I hitched a thumb over my shoulder. “It’s in my bedroom. At least, I think it is.”
Jack jerked his head toward the bathroom. “No, you left it on the sink last night.”
I had? I never left my phone lying around, especially when I wasn’t alone. “Okay, I’ll… I’m gonna…” Before I could make even more of an ass of myself, I backed out of the room to retrieve my phone. I handed it to him, and he tapped the screen, quirking an eyebrow when he noticed it was password locked.
I opened my mouth to give him the code. My teeth clattered together when I forced myself to stop. I hadn’t even known this dude twenty-four hours and I was considering giving him the password to my phone? I might as well hand over my banking info if I was going to do that. Then again, if I did do that, he’d probably make a pity deposit into my account when he saw the dangerously low number.
I swiped the phone out of his hand and quickly entered the code, carefully turning the screen so he wouldn’t be able to see.
“Thank you, boy.” Jack leaned in, placing a chaste kiss on my cheek. My freaking cheek. The only person who kissed my cheek was Mama Marino when I went to the restaurant for dinner with Jordan. Apparently, anyone who knew her boys was part of her adopted family. That was fine by me, since I didn’t speak with anyone I was related to by blood.
I fidgeted while Jack messed around with my phone. Shifting my weight from one foot to the other, hands hanging at my sides, then crossing my arms tightly over my chest, before placing them behind my back, all as I tried to decipher what Jack expected of me. He was still an arrogant asshole, but I wasn’t sure there would ever be another opportunity like this for me to get something I thought I might, possibly, maybe want. With this level of uncertainty, I sure as hell wasn’t about to walk into a kink club and proclaim my submissive fantasies to the first guy who caught my eye.
Jack reached out, pressing a hand to my shoulder. “Settle, boy. You are restless enough, you’re starting to make me nervous.”
“I’m sorry.” I spread my feet a bit wider, standing up straight, shoulders squared, back arched slightly. That was a good position, right? Jack chuckled and I deflated, then he stepped closer, sliding an arm around my back. He leaned in, brushing his lips gently across mine. “Relax, Slade. There’s nothing to be nervous about, yet.”
Yet? Well, that didn’t sound ominous at all. Jack turned his attention back to my phone, tapping out a quick message. His phone vibrated seconds later. He handed mine back to me as he pulled his out of his pocket. He started typing again, then it was my phone that chimed, alerting me that I had a new text message.
“You know, I’ve heard it’s completely suitable to use verbal communication when you are standing in the same room as the person you are talking to,” I quipped.
“And I was under the impression it was customary for one person to listen when the other person speaks, but you seem to be having issues remembering the simple tasks I gave you.” He nodded toward the phone in my hand. “I figured it was for the best if I sent very clear instructions by text so there was no room for error.”
Jack tucked his phone away and started walking toward the front door. “If you have any questions about anything, don’t hesitate to ask. I won’t be angry with you if you need clarification.”
Curiosity got the better of me, and I pulled up the message from Jack. Instantly, my blood pressure spiked, and I felt my face grow red. “What in the hell is this?”
Jack let out an impatient sigh. “I already explained that to you, and I’m not going to do it again.”
“But I thought you were going to discipline me,” I protested. “You told me.”
Jack closed the distance between us in three short steps. His toes covered mine, and I felt the hard leather soles pressing down on the tops of my toes. It wasn’t painful. In a totally twisted way, it was… Comforting? “I have no doubt there will be plenty of opportunities for me to punish you, boy. But not everything is a sexy game.”
“I already told you I was taking this seriously,” I argued. “I don’t think this is a game. I know you see me as some sort of incompetent fuck up, but I’m not.”
Jack tugged on my hair again, forcing me to look at him. It had always annoyed me when other people did that. I didn’t appreciate being treated like an abused animal, getting led around by my hair. But with Jack, it felt different. I swallowed hard, blinking rapidly a few times. “Prove it.”
Jack released me and walked out the front door, leaving me too stunned to respond.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, gaping at where Jack had stood before my phone chimed again.
Words mean nothing without actions. Do you want this? You know what you need to do.
I was just about to throw my phone across the room in frustration, when another alert came through.
And for the record, the rewards for good boys are even better than the punishments you think you need.
Fuck him. Pompous asshole thinking he could tell me what to do. I stormed into the living room, swiped the remote off the floor, and started flipping through channels. Might as well enjoy the cable while it lasted.
Most days, I was perfectly content turning into a zombie as I stared at the TV without really processing what was happening on the screen. Today, I couldn’t quit squirming around. I sat up, scrubbing my hands over my face.
“Asshole can’t even let me wallow properly,” I muttered to myself. I scooted closer to the pile of laundry at the end of the couch and began folding as I watched a documentary on the evolution of music over the decades. Once that pile was taken care of, I paused the show and retrieved another basket out of my bedroom. A quick sniff assured me I wasn’t about to fold a basket of stale, nasty clothes. The show ended and another began, this one about the meteoric rise and tragic fall of a legend. If someone who saw that sort of success could fail, what did that mean for a no-name kid from a small town?
I thought about the second to last chore on Jack’s list.
Call Eli. Swallow your damn pride and ask him for a job. You have people who want to help you. Don’t turn your back on them.
Arrogant prick didn’t know a damn thing about me. Or maybe he did, because, yeah, itwaspride that kept me from seeing if there were any openings at Club 83. I wanted so desperately to be able to say I made it on my own that I refused to take the easy way out.
