Don't... (39 page)

“About tenish,” he said, joining me. “I’ve checked with the CCTV we have, but the tape’s missing.”

No cars looked out of place down there. No one there that shouldn’t be. Even our customer cars had allotted spaces, so I knew what car belonged where. “And when did you find it like this?”

“I came up at two for some lunch,” said Steve, doing his own checks. “Jack, I’d locked the door like I always do,” he said over to me, “I had to unlock it to get in.”

I sighed deeply. Someone had some keys, just like my fucking car. “Any money taken?” Despite the money downstairs, I always kept about a grand’s float in my safe for Sue or Steve in emergencies. Steve was shaking his head, but I noticed it was open. “You sure?” I said going over.

“Yep,” said Steve, and he came with me. “I counted it all the first time, then did it again an hour later.”

I pulled the money out, but trusted Steve when he said it was all there. I gave it him to hold for a minute, then checked through my other documents too. I kept a copy of my accounts here, also addresses of suppliers and clients. Didn’t trust computers enough, although this safe had proved to be just as bloody useless.

“Everything still there?” asked Steve with a frown.

“Yeah, nothing taken, Nothing—”

An A4 manila envelope sat neatly between some pages in my account’s book. Pulling it out, I looked at Steve. “Go get me a coffee, yeah, Steve?” He narrowed his eyes, and we had a little moment just before he eased off and put the money back in the safe.

“Coffee it is.”

I waited until he’d left before putting everything else back in the safe, then opening the envelope.

One look. It was all it took before I was heading for the door, racing down the stairs nearly knocking Steve over, then scrambling into my Merc. I headed home first, needing the photo I’d screwed up and tossed in the bin. I hadn’t been back to empty it, so I knew it would still be there.

The house was quiet as I pushed on through, and for a moment I understood how Jan felt. The hairs on the back of my neck were up, expecting something, someone to come at me in the late afternoon-lit lounge, but nothing happened, and I managed to get the photo out of my bin and uncrumple it before heading as fast as the road would take me back to Gray’s.

Gray’s mansion usually had that “coming home” feel, now I settled for just plain goddamn relief seeing it as I pulled into his courtyard. I parked the Merc next to Gray’s black Rolls. Soft running water came from the tri-spray ring fountain standing centrepiece in the middle of the courtyard, but it didn’t have that calming effect as I made my way to the front door. Coloured filter lamps lit the water as it fell, sending out a hue of soft blues, greens, reds that could fool any midnight walker in the woods into thinking they really weren’t alone out there. Especially with the carefully shaped twists of trees that stood guard either side of the fountain walls. Lush green tennis courts were just visible off to the left, a maze somewhere nearby, and just behind that, in between the conservatory and summer houses (Gray had three), an outdoor heated pool that Gray had taken me into on many a cold night.

A huge arch protected the front entrance, either side of that were two outdoor lamps that always seemed to be on and say
welcome
.

I sent a chime as far as it could go into the mansion, then glanced behind me and made sure no one was out there in the woods behind.

The door opened, and a very well tailored and upper-class butler who looked like he should own this property rather than run it stepped out.

“Hi, Edward. I need to see Master Raoul.”

“Master Harrison. I have strict instructions not to allow you access.” He even gave a small bow, and I scowled at him.

“You know I’m twenty-nine now, huh? I’m full into a Mr.” Then I winced. “And I’d have been thrown out as a Master with my ass whipped senseless by now.”

He straightened and the lines around his eyes creased into a smile. “And yet despite a suit, you still look like a young hooligan trying to play with the big boys after “roughing it” under a car, sir.”

“It’s my job,” I said, but still shifted like a kid caught not wearing the right socks by the headmaster. “I need to see Gray. It’s urgent.”

“And not worth facing unemployment for disobeying him.”

“Trust me,” I said quietly, “he won’t sack you for this.”

He seemed to weigh me up then. “Hmmm,” said Edward, sweeping a hand to encourage me in as he stepped back a touch, “he is in training.”

I remembered Gray saying something about it a few hours ago. I patted Edward’s shoulder as I passed and wondered just how long it would take him to resist taking out his handkerchief and wipe off any possible marks.

“He’s in his studio. Would you like for me to escort you?”

I’d already turned and headed off without him. “Rest your legs. You’re looking old,
really
old, Ed.” I couldn’t remember a time when he’d looked young, and I smiled hearing him mumble something behind me.

The reception hall gave Jan’s a run for his money with the size. In fact, Jan’s lounge and kitchen could easily fit in here, although that startling whiteness that Jan seemed to love was theme for the walls here too, all contrasted beautifully with the oak floor. Two high-backed chairs sat wishing newcomers merry by a huge fireplace, although I couldn’t remember the fire ever being lit. The black candle chandelier was complemented by a run of black fleur de lys sconces, all angled nicely with the contemporary art pieces highlighted in glass cases.

I took the stairs two at a time and headed left when the staircase branched into two. Gray’s studio was just beyond the privacy of his clients’ indoor pool, yet always close to the games’ room to allow either trainee or sub timeout while Gray spent time with their partner. A run of patio doors led me into the indoor poolroom, and the same soft colours from the fountain set the water alive. The blue to the water was startling compared to the white columns that surrounded it. At the far end, and settled in soft light, two comfortable white leather sofas gave some space to a flat screen TV and a mini-bar. Pool loungers brushed my calves, clean towels rolled and ready to use at their heads. I headed for the wall of glass homing the games’ room and pushed through to have a few guys over by the snooker table glance up.

“Hi, Jack.” The other one said “hi” too, and fuck knows what they’d been talking about, but he had a blush to his cheeks he didn’t want to show me. I nodded at them, not really recognising who they were, or having the time to stop and talk. “Fancy a ga—?”

Whatever was said was cut off by the door shutting behind me, and I winced. Usually I took the time to get to know new faces, or I guessed they were considering I hadn’t seen them before, but I’d run flat-out of niceties.

Gray’s studio was two rooms down from the games room, any other time I wouldn’t have intruded on his time with Jan, but I had no choice and—

Brain synapses refused to fire between brain and mouth, and I was left doing nothing but holding on to the door handle after I’d pushed it open.

Gray must have run his checks on Jess after security had brought them in. Christ knows what he’d done with Darren, but Jess looked more than at home and happy with the fact she was in Gray’s manor.

Hands cuffed behind her back, neck collared, then bound by a chain fastened to the floor, keeping her in place and doubled over a box, Jess had her red satin dress pushed up over her hips, showing a crimson flush to her rump from the ass-spanking she had taken. Her head was down, long hair wild about the wooden box, body wet with perspiration, giving the silk an extra sheen.

Any other moment, any other time, fucking stunning by all accounts; only the man making her squirm and leaving her begging for more, was mine.

Jan was naked, the muscles in his body bending and crying into every stroke he pounded into Jess. Bent slightly over her, hand gripping her hair, he had this bite going on with his lip, pure determination, lust, and it didn’t help that the same fucking sounds he made with me fell so easily from his lips.

How... from grief over Rob this afternoon, how the
hell
had he got to having his dick in someone?

Gray.

I calmed every ounce of breathing in me.

Gray was fully suited, knelt behind Jan, lips close to his ear, whispering words I couldn’t hear. One hand rested on Jan’s hip, the other stroked at his side, gentle touches meant to encourage.

And his dick? Just what the fuck was that meant to be encouraging as he fucked into Jan?

“Please... god, yes, harder,” cried Jess. Gray pushed hard into Jan, forcing his dick deeper, and Jan’s deeper in Jess. As Jan cried out, Jess arched her back, putting full strain on the collar around her neck, crying more again.

Gray kissed Jan’s shoulder as he made Jan hold every muscle still, straining his dick deep into Jess’s ass. Jan cried something, a name, not mine—Gray’s; then Jan twisted slightly, and Gray tongued his way into Jan’s mouth. Jan’s other hand rested under the silk covering Jess’s hip, and he gripped it tightly before crying come both into Jess and against Gray’s lips. If Gray came, I didn’t know. I just knew what pushed Jan over the edge, and it wasn’t all to do with pretty boys in red silk dresses.

Gray looked over his shoulder just as it all fell into place. Jan seemed puzzled by the distraction and looked over too, face all flustered, lips all swollen and bruised, waking from whatever eroticism had held him in place. Damn sexy. Eyes widened for a split second, and he pulled himself free, grabbing at a sheet as he came over.

“Jack.”

At least he’d thought about safety first. The slicked-up condom was full to brimming, packed to the full of his come, his dick not even yet softened. I laughed, almost, was turned on, almost, and wasn’t going to let the sight of Jan and Gray together screw with my head, let alone my body, almost.

“Jack.”

“
Just fucking don’t
,” I shouted, and that just about nailed Jan to the floor. “How the fuck do you get from grief—to
this
?”

His eyes dark, Gray was a law unto himself and levelled with Jan’s shoulder before making me his sole focus.

“Don’t,” I said before he could speak. “Just fucking don’t.” And I looked at Jan. “You, this is finished.” I didn’t give a shit what flickered in his eyes in that instance. Gray was my focus now. “And you... The contracts—him—this whole fucked-up bollocks, as far as I’m concerned, we’re done. We’re more than fucking done.”

Gray eased back; Jan didn’t. “Jack, it’s not what you think.”

“
Then just what the fuck is
it
, Jan, huh
? You needed to show how grief-stricken you are over Rob, so decided to measure it in dick lengths at both ends and count the fucking ways?”

That struck such a fire in Jan. “You fucking
cunt
—” Gray pulled Jan back as he came at me. I snorted at them—then threw the two photos at Gray only to watch them fall on the floor.

“A little late for that poor bastard for you to pull your finger, s’cuse my manners, your
dick
out,” I said flatly; then I left them there and headed back down the way I’d come, Jan shouting some bollocks I couldn’t be bothered to listen to, Gray trying to calm him down (hah, the fucking bollocks going on with that) and Jess, fuck knows what she was saying. I didn’t care anymore, and it was scary how quickly I felt like that.

Jan

“
That fucking bastard
.” I pushed Gray off me and sent Jess scattering somewhere into the corner as I tore through Gray’s studio, upending anything that could be pulled free. “That—” I knew Jack wouldn’t see me as anything but a joke in his BDSM world, no matter how fucking loving he was about it. I’d gone into training with a mind to learn, to stop fucking hurting him, and if that meant learning with another sub until I felt comfortable training with Jack, I had every right to do fucking so. “That stupid fucking—”

“Jan, stop.” Gray said that so calmly, I did. He was looking at two A4-sized photos he held in each hand. A glance at me, he headed for the phone on his wall and punched in a few numbers. “Mike.... Get a trace on my sub’s car and make damn sure you don’t lose him.” Gray paused, seeming to listen. “For fuck’s sake, Jack,” he breathed as he rubbed at his forehead, then back into the phone, “If he’s immobilized his tracker, call Max in. Get him to run the usual, watches at Jack’s father’s, his business, credit card withdrawals if it takes longer than an hour to find him. Just get him located—No. When Max locates him, he’s to call me. He has my direct line.”

“Gray?” I got a glance in my direction before the phone was rested back in its cradle. Jess was next to me and I felt an arm slip around mine. “Gray,” I said, a little too numb to acknowledge her. There was something about Gray’s mannerism that made everything else fall away. “What’s going on?”

I didn’t get an answer, and like hell was he freezing me out like an employee when it came to Jack. As he passed by to leave, I grabbed the photos from underneath his arm.

The first was a little weird. A message of
Don’t
... followed by an image of a pair of scissors cutting paper, then a ...
yourself, Jack.
I looked at Gray who had stopped by the door and was looking back at me.
Don’t cut yourself, Jack?
Had to be. “What—?”