Siren Beloved

Chapter Four

Lucas felt his cock pulsing as he walked Lexi toward the stage.

What the fuck was he doing?

He needed to keep it together. He needed to pretend like he wasn’t responding to the man in the mask. He didn’t want to. He wasn’t going to get involved with another man. He was with Lexi. Lexi was the only person who mattered now.

But god, that fucker reminded him of Aidan. It was the smile that did it. Aidan had the sweetest “aw-shucks-ma’am-weren’t-nothing” smile on the planet. He would look at a person, that one lip would tug up, making the smile all the more perfect for its lopsided nature, and Lucas couldn’t help but melt a little. Aidan was masculine perfection, and when he sang, no one could help but stop and listen.

God, as much as Lucas loved Aidan, he hated him now. Lucas hated him for the coward he was. He hated him for showing Lucas the edge of heaven and walking away. And he hated Aidan for leaving Lexi. So many times, Lucas wondered if she wouldn’t have been happier if she’d gone with Aidan.

She certainly wouldn’t be in this position. Even though Aidan hadn’t acknowledged it, he’d been the dominant partner. Aidan had been indulgent, but when he’d put his foot down, Lexi fell in line. So had Lucas, for that matter. Lucas had enjoyed having a partner to curb some of Lexi’s more wild tendencies. If Aidan had been around, Lexi wouldn’t have gotten into this trouble.

Dani winked at Lucas as she was carried off the stage in Julian’s arms. The curvy blonde looked perfect cuddled against her Master’s chest. Finn walked behind them, his body covered in a robe. Lucas remembered a time when all of Julian’s aftercare, including sex, occurred right there on the stage. Not anymore. He jealously guarded both Dani and Finn.

Lucas shook Finn’s hand. He felt a bit guilty. He was the reason Finn’s ass was red as hell. “Sorry I got you got in trouble, man.”

Finn shook his head, his face still flushed. “No way. I wouldn’t have missed that for the world. Julian has gotten to be a big old softie since we got married. Now I know how to get him to give it to me good. The next time I need it, I’ll just gossip a little. I moaned and cried enough that he won’t even withhold the sex. I’m looking forward to the evening.”

Lucas shook Finn’s hand, but he only half heard what Finn said because Lucas was staring at Master A. Two club employees were moving the whipping chairs off the stage in favor of a padded sawhorse. Finn waved goodbye and jogged after his lover and their shared wife.

“What are they doing, Lucas?” Lexi’s voice had the slightest shake to it. Lexi hated the sawhorse. Lucas would never put her over one.

“I’ll find out.” Lucas gave her hand a squeeze.

Lexi preferred the comfort of the whipping chair or the St. Andrew’s Cross. When he’d started playing the role of Lexi’s Dom, he’d introduced her to all of the equipment in the dungeon. Some of it hadn’t appealed to her at all, and he’d never pushed her on it. He had the handcuffs he’d had made for her. They were lined with faux fur so her wrists never chaffed. He pulled them out as he approached Master A.

The enormous mountain of a man picked up a strap and tested it against his own hand. He had a table full of torture implements. None of them were the ones Lucas had brought.

“There seems to have been a miscommunication, Sir.” Lucas was exceedingly polite. He was suddenly intensely aware that he’d agreed to sub for this man. At the time, it had seemed like an afterthought, something incidental. BDSM scenes required a chain of command. When he’d signed his name to the bottom line of the contract, he’d been thinking more of Lexi than himself. Now, as Master A turned and his dark chocolate eyes pinned him, Lucas suddenly thought it was pretty damn serious.

“What’s wrong, Lucas?” His voice was like gravel, as though something had damaged it, but a lyrical quality still held. Up close, his scars were like rivers crossing his powerful chest. Some were thick and wove across his skin, others a mere whisper, but together they were a map of the man. “Why aren’t you waiting with Lexi?”

Lucas felt that voice deep inside him. It was much more than mere sexual attraction. He could be sexually attracted to any number of people. He’d learned to ignore it entirely. His cock didn’t have the best of taste, but it had stopped ruling his life long ago. This was more. This was the instant, soul deep recognition of someone he knew could top him. Master A was a true Dom.

But he wasn’t Lexi’s Dom. He might be for the evening, but that was Lucas’s full-time role. Though he’d signed over control of the punishment to Master A, surely the man would take advice from the sub’s permanent Dom. “We need to move that sawhorse out of here. Lexi prefers a whipping chair. Actually, it would be better if we just used a whip. She’s very used to a St. Andrew’s Cross.”

There was a long pause as Master A stared a hole through him. There was no hot dimple in his cheek now. There was only a simple stony silence emanating from the man. Lucas fought not to fidget under his stare. This was how he’d felt when he’d done something stupid at the ranch, and Jack wanted him to know he was a dumbass.

“So, should I set up the whipping chair?” Lucas asked. Master A was obviously not amenable to the cross for some reason. Lucas silently cursed himself. He should have tightened that contract, but Julian had been negotiating, and Lucas placed a lot of trust in Julian.

“Lucas, you should take your place beside Lexi. I’ll let you know when I need your help. We’ll be using a sawhorse. If Lexi has a problem with it, she can use her safe word. Leo is waiting in case she requires assistance off the grounds.”

Lucas felt his face flush. Bastard wanted to play rough? “So, it’s your way or the highway?”

Master A took a slow step forward, his boots thudding across the hard floor of the stage. “Yes, it is, sub. Welcome to D/s. I was told you weren’t a tourist, but every word that comes out of your mouth is proving to me that you are.”

Lucas’s heart started to pound. He hated someone questioning his seriousness. Years and years he’d spent under his father’s disdain. He’d been compared to his siblings and found lacking in every way possible. Lucas had never been good enough for the great Senator Allen Cameron. Looking down on him was the one button sure to set Lucas off, and Master A had firmly pushed it. “I’ve been in the lifestyle for years, asshole.”

He’d been in the lifestyle since the day he’d met his half brother, Jack Barnes. Everything about his brother’s life fascinated him, including his D/s relationship with his lovers, Sam Fleetwood and their wife, Abigail Barnes. Lucas had emulated his brother from the day he’d met him.

Master A’s head shook. “No, you’ve played at it for years. You’re no Dom, or you wouldn’t be over here telling me what she will or won’t accept and expecting me to change my plans for her. You agreed to allow me to top both of you, and here you are making demands. Here is the bottom line. She will accept her punishment meted out my way with respect to her hard limits, or she will leave. And you will cease cursing at me, or we will have some trouble, you and I.”

Lucas started to move forward, ready for a little trouble, but before he could make the first move, Master A had a hand in his hair. That big hand pulled his hair back and drew Lucas close enough that he could feel the heat pouring off the other man’s body. Master A towered over him, and at Lucas’s six foot one, that wasn’t an easy feat. He’d rarely met a man who could utterly overpower him.

Master A’s voice was a low, gravely growl in his ear. “Don’t test me here, Lucas. I don’t want to start this way. I want it to be easy with us. We should be partners in her pleasure, but I’m the Dom, and I won’t accept being treated like your lackey. I am not some hired hand brought in here for your convenience. I’m here for a reason, and I won’t allow you to disrespect me.”

Put like that, it did sound bad. Lucas had signed the contract. It was reasonable for Master A to expect that he wouldn’t have to deal with a bratty switch. Lucas was close enough to see that his hair was a sandy color. It was cut in a close crop military style that highlighted the Master’s rough hewn bone structure. His face was marked, a long jagged line running from under his mask down to his neck.

“I’m just looking out for her,” Lucas tried to explain.

The hand in his hair softened, and the tension ratcheted down. When Master A spoke again, it was in a cajoling tone. “I know you’re doing the best you can, but this isn’t your strong suit, Lucas. You’re a nurturer. You’re the one to take care of all the small details that make a life run smoothly. You’re smart and strong, and you’ll do anything for someone you love, but not this. You’re too soft for this. I can give her what she needs. I can give you what you need if you let me.”

Lucas wanted to take a step back. It seemed this Master had done a lot of homework on him. Master A sounded almost as though he admired Lucas. It wasn’t something he was used to. Lucas had been admired for his money and his connections. He’d been looked up to for being one of the Camerons, even if he was the black sheep of the political family. Only Lexi and his small, cobbled together family ever admired him for what he could do, for the care he gave to the people around him. Lucas felt like the stranger had seen far too much of him.

“What’s wrong?” Lexi’s voice pulled Lucas out of his panic. He looked down at her, so beautiful and vulnerable.

Master A’s hand came out of his hair, and Lucas felt strangely cold as the large man stepped back, taking his body heat with him. It had been oddly comforting to be held like that. It had been so, so long since he’d felt like someone else was in control and he could relax.

“There’s nothing wrong, Lexi,” Master A said. Lucas could see their small encounter wasn’t completely lost on the Dom. He was sporting an impressive erection in his leathers. Apparently Leo had been right. Master A liked it both ways. “Lucas and I were having a slight disagreement over the equipment we’ll use for this evening’s scene. We’ve settled it now. Go back to your place and get into slave position. I’ll call on you in a minute.”

Lucas saw the moment they got into serious trouble. Lexi’s eyes flared, and her hands came up on her hips. The world moved in a strange slow motion as her gorgeous, painted red mouth came open.

“Fuck you. I’m not getting on that sawhorse. It’s uncomfortable. And what right do you have to put a hand on Lucas?”

Lucas felt the room go ice cold as all that intimidation turned on Lexi’s petite, curvy body. Master A stared at her for a moment. The room had gone deadly quiet as though the crowd realized the scene had started without the traditional opening. Everyone was watching as the universally acknowledged problem child of The Club turned her bratty mouth on the new guy.

Even Lexi seemed to realize she’d gone too far, but she held her ground. His girl wouldn’t sweetly apologize. Not to a Dom she hadn’t felt had earned her respect.

“Lucas, I need to know if you’re in or you’re out.” The words rang from the Master’s mouth and seemed to swell in the otherwise silent room.

Master A hadn’t turned to him. Those cold eyes held Lexi in their snare like a cobra waiting to strike at a pretty little bird he’d caught in a trap. But Lucas understood. He was the one who was really trapped. He could take his girl and leave this world they had come to love. He and Lexi had played at the edges of this particular ocean, but they’d never waded into deep waters. He could scoop her up and walk away and never know if they could have been happy if they had only learned how to swim.

Or he could do what every switch had to do from time to time. He could gamble and give up control and hope that he found paradise for his trouble. Lucas Cameron might have grown more stable and settled in the past few years, but he hadn’t forgotten what it meant to take a risk.

“I’m in.”

Lexi realized she was in serious trouble the minute the words left Lucas’s mouth. Hell, she’d realized she was in trouble the minute she opened her own damn mouth. What was she thinking? She knew damn well how to behave in a dungeon, but something about this Master made her want to push him. Damn it. She’d been this way all of her life. She just had to push. She thought about taking a step back, but before she could make her feet move, Master A had her in a fireman’s hold.

“Hey!” Lexi shouted as her world upended. She turned her head up to throw a desperate look Lucas’s way.

Lucas stood there, a stony cold look on his face. In that moment, he was all Dom, and Lexi had never seen him look hotter. There was a confidence about him Lexi had rarely seen when he was around her. Lucas was utterly in command at work, but his confidence faltered when she walked into the room. Even when he performed a scene with her, she knew he worried about her comfort. He didn’t look worried now. He looked ready.

Lexi’s heart started to pound as Master A turned, and she lost sight of Lucas.

“I need a chair, Lucas.” The words came out of the Master’s mouth like a judge delivering a sentence.

“Yes, Sir.” Lucas’s words were silky smooth. There was not a hint of hesitation now. Lexi could hear him moving to do Master A’s bidding.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Lexi asked, though she was a bit less hostile now. She’d fucked up. She was just glad Julian wasn’t around to witness it, though Leo would probably tell him. Tears pricked her eyes. Damn, she was proving to Leo she couldn’t handle it. “Look, Sir, I’m sorry. It was very wrong of me to be rude to you, but I was just pointing out that Lucas and I had a plan for tonight.”

Reason. She could reason with him, surely. It worked on all the men in her life. Of course, usually she was looking at them instead of trying to plead her case to a group of back muscles. The muscles were unbelievably tight, but his skin—oh, his skin had been decimated in his lower back. It was a mess of white, puckered flesh, and she could see both neat, surgical lines, and jagged edges. Lexi reached out to touch the mass of scars, but she was jerked back over his shoulder and set on her feet before she could make it. She wobbled on her heels, but Master A’s big hands held her shoulders.

“I don’t think you understand how this is going to go, sub. I am the Master, and you are the one being punished. I won’t put up with a spoiled little princess telling me how her punishment will go. It will go the way I say it will go. First, you will pay for the insult to me, and then we’ll proceed to the sawhorse.”

“I don’t like the sawhorse.” The words came out breathy and small, because she was beginning to understand that this was serious.

Master A didn’t look like he was planning on giving in. And she hated being called a spoiled little princess, but a part of her worried that he was right. The last few years, she had allowed herself to become that. She’d fled from everything that hurt her. She’d hidden. She’d let her stepfathers and Lucas coddle and provide for her so she didn’t have to face the truth.

“I don’t care. Lucas has done the best he could, but the truth is he wasn’t trained to be a Dom. He might enjoy it from time to time, but he prefers bottoming. You require a firm hand. If you don’t want it, then you’re free to leave. No one is holding you against your will. This is all about consensual play, so you have to make the choice. Do you want the session to continue?”

She hated this part. This was the part that she’d never understood. She had to make the choice, and she couldn’t put it off on anyone else. She wanted for him to just do it. Then she could blame him later, but that wasn’t what The Club was about. She’d been coming here for a year and a half, and she finally had to decide to make the choice—stay and put herself in the hands of a stranger, or go and never know what it was like. And then there was the fact that Master A was right. Lucas needed something she couldn’t give him.

She cast her eyes down submissively. How bad could it be? “Yes, Sir.”

“Then strip.”

Lexi’s eyes came up. She was never naked in The Club. Oh, sure, she wore some really skimpy outfits, but she’d never been fully unclothed before.

“You’re beautiful, baby. Show them.” Lucas’s hands were suddenly on her shoulders, a welcome warmth.

With shaking fingers, she started to undo the clasps of her corset. She swallowed, thinking about everyone in the crowd. Suddenly Master A’s hand came out, cupping her cheek, enveloping her. His dark eyes were really brown, not black, and there was a heat in them now that was absent before.

“It’s only us, Lexi. Don’t think about the audience. It’s you and Lucas and your Dom. You don’t trust me yet, but you will. Now take off your clothes and show your Dom that gorgeous body. Lucas wants to show you off.”

There was a husky chuckle, and Lucas’s hands slid around her waist, covering her own. “I do, baby. I’ve always wanted to show you off.”

Lucas undid the next hook, and the rest of the world seemed to fall away. She could feel Lucas’s heat at her back, and Master A’s hot eyes on her body. She felt lovely all of a sudden. Lucas wanted to show her off? It was common in The Club for a Dom to show off his sub, but Lucas had never asked. He was probably afraid to. She let her head fall back against Lucas’s shoulder, giving him free access to undress her. If this was his fantasy, then she would make it a good one.

And was it really only his fantasy? She knew it was a trick of the imagination, but if she closed her eyes, she could turn Master A’s deep, husky voice just a little more melodic, a slight bit higher. She could make him just a bit less muscular, and if his hair was longer and more sun-kissed, he could be Aidan. She could pretend for a moment that Aidan was with them again, and they were complete.

Longing swept across her soul as Lucas slipped the corset off, baring her breasts. Cool air wisped at her nipples, tightening them. Lexi wondered what Master A was seeing. She knew her own body. It was a little bigger than perfect, more hourglass than was fashionable. Her breasts were large, and she thought they were already sagging a bit. Her hips were far too big, and she didn’t like to think about her ass.

“Touch was allowed in our contract, Lexi. I’m going to touch you now.” Master A’s voice had gone to a deep, seductive grumble.

Now her nipples peaked, and it had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with the magnificent man in front of her. He was scarred, but there was no denying his appeal. He exuded masculinity, and it called to her. She might have hesitated, but Lucas was behind her, kissing her neck. His hips were moving gently against the small of her back as though he couldn’t help himself.

“That is if Lucas isn’t planning on prematurely ejaculating all over you,” Master A said dryly.

She felt Lucas smile on the nape of her neck. He kissed her one last time and then stepped back. “I make no promises. I’ve waited a long time for her.”

The Master inclined his head politely. “And I’m honored to be a part of it.”

Lexi stood still, expecting his hands to come out and grab for her breasts, but he touched her face. With a single finger he traced the line of her jaw from just below her ear to her chin. Lucas’s hands were on her waist. He slid his fingers under the sides of her silky thong and pushed them off her hips. He helped her balance as she stepped out of them and faced the Master without a stitch of clothing on. Master A ran his hand across her cheek and nose and through her hair, like a blind man memorizing the planes of her face, experiencing through touch.

He moved his hands down to her neck and shoulders. He caressed her arms, and his fingers tangled with hers. He turned her palms up and examined her fingers, touching the deep calluses she bore on her right thumb pad and the middle finger beside her nail. The damn finger was grooved because she’d spent so many years holding a pencil, and then a pen. She’d switched to a laptop, but the indention had never gone away. He pulled her writing hand into both of his, and suddenly she felt precious. She was enveloped in his warmth and care. She stood before the man utterly naked, and he was fascinated with her hand. He couldn’t know how that hand was a symbol of everything she was and everything she’d lost.

When he pulled it to his lips, Lexi shuddered as he kissed her skin. It felt, for the briefest of moments, like he was worshipping something infinitely precious and worthy.

He wasn’t anything she’d expected.

She turned her eyes to find Lucas standing at Master A’s side. There was no jealousy on his face, just a slight, indulgent smile.

“She is beautiful, Lucas,” the Master said, gently allowing her hand to drop.

“She is the most beautiful woman in the world.” Lucas had said it so many times, but this time, with both their eyes on her, she felt like it.

“I agree,” Master A said, and that glorious dimple made an appearance. “Unfortunately, she’s also a bit of a brat. What do we do to bratty little subs in The Club, Lucas?”

Lucas’s smile became distinctly predatory. “All manner of dirty, nasty things, Sir.”

Master A sat down in the chair Lucas had provided. He stretched his long, strong body in that rinky-dink folding chair and patted his lap. “Why don’t we start with the basics? Over my knee, sub. You owe me ten for cursing and another five for questioning me.”

Lexi took a deep breath. She was almost dizzy from the quick change. One minute the men were soft, sweet, and worshipful. Now they were ready to spank her. She suddenly remembered the crowd. Damn. She was in front of fifty people buck naked and about to get a spanking that, if she suspected right, was not going to be anything like Lucas’s. And yet she found herself placing her body over Master A’s lap. Lexi closed her eyes and hoped she would survive the experience.