Sophie's Surrender [Viper's Dungeon 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

“She won’t go for it,” Cooper said. “I’ve offered on a number of occasions but she flat out refuses to be immobilized. Even tonight she chose the whipping post over the St. Andrew’s cross. She refuses to play with any Dom who wants to tie her down.”

“I think it’s probably what she needs.”

“I won’t tie an unwilling sub.”

“I would never ask you to,” Alex said with a slow shake of his head. “The Doms here have explored just about every method we know to try and break through her self-destructive behavior. If she refuses this, I may have to cancel her membership and recommend a good psychiatrist.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Cooper said quietly. “If I can get her to agree, can you arrange for a few of the collared subs and their Doms to be there to support her? I think she needs to know she’s part of a community.”

“She’s managed to upset quite a few of the subs as well as Doms, but I’ll call in a few favors,” Alex said with a relieved-sounding sigh. “Anything else you need just let me know.”

Cooper turned his gaze to the angry young woman across the room, and then nodded slowly. “Hopefully, it’ll help her.”

They watched Cooper cross the room toward the sub in question where she sat cuffed to a chair with a ball gag in her mouth. She’d been violently angry when they’d taken her off the stage, but instead of giving her what she wanted, her bad behavior had earned her a “timeout” rather than the beating she’d been aiming for. Clearly, there was a deep-seated reason for her continued attempts to top from the bottom. If she’d just let someone close enough, she’d find that most members of their small community would openly offer their support.

“You’d really send her away?” Malcolm asked. This particular sub was proving to be a difficult challenge, but it didn’t seem fair to just give up on her. The wider community didn’t really understand the lifestyle they led.

Alex gave him a sad smile. “I don’t want to, but the sort of injury her behavior could cause isn’t a risk I want to take, either. Viper’s Dungeon has a very good safety record. I’d like to keep it that way.” He rubbed his face tiredly, perhaps a little overwhelmed with the responsibilities he himself had chosen to take on. Viper had been the same. He’d taken responsibility for all members in the club as well. Every person to come through the door signed a waiver indemnifying the club, its owner, and its members against legal and civil actions arising from injuries intentional or accidental, but both men had taken a very personal interest in making certain no one was actually hurt.

Malcolm glanced toward the main entry just as Alex’s brother, Adrian, stepped into the dungeon. Even still dressed in his suit and tie from his day job the man made an intimidating Dom. Malcolm had seen a lot of Doms walk through the front door over the years, but very few were comfortable in the dungeon without their leathers. For some it was a role they took, a type of playacting they indulged in to satisfy an itch, but for both the Copeland brothers it was as natural as breathing.

“Did I miss something?” Adrian asked as he followed their line of sight.

“Gina upset The Enforcer.” They never said the man’s name out loud. Just like Alex and Adrian had done before they’d bought the club, the name of the man behind the mask was only known to a handful of people. The mystery surrounding the unknown Dom seemed to appeal greatly to the more experienced subs.

Malcolm frowned again as he watched the young sub pull angrily at her bonds. She’d claimed to have extensive experience when she’d joined the club, but no one had ever believed it. Judging by her loss of control now, it was more obvious than ever that she’d lied.

Adrian looked concerned for the young woman, especially when it appeared she might hurt herself, but it was clear, even from here, that Cooper had things under control.

Satisfied that one troublesome sub was in good hands, Malcolm turned his attention to a ménage scene now onstage, smiling when he realized Logan was in town. He and Jace already had their sub, Emma, secured to the St. Andrew’s cross, her naked body on display for the first time since she’d given birth to their children. Malcolm knew many women worried about the changes in their body after carrying babies, but he still didn’t understand it. He’d always considered the softer curves and silvery lines of faded stretch marks as badges of honor. To him it symbolized a woman’s love and dedication to a man, her willingness to share something as beautiful as the creation of a child.

Of course he knew enough about life to realize it didn’t always happen that way. Unplanned pregnancies, unfaithful partners, tragedy, and a million other problems ruined the experience for people every day, but it was what he’d hoped for with his own marriage.

The pang of loss that hit him was still as strong as the day she’d left. Sometimes he hated himself for still loving a woman who was so obviously wrong for him, but it was moments like this one that made him wish things had turned out differently.

He shook his head, annoyed at his introspection. It was time to move on. If he wanted a wife, a sub, and a woman who would have his children, it was about time he started actively looking for her. Lord knew, he worked in the right place.

“They’re pretty special together,” Alex said as they watched Jace and Logan reassure their sub with gentle kisses and soft touches over the parts of her that had changed the most.

Malcolm nodded. “What they’ve found is pretty rare.”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed. “I can’t imagine how hard it must be for Jace to share his wife with Logan whenever the guy blows into town.”

“Actually, she’s Logan’s wife,” Malcolm said with a grin. “On paper at least.”

“That I didn’t know,” Alex said with a soft laugh, “but I suppose it makes sense with Logan in the Navy. But still, I’m not sure I’d want to share my wife with any man. I never did play well with others.”

Adrian laughed at his brother’s words. “You got that right. Never let me ride his bike or borrow his car. Hell, he nearly killed me when his girlfriend kissed me.”

Alex laughed, obviously not offended by his brother’s teasing. “You had your own bike. You dinged my car the first time you drove it, and you were a twelve-year-old conman who convinced my seventeen-year-old girlfriend that it was your birthday. A sisterly peck on the cheek is not worth killing you over. Try it when I find a wife…then we’ll have a problem.”

Adrian shook his head and gave them an exaggerated horrified look. “You mean you actually want one of those? Look around you. Look at all the lovely subs just waiting for you to play with them. Why would you want to limit yourself to only one?” He shook his head sadly, his teasing grin ruining the effect. “Can you believe this guy?” he asked Malcolm.

Malcolm shook his head and smiled. “Sorry, Adrian, I’m with Alex on this one. Finding a wife as honest and as dedicated as Emma—even having to share her with another man—sounds pretty good to me.”

“Hell, that might sound like fun to you two old guys but I’m enjoying life way too much to get lumped with a ball and chain just yet.”

The three of them laughed quietly and turned their attention back to the scene where Jace and Logan were tormenting their sub with soft floggers, alternating between soft gliding caresses and sharp, stinging hits. Emma shook with arousal, a low moan escaping her as Jace flicked the leather strings over her open pussy lips again and again.

He stopped to caress her clit, encouraging the swollen red bud to peek out of the labia protecting it. Satisfied he moved away and resumed using the flogger. Emma’s hips moved instinctively, bucking against her restraints as the tiny stings moved closer and closer to her most sensitive flesh.

She gasped, her breath catching as the soft strings slapped over her clit again and again and again. It was obvious to every trained Dom in the place that she was desperately trying to hold back her orgasm, waiting for her Doms’ permission like a well-behaved sub should do. But it was equally obvious that Jace and Logan intended to push her past her endurance and then punish her for coming without permission.

They’d both been devious Doms separately. With them working in tandem, their sub didn’t stand a chance.

She screamed and shook violently, every muscle in her body seeming to quiver in different directions, her eyes nearly rolling into the back of her head as orgasm pounded through her and both of her Doms continued to torment her with sensation.

They forced her to come twice more, the satisfied smiles of the men proving that they knew their sub would enjoy every moment of the “punishment” to follow.

Even several feet away from the scene area, Malcolm could feel the love flowing between them. Clearly Jace and Logan both adored their wife and had found a lifestyle that suited all three of them. It might not be exactly what Malcolm had visualized for his future, but it was pretty damn close.

* * * *

Adrian watched the scene long enough for Emma to orgasm and then wandered away from his brother and the head of security for Viper’s Dungeon. He had some thinking to do, and despite the fact that the age difference between them no longer seemed so large, there were still times he felt like Alex’s kid brother.

Of course he’d been the one to bring age into the conversation so his mental state was his own fault, but it still didn’t erase the discomfort he felt.

Even as the words about settling down had come out of his mouth—an opinion he’d held for a long time—he’d realized they were no longer true. Somewhere in the past twelve months his attitude had changed. He probably wasn’t ready to get married and raise kids just yet, but at twenty-eight the mutual pleasure he found with an experienced sub no longer held appeal. He loved the Dom-sub style of play practiced at Viper’s Dungeon, but now he also wanted a connection, a chance to talk to the woman outside of their Dom-sub roles. Maybe even take her on an old-fashioned kind of date.

He glanced at his watch, surprised to realize it was almost two in the morning. He’d worked later than he’d intended, but with the club taking up more of his hours than his small accounting practice this time of year his body clock was seriously messed up.

His stomach rumbled loudly, almost as if his body was reminding him that his favorite baker was about to start making bread. He bypassed the area where the unattached subs gathered, waved to his brother on the way past, and headed out the front door.

Sophie drove slowly down the small laneway, her headlights illuminating most areas where a thug might try to hide. It wasn’t that this was a dangerous area—well not anymore now that the local drug cartel had been shut down—but it was still prudent for a woman alone in the middle of the night to be careful.

She wasn’t really surprised to find Adrian Copeland waiting at the back entrance of her small bakery. He’d been there every morning for the past eight work nights. If he hadn’t been a regular customer and a friend of her cousin’s, she might have been a little worried, but it was rather nice to have someone to share a quiet coffee with as she set up the kitchen for the day’s baking.

She’d never really understood what an accountant was doing awake at two in the morning, but it had always seemed a little rude to ask.

“Good morning, Adrian,” she said as she climbed out of her car. There was no denying that she felt safer on the short trip from her car to the back door of the bakery with Adrian Copeland around. He was a big guy, and even covered in three-piece suits she could tell he worked out.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he said as he stood back to give her room to open the door. “Did you sleep well last night?”

“Always do,” she answered truthfully. Since setting up her small bakery a little over three years ago she’d fallen exhausted into bed almost every night. At first it had been a wonderful challenge, and a good distraction from her failed marriage and subsequent divorce—but lately she’d been wondering about the rest of life.

She’d married young with the intention of having children first and then following her dreams of opening a small bakery store. She’d done everything backward thanks to a very painful divorce but at twenty-seven she was starting to wonder when she would find the time to fit a man into her life now, let alone a couple of kids.

“You okay?” Adrian asked suddenly.

She nodded, not really trusting her voice. Adrian was the closest relationship she had at the moment, yet it was clear that he considered them only friends. She only had to look into a mirror to know the reason why. Gorgeous, ripped, successful men did not date women with too many curves and not enough time.

As much as she might like to fantasize that a guy like Adrian Copeland might want her, she was realistic enough to know that it was more likely the coffee and cake that he dropped by to sample.

“Sophie, if I’m getting in the way please tell me. I realize that you’re really busy this time of morning.”

“No,” she said quickly, panicked that this might be the last time he joined her for coffee. “I’m glad for the company. I just…” She searched her brain for a plausible explanation that didn’t involve the embarrassing truth of her mooning over a man way out of her league. “I…um…just hope that you don’t think I’m rude when I continue working. I just”—she shrugged—“need to keep moving or the bread won’t bake on time.”

“Beautiful, you could never be rude. I doubt you have a mean bone in your body.” He used the endearment so casually that she assumed he used it on every woman he met. It suited his alpha-type personality perfectly.