Cin's Secret [Club Libertine 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

He was a supporter of Connor’s art as well, and he had several of his pieces hanging in the Whelan Corporation head office.

On the way home, they passed a small fair and stopped to check it out.

They ended up riding a carousel and ate cotton candy and soda. The men were concerned with her thinness and were constantly trying to feed her. And she loved it. She felt cared for.

But they’d kept their distance physically, doing no more than holding her hand when they were walking over some rough ground one day when they took her hiking, but other than chaste pecks on the cheek when they brought her home, she might have been dating eunuchs.

But her big sister had been right. For all the passion and lust at first sight, it was important to get to know each other outside of the bedroom if there was going to be a chance of the relationship working. She was relieved to find that she liked them as individuals as much as she was attracted to them. And their wonderful relationship with each other made her laugh and made her envious, too. Hopefully, she and Lindy could be that close. It wasn’t that they didn’t argue. They bickered with each other all the time, and she found that she was drawn into their arguments, sometimes taking one side and sometimes taking the other.

Sometimes it was them against her as she pushed back at what she called their “force feeding” and they complained that she wasn’t eating enough or tried to persuade her that long, loose clothing that hid her body from other men’s eyes would be a great plan.

She responded by wearing the skimpiest clothing possible when they took her to the gym to help build up her body tone, training her together, resulting in the other women in the club’s jealous looks, and Cindy had not one but two hot men guiding her.

And the brothers were horrified when her top had ridden up during one exercise and exposed her bullet wound. They’d noticed the scar when they made love to her, but in the darkened bedroom, they hadn’t realized just what it was. In the bright lights of the club, they could see the entrance and exit scars and almost caused a scene in the club when they realized what it was.

Liam ran his hand over the front of the scar while his brother touched the exit wound. He looked down at Cindy and the embarrassment on her face. Rather than milking her injury for sympathy, she seemed downright embarrassed that they’d seen it.

“I’ve never met anyone who’d been shot before. I don’t like it, not one bit.”

Cindy looked up at him, fearful.

“If you ever let yourself get shot again, I’m going to paddle your bottom good. You could have died.”

He felt himself go pale and sit down abruptly on the bench, pulling her to him and pressing his lips to the scar.

He could see she was embarrassed by the display in front of the other people at the gym, but luckily, at that hour of the day it wasn’t very crowded.

“I’m fine. Barely even a scar.” Cindy’s tone was reassuring as she stroked his hair. Connor pressed against her from the back. “It was just a flesh wound.”

“Connor, ‘it was just a flesh wound,’ she says. Does that reassure you?”

“Nope. Not one bit. Did they catch who did it, honey?”

She shook her head.

“It was kind of a war zone. There’s no way of knowing just who did it.”

“Kind of a war zone? What the hell were you doing in a war zone?”

“Penance.” She pulled away from them. “Time for a shower. I don’t want to be late for work.”

Liam watched her hurry away, realizing that there was a lot about Cindy that they didn’t know. He thought back to their conversations during the past week. She’d spent a lot of time quizzing him and Connor but had neatly dodged their questions. Or maybe they hadn’t pushed hard enough. She’d told them funny stories about her life, especially stories about the mistakes she’d made, but she had never said much about the last three years, other than to say she’d been involved in charity work.

“Connor, she keeps trying to pretend to be superficial, but our Cindy is one hell of a woman.”

“Yeah, she keeps beating herself up for old mistakes, but I’d say she’s punished herself more than enough. Maybe we should tell Lindy to cancel the public punishment.”

“No, I think she needs this. I think she needs to publicly atone to show Lindy the type of person she’s become and to officially be able to start over.”

“But Liam, Jake is known as the Master of Pain.”

“I know. But Jake won’t hurt Lindy’s sister more than she needs. If he holds back too much, she’ll feel like she’s avoided paying her debt to her sister, and she won’t be able to move on.”

“You are right, bro, but I hate the thought of her being hurt again. Damn it, she’s been shot. Isn’t that enough?”

“I feel that way, too, but it is clear that she doesn’t and that’s what matters most. But if someone has to whip her, I’m glad it’s Jake. You know that he’ll be careful. She’s going to be his sister-in-law.”

“You are right, big brother, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Me neither, but we’ll be there to care for her afterwards. Whether she knows it or not, she belongs with us, and Saturday night, we show her.”

As the days passed, Cindy found herself dreading Saturday. What if after her punishment, the twins didn’t want her anymore? But if that was the case, why were they spending so much time with her? Or maybe that was part of their diabolical plan, make her fall in love with them and then reject her. That would be a fitting punishment she deserved. But things were going so well with Lindy. She went back and forth and around and around until she thought her head was going to explode.

It wasn’t made any easier after one night when Jake was in his “Master of Pain” mode, whipping a sub, much to the delight of the sub and her master. She was both shocked and fascinated watching him bring the sub to climax just by using his whip.

She couldn’t see him giving her an orgasm, though. It would be like cheating on Lindy. She knew the “Master of Pain” would go hard on her, and she deserved every lash. She’d take her punishment without protest and make Lindy proud.

* * * *

And then it was Saturday. Cindy’s stomach felt like it was tied up in knots. She looked at the clock again. Not even midnight. Her punishment was set for 1:00 a.m. Serena was going to watch the desk with Zack while everyone else gathered in the main room of the club. Her punishment was going to happen on the main stage with the entire membership watching.

“How are you holding up?”

Cindy almost jumped out of her skin. It was Jake, of course, curse his quiet walk.

“I’m terrified. I want to make Lindy proud. I want to show her and the twins that I’m not going to run anymore.”

“But you really want to run.”

“You have no idea how much.”

“I know more than you think about wanting to run away and hide. In fact, not long after your sister and I got together, I panicked. I convinced myself that we were no good together, and I ran. Your sister came after me and talked sense into me.”

“You ran? But you are so strong, and you and Lindy are so amazing together.”

“We all feel like running sometimes, Cindy. Even the strongest of us. And physical strength is no match for self-doubt. Some time I’ll tell you the story of my first marriage. But for now, just remember that it’s your inner strength that will get you through this. You managed three years in a war zone. I can’t think that your sister and a few Doms and a bunch of club members are enough to scare you off.”

Cindy reached out to put her hand on Jake’s.

“I’m not running any more. I’m going to stand up in public and apologize and take my punishment and let the chips fall where they may. No more running. I promise.”

Jake smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m going to be proud to call you sister-in-law. Now I’ve got to go get the stage set up for your punishment and decide which whip to use.” He winked at her. “Any preference?”

“Licorice?” she asked hopefully.

Jake burst into laughter, his whole body shaking. “I may have to look into that for future punishments. I have a feeling you may need a lot of correction. I’ll discuss it with the twins.”

* * * *

Serena helped her get ready while Zack watched the desk. She wasn’t wearing much, just a snug leather corset with D-rings along the sides, that left her boobs exposed almost to the nipples and a skimpy thong that left her whole ass on display. All the better to whip it, she supposed.

Serena guided her out of the change room. Lindy was waiting for her, dressed quite similarly, but her corset covered her breasts a bit more, and she was wearing a short tight skirt below the corset. Cindy gazed on it with envy.

“Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“It’ll be all right. Trust me.”

“I do.”

The sisters hugged. Cindy looked up at her big sister and smiled. “I’m done running from my actions, because as the saying goes, ‘wherever you go, there you are.’ I know I can’t run from me. From now on, I’m going to work hard to be a good person, but if I mess up, and I’m sure I will, I’m not going anywhere, even if it means I’ll be living perpetually with a sore ass.”

Lindy laughed and took her hand. “It’s time.”

They walked through the door, and the crowd parted. It looked like everyone she’d met all week had made it a point to be there for her punishment. She didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing. There had to be a couple hundred people jammed in. It was probably a fire hazard or something. Maybe she should say something.

She opened her mouth, but closed it again. It was just going to be another excuse, another way to get out of a punishment. Jake would never let the club get overcrowded. She just had to suck it up.

She glanced up as she walked past Mr. and Mrs. Trent, who smiled at her. So did the Arnolds. And the new Dom Luke and his trainee sub who knelt at his feet, winking up at her. In fact, everyone looked happy to see her. It was confusing. Were they happy to see her punishment? Maybe they were always excited like this.

She couldn’t help herself. She looked around. She’d never been in the main club before. She was always out front behind the desk during business hours. It was much bigger than she expected. She could see the bar and the seating area and the smaller side stages, but no one was there. They were all gathered around the main stage where Jake stood beside what she knew to be a spanking bench.

Lindy walked her up the steps and had her kneel in front of Jake, who was wearing full Dom gear. She stared at the knees of his leather pants, waiting.

“Look up, sub.”

She looked up. He was really an impressive-looking man. It wasn’t just his physical stature or the way the leather cuffs and vest set off his impressive muscles, but it was in his manner, too. He could have been a ninety-eight pound weakling, and still people would have still stopped to listen when he spoke.

“You are surrounded today by the members of Club Libertine who are here to witness your contrition and your punishment. Your transgressions are as follows. One, you hurt your sister Lindy and then you ran away rather than face her. For three years, you didn’t contact her, leaving her to wonder if you were dead or alive, well or sick. For the worry you caused her, you will face my lash.

“Transgression two is more recent. You lied to your Doms. You tried to use them to punish yourself for your guilt over your sister. And then you pushed them away, planning to run again, rather than admitting that you cared for them.

“For these sins, you are going to apologize in front of everyone and then take your punishment. Do you understand and accept this sentence?”

“I do.”

“Then apologize.”

“Lindy, I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I’m sorry for hurting you, and I’m sorry for running away. I promise in the future to be a better sister to you and to Jake and to never run away again.

“Connor, Liam. We’ve only known each other a short time, but I’ve managed to hurt you two as well. I tried to use you for a night to assuage my own guilty feelings by trying to get you to punish me, and, instead, I fell hard for you both. If you want me to be your sub again, I’d be honored. Or if you feel that I have to earn that privilege back, I’ll do whatever it takes to regain your trust and, eventually, your love.”

She looked at Jake.

“I’m ready to accept my punishment.”

“Still not getting the whole sub thing, is she?” Jake laughed and the whole crowd chuckled along with him. “A good sub waits for her master to tell her what to do. She doesn’t get to decide when she should be punished or how.”

Cindy lowered her eyes. She was a failure.

“Connor, Liam. Are you really sure you want to take on such an undisciplined sub?”

Cindy looked up and around, her eyes alighting on Connor and Liam. They were dressed like Jake was, their blond hair shining in the light, their muscles on display in their vests.

“Let’s see how she takes her punishments.”

She waited expectantly, but they didn’t move. It was Duncan who guided her to her feet and over to the spanking bench. Gently, he bent her over it. Her breasts popped out of the corset and hung off the edge of the bench, dangling free. Then he attached the restraints to her arms and torso, using the D-rings on the corset to hold her snugly in place.