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19
Mare
Igot back to my apartment tired, sore, and achy—none of it from a mind-numbing, screaming orgasm. Nope. Jensen had followed through on his threat, and even though we’d worked out and trained for hours, ramping up the teasing and sexual tension, nothing had come of it. Dried sweat coated my skin, and my hair was no doubt sticking up in random places despite my attempts to keep it contained in a ponytail.
“Ugh, I need a shower,” I muttered to myself as I kicked the door shut. Tossing my keys and jacket onto the bed, I beelined for the bathroom without bothering to grab a change of clothes.
Turning the handle straight to red, I let the stream heat up as I stripped out of my workout clothes. A frustrated groan echoed around the tile when I attempted to peel my sports bra off, my sore arms struggling to get the tight and practically suctioned, sweaty material away from my chest. Finally, after another two tries, I got the last bit of sweat soaked clothes off and jumped into the steam.
Hot water cascaded over me, and I didn’t move for a good ten minutes, letting the heat soothe my aching muscles. As I stood there, my mind started to wander to Jensen, Ian, and Archer, my body still thrumming with desire from being left without any kind of relief. Unfortunately, before I could slip a hand between my legs, the soreness permeating my body brought my thoughts to another issue.
Why did they want me to train, and had taken over my workday to do so? A thread of worry wormed its way into my stomach, solidifying into a lead weight when I realized something must have happened. If they had just wanted to train me without calling me out of work, I may not have noticed, but now it was all I could think about as I rushed through my shower routine.
Whatever they found or heard or suspected, they no doubt wouldn’t tell me until they thought I needed to know. As much of an annoyance as that was, I knew no amount of protesting would change their minds. Not until they were ready … well, until Ian gave the say so.What Boss wants, Boss gets. I grumbled with an eyeroll. I rushed through getting dressed, as fast as my stiff muscles would allow, and snatched up my wallet and keys on the way back out.
Walking the couple blocks to the bus stop, I quickly came up with a plan on how to check. The easiest way would be to look him up online, but without access to the internet or a computer at my apartment since I’d sold my old one a few years ago, the only place within close proximity was the library.
Thankfully, the bus ride was short, and it pulled up in front of the simple brick building a few minutes later. Tugging my jacket tightly around myself, I curled inward, hoping no one coming or going from the library noticed me. As I sank into the chair in front of one of the free computers, I briefly thought about calling up Agent Charleston and asking, but I shook it away. My handler from the Witness Protection Program would no doubt brush off my worries, or worse, somehow tip my father off. He had always been such a moron, fumbling about, that I had no idea how he hadn’t gotten any of his witnesses or himself killed. There was no limit to my father’s reach, and as I searched him, I realized it was probably a terrible idea.
“Well, I’m already here,” I murmured with a grumble, deciding I would give myself two minutes to scan as much information as possible before leaving. I knew I’d be long gone before anyone could be alerted that I was here. That was if he had someone tracking any searches for his name, and if there were, even with his contacts, he was based in New York while I was in St. Louis. Though that distance only gave me a sliver of comfort.
Nothing new littered the news sites I scoured. My father was still living large in his posh estate in New York. There were a couple of articles from around the time of the trial, but he’d no doubtconvincedthe news stations to stop writing them. Sighing in defeat, I cleared the browser history and got up from the chair.
My stomach knotted with unease, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Glancing around discreetly as I started towards the front doors, I didn’t see anyone watching me. Hell, there was barely anyone around at all, yet for whatever reason, I couldn’t shake the sensation of being watched.
“Oof!” I exclaimed when I collided with someone coming into the library. “Sorry!” My cheeks burned when I noticed who I had run into. Familiar chestnut hair and deep brown eyes.Ah, fuck.I really hoped I didn’t just ruin the good tips he always gave me when I looked up at my most frequent customer.
“It’s alright, Mary,” Ben told me with a smile, brushing the wrinkles from his jacket. “I haven’t seen you around here before. Coming to check out some books?”
“I don’t typically come,” I said before remembering that I was supposed to be out sick from work today. I blanched when I thought of getting caught but steamrolled ahead, laughing awkwardly as I stepped back. “I wasn’t feeling too good this morning,” I lied. Even though Ben may have been a frequent customer, I wasn’t too concerned about him somehow getting me in trouble. My issue was with the growing nerves about having an actual conversation with someone outside of work and completely losing my cool.Is this who I’ve become? Some socially awkward rambling bitch? Get ahold of yourself, Mare. “But I think it was a temporary thing. I’m feeling a little better, and I wanted to get out of my apartment for a bit. Stretch my legs, you know?” I smashed my lips together, hoping it sounded believable. His brows dipped down when I glanced around once more.
“Everything alright, Mary? You seem a bit nervous.”
Forcing a smile onto my face, I shook my head at his concern. “I’m good, promise. Just a bit worried I’ll start to feel queasy again if I do too much. Don’t want to have to call in again tomorrow.”There, I thought,that’s more how normal people converse.
“I understand that.” Ben chuckled, the skin around his eyes crinkling with his wide smile. “Well, if you ever need anything or someone to listen, I’m here. We could even go hang out in the lounge chairs over there if you wanted, give yourself a break before heading home.”
I swallowed my frustration that I was still standing in the entryway of the library and kept a grin on my face. Right as I opened my mouth to ask for a rain check, a face I hadn’t expected popped up behind Ben. The harsh scowl on Ian’s face told me to prepare for an angry Dom.
“Mary, there you are,” he murmured. I was surprised that he managed to sound even somewhat civil. Ben didn’t even blink as he turned and surveyed Ian. The tension between the two grew immensely as Ben looked Ian up and down, his smile falling at the new arrival. “I’ve been waiting out here. Are you ready to go?” My brow rose at the lie but quickly smoothed out when Ben turned to look at me.
“Do you know him?” he whispered, not-so-discreetly gesturing to Ian. “Is he bothering you or making you uncomfortable?” He eyed me, expression earnest and serious. “If you’re in some kind of situation, Mary, I can help you.”
“It’s okay, Ben, promise,” I reassured him, my heart rattling in my chest at the thought that Ben would assume Ian would hurt me.Well, he does, but only in the best way possible, my mind reminded me.
“I wouldn’t ever hurt my girlfriend,” Ian stated, his tone hard as he continued to glare at Ben. “Though, we are heading out, we’ve got some other errands to run.” He looked pointedly at me.
I gritted my teeth and turned to Ben. “Thanks for offering, but I promise I’m fine,” I assured him. “I’ll see you next time you come in.” As quickly as I could without making Ben think there was something wrong, I grabbed hold of Ian’s hand and started outside. “What are you doing here? How do you always seem to know exactly where I am, Ian? Do you have a damned tracker on me?” I hissed under my breath as we moved away from the front door.
Yet, much as I didn’t want to admit it, I felt slightly more calm knowing he was there with me, his presence settling the nerves that had gone wild after looking up my father.
“Tracker? No. Tracking you? Yes,” he said simply, as if it wasn’t a big deal that even after coming back into my life, they were still stalking me.
“That’s not exactly the pillar of a healthy relationship,” I ground out. How the fuck could he think that was okay? “You know invading a person’s privacy like this is tantamount to stalking, right?” A single brow came up, his gaze sharpening as he looked down at me. Our steps slowed, and only then did I realize we were standing next to his SUV.
“Last time I checked, Mary, you enjoyed knowing we were always watching. Don’t think I forgot about that little show you put on the other night,” he murmured. My nipples pebbled against my bra at the gravel in his words, still craving them after training with Jensen this morning. “Now, be a good girl and get in the car.”
“Or what?” I countered, narrowing my eyes on him.
“You know what. Now, get that sexy ass in the car, Mare, or I’ll bend you over my knee right here in front of all of these lovely and veryvanillapeople,” he commanded. “Unless you want that?Doyou want that, Mare? Do you want them to watch as I spank your ass? If I pull those pants down, am I going to find you bare and wet for me?”
I swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. Fuck. How did he do this to me? One second I was screaming mad, and the next I wanted to jump his bones and ride into the great white sunset known as overwhelming multiple orgasms. “I’ll get in the car,” I croaked, my eyes spotting Ben standing just outside of the library door with a watchful gaze and frown.Ugh, damn it all to hell, I can’t be bringing this much attention to myself.
“Good girl,” he said with a grin, releasing my hand and walking to the driver’s side door. When I didn’t make any move to do so, though, my legs trembling a bit as my body wound too tight to move, he paused and his gaze hardened, a predatory gleam shining in the icy depths. If looks could melt me, I would have been a puddle right there in the parking lot. Pain, pleasure, and everything I wanted wrapped into a single expression. Swallowing the excitement that had formed in my throat at the thought of everything he would no doubt command of me, I pulled open the passenger door and sat down.
Now to see exactly what I would get as punishment and what I would have to do to behisgood girl once more.
I couldn’t wait.
