Awakening Her Racy Passion [Racy Nights 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (5 page)

Trent frowned. “What happens if you want to take her there?”

“No. Not happening unless she works this out with Marisol first. And besides, I have no clue if she’s even interested in exploring her kinky side.”

“You telling her that? About not taking her to the club unless she makes up with Marisol, I mean.”

“I will if the subject comes up.”

“Does she even have a kinky side?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll find out soon enough.”

“And I’ll live vicariously through you, I guess.” Trent returned to the living room, wondering if he should take Maddox up on his offer to act as Dungeon Monitor one or two nights a week. Maddox had asked him the first week he’d moved back home, but Trent hadn’t been ready to walk into a club yet. At the time, he wasn’t sure if he ever would be again. No one but Wyatt knew why he was back home. Not yet, anyway.

But he missed being inside one. He missed the energy, and the sense of being one with everybody. Plus, he missed his friends here in Racy who were in the lifestyle. Sure, he could see them anytime, but there was something special about being at Maddox’s club that he couldn’t get anywhere else.

“We’ll figure something out. I won’t bring her back here unless you’re at work, okay?”

Trent watched Wyatt return to his spot on the sofa. “What makes you think she’ll fuck you?”

Wyatt laughed. “Wishful thinking?”

“Looks like I’m screwed. I don’t suppose ‘I saw her first’ would work, would it?”

“Depends on how far back you want to go with that.”

“I’m older than you by two minutes.”

“But I talked to her first in grade school, remember?”

This time Trent laughed as he shook his head. “Yeah, I do now. She was playing kickball at recess and the ball went rogue and hit you in the chest. You didn’t so much talk to her as scream obscenities at her. Does that still count?”

“True, but she was smitten. I saw it in her eyes.”

Trent rose. “Smitten at eight years old? With a boy who yelled at her and called her names? I don’t think so. I’m grabbing a shower.” He had to get out of the room right now. He loved Wyatt in a way that only twins could understand, but the competiveness between them was as strong as ever.

Was it only coincidence that he’d become obsessed with Ria now, when Wyatt was making a move as well? Or was it some weird twin thing they had? This wasn’t the first time they’d been interested in the same woman, but one of them had always backed off. Always.

Wyatt would expect him to do that now. They had an unspoken understanding between them about that. Wyatt had verbally staked his claim, and now it was Trent’s duty to step aside. But was that what he wanted to do this time? No. If he were being completely honest, it wasn’t.

But what was he supposed to do about it? He’d never do anything to outright betray Wyatt. And he knew that Wyatt would never do anything to deliberately hurt him. If he went after Ria as well behind Wyatt’s back, that would make him no better than Deanna.

No. He’d have to find another way. Because Trent knew as sure as he knew his own name that there was no way he could watch Wyatt develop a relationship with Ria. No fucking way. Something about her called to him, and he had to pursue it. He had to. If nothing came of it, then so be it. But he had to give it a shot.

Monday evening, Ria had just picked up a tray of dirty pitchers to carry toward the kitchen as the door opened. Her attention was momentarily diverted by the sight of Maddox, Julie, and Trent walking into the bar. She did her best to avoid Maddox and Julie as much as she tried to avoid Sean, Ellis, and Marisol.

Of course Trent would hang out with them now that he was back in Racy. They had all been in the same grade together. And, they were all in the lifestyle now. It wasn’t the first time Julie and Maddox had been in here since last summer, but it was the first time they’d been here with Trent since his return.

Ria tossed back her hair and tried to act casual, but she kept giving their table sideways glances instead of watching where she was walking. As she passed an empty table, her sneaker tip caught one of the chair legs and down she went. The pitchers were plastic so all they did was bounce, and the tray went sailing across the floor. But her hands and wrists hurt like a bitch, and her pride was wounded beyond all repair.

No one laughed. That was the one saving grace. Luke came out from behind the bar but the hands that helped her up didn’t belong to her brother. She glanced up into Trent’s gorgeous dark blue eyes, and swallowed hard as she struggled for words. “Thank you.” They seemed inadequate. Her face burned and she rubbed both wrists, hoping she hadn’t fractured anything.

“Come in the back and let me take a look at them. You went right down on both hands.”

No shit
. “I know.” Luke didn’t say a word, but he did give Trent a long, hard look before he returned to his spot behind the bar. What was that about? He was her employer, not her keeper. And he certainly had no right to tell Trent what to do.

Ria followed Trent to the back room where he told her to sit. Then he moved his chair closer to hers, and she breathed in the scent of expensive cologne and soap. It was enough to make her pussy wet. What was it about these two that affected her so much? It wasn’t only their looks. There was a pull she didn’t understand.

Trent cradled her left wrist in one palm and ran his fingers over it. He rotated it slowly one way, then the other, watching her face the entire time. “Does that hurt?”

She shook her head because she didn’t trust her voice right now. His touch sent shocks up and down her arm, and the temptation to just kiss him right now was very strong. What was the worst that could happen? She didn’t believe he’d be repulsed by it.

“What about this?” He flexed her wrist and she winced a bit. Then he bent it the other way, but that didn’t hurt.

“You should probably get them both X-rayed, just in case, but I don’t think anything is broken in this one.” He did the same to other, but nothing hurt this time. “Or this one. What about your face? Did you hit it?”

“No.” She studied his, and her attention was drawn to the scar under his left eye. Without thinking about it first, she reached up and brushed a finger over the raised, red mark. “When did this happen? I don’t remember you having it before you left Racy.”

His eyes filled with pain and she almost recoiled. Whatever it was, it was fresh and it had hurt him terribly. “It’s nothing.”

“Okay. Thank you for taking the time to check me out. I mean…to check out my wrists.”
Oh my God
. Could she be any more obvious?

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and she forced back a moan. They were alone. It would be so easy to let go and be bold. For once, Luke hadn’t tried to swoop in and play big brother and protector, and that was probably due to the fact that no one else was working tonight, and he had a lot of customers out there. Alexa sometimes helped out when he was short-handed, but Luke had told her earlier that Alexa had a bad cold so she hadn’t come in tonight.

“I’m glad I was here to help. Now about those X-rays. I can drive you if you’d like.”

Talk about temptation. But reality was still reality, and it reared its ugly head at his words. “I can’t leave Luke alone here. It’s too busy tonight and there’s no one else to come in.”

“Later, then. What time do you get off?”

“Midnight. But I’m sure you have—”

“If I had something else to do, I wouldn’t have offered.”

She stared into his eyes for so long that she was surprised Luke, Maddox, and Julie hadn’t come looking for them by now. No, he wouldn’t be repulsed at all if she kissed him and in fact, for a few seconds, Ria was certain he was going to kiss her. Her heart pounded, and his touch on her skin grew so warm that she was almost uncomfortable. Finally, she knew she had to say something. Luke might show up any second and ruin the moment. “All right. Thank you.”

He smiled so broadly that her heart skipped a beat. “Fabulous. It’s a date, then.”

Ria had to laugh. “A date? This will be the weirdest one I’ve ever had.”

“You never know what amazing things can come from a weird date.”

If he wasn’t flirting with her, she’d eat one of the pitchers she’d just dropped. Both Rohan twins were pursuing her. How the hell had that happened? And why was she questioning it? He rose, and she followed. She watched him join Maddox and Julie again, and then she went behind the bar to let Luke know she was all right, and that Trent had suggested she get both wrists X-rayed.

“I’ll carry drinks out the rest of the night,” he said. “I don’t want you taking a chance on injuring them further.”

“I’m sorry.”

He handed her the tray she’d dropped with the dirty pitchers on it. “Do you think you can wash these and the rest of the stuff back there without falling again?”

“Sure.” She went into the kitchen to wash dishes, with a smile on her face. Even Luke’s surly mood couldn’t spoil this night now.

* * * *

As he took his seat again, Trent watched the expressions cross Maddox’s face. He was just about to ask him what was on his mind, when Maddox spoke up first.

“I know you weren’t here when all that shit between Ria and Marisol went down, but be careful there, okay?”

Trent popped an onion ring into his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it before he spoke. It wasn’t so much to intimidate Maddox as it was to choose his words first. “I know what happened. Wyatt told me, you told me, Sean told me, and even Rafe told me. But it’s over and done with.”

“It’s not done with,” said Julie. “She never settled things with Marisol.”

Trent turned his attention to Julie. The change in her was amazing. When he’d left, she’d been the same mousy, introverted person he remembered from school. But now, she stood taller, she walked differently, and she no longer hid her body under expensive tweed and cashmere that would have been more suited to the 1960’s. She didn’t dress provocatively, but she also didn’t look dowdy anymore. She was a psychologist, so she had a certain reputation to maintain, but it was wonderful to see her wearing clothes that fit her body, and to see her hair down when she left her office.

But it was her eyes that now stunned Trent. He could really see the change inside her when he looked into them. Her confidence and intelligence shone from them now. And when she looked at Maddox or Sean, it was obvious how much she loved them both. She’d been their sub now since March, and Trent wished he could have watched the gradual change in her these past ten months. He loved to see people come out of their shell, and that’s exactly what he would love to do for Ria if she was his to pursue. “Maybe that will change? Maybe someone can persuade her to finally approach Marisol and take the first step toward healing things between them?”

“So, you agree then that it’s her move to make?” Julie sounded surprised.

Trent leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Just because I think she’s hot doesn’t mean I think she should get away with what she did. But it’s not my place to tell her that. And, at any rate, my twin has a prior claim on her.”

Maddox gave him a look of incredulity. “Wyatt has a claim on her? Since when?”

“Since he had lunch with her yesterday, learned what she’d heard in the alley Saturday night just before Gerry was stabbed, and then talked to Sean about it. He and Ria are having dinner tomorrow.”

“Wow. That was fast.”

“Well, technically he hasn’t violated any ethics, right?” Trent glanced around but no one was paying attention to them. “He’s not defending Ned.”

“No, I guess not then. But he and Sean would know more about that than I would.”

“Just so we’re clear, your objection then is Ria herself, not me or Wyatt going out with her.”

Both Maddox and Julie looked uncomfortable, and Trent wondered what the hell was wrong with him. He and Maddox had been friends their entire lives, and Julie was his sub. He shouldn’t be acting this way. But he didn’t like it that they’d all ganged up on Ria. Had one of them ever approached her and tried to talk to her about this? Surely one of the subs could have done that.

“I wouldn’t say that,” said Julie. “I mean, no one hates Ria, if that’s what you think is going on here.”

“But none of you have ever tried to be the peacemaker, either. Is that right?”

Julie glanced at Maddox, who nodded almost imperceptibly. When she spoke again, Trent could tell she was measuring her response. “What you have to understand is that Ria not only outed her brother and her best friend. There were already tensions in her family from Luke’s relationship with Alexa.”

Julie glanced toward the bar and then leaned closer. “They never accepted Alexa once Luke told them she was his sub, and that Chase was also her Dom. They still don’t believe that there is no sexual contact between Luke and Chase. Luke hasn’t been to Sunday dinner at his parents’ house in about a year.”

Trent frowned. Sunday dinner with the entire Rodriguez clan was as sacred as the July 4th celebration in Racy. He hadn’t realized things were that bad.

“And now Rafe is in the same position as Luke,” said Julie. “They already didn’t care for Marisol, but this new addition to her relationship with their eldest son has driven a permanent wedge between them.”

Marisol was fourteen when Rafe was a senior, and Trent remembered their short-lived relationship. Nothing had actually happened, but apparently Rafe’s parents didn’t believe that, and had forced Rafe to break up with Marisol. Marisol’s parents had reacted the same way. “And I’m assuming they also now believe that since Rafe and Ellis are both Marisol’s Doms, they, too, have a sexual relationship with each other?”

“I don’t know that for certain, but that was the impression Rafe was left with.”

“Did anyone ever ask Ria why she said anything to her parents?”

Maddox shook his head. “No.”

“Do you think anyone would mind if I took a shot at finding out?”

He shrugged. “Be our guest. But don’t expect miracles here, okay? People aren’t going to simply open their arms and accept her into the fold. She did a lot of damage to the community, and to her entire family. Not to mention the fact that she really hurt Marisol.”