Wanting It All (The Passion Series Book 1) (16 page)

Markus snorts loudly as he lets loose with an unbelieving scoff.  “Oh, for Christ’s sake.  You’re losing it, Lukus.  Brianna hated how he abused her, how he hurt her.  She hates pain.”

“She hates uncontrolled pain.  She hates being subjected to pain from someone who doesn’t love or protect her, but I watched her come twice since last night from nothing more than a strong belting on her ass and pussy.   She hit sub-space faster than any sub I’ve ever trained.  It really was amazing.”

“Shut the fuck up.”  Markus looks as if his friend is trying to sell him the Brooklyn Bridge.

“Why would I lie, Markus?  Think about last night when you were fucking her up in the balcony.   I arrived in time to realize she was coming completely unglued when you were controlling her and fucking her like the Dom you really are.  Don’t get me wrong.  Brianna isn’t even close to a full-timer for the lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t submissive.  I’ve seen how strong she can be and I actually admire it, but I’m here to tell you there’s a part of herself she’s been trying to suppress - a part that only Jake’s dominance filled for her.   She didn’t know how to tell you and because you kept the fact you were a Dom secret from her, she never had a clue you might actually understand.  She’s starving for your strength, Markus.   And that doesn’t mean she wants you to flip over to the way you were with Georgie.  In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you have both extremes down pat.  What you need to do now is blend the two parts of you into one strong Dom who protects his submissive, dominates his submissive, cherishes his submissive, disciplines and loves his submissive.”

Markus is shaking his head in disbelief.  “I can’t believe it.”

Lukus has an idea of how to convince his friend of the truth.  “Bri mentioned she likes to read romance novels.  Where does she keep her books and does she read much around you?”

“Oh, hell yes.  She constantly has her nose in her iPad, reading some romance novel or another.  She tries to put it down when I’m home to spend more time with me, but on the weekends, I catch her reading all the time.  Why?”

“Did you ever take the time to notice what she was reading?”

“Why the hell would I care?  What guy wants to read romance novels?”

“Where’s her iPad?  I’ll show you why you should have cared.”

Markus stumbles to the kitchen and comes back carrying both Brianna’s iPad along with a bottle of water for Lukus.  “Here, but I have no idea what this is supposed to prove.”

“What it’s going to prove is what’s at the heart of your problem with both Bri and even Georgie,” Lukus says, bringing up the book application on Brianna’s device. “Being a Dom means you need to constantly be looking for ways to understand your sub.  By their nature, most subs are not able to ask for what they want.  They need us to pick up on the subtle cues, about what they want and need.  It’s how they build trust in their Doms.  If they knew how to demand what they needed, they’d be a Domme for Christ’s sake.  Brianna basically told me that in so many words today.”

Lukus takes a few minutes to scroll through the books stored on Brianna’s iPad.  In addition to many popular erotic novels with strong, dominant heroes, several others jump out at Lukus as hard-core submissive fare. 

“Anne Rice’s
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
.” Lukus turns the device around so Markus can see the cover. That’s about as graphic a D/s story as you can read.” He changes apps. “Let’s look at her browser history.”

He taps the screen. “See, Markus. The iPad is full of visits to sites dedicated to domestic discipline.”

Lukus hands the iPad over to Markus, who spends a few minutes looking through the books his wife has been reading.  He opens
The Claiming of Beauty
to the page-mark that Bri had left the book on and takes a few minutes to read about how a naked Beauty was led by leash into the Great Hall of the Palace on her hands and knees before being publicly displayed for all of the royal subjects to touch, caress or punish.  

He goes to the next bookmarked page and Markus clearly can’t believe what he’s reading.  His eyes widen when he realizes it’s a scene in which Beauty is strung naked from a hook in the ceiling and beaten before being fucked by the prince.”

Markus is finally starting to understand how blind he’s been these last three years, and Lukus can see a spark of excitement as his friend realizes there might be a possibility of his beautiful Brianna wanting a D/s lifestyle. 

“Is it too late?  Did I screw this up beyond repair?”

Lukus grins at his friend.  “Not by a long shot.  She’s been waiting for you to claim her just like the Prince claimed Beauty.”  Then Lukus gets suddenly serious.  “And honestly, Markus.  If you don’t make this right with her, I really worry about her.  With her tolerance for pain, if she goes out to troll for a new Dom at the clubs, she could really get hooked up with another Jake who could end up killing her.  She won’t safe word out with her high tolerance for pain.   She needs special care.”

“Over my dead body,” Markus growls.  “She’s
mine
.  No one else is ever going to fucking touch her again.”  Markus stares into his friend’s eyes before issuing his warning.  “And that includes you, Lukus.  I can hear it in your voice.  You want to fuck my wife.”

Lukus laughs.  “Hell yes, I want to fuck your wife.  Have you seen her lately?  She’s fucking hot.  You have no idea how great you and James have it.  You lucky bastards get to have it all.  You get the wife, the submissive.  Hell, you’ll even have her popping out babies before you know it.   She’s smart and the perfect balance of submission and strength.  You’re rich and successful.  You’re one of the privileged few who gets to have it all in life.  Don’t
screw this up ever again because the next time you do, I won’t be coming out here to help you figure it out.  I’ll be stealing her away on a plane.  I’ll take her far away from here and believe me - I’ll know how to give her what she needs.  Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

Markus should be pissed, but he starts to grin at his friend’s warning as it dawns on him how very much he owes Lukus.  “That sounds like a threat.”

Lukus grins back.  “Hell, no.  It’s a promise.”

After an awkward moment, Lukus walks to his friend and offers his hand for a shake.  Instead, Markus reaches and pulls his best friend into an awkward embrace. “Thanks so much for coming out here and knocking some sense into me.  Seriously, I really can’t thank you enough.”

“Any time, bro.  You dug my ass out of the fire this week too.  It’s only fair I repay the favor.”

Markus sighs as they step back from one another. “So now what?  Do I just come down and collect her and say ‘Oops, sweetheart.  I made a mistake’?”

Lukus laughs out loud.  “I have a better idea and I think it’s going help you put your fear of her ever cheating on you again to rest for good.   It might be a bit tricky, but I think we can pull it off.”

The men stop their planning session when they hear a vibration coming from nearby.  They spread out trying to find the source of the noise and Lukus is first to locate Markus’ wayward phone. 

“Jesus Christ, Markus.  At least now I know why you weren’t answering your phone.  You don’t even have the ringer on.  It says you’ve missed four calls from me, one from your office and… for Christ’s sake.  You’ve missed six phone calls, two voicemails and over a dozen text messages from Tiffany.  I think she really wants to talk with you.”

Markus’ face gets dark.  “That damn woman lied to me yesterday, too.  I feel like I’ll never be able to trust her ever again.  It’s clear she’ll lie for Brianna.”

Lukus laughs at his friend.  “Well of course she did.  What kind of a real friend wouldn’t have lied to you under these circumstances?   If it makes you feel any better, Bri told me Tiffany was furious with her yesterday for putting her in that terrible position.  I guess Tiffany hates Jake with a passion and she was furious with Bri for even considering leaving the salon with him.”

“I guess that’s some consolation, although I’m still pissed.  I assume Tiff is worried about Bri since she was a no-show at the salon today and she has no way of getting ahold of Bri since Bri left her cell phone in the car last night.  She’s going to go ballistic when she finds out I know about Jake.”

The men head into the kitchen to grab sandwiches and a cold beer.  They spend the next thirty minutes planning how to get Brianna back home where she can be both comforted and punished by her husband and Dom. Markus knows he needs to punish her himself so they can put her infidelity behind them once and for all.  

Tiffany phones two more times while they’re in the kitchen.  Finally on the last call, Markus decides it’s time to answer.  He puts the call on speaker so Lukus can hear both sides.

He doesn’t even answer with a hello. “Tiffany, you need to stop calling me.”  His voice is hard.

“Oh, thank God you answered.  Markus, I think something terrible happened to Brianna.  She didn’t show up at the salon this morning and she isn’t even answering her cell phone.  This is so unlike her.  I’m really worried.”

“You’re right about one thing, Tiff.  Something really terrible did happen to Brianna.  Her husband found out she was fucking around on the side with her ex-boyfriend.”

“Oh, no.  Markus… you have to...”

“I don’t have to do shit, Tiff.   Brianna made her choices and now she’s going to have to live with those choices.  You made yours too, didn’t you?  You flat out lied to me when I called you.”

Lukus can hear her crying on the other end of the phone.  “Markus, please.   I’m so sorry.  I wanted so bad to tell you the truth because I’m so worried about Bri.   Jake is so dangerous.  He’s hurt her so bad before and it scares the shit out of me.”

“I need to go.  Stop calling me.”

“But, I need,” Markus ends the call before he can hear the rest of her plea.

“Well, you were pretty hard on her considering she wasn’t the one who cheated on you.”  Lukus isn’t sure why, but he’s bothered by how that call went down. 

“Butt out.  Tiffany was our maid-of-honor.  She’s supposed to be there for us, and our marriage.  She should have talked some sense into Brianna instead of covering for her.”

“Okay, if you say so.  I’m going to head back to the club and get things set in motion for our plan.  You need to seriously take a shower and clean yourself up before you head down.  You look like shit man.”

“Gee, thanks.”

As the men open the door to head out, Lukus sees an attractive woman barreling up the front walkway. He assumes by the mascara running down her cheeks that this must be Tiffany. Lukus can’t help but notice how snugly the casual knit, low-cut wrap-around dress she’s wearing hugs her curves.  While she focuses on confronting Markus, he takes a minute to blatantly check her out from head to toe, admiring her long legs, well-rounded ass and firm, tits.

“Markus, I’m so sorry I lied to you.  Really I am, but I need to see Bri right away.  You can’t keep her from me.”  Tiff tries to push past Markus, but he easily stops her in her tracks.  Lukus moves shoulder to shoulder with Markus, helping to block her entrance to the house.  “I mean it.  Let me past so I can go find Bri.” 

Lukus decides to jump into the fray. “What makes you think Brianna is even here?”

The look of sheer terror on her face almost guts him.  “What do you mean? Where else could she be?  Oh, my God.  Jake didn’t hurt her, did he?”

Lukus watches as Tiffany panics.  In that moment, he knows Brianna’s fear that her best friend might desert her is completely off base.  He can see Tiffany is as loyal as friends come and for some reason, Lukus finds himself proud of her for standing up for Brianna in the face of two towering, pissed off men. 

“I think Jake should be the least of your worries,” Lukus says. “Or hers, for that matter.”

Tiffany had been addressing Markus until this point, but now she turns to look at Lukus for the first time.   Lukus almost chuckles as he sees the range of emotions crossing her expressive face.  He fights the urge to reach out to wipe the mascara from her cheeks with the pad of his thumb.  He sees her worry turning into fear and then finally, curiosity.  “Who are you and what have you done with Brianna?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, baby?”

“Don’t
baby
me, asshole.  I want to see Bri and I want to see Bri now” she snaps back quickly.

“Or what?”

“Or… or… damn it… just let me talk to Brianna.”

Lukus starts laughing outright at how flustered Tiffany has become.   He has to fight down the urge to stay and have fun toying with her, but he has a lot of arrangements to make back at the club.  “Sorry, sweetheart, but you’ll need to stay and duke this out with Markus.”  He turns to his friend.  “Call me when you’re headed down, okay?”

“Sure thing. And Lukus, thanks again.”  Markus reaches out to shake hands with his friend.

Lukus reaches out to meet his friend’s strong grip. “Any time.  Turn on your damn phone so I can get through to you if I need to.  See you later.”   With his goodbyes done, he turns to head to his car, but Tiffany has moved as if to block his departure.

She has the look of a mama bear protecting her cub.  “You aren’t going anywhere until you two tell me where Brianna is.  I need to know she’s safe.”

Lukus’ face breaks into a wide grin as he steps forward placing him a mere inch away from Tiffany.  He towers over her by nearly six inches in spite of her two-inch heels.   He takes a minute to drink in the view of her curly, long blond hair before he decides to reach out and roughly pull her hard against him.  He can’t resist lacing his left hand through her silky hair to hold her neck tightly, tilting her head and forcing her to look up to meet his dominating stare.   His right hand wraps around her lower back, pulling her swiftly into full contact with his rock hard body.   Lukus is almost brought to his knees by the mere scent of her.   He finds himself mesmerized as he watches her struggling with her emotions as he stares deep into her unique, ocean-blue eyes.