Page 54 of His Master

“You’re right,” I said, the truth of that dropping like a stone in my gut. I turned to Mason and said, “I don’t want to force you to get involved in this when it isn’t your problem.”

Mason shook his head. “You’re family now.” He glanced to Simon with a soft look, then back to me. “Family sticks together.”

They were the simplest words, but they hit me so hard. I was fighting bitterly with one family in a battle with the highest stakes I could imagine, but fate had just handed me an entirely different, and apparently much healthier, stronger family. Suddenly, I didn’t care about Victory Holdings half as much as I had just days before.

If it fell apart, it wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world. I would have to keep fighting for Vivien’s sake. It would be important to hold on long enough to change all the non-compete rules and clauses that Uncle Vincent had built into the company, probably for this day, which he’d known would come. But once the whole thing was dead, I would happily move on to sunnier shores.

“If you’re sure you’re okay with us taking your car,” I said, looking at Mason across the table.

Hayden jumped off his lap and ran to grab a set of keys from the kitchen counter.

“Here,” he said, bringing them back to me. “Take it and go. Um, there’s a car seat in the back, but I think it’s fine to leave it there. We don’t have to take Junior anywhere anytime soon.”

That decided it. I got up, pulling Simon to his feet with me, and accepted the keys from Hayden. Together, the four of us headed outside to the driveway.

“I’m sure the police will track your car here eventually,” Mason said, nodding to my SUV. “When they do, we’ll explain everything to them.”

“I hope it helps,” I said, doubting it would resolve everything.

Mason seemed surer. “I have a friend on the force,” he said. “I might call in a favor to see if we can get the police side of this mess sorted for you.”

“I’d be grateful,” I said, even though gratitude didn’t cover it.

By pure chance, Mason and Hayden’s car was an SUV with a lot of the same features as mine. It was a different make, so the controls weren’t in exactly the spots I was used to, but by the time I drove out to the entrance to the west-bound highway, I had the hang of it enough to drive as though I was used to the car.

“Hayden really needs to do a better job of keeping things clean,” Simon said, twisted to gaze into the back seat.

I grinned, glad for the tiny distraction from everything pressing down on me. “Something tells me you’re more of a neat freak,” I said.

Simon settled back into his seat, facing forward, but grinned at me. “I might be.”

“Good,” I nodded. “I like my space kept neat as well. I’ll expect you to keep everything clean, in my Barringtonapartment, my Norwalk apartment, and my condo on the beach down in the islands.”

I felt Simon tense in anticipation before he said, “Does this mean…does it mean that you want me to stay with you from here on out?”

I laughed, stealing a glance at him before making the turn onto the mountain stretch of the highway that would take us straight to Norwalk.

“We’re bonded now, boy,” I said. “Not only do I want you near me at all times, I might start keeping you on a leash to represent the bond.”

“Yes, Master,” Simon said, breathless with happiness.

His expression fell, and I felt thoughtfulness from him for a good five minutes before he went on with, “I’m going to have to explain all of this to my parents.”

“What do you think they’ll say about it?” I asked, curious myself.

Simon let out a breath and leaned back in his seat. “If you had asked me this morning, I would have said they’d be ashamed of me and so, so disappointed. I’d’ve thought they would rail at you for doing bad things to their son, and they’d try to break us up.”’

“And now?” I asked.

Simon smiled. “I had a great talk with Hayden. I honestly didn’t know our parents were kinky, too.”

“That’s what you meant by DNA,” I said, remembering the tail end of that conversation.

“Yeah,” Simon said, relaxing even more. “Which makes me think that maybe, just maybe, they’ll actually get it. They won’t judge me. Not even for wanting to be your slave.”

“You’re lucky to have such a wonderful, understanding family,” I said, reaching across to rest a hand on Simon’s knee. I glanced in the rearview mirror as I did, noticing a pair ofheadlights coming up behind us at a fast speed. “I wish I could say the same.”

“You do have an understanding family,” Simon said with a smile for me. “You have me.”

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