For as much as I hated my father and the shit he did, whatever lines he’d crossed had afforded the whole family a lifestyle far more lavish than any of us needed. He hadn’t cut me off yet, but I knew the time would come. And if he was having dinner with a Molinaro, it was probably coming sooner than later, which was why I’d been squirreling money away, safe from his eyes and the eyes of our accountants. The paychecks I got from the vineyard were all above ground, even though I didn’t know shit about wine.
Nepotism at its finest.
At the end of the day, I might not have liked my father, but I liked his money and I liked his resources. After all, it was his connections and his dirty hands that had gotten me the information I needed about Foster Golden. I knew my fascination with that man was very close to bordering on obsession, but I was trying to school it, choosing to drink instead of stalk. Fuck instead of find.
By the time I parked in the underground garage at my apartment, my brain was firing off rapid-fire worst case scenarios and I needed to clear it. I only had to decide how…
Stalking and finding or drinking and fucking.
Chapter Three
Foster
After Sam texted to tell me I’d monopolized Rich’s time and attention for too long, we sent Rich on his way home, and I followed Ronan and Kevin to Rapture. Apparently the two of them had recently renegotiated their limits and made the decision to try new things, to broaden the horizons of their relationship. That was how Kevin ended up with pierced nipples before Christmas and as a piece of furniture for the new year.
I didn’t want to ask what was next on their to-do list because, while I liked some messed up things, it seemed Kevin was on the way to passing me by at the speed of light. The whole drive to Rapture, I thought about what a person would get from the human furniture thing. I wondered whatIwould get from it, what Ronan had intended Kevin to get from it.
Did it feel humiliating to be objectified that way? To be reduced to something meaningless, meant only for one unnecessary use? Or did it feel good? Would a person feel like they were serving a purpose or meeting a need? The smallest tasks had the biggest rewards sometimes, and while I’d never been one for service, I wondered if that was the appeal. On the other hand, maybe it was only meant to punish and reduce. I wouldn’t know the answers if I never tried, but I didn’t know if I would ever get that chance. Or if I did, would I even take it?
Pulling alongside Ronan’s car in the parking lot, I cut the engine and dropped my head against the headrest with a muffled thump. It was January, but just barely, though it wasn’t like L.A. ever got cold in the first place. I slipped my hand under the lapel of my coat, dragging my fingers over the gun tucked safely into my shoulder holster.
Old habits died hard, but it was those habits that kept me alive so I didn’t curse them too much. Judging by the number of cars in the parking lot, though, a jacket was going to be too much. Reluctantly, I shrugged out of my jacket and the holster, locking my piece in the glovebox and tossing the jacket onto the floor. I carried on my ankle, just in case of emergencies, and at least I had that.
Just like when you ran into Sage in the alley here last time, right?
My brain was generous to remind me of the time I’d caught up with Sage outside of Rapture before the auction. When he’d called me out for carrying, when he’d asked me who sent me. Even over the weekend we’d spent together where he’d fucked me out of my mind and back into it, I’d wondered how he’d known me, wondered why he would think someone like me wanted him dead.
A man with worries like that had secrets, and I knew better than most. BecauseIwas a man like that. I fished my phone out of my pocket and threw it in the glovebox and relocked it, then joined up with Ronan and Kevin near the stairs.
“Why do you come here so much?” I asked as we climbed the wide brick stairs of Rapture, an old church that had been turned into a BDSM club. “You don’t even play if you’re not at home.”
“We’ve played at your house,” Kevin said.
“And Rich’s house,” Ronan added. “We just don’t play in public.”
“Only mixed company.” Kevin tugged on the hem of the thin white undershirt he wore. His nipples showed through the material, the hoops that pierced them both clearly outlined against his chest.
“Thanks for clarifying.”
At the door, we showed the bouncer our IDs, received our wristbands, and headed to the bar. The place was busier than normal, and we squished our way between the sweaty, dancing bodies until we reached the bar. Ronan ordered soda for him and Kevin and a whiskey for me. We stepped out of the way and wandered to the side of the bar, just off the dance floor where we found a high top table that was relatively clean.
Loud music thumped through the speakers, echoing off the steepled walls of the space, and from the old choir loft upstairs came the sounds of leather against skin and the muffled moans and groans of pleasure. Instinctively, my dick pulsed, pressing hot and heavy against my thigh. I reached down and adjusted myself, drawing an amused smirk out of Ronan.
“What?” I barked.
“You can’t help yourself, can you?”
“Maybe you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be single,” I said, shaking my cock until it hung where it was supposed to. “I don’t have a human fleshlight at my disposal.”
“Oh.” Ronan made a pleased sound. “That would be a fun game to play.”
In the dim light of the club, Kevin’s cheeks flushed and he looked down at his water.
While I couldn’t quite connect the appeal of pretending to be a coffee table, a sex toy I could imagine. Because I’d basically been one when I spent three days bared to Sage’s whims and fancies.
“You know how I like things,” I reminded him.
“You and your singular limit,” Kevin said.
