Faithless (Mistress & Master of Restraint) (118 page)

“He has a point,” Boyd teases. “Faith is a bit of a bitch.”

“And proud of it,” I proudly sing to defuse the situation. “Welcome to the game,” I say as if I said,
welcome to Hell
.

“We’ll go easy on you because we like Grant,” Torian begins. “But we need some information. If you’re forthcoming, Zane will let you keep your nuts.”

“Girls,” Zane says, “you’ve got all the girls. It’s just been Torian and me… and now you. But there is a huge pool of girls that needs tapped.”

“What?” Niel shrieks while I shriek on the inside. I look over to Wil and Boyd for explanation, but they don’t know what’s happening either.
They are staring at our boys in disbelief and horror.

Torian gives a tilt of his round chin, making Zane their leader. “It’s time we made a few plays. We want
the girls,” my son demands, as if expecting Niel to produce all of the Whittenhower girls and to hand them over right this instant.

“No!” Niel points at Zane, gaining his balls back.

“I’m not going to rape and murder them,” Zane calmly says, but he sounds like he plans on just that. “I spend my time with Torian. No sense in making friends outside the game. They could get hurt or worse. Plus, some well-meaning elder will hook us up to the ones we don’t want. Might as well be proactive.”

“He’s the monogamous type,” Torian s
lyly says. “So this is how it’s going down. You tell us all about the girls, and Zane will pick out his… and I get all the rest.”

“Are you fucking mad?” Niel yelps.

“No,” Zane slowly draws out. “Daniel’s very angry about the girls,” he informs Torian, as if he can’t believe Niel won’t permanently give him his Tonka trucks. “I can feel it in my head like an angry chainsaw- grinding on my nerves.”

“You are mad!” Niel decides on the spot.

“
You’re the newest member of our game, making you the newbie. You’re a Whittenhower and a Regal, but Torian and I rule this game- we are the future elders to most of the families. You’d be wise to choose your battles,” Zane helpfully threatens.

“We don’t need your permis
sion about Ava,” Torian cockily warns. “I’m sure he’d gladly hand his sister over to me instead of letting you have her. But if you share, Zane will share.”

“That’s fair,” Zane agrees. “Let’s begin. Whitney Preston: age, appearance, traits, and likes.”

“No,” Niel growls deep in his throat. He shoves off of the wall to stand beside me. “Why aren’t you stopping this shit?” he hisses to me.

“Kid, how the hell do you think the three of you were created? Personally, this is the first time I’ve seen this side of my kids. I kind of wanna watch it play out. I’ll intervene later when it gets out of hand. I’d answer him, if I were you. Just some friendly advice- Zane and Torian have no idea what the word no means.”

“You’re not taking her from me,” Niel grumbles, shoulders slumping in defeat.

“I just
want to know about them, that’s all,” Zane promises.

“Whitney is seventeen and looks like every other Whittenhower- blonde and blue-eyed and skinny,” Niel quickly rambles.

“You’re training with Papa- I mean Master Marcus. On a scale of one to ten- one being the same as Fate Simpson and ten being my mom, where does Whitney fall on this scale?”

“Eight or nine- Whitney can be a vicious bitch,” Niel spits.

“Mmm… I like older, meaner women,” Torian purrs.

“Oh, that pissed him off,” Zane rubs his temples. “He’s so furious
. Niel’s emotions just fried my brain. Next, Priscilla Preston: give us the details.”

“Um… please, no,” Niel whimpers.
He lifts his palms as if he’s trying to stave off an attack. “She’s just a little girl.”

“She my age,” Zane calmly says. “In this game, that makes her a woman. Spill,” he demands.

“You’re a fucking asshole,” Niel spits. “Priss barely weighs seventy pounds and she’s shorter than your mom- she’s only fourteen. She is a little girl. She still thinks like a little girl. And on your scale of submission- she’d be in the negatives compared to Fate.”

“Let that one grow up,” Zane
quietly orders Torian.

“Fair enough,” Torian
wholeheartedly agrees, and it makes me feel a bit better. I’ve raised them right. They are being little shits right now, but still behaving- mostly.

“I don’t need info on Spyder,” Zane cockily says, and I’ve never heard him sound cocky before. “I’ve got a better source than you. My sister, what’s she like?”

“Yeah, you have an inside track on a stranger, but not your sister?” Niel nastily snorts. “Nice,” he draws out.

“How would it make you feel to find out that I’ve been han
ging out with your dad for the past eight years?” Niel winces, eyes turning red with suppressed tears. “Yeah, it is pure agony. I can sense how you feel inside my mind. That’s how your dig made me feel, asshole,” Zane growls. “Answer the question.”

“Ava’s…. she’s just like you, I guess,” Niel stumbles over the words.

“Are you saying my sister is an asshole?” Zane seriously says, getting into Niel’s face. Niel takes a huge lunge backwards. The boy is an inch or two shorter than Zane, but Niel has got a good fifty pounds of solid muscle that Zane lacks. But it’s his personality that has him retreating. He’s yet to admit it, but he’s a Switch.

“I…” Niel shakes his head. “I…I-”

“Lighten up, my man,” Torian plays the good cop by patting Niel on the shoulder. “He’s just jerkin’ ya off. So Ava’s scary,” Tori purrs, and I don’t like the level of interest he has in his cousin’s sister. Any spawn of Ezra’s is not a catch, my son included. I’ll be the first one to admit that they are weirdoes.

“She’s like a
fifty on that scale of yours, with you being a seventy.” A shudder rolls through Niel’s body. “I like your mom when she’s not cracking her whip. She puts people in their place. But she can be nice. I’m not so sure about you and your sister- being nice, that is.”

“Why are you dating her, then?” I interject.

“I liked Ava at first, but then she freaked me out. Why do you think I’m still dating her? Ezra,” Niel says like
duh!

“Huh? Interesting,” I murmur.

“Ella Grant Whittenhower, spill,” Zane demands.

“NO! Never,” Niel hisses, regaining that space he’d retreated earlier.

“Do not deny me,” Zane threatens. “My mom warned you that I don’t take no for an answer. Piss me off and I will pick your sister without hearing a word about her. Don’t expect them to save you,” Zane gestures to the enthralled gamers. “I’ll call a vote and it will pass. You might as well sign it in blood, because she will be mine,” he seethingly hisses, and immediately calms down. “So, what’s Ella like?”

“Dude,” Torian giggles. “You’re coming into your own- total badass, that!”

“It’s hard to negotiate if you don’t know the lengths your opposition is willing to go to,” Zane smoothly says. “Niel, I may not like what you have to say about your sister. We are a faithful bunch. Torian’s parents have been at each other’s throats, but they’ve never strayed. Don’t make me pick in haste. It will be a long miserable life for your sister if I do. I’d rather research them all beforehand. You aren’t helping your case by denying me the information.”

“Um…” you can see the wheels spinning in Niel’s mind, trying to determine what Zane wouldn’t like in a girl, and present that side of his sister. “Ella’s has thick blonde hair- it’s wavy, not unruly like mine. She… um… had blue eyes like Dad’s.” The kid’s voice shakes as bad as his hands.

“She’s fourteen, right? What does she like to do? Is she smart?” Zane’s speaks to Niel but his eyes are staring off in the distance. I follow his gaze and my eyes sight in on a pair of gesturing hands- Grant signing.

“Fuck,” I hiss. I turn to Wil and whisper in his ear. “Did you know about this shit? Grant’s setting this up.”

Wil’s eyes zero in on what I’m talking about. The angry scowl on Wil’s face says he had no idea, either. Words are signed to ease our anger.

I’m helping my daughter, not the perverts negotiating. I don’t want a vote. I want the boys to know who they are picking out. Got it?

I just sigh and turn back to the action. Niel is mid-stammer, “Ella’s IQ is like one-forty-three of some shit. She’s smart like Mom. She likes to cook and it shows. She’s a big girl. You know, big.”

“Are you putting your sister down?” Zane
disbelievingly growls. “That’s sick.”

“I’m being honest,” Niel quickly answers. “She’
s chubby, and she likes to cook, so she eats it.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Zane says. “Moms should make cookies and cook and stuff or their kids would starve to death. I don’t want a wife that can kick my ass. I want one that would be a good mother.”

“Dude, no mommy talk! NO! I’ll sew her shut, I swear I will,” Niel threatens, panic overriding his emotions.

“I don’t like that no,” Zane
creepily warns. “I don’t care what your sister looks like. Beauty fades and it is entirely subjective. I want a companion that won’t bore me. Give me her number,” Zane orders.

“I’m not giving you her cell number,” Niel yelps.

“I wasn’t asking for that number. But now that you said no, I might want it. I want her number on that scale of one to ten.”

“Oh,” Niel says, popping up his red eyebrows. “Jesus, I shouldn’t tell you this. She’s like my mom- really caring, loves kids, cooks, super firm and takes no shit, but can kick your ass at chess. Motherfucker,” Niel hisses, realizing he just t
otally sold Zane on his sister.

“
Thank you,” Zane says, politely shaking Niel’s hand. He walks away without another word. All heads turn in Zane’s direction as he tries his father’s chair out for size. Zane sits in the Holden elder seat, hands running over the armrests, a smile flirting with his lips. Since Ezra and his enforcers weren’t invited to the party, Zane is allowed to cast their vote.

“Thank God he’s on my team,” Torian hisses in awe,
making his way to the Spencer heir seat.

“Torian,” Zane calls across the room.

“Yeah,” Tori replies while wearing a shit-eating grin. Years of being shoved up each other’s asses has resulted in their ability to communicate without words. Torian already knows what Zane’s going to say.

My son speaks for our
benefit. Words said within a meeting makes them legal- more binding than blood. “Ella Grant Whittenhower is mine- you can have the rest, including my sister. Just be gentle around the sweet one- no pervert shit. But you only get to keep one of them,” he warns. “You’re not turning those girls into skanks. Have some dignity and respect, and offer it to them in return. Are we understood?”

“Are you calling a vote on that?”
Torian challenges Zane.

“No, I said it, and vote or not, it’s law,” Zane announces, waiting for someone to contradict him. Nary a peep is made.
The only one this directly affects is The Whittenhower, and he seems pleased with the outcome. I don’t blame him. Torian will be naughty and burn through those girls like a brush fire. But my son will never pressure Ella. With Zane’s announcement, Ella just became one of the safest people in the game.

“Well then,”
I say, sliding over my desk to land in my chair. I tap my gavel on my desktop a few times to get everyone’s attention off my son. Grant walks over and embraces his shuddering son. “Welcome to the game, young Master Whittenhower. You just survived your first negotiation and vote. And here I thought you’d piss your pants.”

~Chapter One-Hundred-Four~

“I’ve seen nothing out of the ordinary,” my mother says. “Absolutely nothing.”

“I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that you’re Faith’s mother and Cort’s elder. If Ezra were to target you or Fate, Faith would spill all of Ezra’s precious secrets in a heartbeat,” Wil says from his new seat- a seat that shocked the shit out of all of us. Olivia acknowledged Wil as her heir, but it’s not to leave this meeting for everyone’s safety. Ez is hitting Olivia hard, and she needs the backup. 

“I think he’s targeting me because of Marcus. Ezra is fucking nuts,” Olivia hisses. “He’s riding his family harder than anyone. He has Marcus spinning in circles and Diane freaking out. But he’s mad that Marcus and I share Spyder, so I get fucked in the ass, too.”

“It’s classic Ez,” I murmur. “Zane, I don’t think you should hear this stuff.”

“I’m staying,” my stubbornness bites me in the ass, in the form of my own child being just as stubborn as I am.

“Fair enough,” I sigh. “Ezra has mommy issues, so Diane is getting riddled. Ezra’s going after Marcus and Regina because he’s weakening them before they gain knowledge of the game. But everything he does is emotion-based. He’s jealous of Regina. He loves Marcus as much as he resents him. The more dick Cort sucks the worse Marc’s life has become. But at the same time he wants Marcus happy, so he’s targeting Olivia so that Marc can have Spyder.”

“I’m ruined,” Olivia says. “Bankrupted- I’m hanging onto KINK by the skin of my teeth. Diane is in just as bad of shape as I am. She’s about to lose ShadowHaven.”