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Presley gaped at him, unable to do anything else. She had no idea that Dmitri held this type of hatred for Steven, and she wondered why he did. After fast seconds of thought, she came up empty. She’d barely talked about her past relationship, and she needed this moment to end, so she turned to Steven. “It’s nice to see you again, but we’re having dinner, so—”
“No.”
Presley clamped her lips shut, and she jerked her head to Dmitri, who continued his stern look. “That is not what you say to him. I’ll show you.” To Steven, his voice became oh-so-deadly, his expression equally tight. “You don’t have the right to talk to her. That privilege was lost when you fucked another woman and broke her heart. Get lost.”
Her mouth dropped open at his knowledge of the affair, and in a single second, she considered all the ways she’d kill Cora for telling him. She dared a look at Steven and saw his face had turned a deep shade of red.
Dmitri tugged on her earlobe to get her attention, as if Steven didn’t exist. She surmised that was exactly how he viewed the moment. “Now you have a go, doll.”
“I . . .” She gulped.
“This is much worse than I thought.” He shook his head in frustration, frowning at her. “I don’t like seeing this, Presley.”
“Who is this guy, the boss of you?” Steven snapped.
Presley tensed as a darker edge consumed Dmitri’s expression, one she’d never seen from him, when Steven added, “Listen, buddy—”
“Now.” Dmitri brushed his thumb over her neck, so light and tender. “If you ask someone to leave you alone and they refuse you, you are to force them. If you don’t have a way to force them, you get help. As it is, I am that help.”
“Stop talking to her like she’s a damn child. Who the hell do you think you are?” Steven roared, grabbing her arm and shaking her. “Presley, what’s wrong with you?”
First she gasped at Steven’s harsh hold as his fingers dug into her skin, then she gasped again when Dmitri’s eyes blazed as he watched Steven’s hand on her arm. Then her breath became lost to her as Dmitri slowly stood from his seat. Keeping his eyes fixed on hers and his jaw clenched, he said to Steven, “I’m the one who appreciates her, will do my best to protect her, and I have no hesitation to ensure you don’t forget that fact.”
In a move almost too fast to see, Dmitri punched Steven in the nose, and with a loud crack followed by a rush of blood, Steven dropped like deadweight to the floor. “Oh. My. God.” Presley raised her hands to her mouth, glancing between Dmitri and Steven a few times over. “You hit him.”
“No, doll.” Dmitri sat down, picked up his pickle off the plate, and took a bite as if that hadn’t ha
ppened. “I knocked him out.”
Chapter Seventeen
A quarter of an hour later, Presley stepped through the dungeon doors. The soft rhythmic music and erotic noises surrounded her, and a familiar excitement fluttered low in her belly.
Master Dmitri had immediately stripped her to her new black lace shelf bra and teeny-tiny matching panties that she’d bought at the mall on Thursday. Then he’d left her with Cora—dressed in a dark purple corset with silver thong—sitting on the couch in the center of the dungeon.
Presley had spent a good few minutes telling Cora what happened at dinner, and how the night ended with an unconscious Steven, which she still couldn’t believe. By the time she finished, Cora’s brows were drawn together. “And . . . what, you left right after?”
“Yeah,” Presley replied. “Two of the waiters removed Steven from the pub. Dmitri finished his burger, paid the bill, then we came here.”
“Hmm.” Cora nibbled her lip, her eyes searching Presley’s. “Strange.”
Presley had to agree: Dmitri’s reaction had seemed strange to her, too. He didn’t say a word about it afterward or really even talk to her the entire drive to the dungeon. She asked once if he was angry with her, to which he replied, “Of course not, love,” then he took her hand.
Reminded of how great her night had started out with Dmitri and how shitty it had ended, Presley shook her head in frustration. “I’m still trying to figure out why Steven was there in the first place. You know him. He always goes to Scores. I picked Mickey’s because he wouldn’t be there.” She took a quick glance around, but no one in the dungeon was near them, so she whispered to Cora, “Do you think Steven would . . . I don’t know . . . follow me?”
Cora laughed, and the couch bounced beneath her. “While I think Steven is a total dipshit and would do something stupid, why would he follow you? He doesn’t want to get back with you or anything, right?”
Presley nodded. “Right.” While Steven had shown with his texts he wanted to be friends, she knew him well enough to know he had realized it was over between them almost immediately after their breakup. So, what in the hell was he up to tonight?
From all his reactions and his insistence to talk to her, she wondered if he knew of the lifestyle she led. Had he pieced it together from when he’d seen her at Scores with Cora? Tonight, when Steven had looked at Dmitri, she’d seen the anger in his eyes, as if he knew him and had an equal right to hate him, too. But even if Steven did know, why would he care what she did and didn’t do? They broke up because he had cheated on her. If anyone had a right to judge, it would be her.
Besides, she wondered whether it mattered to her if he did know. Not particularly, she mused. Bottom line, Steven wasn’t in her life anymore, and that’s exactly how she wanted it. Her lips had parted to share her frustrations with Cora when Master Dmitri interrupted, “Presley, to me now.”
Presley’s heart raced at his serious expression, but he didn’t focus on her long. To Cora, he said, “Go to Master Aidan on the other side of the dungeon. Tell him I’ve asked to keep you there until I order otherwise.”
Cora hesitated, and the look in her eyes resembled pity. “Yes, sir.”
Presley watched Cora hurry away, then a warm finger sliding along her bare shoulder had her hesitantly turning to Master Dmitri. She didn’t understand her nervousness, considering what she’d already been through in the dungeon, yet the way he looked at her now, with the tense set of his jaw, alarmed her.
