?” he asks Con.
“Mostly. She made noise twice and sank her little claws into my thighs. So three punishments from me—then she can be rewarded.”
Mav pinches my nipple hard, then bites the soft spot where my neck meets my shoulder.
“Okay, so you were a bad girl. You also asked me if I got their numbers. You acted like you doubted my intention. That’s one punishment from me.” His fingers slide farther between my thighs; he circles my entrance. “What are we going to do with you, Firebird?”
A quip is on my tongue, but he thrusts his fingers inside and the sound melts into a moan.
“I think we should give her the gift first,” Con says.
Mav pulls a small black box with a silver ribbon out from his pocket. When he places it into my hand, my fingers clench almost on their own to keep it from slipping to the ground.
I pull the ribbon; it slips free. Mav palms it, tucking it in his pocket.
Inside is a pink…thing.
U-shaped, one end rounded and bulbous, the other flat with a silver panel.
“What is it?” I ask, lifting the soft silicone.
“Bend over the desk for your first punishment, and I’ll tell you.” Con smiles and steps aside.
Spanking is more Atticus’s thing, so I don’t know what to expect. Both Con and Mav like control, but pain isn’t how they usually play.
“Brace yourself,” Mav warns as I bend over the desk. Heat flashes up my neck; cool air kisses my wet skin.
“Don’t let her come,” Con adds. “That’s what you said, right?”
Someone moves behind me, and I brace for an impact that doesn’t come. Instead, someone kneels. Breath ghosts over my most sensitive skin; large, fever-hot hands cup my ass.
“Mav, what are you—”
My words dissolve into a moan as the point of his tongue circles my clit, teases, then slides to my entrance and farther back to my puckered ass.
I gasp as goosebumps ripple across my skin again. Electricity surges through my veins as pleasure starts building immediately. “Oh, God.”
“I think she likes it,” Con laughs.
Mav doesn’t answer. He keeps teasing my back door with his mouth, and then the toy nudges inside my pussy. He pulls it out and pushes it back—small, not stretching or hurting, but heavy, giving me a sense of fullness.
My eyelids flutter as Mav keeps tasting me and slides the toy deeper. When it’s as far as it will go, he twists, setting the thinner arm of the pink toy flush against my clit.
He backs away, leaving my body aching and a whine on the tip of my lips.
Mav’s low laugh skims my skin while he slaps my ass, playful. “Punishments first, Firebird. Rewards later. I have work to do.”
He stands as Con opens a laptop and places it on the desk in front of me.
“I need to make some calls. I want you in the room, listening—silently. No one can know you’re here. Your job is to take notes. Any numbers mentioned. Percentages. Details.”
“I can do that,” I say, knowing he probably doesn’t need me to—but it’s a way to prove myself.
He sets a pad of paper on the desk opposite of where he will sit and gestures to the hard, polished chair.
It looks uncomfortable even without a toy inside me.
“How well do you know the day-to-day of the resort and casino?”
“How well do you know the numbers?” I counter.
He lifts an eyebrow as I adjust, trying to get comfortable around the pressure inside me.
“Con, I grew up here as much as you did—more, honestly, because I never went to college.” I lift a hand to stop him before he argues—earning what I’m sure will be my fourth punishment before Mav gets back.
“I don’t know the numbers or contracts, but I know the staff.
Who does what. Who’s always late. Who’s late but works harder than anyone on their shift.
Who gets the raises and who deserves them. ”
“For the entire property?”
“No,” I admit. “Hotel, restaurants, casino. The spa people don’t really hang with the rest of us.”
“Them.”
“What?”
“The spa people don’t hang out with the rest of them. Not us. You are not hotel staff anymore, Princess. You’re one of us. Ours. Take notes. If there’s anything I need to know, write it down and show me. Not a single sound. Understood?”
Ours.
The word lands like a promise and a threat all in one, braided tight with the memory of that text thread—of a “bet” that ends with me choosing and losing.
Maybe I don’t belong to anyone. Maybe I belong to all of them until the game ends.
My brain stutters, spins, stops against a wall of pleasure and doubt.
I force myself to take a breath. I…don’t think I had really thought that far ahead. Hadn’t considered what all of this meant, long term.
I won’t get to stay with them, not really.
There’s no world in which they actually want me to stay. No wonder they made the bet.
When we’re done, it’ll be as though I had stolen that watch—except I won’t be a thief. I won’t have to run to start my new life.
I’ll just be alone.
I swallow back the burn of sudden tears and lift my chin.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good girl,” he says, taking his seat as I shift in mine.
He dials the first number on the black desk phone and hits the speaker so that we both get to hear.
I’m ready—pen in hand, poised to write and make myself useful.
Just as the man on the other end picks up, Conrad taps his cell screen and the toy inside me hums to life, pressing vibrations directly against my clit and G-spot.
“Oh, God,” I cry out quietly—and slap my hand over my mouth.
Ink blurs as my pen digs a crescent into the page while the line crackles a hello. Meanwhile, I’m trying to focus and keep the orgasm on the edge of my vision from spilling over.