Page 55 of The Reluctant Siren
Niall chuckled lightly. “Welcome to D/s, man. The sub isalways in control. It’s the only reason I was okay with it eventually. When youasked me to go in, I thought I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I had a skewedview. Now I know how much I need it. She taught me that.”
“I taught you nothing,” she shot back.
And got her ass peppered with smacks. At least ten. All in arow, and it took her breath away. The pain flared through her system, sendingmuch-needed heat. She hadn’t realized how cold she’d felt before. How still.Like she was stuck, but now the world seemed to move again.
“You have good technique for someone who hasn’t taken aformal class.” Niall utterly ignored her.
She glanced up and realized he was only ignoring her words.His eyes were on her body, and she couldn’t miss the way his pants had tented.Well, she’d felt that big cock against her before but he’d never used it onher.
He might use it tonight. She might get to feel that hardcock thrust inside.
“I was motivated,” Jensen replied. “She needed it. I readsome books and talked to some people, but mostly she taught me. We practiced alot. She needs this to relieve stress. She doesn’t drink much so it’s this orshe starts a fight, and I needed her to look fairly normal.”
“You asshole.” But he wasn’t exactly wrong, and it wasrefreshing to not be treated like she was fragile and would faint at the sightof blood.
He slapped her ass again, this time his hand staying there,holding the heat to her. Connecting them. “She likes a big bite of pain whenwe’re playing and during sex. She likes to have her nipples twisted and thebite of clamps. I’ve always thought she likes to be watched.”
“Oh, I can verify that. She might not have had sex at TheHideout since I’ve been there, but she likes to be naked in the club,” Niallexplained. “She’ll walk around in nothing but a pair of fuck-me heels and askif anyone needs help. It makes me crazy because she’s not wearing a collar.”
She couldn’t help it. It felt nice to be naked. She likedit. Sue her. She only did it at the club or the nudist place in Colorado.Actually, now that she thought about it, Mountain and Valley was secure, andher fathers wouldn’t come in if they knew she was there. Of course they mightsend in other people.
“It makes you crazy because she’s not wearingyourcollar,” Jensen countered.
Niall’s collar. She didn’t want to think about the fact thatit felt like something they were working toward earlier tonight. Nope. Shewasn’t letting that in. She hadn’t talked to Ruby and Gigi about what kind ofcollar she would want—because it wasn’t like Niall would pick one out withouther input. That sounded more like Jensen.
“Probably,” Niall agreed. “I’m insanely jealous when itcomes to her. Current company not included, of course.”
She huffed. “Sure.”
That brought another round of smacks that took her breathaway. Jensen wasn’t holding back. “Hush. We are working things out, andhonestly, what do you care what we say since you’re going to leave the minuteyou can?”
That was true. “Maybe I don’t like listening to whiny mentalking about their feelings.”
“Don’t,” Niall said, his tone darker than she everremembered him using. “You can handle her bratty parts, and I’ll deal with shitlike this when she crosses a real line.”
What the fuck line had she crossed? She was the one layingover Jensen’s lap.
And then she wasn’t. Niall hauled her up, and she feltherself flush at the hard look in his eyes.
“I understand that you are frustrated with the events of theday, but you have no idea what you just did to him. You sit around and moanabout the patriarchy, and then times get tough and you reenforce it for the oneperson in this room who is utterly yoked by it.”
A pit opened in her stomach and she looked at Jensen, whofrowned Niall’s way.
“She doesn’t want to listen to feelings? I get it. I wasn’ttalking about feelings. I was talking about sex. No feelings involved,” Jensensaid with that smirk he got when he needed a mask.
Except he did have feelings. A lot of them, and he didn’tknow how to handle them because he’d been told his whole damn life that hewasn’t supposed to feel anything but anger and maybe lust. Niall had found hisway out of the mindset, but Jensen hadn’t.
“You could cut him a thousand other ways and I wouldn’t havea problem with it, but that was too far. That isn’t who you are. I understandyou’re angry. Are you so angry that you would say something that will send himback into that shell of his? He lost a lot tonight, too.”
This was why trios sucked. There was always the reasonableone who made the two dumbasses look at everything in a different light.
“Are we playing or is this revenge? I kind of thought therevenge would be leaving at the end, but you could hollow him out,” Niall saidin that all too reasonable tone. “You can take every bit of progress he’s made,and at the end he won’t open himself up to anyone again. Ever.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jensen asked.
But she knew. Jensen had been “the man” for so long hesometimes forgot he could be human, too. She didn’t want to think about this,but Niall made it impossible. Jensen worked hard for his revenge. He’d givenher up, and then in the course of one night he lost it all and she shamed himfor talking about his feelings. Not that she wanted to be his freaking soundingboard, but she didn’t want to be yet another person telling him he was nothingbut abs and a good time in bed.
Sometimes it sucked to have to be the bigger person and livethe actual lifestyle which required her to be open and tolerant and accepting.She could walk away. She didn’t have to be kind if she was locked in her room.In the room where Jensen grew up and she was surrounded with evidence that he’dbeen a kid with dreams of getting out of this place, who loved his brother andwished his mom could be different.
