Red Hot Obsessions (227 page)

Being Saturday, I didn’t know if Shayna was going to get spanked by Logan today. Most likely not. I didn’t know what to tell her. Left with only the trash of ugly memories and some bruises and welts from kink, I had trouble getting out of bed. I kept getting shoved back to sleep by depression and weariness. What if I never heard from him again? Not one peep from my Lord? The possibility of never hearing his voice or feeling his kiss again was a hell I could not bear. Why was he doing this? Treating me like dirt when he swore he wouldn’t?

I jolted awake for the third time this morning, shouting his name in a mortal cry. In a sweaty panic, I clutched my rapidly rising chest and lost grip on a snivel.
Everything
that mattered to me was getting jerked out of my hands. Likely even my spot in this House.

Because Brianna was standing in my opened doorway, her arms crossed, eyes squinted, lips scrunched up enough to make her look ugly.

SORORITY PLEDGE 6:
Sub, Even In Sunlight

CHAPTER 1

“Logan?” Brianna snipped in my doorway. “I hope to God you’re not talking about that freak in the hills.” Her arms were still crossed and her glare at me deepened.

Not even caring to hide it anymore, I sat up in bed and flailed my arms. “Why yes, I was, though there are
other
Logans in the world. He’s soooo unbelievably sexy and hot and...” I trailed off, looking away, humming quietly. I was gonna say “
swee
t
”, but at present, his kiss-my-ass silence didn’t exactly flood me with a burst of sugar-glazed flowers and sunshine. “God.”

She sucked my attention back when she spat, “Uhhkkk. You’re crushing on him? You can’t be serious.”

“
Your
fault. You neglected to mention him to me before Halloween, but I liked what I saw in the windows. I felt bad for what I did and made it up to him with treats and candy. We’re friends now, maybe more. What’s it matter to you who I like or don’t like?” I went to climb out of bed and froze because of my marks. They were mostly gone thanks to virgin coconut oil, and time. But there were still a few hints of green and purple on my thighs from the hard pinches or the crop, and I’d ditched my flannel PJs for cotton boy shorts and a UConn T-shirt. I jerked my blankets up to my chest. “Man, it’s chilly,” I muttered, though it really wasn’t. It was uncommonly warm for November actually, which was why I was in next to nothing. “What do you want? Can you spit it out and leave please, and close the door behind you so I can dive back under the covers?”

“No, I don’t think so. I wanted to let you know about a party at Blaze tonight. You’ve looked down in the dumps, and I thought it might perk you up. It’s just dancing, no booze or anything sexual. But, I’m even
more
glad I came by. Maybe I can knock some sense into you. Really. You need to listen to me, Addison, and stay away from him. He’s a horrible, horrible guy. I’m not even kidding. He’s probably the reason you look and feel so trashed. He’s a conceited beast. Definitely not someone you wanna hook up with.”

Yeah, a little too late for that.
“That’s not exactly my plan, but why not? What’s the big deal? Within the past few days, I’ve heard you refer to him as an idiot, a player, a bastard, a creep and a half dozen other things. And now, a conceited beast and a freak? I can make up my own mind. I don’t need you to babysit me or knock anything into my head. Even if he is truly all those things, why do you even care? Why do you exhaust so much time and energy trying to make him miserable and sabotage his love life. You already have a guy who loves you to pieces. Logan didn’t want you. Get over it. You can’t stake a claim on a guy who was never even yours to begin with.”

She scoffed and shook her head. “Oh...is
that
what he told you. Ah, I see. Friends? You must be his latest rabbit.”

My face flashed to hot and my lips moved aimlessly until I glued them shut because words weren’t there. Burning films of liquid erected in my eyes. Did he
lie
to me? Did he? Right now I wasn’t entirely certain which one was the liar. I’d go with Logan as the honest one, but I really couldn’t kiss and roll the dice on it without having my stomach cramp up in anxiety. My poor pillow held so many lost tears, it could rain.

Her smirk slashed me with its lance of satisfaction. “I’m just trying to look out for my sisters, Addison. I know how hot he is. And it’s more than that. I know the effect he has. There are a bunch of untruths going around about what happened between us, but I felt his seductive power myself and fell for him. Hard. It sucked me into his arms and left me demolished. Right after he fucked me, for all of three minutes in a hotel room, he tossed me out and dropped me like a lump of burning coal. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt the way I was. So, yeah, I’m kind of on a rampage. I mean, wouldn’t you be, to try to save your friends from the same misery? I’d certainly hope so. Heed my warning, or will suffer for it. Of lesser importance, think about going to the party. The booked band totally rocks. I hope you can make it and get back to your happy, driven self.” She waved her hand up and down at me. “I don’t know who this sad sack is at all. Same goes for Shayna. I don’t know what her freaking deal is. You two are pathetic. Get some damn lives. And cool personalities while you’re at it.” She flipped her wavy locks over her shoulders and left me shivering with a door slam.

The pools of anguish holding steady on the rims of my eyelids finally felt free to fall, but I brushed them away with my fingertips and swore under my breath. My heart and lungs ached so badly, I smacked my mouth with both hands to stuff sobs at the gate. Was she serious about all that? Dead-evil smirk aside, she did
sound
sincere, her voice cracking and all. If so, that meant he lied, lied, lied to me. He fucked her? No, no way. I was close to puking over that nasty image. But he
did
drop me without a glance back too, right after. He did. And he left me demolished. Maybe the person I tagged a witch was actually a guardian of hearts, and the person I thought a god, really the devil? Was that even possible?
No, he loves me, he loves me, I know it. I’m his prize, right?
My nipples look like gumdrops!
I have to talk to him!
She was making me doubt everything he ever said and did.

Though I’d given up hearing from him and doubted I would now, I cocooned myself in the covers with my phone and texted, Where the fuck are you? I’m freaking out beyond belief. Are you spanking Shayna today or not? I can kind of understand if you’re pissed at me for what I said or may have said when I was flipping out, but she doesn’t deserve to get snubbed. Please answer me. I need to talk to you. Today. Or it’s over. I’m done. I can’t hurt like this.

My phone chirped a few minutes later, and my stomach dropped. What if he just wrote, ‘
OK, bye’
? I was terrified to look, and peeked through a squint.

I’m not pissed at YOU. I’m pissed at myself. Get your sassy asses over here by noon. Be in skirts. Preferably short ones. Panties are fine with me. You may touch yourself, if you wish.

What? That’s it? There’s no, “Sorry, baby, for blowing you off for half a week after fucking you in the mud, forcing you to eat my cock, and making you crash under the rhythm of my floggers?” And why does he give a shit what I wear? Are we on or not? He was doing me this favor anyway, which seemed all the more giving of him now that I knew how sacred spanking was to him. And at least he was talking to me again and sounding somewhat back to normal with his flirty demands. He didn’t agree with the total destruction of our THIS and all our pretty boxes, so I had to be grateful for something, but I went from being crushed, worried and weepy to outright furious in a nanosecond.

I tapped out,
Yes, Sir,
but deleted it and stabbed him with,
Whatever, Logan. We’ll be there.
I ground my jaw. No way was he getting that title back until he fucking earned it. I hoped he’d call to give me some lovin’ and put me at ease. He didn’t, which only made me more pissed.

I showered, exfoliated and airbrushed my whole body, paying special attention to my legs and butt. Good and lightly golden, I brought Renee’s mirror over to the window to check out my backside in sunlight to be sure I didn’t miss any spots. The faint splotches of green and purple were masked by a subtle tan, like a fading holdout from summer. Perfect. My legs didn’t look uneven or splotchy from what I could tell, but I sprayed one more layer on the backs of my thighs to be sure.

Opening the window for a temp check, I found it pleasantly warm outside too, so I put on a paisley sundress, a white button-up sweater, and strappy heels.

When Shayna freshened up after her run, she put a short-sleeved sweater and a short skirt, well, short for her, landing three inches above her thigh. Her toned dancer body made her look sexy and sporty at the same time.

“Wear the wedges, Shay. Don’t be afraid to show off what you got. I wish I had sensational legs like that. Mine are celery stalks.”

“Whatever. Your legs are awesome. You’ve got about three inches on me. I’d take that little bit extra any day. ” Looking over her shoulder in the shoes I suggested, she checked her butt out in the mirror and flattened the front of her skirt with her palms. “You’re right. Love these shoes. I can never go wrong with more height. My
ass
looks pretty hot too.” She slapped her lips, then laughed at her swear.

I laughed. “Trash mouth. I won’t tell.”

We stepped out of Delta Gamma Manor, looking ready for that party at 11 o’clock in the morning. The cloudless, warm day promised good things, but I wasn’t so sure I could trust its proclamation.

Shay and I wolfed down coffee and donuts for late breakfast because she wanted something sweet and sugary. A
donut
kind of defeats the purpose of a run if you ask me. I’d go for healthier carbs, but whatever. We were sugared up, and she was all twitchy when I rang the bell at the Thorndike mansion.

I expected Geoffrey to greet us, but Logan did. My heart stopped. He looked sexy as fuck. His honey-colored hair was slicked back with volume. Jeans and a charcoal Henley with a white t-shirt peeking out at the collar adorned his sculpted body, as did the scent of a wealthy sea god. And his face was stern, not showing even a hint of his usual playfulness and light.

He was on the phone, kind of barking. He tucked his phone between his ear and shoulder, jerked up his sleeves to just below the elbow and waved us in. He took his cell in hand again and said, “Hold on,” to whomever he was talking to.

“Show her to the study, Addison,” he clipped. Hmph. That’s all I got? The only spoken words from him in days!

He returned to his phone call. My heart broke a little. Okay, a lot. I didn’t get a, “Hi,” or a wink. He was back to talking stock market crap or banking or something, so I was utterly lost on his stream of words to the caller but
not
his disregard of me.

“Whatever you say...
Logan
.” I glared at him, but he’d already turned his back on us. He could fucking talk to someone else on the phone but not me? What the hell! I seethed as I walked Shayna through the foyer and to the right. Following the 15' hall, we reached the study. It oozed manliness, smelling of pricey cigars, with a burgundy nail-head couch, a hound-chasing-a-fox picture behind it, a large mahogany desk and several leather accent chairs in jewel-tones. When we went in, I slammed the door and it rattled against the frame.

I loved the large arch widow with a garden view. It looked drab and gray out now, but it must be a spectacular site in spring. Though the house was far from the road, I wanted to ease her mind with some
perceived
privacy, so I dragged the large drape closed. I tested several wall switches until I found the one that turned on the rustic chandelier. “Are you nervous?” I stripped off my sweater because it wasn’t needed in the toasty room and draped it over the arm of the couch.

She nodded and wrung her hands together. “Mmm hmm. Very. He’s all...business.”

“Yeah, no shit.” I slouched in one of the accent chairs, crossed my arms and draped my leg over the armrest. She went to sit too, and I held up my hand to stop her. “Don’t. Just wait. He’ll tell you what he wants you to do.”

The clock ticked. She nibbled a nail. I watched flames wave in the fireplace. I itched to knock back a sip or two of the brandy or scotch that sat on a tray with some crystal glasses.

Shayna’s knees knocked and her breaths hitched at random when his footsteps, those damn clackity shoes, finally thumped down the hallway in our direction. She was staring at the door but quickly looked over her shoulder at me and cringed.

“It’ll be okay,” I mouthed.

She gasped and took a step back when Logan burst through the door like some maniac about to break a neck. Geez. She trembled so hard and clamped her legs together, making it look like she was about to pee at any moment.

He softened his gaze and held out his hand. “Sorry for the wait. Logan Thorndike. And you are?”

“Um, I’m, uh, Shayna.” She swept her hand through the strands of hair by her face, then shook his hand like a dead fish until he let go.

Even though she wasn’t that much shorter than me, she looked so small, quaking under his glare. “Do you have something to say to me,
Shayna
?”

She shuddered and crinkled her nose, wincing.

“Do you? I haven’t got all day.” His deep voice was like a clap of thunder.

Her breath splintered more, and she closed her eyes. Her shaking thrashed her so much, I thought she’d fall over. My stomach was wiggling just the same. “Yes. Um, I was one of the girls who chucked eggs at your house on Halloween, along with Addison. I wanted to, to uh, apologize to you, for trashing your home and for being stupid. I’m so sorry, Logan. Very sorry.” She looked down towards her shoes.

“And?”

She shrugged, shook her head, and shuffled her feet. “And, what?”

“Look up at me, right now.”

Her gaze shot up to him and her breaths started flying out double time. Ohmygosh. Was she a submissive too? Who else would be affected that way by an order? Maybe someone new in the military. Sure, she’s freaked because she’s about to get whacked, but still, I didn’t expect her to be so compliant and jumpy and eager to please. My mind buzzed that I could be right. Wouldn’t that just toss a wrench into her stance of purity? Not that she couldn’t
wait
for marriage to play it raunchy and wild, but she’ll probably be hard-pressed to find another kinky holy roller. Then again, that response could just be due to the fact that she thinks men have the right to rule the roost, and not necessarily because she’s a kinkster. Maybe she’s been groomed to submit or this is how her mom behaves with her dad.

“What else have you done? There’s clearly more on your mind.”

“There is.” I saw her lengthy gulp, and she rolled her lips in and pressed them together for two seconds. She rubbed her palms on her thighs. “Um, I, did bad things. I let people touch me at a party.”

“Touch you where?”

“On a bed in a mansion.”