Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Savannah
This time, I don’t take in every beautiful, elegant, stunning detail of the club.
This time, I only notice the way the people here look at him.
When we walk through Le Luxe with my hand in his—not held like a lover’s stroll or two companions, but like prison cuffs on an inmate—they give him wide berth.
Where my word is law and my command absolute.
Uniformed staff quietly fades into the periphery like Thayer’s made of fire and they don’t want to be scorched. I note every set of wide eyes, the whispered voices, the way they slip out of the way and carefully leave his path.
I remember the way his mother told me she can’t control him, that he doesn’t listen to her. I’ve heard the way Fabien treats him with kid gloves, like he’s a bomb about to detonate. I’ve even seen fearless, ballsy Lyam retreat and give him space when he needs it.
Like… now.
And here I am, hidden in a club that may as well be his lair, falling for a man who’s tortured, maimed, and killed people in the name of loyalty and justice. Everyone with half a brain fears him, and yet I’ve jumped into the man’s bed.
“Thayer.”
“Be quiet.”
I clamp my lips shut because I’m thinking this might not be the best time to pick a battle.
Large men, clearly bodyguards capable of inflicting some serious damage, step aside to let us pass. He holds the chain to my collar in his hand. I half forgot about that but remember it vividly when a quick tug tightens the metal at my neck.
The crowds part and hide like they’re running to take cover from an impending volcanic eruption.
And finally, we’re alone.
I don’t know what to expect from him. He’s a savage and he’s ruthless, but hell if that doesn’t make me want him even more. I don’t know why my brain behaves the way it does, but I can’t seem to stop myself.
I want more of him. With every frown, my heart beats faster. With every searing glance, I crave his touch. Thayer Gerard is a tornado, but I know—I’m safe within the eye of the storm.
Or am I?
He opens the door to his room without a word and brings me inside. I stand. My feet planted on either side of me, waiting, while he locks the door and turns to face me.
“I didn’t mean—”
But I did mean. I’m not going to lie. I shake my head and rephrase.
“I wanted to know.”
Thayer breathes heavily, like a dragon about to blast his fiery breath and burn down full cities. “I know.”
I pause, unsure of how to respond.
“Then why didn’t you ask me?” he asks, genuine curiosity in his tone. “I would’ve told you everything.”
I swallow, unsure of how to proceed. “I wanted to talk to my sister. I wanted her opinion.”
He cocks his head at me. “Is that how you make your decisions, Savannah? By committee?”
Ouch.
“There’s a difference between asking my trusted sister who’s practically my guardian for her opinion and asking a committee.”
“Is there?”
I scowl right back at him, determined to make my point. “Of course there is. My sister and Fabien expressed concern about me being taken into your care and I wanted to know why.”
He takes a step closer to me and grabs my chin, not harshly, but not gently.
“Did you?”
I swallow. “I did.”
“You knew why. You’ve seen who I am. You know what I like. Your questions have nothing to do with me and everything to do with you.”
What?
He runs his hands down the length of my body and when he reaches my ass, he squeezes, hard.
“Your heart races when I overpower you. You climax so hard you’re breathless when I make you come.
You crave being dominated and controlled, but you can’t rationalize why.
What we have here is everything those out there will tell you is wrong, yet you can’t turn away. ”
I blink, staring at him because it’s all true, every word.
“I’ve shown you your dark side and it scares you. And you know that you can’t turn away now.”
Without warning, his mouth clashes against mine so roughly I moan, our tongues tangled in a brief but breathtaking, savage kiss. He pulls away, panting. “And neither can I.”
He’s right. Oh, God, he’s right. I know that everything he says is true, and I know how badly I crave this. If he left me right now, I’d feel bereft. I’d always wonder what could have been. I’d be disappointed in anything less than this, than us.
“You want to know what I’ve done? Does that matter to you?”
Does it? Does it make him who he is today?
“I don’t regret a single damn thing I’ve done,” he says, and grabs my waist, unsnapping and unzipping to disrobe me.
Next, the sweater, tugged over my head to join the small pile of clothes on the floor.
“I don’t let anyone or anything come between justice and the people I love. I show mercy to no one.”
I breathe heavily, my mind reeling.
“I don’t love easily or casually,” he says as he finishes taking off my clothes. He holds me to him, naked and trembling.
He slings me up into his arms and walks to his room. I know where he’s going before he takes me.
The closet.
Like the other room, the door to this one is hidden against the wall. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d completely miss it.
His closet’s actually locked. I stare as he slides his thumb to the panel and unlocks it before a second shot of laser scans his eyes. Holy shit. What does he have in here? I hold my breath, my body hot and supple against his fully clothed one.
It glides open. A dim yellow light illuminates the room. He shuts the door behind us with finality and I hear an audible click.
To call this place a closet would be like calling a lion a housecat.
Nicolette has told me about Fabien’s bag of tricks, a closet he has outfitted with every disguise one could imagine, and not because Fabien likes to play dress-up.
Fabien has a fetish for heists, robbery, and trickery of all sorts.
Lyam has a fetish for pets… both the animal and human variety.
And Thayer? Holy hell.
It appears Thayer has a fetish for… everything.