From the laundry room, I grab the small bag of wooden clothes pins I keep on hand for the rare times I need to hand-wash something and let it air dry from the retractable line we have in there. The sadist forgets about these.
Like hell am I reminding him they’re here.
I gather a few more items and stage them in the living room, on the coffee table.
Then I go pour myself a fucking drink, because I need it. I make a weak vodka and soda and nervously sip it as I check the time.
I gave Ward thirty minutes to arrive. He still has ten left.
If he chickens out and doesn’t show, then I can sit down on the bed and talk to Liam before I release him.
At twenty-nine minutes, the doorbell rings, startling me and nearly making me spill my drink.
I drain it and leave the glass with ice in it on the coffee table and head to the foyer to answer the door.
It’s Ward.
I glance around outside before opening the door wide for him. “Come in.” He does, and I lock the door behind him.
Then I circle him and point at the floor.
He drops to his knees without hesitation and it takes my breath away when he perfectly bows, palms pressed against the floor and his forehead resting on the backs of his hands.
Exactly the way I bow for Liam.
No shit—the same sadist trained us, after all.
I let him stew for a long moment without talking. I want his anxiety ramped up to twelve.
I want him eager to ingratiate himself to me. This will not be a one-night thing, either.
“I see you are not unfamiliar with some of what I’ll be demanding of you,” I finally note. “By showing up, you’re agreeing that you’re giving yourself to me, as per the call we just had not so long ago. Correct?”
“Yes, Sir,” he says without breaking his perfect pose.
“This means you don’t fuck Liam in the hideaway—or anywhere else—unless I’ve told you to and given you express permission. No fucking, no blow jobs, no hand jobs, no dry-humping, and no kissing.Nothing. There is no expiration date on this agreement right now, either. It’s until I feel I’ve gotten what I need out of both of you. It’s also contingent upon me feeling it’s safe to turn you two loose on each other without my presence to make sure you don’t get caught. You both should know better than to take risks like that.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“It’s also contingent upon me not walking away because you both piss me off. Or making him go no-contact with you permanently. Success is not guaranteed here, so don’t think it’s just a matter of waiting me out. I’m dead-serious when I mean you both have to earn your way into my trust.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Look at me.”
He does, and yeah, those are some gorgeous blue eyes he’s got. I crouch in front of him. “He’smyhusband. You gave up the right to marry him when you ghosted him and broke his heart. That means you will always be the lowest man in this pecking order. Do you understand me?”
He nods. “Yes, Sir.”
“Yes, I told him you were his hall-pass fuck. Honestly? Had he pulled me aside that day and told me who you were, and that there were extenuating circumstances I needed to hear about? I legit would have told him to invite you over so we could negotiate the rules and have at it, the three of us together. But he acted stupid and crazy over you, because apparently you trigger that as a default mode in him.
“What I’m going to do to both of you, over the next however long I decide to do it before we can even think about building a new normal, is because hehidthis from me and took risks,notbecause he did it in the first place. I don’t know exactly what your father’s deal is, but had Liam told me from the start that the man’s a psycho, then no, I wouldn’t have acted stupid and sabotaged your life. Any questions for me so far?”
“No, Sir.”
“Good. You can still call him Master, but I am your Sir, and I am now the ruler of your world as you know it. Youwillbe at my beck and call, 24/7/365. What you tell your wife or your father or anyone else as an excuse is, honestly, none of my concern, as long as it doesn’t implicate me or my husband.
“What matters is if I call you at two in the morning and tell you to show up here with a lubed ass because I woke up horny, you’d better be knocking on my door within the timeframe I state and ready to drop trou and bend over. If I tell you to meet me at the hideaway at lunch to blow me, I’d better walk in to find you waiting on your knees with your mouth open and ready. If I give you an order, you follow it, no matter what it is. It’s that simple. Understand?”
