Chapter 5
FIVE
Zack
Zack sat on the balcony with his coffee, scrolling through business emails while waiting for Aiden to come down. He’d set them up with a video meeting with Sharon, who took care of their business properties.
Aiden had his eye on properties up north and insisted on taking a hands-on approach in broadening Surrender's reach.
“Morning. Did you get the paperwork and checklist I put on your desk yesterday?” Aiden strolled into the living room. He beelined to the coffee pot and tucked the paper under his arm.
Zack heard him shuffle inside the kitchen. He moved out to the patio table where they often gathered when either of them took a moment's pause.
“Yeah, I did.”
“What did you think?”
“I think you slept in,” Zack mused as he took another sip.
“We’ve had some entertainment this week. It’s been… strenuous.” Aiden shrugged.
The corner of Zack's mouth kicked up into a smirk. “For her or for you?”
“Both.”
Zack set his phone down, giving Aiden his full attention. The smirk remained, a teasing glint in his eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this struck with a woman, Aiden. Not in all the years I’ve known you.”
Aiden’s gaze drifted toward the city skyline, a slow smile spreading across his face. “She’s different. The way she trusts… It’s a gift.”
“Trust can be a liability,” Zack countered, his tone shifting, the humor replaced by a familiar coolness. “Especially in our world. She’s new to this. She doesn’t understand the risks.”
“She might be new to the club or the depth of submission that we’ve asked of her, but don’t sell her short. She understands them better than you think,” Aiden said, his voice firm. “We’re the ones who need to be careful. We hold all the power here.”
“Power is meant to be wielded. That’s the whole point.”
“Not with her,” Aiden disagreed, turning to face Zack fully. “With Sophie, it’s a partnership. A dance. You push, she yields. You pull, she holds her ground. She’s not just a participant, Zack. She’s… integral.”
A muscle in Zack’s jaw tightened. He hated the word.
Integral. It spoke of connection, of reliance.
It was a loose thread in the tightly woven fabric of his control.
“This trip to Ottawa needs to be my focus. The developers are getting antsy. I can’t have…
distractions. Let’s not forget the meeting with Odin about servers that you insisted on. ”
“It’s a week, Zack. Ten days, tops.” Aiden’s expression softened, a rare attempt at placation. “I’ll look after her. Keep things on an even keel.”
An unfamiliar, unwelcome emotion coiled in Zack’s gut. It wasn’t jealousy. It was something else, something possessive and territorial. The image of Aiden and Sophie, finding their rhythm without him, was a splinter under his skin. “She’s wearing our cuffs, Aiden. Not yours.”
Aiden’s eyes held his, a steady, unwavering challenge. “I know whose they are. But she needs more than a command and a crop, and you know it. She needs the anchor, not just the storm.”
Zack stood up, walking to the railing and looking down at the street below. “The storm is what she craves. The chaos is what brings her to her knees.”
“Maybe,” Aiden conceded, his voice quiet. “Or maybe the chaos is just what makes her reach for something solid. Someone solid.” He paused, letting the words land. “She asks about you, you know. When we are in the car or alone, she wants to know you. She’s trying to understand you.”
Zack’s fingers tightened on the cool metal of the railing. “There’s nothing to understand.”
“Arms length at all times.” Aiden's voice was a low murmur, a statement of fact, not an accusation. “How's that working out for you?”
Zack didn't turn. The city spread out before him, a grid of light and logic, everything in its place. Unlike this. Unlike them. “Fine.”
A soft scoff behind him. “Liar.”
Zack turned then, a sharp, fluid movement. His gaze locked on Aiden, a flicker of something dangerous in his eyes. “You're awfully sure of yourself when it comes to reading her. What about reading me?”
“I've been reading you for more than half our life, brother.
You're a loud book.” A small, knowing smile played on Aiden's lips. Zack closed the distance between them in two long strides, the air crackling with unspoken tension. He stopped just shy of touching, invading Aiden’s space, crowding him until he was pressed back against the glass door.
“You think you have it all figured out,” Zack’s voice was a low growl. “You think your soft touch and your pretty words are the whole equation. They’re not. They’re the prelude.”
He raised a hand, not to strike, but to trace the line of Aiden’s jaw, a gesture that was both intimate and a threat.
“Bet you’d suck her pussy off my cock.” Zack noticed the look in Aiden’s eyes.
“You want that, don’t you?” Zack tugs him by the necktie and pulls it open. He holds it with two hands still around Aiden’s neck.
“It’s not like we haven’t played before, brother.”
“There’s nothing brotherly about me drilling your throat.” Zack groaned as Aiden moved his fingers between them, pulling at his belt. “Kneel,” he barked gruffly, leaning his shoulders against the wall and offering his straining cock.
Aiden dropped to his knees in reverence. He pushed Zack’s pants down past his hips and left them hanging below his knees. Zack’s head tilted back with a hissed curse as Aiden eagerly swirled his tongue around the swollen head of his cock.
“Fuck, I forgot how good you were at–fuck–god damn it.” Zack tangled his fingers in Aiden’s hair, moving his hips and pushing more of himself down the warm, willing throat.
“Can you taste it? Taste her pain and humiliation. Right, yeah, don’t stop.” Zack grunted as Aiden attempted to hold his hips in place, negating his power play.
“Did you get hard watching her beg for her Daddy to help her as I pushed our little fuck bunny’s limits?”
Aiden’s fingers moved from Zack’s thighs, and he cupped his balls. Zack closed his eyes as Aiden quickened his efforts, taking him deeper.
Zack grabbed the ends of Aiden’s tie, using it for leverage. He repeated the rough tempo he forced Sophie to take, and his shaft swelled at the memory of her tears running down his cock.
Aiden wrapped his fist around Zack’s cock, suckling the tip and teasingly running his tongue along the bottom of the swollen head.
“Fuck,” Zack cursed. Aiden pulled away and brought himself to his feet, wrapping his arm around Zack’s neck and pulling him in for a rough kiss.
Zack could taste himself on Aiden’s tongue, the lingering, musky flavor mingling with the coffee they’d both been drinking. It was a familiar, transgressive taste, a ghost of encounters past, but this was different. This wasn't two lonely executives blowing off steam in a dark office after a deal.
Zack fisted Aiden’s shirt, yanking him closer until their bodies were flush.
He bit Aiden’s lower lip, not hard enough to break the skin, but enough to make him gasp, a sharp intake of air that Zack swallowed with another demanding kiss.
He wanted to erase Aiden’s easy confidence, to replace it with the same desperate, aching need that he saw in Sophie’s eyes.
He wanted to be the storm for both of them.
Breaking the kiss, Zack pushed Aiden back, a sudden, forceful shove.
Aiden stumbled, caught off guard, his back hitting the cool glass of the balcony railing.
His eyes widened with a flash of surprise before a slow, dark understanding settled in.
The smirk was gone, replaced by a look of raw, unguarded anticipation.
Zack didn’t speak. He simply hooked his fingers into the waistband of Aiden’s pants and the boxer briefs beneath and in one rough, efficient motion, he dragged them down to Aiden’s knees.
“Bend over the balcony,” Zack commanded, his voice a low gravel that scraped the air.
Aiden's throat bobbed. He held Zack's gaze for a heartbeat, a silent negotiation passing between them.
Then, with a slow, deliberate grace that defied the coiled tension in his body, he turned.
His hands, strong and capable, gripped the cool metal of the railing.
He leaned forward, presenting himself, the early morning light catching the hard, defined planes of his back and the powerful muscles of his thighs.
The city spread out below him, oblivious to the raw power play being enacted twenty floors above.
Zack stepped up behind him, the denim of his still-open jeans rough against Aiden’s thighs. He leaned in, his chest pressed against Aiden’s back, and his lips brushing against the shell of his ear.
“Look at you,” Zack murmured, the words a dark caress.
“So fucking obedient for me.” He placed his hand flat against Aiden’s shoulder blades, pressing down, forcing Aiden’s chest lower, widening the spread of his legs.
“When was the last time? Huh? When was the last time you let anyone have you like this?”
Aiden’s only response was a shuddering exhale, the mist of his breath condensing on the metal railing.
Zack's other hand came to rest on Aiden's ass, a proprietary, possessive touch.
He squeezed, the flesh yielding under his grip.
“This is what's going to happen while I'm gone,” he continued, his voice a low, hypnotic rumble.
“You're going to take care of her. You're going to hold her, and fuck her, and give her all that gentle, nurturing shit she craves. You'll be her Daddy.”
He paused, letting the title hang in the air, a stark contrast to the scene unfolding. His fingers dipped into the cleft of Aiden's ass, finding the tight, furled entrance there. Aiden jerked, a reflexive motion, a quiet groan escaping his lips.
“But every night,” Zack whispered, pressing the pad of his finger against that resistant ring of muscle, “you're going to remember this. You're going to remember who you belong to. You're going to remember that I'm the one who takes what I want. From both of you.”