Queen (Mistress & Master of Restraint) (102 page)

Marcus curls around Jamie and me. Both of us are so relieved that he’s alive that we can’t push him from our lives because we know what it’s like to live without him.

“Why?” I ask Jamie but Marcus answe
rs.

“He couldn’t be Grant and live. Grant couldn’t handle life. Jamie can. I can’t explain it, but I understand it. Whitt’s always known that he killed himself. That’s why he calls him a coward. Cora called Grant, and when he got there she was already dead. He disfigured his face and drank the poison. He called me, but I didn’t know what he’d done. The FBI delayed me and I was too late. He was dead when I got there. I never wanted you to know, but Ezra said you’d never heal and move on if you didn’t know the truth. This was the last secret I held back from you. I wanted to save you from more pain.”

Marcus and Jamie untie my arms and leg. I sit up and wrap my arms around my legs to hide my nakedness. Jamie immediately pulls a pair of pajama bottoms and a t-shirt from a dresser drawer and hands them to me. I struggle into his clothes. The instant his scent wafts up I sob.

Jamie grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. He waits a moment to make sure I won’t look away and then nods.

I’d kill myself again. I’d do it to get rid of the pain. Pain I’ve caused all of you, but it wouldn’t change anything and you’d still hurt. I have to live with the mistakes Grant’s made. I’ve learned from the last time. I want to live. I want to see my children. I didn’t mean to kill myself. I just wanted a new life. I fucked up, and you paid the price. I will never do it again. I promise. I don’t expect forgiveness. It wasn’t about you or the kids or our family. It wasn’t about Marcus. It was all about Grant. He was a selfish coward. I am Jamie now and I am not a coward. I will prove it eventually.

Jamie kisses me fiercely. His fingers yank my hair and he bites my lip. He pulls away and mouths, “I love you.” He grabs his clothes and angrily stalks from the room.

“Is he mad at me,” I whimper.

“No, he’s mad at himself. He’s always mad at himself. He brings a whole new level to martyr. He could give Ezra a run for his money.”

Marcus holds me for a long time as we both weep.

“I’ll take you home to your husband and kids,” Marc says hollowly.

“Hold me tonight. No promises. I just need you to hold me tonight.” My voice quivers in need and longing.

“Regina, all you ever have to do is ask,” he smiles brilliantly. “This is the first time you’ve ever asked. For future reference, it makes a man feel like a man when his woman asks him for help.
Try it out on Whitt sometime.”

He smiles at me and gives me a half-hug. 

Chapter Thirty-Five

Emotions taint the air choking me- malevolence. An evil flows through Restraint tonight. I don’t want to be here and I didn’t want any of my people here either. None of us have time to enter the dungeon anymore. We spend our nights policing the patrons. Every Master and submissive and even a handful of members are scattered around the club.

The more publicity the Zeitlers and Whittenhowers receive the more popular Restraint becomes. People flock in droves from states away to get a peek at the infamous Masters of Restraint. I’ve yet to figure out how this benefits Diane and Daniel’s endgame. They wrote that disastrous book and put themselves in it, and then blamed it on my sister. It’s no wonder Ade refuses to speak.

The new clientele is dangerous. They didn’t come here because of their interest in the lifestyle. They want fifteen minutes of fame, and they’ll do anything to gain it. Alcohol flows like water creating a volatile mix. The riot police have been called out four times already. I spend most of my time kicking the shit out of drunken douchebags out in the alley. I have a master’s degree and own a billion dollar corporation, and here I am playing bouncer to the next generation of rich kids and assholes.

I will give Diane credit. She’s a master at manipulation and coercion. Somehow she’s managed to drive off our security force- every fucking time. We only have ten security personnel on the books and by morning it will be only five. Tomorrow morning Aaron and I will have to hire another batch, just as we’ve had to do for the past forty-five mornings.

I barely make time to brush my teeth anymore. I don’t know the last time I ate or slept. The bags underneath my eyes say it’s been a while, and my loose pants say I need a cheeseburger and some
Oreos
.

Kristal, Fate, and Heidi are our bartenders. Roman stands behind the bar with his arms crossed over his chest. He looks like a pissed off Mayan God protecting the innocent sacrifices. Syn and I flank the bar and it’s still not enough. A hundred feet spans us- a hundred feet of drunken chaos.

“Get your hands off my woman,” is slurred from my half of the bar.
I seek Roman’s eyes and tilt my chin asking for help.

“Help,
” a high-pitched squeal calls.

I run and find a huge male with his hands in someone else’s cookie jar. The guy is bigger than Aaron, and his hand disappears underneath a girl’s skirt. Her boyfriend isn’t much bigger than she is and he can’t do a damned thing about it. I close my eyes and do my duty.
I don’t speak. I crank my arm back and punch the fucktard in the kidneys. He cries out and falls to his knees.

“Monica,” I say into the walkie-talkie.
“Code yellow. They’ll be waiting at the bar. Jersey girl and Bieber- both are crying. ”

“Thirty seconds, Boss,” statically rumbles. 

Roman and I haul the trash out while Monica takes the couple’s information. I don’t allow crime in my club. This will be reported.

We drop him on the ground and we make sure he lands in the oil-slick puddle th
at’s filled with drunken piss.

“I’m getting t
oo old for this shit,” I sigh.

I dig around the big guy’s po
ckets until I find his wallet.

“Chaz… why am I not surprised.
Your parents wanted you to grow up to be an asshole with a name like that.”

I take his ID and toss his wallet on his rumpled form. On the way out of the club I may have accidently-on-purpose hit his head on the door jam. He’s knocked out cold.

“Jane,” I shout to the homeless lady that takes up residence in our alley. “Watch him until PD gets here and you can keep all his cash.” I count the bills and smirk. “Three hundred and sixty-two bucks.” 

Jane makes more money in a night than most people make in a week. Our last homeless person, Frank, was able to return to the straight and narrow. Roman and I dump at least five guys out here a night. I always give the watcher all the cash. Jane fought another homeless person for the right to claim our alley as her territory. We have five more waiting to replace Jane.

It’s wild kingdom inside Restraint and Fight Club outside.  I’ve tried to help the homeless by finding them places at Transcend, but the fuckers just wander back like stray puppies.

“I need a drink,” Roman complains and
drags me back inside the club.

“I could use a nap. My office is calling me,” I say in exhaustion. “I can’t keep
this pace up for much longer.”

“We need to hire thirty people so we can take a week off. I’d settle for eight hours,” he grumbles as we walk passed my office door and stare at it in lust.

“I do, Roman. I hire twenty people every damned morning and by ten p.m. I’m down to five. Those five guys have been with us since we opened. This city is the biggest in the country, but the pool is getting shallow. I’m thinking about hiring people off the street and offering them a grand a night as long as they stay ‘til closing.”

“Jesus,” he hisses.

“You didn’t hear this from me… We’re thinking of closing.”

“What!” he shouts.

“Permanently or until we get our shit together- doesn’t matter to me either way. That is if we can even get our shit together. I suggested that we just find a property and make it an exclusive club. It would alleviate this bullshit. Ezra’s being sentimental. But did you notice that Ezra isn’t here?
I’m a family man
,” I mimic Dr. Lunatic. “I’m a wife and a mother of two, who’s raising her two nieces. I own a business. But I’m here running his business while he hides with his tail between his legs. Marcus too! The demon stalking us is their responsibility. I’m pissed that they sit across from her at the breakfast table while I’m hiring new employees, and before lunch she’s found each and every one of them. She loves this game we play.”

“What do you e
xpect them to do, Sweetheart?”

“Fork her… spoon her… I don’t give a
fuck, just lock her in a room away from a telephone so I can keep my employees. What I don’t expect them to do is hold a conversation with her while eating eggs benedict. Benedict is right- Benedict Arnold- the whole lot of them.”

I stalk down the hall in a mood and a wave of violence hits me like a semi.

“Fuck me up the ass with a Barbie doll,” I say in awe when I see the melee before me.
“What?” Roman snorts and then his eyes turn as hard as diamonds. “Good luck, Sweetheart. Let’s break some skulls.”

I charge off into the riot and grab the first fist-wielding asshole I find. I yank a wiry guy off of two girls who are screaming like cats.

“Dexter,” Syn’s scream cuts through the air and pierces me. I’ve never heard that tone from her throat.

I run to the bar, ducking and weaving through the crowd. Anyone who gets into my way gets elbowed, and I could give a shit less. I hurdle another fight. These assholes can take care of themselves. I’m not here for them anyway. I’m here to protect my people from them.

I cry out when I see Fate on the ground with two men riding her. One is ripping her dress off and the other is going for her panties. Fingers trespass without invitation and I turn into a wild animal. The hundred foot bar is too long. I curse under my breath as Syn tries to take on one of the guys who’s violating her sister. He tosses the ninety pound sadist, and I cry out again when her head hits the bar.

The flash of bare flesh makes my skin run cold. I yank him by the back of the neck a split-second before he rapes my submissive. I distantly see Dexter taking care of the second man.

I am fury. All I know is the man beneath my fist. I feel no pain as my hand splits his skin like over-ripened fruit beneath the force of my punch.

“Syn,” Dexter screams and shakes her. “Get Fate to her room and shower with her, comfort her. I have to get our girl off of that asshole before she commits homicide.”

I know I’m the
our girl
, but I don’t care. I want to commit homicide. It’ll be justifiable. My partner’s the fucking DA. If he can’t save me from a life in prison then he doesn’t deserve me.

Syn picks up her sister and carries her away. I sigh in relief, but I’m not finished rearranging this guy’s internal organs.

“Regina,” Dexter shouts and I ignore him.

A moan draws my attention to the guy Dexter punished. I hop off my prey and mount the one that Dexter took out.

“She was mine to protect,” I keen. Fate… poor, innocent Fate. It’s all my fault. “Where’s Kris? It’d be my luck that both my girls are hurt,” I moan. I pray for their safety as I take my frustrations out on the unconscious man beneath me.

“Shit,” Dexter hisses under his breath but I hear it and it makes my blood run cold.

“Pretty boy’s got Kris, Heidi, and Kayla taken care of. Stop beating on him,” Dexter tries to reason with me.

“No,” I growl and punch the fallen man in the nuts. He screams and I can’t help the manic smile that slides across my face. His screams make me feel alive. I’ve never felt closer to nature as I let my instincts run wild. My senses sharpen and I know this is how an animal feels when they’re on the hunt and capture their prey.

“Regina, I can’t stop you. Go ahead and kill them, but our Master will kill you if you do.”  Marc’s name gives me pause, but after a second I don’t give a fuck.

“Regina, knock it the fuck off,” Dexter commands and I ignore him. He’s not strong enough to bend my will.

“Fuck, you’re going to get arrested for assault,” he says hopelessly.

“Queen,” My husband’s deep voice commands and I startle. He painfully squeezes the back of my neck hitting the nerves that control the function of my arms. My hands fall worthlessly to my lap and I sob out of frustration. I wasn’t finished. They’re still breathing. 

“She wasn’t here, she didn’t do this, and no one saw anything,” Whitt rapidly murmurs to Dexter as he lifts me into his arms.

“Regina,” Whitt
commands me to look at him as he carries me through the dungeon. Disappointment infuses his voice.
“I can’t do this anymore… I can’t. Fate is never stepping foot into this place again. You didn’t see it. They were violating her,” I howl.

I watch the innocence leach out of his beautiful eyes and it kills me on a soul level.
“You just don’t know what it feels like to have someone force their body inside yours- to be violated. The sense of helplessness,” I mutter. “She’s not strong like me. She was already afraid. She’s the sweetest, kindest person I know,” I whisper-scream into his dress shirt.