I take a deep breath, inhale the scent of vinyl, and whimper.

    “Relax.” Master Damien fastens the last strap and tugs out my ponytail holder, massaging my scalp as my hair spreads across my back. My tension eases a tiny bit, and I turn my head just as someone pounds on the door.

    “Damien!” Jack’s deep voice with its rough edge is unmistakable. “I know she’s in there. Kitty told me. Open the fucking door.”

    I suck in a sharp breath and jerk against the restraints. “Let me up.”

    “It’s okay.” Master Damien strokes a soothing hand down my back. “He’s not coming in. We have rules about interrupting a scene.”

    “Obviously, you don’t know him very well.”

    Bang. Bang. Bang. The door shakes with the force of Jack’s blows. A part of me thrills at the thought that he cares enough to cause a scene, but another part wonders if he’s angry because I disregarded his wishes and he thinks that I will out him to his friends.

    “Damien! I’ll break the fucking door down if you don’t open it right this fucking minute.”

    Master Damien’s lips quirk, amused. “It’s interesting how you can know someone for years and still discover new facets to their character.”

    “He can do it,” I warn Damien. “He broke down the door to the women’s changing room at Redemption when the locking mechanism jammed and people were trapped inside. I also saw him break down a door at a bar when some bloke…” I trail off when a heavy thud makes all the whips and chains shake on their racks.

    “Don’t you fucking touch her.”

    “How badly do you want this, Pen? If I tell him to go, he’ll have to go.”

    I drop my head to the bench and sigh. “He seems very agitated. I think it would probably be best if you released me so I can try to soothe the savage beast.”

    Master Damien releases my restraints as Jack continues his vicious assault, but before I can get off the bench, the door splinters and slams open.

    Boom. I look up to see Jack glowering in the doorway, dressed in a delicious pair of worn jeans and a black T-shirt that clings to his muscular body.

    “Jesus fucking Christ.” He stalks into the room, his face a mask of fury. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

    “You’re interfering with my scene, Master Jack.” Master Damien’s voice tightens in warning, and he presses a firm hand against my back, keeping me down on the bench.

    A growl curls up Jack’s throat, and darkness crosses his face. “Get your hands off her.”

    “Jack.” I slide off the bench and stand between him and Master Damien. I’ve never called him Jack before, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “I want to be here. I want to do this.”

    Danger rolls off him as he closes the distance between us, his gaze firmly on Damien, his six-pack rippling as he moves. “I told you this wasn’t a fucking game. Damien knows better.”

    I have watched enough fights to know what happens next, and although Master Damien is a formidable man, he has no chance against Jack in full battle frenzy.

    “No.” I wrap my arms around Jack’s waist, press myself against him, my temper beginning to fray. Who does he think he is, rampaging in here and telling me what to do? Enraging an angry fighter is never a good move, but with my emotions and nerves shot, I don’t give a damn. “You’re out of line.”

    Jack stiffens, and I look up only to see his eyes narrow. “I told you not to come here.”

    “I heard you. I didn’t listen.”

    His eyes darken almost to black, but the golden specks still shine bright. “You. Here. It’s not right.”

    “Maybe. But that’s what I’m trying to figure out. That’s why I came here. And if you have a problem with Damien helping me out, then why don’t you take over?”

    Jack’s heart thunders in his chest, beating so hard I can feel it beneath his ribs. His arms tighten around me, and the world fades away until I feel only his warm hands on my back, his strong arms around me, his powerful body pressed against mine.

    “No.” His head dips down. I think—no, I hope—maybe he’ll kiss me, but instead he rests his forehead against mine and closes his eyes, as if he is fighting for the same calm that has eluded me since he barged into the room.

    “Please,” I whisper. “I want to try it. Just once. And I want it to be with you. I feel safe with you.”

    “You are safer away from me.” His voice is strained. “People come to me because they want me to hurt them. They don’t come to learn, except about how much they can take.” Lines of pain fan out from his eyes, and his voice becomes bitter, laced with the same self-hatred I feel when I drag the razor blade over my thighs, and yet curiously softened by the drawn-out vowels. “I don’t want to enjoy hurting you. I can’t.”

    His words are meant to push me away, and yet his arms are still tight around me, tighter than before.

    “I’m not afraid of you, Jack. It’s my choice. I choose you.”

6

    I didn’t come here for sex

    RAMPAGE

    What the fuck am I doing?

    I strip off my jeans in the Club Sin changing room and try to clear my head for the scene with Penny, but my body won’t relax, and my stomach is tied in knots. How can I give her what she wants when it is the one thing that has kept me away from her since we met? Especially now when I’m on edge and barely in control.

    Damien will never forgive me for intruding on his scene and threatening him in front of Penny. Even though I’m a silent partner in the business, providing the financing without bearing any of the legal or managerial responsibility for running the club, he is well within his rights to kick me out. He should have kicked me out instead of so graciously relinquishing control of the scene to me. Why the fuck did he do that? And the damned smirk on his face as he led Penny to my private playroom…