“Sit,” he barked, and I started to do just that but stopped myself.

  What was wrong with me being here? This was Sebastian’s stables. Not King’s. He didn’t decide who came here, and Maeme had said it was okay.

  I narrowed my eyes as I looked at him and straightened my shoulders. “If I sit, then I will do so because I want to. Not because you ordered me to so rudely.”

  I heard a smothered laugh from Sebastian, but I didn’t take my eyes off King.

  He walked back from behind the bar with a longneck bottle of beer in his hand. His eyes stayed locked on me as he studied me. I felt my heart begin to race, and I questioned if it was smart to talk to a man his size that way. Sebastian wasn’t wimpy by any means, but King was taller, broader, and his arms were…well, his arms were thick and corded with defined muscle. I couldn’t tell what the tattoo on his left biceps was, but it wasn’t unappealing.

  “And do you want to sit?” he asked me before taking a long pull from the bottle while keeping his eyes on mine.

  I swallowed hard, unsure of what I should say next. Should I apologize? No. Absolutely not. Just because I was currently feeling a little lightheaded from the sight of King and his perfectly sculpted body didn’t mean I had to allow him to boss me around.

  “I came here with Sebastian to see his stables. So, yes, I believe I do,” I replied and sat back down. I could feel Sebastian watching me, but I was unable to stop looking at King.

  A slight twitch of his lips was the only softening on his face. He didn’t actually smile, but it seemed like he wanted to. “Then, by all means, sit.”

  “That’s enough, King,” Sebastian said from where he still sat, leaned back with his right ankle propped on his left knee and one of his arms stretched out over the back of the sofa.

  King shifted his attention to Sebastian. “I thought you were leaving today.”

  “Change of plans,” he replied.

  King’s entire body seemed tense as he stared hard at Sebastian, but he said nothing. I felt as if they were having a silent conversation. Were they cousins? This family that Maeme had was confusing, and no one had actually cleared up who was who for me.

  The door opened behind King, and I watched as an attractive blonde woman with long, straight hair draped over one shoulder walked inside. She had on a pair of minuscule cutoff jeans and a black crop top that showed her flat, tanned stomach and pierced navel. Her eyes went directly to King, and she smiled before sauntering in his direction.

  “You were taking too long,” she said, running a hand up his tattooed biceps.

  King glanced at me, and for a moment, I saw what I thought was regret in his gaze before it dropped to meet hers. “I didn’t tell you that you could get up, did I?” he asked in a hard tone that startled me.

  She shook her head and stepped back from him, then dropped her gaze to the floor. “No, sir. I’m sorry,” she replied softly.

  He reached up and ran his hand over her head, as if to reassure her. “Go back to where I left you and wait.”

  She nodded. “Yes, sir,” she replied before turning and leaving the room quickly, without another word or glance in our direction.

  “All right, Rumor, let’s you and I go on that tour, shall we?” Sebastian said a little too brightly.

  I lifted my gaze to his. A sick knot formed in my stomach as a slow understanding of what I had just witnessed began to connect. The screaming had been her. King had been in there with her. That was why he was shirtless, barefoot, and sweaty. He’d been…beating her?

  The smile on Sebastian’s face didn’t mask the apology in his eyes. He hadn’t wanted me to know who had been in that room. I trusted King. He’d saved me. Brought me here. They all knew that.

  Did Maeme know he did that to women? And why would he do it? What was the purpose? Was he like Hill? Did he like hitting women?

  I was unable to stand up.

  The sound of a door slamming made me jump, and I spilled water over the rim of my glass as my eyes swung back to the door. King was gone. He had left.

  “I’m sorry about that. With what you went through, that shit has to strike a chord. He’s not mad at you. He’s upset that you heard it,” Sebastian told me, stepping in front of me. “Come on. There’s a lot more to see.”

  I shook my head and sucked in a deep breath. “No. I…I think I want to walk back to the cottage. If you don’t mind,” I told him, standing up and holding my glass out for him to take.

  As he took it, he sighed heavily. “I understand. I’ll walk you back.”

  “No,” I blurted. “I want to go alone. I’ll be fine. I remember the way.”

  “Rumor, I’m not going to hurt you. No one is. I swear it.”

  I nodded. “I know. I just…I just want to go back alone.”

  He looked at me as if he wanted to argue, but finally stepped back. “I get it.”

  Good, because I didn’t. None of what I had just learned made sense. Sure, the girl hadn’t been bruised, nor did she walk as if she were in pain, but I had heard her screaming. He’d talked to her like a child. Sebastian had said she was being tied up and whipped. That was all something that made no sense to me. I had assumed people who did that were role-playing. Not actually causing someone real pain. It was a kink thing that I would never get. But the whole control thing I’d seen was unhealthy. Wrong.

  I started toward the door and paused to glance back at Sebastian. “Thank you for bringing me,” I told him, feeling rude about the way I was running off.

  He set our glasses down and smiled at me. “He only does it to women who want it. He doesn’t force anyone.”

  He was defending King. Okay, fine.

  “Women want that? She was screaming,” I pointed out.

  Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t get it either. I’d be lying if I said I did. But trust me, King has never had an issue with finding women to do his bidding. Sometimes, he has a couple doing it at the same time. They like it. He chooses them carefully.” He stopped and shook his head. “Look, I shouldn’t be talking to you about this. It’s his business. Not mine. I just don’t want you to be terrified of him. He would never touch you that way or any way. He knows what you’ve been through and that you aren’t the kind of woman who would be on board with that shit. He will always treat you respectfully.”

  So many different things were racing through my head. I wasn’t sure which one to be most concerned about. Was it that King did those things to women during sex, or that he liked doing it with more than one at a time…or that I was someone he’d never touch? I had thought for a moment the other night that he was going to kiss me. I’d wanted it too. It had shocked me and excited me. But he was never going to kiss me.

  I masked the disappointment and managed a tight smile.

  “I understand,” I told him, although I really didn’t. Not at all.

  • nineteen •

  “Some things she was better off not knowing.”

  King

  “Dude, if you hit the punching bag any harder, it’s going to burst open,” Sebastian said behind me.

  I paused for a moment before slamming my fist into it one more time. The look on Rumor’s face wouldn’t get out of my fucking head. I hated it. I hated that I had put it there. Why the hell had Sebastian brought her here? This wasn’t a place for her. This was where we lived, burned off steam, fucked when and how we wanted to. It was not somewhere for Rumor to be. The women who came here knew the score. They had been prepared and were approved to step foot on the property. They weren’t fragile, abused wives who needed to be handled with care.

  Breathing hard, I let my hands fall to my sides before glaring at him. “You shouldn’t have brought her here.”

  He held up his hands. “I didn’t know you were gonna be having one of your twisted fucks in the tack room in the middle of the goddamn day.”

  I tossed the boxing gloves down and stalked over to my water. “Doesn’t mean it was okay for you to bring her here. This isn’t something she needs to see. This life. Who we are. You think she saw this place and doesn’t have questions now? What happens when she decides to start asking questions?”

  I gulped down the rest of the water in my bottle, wishing something would calm me down. Anything. I was wired, and I was never this fucking wired up after tying up a woman, whipping her with my leather strap, then fucking her while she hung by her wrists from the lead hook.

  “She looked lonely,” he said. “She reads all the damn time and stays at the shotgun house. It’s sad. I felt bad for her. I figured we could talk books and I could show her around. Become her friend. She needs to trust someone other than you and Maeme.” He cleared his throat. “Especially now.”

  I threw the bottle down and started toward him.

  He backed up and shook his head as he watched me. “Dude, you know it’s true. You didn’t have to be so fucking angry when you saw her. It didn’t help. Then, Sedona came in the room, and you went all Master on her. It was a lot for Rumor to take in at one time.”

  I inhaled sharply through my nose and fisted my hands at my sides. Hitting Sebastian wasn’t going to fix this. He was right. I’d handled it wrong. I couldn’t switch on my charming persona. I walked in, saw her there with Sebastian, and didn’t fucking like it. Then, Sedona had come in the damn room and made shit worse. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Rumor trusted me. Not someone else. I didn’t want it to be someone else.

  “She’s off-limits,” I reminded him.

  “No shit. I’m aware of that. I wasn’t making a move on her.”

  That simmered me down somewhat. Not enough, but at least we weren’t about to end up beating the hell out of each other.

  “Give her a little space, then go talk to her. She just needs to get her head around what she saw—or heard rather.”

  I didn’t want to give her space. I’d been giving her space. I had planned on going by and checking on her later today. It was one reason I had Sedona come over to fuck. I’d thought if I was sated sexually, I wouldn’t end up kissing Rumor, like I almost had the other night.

  “What did she hear?” Thatcher asked.

  I turned to see him striding into the gym in a pair of athletic shorts and tennis shoes. His pierced nipple still seemed out of place on him. He was the last one of us I would have expected to pierce his fucking nipple.

  Sebastian glanced at his brother, then back at me. He wasn’t going to answer it.

  “Me fucking Sedona,” I replied.

  An evil grin spread across his lips. “She heard her screaming? Or you hitting that ass with your strap?”

  I started for the door. I wasn’t in the mood for Thatcher.

  “What? You’re gonna drop that shit on me and not give me the details?” he called out.

  I didn’t look back. I knew Sebastian would tell him what he needed to know after I was gone. There was work to do today, and I’d already wasted enough of my time. I’d get focused and too busy to think about the way Rumor had looked at me.

  Once she had some time to digest it, I would go over and talk to her. Maybe take her something to eat again. Although she didn’t seem to like to eat that much. She did like books. I could pick her out some and take them over. Or go get her and take her to the library. Fuck, I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t used to trying to do nice things for women. They obeyed me. Did what I told them to. It was what I liked.

  Rumor wasn’t my type, and she never would be. But we had been on our way to being friends. Even if I was lying to her about almost everything happening in her life. It was for her safety even if she didn’t know it. Some things she was better off not knowing.

  • twenty •

  “I will regret it for eternity.”

  Rumor

  I finished hanging the rest of my clothing on the clothesline just as the sun was beginning to set. Washing them in the tub by hand had been a much-needed distraction. Hopefully, the book I was planning to start next would be equally distracting.

  Every time I had thoughts of King and the way he’d been with that woman, it got me all twisted up. The one thing that was really bugging me was the way she had walked up to him and touched him. The look in her eyes, like she wanted nothing but to be near him. That wasn’t a woman who was scared of a man or tolerating one. I should know.

  She had been…enamored with him. She didn’t tense up when he scolded her. She’d seemed…to enjoy it.

  I was finding myself trying to figure that out more than anything else. As much as I didn’t like it, I kept coming to the same conclusion: King was sexy and charming. He was hot. She was willing to do anything he wanted so she could be with him.

  Was that what she got out of it? What they all got out of it? Since she was clearly not an exclusive thing. Or was she? Sebastian had said King was with different women, but he didn’t say King wasn’t just with her right now. Were they dating?

  Jerking open the back door, I walked inside, angry with myself for not being able to stop my train of thought. I was going to read. First make myself a sandwich, then read. Get lost in a story that wasn’t reality and forget all about King for a while at least.

  I was almost in the living room when a knock at the door snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked straight ahead through the doorway leading into the kitchen to see Sebastian through the window. He lifted a hand to wave, and I let out a weary sigh. He’d come to check on me. I was not going to get to shut King and his kinky sex life out of my head as soon as I’d thought.

  Walking through the kitchen, I unlocked the door and then the screen before pushing it open.

  “Hey,” I said in greeting.

  He ran a hand through his hair and smiled. “I, uh, came to check on you. Make sure you made it back okay.”

  “I did. Thank you, and I’m sorry about running out today. It was rude,” I told him. That had been bothering me too. How I had acted. It just hadn’t bothered me as much as it should have. Unfortunately, King seemed to be the center of my thoughts.

  “No worries. It was a lot, I’m sure. Seeing as…well, what you’ve been through. It has to look different to you,” he said.

  I nodded and let out a sigh. “Yeah. It definitely does or did. I don’t know anymore. She seemed to be happy with it, and who am I to judge?”

  He laughed then and raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, King has always been persuasive.”

  That much I knew. He’d gotten me in his truck when I was at my most vulnerable. I wasn’t sure there was another person alive who could have convinced me to get in a truck with a strange man that day. Or any day really. I was cautious. I didn’t take chances. I knew the consequences. But King…he’d been different.

  “I’ve experienced that,” I replied.

  Sebastian nodded. “Yeah.”

  Stepping back, I waved a hand for him to come inside. “I was about to make something to eat and read. But if you want to come in, I’ll find something better than a sandwich to feed you.”

  He seemed to hesitate, then finally walked inside the kitchen. “You don’t have to feed me. The cook at our house has dinner made. I was about to head over there and eat. But you could come with me. We’ve got a pretty impressive library, too, with reading areas that will make you want to stay awhile. There is no chance that King will be, uh, well…” He trailed off.

  I thought about it for a minute, and at first, I was going to say no, but another library and seeing his house was a temptation. If his house was bigger than the stables, that would get my mind off things. It might be the only chance I ever got to seeing a mansion. A real one, which was what I was expecting.

  “Okay,” I agreed. “That sounds nice. If you’re sure it’ll be okay with your family.”

  He let out a small laugh. “My parents are out for the evening. The cook made dinner for Thatch and me. She makes enough for an army though. There will be plenty.”

  In that case, it sounded like a great idea.

  “I’ll go grab my sandals,” I told him, then made my way to the bedroom.

  My tennis shoes were at the back door, dirty from walking outside so much today and then being in the backyard, hanging clothes. I slipped on a pair of Tory Burch flip-flops, then glanced in the mirror. My hair was a bit messy from blowing in the wind. Curls were everywhere. I went over to the cabinets in the bathroom and found a hair tie to pull my hair up the best I could.

  Stepping back, I assessed my clothing and decided a hoodie over my tank top would be better since the evening air was cool. The white linen shorts I was wearing worked with the blue hoodie that had a stack of books on it and the words I’m with the banned underneath. It had been a gift from a coworker for my birthday three years ago. Hill had hated it and called it tacky. Getting to wear it when I wanted was freeing.

  Sebastian was texting on his phone when I walked back into the kitchen. He glanced up, then read my shirt before breaking into a smile. “That’s awesome.”

  I nodded, pleased with his reaction. “Thank you. I happen to love it.”

  He slipped his phone back into his pocket. “As you should. Let’s go, shall we?”

  Sebastian let me go out first, then followed me out. The silver Porsche parked in front of my house shouldn’t have surprised me. But it did.

  “Nice car,” I said, looking back at Sebastian.

  He smirked. “Thanks. You know much about cars?”

  I shook my head. “I drove a 1998 Honda Accord that didn’t crank most days, and I had to talk to Patricia real nice to get her to stay running when I stopped at red lights. Then, I married, and…I drove a Mercedes…on days I was allowed.”

  Sebastian was silent for a moment, and I wished I’d left the latter part out.

  We almost reached the Porsche when he stepped in front of me and opened the passenger door. “Patricia sounds like she was special.”