Enslaved (16 page)

Trevor sent her back to Roman. Maybe Trevor didn’t want her after all.

Could she be happy with Roman?

“You and I are the same, Elisabeth,” Roman whispered, then bit her ear, suckling it hard. “I want you to stay with me.”

She didn’t answer, because she had no idea what to say. When he held her in his arms like this, when he bit her and whispered to her in the night, she could easily imagine herself staying in his cold, dark mansion. His collared slave, his to discipline, to whip, to fuck. He even had his own dungeon.

The thought of it turned her on. They really must be the same.

“I love you, Elisabeth.” He groaned and came, thrusting one final time before rolling over and looking at her.

If a man says he loves you during an orgasm, it was no more true than saying God’s name during orgasm was a true prayer. She seemed to remember hearing that somewhere, maybe in high school.

“What about Trevor?” she asked.

“I love him too, like a brother.” Roman stared up at the ceiling for what felt like a long time. “You can sleep in the bed with me tonight.”

“Thank you, sir.” She wanted to nuzzle against his chest, but somehow, despite everything they’d just done, she didn’t know if she could. Roman retained his dominance at all times. It was part of who he was, like he had said. It never turned off.

“Elisabeth,” he whispered.

“Yes, sir?”

“Trevor is family to me.” His voice caught in his throat, and she watched in the moonlight as his chest rose and fell.

“I understand, sir.”

“No, you don’t. Tomorrow, Elisabeth, I’m sending you back to him.”

She couldn’t answer, didn’t know what to say. Even acknowledging his words didn’t seem appropriate.

Why wasn’t she overjoyed at the prospect? Something had changed tonight. Trevor never should have sent her back to Roman. Now that she was here, she wasn’t sure she wanted to leave.

Being with Roman would be like living in her darkest fantasy, full-time. It would always be night, she would always be naked, and always on her knees.

Being with Trevor would mean a life filled with laughter, and horses and blue cell phones and love. And because she needed it, Trevor would give her the pain she wanted to breathe. Under her skirts, her skin would be marked by him.

“Why are you sending me back when you know you could convince me to stay?” she asked finally.

“It’s the one thing he told me I couldn’t do.”

“What?”

“I can’t keep you, Elisabeth.” He pulled her close to him, his hair sticking to his cheek where stubble had grown in. “He gave me his blessing to do whatever I needed to help you, but I couldn’t keep you. We laughed about it then.”

“It’s not so funny now.”

“No.” He kissed her forehead. “But I won’t betray my best friend. I know how he feels about you. From the moment he met you, from the moment he started watching you at the club, he started to fall for you. I’m the one who suggested he bring you home to see if, with time, you’d return the feelings.”

“And now everything’s gone to hell,” she mused.

He laughed, a dry laugh. “Yeah. You could say that.”

“Instead of bringing me to Trevor’s tomorrow, can you have your driver take me back to Gregory?”

Roman propped his head up on his elbow, his face creased with a concern she’d never seen there before on him. At least not concern for her. “Elisabeth, there’s no place for you with him anymore. He released you. He has a new submissive.”

“I know, sir,” she said quietly. “I don’t want to intrude on what Gregory has now. I know I don’t belong with him. But I relied on him for guidance for three years, and I need to talk to someone who doesn’t have a stake in this. Someone other than you or Trevor. Or Marc,” she added, before Roman could suggest it. No need to make this even more complicated.

“I understand. But I’m going to have my driver wait for you outside, all day if necessary. Then he can take you where you belong.”

“Thank you, sir.”

She just wished she knew where that was. In the dark, at night, she could easily see herself with Roman. But now it didn’t even matter, because Roman wouldn’t take her, wouldn’t keep her for himself.

And she already mourned the loss of him.

“P
lease, sir,” Andrew said. “Stop obsessing over your ex-slave and pay your new one just a teensy bit of attention?”

“Brat,” Gregory said, swatting his ass, but it made him smile. How was it that Andrew could read his mind, it seemed?

“Let’s go out tonight!” The kid was still on an endorphin rush from the ginger-figging Gregory had given him earlier that evening. It was his night off from work and Gregory had the urge to do something unusual and entertaining to him that he’d never experienced before.

“I could take you to dinner. Sushi?”

Andrew laughed. “No way! They always serve it with wasabi and strips of ginger. God knows if I never see raw ginger again it will be too soon, sir.”

“Sushi it is then. We can go tonight.”

Gregory put the phone down and stood. He still hadn’t heard from Elisabeth, but after his conversation with Trevor he at least knew what was going on with her.

Andrew had looked so delectable as he writhed, his hands tied to the wall, a large raw and peeled ginger fig sticking out of his tender little asshole. The ginger burned like fire, and whenever Andrew clenched his ass tightly against the ginger, the fire would roar—as would Andrew.

Gregory had thoroughly enjoyed making him clench and unclench his asshole. Whenever he needed motivation to tighten his ass and feel the burn, Gregory merely had to show him the cane. He’d only had to use it once.

“How’s your ass, sweetheart?” Gregory asked as he watched Andrew sashay into the kitchen to make drinks.

“Still on fire, especially where you caned me.”

“Poor boy. You might have to run away to join the circus.”

“Good idea,” Andrew said. “I’d enjoy being one of the tigers. Gotta love those men in a top hat holding a whip.”

“Oh, you like the top hat, do you?”

Andrew blushed. “I like the whip.”

E
lisabeth didn’t want to call Gregory first, afraid that if she asked permission to see him it wouldn’t be granted. So she just showed up on his front step. Home. At least it had been, at one point. The sounds of music could be heard through the door. They were in there.

What would Gregory’s new slave be like? She only knew him, and just barely, as the bartender at the club. She couldn’t help but envy Andrew, that he could have Gregory and have his love as well, even though she knew that this was just her desire for familiarity talking. Now she needed her previous Master to guide her once more. She rang the bell and waited.

Andrew answered the door, wearing a white T-shirt and jeans and bare feet.

“You must be Andrew,” she said, sticking out her hand. “I’m Elisabeth.”

“Hi,” he said, shaking her hand. He looked at her warily, as if unsure of why she’d shown up on their doorstep.

“Just to be clear, I’m not here to mess anything up for you. I need to talk to Gregory.”

“Thank you,” he said. “Come in.” Andrew opened the door wider.

She looked around. Everything looked the same. The paint still peeled on the high ceiling. The spot where she’d accidentally scratched the wood floor when Gregory had taken her on the coffee table was still there.

“Elisabeth, what a pleasant surprise,” Gregory said, walking out of the kitchen with his arms open. He hugged her effusively, like an old friend he hadn’t seen in ages. “What are you doing here? You remember Andrew from the club, right?”

“He’s beautiful,” she said, and Andrew finally graced her with a smile.

“Isn’t he? Come sit by me, Andrew.”

Andrew knelt at Gregory’s feet and rested his head briefly on his Gregory’s knee. They looked so happy together. So right.

“I’m sorry to bust in here like this. But I don’t know what to do, sir,” she said. “I’m confused. My body and my heart want two things at once, and I don’t see how that’s possible.”

The whole story spilled out. How she loved being at Trevor’s estate, but how the only way he’d give her the pain she needed was to disobey him and be punished, which made her into a disobedient brat instead of a good submissive.

Andrew tsked at this.

“I know, not good,” she admitted. “Which is why he asked his best friend to train me to find pleasure in submitting, and he did. Roman did a wonderful job training me.”

Gregory nodded. “I know about Roman. He’s as gorgeous as Trevor is.” Then, as if realizing what she’d said, he asked, “I guess my training didn’t do it for the BAD Boys.”

“It was different with you. You didn’t have feelings for me like Trevor and Roman do. It’s complicated everything.”

“So both of these men want you?”

“Actually, I’m not sure. Trevor sent me away to Roman. Roman sent me back to Trevor. I asked to stop here along the way to talk to someone I could trust.”

Gregory smiled at her, and leaned over and kissed Andrew’s head lightly. She missed the easy affection, the laughter. But experiencing sex with a man she cared for on an emotional level—and not just as a submissive—had been eye-opening. She couldn’t go back to submitting to a Dom just to have the pleasure of submission.

No, she needed love too. She deserved love, like Gregory had found.

“Hold that thought,” Gregory said. “Who are you thinking about right this very moment?”

“Trevor,” she said automatically.

“Then he’s the one, darling. He’s the one you thought of when I kissed Andrew with love. I saw your face, and that look was pure longing.”

Yes. That felt right to her, somehow. She’d go to Trevor’s house. “But what about Roman?”

“Things will work themselves out. If Roman is voluntarily giving you to Trevor, then he won’t have any animosity toward you two.”

“Yeah, I guess that does make sense, if he’s given me back to Trevor. You’re right.”

Gregory laughed. “You don’t need to sound so surprised about it.”

“He’s always right,” Andrew added, and looked up at his Master with adoration.

“I’m happy for you both,” she said sincerely.

“Thank you,” Andrew smiled.

“As upset I was at the time, I’m grateful now that you dissolved our relationship,” she said. “I always knew I needed and wanted to be a collared submissive, but if the right Dom didn’t want me, then I could leave and live on my own—if I absolutely had to. But it wouldn’t be ideal and I wouldn’t be happy.” Elisabeth smiled. “I like being owned by someone. I like to have a Dom.”

“I know how you feel, sister,” Andrew said. “Hey, and now you’re with a billionaire. That’s nuts.”

“Yes, it is that,” she said. “Trevor gave me two million dollars to give to the charities that tried to help my mom, so they could help more women. All I did was ask for the money and it happened. He really is good to me.”

“Do you think helping those women helped you to process your own mother’s addiction, and her death?” Gregory asked.

Elisabeth hadn’t thought about it that way, but it made perfect sense. The charity she gave through Trevor’s money was part of what helped her let go of the pain of loving and losing her mother. It helped her realize she could love someone again, someone who could return her love.

“Why don’t we let that driver wait awhile longer,” Gregory suggested. “So we can all have a drink together.”

“Thank you, sir.” They stood and she followed the couple into the kitchen, where an iPod was playing the music she’d heard earlier. Andrew danced to the beat as he poured white wine into three glasses.

“Why do you suppose Trevor picked me, sir?”

“You’re an amazing girl, Elisabeth. I didn’t tell you that enough when we were together, but it’s true. A lot of men would have loved to be with you.”

Gregory sat and took a sip of the wine. “Trevor and I sat down and had a talk about a month before I introduced you to him.”

The thought of her ex-Master planning for her to be flogged by her future Master turned her on. Gregory noticed, since he noticed everything, and laughed. “Look at you, crossing your legs like that.”

“Sorry, sir.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. Anyway, I liked Trevor from the start. He gained my trust during the time we got to know each other at the club, and that’s how it happened. I also had an old college friend who works at the sheriff’s department run a background check on him to make sure he had no skeletons in his closet, real or otherwise.”