“Yes, Master Alex. Here.”
She handed him an envelope and he turned away. There was something hard in it. He opened it and her collar fell out onto his hand. A piece of paper dropped to the ground as he looked at Tara’s collar in shock.
What the fuck?
He reached down and picked up the note.
I’m sorry, Sir. I can’t do this any longer. Tara.
He turned the note over, but that was it. He growled under his breath. That girl’s ass was going to be toast when he got hold of her.
Striding into the men’s changing rooms, he grabbed his phone from his locker and glanced at the time.
Crap. It was later than he’d thought. He’d left her on her own for two hours. That was unforgivable. No wonder she’d stormed out.
But he was still going to spank her.
He called her cell. It clicked over to voicemail. It was still the message that came with the phone; she hadn’t even personalized it yet.
Damn it.
Was she so pissed off that she was ignoring his calls?
He swore under his breath.
“What’s wrong, old man? Can’t work your cell phone? Bit different from the quill and parchment they used in your day, huh?”
Alex didn’t even glance at Sloan as he called Tara’s phone again. It rang then went to voicemail.
“Did your stocks take a dip? Lose a few thousand?”
“I don’t have time for you right now, Sloan,” Alex snapped.
Sloan wiped the smirk from his face, replacing it with a frown. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Tara’s gone. I can’t get hold of her.”
“She’s probably just gone home to bed.”
Alex shook his head. “She should never have left without telling me.”
“Why would she tell you? She’s not waitressing anymore is she?”
“What?” Alex shook his head realizing Sloan didn’t know they were together. “Tara is my sub now. We have a contract. We came here together tonight and she left without telling me.”
Sloan’s eyes widened. “And she’s not answering her phone?”
“No.”
“Jesus, that girl is in for a world of punishment.”
Alex shook his head, looking down at his phone in anguish. “This is my fault. I left her on her own for hours. I’ve treated her as though she meant nothing to me, as though all I wanted was someone to fuck. She means so much more and I never told her.”
“Hey, relax. So you’ll give her some time and go talk to her in the morning. It will be okay.”
Alex shook his head. “No, I can’t wait that long.”
Instead of calling her cell he tried her landline. Again, a mechanical voice clicked on. Answer machine.
“Fuck! I need to find her. I’m going to her apartment.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“Why?”
“Because I like Tara and you don’t look like you should be driving.”
Alex scowled and opened his mouth.
“Before you protest, if I drive then you can keep calling her,” Sloan said reasonably before leaving the room. Alex grabbed his wallet and chased after him.
***
“She’s not here,” Alex stated the obvious, but he still looked around the apartment once more.
“Wow, you guys work fast,” Sloan said.
“What?”
“You have a key to her place already. You don’t mess around.”
Alex waved his hand at the irrelevant observation. “I own the apartment.”
Sloan raised his eyebrows.
“Look, can we focus on what is important? Tara is missing.”
“We don’t know that,” Sloan said slowly, like he was talking to a stupid person. “She could be staying with a friend. Can you call them?”
“As far as I know her only friends are from the club. I suppose she could have gone to Ava’s or Jacey’s.”
Was she hiding from him?
Suddenly his cell buzzed and he saw her name on the screen. Thank God.
“Tara!” he barked into his phone.
Sloan shook his head at him, but he couldn’t help his harsh tone. She’d scared him half to death.
“Where the hell are you? Why did you leave without telling me? Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”
“Alex, I’m sorry I left like that. Did you get the message I left?”
“Message? You call that a message? Why the hell didn’t you come find me if you wanted to leave?”
“Because I’m a coward. Look, I don’t have time to talk right now.”
“Where are you?” There was a lot of background noise.
“I’m on a bus on my way downtown. I have to drop something off at my old work.”
She was speaking slow and calm, as though talking to someone on the edge. Alex vaguely acknowledged that he was close to blowing. His hands were clenched, his breathing labored.
“What? Why are you going there? Never mind, I’m coming to get you. Take the next stop where there are people around, go into a bar or somewhere that’s open and I will come to you.” He was moving out of the apartment as he spoke, Sloan on his heels, quiet for once.
“Look, I don’t have time to really explain what is going on. I’m dropping my laptop and pen drive off.”
“At ten o’clock on a Friday night? What the hell for?”
“When I got home from the club I checked my answer phone and there was a message from Tim asking me to drop them off at his office.”
“So do it on Monday. Tim can wait. What have I said about taking public transportation at night?” He climbed into Sloan’s truck and gave him the address.
She sighed. “That’s not your concern anymore, is it?”
“We’ll talk about that later,” he promised her. “Until I get a proper explanation from you, you are still my sub. Now sit your butt down and wait for me.”
“I can’t.”
“Oh, you are in so much trouble.”
“Listen I’m nearly at my stop. Tim thinks that someone is selling information to the competition. He wants my pen drive and laptop in order to set a trap.”
“What? Why am I only hearing about this now?”
“I tried to tell you,” she said dryly. “You were busy. Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Tara, don’t you dare….hang up,” he said into a dial tone. He swore, smashing his fist against the glove box.
“Hey! This may not be as flashy as your Porsche or whatever it is you drive, but it doesn’t need a fist imprint in it.”
Alex looked over at Sloan. “Sorry.”
Sloan whistled. “You got to calm down, man. Ain’t no good getting all riled up.”
“I’ve completely fucked things up. Right now my sub is on a bus, going to help her ex-boss, who is an asshole, bait a trap to catch someone who’s selling company secrets. Worst of all she tried to tell me and I brushed her off. How could I do that?”
Sloan looked over at him calmly as he stopped at a red light. “Everyone fucks up.”
“I kept her at arm’s length all this time because I was afraid of getting hurt, afraid of getting my heart broken after what my ex-wife did to me.”
“Whoa man, this is getting a bit touchy-feely for me.”
“Shut up,” Alex said without anger. “If you didn’t want to get involved you shouldn’t have come with me.”
“I didn’t have a choice; you were going to wrap yourself around a pole in your state.”
“You’re nosy. Just admit it.”
“Old women are nosy,” Sloan replied, offended. “I was doing my good deed for the year.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Can’t you drive faster,” he said tensely.
“If we get pulled over by a cop this is just going to take us longer. Stay calm.”
“Speak for yourself. That’s not your sub out alone at night, walking along the same street where she was mugged just a few weeks ago.”
“Mugged? Jesus. And if Tara were my sub she wouldn’t be allowed to leave the house without my knowledge. I would know what she was doing every minute of every day.”
Alex looked over at him and snorted. “Bit over the top don’t you think?” He tapped his fingers against his leg. By now she would have reached the office building and they were still ten minutes away. How the hell would she get inside when she no longer worked there? If he ever saw her boss again he would give him an earful. Why the hell hadn’t she asked for him to take her? Because he hadn’t been there for her in any way except financially.
“I thought that if I kept her at arm’s length then she couldn’t hurt me the way my ex-wife did.”
Sloan groaned. “Do we really have to do this?”
“That it would be enough to look after her financially. To make sure she was safe and protected. Then I could go on with my life secure in the knowledge that she was taken care of. That as long as our emotions didn’t get involved we would both be okay, that this could work. What an idiot I was. I even wrote it into the contract. That she wasn’t supposed to fall in love with me.”
“Kill me now,” Sloan muttered.
Alex ignored him. “I kept pushing her away and so when she needs me she thinks I won’t be there for her.”
“Look man, I don’t go in for this touchy-feely shit. If you love her, tell her. If you just want to fuck her, tell her. But stop pussyfooting around.”
Alex looked at him for a long moment. “You’re right.”
“Thank fuck. Can we talk about something manly now before my balls shrivel up and die?”
Chapter Eleven
Tara stepped out of the elevator. Rob was on security duty. After a few minutes chatting to him, she’d made her way up here. She placed the laptop and pen drive on the desk in her office. She didn’t know exactly what Tim was up to and she didn’t really want to. Setting a trap seemed a bit risky to her.
“What are you doing here?”
Tara screeched and jumped. Turning, her hand over her heart, she gaped at Eloise in shock.
“Eloise! You scared me half to death! What are you doing here?”
“I work here,” the other woman said coldly. “What’s your excuse?”
“Just dropping off my pen drive and laptop. Tim left me as message asking me to bring them over.”
“So you rushed over on a Friday night?” she asked sceptically.
Tara shrugged. “I wanted to get rid of them.” Plus she hadn’t wanted to sit around home thinking about how she’d just broken things off with Alex.
“They suspect me, don’t they?”
“I’m sorry, what?” Tara looked at her in confusion.
“Tim and Ryan. They’ve been acting weird around me for weeks. They said they were going to Chicago, but they were actually in Dallas. I found the hotel booking on Ryan’s email. He doesn’t know I can access it.”
“Umm, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do. You’re probably part of it. You all think that I’ve been selling information to the competition.”
“Have you?”
“Of course,” she said matter-of-factly. “Do you think I could afford these shoes on the salary they pay me?”
Tara looked at her shoes.
“These cost me five hundred dollars.”
“On shoes?” Tara gulped at the price.
Eloise sniffed. “Should have known you’d have no idea.” She looked Tara over critically. Tara straightened her shoulders. She didn’t give a shit what this woman thought. At least she was honest and worked for her money.
“So you sold information to buy shoes?”
Eloise smiled. “Not just for shoes, for my future. I’ve been selling information to the competition for months. The Henderson bid was going to be the final payoff. If only you’d co-operated and given me the damn laptop and pen drive. The information is on one of them isn’t it? I can’t find it anywhere else. I even hired someone to mug you and rob your place but they still couldn’t get their hands on them.”
“
You
hired someone to mug me and rob my place to get hold of these?” Tara asked incredulously, amazed at the lengths she was willing to go to.
“Yeah, too bad the guy I hired was a complete idiot. I looked everywhere else for the information. I have all of Ryan’s passwords. The fool writes them on a piece of paper and leaves it in his top drawer. I hacked into Tim’s computer but there was nothing on there either. So I figured you had to have the info.”
Tara just shook her head. “I never worked on that bid.” Not that she’d ever gotten around to looking at the pen drive. The information could be on there.
Eloise shrugged. “Doesn’t matter anymore, I know my time is up. I have a new passport waiting for me in Mexico City. From there I’m going to make my way to Vanuatu. But I thought I’d do a little damage before I left, so I leaked some very interesting information out to our competitors. That ought to wreck Tim and Ryan’s business. The bastards worked me to the bone. They deserve it. Of course, I didn’t expect you to come in tonight.”
Eloise drew a gun out of her purse. Tara gaped at it in shock.
“Have you forgotten about the security guard? And the cameras in the corridors?”
Why the hell weren’t there cameras in the offices as well?
Eloise shrugged. “That dumbass? So I’ll shoot him and erase the last few hours of camera feed. No big deal.”
Holy shit.
She was delusional. Totally lost it. Did she truly believe that she could just shoot two people and get away with it?
“Is it really worth killing us? You could just tie us up and have the same effect. No one would find us until you were long gone.”
Eloise seemed to think about it for a moment. “Perhaps. But I can’t take the chance one of you will alert the authorities before I’m safe. No, too much mess. Killing you is so much simpler.”
Christ. Eloise was really going to do this. She was going to shoot her.
“I wouldn’t do that, Eloise.”
Tara turned to find Tim standing in the doorway behind her.
“Tim?” Tara gaped at him.
“What are you doing here, Tim?” Eloise screeched.
Tara wanted to know that herself.
“I had spyware installed on the computers to catch anyone accessing information they shouldn’t be. I also got cameras installed in these offices without your knowledge. It’s over, Eloise. I’ve called the cops.”
Crap! That was going to send her right over the edge.
“Why the hell did you tell her that?” Tara hissed.
Eloise glared at Tim before turning back to her. “Guess I’ve got nothing to lose now, do I?”
Tara gulped.
“Put that gun down,” a cold voice said.
“Alex?” Tara held her shaking hands out from her body, not wanting to startle Eloise. She longed to turn and look at Alex but she didn’t dare move.
Someone moved up next to her and she quickly glanced over to see Alex standing there. There was movement on her other side and Sloan appeared. What the hell was he doing here?
“Eloise, put the gun away, you’re not leaving here,” Tim said calmly.
“You bastard, I can’t believe you set me up like this.”
Her and Eloise both.
Tara noticed that Tim didn’t move from where he stood in the office doorway. Ass.
“Don’t move,” Eloise said sharply as Sloan took a step closer to her.
“You guys need to step back,” Tara told them, the last thing she wanted was for the two of them to get hurt.
“I’m not moving anywhere, sugar,” Sloan said. “Eloise, is it? Just put the gun down like a good girl and no one needs to get hurt.”
Eloise’s eyes narrowed. “I’m leaving and no one is going to stop me.”
“Like hell. Did you really think you could get away with it, Eloise?” Tim asked.
“Shut up, Tim,” Tara snarled.
“Tara, be quiet,” Alex snapped.
Tara resisted the urge to glare at him. There was no need snap at her! She hadn’t caused any of this.
“This isn’t my fault,” she muttered.
“We’ll talk about it later. Now be quiet unless you want me to gag you every night for the next month.”
Tara pressed her lips closed, grimacing in annoyance. He had no right to boss her around, especially since she’d ended things with him.
“All of you shut up!” Eloise screeched and Tara jumped.
Tara’s breath came in short, fast pants. She couldn’t take much more. She’d been mugged and she’d kept her cool. Her apartment had been ransacked and she hadn’t broken down. But this was too much.
A sob broke free.
“Easy, baby,” Alex said in a low voice. “We got this. Sloan, now.”
There was a blur of movement. Sloan slammed into her. A gun shot deafened her. Fiery pain erupted in her arm as she fell to the ground with a thud, Sloan’s large body covering her from head to toe. There was a loud grunt and a high-pitched screech.
What the hell was going on?
If Sloan was on top of her, did that mean Alex…
“Alex,” she yelled, squirming under Sloan’s weight. Damn, he was heavy.
“Lie still,” Sloan muttered in her ear, taking some of his weight off her so she could breathe easier. “I’m not moving until Alex gives the all-clear, so all you’re going to do is wear yourself out.”
“Let me up, he could be hurt.”
“No. Now lie still or I’m gonna tell your Dom you’re a disobedient brat and deserve to be spanked until you can’t sit down for a week.”
Tears dripped down her face in frustration and fear. What if Alex was hurt? Shot? She’d never been so scared in her life.
“All clear,” Alex called out.
Sloan slowly stood up. She ignored his offered hand as she scrambled up. She stared around frantically for Alex. He stood across the room with Eloise at his feet. Her arms were behind her back, her gun held firmly in Alex’s hand.
“Oh, thank God,” she breathed.
Then she turned and punched Sloan in the stomach.
“Don’t you ever do that again!”
“Tara!” Alex barked.
She ignored Alex. “He could have gotten hurt!” She pointed at Alex as she glared up at Sloan. She was yelling at him because if she didn’t let out some of her anger and fear she’d explode.
Instead of getting mad, Sloan just stared down at her with a grin. He reached out and tugged her braid. “You know damn well I’d do it again. Subs are to be protected, little one. Not put in harm’s way.” He glared at Tim who was half hidden in the doorway.
“Seems like you all had it under control,” Tim protested. Then he stepped inside the office.
“You put my sub in danger,” Alex snarled. Tim visibly swallowed, his eyes widening in fear.
“I didn’t know Tara would come in tonight or that Eloise would be here with a gun,” Tim whined.
Alex took a step forward then looked down at Eloise who was weeping uncontrollably. She started wailing. Loudly.
“Shut. Up.”
Eloise immediately quietened, looking up at Alex in fear. Tara would have shut up as well.
Alex looked fierce. She always thought of him as refined. Strong and dominant, sure. But civilized. He looked anything but civilized right now.
He looked wild. She kind of liked this side of him. Hell, she loved all of him. Too bad he didn’t feel the same way.
“What did you tie her up with?” Funny, now that everything was all over, she felt light-headed. Kind of out of it.
Alex stared at her for a long moment. “My belt. Tara, come here.”
She shook her head then held her hand up to her forehead as it spun. “No.”
“What’s wrong? Tara? You’ve gone all pale,” Alex asked.
Sloan grabbed her, spinning her around. A sharp pain radiated down her left arm. Her stomach bubbled.
“I’m going to throw up.”
“Fuck! She’s been shot.”
Her knees buckled right before darkness overtook her and she sank gratefully into unconsciousness.
***
Tara woke up feeling groggy and disorientated. Her gaze was blurry as she blinked, trying to wake up. She must have been in a deep sleep to feel this out of it.
Gazing around, panic hit her as she realized she had no clue where she was. She dragged in a sharp breath as she attempted to sit up. She groaned as pain rushed through her, stealing her breath.
“Easy, baby. Lie back.”
Suddenly Alex filled her vision.
“Alex, where am I? What happened?” Her voice was croaky, shaky.
Alex helped her lie back. The sheets beneath her were scratchy and stiff, nothing like the expensive linen that Alex had on his bed. Something beeped and there was the sound of voices.
“I’m in a hospital?”
“You were shot,” Alex said in a harsh voice.
Tara took a good look at him. His normally neat dark hair was messed up, standing on end. As though he’d run his fingers through it a number of times. His shirt was wrinkled, his eyes bloodshot.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Me?” He looked at her in shock. “Am I okay? You were shot, Tara!”
“Is it bad?”
She tried to glance down at her arm, but couldn’t see anything except a white bandage.
Alex shook his head. “You were shot,” he repeated. “Shot.”
Reaching for his hand with her good arm, she squeezed it tight. “I know. I’m okay. Why don’t you sit down, you don’t look so great.”
Alex sat down then he suddenly stood again. “Stop taking care of me!”
Hurt filled her and she slumped back, wincing as her arm pulled. “I’m sorry. I forgot.”
“What?” He stared at her in confusion.
“Our contract. I ended it. I suppose it’s just as well. I guess I’m going to be laid up for a while, you’ll want someone else to play with.”
Pain far worse than her wound shot through her body at the thought of him with someone else. But she knew it was the right thing, letting him go.
“Do you really think that while you’re recovering from a gunshot wound that I’m going to find someone else to fuck? Don’t think much of me, do you?”
“Alex, I ended things. I gave you back your collar. I can’t be your sub anymore, or your lover.”
“Why not?”
She licked her lips. This was so hard, but she owed him an explanation.
“I broke our contract.”
He frowned. “You slept with someone else?”
Her gaze widened. “What? No.” She tried to move, but pain shot through her body and she collapsed back against the bed, panting heavily.
Alex swore quietly. “Lie still. That’s an order.”
She looked up into his worried face.
“Just lie still, baby,” he told her. “We can work this all out later, when you’re feeling better.”
A huge yawn caught her by surprise. Hadn’t she just woken up? “I’m sorry, I’m so tired.”
He brushed his hand over her hair. “That’s okay, baby. You go to sleep.”
***
Tara woke up with a groan. Her pillow was damp and she swiped at her mouth as she realized she’d been drooling.
“Yuck.”
“Tara? You okay?”
Alex stepped into her vision. Great, he really was seeing her at her most attractive.
“I’m okay. Can you call a nurse for me?”
“Why? Are you hurting? Do you need more pain killers?”
Tara shook her head. “No, I, umm, I need to…”
“What?”
“I need to go to the bathroom and I don’t think I can manage on my own.” She felt herself go bright red.
“Ahh.” He smiled gently then he held out his arm to her. “Hold onto my arm and let me pull you up.”
She held on and he eased her up, helping her twist around. He clasped her around the waist as she stood.
“Okay, I got it from here,” she said as they reached the bathroom door.
He shook his head. “I’m coming in with you.”
“No. Way.”
“You could faint, fall and hit your head. I’ll turn my back, I promise.”
“This is the most humiliating moment of my life,” she told him as he helped her into the bathroom. Her embarrassment grew when she realized she couldn’t pull her panties down. They’d stripped her bare and put her in this gown, but left her panties on.