Embracing My Submission Read online

  His fingers gripped my throat. Dragging me across the room, he launched me onto the bed with a feral growl. Breath left my lungs in a loud whoosh, and as I landed, I saw blood painted on the sheets. My blood. The bastard had flayed my ass open. Panic consumed me and a high-pitched scream tore from my throat.

  Jordon snagged one of my ankles and yanked me to the foot of the bed. The friction of the sheet brought a new level of agony ripping through me.

  Kicking my feet like an Olympic swimmer, I made contact, slamming a hard heel onto his rib cage. Emitting a low “oomph,” he jumped onto the bed, straddled my body, and punched my face with his fist.

  Pain exploded over my cheek as lights danced behind my eyes. A copper taste filled my mouth as I bucked, trying to toss him from my body. Pinning my arms with his knees, my eyes grew wide in alarm as the thickest, longest cock I’d ever seen was thrust in my face.

  My heart thundered in my ears. Without a word, he wrapped his hand around my throat, pinning my head to the bed. I began to gasp, unable to draw air into my lungs.

  “Open your fucking mouth, bitch.” His face distorted in a hateful grimace.

  Bursts of light flickered at the fringes of blackness, obscuring my vision. He was going to strangle me to death. I was going to die at the hands of a madman. Suddenly he released my throat, and I gasped and sucked in tiny gulps of air. I longed for one huge breath, but he was sitting on my chest making it impossible to draw in enough oxygen.

  “Stop! Goddamn it. Stop!” I coughed as tears spilled from my eyes. Sliding his finger and thumb to my cheek, he pried open my jaws. Vicious pain burst from where he’d punched me, and I opened my mouth, praying he would lessen the pressure. My heart was lodged in my throat.

  “Red. Red.” I tried to scream in one last desperate attempt for him to heed my safe word.

  “You don’t hear so good do you, whore? There is no fucking red. Not now. Not ever. Suck me off, cunt, and do it good,” Jordon screamed as he leaned forward, forcing the head of his cock between my lips.

  Suddenly the door to the room burst open. Straining my eyes toward the commotion, I saw Drake rush through the door as Jordon’s cock jerked from my lips. Blessed relief washed over me.

  Heart-stopping astonishment quickly followed. A gasp of surprise froze in my lungs as my heart clenched in my chest. Blinking past Drake, bowed up and ready to kill...standing shoulder to shoulder between James and Tony stood...

  Sir Drool.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  My ghost Dom was real.

  Bulging milk-chocolate brown muscles and erotic amber eyes lambent in a mixture of desire, panic, and dread stared at me. His rugged jaw clenched, and his hands balled into fists at his sides. Knowing his thick, erotic bottom lip lay tucked beneath the angry, tight line drawn across his mouth, I shivered.

  He was real. After all the years, all the dreams, he was real.

  The room began to spin. I’d stopped breathing the minute I laid eyes on him. Desperate to draw oxygen into my lungs, I gasped for air. My heart pounded in my chest like a thousand wild horses racing through an open field, and a steady throb beat like a drum upon my clit.

  All the nights Fanny-Frustration had brought forth his image, I always wished he was a living, breathing soul. Yet I never allowed myself the luxury of truly believing it. But there he was, biceps nearly exploding beneath a black security T-shirt. Flexing. Anticipating relief. Relief he probably wanted to gain by unleashing his boiling rage upon the demented Dom Jordon. His muscles pulsed as if being held back by some invisible force, and his broad sculpted chest rose and fell with each panted breath.

  “You’re real,” I whispered faintly. I was locked in the intensity of his gaze.

  “Jordon!” Drake thundered a vicious warning. “Get the fuck off of her!”

  “Son of a bitch!” Jordon growled as he shoved me away like a toy he’d grown weary of playing with.

  Easing off the bed, I walked toward Sir Drool. I couldn’t help myself. The magnetic draw was too overwhelming. Forceful. Demanding. Suddenly everyone in the room melted away. My feet carried me across the room as if I were floating on air until I was standing in front of him. Speechless. I reached up with a trembling hand and caressed his cheek. A tingling current raced up my arm as my fingertips met his delicious brown flesh. His eyes gazed into mine reflecting a combination of lust, sadness, and longing. It was the same heart-wrenching expression he wore in my dream. I felt his body shudder as his chest continued to heave. Did he feel the same electrical current that was still ricocheting through me?

  “You’re really real,” I murmured, gliding my thumb over his lips as my body trembled. “I’ve been looking for you forever. Where have you been?”

  His eyes flashed wide in shock then his brows drew together in confusion. His warm, strong fingers wrapped around my wrist, and the muscles in his arm gathered and bunched as he gently pulled my hand away.

  “Get her out of here, Drake!” Dream Man screamed in a scathing tone.

  He was screaming...screaming at Drake? Who the hell was this guy? People never raised their voices to Drake.

  “I’m staying,” Drake thundered back.

  “I said get her out of here,” Dream Man growled between clenched teeth. His golden eyes narrowed, but he never once took them away. I clearly saw his anger, but there was more, a lot more.

  “Fuck! You’re bleeding!” Drake spat in a tone of horror.

  “Wrap her in a sheet and take her up the back stairs. Go to my office. Drake. I need to get this situation contained. I do not need you here. She needs you. Take her. Now! Go!”

  His office? The chocolate-skinned god from my dreams was the owner of Genesis? No. That was impossible. It couldn’t be. Nobody knew his identity except the employees, and they never spoke of him. He was like a ghost. A phantom. Just like my dreams. Why would he reveal himself this way? My eyes must have reflected my confusion.

  “We’ll get everything taken care of. Go with Drake, Emerald.” The ferocity in his eyes softened. Lust, sadness, longing, compassion, and a flash of regret reflected as he spoke to me with tenderness.

  “Yes, Sir,” I whispered in a stupor as Drake encased me in the bloody sheet.

  Turning his attention directly toward Jordon, Sir Drool took a protective step forward, blocking me from the monster’s view. His voice was low and even but held an intimidating edge. “Don’t say a fucking word!” the club owner warned Jordon.

  Drake hoisted me into his arms. Pausing for a moment, he turned toward Jordon with a look that would have made me piss my pants.

  “You pulled the wool over my eyes, motherfucker. Pray to whatever spawn from hell you worship that I never catch you on the street, you miserable piece of shit. I’ll rip your heart out of your chest and let you watch it beating as you die,” Drake growled between clenched teeth.

  Jordon no longer looked like the Dom God I’d once believed him to be. His eyes glistened with vile hatred. His mouth curled in a combative sneer. The protective, loving Dominant mask he wore was gone. Gone was the sensual erotic smile. Gone was the gentle compassion. Gone was my dream of him being the “one.”

  Realization that I’d been played by a wolf in sheep’s clothing hit me hard. Jordon was a predator, a monster using the lifestyle to attain his victims of prey. Unbeknownst to him, I would never have allowed myself to be a victim again. I would always keep reign of my pride.

  “Enough!” Sir Drool thundered. “Drake. Leave!”

  I buried my head against Drake’s chest as he rushed from the room. I could hear voices from the end of the hall. Snuggling deeper against his chest, I hid my face. With all the yelling and commotion that had come from Drake’s room, I shielded myself from any form of pity in the member’s eyes.

  Drake’s body shook with rage and a turbulent heat radiated off him in blistering waves. Without a word, he ran up the stairs and burst through a door. Nodding to a security employee, the man held open a large, intricately scrolled wooden door. After e
ntering the room, the door closed behind us.

  Raising my head, I blinked in amazement. We were in an office, but it was unlike any I’d seen. Monitors lined an entire wall. I could see, all too clearly, inside Drake’s private room. The image was such high resolution, it was as if I were still standing there with Jordon, James, Tony, and Sir Drool.

  My dream Dom appeared to be engaged in an extremely heated, one-sided conversation with Jordon, who was busily putting on his clothes. The owner yanked something from the floor and shook it in Jordon’s face. I could see a volcanic rage in the owner’s eyes, as well as the ragged control he tried to maintain.

  “Come on, baby. Lay down here on your belly.” Drake turned me away from the monitors, and my eyes widened in surprise. The entire dungeon lay out before me beyond a bank of tall, heavy glass windows.

  “Two-way mirrors,” I whispered in surprise as Drake carefully laid me upon a long burgundy leather couch.

  “Yes. And I need not remind you that you know nothing of where you are or what you’re seeing. Do you understand me?” Drake asked with a tone of warning.

  “That man. The owner of the club?”

  “Yes. His name is Mika LaBrache. You didn’t see him either.”

  “Yes I did. I’ve been seeing him for years,” I whispered half to myself. “No, I didn’t see anything.” I quickly amended, nodding in understanding. Drake eased the bloody sheet from beneath my body and draped it over me.

  “Seeing him where?”

  “Never mind.” I shook my head, unwilling to explain my bizarre, clairvoyant visions. “Why did he show himself like that?”

  Drake sighed and shrugged. “I can’t tell you why he came down, baby. Wearing that T-shirt, the members will just assume he’s upstairs security. Only a few of us know who he is, like Sammie and the security staff. Come on, let me see what that motherfucker did to you.” Drake carefully lifted the sheet to peek beneath it. “I’ll try not to hurt you.”

  “I know you’ll be gentle. I’ll be okay.”

  “I’m so sorry, Julianna. I never thought in a million years...if I’d have even suspected...”

  “I’m Emerald here, Moses.” I halfway smiled using Drake’s real name as he had mine. I looked into his guilt-ridden eyes and raised a hand, placing it against his worried face. “It’s not your fault. How were you to know? How was I to know? He’d been thoroughly vetted, right?”

  “Yes. And I guarantee we’ll be going back through his application with a fine-toothed comb.” It was a vow. I could hear it in his voice. “Jesus, Julianna!” Drake’s voice quivered as he peeled the sheet from my bottom.

  “How bad Moses?” I whispered in a tiny voice filled with fear. Using his real name again, I needed to feel connected with him, not as a submissive but as a trusted friend. “Do I need to go to the hospital?”

  “Probably. Shit! I don’t know. Fuck! No. We’ll need to get you cleaned up, first. There won’t be any hospitals. Mika will make a call and a doctor friend will come here if we need him. I’m going to cover you back up, sweetheart. Just lay here and try to relax until Mika comes up.”

  Drake carefully lowered the sheet back over my burning ass. He sat down on the floor next to the couch and gently traced his finger over my aching cheek. I tensed and sucked in a hissing breath.

  “I’m so sorry. He played me. Played me! Fucking bastard!” Drake’s anger was overshadowed by his expression of absolute remorse. I’d never seen him so out of control before. It was frightening. “Honey, if I’d have thought for one second that he was capable...and after what you went through before, I...Oh God, Julianna. I’m so fucking sorry.”

  “Moses. Stop. This isn’t your fault. I survived that, and I’m going to survive this. Neither one of us are newbies. We know there are monsters out there using our community to fulfill their own distorted view of the lifestyle. Maybe he thinks he acted within reason. Who the hell knows? I’m fine. I’m alive. I’ve got a boo-boo on my butt. Wanna kiss it? It might make you feel better.” I giggled.

  “How can you laugh at a time like this?”

  “Because you’re going to break down into tears any second, and damn it, Moses, I don’t think I can take that.” I held his warm cheek in my hand, and his chin started to quiver as tears filled his eyes.

  “No...no. Please.” I pleaded as I wrapped my arms around him and buried my head against his thick neck. His massive body shuddered as we held each other.

  “Can you forgive me, Julianna?” His voice cracked as he said the words.

  “There’s nothing to forgive, Moses.” I raised my head and wiped his glistening cheeks. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, sweetheart.”

  The door opened, and Mika stepped inside. My breath caught in my throat as I stared, amazed and trying to comprehend that my dream Dom was real. He tossed something heavy onto his desk and exhaled with a loud sigh. Closing his eyes, he stood as still as a statue. Every muscle in his body looked strained like he was trying to center a raging storm. I lay there, drinking in his every nuance. He finally opened his eyes.

  “Julianna, are you going to be okay?” he asked with concern and compassion flowing beneath his shimmering amber pools.

  “Yes, Sir. I’m going to be just fine.” A weak smile curled on my lips. The man was walking, breathing eroticism. Every inch of him oozed Dominance. Control. Sex. But above all else, he was real.

  A part of me wanted to confess my dreams to him. A much larger part knew I needed to keep that secret to myself. I longed to reach out and touch him just to make sure I wasn’t having some shock-induced hallucination. My entire body pulsed with hunger, and I longed to touch him, to feel his rugged, sculpted body against mine.

  I was seriously fucked up. I’d just had my ass opened up by a stranger impersonating a Dominant and I was all but drooling and undressing Mika in my mind. Another stranger.

  Yeah, I was one fucked-up puppy. And like the train wreck I was, I couldn’t look away.

  Mouthwatering muscles undulated as he crossed his arms over his sculpted chest. I wondered what size spot I was leaving on his leather couch as my pussy ached and wept. No doubt about it, I was a certifiable head case.

  “Somehow I imagine you’re going to weather this much better than Moses and I will.” He blinked and clenched his jaw as he peeked beneath the sheet.

  Mika knelt alongside Drake and looked into my eyes. He tenderly threaded his long, dark fingers through my hair. A shuddering quake of lust rippled down my spine.

  A look of realization flashed over his face as if he knew the effect toying with my hair was having on me. “I’m sorry,” he apologized and pulled back his hand. “We need to have you looked at. Will you allow a doctor friend of mine to come here to the club and take a look at you? Or would you rather we take you to a hospital?”

  “No hospitals.” I adamantly shook my head. “I have nothing to fear by outing myself. I mean the worst that could happen is I might lose a few clients. But I don’t have any family to protect from my insidious desires.” I smiled wryly, trying to lighten the moods of the two brooding Doms. “But please, Sir, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to call your friend. I’d rather not have to explain my lifestyle choices to a room full of doctors and nurses who may not understand.”

  Mika smiled and nodded his head. “Okay. He’ll come promptly. Let me make a quick call. Is there anything you need?”

  “May I please have some water, Sir?” I asked softly.

  “I’ll get you some, love.” Drake nodded and retrieved a bottle of water from a small refrigerator near Mika’s enormous desk. I tried to take the bottle from him, but with a stern shake of his head, he tipped the bottle to my lips.

  I took a long pull of the cold, refreshing liquid then smirked. “There’s something inherently wrong with this. You know that, don’t you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m the sub. You, my studly macho man, are the Dom, yet here you are pampering me.” I laughed and winked at
Drake.

  “You’re such a smartass. Once your butt is healed, I’m going to take great pleasure in firing it up if you’re not careful!”

  “Like that’s a threat?” I teased.

  “Sluts...I swear!” Drake smiled and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead.

  Mika ended his call, smiling at our banter. God, his smile was as glorious as a sunrise and as sensual as a sunset. The man positively glowed. With a sudden somber expression, he knelt down next to Drake once again.

  “Julianna, if you decide to press charges or sue the club, would you let me know prior to pursing those avenues?”

  I frowned, shocked that Mika would even imagine such a thing. “I wouldn’t think of it.”

  “Well, legally you have every right to. I just wanted to be prepared if that was a direction you wanted to go.”

  “Ah. No Sir, it’s not, And no Sir, I won’t,” I snapped with an indignant huff.

  “Julianna?” Drake warned as he raised his brows.

  “I’m sorry.” I could feel my face flush.

  “I’ll pass it off as trauma. The shock to your system must have induced your mouth to project that Dominant tone.” Mika winked as he broke out in a broad smile.

  “Hmm. I think you two have been comparing notes on how...um...never mind.” No matter the circumstances, I knew better than to sass either of the two Doms.

  “Good girl!” Mika’s eyes held a hint of mischief. I watched his smile fade as he looked at me with concern. “When was your last tetanus shot, Julianna?”

  “I don’t have a clue. It’s been a long time, why?”

  “I think you’re going to need one. I’m going to ask the doctor to also run a test for STDs.”

  I frowned and my stomach rolled. “But, he didn’t...he never...y’all got there before...” I stumbled, embarrassed by the position I was in when they stormed the room.

  “I know but the implement he used on you...” Mika shook his head and cursed under his breath.

  “What was it? I’ve never felt anything so horrific and painful in my life.”