Three Dirty Secrets (Blindfold Club #4) (33 page)

“Are you going to touch me?” I asked. Who cared if I broke a rule?

“Not yet.” His heavy voice was depraved. “I’m just enjoying this. Was it hard for you to agree to this?”

“What?”

“When I called, the owner explained how his girls would let me do whatever I wanted.” His voice got louder as he came to the edge of the table. “But he lied, because then he said I
couldn’t
have you.”

I pressed my lips together.
Just shut up and fucking touch me, asshole.

“And when he told me you weren’t submissive? It only made me want you more. It’s no fun when the girl just takes it. I like them feisty, and you redheads usually are.”

The back of my neck tingled. Something was off.

“Tell me,” he demanded, “how getting on this table made you feel. Because knowing I got you to do it makes me hard.”

I swallowed back the acidic taste which had risen in my mouth, refusing to take the bait. “You want to know how I feel? Touch me and find out.”

He made a tsk, tsk noise. “You’re too eager. I need to teach you some patience.”

There came the sound of a belt buckle being undone. It slid free from belt loops. Every part of my body went on high alert. That action had to be enough. How could he defend it as being anything but sexual?

I opened and closed my hands rapidly, signaling Julius and Payton who’d be watching on the monitor that I needed out. They’d radio to Marquis to move in.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m trying to figure out where’s the best place to deliver my lesson.” He slapped the belt against the edge of the table and I flinched. “Not on your tits. Kirk was so impressed he wouldn’t shut up about them the rest of the night.”

“Oh, God.”

It made sense now why Payton thought he was attractive. His dominating and cruel attitude didn’t match what I had expected, because this man wasn’t Roland. I flung my hands open and closed several more times. Had time slowed to a standstill?

“I’ve changed my mind, Congressman.”

“You know what? Me, too. The belt’s too much to start with.”

The table shifted minutely as he climbed on top of me. He straddled my waist, trapping me under his weight. His pants were still on, thankfully. I could feel the fabric against my skin.

“I meant the deal’s off,” I clarified. I tried to squirm away, and he groaned like it was pleasurable for him.

“Is this the part where you try to run me down for more money?” His hands closed on my breasts, and I reacted. I tucked my thumb to my palm, yanked my hand free from the restraint, and slapped him so hard across his face, the impact turned his head.

I tore off the blindfold and blinked against the light.

Victor Bennett wore the same look he’d given me across Silas’s gallery. Lust and rage. It was scary, but not nearly as horrifying as when he captured my free wrist in both of his hands and slammed it against the table.

“No!” I yelled. I fought against him, but he had both hands to my one, and it was almost easy for him to wrap the Velcro tightly around my wrist. When I tried to bring my knees up, he adjusted so his weight was pinning the tops of my thighs. I couldn’t move.

His cheek flamed pick, but his eyes burned red. “See, there’s that fire I expected. I’m going to enjoy teaching you manners, whore.”

“Get off of me. I’m not a whore.”

He laughed like I was ridiculous, and his hands were on my breasts again. This time I couldn’t do anything but fight against the straps. They cut into my wrists as they held tight.

“Stop,” I ordered. Yelling was futile. I knew the rooms were soundproof, but I did it anyway. “Marquis!” Bennett’s palms coursed over my skin and he pinched a nipple hard enough for me to gasp with pain. “Get your dirty hands off me, asshole.”

“Dirty?” He looked amused.

“You’re crooked.
Dirty
. And tomorrow everyone’s going to know about it when—”

He slammed a hand over my mouth to silence me, but I welcomed it. I sank my teeth into the bony fingers and gnashed down hard. Bennett reared back, using his other hand to pull himself away.

“Fucking whore!”

“I told you, I’m not a whore,” I said. “I’m FBI.”

The pain etched on his face was replaced with a nervous expression, but it faded quickly. “Not a chance.”

“We’ve been running this operation for more than a year. Now you’re in our net, and I can’t wait to see what we shake out of you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Bennett glanced around. “Where the fuck is this ‘we’?” He flexed his fingers, as if trying to shake out the pain. “All I see is you trapped beneath me. If any of that bullshit were true, why hasn’t anyone come through that door?”

It was an excellent point. Where the fuck was Marquis? Unless . . .

His smile tonight had been laced with extra malice. Had he finally fucked me over as I knew he would? I wretched my arms painfully against the straps, bucking beneath Bennett.

“Get off of me!”

“You’re going to pay for what you just did.”

He closed his unwounded hand around my throat. The temperature in the room plummeted a thousand degrees and my skin turned to lead.

“I’m a federal officer,” I gasped. His fingers tightened. He wouldn’t be able to choke me out completely with just one hand, but it was a sickening feeling as he restricted my windpipe, and I rasped for breath. “You’re going to prison.”

His eyes were brimming with fury, and we crossed a terrible line where I could sense he was no longer in control, either. His erection dug into my belly. My muscles strained so hard they shook, but the more I pushed against him, the worse the hand’s pressure became. I had to get him back in control and thinking about consequences.

I could barely speak. “Kiss that presidential run . . . goodbye.”

So fucking stupid. Rather than release me, his other hand gripped my throat. The first hand had been dominance, but this one’s intent was so much darker. Circulation cut off in my fingers as I tried desperately to break free from the ribbons. I clawed at air.

The choking sounds I’d been making got much worse. The raw, guttural noise punctuated the room, accompanied by my thrashing. My heart was throbbing in my head, but I didn’t dare close my eyes against the pain. I’d keep them open wide and stare into Victor Bennett’s hateful ones, wordlessly telling him to go fuck himself until everything went black.

My instincts said I was going to die on this table, but then again, my instincts were usually never right.

“Let her go!” a male voice yelled.

My vision blurred as oxygen dwindled, but an enormous figure appeared at my side. There was a thunderous smack and Bennett’s weight was gone as he tumbled off of the table.

Air poured back in through my raw throat, and I blinked through the haze. Unavoidable tears burned in my eyes.

“Julius,” I rasped.

Chapter

TWENTY-FIVE

Julius tore open the straps, setting me free. My upper body ached and I was weak all over, too much to move. My head lolled to the side.

Illinois congressman Victor Bennett was sprawled on the floor of a brothel, knocked out cold with one punch.

White silk splashed on me as Julius draped the robe over my body. His hands dove beneath, lifting me into his arms and crushing me against his beautiful new suit.

“I got you, girl.” His deep voice was soft, and I wanted to cry at the sound. Hell, maybe I was crying. The tears from the lack of oxygen were still burning in my eyes. His strong arms carried me through the open door and he moved swiftly through the hall. “You’re gonna be fine.”

It made me nervous. He didn’t ask me if I was okay, which meant I probably wasn’t. My head was still pounding and the world was spinning, so I clung to him.
Wait a minute
. The hall was empty.

“Where’s Marquis?” I croaked.

“Gone.”

“He just left?”

“Nah, girl.” Julius lumbered up the steps. “He wouldn’t help you, and when I came down, he got in my way. We tussled, and then he left.”

Holy shit. I’d never seen Julius fight. For most guys, he was too much of a threat to challenge, and secretly I’d wondered if he even had the stomach for it. But he’d gone against Marquis, and
won
. In fact, he’d said it like it wasn’t that big of a deal.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he turned into the dressing room and set me down gently down on the closest couch. He sat on the floor beside it. I held the silk robe over me like a blanket, shivering beneath it, knowing it was the aftermath of adrenaline.

His knuckles were bloody.

I stared at his big, brown eyes, felling overwhelmed. He’d saved my life. There was so much I wanted to say, but all I could get out was, “Thank you.”

His gaze turned cloudy. “You oughta know he said some shit about you being FBI.”

Everything was falling apart. “It’s true. I’m so sorry.”

A range of emotions played out on his face. First, disappointment, followed by anger, and finally the worst one, sadness. “What the fuck am I gonna do? Run?”

“No. You’re going to take all of the hard drives and lawyer up.” Even though it hurt to talk, I did it anyway. “Don’t give them those drives until you have immunity.”

He glanced around the empty dressing room. He had to be thinking all of this was crumbling away.

“Julius.” He turned his wary gaze back to me. “Once you have immunity, you can do whatever. Even rebuild, and this time the way you want it, not in Joseph’s shadow.”

If Julius decided to continue the blindfold club, he already had the two most important elements—the women and the client list. The location was replaceable.

And I’d known this day was coming for a long time, but I’d wished it had happened differently.

He pressed a button on his transmitter. “She’s okay. I’ll be back in a minute.” He must have been talking to Payton. He’d left her in charge of the monitors while he’d come downstairs to save me. Did he wonder if his life would have been easier if he’d let Bennett finish the job?

“Does Payton know?”

He shook his head.

“I’ll tell her. I’d rather she heard it from me.” She was going to be on the footage, so she’d be questioned. Fuck, it was a mess. “Can you bring me my phone?”

He remained on the floor. I expected at any moment for him to tell me to fuck off. Instead, his eyes filled with concern. “That was some scary shit. He was gonna kill you.”

“You saved me. God, Julius . . .” This time it really was tears, and I wiped them away. “And one punch. I wasn’t sure you had it in you. I mean, you’re always such a sweetheart—”

It got abruptly hard to breathe. The whites of Julius’s eyes went enormous as I struggled for air.

“Shit, hang on, girl.” He whipped out his phone, dialing what I had to assume was 911. What was happening? It felt like Bennett was strangling me all over again. All I could take were shallow breaths while he told the operator where we were and what had happened.

No need to call Shane now, as the club’s address was flagged in our system. Not like I could call him anyway. I tipped my head back, and that seemed to help me breathe. My hand latched out, finding Julius’s arm.

I whispered where I’d hidden the shadow hard drive between rasping breaths, even as he shushed me and told me not to talk. Things began to blur again, and I got lightheaded.

“Regan, stay with me,” Julius ordered. It was the first time I’d heard him use the distinct voice of a Dom. It was silly. That wouldn’t work on me. Didn’t he know I wasn’t a submissive? I wanted to giggle. Instead, my stomach churned. Oh, shit. Was I going to throw up?

His hand was on mine, squeezing. And he was yelling something at me, but it sounded like gibberish. Payton was beside him, her face twisting with fear. It was the last thing I saw before my eyes slammed shut.

I felt like shit. When I swallowed, broken glass inched down my throat. I blinked against the overhead light and took in my surroundings. The hospital hallway was subdued. The bed I was in was on the move, heading back to my spot in the emergency room.