I take a deep breath. “You can have me.”
“I can…have you.” He studies me. “The devil is in the details, my boy. I’m going to need you to be significantly more specific.”
I clear my suddenly dry throat. “I mean you can have me. However you want to take that.” It’s only right. A way to balance the scales of the wrong I’ve done. The mistakes I’ve made. Penance. There’s a sweet relief in that, in giving up control so completely. I don’t really understand it, but in the end my feelings don’t matter. Helping Meg does.
“You mean, I can fuck you.” He circles me slowly, a predator going in for the kill. “I can shove my cock between those pretty lips of yours. I can do whatever I please to your cock. I can take your ass whenever and however I like.” He stops in front of me again, seemingly unaffected by the words he just launched at me like daggers. “Is that what you mean when you say I can have you?”
“Yes.” It takes me two tries to keep speaking. “If that’s what it takes.”
“A better man would turn you away. Forced consent is hardly consent.” He smiles suddenly, a full smile that rocks me back on my heels. “You’re a terrible negotiator. Truly awful. I accept your terms—you’re mine, and I no longer force Meg to follow my commands against her will.”
I swallow hard, trying to think. “That’s a very specific sentence.”
“Yes, well, I am not terrible at negotiating.” He raises his voice. “Tis, another round. We’re sealing a deal with a drink.”
The woman appears again, this time with the bottle. She pours a healthy splash into his glass and then mine, gives me a sharp look, and disappears around the curve of the bar again. I reach for my drink and pause. His words seem fine on the surface. I do this, and he can’t force Meg anymore. She won’t have to fuck strangers unless she wants to. She won’t have to follow Hades’s orders anymore. Surely she’ll be happy to be free?
I can’t think straight. Not with the scotch in my system, though Hades’s presence is more to blame for the muddled way my thoughts run together than the alcohol. I frown at him. “Do you want to fuck me?”
He gives me that blinding smile again, as if I’ve done something to amuse him greatly. Hades sets down his drink and reclaims the final step between us. He grips my neck, the strength in his fingers surprising. So is my reaction. My cock goes hard, and I have to fight back a moan.
What the fuck?
“Poor baby sub. You don’t even know what you are, do you?” He tsks. “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you.”
“Teach me what?”
“Everything.”
I don’t even know what that means. Not really. I just know that I suddenly want it. “Okay.”
“We’ll seal it with a kiss then,” he murmurs against my mouth. But he doesn’t follow through like I expect.
I belatedly realize he’s waiting for confirmation. I nod as much as I’m able to with the way he grips my neck. “Yes. Seal it with a kiss.”
“Good boy.” There is no teasing touch of his tongue. He simply takes my mouth as if it has been his all long. He forces me wide open for him and plunders me with his tongue. I lift my shaking hands and fist them in his perfect black shirt, though I can’t say for certain whether I’m clinging to him to steady myself or trying to get him closer. In the end, it doesn’t matter.
He releases me and steps back, leaving me swaying on my feet. Hades smooths down his shirt and then fixes his glasses where they’ve been knocked off-center by our kiss. “Tis will get you set up in your new room. One of my other people will give you the tour.”
That snaps me out of my haze. “What?”
Hercules gives me a pitying look. “Come now, Hercules. You didn’t think you’d bargain away yourself to me and then go back to your sad little life, did you? Call in and quit your job. My people will gather your belongings and see to your apartment. The Underworld is your home now.”
Chapter Six
Meg
“Did you hear about the new guy?”
I look up from the spreadsheet detailing the Underworld’s income last month. I wasn’t sure what the disruption of Balthazar’s territory would do for our bottom line. Coups in Carver City make everyone nervous, and nervous people will either drop mad cash or button it up completely.
Judging from the accounts list I have, they went with the former.
Thank fuck.
I drag my attention back to the present to find Tink standing in the doorway to my office. She’s victim to one of the many deals Hades has made over the years. I don’t know the terms of this specific one—I rarely know the details unless he feels I need to—but she’s fit right into life here at the club while still running her stylist business during the day.
She’s also a delicious little plus-sized blonde with a taste for pain, bondage, and group play. Add in snark and total disrespect for most authority, and she’s my kind of girl.
It takes a moment for her words to penetrate. Even then, I don’t comprehend them. “What did you say?”
“Hades has a new guy starting tonight. From the gossip Tis had, hot from the source, he doesn’t even know he’s a sub and I’m expected to give him a crash course in BDSM before the club opens.” She crosses her arms under her breasts. “I don’t get paid enough for this shit, Meg. I really don’t.”
“Why does he have you training instead of one of the Dominants?” Instead of me. I don’t handle every new sub we hire, but if they’re important enough to be brought in because of a deal, then I should be.
“She said Hades is handling that part of his training personally.”
What? “We can negotiate hazard pay once he’s up to par and working,” I say absently. A new hire from Hades means one of his deals. Normally every employee who the Underworld hires goes through me, whether they’re dominant, submissive, or just looking to bartend. It’s one of my most important functions as the person who manages this place.
BDSM in all its flavors requires an incredible level of trust from all participating parties. If the wrong person were to become involved… Well, it hasn’t happened since I’ve been here. We get assholes sometimes, but no one who actively ignores the rules, both explicitly stated and generally understood. Anyone who plays here is guaranteed a consensual good time, no matter what they’re looking for.
Which means I need to check this guy out before tonight. Hades wouldn’t actively undermine our operation, but he often plays deeper games that make my life difficult. Sending a submissive who doesn’t realize they’re a submissive even out into the lounge without the proper preparation is a recipe for disaster.
Training them himself…
He hasn’t been that hands on in training since I was new here.
What the hell is going on? I blink to find Tink still watching me with her pretty green eyes. “Was there something else?”
“I’m coming up on the end of my contract.” She props her hands on her hips, drawing my attention to her floral romper and black strappy heels. A black cropped jacket pulls the outfit together just like Tink always seems to. She makes my suits and slinky dresses feel mundane sometimes, but no one can pull off fashion the way she does.