Game On (The Morgan Brothers Book 4) (12 page)

Gasping for breath as the pain morphed into sexual need, Aspen finally managed to spit out the word no, but it wasn’t enough. Another slap to the other side, this one harsher than the last, pulled her back to the moment. “No, Sir. My mind isn’t wandering, Sir.”

“That was much better, sweet goddess; your military training is going to serve you well in the play room.” She was sure there was some sort of hidden message in Mitch’s words, but her brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders at the moment so she pushed the puzzle aside. For the first time she could remember, she allowed herself to completely surrender to the moment, letting the sensations flow over her without trying to justify her needs.

Aspen’s release was building with each circle of Mitch’s lubed finger around her rear entrance. The first press of his slick digit against the opening almost sent her over the edge. “Don’t come, Athena, or we’ll have to start all over.” She hadn’t heard Phoenix move, but his voice came from a spot directly in front of her. Straining to hear any clues helped refocus her thinking on her surroundings rather than the release she wasn’t supposed to be chasing.

Mitch replaced one finger with two and continued stretching her. The burn faded quickly into a need so strong sweat beaded on her forehead. By the time, he slid a small plug into her, the combination of being tilted so far forward and her head spinning was making her so dizzy she worried she would be sick if they didn’t remove the blindfold.

Aspen felt like her body had been high-jacked by nausea sweeping through her, the same thing had happened during one of her flight training exercises. Learning to fly by instruments alone required the pilot to fly with a hood over their head only allowing them to see the instrument panel, and it had almost been her undoing. Had it not been for a patient instructor who gave her more chances than he should have, she’d never have become a fighter pilot.

Voices swirled around her adding to her dizziness, and she felt herself start to gag as the cross was being raised and the blindfold pulled from her eyes. Years of training kicked in, and she moved her eyes to the other side of the room, it wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was the closest thing she had to the horizon. Ryan Morgan stepped into her line of vision and she heard him say, “Don’t move her and don’t step in front of her. Let her eyes find a focal point, she’d doing exactly what she needs to do.”

Embarrassment swept over her, but she didn’t dare move her eyes until the room stopped spinning around the door she was focused on.
Fuck me, this is a new level of humiliation, even for me. What a way to screw up my own fantasy.

Phoenix had been
shocked when Ryan shouted, “Get the blindfold off her,” as he jumped up onto the stage. Ryan had been a medic in the SEALs before resigning his commission to finish medical school. He’d recently taken over when Pine Creek’s only physician retired. Ryan and Brandt had both recently married Joelle Phillips, who was hands down the smartest women Phoenix had ever met. He’d known Ryan his entire life, hell, they were cousins for Christ’s sake, but he’d never seen Ry play the role of the physician in the club. The change in his persona was almost startling. Gone was the playful Dom who’d been focused on his wife’s pleasure a few seconds earlier. In his place was a rock solid doctor who’d obviously seen, whatever Aspen was experiencing, before.

Mitch must have seen the same clues and seemed to understand Ryan’s concern because he’d started tilting the St. Andrew’s cross back up at the same time Phoenix pulled the soft silk fabric from Aspen’s eyes. He’d been shocked to see the look of desperation in her expression, and
hell, is she green?
When she started swallowing convulsively, Ryan stepped further to the side cautioning them to stay out of her line of sight. The rest of his words were lost on Phoenix because as he focused on the beautiful woman in front of him.

He had no idea what had gone wrong, hell, he wasn’t even sure
when
things had gone
off rails
, but at this point they were so far gone he couldn’t even see the damned track. Brandt moved to his side, giving him a sympathetic look. Yep, being married had definitely been good for his older brother. The bitter man who’d returned from the SEALs had only started to fade when Brandt finally admitted his interest in Joelle. Every member of the Morgan family credited Joelle with the changes in the middle Morgan brother. She’d have had their undying devotion for that alone, but they loved her simply because of who she was.

Joelle was a world renowned chemist whose recent discovery launched cancer treatment decades into the future. Phoenix had a huge amount of respect for her and was relieved to realize she’d stepped up beside him. “She’ll be okay. Vertigo isn’t life threatening, and you know Master Ryan isn’t going to take any chances with her safety.”

Phoenix must have looked as confused as he felt because Brandt leaned around his sweet wife and said, “Vertigo often affects people when they are tilted at an odd angle, and they can’t find any visual point of reference. That combined with anxiety—doesn’t matter if it’s just anticipation of pleasure, was enough to send her over the edge. She’ll be fine, but I have to tell you, it’s damned impressive to know she was a fighter pilot. Damned impressive, indeed.”

He could only assume his brother was referring to how difficult it would have been to train to become instrument rated when she struggled with vertigo. Phoenix knew the “hood” pilots wore didn’t completely cover their eyes, but it definitely prevented them from using visual orientation clues—something Aspen obviously needed. He’d seen Sage practice when he’d become instrument rated so he could fly the Morgan jet. Sage hadn’t dealt with vertigo, but he’d still commented on how difficult it was to fly without any visual clues.

Phoenix wondered what motivated Aspen to pursue flying when it hadn’t been something easily mastered. His best guess was her friendship with Jax and the Wests. According to her file, they’d been the ones to teach her to fly. Phoenix had been surprised to learn the former NFL player was the first to get his pilot’s license—he’d be willing to bet Jax had been the only player on the team jet who was qualified to fly the damned thing.

“I don’t know where your mind is, sweet brother of mine, but you need to refocus on Aspen. It looks like my other Master is satisfied she’s going to be alright, and if she’s anything like me she is going to be awfully embarrassed by all this.” Joelle’s hand swept in a wide arc indicating the crowd gathered around the stage.

Phoenix leaned over and pressed a soft kiss against her cheek. “I’m not sure I’ll ever understand what you see in my knucklehead brother, but I’m proud to call you sister.” He smiled when Brandt batted him upside the head. Damn, it was good to have his brother back. When Ryan turned to look in their direction, Phoenix stepped forward. Returning his attention to Aspen, he winked at her over his shoulder and said, “Make sure these two take good care of you, sweetheart. If they give you any trouble, you just let me know, and I’ll rally the troops.”

“Keep your lips off our woman and take care of your own, cousin.” Ryan brushed past him, and Phoenix smiled when he saw Joelle’s face light up when Ry pulled her into his arms. Moving in front of Aspen, Phoenix felt his heart clench at the look of devastation on her face. They’d wanted to play out a minor punishment scene, but they certainly hadn’t intended for her to become ill.

Mitch stood behind Aspen, his arms circled protectively around her. God, she looked so young standing there wrapped in one of the club’s soft subbie blankets. When her eyes met his, Phoenix watched them fill with unshed tears before she looked at the floor. Lifting her chin with his fingers, Phoenix shook his head. “Eyes on me, little sub. Why didn’t you use your safe word?” The words came out harsher than he’d intended, but now that the adrenaline spike had passed, he was left with nothing but frustration. Damn, what if it had been something more serious? If she wasn’t going to use her safe word, how would they know she was safe during a scene? Just thinking about hurting her terrified him.

He wrapped his large hand around the nape of her neck, and stroked the side of her chin with his thumb. The hesitance he saw in her eyes was going to haunt him. “We aren’t angry. We know you aren’t an experienced submissive, but it’s important for us to walk you through this, so we don’t end up in a similar unfortunate position next time.”

“Next time? You’d play with me again? After I messed this up so bad?” The self-recrimination in her voice was as annoying as it was surprising.
How could a woman so beautiful and so brilliant be so fucking insecure?
Mitch looked at him over her shoulder with the same
what the fuck
expression Phoenix was sure mirrored his own.

“Let’s take this discussion upstairs, shall we? But the answer to your question is,
absolutely
. This wasn’t a
mess-up
; it was a
lesson
—for all of us.” Before they could lead her to the stairs, alarms started blaring. Doms who often helped out as dungeon monitors put their subs in the care of other Doms and sprinted toward the back of the club where a strobe light flashed. Phoenix knew there was an exit in that area, but the perimeter exits were only for emergency use unless they’d been opened for an outdoor event. Whoever had triggered the alarm was going to answer to Nate Ledek, and Phoenix didn’t want to be anywhere close when that conversation took place.

Kip was convinced
his ears were going to start bleeding any minute. Holy shit, that alarm could wake the dead. The asshole who’d been manhandling Caila either hadn’t read his membership contract or he didn’t care, because he’d pushed through the doors and disappeared into the darkness. Kip had helped Phoenix install the system, so he knew the door locks re-set every five minutes when the club was open. When he’d asked Phoenix why his brother had grinned. “If someone hacks the door alarm to enter, they’ll expect the system to still be disengaged if they try to escape. This assures us they won’t be able to do that without drawing a whole lot of attention.”

Watching Nate race out the door, Kip smiled to himself.
The prick who hit Caila deserves the ass-kicking Nate’s going to give him.
Pulling Caila into his arms, Kip pressed her against his chest and covered her ear with his hand, there was no need for them both to go deaf.
Christ Almighty, turn that fucking thing off.

Taz was only a second or two behind Nate, but he stopped long enough to ask for the guy’s description and shut down the alarm before he also disappeared in the darkness. Kip slowly released his hold on Caila, but didn’t let her step away. There wasn’t a chance in hell either of them could hear anything over the ringing in their ears, so he didn’t even try to ask her if she was alright. He brushed the pad of his thumb over her cheek to brush away the tracks her tears. He was careful not to put any unnecessary pressure on the deep red handprint marring her cheek. Seeing the evidence of the asshole’s slap made Kip’s vision go hazy with a red tint of rage.

“I’m sorry.” He didn’t hear the words, but he’d been able to read her lips. Shaking his head, Kip pulled her back into his arms, wondering why it felt like she was exactly where she belonged. Knowing Nate and Taz were going to want to interview her, he scooped her into his arms and making his way toward their office when he met Brandt.

“Calamity? Oh shit, please tell me she wasn’t trying to break into the club.” Ordinarily, Kip wouldn’t have been annoyed by his brother’s assumption, but tonight had turned out to be anything but ordinary.

“None of this is her fault. She was assaulted in the last alcove. She’s damned lucky I got to her when I did. Grab her things, I’m taking her to Nate’s office.” Kip saw Brandt’s eyebrows arch in surprise—so much for his reputation as the easygoing brother. Stalking past Brandt, Kip felt Caila’s tears against his neck. “Don’t cry, baby, he wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings.”

Hell, it was usually Kip who hurt her with his sharp words, but something changed the minute he realized who she was tonight. He wasn’t sure why she was wearing a damned wig, but he intended to find out.
I’ll find out, then walk away.
It sounded good when he repeated the words to himself, but for some reason, his heart and mind didn’t seem to be on the same page.