Sophie Oak - Siren Beloved

“Was it worth it? Did it make you forget what happened?”

Aidan forced himself to smile. Arguing with Lucas would get him nowhere. “No. Like I said, I woke up in that bed, and all I wanted was the two of you. I called.”

Lucas’s face went white. “I know. You think I’m not feeling that right now? You called, and I hung up on you.”

Aidan finally did what he’d wanted to do for years. He cupped Lucas’s face and let himself feel that skin against his hand. “I deserved it. I would have hung up on me, too.”

Lucas pulled away, but not after his eyes had closed slightly as though he reveled in the contact. He took a step back, those emerald eyes hooding as he looked down. Aidan had put a shirt on, but he knew Lucas was remembering the scars on his body.

“I should have…it doesn’t matter now, Aidan. I need to understand why you’re here and what you want. I need to know why you didn’t just talk to me. That whole deception out there in the dungeon doesn’t help your case.”

Aidan eased back onto his barstool. “I think it does. Look Lucas, I know the lifestyle you’ve always wanted. You want a ménage, and you want a Dom.”

A bitter little huff came out of Lucas’s mouth. “Yes, I believe I mentioned that before. That conversation didn’t go well.”

“I know. I was an ass. I didn’t really get it. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed our night together. God, the word enjoy cheapens it. I loved it. It was the closest I’ve ever felt to anyone, but it was counter to everything I’d been taught. I understand more now. I get it.”

“Just like that?” Lucas held his hands out, obviously waiting for a much better explanation.

“Fuck, no. Not just like that. I had to go through a lot to get here, but I did it, and I’m standing and walking because I love you and Lexi. I’m not going anywhere, Lucas. I’ll be here at this club every day until you listen to me. I’ll let everything else go, the ranch, my brother, my friends, none of it matters if I can’t prove to you and Lexi that I am the man for you.”

“It’s going to take something more than you lying to me.”

Aidan sat forward, unwilling to take on that sin. “I didn’t lie. I followed every rule and code of conduct this club has. I trained and was approved by both the Dom in residence and the owner. I’ve spent countless hours training.”

“I bet you did. That must have been fun.”

That little lurid huff in his voice got Aidan’s back up. “No, sub, it wasn’t fun. You will respect me while we’re in this club. Or have you forgotten the contract you signed?”

“I signed that contract under false pretenses. I would never have signed a contract with you, Aidan.”

“Nevertheless, you signed it, and you owe me the respect you would give any Dom. As for having fun, I suspect you’re accusing me of cheating on you and Lexi. I haven’t put my dick in anyone the entire time we’ve been apart. Can you say the same?”

Lucas’s eyes came up. “Are you kidding me?”

“I have been utterly faithful, even when I was walking away.”

“I don’t understand you.” Lucas scrubbed a hand through his hair, his frustration easy to read.

“You will. Just give me a chance.”

Lucas’s cell phone trilled. He pulled it out. “Lexi.” He turned away, leaving Aidan feeling left out. When he finally turned back there was a stricken look on his face. “Lexi was supposed to go up to our suite.”

Aidan knew exactly what was coming. Lexi had always been a hellcat. She’d never taken anything lying down. “She left, I take it?”

Lucas nodded. “She went home, but someone broke in. She says it’s bad.”

Aidan popped off the barstool. This he could handle. “Then we should go get her and bring her back to where she’s supposed to be.”

Lucas sighed. “It’s not that easy with Lexi.”

Aidan felt his blood start to pump again. Lucas was the one he had to play slow and easy. Lexi was a different type altogether. They had always been fiery. Lexi liked to yell and fight, and submit as sweet as a kitten when he’d finally won the battle. “That’s what I like about it, Lucas. And she will do what I say in the end. I promise you.”

Aidan could have sworn Lucas breathed a sigh of relief as they started for the parking garage.

Lexi kicked at her sofa. It was in utter ruins. It was the perfectly awful end to a perfectly awful day. And now her damn head was pounding. Fuck. She shouldn’t have called Lucas, but it had been instinctive. Something bad had happened, and she pulled Lucas in.

Lucas was going to kill her. She went into the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth. Maybe he wouldn’t notice. She’d only had three shots of tequila. She’d been so pissed off at her stepfather and Aidan and Julian. Even Leo had been in on it. She’d meant to go up to the suite, but she just hadn’t been able to force herself inside. Aidan was obviously staying in The Club, and he probably had the damn key to the place. He seemed to have taken over everything else. The last thing she’d wanted was another confrontation with him. She’d gotten dressed and walked out of The Club. Her anger had been brewing, simmering just below the surface. Her stepfather’s accusations had really pissed her off. She’d decided to show him. She was an adult, not some kid. If she wanted a drink, she could have one. So she’d stopped at a bar across the street from The Club before hopping on the Blue Line and heading home.

Then she’d walked up to her apartment only to find someone had kicked the door in and trashed the place. They’d taken a knife to her couch and smashed her TV. The mirror in the entryway was smashed and her plants were all over the floor. She hadn’t thought at all. She’d just called Lucas. Maybe she should have called the cops and left Lucas out of it.

Her hands were shaking. All of Jack’s words were coming back to her now. Was she really so self-destructive? She looked in the mirror. There were dark smudges under her eyes. She hadn’t even bothered to clean herself up. When had she let everything go? Lexi quickly washed her face, trying to forget. She knew the day it had happened. It was burned in her brain, but knowing didn’t seem to stop her. Maybe she did need rehab.

“What the hell? Lexi?” Lucas’s voice rang out. Lexi could hear his panic.

“I’m fine,” she called out.

She took a towel to her face. The bathroom door swung open. Lucas wasn’t a great believer in privacy these days. When had she gone from being a partner to being a burden?

“What are you doing here? Where are the cops? What the hell happened?” Lucas spat the questions out like a rapid-fire pistol, his hands cupping her shoulders. He looked her over as if discerning whether or not she was physically fine.

Lexi let her eyes slide away from his, hoping he didn’t see too much. “I found it like this.”

“And you just decided to hang out? What if they had still been here?”

Lexi heard another voice coming from her living room. This one was deep and authoritative. “Yes, I need someone out here. My girlfriend’s apartment has been broken into.”

“I’m not your girlfriend!” Lexi shouted at Aidan. What was he doing here?

Lucas stood in her way, shaking his head. “That’s not helpful, Lexi.”

“Maybe, but it’s true.” The fact that Aidan was here in her apartment made her a little restless.

Suddenly Aidan was standing in the doorway, his big, muscular body taking up all the space. He was taller than Lucas, but he seemed so much bigger as he stared down at her, a stern frown on his face. She could believe the man in front of her had been a soldier.

“Would you have preferred I announced to the 911 operator that my submissive’s apartment had been robbed? I chose to forgo an explanation of D/s relationships in favor of something she would understand.”