delivered two more blows then he walked over to Goling and
stroked his hand over the bright red of the other man’s ass while he checked
the skin under the welts he was drawing up. Cartier moved around front to make
eye contact with Goling. They held a brief conversation before the Master once
again took up the whip and moved into position.
“The Master will check on his sub constantly throughout the
scene. Nothing he does will cause permanent damage, and the sub can safeword if
it gets to be too much.”
Apparently finished with the momentary lesson, Jeremiah
turned to face me—back to work. “How would Franklin wrangle an invitation to
this party and assuming he’s here, how do we find him?”
“Good questions. Wilde Sides was always the best, most
exclusive club, but there are a few people who were members who could put the
word out and draw in the dabblers and the out of region players. Archer managed
to let the necessary information slip to someone we feel would have the same
contacts as Franklin. It’s why security is deceptively lax around here tonight.
We’re letting everyone in because we want Franklin.”
“Step into my parlor said the spider to the fly…”
“Exactly.”
Jeremiah nodded. “Makes sense, so what am I looking for?”
I wanted to laugh at his enthusiasm for the hunt. “Slow
down. You’re the boy Friday…remember? You’re supposed to mind the paperwork
while I do the heavy lifting.” His head snapped back as if I’d struck him and I
wished the words back. It wasn’t his fault Archer put us in this awkward
position. He was doing his best and I wasn’t making things easy on him.
“Jeremiah—”
“Will there be anything else, Sir? ” I hummed a
little. Sir. It had been awhile since anyone other than a store clerk
had called me that. I knew it was just a sarcastic response to my comment, but… Damn.
“All right, that was unnecessary, I’m sorry. It’s
just—Jeremiah, your eyes are a little wide, here. Look around the room. There
aren’t any innocent tourists here. If I let you wander around in that outfit, I
guarantee some Dom is going to snap you up and have you on your knees in no
time.”
Jeremiah’s tanned face turned an interesting shade of rosy
as the blush crawled up his neck. He opened his mouth, but we were interrupted
before Jeremiah could voice his protest.
“Need some help with your new sub, Master Zach? I could take
him off your hands for a while, you know, break him in?” Master Peter moved in
behind Jeremiah, a wolf scenting prey. Peter slid his hands over Jeremiah’s
ass, and I fought an unreasonable urge to growl possessively.
“Lower your eyes, boy, or you’ll get more than an
introduction tonight.” I snapped the words at Jeremiah, willing him to follow
orders. He seemed to understand because his gaze dropped to the floor. “No,
thank you, Master Peter. Perhaps another time. I’m evaluating whether I have
sufficient interest to take Jeremiah on as my new pet project.”
Peter patted me on the shoulder. “I can’t blame selfishness.
He’s delicious. I’m looking for a new project myself—so if young Jeremiah
doesn’t meet your needs, let me know.” He looked around the room. “What about
him? He looks familiar…but I can’t place him.”
I followed his gaze to where a good-looking man in an
expensive suit leaned with apparent ease against the wall. Despite my earlier
assurances to the contrary, this man was indeed a tourist and had no business
being here.
“Sorry, Peter, he’s not on the market for your type of play,
either. In fact, he definitely doesn’t belong here. If you’ll excuse me…” I nodded
to Peter, then crossed the room with Jeremiah close on my heels.
“Cannon?”
Blue eyes flashed defiantly at me from under the fall of
black hair. Frowning, I scanned the room again, in case I’d missed something.
“What the fuck are you doing here, alone? Where’s Chance?”
“It’s been five years. I would have