“Then prepare to serve me.” Jack motioned for her to get up then led her to the cross. Gently he bound her face-first to the apparatus. The straps were leather but cushioned with something soft. Jack made certain they wouldn’t cut off her circulation. He made her wiggle her fingers and toes. When he was satisfied, she felt him pressed against her back.
“Your safe word is pink,” he whispered. “I expect you to use it if this gets to be too much to handle. I’ll stop immediately and get you out of here. Julian said nothing at all about silence, so scream all you like.”
He stepped back, and she knew she wouldn’t. She would do anything to avoid it. It would bother Jack. He liked the sounds she made when he spanked her, but she didn’t think he could handle it if she was in real pain. She gritted her teeth and prepared to survive this experience.
She closed her eyes. There wasn’t anything to see except a black velvet curtain. The crowd got quiet and in her mind she could see Jack unfurling the whip. He would stand for a moment, getting used to the feel of the weight of it in his hand. She tried to think about every fantasy she’d ever had about Indiana Jones.
“You will count, Abigail,” Jack demanded. “Count of ten.”
CRACK!
She tensed when she heard that terrible sound. Every muscle in her body did exactly what she didn’t want it to do. When the lash struck the fleshy part of her ass, she was rigid. All the breath left her body as the burn sizzled. It wasn’t exactly pain, but it wasn’t comfortable, either. Her breath stuck in her chest.
“I need a count, Abigail,” Jack said patiently.
“One,” she managed with a shaky voice as she wondered how she could get through that nine more times.
It happened quickly the second time. She felt the burn across her thighs and gasped.
“Two,” she nearly shouted.
Her mouth had gone dry and her breath came in pants. She was grateful for the bindings. Her fingers curled around the leather that held her in place.
Again. The third blast came across her buttocks. Fire seemed to splash across her skin. It sizzled and cracked and retreated, leaving something else in its wake.
“Three,” she managed.
Jack worked fast. He didn’t give her time to think or prepare for the next lash. The minute he heard her count, he struck again. By the time she made it to ten she was crying, but the burn was sinking into her skin. It seemed to course through her veins and it hurt, but it also made her feel awfully alive. A strange sense of pride washed through her. She’d made it through and hadn’t screamed, hadn’t begged him to stop. By the time the lash had bitten her the last time, she’d felt an odd kinship with the whip. It was taking her someplace. The cessation of that horrible burn was a pleasure in and of itself. She sagged against her bindings, so tired she didn’t think she could walk. She wished Jack didn’t have to deal with Sam. This was the time she craved, when the pain was over and her body hummed, when Jack took such sweet care of her.
“You were wonderful, sweetheart,” he murmured as he efficiently pulled her out. Lucas was at his side. Jack worked on her hands while Lucas pulled her feet out. “I’m so proud of you.”
His hands lightly traced the skin where the whip had landed. He gently checked each mark to make sure he hadn’t done any real damage. After a moment, she felt him relax and knew he was satisfied. It was easy to tell the episode had done something for him. He was aroused as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly before passing her off to Lucas. Lucas helped her into her robe as Jack turned to Julian.
“Are you satisfied with my wife?” Jack asked.
Julian nodded briefly. “She did well for a novice. I take it Samuel has chosen to take the majority of the punishment. Or did you force that on him?”
She watched Sam practically bound onto the stage. He was grinning as he shrugged out of his clothes.
“Yes, I was terrible to him, Julian.” Jack watched as Sam approached. Sam tossed his clothes to the side. “I had to force him.”
Sam got into position, head down, palms up, as Lucas helped her off the stage. Jack was going through the ritual he’d performed with her for Sam. Lucas found a chaise lounge set aside for the occasion. There was a small table with another vodka and cranberry juice waiting.
“Here you go.” Lucas pressed the glass in her hand and steadied her. “Are you all right?”
She nodded as she took a gulp. It was okay. She was okay. The entire episode had been enlightening. It wasn’t the last time she’d feel the bite of that whip. She’d been close to going someplace else. What started as punishment had opened a door for them as a couple.
“Does it hurt?”
“Yes, Lucas, getting your ass whipped hurts,” she replied sarcastically, but she gave him a wink and a smile. “It hurts at first. It’s a little like jumping into near-freezing water. Have you ever done that? There’s a creek in Willow Fork. I don’t know why, but it’s always cold. Like crazy cold, even in the middle of the summer. So, of course we all jumped in it. There’s this moment when you hit the water that all the breath leaves your body and you’re sure you can’t take it. So you jump out as fast as you can. And then the sun hits your skin, and every pore is open and the world seems like a different place. That’s what it was like.”
“I think I might like to try that,” Lucas said quietly. He cleared his throat and held up a bottle. “I’m supposed to wipe this across your ass.”
She shook her head. There was no way she was letting Lucas rub her naked bottom. He was her brother-in-law. “It can wait for Jack.”
Lucas let out a sigh. “He said you would probably refuse, but he wanted it here just in case. Do you want me to take you back to the room?”
“No.” She wasn’t going to leave while Sam and Jack were still on stage. She gingerly sat down and Lucas followed, sitting next to her. The pain was already gone, and she was surprised she wasn’t very sore.
There was a mighty crack and Sam shouted out, “One.”
There was an almost jubilant satisfaction in his voice. Lucas hissed.
“Wow,” Lucas said. “That is not what he did to you.”
A line of red appeared on Sam’s backside. It looked angry and painful, but Sam counted through it. The whip cracked through the air. It was a harsh sound and made her jump. Somehow it hadn’t sounded that way when she was tied to the St. Andrew’s Cross. The sound had been gentler even when the whip stung along her skin.
Sam tensed the first few times. The muscles of his back bunched up and he groaned. After the first few, he seemed to relax. She stood and watched as the whip danced. It seemed almost like an extension of Jack himself. The man and the whip moved in perfect harmony, the action sensual in its fluidity. She found herself holding her breath as the whip flew back and Jack began again.
She wished she could see Sam’s face. It would give her a sense of what he was feeling. She could see Julian’s. He watched with rapt attention. While others switched their attention between the two men working the scene, Julian Lodge watched only Sam. After a moment, his serious gray eyes found hers. She looked away but not before she saw that Julian, for everything he had, was a lonely man at heart.
She let her attention get back to her husbands. Sam’s back was red and swollen. Abby watched as he let his head sag when the count reached ten. His voice got languid and heavy.
“That must be that subspace thing Jack told me about.” Lucas gazed at the scene playing out before him. His eyes were clearly focused on Sam’s back. She began to wonder just how much he was like his brother.
“Mr. Cameron?”
She looked up at the same time Lucas did. A man in leather held out a drink. She wasn’t pleased to see Julian’s male sub. There was something about the young man that she didn’t trust.
Lucas took a moment studying the other man’s face before he came up with a name. “Jeremy?”
Jeremy smiled down at Lucas. He completely ignored her. Suspicion played around in her brain. She
couldn’t forget how this weasel had gotten them all in trouble the night before by misrepresenting Sally’s actions to Master Leo.
“I missed spending time with you last night,” Jeremy was saying. “Your brother seems a bit overprotective. Here. You said you liked rum and coke.”
Abby’s attention was pulled away as Sam grunted and managed to say, “Twenty.”
He slumped against the apparatus, his head hanging forward. She wanted to go to him but Lucas held her hand.
“No. Jack said to keep you here.” Lucas’s eyes softened as though he understood her worry. “He’ll come for you, Abby. Sam is fine.”
“Let her go,” Jeremy cajoled. He sat down on the sofa across from them. It was not a submissive move in Abby’s mind. Julian’s slave pushed the drink forward. “Come on. Let the girl go and we can have a drink and talk. We got along really well last night. We could have a lot of fun, you and me.”
Julian proclaimed his satisfaction with Sam. All around the dungeon, the crowd was buzzing. The scene had everyone talking.
“I don’t think that’s such a great idea.”
Abby heard Lucas talking, but her eyes were on Sam. Julian handed up a robe to Sam. There was a slightly dippy look on his face. He grinned as he stumbled a little. Jack’s shoulder went under Sam’s arm to give him balance. Sam didn’t fight him. He let his head lean against Jack’s broad shoulder. They were so beautiful together. Abby felt her heart speed up.
“Seriously, I don’t think I can see you tonight,” Lucas was saying. “I have to be up early in the morning. I don’t know exactly what happened last night. I didn’t drink anything except that one glass of Scotch and the drink you gave me. I guess I got sick. Maybe I’m allergic or something. It was weird.”
Jack helped Sam toward a chair and a small table. It was a recovery station, Jack had explained earlier. Sam would need immediate aftercare. He wouldn’t be given the option of waiting until later, as she had.
“Come on, Lucas,” Jeremy cajoled. “If this is your last night, then you should party.”
Something was off. There was a problem with this scenario. Abby quickly estimated Lucas’s weight with the trained eye of a nurse. “How did you pass out from two drinks? Jack said you blacked out. You wouldn’t do that from two drinks.”
Even if Lucas had never had a drink in his life, he wouldn’t have blacked out from a single Scotch and a rum and coke. Unless he had some help. She glared down at the glass in Jeremy’s hand. Several things fell neatly into place. Matthew Slater walked up behind Jeremy. He glanced around as though to make sure no one was looking.
“Lucas, I need to speak with you,” he said urgently.
“I don’t have anything to say to you. You’re wasting your time. Tell my father not to worry about me. My days as a blackmailer are done.” Lucas looked through Slater. He was kinder when he turned back to Jeremy, but just as sure. “And I’m not hooking up tonight. I’m going back to my room. I have to leave early. I promised Jack I would take care of Abby and then turn in.”
She took the glass out of Jeremy’s hand. Though she knew if her suspicions were right she wouldn’t smell anything, she sniffed it anyway. “Lucas, I think this has drugs in it. Surely Julian has some of those test strips.”
Women had started carrying them into clubs to make sure no one slipped something in their drinks. Her daughter, Lexi, had shown her some. She never went into a club without them.
Lucas’s face bunched up in confusion. “Why would he drug me? I was perfectly willing to sleep with him last night.”
“I have no idea, but he isn’t going to do it in my club,” Julian said smoothly.
He was behind her. Jack had Sam over a chair, smoothing salve into his back and buttocks. Jack nodded over at her. Sam was draped over the chair, his eyes slightly hooded. She could see the pleasure on his face as Jack’s hands slid across his skin.
Master Leo slipped up behind Slater. Slater was too busy to notice. His eyes were on Julian. Jeremy had gone completely white. He tried to toss the drink, but Julian’s hand came out.
Julian pulled the glass from Jeremy’s hand. “It doesn’t matter, Jeremy. Do you think I don’t know everything that goes on in this club? I see everything. There are video cameras in places you can’t imagine, sub. I saw you spike his drink last night. I merely wanted to see if you would try again. And I suspect you were also behind Mrs. Barnes receiving that white rose without any information about what it would mean. This isn’t mischief. This is malice, Jeremy.”
Jeremy fell to his knees. “Master, I can explain.”
“I am no longer your Master.” Julian nodded and the bald guy from the night before pulled Jeremy up by the neck. “Please escort Jeremy off the grounds. He is no longer welcome in The Club.”
“Master!” Jeremy’s face flushed and his mouth opened to protest, but before he could say another word, he was being hauled bodily out of the dungeon.
Slater turned to walk away. Master Leo didn’t move to let him by. He smiled. It was an intimidating thing. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Julian stepped forward. “I also saw what you did last night, Mr. Slater. You were the one who talked my slave into betraying his home. I do not allow drugs of any kind on the premises. You should have noted that in the contract you signed.”
Slater’s eyes darted around the room, looking for a way out. He was surrounded. One minute he appeared defeated, and the next he was grabbing Abby, pulling her into his clutches. She winced as she felt something cold and metallic against her ribs. It was a gun.
Again.
She really wished people would stop trying to kill her.
Chapter Fifteen
Lucas took a step toward her.
“Don’t.” Slater pressed the gun into her belly as he addressed Lucas. “Don’t you come any closer, and the guy behind me better move, too.”
She went perfectly still, looking over at the stage where Jack was fully into his aftercare, talking Sam down, soothing him. His big hands ran over Sam’s skin. He wasn’t paying any attention to the fact that his wife had a gun shoved in her belly. Julian was, though. The club owner’s face had lost its color, but other than that, he appeared outwardly calm. Like this wasn’t his first rodeo.
“We can talk about this, Slater,” Julian said in that authoritative voice of his.
Lucas was trying to get Jack’s attention, but there was an awful lot of noise now that the punishment was over. People were milling about, some starting scenes of their own.
Leo moved to stand beside his boss, but his eyes were on her. There was an air of competence about him as though he was merely waiting for the opportunity to present itself. If she had to guess, she would definitely say Master Leo was ex-military.
His voice was steady as he stared at Slater. “Where do you think you’re going, Slater? Do you honestly believe you can get out of here with Mrs. Barnes?”
Slater’s hands tightened around her upper arm painfully and she bit back a cry. She’d just had a whip applied to her ass, but this hurt far worse. Her mind was racing. Jack was going to flip out. He didn’t need this. In her panic, she knew exactly who to blame. She felt her face get stubborn. It was the only way to stem the tide of panic. “Maybe you should install some metal detectors, Julian.”
Julian’s eyebrow shot up. He glanced around. “Have you seen my clients, dear? No one would make it through.”
Leo shook his head ruefully. “That little sub still needs a spanking.”
They were being awfully calm about her kidnapping. Julian actually checked his watch. Lucas was the only one who appeared concerned.
“Look, Matthew,” Lucas started, his hands shaking. “I’m the one you want. I’ll go with you. Let Abby go. She doesn’t have anything to do with this. I’ll go talk to my dad. We’ll work everything out. All you have to do is let her go and take me instead.”
“I think she’ll be easier to deal with than you, Lucas. I’m leaving, and I doubt Lodge there is going
to call the cops on me.” Slater was trying to be tough, but there was a distinct tremor in his voice. “I’m sure he doesn’t want the police to know what goes on in this place.”
Julian shot Leo an acerbic glance. “I thought I saw the police chief in the playroom.”
Leo nodded. “Yes, I spoke with him earlier. He was with the district attorney. They brought their ‘nieces.’”
“And I am not going to be easier to deal with than Lucas,” she proclaimed.
Jack was staring over at the group, a worried look dawning on his face. She tried smiling at him to keep him calm. The last thing this unplanned scene of hers needed was her bull of a husband rushing in to save her. He’d been shot once in defense of her. It was someone else’s turn.
“You are going to be quiet, Mrs. Barnes, or I’m going to shoot you,” Slater promised.
“I doubt that.” This time Julian’s voice was all smooth satisfaction. “Look, Leo, our guests have arrived.”
Slater turned. It was just the opportunity she needed. The gun dropped slightly from her side and she brought the heel of her four-and-a-half-inch purple peep-toe Christian Louboutin down on her captor’s toes. He howled, the gun dropping from his hand. Lucas reached forward and pulled her away, covering her body with his.
“What the hell is going on?” Jack’s shout resonated through the dungeon.
Leo calmly picked up the gun and tucked it into his pants. He was far too comfortable with the revolver. Sam’s arms were suddenly tugging her back, and she found herself watching the rest of the action from behind Sam and Lucas.
“Don’t worry yourself, Jackson.” Julian nodded to the three men in pinstriped suits currently helping Slater stand up. “I believe Mr. Conti is going to take care of our friend.” He turned his attention to the new group in the room. “You spoke with my security manager? I was informed that you have some business to handle with Mr. Slater.”
“Indeed we do, Mr. Lodge. And I thank you and Mr. Taggart for reaching out and giving me this chance.” The man talking was the smallest of the three men, but there was no doubt that he was in charge.